Healthy Community

Job 1:1;2:1-10 October 6, 2024 World Communion Sunday Healthy Community 20th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Prelude Greeting Call to Worship One: We gather today as the people of God, as a community of Christ’s followers. Many: We gather to share Word and sacrament, to discern the ways of faithful service. One: Where in the world shall we serve our God? Many: At home and school and business place – in this community and throughout every land. One: How in the world shall we serve our God? Many: By working toward justice where there is oppression, by offering comfort where there is pain, by sharing love where there is hatred. One: Why in the world shall we serve our God? Many: Because the Spirit beckons us, because Jesus calls us to enact our faith. Let us now worship the one who calls us! (Ana and Tod Gobledale, United Church of Christ Global Ministries Associates serving in the United Kingdom) Opening Prayer Almighty God, even as the drums of warfare beat on through the night, even as the cries of injustice linger in the morning, even as the hustle of busyness rumbles through the day, quiet our hearts. Still our thoughts. Join us in our worship. Remember us in your mercy as we try to remember you, through the proclamation of your good news, in story and in song, and through the hospitality of your gracious table. Welcome us again, one Lord, Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. (Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Song Bread of the World UMH 624 A Sermon for all Ages Good morning! Today is a special day! Does anyone know what we’re celebrating today? (If in person, wait for responses. If virtual, just take a moment, imagining that kids might be answering at home.) Those are some good guesses! Today is actually World Communion Sunday. On this day, most churches in the world have communion. Some churches have communion every Sunday, some churches have communion once a month, and some churches have communion four times a year. This is a Sunday when almost all churches, all over the world, from many different cultures, will have communion. That’s pretty cool, right? It’s cool to think that while we take communion today, people in churches all over the world are having communion, too! It’s a reminder to us that we are all members of the Christian family. If in person: I wonder, are there any countries or places you’d like to pray for today? (Give kids time to share – no answer is silly! Any place they mention is great.) If virtual: Today, I thought it might be good to pray for people in _________. (If your congregation, Region, or Conference has connections with particular countries, this is a great opportunity to lift those up. Otherwise, choose a few places from a few different continents.) Praying for each other is a great way to care for one another. Let’s pray together. God, thank you so much for World Communion Sunday. Today, we pray especially for our friends in ___________ (list the places the children mentioned or you mentioned). Help us to remember that we are all your children and are loved by you. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen. (United Church of Christ Global Ministries) Affirmation of Faith (adapted from the Belhar Confession) We believe in one holy, universal Christian church, the unity of the communion of saints of the entire human family. And we believe that that this unity of the people of God must be manifest and active, in that we love one another; that we give ourselves willingly and joyfully to one another, that we are share one baptism together, that we eat of one bread and drink of one cup together, that we confess one name, one Lord, for one cause, with one hope, which is the height and the breadth and the depth and the love of Christ, forever and ever. Amen. (Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Scripture Job 1:1;2:1-10 Sermon Healthy Community A former parishioner used to always say that at any given moment, for all of us, either you are going the something at the moment, or you are getting over something or you are about to go through something. That being the case, we can all relate to the biblical story of Job and his wife. Job is the star of the story, but we have to remember that his wife, who doesn’t even get a name suffered the same fate as him. When he lost his fortune, she lost her livelihood also. When he lost his children – she lost her children. When he got sick, she had to be there everyday to take care of him. They suffered together- but had two different reactions to the same circumstances. God brags about the faith and integrity Job. We don’t even know his wife’s name. Job becomes an example of how we should handle adversity, his wifes response to curse God and die is much closer to reality. Job isn’t even a real story. We know this because the story starts out like a fairy tale. Once upon a time in the land of Uz. Uz is not a real place, it sort of like saying once upon a time in a land far away comes a tale that we can all relate to- all of us have had challenges in life. Hasatan, or Satan means challenges of life. We have all experienced loss, at some point we have all asked ourselves – why is this happening to me. The story of Job is told to answer the question of why bad things happen to faithful people. (notice I did not say good people) this is not a story about being good or bad. It is about being faithful or normal. There is no easy answer to the question. This story brings up a lot of unanswerable questions – why me, why is this happening, where is God in my suffering, why does God allow suffering, if I am suffering does God even care about me. There are no easy answers in this story, as a matter of fact, there are no answers at all – a lot of interesting comments, that really don’t help any. The story raises an even more important question – how is Job able to endure all of this trouble and still remain faithful, when he wife gives up on God? The real question for us – in spite of all of all that we have been through why are we still here? Why do we still come to church every week? Why do we still practice our faith, when so many around us have given up and walked away? When I think of all that I have been through in the last 30 years of being in the United Methodist Church – I should have walked away from this mess a long time ago. But I am still here – why. I can give you a lot of explanations, I can tell you a lot of stories, but I cant really answer that question. And if I am being honest, I would have to say that being faithful has been a journey from blaming God, and acting out in anger, from thinking about walking way – to being faithful in spite of the thought of walking away. In Psalm 71 as the writer talks about all of his problems and his faith journey. He says I am an enigma to others – I am a puzzle – people do not understand why I am still here being faithful to God. There was a heartbreaking story from Kansas back in the fall of 2003. During flooding there, a wall of water washed across the Kansas turnpike, overwhelming a family of six in a minivan. In an attempt to save his family, the father, Robert Rogers, kicked out a window, but was immediately sucked out into the torrent. In the end, he was the only member of his family to survive. His wife and their four children, ages one, three, five, and eight, all drowned, the three youngest still strapped into their car seats. The oldest child along with her mother, were also swept out of the car but drowned in the raging waters. Regrettably, stories of families