Faith in Jesus Part 2 (repreach of 8/15/10)

August 14, 2022 10th Sunday After Pentecost Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Faith in Jesus Part 2 Year C (repreach of 8/15/10 Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship One: In a world uprooted at every turn, come beloved of God for replanting. Many: Our hope and weariness are mixed together, yet we come, trusting ancient promises. One: The Holy One who led the people out of Egypt, yearns to lead us, too. Many: God will not rest until all are rerooted, restored, and renewed for rejoicing. One: Let us be joined to God’s song of justice, bearing beauty into the life of the world. Many: May our lives be formed for faithfulness by the One who is always faithful. (Rev. Dr. Dave Long-Higgins, United Church of Christ Worship Ways) Opening Prayer Holy, Restoring God, we gather this morning to praise your name. Eagerly we tell of your mighty actions, building up your people. You’ve made us strong, and we offer our thanks, Giver of Life. In this hour, receive our prayers, our songs, our declaration of you as our God. Let your face shine on us and through us. Let the love we’ve been given in Jesus, the Christ, shine through us so others may be drawn to Jesus, whom we claim as Messiah, and in whose name we pray. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song O Jesus I have Promised UMH 396 Children’s Time The Hall of Faith – Kristin Schmidt – SundaySchoolWorks.com Children’s Sermon: The Hall of Faith Greet children, prepared with several pictures of well-known figures from sports or media. Hello, children of God! Can you think of someone who might be considered famous? Who are some people that are well-known and recognized? I have a few examples here to consider… (Display pictures of celebrity figures such as sports stars and movie or music greats. Use examples who have won major awards over time, and explain who they are if students are not familiar.) Now, all of these people have gained a lot of recognition and won some pretty impressive awards. How did they become so famous? Well, they probably worked very hard to get where they are. They practiced and performed a great deal in order to become well-known and earn the awards they have. We celebrate their achievements and honor the work they’ve put into their sport or trade. What do you think it takes to be famous in the eyes of God? Is that a trick question? Can we achieve notoriety for our beliefs? Well, the awesome thing is that we can be “famous for faith”, but it doesn’t take any work on our part! When we demonstrate genuine trust in the Lord, He can do great things through us, but it’s not about us. There’s a passage in the Bible that we sometimes call the “Hall of Faith.” It’s in Hebrews 11, and describes several figures who exhibited tremendous faith in God and were blessed because of it. Some of the people listed included Abraham, who was promised a big family when he had no children; or Noah, who built an ark before it started to rain and flood. Moses rescued the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Rahab trusted that God would rescue her family when the rest of Jericho was destroyed, and He saved her. Gideon believed that God could do great things with just a small army. There were a lot of people in the Bible who encountered hardship and suffering, but did amazing things for God’s kingdom. These people were not so special on their own power, but they had faith in the power of God. The people listed in this passage of Scripture lived and died, but after them came someone who lived so that we don’t have to die! Jesus lived a perfect life and gave Himself for us. We can have faith that His blood cleanses us and gives us hope. We can put our trust in God. We don’t have to do special things to be great in God’s eyes. He makes all things possible! Being strong and “famous” in faith does not depend on our ability or strength, but on God’s. Why don’t we say a prayer to thank God for faith and love? Children’s Prayer Moment (Have kids repeat each line) Dear God, Thank you for giving us faith And for being with us through tough times Help us to trust in you Thank you for your love We love you, God! In Jesus name, Amen! Passing of the Peace Prayer for illumination Open our ears and humble our hearts as we approach your Word read and proclaimed today, Great God. May we listen, discern and follow the path you intend for us. Amen. (Rev. Dr. Teri McDowell Ott, Presbyterian Outlook) Scripture Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 Sermon - Faith in Jesus Part 2 (repreach of 8/15/10) What it takes to run a 4000 mile marathon For 111 days, Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin ran across the Sahara Desert. They went through Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Libya, and Egypt until they reached the red sea. During the race of endurance, they faced 100 degree weather, freezing nights, sandstorms, tendinitis, sickness, aches pains and many blisters. In spite of all of that the hardest part for them was to find water clean enough to drink – it wasn’t like there was a water station waiting for them at any point. This was all a part of a 4000 mile marathon across the Sahara. This was quite an accomplishment. I try to be a runner, but am in no means a ready to do a marathon. But I do know that running takes a lot of practice, endurance, and perseverance. Running a race is a lot like being a Christian, a faithful Christian. Someone who was able to keep the faith, serving God until the end. Church members who weather conflict and remain joyful, loving and faithful. The epistles use the metaphor a lot of running a race who knows if Paul was a runner himself, but we know that running was an important part of the culture of the time. The Greeks were always