Forgiveness and Beyond

September 17, 2023 Romans 14:1-12 Forgiveness and Beyond 16th Sunday After Pentecost Prelude Welcome Call to Worship (Inspired by Psalm 103) One: Bless the Holy One with our whole selves. Praise the Maker of our being! Many: Remember the mighty deeds and the good works of our God. One: The Sovereign One endows us with many gifts and equips us to do good work. Many: Remember the mighty deeds and the good works of our God. One: Holy Love entered the world without condemnation but with grace and forgiveness, mercy and compassion, redemption and restoration. Many: Hallelujah! We give thanks for the mighty deeds and the good works of our God! (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Invocation God who calls, it is you who gathers us together and forms us as a community. It is you who makes us uniquely individual and who designs us for companionship. Let us journey together this day in your presence reminded of our interdependence with one another. May we see your glory and be inspired to demonstrate your goodness and care through our lives. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Song. There is a Wideness in God’s Mercy. UMH 121 Children’s Sermon Romans 14:1-12 Choices Made in Peace By Lois Parker Edstrom Suggestions: Play tug-a-war if appropriate to your setting and situation. Teenagers playing tug of war Tug of war is a game that was first played hundred of years ago and it is still a sport enjoyed in many parts of the world. At one time a tug of war competition was part of the Olympic Games. It is a good game to play at a family reunion or other events where several people are gathered together. You need a long, strong rope. Then the people divide into two teams with the same number of people on each team. A line is marked on the ground and the purpose of the game is to pull the opposite team over that line. The two teams move back and forth as each team pulls in opposite directions. The team that causes the other team to step over the line is the winner. Playing tug of war reminds me of what it is like when two people argue. In an argument each person thinks they are right and they try to get the other person to come over to their side and agree with them. Arguments often happen when we are angry. Perhaps someone did or said something hurtful. The argument goes back and forth and, now and then, cruel things are said to one another. The Bible asks us this question: “…why do you judge your brother?” (14:10) and reminds us that “each one of us will give account of himself to God” (14:12). When you are angry it may be helpful to remember that we are all accountable to God. Instead of fretting about the actions of another person, we should try to make good choices for our own behavior. Choices made in love and peace honor God. Scripture quotations from the World English Bible Copyright 2013, Richard Niell Donovan Prayer for Transformation and New Life God of grace, we need your strength in our weakness. We confess that we can be judgmental and hyper-critical of our neighbors, family, and friends. We project our own shortcomings on others in order to deflect attention from our mistakes. We withhold and condition forgiveness, mercy, and grace from those who wrong us at the same time we seek it for the wrongs we have done. Even still, we struggle to forgive ourselves. You have shown us the better way. Help us to follow your path–receiving and extending forgiveness in a world in need of an infusion of grace for transformation. In your mercy, O God, hear our prayer, and let us forgive as you forgive. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Words of Grace Beloved, grace has always been part of God’s relationship with humanity. God does not want you condemned or held captive by unresolved anger leading to bitterness. Rather, Creator desires you to be released as both forgiven and forgiver so that all may live a life that is whole, free, and flourishing. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Passing the Peace Prayer for Illumination Open us, Eternal God, to you Word read and proclaimed. Help us not to turn from your truth or avoid your message. Help us to be receptive to the wisdom that you offer. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Teri McDowell Ott) Scripture Romans 14:1-12 Sermon Forgiveness and Beyond As we come to understand nutrition, our diets have evolved. As a matter of fact, we have lots of healthy choices for a diet. Is there a diet that is healthiest for us? Which diet brings us closer to God? Does God prefer meat eaters or vegetarians? Romans 14 starts out by saying that being a vegetarian is a weaker choice, and eating meat is a stronger choice. Really? Well when Paul talks about eating meat that has been blessed at the temple, he is not concerned about diets, but about how we like to judge the choices of one another and them separate ourselves accordingly. Sometimes it is hard for us to accept the choices of people that we do not understand. All summer, as we read through Matthew, Jesus has been preparing us for ministry to new people. Jesus led the disciples across the lake, out of their comfort zones to meet new people and to change their lives. What the disciples did not expect was the fact that the experience would change them just as much. As they got new people to take on their faith, they started to wonder if God puts us all under the same standard. Do you have to become a Jew before you become a Christian? With new people, came a whole new standard for the church. A new understanding of what grace really means. All throughout the history of our church, we have had to find a new standard of grace. Do we force new people to accept new rules? When we bring new people in, do we mold them into who we are, or do we let them be? If we are a culture where the women wear dresses to church, is it okay for young girls to come to church in shorts? And when they do come to church and don’t quite understand the rules, how do we treat them? With judgement or with grace? A certain pastor was visiting one of his parishioners, and as they were talking the conversation began to lag. The lady of the house, wanting to pick up the conversation, pointed out her window to her neighbor's back yard where the wash was hanging on the line. She said: "See that lady next door and the wash she hangs out, see how dirty it is, she never hangs out a clean wash." The pastor felt somewhat uncomfortable and tried to change the subject and quickly drew the visit to a close. As he was departing from the house the lady of the house walked out on the front porch with him and again the wash next door was clearly visible to both of them. They both realized at the same time that this wash was sparkling white, just as white as any wash could ever be. The truth began to dawn on them that it wasn't the neighbor's wash which was dirty, rather it was the window through which they had viewed the wash. (4) How clean are your windows? Where Do You Live? Which house do you live in? Judgment House or Grace and Mercy House? You and I have been challenged to deviate from the world, to be abnormal. We've received a prescription for holiness and we've put on Christ. And now we are called and challenged to live to the Lord. But we can't do it by ourselves and we sure can't do it in Judgment House. We can only do it in Grace and Mercy House. How clean are your windows? Where Do You Live? Our lesson for today – is how to give people grace and not judgement. It is about making sure that the church is a house of grace and not a house of judement. God’s grace not only welcomes new people with new ways, but it also reminds us to find joy in ourselves and what we do to serve God. Welcoming Grace In our experience "no vacancy" happens. We sometimes hear the words "no room," but we also hear a different voice. "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you" (Matthew 7:7). Lewis Smedes writes: "Why do we call grace amazing? Grace is amazing because it works against the grain of common sense. Hard-nosed common sense will tell you that you are too wrong to meet the standards of a Holy God; pardoning grace tells you that it's all right in spite of so much in you that is wrong. Realistic common sense tells you that you are too weak, too harassed, too human to change for the better; grace gives you power to send you on the way to being a better person."2 We can welcome him because he first welcomed us. This past summer a group of radio control model airplane pilots had a public demonstration of their skills: flying aerial acrobatics hundreds of feet in the air, explaining the techniques of flying, and building the model planes. The highlight of the day was when the children in the crowd were invited to become "pilots." With an instructor by their side and with special dual controls, the children flew the planes high into the sky -- two mistakes high. This implied that there was little a child could do to place a plane in irretrievable danger (beyond an expert instructor's ability to recover) if it was high enough. And it was almost a perfect rule that day, until a child and an instructor crashed the club plane, the one which had been purchased by club members so that young people could learn the sport without incurring at first the expense of a plane. Club members didn't seem to mind much. After all this is what the club plane is for: to bring along another generation in the sport they love. Risking what you have to share your joy. A welcoming grace which creates free space, welcoming space for those who will come. Thus, welcoming grace is the hospitality of which Henri Nouwen speaks when he writes, "Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend...."3 And Paul instructs: Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you (15:7). So two travelers offered lodging to the stranger who had joined them on the road to Emmaus, and he made himself known to them as their Savior and Lord in the breaking of bread (Luke 24:13-35). When "No Vacancy" or "No Room" is converted into welcoming, hospitable grace, "fearful strangers can become guests revealing to their hosts the promise they are carrying with them." Welcoming grace diminishes the distinction between guest and host and allows sharing of gifts precious.4 I like that story because it turns the table on judgement and shows us that grace is possible to new people. When reaching out to people in some way we have to accept them for who they are and love them as God would love them. It is beyond love the person and hate the sin. But bringing out the God in them, and seeing God in a whole new way. Grace Chooses Love Storyteller Bill Harley tells a simple story about a children's T-ball game he witnessed a few years ago. On one of the T-ball teams was a young girl named Tracy. Tracy ran with a limp. She couldn't hit the ball to save her life. But everyone cheered for her anyway. Finally, in her team's last game, Tracy did the unthinkable. She hit the ball. Tracy's coach began hollering for her to run the bases. She landed on first base, only to be told to keep on running. She rounded second base, and the fans stood to their feet and cheered. With one voice, they were all urging Tracy to head home. But as she neared third base, Tracy noticed an old dog that had loped onto the field. It was sitting near the baseline between third plate and home. Moments away from her first home run, Tracy made a momentous decision. She knelt in the dirt and hugged the dog. Tracy never made it to home plate. But the fans cheered for her anyway. Tracy had made her priorities clear. Love was more important than winning. And the fans cheered for her anyway. That is Grace. Those fans were living a life of Grace before the entire world In Romans, Paul is telling us that we are all different. That being a disciple means learning to accept that everybody is different. We have to accept those differences in love. When we lead people to Christ, that we let grace lead the way. And that each of us in on our own faith journey, where we have to stand before God on our own. We judge ourselves and love others. In the matter of choice, we let others chose. In the matter of faith, we all come together. In practice we are many, in discipleship we are one. I love to use the words of Romans 14 a lot in ministry – every knee shall now every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Vegetarians and meat eaters can worship the same God and sit alongside one another. The Joy Will Be Our Own Frederick Buechner has often said that as much as anything, one of the things that finally made him turn his life over to God was something that the preacher George Buttrick said in a sermon one Sunday. Buttrick said that every time Jesus is crowned as Lord and King within someone's heart, this wonderful moment takes place amid "confessions, and tears, and great laughter." Buechner says that it was the joy of that last item, the "great laughter" that caused something within him to awaken and led him to want to have this holy hilarity in his own heart. Such holy mirth and deep delight should be true of everyone who receives the gift of grace. Barbara Brown Taylor imagines that in the parable, when the farmer improbably hands the one-hour pickers a whole day's wage, there must have been hoots of laughter and some "ain't we the lucky ones" good-natured back-slapping going on. But on that great and final day when Christ shall come again and bring us to himself, we should pray not only that we will indeed discover that the grace of Jesus is more than enough to get us into the kingdom. We should also pray thatwhenwe discover that eternally joyful fact, the great laughter and joyful back-slapping will be our very own. This is the last lesson that we will learn from Romans this year. Romans tells us all that we need to know about believing in Christ, about following Christ and about being together in Christian fellowship. The closer we get to following Christ, the more obvious is becomes that we are not the same. It is impossible for any of us to love together in harmony about anything – we can never agree about anything. We will never accept the same diet, or follow the same rules, or get anything done. Unless we honor the power of grace. It is God’s grace the brings us together as the church, it is God’s grace that holds us together. It is God’s grace that works in each of our lives that keeps us devoted to Christ. One day each of us will have to stand before God and give an account of our life and of our faith. Paul’s message to us – work on our faith, create a space where others are free to do the same. Each of us lives a life where we delight in God, so that God can delight in us. The holiness of laughter reminds me of a story about C. S. Lewis. A group of theologians and scholars approached the great Christian thinker and asked him, “What is the most important theological discovery you have ever made?” Lewis smiled and responded, “I exist to enjoy God’s enjoyment of me.” I came across a wonderful quote from Nadine Stair, an 85-year-old woman from the hill country of Kentucky: “If I had to live my life over again, I would dare to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would be sillier… I’ve been one of those persons who never went anyplace without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it over again, I’d travel lighter.” What would you say if you had to finish this sentence: “If I had to live my life over, I would ...”