Discipleship is Costly

September 7, 2025 Luke 14:25-33 13th Sunday after Pentecost Discipleship is Costly Year C Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Wherever you go, from the top of the highest mountain or into the deep abysses of the earth, God knows you. Wherever we go, God knows our name. Whatever you do, from the time you wake up until you lay your head down again, God knows you. Whatever we do, God knows our name. However you live, from your inner thoughts to your public acts and everything in between, God knows you. However we live, God knows our name. We gather to worship God, who loves us, knows us, and calls us by name. We gather to worship God, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God who knows our name! Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, March 2025. OPENING PRAYER All-knowing God, We gather together with praise and thanksgiving for who You are, and for all that You have done for us. You know us better than we know ourselves— all our thoughts and actions— and yet You love us. No matter where we go or what we do, Your love encircles us—ahead and behind— gently leading and guiding and blessing. We praise You for Your love and Your faithful presence in our lives. May Your Spirit move in our hearts and minds as we worship together— examine our attitudes and actions, lay bare the things we need to confess, challenge us with Your Word, and guide us on to paths that lead to life. For we are Your people, called by Your name. Amen. Posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2011/07/opening-prayer-psalm-139.html. Song A Sermon for all Ages Bible Teaching (Luke 14:25-35) Counting the Cost of Following Jesus. (ministrytochildren.com. Kristen Hughley) Ask students about things that they enjoy or do well. Does anyone play sports? Musical instruments? Artistic endeavors? Discuss what they have to do in order to excel at these things. To be better in athletics, you have to practice, do the drills, and put in effort to improve. To play an instrument, you need to also practice and maybe even take special lessons. You also have to maintain your equipment, whether uniforms and pads or instruments and accompanying pieces. Is it worth all of this work? Well, it is if you are passionate about your pursuit and wish to do it well! Explain that when we talk about following Jesus, we have a similar calling. It isn’t always easy. In fact, it’s often quite challenging, and Jesus warned us of that. Have students look at the Gospel in Luke, and help them read what it says (or have them read, if they are able): Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them,26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. -Luke 14:25-27 Does that sound a little harsh? Is Jesus actually telling us we have to disown our families and hate people? That doesn’t seem like a positive way of achieving blessings, does it? Assure kids that Jesus does not want us to actually hate our families. After all, we are commanded to honor our parents. The warning here is that we are not to let families come before faith in Christ. Nothing should be more important to us than following Jesus, so He is admonishing people to check their hearts and be prepared to do whatever it takes to be a disciple. He warns them to be prepared… For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. -Luke 14:28-33 If you are preparing to take a drive, or play a sport, or go on a hike, or bake bread, or essentially do anything, you have to get ready first. You have to look over what is required before you pursue your goals. Here, Jesus is telling people that they have to be prepared to be disciples they have to understand what it means. And what does it mean? Put the cost of discipleship into more child-friendly terms. Fortunately, most kids (at least in first world countries) do not have to fear strong persecution for their faith. But there are things that they might have to set aside for the sake of Christ. Perhaps they can’t practice on the Sunday morning soccer squad, because they have church. Maybe they have to wake up a little earlier in the morning to read the Bible. Maybe they put a dollar into the offering plate instead of purchasing candy. There are smaller and larger methods by which young folks might be called to follow Christ. Remind them, though, that it is something we need to work at. If you want to follow Jesus, you do need to be disciplined to pray, read the Bible, and follow through. “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? 35 It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” -Luke 14:34-35 What does this mean? Explain to children that we want to continually, daily remind ourselves of what it means to follow Jesus, and we want to genuinely be doing that: taking care of others, praying, reading. HOWEVER, at the same time, it’s also essential to let kids know that this is not how we are redeemed. Jesus has already payed the price for our salvation. He is still doing the work. God is the one who brings grace. Practicing discipline and being willing to work for Jesus is important, but all things we do are still through HIM and not our own efforts. And there are great blessings that come when we are willing to do these things! Of course, we know that the greatest blessing will ultimately be our home in Heaven. But we also have the promise of wonderful things in this life. We have fellowship with God, creator and savior of the universe! That’s pretty spectacular. We also have the opportunity to grow God’s kingdom by bringing in more disciples. When Jesus called His first disciples, He demonstrated His power, and also told them they would be able to go out and make more disciples. Read this passage with children to emphasize the beauty of that ability and promise: But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. -Luke 5:8-11 We get to do great things as children and followers in God’s family. The best part is that we know we don’t have to do these things alone. God will be with us. All that we do is through Christ. We are learners, followers, disciples of Him. And as such, we have the greatest and most merciful leader we could ask for. What a blessing. Hallelujah! Close with prayer and thank God for giving us strength and hope. Ask for His help in following Christ and pursuing discipleship, and offer grateful awe for the opportunity to do so. Apostles Creed UMH 881 Scripture Luke 14:25-33 Sermon Discipleship is Costly Hate is such a strong word. As a matter of fact, hate was on the list of words that I couldn’t say at home. My mother would always say never say you hate someone or something. To say that you hate someone or something leaves no room for grace or forgiveness. So you could dislike someone, or something about them, but you couldn’t say you hated them. And yet here Jesus is saying that you should hate your parents, your siblings and your family. Why would Jesus tell his disciples to hate – the people that you love the most. And well Jesus has a history of telling us to choose him over family. And I’ve heard it said that you can only have an intense hate for people that you care about. If you didn’t care about them, you wouldn’t have intense feelings. Hatred is a very complex emotion- it is a combination of fear, humiliation, anger, resentment, rejection a a few other things all balled up into one. The good news is that in the bible - when Jesus says hate your family, he is not talking about an emotion, he is talking about a choice. Being a disciple is one of the most important decisions of your life. It supercedes every other decision in your life – even your loved ones. So our English word for the emotion hate is a very loose translation for the Aramaic word that Jesus used – sane (sanay). Sane means to love less, reject or prioritize. Myalis from blog Lectionary Greek: “The English term 'hate' generally suggests effective connotations that do not always do justice, especially to some Semitic shame-honor oriented use of μισεω (שנא in Hebrew) in the sense 'hold in disfavor, be disinclined to, have relatively little regard for.' In fact, BDAG even suggests translating it "disfavor, disregard" in contrast to preferential treatment" Jesus knows that family is important to us all. He knows that family has a big influence over who we are and what we do. When he days hate your family and follow me, he is trying to shock us out of our comfortable normal to realize that there is something bigger. When we put God first – everything else falls into place, even family. 2. The Call to Undivided Loyalty The word “hate” here is jarring. Jesus is not calling us to despise our families or ourselves, but to put Him above all other loves. • Our devotion to Christ must be so great that every other attachment looks small in comparison. • When loyalties conflict—family expectations, cultural norms, personal ambitions—Christ comes first. • The cross we carry is not just suffering in general; it is the daily choice to live for Jesus rather than ourselves. Application: This means our decisions—how we spend our money, use our time, and treat our relationships—are all shaped by the Lordship of Christ. (ChatGPT) Introduction In Luke 14:25–33, Jesus is traveling with large crowds, and instead of making it easier for people to follow Him, He makes it harder. He says: • “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—cannot be my disciple.” • “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” • “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” These are hard words. They’re not the kind of words that grow a crowd—they’re the kind that test whether we are serious about following Jesus. 1. Discipleship is Costly Jesus is reminding us that discipleship is not about convenience; it is about commitment. • We often prefer a faith that makes life easier, but Jesus calls us to a faith that transforms life. • He uses two images: a man building a tower and a king going to war. Both must “count the cost” before they begin. • In the same way, we must recognize that following Jesus is not a hobby—it is a lifelong surrender. Illustration: Think of starting a home renovation project. If you don’t check the budget first, you’ll be. (ChatGPT) Imagine If We Told the Whole Truth Barbara Brown Taylor says Jesus wouldn’t have made a very good parish minister, andjudging from what he says here, I think she has a pretty good point. And that was just for starters. He goes on to talk about carrying one’s cross, about counting the cost, about giving up all one’s possessions. “Whoever does not...” Jesus is saying to them, “cannot.” Yeah, I would think that would thin out the crowd in a hurry, don’t you? In fact, some of you, after hearing these words, might even be tempted not to come back to church. We certainly hope that won’t be the case, of course, but you never know. If Jesus wouldn’t have made a very good parish minister, you can also figure he wouldn’t be an effective church-growth consultant. I’ve been to the seminars, have read the books and articles. I know what it takes, according to the experts, to build a church these days. In addition to the right demographics (I wonder if Jesus would appreciate or use that word, “demographics”), you have to create an environment where people feel accepted and have their primary needs met. Coffee shops in the foyer, that sort of thing, with the church’s own unique “house blend.” In other words, you have to give them what they want, which appears to be the exact opposite of what Jesus is doing. “Whoever does not... cannot.” Imagine if we told our greeters in the foyer to welcome our guests by saying something like this... “Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? After all, the Jesus whose name we are about to invoke in worship says we’ve got to hate our families and ourselves in order to follow him, and we have to give up our possessions. Think twice about it now, three times even. This is a hard, hard life you are being asked to choose. Sit down right now, before you go into the sanctuary, and check off the list of things you like most about your life, and then be willing to give them up. So think about it. Really think about it. Oh, and just in case you don’t understand where all this leads, remember that you have to pick up your cross daily in order to follow Jesus.” Randy L. Hyde, Riot Control Not only is following Jesus costly, you have to commit to bearing your own cross. Jesus caried his cross, you have to carry yours. Bearing the Cross At long last, Laura McDermott had fulfilled her lifelong dream. All she could ever think of doing with her life since she was a kid was to be a doctor. Now no one in the McDermott family had ever been to college before, let alone medical school. Her parents, therefore, were constantly reminding her of the obstacles in her path. "Are you sure you know what you are getting into?" her parents would quiz her periodically. Laura's friends pointed to other obstacles. "Are you sure you want to put yourself through that much schooling? It's really