running somewhere. Hebrews uses the running metaphor to encourage us to be ready to run the race before us. What faithfulness does As I said earlier, the message of Hebrews is for us to be faithful – to live faithful. But what does that mean. Before I talk about what faith means – let me talk about what faithfulness does. Faithfulness is loving, kind, understanding, patience, willing to wait, willing to endure. Faithfulness is the 7th of nine fruits of the spirit. Galatians list the nine fruits as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Fruit because these are qualities which take time for us to acquire, none of us are born with them, they develop as a faithful response to life circumstances. Faithfulness waits, faithfulness is disappointed and hurt, faithfulness makes a decision to be loyal anyway. The Book of Isaiah as an example of what faith does That is the message in the book of Isaiah. It starts out as a love song – let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard. Any who heard those words would have known that a vineyard is a metaphor for a bride – someone worthy of being loved, looked after, and fruitfully enjoyed. They would be expecting a happy song about a love fulfilled, instead that get a lament about a love unfulfilled, and owner who took the time to loving grow a field, who cared for it tended it, and waited for the day when the field would give good fruit. Instead the fruit was rotten and not even fit to eat. The owner is angry and vows to destroy the field for disappointing him. Jesus even talks of a fig tree which does not produce fruit and must be destroyed. The owner is so hurt that things did not turn out the way he was expecting that he vows to not only stop taking care of it, but to not rain upon it. The story reveals that the vineyard is the people of God and that God is the keeper who was expecting justice and found only bloodshed amongst his people. How is that a story of love? When the lover was hurt by those he loved? Because this is also a story of God. Love is the nature of God. Sometimes you have to love people enough to be honest with them, to tell them that they are wrong and to call them on their sin. People have to be reminded that no matter how much I love you, I can’t save you from the consequences of your actions. Sometimes we have to be told that no matter whom you are, and how stuck your are in your sin, I may be hurt, but I will never give up on you or your ability to do the right things when held accountable. That God love for us – to love us just the way we are, through the good times and bad times, always patiently waiting for the good times. A couple and their example of faithfulness A husband, who was going through early onset Alzheimer’s disease – wrote a letter to his wife of his fear of losing her, of the day coming when he would no longer recognize her, or speak to her – he didn’t want to lose her that way. She responded back to him in tears that I will continue to love you and care for you, not because you know me or remember our life, but because I will remember you. I will remember the man who proposed to me, I will remember the man who fathers and helped raise my children, I will remember the things he loved to do, the movies we watched and cried over, the times he held me hand, the times we prayed together. I cherish the obligation, commitment, and opportunity to care for you, because I remember you. And she did all throughout his illness. When he did forget her, he did forget his life, he did forget his own name and he eventually died. How is that a love story? That is a love story because that is a story of what faith does. It endures through it all. What Faith is That is what faith does – now let’s talk about what faith is. In the bible, in both the Hebrew bible and the New Testament – faith and faithfulness are used interchangeably. The Greek word is pistos. The word epistle – is a letter of faith sent to the people. Faith is to give oneself over to wholly to be loyal, to trust, and to be dependable. Faith for Christian means to have an insatiable appetite for god, to be in constant pursuit of holiness. To stay in the situation for the long haul- to endure. Those who have come before us The writer of Hebrews reminds us that faith is not just about us – it is about those who come before us. Our role models, our teachers, our parents, our mentors, those who hung onto the faith throughout the ups and downs of history. Especially in African American culture, we know that many of those who fought so hard for us to get where we are had to make a lot of sacrifices. Many of them never saw the world they were hanging onto – and we are the fulfillment of what some never saw for themselves. And yet through it all, they hung onto faith for something in the future. We can learn a lot from those who run before us. Someone once said that as we get older, running the race of faith means being determined to run no matter what, sometimes we have to be urged to lift our drooping arms, finding strength to move our aching knees and being determined to find a straight and flat course to run so that we don’t have to struggle to get up the hills in life. Running the course of faith is not a short dash to glory, but endurance and perseverance to the make it to the end. We are never alone in our race – because we have those who have gone before us, always cheering us on being an example for us. Hebrews says the our greatest example of faithful endurance is Jesus Christ, who went to the cross on our behalf, confident that one day we would understand and follow his in his journey and his example. Setting a faithful example for those behind us Our most important task in the race called life is to remember the example we set and the path we pave for those behind us. I volunteered for