A Second Chance for Lazarus

Lent 5 April 6, 2025 John 12: 1-8 Year C A Second Chance for Lazarus “Connection” Lent Five Prelude Greeting Over the Threshold Leader: Persian mystic Rumi is one of the most often quoted mystics in our day, transcending religious lines. He said this: “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” Sing Open the Eyes of My Heart - See insert Lent is often considered a solitary journey as we traditionally use it as a time to examine ourselves and engage in practices that bring us closer to God. While this is a part of the spiritual journey, we also know that human beings were made for relationship. This is why it is so vitally important that we experience collective awe. As we continue to explore what it means to be “purveyors of awe,” we learn of the powerful benefits of togetherness. In a time when we have been through one of the most isolating times in human history, we remember and are grateful for a renewed ability to seek connection. Sing Open the Eyes of My Heart – see insert Awe is a gateway to connection. As we have experiences that give us a sense of being part of something larger than “just us,” our penchant for self-preservation and obsession with the competitive default-self gives way to a renewed commitment to the greater whole. We need moments of “collective effervescence” that increase hope and joy at being part of the human family. 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 connection. It is too easy to have everything we need without seeking out relationship or connection to another human being. Open us to perceive anew. Inspire us to receive our surroundings with awe. Forgive us when we hold back unnecessarily from wholehearted participation and dedication to eradicating loneliness. Be with us on this journey as we seek again to marvel at your works. Sing Open the Eyes of My Heart - see insert God does not sever connection. Ever. 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.” Opening Hymn/Song When I Survey the Wondrous Cross UMH 299 In Awe of Children A husband is kidnapped and the kidnapper calls the wife and demands a ransom of 100,000. She tells the kidnapper that is much more than she is willing to pay to get him back. She will give him 30,000 and that is about it. When the husband returns, he asks why she was not willing to pay the full ransom for him. He felt that he was worth so much more. How much are you worth? It depends on who you ask. But to God we are all priceless. In this story, a friends spends a lot on a gift for Jesus. She too is criticiczed. People say that she could have used that money on better things. Giving a gift from the heart is always priceless. Jesus really appreciated the gift. More importantly, Jesus explained that a gift given to God is never too much. In church, we used to sing a song – you can’t beat God giving. Whatever you give – God gives so much more to you. And he is able to feed the poor and those in need. PRAYER OF CONFESSION Like Judas, God of new things, we like to complain about your generous ways, rather than living in your grace. The poor are always with us, we believe, which justifies our ignoring them. In our memories, we focus on a perceived golden past, and so we ignore the new things you do in our midst. We are so enamored with our achievements that we are not willing to throw them away in order to follow Jesus. Forgive us, Restoring God, and help us to notice the kingdom springing forth in our midst. By your grace, may our fears turn to faith, our seeds of grief produce a bumper crop of joy, and our tears turn into torrents of tenderness as we journey with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, to Jerusalem. Silence is kept. Assurance of Pardon Making a way through all the foolishness and mistakes of our lives, God leads us into new life, where we are restored to grace, to hope, and to peace. Do we notice what God has done for us, what God is doing in us? This is good news for everyone. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven! Amen. Adapted from Thom Shuman, posted at https://pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au/?p=2008. 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 Reader: Our first reading is a contemporary one–an excerpt from an article by researcher Brené Brown entitled, “Why Experiencing Joy and Pain in a Group Is So Powerful:" “Experiences [of collective effervescence] contribute to a life filled with less loneliness and greater meaning, positive emotions, and social connection… Collective assembly meets the primal human yearnings for shared social experiences. A collective assembly can start to heal the wounds of a traumatized community. When we come together to share authentic joy, hope, and pain, we melt the pervasive cynicism that often cloaks our better human nature.” Ancient Reading John 12:1-8 In Awe of Music In Awe of the Word A Second Chance for Lazurus Human beings live most of our lives through sight. We depend on our vision for most things in life. But our sense of smell is connected to our memories and our feelings. Scents trigger something deep inside of us. Scents can transport us back in time to scenes long ago. One of my greatest memories – was driving to grandma’s house. We would get there late at night. She would put me to bed, and I would wake up in the morning to the smell of bacon and eggs and hot biscuits for breakfast. That smell was magical. They say that the best way to get people to join your church is to cook or bake something. When people come in the door and smell that fresh bread, or spaghetti sauce – they swear that they have found their church home. Smells can trigger happy memories. But smells can also trigger tragic memories. I was in high school standing at the bus stop, when all of a sudden a car barrelled around the corner and hit a little girl right in front of me. I remember that day as if it was yesterday, because the smell of burn rubber from the car slamming on the brakes is still in my nose. John the gospel writer was able to recall the day of Jesus crucifixion with such detail, because he remembers the smell of perfume. The smell of that perfume triggered some happy memories and some tragic memories – it lingered in his head for days. The Power of Fragrance Isn’t it amazing that John could remember this fragrance so many years after Christ’s ascension? That, when his mind drifted back to that last week of Christ’s life, it was the fragrance of Mary’s offering that framed his memory. What once was an oasis