God's Wondrous Gifts

March 9, 2025 Deuteronomy 26:1-11 God’s Wondrous Gifts Lent 1 Year C “Wonder” Lent One Prelude Welcome and Announcements Over the Threshold – Call to Worship Leader: Professor of Jewish Mysticism and beloved author, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, said this: “Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Sing Verse 1 of Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes So that I may see This Lent, we are invited to consider that one of the most important gifts we can give is to be “purveyors of awe.” A purveyor is someone who spreads or promotes a particular idea or who deals in a particular good. Our quest in this season is to promote a state of awe about the lives we’ve been given and revel in the sheer miracles of life that surround us. This is a spiritual journey in the tradition of biblical poets and of mystics. In our modern day, researchers who study wellbeing know that when we cultivate elements that deepen our awe of life, our appreciation for others, our dedication to the good, we live longer, more purposeful and more joyful lives. In a time when we are exposed to the weight of the world by the messages around us, we will spend time on a journey of being exposed to the wonder of the world. Sing Verse 2 of Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes So that I May See The “wide eye of wonder” creates optimal conditions for awe. When we open our senses to the “extraordinariness of the everyday ordinary,” we have begun the journey to a deeper existence than what resides at surface-level. Wonder can be an antidote to anxiety and depression, pulling us instead toward the awe-filled knowledge that there is more than meets the eye, there are solutions in the midst of problems, possibilities where we sense only dead-ends. Let us rise in body and/or spirit and pray: Awe-inspiring God, we come together this day because we need to be reminded to see through the lens of wonder. Too often, we relegate what is always amazing to what is ever familiar, forgetting that there are mysteries and miracles in the ordinariness of our lives. Open us to perceive anew. Inspire us to receive our surroundings with awe. Forgive us when we focus only on what’s wrong rather than allowing the right and good to show us the way forward. Be with us on this journey as we seek again to marvel at your works. Sing Verse 3 if Hymn 454 – Open My Eyes That I May See [fade into silence… after a time, the leader speaks softly into the silence] Be still and know that God is God. Wonders never cease. God forgives us. Jesus embraces us. The Spirit enlivens us. We are whole. With awe, we accept this belovedness. And all God’s people say, “Amen.” Hymn God Will Take Care of You UMH 130 In Awe of Young People and others PRAYER OF CONFESSION Jesus, We confess that when we read about your temptations, we excuse ourselves. After all, we reason, we are not you. Of course, you passed the test, we say. You’re God, right? But we mere mortals have no expectation that we can withstand evil like you did. But we are reminded that you are not only Savior; you are example. You faced the temptation to prove yourself, to be spectacular, and to have consuming power. And you walked away, resisting. Forgive us when we have not resisted; when we have yielded to temptation. Forgive us for loving power and prestige more than God. Help us to choose a life rooted in God’s word and grace. Amen. Written by Valerie Bridgeman Davis, The Africana Worship Book, Year C (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2008), 146. The Peace The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you. I invite you to share the peace of Christ with those around you, [remembering to greet those online with a wave to the camera]. Contemporary Reading Our first reading is a contemporary one–an excerpt from Monica C. Parker, author of The Power of Wonder: “Gently peeking its head around mental corners or bombastically announcing its arrival into our trembling psyche, wonder changes our perspective, our bodies, our souls, and our lives. Art, music, religion, politics, science, nature, love, fear, birth, death; each of the myriad experiences that compress to form the bedrock of human life has a golden vein of wonder running through it.” Ancient Reading Deuteronomy 26:1-11 In Awe of the Word (Sermon) God’s Wondrous Gifts We have all heard the saying – Those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat it. George Santayama is quoted as saying that in 1905. But we all know that warning has been given to mankind since the beginning of time. There are times in our life when we are good at remembering the lessons of the past, and there are times when are so anxious for the future that we are convinced that the hold is holding us down. Sometimes, it is hard for us to hold onto the lessons of the past, we have to let it go in order to build something new, especially here in America. Some of the ways that we remember history as a people is by getting together, through traditions, even through the collective holidays that we celebrate. For instance look at the holidays that are popular – everyone loves Christmas, Halloween is getting really popular, St Patrick’s Day is coming up and everyone is Irish for the day. And yet there are days like memorial day – which is intended to remember the heroes who got us where we are today – and yet it is celebrated as the first day of summer. Labor day in intended to remember that we got where we are by hard work – yet we think if it as the last day of summer. In a lot of ways, not all it seems that as we march on to the future – more and more we are letting go of the past. When we no longer remember our history, then it ceases to exist. In John Steinbeck''s great novel, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, a migrating "Okie" family is told not to waste vital packing space on photographs and other items of family history and memories. One of the family members responds, "How will we know it''s us without our past?" In the Book of Joshua (4:1-7), the heir to Moses instructs the men from each of the twelve tribes of Israel to gather a stone and to lay them in a special place, "as these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever." The people of Israel must never be disconnected from God''s story and actions. One of the ways of remembering the lessons of the past is through worship – singing together, listening together and praying together. One of the primary messages of the bible is to remember where you came from. I think that the old Hebrew society does a much better job than we do in remembering the past. The bible is full of stories where the people are instructed to remember – an incident. There are even told of ways to collectively celebrate the past. Even Jesus tells his disciples to do this in remembrance of me. The Old Testament lesson from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 is thought by the German Biblical scholar, G. Von Rad, to be one of the earliest known "creeds" of the people of Israel. It was recited as a creed to keep the people''s memory of the mighty acts of God in their history alive. History is a simple compound word meaning "His-Story." The divine story and the human response were never to be forgotten. The primary way this was done was by the ancient method of oral communication, called "The Story". It was passed on. It was communicated. It connected people to their past so they would never be orphans. Lent is a time for us to gather and to collectively remember. Most of the scriptures that are chosen for lent are scriptures that remind us of our relationship with God. The Hebrew Bible scriptures usually point out God’s promise to us. They show us how God started a relationship with us based on love and care. They are stories of who someone was in distress, They called out to God and god answered them. This year – we wont hear about God’s promise – we will hear about our response to God’s love. In our scripture for today – Moses is the speaker. This is a part of his final speech. His people have wandered for 40 years- and they are finally about to enter into the land of milk and honey. God has told Moses that he won’t be coming into the promiseland with them -so moses is giving them these final words of advice. He tells them to remember the past, remember where God has brought you through and respond by returning to god your best. Moses starts by saying, when you get to the land of milk and honey bring an offering to God. This would be the land of milk and honey because it would be the land where their livestock would settle and graze and have babies and produce lots of milk, and where they could plant, which would attract the bees and there would be lots of honey. This is the land where the people could settle and be satisfied. Moses wanted them to remember that everything that they received in that land was a gift from God. There is an often-told story about an immigrant shopkeeper who had a son who continuously complained to him. The son would say, "Dad, I do not understand how you run this store. You keep your accounts payable in a cigar box. Your accounts receivable are on a spindle. All your cash is in the register. You never know what your profits are." The old man would respond by saying, "When I arrived in this land all I owned were the pants and the shirt I was wearing. Now your sister is a doctor. Your brother is a teacher. You are an accountant. I have four grandchildren. Your mother and I own a nice house and two cars and this little store. Add it all up, subtract the pants and the shirt, and then you'll have your profit." All of us have a lot to be thankful for, all of us have been blessed by God. Moses direction to us: give your first fruits to God, be grateful, in everything remember where you came from, take account of your gifts from God, the best way to see God, is to look back and remember. For me, every morning I try to get up and journal – to write about whatever is on my mind. Through that process, I set my intention for the day, set goals for the day, reflect on important things to do. Recently I also started identifying ways that I can see that God is working in my life – where are the places that I saw the spirit working. I soon realized that sometimes to only way to see how God is working clearly is to reflect on the past. My list of places and times that I saw God – is always about the day before. When we are living in the moment, it is hard to see how god is working. The only way to identify those moments is to sit and reflect and remember. I think that lectionary writers chose this scripture is to remind us to first bring our best to God, to be grateful, but most importantly to remember. Lent is that time to remember and to respond. We spend a lot of the Christian year in ordinary time – actually about six months. We are told to go out into the world and to be the hand, ear, feet and hands of God. We are supposed to be God’s love in action. The work is important, but can be very busy. The other half of the year, we are in festival time, called into the church to celebrate Christ. We are called to listen, learn, reacclimate and to intentionally listen for God. So far we have been through advent, Christmas, epiphany and now it is time for lent. We are called to slow down. And really take account of God in your life. To listen to what God is saying to you, to find out who Christ is for you, and to become a witness to how God is working in the world, in our country, in our lives. It is time to rethink the covenant – what did God promise to me – and how is god fulfilling that promise in my life. God is all around us – sometimes we forget to look. Sometimes we are so focused on looking for God – we lose sight at what we are looking at. When we get used to looking for God, we can see the spirit clearly. My list of places I experienced God gets longer and more detailed everyday. Have you noticed that when you start to recognize the spirit of God in your life, you can’t help but to say wow! God’s presence is always amazing. God’s ways are always so much better than ours, God works in ways that are impossible to us, God does things that we would never have thought of, God’s blessings are beyond what we could ask for. So our Lenten task is to look for the awe and wonder of God. God wants to do something for us! Isn't that wonderful news? The story goes that Arnold Palmer was asked by an oil sheik to come and lay out and supervise the building of a golf course in Kuwait. Palmer went, built a magnificent course, and was paid extremely well for it. As he prepared to leave and return home, the sheik came to him and asked him what he could give him as a gift. "Nothing," Palmer said, "you've already paid me a fortune and I don't need anything at all." But the sheik persisted, "Isn't there anything I could give you? Just tell me, anything at all?" Finally, Arnold said rather nonchalantly, "O well, give me a golf club," and he thought nothing more of the incident. He got on a plane, flew home, and was met at the airport by his secretary, whose opening question was, "Mr. Palmer, what in the world are you going to do with the Westshore Hills Country Club?" We simply have no idea of how much God wants to help us, bless us, and redeem us. Someone said that when we give up things for lent, usually the things that we give up have nothing to do with God or God’s goals. Usually giving up something is about improving ourselves, not our relationship with God. That is not a bad thing. But how about this lent – we spend time looking for God, and remember when we see God to say wow! Sometimes life gets in the way, and it can be hard for us to see God. Lent is our time to step away, remember how god has worked in our life, and respond with gratitude. Whatever you do, wherever you go – don’t forget God. Lets pray…..Amen. Hymn Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley TFWS 2112 Approaching an Awesome God [Prayers] Holy and Living God, we approach this time of prayer with wonder at your world. With all our senses, we open to you. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love others as you perceive and love us. We imagine in our mind’s eye now the people in our lives, the people of our communities, and the people of our world. Each of them is beloved by you, and this alone creates awe in us. We especially lift up those who need our prayers in this moment… [continue with prayers of thanksgiving and care for people]. For all these people and those we name in our hearts, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love your creation as you perceive and love it. Each blossom, each sunrise, each unfurling fern reminds us that new life is possible. You are making all things new all around us. Help us to care for the nature around us. This week, we name… [continue with prayers about specific entities of nature in your area]. For all these places, creatures, and lifeforms, and those we name in our hearts, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Give us lenses of awe with which to perceive and love life as you perceive and love the life you have given us. Open us to the wonders around us–the art-fullness of each encounter, each moment, as a possibility for amazement waiting to happen. Slow us down in this season of Lent so that we might savor anew the gift of life. We pause in this silence, setting intentions of awe for the week ahead. [pause in silence] For all these intentions, Hear our prayer, Awesome God. Let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us… [Lord’s Prayer]. Lord’s Prayer Responding with Awe – Stewardship Moment Offering/Offertory [as is your custom] Doxology [Tune: Old 100th] Praise God, Creator of us all, Praise Christ, by whom we hear our call, Praise Spirit, that which sets us free, Our awe is yours, the One-in-Three. Offertory Prayer Faithful God, who journeys with us through the wilderness of our lives, as we offer these gifts, we remember your sustaining presence. In this period of spiritual renewal, strengthen us to resist temptation and guide us to live in community with love and grace. May these offerings be signs of hope and acts of compassion that reflect the love you have shown us in Christ. Empower us to rise together, supporting one another on this journey of faith and transformation. In the name of Jesus, our Redeemer, we pray. Amen. (United Methodist Board of Discipleship) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Benedictions are blessings. And blessings are all around us. So for this season, instead of bowing your head as I offer a Benediction blessing, I invite you to open your palms in a position of receiving, and hold your head high, imagining a radiant stream of light from above shining upon you and everything else around you. And this week when you need to be reminded of the wonder-filled world, take this stance again. Open your palms to receive, look around to perceive, and notice one small thing that can light up your heart for a moment. And now may you go forth remembering Rabbi Heschel’s words: “Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.” Be a purveyor of awe this week. Be amazed as you gaze with the lens of wonder at the world around you, as you wonder with hope about what will unfold, as you invite wonder to live and breathe new life in you. Be a “purveyor of awe,” curating a life of spiritual depth that inspires others to join you on the journey. May the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of Awe, the Holy One-in-Three, be with you now and throughout these days, Amen. Community Time (Joys and Concerns) We Go Forth with Awe [Benediction] Beloved, you—you—who live in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the shadow of the Almighty —will find in God your refuge and fortress. Go now, in the blessing of the Triune God who shelters you and rescues you, that we all might be a shelter and a rescue for and with one another. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, August 2024. Postlude Worship Notes Contemporary reading excerpted from the following source: Parker, M. C. (2023). The power of wonder: The extraordinary emotion that will change the way you live, learn, and lead. Penguin Random House. Additional Illustrations A friend once told me of an experience he had as a child. When he was eight years old he went with his family to visit an uncle who lived on a farm. He always looked forward to these visits because his uncle had horses that he let the children ride. When it was his turn to go for a ride, he rode the horse until he was out of view of the house. Then he slipped to the ground. He wanted to try mounting the horse as he had seen cowboys on television do it. So he got behind the horse and took a running start toward the horse. He jumped as high as he could but his feet barely left the ground. He landed on his feet directly behind the horse. He looked up at the horse's tail and, as he stood there, he wondered how he would ever get back up on such a large horse. The horse calmly turned its neck to look at him. Then it reared and kicked him with its hind legs. This time when he landed it was on the other side of a ditch beside the road. He got up and raced home crying. When he got to the house, he told his uncle the horse had kicked him. He failed to mention that he had been attempting a running rear-mount of the horse. His uncle insisted that that horse had not kicked him. He was absolutely sure the old mare was too gentle to kick anyone. He refused to believe that his gentle old mare would kick someone. With that the boy took off his shirt. He showed his uncle his chest, which displayed two bright red circles that looked conspicuously like the hoof prints of a horse. To a great extent, we choose what we believe, don't we? We also choose the outlook and the perspective that governs our lives. For Christians that outlook should reflect a sense of gratitude for what God has done in our lives. We can choose to ignore the evidence of God's goodness if we want. Yet, if we look through the eyes of faith, we will see God's faithfulness and we will be compelled to respond in gratitude. Today's scripture passage raises three important questions that can guide us as we see the perspective God wants for us. What Is Your Inheritance From God? The fathers of modern psychology, Freud, Adler, and Jung, are recognized students of human nature. Their combined message to us is that to be truly human we need three things - significance, security, and love. For Israel, and for us, the ultimate source of our significance and security is to be realized in the covenant of God's love for us. Giving to God a portion of the first fruits is a lovely way of honoring and thanking him. Imagine the five-year-old daughter who, upon receiving from her parents a gift of new crayons or markers for coloring, makes her first project an "I love you" note and picture for her mommy and daddy. This is the quality of the first fruits offering: let the first thing I do with God's gift to me be a way of saying "thank you" and "I love you" to him. Todd Outcalt, in his book, The Best Things in Life Are Free, tells about a short story authored by Charles Dickens, titled, "Tale of a Chemist." It is a futuristic tale in which a famous chemist is tortured by the painful memories of his past. He tries desperately to shake these memories from his mind, for they haunt him constantly, plaguing his days and tormenting his nights. But his efforts are to no avail. Eventually he decides that he will undergo a series of experimental shock treatments, which will obliterate his memory and give him a new lease on life. This he does, and the shock treatments are a complete success. However, the chemist soon discovers that the obliteration of his memory has had some dire consequences. Because his entire memory has been erased, he has no past. He cannot remember where he was born, who his parents were, who his friends are or where he has come from. He is lost without the simple recollections of familiar faces and names. Not only are the painful memories gone, but also the memories that compose his identity as a human being. At the end of the story, the chemist cries out for his past--painful memories and all. He wants what he has lost, for without his memories he is nothing. Wilting inside, he cries out again and again, "Keep my memory green. Keep my memory green." (3) What a powerful story. We do cherish our memories, don't we? Memories of our childhood, memories of those we once loved who are now with God, memories of our wedding day, the birth of our children, our baptism or confirmation, memories of vacations, and significant victories at work, and all kinds of precious events. Israel retained their identity as a people because they remembered their history as a people. There are some things that need to be remembered. Steve Reeves tells about a woman who underwent a very delicate form of brain surgery. When the doctors removed a tumor they were concerned that the slightest mistake could cause her to lose either her memory or her eyesight. So they asked the woman to choose which side of the brain tissue they'd enter with their scalpels. In other words, if she had to lose one of those senses, which would she prefer to lose? She wisely said, "Let me think about it overnight, and I'll tell you tomorrow which is more important to me." The next day she said, "If I had to lose either my memory or my eyesight, I would prefer to lose my memory." When asked how she arrived at this decision, she calmly replied, "I'd rather see where I'm going than remember where I've been." (7) Our biblical, Christian faith is basically a response to a story, to the story of what God has done in human history. It is not as if Christians through the ages have looked at the natural world and decided that there must be a God who created it. They have not thought up a picture of God and designed worship to go with the picture. Nor have they adjusted to their changing cultural and social situations simply by drawing up their own rules for the ethics and morals by which we should live. There are some forms of faith in our day that are such products of human imagination and construction. But that is not true of the biblical faith of the Christian Church. No. Our faith is a response to a history of God's words and deeds, a history that is now preserved and passed on to us in the scripture. So it is that when we confess our faith in the Apostles' Creed, for example, we tell the story on which that faith is based, and the story is the history of what God has done: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ... I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. The third day he rose again from the dead...." On that basis, then, we respond and say, "I believe." God's acts always come first. We did not construct our faith out of our own thoughts and desires. Rather, God did particular deeds and said particular words, and we say, "Yes, I believe God did those things and spoke those words," and then we work out our response of faith in accord with what the deeds and words have revealed to us about God. Thus, in our Epistle lesson from Romans 10:8b-13, Paul writes that whoever believes and confesses that God raised Jesus from the dead and made him Lord, will be saved. Faith and salvation rest on God's prior act in Jesus Christ. Dr. Craddock concluded Dr. Momaday''s story by saying, "Anyone who cannot remember further back than his or her own birth is an orphan." (1) Remembering is not intended to paralyze us, but to free us. Dr. William Hinson, tells the story of his brother-in-law who took piano lessons as a youngster, practicing on a Wurlitzer. He always began playing the pieces he had memorized by recalling that middle C was under the "W" imprinted on his piano at home. On the big day of his recital, he walked confidently on stage, yet to his consternation, he was seated before a Yamaha. He hadn''t the slightest notion as to the location of middle C. After a long, terrified silence, the piano teacher realized the problem, walked across the stage, and pointed to middle C. Hinson''s brother-in-law then proceeded to play the oft-rehearsed recital selection. (2) As we reflect on this Memorial Day weekend, what is the "Middle C" that is missing from our national heritage. Is it: Character, Compassion, Commitment, Common Cause, or Charity? What is the "Middle C" missing in the Christian Church? It is the "Centrality of Christ." Father Henri Nouwen wrote, "The strategy of the principalities and powers is to disconnect us, to cut us off from the memory of God." Do you remember that in George Orwell''s provocative book, 1984, the first thing to be sacrificed for the new world order and system is the history of the past? Only when you can convince a people they are strangers in an alien land can you then re-educate them, because they have been stripped of the richness of past experiences. Without our past, we can never really live or die, we simply exist. Elie Wiesel wrote, "Memory is an exalted way of seeing one''s life in its totality, it is not a morbid thing." There is a great power in memory. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a powerful story that says it well. A young man meets and falls in love with a beautiful young lady. He asks her to marry him and she agrees. She is from outside the solar system. She asks her husband if she can go home one more time before they set up their home. When she comes back, she has with her a rather large box, and she says, "We''ll get married and I''ll live here, but this box must remain in our home and you must never look in it." He says, "That''s okay. No problem there." The days went by, and you know what happened. One day she was away from the house for a long period of time and he was there by himself. That box kept saying, "Come and look, come and look." He went over to the box and got the nerve to open it up. He felt he had to know what was in it. When he opened it up, it was empty. That made him angry. When she came in, he said to her, "You told me not to look into the box. The box seemed to be special to you. I made a special place in our home for it. Then when I opened the top and looked in, it was absolutely empty. How could you pull a fraud like this on me?" Tears were coming down her cheeks. She said, "You''ve missed the whole point. You remember when I went back to my planet and came with the box? I went to get this special box and I filled it with all the aromas of the crops and the homes, the aromas of the people of the streets--all of them are in this box. And when I get terribly homesick, I go and breathe deeply of the memories that are in that box. Now you have called what is very special to me profane." Memory is a powerful perfume from the past in which we continue our connection to God''s saving acts in history. I pray we will not let others or ourselves forget what God has done, is doing, and wants to do through us. Let us not take what is special, sacred and holy and call it profane. The woodcutter was filled with fear and began to panic. He wanted to escape, but the house was locked up tightly; there was no way out. As he slumped on the floor, the woodcutter thought of his wife and family. He had been a fortunate man and now his life was to end. After a long time, the woodcutter looked at the clock on the wall; it read five minutes to midnight. The snake stood ready to strike, but in the distance could be heard a faint sound; the church bell was ringing. It rang and rang -- nine, ten, eleven, twelve times. With the last peal of the bell, the house and the snake disappeared. With no place to go, the woodcutter, grateful for his reprieve from death, curled up in a soft place and went to sleep. The next morning he made his way toward the old church. When he arrived, he found the stairs to the belfry and climbed to the top. As he peered at the old bell, he noticed small spots of blood. On the floor of the bell tower he found many feathers and then the bodies of two white doves. They had thrown their tiny bodies at the bell twelve times in order to free the woodcutter, repaying him for their rescue by his hand so many years earlier. The woodcutter quickly picked up the doves. Their bodies were bruised and broken, but they were alive. He ripped his shirt and wrapped the small creatures tenderly. He stayed with the doves, feeding and nursing them until they were once again healthy. Then one morning he opened the church door and again set the birds free. The woodcutter then returned to his wife and children and all lived happily ever after.1 The story of the woodcutter and the doves demonstrates the need for gratitude in our lives. The doves were so grateful that they had been freed that they were willing to die in order to assist the woodcutter, who, in turn, was grateful for their totally unselfish action and nursed them back to health. This story, our lesson from Deuteronomy, and the national holiday we celebrate suggest that we must always demonstrate gratitude in our lives, to one another and most especially to God. On the battlefield a chaplain encountered a wounded soldier lying in pain in a foxhole. "Would you like me to read to you from this good book, the Bible?" The man could only respond, "I'm so thirsty." The chaplain dutifully ran off, found a canteen, and poured the soldier a drink of water. The wounded man was shifting around as if he were very uncomfortable. Thus, the chaplain found a bedroll and placed it under the man's head as a pillow. The soldier then began to shiver. Without thinking the chaplain stripped off his own field jacket and laid it over the wounded man. The soldier then looked the chaplain in the eye and said, "Now if there is anything in that book of yours that will allow a man to do more for another than you have already done, then please read it, because I would like to hear it." Recently, a college basketball player got hurt in a game. It was her third or fourth concussion in recent play. Officials and medical personnel were alarmed when they discovered that the young woman had a selective amnesia as a result of the injury. She knew her name and her family, but she could not recall ever playing basketball. They took her back home and showed her the high school she played for, and she laughed. She didn't believe them when they insisted she played basketball. She forgot who she was, at least in terms of her sport. Forgetting who we are is a tragic thing. It is so tragic that we spend a great deal of energy in reminding ourselves who we are. The patriotic celebrations we plan for national holidays are partly an attempt to remind us of our democratic heritage. The family reunions that are so prevalent in our communities are an attempt to keep our ethnic and family identities alive. Even the political elections that take place is this country are an attempt to sort out and reinforce who we are as a people. We always want to remember who we are. Remembering who we are is what worship is all about for the Christian community. One of the main purposes of worship is to clearly identify, clarify, and recall who we are -- people created, redeemed, and sustained by a loving God. This story is about three very religious people who lived in a rural community. It is a story about three people who chose to attend the annual thanksgiving worship service. Their names are Liz, Sam and Joe. They live in the country and each of them is involved in farming. However, each of them has his own view of what it means to be "thankful" for the harvest that is now out of the field and in the barns. Liz does not actually do farm work herself. She is married to a farmer. Her husband farms a very large plot of land. This past year they did very well. It was a bumper crop for them. Liz and her husband are very happy about it. As faithful worshippers, they will tithe a full ten percent of everything that they received from the harvest. Considering the size of this year's crop, giving away ten percent means giving away a lot, but they do not mind. Even after giving so much in their offering, they will still have their remaining nine-tenths. It is enough to make them quite wealthy and, for that, they are thankful. Sam also farms. He farms a much smaller area than Liz's husband does. For whatever reason, Sam's crop was not too good this year. Sam's barn is pretty small to begin with, but, even so, his harvest did not come close to filling it. Nonetheless, Sam is also faithful in giving his tithe every year. Discouraged as he is by how little he received from the land, he too plans to attend the special worship service. He will offer his tithe and give thanks for what crops he does have. Finally there is Joe. Joe is a very young farmer. Some of his friends tease him about being more of a "nature lover" than a farmer. He sometimes goes out to his field and just looks at the earth. He stands in awe as he watches the miracle of planted seeds sprouting from the ground. As Joe brings his tithe to the special worship service, he does so conscious of the magical wonder that is bound up in the process of planting and harvesting. Each of the three people approaches the worship service with a little different view of thankfulness. Liz is "happy thankful." Sam is "discouraged thankful." Joe is "awe-struck thankful." Yet, even though their viewpoints vary somewhat from each other, they each attend the thanksgiving worship service with the same thing in mind. Each goes to worship expecting it to be a time to offer God their thanks and their tithe. However, when they actually get to the worship, they discover that, this year, there's more going on -- much more. The worship turns out not to be only a time for them to give their offering and speak a prayer of thanks. This year's worship now includes: "the creed" -- and that changes everything. Attending this thanksgiving worship, Liz, Sam and Joe each discover that there is far more going on than they had realized. The end. That's the story. What did you think? Was it as bad as I led you to expect, or did it actually seem like a fairly nice story to you? I would guess that for many people it probably sounded simply like a story about some pretty nice, fairly generous, "church-going" people. If you had a hard time figuring out what was so non-Christian and so un-American about it, allow me to let you in on the secret. You see, the "creed" that was said in the worship service was not the Apostles' Creed. Nor was it the Nicene Creed or the Athanasian Creed or any other Christian creed. In fact, Liz, Sam and Joe were not attending a Christian worship service at all. They were attending a harvest time, thanksgiving worship service all right, but it had nothing to do with our American Thanksgiving. The three worshippers in the story were not Americans. None of them lived anywhere near America. Neither did they worship in a time that was anywhere near the 20th century. Although it may have sounded like it was a story about an American Thanksgiving worship service, much like the service we're having right now, it was actually a story about three Hebrew people attending the "feast of the first fruits" in Jerusalem, centuries before the birth of Christ. Such an event could not possibly be Christian and it certainly was not an American tradition. Nevertheless, the 26th chapter of Deuteronomy, the chapter which prescribes the worship for this ancient Hebrew festival, is the appointed Old Testament lesson which is to be read as we gather for our Thanksgiving Day worship. What, we might ask, could this text possibly have to say to our situation? The "feast of first fruits," described by our Deuteronomy text, is also called by other names in scripture. It is sometimes called "the feast of harvest," and sometimes "the feast of weeks." The date of the festival was set by counting seven weeks from the time the sickle was put to the standing grain (Deuteronomy 16:9). Since it was celebrated on the 50th day after the beginning of the harvest, it was later given the name "Pentecost," since the Greek word pentacosta means 50. It is the same harvest festival that was taking place when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and others in the second chapter of the book of Acts. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The story with which I began this sermon is a story about people attending this "feast of the first fruits." Liz, Sam and Joe are just nicknames I gave to worshippers who would probably have gone by the longer Hebrew names of Elizabeth, Samuel and Joseph. The particular characters, along with their scenarios, are just something I made up for the story, but the worship service I described them attending was not "made up." We heard Martin Luther say this earlier. He claimed that the offering up of the first fruits to which our First Lesson from Deuteronomy refers (v. 2a) are the good things of love given to us by grace. The first fruits you give to God in thanksgiving are the service you and I render to God and our neighbors.4 You can understand now why Christians do not just give ten percent to God. Essentially when we are living the Christian life we are giving God everything. How about providing for myself and my family? If you ask that question, you have not gotten the point. Christians, every good thing that you and I have belongs to God. He has given them to you to use responsibly and to enjoy. But since they are not yours give them all back to God by thanking him for them and by sharing all these goods with those in need. A few years ago, Susan and Harvey Duke went through a rough period that taught them to trust in God's providence. Harvey couldn't find work, and the family finances were dwindling quickly. One morning, Susan opened the pantry to find bags of potatoes and onions--and absolutely nothing else. And, to complicate matters, as she prayed over the family's financial situation, Susan felt God urging her to give away what they did have. What a dilemma. Then Harvey came home. And he asked Susan to take some food to the new family moving in next door. What was he doing? Didn't he realize how dire their situation was? In spite of her misgivings, Susan loaded a picnic basket with potatoes and onions and delivered it to their new neighbors. A short time later, Susan answered the door to find the neighbor's son on their front steps. He was carrying bags of groceries. His family's refrigerator hadn't been installed yet. They needed to get rid of the food they had brought from their old house. Would she accept a couple of bags of groceries? Of course, she would--with great joy. Susan and Harvey could only interpret the neighbor's kindness like this: God had rewarded their giving by giving back to them abundantly. (3) It was Christmas Eve, and Dr. Leandra Lynch was stuck working the night shift in the emergency room. As the newest resident at the hospital, she had the last choice of shifts, so she got the ones nobody else wanted. Late that evening, an elderly man was admitted with chest pains. Dr. Lynch treated him for heart attack symptoms. She checked on him throughout the night. Eventually, he was stable enough to go home later. The next year, Dr. Lynch was stuck once more working the night shift on Christmas Eve. At 9 p m., an elderly couple entered the emergency ward and introduced themselves to Dr. Lynch. The gentleman, Mr. Lee, wanted to thank her for saving his life the previous Christmas Eve. The next Christmas Eve at 9 p m., the Lees returned with another gift and a hug for Dr. Lynch. They just wanted to express their gratitude. And the next Christmas Eve they did the same. And the next. For 