How to get Angry

Rev, Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington August 8, 2021 Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2 How to get angry 11th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship Leader: It is the beginning of a new school year, God is a God of new beginnings and new creations. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, new life, blessed it and called it good. People: We give thanks for a new year for new beginnings. We give thanks that you called it good. Leader: In the beginning, the heavens shone forth a star when our savior was born. In the beginning of his ministry the heavens opened up and called him God’s beloved. People: We give thanks that you know our pathways and what it means to be human. We give thanks that you call us your beloved children. Leader: O God of new beginnings, new life and new journeys – you set Abrahams and Sarah into a new land. You led Moses, Aaron and Miriam our of Egypt and into liberation, you led your son, our savior to the earth, to the cross and into resurrection. People: Walk with us, we pray we as we enter into a new year, a new path and new opportunities. Amen. Song Take my life and let it be Consecrated UMH 399 Stewardship Moment Community speaker one: We pray for all children—for their playfulness, for their curiosity and for their joyfulness. We pray, as they go beyond the boundaries of home, that they will find strong and true friendships. We pray especially for those called to lead and to care for them. Grant O God that our children and the adults who minister with them might grow in your love. Community speaker two: We pray for all young people, for the ways they test boundaries and question authority. We pray, O God that they will continue to develop and to use the gifts you have given them. We pray for those called to teach, to lead, to coach, and to mentor our young people. Grant your wisdom and generous spirit to these youth and adults as they commit to grow righteously in this complex world. Community speaker three: We pray for all college students, for the questions they are facing about their future. We pray for those called to lead and to care for them—for professors, counselors, administrators, and advisors. Nurture all students and leaders, O God, in communities of fellowship and protect them from isolation and loneliness. Grant your courage to these young adults and adults as they engage in critical learning and discovery for the stewardship of our world. Community speaker four: We pray for all those who teach and lead, O God. Inspire them with creativity and commitment. Give them energy to continue teaching and bringing forth the best from their students. Help us to appreciate their efforts and to treat them with respect. Provide opportunities, O God, for their refreshment and renewal. Community speaker five: We pray for all adults as they endeavor to live faithful lives in their homes and in their workplaces. We pray for all who are parents, stepparents, guardians, caregivers, and grandparents of children, youth, and young adults. Help them to find the time to sit and to listen to their young people. Give them hearts and minds filled with patience, understanding and wisdom. Enable them to share your wisdom and love, O God, in word and by example. Congregation Prays: We pray for all those who learn—children, youth, young adults and adults. Keep them from being discouraged when facing the trials of the day. Instill in them a desire to grow in wisdom and understanding. Grant them the discipline of study and the ability to concentrate. We pray for all of us as learners, O God. We know that we never stop learning about your love and faithfulness. We thank you, O God our creator, for teaching us through your word and through your son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Prayer of Thanksgiving: Lord bless these gifts. Let these physical gifts be symbols of the love and support we give to the children of our community throughout the year. Help us to look upon every child in our community as one of our own, helping them to grow in character and knowledge. Amen. Scripture Ephesians 4:25- 5:2 25 Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor[a] because we are parts of each other in the same body. 26 Be angry without sinning.[b] Don’t let the sun set on your anger. 27 Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. 28 Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need. 29 Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. 30 Don’t make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy—you were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. 32 Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ. 5 Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. 2 Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. Sermon How to get Angry It reminds me of the story I like to call “The Dean’s Dilemma.” An angel appears at a college faculty meeting and tells the dean, “In return for your unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward you with your choice of infinite wealth, infinite wisdom, or infinite beauty.” Without hesitating, the dean says, “Give me infinite wisdom!” “Done!” says the angel before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. All heads now turn to the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. “Well,” says a colleague, “say something brilliant.” The dean stands with a blank expression on his face, looks around the table, and confesses, “I should have taken the money.” (1) We laugh, but how many of us would have a hard time making a choice between those three things? Wealth and beauty are important in our culture. They are noticeable. They offer a way to “keep score.” But wisdom—what difference does that make? Wisdom isn’t going to get you a nicer car, or a bigger paycheck. Wisdom won’t win you any awards or make you the life of the party. And yet, there are so many verses in the Bible about the value of wisdom. In fact, the Bible makes it clear that the way of the foolish person leads to emptiness and even death, while the way of a wise person leads to joy, peace and eternal life. So, if an angel suddenly appeared to you and offered you the choice of infinite wealth, infinite beauty or infinite wisdom, which would you choose? The choice gets a little easier now, doesn’t it? When I heard this story, I had to stop and think about it a moment. I know that the bible says that Solomon asked for wisdom and was given everything else along with it, but I think I would just want the money – I don’t know that I would value wisdom. Being smart is not necessarily profitable, it also is not really exciting. The epistle lessons give great advice on how to life, but they are not exciting because there are no parables to attach to them. The writer of Ephesians is very much