In the Spirit of the Lord

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington Romans 8:1-11 In the Spirit of the Lord 7th Sunday After Pentecost Year A Prelude Welcome Call to Worship One: The Word is a lamp and a light. The word illuminates our life. Many: We welcome The Word with praise and thanksgiving. One: The Word comes from the mouth of God and accomplishes its purpose. Many: We hear The Word that loves and embraces, challenges and convicts, renews and restores. One: The Word is life, offers a future with hope, and creates peace in the midst of the storm. Many: We receive The Word among us with rejoicing. We worship The Word in spirit and in truth! (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Invocation Creator, your presence among us illuminates our lives. Make us fertile soil, receptive to the seeds planted by your word. Nourish us with Living Water and grow us through the energy of your empowered and healing rays of sunshine. Let us encounter you afresh as we gather in community. May our worship show our love for you and each other. Make your presence known to us and through us for your glory. Amen (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Rev. Dr. Cheryl Lindsay) Song Spirit of the Living God UMH 393 Children’s Sermon By Lois Parker Edstrom Person presenting the lesson may want to sit on a stool demonstrating a “time-out.” Have you ever done something you shouldn’t have done and been asked by your mom or dad to stand in a corner or sit on a stool and think about what you have done? It is not fun to have a time-out. While you are sitting on that stool you may think of all the other things you would rather be doing – playing with your friends, riding your bike, or reading a book. But, when we make bad choices we must learn about consequences (the cost of our bad choices). The Bible tells us that the Spirit of Christ Jesus sets us free from sin (bad choices) and this applies to adults as well as children. When we let the Spirit of Jesus live in us, it is like being released from a time-out. We are free to be grateful, worship God, and enjoy the life he has given us. As we go about our day thinking of behavior and activities that are pleasing to God, we make better choices. The Bible tells us that “the mind of the Spirit is life and peace” (8:6). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible Copyright 2008, Richard Niell Donovan Responsive Reading Psalm 119 #840 Baptism Scripture Romans 8:1-11 Prayer for illumination In the reading of you Word, may we be given light to see. May your word rest in our hearts and minds and in so doing, transform us into your faithful people. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Tara Bulger) Sermon In the Spirit of the Lord As the lights in the movie theater dimmed, a young man loaded down with popcorn, cokes and candy paced up and down the aisle, scanning the darkened rows. It was obvious he was looking for the person or persons with whom he had come. After three or four unsuccessful trips he finally stopped and asked loudly, "Does anybody here recognize me?" (1) It's horrible not to be recognized isn't it? It's horrible to feel alone and cut off. Being recognized means you're connected, part of the family and that someone cares, someone is watching out for you. And that matters because Family matters. Does anyone know who I am? We ask that question every Sunday. The challenges of life pull us out of ourselves. When we come into the presence of God – it puts things into perspective. When we come to church we are reminded of God’s love for us. Furthermore, when we participate in a baptism service – we get a special opportunity to put on Christ. When we let christ into our lives – that makes all of the difference in the world. You know, it is funny but there are times when things work out perfectly. Serendipity is Gods way of reminding us that God is here and watches every thing going on. Our scripture for this morning is perfect for a baptism, and a baptism is the perfect illustration to help us understand what Paul is saying to us. B. A United Methodist Minister in Vermont tells how the Sunday School Superintendent of his Church was registering the children in Sunday School and she asked two brothers their ages and birthday. The bolder of the two boys said, "We're both seven. My birthday is April 8, 1976, and my brother's is April 20, 1976." The Superintendent was a little confused and said, "But that's impossible!" The quiet brother answered, "No, it's not, one of us is adopted." Before she was even aware that she had asked, the words were out, "Which one?" The boys looked at each other and smiled. Then the bolder one said, "We asked Dad that awhile ago, but he just said he loved us, and he couldn't remember any more which one was adopted." (3) Through our faith in Christ we are made heirs with Christ. That means that we have equal access to God. We are seen as equal heirs with Christ. There is no longer any distinction between us and Christ. We are brothers and sisters with Christ Jesus. God just loves us and can't remember anymore which ones of us are adopted. Why? Because Family Matters to God. And God wants each of us in His Family. That's what faith in Christ does for us. It puts us in God's family. We can hold our head high because we belong. We belong to God's family. We know our value, we know our worth. Not by worldly standards but by God's standards. Vera and Roxi are cousins born two days apart, but they are forever connected together in baptism. Today they both take on the identity as a child of God. They are siblings with christ. They are both claimed by the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the fact that God has wonderful things in store for their life. It Is such an honor to be witnesses to their faith. I have always said that Romans 8 is the one chapter in the bible where our entire faith is summed up. I feel like I preach on Romans 8 every year – this scripture comes up a lot. But it is not every Sunday that we get to put this scripture into action in the life of our children, our families and our church. Paul’s message to us – there are 2 ways to live our lives. We can live in the flesh or the spirit. The flesh ad spirit are two different attitudes. We can order our lives according to what is happening in the moment, or we can look at the bigger picture. We can be selfish and just life for ourselves or we can live in community and do what it best for all. We can live self centered or God centered. In the scripture Paul refers to a selfish life. Author Patsy Clairmont tells of the time her husband surprised her with two lovely apricot-colored rosebuds. Over the next few days, one of the rosebuds opened up and began to bloom. It was beautiful. The other rosebud stayed tightly closed. By the end of the week, the first rose opened into a full, gorgeous flower, while the second rose remained a small bud. By the second week, both roses began to wilt and shed their petals. As Patsy contemplated her flowers, she felt sad that one rose had never opened up. It had never revealed its greatest beauty. It had died in the same form it had lived: closed. How similar to those roses are we humans? How many of us never grow to our full potential? How many of us never display the full glory of God? How many of us stay tightly closed against the world all our lives, and die never knowing what we could have achieved? (6) So it is with those who never open their lives to the Spirit of the living God. Instead of beginning a relationship with God, they take unacceptable risks. Without even being aware of it, they live in rebellion against all that God has for them. And thus they never fulfill their full God-give potential. Isn't it time you take off the old patch of sin and put on the new patch of the Spirit of God? All of us are children of God. When we put Christ into our lives we get a boost of power and potential. We have a chance to live life to its fullest. When we open the connection between God and us, then we open our lives. Jesus, considered himself so close to God that he called God Abba – or daddy. There were a lot of people who were upset, because they felt that he had no right to claim a relationship that close with the creator of all life. Jesus shows us what it mean to be adopted into the family of God. The challenge then, as presented to us by Paul, is to be sure that we permit the Spirit to dwell within us. It is Paul’s quest that we all live spiritual lives. It is Paul’s mandate that we accept the disciples required to maintain a spiritual life. It is Paul’s inquiry of what will be the orientation of our attitude — flesh or Spirit. And Paul is very forthright in declaring that if we allow Jesus to dwell within our souls, we will be spiritual individuals. As Paul writes, “since the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And it does take a proper attitude to be spiritual. It takes focus. It takes discipline. It takes desire. It means we engage in all the spiritual opportunities traditionally offered by the church. We engage in our own journey of personal prayer, Bible reading, and reading Christian literature When Carl Erskine, a former pitcher with the LA Dodgers, first came to the big leagues, he was asked a question by owner Branch Rickey. Rickey asked, "Do you go to church?" Carl said that he did. Rickey responded, "I ask that question of every young man that I sign. The reason that I ask it is that I've found if a person will discipline his life to sit in a place of worship and get his spiritual values in place, that person will develop a quiet confidence that he cannot get anywhere else." St. Paul writes, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship." (v. 15) When Ernest Hemingway was struggling to make it as an author, he had a stroke of bad luck. He lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts--manuscripts he had been working on for months and which he had been planning to publish in a book. He couldn't conceive of redoing his work. He shared his predicament with his friend, poet Ezra Pound. Pound called it a stroke of good fortune! Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts. The new version would be better than the old. He encouraged Hemingway to start over with a sense of optimism and confidence. Hemingway did rewrite the stories and eventually became one of the major figures in American literature. (2) All Hemingway needed was to hear someone say that he could do it. That is all we need sometimes in our lives. Our problems loom so large. But they are not insurmountable. All we need is the confidence to tackle them. All great people have faced times when their confidence waned. When Abraham Lincoln was tragically killed, several items were found in his pockets: an embroidered handkerchief, a watch, and some confederate money. But most interesting of all was a ragged copy of a newspaper article. The article had been written during a time of great controversy and turmoil in the country. In the text of the article, the writer extolled Lincoln's virtues, approving of the decisions he had made in office. (3) Lincoln was one of the great men of history. But he needed, as we all need, some assurance that he was on the right track. We all need a word of encouragement at times. We need to know our lives matter--that we are not hopeless. The Good News for the day is that we are daughters and sons of God. We can take confidence that we are children of the King--offspring of the Most High. When we are willing to live life in the spirit – we have that little voice encouraging us onto be the best that we can. Most of our children have probably seen the Disney Studio’s animated movie Toy Story. Two of the characters are Woody, a toy cowboy and Buzz Lightyear, a “space ranger” action figure. Early in the movie Woody confronts Buzz Lightyear with the fact that he is not really a space hero. Woody shouts, “You’re not a space ranger! You’re an action figure a child’s plaything.” After failing in an attempt to fly, Buzz realizes the truth of Woody’s statement. Grief-stricken and disillusioned, Buzz hangs his head in resignation, declaring, “I’m just a stupid, little, insignificant toy.” Later in the movie Woody tries to undo the damage he has done. He seeks to comfort his friend by underscoring the love of the boy who owns them both. He says to Buzz, “You must not be thinking clearly. Look, over in that house, there’s a kid who thinks you’re the greatest, and it’s not because you’re a space ranger; it’s because you’re his.” As Buzz lifts his foot, he sees a label affixed to the bottom of his little shoe. There in black permanent ink is the name of the little boy to whom he belongs. Seeing the image of his owner, Buzz breaks into a smile and takes on a new determination and confidence. He knows the little boy who owns him treasures him deeply. (6) As we leave this place today, I hope that we will do so with a new determination and confidence because of the One who has adopted us as His own children. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children . . .” Life in the Spirit of Christ gives us protection, confidence and strength to do what we need to. Every moment – we are faced with ways of dealing with life. We can choose the way the world sees things, or we can choose the ways of God. We always have two choices, but one one leads to life. This is my final story. Stuart Briscoe, pastor of ElmbrookChurch outside Milwaukee, illustrates the power of feeding and starving with an observation about cuckoo birds. Cuckoos aren't merely the obnoxious noisemakers heard at the top of the hour in certain clocks. They are certifiably real. Two species, in fact, nest in America. To be more accurate, cuckoos rarely make their own nests. When it's time for a female cuckoo to lay her eggs, she will scout the local territory until she finds the nest of another bird that already has eggs -- often the nest of a thrush -- and wait until that mother bird is absent. Then she will dart in to the nest and deposit at least one egg of her own. Thrushes are apparently not overly skilled in algebra, for when the mother returns, she doesn't notice that there is an addition to her nest. She continues to go about the work of hatching the eggs. What happens when the nestlings appear? There are four tiny thrushes and one lumbering cuckoo, two to three times larger than the other birds. What happens at mealtime? The big bird gets the worm. The cuckoo continues to grow while the thrushes fight for survival. Briscoe remarks, "When I was a kid, you could always find a baby cuckoo's nest. You walked along a hedgerow until you found dead little thrushes, which the cuckoo throws out one at a time." God's children have two sets of desire in one nest. Which one shall we feed? We must feed the new desires and starve the old ones. We must feed the ones that strengthen our walk with Christ and starve the ones that have always taken us down. The more we choose the new desires, the stronger the Holy Spirit grows our personal resolve to choose the new desires the next time as well. We won't always succeed. Trying to become a spiritual person in a fallen world -- trying specifically to think, feel and live as Christ's person -- will always to some degree be exasperating. But through God's gift of grace, Christ's victory over sin, and the indwelling presence of the Spirit, we can know that we truly have the power to change. CSS Publishing Company, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, by Glenn McDonald Do you know Who you are? And Whose you are? Amen. Song Hymn of Promise UMH 707 Prayer God who plants seeds of hope and justice within our lives, we are so grateful for this community of faith and for all, anywhere, who hunger and thirst for your healing, reconciling word. You know all the things that are on our hearts today and you bring us together in love and support. We ask your healing mercies with those who struggle with illness of every kind, with feeling lost and marginalized; for those who mourn and for whom the darkness of sorrow enshrouds them. We ask your growth-producing love for all those who celebrate and rejoice today. Be with each one of us and all those whom we have named in our hearts before you. Help us to reach out to each other in compassion and support, for we ask these things in Jesus’ name. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Summertime, and we can see the results of what happens when we “scatter sow” – that is, if we have a handful of seed and toss it out. Jesus shared the parable, and an explanation of it. Leaning into this parable, let’s think about what our giving says about the kind of “soil” we are. For some of us, the idea of giving financially to the church is absurd; we’re “hard”ly able to do what we want. Giving away any money at all seems crazy. For others, we’re willing to give a little when the appeal is great, but see no point in making weekly contributions; we’re easily distracted by the allure of other things to do with our money. Yet others agree giving regularly to the mission of the church is important, but we find there’s a big demand on our finances for basic bills, for treat times, and for participating in the “shop, see more, shop more” response to all the advertising present in our daily lives. And, for others, regular giving (and even sacrificial giving) gives us pleasure, counter-acts our “hoarding/stingy” genes, and builds up opportunities for caring for “the least, the lost, the lonely” of our sisters and brothers. Dolly Parton, world-renowned performer, grew up in poverty and in a strict Christian church. For years after becoming a wealthy woman, she has quietly shared financially, recognizing it’s one way of living her best spiritual self. She provides free books for young children (one a month for birth to age 5). She developed a program to encourage Tennessee youth to stay in school. She supported hundreds of folks for six months after they lost their homes in a wildfire. What kind of “soil” would you judge her to be? What about you? What kind of “soil” are you? Prayer of Thanksgiving Generous God, we thank you for the abundance in which we live. Speak to us through your word. Help us hear the challenge of Jesus’ parable, and respond as “good soil”. Receive what has been given today, Creator God, and work through this congregation and our giving to bring forth 30, 60 or 100 fold for the ministries to which you call us. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook May we each go out to love and care, to find the Spirit’s leading and join in its work and to bless the world as we have been so richly blessed. In the name of our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Tara Bulger) Joys and Concerns Benediction As you have received the seeds of faith and hope; go now into God’s world to scatter the seeds of reconciliation and peace, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Additional Illustrations