for Jesus, that helped comfort him so he could go forward, was now an oasis in John’s memory that helped him deal with the rigors of his trials. Still today, two thousand years later, Mary’s gift brings fragrance to our lives and while Mary was condemned by the apostle’s that day for her extravagance, she provided a gift that has been remembered for thousands of years. Her fragrance still fills our lives with the presence of Christ. Jerry Goebel, The House Was Filled With the Fragrance of the Perfume According to John 6, it was six days before the crucifixion. Jesus friend Lazarus invites Jesus and the disciples to a meal. You have heard of the last supper, well this was the supper before the last supper. The characters present: Lazarus, Jesus, his sister Martha, his sister Mary, Jesus, Judas and the other disciples. Lazarus is celebrating a second chance at life. He was brought back from the dead. Jesus is literally enjoying the last seconds before his death. Martha takes this chance to be of service to her Lord. Mary pours a heavy scented oil over Jesus feet. Not knowing that she is preparing him for death. Judas, the treasurer for Jesus ministry, always conscious of spending scolds Mary for wasting such an extravagant gift. That money could have been used for the poor. A friend used to tell me – things are not always how they look. In spite of being brought back to life, one day Lazarus will die just any other person. Jesus will dies – but will open the doors of eternal life for all of us. Mary will move from scolded one to the star of the story. She will become an example of discipleship and devotion to Christ. Whereas Judas doesn’t really care about the poor. He is just gaining confidence to betray Jesus. A Simple Answer Could that have been Judas' greatest downfall, the inability to see himself as a sinner and hence receive God's forgiveness? For without that sense of forgiveness, life holds little joy and the future is hopeless. Someone once said that the person who knows himself or herself to be a sinner and does not know God's forgiveness is like an overweight person who fears stepping on a scale. I once read about a very bitter man who was sick in soul, mind, and body. He was in the hospital in wretched condition, not because his body had been invaded by a virus or infected with some germ, but because his anger and contempt had poisoned his soul. One day, when he was at his lowest, he said to his nurse, "Won't you give me something to end it all?" Much to the man's surprise, the nurse said, "All right. I will." She went to the nightstand and pulled out the Gideon Bible and began to read, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." When she finished she said, "There, if you will believe that, it will end it all. God loves you, forgives you and accepts you as his child." Such a simple answer. But it worked for that man. He realized after much soul-searching that she had spoken truly. And over a period of some time, he came to believe and accept God's love for him. There is a way to God. Jesus died to provide it. We may not be Mary or that "woman of the city," but there are sins that weigh upon our hearts. There are scars and cuts that we have inflicted on others. There is a darkness within each of us that no one knows of but God. But that same One, our loving God, sees all and forgives all and calls us to God. Remember, the one who is forgiven little loves little. But the one who is forgiven much loves with all the heart! May that be true of us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Lee Griess, Taking the Risk out of Dying, CSS Publishing Company. _______________________________________________ Meanwhile Mary teaches us the greatest lesson of the story – how to give from the heart. Gratitude Pastor Victor Shepherd tells the story of a missionary surgeon he met who was rather gruff and to the point. On one occasion the surgeon was speaking to a small group of university students about his work in the Gaza Strip. He was telling us that we North American "fat cats" knew nothing about gratitude. Nothing! On one occasion he had stopped a peasant hovel to see a woman on whom he had performed surgery. She and her husband were dirt poor. Their livestock supply consisted of one Angora rabbit and two chickens. For income the woman combed the hair out of the rabbit, spun the hair into yarn and sold it. For food she and her husband ate the eggs from the chickens. The woman insisted that the missionary surgeon stay for lunch. He accepted the invitation and said he would be back for lunch after he had gone down the road to see another postoperative patient. An hour and a half later he was back. He peeked into the cooking pot to see what he was going to eat. He saw one rabbit and two chickens. The woman had given up her entire livestock supply--her income, her food, everything. He concluded his story by reminding us that we knew nothing of gratitude. He wept unashamedly. The incident will stay with me forever. There is another incident concerning gratitude that will never be forgotten. It's about a woman who poured costly perfume over our Lord as she wiped his feet with her hair. Make no mistake--the perfume was expensive, three hundred denarii, a year's income for a laborer in Palestine. Enough to keep a family alive for twelve months. Victor Shepherd, Preacher's Annual 1992, Nashville: Abingdon p. 122. Intentional Acts of True Devotion IATDs - that's what this passage is all about. People were becoming more and more devoted to Jesus and they were expressing it openly in ever increasing ways. They even started doing IATDs - Intentional Acts of True Devotion. Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave and he came out struggling in the bondage of his grave clothing. But he came out, he had new life! Jesus had power even over death! The result was IATDs! People started following Jesus. Not only did they start following him, they become devoted to him, and their devotion was radical! Those who saw this resurrection put their faith in Jesus. The sense of the Greek in verse 45 is that people without reservation, without growing into it, at this one miracle put all their faith in him. And it showed in IATDs. At one time the Jews had been devoted to the Pharisees and the law. Now in wholesale crowds they were turning to Jesus, becoming devoted to him, radically devoted to him with the kind of devotion that is dangerous: "He'll upset the applecart! We can't have that around here! We'll lose our place and our power!" That was the thinking of the Pharisees, so they plotted to take Jesus life. We often think it was Jesus who got himself in trouble with the Pharisees, but the Pharisees wouldn't have cared a bit if he didn't have these followers with their IATDs. Their IATDs got him in trouble, too. Intentional Acts of True Devotion - they're powerful, they're dangerous, and they mark the lives of those who put their faith in Jesus. Bill Versteeg, Intentional Acts of True Devotion ______________________ As Mary anointed Jesus for the tragic events coming ahead. Mary was preparing her heart to become a disciple and to carry on in Jesus footsteps. She was preparing to step up and to be in ministry. In 7 days from today – we celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus. In 12 days we remember Good Friday. In 14 days we experience new life of resurrection. Acts of kindness humility and forgiveness prepare our hearts for the days to come. Let us Pray….. Song O How I Love Jesus UMH 170 Approaching an Awesome God [Prayers] Holy and Living God, we approach this time of prayer with a desire to connect with 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 thawing path under the warmth of the sun reminds us that all things are interconnected. 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 awe of sharing our joy and our pain with others. 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]. Responding with Awe Stewardship Moment In John’s Gospel we hear how Martha served, Lazarus kept Jesus company at the table, and Mary poured out a pound of costly nard on Jesus’ feet, in an act of compassion and care. Each of these siblings offered a fine gift to their dinner guest, Jesus. I wonder what I would offer, if Jesus were to come to my home for dinner? Would I cook a fabulous meal? Would I provide a calm atmosphere and listen to what Jesus said? Would I express my love in some extravagant way, seeking to help Jesus relax and find refreshment after a long day of teaching and healing? What about you? If Jesus were to come to your home, what would you give? What about if Jesus were to show up here? Week by week we have an opportunity to share our gifts with this part of the Body of Christ which we know as _______________ Church. May the gifts we bring demonstrate our desire to share our finest and best with the One who understood his life was coming to a close. Let us share our gifts, our tithes and our offerings now. Offering/Offertory [as is your custom] Doxology [Tune: Old 100th] Prayer of Thanksgiving Ever-giving God, You created our world–filled it with air, water, food, and all we need for life. You sent Jesus to show us your ways of love and compassion, teaching us we are all sisters and brothers of every living being. So receive these gifts which we offer as a portion of what you’ve first given us. Help us use each gift (money, time, talent) to help share the Good News we have been given in Jesus, the Christ. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) [Communion] We Go Forth with Awe 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 gift of community all around you, 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 Rumi’s words: “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” Be a purveyor of awe this week. Seek out connection with others whose life and love can be multiplied because you are together to help light up the world. Invite renewed connections 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) Benediction May you go out from this place in the blessing of God, who turns your weeping into laughter and your laughter into joy that plants seeds of restoration, justice, and abundance for all of God’s creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, September 2024. Postlude Worship Notes Contemporary reading excerpted from the following source: Brown, B. (2019, January 6). Why experiencing joy and pain in a group is so powerful. Greater Good Magazine. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_experiencing_joy_and_pain_in_a_group_is_so_powerful ______________________ I Love Mankind The musical Hair has within it a most provocative song called "Easy to Be Hard." The gist of the song is that it is easy to "care about the bleeding crowd" while yet totally ignoring "a needy friend." A little joke you may have heard makes the same point: "I love mankind ... it is people I can't stand!" Jesus does not set himself apart from the poor. He simply points out that he himself, as one of the specific poor, has needs - and that Mary has been sensitive to those needs. By contrast, Judas pretends to be concerned for the poor (in general) but is actually only concerned about himself. Carl L. Jech, Channeling Grace, CSS Publishing Company _______________________________________________________ How Much to Spend on The Poor? What happened at Jesus’ anointing in Bethany has plagued the followers of Jesus from then until now. How much do we spend on ourselves and how much do we give to missions? Couldn't we do more good by giving all this money to the poor instead of spending it on, say, a new building? In partial response to this question, my mind goes back to an experience of William Willimon, chaplain at Duke University. Willimon tells of the time the faculty of Duke was discussing a proposal to renovate the seminary chapel. They had received a modest proposal from the architect. But, would the chapel be renovated? No. "With all the poverty and hunger in the world," said one faculty member, "how can we as Christians justify spending $50,000 to pretty-up our chapel?" Of course, this person failed to offer similar objections when faculty salaries were raised each year, (a figure that collectively exceeds $50,000) nor does he question the morality of the luxurious faculty lounge. Obviously the man was posturing, just as Judas was posturing. Even so, the problem is tough. How much should we give to others and how much should we reserve for ourselves? Richard Meyer, Break a Vase ____________________ Acts of Humility and Love Patricia Long, pastor at First United Church of Christ, Berkley, California said it best. "Performing acts like the one Mary did are acts of extravagant caring that remind us we are called to be in equal partnership with each other, and that we all ought to be humbled as we come together before God." She says "acts of humility and love are empowering! They remind us that though power, control and domination are the ways of the world, there are some places where simple gestures of kindness and caring still count, still make a difference." Rev. Long says that Mary’s act of anointing Jesus was not unlike Rosa Park’s act of moving from the back of the bus to the front. Whenever a person stands up for love, the world notices. It can also be changed for the better as the oppressed are liberated or the presence of God becomes more visible. Keith Wagner, The Supremacy of Love _____________________ Aroma: Bringing Back an Emotion Taste is 95 percent smell. What happens when you get a cold? Can't taste anything? In talking with others about their smells, what I have discovered is that there are regional differences to our favorite smells that often depend either on our food habits or on our outdoor customs. East Coast people prefer floral scents and Northerners the smell of the seasons. Southerners seem to prefer hearty snorts of pine. Midwesterners like the whiff of hay and farm animals. Westerners like the aroma of barbecuing meat. Whatever our pet smell, huge histories of time are relived within the microseconds of a sniff. Nothing can bring back a time, a place, or an emotion better than an aroma. Leonard Sweet, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com A Sense of Gratitude On a recent religious talk show the hostess was interviewing a young woman who had just recently come to know Christ and had been received into the church. Until her recent conversion, she had lived on the wrong side of the tracks, lived in the fast lane, and teetered on the brink of destruction. So overwhelming was the sense of forgiveness that this young woman practically gushed with joy as she spoke. "I can't express," she said, "the sense of gratitude that I feel that God has changed my life." The talk show hostess knew where she was coming from -- for she, too, had walked on life's wild side before coming to Jesus. She said, "I know what you mean. Every day I thank God for saving me!" And then she added a very profound statement: "You know what I've noticed though? People who have always been in the church, people who always do what they ought, who have never really gotten into trouble, always been prim and proper, don't have the same sense of gratitude that I do. In fact, I've noticed that for most church people, it's not so much what God had done for them, but what they still want God to do!" If you can identify with that statement, perhaps we can appreciate the story in today's Gospel reading from John 12. It's an unusual story -- this story of the anointing of Jesus' feet with oil. Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, CSS Publishing Company __________________________________________ The Women Become the Model If perhaps not its original setting, now the story belongs in the last days of Jesus. The woman’s response stands in contrast to that of Judas, but also of Peter and the disciples. Both in Mark and in John, as in the common tradition which feeds them directly and indirectly, Jesus is pictured as abandoned by his inner circle of disciples. In the end it will be a few women who are left standing near Golgotha and who will venture to the tomb. The unlikely ones in Mark and John’s world, the women, become the models. This is deliberately subversive and reflects so much of the experience of Jesus’ ministry. Others were so good, so devout, and so busy being so, that they missed the point. This is grindingly obvious, when a woman like this inarticulately breaks the perfume container open and spreads the contents over Jesus’ feet. Mark even suggests that Jesus predicted how memorable her act would be. Let the memory live! William Loader, First Thoughts on Year C Gospel Passages from the Lectionary ____________________

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

God Gives us Bread From Heaven

November 20, 2022 Thanksgiving Sunday John 6:25-35 God gives us bread from heaven Year C Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship We dwell in a land God has loaned to us Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth. We come with gladness to worship God. We enter God’s presence with joyous song. The first fruits of our labor belong to God Rejoice in the privilege of sharing God’s bounty. God has made us, and we belong to God. We are the sheep of God’s pasture. The God of peace greets us in this time of worship Enter with thanksgiving and heartfelt praise. We thank God for steadfast love to sustain us. We praise God for faithfulness to all generations. (Gathered by Love, Lavon Bayler) Song Come Ye Thankful People Come UMH 694 Children’s Sermon Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Needed: nothing Children’s Sermon Greet children with, Happy Thanksgiving! And, of course, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks, isn’t it? We thank God for all the good things He’s done for us. What are some things that you want to thank God for this year? (Share something that you’re thankful for.) I want to play a little game today. Because the Apostle Paul wrote that we should… (Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18.) “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” “Give thanks in all circumstances.” That means we should thank God when things are good and when things are bad. Let’s practice. Let’s pretend that you’re all on a sports team and I’m your coach. If our team just won a game, what could we thank God for? (We could thank Him for letting us win.) But what if our team lost? Then, what could we thank God for? (We could thank Him for letting us play well and have fun together.) Okay. Second example: What if it was a beautiful, sunshiny day outside? What could we thank God for? (We could thank Him for the nice weather.) But what if it was rainy all day? What could we thank God for, then? (We could thank Him for the rain to help the grass and other plants grow.) Okay. Last example: What if someone was sick, and we prayed that they would get better and then, they did get better? What could we thank God for in that situation? (We could thank God for healing the sick person and making them healthy again.) But what if we prayed, and God didn’t heal the person? What if the person died? What could we thank God for, then? (We could thank God for the good life the person had and that we’ll see them in Heaven again someday.) See? Whether things are good or bad, we can always thank God for something. That’s why Paul tells us to “Give thanks in all circumstances.” Let’s pray and give thanks now. Closing Prayer Father God, we thank You for being a good God. You are so good that no matter what happens, we can always thank You for something. Help us to see the good in every situation so that we can always give You thanks. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. (Rev. Stephen R. Wilson) Scripture John 6:25-35 Sermon – God gives us Bread from Heaven Have You Taken Inventory Lately? The renown teacher and author Dr. David McLennon tells a story of his very first job in a small town general store. This was the day before mails and supermarket chains at least it was in his community. At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy. He would sweep the flour, bag items for customers, put up stock. On one particular Saturday, he recalled., he heard the owner say to one of the clerks "It’s that time of the year again, it’s time to take inventory." Dr. McLennon Wrote that this was a word that had not yet entered into his vocabulary. When an opportune moment arrived, he went up to the kindly older man and asked, Sir, what is an inventory? Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made a list of everything that you had--from groceries on the shelves to wrapping paper and string. Still somewhat puzzled, the young McLennon then asked, Why? "Well, responded the owner, its easy to forget exactly how much you have each year. Every now and then you have to take an inventory just to see what all you have." That little story, to me, pretty well sums up what Thanksgiving is all about. It is a time when each of us needs to ask ourselves the question: Have I taken inventory of my life lately? Have I made an effort to count all the things that I do have in life instead of complaining about the things that I don’t have. It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to brood or whine in self pity. Have you taken inventory lately? What I am suggesting here is not some shallow "count your blessings" platitude. But from time to time, in a genuine kind of a way, we need to sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all of the gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us. Perhaps there is a deep underlying wisdom in the children's poem that says: "Count your blessings one by one, and you might be surprised what the Lord has done." Staff, www.eSermons.com I think that is one of the most important things that we can do for Thanksgiving is to take account of our blessings. There are some years when it may take a moment. But we have to realize that God is there for us in the midst of our lives. Sometimes we have to do it like Robinson Coruso – who when stuck on a desert island, would write down all of the bad things in his life, but for each bad thing he would also write a good thing. He was amazed to realize that he really did have good things happen to him. His list of good and bad was always balanced. Then there is the story of John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the declaration of independence. He was also president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton. He was also a presbyterian minister. One day he was in his office, when his neighbor burst in to tell him of a horrific accident that he had had. His horse had bolted, his buggy was smashed and he narrowly escaped injury. He wanted Witherspoon to pray with him to thank god for sparring his life. John Witherspoon indeed prayed, but before he did so, he told his neighbor that he had a far greater testimony. He told his neighbor that he too rode his buggy over that same road this morning. But not one things went wrong. His horse was calm and his buggy was okay. He too narrowly escaped death. He thanked God for being with him and keeping him safe. God got us all safely here today. God has been with us this morning, God has been with us all of our lives. And yet how many of us thank God daily for bringing us through and allowing us to go about our daily life. When things go wrong, we don’t have a problem asking why me. Yet when we have a feast and things are going well, how many of us ask why me? Why have you blessed me so extravagantly – and yet we are blessed by God each and every day. So today what is it that we have to be thankful for? How has God blessed us today? What is it that we have to be thankful for as a church? What is it that we have to be thankful for as a world. One big thing that we can be thankful for – we all survived a pandemic. We all know that the pandemic is not over, but we can be thankful that the world has found the courage to move on. For the first time in a long time, this thanksgiving we are free to make plans, to be with family, to move and go where we want to. This year we have a lot to be grateful for. Thanksgiving of course is a national holiday, and yet it is not considered a Christian holiday. There is nothing in the bible that tells us to get together as a nation in order to say thank you. And yet the bible is full of stories of thanksgiving, of celebrations, and of living a life of gratitude. John 6 is a story of gratitude. In chapter 5, and the beginning of chapter 6 – Jesus was on the beach teaching when 5000 men and their families showed up to listen to him, and he realized that they were listening to his words, they had been there all day, and that they must be hungry. This is the story of the feeding of the 5000 – where Jesus talks 5 loaves of bread and some fish and everyone has something to be thankful for that day. This is the first major gathering of what are called rice Christians. I would imagine that you have never heard of that term. A rice Christian is someone who only shows up for something religious when food is being served. We all would like to believe that we are such good people – and that we are so in live with God. But the reality is food is always a major draw for any gathering on any day. We are having a full meal for coffee hour – today should be a good day for us all. I don’t have a problem admitting that I am a rice Christian – I love food. I love the idea of eating. Every Saturday – I spend my whole day watching channel 11 – because they have cooking shows on all day. I don’t even bother to make the recipes, I just love watching food on tv. There is this soul food restaurant in Georgia – every day at 7am they do a video of their buffet, highlighting all of the food that they have and they put it on Facebook. OMG – watching this video is the highlight of my day, it has become my daily devotion. Now I will never drive to Georgia just to eat at this restaurant – Chicago has plenty of soul food restaurants- But somehow just watching their food feeds my spirit. So in John 6 – Jesus feeds the 5000. But he also chastises them for thinking that the gospel is just about food – even though it really is. Jesus tells us – you came to listen to me, not because you were looking for spiritual miracles, but because you ate all of the food you wanted. He doesn’t say that that is a bad thing, he ways that we shouldn’t be in search of food that does not last. Jesus doesn’t have a problem feeding us, he just reminds us that there is more to life than food. He gives us food, but he also gives us life. There are 3 lessons for us in the book of John – Jesus is the provider of our bread, Jesus is the bread of life because he is the word of God, and that Jesus is the bread of the church – communion and baptism. Jesus does not just feed us, Jesus encourages us to think beyond our needs and the needs of the world for something more. In the book of John, Jesus tells us that he is the living bread and that he is the living water of life. When we take communion and take his bread and his juice, we get so much more than food. Living water is water that moves an has a life of its own – like a river. Living bread on the other hand – is bread that has yeast. Yeast is what makes the bread rise, and gives you the power to make all difference kinds of bread. The metaphor of Jesus, the Bread of Life, is a metaphor that meets hungering humans where we think we are empty in our stomachs but then points us to where our real emptiness lies in our souls. Jesus' image goes through our stomachs to get to our souls. One thing that makes bread such a good medium and metaphor to convey the image of soul-sustaining nourishment is the life-giving process it goes through to become a fragrant loaf. Except for a few special unleavened varieties, what really makes bread for most of us is yeast. A tiny one-celled organism that grows and metabolizes its own food with great speed, yeast organisms "work" in the dough, slightly fermenting and releasing gases so that the bread begins to rise. This natural process is common in many foods yeast organisms often get into and ferment many things we didn't plan on. Ever find yourself spitting out a big swig of too-old orange juice? The taste that tingled on your tongue was produced by yeast. Yeast is ubiquitous. Indeed, part of the challenge of Passover preparations is to create completely unleavened bread (matzo) for the celebration. Part of the pre-festival celebration involves a ritual "search" through the house with a feather, to seek out and sweep away any yeast that may remain inside and could contaminate the matzo. Jesus, the Bread of Life, is energized in each one of us by divine yeast by the Spirit of the living God, who sent Christ to be among us, to be for us, to be in us. To benefit fully from this Bread of Life, we must keep our lives, our spirits, "yeasty" vital and ever growing. What can you do to create "yeast" in your soul? Here's one suggestion. Try using "y-e-a-s-t" as an acronym for your spiritual attitude. "Yes." Are you saying "yes" to nourishing possibilities the Bread of Life is offering you? You've heard of the "placebo" effect. It's when your body thinks it's getting something helpful and healing, and so generates a helpful and healing response throughout your system. But scientists are now talking equally about the flip side of the "placebo" effect. They're calling it the "nocebo" effect. It's when your inability to think "yes," your negative mood and outlook, your worried fixation on worst-case scenarios, can keep the "nocebo" effect working in your physiology. (For more on the "nocebo" effect, see the recent book of Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson, Timeless Healing [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996].) Because of the "Seven First Words of the Christian" "I can do all things through Christ" a yeasty spirit thinks "YES." "Energize." Why is it that the Energizer Bunny that keeps going and going is always going somewhere else the night the lights go out and you dig out your flashlight?! Unlike batteries, however, a properly maintained yeast colony can keep going and going and going. Ever make sourdough bread using "sourdough starter"? "Starter" is really a combination of yeast cultures, water and flour. You dip out what you need for the day's biscuits, bread or pancakes, give the rest of the starter a stir, "feed" it more flour and water, and tuck it back in your frig. In pioneer days, women treasured their "starter" and nurtured it along for years. Sometimes one starter was passed on from mother to daughter to granddaughter. That's perpetual energy. And that is what the Bread of Life can bring to your own spirit. "Access." In order to be continually fed by the Bread of Life, we must keep in constant touch with the source of life's true energy supply. Living out of the stored power of the Spirit enables us to be fed by Christ's gift any time we need it. We can access this always available power reserve in various ways. For some of us, direct intercessory prayer brings us the closest to God's Spirit and God's love. For others, music opens the soul and sets it resonating with the Spirit. For many, creating and/or contemplating works of art, form within us the prayers that enable us to reach out and grab the gift of life. Stanly Kunitz once called "art" the "chalice into which we pour transcendence" (As quoted by R. Scott Colglazier, Finding a Faith That Makes Sense [St.Louis: Chalice Press], 83). Find your own unique way of accessing the energy of bread ... and you will never go hungry. "Search." Today's crowds thought they were seeking the Bread of Life. All they were really looking for was a free lunch. Jesus' words to them, his corrections and counsel, were intended to make the hungering crowd search their spirits for their true motives and desires. Likewise, when we feel filled-up with power or contentments we should search our own spirits to make certain we are feasting on what God provides, not on what our own egos or selfish desires have cooked up. "Trust." If we are filling up on the Bread of Life, we should be able to trust in the Spirit's presence and power in our lives. It is that trust that allows us to take what appears to others as "risks." Trusting in the Spirit lets us "go for it" when conventional wisdom or cautious hedging would advise us to sit on the sidelines. When our spirits are resting in trust, they can do anything. For we know no matter where we go, no matter what difficulties we may encounter, a constant food supply is always at hand, always guaranteed. Only Jesus can satisfy the hungry heart. Only Jesus has the Words of Eternal Life. We are all rice Christians, in search of something that is going to fill us up. I listened to a sermon by Zan Holmes, who is a retired Methodist minister – who said that the good news is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. The only place to find living bread that will last forever is in Jesus christ. I hope that you are hungry this morning – today we have plenty of food – food for our bellies, but also food for our spirit. We can be grateful for what God has done for us. But gratefulness is only the beginning of our faith. It gives us that faith to feed others. Or at least to tell them where they can get a good piece of bread. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow rice Christians. May we find an abundance of gratitude in our lives this week. Just as I look forward everyday to watching that soul food buffet, I will use that as my cue to go to God in prayer and devotion – to take account of all that God has done for me that day. I hope that we all remember to say thank you everyday for what God has done for us. Amen. Song – Now Thank We All our God UMH 102 Prayer God of infinite patience and power, how it must try your patience to watch us hurl ourselves into a season of greed and grumbling. Your blessings, your bounty, have been poured out to us that we may be strengthened to be your people in service to others. Yet we persist in attaching ourselves to the great “gimmies” of our world--“gimmie toys, gimmie wealth, gimmie power.” Today we have gathered here with an opportunity to step out of the race to possess, to praise you and thank you for the wonderful ways in which you have blessed our lives. We spend a lot of time looking for the big blessings, when all around us are the delightful blessings of everyday living--family, home, friends, the ability to enjoy laughter and share tears. There are so many ways in which you have touched our lives with your love. Help us develop for all of our lives an attitude of gratitude, never failing to thank you each day for your love and your blessings. Help us reach out to one another and to all those in need with this compassionate love. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name, AMEN. ( United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (do not Print) Almighty, Creator God, we humbly bring our gifts to you this day. On Calvary’s cross, your son redefined for the world what it meant to rule, what it meant to be a king. In his life, teaching and interacting with people, Jesus redefined what it means to give in a way that pleases God. May we in this season live and give in a way that reflects the reign over us and the one who lives within us. In the exalted name of Christ, we pray. Amen. (Luke 23:33-43) (Discipleship Ministries) Prayer of Thanksgiving For all the ways you love us, we say THANK YOU! For the ways you provide for us, we say THANK YOU! For the opportunity to give, we say THANK YOU! For the kingdom work this offering will do, we say THANK YOU! For letting us be a part of your work, we say THANK YOU! May the thankful words on our lips ( ReWorship Blogspot) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook The bread of heaven gives life to the believer. Receive the bread, eat and live. We will turn to God daily for nourishment. We will give thanks with grateful hearts. The bread of heaven gives life to the church. Share the bread; share your stories. We will gather in the community of faith. We will share the bread and share our lives. The bread of heaven gives life to the world. Pass on the gift with joy to neighbors near and far. We will bless the world with acts of love. This is our highest thanksgiving to God. Amen. Amen. ( Gathered by Love, Lavon Baylor) Community Time Benediction Beloved of God, place your whole trust in God’s absolute abundant love. Feel the powerful presence of God in your life and know that God’s blessings are with you. Go in peace, and may God’s peace always be with you. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations Humor: We're Getting a Divorce An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; 45 years of misery is enough." "Pop, what are you talking about?" the son screams. "We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old man says. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her." Then he hangs up. Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this." She calls Phoenix immediately, and screams at the old man, "You are NOT getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?" The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay," he says, "They're coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own fares." Traditional Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services. Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief. The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country. The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all about them. After all, there was to be thankful for. But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group. This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite. This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship. I suggest to you the ministers struck upon something. The most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound. Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving. Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God. Their gratitude was not for something but in something. It was that same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival. Perhaps in your own life, right now, intense hardship. You are experiencing your own personal Great Depression. Why should you be thankful this day? May I suggest three things? 1. We must learn to be thankful or we become bitter. 2. We must learn to be thankful or we will become discouraged. 3. We must learn to be thankful or we will grow arrogant and self-satisfied. The Gratitude Attitude In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonniere for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it became very special. As he was leaving the Sunday Service a young boy walked up to him and said, "Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?" At first the preacher didn't know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, "Do you mean this?" The boy said, "Yes, sir. If you're just going to throw it away, I would like it." The preacher smiled and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. The boy, who was probably no more than 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, "Sir, I'm going to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again, and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn't stay, so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me." When the little boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, "Son, that is the nicest thing that I've ever heard but you can't have this flower because it's not enough. If you'll look in front of the pulpit, you'll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the Church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best." Then the boy made one last statement which Rev. Ramsey said he will always treasure. The boy said, "What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet." That's the thankful spirit. That's the gratitude attitude. And it's that attitude that should guide our giving and our lives. Like that boy's granny, God has blessed us so much. God has been so good to us that giving shouldn't even be a question. It should just flow from us naturally. John R. Ramsey, Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Adapted by Billy D. Strayhorn, “The Gratitude Attitude" The Source of Thanksgiving I will remind you of that wonderful Children's holiday classic "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." It was released a few years ago as a movie staring Jim Carrey. You'll recall in the story how the Grinch enters all the homes by way of their chimneys disguised as Santa Clause. He takes all the presents and ornaments, the trees and stockings, and even their food down to the last morsel. He drags his loot up to his mountain and then looks down upon Whoville with a sinister grin. He is listening for the cries and wailings of the people to start as they wake up on Christmas morning to discover a Christmas lost. What he hears instead surprises him. Up from the town of the Whos comes a joyful Christmas carol. They are singing. "Why?" he asks. It is because, he learns, Christmas resides not in things but in the heart which is thankful. He could not steal their gratitude. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com First National Thanksgiving Proclamation Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!" Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country. George Washington, 1779. Jesus, the Bread of Life, is energized in each one of us by divine yeast by the Spirit of the living God, who sent Christ to be among us, to be for us, to be in us. To benefit fully from this Bread of Life, we must keep our lives, our spirits, "yeasty" vital and ever growing. What can you do to create "yeast" in your soul? Here's one suggestion. Try using "y-e-a-s-t" as an acronym for your spiritual attitude. "Yes." Are you saying "yes" to nourishing possibilities the Bread of Life is offering you? You've heard of the "placebo" effect. It's when your body thinks it's getting something helpful and healing, and so generates a helpful and healing response throughout your system. But scientists are now talking equally about the flip side of the "placebo" effect. They're calling it the "nocebo" effect. It's when your inability to think "yes," your negative mood and outlook, your worried fixation on worst-case scenarios, can keep the "nocebo" effect working in your physiology. (For more on the "nocebo" effect, see the recent book of Harvard Medical School professor Herbert Benson, Timeless Healing [New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996].) Because of the "Seven First Words of the Christian" "I can do all things through Christ" a yeasty spirit thinks "YES." "Energize." Why is it that the Energizer Bunny that keeps going and going is always going somewhere else the night the lights go out and you dig out your flashlight?! Unlike batteries, however, a properly maintained yeast colony can keep going and going and going. Ever make sourdough bread using "sourdough starter"? "Starter" is really a combination of yeast cultures, water and flour. You dip out what you need for the day's biscuits, bread or pancakes, give the rest of the starter a stir, "feed" it more flour and water, and tuck it back in your frig. In pioneer days, women treasured their "starter" and nurtured it along for years. Sometimes one starter was passed on from mother to daughter to granddaughter. That's perpetual energy. And that is what the Bread of Life can bring to your own spirit. "Access." In order to be continually fed by the Bread of Life, we must keep in constant touch with the source of life's true energy supply. Living out of the stored power of the Spirit enables us to be fed by Christ's gift any time we need it. We can access this always available power reserve in various ways. For some of us, direct intercessory prayer brings us the closest to God's Spirit and God's love. For others, music opens the soul and sets it resonating with the Spirit. For many, creating and/or contemplating works of art, form within us the prayers that enable us to reach out and grab the gift of life. Stanly Kunitz once called "art" the "chalice into which we pour transcendence" (As quoted by R. Scott Colglazier, Finding a Faith That Makes Sense [St.Louis: Chalice Press], 83). Find your own unique way of accessing the energy of bread ... and you will never go hungry. "Search." Today's crowds thought they were seeking the Bread of Life. All they were really looking for was a free lunch. Jesus' words to them, his corrections and counsel, were intended to make the hungering crowd search their spirits for their true motives and desires. Likewise, when we feel filled-up with power or contentments we should search our own spirits to make certain we are feasting on what God provides, not on what our own egos or selfish desires have cooked up. "Trust." If we are filling up on the Bread of Life, we should be able to trust in the Spirit's presence and power in our lives. It is that trust that allows us to take what appears to others as "risks." Trusting in the Spirit lets us "go for it" when conventional wisdom or cautious hedging would advise us to sit on the sidelines. When our spirits are resting in trust, they can do anything. For we know no matter where we go, no matter what difficulties we may encounter, a constant food supply is always at hand, always guaranteed. Only Jesus can satisfy the hungry heart. Only Jesus has the Words of Eternal Life.