13 years, the Lees returned to the emergency ward on Christmas Eve to thank Dr. Lynch. And for the next 13 years, Dr. Lynch looked forward to working on Christmas Eve just for their visits. After Mr. Lee's death, Dr. Lynch and her family started a new tradition. Every year at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, they ring a small crystal bell--a gift from Mr. Lee--and toast the memory of a man who never forgot to be grateful. (6) To remember is to be thankful. And to be thankful is to taste joy twice. I challenge you this Thanksgiving to tell the story of this past year of your life--and as you tell it, to focus on the positive. Focus on how God has guided you and provided for you. Remember what God brought you through this past year. Remember God's promise that He has a "future and a hope" for you. And leave here rejoicing "in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and to your household." Even more important, the memories that we have show us the direction in which we need to be headed as we move into the future. Those are the memories of: • what God has done for us in creating us and giving us a job to do. • what Jesus did for us by entering into human history. • what Jesus did by taking our sins upon himself to the cross. • our religious tradition as handed down from the Reformers. • parents and friends who nurtured us in the faith. If we ever forget who we are, where we have come from, why we do what we do, and what we need to do as we travel the road, the danger is that we will flounder. The challenge on this day of Thanksgiving is a simple one ...remember! Lent is known as a season of giving up, but it is far more important to simply give, and to resist the temptation to give in. Give to the work of the church. Give to others. Give up because you want to be able to give more, and because you refuse to give in to our culture of wealth, power, acquisitiveness, envy, and greed. You bear great names — the names of Abraham and Jesus, and the God who is, and the promise of what is to come. These names make life worth living, and other lives worth saving. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays in Lent and Easter: The City of Justice, by Frank Ramirez f I said to you that next year God will bless you with a million dollars, but that in turn he would require you to bring 10% to the altar, you would cheerfully sign up, would you not? Can you imagine how readily most of the world's people would nod in assent if I said that next year THEY will make what YOU make, but 10% must be returned to the Lord? They would see that as a tremendous bargain. They would indeed be cheerful givers. One church had on its bulletin board this sign: "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. He also accepteth from a grouch." If we properly understood why we give, we would be cheerful givers. We would understand what a privilege it is to give. And we would anticipate the day when we will be able to give even more. Some years ago, Dr. Edson, the rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, used to walk through the town, greeting everyone with a cheerful "Good morning, and how are you today?" One morning, he was surprised to hear someone respond, "I'm very well, thank God!" Edson brightened and replied, "I am so delighted to hear you thank God for it! For 20 years I have heard everyone in Lowell thanking me. They always say, 'I am very well, thank you, Dr. Edson. "It's nice to hear someone thanking God." Do you have your health? Do you have people who love you? Do you have food to eat and a warm place to sleep on a cold winter night? Do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins? We have much to be thankful for. We give, first of all in response to all that God has done for us. Some years ago, Dr. Edson, the rector of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, used to walk through the town, greeting everyone with a cheerful "Good morning, and how are you today?" One morning, he was surprised to hear someone respond, "I'm very well, thank God!" Edson brightened and replied, "I am so delighted to hear you thank God for it! For 20 years I have heard everyone in Lowell thanking me. They always say, 'I am very well, thank you, Dr. Edson. "It's nice to hear someone thanking God." Do you have your health? Do you have people who love you? Do you have food to eat and a warm place to sleep on a cold winter night? Do you know that Jesus Christ died for your sins? We have much to be thankful for. We give, first of all in response to all that God has done for us. Recently, I sat by the bedside of a friend who had the previous day been in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. When he looked up and saw me coming into the room he said, "Oh, oh, I must be really bad off if they have called you." He looked over to his wife and he said, "Who told you I was here anyway?" During the course of the next several hours he had several visitors who brought flowers, gifts, cards, and unsolicited words of wisdom about staying off motorcycles. Since he was a pastor, I could tell he was quite uncomfortable with his new role as a patient. He continued to show pastoral presence as his members and staff came to visit with the one from whom they had been accustomed to receiving comfort and consolation. Finally in a moment when we were alone, he turned to me and said, "Okay, you haven't said much. Let me have it. I know I've got a lecture coming." I said, "Oh no, not a lecture, just a lesson." We began to pray prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and praise. We cried out to God and thanked him for his continued protection and care. You see, although my friend had slid 575 feet on the pavement and grass, when he came to a stop within seconds a passing paramedic stood by his side. Several seconds later a passing physician came to his aid. Our prayers took us back over the 13 years of our friendship and our memories of God's faithfulness in many circumstances in our lives began to pour out of us. The Holy Spirit reminded us of God's promise to protect us and build a wall of protection around our ministries. While some of the visitors had asked, "What is God trying to teach you through this experience?" he and I knew that it was not punishment but covenant that sent the angels to deliver in time of trouble. O give thanks to the Lord! I sat amazed at how this man, bandaged from head to toe, raised his arms and began praising God in the midst of his injuries. We sat a while longer and recalled the stories of faith that we had lived through and then we again thanked God for being so good to us -- all the time! The season of Lent is a time to reflect on our journeys of faith. Sometimes those journeys take difficult paths, but we can know through faith that God never leaves us alone. Perhaps these words ask it best: What shall I render unto God for all his blessings, what shall I do? During the beginning of the Lenten season that is a question that we can all ask. What shall I render unto God? Our faith journeys are best understood in light of our covenants, convictions and hopes. What are we willing to put first in our offerings to God? CSS Publishing Company, TURNING OBSTACLES INTO O, by Rodney Thomas Smothe Deuteronomy says that the Lord bought us out of the wilderness into the promiseland. I like this scripture because it addresses another important lesson about lent – when you get to the promisland – never lose sight that it was the Lord that bought you through. Another lesson for lent – for all of our lives – is to remember to give our best to God – because God always gives us his best. STORY: Did you know that a person with six kids is more satisfied than a person with six million dollars? What do you think? The reason for this is that the man with six million dollars wants more. At this Lenten season, what do you like about your present giving patterns? What do you dislike? What would you like to change? Deuteronomy reminds us about the first fruits – to give the first of what we have. We don’t live on farms and grow fruits and vegetables. We go to work and earn money. Which is why the conversation is about tithing today and not first fruits. But the challenge is to look at all of our lives, all of what God has given and all of what we can give back to God. Lent is a time to look at what part of our lives are we giving to God. how are we intentionally being faithful, truthful and loyal. 2. To Deny Ourselves: Why don’t we give God what’s left of our paycheck, or of our time, of our efforts? Many people will say, “if I don’t have anything else to do Sunday, I’ll be at church. If I don’t have too many bills to pay, I’ll give a little bit.” If you operate on that principle, you will never give of your time or money. You’ll always be too busy or too broke to do anything. STORY: A Japanese artist painted a picture on a fairly large canvas. Down in one corner was a tree, and on the limbs of the tree were some birds, but all the rest of the canvas was bare. When he was asked if he was not going to paint something more to fill the rest of the canvas, he said, “Oh, no, I have to leave room for the birds to fly.” We often fill our lives so full of obligations that there is not room for the birds to fly and there is no room for God besides. This recitation helped them to remember what God had done for them. They told their story. During the Lenten Season what is the history of your relationship with God? What is your story? We need to share our story with someone this week. “Give God YOUR BEST; expect HIS BEST.” If we give God just the bare minimum, that doesn’t take much faith. Give to God your very best even if it stretches your faith. If you were giving your best to God, what would it be? What would you consider to be your very best? What would your best look like? CONCLUSION: Has God fulfilled His part of the bargain when you gave him your very best? God promised to be with you. Did He? to deliver you from whatever bound you. Did He? to teach you how to live abundantly. Did He? Are your vows a testimony to God’s blessings to you? Are they meaningful vows that connect with your whole life and vows that give God the best of your lives? What stands in the way of you giving all honor and glory to God in your lives? What temptations do you need to overcome. How do you give back to God? Have you made space in your life to give honor and glory to God? If not, lent is a good time to stop and think about how to overcome temptation, and to live in faith, loyalty and trust in God. No matter how we pray, how we go to church, how we trust God – temptation will not go away – evil will not go away. But good always defeats evil. Trust in the lord, in Jesus Christ gives us the strength to over look evil. Verse 14 of psalm 91 says o Because they cleave to me in love, I will deliver them, I will protect them, because they know my name. I will satisfy them with a long life and show them my salvation. Let that be our prayer this day Amen. We Haven’t Been Up To Bat Yet Temptation tries to blind us to other possibilities. A business man driving home from work one day, saw a little league baseball game in progress. He decided to stop and watch. He sat down in the bleachers and asked a kid what the score was. "We’re behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," he responded. "I have to say you don’t look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet." Brett Blair, The story is told of four high school boys who couldn't resist the temptation to skip morning classes. Each had been smitten with a bad case of spring fever. After lunch they showed up at school and reported to the teacher that their car had a flat tire. Much to their relief, she smiled and said, "Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper." Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and got ready for her questions. Then she said, "First question--which tire was flat?" Lent: Spring Training For Christians When I was a boy, I was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. Whatever the reason for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning. John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting

Rules of Community