perishing in floods, house fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other disasters are not that unusual, but in this particular case, the surviving father made some remarkable faith statements to the press and those who gathered to support him following the crushing loss. By all reports, this was a solid, loving, faith-filled family. According to a neighbor who talked to Mr. Rogers, as the water rose in the car, the parents tried to keep the children calm by praying and singing hymns. She described the Rogers as "an amazing family."1 When Rogers spoke to the press, he stated his deep grief, but along with that he said: "God is God, and I am not," and "I am here by the grace of God." I understand those remarks to be Rogers' way of saying that our lives are in God's hands, and that for people of faith, when some horrible loss like this occurs, we do not have the option of second-guessing God or saying that we no longer trust him. Now you may or may not agree with that, and most of us facing that kind of loss would probably not be able so soon afterward to affirm our faith, but I found myself impressed by what this man said. His words also reminded me of the story behind the writing of the hymn, "It Is Well With My Soul." The words were written by another grieving father, H. G. Spafford, in 1873, a few days after his four daughters had drowned in the collision of two ships in the Atlantic Ocean. The hymn includes these lines: When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. That's another surprising testimony of faith, under the circumstances. Both of these fathers remind me of that biblical father who suffered great losses, including the deaths of all his children, Job. You perhaps recall the story. Job was a faithful servant of God's. He was also prosperous and had a large family. According to the biblical account, Satan came to God and asserted that Job only trusted God because things were going well for him. Satan argued that if all his goods were withdrawn and his family taken away, Job would curse God. Most of the time in life, we may not understand, we can only explain. Faith is an enigma, a puzzle. Even Jesus says that faith is a gift from God. My question to you this morning – why are you still here? What is your story? Today is World Communion Sunday – it is a Sunday to remind us that communion is the one thing that unites Christians all over the world. It reminds us that we are all in the same boat – we are all struggling, we are all working on our faith. We are the Job people – the ones who have received the gift of faith. As we come to the table together it is really not our suffering that brings us here. It is our response to suffering that connects us. It is our ability to say that Jesus is the Lord of our Life, our circumstances, and Jesus is the source of our healing. If Job is the story about the faithful response to suffering, communion is the ultimate story about how Jesus brings us together to rise above suffering. The bread tells the story of how in spite of his suffering and even death – he gave us a part of himself. The cup tells us that in spite of his sacrifice – he still cared enough to being salvation. World communion Sunday encourages us to remember our story and to share it with others – so that in their suffering they too can receive the gift of faith. Let us pray……. It is through acts of faith like being present, like praying, like coming together in community that I have learned to respond to life instead of reacting to circumstances. Song I Come with Joy UMH 617 Pastoral Prayer Generous God, it is easy for us to comfortably imagine so many other Christians praying today and receiving the elements of Holy Communion. We like to think of this as a nice event; yet you remind us that when we have received these gifts we are also called to use the strength that they provide to witness to others through acts of reconciling love. This Communion is not a “nice” service, meant for our comfort. It is a challenge for us to truly accept the love of Jesus Christ, who gave to us his body and his blood, that we might be redeemed to do God’s loving will. As we have gathered here this day, bringing our prayer concerns to you, O Lord, help us to remember that you hold each one of us gently and lovingly, offering your healing mercies. Give us courage to be your witnesses, seeking peace in this war-torn world. For we ask this in the name of Jesus the Christ. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Call for Offering (just print the title) We approach the table today but we don’t approach it alone. We approach it on this World Communion Sunday with Christians around the world, in congregations large and small, speaking every language and one language. And so part of our approach this morning is to remember in our offering our connection to the work of the church in every corner of God’s creation. The United Methodist Church is a global church, with ministries touching every area of our world. We are a church that is in mission in both near and far places. We have already given in mission to help locally with Kuzma Cottage. You also have in insert which lists ways to help with the clean up of Hurricane Helene. Truly, God has blessed us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly. (Adapted from Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Prayer of Thanksgiving Gracious God, you create more than we could ever hope to return. You share more than we could ever hope to deserve. And yet, we pray, accept these humble gifts. May they honor and glorify you in all creation, and may they empower us for the work of witness and service, for the sake of justice, and for the sake of peace, now and forever. Amen. (Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Communion (You don’t need to print any of this) Eucharist Invitation This table is for all of us, near and far, high and low, east and west and north and south. This table is for all of us, but it is not our table. It’s not a Methodist table. It’s not an American table. It’s God’s table, for all of us, and it’s a table of grace. So come and take your place at the table. You are welcome, you are invited, you are called: come, let us share this meal together. Great Prayer of Thanksgiving One: The Lord be with you. Many: And also with you. One: Lift up your hearts. Many: We lift them to the Lord. One: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. Many: It is right to give our thanks and praise. One: It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise, O Lord our God, creator and ruler of the universe. Even when we were dust, when our story begins in dust, you were there, your word was there, your breath into the lifeless void. And upon your word all creation sprang into life. When we were in the wilderness, terrified, timid, you were there, your word was there, with manna just enough for today, with water even from the driest rock, with the abundant grace upon which our story always rests. And when we fell short, slaves to power and greed, you were there, your word was there, on the lips of prophets, and in the hearts of servants, in stories of revolution and revelation and liberation, calling us even now to acts of courage and witness and peace. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with choirs of angels, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all the faithful of every time and place, who forever sing to the glory of your name: Many: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, 
 heaven and earth are full of your glory. 
 Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 
 Hosanna in the highest One: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Indeed blessed are you, O Christ, our Lord, for risking yourself among us, vulnerable and rejected; for teaching among us, teaching the radical hope of God; teaching grace to a world bent on vengeance, teaching love to a world bent on destruction, teaching peace to a world bent on tearing itself apart. You were there, your word was there, even to the point of death itself. Even faced with terror and hatred and the brokenness of the world, you rose again, to new life, to new creation, to resurrection, that we might know something other than the dust, that we might expect something other than the end, that we might work for something other than ourselves. And so you speak to us us again, with these abundant gifts of bread and wine, with which we joyfully celebrate your dying and rising, as we await the table of the Kingdom yet to come, and as we dedicate ourselves again to you, thankful, and transformed, as living and holy sacrifices, that our lives may proclaim the one crucified and risen. Great is the mystery of faith : Many: Christ has died,
 Christ is risen,
 Christ will come again. One: Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, and upon these your gifts of bread and wine, that the bread we break together, and the cup we share together, may retell our common stories together and reshape our common bonds together, and remember our common grace together, in the communion of the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ, the one in whose life and death you have torn down our divisions. And so may we be one with all who share this feast, on this day, of all days, with all your children at every corner of your table. May we share this abundant cup with all those who thirst for your justice. May we share this abundant bread with all those who hunger for your righteousness, May we be united with every corner of your story, united in hope, united in vision, united in purpose, united in ministry in every place. As this bread is Christ’s body for us, send us from this table to be the body of Christ in all the world. Send us with a spirit of courage, a spirit of power and love, that we may be witnesses in all creation to the unending story of your word breathing life into the dust. Keep us faithful, and fruitful, and hopeful, and peaceful, until we come at last to the one table of your Kingdom, to feast with all your saints in the joy of your eternal realm, with you and with your Word, through Christ and in Christ, the one who came for us, died for us, and rose for us, the one who prays even for us Prayer after Communion Gracious God, we offer our thanks, for the whole communion of saint’s witness to this feast, and for the ministry of churches around the world who gather with us today. By this broken bread may we each be restored for the work yet to come. By this shared cup may we each be claimed for the proclamation of your Kingdom. At this shared table may we be united as children of your promise, children of your word, dying and made new again, sent boldly together into the world as servants of your peace. Amen. (Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook May God prosper you. May your days be long and your nights serene. May your friendships honor you, and your family love you. May you eat at your table, and may you be gathered into to God’s embrace with a smile. (Elena Huegel serves as a Mission Co-worker with the Intercultural Research and Studies Institute (INESIN), Chiapas, Mexico.) Community Time Joys and Concerns Charge and Benediction You were called to this table. You were fed at this table. You were united at this table. Now, you are sent from this table into all the world. Go therefore into the world, with courage. Set a place for all who hunger. Fill the cup of all who thirst. And as you go, May the Spirit of power and love attend you, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ uphold you, and may the great faithfulness of our God sustain you, now and forever. Amen. (Presbyterian Mission, Mark Gaventa) Additional Illustrations Job is a kind of visit to the frame shop. Like the reframing that happened for many when space ships pictured earth suspended, all of it, before our very eyes, we are in need of a reframing, that is Copernican in size and Hubble-ian in method. The Hubble telescope is so much like God's message to Job that it is not funny. When Job complains of his suffering to God, God responds Hubble-esque. The Hubble is widely known to have shown us a universe of such size that we cannot begin to comprehend it. We are not the only world. There are constellations and galaxies beyond us that we are only beginning to understand. One scientist described the change in our point of view made by the Hubble (now an old tool) like this. We used to think of the universe as about as big as the sand on Jones Beach. Now we see the universe as comprising the sand on all the beaches up and down the coast of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Precisely this sea change (forgive the metaphor) is needed as we look at the climate crisis that our generation faces. We need to reframe the issue. So is Job right? I think so. He was innocent and still and nonetheless he suffered. Why did he suffer? Who knows? Why him? Who knows? May we care anyway? Yes indeed. We may care. But we care about the cosmos more than about our little place in it. That is the turn McKibben wants us to make toward the environment. He reads Job's saga in the whirlwind as advising two things — great humility, and even greater joy. The challenge before us is to figure out how to link these two callings, these two imperatives from the voice in the whirlwind — the call to humility and the call to joy.