? Don’t wait to experience God’s joy in your life. Do it now! Learn to play again. Enjoy God’s enjoyment of you. Remember Paul’s words: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13 NRSV). Amen! CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lose the Cape: Cycle A sermons based on second lessons for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, by Charley Reeb The real question is not even what is a “guilty pleasure” or what is a “sacred pleasure.” The real test of discipleship is whether we use our lives, our hands, our heads and our heart “to bring God pleasure,” to “honor the Lord,” to “glorify God and enjoy God forever” (as the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it). Does your life bring the God who is just pleasure? Does your life bring the God who is love pleasure? Does your life bring the God who created a world overflowing with “milk and honey” pleasure? Enjoying the tastes, colors, sights, smells, textures, sounds of all that caused the Creator to proclaim “it is good” — thatis what “honors” the Lord and “glorifies” God. Too many times we get sucked into piling up “pleasantries” instead of enjoying sacred pleasures. Every lesson that. Jesus teaches us in intended to give us a sense of hope to move forward You may know that the great comedian W.C. Fields died with money in hundreds of bank accounts which were never located. Wherever he went he opened a bank account. Often he used fictitious names and kept no records whatsoever of his deposits. At one point, Fields told a friend in confidence that he had over seven hundred accounts and knew exactly where they were. Unfortunately he died without telling anyone else the locations of those accounts or the name in which they were held. He had one account in Berlin that alone was said to have $50,000 in it. During the bombing of that city, however, all traces of that bank and the money were destroyed. Fields attributed this strange behavior of storing money in all these cities to a dream he had repeatedly in which he saw himself stranded in a strange city without money or friends. The dread which this dream produced in Fields’ heart caused him to open these strange, anonymous accounts in every city in which he played. (1) Still, we all want to belong to someone. If we feel we have no one to love us, no one who cares, no one to whom we belong, life becomes drab and meaningless. Mary Gordon, in her novel, Final Payments, introduces a character who represents humanity in microcosm in this need. Mrs Riesart is a patient in a nursing home where she receives generous, personal care, yet she is a deeply unhappy old woman. One of the other characters in the novel, Isabel, asks her why she is so unhappy. Mrs. Riesart replies, "I’m alone I’m old and I’m dying. There’s no one who loves me enough ... What I want is to be with someone who wants me. Wants me. Or else I want to die. I don’t seem to be dying fast enough." St. Paul speaks boldly from the pages of the New Testament to Mrs. Riesart and to all the rest of us lonely people to remind us that Christians belong first of all to Jesus Christ The key to joy within ourselves and within our community is when we find our life inside of Christ. Romans 14 says that we are never alone, our lives do not belong to us alone, we belong to Christ. When we live, we live in Christ and when we die we die in Christ. Romans 8 says that there is nothing that can separate us from Christ. Not even the judgement of another person. When I was at a craft fair yesterday, I saw a cute baby onesie that said I still live with my parents. That is true – when we are children, we belong to our parents, we are a part of a family unity that takes care of us. When we get older, we belong to our spouses – they are the ones to take care of us. When we get sick, it is the doctor who has the responsibility of taking care of us, when we die the funeral director has a legal responsibility to take care of us, and during the funeral – the pastor says a prayer and gives us back to God. In life and in death, there is someone who has the responsibility to care for us and to be with us. But all along the way, Jesus has been with us. Jesus cares for us, Jesus gives us strength Jesus gives us grace, and our hope is in Jesus. Jesus prepares a place for us in life and in death. As we stand here today – it is only through the grace of God that we stand together. Romans 14:13 says Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another, Instead make up your mind not to put any stumbling block in the way of a sister of brother. Amen. Song Freely, Freely UMH 389 Prayer Loving and merciful God, we come before you this day, fresh from a week in which we have been challenged. Some of the challenges have caused us worry and strife; other challenges bring to us clear directions for our lives. In all of this, you are with us bringing healing and peace for our lives. We offer to you names of those who are ill, who mourn, who feel lost and alienated, wondering if anyone cares about them. [Congregation may offer name of someone in the above categories for prayer]. Hear our prayers, O Lord. Bring your healing mercies to all these people we have named with our hearts and our voices. We also bring to you, loving God, names and situations of great joy and celebration, for you have been in our midst during these times as well as during the difficult times. [Congregation may offer name of someone in the above categories for prayer]. Hear our praises, O God. Bring your loving presence to all these people we have named with our hearts and our voices. For it is in confidence of your abiding love and mercy that we offer this prayer. AMEN. (United Methodist Worship Ways, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Invitation to Generosity Romans 14:7 tells us, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.” We are in covenant with God and joined in community with one another. Let us give of our resources as those who live for the good and well-being of all. Prayer of Thanksgiving Holy God, it would have been enough if you had just breathed into each one of us and given us life. It would have been enough if you had sent Jesus to show us the Way of Love. It would have been enough if you had poured blessings into our lives and challenged us to be a blessing. And yet…you continue to lead us into lives of gratitude and service. Thank you for this opportunity to share a portion of what we’ve received. Help us be spurred on to greater acts of giving and forgiving. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving). Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go in peace into God’s world to serve and help others. Go in confidence of God’s presence with you. Go into this world with messages of hope and reconciliation. Go in love. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Community Time Benediction God does not abandon us. God’s love is steadfast. May this love inspire all our relationships as we leave this house of worship, knit together in God’s love, bound as a community of Christ, guided by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Teri McDowell Ott) Additional Illustrations Sacred Pleasures by Leonard Sweet – Romans 14:1-12 There is an old Hasidic tradition. You may have heard of it before. A large drop of honey is placed on the first page of the Torah the first time a Jewish child opens the Bible to read and study it. The child is instructed to lick the honey from the page, forever imprinting the young scholar with the memory-paste of pleasure, the conviction that the study of God’s “Word” is sweet. It is what we are calling a “sacred pleasure.” “Pleasure” in life is not something most of us immediately connect to the “sacred.” Instead the word “pleasure” is more typically coupled with another word, “guilty,” as in “guilty pleasure” or even “naughty pleasures.” It’s almost as if we think that to find some activity enjoyable, or pleasurable, means it must also be suspect. Here’s my proof: an extra rich, extra dense chocolate torte. What is it usually dubbed? “Chocolate decadence.” And of course there is the old standby favorite of “Devil’s food.” AOL just came out with a list they dubbed “Ten Guilty Pleasure Movies” — meaning movies you know you shouldn’t like, but you do anyway! (Maybe like “The Blob,” or some really weepy “chick flick,” or anything with Steven Segal). What are your “guilty pleasures?” Anyone? [This is a opening for you to get interactive here if you wish.] Let me tell you one of mine . . . . My “therapists” are named Bill and Gloria Gaither. Whenever I’m depressed, I take out from hiding one of their homecoming videos, and spend the next hour or so weeping my eyes out and cleansing my body of all those built-up toxins. Come on, now. I’m not alone here. I know some of you listen to Barry Manilow when no one else is listening. I even suspect that some of you actually like music that involves an accordion. You’d just never admit it to your kids or pewmates. For some of us, a day dug into a sandy beach, listening to the waves and scanning a stack of magazines, is our guilty pleasure. For others of us, it might be making way through an eight course, five-star meal with a two-inch-thick wine list. “Guilty Pleasures.” Why do we think we have to feel guilty about our pleasures? Are we secretly convinced that deep down God doesn’t want us to have a good time and enjoy life? Are we under the impression that our Creator couldn’t possibly take pleasure in watching us creatures savor all that creation has to offer us?... . Billy D. Strayhorn, Luxuriate In God's Grace First, read the scriptural promises. The message of hope is not really going to do us much good unless we read about it. I know that millions of Bibles are printed each year. You can find a Bible almost anywhere you go. But is the Bible read? Someone has said that if all the neglected Bibles were dusted simultaneously, we would have a record dust storm, and the sun would go into eclipse for a whole week. Perhaps the situation is not quite that bad; nonetheless, it is serious. You probably have heard about the test given to students in a prominent New England high school. Asked to give answers to simple factual questions about the Bible, among the replies were: Eve was created from an apple. Sodom and Gomorrah were lovers. Jezebel was Ahab's donkey. Jesus was baptized by Moses. The New Testament gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Johnny Appleseed is a folk hero in the American heartland. Born in 1774 he traveled through the frontier country planting apple trees. What is not as well-known is that he also was a great student of the Bible and further that he shared his enthusiasm for the Bible with others. As he went about his travels he often would be welcomed to stay the night in the home of a kindly settler. During his sojourn he was observant of the personal needs of the host family. Many of these people living on the harsh, bleak frontier were lonely, frustrated and worried. Before Johnny left the home in the morning he would rip out a page in his Bible and leave it with the family. Not any old page would do but one that he thought would fit the condition of this particular family, a passage that would exude hope. In this Advent season we can be certain that God's Word has a promise to suit our personal need. Let us make this scriptural hope our own. Let us believe that the light will shine again, spring will come again, the birds will sing again, and we will hope again. Paul's final words in the lectionary text consist of a prayer or a blessing: "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." All we can say is -- Amen! CSS Publishing Company, EMPOWERED BY THE LIGHT, by Richard Hasler Second, study the scriptural promises. It is not enough to read the Bible; we also must study it. Now, I know that the common complaint is that the Bible is too difficult to understand. But I have always liked the method of Bible study proposed by D. L. Moody, the Chicago businessman turned evangelist. He said that he studied the Bible the way he ate fish. When he came to a bone he did not throw away the whole fish. Instead, he put the bone aside and finished the rest of the fish. Even so, if he came across a difficult passage in the Bible, he did not cast away the whole Bible. He just put those verses aside for the moment and went on with his reading. Inevitably he discovered that the additional knowledge he gained could be used to go back and help explain the previously obscure passage. Third, memorize the scriptural promises. Read, study and also memorize the Bible. Why do I say that? You probably know someone like the person I met once during a hospital visit. Despite his serious illness he radiated calmness, a cheerful spirit and hope in the future. He told me his secret. He had