Consequences

September 27, 2026 18th Sunday after Pentecost Exodus 17:1-7 Consequences Year A Prelude Greetings Call to Worship Why do you come to this place? We seek the path of righteousness and truth. Do you come ready to hear and learn giving attention to God’s Word? We come with open hearts and minds seeking to learn from the one whose authority is founded on God’s love. Friends, lend your ears and open your hearts because this is God’s house, built by love and sustained by hope, where God seeks to align our work and witness. (Presbyterian Outlook, Robert Lowry) Opening Prayer Most wonderful God, the beauty we see in Jesus is your beauty veiled in human flesh, the love we witness from Bethlehem to Golgotha is your love contracted to a span. If Christ’s life is so holy as to fill us with wonder, how much more would your unveiled beauty leave us overwhelmed and trembling? You are more than the eye could bear, more than the mind can ever fathom. Yet you have so carefully made us that although we cannot fathom you, we can yet love you. Gratefully, we bring our little lives to you, asking that our worship may arise from love and be shaped by love, and be directed towards that larger loving which is our soul’s desire. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! Written by Bruce Prewer, posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage. Reposted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/09/opening-prayer-philippians-2-6-11.html. Song Come Thou Font of Every Blessing UMH 400 A Sermon for all Ages Exodus 17:1–7 Optional object: a walking stick Hold up the walking stick. What could someone use this for? Let children answer. A stick like this can help someone walk over rough ground. Moses carried a staff as he led God’s people through the wilderness. One day, the people were very thirsty. They had no water, and they were frightened. God told Moses, “I will be there with you.” Then God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff. Water came out, and the people had something to drink! Was the staff magic? No. God was the one who provided the water. Moses listened to God and used what he had to help the people. We don’t need Moses’ staff to help someone know God is near. We can use what we have. If someone is lonely, we can invite them to play. If someone is thirsty, we can offer a drink. If someone is sad, we can sit beside them and listen. When we show kindness, we can be instruments of God’s presence. That means God can use our hands, our words, and our time to help others feel cared for. What is one kind thing you could do for someone this week? Let children answer. Let’s pray: God, thank you for being with us when we are afraid or in need. Help us notice people who need care. Use our hands and our words to share your love. Amen. (ChatGPT6 SOL) The Apostles’ Creed UMH 881 Scripture Exodus 17:1-7 Sermon Consequences Exodus is an important story about freedom and remembering the footprint of God’s presence in our lives. Exodus is the story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. Each story in Exodus has important images of God’s presence, help and grace. For instance, Exodus has the burning bush, the parting of the red sea, manna or bread from heaven. Our scripture for today uses the image of water, rock, and God’s staff. These are 3 of the most important symbols of God’s staff. We will talk more about them today. God’s staff is an important part of Moses leadership. We are first introduced to God’s staff when God calls Moses with the burning bush. The rod is used by both Moses and Aaron. It is used to inflict plagues on the Egyptians, it is used to part the Red Sea, it is used in battle, it is used to guide along the journey, it is used to heal a snake bite. In Exodus 17 – it is used to get water from a rock. Even today, a bishop carries a shepherd’s staff to represent authority, presence and shepherd leadership. Legend says that God’s staff has been around since the sixth day of creation- it is a long slender black wood stick with God’s names written the sides. Legend says that Adam was the first to use it, it was passed on to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob even Joseph. But that it was lost over time. Eventually it became hidden in Moses Father in Law’s back yard. It was stuck inside a stone, and no one was able to remove it. Until Moses came along with the power to use it. He has it with him, when he encountered God at the burning bush. Aaron and Moses use it. Some people believed that Aaron used a rod and Moses used a staff – for some it was the same, for some it was different. Psalm 23 says thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Eventually the rod and staff was again lost to history – the search continues today. The Quest for the Staff When Graham Phillips arrived at the ancient Nabatean city of Petra in modern-day Jordan, he believed he was on the verge of another monumental discovery. The self-proclaimed finder of the Holy Grail and the tomb of the Virgin Mary now had a lead on the location of the grave of Moses. And Phillips was convinced that inside Moses’ tomb, untouched and undisturbed, lay yet another ancient treasure: Moses’ staff. It isn’t hard to understand why Phillips was excited about the staff of Moses, which he called “the most powerful artifact in history.” In the Torah’s account, staffs belonging to Moses and Aaron were involved in several of the plagues and wonders in Egypt. Moses and Aaron threw their staffs to the ground, and the staffs became snakes. God told Moses to raise his staff at the sea. Moses carried it with him when the Israelites battled the Amalekites. Twice, he hit a rock with it, and water came forth. In short, Moses’ staff was no ordinary staff. It performed miracles. At Petra, Phillips located a rock outcropping that he believed was beit peor—one of the Torah’s hints to the location of Moses’ grave in Deuteronomy 34:6—and saw a cave nearby. But Jordanian authorities refused his request to excavate. Disappointed, he returned to his native Birmingham, England to do archival research. He discovered that the cave had already been excavated by two British explorers in the nineteenth century, and that lo and behold, they claimed to have found there a black wooden rod inscribed with ancient hieroglyphics. Phillips needed no further convincing. This was the staff, and he had to find it. He doggedly pursued his quest for several years, tracing the staff’s ownership from antiquities dealers to private owners to museums. At last, success. The staff was on display—of all places—in the Egyptian gallery of the Birmingham Museum, minutes away from Phillips’ home. It had been under his nose the entire time. He confronted the museum’s curators and others with his findings, but they were unimpressed. There are people today – who believe that the actual wood staff that was talked about in today’s story still exist. Even if it can’t be located – there is definitely a search for God’s presence and grace in our lives. The staff was important because it was used to meet the needs of the people wandering in the desert. A lot of time we criticize them for complaining against God – but can you imagine walking through a dry empty desert in the heat of the day. You are hot, thirsty, hungry. When your basic needs are threatened, you are in no shape to listen to someone telling you that God loves you. Of course you are going to say, if God really loves me, why is God not present. This is known as the third grumbling story of the Exodus. First they complained about water, then they asked for food, and now they are complaining about water again. Water is twice as important as food. You can survive months without food, but only hours without water. Each time they grumble, God hears them and gives them what they ask. This time God tells Moses to use hit the staff against the rock so that water can come forth. God provides for the third time, and for the times after that. That is the whole point of Exodus – is that God hears our cries and takes care of us – again and again. In the midst of our complaining – and I am sure we all have a lot to complain about. In our cries that God does not care, or that God is not listening, God is not around – Exodus challenges us to sit down and think, to take account of our situation. If you think about it – you will realize the ways that God’s grace is present – and how God has provided for you time and time again. Think about your story – God always shows up. There is a special prayer that one woman does every day. When she wakes up in the morning who gets a bowl- and as she pours water in to she starts to pray for all of the things and all of the people in her life. As the bowl fills up she still pour the water. And she is reminded of God’s grace in her life. She remembers all of the needs that God supplies, all that she is grateful for. All that she has for her say. She realizes that her life is just as full as that bowl. And then she leaves the bowl on her kitchen sink for the rest of her day – to remind her of the fullness of God, and that her soul is full. The Exodus story took place at a place called Massah and Meribah – the place where I was tested and questioned. But God showed up anyway. I think we all have those places in our lives. Those are the places where we witnessed God do the impossible. Where what we thought was impossible because possible. Have you noticed that in those places – there is a special person who God uses to turn the situation around? Just as Moses came along and was able to remove the staff from the stone and put it to use. Who are the people that God has sent into our lives – to lead us across the Red Sea? An elderly man by the name of Fred was engaged by the leaders of the city of Custer, South Dakota, some years ago. Fred was a witcher. So, with copper wires bent a certain way and held tightly in his hands, he traversed a designated area and determined, to the chagrin of everyone, a spot where he predicted the precise number of feet needed to dig down for a city well and where he predicted the precise number of gallons per minute the well would produce. When the well was dug, it was over 200-feet deep, just as he said, and it produced the exact gallons per minute that he said it would. A few years ago, 1400 in Chicagoans met in the Grand Ballroom of a large hotel in honor of a person selected as the Chicago mother of the year. She turned out to be a woman no one had ever heard of. She was Mrs. Donomic Salvino, an Italian immigrant, a housewife, and extremely poor. Mrs. Salvino lived on Erie Street. She had many neighbors who were poorer than she. Most families had eight or ten children, she had only four. Her neighbors were old, she was only 49; they were sick, she was healthy; they were tired, she was full of energy; they had problems like alcoholism, and she was steady emotionally and so was her husband. Mrs. Salvino appointed herself an unofficial, untrained social worker and assigned herself to Erie Street. She visited the sick she collected money from the comparatively poor and gave it to the desperately poor. She did the housework for the bedridden, cooked for the motherless and spread smiles the length and breadth of Erie Street. Although she put in a bout 1600 hours a year in her mission, she did it quietly and without fanfare. But in a place of blighted of failure, she inspired dignity and courage; in a place of empty arms and lonely room, she promoted love and caring. Erie Street was a better and more beautiful place because Mrs. Dominic Salvino made a difference. She saw herself as God’s instrument, unique and useful. As we as a congregation mourn the loss of Bettylou Linke, I think that She was an instrument of God’s presence – challenging us to move forward and to look for God’s grace. Jesus Christ came to the world – to make the impossible possible – he became a staff to show us the living water inside of our hearts – and we all are encouraged to do the same. We don’t have to go on a quest to look for God’s staff – it exist inside of us all. The staff lives on in our hearts, our faith and our actions. Free gushing water is grace. It is a sign of the soul of God. This pure, cold liquid, as a gift from God, brings doom and deadness to life, transforms discontent and grumbling into satisfaction, and brings back hope The burning question of the Israelites, "Is the Lord among us or not?" is answered in the gushing, flowing water. "Is the Lord among us or not?" is the contemporary question, too, when we are in dilemmas beyond our power and our control. When sickness, death, forest fires, divorce, floods, and tornadoes invade and disrupt our lives, we wonder where God is in all of this. The theology of the cross assures us that God is wherever there is human suffering and tragedy. God suffers, too, and God cares about our dilemmas. We find consolation and strength in word and sacrament, prayer and praise, community and purpose. Let us pray…… Song Eternal Father Strong to Save TFWS 2191 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In Philippians, Paul writes to the people of the congregation he began in Philippi, “Make my joy complete….Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” I wonder: Did those early Christians talk with one another about how to build up their minds to emulate the mind of Jesus? One place of similarity might be trying to use our resources (the “three Ts”–our time, our talents, and our treasure) to build up those whose lives are harsh, skimpy, or barren. As we remember how Jesus healed the sick, taught the crowds, and led the disciples, we have a model for our life. When we share our “three Ts,” it becomes a life workout for us–and a lifeboat for others! We grow in mind, body, and spirit when we offer what we have to build up our congregation, our neighbors, and our siblings around the world. Today I invite you to share your financial gifts, but do not stop there. I invite you also to consider how you will share your talent and your time as we move into an active fall season. (There are more chairs in the choir loft! Our food pantry regularly needs volunteer time! Our children’s classes would benefit from additional adult support!) Prayer of Thanksgiving All things come from thee, O God. Of your own have we given you. (1 Chronicles 29:14b) We ask you to accept these gifts, and the meditations of our minds and hearts as we also offer our talent and our time. Help us use all these gifts to provide life more abundant for our neighbors, near and far. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Charge and Closing for YouTube Go into the world, my friends and fellow disciples, to proclaim, in word and deed, the gospel of Christ. May the love of Christ, the faithfulness of God, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit guide, encourage, and keep us today and every day. And in one voice may all God’s children say: Amen! (Presbyterian Outlook, Robert Lowry) Community Time - Joys and Concerns Benediction Beloved, remember: God is at work in you, enabling you to will and to work for God’s pleasure. May God bless you with a spirit of joyful cooperation and Christian love as together we work with God and neighbor for the flourishing of all God’s creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, July 2026. Additional Illustrations The first positive response given to highlight God’s presence is that God always hears the cries of the people. God is like a loving parent with a small child. Whenever the child cries, the parent hears the cry. When the crying child is in the presence of other small children, that parent can still identify the cry. More than that, a cry becomes a major communication network. The child tells the parent what’s wrong in the cry. Unable to speak a word, yet capable of telling the story in a cry. In other words, there is power in the cry. One cry tells when the baby is hungry, another cry indicates the diaper needs to be changed, still another fights off sleep and there is yet another that communicates pain. The cry of pain is louder and longer than all of the others. There is an urgency that declares come quickly! God hears our cries just like a good parent because God cares. And now God says, “Take in your hand the staff.” Never travel empty handed -- take your stick with you. It has been interesting to observe “walkers,” dressed in sweats or shorts with proper walking shoes and a stick in their hands. Just in case the need arises for the stick, they have it in hand. Just in case an unleashed dog appears with no good intentions -- just in case. God had earlier told Moses to raise his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea and it would divide. The raised, outreached staff is powerful enough, with divine intervention, to cause the sea to divide. Perhaps this is what inspired the hymn writer to say, “Father, I stretch my hand to thee, no other help I know. If thou withdraw thyself from me, O whither shall I go?” There is real power in the staff. God told Moses to take in his hand the staff. Like the commercial for the American Express Card, “never leave home without it.” Take the staff of God with you. In other words, you ought to take the word of God with you, everywhere you go. It is still a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet. You will neither stumble nor fall when you have the word of God with you. It is your staff. Take it with you everyday. Both the rebellious Israelites and the woman at the well recognized that water was a resource that living things need every day for health and strength. Most of us still don't take in the optimum amount of water for our bodies. It is recommended that we consume at least six to eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day to keep adequately hydrated. Under conditions of great heat, exertion or stress, that amount increases dramatically. Survival-course teachers warn their students that while they can exist for weeks, even a month, without food, unless they find water in four or five days, they are doomed. We are that dependent on the life-giving fluid we call water. Anhydrobiosas, or "life without water," is impossible for human beings. [Note: You may want to demonstrate this. Have some weird-shaped bottles, glasses, etc. to show the fact that water fills every shape imaginable without changing its nature.] The continued vitality of the church is as dependent upon the constant flow of Christ's living water as our bodies are on H2O. We cannot subsist on a sip now and then. Our spiritual health depends on the constant rehydration only this living water can bring to our souls. The only way to increase our supply of living water is to invite others in to take a drink. Living water doesn't have a very long shelf life. In fact, a new shipment must be received for every new generation of Christians the church would welcome in. Just as the human body can exist only a few days without water, so the body of Christ can only exist as long as the next generation of believers is being offered its fill of living water. Not according to the Bible. God's practical help and his spiritual nourishment are inseparably intertwined. In Exodus, God's gift of manna was also a gift of faith, since the manna could not be stored overnight and the people had to trust God would provide it anew each day. Only three chapters after giving water from the rock at Horeb, Yahweh quenches the people's thirst for permanent order and direction: he gives the Ten Commandments. The Promised Land they took over was not only fields and mountains and rivers; it was such intangibles as an identity, a confidence, and a sense of loving community. At the same time, the help most people seek from God today is a spiritual, invisible aid - courage before crisis, comfort in grieving, clarity in decision-making, forgiveness for a battle-scarred conscience. God gives this living water, too. And not only is God's help today both practical and spiritual, but the two natures of that help are still inseparably bound. How can a hungry person be given food without also finding acceptance, love, and hope? What troubled person, calmed and inspired by forgiveness or joy or hope, is not better able to use the resources God has given him? Likewise God's "living waters" can be far more tangible than just a spiritual lift. Get on your knees to ask for a right relationship with him and you may also find him giving healing for an illness, or a sudden job opening when you're unemployed and frantic with the search. God is not so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good. One more thing. The inseparableness of God's practical and spiritual involvement in the world should remind us of how we are to act. There's more to living as his people than serving others. Our growth as Christians is stunted without a prayer and study and worship life. At the same time, calloused knees mean little without calloused hands. Don't let your God be too small. And don't let yourself be too small. The waters he offers can quench every type of thirst we dare have. CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, God told Moses to strike the Rock at Horeb. Lo and behold –Living Waters sprung out of the earth, just like at the foundation of creation! But they saw so much more than a flowing fountain of water. They saw that God was with them! In all of their loneliness, and doubt, and weariness of the red earth and the scorching sun, of the never-ending desert of their arduous journey to a place they could not yet see ---thank God, the Lord was still with them! The Lord of Life, who created the world from the waters of The Deep, who brings forth Living Water from the depths of the sin-sick soul, who restores people into relationship with Him through the waters of baptism, who bathes us in the living waters of holy and abundant grace, who quenches the thirst of our despair and makes water to spring from the deserts (Is 41:18; 43: 19, Ps 107:35; 46:4), this Lord is with us. Hallelujah! We are very thirsty creatures. Our thirsts are many and varied. We thirst for true friends; we thirst for success; we thirst for meaning and purpose in our lives. We thirst to be listened to and heard. We thirst for release from addictions and chronic sins; we thirst for God and for that which is eternal. Sinclair Lewis, in one of his books, draws a picture of a respectable businessman who decides to "live it up." He is talking to his old girlfriend. She says to him, "On the surface we seem quite different; but deep down we are fundamentally the same. We are both desperately unhappy about something -- and we don't know what it is." In every one of us, there is this nameless, unsatisfied longing, this vague discontent, this something lacking, and we don't know what it is or why we have it. The Israelites are physically thirsty. Their jugs are dry. What wouldn't they give for a glass of Ted and Dorothy Hustead's free water generously mingled with ice? The Israelites do what they do best. They quarrel. They complain. They direct their complaints to Moses. "Give us water to drink. Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:2-3). Magic, science, miracle? After Moses petitions Yahweh for his own safety, lest he be assaulted, he uses the staff as the Lord instructs and strikes the rock at Horeb with great force. Water gushes forth and the people of Israel, at last, are able to quench their thirst. Free gushing water is grace. It is a sign of the soul of God. This pure, cold liquid, as a gift from God, brings doom and deadness to life, transforms discontent and grumbling into satisfaction, and brings back hope to a joyless fledgling nation. In another time and in another setting, God's grace is expressed through the prophet Isaiah. "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters: And you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1). Surely the soul of humanity does not cry out for new and more laws, rules, and restrictions, but deep down experiences an enduring thirst for grace. God's love and forgiveness through the cross of Christ as an unconditional gift assuages the most desperate thirst. No wonder John Fort Newton, old slave trader that he was, marveled that God's grace could extend even to a "wretch" like himself. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me."

Life Worthy of the Gospel

September 20, 2026 Philippians 1:21-30 Life worthy of the Gospel 17th Sunday of Pentecost Year A Prelude Greeting Call to Worship In the prayers and the praise, in the words and the wonder: we are given enough joy to live each day. In the justice for the oppressed, in the unexpected generosity for the lost: we are given enough compassion to use in service each day. In the promises made to all, in the mercy offered to each: we are given enough grace to share each day. (LectionaryLiturgies.com, Thom Shuman) Invocation Sovereign and Awesome God, we come to worship you, to know you and to be known by you. Expand our hearts to love fully. Build our courage to receive the truth. Nurture our spirits to be gracious, merciful, and kind. Transform us in your image and for your glory as we dwell in your presence. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Song Spirit of the Living God UMH 393 sing twice A Sermon for all Ages Keep Moving Forward Scripture: Philippians 1:20–30 Object lesson: A pair of shoes or sneakers Good morning! I brought something with me today. A pair of shoes! What are shoes for? (Let the children answer.) That's right! We wear shoes when we walk, run, play, go to school, and travel somewhere. Now, what do you have to do if you want to get from one place to another? You have to keep moving forward! What happens if I take one step and then stop? (Demonstrate taking one step.) I'm not going to get very far, am I? Today our Bible lesson comes from a letter that a man named Paul wrote to his friends in a church in a place called Philippi. Paul loved these people very much. But when Paul wrote this letter, something was wrong. Paul was in prison. Do you think Paul was happy about being in prison? Probably not! Paul didn't even know exactly what was going to happen to him. But Paul knew something very important. Jesus was still with him. Paul knew that if he was free, Jesus was with him. If he was in prison, Jesus was with him. If he was happy, Jesus was with him. If he was afraid, Jesus was with him. And because Paul knew Jesus was with him, he could keep moving forward. Sometimes things don't go the way we want them to. Maybe school is difficult. Maybe someone hurts our feelings. Maybe we don't make the team. Maybe we have an argument with a friend. Maybe something changes in our family. Maybe we are worried about something. What should we remember? Jesus is with us! Let's try something. When I say, “When things are good,” you say, “Jesus is with me!” When things are good! Children: Jesus is with me! When things are hard! Children: Jesus is with me! When I am happy! Children: Jesus is with me! When I am afraid! Children: Jesus is with me! When I don't know what will happen next! Children: Jesus is with me! That's what Paul wanted his friends to remember. And because Jesus is with us, we don't have to give up. We can put on our shoes, take another step, and keep moving forward in faith. We can keep loving. We can keep helping. We can keep praying. We can keep being kind. We can keep following Jesus. So the next time you put on your shoes, remember Paul and remember this: Jesus walks with you wherever you go. And because Jesus is with you, you can keep moving forward! Prayer Dear Jesus, Thank you for always being with us. When we are happy, be with us. When we are afraid, be with us. When life is difficult, help us not to give up. Help us to keep loving, keep helping, keep believing, and keep moving forward with you. Amen. PRAYER OF CONFESSION We continue to believe that we must earn our way into God's heart. But God's grace is given to each of us, for all of us, freely, unconditionally, always. Let us open our lives to this mercy as we pray, saying, It seems we cannot decide, Cloud of Glory. We say we will live to serve others, but end up meeting only our needs. We claim to live in a way that honors Christ, but we do not take him to work, school, home. We believe that the gospel can transform lives, (at least, for those who need it - not us). Forgive us, Presence of Peace. Instead of grumblers, may we be ambassadors of grace. Instead of continual complaining, may we carry compassion to the hurting. Instead of whiners, may we be workers with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, to reach out and bring the kingdom of God to everyone we meet. Silence is kept Assurance of Pardon This is the good news: there is no ranking in God's kingdom. God graces everyone with the same gifts: mercy, restoration, new life. God has kept the covenant. We have been forgiven, we have been made new people. Thanks be to God. Amen. Written by Thom Shuman, from Lectionary Liturgies. Passing of the Peace Scripture Philippians 1:21-30 Sermon Life Worthy of the Gospel Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 1 to live a life worthy of the gospel. In this letter, Paul uses the Greek word – politeumai – which means to be a citizen of the gospel. Whatever country we might be a citizen of, whereever we may live, and whatever the circumstance – as a Christian, our citizenship is contained in the gospel. as he tries to convey the essence of a gospel-centered life to these first-century Christians. Certainly some of the Philippian Christians Paul was addressing were also Roman citizens, that is, holders of the most coveted political identity one could have in the first century. Rome was the super power. Rich. Powerful. Its ideals and lifestyles, its gods and its culture, were recognized as the best, the highest ideal, in all the civilized world. But not by Paul. Once he had identified himself as a proud Roman citizen, but now Paul knows that there's only one power that holds his ultimate loyalty, that directs his every action and attitude. All those who confess Christ, whose life is in Christ now and forever, are citizens of the gospel of Christ, and it's in accordance with that citizenship that a life of faith must be lived. The book of Philippians is known as a prison epistle. Paul wrote the book of Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon and Philippians while he was in captivity in Rome. The book of Philippians is also the most heartfelt, vulnerable letter that he wrote. By 60 AD he had been in prison long enough that he started to get afraid. He knew that he was innocent, and should be aquitted, but he had started to doubt that the system was fair. He was afraid that they would kill him, just because they were not in favor of Christianity. In this time of fear, he writes a letter to the first congregation that he ever founded, trying to encourage them to remain faithful and to live out the lessons of Christ, whether he was able to join them again or not. He gave them encouragement and instructions to move forward. The book of Philippians is dear to me because it contains the motto of Northwestern. I also like the book because it is short – only 4 chapters, and it gives some very practical advice in everyday language. Philippi, was a relatively small urban town – of about 10,000 people. I visited the remains of Philippi on a trip to Greece. We literally had to get out of the tour bus on the side of the Egnatia Highway in Northern Greece on the way to Turkey. Egnatia just means ancient Roman Highway. The remains of the city are on either side of the road. Philippi started as an outpost of retired Roman soldiers and their families. Since soldiers came from all walks of life, the town was valued diversity and the acceptance of all people. So when Paul approached them with a gospel saying that we were all God’s children and that we were all accepted by God’s grace – they were very welcoming. Most of the churches that were open to listening to Paul – were along that highway in Northern Greece. It was a little more isolated and rural. The large urban areas of Greece, hated Paul’s message and they would do whatever they could to run him out of town. Most of the early churches that Paul started were amongst the soldiers. He talks about Macedonia, who became a very giving church, and Corinthians who were happy givers. But he cared the most about the Philippians. He wanted to encourage them to keep the faith and not forget what they had been taught. Suffering was a large part of the early faith. There were so many people who were killed because of their faith, the church made a big deal to encourage others not to become discouraged. There is a story of early martyrs. I read about a Christian who was about to be burned at the stake. In fact, they had already lit the embers and the flames were beginning to lick at his feet. One of his tormenters said, "What can your Christ do for you now?" This brave Christian said, "He can do, and is doing, three things. First of all, He can cause me to love you, and I do. Secondly, He can give me a joy unspeakable, so full of glory that I can't feel the pain, and He has." He said thirdly, "He can take me to a place where I will never feel pain again, and He will." That was the message that Paul wanted to teach all Christians – that following Christ gives us the strength to deal with the hard times of life. Pauls message to us – live a life worthy of the gospel, stand firm in what you have been taught, and stick together in the struggle. For Paul – the Christian community was everything. He did not want to face his suffering I prison alone, so he reached out to the people who supported him in ministry. He felt that he could be honest about his fears with the Philippian church – while encouraging them to keep the faith. These were people who like Paul, who took their Roman citizenship seriously. They devoted their life and death to being a citizen. Paul reminds us that citizenship is important, but our first loyalty is to the gospel. Being a citizen of the gospel isn't about taking the most comfortable position, or doing the most important tasks, or achieving the most accomplishments. Being a citizen of the gospel means that the needs of others and the community itself determines our course of action. When it's time to give aid we must give aid. When it's time to give thanks for the gifts of others we must give thanks. As citizens of the gospel we find our strength in Christ--even as we become vulnerable to the whole world. Maybe the best way we can repair our image in the world right now isn't to know and show how to BE STRONG, but to learn from Katrina how to BE WEAK. We know we can be a good giver. Can we be a good receiver? Can YOU be a good receiver? ChristianGlobe Networks, Collected Sermons, by Leonard Sweet Pastor Dan Mangler tells an old fable from Holland about three tulip bulbs. These bulbs were named NO, MAYBE, and YES. Someone had placed them in the bottom of a tin to save them until planting time. One day they were discussing their future as tulip bulbs. NO said, “As far as I am concerned, this is it. We have come as far as we are going to come as bulbs. That’s all right. I’m content. I don’t need anything else.” MAYBE said, “Well, maybe there is something more. Perhaps if we try real hard good things will happen to us.” And MAYBE tried hard to be all that he could be but little changed and soon he gave up in frustration. YES, on the other hand said, “I believe there is something more, but I don’t believe that it is up to us. I have heard that there is One who can help us be more than we are if we simply trust him.” One day a hand reached down into the tin to select bulbs for planting. NO and MAYBE shrank back but YES gladly gave himself into the hand of the gardener. He could scarcely believe what was happening when he was buried underneath a mound of dirt. But when the springtime came YES burst forth in radiant color. He was now a beautiful flower. (8) The good news for us is that being able to say yes to our faith, is good for our lives and for our health. In a 1995 report on 232 people who underwent elective open-heart surgery, it was found that those who received no strength or comfort from religion were more likely to die within six months of the operation. A decade-long study of 2,700 people showed that after accounting for all risk factors, only one social attribute, increased church attendance, lowered mortality rates. (I'm glad you showed up this morning. You may just live longer because of it.) Among women recovering from hip fractures, those with stronger religious beliefs and practices were less depressed and could walk further when they were discharged. In a rigorously controlled study of elderly women, the less religious had mortality levels twice that of the faithful. A review of one group of 200 studies suggest that religion has positive effects on diseases ranging from cervical cancer to stroke. In short, the evidence indicates that faith is good for us. When we have faith we have a choice of how to respond to the challenges of life. We can respond in fear or in faith, we can respond in love or hesitation. We can choose our attitude and our perspective. In faith, Paul was able to say that living is serving Christ, and dying is better. Some versions of the bible says that death is a gain. For most of us, death is a loss not a gain. I have not reached a point in life where I have had to accept death, but I have certainly walked with those who are faced with that choice. I have not reached a point of saying that if I die it is okay, but I have walked with those who do. Even in my faithfulness, death is still a loss. Paul reminds us to look for the grace, even in the midst of loss. I am not by any means minimizing grief, loss or death. But Paul’s words remind us that suffering and faith go hand in hand. How we face the valleys of life is a question of faith. There are moments in life when we have to decide whether we are going to stop where we are or keep moving forward. Sometimes moving forward is easy. Everything is going well. The doors are opening. People are encouraging us. We can see where we are going. But sometimes moving forward is difficult. Sometimes we are tired. Sometimes we are disappointed. Sometimes the future is uncertain. Sometimes we wonder whether all the work we have done has made any difference. And sometimes we simply do not know what is going to happen next. That is where Paul is when he writes the letter to the Philippians. Paul is in prison. He does not know whether he is going to be released or executed. And yet, from prison, Paul writes one of the most joyful letters in the New Testament. That is the remarkable thing about Philippians. Paul is in chains, but his faith is not chained. Paul's future is uncertain, but his hope is not uncertain. Paul does not know what tomorrow will bring, but he knows who will be with him tomorrow. And so Paul can say: “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” Either way, we are a child of God. God loves us. And if we have lived in a way that honors the gospel – There is an eternal promise for us. Dwight Moody, the founder of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, was an evangelist in the 1800’s. he once said “Someday you will read in the paper that D. L. Moody of East Northfield, Massachusetts, is dead. Don’t believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that’s all…out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned like unto his glorious body.” Three men were the closest of friends. They loved nature, and especially loved to go hunting and fishing together. Well, they had gone to Alaska to hunt, and they were sitting around the fire drinking coffee and watching the very early dawn sun come up. Several weeks before this trip, the oldest of these three men had become a Christian. but he had not yet had the opportunity to share the excitement of his life with Jesus Christ. As they sat around the fire, they began talking about their various adventures. One of the younger men suggested that they each answer the same question—what is the most exciting experience in all of your life? Well, the first man told of a tiger hunt he had been on and how they had to stalk this tiger for more than two days. He said the final six hours of that hunt were the most thrilling of his life when he found himself face to face with that tiger. Just as that hungry animal leaped, he fired and just a few feet from where he was standing that great tiger fell dead. He said, "that was the most exciting experience of my life." The second man told of an experience there in Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands that involved an enormous grizzly bear. He said it all happened so fast it wasn't until the whole experience was over he realized how close to death he had been. He literally, in a split second, came face to face with an unbelievably huge grizzly bear, and he said he had to squeeze off three shots at point blank range in rapid-fire succession before that grizzly bear dropped literally at his feet. He said that is the most exciting adventure of my life. Well, finally the oldest man spoke. He said, "I wish I could tell you about my most exciting experience, but it hasn't happened yet." One of the men said, "Well, when will it happen?" He said, "The first second after I die, when I stand face to face in the presence of Jesus Christ." My friend, if the most exciting moment of your life is behind you, you are lost. But if the most exciting moment of your life is still in front of you, you are saved. I hope now we will all know, and never forget, that when the time comes for us to face death, if you know Jesus it is a great gain to die because it will be the most exciting moment in your life. ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Collected Sermons, by James Merritt Look for the grace in spite of the pain. Nat King Cole sung a song that says Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through for you That is the choice that faith in Christ gives us. This message in Philippians is among some of the greatest Christian messages of what faith is all about. The early Christians honored the Christian Martyrs, not as an example for us to follow into death – but as a means to put our faith in action through those difficult times. There are many faithful people who saw death coming, and encouraged us to keep the faith. Martin Luther King gave his speech about reaching the mountaintop the night before he was assassinated. Deichtrich Bonhoffer wrote a book about faith while he was in jail for standing up against Hitler – he was executed. Christ was resurrected from crucixifixtion to remind us to live in the gospel. The bible is interestingly silent about what happens to Paul while he is imprisoned. Remember I told you that there were some towns who embraced Paul’s message, but there were a lot of towns who resented him so much that would arrest him. Being a nuisance is not a crime punishable by law. But his Roman citizenship was important to him. He felt that if he was going to be charged by a crime, then he has a right to be heard by the Roman government in Rome. That is how he ended up imprisoned in Rome. He did not anticipate that the Roman government viewed Christianity as a threat. They beheaded him just because they could. His words in Philippians remain as a testament to his faith. If I stay alive I will help you progress in the joy of your faith. Live in a manner worthy of Christ’s gospel whether I come and see you or I am absent. Stand firm, stay united, and struggle together. If you do this, you do not have to be afraid of anything that the enemy does. It is in this sense that we are encouraged and enabled to move forward in the work of the gospel, knowing that the "gates of Hell shall not prevail against us," and by this conflict which is worthy of the gospel, which is marked by no fear, and which manifests unity, we become faithful in the things which pertain to peace. Amen. CSS Publishing Co., Inc., Pastoral Care Issues In The Pulpit, by Gregory J. Johanson Song Every Time I feel the Spirit UMH 404 Pastoral Prayer Fresh as each morning you come to us, Crafter of manna. Your grace rests gently upon us, waiting to be gathered, to become the bread of life we share throughout the day. Fresh as compassion's justice, you come to us, Servant of the poor. Choosing to give as you desire, you show us the last, so we can make them first in our hearts and hopes. Doing no wrong, you make us right with God for all time. Fresh as the water which turns a desert into a meadowland of flowers, Spirit of uninterrupted grace, you come to us. When we would grumble, you give us the gospel to live out; when we would protest, you teach us songs of praise; when we would utter laments, you fill us with God's laughter. God in Community, Holy in One, refresh us with your presence as we pray as Jesus taught, saying, (The Lord's Prayer) (LectionaryLiturgies.com, Thom Shuman) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Matthew 20 begins with Jesus’ story of the day-laborers in the vineyard, and the landowner’s generosity. I wonder how many of you appreciate the IDEA of generosity, especially when we’re on the receiving end? When those who worked only one hour received a full day’s pay, those who had worked all day surely surmised they’d be getting quite a bonus. The anticipation of those day-long workers may have been almost tangible! It’s the landowner’s privilege to pay the workers what he wanted to pay, knowing the first workers agreed to accept a denarius as their day’s wage. As we come to our time of offering, I encourage each of us to imagine ourselves in the place of the landowner. Each one of us has the capacity to delight in generosity! Whether that’s a coin, a “quiet” offering of bills or a check, or a recognition of our joy when we’ve been able to budget carefully and share from careful oversight of our income. Let’s present our gifts with joy! Prayer of Thanksgiving Generous God, we give you thanks for the many ways you pour out your gifts for each of us. Thank you for the abundance we have: air to breathe, water to quench our thirst, food as fuel for our bodies, and the joy of gathering for worship with siblings in Christ. In gratitude, we ask you to receive this offering, help us utilize these resources to their full, and share them with generosity for those who struggle for basics. Inspire us once more to live with generous hearts, minds, and shared resources, seeking to be faith-filled followers of Jesus the Christ, AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for YouTube My prayer for us today, Beloved of God, is that our eyes are open to the people we discount. May we humbly accept that God’s love does not fol- low our logic. May we be freed from the burden of our resentments. May the Holy Spirit create a new work within us so that we can bring about the kingdom of God, here on earth. In the name of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, I bless you. Go and be at peace. (Presbyterian Outlook, Rose Shrott Taylor) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction As you go from this place, may God bless you with wisdom, courage, and perseverance to live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ as you work, rest, play, and strive side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, July 2026 Additional Illustrations There’s a story about the old evangelist, Billy Sunday, which illustrates this. He was in New York City preaching a revival and he had a day off, so he thought he’d see the sights. He went down to the EmpireStateBuilding, and got on the crowded elevator taking sightseers to the roof. They all stood there in the elevator as people do in elevators, not saying a word, eyes forward. Finally, someone broke the silence and said, I wonder if the elevator cable broke, would we go up or down? That’s all Billy Sunday needed. He was off and running. It depends upon the way you’ve been living, he said. And he preached a sermon right there, calling for a decision in the elevator. Now don’t miss the point I’m making. I’m not holding Billy Sunday up as a model. I’m simply saying that the principle is valid for all of us. The circumstances of our lives may determine how we share the gospel, but it doesn’t determine whether we share the gospel. Do you get it? The circumstances of our life may determine how we share the gospel, but not whether we share it. We can proclaim the gospel anywhere. Not only can we proclaim the gospel anywhere – we are to proclaim the gospel everywhere. Whether through Paul, a prisoner, or the guards, or the servants in Caesar’s household, or the ordinary citizens of Rome, the gospel was to be proclaimed everywhere. I remember an experience I had a couple of years ago in Bloomington, Illinois. It was at once frustrating and funny, sad and satisfying. I had finished some lectures and went to the airport to catch a plane to Chicago to connect to Nashville. It was a commuter run, and I’m always a bit nervous about those. When I arrived at the airport in Bloomington, I discovered that there was no flight, it