aware of all of the conflicts and troubles that we face in the world. He also knows that sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error before we settle on doing the right things. He gives good advice on what it means to be wise and to live a righteous life. the book of Ephesians is not so much about being a goody too shoo – but how to handle real life problems in a wise way. When we finally realize that imitating God in all things is good for us, we get started in a new journey. Every day is a new beginning. Today, we think about starting a new school year – it is a new beginning for all of us. As I was preparing for the blessing of the back packs I found a prayer that said everything that I would want to say and pray for. It mentioned the role all of us play in school life. But I chose not to use the prayer because it used a curse word for the word anger. I have never known anyone to use a curse word in a prayer. After thinking about it I thought that would defeat the purpose of my whole sermon. We go to church in order to learn how to not use curse words when we are angry. How to express our anger is a major point in this scripture. Verse 26 expressly tells us that there is nothing wrong with being angry – anger is a normal part of life. Not only is it okay for us to be angry – Jesus got angry pretty frequently. Anger is not the problem it is how we express our anger that becomes the problem. Do we use our anger to strike out at a person or situation, or do we use our anger to change the situation. Jesus turned a whole community on its edge, just by getting angry and saying that things need to be done differently. We should never let our anger interfere with our relationships. n the first place, we can recognize the tremendous harm we do to ourselves through being angry. E. Stanley Jones once reminded a person that "a rattlesnake, if cornered, will sometimes become so angry that it will bite itself." That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is: a biting of oneself. We think that we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves.3 What happens to us when we get angry? Hate pumps up our blood pressure. More sugar pours into our system. The heart beats faster. More adrenaline is secreted to dilate the pupils of the eyes, and chemical changes occur in the blood. Even tissue changes take place. In fact, a good optometrist will not examine the eyes of an angry person. You see, anger distorts the retina through abnormal blood flow. Consequently, it is correct to say that a person who is angry most of the time is a sick person. The first part of that formula is this: look inward. That is, take care of what is inside you. Consider those words again, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice.” Do you have any of those negative emotions within your heart or mind? Let’s face it. There are many otherwise committed Christians who have a great deal of anger within them. There are committed Christians who are quite bitter. There are others with malice in their hearts. Paul asks us to look within at any negative emotions that may dwell there. The late great radio personality Paul Harvey once told about a medical student who was doing a rotation in toxicology at a poison control center. A woman called in very upset because she caught her little daughter eating ants. The medical student quickly reassured the mother that the ants were not harmful and there would be no need to bring her daughter into the hospital. She calmed down and at the end of the conversation happened to mention that she gave her daughter some ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants. The medical student told this mother that she better bring her daughter into the emergency room right way. (2) Anger is like ant poison. It needs to be dealt with immediately or it could cause serious damage to our soul. Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that this is easy, but it is possible. Before sitting in the electric chair, Sonnier said, “Mr. LeBlanc, I want to ask your forgiveness for what me and Eddie done,” and Lloyd LeBlanc nodded his head to signal a forgiveness he had already given. LeBlanc said that when he arrived with sheriff’s deputies there in the cane field to identify his son, he knelt by his dead boy and prayed the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, who art in heaven . . .” He said that when he came to the words: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” he did not halt or equivocate. “Whoever did this, I forgive them.” But he acknowledged that it was a struggle to overcome the feelings of bitterness and revenge that welled up within him from time to time, especially as he remembered David’s birthday year by year. It was like he was losing him all over again: David at 20, David at 25, David getting married, David standing at the back door with his little ones clustered around his knees, grown up David, a man like himself, whom he will never know. “Forgiveness is never going to be easy,” says Sister Prejean. “Each day it must be prayed for and struggled for and won.” (3) I don’t know any other way for us to forgive and accept others who have done us wrong than to remember that God has accepted us and forgiven us. The ultimate help for us in meeting the challenges of each day is not only to look inward or outward, but also to look upward. If we are to live a new life, if we are to be new people, we must be aware of those emotions within us that must be kept under control, we must have our eyes open to the opportunities for service and witness through kindness and tenderheartedness and forgiveness directed toward the people that we meet. But we must also focus our eyes on Him who comes to us with love, forgiveness, and mercy and grace. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” The advice of Ephesians 4 - Put away falsehood - Be angry but don’t sin - Give up taking things that don’t belong to us - Let no evil talk come out of your mouth - Do not frustrate the holy Spirit - Be imitators of Christ - Finally live in love If we strive to do those things every day – then every day is a new beginning, because we do not let nature take its course, we allow the love of Christ to work in the world. Anger and revenge do not take over our lives – but we have a spirit of joy that makes all of the difference in the world. - - They say you cannot smile without cheering yourself up a little. Likewise, you cannot perform a random act of kindness without feeling as if your own troubles have been lightened if only because the world has become a slightly better place. And you cannot be a recipient without feeling a shock, a pleasant jolt. If you were one of those rush-hour drivers who found your bridge fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later? Might you wave someone on in the intersection? Would