A New Way of Thinking - repreach 2/28/99

May 27, 2018 Year B John 3:1-21 Repreach of 2/28/1999 Trinity Sunday – Sunday After Pentecost A New Way of Thinking Children’s Sermon Exegetical Aim: The meaning of the church’s doctrine of the Trinity. Props: Flip cards with math problems and a marker to mark the answers. Two of the flip cards should have the following: 1+1+1= and Father+Son+HolySpirit= Lesson: Good Morning! (response) We are going to do a little math this morning. I am going to show you a math problem and you tell me the answer. Are you ready? Here is the first problem. Show them the first flip card. What is 2+2? (response) Ok, now let’s look at another problem. What is 5+3? (response) That one was a little tougher and now we are going to do a hard one? Are you ready for a hard one? (response) What is 13+12? (response) Let’s take a look at one more and now we are going to add one more number to the problem. This will be the hardest one of them all. Here it is. What is 1+1+1? (response) This one is hard isn’t it? (response) Are you sure? Look at it again. Are you sure you have the right answer? (response) What if told you that the answer is not 3. What if I told you that 1+1+1=1? (response) You don’t believe me? (response) Ok, let me show you another math problem and this one is a little different. This is a church math problem. You might call it holy mathematics. Here is the problem. What does Father+Son+HolySpirit equal? (response) Give them time to assimilate this question. Repeat the question to reinforce the lesson.Does it equal 1 God or 3 Gods? (response) The answer is One God. Use your fingers to count out the Godhead as you explain or use the flash card:You see we as Christians worship God the Father, who is in heaven, and we worship God the Son, who came down to us as Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit, who has come to us and is near us and fills us even now. We worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s hold up three fingers three persons right? (response) Here’s the tricky part. Even though God is three persons, he is One: 1+1+1=1 when we speak about God. What do you think about that? (response) Application: This morning we are going to read a story about Nicodemus and how he got a little confused. Jesus told him that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were going to help him be born again. God, all three of them, were going to help Nicodemus start his life all over. He was going to be given the chance to see life in a new way. How can a person start all over again? Just as if he was a little baby starting all over? How can that be? (response) I think it has something to do with this holy mathematics. Hold up the 1+1+1=1 card. If 1+1+1=1 in the church then other things must be afoot here that we don’t understand. Like grown up men and women being born again, and the Holy Spirit filling our hearts with God’s goodness, and the kingdom of God right here all around us making us all one body of Christ. As you continue to grow up remember this holy place and remember that in the church show the card again it is God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--all One of them, who are at work. Strange things happen here that are too wonderful to describe and too mysterious to understand. Let’s Pray: Lord the wind blows where it wills and so does your Spirit. Blow upon us and give us birth again. Amen. ChristianGlobe Network, Inc, , by Brett Blair John 3:1-21 Common English Bible (CEB) Jesus and Nicodemus 3 There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew,[a] it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” 4 Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” 5 Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8 God’s Spirit[b]blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?” 10 “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? 11 I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony.12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One.[c]14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One[d] be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.17 God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son. 19 “This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil.20 All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. 21 Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God.” Footnotes: a. John 3:3 Or from above b. John 3:8 Or wind c. John 3:13 Or Son of Man d. John 3:14 Or Son of Man Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible There are two brothers, the mother gave birth to one at two oclock, and she had to other an hour later, yet they are not twins, how can that be? Today in honor of Trinity Sunday, we are going to deal with riddles, the riddles of life, the riddles of what it means to be a Christian. Those are the riddles that a wealthy, prominent citizen names Nicodemus struggled with. They were so difficult for him that he couldn’t sleep and had to come to Jesus in the middle of the night. The answers that Jesus gave confused him even more. Jesus gave a birth riddle, much like the one that I gave. Jesus told him that in order to have eternal life, you must be born again. But how can someone be born again? Do they have to go back into their mother’s womb a second time? How can two brothers be born at the same time and not be twins? There is an answer to both, but to come up with it – you have to think in a new way. Let us first try and think through Jesus riddle. As you read through the gospel of John, you will notice that Jesus loves to play this trick all of the time. Someone with a question, like Nicodemus will come to Jesus with a question, Jesus will answer with a a saying this is hard to understand. The person will get even more confused and go off on a tangent, and Jesus will answer them again, this time with an even harder saying and the will leave Jesus, more confused than they came – but forced to think in a new way. I don’t know about you but that happens to me a lot, I go through life confused, but trying to stay focused. You see the problem here is that Nicodemus is a left brain thinker. Our left brain loves to process information. Left brain thinkers like clearcut memorized rules. Nicodemus was a pharisee, and a pharisee’s job was to make up thousands of rules for the Jewish people. They determined what the law meant. A pharisee judged their goodness and self worth based on how they were able to go throughout a normal day without breaking one of these laws. The good news for us Christians is that the gospel is a right brain activity. The gospel is more about images, not words. The gospel intentionally breaks all of the rules, and you do not have to follow any prescribed daily ritual in order to be called a Christian. We are saved by grace. So I have another riddle for you- If you can answer this one, then you are truly a Christian. How many animals did Adam and Eve put in the ark. Well if you are awake and paying attention and actively thinking – you will know that it was Adam who filled the Ark, Adam and Eve came much earlier in the story. That is the good thing about our faith, we don’t have to explain it or understand it in terms of laid out rules. Our faith is sort of like to wind blowing, you don’t have to know where it came from in order to feel its presence. All of those left brain activities like using the computer, balancing a check book, or maintaining your care are not thing that will get you into heaven. Thank God, I would not have a chance. But when you think in terms of going to your favorite concert, or taking a walk in the sun, or what you did to enjoy the coming of summer, then you are on the road to understanding the faith of Jesus. If you live life in your right brain, the part that remember feelings and doesnot need concrete answers, then you will understand what Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus. Here is another riddle, How many birthdays does the average person in America have in a lifetime? Well I guess the answer could be negotiable. If you are only born once, then you can only have one birth day. But Christ says that we must be born again-that means that Christians have two birth days right? Well that depends on what it means to be born again. That debate could go on forever. Jesus says that the first birth is a physical birth, and the second is a spiritual birth. It is sort of like the moment when you have been trying to figure out the answer to a riddle that you have been struggling with for a very long time. It is when all of the solutins that you have been trying to come up with are exhausted, and you get an answer that you know you would not have come up with on your own in a million years. Along with the answer comes a whole new way of seeing the world. In John’s gospel, Jesu loved to speak in riddles. In figuring out those riddles, we come up with the answers to our questions ourself. We think in a new way. To be born again is to undergo such a radical change of thinking that it is like a new birth. To be born again is to have something happen to the soul that makes us a whole new person. It is a point in your conscious existence when you allow the spirit to move within you and you say Yes to God. Our passage contains one of the most familiar bible passages in the world. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that we may have life and have it abundantly. When we are open to a new way of thinking, where the spirit is flowing, then we can understand the love of God. God’s love is unlimited, unconditional, and redemptive. For God so loved the world. Even John is tempted to say that God only loves those who do the will of Jesus. But God’s love is unconditional. God loves the good and the bad. God loves all of creation. God loves political and corrupt powers, God loves corporate structures that pollute and corrupt the world. God loves all people, those we agree with and those we don’t. If God loves all people, even those we don’t agree with, then how should we respond to those people? God’s love is unconditional. For God so loved the world is a statement within itself, but it is easy for us to be tempted to finish the sentence with conditions. God will love you if you are righteous, God will love you if you study, If you don’t do what people expect of your. The good news is the God loves you in this time in history, in this world. In other words, God loves you just the way you are. God is concerned with this world and bringing all of the world in the fullness of creation. We are all a part of creation. God is not through with us yet, we are all still a work in progress. God still loves this world, and is still creating and working to make us complete. Finally the term for God so loved the world is redemptive. God loves us the way that we are, because God is working to redeem us. If we accept Christ into our lives, then our lives are open to saving grace. God so loved the world, that he acted in Christ. Those of us who follow Christ are motivated to the same compassion, hope and love are all of the world, even those things that we do not agree with. As we are a part of the body of Christ, we begin to share his love for creation and bring into the service of that love all of our gifts and talent and desires. I have another riddle for you. Frank is a night watchmen who works seven nights a week at a manufacturing plant. His boss is supposed to fly overseas on a business deal and this really bothers Frank. Frank warns his boss that the previous night he had a dream that his boss would die in a plane crash. The boss ignored Frank’s warning and left for his trip. The boss returned a few days later and was so mad that he fired Frank. The business deal turned out great, so it was not the premonition that made his mad. The key to this riddle is what you think about dreams. A dreamer is someone who is not bond by rules and laws. A dreamer is free to think of life in a new way. When we understand the love of God and how that love works in our lives, then that makes us all dreamers. Have you ever noticed that there is a time, just before you wake up, when you are bound by reality, yet you are still in a dream world, where you are free. This is the time that Nicodemus came to Jesus, in the middle of the night. You can tell from his questions of Jesus that he yearned to be free. He wanted to be free to see the world in a whole new way. He wanted to be free from his own confinement of the rules and laws that controlled his life. Jesus riddles gave him permission to be a dreamer. There is nothing wrong with dreams, unless you are a night watchman, and you are having dreams in the night. That might be grounds for being fired. Okay, I have one last one that I could not resist since today is the 28th of February. Some months have 31 days, some have 30 days. How many months have 28 days? Being that I did not ask how many months have exactly 28 days, one is not right. All months have 28 days in them. 28 days to feel the love of Christ and to spread that love to all of the world. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus came into the world to give us love, a love unlimited, a love conditional, a love redeemed. How to do intend to respond to this love. Oh before I forget, let me tell you the answer to the riddle at the beginning of the sermon. If two brothers are born an hour apart, they are not twins, because they are triplets. God’s love also gives us the opportunity to see life in ways that we would have never thought of before. That is what it means to be born again. Amen. Making the Mystery Work for You - John 3:1-17 It’s Trinity Sunday: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Enough said? Don’t leave me. I promise you, I won’t deliver a lecture expounding on what belongs only in the classroom for theologues. I do want to tell you a brief story. A man in a certain parish was only seen in church one Sunday a year. No, it was not Easter. It was Trinity. One leading lay person had restrained his curiosity year after year. He could not contain it any more. He approached the man and said, “I have noticed that you have selected this particular time for your only visit to church.” “Oh, that’s easy to explain,” the man said. “I like to come on this day so I can hear the preacher get all tangled up trying to explain the Trinity!” St. Augustine came to a similar conclusion in the Fourth Century, after writing 800 pages on the Trinity. He declared that he did not understand it. This is St. Augustine’s story. As he walked along the seashore one day, he saw a small boy playing with a seashell. The boy scooped a hole in the sand, filled his shell with water and poured it into the hole. The great theologian asked the boy, “What are you doing, my son?” The youngster replied, “I am going to pour the sea into that hole.” Then Augustine said to himself, “That is what I have been trying to do. Standing at the ocean of infinity, I have attempted to grasp it with my finite mind.” Mystery! Mystery is at the heart of the universe. Why am I here? Why are you here. Why have I spent over thirty years in the Christian ministry? Why am I a husband, parent, grandfather of eight? Why are you who you are? Why have you spent your life, or why are you planning to spend, your life pursuing a certain career? There are times when it seems so natural to ask, why? in an effort to explore the deeper resources of our inner selves. When I watch the Memorial Day parades, celebrating those who gave their lives for our freedom, I can’t help asking, why? Why can’t we find a solution for war? On those occasions when I feel down or feel distressed by the turmoils of the world, I ask, Why? Why? Why? The late Cardinal Cushing tells of an occasion when he was administering last rites to a man who had collapsed in a general store. Following his usual custom, he knelt by the man and asked, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?” The Cardinal said the man roused a little bit, opened an eye, looked at him and said, “Here I am, dying, and you ask me a riddle.” Call them riddles. Call them mysteries. There are things about life and faith we do not understand…. Why Isn't the Holy Spirit Included? A woman wrote to Reader's Digest. She wanted to tell about an experience that she had when she took a young girl from India to church with her. It was the eleven-year-old girl's first exposure to a Christian worship service. The young lady's parents were traveling on business and left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to church one Sunday. After the service was over, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She wondered, "I don't understand why the West Coast isn't included, too?" Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, "What do you mean?" She responded, "You know. I kept hearing the people say, ‘In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast.'" Traditional Illustration, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc Life Is Unpredictable Life is unpredictable. Full of surprises. Often enjoyable. Usually endurable. Most all of them accidental. But here and there, providential. That's because God, too, is full of surprises. Ellsworth Kalas (one of the geniuses behind the Disciple Bible Study movement), writes: "I have lived in the world of religion since before I was born, and in this long period of observation (seventy years and counting), I have learned two things for sure. First, you can't box God in. And second, we are always trying to do so." William A. Ritter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Making the Mystery Work for You - John 3:1-17 It’s Trinity Sunday: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Enough said? Don’t leave me. I promise you, I won’t deliver a lecture expounding on what belongs only in the classroom for theologues. I do want to tell you a brief story. A man in a certain parish was only seen in church one Sunday a year. No, it was not Easter. It was Trinity. One leading lay person had restrained his curiosity year after year. He could not contain it any more. He approached the man and said, “I have noticed that you have selected this particular time for your only visit to church.” “Oh, that’s easy to explain,” the man said. “I like to come on this day so I can hear the preacher get all tangled up trying to explain the Trinity!” St. Augustine came to a similar conclusion in the Fourth Century, after writing 800 pages on the Trinity. He declared that he did not understand it. This is St. Augustine’s story. As he walked along the seashore one day, he saw a small boy playing with a seashell. The boy scooped a hole in the sand, filled his shell with water and poured it into the hole. The great theologian asked the boy, “What are you doing, my son?” The youngster replied, “I am going to pour the sea into that hole.” Then Augustine said to himself, “That is what I have been trying to do. Standing at the ocean of infinity, I have attempted to grasp it with my finite mind.” Mystery! Mystery is at the heart of the universe. Why am I here? Why are you here. Why have I spent over thirty years in the Christian ministry? Why am I a husband, parent, grandfather of eight? Why are you who you are? Why have you spent your life, or why are you planning to spend, your life pursuing a certain career? There are times when it seems so natural to ask, why? in an effort to explore the deeper resources of our inner selves. When I watch the Memorial Day parades, celebrating those who gave their lives for our freedom, I can’t help asking, why? Why can’t we find a solution for war? On those occasions when I feel down or feel distressed by the turmoils of the world, I ask, Why? Why? Why? The late Cardinal Cushing tells of an occasion when he was administering last rites to a man who had collapsed in a general store. Following his usual custom, he knelt by the man and asked, “Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit?” The Cardinal said the man roused a little bit, opened an eye, looked at him and said, “Here I am, dying, and you ask me a riddle.” Call them riddles. Call them mysteries. There are things about life and faith we do not understand….

