Things We Can't See - (repreach of 8/10)

August 7, 2022 (repreach of 8/10/10) Hebrews 11:1-3,8-16 Things that we Can’t See 9th Sunday after Pentecost Year C Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship L: The Lord comes to us this day. Are you ready? P: We are ready! L: The Lord challenges us to be in ministries of peace and hope. Are you ready? P: We are ready! L: Let us praise God who calls us to serve God by helping others. P: Praise be to God who has given us hope and peace. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer (Hebrews 11, Luke 12) Creator God, maker of stars and seashores, reveal your word to us this day in which all things were made. Redeemer God, caller of disciples, light our lamps this day, dress us for action, and open the doors of our hearts and minds. Sustainer God, sender of the Holy Spirit, renew in us the faith of our ancestors, that we might claim it as our own in covenant with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Hans Holznagel) Song Faith of Our Fathers UMH 710 Children’s Sermon Our theme for worship this morning is faith. What does faith look like? Hello! I want to start with a little guessing game…what do you think I have inside this bag?? (Allow possible guesses). Do you think it’s…a puppy? Maybe a pillow? Why not? How about a book? Or a flower? Well, what if I told you that this bag had a cookie inside? Would you believe me? (Allow possible answers). How could you know for sure? Well, I guess I could prove it to you. Why don’t I take it out of the bag? (Remove cookie/treat from bag). Okay, here it is! You can see it…looks like a cookie, right? You could touch it if you wanted to, and see that it feels like a cookie. You could smell it. You can even take a bite and taste that it is definitely a cookie! But what if I didn’t take it out of the bag? You would have to trust me, and believe that it was a cookie even if you couldn’t see it. You’d have to have faith that I was saying the truth. Do you know what faith means? (Allow responses) The Bible talks about faith, and says some great things about people who demonstrated faith. The Bible says that faith is being confident and assured of things we hope for, but cannot see. Having faith means that we believe even if we cannot be physically a hundred percent sure. Can we see God? Not necessarily…we see evidence of what He has done and continues to do. But we cannot always see His face or touch him with our bodily hands. Faith means we still know He is there and that He does wonderful things for us. The Bible talks about people who demonstrated faith. There were people like Noah, who built an ark in anticipation of a flood that hadn’t started yet…or there was Abraham, who left his home to follow God; or Rahab, who trusted God when her whole city was collapsing around her. And we can be like those faith “heroes”, too! But do you know the truly wonderful thing? We don’t have to do anything special to have faith. It does not depend on us or any sort of actions we might do. Faith is not about us; it’s about God. It is about what He has already done and what He promises to do. You see, trust has to do with what we are believing. To trust someone, it helps to know they are worthy of trust. If you know me well, and you know I tell the truth, you might not have much difficulty believing there was a cookie in the bag. But if you had just met me, it might be harder to trust me. We know that God is worthy of our trust. He has already proven it, because every promise of the Bible came true! Because of Jesus, we have all we need and our lives are covered in God’s grace. That’s a pretty amazing thing to put our faith in. It’s also important to know that faith gives us hope. Sometimes our lives as Christians are not easy. Some of the people in the Bible who demonstrated faith had extreme challenges. Some of them even died! Trusting God does not mean our lives on earth will always go smoothly. But it does mean that we have a future hope for something greater. We know that there’s a Heavenly home awaiting us, and that God has promised us something much better than a cookie. We trust in Him and put our hope in what He has already done for us. Our Heavenly treasure awaits us one day, and in that we can place our faith! (Ministry to Children – Kristin Schmidt) Scripture Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Sermon Thing’s that we Can’t See Introduction A missionary family went to dinner with some other missionaries. The small children are outside playing before dinner, and when it is time to come in the hostess reminds all of the children to make sure that they wash their hands. They have been playing in dirt, she reminds them and they don’t want to get germs in their bodies. One of the little boys replies, germs and Jesus – that is all I hear about all day. You cant see either of them, but they seem to be all that anyone ever talks about. It is interesting that none of us have ever seen either, but there are people who seem to know that germs are a reality of our lives. List of things that we have never seen…. Germs, never seen outer space, never seen Australia – but we don’t question whether they exist or not. But for some reason, we love to question Jesus – is he real, what does he do, what role does he play in life. The real question is not about jesus, but about faith. Hebrews says that faith is something that you cant see, or touch, but you have to know that it is there and you have to use it. There is a difference between religion and faith. Religion is what you do, faith is why you do it There is a value to having faith in Jesus The situation of Hebrews. They were discouraged. There were told that this man Jesus was going to return and make everything better and instead things were getting worse. They wanted to start to see results – results that they could see and touch. Paul reminded them that if they were looking for the real evidence of faith – they needed to look in the lives of those who had it. We will hear more of the faith story later – but today he uses the example of Abraham. He stepped out on faith and a command from God – and he gave us all faith. There are times when we question God, we question what going on in our lives, we question why things are happening. The antidote for anxiety – is to believe to have faith. To be watchful, ready, and willing to serve. Faith is a journey – that never ends. You alre always going somewhere, trying to dosomethings for God. If you know god. The one thing that you realze that you never know god. F you have ever been called by god – you know that there is a danger