had been cancelled, thus my frustration. There were two other persons in the terminal – one trying to get to Chicago, as I was – the other, completely bewildered and dejected. The bewildered and dejected one was a fellow from Germany who spoke broken English, and he was trying to get to Bloomington, Indiana. Now you’ll find this hard to believe, but the people who ticketed him from Germany sent him to Bloomington, Indiana, instead of Bloomington, Illinois, where he wanted to go. Now this was the sad thing – he was trying to get to Bloomington, Indiana, because his brother teaching in the university there, was dying of cancer. Can you imagine the trauma, the frustration, the helpless anger – in a strange land, getting off at a strange place where you knew no one and stuck? Wanting desperately to get to a dying brother, but no plane for another six hours? The other person in the terminal was a mammoth man, who looked like he was out of place, but he would have looked out of place wherever he was. It’s amazing how sympathy grows in such a setting, and how friendly you can become with strangers, and how productive you could be if you maintained some degree of calm and clear headedness. This mammoth man, would you believe his name was John, had concluded that we had no choice, there was really only one alternative – if we would do so quickly, we could rent a car, drive to Chicago, get there in time for me to make my connection, which was a close one, and he would have plenty of time to make his. Given that idea, it seemed to me that our German friend could get from Chicago to Bloomington, Indiana, far easier than he could get there from where he was. It took a bit of doing to communicate that, but we did, and the three of us were soon on our way. As I settled down into the backseat, John driving, and our German guest beside him in the front, I was almost instantly confronted with the thought that I ought to share some sort of Christian witness, especially to the German who was so depressed. How would I do it? I didn’t want to come off as a preacher, I wanted to be natural and I wanted to communicate authentic caring. While I was mulling it over in my mind, trying to devise a strategic entree, communication was already going on up front. It wasn’t free flowing and it wasn’t easy, but this fellow who looked like he didn’t belong anywhere, was coming through with real concern for Hans, our German friend. And soon I heard him talking about his church, his Christian friends, and how in the past two years, the Christian life had taken on deep meaning, and had sustained him through a recent, very sickness crisis. The witness was clear, and Hans received it. Now there was no conversion in the car that day, so far as I know. But the gospel was proclaimed, not by this preacher, but by a layperson who had experienced new life and was willing to share it. John got me to my airline, assured me he had time to check in the car and help Hans find a plane to the right Bloomington. We quickly exchanged address cards, John took a double breath when he saw that I was the editor of the Upper Room, because he was a Methodist, and it was obvious that he knew that publication well. I noted that he was the president of a silo construction company, which I later learned was the second largest of its kind in the world. But both of us knew those credentials didn’t matter. What mattered was what had happened in the car. We are to proclaim the gospel everywhere. I remember somebody asked Woody Allen once what kind of a funeral he wanted. He said, "All I want is just a few of my close friends to gather around my coffin...and do everything they can to bring me back to life." That can't be right. There must be something else here. I got an insight into it when I read Moorehead Kennedy's account of his being a prisoner in Iran back in the 70's. You remember when the Ayatollah Khomeini held those American hostages, Moorehead Kennedy was one of them. Later he wrote about his imprisonment. He said, "You know when you are going through a bad moment in normal life, you usually say to yourself, 'Well, it could be worse; at least I am still alive.' Well I was imprisoned in Iran, and all of a sudden I realized that may no longer be true." That is to say, it was no longer a source of hope to say, "It could be worse; I am still alive," because he knew in that situation of extremity, he was reminded of it by his captors, that tomorrow he could die. He continued. "From that realization came the greater awareness that life is not just for now and here. There is a plan somewhere. You are part of a much larger thing, much larger than one's own life. God's plan, if you will." Have you seen that old cartoon. Two prisoners in a cell. No windows in the cell, just stone walls. They are both manacled to the wall. One prisoner turns to the other and says, "Now here's my plan." That is Paul, and a whole lot of other faithful people I know, who know that if the future belongs to God, then anything can happen. So keep on making plans. I looked up the definition of "horizon," in the dictionary. "The horizon," it says, "is the boundary line at which earth and sky appear to meet." It was something like that for Paul, only a little different. The horizon for Paul was the boundary line where earth and heaven meet, and on the boundary, there is an empty tomb. So with his eyes on the horizon, he not only saw the limit of this life, he saw all the possibilities of another life. A number of years ago I flew in a private plane. It was a small four-passenger plane. I have built model airplanes bigger than that plane. You had to have something like Paul's faith "for me to die as gain," in order to get into that plane. But it turned out to be a wonderful flight. I learned a lot about flying in small planes. I noticed, as we were flying, the largest instrument on the panel, right in front of the pilot, was an instrument with a little plane on a horizontal line. I asked the pilot what that was. He said, "That's an artificial horizon. It is the most important instrument on the plane." Then he told me stories of what happened to pilots when they don't pay attention to that, flying through bad weather with no visibility. If they don't have an artificial horizon, they are in trouble. He demonstrated how it worked. He dipped the nose of the plane, and that little plane on the instrument panel went below the horizontal line. He pulled the stick back, and it went above the horizontal line. When he was flying straight ahead, the little plane was right on that horizontal line. Here's where Paul uses the Greek term politeumai, literally be a citizen of the gospel, Citizens of the gospel participate in the greatest power in the universe. There's no force that can defeat Christ's gospel, the message of divine love and grace. Yet that doesn't mean citizens of the gospel are all-powerful. Remember where Paul is writing from as he pens these words: he's writing from a prison cell. He has endured prosecutions, persecutions, humiliations, and brutal beatings, hardships on the body, mind and the soul. Part of the gospel citizenship is trusting in Christ, but equally part is also suffering for him as well (verse 29). I'll never forget eyewitness accounts of helicopters under fire, of people shooting at rescue workers coming to save them. "What kind of person shoots at you when you're coming to rescue them?" one officer asked (The Seattle Times, 03 ix 05, A11). Now we know a little of how Jesus must have felt . . . Doing what's best for the community of faith, participating day-by-day in those actions that bring the gospel of Christ to all the world, isn't the easiest way to spend your life. You'll be shot at and attacked by the very people you're trying to save. But it's the only way to spend your life if you're a passported citizen of the gospel. The great Bible teacher, John MacArthur, told the story of how recently his sister died of cancer, and went to be with the Lord. One of the last times John saw his sister was at the hospital. She was suffering terribly. They talked very candidly about the future. She looked up at him and said, "John, I am going to die very soon and be with the Lord." Dr. MacArthur looked at his sister and made this statement. He said, "Sis, just remember, the worst thing that can happen to a Christian is the best thing that can happen to anyone else." Now I find that to be a very interesting perspective on death. Here's what these children said: Everybody has to die sometime, even if you don't want to. When you die, God takes care of you like your mother did when you were alive, only God doesn't yell at you all the time. God doesn't tell you when you're going to die, because He wants it to be a big surprise. Only the good people go to Heaven, the other people go to where it is hot all the time like Florida. Everyone is scared to die, except the people who are already dead. A good doctor can help you so that you won't die. A bad doctor sends you to Heaven. Everyone cries when somebody dies because they don't want to be left behind. Heaven is the only place in the universe where no one ever gets stressed out. There is no sweating, there is fretting, there is no hurry, there is no worry. It is a place of perfect peace, and a place of perfect rest. There is the peace factor. Just imagine that you were invited to the White House (with a President that you wanted to see) and you were invited to go into the Oval Office. Now just imagine that when you walked in there, the President said, "I want to give you some Presidential Cufflinks; I want to give you a Presidential Pen; I want to give you a Presidential Coffee Mug; I want to give you a Presidential jacket, and then I'm going to fly you home on Air Force One." Now you would the first one to say that all of that wasn't necessary. You would just be grateful