memorized the 23rd Psalm, and each day in the morning and in the evening he repeated these words to himself. Although we have just noted that millions of Bibles are available, yet there are circumstances when we do not have ready access to the Bible. For example, in the middle of the night when we cannot sleep, when we are so sick that we cannot read, and at numerous other times the Bible itself may not be handy and we desperately need to hear God's Word. The words of scripture that we memorize will be invaluable to us in those critical moments, and further they will be with us a lifetime. Fourth, and last of all, incarnate the scriptural promises. Read, study, memorize and incarnate. In other words, let us put flesh on these words of hope, and live out in our daily existence what we say that we believe. Everyone wants to belong to someone. None of us want to go through life alone, with no one to love us, no one to care. We human beings are social creatures, made for fellowship with one another, intended to live in a community. Without someone with whom we can share our lives and our love, our hopes and our hurts, we are incomplete. God was aware of this from the very first moment of creation. "It is not good that the man should be alone," God mused after his creation of Adam. "I will make him a helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:18) - and he did! God made Eve, the first woman, and Adam knew that he would never he lonely again because Eve was "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh." Adam knew that Eve was forever his, and Eve knew that Adam was forever hers, and they both knew they belonged to somebody. The problem, however, is that we human beings have forgotten to whom we belong first of all. When we are children, it is assumed that we belong to our parents. When people become adults, many assume that they belong first of all to their husbands or wives, or in these days of easy morality, to their live-in companions. A popular song of the seventies was entitled, "You Belong to Me," and its theme was that the object of the singer’s love belonged to him exclusively. Certainly this is not a But Paul also says we Christians belong to Jesus when we die. "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord." Not only do we belong to Jesus first of all while we live as Christians, but we also belong to him first of all when we die as Christians. This sort of statement sounds strange to many people because the prevailing opinion today is that when we die, we belong first to the attending physician and then to the undertaker. When a person dies, nothing can be done until the attending physician pronounces that person officially dead. Even when that is accomplished, the physician must sign a release before anything else can be done. It is as though the dead person belongs to the doctor. Then the undertaker takes charge and the dead person belongs to him. It is the undertaker who prepares the body for burial and who makes all of the arrangements. Only when the dead person is lowered into the ground is the minister allowed to give the body back to him to whom the person belonged all of the time. The minister intones, "Forasmuch as the spirit of the departed hath returned to God who gave it, we therefore commit his (her) body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust ..." - and at last, the dead person is formally given back to God to whom he (she) belonged first of all. Years ago there was a Jules Feiffer strip that went something like this: A man is speaking into the telephone and you hear only his side of the conversation. "Yes, mother, I've had a hard day. Gladys has been most difficult ” I know I ought to be more firm, but it is hard. Well, you know how she is. Yes, I remember you warned me. I remember you told me she was a vile creature who would make my life miserable, and you begged me not to marry her. You were perfectly right. You want to talk to her? All right." He looks up from the telephone and calls to his wife in the next room, "Gla Comedian Danny Kaye frequently entertains at the Palladium in London where he draws standing-room-only crowds. On free afternoons, he loves to roam around the city or take in matinees. On one such afternoon, he took in a play that was being received with the reserve we've come to associate with the British. As the play was letting out, Danny overheard the play being discussed by three British army officers who were standing stiffly to one side: "Ghastly," said one. "Beastly," agreed the second. The third was tight-lipped. He didn't say a word. One of the vocal ones turned to him. "And what was your opinion, Colonel?" he asked. The Colonel explained that he had come on a pass. "Hardly cricket to speak out under the circumstances," he added. "But if you gentlemen will excuse me . . ." and with that he strode to the box office a few feet away and bought a ticket. He was back in a moment with a ticket. "A stinker, gentlemen," he said tersely, "a stinker." (6) I like that third man's approach. Until he bought a ticket he felt he was in no position to criticize. When you are tempted to complain about what kind of parent someone else is, first ask whether you are entirely the kind of parent you ought to be. Before criticizing someone else's character, ask if you have arrived at perfection yourself. If we put our criticism to that test, most of us will be mute. For we, too, are sinners saved by grace. Do you know all the facts? Have you earned the right to pass judgement? There is a little story that actually comes from the Islamic religion that sums up the biblical attitude toward the very human tendency to pass judgement on others. There was an old man who earned his living by selling all sorts of odds and ends. It seemed as if the man had no judgment because people would frequently pay him in bad coins, and he would accept them without a word of protest; or people would claim they had paid him when they hadn't, and he accepted their word for it. When it was time for him to die, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Oh, Allah! I have accepted many bad coins from people, but never once did I judge them in my heart. I just assumed that they were not aware of what they did. I am a bad coin too. Please do not judge me." And a Voice was heard that said, "How is it possible to judge someone who has not judged others?" (7) Do you know all the facts? Have you earned the right to judge others? Only One has earned the right to judge others. He did it on a cross 2,000 years ago. And the amazing thing is that he was the most tolerant, loving, accepting man who ever lived Our natural human tendency is to homogenize our surroundings and our acquaintances so that they are virtually indistinguishable from ourselves. But this is not a healthy environment for a body of Christ. In order to remain fit, we've got to stretch and grow, reaching out to and welcoming all God's children home to Christ even those we dislike and find distasteful. While walking along a street with one of his disciples, a sage met his rival. The sage politely greeted his rival, but the man arrogantly disregarded the greeting. The sage's young disciple was furious, condemning the ostentatious behavior of the rival sage. Waiting for a while, the sage asked his disciple a question: "Are you angry at a person with an ugly face?" "No," replied his disciple. "Then, why are you angry at a person with an ugly heart?" the sage calmly reasoned. (AndrewSunghoPark, et al., "Epiphany 6: Anger," Korean Family Devotions [Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1994], 31. Where is Christ calling you to go right now to spread the gospel? Where is the "anywhere goes" in your walk with Christ? In the irreverent comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which is a send up of the King Arthur tales, there is a scene where one of the knights, Sir Bedevere is confronted by a group of villagers. It seems they have gripped one of the local women and claim she is a witch. It's very obvious that her long crooked nose is fake and has been tied on and she's been dressed up to look like a witch. Sir Bedevere questions the evidence and the people confess that they made it all up. But they still want to burn the woman as a witch. You know, we may not judge people as witches anymore, but we do judge them by everything else under the sun. We judge people by their clothing, jobs, friends, the kind of car they drive, the music they listen to, their hair style, their family and even where they live. We love jumping to conclusions, don't we? Sometimes that's ALL the exercise some of us get. That's what normal people do, right? But don't forget, we're not the normal people. We're the abnormal people. We've given our lives to Christ. And through Christ, we're called to live by different standards. God calls us to love each other and treat each other the same, no matter what. (1) The movie Coach Carter, starring Samuel L. Jackson, is based on a true story of a basketball Coach who locked his players out of the gym and the game until they focused on their schoolwork. But in the process taught them how to play, how to succeed and how to be champions on the court and in life. There's one scene where, after quitting the team, Timo Cruz wants back on, but the price to rejoin the team is impossible to pay. Coach Carter requires him to do 2500 push-ups 1000 suicide sprints within a week. Committed, Cruz hits the deck and begins. The week is over, and Coach Carter goes to Cruz to give him the assessment of his work. Carter tells him, "I'm impressed with what you've done, but you've come up short. You owe me 80 suicides and 500 push-ups. Please leave my gym." Cruz is crushed. He's worked hard every day to try to complete the impossible task, but he failed. Coach Carter turns to his team and says he'll see them tomorrow. As the coach turns to leave the gym, one of the players says, "I'll do push-ups for him. You said we're a team. When one person struggles, we all struggle. One player triumphs, we all triumph, right?" He goes to the floor with Cruz and begins doing push-ups. A moment later, another teammate says, "I'll do some. I'll run suicides too." And then, one by one, every player but one has begun to do push-ups or run for Cruz. And even though he is weary beyond belief, Cruz continues to participate along with his teammates. And finally, the last player chooses to join in as well, saying, "I'll do some..." While Carter is encouraged by their attitude, he doesn't let them off the hook. He tells his assistant coach to, "Keep countin'. Call me when it's done." But as he leaves, you know he's proud of the boys. And you know they finally get what being a team is all about. That scene teaches us a couple of things. One, like Timo Cruz, the task of standing accountable and blameless before God is impossible. There is no way we can be perfect and not sin in a fallen world. We can give it our best shot, but we will always come up short and alone. But the Good News is that we don't have to do it alone. Christ Jesus stepped into the scene and said, "I'll take his burden of sin. I'll take her burden of sin. When they triumph, we all triumph." Or as the apostle Paul writes The great writer, Pirandello once told a story about a man filled with so much dread that it drove him mad. When he fell in love with the woman of his dreams, he pretended that he did not care about her. He was afraid that if he gave in to his feelings of love for her he would lose her. He kept up this display of disinterest so long that he nearly did lose her. When he did finally ask her to marry him and she accepted, he nearly went crazy planning the honeymoon. He told everyone that they would be going to Florence and Venice. Instead he took his bride to Naples--in the opposite direction. This way he felt he could trick the misery he knew would be awaiting him in Florence and Venice. That was the only way he could enjoy the honeymoon in Naples. (2) There are some people who live with such a feeling of dread and doom about their lives that they dismiss the possibility of joy. Even when life is being good to them, they just know that it cannot last. Somewhere--sometime--somehow--something out there is going to happen to them that will wreck their best-laid plans--that will frustrate their fondest dreams--that will crush everything they hold dear. H.G. Wells once wrote a story titled “In the Days of the Comet.” Well’s story is a somewhat typical science fiction fantasy. A mysterious green vapor of unknown origin descends from the clouds and covers the earth. The vapor has the immediate effect of putting all the earth’s people into a deep sleep for three days. When they finally awake, something amazing has happened. Their inner nature is radically transformed. Petty quarreling comes to an end. Instead of seeking fame, power and wealth the people of the world seek to serve one another. Love, kindness and generosity become more important than greed or success. In short, the perfect society emerges--a society in which the dignity of every human being is honored. (3) The God of Hope. You and I are free to choose the attitude with which we confront life. We can believe that there is a five per cent chance of today and tomorrow or we can believe the Good News of Christmas that God is alive and well and at work in our world bringing in a kingdom of love and justice and freedom. We can face the future with fear and foreboding, or we can trust in the God who has sustained us through the years and has promised us that He will never forget us nor forsake us regardless of our situation. We can choose to live in continued darkness, or we can step out into the light of hope and triumph and eternal victory. We can live for ourselves alone, or we can make the world a better place to live for all persons. Doesn’t the Good News of Advent and Christmas change your attitude about life? Doesn’t it make you anticipate that sometime--somewhere--somehow--something good, not evil, is out there waiting to happen in your life? That is the kind of change that takes place when the Christ Child is born anew in our hearts.

Signs and Wonders - Repreach of 9/3/17 Encounters with God

September 3, 2023 Exodus 3:1-15 Signs and Wonders 14th Sunday After Pentecost Year A Repreach of 9/3/17 Prelude Welcome Gathering Prayer From all our life’s pathways, you have called us to this place, O Lord. Be with us as we listen for your word and seek your ways. Guide our steps and guard our lives that we may serve you more effectively in this broken world. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer Lord of summer sunshine and autumn harvest, be with us this day as we gather to encounter your word and your way for us. Remind us that we can place our trust in your eternal love. Enable us to be more effective in our witness to that love by word and deed. Guide our steps and pick us up when we falter. Dust us off and place us on the pathways of grace and service. These things we pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Call to Worship We gather hoping to see God, here in worship, we realize that we see God in one another. We can see God when we show one another honor, when we pursue hospitality to strangers, when we live in harmony with one another, when we rejoice in hope. Let us worship the visible God amongst us. (Presbyterian Outlook, Molly Spangler) Song Go Down Moses UMH 448 Children’s Sermon Shoes come in all types and sizes. There are dress shoes like we might wear to church. There are athletic shoes like we wear when we play sports. There are sandals or flip-flops for summer. Show everyone the shoes you have on now. (Pause.) We have all kinds of shoes! But why are we talking about shoes you might be wondering. Well, shoes protect our feet, but they can also serve another purpose. Raise your hand if you wear your shoes inside most of the time. (Pause.) Raise your hand if you take your shoes off when you’re inside. (Pause.) People might take off their shoes to keep from tracking dirt inside. And in some places, people always take off their shoes and leave them at the door when they enter a house as a sign of respect. Respect means to show someone you think that person is important. And that reminds me of today’s Bible lesson. God told a man named Moses to take off his shoes (Exodus 3:5). To get ready to hear about what happened to Moses, let’s take off our shoes now. I think that’ll help us understand why God told Moses to take off his shoes. I'm going to do that. If you wish, join me. Take off your shoes and show children the “bush” paper on the wall. Explain that they’ll make a “burning bush” by adding color and flames. God called Moses from a burning bush to get his attention and talk to him. God had an important job for Moses. He told Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Let’s hear what happened. Give each child a cut-out flame and a marker. As you read aloud Exodus 3:3-6, have kids write their name or draw a picture on their flame. At first, Moses was confused and wasn’t sure God could really be speaking to him. God wanted Moses to lead His people, but Moses wasn’t sure he was the right guy for the job. But God wanted to get Moses to pay attention. Move kids to the bush on the wall. Have kids choose where to add construction paper flames while you tape. Why did the burning bush get Moses to pay attention to God? You didn’t know how our bush would turn out, but you listened to my instructions. God did the same thing with Moses—he gave Moses important instructions. Just like God spoke to Moses, God speaks to us, too. God, thank You for giving us instructions. Thank You for speaking to Moses and for speaking to us. Help us remember to listen to You. In Jesus’ name, amen. Sermon4Kids Responsive Reading UMH 828 Scripture Exodus 3:1-15 Sermon Signs and Wonders Can you imagine – It is just an ordinary day at work. As a matter of fact, things are going just as expected. You are not really bored with what you are doing, But you are not pretty excited or engaged either. And all of a sudden, something catches your attention. It’s nothing really, but at the same time it is really strange and you become engaged and start paying attention. And then the thing that you are watching, starts talking to you in a most familiar voice and gives you a message that you are not surprised to hear at all – it is God talking to you. When you woke up this morning and planned your day, you certainly didn’t expect this to happen. That is the funny thing about God – you can never plan for the conversation, God just comes and talks to us. I believe that all of us have encounters with God. God comes to all of us in ordinary but strange ways all of the time, the thing is most of us are not paying attention. We are not listening so the message never really registers Usually when God makes an entrance into our consciousness – God usually wants something from us. God never just stops by to say hello, God is calling us to do something – something beyond ourselves and our immediate needs, something that makes a difference in the world. Exodus 3 and 4 are actually the most significant call stories in the world. There are many call stories in the bible, where God calls people like Moses, Jeremiah, Paul and even Peter to be more than they expected. In Exodus, Moses shares his first of many encounters with God. Just an ordinary day, when something catches his attention. When he comes to examine things closer – God says don’t come any closer – you are standing on holy ground take off your shoes. There are many cultures where you take off your shoes when you enter into someone’s space. Taking off your shoes is a sign of respect. Taking off your hat is a sign of equality. As he takes off his shoes and gets closer – God says I have heard the cries of my people, I know their pain. God says I have seen, I have heard, I know, and have to deliver. It is interesting how scripture can always address the issues of today? When you look at the news today – what is it that God has seen, has heard, knows and needs to deliver his people from? And more importantly, how is God calling you to respond? What is God calling you to do? And I think more importantly who is God calling you to be. It is interesting, because as soon as God tells Moses what God wants him to do – Moses makes an interesting response. He says who am I to do all of this work. And God kindly reminds him – well you are Moses, and I am God and I will be with you. And of course that leads Moses to ask the other most obvious question – not so much who are you. He knows that it must be God – not many other beings have the ability to talk English through a burning bush. He asks who am I supposed to tell others that you are. All of those other people who you are asking me to get moving, I need a credible authority to talk to them. Now at the beginning of their conversation God introduces himself as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Joseph There is an ancient Jewish legend that says: A young man asked his Rabbi "Why does your daily prayer say, ‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob? Why does it not simply say, ‘God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?’ " The Rabbi replied, "because, my son, Abraham’s God and Isaac’s God may not have been Jacob’s. Each generation must find God for itself, indeed, each person must find his own God." This legend touches on the passages of our lesson from Exodus 3, but with significant differences, lessons to be learned by the Israelites as they languished in captivity, lessons to be remembered by them throughout their subsequent history. I believe that that is only one God – but we each see and interpret and experience God in different ways. So sometimes we have different names for different experiences. But Moses takes the conversation a little further and says I needs to know you name. God’s name is Yahweh, which because of pronounciation some say Jehovah. I have a whole sermon about the name of God. But today I just want to point out that God says I am who I am. Actually he says I will be who I will be. I will be a deliverer, I will be a provider, I will be faithful, I will be with you. It is important for us to know that old testament because it is a mirror of the new testament. In the book of John, Jesus makes 7 I am statements – I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the door of the sheep, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way that leads to life, I am the true vine. That brings us back to our original question, who are you in an encounter with God. There is a Hasidic tale that reveals, with amazing brevity, both the universal tendency to want to be someone else and the ultimate importance of becoming one's self: Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said, "In the coming world, they will not ask me: ‘Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me: ‘Why were you not Zusya?' "6 Moses the excuse-maker becomes Moses the liberator as God's call and support comes clear. Our liberator is Jesus Christ who liberates and frees so we may be exactly what God intends. Joseph Campbell , a great spiritual writer who encourages everyone to find their callng says, "Go where your body and soul want to go, when you have the feeling, then stay with it and don't let anyone throw you off." Federick Buechner puts it this way: "Where your deep gladness intersects with the world's deep need -- there you have a vocation, a calling." Paul Wilkes, in his book Beyond The Walls: Monastic Wisdom For Everyday Life, writes, "If monastic wisdom has anything at all to say to our modern world, it is that our labors, humble or vaunted, are potentially an unending source of holiness, purification, and grace. Monk or mechanic, computer programmer, writer, forest ranger, stockbroker -- all can be worthy, even sacred vocations." God is calling us today – to answer that call. God is Power, fidelity and presence. I will be who I will be – God says this is my name forever, to all generations. God will always be. There’s a lot going on in our world. There is a lot that needs to be done. Where do you fit in. There is, I think it is true to say, something a little bit depressing about Labor Day weekend. For Labor Day weekend signals the psychological end, at least, to summer with its periods of refreshment, and the start again, for many of us, of the more hectic rhythm of life and work at school, in college, at office or, in home. So let me ask you: How is your work? Are you giving of your self at work? Is work a place where you sacrifice for a cause? I find it helpful to remember the story of the little girl who, in the process of growing up, discovered that more than anything else she wanted to be able to mow the lawn. But each season she was told that she was too young. The great day came, however, when her parents decided that, at last, she was old enough to do the task. She did it with surprising skill and great delight, and having finished admiring her work, she began to cast long, envious glances across the fence at the neighbor's lawn, which also needed cutting. The neighbor, seeing her interest, said, "Sally, would you like to cut my lawn?" And the little girl enthusiastically said 'yes.' "Well, let's see...how about $3.00?" said the neighbor. The little girl's face fell, and she turned away, shaking her head. "What's the matter?" asked the neighbor. "I only have $2.00," said the little girl. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com. Adapted from a sermon by Rev. C. Wayne Hilliker: "Living A Life That Matters" When you go to work tomorrow – expect God’s call. Let us pray…. Song. I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. TFWS. 2129 Pastoral Prayer Stewardship Moment So often Jesus’ words in the Gospels are upside down from what we would expect to hear. In Matthew 16, Jesus teaches his disciples “if you want to become my followers, take up your cross…”, and “if you want to save your life, you’ll lose it.” Such an upside-down world continues when we find our greatest delight in GIVING, rather than in receiving. A woman, traveling alone in the mountains, found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry. The woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his great fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman. He declared, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone.” The woman smiled, “The joy of giving!” https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/joy-giving-very-short-story-betty-garrett/ Prayer of Thanksgiving Ever-giving God, because we are your beloved creatures, we know you’ve first given us such abundance: air, water, land, love, life. In gratitude, we now offer you a portion of what you’ve given to us. Accept our gifts, Holy One, as signs of our love for you and our desire to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Help us use these resources to share your Good News with those who struggle to live. AMEN (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Communion UMH 13 In the US, this is the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Despite the origins of Labor Day, for many, it is the last weekend of the summer, and offers one more 3 day weekend before the push of school, fall, and a long stretch of routine and rush. Many folks make this a picnic weekend, a last trip for camping, getting to the lake, or going to see Grandparents. Wherever you find yourself, let us also take this as a time for giving thanks, remembering, and sharing together around the table to which Jesus invites his followers. For we gather, in person or on line, in gratitude for the work Jesus has done for us. In thanksgiving, we share in a simple feast of bread and juice, signs and symbols of the life, death and resurrection of the one we claim as Lord. So as we participate in communion, we give thanks for the work of Jesus: healing, teaching, loving and pointing us to God. May we recognize our place in the communion of saints, and commit ourselves once more to life as disciples (followers) of Jesus. The Table is spread, and all are welcome to share the feast. (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Remember, as our time of worship draws to a close and our lives of service begin anew, go out into the world in peace. Return no one evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, love everyone. That God’s light and love, justice and joy, might be for you and all people everywhere. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Molly Spangler) Community Time Joys and Concerns Benediction Jesus has called you and placed his trust in you. Go into this world, bearing the words of hope and healing. Reach out to others in compassion. For it is Jesus’ name, that you are sent out to serve. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley)

So, Who is this Jesus Anyway?

August 27, 2023 Matthew 16:13-20 So, Who is this Jesus Anyway? Pentecost 13 Year A Prelude Welcome Invocation God of Many Names, we gather as a people formed by you. You drew us from the primordial and gestational waters. You give us breath and life and being. You meet us in the sanctuary and on the sofa. You call us by name with purpose, care, and love. May our time together in this space, online or onsite, remind us of our connectedness to you, each other, and all creation. May you be glorified, honored, and worshiped in spirit and in truth. May we be rooted, challenged, and encouraged in love. We welcome your presence among us. We seek your guiding Spirit. We place our trust in you. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Call to Worship Family of God, as we gather today, Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Messiah, the Son of the living God! Family of God, as we gather today, the Holy Spirit asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Comforter, Advocate, and Sustainer! Family of God, as we gather today, God the Father asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are our Creator, Provider, and Healer! Family of God, as we gather today, the Triune God asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” You are Love that creates, saves, and enfolds us into the family of God! May we be instruments of Love in all that we are and all that we do. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, March 2023. Song. Take My Life and Let it Be. UMH 399 Children’s Sermon • Good morning! • I have some questions for you about superheroes. • A lot of superheroes have two different names, right? • They have their normal name and then they have their superhero name. • For instance, do you know the normal name of the person who is Spiderman? (Peter Parker) • How about the normal name of the person who is Batman? (Bruce Wayne) • And the normal name of Superman? (Clark Kent) • You really know your superheroes! Can you tell me how you learned so much about them? • (If you don’t receive an answer, ask: Is it because you read, watch, and pay attention to stories about those superheroes?) TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway) • Even though you know both the normal and superhero names of those superheroes, most of the people who are in those superhero stories do NOT know both names of the superhero. • Instead, it is only the people who are closest to those superheroes who know both of their names, who truly know who the superheroes are. • In today's scripture story, something like this happens with Jesus and his disciples. • Jesus asks his disciples who other people say Jesus is -- and there are lots of different answers – answers that are incorrect. • So then Jesus asks his disciples who THEY think he is. • Peter says "You are the Messiah" and Jesus says, "You are right! And, because you know who I am, you will help others know who I am." SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination) • The reason Peter knows who Jesus really is and other people do not know who Jesus really is because Peter and the disciples are paying close attention to Jesus. • Peter is a student of Jesus. He follows Jesus and goes wherever Jesus goes. He’s watching and listening to Jesus. • Because he does this, then he learns both of Jesus’ names. He knows Jesus the teacher and he knows Jesus the messiah. • And guess what? • We can know Jesus in the same way that Peter does. • We, too, can follow Jesus and learn from him. • And the way we do that is the same way you learned both names of the superheroes we talked about earlier – by reading, discussing, and paying attention to the stories – in this case the stories about Jesus. • This is one of the reasons why we talk about the Jesus stories when we are in worship and in Sunday school classes... • ...so that we can learn from Jesus and learn about who Jesus really is by reading and discussing the Bible stories that are about him. • And, the more we learn about Jesus, the more we can help others learn about Jesus, just like Peter did. • That's the good news for today. Let’s pray. CLOSING Prayer • This is a repeat-after-me prayer. Dear God, Dear God, Thank you for stories of Jesus… Thank you for stories of Jesus… …that help us learn… …that help us learn… …who he really is… …who he really is… …so that we can help others learn… …so that we can help others learn… …about Jesus and you. …about Jesus and you. Thank you and Amen Originally posted August 26, 2017 Updated on July 27, 2023 Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia View more children’s sermons here This material is the copyrighted property of rfour.org and Nathanael Vissia. It is also free. Please use, improve and share this material. But do not sell it or require any personal information for it. Affirmation of Faith Nicene Creed. UMH 880 Passing of the Peace Scripture. Matthew 16:13-20 Sermon. So who is this Jesus Anyway? It has been said that the church is one generation from extinction. I have heard that saying all of mu ministry, but now it seems more relevant than ever. The changes in our world seem to take over so rapidly. I think that in the midst of those changes, it is important on our task and mission. To stay focused on the words of God and the story of Jesus. Matthew is pretty good at telling us the story of Jesus. And as we have been following Matthew all year, he has been really good at telling us the mission of Christ and how Jesus worked so hard to drill the mission and ministry of the church into the disciples, so that the disciples could drill it into us. The foundation of our faith is who we are, who Christ is, and what we are called to do for the rest of the world. Speaking of foundations, out scripture for today is all about foundations. This story of the disciples gathered together just before the transfiguration, where Jesus reveals himself is a turning point. This is when things get real, and Jesus acts upon his true power. This is a turning point because this is where the disciples move from confused, needy students to trusted colleagues in the ministry. In this story Jesus literally establishes Peter as the foundation, the rock of the church. He goes from Simon Ben Jonah, becomes Rocky. I will talk a little more about that later. But what stood out to me as I read this chapter this time – was that the foundation of the church was established just outside of the gates of hell. I will build my church on the Rock. The gates of the underworld wont be able to stand against it. I’ll give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. In other words, the church has been in danger of dying since its beginning. The gates of hell represent death. The Authority of the Church There is general agreement that the phrase "the gates of Hades" is poetic language for the power of death (see Isa. 38:10). What is meant is that the congregation of the new covenant will persist into the age to come despite all the efforts of the powers of darkness to destroy it. "The gates of Hades" may here represent a defensive posture: death will strive to hold in its prison house all who have entered its gates, but the Messiah's congregation will triumphantly storm the gates and rescue those destined for the life of the age to come. Douglas R.A. Hare, Interpretation: Matthew, John Knox Press,1993, p.191 Death is a threat to our bodies, our minds, and our spirit. Anything that we build up and create, is going to be destroyed one day. Death is the way of the world- it is what happens in life. And yet and still, Jesus has intentionally given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He says that whatever we unlock on earth witll be unlocked forever, whatever we fail to unlock, we remain unlocked forever. We don’t have the power over death, but we do have the power to unlock, to create, to build, to move forward. It is God that sustains his plan and moves our work forward. Authority What did Jesus mean by "the keys of the kingdom?" The day in which Jesus spoke there were religious teachers known as scribes. These scribes were the teachers of the bible. The scribe wore around his waist a belt and on that belt hung some keys which were symbolic of the knowledge of that scribe. Jesus said, “I am going to give you keys that will unlock heaven and will lock up the powers of hell and bind the devil and loose the power of God." What are those keys that Jesus gave to Simon Peter and what are those keys he has given to you. The keys of the kingdom are the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Adrian Rogers, Sermon on Matthew 16:13 What Doors to Unlock In our I.D.