October 4, 2020 Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Year A 18th Sunday After Pentecost The Rules of Community Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Opening Prayer (Psalm 19) Almighty God, your word bursts forth into our lives like a glorious sunrise. You speak, and our hearts rejoice. You command, and our eyes are opened. The sound of your voice brings revival to our souls. Your words are purer than the finest gold. True and righteous one, living Word, light our way. As we listen to your Spirit, may the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be accepted in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. Stewardship Moment Lord of grace and forgiveness, you who gave everything and spared nothing to make us your own, we offer back to you what you have so freely given to us. Let all that we say and do, all that we think and plan and consider, be pleasing to you, blessed Creator, Provider, and Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer: Washed in your peace and love, O God, we bring our gifts to you. Bless the gifts and the lives that they represent, that all may be used in your service and to your glory. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN. Scripture The Ten Commandments 20 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You must have no other gods before[a] me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 7 Do not use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the LORD won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. 8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 Do not kill.[a] 14 Do not commit adultery. 15 Do not steal. 16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 17 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” Sermon Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen if you only speak. 2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy - and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance. 3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. 4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor. 5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours. 6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant. 7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes, and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression. 8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you. 9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven. 10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body, and spirit. Practice optimism. 11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family. 12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow. 13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you. 14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one's will within this universe. 15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails. 16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions. 17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden. 18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first. 19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others. 20. Share your good fortune with others. These are some of the codes of ethics attributed to the Lakota Native Americans. Whenever I am teaching a class, I usually start out on the first day with having participants develop a classroom code of ethics, rules of understanding for how we will treat one another in class. Most classes come up with things like treat all with a sense of respect, all answers are important, to be positive with all people. The 10 commandments are a code of ethics of how we will treat one another when we are together in community. I know that I have preached a sermon with this congregation on the 10 commandments. That time I focused on each of the individual commandments. But today I don’t want us to think so much about what the commandments are, but why they were given to the community in the first place. We have been following the journey of God’s people as they are wandering in the desert. We hear of their concerns and of God’s response. As they journey they develop their identity. They start to form a solid community. With community, comes rules of understanding of how we treat one another. These particular rules come directly from God- the 10 words. Jesus Christ would have known these commandments – he summarized them down to 2 commandments – Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul, and to love the neighbor as you love yourself. The most important commandment – Love God. For God the unforgivable sin of the people was that they did not come to God when they needed something. And when they did come to God, they did not believe that God could do anything about it. Hence the most important commandment in life – Love God enough to have a relationship. The second, there is not anything in the world more important than God. In other words – do not have any idols. Martin Luther says that an idol is anything that occupies your mind and anything that determines your actions in life. I think under that definition, we all have some idols. In modern times we have also gotten away from wanting to be commanded to do anything. We want to rewrite, redefine and even forget about the 10 commandments. A little boy was once asked by his Sunday school teacher if he knew the Ten Commandments. "No ma'am," came the reply, "my dad said that I don't have to know them since they are doing away with them anyway." It is one thing to be ignorant of the Ten Commandments; it quite another to mock them with impunity. Millions dismiss them as mere platitudes fit for nothing more than a dusty old bookshelf. They disdain them because they are "religious." Instead of listening to Thou shalt not, we want to rewrite them into positive affirmations – things that should do. In reality there is no proof that the 10 commandments were intended to be positive affirmations. God always said, if you love me, this is what you won’t do. Even Jesus says that he did not come to take away the law of obedience, but to fulfill it. Setting boundaries around our behavior was God’s way of showing love for the community. They were never intended to be demands of behavior. God never withheld God’s blessings. As a matter of fact, God gave us grace and salvation first. Obeying the commandments was our response to God’s love, not a condition for it. Once, he was being interviewed by Bill Moyers, who looked at the new President of the United States of America and asked, "What is the most significant discovery Jimmy Carter has made?" President Carter flashed his famous smile and said, "This is embarrassing a little bit for me to talk about because it’s personal. But, the most significant discovery that I have made is my relationship with God through Jesus Christ." He was the most powerful man in the free world. Every day he made decisions that affected the destiny of our nation and the world. He was busy as he sought to move our country in a new direction. Yet, he had his priorities straight, because he recognized that his relationship with God was the most significant part of his life. Are you putting God first in your life? It so happened that several people from the church were going to both the uneducated bishop and the therapist for advice and counseling. Some of them felt that they were getting more help from the bishop than they were from the psychiatrist, and they told that to the psychiatrist. He was a little professionally troubled by this, so he went to the bishop and asked him what his secret was. What methods or teachings or counseling or therapy did he use which were so effective in helping people to improve their mental and emotional health? The bishop took the question very seriously and gave a typically blunt answer. “Well,” he said, “I just ask them questions until I figure out which commandment they are breaking, and then I tell them to stop it.” (5) Maybe he’s on to something there. There is no question that you cannot willingly violate any of God’s laws and have a completely satisfying life. The Ten Commandments were given to us by God for our protection. Have we strayed too far as a community away from the Bible for our own good? A couple of years ago, I was asked to serve on a panel to discuss the problems facing teenagers in our society. The panel included a school counselor, a Juvenile Judge, a drug counselor, a couple of other experts on teenage problems, and, I guess, I was the representative of the religious community. There were a variety of people in the audience, including the parents of several teenagers. During the question and answer period, there was one woman who acknowledged that she was at the symposium because her adolescent daughter had become a handful and she could no longer control her. Then, looking at me, she began to blame the church for the problems that her daughter faced and the problems that teenagers were encountering in our society. She stated that the problems of teenagers could be traced directly to the church which was no longer teaching "the basics." She talked about the failure of the church to give proper instruction and moral guidance to the younger generation. Her strongest and most self-evident point was that children were no longer required to memorize the Ten Commandments. Finally, when she had finished listing her complaints, I asked her, "Madam, do you know the Ten Commandments?" "Of course," she responded, somewhat insulted by the question. Looking directly at this woman in the audience, I challenged her by saying, "Name them!" She coughed and sputtered and looked embarrassed. Finally, she was able to name three or four of the commandments and a couple of quotes from Shakespeare before giving up and sitting down. While I can sympathize with that woman and her worry about her daughter, I think it is a mistake to attribute magical qualities to the Ten Commandments. Instead, I think it is more appropriate to look at them as rules for living. . I am probably a part of that sinful generation. I never had to memorize the 10 commandments. It would probably take me a minute to come up with all 10, and I don’t know the order from memory. But I do know that the most important is to put God first in all things. My relationship with God determines my relationship with all other people. And how we treat one another, determines the quality of our community. Who are we as a community? What are the rules that keep us together to do the work of God? Let us pray…… Prayer "Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace. God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun, raising courage when we’re shrinking, find scope for faith begun." We are afraid of silence. So much of our world is claimed by noise and clamor. But here, in this place, we are called to let go, to let go of the noise, to let go of the anxiety and worry, to let go of our fears. Silence is truly a friend who claims us. Now for just a moment. Be in silence. Let the beating of your heart and the rhythm of your breathing be your focus. Put aside your worries. Focus on God. God of our lives, who offers to us peace in the silence, a moment apart from the demands and struggles of life, relax our spirits today. We have brought to you the names and situations which have claimed our worries and our attention. We come seeking healing for those who suffer, comfort for those who mourn, direction for the lost, and peace for all your people. We have brought our joys and celebrations to you, thanking you for the many ways in which you have touched our lives with your love. Give us peace and strength for our service to this world in your name. AMEN. Song for Reflection One Bread, One Body UMH 620 Communion Today is world communion Sunday. Day when we realize that the body of Christ is united all throughout the world. Community is not just who we are in this room, extends throughout the world – cant see each other but held together through love. I have been part of a lectionary group for about 20 years, participants from all over the world. We have a tradition that every World communion, we put together greetings from churches from all over the world. Some from ……. We are different people, with different ways of worshipping. See same God in different ways. Wilda Gaffney, womanist midrash (page 105), puts the words of the Isrealite journey in her own words. God gives the 10 commandments in person, not through Moses- wanted to make sure everyone saw it - In her words she says, the people of Israel gazed upon God on the mountain. They saw smoke and fire. Within the flames and of the flames some say flames, some say great wings, some saw a mountain, others saw the tree of life, some saw lightening, some saw rainbows, some saw a robe of many colors, some saw stars, all of them saw God. Yet none of their descriptions alone, nor all of them together were sufficient to convey the majesty of the fire of sinai. As we come together in communion today – in the midst of a world crisis, a church crisis, a community crisis – we are all in different places, literally some of us our outside, some are inside, some are at home, some are not. We are in different places politically, we believe different things about who God is, we believe different things about the church. None of us have the final say on who God is and What God is doing. But in this moment we are called to together – to be witnesses to God – to show love to one another, but to be love to the world. In this moment, God has provided for us all. Jesus has given us all of special place in the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit binds us together. Jesus we ask for your blessings upon the communion elements. We ask for your blessing upon the work of this church. We ask for your blessing upon each of us. Let these blessed elements lead us to a deeper relationship with you and one another. I invite each of you – take the body of Christ, the blood of Christ, and to feel Christ’s salvation in our soul at this moment. Dear Lord we thank you for your body blood, we pray that we truly in this moment be the body of Christ redeemed by your blood. Give us the strength to go forward in the world to transform it and to make disciples of Christ. Amen. Announcements October 18th is Laity Sunday – the theme of the day will be the ministry of all Christians. The work that we all are called to do on behalf of the church Benediction Hear the voice of the Creator, the mighty God, the One who built the vault of heaven, who set the sun on its blazing course through the skies! Hear the words of life, declared not by speech or language or voice but written on the heart! Go forth in the name of the living Word, the One whose words bring forth the fruit of the kingdom in your own lives! Amen. Children’s Sermon Object: Something listing the 10 Commandments Exegetical Aim: To understand that the Ten Commandments are God’s gift to us and guide the way we should live our lives. Lesson: Good morning! Some of you have been in school or preschool for a while now. I have a question. How many rules did your teacher set for your class? (Response. Hopefully this will range quite a bit.) When I was your age, I had a few teachers who had lots of rules. I think my second grade teacher had a separate rule for every occasion. Sometimes it felt like I couldn’t turn around without breaking a rule! But other teachers only had one rule. Can you guess what it was? (Response) That’s right, to treat others like you would want to be treated. We call that the Golden Rule because it is so important. Do you know why