to God that you got to go to the White House. God says He is not only going to take you to Heaven, but for those of us who are faithful to Him, we are going to be rewarded. I heard about an old godly Christian who was not far from death. His pastor came to see him and he said, "Pastor, I've been thinking about dying. It has hit me that it is going to be the best business transaction I've ever made in my life." The pastor said, "Brother John, what do you mean?" He said, "Well, it just hit me. My Heavenly Father has insured me for far more than I'm worth, and the only way I can collect the policy is to get into that grave, and I'm ready to go." Well, that is true. Our Heavenly Father has insured us for far more than we're worth, and when we die we will collect every bit of His policy. Now let’s look at verse 20 of our scripture lesson. Verse 20. It is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether I live or whether I die. Now that’s the Revised Standard Version of the verse. Now listen to my choice translation of this particular verse, the New English Bible. For as I passionately hope, I shall have no cause to be ashamed, but shall speak so boldly that now as always the greatness of Christ will shine out clearly in my person, whether through life or through death. Now if you’re taking notes or outlining this passage in your Bible, you might title this section, “Believing and Suffering.” If you’re not taking notes, register it firmly in your mind. This radical notion of Paul’s that believing and suffering go together. So let me tell you a story, and this will give you its meaning. My friend, Don Shelby, a Methodist preacher in Santa Monica, California, tells of a colleague who was from missionary parents. When the boy was 12, his parents went back to their mission station in India, and left one boy with his grandmother to raise, expecting that it would not be too long before arrangements could be made for them to be reunited. But it so happened that as they left for India, it was on the eve of the breaking out of the Second World War, so the family was separated for eight long years. For all those years, they couldn’t get together, then on the boys 20th birthday, they finally were reunited. And it happened like this – after a three-month ship trip across the south Atlantic, and around the Cape of South America and California, the parents sent a telegram back east to their son who was now in college – he got it in a philosophy class. The telegram said that his parents were now in the United States, were getting on a train, and would be in his town on a certain day at a certain time, and would their son be there to meet them. The son said, I’ll never forget it – and he wrote this. “It was almost dark when the train finally pulled into the station, and mother and dad were the only ones to get off. I could barely see them in the haze and they couldn’t really see me. We embraced in the semi-darkness, then mother took my hand and we went into the waiting room, where there was more light. With tears running down her cheeks, my mother looked at me, she kept looking at my face, long and hard – staring at me. Then she turned to my dad, calling him by name, ‘Arnette,’ she cried, ‘Arnette, he’s gone and looked like you. He looks just like you.’” Oh what glory - to move in our relationship with Christ to the point that we will look like Him. His life will be our life. That’s the gospel through the person. For to me, to live is Christ. Do you quiver inside as I do when you hear that word? Dare we breathe it silently as though it were our own? I tremble with a kind of awe, but my mind and heart convulses with excitement about the possibility that is mine. That I will get so caught up in Jesus that I will allow him to own me so completely that his word will be more than a longing sigh and will become a personal, verifiable claim – for me to live is Christ. That’s when the gospel will be coming through clearly in your person and mine. And that’s the end toward which we should all deliberately be moving. Maxie Dunnam, by Maxie Dunnam certain advertising agent decided to trade in his winged-tip shoes for a white robe. He set himself up as a swami in one of the Eastern religions. He advertised his ability to answer life's most profound questions and eventually gathered a group of disciples who sat reverently about him while he remained lost in meditation. Finally the newly made swami broke his trance long enough to utter his profound insight for the day: "Life," he said, "is like a can of Pringle potato chips floating in a bowl of Pepsi Cola." The disciples nodded respectfully ” except for one. He said, "But swami, why is life like a can of Pringles floating in a bowl of Pepsi Cola?" At this, the ex-advertising agent lifted his head, fixed the questioner with an icy stare and said, "Listen, fellow, did you come here to learn or to argue?" What is the meaning of life? Beethoven once played his latest sonata for a group of his friends. The music filled the room. As the last note lingered, the friends asked Beethoven, "What does it mean?" Beethoven's only answer was to return to the piano and play the entire sonata again. Finished, he said to his friend. "That is what it means." Someone saw this sign on a subway wall: "Life is one contradiction after another." Underneath someone else had written: "No, it's not." On a bulletin board someone found this cryptic message: "This life is a test. It is only a test. Had it been an actual life You would have received Further instructions on Where to go and what to do!" What is life all about really? Without a moment's hesitation she made her reply. "Never before," she said, "has the world been so desperately asking for answers to crucial questions, and never before has the world been so frantically committed to the idea that no answers are possible. To paraphrase the Bible, the modern attitude is, Father, forgive us, for we know not what we're doing ” AND PLEASE DON'T TELL US!'" (5) Author Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to prove his skill as an author by writing a story in only six words. Hemingway responded with these six ingenuous words: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.” It would be difficult to tell a heart-breaking story more succinctly than that. The book contains submissions by obscure writers, too. I like this one from someone named John Kurtz: “Kentucky trash heap yields unexpected flower.” And this plaintive plea from an unknown person: “Applied at Target. World is ending.” And this one from a 27-year-old man after a breakup: “I still make coffee for two.” How about this one? “70 years, few tears, hairy ears.” And the best one of all? Here’s my choice: “Cursed with cancer. Blessed with friends.” (1) St. Paul is writing to the church at Philippi from a prison cell. Even in prison his ministry has been fruitful. He wants the Christians at Philippi to know that what has happened to him his imprisonment and persecution has actually helped to spread the gospel. His steadfast witness has won converts even in jail. Still, he knows that his situation is precarious. He knows that he could be facing martyrdom and so he begins to ponder what this might mean. And here is his conclusion it’s a win/win situation. In fact, he sums up his situation in what could easily be two four-word memoirs: “to live is Christ; to die is gain.” Josh McDowell tells about the time he was visiting with a “head-hunter” an executive recruiter who seeks new corporate executives for companies. The man told McDowell about a recent experience he had with a man he interviewed. “When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else,” said the head-hunter, “I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he’s all relaxed. Then, when I think I’ve got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, ‘What’s your purpose in life?’ It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question. “Well,” he continued, “I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, ‘What’s your purpose in life, Bob?’ And he said, without blinking an eye, ‘To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’ For the first time in my career,” said this corporate head-hunter, “I was speechless.” (2) “To live is Christ.” That’s a four-word memoir that sums up the abundant life.What would you substitute in its place? “To live is work?” “To live is football?” “To live is my iPod?” Surely you can see how pathetic that is. I suspect some of you would substitute “To live is my family.” And certainly our family is important. But here is the truth of the matter, there are many people with good jobs, nice families and fun hobbies, who when they come to the end of the day realize that none of it is enough to satisfy their deepest hunger. It’s like a story that is told about the great evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Moody was traveling by boat on one of the Great Lakes when a really bad storm developed. The other passengers on the boat cowered in fear. They even started an impromptu prayer meeting asking God to deliver them from the storm. Moody didn’t join in this prayer meeting. When asked why not, he answered with these words, “I have a sister in Chicago and one in heaven and I don’t care which I see tonight.” (7) If you were to sum up your life in a six or eight-word memoir, how would it read? One writer suggests that our memoirs would be quite different from St. Paul’s. “To live is to be entertained, to die is to miss all the fun.” “To live is all of the things I want, to die is to lose it all.” “To live is to be in the best of health, to die is to lose my life, what now?” (9) It is a sobering thought. It sort of sums up what we said earlier, Without Christ, why bother? Could we sum up our lives in the way St. Paul summed up his? “To live is Christ; to die is gain.”

A Gathering of Two or Three

Sermon A Gathering of Two or Three Whenever I teach a class with youth or children, one of the first things that we do after prayer is establish a behaviorial covenant. While we are together, how do we treat one another. How do we want to be treated in the class and how do we pledge to treat others. If we were to establish a covenant for our congregation, what are some of the things that we would put into it. You don’t have to answer out loud, but just give it some thought. The Stop-and-Think Chair - Matthew 18:15-20 Schools opened here last week, and I remembered something from one of the teachers. Like all good teachers, she has certain expectations — norms of behavior — for her students. The students agree to these community norms for the classroom that are posted in the room. That’s not new. What I find intriguing in her classroom is the consequence if someone breaks the norm. When a community rule is broken, the offending student is assigned to the clearly labeled stop-and-think chair. There the child sits ruminating upon certain actions and considering what he or she needs to do to return to the classroom community. I wonder if that would work in other settings — like the nation’s capitol or home and yes, the church. It’s a silly thought, but still. Imagine if all communities — even, or especially, those where there is so much blood being shed against one another, so much violence flowing out of their lives — imagine if all communities had a public spot designated for the stop-and-think chair. You’ve heard of stop, drop, and roll in a fire? How about stop, think, and pray in a conflict? You don’t have to be humiliated with a dunce cap; just stop and think. When we allow for a moment of reflection, it often provides enough space for consideration of another path. Such silence becomes a container for the Spirit of God to intervene in surprising ways.... Luckily, for followers of Christ, we don’t have to get lost in our thoughts about the subject, because in Matthew 15 – Jesus has already spelled out the covenant. We should always remember to treat people with love. Matthew 15 is all about reconciliation with God’s world. The key to reconciliation – getting back together is forgiveness. We will talk more about forgiveness more next week. Today, we talk about how to deal with a situation when you are upset, especially with a church member. How to use the church in order to bring reconciliation. The behavioral covenant for the church – Someone paraphrased….. 1. Put Your Complaint into Words 2. Tell the Person about It in Person 3. Counsel with Other Wise Christians. 4. Make Use of the Christian Fellowship. 5. Never Give up Trying Where 2 or three are gathered, Christ is also with them. Christ is here to bring all of the world back into God’s love. 2 or three can bring power, but it can also bring pain. It is inevitable – whether we are a family, a church or just a gathering. Wherever 2or 3 are gathered, there is going to be some form of woundedness, someone is going to feel hurt, someone is going to feel offended, someone is going to feel victimized. Whereever 2or 3 are gathered there is going to be sin – jealousy, resentment, nosiness. Sin is something in your life that at the moment is more important to you than God and God’s commandment to love one another. Where 2or 3 are gathered there is sin – but in the midst of it all there is also love. Because there is Jesus Christ in the midst. If you look at Matthew 18 – it spells out the rules for confronting sin within the Christian community. Confronting sin means stop pretending that there is nothing wrong. Whatever it is, it needs to come out in the open. A story of 4 friends Four friends gathered for lunch after church as they did every Sunday. They went into their favorite café to talk. They had gathered for so long – that the conversation could go anywhere. They could be talking about their gardens and which vegetables didn’t come up this year. They could be talking about the new sewing project one had started, they could be talking about the new garage one just had designed. Then the conversation flows to more practical issues – the sermon they heard, the music the choir sang. Today as the four picked their seat – one noticed that there was a young man at the table next to them – sitting all alone. She seemed to have recognized him – she could see the family resemblance – she must have known his father. But she too immediately got into the conversation. The conversation always goes from church business to church gossip. And she had a good one to talk about – Patty. Patty was in the choir with her, but when she saw her at the grocery store last Saturday she did not even speak. It seems that every since Patty inherited that money from uncle, she has become very stuck up. She doesn’t talk to anyone. But this time our friend was offended. She did not appreciate this treatment at all. Did you speak to Patty? Asks one of the friends. This person obviously didn’t understand the situation. If you noticed what was going on with Patty did you speak to Patty. As the friend looks away – she notices the gaze of the young man at the next table – he is looking right at her, his eyes seem sad, even a little concerned. But he is very quiet. As her attention goes back to her friends- and the conversation she is upset but she listens to their advice. Maybe you should just go to Patty and ask her what is going on. You never know until you talk with her. If you sense there there is a problem talk with her – afterall, we are church members. Jesus calls us to forgive one another and to resolve our differences. When we feel that we have been hurt – Jesus asks us not to dwell in the pain – but to go directly to the person and resolve the issue. If you cant resolve the issue between the two of you – take some others with you. Afterall – Jesus reminds us that he is always with us – where two or three are gathered his presence is there. And suddenly it came to her – she recognized the young man at the table- he did indeed look just like his father. Whom she knew so well also. But she also realized why her relationships with those in her church were so important. Because wherever those relationships were present – so was that young man who looked so familiar. That young man was Jesus Christ himself. Jesus says that where 2 or 3 are gathered, so is Christ. The combination of us and Christ unleashes a powerful spirit. In the face of God we have to put aside our selfishness, our pride, our predjudice and the the holy spirit reign in the situation. You have to realize that you love God more than you love being right. Because whatever it is that hold your spirit, hold you. There is a Russian saying that we need to make peace with people and make war with our sin. Sometimes even in the church we like to do the opposite. Forgiveness is a choice to put our future in God’s hands. Oprah said forgiveness is finally realizing that whatever it was that happened in the past, there is nothing you can do to change it. I would add that forgiveness is the decision to put it all in God’s hands. Forgiveness is the choice to leave the past behind and to live in God’s future. Christ calls us not to get so caught up in the way things are, and to embrace the way things can be. To create heaven here on earth – just in your attitude. To free ourselves of whatever it is that is holding us back. I think a lot of us struggle with forgiveness and reconciliation because we think that we are granting the other person a favor. Forgiveness is never about the other person it is always about us. It is taking care of our spirit, it is freeing ourselves from the pain of holding on to memories. And opening the door to a new freedom. Forgiveness is the first step towards reconciliation. Reconcilation is the doorway toward a deeper relationship with God. The whole point of the bible – Life happens, Life hurts, whatever it is in order to move forward you need to get over it and move on. Moving on can take a long time, but God calls us to get to that point. I remember once filing a grievance against a colleague. I was allowed to tell me story, and the colleague apologized. My DS said that once the person apologized, that I had to accept the apology and let it go. Of course, I accepted the apology in the moment – but it took years to move on. That colleague and I will never be friends again, but we are siblings in Christ, apology accepted. God calls us to move on, not for their sake, but for ours. In the covenant that Jesus gives us in Matthew 18:15-20 – it is the person who feels wrong that takes the first step. 1. Put Your Complaint into Words 2. Tell the Person about It in Person 3. Counsel with Other Wise Christians. 4. Make Use of the Christian Fellowship. 5. Never Give up Trying In this model, it is the church that helps the person to heal. Jesus gives the church to keys to eternal life. The church has great power – Jesus says that whatever is bound in earth will be bound in heaven, whatever is freed on earth is freed in heaven. God invites the church to do the important work of reconciliation. Every since Adam and Eve got kicked out of the garden of eden, God’s primary ministry has been to bring us back together in reconciliation and love. God has been calling us all to come together, to heal one another, to walk with one another to a new future. To be an example of wholeness. We are never going back to the way things were in the garden of eden. The bible says that there are angels guarding the garden to make sure that no one ever returns. But God sent Christ into the world to bring us forward to a new life, a new understanding, a new eden where tears will never flow and where there will be eternal life in the presence of God. Learning to live in love, the resolve conflicts in love, to do the work of community, to be a part of a church is God’s invitation to join in God’s work of reconciliation. Building Bridges Once upon a time, two brothers who lived on adjoining farms fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in their 40 years of working together. It began with a small misunderstanding, and grew into a major difference, and finally exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning, there was a knock on John's door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter's toolbox. "I'm looking for a few days' work," he said. "Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there that I could help with? Yes," said the older brother. "I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That's my younger brother! Last week, there was a meadow between us, but he took his bulldozer and dug a small river between us. Well I'm going to do him one better. See that pile of old lumber? I want you to build an 8 foot high fence between us. Then I won't need to see his place or his face anymore." The carpenter said, "Show me the nails and the tools, and I'll do a good job for you." The older brother had to go to town, so he left for the day. At sunset, when he returned, this eyes opened wide, and his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all. The carpenter had built a bridge that stretched from one side of the river to the other, with handrails and all! And his younger brother, was coming toward them, his hand outstretched. "You're quite the guy," he said, "after all I've said and done." The two brothers met in the middle, and shook each other's hand. They turned to see the carpenter leaving. "No, wait! Stay a few days. I've a lot of other projects for you," said the older brother. "I'd love to," the carpenter said, "but I have many more bridges to build." When you and I come to the end of our days, just remember this: God won't ask what kind of car we drove, but He will ask how many people we helped get where they needed to go. He won't ask how big our house was, but He will ask how many people we welcomed into our home. God won't ask what neighborhood we lived in, but He will ask how we treated our neighbors. And He won't ask how many fences we made, but He will ask how many bridges we built. Bob Tasler, Restoration: Confronting the Brother What bridges do you need to build? Let us pray….