The Spirit is Moving

Trinity Sunday June 12, 2022 John 16:12-15 The Spirit Moving Repreach 6/10 Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship L: How shall we describe the concept of Trinity? P: In the first "person" we find God the creator L: In the second "person" we discover Jesus the Redeemer P: In the third "person" we greet the Holy Spirit, the Guardian and Guide. L: There are so many ways to describe the work and witness of God. P: The Trinity helps us to understand the nature of God. AMEN. (Ministry Matters – Nancy Townley) Song Holy, Holy, Holy UMH 64 Prayer for Transformation and New Life Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, we confess that we do not always heed the wisdom you impact. We turn toward other marks and means of validation rather than toward you. We remain in awe of our own creation while devouring and decimating yours. Continue to call us, we pray, and to surprise and delight us at your magnificence and majesty. May we always be at awe at your glory and humbled by your nearness. Let our character be shaped toward hope and reflect your peace. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways – Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay) Scripture John 16:12-15 Sermon The Spirit Moving Today is Trinity Sunday. Last week we acknowledged the presence of the Holy Spirit and the wonderful things that happen in its presence. Today we think about how the holy spirit fits into the big picture. God, Jesus and the holy spirit are the same presence in our lives. But I also want us to think about how the holy Spirit works in our lives- how do we recognize God’s presence in our lives? Wesak Blessing Service Once I attended a Wesak Blessing- I didn’t realize that it was a Buddhist service, but felt that I needed all of the blessings that I could get. But I was fascinated to learn that in Nepal, there is this belief that on the full moon in May that Jesus , and God and the Holy spirit and Buddha all come down from heaven and give blessings to all of the people gathered in the valley of the mountains. So when the sun goes down, people gather to pray for the earth and to ask for special blessings. In this tradition it is thought that Jesus and Buddha are spiritual brothers both come to heaven to teach wisdom to the people. That can be pretty far fetched and hard to believe, certainly not a part of Christian tradition. Wisdom comes to us in all kinds of forms But then again, not a far cry from the Easter story of Jesus appearing to his disciples after the resurrection, not a far cry from Jesus ascending to heaven, and yet coming to us in mysterious ways to help us in life, and to teach us new lessons. God comes to us in many forms to talk to us, to guide us, to help us to grow in our faith. The point is, are we always alert enough to look for God in the details of our lives. Faith comes to us in times of pain There is the story of an atheist, who was spending a quiet afternoon fishing on the Loch Ness river. Suddenly the man’s boat is attacked by the loch ness monster. The monster comes at him in the water, and tosses the boat high in the water. And then it opens its mouth ready to swallow the man whole. He cries out to God – Oh God save me. All of a sudden the whole scene just freezes. Man in the air, waves in mid air too, every thing just stops, and a loud voice booms – wait a minute – I thought that you didn’t believe in me, why should I save you. The man replies – O come on god give me a break – two minutes ago I didn’t believe in the Loch ness Monster either. But isn’t that the reality for any of us. We have our faith with us always. We believe in God always, but we don’t use our faith, and we don’t think about what our faith really means until we approach adversity. Suffering is the hardest time for any of us to deal with. It is in the midst of our pain that we start to think about who God is, and how God works in our lives. We start to ask the tough questions of God, such as why is this happening to me? What does any of this mean? And how will I get through it? For those who don’t believe, there are no answers to those questions, but for those of us who do – the spirit of God comes to us in unexpected ways to bring us hope and clarity for what is ahead. The life of a Christian means that we will all be tested with some type of pain, we will all have questions, we will all have suffering and pain. But we have to remember that our suffering is never in vain, and that we are never alone. Jesus final words to us on earth were that we would have a partner. We would have a teacher, we would have the spirit of truth with us that will reveal the words of God in the midst of all circumstance for us. In the aftermath of Pentecost – we linger one more Sunday on the words of the gospel of John. Jesus knew that the disciples were going to enter into some challenging times. Jesus had not even gone to the cross yet. Jesus knew the pain they would suffer, and yet he knew that there were no words to help them understand the pain and persecution they were about the encounter. Even if he told them, his words would not have helped. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you in all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me. For those who don’t believe, suffering is just another part of life, it is another thing to get through, there is no hope for things to get better. But for the easter people, those who have seen the resurrection, seen the ascencion and hang on to the promises of christ’s return – suffering is our teachable moment – to listen, to learn to trust, to hope. We have the spirit of truth, which takes the wisdom of heaven and pours it out on us. The spirit doesn’t help us understand, it helps us look beyond our present moment. It doesn’t take away the pain, it helps us trust that the pain will go away. It doesn’t stop our suffering, it reminds us that our suffering is not in vain, and it is never ours alone to bear. We have God and we have one another. Finding God in our Faith We look for the God in the story in whatever form God appears, and not the loch ness monster. The question game I want to end on a light note – with a much lighter story. A young woman is taking a airplane to new York. It is a late night flight and she is anxious to get some sleep. But it turns out that a boisterous man sits next to her, full of energy and ready to talk. He wants to play a game with her. The game of questions. If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer then you pay me. If I don’t know the answer you pay me. She is tired and declines. The man not ready to give up, makes it more interesting. If I ask you a question and you don’t know, you owe me $5, if I don’t know I have to give you $500. Now that gets her attention. He goes first – what is the distance from the earth to the moon. Now since they are on an airplane, and she is tired, she doenst even want to think – she just gives him the $5. And hopes to turn over and go to sleep. But know – the man reminds her that she has to ask him a question too. So she asks, what goes up the hill on three legs and comes down on four. The man thinks about it for a while – he has $500 laying on the line, so he asks for some time to get the answer. A man of means he can use the phone on the plane, he