hard work. Is it worth it?" Laura McDermott persisted. She got through college and medical school. Laura McDermott was a doctor at last. She had lived her dream. But the dream soon turned into a nightmare. Dr. McDermott was hired to work with a group of physicians. That's exactly as she had imagined it. She would be one of two general practitioners in a group which included many specialists as well. An ideal work environment she thought. And it started out well. Soon enough, however, problems began to emerge. The first problem that faced Dr. McDermott was that she was one of only two women doctors on the clinic staff. The other G.P. was a man with a few years' experience. It became clear to her quite soon that he was getting far more referrals than she was from the other physicians at the clinic. What was even worse, however, was that when she referred patients to some of the specialists they would quite often check out her referral with the other G.P. Her peers clearly did not trust her judgment. Laura did not know what to make of this situation. Was it because she was young that this happened or because she was a woman? She tried to find out. She asked hard questions around the clinic. But she got no straight answers. It was like a conspiracy of silence had formed around her. Dr. McDermott was devastated. The other problem was that she just didn't like some of the doctors with whom she worked. They were just not nice people she thought. Friction was in the air at the clinic all the time because of the personalities that worked there. It was not a good work atmosphere. She hated to go to work each day. The whole situation was just awful. The situation got so bad, in fact, that Dr. McDermott just had to talk to somebody about it. At her church she had met and made friends with another woman about her age, Doris Pagel, who worked for the local chamber of commerce. Laura thought that Doris might have some insights for her about the kind of people that made up their town. Maybe she had the situation figured out all wrong. She hoped Doris could help. Dr. McDermott took Doris Pagel out for dinner one night and told her sad tale. Doris' first reaction caught Laura by surprise. "Nobody ever said being a doctor would be easy," she said. Laura assured Doris that she knew that. It's just that so many other things had entered the picture that surprised her with the reality of just how hard it was for her to serve God by living out her vocation as a doctor. "Well you know," said Doris, "I read somewhere that we don't choose our own crosses. God just lays crosses upon us in the midst of our attempts to serve. Through our struggles God is often at work molding us into the kind of person God wants us to be."" Richard A. Jensen, Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit Jesus just wants us to know that discipleship is not easy- you gotta consider the cost, the sacrifices and the choices. But it will be the most rewarding journeys you will ever take. He is inviting us to a life with a deeper meaning. Are You Available? Writer Frederick Buechner tells about his wife's greatgrandfather, a man named George Shinn. Shinn was a pastor back in 1880. He was summoned one midnight to the bedside of an old woman who lived by herself. She had little money and few friends, and she was dying. She told Shinn that she wanted another woman to come stay with her for such time as she might have left, so Shinn and the old woman's doctor struck out in the darkness to try to dig one up for her. It sounds like a parable the way it is told. They knocked at doors and threw pebbles at second story windows. One woman said she couldn't come because she had children. Another said she simply wouldn't know what to do, what to be, in a crisis like that. Another was suspicious of two men prowling around at that hour of night and wouldn't even talk to them. But finally, as the memoir of Dr. Shinn puts it in the prose of another age, "They rapped at the humble door of an Irish woman, the mother of a brood of children. She put her head out of the window. “Who's there?' she said. “And what can you want at this time of night?” They tell her the situation, her warm, Irish heart cannot resist. “Will you come?” “Sure and I'll come, and I'll do the best I can.” And she did come," the account ends. "She did the best she could." This woman was willing. She was available. Is there a warmer word in our language? Available. It means, I'm here when you call. I'm ready, willing, able. Great crowds were following Jesus. He turned around and said to them: "Anyone who wants to be my follower must love me far more than he does his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters yes, more than his own life otherwise he cannot be my disciple." Jesus was asking, "Are you available?" King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ______________________ When we choose to follow Jesus – it is all good in the end. 3. Letting Go to Gain Everything Jesus ends by saying, “None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” That doesn’t mean every Christian must sell everything, but it does mean nothing can own us but Christ. • We cannot cling to our stuff, our status, or our security. • True freedom comes when we hold everything loosely, ready to use it for God’s Kingdom. • The paradox of the Gospel is that when we lose our life for Christ, we find it; when we surrender, we receive more than we ever imagined. Conclusion Following Jesus is costly—but it is worth it. • A disciple who counts the cost and still chooses Christ will find life, joy, and eternal hope. • Jesus does not want fans in the crowd; He wants followers at the cross. Invitation: Today, let us examine our hearts. Are we willing to carry the cross, put Christ first, and surrender all we have? If so, then we are ready not just to admire Jesus—but to truly follow Him. (ChatGPT) Let’s pray Song Prayers of the People (Do not print) Let us turn to God in prayer. How often do we not appeal to others in love? The world around us is filled with hate, destruction and war. Our country is divided by grudges held between neighbors and family. Lord, allow love to be at the center of our world instead of hate. How often do we not appeal to others in love? We judge our neighbors who ask for help. We forget that you have formed us all, and as part of that formation, have connected us all to one another in your image. Help us remember that deep connection. Empower us to begin every interac- tion with love. How often do we not appeal to others in love? Lord, let us remember that love includes self-love. We look in the mirror and think about what we want to change. We forget that you have created and formed us as sacred, and that your love is reflected in everything that we see as our ‘imperfections.’ Let us be kind to ourselves, to our bodies, our minds, our spirits. Let us appeal to ourselves in love. How often do we not appeal to others in love? Fill us with love that we p2may support those who are sick, who are dying, who are hurting. May we show up with radical compassion. May those we encounter feel the love we bring on behalf of your people. Let love bring peace and comfort. God of love, hear our prayers. Continue to help us see your love, espe- cially in the ups and downs of this time and place. And now, let us pray as you have taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment We don’t often talk out loud in this congregation about the cost of discipleship. We presume folks know there is some cost to belonging to a church. Often, we think about that as a monetary cost. Connected to that thought, most of us expect a time in worship when the invitation is extended, deacons pass an offering tray, and we recognize we’re free to make a contribution or simply pass the tray to the person sitting next to us. Jesus, however, teaches the crowds traveling with him about the high cost of being a disciple. Hate your family. Carry a cross (the hated tool of Roman punishment and death). Give up all your possessions. Hard words! This serious business of being a disciple does not come easily. Today, as we receive our morning offering, I invite you to measure what you are giving (are you giving anything?) against the challenge Jesus offered the crowds. Focus on your time, your “stuff” and your money. Then, when you’ve measured the difference, perhaps when you’re alone, face yourself in a mirror and ask: What am I truly willing to give? What am I willing to DO, to truly identify myself as one of Jesus’ disciples? Prayer of Thanksgiving (connecting today’s Jeremiah and Luke texts) Great Potter of creation, thank you for moments you challenge us to be fully aware of you. Thank you for the reality-check which comes through scripture. Thank you for this opportunity to measure what we are, and what we offer, against the high bar set by Jesus. Thank you, most of all, for the gift of time, that we might take one step today and another one tomorrow, toward becoming true disciples. AMEN. (Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Communion Invitation to Communion (do not Print) Our scripture from Luke 14 is sometimes called “count the cost.” Jesus, speaking to the large crowd, invites each one to count the cost of following him. Today, focused on this Table, I invite you to “count the cost” of following Jesus. Does it make a difference in the people you seek out? Are you giving time, talent, and treasure to build up this congregation (one part of the Body of Christ)? Can others see you are a Christian by the way you live your daily life? Jesus’ words and actions at the table are recorded later in Luke (22:14-20). Unique to Luke, Jesus opens his reflection by inviting the disciples to share a cup, then the bread, and then the cup after supper (perhaps in the sequence of the Passover meal). Jesus asked those with him to remember him each time they broke bread and drank from the cup. He clearly identified his own body in the bread; his own blood in the cup. Body and blood, given for YOU — given for me. However it is that we share these sacred elements, each time we participate, let us REMEMBER Jesus, counting the cost for each of us as we eat and drink. The Table is prepared, and there is a place for you. Come! Communion Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Community in Christ, our challenge as we leave here is this: reflect the love of God to both neighbor and stranger. Love those around you. It’s that easy; it’s that hard. May the grace, hope, peace and love of God the Creator, God the Re- deemer, and God the Sustainer be with you now and forevermore. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Julia Burkley) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Go, ready and committed To accept the cost and joy of discipleship, To be servants in the service of the whole human family To proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil To be the church in the world (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Additional Illustrations There are three conversions necessary: the conversion of the heart, the mind and the purse. Of these three, it may well be that we moderns find the conversion of the purse the most difficult. - Martin Luther _________________________ How Will the Church Be Lighted? Several centuries ago in a mountain village in Europe, a wealthy nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. He made a good decision. He decided to build them a church. No one was permitted to see the plans or the inside of the church until it was finished. At its grand opening, the people gathered and marveled at the beauty of the new church. Everything had been thought of and included. It was a masterpiece. But then someone said, "Wait a minute! Where are the lamps? It is really quite dark in here. How will the church be lighted?" The nobleman pointed to some brackets in the walls, and then he gave each family a lamp, which they were to bring with them each time they came to worship. "Each time you are here'" the nobleman said, "the place where you are seated will be lighted. Each time you are not here, that place will be dark. This is to remind you that whenever you fail to come to church, some part of God's house will be dark" That's a poignant story, isn't it? And it makes a very significant point about the importance of our commitment and loyalty to the church. The poet Edward Everett Hale put it like this: Are You God’s Wife? A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, “My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?” “I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,” was the boys reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little guy to the back part of the store and removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, “No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?” As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, said, "Are you God’s wife?" Traditional What Does It Cost to Follow Jesus? We need to talk about evangelism and the Christian