you smile at a tired clerk? Or could you do something larger or greater? - Some folks will have great difficulty understanding this process, but not us Christians. After all we have been recipients of the greatest kindness, that act of love that brought the God of the universe to a manger in Bethlehem, a sinless life on the hills of Judea, a sacrifice on a hill called Calvary. His kindness continues as he sustains us through his body, the church, and as he nourishes us at his table. This same one, through the apostle Paul, told us to "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" (vv. 4:32—5:2). - In the 70’s there was a saying that gained popularity – practice random acts of kindness. Last week I went to the new drive through at McDonalds- those double drive through always frustrate me, because you have to make sure that you don’t pull up at the same time as the other person in the other lane. Sure enough it happened, we pulled off at the same time. Not wanting to have an accident, I stopped and let the other car go in front of me. As I pulled up to pay for my meal – the cashier had to go and get her manager – the person in front of me paid for my meal – so now it is my turn to spread the love and help someone else. Maybe wisdom - wisdom about the ways of God does pay off. Prayer Thank you, God, for new opportunities to learn and grow whether it be in an actual classroom, a virtual classroom, or from our homes. Be with our teachers, leaders, caregivers, and administrators as they guide us into the new school year. Give them the tools and energy to create engaging ways for all of us to learn and grow. Help us to open our hearts and minds to new ideas, new friends and leaders, and new ways of learning. Show us how to seek joy in all things. When things don’t go as planned, help us rejoice in the newness. When we have technical difficulties, help us rejoice in simple things like books and crayons. When we feel lonely or isolated, remind us that you are by our side . When our teachers and caregivers seem worried and wary, help them to be gentle with themselves. As we begin to explore the unknown of this school year, let us rejoice with new friends, in new ways of learning, in knowing that you are with us through it all. God of joy and light, pour out your blessing upon these students, families, teachers, and leaders. Bless their backpacks, Chromebooks and computers, virtual classrooms, school buildings, and all preparations that help build a strong and safe year for everyone. May each of you be a blessing and light in your new year! Go and light up the world! Amen. Blessing of the Back Packs (Pour out your spirit Lord) Song Let there be Peace on Earth UMH 431 Announcements Charge to us all To our families, students and school leaders: Go into the world, your schools, your homes and be Christ’s light! Let your lights not be diminished in the midst of change. Let them find ways to shine even brighter. Be the light of love to all. Be the light of patience when days are long, when technology does not work, when new ways of doing things are hard. Be the light to shine on new ideas and new ways of learning. Be thankful for the lights of others who work hard to create fun, engaging, and challenging ways to lead our students. Be the light of joy for a new school year, new friends, and new ways of learning. You are the light of the world! Go into the world and shine bright with kindness, patience, energy and love! Benediction Children’s Sermon Object: A measuring tape. Good morning, boys and girls. How tall are you? I mean, how tall is each one of you? Do you know how tall you are? (Speak to one child at a time.) How tall are you? Sometimes we know how tall we are and sometimes we just guess. But I brought with me this morning a measuring tape so I can tell you just how tall you are. Let me measure a couple of you now and after the service is over, if you would like for me to, I will measure every one of you. (Proceed to measure several of the children and tell each one how tall he/she is.) Have you always been that tall? Were you this big when you were born? How did you get to be as tall as you are? (Let them answer.) You grew. How much have you grown in the last year, would you say? (Let them answer.) Growing up is fun. It really is fun. Someday you are going to be as tall or taller than your mom and dad. You may weigh as much or even more. You will be big enough to drive a car, wear a suit as big as your father's suit or your mother's dress. You may even be tall enough to dunk a basketball in a 10-foot basket. That's what happens when our bodies grow and we get big. But there are other ways to grow besides just getting big in our bodies. When we learn in school, our minds grow. We can spell bigger words and do harder math problems. Our voices grow also. They get bigger, deeper, or higher, and they will become more beautiful if we practice with them. There is still another way to grow and that is to grow in love so that our love is more like Jesus' love. Jesus was filled with God's love. He loved everyone, even those who hated him. Jesus had a love so big that he could forgive even the people that crucified him. Growing in love will let you share the things you like the most with other people. You can share your time in love. You can share your money in love. You can share your games and your friends in love. You can even share your mother and dad with other people when you are growing in love. That is a real grown-up kind of love' when you can share it with others. Growing up is so much fun when it is filled with love. It allows you to be free and do what God wants you to do. A measuring tape is one way to find out how big we are getting. Three feet tall, four feet tall, five feet tall, or more means that we are eating the right kind of food and taking good care of our bodies. But growing up in love cannot always be seen so easily, but it is a much more important kind of growing than just getting tall. One of the first things that Jesus taught all of his disciples was to grow in love. And one of the things that you and I must find out who want to be followers of Jesus is to grow in love. The next time we see someone trying to find out how tall they are or to measure someone else, see if you can think about how you could measure someone growing in love. If you can see someone else grow in love, that means that you are growing in love as well. Try it, you'll like it. In Jesus' name, Amen. C.S.S. Publishing Company, ON THE MOVE WITH JESUS, by Wesley T. Runk Blessing of the back packs Additional illustrations Most young people know the artist, Chance the Rapper. Chance is one of the most successful artists in the music industry right now. He’s won a Grammy award, his concerts sell out, he is an anti-violence activist in the city of Chicago and has donated over $1 million to Chicago’s public school system. Professionally, he is a tremendous success. He tells an interesting story of his grandmother’s reaction to his career. In his early days, when he was first starting to experience some success, his grandmother took him aside and told him that she didn’t like the way his lifestyle was changing. She told him that she was going to pray for him. In an interview with GQ magazine, Chance shares his grandmother’s prayer. She prayed, “Lord, I pray that all things that are not like You, You take away from Chance. Make sure that he fails at everything that is not like You. Take it away. Turn it into dust.” What would you think if someone you loved prayed that prayer over you? What if I prayed over you today, “Lord, please let my brothers and sisters in Christ fail at any endeavor that is not perfectly within Your will”? Most of you would not come back next week, would you? I have the greatest respect for Chance’s grandmother. She cared more about her grandson’s soul than his success. She cared more about him knowing God and living in God’s will than she cared about offending him. What a powerful witness she is to the value of knowing God! And it was this prayer that led Chance the Rapper back into a relationship with God. Many of his song lyrics reflect his faith. At his sold-out concerts, he speaks about God and his spiritual journey. His phenomenal success now is rooted in knowing God and living in God’s will. (4) Like most wise folks, he knows that every moment of your life is an opportunity to know God and live in God’s will Two shoppers in a supermarket got in a fistfight over who should be first in a newly opened checkout lane. An airline flight returned to a major American city after a passenger was accused of throwing a can of beer at a flight attendant and biting a pilot. One father in an eastern state beat another father to death in an argument over rough play at their sons’ hockey practice. A high school baseball coach in the South turned himself in to face charges that he broke an umpire’s jaw after a disputed call. All these events were reported by USA Today over the span of just a few months. “Bad tempers are on display everywhere,” wrote reporter Karen S. Peterson. And who can doubt that it is true? The media is constantly reporting incidents of road rage, airplane rage, biker rage, surfer rage, grocery store rage, and rage at youth sporting events. This has led scientists to say the United States is in the middle of an anger epidemic. This epidemic rattles both those who study social trends and parents who fear the country is at a cultural precipice. (4) I Maybe you remember the old story about the guy who got into the bad habit of cursing all the time. Every time he got angry he let out a phrase that he should have kept to himself. After he had let out a tirade in the presence of his young son and his son echoed back some of his choice words, he decided he needed to get rid of this vile habit. He went to his pastor for help. His pastor said that every time you get angry why not try singing a hymn? That way you won’t express your anger in an inappropriate way. The young father said he would try this, “But,” he said, “I don’t know many hymns.” So the pastor gave him a hymn book to use, and the man took it and tried it. In a couple of weeks he came back to the pastor. The pastor said, “How are you doing?” The man said, “I’m doing pretty well.” The pastor said, “That’s great!” The man said, “There’s only one thing.” And the pastor said, “What’s that?” The man said, “I’m ready for a new hymn book.” There is a wonderful story that comes from the life of the great missionary Albert Schweitzer. A number of years ago on his way to Aspen, Colorado, Schweitzer changed trains in Chicago. As he was standing on the station platform he was being questioned by reporters. A woman carrying a heavy suitcase walked past. Immediately Dr. Schweitzer excused himself. He walked over to the lady, took the heavy suitcase from her and accompanied her to the car of the train she was boarding. Then he turned and walked on back to where the clustered group of reporters had been. They were no longer there. Seeing Albert Schweitzer’s helpfulness, they started looking for some lady with a heavy suitcase whom they might help on to a train, too.

Don't Blame me

September 27, 2015 Mark 9:38-50 Don’t Blame Me Year B 18th Sunday After Pentecost Have you ever tasted gravy with no salt in it. it is like eating a grey or brown blob of nothing. But put a little salt in it and it makes all the difference in the world. Salt can add flavor to a lot of things. Jesus calls us the salt of the earth – the world is the gravy and those who follow Jesus are the salt. The flavor of God. Today I want to start at the end of the scripture where Jesus tells us to maintain your salt and keep the peace. Paul says to use your salt and keep your faith. The world is changing – we don’t put salt on everything anymore. I don’t even use salt anymore. There was a time when I did not even have salt in the house, and as time went on, I do. Our bodies need salt – salt is a part of who we are – it is a part of our earth. It is no wonder Jesus would use salt as an image of who we should be to the world. Someone said that salt is sort of like the soul of dead meat. A piece of meat with no salt will rot and decay. Take that same piece of meat and rub it in salt – and it will maintain it freshness. When Jesus tells us to be the salt of the earth- that was his intention. – be the soul of dead meat. Last week I told you that the first time that I read the gospel – I was scared into being a Christian. Jesus threats scared me into wanting to be a good person. This is one of those scriptures that scared me. It was the threat of going to hell for doing the wrong thing. All throughout the gospels, Jesus has much more to say about going to hell then he does about heaven. He wants to make sure that hell is a place that you do not want to go. To sin is terrible but to teach another to sin is infinitely worse. O. Henry has a story in which he tells of a little girl whose mother was dead. Her father used to come home from work and sit down and take off his jacket and open his paper and light his pipe and put his feet on the mantelpiece. The little girl would come in and ask him to play with her for a little for she was lonely. He told her he was tired, to let him be at peace. He told her to go out to the street and play. She played on the streets. The inevitable happened—she took to the streets. The years passed on and she died. Her soul arrived in heaven. Peter saw her and said to Jesus, “Master, here’s a girl who was a bad lot. I suppose we send her straight to hell?” “No,” said Jesus gently, “let her in. Let her in.” And then his eyes grew stern, “But look for a man who refused to play with