even has internet access. He spends an hour looking for the answer – and finally gives her $500. And she turns over to go to sleep. But wait a minute – tell me what the answer is – she reaches in her purse and gives him $5. And goes to sleep. True wisdom The moral of the story for us – we come into this world thinking that everything is suppose to make sense, we are suppose to understand everything about life, that as long as we have all of the answers, life will be okay. The concept of the trinity is hard to explain – how can God be three different persons at the same time? How can God be the father and the son and some other random person at the same time. The presence of god is a mystery that will always be hard to explain. And yet god comes to us in many ways in our lives. There are things in our lives that we will never understand, will not make sense if we have the answers, and even times when the pain just wont go away. But if our faith is in Christ – we learn to go on, to have hope anyway. True wisdom about life if never about what we know – it is about the God we trust. So, how is the holy spirit flowing in your life? What things are flowing and bringing you joy and fulfillment. But more importantly how do you let the holy spirit flow through you? What love, wisdom, truth are you passing on to others. Pentecost is about recognizing the Holy Spirit, Trinity Sunday is about recognizing the spirit at work in your life. Song How Great Thou Art UMH 77 Prayer of the Day Almighty Creator and ever-living God: we worship your glory, eternal Three-in-One, and we praise your power, majestic One-in-Three. Keep us steadfast in this faith, defend us in all adversity, and bring us at last into your presence, where you live in endless joy and love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America – Worship Resoures) Lord’s Prayer Children’s Sermon How many of you have heard the word, “Trinity?” Do any of you know what that word means? Trinity means three-in-one. We have called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a “Holy Trinity.” Have you heard that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One? It’s hard for us to understand how three different beings are still the same God. I brought some things to help you understand this. Do any of you know what a Smore is? A smore is a wonderful treat made of three different things. This graham cracker is one part of a s’more. Just like the “Father” is one part of what we call the “Holy Trinity.” It says in 2 Corinthians 6:18, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” This verse is really clear that God is our Father. Another part of a smore is this chocolate. “The Son,” is another part of what we call “The Holy Trinity.” Who is the Son? That’s right…Jesus. Now, how can Jesus also be God at the same time? It says in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.” Then in verse 14, it says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” So, if the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and lived on earth with us, we know that it was Jesus. It also says in Colossians 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God.” And again the Bible says in John 10:30, “I and the Father are One.” Jesus is God in a human form. The third part of a smore, is a toasted marshmallow. The last part of the “Holy Trinity” is the Holy Spirit God sent the Holy Spirit to us after Jesus went back to Heaven, so we could keep Jesus with us. The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God within all believers. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and guide. He teaches us truth, and guides us when we stray away from God. It says in 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One.” When we put these three things together, [show the s’more ingredients] we get a trinity of wonderful flavors to satisfy our taste buds. When we put all of these things together, [show the Trinity], we get the most satisfying treat of all. We get the “Holy Trinity,” and that will satisfy ALL your needs and desires. Dear Lord, thank you for being everything we could ever need or want. Thank you for being all things, even when we don’t understand everything. Amen. (Sermons4Kids) Stewardship Moment Paul’s writing to the church at Rome includes this line: “since we are justified by faith”. Theologians spend much time with this word “justify”. Today, I want to help us understand this word by referring to old newspaper typesetting and today’s Word formatting. Here is a justified paragraph, in form and in description: To justify is to make right and equal. When a line of type is “justified”, in goes from the beginning of the line to the end, by adjusting the sizes of letters and spaces. Looking at a paragraph of justified type, it’s straight on both sides. When we are justified, our lives are “squared up”. We’re made right. When we’re justified, by God’s grace, we’re given all we have AND are inspired to share what we have. What would it take for the gifts you’ve been given (of time, talent and treasure) be “justified” by the gifts you give? Today, in gratitude for all God continues to pour IN, let us celebrate our ability to pour out as we share our morning gifts, tithes and offerings. Prayer of Thanksgiving Generous and gracious God, Thank you for the ways you justify each of us, and all of us. Thank you for “squaring us up” and making us right. And thank you for receiving the gifts we’ve brought today. Please help us use each gift to its full measure, so the financial support, the talents shared, and the time contributed allow each of the ministries of this congregation to fulfill your desire for us and for your world. AMEN (Disciples of Christ – Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go with the creativity of the One who made you. Go with the compassion of the One who claims you. Go with the courage of the One who stirs you to action. Go in peace. Amen. (Whitney Wilkerson Arreche – Presbyterian Outlook ) Community Time Benediction Go in peace, dear ones! Go with the knowledge that God, the Father [Parent], Jesus, God's Son, and the Holy Spirit are with you! Bring peace to all you meet. AMEN. (Nancy C. Townley – United Methodist Ministry Matters) Our Harbor Master When a large ship enters a harbor, it takes on board what is called a harbor master. This is a man who knows that harbor; he knows the length of it, he knows the depth of it. He knows where the hazards are. He knows where the tides and currents are; what direction they flow in and how strong they are. When that harbor master comes on board, he takes control of that ship, and he gives order to the captain who steers the ship. He is an outside expert who is brought in to make sure that ship docks safely. As we sail through the sea of life, we have been given a harbor master. He is the Holy Spirit. He knows the currents, the tides, the hazards, and the flow. If you will let Him guide the ship of your life, He will guide you safely through the hazards of earth, right into the harbor of heaven. Because He is the only guide you need. James Merritt, Collected Sermons, Sermons.com ___________________________________ Eternity and Trinity Clarence Macartney tells of a certain Canadian river which flows through a forbidding chasm. Looming on either side of the river