cultural push for larger growth and larger churches. It seems to me that we, the contemporary American church, are forever talking about the pleasures and benefits of belonging to a particular Christian congregation. We hear such phrases in our congregation as “We have a great schedule and you can even come for the “early bird special” when the church is open for business at the 7:30 AM worship. At the next service, we have a great church choir and the quality of music rivals the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. At the next worship service, we have a great contemporary worship service with a band that excels all others. We have a great senior’s program with so many activities that a senior has an activity planned once or twice a week. We have a great youth program and your child will be influenced by Christian values and Christian friends.” And so information about a congregation is presented in such a way as to persuade people to join our congregation. … All the while, no one seems to talk about the fine print as to what this will cost. No, I am not referring to offerings to pay the bills, but what it means to be a Christian, to be a follower of Jesus Christ - what's it going to COST to follow Jesus? Edward F. Markquart, The Cost of Discipleship Knowing Our Business Some of us had the joy of listening to one of our generation's truly great preachers, Fred Craddock when he was chaplain at Chautauqua for a week. One morning he told a story from the early years of his ministry in Custer City, Oklahoma, a town of about 450 souls. There were four churches there, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, a Nazarene church, and a Christian church (where Fred served). Each had its share of the population on Wednesday night, Sunday morning, and Sunday evening. Each had a small collection of young people, and the attendance rose and fell according to the weather and whether it was time to harvest the wheat. But the most consistent attendance in town was at the little café where all the pickup trucks were parked, and all the men were inside discussing the weather, and the cattle, and the wheat bugs, and the hail, and the wind, and is there going to be a crop. All their wives and sons and daughters were in one of those four churches. The churches had good attendance and poor attendance, but the café had consistently good attendance, better attendance than some of the churches. They were always there - not bad men, but good men, family men, hard-working men. Fred says the patron saint of the group that met at the café was named Frank. Frank was seventy-seven when they first met. He was a good, strong man, a pioneer, a rancher and farmer, and a prospering cattle man too. He had been born in a sod house; he had his credentials, and all the men there at the café considered him their patron saint. "Ha! Old Frank will never go to church." Fred says, "I met Frank on the street one time. He knew I was a preacher, but it has never been my custom to accost people in the name of Jesus, so I just was shaking hands and visiting with him, but he took the offensive. He said, "I work hard, I take care of my family and I mind my own business. Far as I'm concerned, everything else is fluff." You see what he told me? "Leave me alone, I'm not a prospect." I didn't bother Frank. That's why the entire church, and the whole town were surprised, and the men at the café church were absolutely bumfuzzled when old Frank, seventy-seven years old, presented himself before me one Sunday morning for baptism. I baptized Frank. Some of the talk in the community was, "Frank must be sick. Guess he's scared to meet his maker. They say he's got heart trouble. Going up there and being baptized, well, I never thought ol' Frank would do that, but I guess when you get scared..." All kinds of stories. Dr. Craddock goes on: "We were talking the next day after his baptism, and I said, 'Uh, Frank, you remember that little saying you used to give me so much: "I work hard, I take care of my family, I mind my own business?"' He said, "Yeah, I remember. I said that a lot." I said, "You still say that?" He said, "Yeah." I said, "Then what's the difference?" He said, "I didn't know then what my business was." David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, www.esermons.com _________________________________________ Hungry to Give "People are hungry to give their lives to something more important than themselves. It is a fact of life, not only that everything costs us something, but that, in our better moments, we are even eager to pay the cost." William Willimon Would You Still Be His Disciple If You Lost Your All? Jesus doesn’t call us to be "convenient Christians", he calls us to be committed Christians who put Him first above everything else — even if that means dad, mom, siblings, kids, work, vacations, playtime, money, homes, friends. This is where the Living Bible translation fits in. Jesus is saying to us as His followers, “Sit down, count your blessings and then renounce them all for me.” Would you still be His disciple if you lost your job? If you lost your savings? If you lost your health? If you lost your home? If you lost your wife and kids? Job said, “Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Horatio Spafford lost all his earthly possessions in the Great Chicago fire. A short time later his wife and children were sailing to England when the ship sank and his children were lost. Immediately he went to join his wife in England. As his ship got to the spot where his children drowned he wrote these words, “When peace like a river attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll — whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’” It is this kind of Christianity Jesus is looking for ... not a convenience thing, not a faith that we turn on when we want to or when we need it! Jesus is not looking for followers. He is looking for disciples. He is looking for people who will count the cost of being His disciple who will then say, “Yes!” Jerry Ruff, Counting the Costs. Making Sacrifices We are not a people generally who are willing to make sacrifices. I know there are exceptions, but as a whole we have become a people in love with comfort. We drive comfortable automobiles and we live in comfortable houses and we even belong to comfortable churches. Doesn't it concern you at times that perhaps we have chosen the wide gate and not the narrow one, the easy road and not the road that leads to life? Chiune Sugihara was born on a day of new beginnings January 1, 1900. As a boy, he cherished the dream of becoming the Japanese ambassador to Russia. By the 1930s, he was the ambassador to Lithuania, just a step away from Russia. One morning, a huge throng of people gathered outside his home. They were Jews who had made their way across treacherous terrain from Poland, desperately seeking his help. They wanted Japanese visas, which would enable them to flee Eastern Europe and the Gestapo. Three times Sugihara wired Tokyo for permission to provide the visas; three times he was rejected. He had to choose between the fulfillment of his dream as an ambassador and people's lives. He chose the latter. He dared to disobey orders. For twentyeight days he wrote visas by hand, barely sleeping or eating. Recalled to Berlin, he was still writing visas and shoving them through the train windows into the hands of the refugees who ran alongside. Ultimately he saved six thousand lives. Sugihara was not only a courageous Japanese; he was also a committed Christian. He spent his remaining days in Japan, humbly selling lightbulbs. When his story was finally told, his son was asked, "How did your father feel about his choice?" The young man replied, "My father's life was fulfilled. When God needed him to do the right thing, he was available to do it." King Duncan, adapting Stephen Arterburn, The Power Book (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996),www.Sermons.com Missing the Obvious Martin Marty, in "Context" (November 1997), spoke of a financial planner who observed after many years of advise giving "When clients talk to me about their estates, they usually say, 'If I die,' not 'when I die.' Even 80-year-olds use the conditional." Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com Breaking Away to Follow Christ A while back Will Willimon, Dean of the Chapel down at Duke University, got a call from an upset parent, a VERY upset parent. "I hold you personally responsible for this," he said. "Me?" Will asked. The father was hot, upset because his graduate school bound daughter had just informed him that she was going to chuck it all ("throw it all away" was the way the father described it) and go do mission work with the Presbyterians in Haiti. "Isn't that absurd!" shouted the father. "A BS degree in mechanical engineering from Duke and she's going to dig ditches in Haiti." "Well, I doubt that she's received much training in the Engineering Department here for that kind of work, but she's probably a fast learner and will probably get the hang of ditch-digging in a few months," Will said. "Look," said the father, "this is no laughing matter. You are completely irresponsible to have encouraged her to do this. I hold you personally responsible," he said. As the conversation went on, Dr. Willimon pointed out that the well-meaning but obviously unprepared parents were the ones who had started this ball rolling. THEY were the ones who had her baptized, read Bible stories to her, took her to Sunday School, let her go with the Presbyterian Youth Fellowship to ski in Vail. Will said, "You're the one who introduced her to Jesus, not me." "But all we ever wanted her to be was a Presbyterian," said the father, meekly. Hmm. David E. Leininger, Collected Sermons, Adapted from William Willimon, Pulpit Resources, September 10, 1995, p. 45. __________________ er of Mother Teresa • People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway. • (and the meh song adaption “Do It Anyway” by Ben Folds Five) • up your cross o Karoline Lewis offers another way of thinking about this - other than “cost of discipleship” But, is it really a cost? Or a choice? Thanks, Deuteronomy 30:19. When it’s all about cost, it’s all about what you give up. What you sacrifice. What you deny. When faith is cast as cost, we become rather ignorant of the fact that life itself is costly, not just faith. Life is full of choices, of counting the costs, weighing the costs. The cross is not unique but representative of what life is. To carry your cross is to carry the choices and burdens and realities of a life that has made a certain commitment -- a commitment to a way of life that is committed to bringing about the Kingdom of God here and now. That’s certainly what it meant for Jesus. What a different way of being it would be if the cross were a way of choosing life and not fixated on death. In fact, if Luke is right, carrying the cross might result in life for another. This is not to say Jesus’ death doesn’t matter. It’s to push how and why it matters. How is the cross, especially for Luke, flying in the face of empire? A promise that God’s seeing us does not end in our death and burial? A certainty that release of the captives is a past, present, and future reality, but that that future depends on our choice to carry the cross of Jesus So, carrying your cross is a choice and ironically, it is a choice for life and not death. o DON’T TELL OTHERS WHAT THEIR CROSS TO BEAR IS o Discipleship calls us to self-denial - not in a destructive way, but in a way which puts forgiveness, love and justice about our own self interests and even self preservation. o Especially hard for churches. We too often focus on survival more than mission o Take up your cross- be willing to die for the sake of the Gospel - goes against every natural instinct - it is the foolishness of the cross o Inherent in our baptism- dying to the old and being born in the new o If you are unwilling to do this, then your are unwilling to fulfill your baptism • Possessions • How honest are you about the cost of discipleship? Do you talk about it in your new member classes? • What is keeping you from following Jesus completely? What things, tasks, obligations, guilt, prides, overwork, goals or failures are keeping you from being a true disciple of Jesus? Are you willing to let those things go? Why or why not? o “our need to acquire, our yearning for success, our petty jealousies, our denigrating stereotypes of others, our prejudices and hatreds, and more...These possessions keep us further and further away from the Christlike walk to which Jesus invites us in discipleship.” - Emilie Townes, Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season After Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ). o What gets in the way of your church fully following the way of Jesus? Finances? Traditional programs? Inward focus? Being nice instead of being honest? Fear of conflict and change? Are you as a community willing to let go of those things?

Be Careful what you ask for

February 9, 2025 Luke 5:1-11 Be Careful what Blessings You ask For 5th Sunday of Epiphany Year B Fill My Life with Meaning Prelude Greeting Call to Plenty Leader: As we continue to examine how we might be transformed into devotees of the economy of Jesus, we remember this week that abundant lives are ones filled with meaning. Work and play are important parts of life but in the economy of Jesus, we are also called to fill our jars with meaning. What does this “mean,” so to speak? Amassing more resources than we need is a game that can leave us empty and can make us feel frightened even though we have enough. But when our lives are spent playing a different game of communal cooperation and transformation, we find a richness of soul and more than enough even in hard times. “Abundance” (sing refrain only) See music assets in your downloads God’s abundance is for all, no one is left outside, kin-dom come, all people one in trust and love abide. In this world of striving, we feel the yearn to earn. The world measures our worth in those earnings. But Jesus had different ideas. Where they held tight to their narrow worldview, he offered new interpretations that opened their minds to abundance. When we feel our own resources are lacking, we can view our lives and practices again from the economy of Jesus. Let us pray: God of Transformation, we come to you today, weary from fishing on the same old side of the boat, frustrated that the tools we have often fail to yield the results we desire. In the midst of our striving, remind us that we can choose new ways of doing things, to shift our perspective so that we may see Hymn Holy, Holy, Holy UMH 64 A Sermon for all Ages Leader: Welcome, children! We are so glad you are here [and for those joining us through the screen, welcome to you, too]. Remember these six big stone jars from last week? We are talking about the generosity of Jesus and these BIG jars represent how BIG the heart of Jesus is for each one of us. He wanted everyone to have plenty of everything they need, and now it is up to us to keep helping him do that. I have something here in my pocket that I want to show you [pull out a dollar bill]. What is this? [let them respond] Yes! It is a dollar. What does it mean? [pause to let them respond… this is a trick question so they might not have an answer] That’s a weird question, isn't it? Actually, it is a trick question. By itself, it doesn’t “mean” anything. Let’s get out our Jesus Piggy Bank for this week and see if we can answer that question in a better way. [pick up the third piggy and shake it gently] Oh my. This one seems to be empty! Wait… here is another note, just like the last three weeks! Let’s see what’s up! [open a note that has been taped to the piggy bank] “Dear children. I am so grateful for your help in spreading goodness, gratitude, and generosity all around! I know all the other piggy banks had things in them already. But this one needs help from your friends out there in the seats! I think they have something to put into the piggy bank. Will you go ask them? But remember, the dollars won’t stay in the jar for very long because we have plans for good use of it. We don’t keep things locked up all the time just filling our banks with more and more and more. We look at what we already have, and the fun is in figuring out how to give it away! Always yours, Jesus.” [invite the children to go collect cash money from the congregation… organize this as best works in your space] Wow! [shake the piggy bank (you might have someone drop a few coins in it, not just dollars, so it makes some noise)] Now we have enough to make some meaning! Hmmm… I can see we haven’t figured out what that “means” yet (hahaha)! Well, I have a page from a catalog right here, and we can pick out something to do with our Jesus Piggy Bank money. [use a catalog for an organization like Heifer International… adapt the next paragraph if you use something different - see the example PDF in your downloads] I think that we have enough money collected to make a gift to a family of a flock of baby chicks! Here is what it says, “Your flock of chickens gift donation helps provide a family in need with a starter flock of 10 to 50 chicks, along with the training that will empower them to turn your donation into a lifetime of opportunity. Each flock of chicks: 1) Provides eggs and protein for nourishment; 2) Boosts income through sales of extra eggs and offspring; 3) Ensures security for generations through Passing on the Gift.” Can you believe that what’s in this little piggy bank can do all that? Yes! And then we know what this [hold up the original dollar] “means.” What this means is that a family somewhere will have enough to eat, to make a better life, and it will last for a long, long, time through their children and their children. We can make a BIG difference even when we start small. We just have to take the time and make the effort, which is something God gives us every day. This week I invite you to see if someone wants to add coins or dollars to our piggy bank to help us buy more chickens for families who need them [let people know how they can contribute, especially to those online]. Every penny, every nickel, every quarter, every dollar helps… nothing is too small because when we put it all together, we have more goodness to give away. It will be so fun to send our love by sending chickens! Let’s pray a repeat-after-me prayer, and then we’ll go [instructions per usual for your church]. Dear Jesus… [children repeat, etc.] thank you for showing us… how to to share… thank you for showing us… how to to care… help us to know… that there is no doubt… the gifts that you give us… can never run out… there’s so much in store… that we’ll give it away… making sure there’s enough… for ALL every day… Amen… Responsive Reading Psalm 138 UMH 853   The Peace Leader: Just as our worth as humans is not dependent on the bottom line of our bank accounts, our relationships are not dependent upon the earning of favors and the limitations of “quid pro quo.” The peace of Christ has no limits, and we get more just by giving it. So may jar-fulls of peace be with you today. People: And also with you. Leader: You are invited to pass the “plethora of peace” among you, remembering to pass it to those joining us remotely. Scripture Luke 5:1-11 Sermon Be Careful What Blessings you Ask For Sermon Opener - Jesus Said: “Try Again” - Luke 5:1-11 Here is the good news for today from Luke 5:1-11. This is the Word of God! A word of great encouragement and hope. Hope is the unique signature of the Christian gospel. What makes a Christian a Christian is this inability to quit hoping. A new gift from God is at work on our behalf, at all times in all circumstances. The crowds had pressed Jesus right up to the edge of the water at the Sea of Galilee to hear the Word of God. There he came upon three defeated men. They had fished all night and had only an empty boat to show for their efforts. They had worked hard but had failed. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a children’s book. It’s one of my favorite books of theology. It’s about a little boy for whom nothing goes right. The story opens with these words: "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day… I think I’ll move to Australia. In the car pool Mrs. Gibson let Becky have a seat by the window. Audrey and Elliott got seats by the window, too. I said I was being smushed. I said, if I didn’t get a seat by the window, I’m going to be carsick and throw up. No one ever answered. I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And, that’s just the way it turned out. That night the little fellow said, “It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. My mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia.” Life does not stand still. There isn’t a once-for-all experience. It was Winston Churchill who said, “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.” There are going to be bad days. Sometimes we are going to fall on our respective faces. These failures don’t have to be endings. They can be the avenue to experience God’s grace more widely and more deeply. Jesus of Nazareth gets into the boat with the three defeated men… Alexander was convinced the he was having a bad day, and that he was pretty unlucky. Just as Alexander felt unlucky in church, I think that many of us feel unlucky in our faith. We are convinced that no one wants to come to church anymore – the church is in decline, Christianity is dead. So it is interesting that one of the early lessons of Jesus in the book of Luke – Jesus teaches the disciples about God’s gift of abundance. The bible has a long history of abundance stories – the tradition goes all the way back to Elijah. In the midst of a famine, Elijah goes to a woman’s house and asks her to feed him. She explains that she is about to eat her last meal before starving. She feeds Elijah and miraculously has enough corn meal to make food for two weeks. And life gets better. Elijah assures her to always believe that God will provide. Luke apparently loves abundance stories, he tells them throughout the gospel, but also in the book of Acts. According to Luke, when the church was founded it grew by leaps and bounds – it was a gift of abundance. In our scripture today Luke tells a story of abundance. I always look forward to hearing about the time when Jesus needed a boat to speak to the people. The fishermen give him their boat, when Jesus is done, he asks them how fishing is going. And they report that things are not going well. They have been out all night and nothing. Jesus suggests that maybe they should change up some things, maybe fish in the day, put the nets out on a different side. They don’t believe anything will happen, but they still listen. And low and behold – they catch so much fish that there is no room for the people in the boat. All of their boats are filled. Can you imagine this scene 2000 years ago, when they would have needed to get rid of all of that fish as soon as possible – or it would start to stink everywhere. I would imagine that they were knocking on neighbors doors far and wide giving away fish so that it did not go to waste. At least if that story happened today – we have an organized way to deal with it. We even have refrigerators to store the fish and cars to drive it to neighbors far away. We have a church, that is equipped to deal with abundance. And yet we still need to be reminded of God’s abundance amongst us. The church is not unlucky because we have Jesus. When we hear this story with modern ears – it is easy for us to get misled. We think this story is talking about the disciples and what they did to catch fish. We think that God’s abundance is about techinique, we think that abundance is something that we create. About doing something different. We have to remember that abundance is from God, not our efforts. Remember Luke’s story is about how the spirit was at work in the presence of Jesus. The characters around Jesus are inconsequential to the story. In this sstory, Jesus even gives the fishermen something to do. He tells them to recast their nets in a different place, But in reality, it is God who does all of the work. Everyone benefits. This story is not just about abundance, it is about what we do in response to abundance. It is the story about how Peter and the other fishermen flowed from adoration, to confession to commitment. They were willing to listen to Jesus even when it didn’t make sense. And their lives were changed