-electronic-cryptic-cyber-coded age, keys are not only physical things that plague our pockets and puncture our purses. Many keys are mental, hauled about in the mainframe of our minds. "Hey, what's the key code to open the garage or raise the gate or log onto the computer or access the ATM or retrieve the messages or unlock our memories?" I wonder if Peter ever thought about returning the keys to Jesus, tossing them back to the Fisher King and saying, "Thanks, but no thanks." On the one hand, the vote of confidence must have been nice. Everybody loves to get a promotion, to feel that affirming slap on the back, to pocket the key to the executive washroom, to get the strong handshake and have a superior say, "OK, you're in charge now." Everybody loves it until they are in charge and they can't figure out which key goes to what door and everybody needs them to open every door right now or to lock every door right away. No one cares that the keys aren't labeled and there are a thousand of them to sort through. You've got the keys. You're in charge. Act like it! I can't tell you how Peter felt that day when Jesus promised him the keys or how he felt a few days or weeks later, because I'm not Peter. Not only am I not Peter, I'm a Presbyterian. So, I'm not standing in line hoping to be handed the pontifical keys to the entire church of Rome one day. In fact, as a Protestant Christian I happen to believe that I've already been given the keys and that's a major part of my problem. To the extent that you and I are key holders to the church of the risen Christ and provide some sort of access to the glorious realm of God, we've got a key problem and a much more serious one than how to haul all of them around. As keepers of the keys, we've got to figure out what do with them, what doors to open, what windows to unlock. That's the whole point, isn't it? Gary Charles, Keys In our modern Christian Folklore, we have heard a lot of stories about Peter and the Pearly gates. This is where the image comes from. I think that we see cartoons of Peter at the Pearly gate every day and every news story. In the cartoon we see the clouds, we see a gate, and Peter is standing outside of the gate usually refusing to let someone in, until they say or do what the artist wants them to do. Believe it or not, Peter has not always been so powerful. And that has not always been how this scripture was interpreted. The Church was always had leaders. But it seems that the catholic church didn’t really establish the office of pope until the 16th century. It was then that they started to officially talk about church leadership and talk about qualifications of church leaders. And they used this scripture to establish the position that Jesus touched Peter, and Peter passed his leadership on, so that every bishop had been touched by someone who touched peter. Until the church was established, Peter was just a normal fisherman. In the bible and in the protestant church – Peter represents us – the ordinary faithful person, just trying to navigate life and figure out how to keep a relationship with God. In the bible, anything that Peter does, we can do to. Any power that Peter has, we have that Power, authority and responsiblility also. There is one cartoon of Peter at the Pearly gates, he is standing at an open gate, but with no keys, no clip board, no judgement. He is standing there welcoming each person as they come in. His power is in opening the door to heaven and letting people in, not keeping them out. Perhaps that is where our power lies as well. What we unlock stays open forever, and what we don’t unlock stays locked forever. The future of the world is in our hands, the future of the church is on our shoulders. I know that I have told this story before – but it is appropriate. Who Do People Say You Are? I have a friend who’s principal of an elementary school in North Texas.One day there was a minor altercation on the playground – a second-grader pushed one of his classmates off the slide, and, while she wasn’t hurt, it could’ve been dangerous. The teacher sent for the principal. She talked with the children in the hallway outside their classroom. She got their story and then explained the seriousness of playground safety and how important it was to be nice to each other. When she finished, the little boy apologized, and that was that. A couple of days later, she happened to see the little girl with her mother in the checkout line at the grocery store. She smiled and they waved discreetly to each other. She got into the adjacent checkout line, but was in earshot of the little girl. She overheard the mother ask her daughter, “Who was that lady who just waved to you?” The little girl said, “She’s works at our school.” “What does she do?” the mother asked. The little girl said, “She helps people apologize.” My friend told me later, “It helped me to think much more clearly about what I do in my work, beyond titles and status, to what actions I take that make it meaningful.” A band director friend told me about going back to a community where he’d once taught. He said it was fun getting reacquainted with band parents and friends he hadn’t seen for years. He said he was standing on the sidewalk downtown when a young man came up and asked, “Do you remember me?” He didn’t have a clue, but then, he’d taught a lot of students, and they had long-since grown up. He said, “You’re going to have to help me out here.” The young man told him his name and said, “You’re the one who introduced me to the world of music, and I just wanted to say thank you.” Who do people say YOU are? Philip W. McLarty, The Unspoken Question People know us by our actions. Who are we in the world? It all depends on who Jesus is for us. Is he a teacher, a guide, a prophet, a Lord, A savior? In Matthew 16 the disciples had a better understanding of who Jesus was. In his teaching, Jesus liked to ask a lot of questions. Jesus asks over a 100 questions in the bible. But today he asks the most important question – who do you say that I am. Peter came to realize that he was the Son of God. Peter’s faith becomes the rock of the church. We are the church today, and the church remains one generation from disappearing. Sometimes that generation turns into a day. And sometimes the day that we have turns into a moment. The church can be only a moment away from disappearing. Literally in one moment in this story Jesus is praising Peter and calling his his rock. And the next moment he is telling Peter to get away from him because he is satan. Peter never gets a chance to redeem himself in Jesus lifetime. But he goes one to truly be the foundation of the church. This is another of those stories that is told in all 4 gospels. But it is told in Mark, Luke and John in different ways. Matthew is the only gospel to use to the word church. That is probably a later edit of the book. But it is intended to make us a part of the story. It is intended so that we can tell this story today – and witness the life of the church. The keys have been passed on to each of us. What is our power to overcome the gates of hell. The power to confess to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. One Word: Jesus William J. Bausch tells a story that says it as well as it can be said. The story says that God created the heavens and earth and everything in them. He created them by His words. God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. This happened with everything. God was proud of His work. He was especially proud of the man and woman which He made. But the devil was jealous and angry. One day when God was enjoying the man and woman, the devil slithered up to God and asked him why he liked those strange human creatures so much. When God opened His mouth to speak, the devil craftily put a bond upon God's tongue. God could not speak, not even one word! Since God's creative power was in His words, the sly old devil had bound God's power. The devil laughed at God and then proceeded to corrupt man and the woman. Aeons went by, and the devil came back to scoff at the silent God and mock Him. God responded to this by holding up one finger. "One?" asked the devil. "Are you telling me that you want to say just one word?" God nodded. The devil, thought, "I suppose that even God could not do much with just one word." So the devil removed the bond from God's tongue. Then God spoke His one word in a quiet whisper. He spoke it for the man and the woman. It was a word that gathered up all the forgiveness, love, and creativity God had stored up in His heart during His long silence. His one word was "Jesus." And that is the word that changed everything. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Jesus us our rock. When we remember that, we will win the race. The Triumph of Jesus In 1896, after fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic games, thus fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. You can imagine how proud the Greeks were to host the first modern Olympics. You can also imagine how disappointed they were at their athletes' lack of success in event after event. The last competition was the marathon. Greece's entrant was named Louis, a shepherd without competitive background. He'd trained alone in the hills near his flock. When the race started, Louis was far back in the pack of marathoners. But as the miles passed he moved up steadily. One by one the leaders began to falter. The Frenchman fell in agony. The hero from the United States had to quit the race. Soon, word reached the stadium that a lone runner was approaching the arena, and the emblem of Greece was on his chest! As the excitement grew, Prince George of Greece hurried to the stadium entrance where he met Louis and ran with him to the finish line. In this sports tale we have something of the history of the human race. Most historical figures make their impact, achieve a measure of fame, books are written about them, but as the years go by they begin to fade. Less and less is written or spoken of their lives until they rest in relative obscurity. With Jesus Christ, however, one finds quite an opposite phenomena! Christ started from way back in the pack. He was born in relative obscurity, never had many followers, commanded no army, erected no edifices, wrote no books. He died young, was buried in a borrowed grave, and you'd think he'd be quickly forgotten. But, no! His reputation has grown so that today he is worshiped on every continent, has more followers than ever before, sixteen times has his picture been on the cover of Time magazine, and his sayings have been translated into more than 200 languages. Stephen M. Crotts / George L. Murphy, Sermons For Sundays: After Pentecost (Middle Third): The Incomparable Christ, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. ___________________________ Amen. Song. Forward Through the Ages. UMH 555 Morning Prayer Lord, we hear the wonderful words from Matthew’s gospel in which Simon Peter acknowledges Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. He is given the name Peter, the rock upon whom the church will be built. We would like to be the kind of “rock” that Jesus could count on – to be strong in the face of adversity; brave when danger is present; compassionate when sorrow and strife prevail. You have called us to be your church and we ask for your transforming love that we might be better witnesses for you. Today we name in our hearts before you people that we love who are dealing with sorrow and illnesses; people who feel abandoned and alone; people who are entering schools and colleges, military service, the workforce. We also name those people and situations filled with joy and hope; a new home, the birth of a child, celebrations of special occasions, and often just a beautiful day. Hear the cries of our hearts to you, O God. Heal and transform lives. For we ask these things in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Matthew 16:16 is known by many Christians as “the Good Confession”. In some congregations (yours?), individuals coming to join the church are asked to make a confession of faith, declaring “I believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God”. When we not only speak this, but we believe this statement, we want to align our life with the life of Jesus, who came to show people the Way of Life. Week by week, we acknowledge one way of moving into alignment is to share gifts with the One who has first given to us. Shirley Erena Murray, a contemporary Christian song writer, puts this idea into words with the hymn “Take My Gifts” (CH#381). (if you can sing one verse, do so. Or invite the congregation to sing!) “Take whatever I can offer – gifts that I have yet to find, skills that I am slow to sharpen, talents of the hand and mind, things made beautiful for others in the place where I must be; take my gifts and let me love you, God who first of all loved me.” Let us offer our gifts to God, with thankful hearts. Prayer of Thanksgiving Receive these gifts, Lord God, as signs and symbols of our desire to line up our lives with the life of Jesus, the Christ. By your power, multiply these gifts and challenge us to be ever-more generous, that we might share the Good News of your love with this hurting, hungry world. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Resist the powers that use people. Hear the cries of the weak. Dare to work for justice. Know that God—Source, Word, and Spirit— is your help, will keep you safe, and will bring you new life. You are blessed by God and sent to serve. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Mary Boyd) Community Time. Joys and Concerns Benediction As you go, take the keys of heaven with you. Unlock hope in a world in need of encouragement. Loose joy where there is despair. Give peace room to grow. Release love with every encounter. And the God of hope, joy, peace, and love will be with you. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Boyd) Additional Illutrations