of being stuck. Just because you talked to god yesterday, doesn’t make you prepared for god today. Circumstances of faith are always changing. Hebrews says something important about the people of faith. Abraham never fully saw his promise fulfilled that his ancestors would be as prosperous as the stars – he only saw that one miracle baby. He didn’t have to see the promise fulfilled, to lve by the promise. He was a foreigner, a stranger, if we are on a journey – we are supposed to be uncomfortable, feeling out of sorts, not quite fitting in or making things work – that is the nature of the life we live. But most importantly – he points our that Abraham started his journey at home – he was with family, he had a job, he had a place, he understood what was going on – and god called him to do something more- to find a new home, a new family, a new sense of direction. The home he was seeking was a new home a better home, a home with god. When we feel stuck in life it is to have a sense of homesickness – a yearning to be with god, a yearning yo be near god. To believe in the promises of god. An understanding that iam not there yet, but that is always where I am headed. Faith is a journey – where I am a foreigner in this land – makng my way home. To know that the fathers good pleasure is to give you the kingdom. But you are not there yet. What happens when you get comfortable – and start to think that you are at home, you get lazy. Carl sagan was a famous author – be he was also an atheist. If he could not see god, did nto believe in him. Once asked a pastor- you seem like a really intelligent person, why would you believe in god. You seem like a really intelligent person, why don’t you believe in god. He died, never confessing, never questioning, never having an inkling tht just maybe there s something that he cant see. Someone asked his wife why he never confessed god. She said because he was the type of person who was not comfortable believing – he needed to know. I like this quote from rick warren – god doesn’t respond to begging, bargaining, bribing, badergind of bemoaning. God only responds when we believe – when we have faith in what we cant see or understand. We can never know God – or truly what god is going in or lives. But we gotta believe in the the peace that passing all understanding. Whatever we may see in the world – we can belive that god is working it out for the good of those who believe. Everyday is a new day – every day we have to step out on faith, believing in the promises of God, never really knowing if we will see god or not. But always prepared, always vigilant. I would leave you with a a wonderful prayer by Thomas Merton that goes well with this reading, and we can almost imagine the letter-writer including it as a closing: "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone" (Thoughts in Solitude). Song Through it All UMH 711 Pastoral Prayer Lord of peace and justice, how easy it is for us to fall into the trap of complacency. We get used to doing things the way we have always done them before. We celebrate your love and rejoice in your gifts through our ministry of worship and sacrament. We place our abundance before you in offerings to enable ministries of hope to flourish. Yet we hang back. We feel that we have done enough. We think that we have met the challenge of your call to us. Wake us up! Shake us up! Get us excited about all the wondrous ways in which we can serve you! Do not let our awareness of the needs of others be expressed only in our prayers for healing and compassion. Shape us to be people of justice and peace, bringing the glorious news of your love to all people. Stretch us out! Make us truly disciples who are always ready to help others. Create in us a new spirit and a joyful energy to serve you. For we ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley Lord’s Prayer UMH 894 Stewardship Moment So often we want only to hear words of encouragement and support from scripture. We love to focus on the “Jesus loves me” positives. Yet much of the Bible challenges readers with hard teaching and difficult directions. Luke records some of this in Jesus’ teaching found in Luke 11:33-34: “sell your possessions, and give alms (offerings for the poor) … For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” How counter-cultural is this? For so many of us, we delight in adding to the possessions we own. And we’re often flummoxed by the idea of creating treasure in heaven. In addition, surely there are moments when most of us question why it is we should give money to those who are poor. Yet Jesus points out giving alms to the poor is one way to build up treasure in heaven. So you are invited to share financial gifts today, knowing some of what you give will, in fact, go to those who are poor (here name at least one of the specific ways your congregation gives to the poor). Your freely-offered gift will serve both _________ and will allow you to build up treasure in heaven. With gratitude for the challenge in Jesus’ teaching, let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Generous God, you give us so much! Thank you for giving us Jesus, who challenged his followers with so much of what he taught. Thank you for giving us the promise of your Realm, which is already here, but not yet fully known. Thank you for this opportunity to give, allowing each of us to act out our desire to have our treasure and our heart in perfect alignment. AMEN (Disciples of Christ – Center for Faith and Giving) Communion Invitation to Communion Jesus’ instructions for his disciples included his blessing for followers who were prepared and alert when the master returns from a wedding banquet. In a radical word picture, Jesus declares the master will have these vigilant slaves sit down to eat, and the master will serve the servants! How blessed WE are, when we receive an invitation to come to this Table! This is a feast prepared for Jesus’ followers, with the Risen Christ as our host. Are we prepared? Are we alert and eager for Christ to enter here? Friends, come as guests, invited to share in this meal of remembrance! Communion UMH 13 Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook People of God, made ready by God's love and mercy: Go forth into God's world to serve in ministries of justice, kindness and peace. Know always that God's peace is with you. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Community Time Benediction Live in the abundance of God’s treasure, spreading the love and peace of Christ in the world to the glory of God. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay)