Hope in our Darkest Hour - Good Friday

April 7, 2023 Good Friday Service Hope in our Darkest Hour Open in silence Greeting Hymn Beneath the Cross of Jesus UMH UMH 297 Something to Think about Hope, that is the word the God gave me to ponder this year during lent and Easter. Jesus came into the world so that we can have hope, and have it abundantly. It will be easy to speak about Hope on Easter Sunday. But I have to be reminded that real hope begins on Good Friday – the darkest day of the year. Real hope begins in the midst of our despair – those times in our life when our feelings are numb. We don’t know quite what to do or what even comes next. And we feel that God is being silent. Tonight in scripture we will be reminded of Christ last cry – My God My God why have you forsaken me? And what strikes me is that in the passion story, God never responds. There is no answer for what it happening. There is no justice, no defense – the events just happen. We actually, never get to see how God is at work in this situation. Hope is a process, hopes is a relationship, sometimes hope can be an adventure. For Jesus in this moment – hope becomes an act of extreme trust – that even in the midst of pain, maybe things are being worked out for the better. Tonight I didn’t want us to go through the entire passion story with words – I wanted us to have an image of Jesus in our minds. I love the Chosen series, and the actor Jonothon Roumie takes his role as Jesus so seriously. The chosen is now on season 4 – and they plan to have 7 seasons of shows – so Jesus has not been gone through death and resurrection yet. But there have been many scenes where he gets close. In this scene that we are going to watch – Jesus is meeting with the Roman authorities – and we know that they will be playing close attention to him and will eventually do everything that they can to erase his memory and his influence. Where is the hope in that? (watch the movie) How can you have hope, when everything in the world is trying to stop you. No one is willing to speak up on your behalf, no one stops the injustice even when they see it happening. And God is silent about the whole thing. There is a lot going on in the world on this Good Friday, there is a lot going on in our lives, in our faith. We would love for God to just tap God’s fingers and make it all okay. But when you think about it – there are times in our lives – when no answer would make it all okay. No explanation would be enough. And promises would still fall short. So God says nothing at all. We just have to sit, trust, hope in an outcome that we cant see right now. In God’s silence, God is still at work. We never do get to see how Christ was actually saved from the grave and yet…. Tonight we will continue to sing, to pray, to relive Christ passion. Our service will end peacefully, with a word. Leave and listen for the silence of God. Tomorrow is holy Saturday – a quiet day when nothing is said of Jesus’ death. Whatever you do tomorrow – I invite you to take an intentional moment to spend with God. Tell God what you hope for. God’s response will be silence – but be assured that even in the silence God heres, God cares – God is working it out. And I look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 9:30 when we all get to experience the next phase of hope. Peace Jesus Last Words to Us Matthew 27:45-51,54 Death 45 From noon until three in the afternoon the whole earth was dark. 46 At about three Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you left me?”[a] 47 After hearing him, some standing there said, “He’s calling Elijah.” 48 One of them ran over, took a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a pole. He offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 But the rest of them said, “Let’s see if Elijah will come and save him.” 50 Again Jesus cried out with a loud shout. Then he died. 51 Look, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split, 54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and what had just happened, they were filled with awe and said, “This was certainly God’s Son.” Christ’s Lament against his Faithless Church Lord’s Prayer Hymn Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross UMH 301 Go Forth into the Night

Can These Bones Live?

March 29, 2020 Fifth Sunday of Lent Ezekiel 37:1-14 Do these old bones have life? Year A Children’s Sermon Object: A bone Boys and girls, have you ever sung the little song: "The toe bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone's connected to the shin bone...now hear the word of the Lord." That little spiritual comes from our lesson from the Bible for today. I brought a bone with me this morning (show bone). Did any of you bring a bone with you? Of course you did. You brought all kinds of bones just under your skin, didn't you? You brought your hand bones, and your ankle bones and your foot bones. You don't go anywhere without your bones, do you? I'm glad for my bones. We would be in trouble if we didn't have bones, wouldn't we? We wouldn't be able to sit up or walk and all kinds of things. I'm glad for my bones. But I'm also glad for my skin and muscles that cover my bones. But, you know what's even more amazing than skin or bones or muscle? It is the gift of life. My bones are part of my living body, and I am up here sitting with you and you are here and smiling and beautiful and it all happened because there is a loving God who gives us the gift of life. That's what the story about the dry bones is really all about. It's not about bones but about the God who gives life to bones and muscles. I'm glad God loves us enough to give us the gift of life and in return I'm going to make my life the best life of which I'm capable just to show Him how grateful I am. That's a good idea for all of us. Take these bones God has given us and use them to his glory. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan Prelude Opening Prayer Scripture Ezekiel 37:1-14 Common English Bible (CEB) Valley of dry bones 37 The LORD’s power overcame me, and while I was in the LORD’s spirit, he led me out and set me down in the middle of a certain valley. It was full of bones. 2 He led me through them all around, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the valley floor, and they were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?” I said, “LORD God, only you know.” 4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the LORD’s word! 5 The LORD God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. 6 I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the LORD.” 7 I prophesied just as I was commanded. There was a great noise as I was prophesying, then a great quaking, and the bones came together, bone by bone. 8 When I looked, suddenly there were sinews on them. The flesh appeared, and then they were covered over with skin. But there was still no breath in them. 9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The LORD God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.” 10 I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company. 11 He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ 12 So now, prophesy and say to them, The LORD God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. 13 You will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. 14 I will put my breath[a] in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the LORD. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the LORD says.” Footnotes: a. Ezekiel 37:14 Or spirit Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon I just watched the daily news conference of the governor, and every day he tells the number of corona virus cases in Illinois and the number of deaths. Today there were 17more deaths. There is a total of 3491 cases in Illinois and a total of 47 deaths. Will County has the 4th most deaths in the state with 110 cases and 4 deaths. The 110 cases have been reported from every area of the county. This lent has truly been a valley of the shadow of death season. Every day I listen to a meditation from a spiritual leader that I admire, and every day she says a prayer for the souls who for whatever reason are departing their earthly bodies. That is an astonishing thought to think about. Last week I didn’t to talk about the events of our world. But this week it is appropriate. This week, the fifth Sunday of lent is the week before holy week begins. I have no choice but to talk about death. The gospel lesson for today is about Jesus journey to his death in Jerusalem. He stops by a friend’s house only to discover that he has died. Jesus brings Lazarus back to life. This week however, I chose to focus on Ezekiel 37. This is one of the most dramatic messages in the bible. It also has a very timely message for us. I think that this is one of the most important lessons in all of history. Every generation in history seems to have had that moment of challenge. This is not the first time in history that church has been cancelled in order to keep people safe. In 1918, when there was the flu pandemic, church services were cancelled. In history there has been pandemics, wars, economic crashes that have challenged our whole society. I feel like I have seen all of those challenges just in my lifetime, and this may not be the last challenge to our way of life. The challenge in Ezekiel’s time was the exile of the Babylonians. His people had been defeated, they were forced to abandon their lives and to walk away and live for generations in a foreign land. The experience challenged them to the core. But have you ever noticed that sometimes it is the aftermath that is the biggest challenge? When you are going through a crisis, your adrenaline has a way of helping you to survive. You are not thinking of processing life, you are just doing what you have to do to survive. It is only after everything is over, that you look around and your realize that you are 100 miles away from where you want to be and that the only means of transportation is one step at a time. And you ask what do you do now to get back home. That is probably where Ezekiel was, when he dreamed that he was in the valley of the shadow of death, surrounded by human bones that had laid out in the sun for so long they were dry. I have listened with interest as survivors of corona virus speak of their condition. I was really touched as one man said that he got so sick that he just knew that he was going to die. He went to the hospital and waited to die, but the thing is, he didn’t die. He just had to live with the pain, he was still sick he was still here. Sometimes the road to recovery is harder than death. You are living, but your spirit is dead. The vision that Ezekiel has about the shadow of death – is more about the death of the spirit of his people. His people are alive but they have no hope. The community that they knew is dead. I have seen several pictures of Chicago this last week, of the structures, but no people. Frequently I come here to the church at night to pray over the seats in the sanctuary, over the hallways, over the rooms. I pray for the future of the ministry that will take place in each place. I said those same prayers last night, but this time it was different. As I looked at the empty seats, I got an eerie fear. What if the seats are never filled again? What if the church cannot recover from this shut down? What if there is no real future beyond all of this. The fear came from not having any answers. Ezekiel stood in the middle of a dream, and he too did not have the answers. His community had lost hope and felt they had no future. So, he asks God a question - can these old dead bones really live. He goes into a full conversation with God. God says you know the answer. Ezekiel knows that the answer is no. I want us to pause for a moment and put ourselves in that conversation with God for a moment. As we deal with the loss of life, with the loss of wellbeing, with the loss of income, with the loss of special moments that we will never recover. We can’t help but to ask God will these bones live? And we come to the stark reality that only God knows. We have no resources to solve our own problems. We can only look to God for the answers. This lent is our valley in the shadow of death moment. It is only is the valley of the shadow of death that we have the strength to be honest with God and to ask – Can these bones live? God gives Ezekiel an interesting answer. He tells Ezekiel to go back and to prophesy to the people. God says I am going to open up that grace, I am going to raise you up and take you home. Home can mean a lot of things – it can be a place, it can be a situation, it can be a feeling. Home is always restoration to wholeness and peace. Only God can move us from the valley of the shadow of death to wholeness and peace. He does that by giving us words of hope. Dr. Bernie Siegel in a wonderful book, “Love, Medicine and Miracle”, told of a man who was very ill with cancer. He was given a new medicine for which his doctors had high hopes. Sure enough, the man went into remission, returned home and spent the next month recovering. He did such things as fly an airplane. Then he read a report in the newspaper that the drug he’d been taken was ineffective. Immediately he had a relapse and returned to the hospital where he was soon terribly ill. The doctors despairing for the man, decided to tell him an untruth, but for worthy reasons: They told him the medicine he’d taken was defective, and they had received a new shipment which was good. They again administered the medicine, and before long the man seemed to recover. Again, he returned home and began to get better. Finally, though the doctors had to tell the man the truth. He immediately returned to the hospital and the next day he died. Hearing some words of hope makes all of the difference in our outlook on our situations. The moral of the story is that news of today is relevant – it tells us the truth; it gives us the facts. But it is not the source of our hope and our peace. The word of God is that for us. I love the vision of this story in Ezekiel – because he looks are a group of dry human bones, but then he starts to preach to them about the hope of God. and right before his eyes, he sees flesh and bone start to appear on the bones. They start to appear as normal people. But he appeals to the four winds and the breath of God comes in the bodies and they are restored to life. They are restored alive and well. The original meaning of resurrection is the restoration of community life. The day when the community has enough hope to restore itself and come back to life. The day the community had enough strength to do what it needed to do to go forward. That is what these valley moments do for us. they help us to find the strength to move forward. When I look at the pandemic of 1918, I see similarities to this moment in time. But even then, church may have been canceled, but Easter was not. This corona virus pandemic seems to take away even Easter, the ultimate celebration of resurrection. But this just reminds us that Easter is not about egg hunts, or bunnies or new clothes There is a strict formula to the date of Easter, Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon after Passover. But Easter is not a date on the calendar. Easter is resurrection. One man, Christ experienced death so that the community could be restored to full health. This Easter, when it comes, we will understand and experience the true meaning of resurrection and restoration. We are alive for such a time as this – the day when community hope will be restores. The hand of YHWH, the Breath of Life, was on me, And in a rushing-breath YHWH brought me forth and set me in the center of a valley - Full of bones! - And led me all around them, all around. Here! - Very many on the face of the valley, and here! - utterly dry. And said to me; "Child of Adam, earthling, can these bones live?" my people. And I will put my breath within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own earth, and you shall know-deep-in-your-heart that I the Breath of Life have spoken, and made it happen - proclaims the Breath of Life."'" (Translation by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 9/8/01) Amen. Stewardship Moment It has been said that this is the lentiest lent every – it has truly been a road through the shadow of death. But it reminds of that we get through one step at a time. And each step that we take is a step with God. Intentionally thinking about what it means to be a disciple of God. Let us preach the hope of God with our mouths but also with our offering. Your offering allows our church to continue to give hope in these dark times. Please remember to give your offering – you can give online, through the mail, dropping it off. Music Benediction Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener - Rise Up - Ezekiel 37:1-14 November 2019, the virus we know as the “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19” appeared in Wuhan, China. Today, nearly five months later, that same virus is affecting people around the world. At nearly 400,000 cases worldwide, COVID-19 is on a trajectory that will continue to infect people in 150 countries for months to come –their health, their finances, and their weary spirits. This event, next to Sept 11, 2001, may be the most devastating world event of the 21st century and is already being compared to two monumental events of the 20th century: the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic that infected 500 million people around the globe, killing about 50 million, and the October 1929 US stock market crash and the following great depression that reverberated around the world through the 1930s. The Spanish flu was a three-year epidemic. The great depression lasted a good 10 years through the 1930s.The changes and devastation of COVID-19 is still in its infancy. But these kinds of devastating events don’t just impact our wallets and our health. They severely impact our emotional, mental, and spiritual health. 1918 ended the bloodiest war (WWI) in history with huge losses of life but was followed by more loss with the Spanish Flu. Both devastated the young, killing primarily those from 18-40. In 1929, the suicide rate jumped to 18.9% after stocks plummeted 13% on Black Monday (October 28) and another 12% on Black Tuesday (October 29). The economy would take years to recover. And yet the human spirit, aided by the Holy Spirit, continues to strive, to hope, and to love. Every time we face death, destruction, despair, and devastation, we call upon the Holy Spirit to renew us, refresh us, and set us on our feet again. Just as faith surged in the past after global changes and difficulties such as the industrial revolution, the revolutionary, civil, and world wars, the Spanish flu, and the great depression, we live in a time when faith is needed now more than ever. Joy Unbounded, Glory Fulfilled Pastor/Bishop Kenneth Ulmer (Inglewood, California) envisions the animating, life-fulfilling power of the Holy Spirit as like the transformation that comes over the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon figures as they're inflated. Without any air these huge balloons lay flat on the floor, limp, and featureless figures. But when the wind starts whipping up inside those balloons, they begin to rise, stand up, and stand tall. They become individuals, people and creatures that we recognize and love. Once on the parade route, these balloons take on even more life, for they are animated not just by the air within them, but by the winds that buffet and bolster them down the street. Humor: "Look, He's Moving" Three friends were discussing death and one of them asked: "What would you like people to say about you at your funeral?" The first of the friends said: I would like them to say, he was a great humanitarian, who cared about his community. The second said: He was a great husband and father, who was an example for many to follow," said another. The third friend said, I would like them to say, "Look, he’s moving!!" Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com Daylight Lasts Longer There is a couple in Arkansas who have given their six-year-old son strict instructions to come home from playing every afternoon no later than 5 p.m. He is allowed to play with his friends, but his parents are quite serious about his curfew. If he is not home by 5 p.m., they begin to worry and call around the neighborhood to find out where he is. The boy knows this, though, and is careful to arrive every day on time. One April Monday, however, the day after Daylight Saving Time went into effect, the boy was late coming home. When he finally arrived, a few minutes before 6 p.m., his mother scolded him for being late. "You know you are to be home by five," she said, "and here it is nearly six." Puzzled, the little boy pointed out the window. "But the light," he protested, "the light; it's the light that tells me when to come home." Realizing what had happened, his mother smiled and gently explained that the day before the time had been changed, that everyone had reset their clocks and, now, the daylight lasted longer. The boy's eyes narrowed. "Does God know about this?" he asked suspiciously. In a childlike way, this little boy shared John's theological vision. Martha Jesus wants you to know that with God daylight last longer than death. Adapted from Thomas G. Long, "When Jesus Arrives Late," Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing Company Mr. Hooper Is Dead In the summer of 1981, Will Lee, the actor who played an adult character named Mr. Hooper on the children's television show SESAME STREET, died. This posed a difficult set of issues for The Children's Television Workshop, producers of the show. Should they deal at all with the subject of death? If so, how would they explain it to their 10 million viewers, most of whom are under the age of six? A staff writer describes it this way: “We asked ourselves: What do we want the kids to know? What can they absorb? What might open up things we can't answer? We try to create boundaries around what we can safely teach without doing any damage.” Child-development experts who specialize in loss and separation provided some specific don'ts for dealing with death on the show: Don't say Mr. Hooper got sick and died, because you don't always die when you get sick. Don't say he was old, because children think their parents are old. Don't say he went to the hospital and died, because people go to the hospital all the time. The staff also decided to avoid religious issues, such as saying that Mr. Hooper had gone to heaven. What about the do's? Early on they decided they were going to say a few basic things. He's gone--acknowledge the reality. He won't be back. He'll be missed. They also wanted the cast to express how they felt about Will. And they wanted the kids to know that death stimulates a full range of emotions. You're sad, you're angry, you're frustrated--all at the same time. The show that resulted aired on Thanksgiving so that parents could watch with their children. In one segment, Big Bird walks on camera and says to the cast: “I just drew pictures of all my grown-up friends on Sesame Street and I'm going to give them to you.” He passes out sketches and the cast members ooh and ahh over the likenesses. He's left with Mr. Hooper's picture. “I can't wait till he sees it,” says Big Bird. “Say, where is he? I want to give it to him.” One cast member explains: “Big Bird, don't you remember? We told you . . . Mr. Hooper died. He's dead.” Big Bird says, “Oh yeah, I remember. Well . . . I'll give it to him when he comes back.” Another cast member gets up from her chair and touches Big Bird saying, “Big Bird, Mr. Hooper's not coming back.” “Why not?” Big Bird asks innocently. “Big Bird,” explains the cast member, “when people die, they don't come back.” No, they don’t. That is the sad reality Big Bird that you and I learn as we grow older. But hidden under the dirt of the grave is a story, told in the death of Mary and Martha’s brother, told in the death of Jesus their friend, told in the death of every one of you brothers and sisters of Jesus. Resurrection! It is the greatest unfinished story of our times. Its author is penning the finish even as we speak. It is His story. He knows the conclusion. The curtain will soon fall. And then shall begin the end that shall not end. Resurrection! It’s almost Easter, Big Bird…and Easter tells me they do come back. Amen. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com. Adapted from Robert H. Waterman, Jr., The Renewal Factor, New York: Bantam Books, 1987, pp. 100-101. Take Off the Grave Clothes Her name was Carol. She was the organist at her church. She was an outstanding musician, but she did something no organist should ever do. She overslept on Easter morning and missed the sunrise service. She was so embarrassed. Of course, the minister and the church forgave her. They teased her about it a little, but it was done lovingly and in good fun. However, the next Easter, her phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Jolted awake by the loud ringing, she scrambled to answer it. It was the minister, and he said, “Carol, its Easter morning The Lord is risen! . . .And I suggest you do the same!” The message is clear: We too can be resurrected. Christ shares his resurrection with us. He rises, and so can we. We too can have new life. We too can make a new start. We too can rise out of those tombs that try to imprison us! James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not to Be True, Dimensions, p. 74 Dry Bones Come to Life Through God’s Breath I said - "Pillar of the World, Breath of Life - You know-it-in-your-heart, and only you." Then God said to me, "Prophesy upon these bones! Say to them, 'Dry bones, Hear the word of the One Who breathes all life! Thus speaks the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life, to these bones: "Here! - I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will weave muscles on you, and raise flesh upon you, and form skin on you, I will give you breath, And you shall live! And so you will deeply know that I am YHWH, the Breath of Life."'" So I prophesied as I was commanded. And while I was prophesying, there came a voice, and - here! a commotion! - and the bones came together, bone to bone. And I saw - here! - upon them muscles; Flesh arose, skin covered them; But there was no breath in them. Then God said, "Prophesy to the rushing-breath-of-wind - Prophesy, you child of earth! - and say to the breathing-wind - Thus says the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life - From the four breathing-winds come, O breath, And puff upon these slain, that they shall live." So I prophesied as God commanded me, and the breath blew into them. They lived, and stood upon their feet, An overwhelming, overwhelming vast array of strength. Then God said to me, "Child of earth, These bones are the whole house of Israel. Here! - they say, 'Dried up - our bones, Shattered - our hopes, Cut off - our roots.' So prophesy and say to them, 'Thus speaks the Pillar of the World, the Breath of Life: "Here! - I will open your graves, and rouse you from your graves, my people! And I will bring you to the earth of Israel. And you shall know-deep-in-your-heart that I am YHWH, the Breath of Life, when I have opened your graves, and roused you from your graves,

Let Justice Roll Down

January 19, 2020 Isaiah 49:1-7 2ns Sunday after Epiphany Let Justice Roll Down Year B Announcements Remember Martin Luther King weekend – Invited to be a part of the leadership conference. Will be one of the presenters – along with pastor of New Lenox, workshop on racism – living together in harmony. Children’s Time Object: A pillow. Good morning, boys and girls. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? You've heard that old rhyme, haven't you? I don't know the answer to it, but I do know that woodchucks don't chuck wood this time of year. You know what they are doing? They are hibernating. A woodchuck normally has a pulse rate of about eighty beats per minute--about the same as you and me. But when it goes into its long winter's nap, that pulse rate slows down to about four beats a minute. And he lives off of the fat cells he has stored up. He is patiently waiting for springtime. I brought my pillow with me this morning. Sometimes when I have lots of problems or the weather is miserable outside, I would like to be that old woodchuck, and just hibernate and wait for spring when things will be better. But God didn't create us to live in a cave. God created us to love one another and serve one another. God is not hibernating and God didn't create us to hibernate either. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan Stewardship time ." People say "charity should begin at home," and that is surely correct. Our problem is that so often it ends there. The person or the church with the world view, with the cosmic view, is so filled with compassion for others, that the people close at hand end up being beneficiaries of that same compassion. The task of the servant in our world today is to be a giver. Let me encourage you, in spite of the high cost of giving and the small number of servant models you may see around you, to determine to be different. We are never more Godlike than when we give. Shortly after World War II, Europe began picking up the pieces. Perhaps the saddest sight of all was that of the little orphaned children starving on the streets of war-torn cities.Early one morning an American soldier spotted a little lad with his nose pressed against the window of a pastry shop. Inside the baker was kneading dough for a fresh batch of doughnuts. The hungry boy stared in silence. His eyes glued to the glass as he watched those mouth-watering morsels being pulled from the oven, piping hot. The soldier's heart went out to the nameless orphan. Hurrying inside he quickly purchased a dozen hot doughnuts and took them outside to the hungry boy. "Would you like these doughnuts?" he asked. As he turned to walk away, the soldier felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child say, "Mister, are you God?" We are never more like God than when we give. The glory of being God's servant is the opportunity to do what God did in Jesus Christ our Lord. "For God so loved the world, that he gave...." Scripture The servant speaks up 49 Listen to me, coastlands; pay attention, peoples far away. The LORD called me before my birth, called my name when I was in my mother’s womb. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, and hid me in the shadow of God’s own hand. He made me a sharpened arrow, and concealed me in God’s quiver, 3 saying to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I show my glory.” 4 But I said, “I have wearied myself in vain. I have used up my strength for nothing.” Nevertheless, the LORD will grant me justice; my reward is with my God. 5 And now the LORD has decided— the one who formed me from the womb as his servant— to restore Jacob to God, so that Israel might return to him. Moreover, I’m honored in the LORD’s eyes; my God has become my strength. 6 He said: It is not enough, since you are my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the survivors of Israel. Hence, I will also appoint you as light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. 7 The LORD, redeemer of Israel and its holy one, says to one despised, rejected by nations, to the slave of rulers: Kings will see and stand up; commanders will bow down on account of the LORD, who is faithful, the holy one of Israel, who has chosen you. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon Some years ago in Chicago, a parish minister sent out hundreds of questionnaires to people in every walk of life. He received a surprisingly great response, all of which he carefully indexed and tabulated. In each questionnaire only one point was raised: What is the outstanding problem or question you face daily in your thinking or living? Twenty-two percent named their family. Forty-eight percent mentioned personal living: the seemingly loneliness, general failure and futility of it all. On the bulletin board of an Ivy League university, this item appeared: "WANTED - a young couple to care for an elderly millionaire who has been taking tranquilizers for twenty years. The need is desperate in order to give him meaning to life. He has nothing to live for." Have you ever felt discouraged? All of these instances have a common factor that can be expressed in one word: futility. This mood is reflected again and again in our human story, and the Bible is no exception. In the fourth verse of Isaiah 49, we hear a cry of discouragement from this great prophet: "I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing...." Now, for more than a half-century the people of Israel had been exiles in pagan Babylon. But God had not abandoned them, for a new chapter of their history was beginning to emerge: out of the north came Cyrus, the Persian warrior, whose pressures on the Babylonian Empire eroded its strongholds and set the captives free. What a tremendous hour for the prophet! Now his hopes were being fulfilled and his prophecies vindicated. God had intervened and opened up a highway for the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple as a free nation. Well might he sing: "Lift up your voice with strength ... fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ " (Isaiah 40:9). In life, in service even in the church it is easy for us to ask the question what is the point in what I am doing? If we ask that question, we are in good company. Question asked by many in the bible, Elijah, Moses, Job. Question asked by many people in scripture for today. Question asked by the suffering servant. This is the second of stories told of a servant who has been encouraged to do do things – bring the exiles back to Israel to rebuild and then to become a light to the nations. This suffering servant admits that they have been called by God from birth, and that they have followed God to this point. They will do anything, but right now they don’t see the point. No one is listening, things are not changing, and his mission is filled with one disappointment after another. Kathy dropped by her pastor's study one Saturday morning on her way to her last university class before graduation. Pastor noticed that Kathy's left arm was wrapped in a towel. In her right hand, Kathy held a straight razor. The towel dropped from her left arm revealing a long, open, bloody gash. Holding up the razor, with tears in her eyes, Kathy pleaded, "Convince me not to finish this." With a gulp and a silent prayer, Pastor Michael said, "I don't know if I can, but let's take a memory walk first." Together they strolled through the church building, pausing to share stories of nursery school, confirmation classes, and youth group activities. Kathy recalled how her clinical depression kept coming back, reminding her how empty and meaningless her life had become. Even though she was on the dean's list, she felt stupid. Even though she had received a superior rating for her student teaching, she believed that she would be a disaster as an elementary school teacher. Even though her parents had chosen to adopt her while she was still in her birth mother's womb, Kathy could only see that she did not live up to their expectations. Just like God's servant in our text, Kathy believed: "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity" (Isaiah 49:4). "Come on, Kathy," urged Pastor Michael, "we have one more stop on our memory walk. Let's go into the sanctuary." Together they stopped at the baptismal font. "Here is where your mother and father promised to introduce you to an enormous family who would support you always. Here is where God named and claimed you and chose you as a child in God's forever family," said Pastor Michael. Kathy remained silent still clutching the towel around her arm. Yet she allowed the pastor to lead her down the center aisle toward the altar. "Look at the cross, Kathy. Here is where Jesus suffered and died so that you might have life. Here is the altar where Jesus gave his own flesh and blood for you." Kathy dropped to her knees and began sobbing uncontrollably. After a few minutes, just when Pastor Michael was planning to call the emergency squad, Kathy stood up. Placing her bloodstained towel and straight razor on the altar, Kathy announced, "Okay, I remember. Let's go get some help now." And they did. "Yet, surely," remembered the servant, "my cause is with the Lord" (Isaiah 49:4). Surely, remembered Kathy, servant of God, there is still work to be done; a life to live, and a baptismal commission to fulfill. At first the task of God's servant was limited to restoring the scattered children of Israel ... no simple job, but the servant knew that he was honored and strengthened by God to carry it out. "I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God has become my strength" (Isaiah 49:5). At first, the task of God's servant, Kathy, was to begin to heal and to graduate. At first, the task of God's servant, Harold, was to provide driving lessons for his daughter. Each of these servants of God experienced failure and discouragement. What about us? What failures confront us? What dreams seem futile? Yet, surely, just as the Lord refreshed the memory of God's servants with reminders of God's forever love, God reminds us, as well. Not only did the servant in our text receive the necessary strength to complete his first mission, God expanded it. God said: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6). Wow! Not only did God's servant, Kathy, graduate with honors from college, she became Third Grade Teacher of the Year in her elementary school. Today she is principal of that school and serves as a youth advisor in her congregation. Wow! Not only did God's servant, Harold, renew a relationship with his daughter, he now volunteers as part of a ministry team working with youthful gang members. Recently, some of these young people presented Harold with a cross, made from melted down pistols, knives, and chains. Wow! These servants of God could not remain faithful to doing any of these things by their own efforts. They could only carry out their tasks in God's word to them, "... because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you" (Isaiah 49:7). Kathy was able to find hope in her memories and her relationship with God. When you are discouraged, where do you find hope. Where do you look for hope? Where do you find it? Scripture says that the suffering servant found hope in two words – yet nevertheless. Friends, pay attention to the turning point in our text. The next two words in verse 4 are decisive for the complaining servant and for God's discouraged people. They are decisive words because they announce that God is about to transform our perception of reality from failure and futility to promise and possibility. With these two words God gets our attention. God is about to reverse our self-definition from weak, depressed, and exhausted to named, claimed, and commissioned. For the servant and for God's people, it's not all about us. It's all about God. What are these two transforming words? They are, "Yet, surely." In the middle of the servant's exhausted complaining, he declares, "Yet, surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward is with my God" (Isaiah 49:4). Yet, surely, in his discouragement, Harold had a vision of God's renewal as he remembered the plaque given by his students. Yet, surely, in the midst of our own frequent failures and depleted energy, God gives us visions of renewal. Look around you right now. Look at the cross, the font, and the altar. See the scriptures opened. See God's gathered people around you. Yet, surely, right here, among us, God is naming, claiming, and commissioning us. Yet, surely, right here, God is reversing reality for all splashed and nourished sinner servants of the Lord. Yet, surely, with the servant, today we remember, both God's claim of us and God's commission to us. Celebrates God has been with him, but God named him. In culture the name of a child was not only something to be called, it was also a purpose to live into. Interesting thing – we never learn the name of the suffering servant. As a matter of fact, there is debate is it Jesus? It is the nation of Israel? Is it the church. Many think the ambiguity is on purpose. It is all of those things – but the suffering servant could be any of us in this room. Anyone who has become discouraged in their service to God. The point is being discouraged in not an excuse to give up. We are not let off the hook. Yet nevertheless, God is still with us, still loves us – still asks us to serve. I've always been intrigued by the story, supposed to be true, of a man who was so discouraged by his poor health that he decided to end it all by running until he dropped. So, he got his things in order and one day started to run until he dropped. He ran and ran and ran and ran, and, while he got exhausted, he didn't "drop." So he decided he'd do it again the next day, but this time he absolutely wouldn't stop until he dropped. Perhaps you can guess the end of the story. The man ran and ran, pushing himself to his limit instead of pampering himself in an armchair popping pills, and his body became strong and the man had a new life Servants are people of God to serve and to give. God wants to build into our lives the same serving and giving qualities that characterized the earthly life and ministry of our Lord. To me, it is always inspiring when someone in the public spotlight remembers this basic call of God to be a servant. Many of you will recall the name of Colonel James B. Irwin who was a part of the team of astronauts who made the successful moon walk. When Irwin returned, he spoke of the thrill connected with leaving this planet and seeing it shrink in size. He mentioned watching earthrise one day, and thinking how privileged he was to be a part of this unique crew. And then, as they were en route back to earth, he began to realize that the experience he had shared with his crew in space would make them overnight international celebrities. It was then that James Irwin, a person of deep faith in God, made a decision. In his own words, he said: "As I was returning to earth, I realized that I was a servant, not a celebrity. So I am here as God's servant on planet Earth to share what I have experienced that others might know the glory of God." That is still our calling from God - to be servants The late John A. Mackay once remarked: "We become related to Christ singly, but we cannot live in Christ solitarily." Commitment to God in Christ directs our lives ever outward to work his purpose for all people. And when we are so engaged, the thrill of our enthusiasm outstrips any assault by futility. At one time in Africa David Livingstone felt his work was hopeless, futile and in vain, but it was then that he fell back on Christ’s promise, "Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world." And later he wrote in his diary, "These are the words of a man of the most sacred and strictest honor." There is a point in living! How happy we can be if and when we find it. Let us pray……. Additional illustrations Who is the servant? Is it Jesus? Is it the Church? Is it your congregation? Is it you? Is it all of these and more? Preaching task - To tell the story of how God’s work is being opened to all, and then bring it back down to the local level. In other words, this passage is about a relatively small group of people being used to bring justice to the world, and opening up God’s love to all people. How can this message be transposed to another group of people? The good news isn’t our good news. It isn’t news for this party, or this nation, or this race. It is for all. The Good News isn’t just for this church or this neighborhood - but it also IS for this church and this neighborhood. A senator, a clergyman and a Boy Scout were passengers in a small plane that developed engine trouble. "We'll have to bail out," the pilot announced. "Unfortunately, there are only three parachutes. I have a wife and seven small children. My family needs me. I'm taking one of the parachutes." And he jumped. "I'm the smartest politician in the world," said the senator. "The country needs me. I'm taking one of the parachutes." And he jumped. "I've had a good life," said to the clergyman to the Boy Scout," and yours is still ahead of you. You take the last parachute." "Don't need to," shrugged the youth. "There are two parachutes left. The smartest politician in the world jumped with my knapsack!" There are some of you here today who are feeling totally overwhelmed by life right now. I know that. And the issues for some of you are not light ones, they are bona fide heavy ones. Only you know the application in your life of the truth that Isaiah and Jesus were preaching. All I know is that God is sure to bless with new energy and new options and new vigor and new joy the persons or the church that chooses to dare great things for people beyond themselves, to be, as Isaiah said, "a light to the nations" out of commitment to and gratitude for God's great love for us which we have seen and known in Jesus Christ. Focusing only on ourselves and on easily reachable goals is simply too light a thing. It leads to un-health, dis-ease, and plugs up the flow of God's Spirit and power, so that even the "easy goals" are found to be unattainable. What this might mean for you and me and this church might make great dinner conversation, church committee discussion and prayer time contemplation this week. May we be open to what God would speak to us. All of these instances have a common factor that can be expressed in one word: futility. This mood is reflected again and again in our human story, and the Bible is no exception. In the fourth verse of Isaiah 49, we hear a cry of discouragement from this great prophet: "I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing...." Now, for more than a half-century the people of Israel had been exiles in pagan Babylon. But God had not abandoned them, for a new chapter of their history was beginning to emerge: out of the north came Cyrus, the Persian warrior, whose pressures on the Babylonian Empire eroded its strongholds and set the captives free. What a tremendous hour for the prophet! Now his hopes were being fulfilled and his prophecies vindicated. God had intervened and opened up a highway for the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple as a free nation. Well might he sing: "Lift up your voice with strength ... fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ " (Isaiah 40:9).

Early Morning Meditation

April 20, 2019 Year C 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Easter Sunday – Sunrise Service Early Morning Meditation 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Common English Bible (CEB) 19 If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest[a] of those who have died. 21 Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. 22 In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. 23 Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest,[b] then those who belong to Christ at his coming, 24 and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. 25 It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet.[c] 26 Death is the last enemy to be brought to an end, Footnotes: a. 1 Corinthians 15:20 Or firstfruits b. 1 Corinthians 15:23 Or firstfruits c. 1 Corinthians 15:25 Ps 110:1 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible As we sit here this morning, I just want us to take this moment in time inside of our souls. What does this day mean for us? How does it change us or change our circumstances. We don’t have to do anything, or expect anything, but to feel the grace in our lives. And to be grateful that we are alive in this moment. Expecting Death In many ways, we are like those first disciples, so it seems to me. We are like the women coming to the grave that day. They had heard the promise of Jesus that on the third day, the Son of Man would be raised from the dead by the Powers of God. They had heard his promise to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” They had heard Jesus teach, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will never die.” Nevertheless, on that morning when they came to the grave, they came expecting death, did they not? When they came that morning to the grave, in spite of all of Jesus’ promises, they came expecting death. And I am suspicious that you and I are like those women. Even though we have heard the promises of God. Yes, we have heard the promises over and over again e.g. on the third day I will rise; today you will be with me in paradise; I am the resurrection and the life. We have heard these promises but we come to our graves, and like the women on that first Sunday morning, we are expecting death. For deep down in everyone’s soul is a pessimism that believes that this is all there is. They put you in a box; they put you in that grave; and in time the box and the vault will decay, and your body will decay like all the others. Why do we have this inner feeling, this inner pessimism? Sigmund Freud calls it the “death instinct.” Common to all human beings and all animals, and human beings are part of the animal kingdom, we have this instinct. Deep down inside is this fear that this is all there is. And so we come to the graves of life, the graves of our mothers and fathers, and grandmas and grandpas; we come to the deathbeds of life, and we finally come to our own deathbed and we quietly pray: “I believe, help my unbelief.” And we die. We sleep. And then…then…we awake and say…”Hooooly cow!!! It is so incredibly beautiful!!! Stunned. Breathless. And we are astonished and astounded, amazed and awestruck, dazzled and dumbfounded the beauty that God has prepared for you and me. The Apostle Paul was right when he said,“No eye can see, no ear can hear, no mind can imagine the good and wonderful things that God has prepared for us.” Edward F. Markquart, Astonished and Astounded Ready for the Trip? A minister was preaching and during the course of his sermon asked, "Who wants to go to heaven?" Everyone held up their hands except one young boy. "Son, don't you want to go to heaven when you die?" "Yes sir, when I die, but I thought you was gettin' up a load to go now." That is probably the attitude of most of us. Most Christians DO figure that when we die we go to heaven to be with the Lord, even if we are not ready to make the trip tomorrow. David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc. We are so prone to think that what is going on in our life right now is all that there is. Perhaps that is why Paul says that if our hope in Christ right now is all that we have, then we are a people are to be pitied. Our faith has to be in the resurrection and the resurrection alone. But Paul encourages us not to just focus on the resurrection of Jesus, but on our resurrection also. Christ opened many doors for us. I chose this message from Corinthians, instead of the gospel because this is the first and earliest witness to the resurrection. Paul wrote Corinthians 50 years after Christ was resurrected. The earliest gospel was not written until 74 AD. Luke would not have know Jesus, he was a second generation Christian. Paul did not meet Jesus personally, but he did know the other disciples. He did have a good idea of what Jesus was trying to do. And it was not Jesus life that inspired him, it was not even his death. It was his resurrection. Romans 10:9 tells us that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is our Lord and we believe in our hearts that Jesus was raised then we will be saved. Once again the resurrection is the source of our faith. And the source of our salvation. On Good Friday, we become aware that Jesus dies for our sins, but today we focus not on why he died – but why it was so important for him to come back to life – so that we too could overcome our need to die, and choose life. It has been said that there are 4 great facts to remember about the resurrection. Truth is stronger than a lie, good is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, and finally that life is always stronger than death. If Jesus had died never to rise again, it would have proved that death could take the loveliest and best life that ever lived and finally break it. During the second world war a certain city church in London was all set out for harvest thanksgiving. In the centre of the gifts was a sheaf of corn. The service was never held, for, on the Saturday night, a savage air raid laid the church in ruins. The months passed and the spring came, and someone noticed that, on the bomb site where the church had stood, there were shoots of green. The summer came and the shoots flourished and in the autumn there was a flourishing patch of corn growing amidst the rubble. Not even the bombs and the destruction could kill the life of the corn and its seeds. The Resurrection is the final proof that life is stronger than death. In spite of our deepest, darkest tendency toward death – life always wins. The Power of Belief in a World of Lost Hope Eric Butterworth tells about a young soldier who lost his legs in battle. Something died within this young man when he found he would never walk again. He lay in his hospital bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He refused to talk to anyone who tried to help him. He refused to cooperate with doctors or nurses who wanted to help him to adjust. One day another inmate of the hospital strolled in and sat down on a chair near the bed. He drew a harmonica from his pocket and began to play softly. The patient looked at him for a second, then back to the ceiling. That was all for that day. Next day the player came again. For several days he continued to come and to play quietly. One day he said, "Does my playing annoy you?" The patient said, "No, I guess I like it." They talked a little more each day. One day the harmonica player was in a jovial mood. He played a sprightly tune and began to do a tap dance. The soldier looked on but was apparently unimpressed. "Hey, why don't you smile once and let the world know you're alive!" the dancer said with a friendly smile. But the legless soldier said, "I might as well be dead as in the fix I'm in." "Okay," answered his happy friend, "so you're dead. But you're not as dead as a fellow who was crucified two thousand years ago, and He came out of it all right." "Oh, it's easy for you to preach," replied the patient, "but if you were in my fix, you'd sing a different tune." With this the dancer stood up and said, "I know a two-thousand-year-old resurrection is pretty far in the dim past. So maybe an up-to-date example will help you to believe it can be done." With that he pulled up his trouser legs and the young man in the bed looked and saw two artificial limbs. The tap-dancing fellow with the harmonica was not simply a Pollyanna. He once lay where that young soldier now lay. He himself had known the power of a resurrection. He had learned to live life abundantly--even without his legs. Needless to say, the young soldier's own resurrection began that moment. Easter isn't just about dying. It's about the power of belief in a world of lost hope. It is about knowing that no situation is beyond God's redeeming power. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com So let me ask you, how many people do you know who are breathing and walking, and talking and going through the motions of life, and yet in spirit they are dead, because they have no hope. They don’t know what to do next. That is why Paul reminds us that belief in the resurrection is the whole key to our faith. If Jesus conquered death then so can we. He did live just to die, he died so in order to have life life. I want us to watch this short video of what is possible Because of Christ resurrection. Finally let me ask – What needs a resurrection? What stones need to be rolled away? What needs to be brought out of the dark caves of this world, brought out into the light? Where is new life needing to be encouraged, unearthed, resurrected? On this Easter Sunday, on this day when we tell the ancient story of death not having the final word, what word do we need to hear? What needs a resurrection? Additional illustrations…… More Hope than We Can Handle Earlier this week, an old couple received a phone call from their son who lives far away. The son said he was sorry, but he wouldn’t be able to come for a visit over the holidays after all. "The grandkids say hello." They assured him that they understood, but when they hung up the phone they didn’t dare look at each other. Earlier this week, a woman was called into her supervisor’s office to hear that times are hard for the company and they had to let her go. "So sorry." She cleaned out her desk, packed away her hopes for getting ahead, and wondered what she would tell her kids. Earlier this week, someone received terrible news from a physician. Someone else heard the words, "I don't love you anymore." Earlier this week, someone’s hope was crucified. And the darkness is overwhelming. No one is ever ready to encounter Easter until he or she has spent time in the dark place where hope cannot be seen. Easter is the last thing we are expecting. And that is why it terrifies us. This day is not about bunnies, springtime and girls in cute new dresses. It’s about more hope than we can handle. Craig Barnes, Savior at Large, article in The Christian Century, March 13-20, 2002 p. 16. Yes, There Is Hope In the early part of World War II, a Navy submarine was stuck on the bottom of the harbor in New York City. It seemed that all was lost. There was no electricity and the oxygen was quickly running out. In one last attempt to rescue the sailors from the steel coffin, the U.S. Navy sent a ship equipped with Navy divers to the spot on the surface, directly above the wounded submarine. A Navy diver went over the side of the ship to the dangerous depths in one last rescue attempt. The trapped sailors heard the metal boots of the diver land on the exterior surface, and they moved to where they thought the rescuer would be. In the darkness they tapped in Morse code, "Is there any hope?" The diver on the outside, recognizing the message, signaled by tapping on the exterior of the