Angels Among Us (repreach 8/28/16)

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington August 28, 2022 Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 12th Sunday of Pentecost Year C Angels Among Us Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship L: Jesus said, "Love one another, even as I have loved you." P: Love is more powerful than fear; it is mightier than hatred. L: Let the love which God has lavished upon us be poured out to those in need. P: Help us, O Lord, to witness to you by the ways in which we care for others. L: Remind us, Lord, that we are called to be your disciples. P: As we worship this morning, heal our hearts and spirits and prepare us for service. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Invocation God, we come this gathering of community where there are no barriers, and all our abilities are celebrated as gifts. We come to receive your hospitality of caring for each one of us and to learn from you how to offer such a celebration to stranger, friend, chosen family, those whose faces are unfamiliar to us, and the face who meets us in the mirror. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Maren Tirabassi) Song Shine Jesus Shine TFWS 2173 Children’s Sermon Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 Most of you probably know what this is. It is a kaleidoscope. When you hold a kaleidoscope up to the light, you see beautiful colors and designs. When you twist the end of the kaleidoscope, the designs are constantly changing. I can remember when I was a child. I would spend hours looking at the beautiful colors and designs in a kaleidoscope. Sometimes I would see a design that was so beautiful that I would want to save it, but when I would move the kaleidoscope ever so slightly, the image would change. No matter how long or how hard I tried, I could never recapture that image again. That is the way it is with a kaleidoscope, it is never the same. It is always changing. We live in a world that is like that. Our world is constantly changing. People change, the seasons change, knowledge changes. Nothing ever seems to stay the same. In a world that is constantly changing, it would be nice if there was at least one thing that we could count on to stay the same when everything around us is changing. Well, there is something that never changes. The Bible tells us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." When everything around us is changing and we don't know what to believe or what to think, we can always know that Jesus remains the same. His love for us remains the same. His truth remains the same. That is one thing we can count on. Thank you, Jesus, for your love that never changes. We are so thankful that we can count on you to remain the same when everything around us is changing! (Sermons4Kids) Prayer for Illumination Eternal God, your Word speaks truth into our lives. When we humble ourselves to listen, you mature us with knowledge and strengthened faith. Open us to your Word read and proclaimed today, so we might hear and embrace the message you intend for us. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Teri McDowell Ott) Scripture Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Sermon Angels Among us August 28, 2016 Hebrews 13 This is the 4th week that we have been looking at Hebrews. Each of the last chapters of the book have a special message on what it means to be a Christian. Many scholars believe that the author takes a very sharp turn in the last chapter of the book, chapter 13. Some wonder if it was added later, but I think that it just wraps up the Christian life perfectly. When Christ is the head of your life, things are different. Your whole life just takes a different turn. You have different relationships, for different reasons and with different results. The theme of the Christian life is faith, hope and love. In chapter 11 we talked about faith, in chapter 12 we talked about hope and today in chapter 13 we put it all together with love. But not just any love – mutual love, the type of love that you can only get in community with other Christians. I got into an argument with a church member at church council, because I said that you cant be a Christian on a desert island. Reading the bible and thinking nice thoughts does not make you a Christian. The only way to truly be a Christian is to go to church and participate. What makes you a Christian is how you deal with people. How you interact with people. Not just any people, but people who have come together for a common cause. If the church is what it is supposed to be, it is not just a group of friends. The church should be a group of strangers, who have nothing in common, but who God called to journey to the same place together. Worshipping with People We Didn't Hand-Pick Writer and NPR commentator Heather King, a recovering alcoholic who has come to faith in Christ, reflected on her initial experience with the church: My first impulse was to think, My God, I don't want to get sober (or in the case of the church, worship) with THESE nutcases! (or boring people, or people with different politics, taste in music, food, books, or whatever). Nothing shatters our egos like worshipping with people we did not hand-pick …. The humiliation of discovering that we are thrown in with extremely unpromising people!