Does God take a Vacation

Does God Take a Vacation September 6, 2015 Mark 7:24-37 Year B It’s Labor Day weekend. The last holiday of the summer, time to get back to the routine. Labor day is one of our most misunderstood holidays of the year. No one knows really why we celebrate it, we just take it off, But know nothing about it. I am talking about it, but still don’t know why it is a holiday. My point is that it is a vacation. We all know that we love our holidays. As humans, we love our vacation days. We actually need them in order to keep functioning. But let me ask you this question – does God ever take a vacation? Does God ever just get tired of all of the prayer request and just stop answering us. In our greatest time of need, especially on the weekends or on a holiday – does God ever respond and say I am out of the office right now, I will return your call during normal business hours. Our response to that would be of course God does not take vacations. God is available always to answer our calls. But I would say that perhaps you have not really read the gospel for today – Mark 7. The scripture clearly says that Jesus got tired of healing and helping people and he needed a retreat. He needed a vacation so bad, that he was headed south to Jerusalem – cause that was where all of the action was, on his journey, and he decided to head North, far away from the action, far away from jews, far away from anyone that might want anything from him. He is on vacation, and a woman comes up to him asking for healing. When she asks him to heal her daughter, he very politely tries to explain to her that he is on vacation and not in the healing business today – and yet she persist. He came up north to get away from jews, and this lady is not even a jew. But did Jesus just call this lady a dog? Most modern day versions of the bible try to clean the story up and say the Jesus endearingly called her a puppy. But a puppy is still a dog. As a matter of fact, as the story goes on, she acknowledged being a dog – but even the dogs are able to eat the crumbs from the children’s table. Jesus grants her wish, and calls her persistence to ask faith. And it is her faith that makes her whole? Does God ever get tired of our prayers, apparently sometimes he does. But what I find interesting about the story of Jesus, is that the gospel is full of stories of Jesus getting tired and needing a break. Jesus getting worn out from helping people and needing a break. I can attest to that, because Sunday after church is always the lowest time of the week. Being in this position and bringing the word, and leading worship drains all of my human energy. Most Sundays I spend the rest of the day staring at the tv, or letting the tv stare at me, until Monday morning comes and I am in charge of my spirit again. But what I have noticed is that in each of these stories, where Jesus is tired and ready to rest – that seems to be the time when someone needs him the most. We gloss right over the parts of the story that say that Jesus is tired and taking a retreat, because in each instance – it leads to a story of how he helped someone in their greatest hour of need. In each story he tells the person that he is tired, but he gives them what they need anyway. In this story not only does he heal the woman’s daughter, but a deaf man is bought to him and he heals that man also. He makes him hear, but he also makes sure that he speaks. Being able to hear, and being able to speak is not just important for his physical health, but also for his spiritual health. If you read Isaiah chapter 6 it tells us all about why it is so important to hear and to speak. In Isaiah chapter 6 God touches the lips of Isaiah so that he can speak the word of God. In verse 9 God says be ever hearing, but never understanding, be ever seeing, but never perceiving, make the heart of this people calloused, make their ears dull, and close their eyes, otherwise, they might see with their eyes hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. Let me ask you a second question. If we know that God never takes a vacation from us, do we take a vacation from God? Now we have heard the story of Jesus getting tired of being Jesus and needing to take a break. Do you ever get tired of being a Christian – and wake up and say I am going to go out in the world and be around people and deal with situations – and decided that you are going to let your Christianity sleep in? You are going to take a vacation from being a Christian and just be a normal person for the day? The reality is a lot of us do – we have to be in a really good mood to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. The Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumblebee If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up. Source Unknown There are times in our lives when our souls are closed for business – for various reasons. If you read today’s scripture – Jesus has one word for us -Ephphatha. They did not even bother to translate the word into English – it is a direct quote from Jesus. Ephphatha is a aramic word which means open up. When Jesus sees that the man ears and mouth are closed up – he speaks directly to the ears and the mouth and tells them to open up. And it is time for our spirits to open up- and to be present in life. Have you ever noticed that using your Christianity is not about you, it is a reaction to the people around you. Sometimes you may truly wake up and not feel like being a Christian. But it is the people around you that force the Christianity out of you. People will try you and you have to be intentional that your response to them is a Christian response. Just like Jesus was ready for a retreat and the syrophenecian woman came up to him demanding healing. Do the next time someone gets on your nerves, you can respond to them – it is your faith that has made you whole. Because I am a Christian, I am going to respond to you in the right way – and not in the way that I really feel. But remember Jesus’ words to you – open up- open up your spirit to the spirit of God in that situation. Our minds and our bodies get to take a vacation. But our soul doesn’t. It is when we are the most tired that the world needs us the most. And when we give them our Christianity, we are giving them God not ourselves. I love the ending of this scripture. It says that people were overcome with wonder. Saying he does everything well. He even makes the deaf to hear and gives speech to those who cannot speak. Some years ago Winston Lloyd, who later became one of our top foreign policy experts, was an aide to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. One day he brought to Kissinger a longawaited report on conflicts in South America. Without even glancing at the report, Kissinger asked, "Is this the very best you can do?" Lloyd stammered for a few moments and said, "There were a few informational gaps." "Take it back," Kissinger said and dismissed him. Two weeks later, after working night and day, Lloyd again entered Kissinger's office and held out the report. "Is this the very best you can do?" Kissinger asked, without looking at the document. Lloyd hesitated and admitted that there were some parts of the report that were incomplete. Kissinger told him to take it back. Three weeks later Lloyd asked for another meeting. For the third time Kissinger asked, "Is this the very best you can do?" Lloyd replied, "Mr. Secretary, this is my very best effort." Kissinger smiled and said, "That's all I ever ask. I'll be happy to read your report." You and I are not saved by works, I want to make that clear. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Still I wonder if we will not someday stand before the throne of God and be asked that most terrifying of all questions, "Did you do your best?" I realize that we are only human. We are not Jesus. None of us are going to do "all things well." Having said that, though, I believe that it behooves us not to live as Tacitus once described Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Tacitus said about Tiberius, "He feared the best, was ashamed of the worst, and chose the innocuous middle." Do you live in the innocuous middle? The angel said to the church at Laodicea, "Would that you were hot or cold, but because you are lukewarm because you have chosen the innocuous middleI will spew you out of my mouth." That is all that Jesus asks of us to give our best. Even when we are tired and ready to take a vacation – we can still give our best to God. God does not take a break from you – so when you need to take a break from everything else – don’t take a break from God. Amen…. Children’s Sermon PREPARATION: None OR be prepared with the song and actions, "Deep and Wide." LESSON: Have you ever played the game, "I love you more?" I know some children who would say "I love you more" when their parents told them they loved them. Or sometimes they would say, "I love you double!" And the battle would be on as to who loved the other the most! It's hard to say how much we love, isn't it? One of the things that impresses me is how much Jesus loved people who had a disability-the blind people, the people who could not hear or who were sick. Jesus healed them every one. Jesus loves everybody, doesn't he? His love is wide (motion with your hands for each descriptive word), long, high and deep. We can experience God's love but we can never really understand it because God's love is so awesome. (Option: Sing the song Extra illustrations Setting Lofty Goals Richard Wilkie wrote a book on the Lord's Prayer. In it, he described how Dr. Albert Schweitzer loved to play Bach on the organ. In fact, even while he was serving as a surgeon in the steamy jungles of Africa, he was still known throughout the world for his musicianship. He loved music, but he loved people more. One evening, as one of the nurses was preparing to leave, he stood at the gang plank preparing to bid her goodbye. As he took her hand he said, "Before you go, I want to recall an incident that happened several months ago. One night, you took a sick baby into your own bedroom so that you could care for it even as you slept. All through the night I heard cries coming from your room. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, the tone in the baby's cry changed. Immediately I knew that the fever had broken and that the child would get better. I'm supposed to be something of a musician but I want you to know that was the most beautiful music I've ever heard." Schweitzer sought for excellence as a musician but he also sought for excellence in loving human beings. That would be a lofty goal, wouldn't it - to be the most loving human being in our community? To be the most trustworthy? To be the most generous? The call to follow Christ is the call to set lofty goals. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com She Could Not Speak Because She Could Not Hear There is a beautiful hearing-impaired actress named Marlee Matlin who won an Oscar for the poignant movie Children of a Lesser God. In the movie she consistently communicated via sign language, though her leading man knew she could speak. In a riveting scene near the film's conclusion, she finally verbalized in his presence. Her words were intelligible but not articulate, slowly formed just well enough to be understood, but not clearly. The character could not speak well because she could not hear. Apparently such was the case for the man in Mark's story. Before Jesus unlocked his tongue, first he had to open his ears. Only when he had heard a message did he have anything to say. So it is for most of us. We cannot share with others what we have not found ourselves. We cannot teach what we have not heard. We cannot articulate a truth to others that we have not appropriated in our own lives. Michael B. Brown, Be All That You Can Be, CSS Publishing. "Deep and Wide" and do the actions.) PRAYER: Thank you that you love us wide, high, long and deep. AMEN

By what authority do you speak?

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Mark 1:21-28 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Year B By What Authority Do you speak? Introduction: the authority to get a ticket I should have known that the offer was too good to be true. I saw in the paper, and add that said that a new movie theater was opening, and that all movies were free on that day. There was even an ad for free popcorn. So off to the movies I went that night. The movie was free, the popcorn was free. The speeding ticket that I got while driving to the theater was $90. The policeman turned on his lights, stopped me, and told me what I did wrong, and rubbed it in, and was it really worth it to speed to the theater. What is the authority of the police officer or pastor – the office I tell that story, because we all know that if we see flashing lights behind us that we need to stop. We know that the law tells us that we are to cooperate with the police whenever they stop us. but by what authority does a police officer have control over our actions? It is not in who the police officer is, it is in his/her office. Their authority is in those flashing lights, in that uniform, in who they are as a police officer, not in who they are as a person. It is sort of like being a pastor- the authority of what I preach, teach, and manage is in the office of pastor, not in the personhood of Harriette Cross. Today we are going to talk about power and authority. Where does power and authority come from. What was it that gave Jesus power and authority? Why was he able to speak with such authority? How did Jesus end of speaking in the synagogue? Jewish society was a very ordered society. Jewish worship was very ordered. There were assigned roles for everyone. It was the rabbi who spoke and interpreted the scripture. The synagogue was the place of teaching and remembering. Worship consisted of coming to the synagogue, listening to a lay person read scripture and the rabbi interpreting it. There was no singing, no liturgy, and no work of the people. It was a very ordered service. When Jesus starts his ministry in Capernaum, he goes to the synagogue every Sabbath, every Friday night. But for some reason, the rabbi allowed him to give the message. He speaks on a regular basis. But you still have to ask the question, what was it about Jesus that gave him power and authority to speak. He had no formal training, no office, no clergy robe, and no assigned role – and yet he was able to speak – and his words always seemed to hit the spot and make a difference in the lives of those he was talking to. Even when the rabbi and the scribes would speak – they did not speak under their own authority. They didn’t use their own words, they would always say – scripture says. Mark 1:21-22 says – he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. I wanted to avoid this sermon It is funny how the Holy Spirit works, because as I prepared for this sermon, my plan was to play it safe and talk just about the power and authority of Jesus. I had no intention of speaking on the situation at hand of Jesus driving out an evil spirit from a man. I didn’t want to talk about evil spirits. But unfortunately, the scripture never tells what Jesus taught, or what made his talk so powerful. It says that a demon recognized Jesus and started to speak. Spirits in the ancient world What was the demon doing in the church in the first place? Spirits were a part of the understanding of the world of the early church. Spirits would have been a part of the understanding of the world of the Jews of Jesus time. The Jews inherited the belief from the Persians and the Babylonians, and the Canaanites. Ancient people believed that spirits were present everywhere. But they particularly liked to hang out in unclean places. They were in the cemeteries, and places where shady things were done. Spirits were responsible for everything. Spirits in the Disney world Spirits are a part of the world view of almost every group of people in the world. I found it interesting to learn that there is an underlying spirituality even in the creation of Disney world. Disney speaks of magic, of fairy dust, and other things that are a part of the European understanding of the spiritual world. If you go to the magical kingdom, you will see no depiction of anything African or Asian. When you speak of conjuring spirits (as Mickey as the sorcerer is depicting as doing)- there is a whole difference understanding of spirits in Europe than in Africa or Asia. Not wanting to be involved in spirituality that they didn’t understand, they just left it alone. Until 20-30 years later when they developed Animal Kingdom, instead of the Magical Kingdom that deals specifically with African and Asian culture. They realized that when they excluded the spirituality of a people, they also excluded the culture of a people. I first went to Disney the first year that the animal kingdom was opened and decided that it was one of those spiritual places for me. I have been to the magical kingdom 2 times, but every time I go to Orlando I have to visit animal kingdom to be in touch with its spiritual nature. Spirits in the Israel world Spirits had a large place in the worldview of Israel also. They believed that spirits were everywhere. They believed that there were 10,000 spirits on your right side, and 10,000 spirits on your left side. They believed that they were responsible for all manner of situations on one’s life. If you were sick, it was caused by a spirit. There is a Jewish book in the apocrypha – that comes between the old testament and the new testament – called the Testament of Solomon. In this book, you can find the names of certain demons, how they can harm you, and how to get rid of them. Interesting. It was believed that if you called a demon by name, you had power over it and you could control it and get rid of it. If you look at our scripture, Jesus doesn’t call any demon by name. It is the demons that call Jesus by name – They call him Jesus of Nazareth, The holy one of God. Deuteronomy says that there will be a prophet who is responsible for speaking the word of God to the people. That is the power of Jesus. How did the demon get in the church? What I find interesting about this story was how did the