sub, "Yes, there is hope." This is the picture of our dilemma as we worship this glad Easter Day. Humankind is trapped in a dreadful situation. All around we are running low on hope, and we look for a word from beyond offering it to us. This world in which we live is plagued with war and famine, mounting debt and continual destruction. The more we try to rescue ourselves the more we seem to fall behind. We wonder: Is there any hope? Bill Self, Is There Any Hope? God Cannot Die Martin Luther once spent three days in a black depression over something that had gone wrong. On the third day his wife came downstairs dressed in mourning clothes. "Who's dead?" he asked her. "God," she replied. Luther rebuked her, saying, "What do you mean, God is dead? God cannot die." "Well," she replied, "the way you've been acting I was sure He had!" Many of us have been caught in that trap. This is also what had happened to Mary. Ray C. Stedman, The Incredible Hope Birth into a New World In his book, Teaching Your Children about God, Rabbi David Wolpe, a professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, recalls an ancient Jewish parable about twin unborn children lying together in the womb. One believes that there is a world beyond the womb "where people walk upright, where there are mountains and oceans, a sky filled with stars." The other unborn twin can barely contain his contempt for such foolish ideas. Suddenly the "believer" of the twins is forced through the birth canal leaving behind the only way of life he has known. The remaining unborn twin is saddened, convinced that a great catastrophe has befallen his companion. Outside the womb, however, the parents are rejoicing. For what the remaining brother, left behind, has just witnessed is not death but birth. This, Wolpe reminds us, is a classic view of the life beyond the grave--a birth into a world that we on Earth can only try to imagine. The Easter message is that we have an older brother who HAS traveled beyond the tomb, down the birth canal of eternity and has returned to assure us that God is love, and that there is a place prepared for any who will accept the Good News. Whether our name is Marie or Mary or Peter or even Judas, Christ came into the world to save sinners. Won't you accept his offer of a new life today? King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com

The Victory is in Jesus

July 30, 2017 Romans 8:26-39 Year A The Victory is in Jesus 8th Sunday after Pentecost Romans 8:26-39Common English Bible (CEB) 26 In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. 27 The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will.28 We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 We know this because God knew them in advance, and he decided in advance that they would be conformed to the image of his Son. That way his Son would be the first of many brothers and sisters. 30 Those who God decided in advance would be conformed to his Son, he also called. Those whom he called, he also made righteous. Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified. 31 So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. Won’t he also freely give us all things with him? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect people? It is God who acquits them. 34 Who is going to convict them? It is Christ Jesus who died, even more, who was raised, and who also is at God’s right side. It is Christ Jesus who also pleads our case for us. 35 Who will separate us from Christ’s love? Will we be separated by trouble, or distress, or harassment, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, We are being put to death all day long for your sake. We are treated like sheep for slaughter.[a] 37 But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one who loved us. 38 I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus our Lord: not death or life, not angels or rulers, not present things or future things, not powers 39 or height or depth, or any other thing that is created. Sermon Opener - Super-Size Your Faith - Romans 8:26-39 “Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…in a most delightful way” How many of you can hear Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) singing that? How many of you have no idea who Mary Poppins is? There’s the generational divide right in front of us…although Broadway introduced a new “Mary Poppins” musical to catch those of you who only know the more postmodern Nannie McPhee version of the story. Nanny Mary Poppins sang this song in the 1964 movie to get her employers’ closed-mouth children to open up and swallow down their daily dose of nasty-tasting stuff. Could any nanny get away with that today? Given the skyrocketing rate of childhood obesity, I suspect that any child-care worker caught shoveling spoonfuls of sugar down their charge’s throats would be instantly sacked. Still, we “sugarcoat” everything. “It smells like money” is how we sugarcoat the sickening stench of a slaughterhouse or the cloud of sulphur dioxide that spews out of paper-mill smoke stacks. Ironically, in the case of pulp mills, we are sugar-coating the release of sugars (and sulphur) in the wood. “Sugar-coating” is our attempt to disguise that which is truly awful with an artificial top-coat of sticky sweetness. We do this with everything from chocolate-dipped grasshoppers to 5 mpg SUV’s that run on Big Diesel. We love to take our sourest lemons and turn them into lemonade. But this attempt to “sugar-coat” the negative is not a part of biblical faith. A faith that is founded on the crucifixion of its founder as a blasphemous criminal cannot be good at cutesy coverups. Jesus never sugarcoated. He spoke openly to his admittedly uncomprehending, sugar-jonesing disciples about his impending arrest, conviction, and execution. Jesus baldly declared that “the poor will always be with you” and advised the rich, young man that the cost of discipleship was to “sell everything” if he wished to follow Jesus. Discipleship was never advertised as anything but a big-ticket item by Jesus, a commitment that, as its reward, demanded that followers “take up their cross,” embrace the real probability of suffering and death. Paul had first-hand, hard-core, hard-time experiences of the “hardship” that discipleship could bring to one’s life…. I think that we have gotten used to wanting our life to be sugar coated. We want everything to be good news. And that is not what Paul is talking about when he tells us to have hope. Christ did not come to the world for everything to be wonderful in our lives, Christ came to tell us that what is bad does not last forever. And that when things go wrong, we have a means for dealing with it, without needing the sugar coating. This is the last part of Romans 8 – this is a pivotal chapter for all of us. Paul originally wrote this for Christians who were being persecuted, and trying to make meaning out of what was happening to them. Paul answer to them, not to dwell on the meaning of the bad, but to look not necessarily for the good, but to look for the God in the event, and to always be clear that God is on your side if you are on God’s side. This whole conversation is called theodicy. Theo means god, dicy means justice. But the word theodicy means a question that we all seem to have – if God is so good, then why is life so lousy? Why do bad things happen to good people. We have been asking that question for centuries. The bible is full of stories of people asking that question. We all ask the question, but let me give you some advice – the question has its own word – because there is no answer. No matter how strong your faith is, the question will come up in your life. And there are people out there called hope hustlers – who will be happy to give you an answer, but the answer that they give will never satisfy you. The best advice that I can give you is – don’t get stuck on asking the question. Because you can stay there for the rest of your life. What you have to do is just move on and leave the question unanswered. Whatever it is, you have to just accept it, deal with it and find the strength to move on and live with the question. Romans 8 give us the tools to be able to do that – that is why the lectionary takes so much time with Romans 8. We dealt with this one verse for three weeks. In the first week we were told to live in the spirit and not the flesh, the second week was to have hope, and this week the message is that nothing separates us from the love of God – not even despair and suffering. I have been looking for a sign to put in my house it says bidden or unbidden God is there. In other words, no matter whether we intentionally pray for God or not God is in the process. We just have to look for the God in everyday and in every situation. There is a spiritual practice where every night you ask yourself, where did I meet God today. There is a less well-known behavioral syndrome that has been dubbed the “Stockdale Paradox.” Admiral Jim Stockdale was a prisoner of war at the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” during the Vietnam War. He remained a prisoner there from 1965-1973, eight endless years. He was the highest ranking US military officer imprisoned during the Vietnam War. He is perhaps better known as the running mate for H. Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election. During his imprisonment he was repeatedly beaten and tortured, but he refused to be “broken” by his captors. He devised mental exercises to keep his mind resilient and created ingenious tapping codes that allowed all the American prisoners held captive with him to secretly communicate with each other. The “paradox” Stockdale is famous for is his unflinching attitude of utter faith and absolute realism. When asked how he managed to continue day after day for eight years Stockdale explained, “I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said . . . “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” When asked by the reporters if he could describe those who failed to survive under the same torture and mind-breaking abuse, Stockdale’s reply was quick: “Oh, that’s easy, he said. The optimists.” “The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.” Then who were the ones who survived? What was his key to survival. Stockdale said it was one word: “Faith.” Stockdale’s final reflection, his key more-than-survival skill for not just surviving, but truly LIVING in and through those grueling ordeals, was precise. “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end, faith which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Did you hear it? Did you hear the echoes of our Scripture lesson reverberating in these words? Faith is not optimism. Faith is not foolish naïveté. Faith is not pretending bad times or genuine suffering are not real. Faith does not insist that everything’s coming up roses, or that stinking circumstances smell like strawberry shortcake. Faith is best expressed in the words our 17-year-old son is fond of saying: “Deal with it, get over it, or get help.” The Stockdale realists faced the facts “We’re not getting out by Christmas! Deal with it, Get over it, and Get help!”— but they faced the facts with faith, faith in the ultimate “end of the story,” which enabled them to survive in some of the works circumstances the mind can imagine. In today’s epistle text, Paul is speaking to Christians who have experienced real suffering, Christians being persecuted by a power no less than Rome, the greatest empire ever seen. And in these oft-memorized verses, Paul is giving the message that a Stockholm Syndrome culture needs to hear: the Stockdale Paradox of “Deal With it, Get Over It…and Get Help!” We find the answer in Christ, or we do not find it. Emily Dickinson says: "No person can be truly happy until they can say: ‘I love Christ.’ " Scripture does not teach us that Christians will escape tragedy and turmoil. In fact, in our scripture lesson for today, Paul uses words like suffering tribulation, persecution, peril, the sword. Suffering in the Greek means “pressure.” Persecution in the Greek means “To be squeezed.” All of us can relate to those things. The Bible is not a book that whistles in the dark and denies pain. Quite the contrary, the Bible is a book that was born out of pain. Every night since I moved here to Wilmington I have noticed that it has been so much easier for me to go to sleep. I have rested so much better here, for a number of different reasons. But every night when things get dark and quiet, my mind starts to talk to me. It reminds me of all of the bills that I have to pay, and all of the loose ends that I still have to deal with, of all of the people who are “patiently” waiting for me to take care of something for the, of all of the bags that I still have to unpack. And every night I wake up and sit with my thoughts, and I am convinced that they are right – we are not going to survive this, my problems are just too big to deal with, they are going to get the best of me. But every morning I wake up, its time to open the house up to the sun, start my daily routine, to pray, to plan, and to do what I can to move forward. My problems don’t get any better, but all there is to do is to deal with them, and to trust God, and live according to my faith. Faith is when I look up to God, Grace is when God looks down on me. William Barclay says that the faith that helps us to face the struggles of life is only available to those who believe in God. Who know that God prevails in every situation, and if we are with God, then we will prevail also. Another pastor says that prayer is the divine in us, appealing to the God above us. Our victory is in God, and in Christ as our intecessor. This is one of my favorite stories to tell… Dr. Robert Ozment tells a touching story. A man is looking in a window at an art display including the crucifixion. He becomes conscious of another person. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was a little street urchin. He asked the lad, "Do you know who that is?" "Yes, sir, that’s our Savior." The boy looked at the man, surprised that he didn’t know. Then the child went on to explain, "Them’s the soldiers, the Roman soldiers, around the cross." The boy paused and then continued: "That woman crying over there is his mother." He paused again and said, "They killed him, Mister. They killed him." "Where did you learn all this?" asked the man. "At the mission school, sir." The man walked away. But before he had gone far, the voice of the little boy caught up with him: "Mister, Mister! I forgot to tell you. He rose again!" Paul says that our victory is in Christ. Paul says that we are being killed every day. We all have problems, we are all asking why is this happening to us, we are all asking where is God. But our ability wont save us, our hard work wont save us, as a matter of fact our faith wont save us. We are saved by the grace of God through Christ. Christ saves us. That is the real truth, no need for sugar coating. Let us pray….. Additional illustrations……. Dr. Robert Ozment tells a touching story. A man is looking in a window at an art display including the crucifixion. He becomes conscious of another person. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that it was a little street urchin. He asked the lad, "Do you know who that is?" "Yes, sir, that’s our Savior." The boy looked at the man, surprised that he didn’t know. Then the child went on to explain, "Them’s the soldiers, the Roman soldiers, around the cross." The boy paused and then continued: "That woman crying over there is his mother." He paused again and said, "They killed him, Mister. They killed him." "Where did you learn all this?" asked the man. "At the mission school, sir." The man walked away. But before he had gone far, the voice of the little boy caught up with him: "Mister, Mister! I forgot to tell you. He rose again!" It is in this description of the movement of the Spirit of God in our struggles that Paul's language is most powerful. He speaks of the Spirit interceding in our prayers, in our longings, in our fears, in our hopes, and in our inability to pray. In those places that are so overwhelming and scary that we can hardly articulate them — in those places, Paul emphasizes God's movement, the Spirit moving in us "with sighs too deep for words." I remember one such moment in my ministry, although there have been many similar moments. One of our elders in his forties was near death in the hospital, dying from a rare blood disease that would not allow his blood to clot. This disease had thinned his blood so much that it was coming out of his body in many places. On this particular day, as the nurses and doctors worked frantically to save him, his wife came and pleaded with me to go to the hospital chapel and pray with her. We went, and she fervently prayed for God to spare her husband's life. We held hands, and I did not know what to pray. I groaned inwardly — her husband's death was imminent, yet his wife and I both wanted him to live. So, I prayed, too, for his life to be spared, though I felt inwardly that this prayer would not be answered in this way. At that moment, I felt the sting of death in his wife's despair, and I felt my own weakness that Paul describes in these verses — I did not know how or what to pray at that moment. I hoped that God's Spirit would intercede — the situation was clearly beyond my control; indeed it was beyond my power to comprehend enough to even know what to pray. Our elder died a few minutes later. I discerned the intercession of God's Spirit in his room after his death. His mother came in to view his body and to say, "Good-bye." I sought to console her by saying that her son was a good man and that we would all miss him. She thanked me, and then the Spirit spoke through her to me and to his wife and to many others. She prayed with the power of the Spirit, thanking God for this son, thanking God for all the gifts that she had received from God through her son's life, and asking now for God to give her son safe passage into the arms of Jesus. As the tears flowed down my cheeks, I thanked God, too, for this reminder that death is not the final word, that loving is the final word. Here in this most painful moment of the death of her son, this momma had reminded us all that the point and the meaning of life is loving, is engaging, is the connection. In that very engaging comes pain because of the power of death, but the promise of the Spirit is that it is in the loving and the engaging that we find our lives and that we find our meaning as the adopted daughters and sons of God. It is in loving that we are found by God. In those places where we groan in travail, in those places where our inward groaning causes us to begin to lose hope and not know what or how to pray, may we, too, find the intercession of the Spirit who moves with sighs too deep for words. Amen. We don’t live life very long before many of our illusions are shattered. I recall a cartoon that appeared in The Atlanta Constitution after a man named Mark Barton walked into an Atlanta business office and shot and killed several people. In the cartoon, a small boy is sitting next to his mother, and a newspaper is lying on the table. The headline reads, “Atlanta Murderer: Mark Barton.” Confused, the boy is looking up at his mother saying, “You said monsters don’t exist.” We are all like that boy, and we ask about this monster in many ways: “Why do the innocent suffer and the wicked prosper?” “Why does God allow evil and suffering?” “If God is great and good, why is there suffering?” Another way it is put is: “If God can’t stop suffering, then he is not great. If he can, then he is not good.” In the study of theology this wonder is called the theodicy question, and it is at the foundation of our question today – “Why is Faith so Hard?” Unfortunately, there are some Christians who are so desperate to have this question answered that they are seduced by hope hustlers. These hope hustlers churn out cotton candy theology that teaches that if you really have faith in God you will never experience tragedy in life. And then when pain and tragedy comes they blame their suffering on a lack of faith. Some may even give up on God all together. As a result, they are left with no inner resources with which to battle the trials of life. Were These Not Warnings? There was once a man who was always afraid of death. He was afraid that death would suddenly overtake him and find him unprepared, so he made a bargain with the Grim Reaper that death would give him clear, repeated notices before he would come. One day, however, unannounced and altogether unexpectedly, the Destroyer appeared to demand his life. "How could you break your pledge?" the man protested bitterly. "You sent me no warnings." Slowly the skeletal figure replied, "But how about your failing eyesight, your dimmed sense of hearing, your gray and thinning hair, your lost teeth, your furrowed face, your bent body, your dwindling powers, and your weakened memory? Were these not unmistakable warnings?" James D. Kegel, God's Surprises Children’s Lesson…. Lesson: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life. nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Object: A life-size cut-out of a person Good morning, boys and girls. I'll bet you can't guess who this is! (Hold up cut-out of person. Let them guess.) Those are good guesses but they are wrong. I'll just have to tell you. This is my shadow! Isn't he a nice fellow? (Let them answer.) What kind of a person is a shadow, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) Right. A shadow belongs only to you. It goes wherever you go, regardless of where that might be. If I go home, my shadow is right there with me. If I have to go to the hospital, my shadow will go along, too. If I am in danger, so is my shadow, and if nice things happen to me, my shadow is there to be happy right along with me. What if I wanted to get rid of my shadow, boys and girls? Would I be able to? (Let them answer.) Not really. My shadow is always with me and if I get tired of having it around, that's just too bad for me. My shadow and I are never going to be separated. Today, in our scripture reading, Paul tells us that the love of God in Jesus is very much like my shadow here. It is always with us. If we are having a bad day, the love of God is right there having a bad day with us. If we don't feel well, or have to go to the doctor, the love of God goes right along with us. If we are happy because it is our birthday, God's love is happy with us, and if we are sad, God is there to help us feel better. The love of God is just like my shadow here. It will never leave us. I could probably tell God to go away if I decided I didn't want him around anymore, but God's love would remain. I could become a really nasty person and do all sorts of bad things -- like rob banks, cheat people, tell lies -- but God would not leave me. God wouldn't be very happy with me, though, would he, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) No -- God would rather have us live lives that are filled with good things -- good words and good deeds. God's love is with us all the time to help us live those kinds of lives. Boys and girls, the next time you see your shadow following you around (Hold up cut-out of shadow.) remember that there is someone else who is also always with you -- the love of God in Jesus our Lord. God bless you all. Amen.