—people who are broken, misguided, wishy-washy, out for themselves. People who are … us. But we don't come to church to be with people who are like us in the way we want them to be. We come because we have staked our souls on the fact that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the church is the best place, the only place, to be while we all struggle to figure out what that means. We come because we'd be hard pressed to say which is the bigger of the two scandals of God: that he loves us—or that he loves everyone else. Adapted from Heather King, "The Better Church," Shirt of Flameblog (10-23-11) If your patience is not being challenged, then it is not Christian community. The test of how well we are doing as a church is how well we are able to reach out to new people, and make them feel welcome. Not as we expect them to be but as God expects them to be. How well do we let them explore and use their relationship with God. And if we are all truly finding God in our lives, we are able to get along with one another. That is mutual love. The book of Hebrews gives several examples of places where mutual love is important. In prison, in encounters with strangers, with mentors, even while shopping and in marriage. Did you know that there is only one insurance company in America that will sell you marriage insurance, where you get a pay off if your marriage fails? You can have your fingers insured if you are a pianist, you can have your face insured if you are a model. But when you are applying for a marriage license, you cant buy insurance in case your marriage fails. You can sign a prenuptial agreement in order to protect your property. You can buy life insurance in case your spouse dies. But even money hungry insurance agencies realize that if you don’t have mutual love, then you don’t have a marriage. Your relationship with your spouse if between you and them, and God. All three of your all have to work at it. Mutual love means that God has to be a part of all of your relationships. And part of everything that you do. The scripture says Marriage must be honored in every respect, with no cheating on the relationship, because God will judge the sexually immoral person and the person who commits adultery. God will judge the person who does wrong, so that you don’t have to. We can love them even in the midst of doing what needs to be done for our wellbeing. That applies to our relationships with others as well. We need God in order to get along and connect with anybody. God should be a part of our relationships and our lives. In verse 5 and six, the scripture says Afterall he said that I will never abandon you that is why you can say the lord is my helper I will not be afraid. Because God makes a promise to us, we can rest assured, stay faithful and make the promises that we need to make. God said I will hold you in the palm of my hand, so we can say everything will be okay. God said I love you, so we can say I love you to others. God said I will provide for you, so we can freely give to others. As a Christian everything that we do should be about God. What God says to us, so we can do the same for others. That is mutual love – love where God cares for both of us equally. Hebrews chapter 13 starts out by saying treat each other life family. Open our doors to guest, because by doing so, we have entertained angels. That is a reference to the Abraham story, where Abraham invited three men into his house, not knowing that they were angels with a message from god. Tradition says that Abraham had a tent, and that he intentionally kept all four flaps of the tent open at all times in order to keep an eye out for strangers in need, in any direction. He was able to spot the 3 strangers in need from over a mile away. Now remember, the word angel means messenger from God. Angels come in all shaped and sizes. You never know who you are going to meet, who will bring a message from God. Just as I have learned to look for pennies on the ground everyday. I have learned to look for angels. Messengers who god sent into my life. There was a fascinating story in Time magazine sometime back about Melissa Deal Forth, 40, a film maker in Atlanta. It was about the day her husband Chris Deal died. It was exactly one year after he had been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. The last months had been gruesome: treatments that could not save him, nights when she could not sleep. But Melissa was sleeping soundly at his hospital bedside on the morning of Jan. 4 when Chris managed, somehow, without being seen or heard, to maneuver himself and his portable IV pole around her, out of the room and past the nurse's station with its 360-degrees view of the ward. All Melissa remembers is being shaken awake at 3:00 a.m. by a frantic nurse who was saying something about not being able to find Chris. Melissa hit the floor running. As she approached the elevator she happened to glance toward the chapel, where she glimpsed Chris sitting with a man she had never seen before. Frightened and furious, she burst through the door, firing off questions. Where have you been? Are you okay?" Chris just smiled. "It's fine," he told her, "I'm all right." His companion remained quiet, his eyes on the floor as though not wanting to be noticed. He was tall, dressed rather like Chris usually did, in a flannel shirt, new Levis and lace-up work boots that appeared as if they, too, had just been taken off the shelf. "There was no real age to him," Melissa says. "No wrinkles. Just this perfectly smooth and pale, white, white skin and ice blue eyes. I mean I've never seen that color blue on any human before. They were more the blue like some of those Husky dogs