demon get in the church in the first place. Demons were supposed to hang out in unclean places, and wasn’t the house of God a holy place – a clean place? If all of the people were spiritually pure – how did a demon get in the church? The church had an open door policy – anyone was welcome to come in, no matter where they were spiritually. I found it interesting that even in the story, people weren’t so concerned about the fact that a demon had made its way in the church, but that Jesus knew exactly what to say to it to get it to respond. Demons that cause harm It was believed that all wrong was caused by demons. The Hebrew name for demon was Mazakim – one who does harm. But it was also believed that a person would know when they were possessed, and that they had to the power to ask to be healed. There were demons in the church back then, and the truth is that there are demons in the church today. Some say that demons love to come to church – because it reminds them of heaven. But I want to be clear that I am not speaking about people. Not speaking about who people are – we are all children of God, we are all from heaven. But the truth is that there are things inside of all of our souls that do us harm. There is good and evil inside of each of us. We are all struggling with those things inside of us that can destroy us. Demons inside of us Kathleen Norris – a spiritual writer says “when I think of demons that I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. The demon inside of her was her anger. Her husband pointed out that she could be very mean at times. She realized that her anger was destroying her marriage. First she needed to recognize it, then acknowledge the damage it was doing and make a commitment to change. Another friend – a pastor. Talked about getting a divorce, and experiencing all sorts of negative emotions – anger, shame, jealousy, and pain. He didn’t have to strength to preach, but he needed to be in the church. He needed to be in the presence of God, in the presence of the Word, the worship, in the presence of Jesus. What is it about Jesus that invites the unclean spirit, the disturbed soul, the diseased life to come out of hiding and cry out? And can we trust the power of God to be there - to be here, to hold it all together and bring healing and wholeness to us in a way we never quite master? Can the order of our worship of God somehow include the dis-order of our lives and of the world around us? He asks. There is power in the presence of God that heals us, that transforms us, that takes away our pain. God’s word is awesome, overpowering, and touches us deep inside. What is the demon doing in the church? The spirit inside of us knows Jesus, and it asks for healing. I want to end with this famous story.. "There is a wonderful story from a renowned professor of preaching named Fred Craddock. He often tells the story of a young minister, newly graduated from the seminary who is serving in his first church. He gets a call telling him that a church member, an elderly woman who has given nearly her entire life to the church, is in the hospital and not doing well. The woman suffers from severe breathing problems and now has pneumonia and doesn’t appear to be getting any better. She is so weak that she cannot get up out of bed and the doctors are not holding out any hope for her recovery. So with this dire situation the family calls the church and asked for the young pastor to come and pray with her, anoints her and gives her a final communion. All the way to the hospital he is thinking about what to say to this Christian woman, what words of comfort he can give her to prepare her for her eminent death. He thinks of how young he is and how completely unprepared for this moment and he mumbles a quick prayer that God will give him the strength and courage he needs. When he finally arrives at the hospital he heads up to her room for a visit. The room is darkened and the hospital wing is quiet. The nurses move in and out of the room gently so as not to disturb her final hours. The young pastor sits on a chair next to the bed and talks with her for a few minutes, just small talk really, nothing earth shattering. When he finally makes ready to leave he asks the old woman if she would like him to pray for her and she answers, Yes of course. That’s why I wanted you to come. He then politely asks, And what would you like me to pray for? The old woman looks him straight in the eye and says in a bit of a surprised voice, Why, I want you to pray that God will heal me. The young pastor is a bit surprised by the question and he takes her hands and starts fumbling over the words. Still, somewhere in the entire blizzard of words he ends up praying for what she asked – that God would heal her. When he finally says the Amen at the end of the prayer, the woman says, You know, I think it worked! I think I’m healed! And she gets out of bed and begins to run up and down the hallway of the hospital yelling, Praise God! I’m healed! Praise God! I’m healed! Meanwhile, the young pastor in a stupor, stumbles to the stairwell, walks down five flights of stairs, makes his way to the parking lot and somehow manages to find his car. As he fumbles to get his keys out of his pocket, he slumps back in the seat and looks heavenward and yells, Don’t you ever do that to me again! The power of the word of God There is power in the Word of God. Jesus was empowered to use that power and authority on our behalf. Jesus’ authority over unclean spirits lies in his ability to speak directly to our hearts, to speak directly to our needs, to call the negative our and leave us only with the love that God gives. If we listen to his voice and obey… Let us pray…

A vessel to be filled

July 10, 2011
Year A
5th Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
“A Vessel to be Filled”




Introduction: Trying to find meaning in a story
The Wrong Question: What Does It Mean?
For a moment, let's put this story to one side and hear another story. It concerns a young anthropologist named Connie who works among aboriginal people in Australia. The community where she lives has a rich tradition of storytelling. Everyone gathers at night, a story is told, and then another, and another. Connie feels extraordinarily privileged when she is asked to join in this activity.