forever. They became disciples. Notice how Peter recognized the work of the spirit. He know that waters, and he knew that there was nothing there. And yet through god’s actions that fish were plentiful. When he recognizes the work of God, he pauses and pays his respect. He says that words that many prophets before his have said – Lord I am not worthy of this attention because I am a sinner. That is his confession. I’m Just a Simple Housewife Once upon a time, in the late 60’s a new pastor came to a parish. Up until his arrival, the parish had pretty much limped along with the support of those folks who had grown up in the flourishing parishes of the pre-Vatican II days. They thought of the parish as a place where they belonged. However, there was little encouragement from the priests of the parish to respond to the challenges of the Council. The new pastor, though by no means a young man, still was enthusiastic about the ideas of the council. He was disappointed that so few of the parishioners showed any concern about the issues discussed at the council and that many of them were not even receptive to the new ideas. So he gathered together a group of men and women that seemed interested in some of his ideas and began holding weekly small group discussions with them. This was the time when most wives were not working so eventually a woman became the leading force of the group. Eventually, the pastor asked her to head up a program that would be offered to the entire parish. At first she demurred. "I’m just a simple housewife," she said. "I couldn’t organize anything. And I don’t know if the other members of our group would want me to do this or even help me do it." But the pastor persisted in his request, telling her she could do it. All she had to do was try and the others would follow her. And sure enough, she did what he expected she would do, She threw herself into organizing a program, appointing people to the various tasks necessary to make the program a success and eventually had developed an ongoing adult religious education program for the community. No one was more surprised at how successful the program was than the woman herself . No one was more confident that it would be successful than the pastor. Fr. Arthur M. Greeley _______________________ God works with ordinary people in ordinary situations. Some of the greatest miracles happen in the course of our lives. But it takes hindsight for us to even see it. We were worried about something and God handled it, we thought that there wouldn’t be enough and God provided, we were in a culture of scarcity- and some how we survived. We never even realized what was happening, until after it happened. Just like Jesus kept the disciples busy during the process, life keeps us busy. But we didn’t do anything special – God did all of he hard work. Catching or Getting Caught? As a boy I was never good at catching things, except a cold now and then. I tried to catch a pony to ride and failed. The butterfly trip was a disaster. I tried catching frogs but didn't try too hard because I didn't know what I would do with them once I caught them. Fish weren't my favorite for eating, so catching them was no treat, because I knew it implied that I would eat them with delight rather than gagging on them, which I always did. I never was good at catching things. A major church denomination has as its theme, "Catch the Spirit." As usual, the church got it backward. We are not to set our sights at catching or getting, but allowing ourselves to be caught. We are invited to be caught by a spirit that helps us make a giving instead of a living. The greatest spiritual arrogance is seen in the language of "catching." People are in search of God and will write endless numbers of books telling one how to find God. The truth of the gospel is that we cannot find God, but there are places we can go and things we can do where God can find us! The joy in Christian living is not in the catching but in the vulnerability of being caught by the one who made us in the first place. Catch the spirit? No! You can't. Be caught by the spirit? Of course! Life begins there. Richard A. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World, CSS Publishing Company _____________________ The Greek word catch means to hold onto and to keep alive. It is the spirit that catches us. But we have to realize that it is there. Fishermen have a reputation for telling big fish stories about the catch of their lives. About the big one. Humor: Fishermen It's like a man who had spent a fruitless day fishing. In desperation he picked out three fat fish at the local market. "Before you wrap them," he said to the clerk, "toss them to me, one by one. That way I'll be able to tell my wife I caught them and I'll be speaking the truth." Fishermen must be all alike. Someone has said that the only thing that casts doubt on the miracles of Jesus is that they were all witnessed by fishermen. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com _________________ Luke tells us this fish story to give us some hope in a culture of scarcity. He wants us to hear the story of the gift of abundance – to get us to listen. In the story, Jesus tells these fishermen that they will have to same success in fishing for people. Doubters – who see nothing in life but scarcity. The disciples were so committed to the good news of abundance – they went out and spread it to the whole world. If Jesus could make a group of motely fishermen successful beyond their wildest dreams – imagine what he can do for us – and we have cars, refirgerators- and most importantly we have the church. How can we teach about the gift of abundance in a world of scarcity? What is it that we need to do? What techniques do we need to learn? Maybe we just need to be reminded that abundance is a gift from God. All of the gospels tell the story of Jesus calling his disciples. And in most versions Jesus says come follow me. In Luke’s story – jesus doesn’t extend the invitation – Peter realizes for himself. He witnesses the presence of God and knows that he needs to be a part of it. When God calls us, God gives us a task, God provides the resources. God calls us to do our part to be a part of a larger story. There is always other things going on that we are a part of. Things just flow and they fall into place. When God Calls Andrew Young is known to many of us for his civil rights leadership and for his service as ambassador to the United Nations, as a member of Congress, as mayor of Atlanta, and as an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Several years ago he wrote his spiritual memoirs, entitling them A Way Out of No Way, based on the title of an old African-American spiritual. Andrew Young captures something of the experience of those first disciples of Jesus, when he writes in his memoirs: I have found that when God calls anyone to a task, there is usually a larger plan of which any one person is only a small but significant part. The way is already prepared. There are problems and challenges to be faced, but these are often there to help us grow stronger. . . . I have come to understand that all of these obstacles are but a part of the divine process. Just as weightlifters get stronger by increasing the weight and strain on their muscles through practice and repetition, so spiritual strengthening comes as we learn to follow the plan of God and spiritually discern the hand of God guiding our lives. When the Lord calls any of us to a task, there is usually a moment in which everything seems to work itself out. Joel D. Kline, God’s Surprising Call ______________________ God’s abundance is not always about boats overflowing with fish, or having the largest church in town. It is about leaving room for God in the midst of our doubts. It is about allowing God to speak in the situation. Make Room for God Many years ago Oswald Chambers said to a group of students in a college chapel service: We have to learn to make room for God -- to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come as he chooses. Expect him to come, but do not expect him only in a certain way. At any moment he may break in. Always be in a state of expectancy, and leave room for God to come as he likes. Life is anything but predictable! Human nature is not fixed and settled. We live under hope. That hope is rested in God, not the situation. James T. Garrett, God's Gift, CSS Publishing Company _______________________ Let us pray for the spirit to move, and for us to be faithful enough to recognize God’s presence when we see it. Amen. Hymn Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise UMH 103 Prayers of the People Leader: In the economy of Jesus, we find abundance in the most unlikely places. We ask for God’s guidance to discern when we need to change direction or try things differently. We find abundant meaning in the midst of life’s uncertainties when we look to Jesu Each week of this series we will be focusing on naming gifts of abundance we have received in the week, instances where we have seen the abundance of Christ at work in the world, and we will ask for the wisdom and strength to change so that abundance is more available to all. There are notecards in the pews/seats and, if you wish to do so, you are invited in the pause between these petitions to write your observations and we will add them to the six stone jars as a sign of thanksgiving and commitment. In this pause, O God, we ponder the many gifts you have given us. Our gratitude seems never enough for the plenty you provide. We call to mind the gifts of creation, of relationships, of sustenance. [pause] In this pause, Christ Jesus, we ponder the ways your love is still at work in the world. Our awe and wonder at the goodness of others is profound. We call to mind acts of kindness, generosity, and selflessness. [pause] In this pause, Holy Spirit, we come asking you for strength. The temptation to live by the economics of not-enough is so strong in us. We ask for revelation in our thinking and doing, so that we might live with meaning in the house. [pause] Loving God, Christ Jesus, Holy Spirit, we are yours. We bring to you now the concerns of our day, of our communities, knowing that already you are present, already you are working to bring about comfort and healing. Today we pray for…. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment (consider using CH #342, Tu Has Venido a la Orilla in Spanish and/or English as an offertory. Perhaps a soloist? Your choir? Or the congregation, singing in Spanish and/or English) Appearing in Matthew and Mark as well as in Luke, the story of Jesus appearing in Peter’s life may well be known to many of us. Peter had caught no fish despite being out all night. Jesus appeared, asked to use Peter’s boat as his speaking platform, and then encouraged Peter to throw out his nets one more time. Peter’s response was to acknowledge he was a sinful man. Then Jesus pointed the way to a whole new life, and the fishermen brought their boats to the shore and left everything they knew in order to follow Jesus. Most of us have not given up our entire life’s work in order to follow Jesus. Have you? In my own life, ________________ (offer one short story of what you’ve given – or given up – in order to be a follower of Jesus). And I remember _____________ (offer a short description of someone you’ve known who made a life change in order to follow Jesus). Today, I invite you to call to mind your own decision to follow Jesus as you share in our morning offering. Does your giving reflect your identity as a disciple/Disciple? How might this story from Luke inspire you to be more intentional about what you give as a Jesus-follower? Prayer of Thanksgiving God of all good gifts, Thank you for the ways you provide for each and for all your beloved daughters and sons. We rejoice in our capacity to join you in helping provide for sisters and brothers who are in need. Please accept these gifts. Help us put them to full use. Inspire us to dig deep into our resources to continue building up your Realm on earth, so every person will experience the abundant life you intend for each and for all. AMEN Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook The jars are full in the Kin-dom of God. The house is full of the meaning we need and the meaning we are called to offer others. We are transformed in the economy of Jesus, bearing the witness of dividends of grace. We have heard the call to invest our interest in the transformation of our communities. And so we go, doing likewise in the world, with the help of God, the guidance of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Now and forever. Amen. Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Fellow children of God: Go forth, recognizing God’s grace on your journey. Go forth, discerning the Spirit’s calling in your life. Go forth, identifying the Christ as your guide. In this season of light, experience the steadfast love of God and sing the ways of our merciful Creator. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Michelle Torigan) Additional illustrations Many years ago the great explorer, Sir Francis Drake, was attempting to recruit a number of young men for an upcoming exploration. He gathered them around and told the group that if they came with him they would see some of the most marvelous things their eyes could ever behold. Sandy white beaches, juicy fruits, foreign peoples, priceless treasures, and gorgeous landscapes. And he told them that this wild adventure could be theirs if they came with him. Not one of them enlisted for the journey. The next day a different group came out. Drake told them that if they came with him they would encounter storms that would terrify them into tears. Tiger winds would hammer them and blow them off course for months. Water would frequently be scarce. At times they will be so thirsty that their very souls would cry out for simply one drop of water. In short, danger would always be their constant companion. Drake concluded by declaring that if they could handle these things, the joys of exploration would exceed their wildest dreams. Every single one of them in the group joined Sir Francis Drake that day, some did not even go home to say goodbye to their families, they just boarded the boat eager for the journey. What made the difference in these two groups? Why did the first group turn down the mission and the second jump at the chance? Was the second group different and more adventurous than the first? The answer is: No. It is not the men who had changed; it was the message. The first spoke of rewards; the second spoke of challenges. The first offered comfort; the second promised suffering. The first tempted them with things; the second seduced them with an experience unlike any other. I like to think that Sir Francis Drake discovered what Jesus knew all too well. And that is this: The paths that are offered to us must promise to shape us, build our character, change our world view, if they are to have any appeal to us at all. If we are presented with a challenge that will change, we will be eager for the journey. What is it about Jesus' message that made the disciples eager for the journey that was presented to them? 1. Jesus offered them a change. 2. The mission promised to be a challenge. 3. And their lives would never be the same. The Impala Problem One of the few creatures on earth that can out-jump Michael Jordon is the Impala. This is an African deer with a supercharged spring. It has a vertical leap of over 10 feet and can broadjump over 30 feet. You would think that the zoos of the world would find it impossible to keep such an animal enclosed. Not so! It's rather easy. Because the experts discovered something about the Impala. It will not jump unless it can see where it is going to land. Therefore, a solid wall even 6 feet tall is a sufficient enclosure. Lots of Christians have the Impala problem. They won't take a leap in faith unless they have all the answers in advance about where the leap will take them. But God is looking for some bold believers who, even in the face of the unknown, will leap when the Spirit says leap, will fly when the Spirit says fly, will launch when the Spirit says launch, all to the glory of the Lord. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ____________________________________________ Follow Me There was a field covered with freshly fallen snow. A father and a son enter the field. As they walk across the field, you notice that the father pays no particular attention to where he is going, but his son, on the other hand, follows directly behind, making a special effort to step in his father’s footprints. After the two have crossed the field, you notice that there is only one set of tracks visible in the field, although two had walked across it. The Christian life is that way. In our daily walk we ought to be following Christ's example. Whether in times of suffering, sorrow or need, whether in times of health, joy, or abundance--if someone were to observe the snow-covered fields of your life, would there be one set of tracks, those of Christ? Or would there be two sets, one belonging to Christ and the other distinctly yours? Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993, p.53. Adapted Little Transmitters In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe "Pioneer 10." Its main mission was to reach Jupiter and send back information about that planet. It was a bold plan because at that time no satellite had gone beyond Mars. Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and so much more. It swung past Jupiter in November, 1973, then passed Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. By 1997, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. Despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to earth. The most remarkable thing was that those signals were powered by an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light. Not even the most optimistic scientist could have ever imagined what that little 8-watt transmitter could do. So it is when you and I offer ourselves to God in faithful obedience. It’s just incredible what God can do through little 8-watt transmitters like me and you, when we’re turned on for him. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com It Is Darkest before the Dawn George Frederick Handel was dogged with misfortune. He had debt upon debt, despair upon despair. He had a cerebral hemorrhage and was paralyzed on his right side. For four years he could neither walk nor write. The doctors gave up on him. He wrote several operas, but again he fell in debt. At age 60 he thought his life was finished. Then he was challenged by a friend to write a sacred oratorio. He read the Scriptures and decided to work on the Messiah. For 24 days, without eating a crumb, he worked fanatically to produce the Messiah, which many today consider the greatest oratorio ever written. The prospects of something great happening can look grim. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. Jesus asked him to let down his nets for a catch. It seemed foolish to do so, because Peter knew there were no fish to catch. "But at your word," he said, "I will let down the nets" (v. 5). John R. Brokhoff, Preaching the Miracles, CSS Publishing Company. Adapted. _______________ Hooked for Life If fishing is one of your passions, you will love our scripture lesson for today. Though I prefer hunting to fishing, I have a soft spot in my heart for fishing because of a childhood experience. I was about 10 or 11 years old. One Wednesday afternoon Papa took me with him to a nearby pond to do a little fishing. I was just learning to use a rod and reel. Papa caught a little bass weighing about half a pound. Then he had to leave for prayer meeting. He asked me if I wanted to stay a bit longer and make a few casts. Of course I did. I remember to this day the top-water plug I was using. I tossed it over near some reeds and let it lie still for a few seconds. Then I just twitched it a couple of times. Then something exploded all over that plug, like an NFL linebacker demolishing a quarterback. I jerked hard and then hung on for dear life. I don’t know how long I fought that fish. Once or twice I thought it was going to pull me into the water. When I finally got him to the edge of the pond, I grabbed him by the gills and ran home. I couldn’t wait for Papa to return from prayer meeting and see my three and a half pound bass. Mama took a picture of us, Papa holding that puny little fish he caught beside my monster of the deep. I can show you the picture at home as living proof. Of course, I was hooked for life. Luke’s fish story involved a lot more fish than mine. Bill Bouknight, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com For What Are We Fishing? The Synoptic accounts of this story include the miraculous catch. Kalas treats the Lukan passage in the following way: If this is where the story ended [ i.e. with the miraculous catch], it would be an interesting but rather inconsequential little miracle. It might feed our desire for a gospel of success in business and good grades in school, but it would hardly be worthy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fortunately, Simon Peter saw more than just the miracle. He was captured by the Lord behind the miracle. Thus, in-stead of responding with the bravado of a winner, he pleaded for forgiveness. Falling at Jesus’ knees, he begged, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord." (Luke 5:8) At first glance, that may seem an unlikely reaction to a moment of success. Sometimes, however, it is the experience of achievement which forces us to see how superficial our victories are. Andre Thornton, star home-run hitter with the Cleveland Indians and an exemplary Christian, has predicted that there may be a very real religious awakening among athletes as a result of the exorbitant salaries so many are now receiving. He feels that when they find themselves suddenly so financially secure they will realize how little their wealth really means, and will thus be driven to look for deeper values. The truth is, a person can have full nets but still have an empty life. After you’ve sold the fish in the market and have put a share of the money in the bank, you may still feel an emptiness deeper than empty nets and a yearning more poignant than the desire for economic security. J. Ellsworth Kalas, Reading the Signs, From Empty Nets to Full Lives, CSS Publishing Company It Takes Work When talking about evangelism in one church I served, a member answered, "They know where we are. We advertise our worship times in the yellow pages and when the doors are unlocked." He expected God to make any new members jump through those open doors. That does happen at times. It is much more likely that a large catch of fish – or of new members – will take a lot of work by those who are already in the boat – those who are already members of the church. It might be a little crude, but I think that this section indicates that when we respond to Jesus' word, we are likely to have to work our butts off. The work will be more than one person (or one pastor) -- or even one crew can handle. Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes _______________________________________ Catching Men "And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.' " (v. 10) So often we read these words of Jesus and wonder why we do not see this taking place in our churches. A few years ago, Dr. Win Arn did a survey of 1,000 congregations. The answers that he received might help us better understand the problem. He asked both the members and pastors of these churches what they thought the purpose of their church really was. Dr. Arn reports that 89 percent of the people in those churches said that the purpose of their church was to take care of the needs of the members. The remaining eleven percent believed that the purpose of the church was to reach the world with the gospel. Contrast this with the pastors. Ninety percent of the pastors said that the purpose of their church was to reach the world for Christ while the remaining ten percent of pastors in those churches agreed with the laity that the purpose of the church is to take care of the needs of the members of the church. Is it any wonder why there is conflict in our churches today? The great Renaissance scholar Erasmus once told a very helpful mythical story. It seems that after Jesus returned to heaven the angels gathered around him. He told them about how on earth he had performed many miracles and how he spent time teaching the many who would come to him. He told them about his death, burial, and resurrection. He told them about his ascension to heaven. Then Michael the Archangel asked, "But Lord, what happens now?" Jesus answered by telling them that he had spent three years training his disciples to carry out his plan to reach the world with the gospel. He said, "I have left behind eleven faithful men who will declare my message and express my love. These faithful men will build my church." Then Michael asked: "What if these men fail? What then?" Then Jesus thought for a moment and said, "I have no other plan." Source: Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 82. Source: Tony Campolo, Who Switched the Price Tags (Dallas: Word Publishing), p. 170. " John R. Steward, Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, CSS Publishing three themes of Luke at this point • Jesus is popular, gathering witnesses in Galilee (until turning point of 9:50, when he heads to Jerusalem) • Jesus is a teacher (about abundance of the Kingdom of God) • Response is repentance • • sinner” - Peter never confesses to a specific sin, but this could be a cultural designation in which to the Jewish elite, sinners were those who did not attend worship or participate in the temple sacrifices. This would have included many of the poor living far from Jerusalem (which Peter might have been one of). Gonzalez • Only after his recognition that he is in the presence of the “Lord”/ the Holy that Simon is referred to as Simon Peter- the one who will later be commended for his declaration of Jesus as Messiah abunndance and Repentance are important themes. Jesus brought abundance, not to the entrenched powers or religious leaders, but to those who were in need of repentance.. He called and ate with a tax collector, Levi. He allowed a sinful woman to ‘waste’ oil on him. He tells the parable of the soil which bears great abundance. He heals a demon-possessed man in Gerasene. He feeds 5000. the story of the church is reflected to some degree in this story itself. When Jesus calls, Peter is hesitant and thinks that what Jesus asks of him is both unnecessary and too demanding. Nevertheless, Peter responds, and he discovers that life has a surprise in store for him. By doing what Jesus asks him to do, he experiences an epiphany of God.” (Arland Hultgren, Working Preacher)

God is Calling

June 2, 2024 1 Samuel 3:1-20 2nd Sunday After Pentecost Year B God is Calling Prelude Greeting Call to Worship The psalmist declares, “Lord, you have searched me and known me.” Will you open yourselves to be searched by God? Search us, O God, and know our hearts. God searches you, knows you, and loves you, and invites you to search out God in return. Will you seek the heart of God? We will search you, O God, to know your heart. The Triune God who creates all and knows all is revealed in running rivers and fluttering butterflies, in warm sunshine and the smell of the earth. Will you pay attention? We will pay attention, O God, to your fingerprint of love on all of creation. Open our hearts today to encounter your love, holiness, and glory that create and sustain all that was, is, and will be. We come today to enter the dance of the Trinity, the all-knowing Creator and Sustainer of life. (Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, February 2024.) Song Open my Eyes that I May See UMH 454 A Sermon for all Ages how children your headphones and ask, Why do people use headphones? One reason people use headphones is to hear something better. If it’s noisy around you, you can put your headphones in and hear what you’re listening to. That’s kind of what we need to do if we want to hear God speaking to us. In the Bible, there was a little boy named Samuel. He lived at the Tabernacle serving Eli the priest. One night, God called to Samuel. “Samuel,” God said. But Samuel didn’t know it was God calling him. He thought it was the priest, Eli. So, he got up and went to Eli’s room. But Eli said he didn’t call him, so he sent Samuel back to bed. God called Samuel two more times, and Samuel kept thinking it was Eli calling him. Finally, Eli figured out that God was calling Samuel. He told Samuel that the next time God called him, Samuel should say… (Read 1 Samuel 3:9.) “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” God did call Samuel again and when Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening,” God talked to him! In fact, God talked to Samuel a lot after that. But he had to learn to listen to God’s voice first. It’s the same in our lives. If we want God to speak to us, we have to listen for Him. We might not hear a voice as Samuel did, but we’ll hear God speaking in our minds and in our hearts. What do you think are some ways we can listen for God’s voice? We can read the Bible and pray and pay attention in church. God speaks to us through all of those things. And when we read the Bible or pray or pay attention in church, it’s like we’re putting our headphones in to listen to God. (Ministry to Children, Stephen Wilson) Responsive Reading Psalm 139. UMH 854 Scripture. 1 Samuel 3:1-20 Sermon. God is Calling The first event that I attended at General Conference was a briefing that was held by The national Women of Faith group, they wanted to encourage the women delegates to pay attention to legislation that affected women. They started out with the general secretaries giving an encouraging and inspiring speech. One of them asks the crowd to think of the women in their lives that inspired them and encouraged them in life. Who was it that mentored you and told you that you were important, the general secretary asks, as the recognizes me and walks toward me to answer the question in the mike. I look at her and shake my head, and say nobody, I cannot think of anyone who ever encouraged me in life. Now of course, there are many people in my life who encouraged me, mentored me, and helped to open doors for me. But at that moment, I had been up the night before packing, I had to catch a ride at 6am in the morning catch a 9 am flight, figure out how to get to my hotel and it was 3 in the afternoon and my day had just begun. Under different circumstances, I would have been happy to answer her question and name all of the important people in my life, but at that moment, I was just too tired and exhausted to even think about the answer to her question. Unfortunately, it happens a lot in life, when there are things going on in life, but because of the circumstances, we are not able to process the information that is given to us. Our scripture for this morning is a story which clearly demonstrates how God is always speaking to us – but we are not able to listen. The passage starts out by saying this this story takes place at a time when the Lord’s word was rare and visions were not widely known. It was a time of corruption, when the leaders were more concerned about lining their own pockets, then helping the people around them. It wasn’t that God’s presence was not around, but the religious leaders had forgotten about their personal relationship with God. In the midst of all of this chaos and confusion, a young mother had put all of her trust in God. She prayed for a son, when he was born she gave him to the temple priest to raise and to mentor. Even though his own sons had turned out to be very bad individuals, she trusted God to take care of her son. One night her son Samuel hears a voice calling him in the night, - it takes his mentor Eli to recognize the God does indeed still care about this world and God still speaks with a voice of justice, peace and healing. Samuel goes on to become a very well respected priest and prophet for the nation, who does a lot of good for his community. But it was the night that he heard God’s voice – that God became real to him. When he was finally able to listen to God, he understood his pathways and purpose for life. He understood his calling. He say how God was leading his life forward. Unfortunately for most of us – when we think about God, when we think about our calling, about our purpose. God is far more willing to speak, then we are to listen. Over 80 years ago, Jed Harris was a successful producer of plays. One of his successful works was the production of Thornton Wilder’s play, “Our Town.” In the middle of a lengthy season mixed with the intense pressure of many details, Harris began to lose his sense of hearing. He could not even hear what other people close to him were saying and so he was missing crucial details during conversations. As a result, Jed Harris decided to pay a visit to a renowned audiologist who listened attentively as the producer narrated the sad account of his declining ability to hear. After a thorough examination of Harris’ ears, the hearing specialist drew out from his vest an expensive gold-coated pocket watch and placed it against the producer’s ear. “Do you hear this watch ticking?” the audiologist asked. “Absolutely,” the producer responded. The audiologist moved farther away and held the watch up to his office door. Harris focused and remarked, “Yea, it is quite audible.” The physician then walked into the next room and asked, “how about now?” “It’s still audible,” Harris replied. The specialist stalked back into the office and returned the watch to his vest. “This phenomenon is quite commonplace,” he said, “especially among successful individuals. Your hearing is excellent Mr. Harris. You’ve simply quit listening.” (1) God speaks to us all of the time, in so many different ways. The most important lesson of those story is to listen for God to speak to you. This story also tells us that we have to have ears that listen, but we also need a heart that has faith and hands that are obedient. When God calls our name, we have to be prepared to respond. If you know who Eydie Gorme is, you’ll know she is a wonderful singer - what we might call a torch singer. On a television talk show a few years ago, Eydie Gorme told some things about how her career got started. Her inspiration and idol was Judy Garland. So Eydie Gorme studied and