Beginnings and Forgiveness

Genesis Back to School Blessing August 20, 2023 Year A Prelude Welcome Call to Worship L: This is the day that the Lord has made! P: Let us rejoice and be glad in it! L: This is a day of new beginnings! P: This is a time for growing into new disciples for Jesus. L: Come, let us prepare ourselves for worship P: Let us be prepared for service to God. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters) Song This is a Day of New Beginnings. UMH 383 Children’s Sermon (eraser object lesson) Responsive Prayer Leader: There is always something wonderful about returning to school, O God. Even those of us who no longer go to school remember it fondly at this time of the year. People: Seeing old friends again, meeting new ones, having good teachers, going to ball games, exploring new subjects—it is always exciting and promising because it opens new vistas in our lives. Leader: We thank you for the opportunity of pursuing our education. Learning is one of the great privileges of life. People: We are grateful for chances to grow all of our lives, and to develop constantly into wiser and better persons. Leader: We pray that you will help us to seek renewal of our selves in this new season. People: Let your Holy Spirit challenge us to new goals and achievements in our spiritual lives, so that we may become the persons you have intended us to be. Leader: Teach us the things Jesus knew about love and service and sacrifice. People: And show us how to share our wonderful lives with other people who have been less fortunate than we, so that together we may attain your kingdom, All: And rejoice in your power and your glory, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters) Scripture Genesis 45:1-15 Sermon Beginnings and Forgiveness The title of our sermon today is Beginnings and Forgiveness. As we take the time to bless all those who are beginning a new school year, what does that have to do with a scripture on forgiveness. One of the prayers for back to school that I saw this week was a prayer for peace in dealing with all of the mess we have to deal with in the coming year. As long as there are a community of people in school there will be conflict and the need to forgive. Anyplace that there is a community of people – there is the need to forgive. All of us have been in a situation where we feel slighted. How do you deal with that situation? How do you move on? We had a friend who had a good sales position, making almost $50,000 a year. But then the office ran into hard times. Stress mounted and relations between sales representatives and the management broke down. When the office closed down, those who remained refused to give our friend a helpful reference. He was unemployed for two-and-a-half years and never did find a decent job in his profession. He was bitter. He often wished he could bring down those executives who still had cushy jobs but had sent him out without even as much as a good word. I would say that one of the most important lessons of the bible – is that when something happens to us in life, we need to get over it and move on. Whatever it is, deal with it, and get over it and move on. That is hard to do in real life. There are things that we are going through that will take years to get over, and many times we never move on. And yet that is what life is all about. Perhaps that is why Jesus spends so much time teaching us how to forgive, teaching us what forgiveness means and teaching us that God is always in the act of learning how to forgive. Suddenly that world hears a familiar voice: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." Are you listening, Joseph? "If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you." We have to remember, that forgiveness is not about releasing our feelings for the situation. Forgiveness is about releasing ourselves and not carrying around the pain. Chuck Swindoll illustrates this in his book, Seasons of Life. He writes that during his time in the Marine Corps he and his wife rented a studio apartment from a man in south San Francisco named Mr. Slagle. During World War II Mr. Slagle was captured at Wake Island and for years he languished in a prison camp. It was in the prison camp that an enemy soldier struck him with a rifle butt and injured his back, which plagued him the rest of his life. Swindoll tells that every single time he visited his landlord he would relate story after story of how barbarically he had been mis¬treated. Using vile language and intense emotion, he spoke of the tortures he endured at the hands of his Japanese captors and his utter hatred for them. His pain and misery were constant reminders of his hatred. But there was another factor which made his existence even more lamentable. Our landlord became a bitter man. Even though (at that time) he was thirteen years removed from the war ... even though he had been safely released from the concentration camp and was now able to carry on physically ... even though he and his wife owned a lovely dwelling and had a comfortable income, the crippled man was bound by the grip of bitterness. He was still fighting a battle that should have ended years before. In a very real sense, he was still in prison.[2] You cannot conceal bitterness because it raises its ugly head often. The root of bitterness bears the fruit of bitter actions. Bitter¬ness imprisons us as we refuse to forgive a friend, relative, or stranger for a sinful, foolish, or sometimes ignorant act. Inner tor¬ment will ride alongside us every day of our lives until we forgive. When we decide to disclose the problem to Christ, that is the be¬ginning of forgiveness and healing. We all know that bitter person who holds a grudge for something that happen years ago. When the man fired was able to move on, he was able to enter in to a new field of work and was much more fulfilled in life. The landlord on the other hand remained bitter for years, It was as if he was carrying that burden with him forever. When we think of the lessons that Jesus taught us, we often assume that Jesus was correcting the religious values that he grew up with. We have all heard that the old testament is all about justice. That it was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If someone did something wrong to you, then justice was making sure that the same thing happened to them. Revenge was a part of justice. But we forget that where there is God’s justice, there is also God’s mercy. The book of Genesis, the very first book of the bible has two very moving stories about forgiveness. We read the first one a few weeks ago, when Essau embraces his brother Jacob after years of disrespect. The story of Joseph is the second story of reconciliation and forgiveness within the family. Joseph was a man of integrity, he showed mercy along with justice. Our lesson in this story is we all should do the same. Joseph was spoiled and entitled growing up as a child. He was a terror to his older brothers, so much so that they felt that they had to get rid of him. They sold him into slavery in Egypt. The circumstances in his life helped to develop his character. Not only was he honest and upright. But as he matured in a strange environment, he chose to remain a God fearer. God was a big part of his life. He paid for his faith, and yet he stuck with it. The bible tells us of the struggles that he went through, but his faith allowed him to overcome. His greatest temptation was how to treat the brothers who has wronged him so long ago. Joseph not only forgives them, he helps them. Before Jesus, Joseph is our example of faith and integrity. Mark Twain once quipped, "Don't expect too much of human beings. We were created at the end of the week when God was tired and looking forward to a day off." Nonetheless Richard J. Leider and David Shapiro have listed common threads of people who possess lifestyles rich in purpose: • They have a purpose larger than their own needs, wants, and desires -- a sense of how their lives and work fit into the larger scheme of things. • They have an internal compass which keeps them "truing" to their purpose in life. • They have clear boundaries around their two most precious currencies -- time and money. • They have a sense of their potential talents, the limits of which have not been fully tested. • They have marked adaptability when faced with obstacles. • They have a strong spiritual core. • Their abundant energy is infectious. • They have a feeling of lightness -- a sense of being unburdened by the burdens they are carrying.2 Do you need to forgive someone? "To forgive is to put down your 50-pound pack after a 10-mile climb up a mountain. To forgive is to fall into a chair after running a marathon. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that prisoner is you. To forgive is to reach back into your hurting past and recreate it in your memory so that you can begin again."(6) Then that ancient spiritual takes on a wonderful new meaning: "Free at last, Free at last. Thank God Almighty, I'm free at last." Amen! Close your eyes. I want us to use our imagination now. God, sanctify the imagination of each person here. Help each of us to use this remarkable capacity of imagination which you’ve given us to bring healing and power to our lives. Now keep your eyes closed as I guide your imagination. Picture yourself with a trash bag. Get it. A big trash bag, moving through every room of your life; select the stuff you need to leave behind, I’m talking about self-pity and illegitimate responsibility. Put it into the trash bag. What cancelled sin still has power over you, what hidden hatred, what frustrating fear, what devastating doubt, what powerful prejudice. Put it in the trash bag. Do it. Act it out in your imagination. Put it into the trash bag. Is there an unresolved relationship with a husband or wife, a parent or a child, a neighbor? Is there a jealousy you’ve never brought out into the open? Put it into the bag. It could be any number of things. You know what weighs you down, and what stuff you don’t need to take into the New Year. Put it into the bag. Be specific now, in identifying and visualizing all the stuff in your mind to put into that bag. Now stay with me in your imagination. Get in your mind the picture with which be began the sermon – the junk man with his cart filled with cast off clothing, discarded furniture, all sorts of abandoned useless things. Do you see it in your mind? He’s passing by. In your imagination now, throw your trash bag onto the junk wagon and let it be taken away. Have you done it? In your imagination, just cast it onto the junk wagon to be taken away. Be silent now and enjoy the relief and release of getting rid of that burden. Open your eyes now, but keep the image of the trash man in your mind for a moment, taking all your trash away. Now substitute for the image of the junk man, Christ himself. Do you see him? Jesus. Listen. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Leave your stuff behind - all your junk. Leave it. You are forgiven. Your failure and weakness is accepted. Your past is buried in the sea of God’s loving forgetfulness. Go into the New Year with Christ, and go joyfully. Maxie Dunnam, MaxieDunnam.com, by Maxie Dunnam Forgiveness is a lesson for us all. We have to learn to trust God’s presence in the situation. If we let go, then God will take over. God whole point of being involved in human history is to being reconciliation to all of creation, but especially to us as people. Reconciliation happens one relationship at a time. That is why Jesus spends so much time teaching us how to relate to one another. brothers went into business together. Their fights continued and, if anything, the older brother was even more critical and hostile. Yet the younger brother remained diligent in their business and faithful in their relationship. Everyone marveled at this saintly behavior. One day a terrible accident ended both of their lives. Saint Peter was waiting patiently for the younger brother's arrival at the heavenly gates. Finally when he did not appear, Saint Peter ventured down into the fiery place of torment. "You belong in heaven," said Saint Peter. "Come up with all the saints." Up to his neck in slime and stench, the younger brother replied, "No. I choose to remain here." Puzzled, Saint Peter urged him even more fervently. "Please come with me. You have been faithful. A place has been made ready for you. Why won't you take your rightful place in eternity?" By this time the burning slime had nearly covered the chin of the younger brother. Lifting his face to Saint Peter, he shouted, "If I come with you, I will have to stop standing on my brother's head." We have all found ourselves caught up to our chins in hot, bubbling, boiling conflict. We have all felt the gut-wrenching anxiety of discord and dissension. We have all tried in vain to control for ourselves that which seems to be unending chaos. But God is in charge. We are not. God's plan is forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ. God takes initiative. In the midst of chaos, God brings order to preserve life. In the midst of an apparently hopeless conflict, God invites us to a transforming opportunity for love and forgiveness. Here is a story of what could happen in church It happened to a rural Lake County, South Dakota, Lutheran church in August of 2000. Vandals attacked the fieldstone St. Peter Lutheran Church building with vengeance -- breaking windows, smashing light fixtures, flipping over the baptismal font, slashing a large "Jesus the Good Shepherd" painting, scribbling, and carving obscenities into the sanctuary walls and fixtures. The golden altar cross had been swung like a bat to gouge pews and walls. In the basement, kitchen dishes were broken and objects flung hither and yon. The vandals caused more than $40,000 worth of interior damage to the congregation's building. Services were held outdoors that following Black Sunday. "There were many tears. Everyone was so devastated and shocked that someone could do this to a church," recalls Susan Janssen, congregational vice-president. "No one could believe how terrible it was." Three months after the vandalism took place, police arrested two area teenagers, ages sixteen and nineteen, who confessed to the crime. When the boys, let out of jail on bond, returned to apologize publicly to the congregation before serving their sentences, they were shocked to be received with love and forgiveness. As the nineteen-year-old left the lectern to return to his seat, a member greeted him and hugged him. Others stood to shake his hand and, after the worship, members surrounded the two boys, saying they forgave them. The act of forgiveness shocked the two families so much that they joined the church, and the church in turn has experienced a revival. Worship attendance has tripled in two years and membership in this 117-year-old declining country church is growing. "We had been separated from organized religion since our oldest daughter died of cancer," said the father of one of the boys. "We rejected the whole religion thing. This event has pulled us back into the church." Pastor Terry Knudson likens the dramatic episode at St. Peter to the Old Testament story of Joseph. "The vandalism was one of our darkest moments," he says. "God can find a way to bring good from evil." The book of Genesis is important for the church. It is the story of a family. Throughout the book, we learn about the ups and downs of the family. We hear about the members shortcoming and graces. The story of salvation is the story of how this family survived. What is interesting about this family – is how normal they are. We can all relate to this family. The bible constantly points out that these were not really nice people. They were actually pretty mean people that God had a use for. Joseph is the last story in this book. Joseph is unique in that he had a little growing up to do, but he was not a bad person. He was a model of intrgrity. He became a leader in this family. But we was respected even by others not in the family. Not only did he save the family from starvation, he took them in and gave them a better life in Egypt. When he reconciles with his brothers, he tells them not to feel guilty -that God had a plan. God meant for him to not only save his family, but to save the world with his story. Several bible characters tell us that things always work out for the good of those who follow the Lord. Joseph is not justifying slavery. He not justifying his brother’s behavior. He is not saying that when things happen that the damage is okay in the end. He is saying that the act of being able to move on from a situation when we are wronged, is an act of God. We have to trust God to make things right. This story sticks out to me, because it is not a happy ending. It is actually the beginning of all of their troubles as a people. After Joseph dies, they stay in Eqypt in bondage for 400 years. The story is not a happy ending. It is told as an answer to the question how did we get hear in the first place. Genesis answers all of those questions of why life is the way it is for our family. Well at one time we have an ancestor who was a really nice person, who had really good intentions. He taught us how to forgive and to be free. And then life happened and what had freed us at one time, put us in bondage in another. Genesis is a human story. It is a story that we learn about Joseph’s limited perspective. But in spite of all of its humanness, we learn to forgive one relationship at a time. Forgiveness wont change the course of history, but it does help us to move forward from our present situation. The Bible states, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13). As we battle forgiving others we should remember that we are forgiven individuals when we yield our lives to Christ. God sets the standard and mentors us in the process of forgiveness. * Forgiveness is a debt of sin cancelled. Everything that we have done against him all of our lives is forgiven when we ask for his forgiveness. * Forgiveness is a journey. The awful gulf of sin that separates us from God has been bridged by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can continually walk across that bridge as necessary. When the mind or emotion resurfaces those feelings, we can go immediately to God and ask him to help us deal with the feelings. The fact that forgiveness has taken place does not necessarily mean that feelings don't resur¬face. It is a process. * Forgiveness is also a choice. I choose to forgive as part of my willingness to give it up. Forgiveness is not done with¬out our knowledge. It is not a surprise! It is a choice. * Forgiveness allows God's love to flow through me to some¬one else. As a Christian I cannot horde Christ's love, but rather, I must give it away. Even when hurt comes I want to demonstrate God's love. I have to be practical in my response, but I must love. There are few stories in all of literature more important for our lives than this one. Why? Because following his example, we can live successful lives, too. It requires no special talents or gifts. Be a person who can be trusted. Be forever true to your values. Trust in the goodness of God. And no matter what twists or turns your life may take, I can assure you that when the final record is written of your life, yours too will be a life of success. ________________________________________ 1. James H. Billington, "Keeping the Faith in the USSR after a Thousand Years," SMITHSONIAN (April, 1989), pp. 131-142. As a child, I remember reading this story. I was touched at how Joseph was able to regain his brothers, and how as an adult he was able to help them and to move them forward. He gives each brother the gift of land and blesses them. The book of Genesis is about how that is all that they ever wanted was a blessing of love and belonging. I remember, at the end of he story Joseph makes one request of them. When you leave Egypt and go home – make sure that you take my bones with you and bury me at home. Joseph’s bones are buried in the promisedland and the story moves on. In life, we have to be free to move on too. Forgiveness is the first step in that process. Forgiveness is the first step in reconciliation. And God will not stop that process until all of us are free. The story continues on, forgiveness is not an ending or a beginning – forgiveness is an ongoing journey Mahatma Gandhi once said something that deserves our thought. "The weak," he said, "can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Dunc Amen Song God of all Learning (Sung to the tune of Morning Has Broken UMH 145) Insert Pastoral Prayer OUR LIVES ARE MARKED, O God, by the changing of the seasons. We take unusual delight in these times, for they are periods of heightened expectancy and new growth. It has been a long and busy summer. We have exulted in our various activities. And now it is time to prepare for the fall and winter, and many are going back to school, some here at home and others at a distance. We thank you for all the good events of the summer months—for work and play and relaxation, for fun and friendships and frivolity, for trips to the lake or the beach or the mountains, for a chance to unwind and experience more leisure time. Now we thank you for all the good events that lie ahead—for exciting classes and new friends and ball games and plays and concerts and a raft of holidays. We pray for all our students at every level, and ask that this may be a good year for them. Let their learning be rewarding as well as challenging, and let them enjoy the growth that comes from new experiences. Give them spirits of joy and confidence, and help them to live gratefully at all times, aware of the gift of life and its incredible richness. Bless their teachers and coaches and counselors, and all others who are involved in their educational process. And grant that all of us may share the excitement of the season, whether we are in school or not. For you have made our world extraordinarily beautiful and fascinating, and we are happy to praise you for everything through Christ our Lord. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters) Lord’s Prayer Blessing of Backpacks Stewardship Moment Thanksgiving Prayer In faith and love, help me to do your will. I am listening, Lord God. Speak your words into the depth of my soul, that I may hear you clearly. I offer to you this day all the facets of my life, whether it be at home, at work, or at school—to be patient, to be merciful, to be generous, to be holy. Accept this offering as our part to build your kingdom on Earth. Amen. (adapted from prayer from the Catholic Diocese of Springfield,IL) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook May the Lord Bless You . . . Bless you with courage, patience and understanding for the challenges ahead. And Keep You . . . Keep you sane, engaged and safe in all that you do. May the Lord Make His Face to Shine Upon You . . . Shine upon you with love that never ends and never wavers Shine upon you with the truth that you are completely worthy of that love. And Be Gracious to You . . . Grace to everyone as they get through their daily activities May the Lord Turn His Face Toward You . . . And Give You Peace . . . Peace with yourself Peace with teachers. Peace with students Peace for each day. One. Day. At. A. Time. (adapted from John Page) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Go in peace to follow the good road and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.
 (source: from Saint Clare, Enriching Our Worship 1) God of All Learning BUNESSAN 5.5.5.4 D ("Morning Has Broken") God of all learning, God of all knowing, We bring these backpacks filled with supplies. Bless all these tools of learning and growing. Use them, we pray, to change many lives. Bless all the students, young ones and old ones — Walking or riding, traveling by bus. May they remember that you go with them, And that they all are precious to us. Some kids are poor and some kids are wealthy; May we give all the tools that they need. May we make sure they're safe, loved and healthy So that they all may thrive and succeed. Bless all who learn and bless those who guide them, Bless those who teach and counsel and care. May they remember you walk beside them. Through all their school days, you, Lord, are there.