are rugged, uninviting crags which bear the names "Eternity" and "Trinity." Macartney suggests that the opposing crags invite an analogy (you understand of course, that to a preacher, most everything invites analogy). "Inseparable from any true conception of God," he says, "are always the two doctrines of God's eternity and God's trinity ... The threefold experience of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit." The great preacher then goes on to conclude that both doctrines lie helplessly beyond human comprehension. Larry Powell, Blow the Silver Trumpets, CSS Publishing Company Oh, Now I Understand C. S. Lewis once said that the most frequently spoken word in heaven would be, "OH." As in, "Oh, now I understand." Or, "Oh, now I see what God's plan was." Or, "Oh, now I see the reason for the trial I went through." We do not have that luxury in this world. We walk by faith, not by knowledge. But one day it will be revealed to us. We will be in the presence of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. How can we be in the presence of all three at the same time? It beats me, but as St. Paul says in another place, "I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." (II Timothy 1: 12) King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Understanding the Trinity John Wesley once said, "Show me a worm that can comprehend a human being, and then I will show you a human being that can comprehend the Triune God." Luther's comment was even more to the point. "To try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity." I tend to agree with Justo Gonzalez who once said, "Trinity is a mystery, not a puzzle. You try to solve the puzzle, you stand in awe before a mystery." Mickey Anders, The Trinity The Greatest Truth There is an old story about the theologian, Karl Barth [pronounced "Bart" with a soft "t"], who was on a speaking tour of the United States. On college campuses all across this country, he was drawing huge crowds to hear his very complex answers to the questions of life. When he was speaking at Princeton University, the great hall was packed with faculty, students, and visitors who came to hear Karl Barth speak. During the question and answer period, one student asked, “Dr. Barth, may I ask you a personal question?” Dr. Barth smiled and said, “Yes, you may ask anything.” The student then asked, “Dr. Barth, you are a very educated man. What is the greatest truth you have ever learned?” Dr. Barth bowed his head, thinking for a moment about how he would respond. Then, he raised his head and looked out at the student who asked the question and he said, “The greatest truth I ever learned was at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’ ” The secret of effective living is to discover the truth about Jesus Christ. When we focus on him, we have discovered that truth is a caring love, truth is the Word becoming flesh. Truth is experiencing his life-giving power. Truth is discovering his love with arms outstretched to embrace us. When we grasp this truth, we have discovered the secret to effective living. The Same Sermon There is a story about a newly appointed preacher who preached a very fine sermon on his first Sunday in the church. The text was Matthew 26.24. No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other. You cannot serve God and Money. Everyone loved it. The next Sunday she preached the very same sermon. The people were perplexed but since it was a fine sermon no one spoke to him of the duplication. The next week he preached the sermon again. After the service the Chairpersons of the Personnel and Worship ministry teams came to the pastor and asked him why he was preaching the same sermon over and over again. The pastor said, “When we start doing what Jesus has invited us to do, I'll move on to something new!” Jef Olson, Worship Is Celebration Trust His Heart In her song titled "Trust His Heart," singer-songwriter Babbie Mason puts it this way: "God is too wise to be mistaken; God is too good to be unkind. So when you don't understand, when you don't see His plan, when you can't trace His hand, trust His heart." And that's great advice. What do you know about God? If you know that Jesus loves you and died for you, that's all you really need to know. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ______________________ The Trinity What we have in the Trinity, after all, is not a description of God's "IS"ness, so much as shorthand for the unfolding story of God's love. God knows that we cannot comprehend or even live to see the fullness of being that is God. Instead God acts within our history and within our experience. God's story goes beyond metaphor to a God who acts with us and for us in Jesus. It is a story of Jesus love and obedience to the one he called "Abba" using the Aramaic word for "Father" not to reinforce a male stereotype, but instead to use the intimate language of a loving child for his daddy. Jesus promises, as in our lesson for today, that he and his Abba will send forth the Spirit of truth, to guide us and teach us along the way. It is this story of Jesus, his Abba, and their Spirit that form the foundation of the Trinity that we worship today. Understood outside of the context of this loving God breaking into our existence we would have no Trinity at all. To paraphrase, God is as God does. Outside of this, talk of a Trinity is nonsense. But in the context of God's loving action in the world, the Trinity describes a God with characteristics that go far beyond our knowledge and sight: a God who gives his life for his creation; a God who uses love, not force, to change that creation from within; a God whose Spirit moved through that creation from before the dawn of time, and moves through that creation now; a God that is not observing us from a distance, but is present and active in all of life; a God that does not exist only in the powerful and the beautiful things of this world, but also in the weak, the outcast, the ugly and the failed things. The Trinity is the story of an unexpected God, in relationship with us in unexpected places and unexpected ways. Luke Bouman, Difficult Things Observable Love During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in the days of Mussolini, Christian believers suffered considerable persecution. In his book, Fire on the Mountains, Raymond Davis tells of the love demonstrated by believers for each other during this period of affliction, which in turn made a major impression on unbelievers. For example, no provision was made to feed the prisoners in jail by the invading army. This was the responsibility of relatives and friends. Christians in the prisons had no problem, though. They were well cared for by friends and family. In fact, so much food was brought them by fellow believers and church groups that enough remained to feed the unbelieving prisoners also. This observable love, vibrant though nonverbal, brought many to seek the Lord. Such love was previously unheard of. As a result, the word spread far and wide. Non-believers sought out believers to learn more about the Christian faith. When prisoners who had come to know Christ while in jail were released, they went back home and attended the nearest church. Leslie B. Flynn, You Don’t Have to Go It Alone, Denver, Colorado: Accent Books.