tried to copy everything that Judy Garland did - the sound of the voice, the style, the mannerisms. Eydie Gorme’s first big break came at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, where she played to packed houses, and received rave reviews. Her next booking was not so elegant. It was somewhere around Pittsburgh in a not-so-classy nightclub - the kind with beer signs flashing in the windows and a pool table in the back. If that were not a come-down enough, there was a terrible blizzard on her opening night and most people, who might have been there, stayed home. Her second night the weather was even worse. She was there, but there was no audience. The third night she didn’t go either. The owner of the nightclub telephoned her and said, "I pay you to sing, and if you don’t sing you don’t get paid." It made no difference that nobody else had shown up either. She needed the job, so on the fourth night she bribed a taxi driver to get her there through the snow. Besides her there was just the manager, the guy who worked the lights, and part of the band. Some of the players didn’t make it either. When it was time for her to sing, the place was still empty, but the house lights were dimmed, the stage lights came on, she cued the band to play her opening music and she began to sing - to an empty house. She said that she told herself, "If I can sing to a packed house at the Waldorf Astoria, I can sing to an empty house here." Part way through the first song the door opened and in the glow of the lights from outdoors she saw the silhouettes of five people who came in and sat at a table in the middle of the room. So she began to sing to those five people. And again she said to herself that she could sing to these five people as she would sing if this was the largest audience Carnegie Hall ever turned out. She said she sang that night with a richness and a passion and an energy that was as good or better than she had ever sung in her life - to those five strangers. She finished her set, and the spotlight went off and the house lights came on, and she looked out at those five people who had been her audience. Four of them she didn’t recognize, but the one in the middle was Judy Garland, who surely had no idea of the power and influence and inspiration she had been in the life of an aspiring young singer named Eydie Gorme.1 God calls us through one another. God leads us through people who sometimes serve as angels unaware, by simply going about doing ordinary things but with the extraordinary presence of God implicit in what they do. How wonderful that God is not off somewhere ignoring us, but calls us in the common events of every day. That call comes to us in the subtle urgings we glean from things we read or see, in the beauty and wonder of creation. It comes in the simple words and lives of people who point beyond themselves to show us the way to God as John did for his disciples. What a wonderful and awesome concept it is that if we listen God can call us to our own destiny through common people like ourselves, and by that same token can call others through us. We’ve all had the experience of being put on hold. Perhaps that is where we have put the call of God in our own lives. Old Eli’s advice to his young servant Samuel is good advice for us all, to open the communication lines and listen, and say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." 1. With appreciation to Reverend Robert Morley who brought this story to my attention. CSS Publishing Co., Inc., Why Don't You Send Somebody?, by Frederick C. Edwards Yes, we are images for one another. We are influenced by people who may never know it, and others of whom we have no idea may in turn be patterning their life in some small way upon us. Think of those who become a part of you. Think of those who awakened your ideas, and quickened your spirit and encouraged and inspired you. Sometimes we are called to be the Judy Garlands of the world, sometimes we are called to be Eydie Gome. Sometimes in life we are called to be the Eli’s of the world leading the way and encouraging others, sometimes we are called to be the Samuel’s of the world – listening to God’s call. In all that we do in life we are called to have a faithful heart, a listening ear, and an obedient hand. I can’t stress enough how important it is for us to listen for God’s voice in our everyday lives. God leads us, we just have to be able to listen. I may have given this challenge under different circumstances before, but I think that it fits again today. I have don’t this challenge myself a few times over my years of preaching, but I think it is good to do it again. It is a challenge to engage in prayer – to listen for God’s call to us and to watch it unfold in our lives. John Ortberg is a pastor, who used to work for Bill Hybels at Willow Creek Church, he is now a Presbyterian pastor – his wife is also a pastor. She tells one of my favorite stories. Nancy Ortberg tells of going out to dinner with a man named Doug Cole in Washington D. C. years ago. Doug told her about a 30-year old insurance executive he met at a party. Doug learned that this young man, Bob, was a new Christian. Intrigued, he asked how things were going. Have you found a church? He asked. Yes, Bob said. Have you found a Bible Study? Yes, I have one of those too. Finally Doug asked, How about your relationship with God in prayer? Bob didn’t have much going on there, and said that he didn’t know much about that. So Doug laid out a challenge for him: to pick something to pray over every day for the next six months. The prayers could be elaborate or simple, structured or free form, listening to or speaking to God, whatever. But Bob must pray at least briefly every day. “If at the end of six months God has not done something truly significant,” Doug told him, “I will then pay you $500.” “Hmm,” Nancy told Doug, “That doesn’t sound very biblical.” “No, but I do it all of the time,” Doug answered her. Bob accepted the challenge, but didn’t know what to pray for. Bob and his wife lived in DC. What with the city’s international flavor, they chose a different land to pray for every day. So along those lines, Bob decided to pray daily for Kenya. Not much happened for four or five months. The prayer experiment was yielding little. Then one night he sat next to a woman at a dinner party. She was from Kenya. She ran an orphanage. Bob related that he felt as though ice water was suddenly running through his veins. He had been fantasizing about how to spend the $500 Doug had promised him, but suddenly he had a strong image of a wad of $500 sprouting wings and flying away. He asked for details about the orphanage and listened to her answers for a full intense hour. She told Bob that no one had ever shown such interest. Would he consider flying to Kenya to see it first hand? To make a long story short, Bob ended up providing for the care of those Kenyan children and seeing to the supplying of that orphanage. He made such a splash that the President of Kenya invited him to his palace. There Bob advocated for prisoners of conscience in that country. Later those prisoners were released. The US Secretary of State called Bob and asked him how he did it. The United States government had been unsuccessfully seeking their freedom for some time. It was no mystery to Bob how it came about. God had guided him to pray for Kenya and wonderful things were happening. (6) If you and I were truly listening to God, we would see wonderful things happen in our lives too. If you could think of one thing to pray for six months, what would it be? Without giving it much thought, the thing that comes to mind is probably the area that God is calling you to serve. My challenge is to actually pray that prayer for the next six months and watch how God’s calling unfolds in your life. How is God calling you? Who are the people that encouraged and influenced you in that call? Who are the people that you are influencing, just by being faithful to God? This is the time when God’s words are an every day occurrence and God’s visions are widely known. Listen for God to call your name. Amen. Song. 451. Be Thou My Vision. UMH 451 Prayer A Prayer of Thanksgiving (Ps. 139) God, we cannot escape your love. We can find no place to hide. You search us out wherever we may be. Your love is like a mother’s blanket, protecting us wherever we go. Your love shields us from evil. We may travel to the moon or to the depths of the ocean: your love is there. We may think ourselves to greater levels of sophistication: your love is there. We may fall in the pits of sin: your love is there. Thank you, for steadfast mercy. Thank you for being there, wherever we may be. Lord, on this communion Sunday we come to you to cleanse our hearts and to lay our concerns at your altar. We pray that you will listen to our concerns. Today we pray for conditions, for situations in the world and in our community, we pray for the people in our hearts. We ask for your healing touch upon all that we pray about now. (a moment of silent prayer) Written in part by John H. Danner in Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2012), 277. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Prayer of Dedication Provider God, we give you thanks for all your good gifts to us: for work and rest, for creativity and play, for this community in which to practice our faith together. Take these offerings that we bring today and use them to meet the needs of those around us. May our work and witness reflect our beliefs in your compassionate care for us and for all you have created. In Christ name we pray. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Ellen William Hensle) Communion Hard hearts have a way of angering Jesus, as we hear in Mark’s Gospel. Just the reverse is recognized when we come to a time of sharing in this simple meal. This communion time is an opportunity to welcome one and all to a feast “in remembrance” of Jesus. He is the host. We are all invited to participate, recognizing the table is large enough for all who are eager to be in fellowship and communion with Jesus. So come, repentant people. Offer your short-comings and your brokenness to the One who is able to forgive and heal. Offer your hard-heartedness to the One who is able to soften our spirits. Offer your yearning for abundant Life to the One who tasted death and was raised up to new life. Come to share in this feast with others who are broken, hard-hearted, full of desire for life. Come, for the table is prepared, and you are welcome. Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook As we prepare to leave this place, turn to a neighbor or, if you are at home, look in a mirror. Now, look into the eyes of the person in front of you and say, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” May this truth be a blessing to you this week: the Creator who knows you better than you know yourself fearfully and wonderfully made you just as you are. Let us go now to speak truth, share love, and recognize the Creator’s fingerprint in all of creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, February 2024. Community Time. – Joys and Concerns Charge and Benediction As you go out from this place, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Make time to savor God’s creation, to rest from work and worry, and to bask in the goodness of all God’s gifts to us. Remember that the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit follow you wherever you go. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Ellen William Hensle)