The first story told that evening is about the animal ancestor of this community and its adventures at the beginning of time. The story overflows with detail, action, imagery.

At the end of the story, Connie is delighted. "May I ask a question?" she says. "What does it mean?"

All eyes are upon her. The elder looks at her gravely and says, "That is the one question you cannot ask." A long time passes before she is invited again. She has asked the wrong question.

"What does it mean?" was the wrong question for Connie to ask about the aboriginal myth. It may also be the wrong question for us to ask about the story of the sower, or any of the stories told by Jesus. "What does it mean?" is the wrong question if we think that by having an answer, we can somehow get a handle on this story, domesticate it, make it safe. The stories Jesus tells are not subject to our control. He tells these stories so that we can be transformed. He tells these stories, not so that we can ask questions about them, but so that the stories can ask questions of us.

Charles Hoffacker, What Kind of Soil Are You, What Kind of Sower?

We tend to ask that question a lot of ourselves, our lives and of God, and yes even of Jesus - what does it all mean? We want the bible to have all of the answers to our lives. And in a sense it does and in a sense it doesn’t.

It is not Jesus intention to give us the answers, but to give us something to think about, believe it or not, he trusts us enough to be able to come up with our own answers – if we have the right guidance.


Romans 8 the answers to all questions
I chose the scripture romans 8 in honor of Marj. A member of my last church, who told me that romans 8 was her favorite chapter in the bible, because she felt that it contained all of the answers to living a life of faith.
Verse 28 says that all things work together for those who love God.
Verse 31 asks if God is for us, then who can be against us. Verse 35 asks who can separate us from the love of God? verse 37 tells us that we are more than conquerors. Pretty powerful words at the end of the chapter.
Our scripture for today comes from the beginning of the chapter – where Paul starts with the beginning of our faith – there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Life in the spirit, Life in the flesh
Throughout the whole chapter, Paul talks about two warring forces in all of our lives and in the world. There is the life of the flesh and the life of the spirit. Life in the flesh is not a really a life of overconcern about bodily satisfaction. It is a more a life of overconcern about the things of the world. About what is here on earth. It is a life which leads to death and to sin. Life in the spirit is a life concerned with the things of God and heaven. It is a life that Christ was leading us to. It is a life that leads to eternal life. We all have a choice – we can follow the things of the flesh – and stay stuck in the bad things of our lives, the wounds that have happened to us, the things that people have done to us, the meaning of this life. Or we can chose to be transcendent – knowing that with God’s help all things will come to pass and we will get over them.
The thing to remember however, is that life in the spirit and life in the flesh are not about us – but about cosmic forces the control the universe. It is a battle in life that will never end.
We also have to remember that Paul is telling us that we will never ever conquer that battle. None of us will ever live totally a life in the flesh, none of us will ever live a life totally in the spirit. We spend our lives always somewhere in between the two. Romans is the place where Paul talks about how he does the things that his heart tells him is wrong, but he does them anyway. He also talks about a thorn in his side that he has to life with. He never tells us what that thorn is, but the point that he want us all to remember is that suffering is a part of life. As long as we are in this fleshly body – there is something wrong, there is something to worry about, there is something to learn to live with, there is a reason to go forward. We don’t always have control over the circumstances of our lives, but we do have control over how we deal with them.
If we are in Christ Jesus – then we have the mind of Christ and the spirit of Christ. Romans8: 11 says of the spirit of him who raised Jesus dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Christ gives us the power to live in the flesh
Because Jesus Christ came to the world to live our life, was crucified, dead buried and rose from the dead. Even though we are fleshly people. We don’t have to live in the flesh. We can always choose between the life of the flesh and the life of the spirit.

Hearing the gospel as fertile soil
The good news of the gospel this morning is that not only are there two ways to live our lives. There are also different ways to hear the gospel of the lord. We can choose to be a fly by night hearer – who hears the word one minute – and pursuing the desires of the flesh the next, we can be a fair weather hearer – who hears the word when it is good for us, but forgetting it when it is not. We can be a too busy hearer – who hears the word, but is too busy to apply it to our lives, or we can be a productive hearer – that not only transforms our own lives, but has learned to transform the lives of others. Just by how we listen and obey the bible and what Jesus says.
Jesus tells the parable of the sower to the crowds the he was teaching. The disciples asks him what does it mean – why would he tell that story – what are we supposed to get out of it. The standard explanation of the story is that God is the sower, the word of God is the seed, and that we are the soil in which the word falls. But the point is that it means that and it means so much more.

Story of church clothes pantry – and planting seeds
There is the story of a church – a small church in a changing community- which started to see its membership declining. They noticed that there were no children in the Sunday school and wanted to do something to attract new members.
They decided that as an outreach project – they turned their Sunday school rooms into a clothing center. They would collect old clothes and give them away to anyone who needed them. Anyone could take as many clothes as they needed.
One winter day – a mother came with her many children. She said that she needed clothes. The kids took bags and bags of clothes. The church realized that this was a needy family – so they asked the pastor and some others to stop by to visit the family. While at the house – they noticed a pile of clothes that they had taken so much time to fold – being used as bedding for the dog. One lady noticed a dress that had belonged to her late grandmother torn and crumpled on the floor. As they were walking back to the church – they decided that the clothing ministry was a waste of time. People did not care anyway. And the help that you gave most people was wasted, because there were ungrateful about what you do for them.
Until one snowy day a winter later – when the pastor noticed an old beat up pickup truck in the parking lot before church service. The pickup was plowing the parking lot – when the pastor asked why – it was one of the older children of the family who had taken all of those clothes – the young man was now eighteen. He replied that the church had helped out his family when they were down on their luck. Now that they were on their feet and doing a little bit better, this was their way of helping out.
For many years later – the family plowed the churches parking lot. Most parishioners never even noticed.
In this story, the church members were the sower and the seeds were planted within the lives of those they served. It is not our responsibility to make the seeds grow – the life is inside of the seed not inside of our actions. We may never know the difference that our Christianity makes to those whose lives we touch. But it does indeed make a difference. Our job is to plant freely and abundantly – just as God has done for us.

The Mystery of God
Isaiah 55:10-11 says “My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that O speak – it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.” The wonder and mystery of God is contained in the seeds that we plant for God. Why did Jesus tell parables with no real definite meaning – because he understood that God was a mystery that we have to experience for ourselves. The life is in the seed itself, not in the sowing.

Jesus trusts that what is planted will bloom
Speaking of parable – we may have heard of the parable of the rich young ruler. He asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell everything that he had and to give it to the poor. He told Jesus that was more than he could bear. Jesus did not argue with him, or try to convince him otherwise. Jesus walked away. The seed had been planted, all there was to do now was to patiently wait for it to grow within the heart of the hearer. The seed of God, the seed of life, the seed of the eternal, is somewhere inside of us all. What does it take to make it grow? Let us pray….