This is the season of salvation

September 18, 2016 Jeremiah 8-9:1 This week once again, we light our candles. Once again, not a week goes by that someone has been killed. That we are not mourning a tradjedy in our nation or in our community. We honor those who lost their lives in the bombing in New York and lift them up in prayer. And not a week goes by that someone is killed in our community. We may not hear about it on the news, it may not be newsworthy to others, but to the families and those who knew the person, every life is important and their lives are changed forever. This has been a horrendous weekend for me. As a student pastor at South Shore UMC, one of the things the most important things that my senior pastor told me – was to never go out on Saturday night. As a matter of fact, she said that Saturday should always be a nice easy day, with not a lot of excitement. Because when you do things on satuday night, it makes Sunday morning too stressful. Well I went out last night. As a matter of fact, there is absolutely no rest for the weary – community meal during the day yesterday, the St Bernard Gala last night, sermon this morning, and concert this afternoon. My pastor, Rev. Pleas also told me that I had to wear a dress whenever I came to church, but she was wrong about that one. The good news was that I knew that this would be a long weekend, so I knew that I needed to be prepared. I actually have two other sermons for this week in the lectionary, but they are both on 1 Timothy. I even have an old sermon on Jeremiah, but God told me that I needed to write a new sermon on Jeremiah, with a new message for today. It has been a battle all weekend, because I kept telling God that I did not have time – and God said I needed to continue my story of Jeremiah. The good news is that I might not have that much to say on Jeremiah, but everytime I say that, my message is longer than I expected not shorter. Remember from last week, that Jeremiah is the weeping prophet. He weeps for the condition of his people. God tells him that his people will suffer. God tells them that it is their own fault, it is a result of their sin. And Yet Jeremiah weeps because these are his people. Their fate is his fate. Their suffering is his suffering and his families suffering. Jeremiah has a deep and dark and heavy message for the people. It is easy to wonder what was so good and prophetic about the message that you are going to suffer, suffer some more, never see the light of day, and then die. Not everyone can appreciate Jeremiah’s message. In the midst of everything else going on this week, I really did take the time to do my sermon prep. I found that most of the commentators favored the message of Timothy. His message to pray for everyone, including our leaders, is a timely message considering there are only 51 more days until the presidential election. Both of our candidate need a lot of prayer. Our nation needs even more prayer. Rev. Albert Shears said something important, that this is the last presidential election where there will be a dominant culture. So many people are acting as if this is the endtimes, because it is the end of an era for them. One newsperson said that he has never seen such a crazy election season, and he hopes he never sees another one like this one. Our country is indeed in need of prayer during these dark days. That is all the more reason, why God said I needed to preach on Jeremiah today. My point is that I could not find a lot of information on Jeremiah, because his message is so dark. His message on the surface. There is no hope, you cant stop the circumstances of our nations. It is what it is. There is nothing that you can do abo ut it. The circumstances that led up today started years ago, so you cant change the course of history today. I have preached on this text before, because it has the famous line, is there no balm in gilead? Is there no hope, no silver lining, no salve to make things better. We as Christian give an answer to that question and say that there is a balm in Gilead, and that balm is Jesus. Jesus makes everything better, he can heal us, he can touch the sin sick soul. There is peace. Jesus is indeed our balm in gilead. Jesus is the answer to our questions and longing. We know that. But I want us to stick with Jeremiah’s words for a minute. Jeremiah’s question, of where is the hope in the midst of the darkness. I have preached on a Balm in Gilead before. But God led me to anther sentence in the text for us to think about. As we light our candles of remembrance for the 5th time in 8 weeks. Jeremiah says, the Harvest has come, the summer is over and we are still not saved. Summer is over, the holidays are over, the 90 degree weather is over, school is back in session, and people are still being killed in our streets everyday. When does it end? What will it take for it to stop? Jeremiah’s words are short, let me read them again for you. Jeremiah 8:18-9:1Common English Bible (CEB) 18 No healing, only grief; my heart is broken.[a] 19 Listen to the weeping of my people all across the land: “Isn’t the LORD in Zion? Is her king no longer there?” Why then did they anger me with their images, with pointless foreign gods? 20 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, yet we aren’t saved.” 21 Because my people are crushed, I am crushed; darkness and despair overwhelm me. What to do with God’s people 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then have my people not been restored to health? 9 [b] If only my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, I would weep day and night for the wounds of my people. Jeremiah was in despair because the harvest for his people was the end of the summer, about now. His people had planted their crops, they did all they could. But it was a hot summer, and no rain came, just hot wind. So when harvest came around there were not crops to harvest. In the midst of everything else going on in their world, there was nothing to eat. The people were really hurting. Our people are hurting too. There is problem upon problem in many of our lives. And we are looking for a balm in Gilead. Those inside the church and outside of the church. It is so important for us to tell others that Jesus is the balm in gilead. There is an answer, and in god’s time the violence will stop. We will stop needing to kill one another. But we have to be faithful. I felt that Jeremiah’s message was important today, because we need to be reminded to be faithful even in dark times. There is never any reason to just give up and to stop caring about being human and about reaching out to help someone else. Even in our darkest hour when there is no hope, God is present. Jeremiah is the weeping prophet, because he had feelings. God weeps to. God is not an unfeeling God who stands by and watches us. In the old testament, God gets jealous, God gets mad, God is vulnerable, Good weeps for our situation as much as we do. Even in the new testament it says that Jesus wept, for the same city that Jeremiah weeps for now. When we cry, God cries too. He cries because he lives life along with us. He sees what we see and he understands. No other religion has a God that cries and is vulnerable and needs us to love him. His tears are a strength not a weakness. I would say that Jeremiah 8 is one of the saddest chapters in the whole bible, God cries, Jeremiah cries, the people cry. And God is still at work. Why then have my people not been restored to health? The good news is that there is a balm in gilead, there is hope, things will get better. The summer is over and this is the time for salvation. I want to thank those who helped in the community meal yesterday, I felt that we worked together as a church to make it work. Thank you to those who were willing to pray yesterday and tell others about the church and about the salvation of Jesus Christ. That is an important ministry. This is the time for salvation. The summer is over, it is harvest time here in the Midwest – time for us to reap a spiritual harvest. Many spiritual seeds have been planted into the hearts of many. Many are looking for salvation, and it is time for us to be faithful. To tell them that in good times and bad God is with us. God does not interfere with the consequences of sin, But God always shows us a better way. This is the time for us to reach out to others and tell them the good news. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved (Jeremiah 8:20). Friends and Family, Family and Friends, the Lord sent me to ask you this question: "Is this the season to seek salvation?" A single mother had to ask this question concerning her teenage daughter. At age eleven, her daughter began to ask questions about God. She told her mother she wanted to go to church. But her mother wasn't religious and did not see any reason why her teenage daughter should be so religious. So she kept her out of church, but she couldn't keep her from the parties. Two years later at age thirteen, her young daughter had a baby. As she looked at her teenage daughter, the mother had to ask herself this question, "Did I miss the season to seek salvation?" A young man had to ask this question concerning his family. The young man was 25, raising a good family. The woman was a good wife for a good husband. He had no faults, except that he worked all the time. He was trying to excel in his job so that he could build up his home and take care of his family. He never had time for church. He believed in God, but he also believed that he would have time for God after a while -- after he got his promotions, after he built his new home, after his family was settled. But one day before he got his life together, time and circumstances tore his life apart. A driver missed a brake pedal, and his car went out of control. The car struck the young man, paralyzing his body from the waist down. As he was lying in the hospital bed, he had this thought: "Is this the season to seek salvation?" PEOPLE WITHOUT CHRIST One of the saddest verses in the Bible is Jer 8:20 KJV. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Question? What is 750,000 miles long, reaches around the earth 30 times, and grows 20 miles longer each day? Answer: The line of people who are without Christ. As long as there are people who don’t know Christ, there is work for us to do and it is the season for salvation. One last story, I don’t know if it is true or not, but it makes a point. The gala that I attended was to raise money for St Bernard Hospital to buy equipment to detect breast cancer. I am sure the raised a lot lasat night. They even auctioned off Hamilton tickets for $2000. Henry Ford was in Ireland, attending a gala for a hospital. And two adminstrators approached him and asked him to give $5000. It was interesting last night to see this auctioneer going through the crowd, and as the price went up, everyone held onto their hands. No one wanted to be drawn into the auction and play with money they knew they didn’t have. $2000 was an awful lot to pledge. So you can imagine how Henry Ford felt in the 20s giving away $5000. When he opened the newspaper the next day, the headline says US millionaire pledges $50,000 to the hospital. He immediately called the administrators and and demanded a retraction. They promised that they would tell the newspaper to correct the story and to say that Henry Ford did not promise $50,000 but only $5000. He realized how that would look in the media, so he promised to give them the other $45,000 under one condition. They had to build an arch over the entranceway saying I walked among you and you took me in. In honor of the fact that the administrators had taken him in on their scheme. The message for us – who are we taking in during this season of salvation? Let us pray for others and pray for the mission of our church. Amen. Text Illustration: OWNERSHIP OF THE GIFT A humanitarian group in Africa, noticing the filthy water, sewage, and disease, built clean water and sewage system for a village. Months later, they visited the village, but it was back to square one with filthy water, sewage and disease. [from Pickthebrain.com] The chief told the humanitarian workers: "And what did you expect? These people had been many years without clean water. Then you gave it to them for free in abundance. They took all they could use and more. The people did not work for those water stations. They do not own them, and they could not be persuaded to maintain them." The humanitarians were silent. The chief had spoken truth. The great gift alone had not been enough and the reasons could be clearly observed. Perhaps it is human nature to abuse a gift. The humanitarians returned to their camp and thought long and hard about how they could help the villagers. The next day the humanitarians returned, determined to rebuild the water and sanitation systems with the following conditions. 1. The villagers would have to pay for water and sanitation. Not more than they could afford, but there would be no gift giving this time. 2. A group of villagers would work with the contractors to build the system and would be taught how to repair every aspect of it. These villagers would in turn train others so the system would never fall into disrepair. With these new conditions in place, the water and sanitation systems were restored. This time the people had respect for the systems because they owned them. This time they were able to repair the system when it broke down. To this day the villagers have plenty of clean water and live free of filth and disease.