the Chicago marathon last year, the only way to get a jacket and a hat was to volunteer on Sunday. My job was to stand at the front of the starting line before the race. My friend criticized me and said that I should have been running, I explained that if I had run, I would have been at the back somewhere struggling all day knowing good and well that I was in over my head and would not finish. But instead I was at the start line in front of 30,000 people. With that many people in order to prevent a stampede, you have to order the runners, and put the very fastest in the front. Our job was to form a human chain so that no one started too soon, and as soon as you heard the buzzer, to get out of the way and watch the wave of humanity cross the start line on the way to finishing a race. What an amazing feeling it was to channel the energy of the fastest people on earth – a lot of people choose to run in the Chicago marathon because it is a straight flat race, where you don’t have to strain yourself to run. But to watch that energy and power go forward for that moment believing that anything is possible and that they can conquer anything in life was amazing. My point is that there 30,000 saints or more in the race who have gone before us and shown us the way. But there are 30,000 saints after us looking to us for an example of faith. God is always faithful to humanity, God is always going to understand, god is always going to call people, and God is always going to be present in the lives of the people. When we look around the room we may ask, but where are these people- how is God as work in their lives, How is Christ bringing salvation to their lives – it is a matter of faith for us to realize that they are out there, they are coming, they are discovering faith, and they are joining the race. We don’t have to step aside; the we have to step forward to lead to run the race of faith that has been set before us. Let us pray….. Amen. Song How Firm a Foundation UMH 529 Pastoral Prayer We are such a fickle people, O Lord. It is easy for us to accept greedily your blessings in times of peace, and to cry for mercy in times of difficulty. We want you to pamper us. We want to be your special people. We don't like the idea that you might indeed care for those whom we would reject. Such is our lot! We need once again to be reminded of the many ways in which we have chosen to be the "wild grapes" rather than the faithful vines. We have been given opportunities time and time again to serve you by helping others. Today we have gathered in worship to praise you and to offer our gifts. But it is our commitment and our lives of service that you would appreciate. Witness and service to you are not easy. They may require some sacrifice. We may face some misunderstanding and ridicule from others. But you call us to be faithful, to be steadfast. Help us, O Lord, to make the kinds of commitments which will bring healing and hope in this troubled world in which we live. In Jesus' Name, we pray. AMEN. (Nancy Townley, United Methodist Ministry Matters) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Scripture often uses images of athletes to encourage people in their faith journey. In Hebrews, we’re given the image of runners, surrounded by “so great a cloud of witnesses”, seeking to run with perseverance, looking to Jesus to lead the way. Life as a disciple of Christ (a follower/learner) demands regular training and repetitive action. We cannot be legitimate followers if our connection to Christ was only in the fifth grade, when we decided to be baptized. Rather, it’s a daily opportunity to grow in faith, to love more clearly, to model our life on the self-giving life of Jesus. Perhaps that’s part of the blessing of regularly participating in worship with a community of others seeking to be disciples/followers/learners. Here we engage our minds, use our ears, sing out our praise. Here we physically present our offering, deliberately sharing financial resources which represent the work of our hands. Imagine a board game, where each time it’s your turn, you have specific directions: “move ahead 2 spaces”, or “take a short cut”, or “lose a turn”. It takes perseverance to continue, and a willingness to keep participating. So it is in our lives as Christians. Gratefully, we’re surrounded by others who provide encouragement and support, AND we have Jesus who goes before us. Surrounded, and led, let us act out our faith this morning as we share our gifts, our tithes and our offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Creator God, you have formed the earth and each of us, and called your creation “very good”. Thank you for all you provide for us. Thank you especially for the great cloud of witnesses who surround us (perhaps name some well-remembered, specific folks from the congregation who have died but whose lives witnessed to their faith), and for Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Receive these gifts, and bless us as we continue to persevere in this race. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook May you remember, God has planted Your life and given you a song to sing into the world. May it be a song of healing and hope, of justice and joy. And may you discover yourself blessed again and again as you find yourself joined on the journey with Jesus. Blessings on you, beloved of God. (Rev. Dr. Dave Long-Higgins, United Church of Christ Worship Ways) Community Time Benediction During this hour of worship, we have known forgiveness, restoration and grace. Now we are sent from this place to share and to serve. May God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer go with us, guiding and blessing us as we seek to be a blessing to others. Amen. (Rev. Dr. Teri McDowell, Presbyterian Outlook) Additional Illustrations