his little girl and sent her out to the streets—and send him to hell.” God is not hard on the sinner, but he will be stern to the person who makes it easier for another to sin, and whose conduct, either thoughtless or deliberate, puts a stumbling-block in the path of a weaker brother. Being the salt of the earth means being the one who makes a difference. A positive difference in someone elses life. Changing the Signs William Barclay, a British theologian, tells the following story in his commentary on this Biblical text. He told a story about someone changing signs. That is, at an intersection of the road, one sign would point to the city of Seattle and another sign would point to the city of Tacoma. And the boy wondered to himself: How many people could I send down the wrong road if I changed the signs? Your very life is a sign post with a sign on it. Are you sending people down the wrong road or the right road? Being salt of the earth means leading people to the ways of God. Jesus was that if you mislead another’s faith, it will be better to have a millstone wrapped around your neck and for you to be thrown into the sea. That was a common punishment in Jesus time. When someone was a threat to the community, they would be thrown into the sea. We don’t do that to people anymore. Not physically, but spiritually we do it all of the time. Everytime we gossip, we don’t hold people accountable. We see something going wrong and we don’t try to stop it. We are putting a milstone around the spirit of others. We are not being the salt of the earth. If it is not enough to be threatened with hell, Jesus says if your hands, your feet, your eyes cause you to sin, then you need to cut it off. Many in the present generation would not agree to have surgery for any reason. My uncle got gangrene in his leg, and refused to get help, because he felt that he would not be any good without it. My cousin needs a knee replacement and yet refuses to have surgery. I hope that I never have to make a decision like that about my body parts. But once again in Jesus day – he knew a lot of people who had lost a leg or a foot or even an eye to an accident or even due to a punishment. In those days, if you were a thief you would get your limbs cut off. Jesus knew that the greatest sins that we commit are either with our hands, our feet and our eyes. We work with our hands. But the hand also has another special purpose. When you meet someone – what is the first thing that you give them? You give them your hand as a sign of welcome. You can do things with your hands, but you can also not do things with your hands. You can work and make things happen, or you can fold your hands and refuse to do anything. You can extend your hand and welcome people, or you can refuse to extend your hand and make watch them fall We go places with our feet. We can either go to the right places or the wrong places. We can use our feet to walk into the church, or to walk into the club. We can use our feet to go to the produce section of the grocery store and get healthy vegetables, or we can use our feet to get pizza. You have heard the term vote with your feet – we make choices with our feet and where they take us. We sin with our feet and the places we go. And it has been said – that blind people do not commit crimes of passion. We react to what we see with our eyes. We develop our desires and passions based on what we see with our eyes. Back in the day, it was believed that the eyes were the keys to the heart. If you wanted to know how someone really felt, all you needed to do was look in their eyes. Jesus says if your hands and your feet and your eyes cause you to sin, then cut them off. And most of us would rather die then lose a limb. More importantly though I think that when we do sin – we blame the sin on our hands, our feet, our eyes, - and not the heart inside that controls them all. We continue to blame the outside forces – and not take responsibility for our feelings, our thoughts, our spirit. What Jesus is really saying to us – is that we need to get rid of anything in our lives that stand in the way of us worshipping God. Hell – true hell is living outside of the will of God. As long as we ignore God’s plan for our lives – then we are miserable in this life and the next. Faith in God is a total commitment – and it requires all of your spirit all of your soul. A fellow by the name of Ed Peterman tells a story from his childhood, when he grew up on a farm in Preble County Ohio. His family discovered they had some rats in the barn, so his parents got some traps. One night they baited them with cheese, and set them out around the barn. The next morning young Ed went out to see if they had caught anything. The first traps he examined were empty. When he came to the last trap, he saw something strange. The trap had been sprung, and while there was no rat in it, he noticed that it did hold the severed leg of a rat. He ran to tell his parents about this unexpected finding. They followed him back to the barn. When they got to the trap with the rat's leg in it, his parents just nodded and smiled knowingly. "What happened?" Ed asked them. "Tell me what happened!" So they told him. The trap had caught the rat by the leg. The rat knew that its life was at risk, so it chewed off its own leg to escape. "That's the way rats are," his father said. "Better to go on living with only three legs, than to die with all four." Ed just stood there for a while, marveling at the courage it took for the rat to choose to survive by chewing its leg off and leaving it behind. It makes one wonder whether we would have the courage to do what the rat did. If you were caught in a life-threatening situation one day, would you be able to cut part of yourself off and leave it behind in order to go on living? That's one of those things we never truly know, unless and until we actually faced that situation. Would I be able to surrender a hand or a leg, a memory or a grudge, an obsession or a long-held opinion, if my life were at stake? Or would I cling desperately to the futile memory of how things have always been before, and so bring about my own death? Jan Campbell “Cut It Out” The analogy of an operating room, where radical surgery must be performed, is a most useful way to understand this Scripture. Most of us today would accept the notion that the whole body is worth more than any of its individual parts, and when we develop a cancerous tumor on eye, hand, or foot, we cast aside “the offending member” — with regret, of course; but we operate on the assumption that it is better to enter life without the diseased organ than not to live at all. If a troublesome organ hampers our life or threatens our very existence we eliminate it. We recognize the principle involved. When a gall bladder or appendix is so badly diseased that it gives us no peace, we cut it out. When a hand or foot is diseased beyond help, we are not loathe to amputate in order to save everything else. When a tumor is malignant and threatens to take our entire life away, we are not hesitant to say to the surgeon, “Cut it out!” It is far better to leave behind the tumor than to threaten one’s whole existence. We understand the principle involved. And what is true in the physical realm, translates over into the spiritual realm. If there is something in our lives: some habit, some action, some attitude, that gets between us and God, we must “cut it out.” Donald B. Strobe, Collected Words, www.Sermons.com God wants us to live our lives in freedom. He wants us to get out of the trap. He wants us to run free. Look at what is holding you down – and let it go – and go on with your life. With all of this talk about millstones around our necks, and losing limbs – what is the good news that Jesus is trying to tell us. Transform Your Heart Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century church father said, “God never asks his servants to do what is impossible. The love and goodness of his Godhead is revealed as richly available. It is poured out like water upon all. God furnished to each person according to his will the ability to do something good. None of those seeking to be saved will be lacking in this ability, given by the one who said: ‘whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.’” Ask the Holy Spirit to transform your heart by the fire of his love that you may wholly desire what is good for your neighbor. Gregory of Nyssa, a fourth century church father's comments on this passage. Being the salt of the earth is not about the hard and difficult things – that we have to agonize over – it is about the things that are obvious and right in front of your face. Jesus also says that if you just give the person in front of you a cup of cold water when they are thirsty that you will be rewarded. Being a Christian is not about the hard things, it is about the easy things that you could do every day. It does not take a lot to say I love you. We use our hands, our feet, and our eyes everyday. We can do right just as easy as we can do wrong. We can help people or we can stand by and let the world run its course. Being the salt of the earth – means making a difference in the little things that God puts in front of you every day. Salt is sodium Chloride. Salt Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally only in combined form; it always links itself to another element. Chlorine, on the other hand, is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor. When sodium and chlorine are combined, the result is sodium chloride. What is sodium Chloride? Salt. Common table salt. The substance we use to preserve meat and bring out its flavor. Love and truth can be like sodium and chlorine. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, willing to combine with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth by itself can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel. When truth and love are combined in an individual or a church, however, then we have what Jesus called "the salt of the earth," and we're able to preserve and bring out the beauty of our faith. Be the salt of the earth – and make a difference. Amen. Object: tape player or radio that plugs in, tape of pleasing music, volunteer to hold the cord of tape player or radio CHILDREN'S SERMON by Angela Akers Good morning, boys and girls. I brought some music for you to listen to today. (Have volunteer start the tape player) Isn't that pretty? This tape player is very handy. I just plug it in, pop in a tape, push PLAY, and out comes the music. (Have volunteer pull plug on tape player) Hey! What happened to our music? Somebody unplugged the tape player. Well, we'll just plug it back in and listen some more. There, that's better. Oh, I love this part! Listen really carefully. (Volunteer pulls plug again) What in the world is happening to my music? Oh, the tape player is unplugged again. Boy, that's frustrating! This tape player is in perfect condition, it's all ready to play beautiful music, but if it's unplugged from the wall, it just won't play. That's because all the power for the tape player comes from the power source in the wall. Without its main source of power, the tape player won't work. If it's plugged in, then it has all the power it needs. But if it comes unplugged, then it loses all its power to play beautiful music. Have you ever thought of yourself as a tape player? Our power for living a good, happy life comes from God. But sometimes we can become disconnected from God, just like this tape player was unplugged from its power source. You know what "œunplugs" us from God? Sin. Sin is what separates us from God. Sin unplugs us from our true source of power, God. (Plug in tape player and start the music) Things like lying, stealing, being mean to other people, gossiping about other people all these things are sins. (Pull the plug) They "œunplug" us from God and keep us from living good, happy lives. Let's pray and ask God to take away our sins and keep us "œplugged in" to Him. ……Extra illustrations There is an old eastern fable. A man possessed a ring set with a wonderful opal. Whoever wore the ring became so sweet and true in character that all men loved him. The ring was a charm. Always it was passed down from father to son, and always it did its work. As time went on, it came to a father who had three sons whom he loved with an equal love. What was he to do when the time came to pass on the ring? The father got other two rings made precisely the same so that none could tell the difference. On his death-bed he called each of his sons in, spoke some words of love and to each, without telling the others, gave a ring. When the three sons discovered that each had a ring, a great dispute arose as to which was the true ring that could do so much for its owner. The case was taken to a wise judge. He examined the rings and then he spoke. “I cannot tell which is the magic ring,” he said, “but you yourselves can prove it.” “We?” asked the sons in astonishment. “Yes,” said the judge, “for if the true ring gives sweetness to the character of the man who wears it, then I and all the other people in the city will know the man who possesses the true ring by the goodness of his life. So, go your ways, and be kind, be truthful, be brave, be just in your dealings, and he who does these things will be the owner of the true ring.” A missionary tells a lovely story. She had been telling a class of African primary children about giving a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus. She was sitting on the verandah of her house. Into the village square came a company of native bearers. They had heavy packs. They were tired and thirsty, and they sat down