we have rules? (Response) That’s right, to tell us how to act. Sometimes we need a guide to help us figure out the best way to act. What if I told you that God gave us 10 rules to help guide us through life? Application: In today’s reading, we learned about 10 big rules. Can anyone tell me what we call these rules? (Response) That's right. These are the 10 Commandments. Moses and his people, the Israelites, were wandering in the desert after escaping from the Egyptians. The 10 Commandments are the rules that God gave to Moses to guide how God’s people should live. I’m going to read the Ten Commandments to you and I want you to listen. This is very important because these are God’s rules to you, too. (Optional: Instead of jumping into reading the list, you might want to ask the kids to list some of the Commandments. Also, you could carefully choose a few Commandments which might be especially meaningful for them to define, i.e. Honor your mother and father. Ask the kids to elaborate on what these Commandments mean. This would be very appropriate for a group including older children.) First, You shall love the Lord with all your heart. (Deuteronomy 6: 5) Second, You shall not worship false idols. That means that you won’t worship anything other than God. Third, you shall not use the Lord’s name in vain. That means you should not curse with the Lord’s name. Fourth, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Sunday is the Sabbath and we should worship God and rest on Sunday. Fifth, honor your mother and father. This is a biggie for you guys. This means you should respect and love your mom and dad. Sixth, you shall not murder. Seventh, you shall not commit adultery. Eighth, you shall not steal. Ninth, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This means you should not lie. Tenth, you shall not covet your neighbor. This one means that you should not get jealous over what other people have. If someone has a really great toy, you should not get jealous over the toy. Instead, you should be happy your friend has such a great toy. These are the big rules that God has given us to help guide us through life. If you have any questions, I want you to feel free to ask your parents, grandparents, your Sunday school teacher, the preacher, or even me. We would be happy to answer your questions about these big rules. Let’s Pray: Dear God, thank you for the Ten Commandments. We know that sometimes we need a little guidance and help in living our lives. Thank you for helping us out. Help us to always remember your rules. Amen. ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Children's Sermons, by Mary O Additional Illustrations God’s Patience Robert Ingersoll, that great agnostic of a day gone by, once said to a contemporary, "I will give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things I have said." After five minutes and nothing had happened, Ingersoll's friend remarked, "Did you think you could exhaust God's patience in just five minutes?" Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., hrough these commandments, God was calling his people back then and today - to share a covenant relationship with him. This covenant relationship simply means that we learn to give God a prominent place in our lives. Not long ago, I was reading a book about the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He was the Democratic president of the United States from January 1977 to January 1981. During that time he dealt with many difficult issues. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in his efforts to bring peace between Israel and Egypt. He dealt with an oil embargo crisis and the crisis of the hostages in Iran. But, one thing that Jimmy Carter will be remembered for is the influence of his religion in his life. In, James Mitchener’s novel The Source, he describes an ancient family. The father of the family sacrifices his son to Malek, an ancient God. The mother grieves while the father then goes and visits the temple prostitutes. She is deeply grieved at what her husband is doing in the name of religion. She laments: “With a different god, he would have been a different man.” We are shaped by our god or gods. Martin Luther once wrote: “whatever you confide in, that is your god.’ Whatever we count on to give us meaning and value in life, that is our god. G. K. Chesterton said years ago, "Good art and morality teach us the same lesson--it is wisdom to know where to draw the line." Leland Gregory, in his book Stupid History, tells of a colossal error that once occurred in transmitting the Ten Commandments. In 1631, King Charles I ordered 1,000 Bibles from an English printer named Robert Barker. Printing was not an exact science in those days, and sometimes mistakes were made and usually overlooked but not in this case. Barker inadvertently left out a single word in the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 the word “not.” Readers were shocked to find out that God had commanded Moses “Thou shalt commit adultery” as opposed to “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” King Charles was not amused by this mistake and ordered all the Bibles destroyed, fined Barker 300 pounds sterling (a lifetime’s wages in those days), and revoked his printing license Barker was out of business. Not all the Bibles were destroyed; there are eleven known to still exist. Because of the infamous mistake, this printing of the official King James Version is referred to as “The Wicked Bible.” (1) I don’t have to tell you that many people would like to rewrite the Ten Commandments. In her autobiography, My Life So Far, actress Jane Fonda reveals some interesting details about dating and marrying media mogul Ted Turner. On one of their first dates he bragged about replacing the Ten Commandments with what he called The Ten Voluntary Initiatives, which included caring for the earth, having no more than two children per family, etc. He assured Fonda that in the modern world people just couldn’t stomach being commanded to do anything. First: The Rule Of Common Sense. Second: The Rule Of Sportsmanship Third: The Rule Of Your Own Best Self. Fourth: The Rule Of Publicity. Fifth: The Rule Of The Most Admired Person You Know. Sixth: The Rule Of Foresight

We are God's Coworkers - repreach 2/14

February 16, 2020 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Year A Sixth Sunday of Epiphany We are God’s Coworkers Children’s Sermon Object: A pile of bricks Lesson: Do you not know that you are God's temple. Good morning, boys and girls. How is everyone today? (Let them respond.) I'll bet you are wondering why I have this pile of bricks here! When I read Paul's letter for today, it made me think of brick and stone and all the things we do with them. What are bricks used for? (Let them answer.) Good. We use bricks to build all sorts of things, don't we? Fireplaces, houses, all kind of buildings, like libraries and banks and churches. Do you think that bricks are good things to use for a building, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) That's right. They are usually very strong. A house or building made with bricks would probably last a long time. Do you remember the old story about the three little pigs? (Let them respond.) Each one of them decided to build a house. Do you remember what the first pig used to build his house? (Let them answer.) That's right. One of them used straw. What happened to that pig's house? (Let them answer.) The wolf came and blew it all down. The second pig built his house with sticks. What happened to his house? (Let them answer.) That's right. The wolf came and huffed and puffed and the house fell apart! But the third little pig was smart. What did he use to build his house? (Let them answer.) Right! He used bricks, just like these. (Point to bricks.) And his house turned out to be safe and strong. Today we will hear Paul say that you and I are like the bricks that make up "God's building," the church. In fact, he says we are God's church! That means that we have to be very strong and sturdy parts of the building, don't we boys and girls? (Let them respond.) We can't be like straw that will blow away when the winds blow, or like sand that will crumble when a storm comes. We have to be like one of these bricks. How can we be good bricks in this church, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) That's right -- by coming to our worship service, listening very hard to God's word and to the sermon. We should also pay good attention to our Sunday school teachers and to our parents. Then we will be good, strong bricks for God's church. Will you try to do that, boys and girls? (Let them respond.) Good. God bless you. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, WE ARE THE CHURCH, by Wesley T. Runk Stewardship Moment There was a church who had a big building project, and have a campaign to raise the money to make it happen. After the project, the finance committee met to decide how to acknowledge those who gave. One person felt that each person who gave should be named on a placque. Another person made the comment that they ran the risk of forgetting someone, so names should not be used. This debate went back and forth. Until another person decided that instead of naming names, that they should just say thank you to all who donated. Another thought that people should be named in the order of the amount of money that they gave. Finally, one woman who had not said anything in the meeting, reminded everyone that God was the one who gave all of the gifts. God invites each of us to participate. But it is all a gift from God to be able to give and to help. They decided that the placque would be in honor of the blessings of God. It is a privilege to work right along side of God and to give. Scripture 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB) Wisdom applied to divisions in the church 3 Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink instead of solid food, because you weren’t up to it yet. 3 Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards? 4 When someone says, “I belong to Paul,” and someone else says, “I belong to Apollos,” aren’t you acting like people without the Spirit? 5 After all, what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants who helped you to believe. Each one had a role given to them by the Lord: 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. 7 Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together, but each one will receive their own reward for their own labor. 9 We are God’s coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon Digging a hole, but no planting A fellow stopped at a gas station and, after filling the tank on his car, he paid the bill and bought a soft drink. He stood by his car to drink his cola and he watched a couple of men working along the roadside. One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind and filled in the hole. While one was digging a new hole, the other was about 25 feet behind filling in the old. The men worked right past the fellow with the soft drink and went on down the road. "I can’t stand this," said the man tossing the can in a trash container and heading down the road toward the men. “Hold on,” he said to the men. "Can you tell me what’s going on here with this digging?" "Well, we work for the government, " one of the men said. "But one of you is digging a hole and the other fills it up. You’re not accomplishing anything. Aren’t you wasting the People’s money?" "You don’t understand, mister," one of the men said, leaning on his shovel and wiping his brow. "Normally there’s three of us--me, Sam and Jesse. ”I dig the hole, Sam sticks in the tree and Jesse here puts the dirt back. Now, just because Sam’s sick, that don’t mean that Jesse and I can’t work." When it comes to the church of Jesus Christ, sometimes people do not think very much, either. People attend church, but they don’t get what church is all about, or they are blinded by assumptions. They just dig holes instead of planting trees. I think that is how a lot of us go to church. We go through all of the motions of being a Christian, but every Sunday that we come to church, we expect to go out the same way that we came. Nothing changes. We Have to grow We don’t realize that things are always changing. Everything that we do as Christians is intended to change us. Everything that we do is intended to help us to grow spiritually. Everything that we do should bring us closer to God, make us a better person, help us to have a better understanding of our purpose, and give us more power to do it. Explanation of Corinthians Paul’s message is to encourage us to grow, and to constantly examine what it means to be a Christian. Paul tells us that there were two types of people in the world. There are spiritual people who are attuned to God, and there are physical people who think that this is all that there is. He encouraged us to strive to be spiritual persons. Flesh vs Spirit In chapter 3 this week Paul goes a little more in depth. In all of the teachings of Paul, he is obsessed with distinguishing life in the flesh and life in the spirit. We are all flesh – that what it means to be a human being. As long as we are alive, we are flesh. Jesus was flesh – that was the point that God put on flesh and showed us what it means to live a holy life. But Paul accuses the Corinthians of being obsessed with the fleshly life. But when Paul talks about life in the flesh – he doesn’t just mean life as a human. He means life as a human with no relationship with God. Who would you be and what would you be doing if you did not have a relationship with God. Living in the flesh while still in the spirit We may be very different people, doing very different things. It would be okay for us to hate people, to be resentful, to be destructive, to be disrespectful, to steal, to run red lights, to do whatever we wanted as long as there were no consequences to our actions. Paul expects that from others, but not from Christians. Even though we may have started with that fleshly nature, we should be growing and maturing in order to do different. We should be able to make that move from being ordinary to extraordinary. Paul’s concern is that the same behavior that he would expect in the streets is present in the church. We separate ourselves, we disagree with one another, we have unresolved resentment, jealousy, an unwillingness to help one another, we learn all there is to know about God, and we still live in the flesh. All that is a sign of life in the flesh. Human nature – with no relationship with God. Are there Methodist in heaven? The story is told that John Wesley, a founder of Methodism, changed his view about church division after a dream in which he was first transported to the gates of Hell. He asked, “Are there any Presbyterians here?