have. I'll never forget the eyes." Chris seemed to want to be left alone, and so she reluctantly agreed to leave. When he came back to his room, she says, "He was lit up, just vibrant. Smiling. I could see his big dimples. I hadn't seen them in so long. He didn't have the air of a terminally ill and very weak man anymore." "Who was that guy?" she asked. "You're not going to believe me," Chris said. "Yes, I will," she answered. "He was an angel," Chris said. "My guardian angel." Melissa did believe him. "All I had to do was to look at him," she says now, "to know something extraordinary, something supernatural had happened." She searched the hospital to find the man. There was no one around, and the security guards hadn't seen anyone come or go. "After the visit, Chris told me his prayers had been answered," she says. "I worried for a while that he thought the angel had cured his cancer. I realize now it wasn't the cure, it was the blessing he brought with him. It was the peace of mind." Chris died two days later. In the 11 years since Chris's death, Melissa says not a day has gone by when she has not thought about the angel and what he did for her husband. "Chris' life could not be saved, but the fear and pain were taken from him," she says. "I know what I saw, and I know it changes lives. Never, never, never will anyone be able to convince me that angels don't exist." (1) Not everyone feels like that, of course. In the movie Red River, tough guy Walter Brennan looks out across the horizon and sees a stranger approaching. He has no idea what the man's intentions are, but he's not looking forward to the meeting. He explains his reasoning to John Wayne, "No stranger," he says, "ever good-newsed me." (3) Well, I've been "good-newsed" by many strangers. And so have you. One of the reasons that we ought always to be kind to strangers is that some of these strangers will bless us mightily. You see, angels come to us in many forms. I have been good news by a stranger many times. The message is for us to be hospitable to others, but it is much deeper than than. We have to live each day with God in our lives, we have to include God in all of our relationships. With family, with church members, with spouse, with others, and sometimes even with ourselves. When we have God with us, then we also have mutual love present. In order to be happy we have to have faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. God is present when we show love. Amen, Song Pass it On UMH 572 Pastoral Prayer For some of us here today, Lord, we wish the summer would never end. We have enjoyed opportunities to travel, to relax, to break away from schedules and hectic calendars. For others, there is the thrill of entering the new season; looking forward to the challenges ahead. On this Labor Sunday we gather to receive your blessings once again, that we may recognize your presence in our lives and use the gifts that you have given to us in service to others. As we have offered names and situations to you in prayer for your compassionate healing love, we add our names as well. Heal our wounds, we pray. Enable us to be strong in our commitment to you by serving others in need. Keep us open always to your abiding love. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Moment for Stewardship (from Hebrews 13:16) “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (tell your own short story of sharing, or use this one) In another congregation, a man came to my office and asked if we could talk. “Of course”, I responded, and showed him to a seat. Before sitting down, he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. Jumping right into the reason he had come, he declared, “I was given an unexpected bonus at work, and I want your help, to pay some bills.” “I’d be glad to help.” “I want this to be anonymous. Would you take this cash to the utility company, and pay for a month of utilities for Elizabeth and another month for Thomas?” Dumb-founded, I saw he was handing me several hundred dollars to pay bills for two members of our congregation! I agreed to be the courier, and assured him this gift would be anonymous. He smiled, got up, lit up the room with his grin, and declared, “I think this is something that would make Jesus smile!” As we share our tithes, gifts and offerings, consider how you are doing something good as you share what you have. Imagine how your sharing will be pleasing to God! (or “Imagine how this moment would make Jesus smile!”) Prayer of Thanksgiving Holy Giver of Life, thank you for Jesus! Thank you for the teaching we continue to receive through the words of scripture. And thank you for this opportunity to “do something good”. May our gifts, and our lives, be sacrifices which are pleasing to you. AMEN (Disciple’s of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Practice humility and hospitality. Invite the lowly to your table. Remember the imprisoned and the tortured. Honor your covenants. Be content with what you have. Love God, and walk in God's ways. May the way we live offer praise to God, our helper and our strength. And may God feed you with the finest wheat and the sweetest honey. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Rebecca Gaudino) Community Time Benediction Beloved of the Lord, go in peace, knowing that God's peace will be with you always. Go in service in God's world, helping those in need, sharing the gifts you have been given. Go in love, bring hope to all. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations