Foolish Things

March 7, 2021 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Psalm 19 Third Sunday of Lent Year B Opening Song Welcome (don’t print) Call to Worship (from Psalm 19) One: Welcome to this time of worship! Today, the Psalmist reminds us Many: “The heavens are telling the glory of God!” One: We look to the heavens and rejoice, for God’s decrees are sure, Many: making wise the simple. One: So let the words of our mouths Many: and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to our Rock and our Redeemer. Opening Prayer We’re grateful, God of all life, for these 40 days of Lent. As we walk on this journey with Jesus, even knowing we’re moving toward the devastation of his death on the cross, may we seek awareness of our own sin (transgressions) and assurance of your greater love, AMEN Stewardship Moment Stewardship is an important part of our faith. Every week, as we listen to the word, as we pray and as we sing the songs of faith, we should also be challenged to put our faith into action. Stewardship is giving a part of ourselves in order to build the kingdom of God here in our world but it is so much more than that. Stewardship is giving of our gifts, our time, our service, our support, and our witness in the world. Today we begin our intentional stewardship campaign, in order to allow all of us to create our church budget in order for the church to do ministry. Our theme for this year is selah – this word is found primarily in the psalms. It means take a break and stop what you are doing. Take some time to listen to God. In the coming weeks, we will be taking some time to listen to what God wants us to do as a church. You will receive the Easter letter in the mail during the week of the 15th. Along with it will be a pledge card for you to ponder what you will give to the church this year. You are welcome to send both your Easter offering and your pledge back in the mail. We will have activities to encourage us to think about what our church means to us in the coming weeks. You can bring your Easter offering to church on Easter, and your pledge card on celebration Sunday on April 11th. Our theme for today – pause and ponder. Pause and ponder the goodness of God in your life. How do you define goodness? If you were to explain it to someone what would you say? We don’t know what it means, but we do know when it has happened to us. The bible explains the goodness of God – people can only experience the goodness of God through our actions. How we treat them, how we understand their needs, how we are willing to give what we have to make a difference. Stewardship is our chance to pause and ponder – the goodness of God and to be willing to be a part of it. When we give – God uses our gifts to bless us and to bless others. Let us pray for God’s goodness to be manifest in our lives. (you can give in person, online or through the mail) Moment for Stewardship (John 2 connection) Every time I hear or read the story of Jesus going ballistic in the temple, evicting the money changers and stampeding the ritual animals out of the courtyard, I wonder: what would happen if Jesus were to walk into our time of offering? I wonder if he would question how people who have so much still find it difficult to give? I wonder if Jesus would find us too passive, too emotion-less? I wonder if he would rejoice over those among us who truly offer themselves and all that they have back to God, who gives us life? Imagine how we would respond if Jesus were standing beside each of us, whether we’re in the sanctuary or in our own living room. With this Christ as our companion, let us share our tithes, our offerings, our monetary gifts, all as symbols of offering God our whole selves. Prayer of Thanksgiving Loving God, with these gifts we declare we are yours! May this money be translated into bringing your Realm more fully on earth, through the many ministries of this congregation. Use our tithes and offerings as symbols of our lives, and use US to proclaim you as Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer of all the earth. AMEN Scripture 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Common English Bible Human wisdom versus the cross 18 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed. But it is the power of God for those of us who are being saved. 19 It is written in scripture: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the intelligence of the intelligent.[a] 20 Where are the wise? Where are the legal experts? Where are today’s debaters? Hasn’t God made the wisdom of the world foolish? 21 In God’s wisdom, he determined that the world wouldn’t come to know him through its wisdom. Instead, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching. 22 Jews ask for signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, which is a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 24 But to those who are called—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 This is because the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Sermon There is a story of a man from a third world country who came to this country. He went with a friend to a restaurant. They ordered tea. The waitress brought them a pot of boiling water and set cups and some tea bags in front of them. The third world man poured a cup of hot water. Then he picked up the tea bags and tore them open and proceeded to dump the tea into the cup of hot water. The man with him gently explained to him that this was not how the tea bags were intended to be used. They were made so they could be put in the water and the water would seep through the tea bags and there would be no messy leaves in the cup. Well the newcomer thought that was a great idea and so he took two packets of sugar which also had been provided and drop them in his cup of hot water, unopened. That makes sense, doesn’t it? He wasn’t supposed to open the tea bag, so why open the packet of sugar? The man had good logic, but still he got it wrong. (1) We all have done foolish things at times. I’ve done foolish things; you’ve done foolish things. But we would never attribute foolishness to God. God is perfect. However, St. Paul says that some of God’s actions may look as foolish to those who do not understand as putting unopened packets of sugar into a tea cup. He writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’ One of the foolish things that we can do is to carry this thing here around. Who in their right mind would carry a symbol of ancient torture around. Who would want to be reminded of a man speaking out against a corrupt government, and hanging for hours until his death? Most of us want to separate ourselves from gruesome events. But some people want to carry this around as a symbol of our most sacred faith. Who does that? Those who want to follow the pathway of God. One theme that is prevalent in all of Paul’s teachings is the two pathways of life. There is a pathway that seems to make sense on the surface, but in the end leads to death, sorrow and the perishing of the soul. And there is a way to seems strange to those who don’t understand, but it leads to life. Paul’s point is that the pathway to God never makes sense to those who don’t know God. Both the Jewish culture and the Greek culture have contributed to our present understanding of God. But Paul points out that the true way to God doesn’t even make sense to them. When those of the Jewish faith here about Jesus it does not make sense with what they have been taught all along, and they dismiss it. When Greeks hear it they cannot find God in a book, so he must not exist. Paul’s point is that true faith is always in the opposite direction of what we have been taught anywhere. God works in ways that go against our expectations. The way up is down The way in is out The way first is last The way of success is service The way of attainment is relinquishment. The way of strength is weakness The way of security is vulnerability The way of protection is forgiveness The way of life is the way of death. if you want to be first, you must be . . .last; if you want to find yourself, you must . .. . lose yourself; if you want to be exalted, you must . . . be humbled If you want to be happy you have to sacrifice. If you want to be free, you have to be willing to be disciplined. The importance of the counter-intelligence engendered by self-discipline and daily disciplines of life is reflected in this “inside” story of the great African-American theologian Howard Thurman. Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder and spiritual leader of the Jewish Renewal Movement, tells this personal account about his meeting with the African-American theologian and writer Howard Thurman: “Howard Thurman once came to visit me in Winnipeg. I asked whether he wanted to visit the Trappists, and he did. I asked, ‘Do you want to see the abbot?’ he said, ‘No, the abbot is just a manager. I’d like to talk with the master of novices.’ So we see the master of novices and Howard asks him, ‘What’s the novices’ biggest complaint?’ The master says, ‘they have to be up at 2:30 in the morning to attend matins and lauds. They aren’t too happy about it. They tell me that it’s so much better when they’re out in the fields and they feel ecstasy and love for God and hallelujah and so on. So I say to them, ‘I forbid you to come to any services now except for the obligatory masses.’ Well, after a while they came back and said, ‘We didn’t come here to be farmhands.’ ‘What happened to your ecstasies?’ the master asked. ‘They dried up,’ said the novices. So the master told them, ‘Of course, now you realize that what you are doing at 2:30 in the morning is what gives you the ecstasy in the fields.’” As cited in “Great Teachers on Teaching,” Spirituality & Health, March-April 2007, 57. Paul’s challenge to each of us is not to just hold this cross, not just depend on this cross, but to use it to guide our lives. In spite of all of the suffering that the cross represents, it also represents our salvation through Jesus Christ. There is the crucifix and the cross. Both are valued symbols with a valued message. The cross tells us that Jesus rose from the dead and is no longer there. He has risen. What was a symbol of death is not a symbol of salvation. Life always offers us a choice – the obvious or the spiritual. One leads to life one to death. In order to choose life, we have to be willing to look deeper than our cultural understanding and see God. The foolishness of God is still wiser than any human thought. Psalm 19 gives us a wonderful lesson on how to find the pathway of God. We should hold God in reverence and awe. When we think of the word Torah – we think of the law. And we are told to walk away from the law. But the word Torah is deeper than that. Torah means pathway to God. In psalm 19 All we have to do to find God is look up at the sky and marvel at the sun. The sun is like the glory of God – it shines everywhere on every one, without then doing anything to receive it. All we have to do to find it is to be willing to look up and see it. Even if you can’t see, you still know that sun is there. Just like God. God’s way is the source of all good things in life. Nothing in life can escape God’s touch. God’s word is beautiful, delicious, reviving, clear and priceless. God’s way is beyond anything that we can come up with in our culture or our minds. The cross is the pathway to leads us to the wonderful saving grace of God. In this interview Rogers told of an incident that helped him to see what this meant. He and his wife were vacationing with friends. They went to church one Sunday morning. Rogers said the sermon was terrible. As the minister was preaching, Rogers was listing all of the things the preacher was doing wrong. When the sermon was over, he turned to his friend to tell her what he thought of the sermon. He saw tears running down her face. She whispered to Rogers, "He said exactly what I needed to hear." God continues to work in mysterious ways. Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Pardon Prayer of Confession Almighty God, we are a sinful people. We always want to control things – like the Jews in Jesus time who tried to control their lives by placing the temple at the center of their adoration. Jesus threatened their temple and all their customs because he called them to worship you only. You are the one who is really in control. How many times do we worship our building, our clique, or something besides you? Help us to focus only on you. Help us to bow down before you and submit our lives and fortunes to your gentle control. Only Christ can open the door to eternity for us. Assurance of Pardon Take heart brothers and sisters For Jesus cleansed the temple and Jesus has cleansed your soul. And as a sign of his truth and power, Jesus offers us the temple of his body. Rejoice and be glad because God has given Jesus control over our destinies. Amen. Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection Take Time to Be Holy UMH 395 Communion (just print the first paragraph of the invitation) Invitation to Communion (I Corinthians 1 connection) In the season of Lent, Christians around the world recognize we are traveling ever closer to the cross. Paul calls that a “stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” When we come to the table of the Lord, we recognize God’s power and wisdom shows up in a new symbolic form: bread and juice. What is ordinary becomes extraordinary. What is simple becomes elaborate. What is tiny becomes huge! For Jesus, knowing he was gathered for the last time with his disciples, offered them new meaning for familiar objects. Bread from their meal = “this is my body”. The wine they’d shared = “this cup is the new covenant in my blood”. Let us feast, for when we eat this bread and drink from the cup, we proclaim Christ’s death until he comes. Announcements We will have a bible study on the psalms – and how they get us to pause and ponder. It will premier on facebook on Wednesday at 7:00 pm. We will study Psalm 23 – how the psalm gets us to pause and ponder – God’s caring, God’s comfort, God’s generosity and God’s love. I will send out the study guide on Tuesday. Next week is the end of Daylight Savings time for the year – so we will spring forward and lose an hour. Set your clock so that you can be ontime for church. Benediction Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, is the sign that Jesus gave his critics. Now go and tell others that Jesus has kept his promise. That and all other signs point to Jesus. May you always remember Jesus words and believe the holy scriptures. Such faith will be rewarded. Go in peace! Children’s Time Key Verse: For God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Props: A handful of sand, and a piece of coal (if you can gain access to them, a pearl and a diamond) Lesson: Today I want to show you something that I got once for my wife as a gift. Would you like to see it? It was her birthday and I wanted to get something real special for her. Here it is! Hold out a handful of sand. Do you think she liked it? (Of course the kids will say, 'No') Why not, what is it? (They all will say, 'sand') Oh, I see why you are confused. You think this is sand. Well, I didn't give her sand. I gave her something that used to be sand. Actually, did you know that there is a pearl in this sand? If you have a pearl, hold it out for them to see it also You see, there is an animal called an oyster, and it gathers sand inside of its shell. And because of a lot of things happening in that shell, God has made it to where a pearl comes out of the shell. Isn't that neat? I gave her another gift at our wedding. What do you think I gave her? (some of them will probably say, 'a ring') And do you know what kind of ring it was? Hold out the piece of coal Do you think she liked it? (No) Why not? (Because it's coal) Oh, you think it's coal. Well did you know that inside this coal is hold out the diamond if you have one is a diamond? You see, God takes ordinary coal like this. And over a long, long time the earth moves a little and it gets real hot, and after a while the coal becomes a diamond. Application: St. Paul once said that God takes very simple things and makes them great, so that everyone will know what a great God he is. And do you know who he makes into wonderful things for his kingdom? You and me, if we let him. You might think right now that you're little or not as strong as other people, or maybe you don't know as much stuff as other people, but God can make you into something beautiful and wonderful. Just trust him, love him, and pray to him, and he promises he will. Remember, just like coal becomes diamonds and sand becomes pearls in the hand of God, you are never too simple for God to love and make into something great! Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for making us, and thank you for letting us know that none of us are too small, too weak, or too simple for you to do great things with. In Jesus' name. Amen. Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener - The Outlandishness of Lent - 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Lent is a solemn season in the Church calendar. Supposedly, it’s not meant to be fun, but rueful. It is a penitential time when devout Christians have typically “given up” some earthly pleasures — meats, sweets, parties, television, movies — to focus instead on spiritual growth — Lenten Bible studies, prayer groups, singular meditation-time. In the words of Lord Williams of Oystermouth, from a 2012 sermon in Rome at St. Paul’s Within the Walls, "Every Lent, we ought to be looking at the various ways in which we get involved in manufacturing the gods that suit us. Every Lent is a time to get that little bit further beyond the idolatry that constantly keeps us prisoner and draws us back to the old world. When Jesus has cleared out the temple, when he has thrown out those people involved in manufacturing religion, there he stands with his friends in a great silence and a great space." But this week’s epistle text from Corinthians finds us reading about a topsy-turvy world, a ditzy divine scenario, which suggests the Lenten season is the time when Christians should be preparing themselves not to go all centered and solemn, but to go flat out “crazy.” Paul’s declaration in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 is not about rising to be super spiritual, but about daring to be super strange. Lent is the season in the church when we actively “celebrate” Jesus’ doomed entry into Jerusalem and anticipate his criminal conviction and his cruel crucifixion upon the cross. Talk about weird holidays... Some of you will remember Aesop’s fable about an old crow who was out in the wilderness and was very thirsty. The old crow had not had anything to drink in a long time. He came to a jug that had a little water in the bottom of it. The old crow reached his beak into the jug to get some of that water, but his beak wouldn’t quite reach. So what did he do? He started picking up pebbles one at a time and dropping them into the jug. What happened as those pebbles accumulated in the bottom of the jug? Why, of course. The water rose until finally the old crow was able to get a drink. My friends, that is my understanding of the way God has chosen to work in this world. Each of us dropping in our own little pebble teaching that Sunday School class, making that visit, working on the finance committee and on the church board, making that special gift to missions, serving as an usher, etc. Each of us serving in his or her own special ministry doing that little task that may not seem so important at the time but pebbles are accumulating in the bottom of that jug, and the water is rising, and one of these days God is going to bring in His own Kingdom. That is God’s plan for creation. It is centered in this group of people. There’s an old, old story of a small country church that was given a big gift of money. They had a board meeting to decide how to spend this money. You know how church board meetings can be sometimes not here in our church, of course but in other churches. One little lady stood up and said, “I’d love to see us put a new chandelier in our sanctuary.” One old brother got up and protested. “We don’t need any new chan-de-leer in this sanctuary!” he said. “In the first place, I doubt that there’s anybody in this church who can even spell chan-de-leer. In the second place, even if we had one, I doubt there’s anybody here who could play it. And in the third place, what we really need is more light for this room!” Rapper Snoop Dog coined a phrase “Church on the move” which was the new word for last week. In Snoop Dog’s world the announcement of “Church on the move” meant it was time for him and his entourage to make an “en masse” exit from the club where they were “partying.” So in popular parlance, to say “church on the move” is to say, “it is time to leave” or “it’s time to head for the EXITS”. .