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Any Roman Catholics?” “Yes.” “Any Congregationalists?” “Yes.” He hesitated, then said, “Not any Methodists, I hope!” To his dismay the answer was “Yes.” Suddenly in his dream he stood at the gate of Heaven. Once again he asked, “Are there any Presbyterians here?” “No,” was the reply. “Any Roman Catholics?” “No.” “Any Congregationalists?” “No.” Then he asked the question which most interested him: “Are there any Methodists here?” He was shocked to receive the same stern reply, “No!” “Well then,” he asked in surprise, “please tell me who IS in Heaven?” “CHRISTIANS!” was the jubilant answer. From that dream Wesley determined that unity was essential to the church’s success in her mission. What are we to think of division? Some today agree with Wesley: division is one of our greatest sins. We must unify at any cost. Others believe any effort toward unity necessarily involves compromise; therefore we must avoid it. Jesus prayed for unity; yet he preached that we must leave even father and mother for his sake and the go When I was in seminary, I was fortunate to attend some lectures of the World Parliament of Religions. They are coming again this year to Chicago. At one event, I heard Hans Kung, a catholic scholar tell it like this. At the end of the world, someone asked God, if the Baptist get it right and make it to heaven, or the Catholics, or the Pentecostals. And God said no, because in the end there will be no Baptist, no Catholics, no Pentecostals, No Methodist. End the in – none of them will exist, because in the end all that there is is God – and those who made a point to get right with God. In order to get right with God, we have to grow, we have to learn more, we have to do more, we have to commit more. We have spend less time trying to judge the journey of others, and concentrate on our own walk with God. And reach out to help others on their positive journey. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 is one of my favorite verses. I used these verses are the guiding verses for my campus ministry at UIC. Paul says “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. I want to repeat that – I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth. The king james version of the bible says God gave the increase. We do all of the work, God gives the blessing. Without God’s blessing our work is in vain. We can plant trees, we can take care of them, but we cant make them grow. When we are obsessed with who gets credit for our work – we are living in the flesh. When we give God the credit – we are living in the spirit. We are excited about what we did – we are living in the flesh. When we are excited about what God has done, we are living in the Spirit. It is God’s ministry, not ours. But here is the good news for us. Paul planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. Paul, Apollos, God. The work of man is put on equal footing with the work of God. God needs Paul and Apollos and God needs you and me to do God’s work. If we do God’s work, we don’t need to be acknowledged, God will acknowledge us. what we don’t get from others, we get from God. Paul says “For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” It is okay for us to work, to be faithful, to give with all of our heart – God gives the rest. We are to be planters, and to water the crop. That is good news to a declining church, a church who wonders if the next generation will take over, who struggles with who is going to join our church. None of that is our issue. God works harder than any of us. God has a bigger stake in the future than we do, God will be here much longer than any of us. All that we have to do is plant and water and let God do God’s work. 1854 Tam’s Partnership With God Young Stanley Tam had failed in his silver reclamation business—even though he had tithed since its beginning! “Why God?” he prayed as he drove homeward with numb disappointment. Then an inner voice from the Lord seemed to say, “You don’t need to fail; turn your business over to Me and let Me run it. Remember the promise. “My God shall supply. …” “ Finally, Tam replied: “Take it God and if you’ll make it succeed, I’ll honor you in every way I can.” He returned home and the business grew. Many months later, after he had married, he wrestled with his conscience once more and told his wife, “I feel God would have us take a bigger step of faith than tithing and make Him a senior partner in the business—50% of the stock belong to Him.” States Smelting and Refining Corp. of Lima, Ohio, was reorganized that way. Soon a new corporation, United States Plastic, was added to God’s partnership. Growth was so phenomenal that the IRS audited their books for 10 consecutive years. Dividends from God’s 51% were put into the Stanita Foundation which helps overseas missionaries mainly. As the business passed the multimillion dollar mark, God’s share was upped to 60% annually. Then one day the ultimate happened. Stan and Juanita Tam turned over the ownership of the entire business to God. They became just salaried employees. Since then, a new plant quadrupled its original size sprung up and the business continued to prosper. I think that is the greatest lesson of this text, that when we work in God’s church and fulfill God’s mission – we get to work with God as co creaters. God has given us an awful lot of power and control. God has put a lot of trust into each one of us- to plant, to water, and to trust God for the increase. The Greek word used for cocreater is synergoi – that is the same root word for synergy. – working together. We are all different people, with different gifts, but when we work together in unity we work with God. Paul’s message to us is that you can tell the quality of a person’s relationship with God, with how they work with other people. Believe and Behave There is a church in Columbia, SC near a seminary which has one of those bulletin boards out front to list service times, special events, sermon subjects, and so on. For several years there was one other thing on that bulletin board, one of those little "sentence sermons" that we see so often. It said, "The same Bible that says BELIEVE also says BEHAVE." I do not know if there were any significance to the fact that it was located so near to all the seminary students; perhaps someone figured they would need it more than anyone. At any rate, it was there, and for a LONG time: "The same Bible that says BELIEVE also says BEHAVE." David E. Leininger, Make it Right! Our primary purpose is walk in God’s ways. Walk in God’s ways together. We are truly blessed – because we are the people who are called to walk with others who have chosen to walk in God’s way – be part of the church – those who make a difference because we are walk in the presence of God. Let us pray in thanks…….. Let us pray……Amen. Additional Illustrations….. Christians under Construction People print all sorts of things on T-shirts, from advertisements to obscenities to affirmations of faith. One fellow was seen wearing a T-shirt with the words, "Christian Under Construction," printed on it. We can all appreciate what he meant by that. We can talk about the difference faith in Christ is supposed to make in our lives and about how it is supposed to work and even about the samples of the new life in Christ that we have already experienced. But, most of us know that we are not yet what God wants us to be. At our best, we are Christians under construction. And, that is all right. That is a good way to be. The changes that God will make in our lives don't happen all at once. It is a good thing to know that we are in the process of becoming what God wants to make us and to participate in that process very intentionally and joyfully. In our scripture lesson for today, Paul reckons with the fact that the Christians at Corinth, to whom he is writing, are still Christians under construction. He has been talking about new life in the Spirit and about the Spirit interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Then he comes down to earth and says, "But, you folks obviously aren't there yet. If you were, you wouldn't be arguing about petty little things like which pastor you like best." He says, "I could not talk to you as spiritual people. I must speak to you as people who are still in the flesh, as infants in Christ." Paul seems impatient at this and disappointed in the Corinthians. But eventually Paul came to understand that this is just part of the process, something that has to be worked with. James L. Killen, Jr., From Expectancy to Remembrance, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. You Are Promise If you say, "She is grace," you tell others more about a dancer or gymnast than if you say, "She is graceful" or "She has grace." If she is grace, she takes on all the properties of gracefulness; you will not know how grace looks or is supposed to look until you watch her in action. Similarly, the phrase, "He is courage" tells us that an athlete or a soldier shows all the qualities that go with heroism. These phrases are rarely used because we do not find many people who live up to them. "You are promise." People should feel free to use this phrase more liberally. In some sense or other, it ought to apply to virtually all humans. I would say everyone is promise, but that might be too literal. Does someone who is "hopelessly retarded" or in a coma near death embody or represent promise? On the basis of reports of what severely handicapped and dying people have done to expand the lives of others, it might be wiser to reserve judgment. In the meantime, it seems worthwhile to use the equation sign and say that "to be human = to be promise." Martin E. Marty, You Are Promise (Allen, Texas: Argus Communications, 1973), pp. 16, 18. Copyright 1973 by Tabor Publishing, 25115 Avenue Stanford, Valencia, California 91355.

Thanking God for Everything

September 22, 2013 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Luke 16:1-13 Year C 18th Sunday after Pentecost Thanking God for Everything Brer Rabbit Earns a Dollar-A-Minute A Georgia Folktale retold by S.E. Schlosser One fine morning, Brer Fox decided to plant him a patch of goober peas. He set to with a will and before you know it, he had raked and hoed out a beautiful patch of ground and he put in a fine planting of peas. It didn't take too long before those goober vines grew tall and long and the peas ripened up good and smart. Now Brer Rabbit, he'd watched Brer Fox planting the goobers and he told his children and Miz Rabbit where they could find the patch. Soon as those peas were ripe, the little Rabbits and Brer Rabbit would sneak on in and grab up them goobers by the handfuls. It got so bad that when Brer Fox came to the goober patch, he could hardly find a pea to call his own. Well, Brer Fox, he was plenty mad that he'd worked so hard on those peas only to have them eaten by someone else. He suspected that Brer Rabbit was to blame for this, but the rascally rabbit had covered his tracks so well that Brer Fox couldn't catch him. So Brer Fox came up with a plan. He found a smooth spot in his fence where a cunning rabbit could sneak in, and he set a trap for Brer Rabbit at that spot. He tied a rope to a nearby hickory sapling and bent it nearly double. Then he took the other end of the rope and made a loop knot that he fastened with a trigger right around the hole in the fence. If anybody came through the crack to steal his peas, the knot would tighten around their body, the sapling would spring upright, and they would be left hanging from the tree for everyone to see. The next morning, Brer Rabbit came a-slipping through the hole in the fence. At once, the trigger sprung, the knot tightened on his forelegs, and the hickory tree snapped upright, quick as you please. Brer Rabbit found himself swung aloft betwixt the heaven and the earth, swinging from the hickory sapling. He couldn't go up and he couldn't go down. He just went back and forth. Brer Rabbit was in a fix, no mistake. He was trying to come up with some glib explanation for Brer Fox when he heard someone a-rumbling and a-bumbling down the road. It was Brer Bear, looking for a bee-tree so he could get him some honey. As soon as Brer Rabbit saw Brer Bear, he came up with a plan to get himself free. "Howdy, Brer Bear," he called cheerfully. Brer Bear squinted around here and there, wondering where the voice had come from. Then he looked up and saw Brer Rabbit swinging from the sapling. "Howdy Brer Rabbit," he rumbled. "How are you this morning?" "Middling, Brer Bear," Rabbit replied. "Just middling." Brer Bear was wondering why Brer Rabbit was up in the tree, so he asked him about it. Brer Rabbit grinned and said that he was earning a dollar-a-minute from Brer Fox. "A dollar-a-minute!" Brer Bear exclaimed. "What for?" "I'm keeping the crows away from his goober patch," Brer Rabbit explained, and went on to say that Brer Fox was paying a dollar-a-minute to whomever would act as a scarecrow for him. Well, Brer Bear liked the sound of that. He had a big family to feed, and he could use the money. When Brer Rabbit asked him if he would like to have the job, Brer Bear agreed. Brer Rabbit showed him how to bend the sapling down and remove the knot from his forepaws. When Brer Rabbit was free, Brer Bear climbed into the knot and soon he was hanging aloft betwixt heaven and earth, swing to and from the sapling and growling at the birds to keep them away from the goober patch. Brer Rabbit laughed and laughed at the sight of Brer Bear up in the sapling. He scampered down the road to Brer Fox's place and told him that his trap was sprung and the goober thief was hanging from the hickory tree. Brer Fox grabbed his walking stick and ran down the road after Brer Rabbit. When he saw Brer Bear hanging there, Brer Fox called him a goober thief. Brer Fox ranted and raved and threatened to hit Brer Bear with his walking stick. He yelled so loud that Brer Bear didn't have time to explain nothing! Brer Rabbit knew that Brer Bear would be plenty mad at him when he found out he had been tricked, and so he ran down the road and hid in the mud beside the pond, so that only his eyeballs stuck out, making him look like a big old bullfrog. By and by, a very grumpy Brer Bear came lumbering down the road. "Howdy, Brer Bullfrog," Brer Bear said when he saw Brer Rabbit's eyes sticking out of the mud. "You seen Brer Rabbit anywhere?" "Brer Rabbit jest ran on down the road," he told the grumpy Brer Bear in a deep croaking voice that sounded just like the voice of a frog. Brer Bear thanked him and trotted down the road, growling fiercely. When Brer Bear was out of sight, Brer Rabbit jumped out of the mud. He washed himself off in the pond and then scampered home, chuckling to himself at how he'd escaped from Brer Fox and Brer Bear, and already thinking up a new way to get into Brer Fox's goober patch to get him some peas to eat. Why are trickster stories so important? My family used to tell Brer Rabbit stories all of the time when I was a child. I would always listen to see what Brer Rabbit was going to get a way with next. It seems as if we love to hear stories of the trickster. I think that they are especially important in cultures of oppression. It seems that in a corrupt world – where the odds are stacked against us, where the system always win, we like to hear stories of the one who is able to outsmart the system. If we cant get ahead, we like to hear stories or how someone with a little conniving does win. Why else would Jesus tell a story about a cheating steward who gets the best of his master. Why else would Jesus say that he has done well and should be commended for cheating. Doesnt every other story in the bible tell us that cheating is wrong? Why does Jesus tell the story of the dishonest steward? Well most of the bible tells us not to steal – and cheating is indeed a form of stealing. But Jesus seems to know that there is one story – where cheating is good for you. Jesus puts himself in the story as the conniving steward – who cheated the devil out of what was due him. For we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death. But Jesus died on the cross so that we could be free of our sin. Our debts have been forgiven, we don’t owe the devil nothing. And we can be grateful for what Jesus has done for us. What does it mean to be a good steward? But the lesson that I want to talk about today from Luke 16:1-13 is the lesson of what it means not so much to be a cheating steward, but to be a good steward of what God has given us. This story is a lesson on our attitudes toward money, our attachments here on earth, how we give to others, and also how we are able to make friends. This story reminds us that whether we are in debt or not, we are not the sum of our possessions. No matter how much we have- it is all lent to us by God. And the day will come when we will not have any of it, because it will be left here on earth. It is not so much what we have on earth that is important, it is what we have with us when we go to heaven. What we have we will lose – but what we give to God will last forever. There is a saying that those that give help those in need in this world, but those in need help those who have in heaven. We have to be willing to be used by God in every circumstance that God puts us in. Like Running a Business There was an interesting legal question posed in The Saturday Evening Post recently. It seems that one lovely Sunday when the sermon was overlong, the congregation rushed, as usual, from its pews on the first syllable of "Amen!" Faithful Abigail, the only worshiper held entranced by the sermon, moved slowly and was trampled. She sued the church and its officials for damages. "Those in charge of the church knew that most of the congregation stampedes after long sermons," Abigail argued. "They should have recognized the danger in the situation. Not being prepared to cope with it, they were negligent." The church's attorney argued like this in response: "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business concern. Abigail, therefore, has no real claim." If you were the judge, asks the writer, would you award damages to Abigail? What I found interesting in this hypothetical situation was the characterization of the church. "A church is a nonprofit organization manned for the most part by volunteers. . . No one has a right to expect it to be run with the smart efficiency of a business. . . ." Why not? What if we were as good at what we do as McDonald's is at what they do, or Coca Cola or Microsoft? What if we were as committed to spreading the good news of the kingdom of God as American business is to winning new customers? This is the point Jesus is trying to make. He wants people who bear his name to not only be nice people but to be people who make a difference in the world. Imagine what the world would be like, if the church was just as determined to be the body of Christ, as Apple was to make money? If everybody was as excited about the church as they were about the new apple phone – think of how many people we could reach. This lesson is also about learning to make friends with the world. Everybody was greatful to the conniving steward because he did them a favor, they all wanted to be his friend and welcome him onto their homes. How can we help people understand that Jesus has done so much more for them and they should be grateful. Even in our own lives – where do we place God amongst our priorities? We give to our hobbies, we give to the interest that capture our hearts, we give to our lives – what do we give to God? It is not so much about how much we give, it is about how much of our hearts do we give to God? Do we put God in one corner, and our lives in the other, or do we realize that God comes first in all things. And that we can give to God from what we have. The sons of light Luke calls Christians the sons of light. For Luke, sons of the age where the Jews, sons of the world were others, and sons of the light were those who were able to put God first in their lives. One God, One mediator, One Christ I am not focusing on the lesson of 1 Timothy today, but I think that it helps us to remember to put God first. It says that there is One God, One mediator, One Christ for all people. If there is one God for all people – then our hearts should be in one place. That is on the things of God. John Wesley a model of giving Before John Wesley became the founder of the Methodist Church he was a teacher at Oxford University back in the 1700's. When he began his career he was paid 30 pounds per year - in those days a lot of money. His living expenses were 28 pounds - so he gave 2 pounds away. The next year his income doubled - but he still managed to live on 28 pounds - so he gave away 32 pounds. The third year he earned 90 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 62. The fourth year he earned 120 pounds - lived on 28 - and gave away 92. One year his income was a little over 1,400 pounds - he lived on 30 and gave away nearly all of the 1,400 pounds. Wesley felt that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian's standard of living but the standard of giving. Increasing our standard of giving. What a great Christian man and what a great lesson he taught us. In a world were raises and extra income is scarce, we are free to determine how much of what we have can we give to God. Jesus’ stewardship sayings When I was doing my research last night, one commentary said that this lesson was do difficult, that I should find something else to preach. It is not that it does not have enough good news, it has too much good news to process. Luke quotes Jesus as saying whoever is faithful in a little, will be faithful in a lot, if you are dishonest in a little, you will be dishonest in a lot, and no slave can serve two masters – you can serve God and money. Each of those sayings is a sermon in their own right. You can steal our money, you cant steal our commitment to God But the bottom line is the he is reminding us to be good stewards with our money. As a matter of fact, being Christian is all about money. It is about how you spend it, what your attitude is about it, and about how your faith determines what you do with it. Are you on the earth to make a living or to make a life. is your treasure here on earth or is it in heaven? Only what we give to God will truly last, and what we do for God we do for others in need. One day a church was burglarized, and when the robber opened the bank bag he found $70,000 – in pledge cards. One can only imagine his disappointment. The burglar learned a lesson the unjust manager knew very well: that you can’t steal commitment. Neither can unprincipled people in the marketplace steal our commitment to be disciples of Christ. Amen. Children’s sermon 2 + 3 = 4? by Wesley T. Runk Passage: Luke 16:1-15 • Lectionary: Proper 20 Item 1 of 11 | Back to Results Object: Some notes with answers to math problems writ ten on them. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever heard of the word "cheating?" What does the word cheating mean? [Let them answer.] Those are pretty good answers. When someone cheats he hopes to get something that does not belong to him for nothing. When you cheat, or someone you know cheats, it can cost a lot. I want to tell you about people who cheat because they think that they can make friends by cheating. I want to show you some things that a teacher gave me that she took away from some of the people in her class. Do you know what these things are? [Show them the notes and let them guess.] These notes have answers on them. [Show them the inside of the note.] The person cheating was giving the answers away to other people with the hope that these people would be his friends. This person thought that the other boys and girls would like him if he wrote the right answers to the test on pieces of paper and gave it to anyone who did not know the answers. Of course, the person cheating did not think that the teacher would catch him. Some people think that they can make friends by cheating. God knows how men think and he also knows that we try to do things like this to win friends, but he warns us about doing them. Jesus told a story about a man who acted just like this boy. Jesus said that the friends you win like this only last for a little while, and soon the friends disappear and you still have to face God. Jesus taught us about honesty and said that to be honest is the best way. It may mean that we have to work a little harder and have a little less for a few years, but someday we will be glad that we are honest. There is no room in God's kingdom for a cheater and that is where we want to live forever. The teacher told the boy who passed the cheat notes about what God teaches and how little good it does for us to make friends by cheating. She thinks that the boy learned a lesson, and I pass this on to you so that you can learn also. These notes would not help anyone for very long, and they could hurt for a very long time. Paper Flowers And Disciples, Wesley T. Runk, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., 1977, 0-89536-197-3 From my sermon on the Wasteful Steward.) We have already been given all the energy and talent we need to feed the hungry, teach every child, settle disputes, and make it through the toughest times. These skills and resources are evident in our hobbies, our friendships, our grudges, and our schemes. We have it in us!. Jesus, as usual, uses an odd metaphor to point this out. And now, a poem: Often the gifts we have are really being used, They’re just aimed incorrectly and being abused. If you abhor waste and desire success Then love God and your neighbors with all you possess. Humor: You Took Me In Henry Ford was known for both his frugality and his philanthropy. He was visiting his family's ancestral village in Ireland when two trustees of the local hospital found out he was there, and they managed to get in to see him. They talked him into giving the hospital $5,000 dollars (this was the 1930's, so $5,000 dollars was a great deal of money). The next morning, at breakfast, he opened his newspaper to read the banner headline: "American Millionaire Gives Fifty Thousand to Local Hospital." Ford wasted no time in summoning the two hospital trustees. He waved the newspaper in their faces. "What does this mean?" he demanded. The trustees apologized profusely. "Dreadful error," they said. They promised to get the editor to print a retraction the very next day, stating that the great Henry Ford hadn't given $50,000, but only $5,000. Well, hearing that, Ford offered them the other $45,000, under one condition: that the trustees erect a marble arch at the entrance of the new hospital, with a plaque that read, "I walked among you and you took me in." Billy D. Strayhorn, Let's Make a Deal