to rest. Now they were men of another tribe, and had they asked the ordinary non-Christian native for water they would have been told to go and find it for themselves, because of the barrier between the tribes. But as the men sat wearily there, and as the missionary watched, from the school emerged a little line of tiny African girls. On their heads they had pitchers of water. Shyly and fearfully they approached the tired bearers, knelt and offered their pitchers of water. In surprise the bearers took them and drank and handed them back, and the girls took to their heels and ran to the missionary. “We have given a thirsty man a drink,” they said, “in the name of Jesus.” The little children took the story and the duty literally. Edward F. Markquart, Millstones All too often, gossip, silence, and exclusion serve just these purposes, cutting off the prophetic from the congregation. This is what the Apostles were doing to this one man “caught healing.” They were demanding that Jesus hobble his powerful works because he wasn’t one of them. We can stop our pettiness by taking four actions: 1. Get out in the harvest; Recognize the crisis in harvesters and the ripeness of the harvest. If you don’t bring the harvest in during its due season, it will not just sit out there and stay ripe. This is the harvest time and we need laborers. Let’s be one and pray for more! 2. Quit defending the faith and take the offense in outreach; Rest with Gamaliel, the wise Pharisee who trained Saul. In Acts 5:38 he said that God doesn’t need us to defend his name; he is quite capable of that himself. If someone’s work is of God, it will continue. If not, it will cease. 3. Recognize the signs of pettiness in our life and flee them; If we are surrounded by ducks and quack; it usually means we are a duck. If those around us are petty and small, guess what... We must flee such people! Instead, we should move in the company of giants, heading towards the outer boundaries of our “known world.” If we seek out people who don’t have time or use for gossip, then we will be forced to live at their level. They will hold our behavior and conversation to a higher standard and we will either grow to meet those standards or begin talking behind their backs as well. Let us hope it is the former. 4. Maintain the habits of faith. We must maintain the habits of faith; a. Pray constantly, b. Hunger for God’s Word, c. Maintain a small group of accountability, and d. Be in personal relationship with “least of these.” Attending to these habits keeps us from becoming small-minded and hard-hearted. Jerry Goebel, Stumble The Fellowship of the Bearers of Cold Water An old man named Calvin had lived a good life as a farmer for years. One day an evangelist came to the community, and, in the course of his stay, visited Calvin and asked him what denomination he was. Calvin answered the question like this: "When my grain gets ready for selling, after I've harvested it and packaged it, I can take it to town by any one of three roads ” the river road, the dirt road, or the highway. But when I get my grain to town and go to the buyer to sell him what I have, he never looks at me and asks, ˜Calvin, which road did you take to get your grain to town?' What he does do is ask me if my grain is any good." Friend, is your grain good - the grain of your discipleship? That's all that really matters. When we get to Heaven we will probably find some (Roman Catholics) and some (Baptists) and some (Presbyterians). And they'll be just as surprised to see us as we will to see them. But we will all belong to just one fellowship. Let's call it the Fellowship of the Bearers of Cold Water. We will all be people who have lived out our discipleship through acts of kindness to others. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Staff, www.sermons.com. Adapted from a sermon by David H. Johnson. Frederick Buechner defines the Kingdom of God in this way: “It’s like finding a million dollars in a field, or a jewel worth a king’s ransom. It’s like finding something you hated to lose and thought youUd never find again - an old keepsake, a stray sheep, a missing child. When the kingdom really comes, it’s as if the thing you lost and thought you’d never find again is you.” (Frederick Buechner, WISHFUL THINKING, New York: Harper and Row, 1973, p. 50) Escaping the Rat Traps

Aspiring to Serve God

September 20, 2015 Proverbs 31:10-31 Mark 9: 30-37 Aspiring to serve God Year B I have to admit that I cringe whenever I hear this scripture from proverbs. I don’t know what to do with it, and I ask what does it mean? I have heard some really good sermons on proverbs, and I have heard some really bad ones. As I was preparing this week, I thought at best I could use this text for a women’s day sermon to talk about what it means to be a godly woman. When I choose a scripture to preach on, I always ask, is it empowering. Is it going to give people hope and inspiration to be a better person? On the surface I just don’t see anything empowering about telling women to get up at 3am to start fixing breakfast for their family. And from there spend the rest of your day working and keeping everybody else happy, and doing nothing for yourself. The role of women is changing, we are discovering that we cant do it all. This poem reminds me of the time the trustees did an inspection of my parsonage, and gave me a list of things that needed to be clean – like the grout between the tile in the bathroom. I had to explain to this male trustee, that I was a single woman, with an apathetic teenage son. Who would rather die than help me – which meant everything was on me. I to the trustee, you pay my salary – you can either pay me to stay at home to clean the house, or to leave the mess and come to work and be your pastor. It is your choice, personally I don’t have a preference in how I spend my time – but I cant do both at the same time. And yet on the other hand, if you read this scripture of a woman’s work – it perfectly describes the work of our mothers and grandmothers. They did all of these things everyday – got them done and never complained. I would never preach on this scripture, and yet God works in mysterious ways. God has a way of turning our assumptions on their head. As I started my sermon prep, I learned to have a real appreciation for this scripture. And to rethink its meaning and message. First, let me give you a little background on proverbs. This is a mother’s advice to her teenage or young adult son. Lemuel is a young prince, who will one day become king. His mother wants him to be a good king, so she gives him advice on women, friends, and choosing the right path, instead of getting caught up on what it going on in the streets. Most of the advice that she gives him is about women. In this text she is telling him how to choose the right wife. She wants him to choose a good godly woman, and tells him the qualities of a good woman. Proverbs is the one place in the bible, where wisdom is described as a woman who stands out on the crossroads of life crying out to those nearby. Not everyone listens to her message. Lady wisdom, Sophia has been with God since the beginning of time. She stood by God’s side when he bought creation into being, she was a playmate with Jesus. She knows what she is talking about, but not everyone listens. Proverbs is important to us because as we look at the book of James, the words of Paul, and the rest of the new testament, it is all based on the wisdom books of the Hebrew bible. Unfortunately, in the church we misinterpret the message of being good with the message of being wise. Everything for us comes down to being a good person or a bad person. People outside of the church don’t want their actions to be judged as good or bad, so they think that church and the bible are irrelevant. In reality, there are a lot of good people, who are not wise. Or should I say there are people who look good, who talk good, who dress good, even act good – but in their hearts they are no good. I WANT TO BE PRETTY "I want to be pretty." This is the title of a popular tv program that was airing when we lived in Poland. It was a reality tv show in which in every episode you follow the changes of two women who are the heroes of the program. Each of these women work with a team of specialists for six weeks. During that time they are cut off from contact with their friends and relatives as they undergo major changes in their physical appearance and also their self-image. Finally friends and family are invited to the studio where they meet them face to face with great drama. An example was Gosia who said: "I was good looking all my life but I'm not able to accept how I look now....It's not about being older. But it's simply that I look different. Now I feel like an old used-up slipper. I'm ashamed of myself in front of my husband. This has gone on for nearly a year. How long can he stand it?" Does our life and happiness depend on our appearance? I'm sure Gosia was happier after her transformation but is she a better person? Is she a better wife and mother? Does the change of appearance change our character and make us better people? Right here in this country, I used to love to watch extreme makeover, but always wondered how much those cosmetic changes made in a persons life, when there was no change of heart on the inside. In the Christian bibles – the first words of this scripture say –who can find a good wife? He that does so finds a good thing. Interestingly enough, that is not what the Hebrew bible says. In the jewish religion there is no concept of being good or bad. The jewish religion is about being close to god, not about being good. In the Hebrew bible, the first words of this text actually say who can find a woman of valor. An eschet chayil. Eschet means woman, chayil means valor. A woman of valor is a big deal for them and there are many celebrations for the woman of valor in the jewish calendar. But what does valor mean – valor is one of those living words, which means more than it says. Logos means word, but it is a word that is always put into action. Shalom means peace, but you cant have peace without justice, wholeness and wellbeing. Valor means worth but you cant have value without having honor, dedication, kindness, and self worth. As a matter of fact, the word valor means strong and mighty in battle. Chayil – valor is used 250 times in the Hebrew bible (the old testament), and each time that it is used, it means something different. Most famously it is used in the story of the soldier Gideon. An Angel comes to him and calls him a man of valor. A man who fights on behalf of God and not himself. The angel is telling Gideon to see himself as God sees him – and to live into that vision. The problem is that we see ourselves and others through the lense of man. We strive for perfection based on our thoughts and not God’s thoughts. God did not create us to be perfect and to always do the right things. A lot of Christian men use this text as a checklist for choosing a good wife. There are 26 different qualities that the woman has to have if you are counting. The problem with trying to fit a real woman into this passage is like using the Barbie doll as a measure of beauty. Barbie is not a real person. Her measurements are ideal in man’s eyes – not what God intended. This scripture is an ideal personified, not an ideal person. As a matter of fact, a man is supposed to read those poem to his wife during Shabbat meal and to thank her for whatever she has done for him. The bible messages for both mean and women. And this poem applies to us all. In one way we can think of this poem as the human soul. God is the groom, and the people of God are his bride. Jesus is the groom and the church is the bride. A woman of valor is anyone who strives to have a relationship with God. One who bases their actions on their relationship with God and loves God in all things. A woman of valor is a woman who loves God, not a good wife. This poem is not so much about who I am, it is about who I strive to be in all things. It is an ideal that moves me forward in my relationship with God. not about being good. There are some good people, who don’t have a relationship with God. When you read James, Galations, Ephesians, and the rest of the new testament. The message is not to be a good person. Good and bad are just two different sides of the same coin. The message that we have to give to our young people today that the bible is trying to tell us is that wisdom is its own reward. When you choose wisdom, you choose wealth, health, honor, long life and family. Solomon asked for wisdom and God gave him all those things to go with it. Proverbs is a mother asking her son to choose wisdom – so that he could have the riches of life. When you do the right thing – God will reward you. SLEEPING WHEN THE WIND BLOWS A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to the fireplace. The young man slept soundly. The farmer and his wife then inspected their property. They found that the farm tools had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn was properly locked. Even the animals were calm. All was well. The farmer then understood the meaning of the young man's words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand did his work loyally and faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm. Seek to serve God in all things – that is true wisdom. Amen. TRUST IN GOD "Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment Trust in money and you may have it taken from you; But trust in God, and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity." --D.L. Moody (From a sermon by Jeff Strite, Trusting in Ravens, 8/8/2011)