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 October 24, 2021 Opening Song Welcome – Pumpkin Spice Day Call to Worship God, we’ve come together to bless you with our songs, offerings, prayers and because of being nourished from scripture and at Christ’s table. Encourage us to celebrate the ways you redeem us. Teach us to take refuge in you, both in good and in difficult times. Let us exalt your name today as we focus our minds and hearts on you. AMEN Stewardship Moment Offering Prayer (Psalm 34, Job 42) You invite us, God, to taste and see that you are good. Well, we have tasted and you are truly good. As a token of our gratitude and a reflection of our devotion, we give back to you from our abundance. Multiply the gifts of our hands, that they may double what we could do alone. To the glory and service of Jesus, Amen. Prayer of Thanksgiving We give you thanks this day for the mighty and subtle ways you work in the lives of your people. You are a God who restores. You restored Job from his misery. You restored David from his afflictions. You restored the true meaning of priesthood. You restored Bartimaeus’s sight. You restore families that are broken. You restore ministries in peril. You restore our souls with your Holy Spirit. You restore the shattered hearts that have forgotten how much you love them. Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for what you have done, are doing, and will do. Amen. Passing the Peace of Christ (Job 42) That we may come through life’s ups and downs, live to a good and full age, and see God’s mercy to our children and children’s children, let us bless one another with these words of peace: “May you live to see God’s mercy to four generations. Scripture Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Sermon Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice One day on Facebook I ran across this post which asked – When you get to heaven what burning question will you have for Jesus. I was just about to type an answer – until it occurred to me, wait, I am a pastor – I don’t have to wait until I go to heaven in order to talk to God. And I typed – that was a good one, your almost had me. If you are a Christian and you know how to pray – God will always answer your questions. There are several stories in the bible that clearly tell us that we don’t have to go to heaven in order to get answers to our questions. Most of God’s answers have always been told to us in the bible. But secondly, God intentionally comes to us on earth. The answers have been handed to us – in the bible, in our Christian tradition, in the life of Jesus . the bible is full of stories of personal stories of people who have had a personal encounter with God. I am here speaking to you today because in my life I have never had a problem communicating with God. Any question that I have asked God- I have gotten an answer. It is not always the answer that I am looking for, it does not always come when I am expecting it – but it does come. The founder of Methodism – John Wesley says that when we ask a question of God – we have 4 tools to receive the answer – we have tradition, experience, our ability to reason. The primary tool is always scripture. – that is called the Wesley quadrilateral. Our scripture today is the last chapter of Job. The book of Job reads like a fairy tale – it starts with once upon a time and ends with Job living happily ever after. Job started out with a wonderful life, lost it all and gained it and more back again. It is a really nice story – we all want to live happily ever after – but if we get to that point that all of the valuable lessons that we learned through the struggle become moot. In reality, for most of us happily ever after doesn’t come till we get to heaven. And yet, the valuable lessons that we learned from life not only stick with us, they are what carry us through. So I want to step back a little from the very end of the Job story – and go back for a minute to the struggling phase. Remember, his bad luck through him into a deep depression and his wife and friends tried to talk him out of it. Job refused to believe that this was all a result of sin. Job rejected his friends advice and decided that he needed to talk directly to God. Sure enough, when you call on God, God always appears. Job wanted God to explain the meaning of his suffering. Why was this happening to him. God never answers Job. As a matter of fact, God makes it clear that I am God and you are not. God’s ways are not for him to understand. “What?” God exclaims, “You don’t know the answers to these simple questions?” In contrast to the omniscience of God, we are abominably ignorant. The fact is that the human mind cannot conceive or comprehend God and his ways. It is like trying to contain the ocean in a thimble! H. G. Wells once told of a bishop who asked an angel for the wisdom of God. The angel laughed and, laying his hand on the bishop’s head, said, “Can you hold it? Not with this little box of brains!” Once Job talks to God personally, he does not need an answer – he just needed to hear God’s voice. He comes out of the conversation changed. Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me." When we suffer, invariably, if we open ourselves up to God, we discover God in a fresh and wonderful way. Job says that he heard about God all of his life, but this was the first time that he was able to see God clearly for himself. It is only in our suffering that we come up with burning questions for God, and it is only in our burning questions that help us to see God. God is always there, but we seem to look for God in our suffering. When we experience God for ourselves – our faith is changed. Paul Hovey recounted a discussion about the Bible. A woman in the group said, "I let the preacher read the Bible for me. He understands it so much better than I do." Another person in the group commented, "That’s like buying second-hand clothes or being content with leftover food at a restaurant. Anyone who relies on the preacher to do his Bible reading for him will never have anything but a second-hand religion." Your religious faith will be transformed from a second-hand inheritance to a first-hand experience as you wrestle with religious questions, welcome religious insights, and wonder at the religious dimension of daily life. We all have a chance to see God firsthand. Afflictions and Faith One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love him is to send them afflictions, with the grace to bear them. Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of pain, from being afflicted by him who loves us, and whom we love. John Wesley, Christian Behavior I think that it was that experience of seeing God clearly and changing his relationship was what opened to door for Job to move on and to seek a new life. In life, joy is not the absence of trouble, it is the presence of God. The story is told of a Sunday class that had been asked the question, ¡§in your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture.¡¨ A young man said, ¡§the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want Psalm 23:1.¡¨ A middle age woman said, ¡§God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1. Another woman said, ¡§In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world. John 16:33-35. Then old Mr. John who was 80 years old, with head of white hair and dark black skin, stood up and said with as much strength as he could muster, ¡§and it came to pass¡¨ 85 times in the bible. The class started to laugh a little thinking that old Mr. John¡¦s lack of memory was getting the best of him. When the snickering stopped, he said. At 30 I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn¡¦t know how I would make it. At 40 my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50 my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60 my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65 she died. I still miss her today. The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered where was God. But each time I looked in the bible I saw one of those 85 verses that said, ¡§and it came to pass.¡¨ I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it. Suffering is one part of life, seeing God’s presence is everything. There is a famous story of a preacher who once had a parishioner come into his office, a man whom he had counseled through many difficult circumstances. The had made some progress, but always seems to go back to his old ways. But this day the preacher could tell that something was different. He announced – Pastor I have just resigned as general manager of the universe – and I was amazed at how fast my resignation was accepted. That was the same joy that Job felt. He realized that he cant explain God, he cant explain life. the question is not why is this happening to me. A better question is what can I learn about myself, about God, about faith from this situation. How can I get closer to God. We have experience, tradition, reason and most importantly scripture. We have all that we need to get in touch with God and to have a deeper relationship with God. Let us prayer together….. Prayer Why is it that we are afraid to cry aloud out need to God? We sit in our darkness and cry and complain about the dire circumstances that have overtaken us. Yet, when given the opportunity to approach the Savior who offers us light and healing, we cower in the darkness, not daring to believe that healing and light are possible for us. The darkness of our souls is invades all of our lives; it colors our attitudes and determines our actions. Lord Jesus, come and shine your light not only on us, but in us and eventually through us. Break the barriers we have erected against peace, freedom, and hope. Bathe us in the light of love, and we shall become bearers of that incredible light for others who dwell in darkness. As we receive the light from you, give us courage and confidence to reach out in compassion and service in your name. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. Song Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee UMH 89 Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go! Your faith has made you well. We go, knowing that our faith has been made stronger. Go! Follow him on the way. We go, knowing Jesus is the way. Community Time Benediction Darkness has been banished. Sight has been restored. Your lives are reformed in Christ’s love. Go now in peace to serve with great joy. Bring the love of God with you so that the light which has brightened your life may shine for others. Go no, beloved, to serve. AMEN. Children’s Sermon Job's Blessing There are 66 books in the Bible, and one of them - it's almost in the middle - is called the book of Job. Guess who it’s about. It’s about Job! It tells us a lot about Job. It tells us he had 10 children. It tells us he was very rich. (You have to be if you have 10 children!) And it tells us he loved the Lord and obeyed Him. Then something terrible happened. Satan took away just about everything Job had: his house, his children and everything he owned. The only thing he had left was his wife – and she used to nag him! Satan even caused Job to have awful sores all over his body. Job couldn't understand why God allowed all this to happen to him. It seemed so unfair. Job’s friends gave their opinions, but they didn't know what they were talking about. Finally, God stepped in and made things right again. But He didn't do it until Job did something very important. It tells us in chapter 42, verse 10: “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosper again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (NIV) So God blessed Job after he prayed for his friends. You see, God blesses us when we pray for other people. When we pray for other people it shows that we’re fulfilling the commandment to love our neighbor. Maybe we should see if that works in our lives. Maybe, when we say our prayers this week, we should pray for others before we pray for ourselves. Let’s pray right now: Father in heaven, there are lots of things we need and lots of things we want, but help us to remember to pray for the needs of other people before we pray for ourselves. Help us to be a blessing to others and to fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. God blesses us when we pray for others "After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosper again.'" Job 42:10 (NIV) From ChildrensSermonsOnli Additional Illustrations Releasing the Pain, Spreading the Message A young seminarian who lost both her parents at an early age shared a way of praying that helped her through the worst of times. She shared that in those most painful of days, she used to sit with her grandmother. Together, they would read the Bible, focusing on two particular passages. First was the one that follows directly after the Bartimaeus story we heard this morning -- the story of Jesus approaching Jerusalem, when he asks two of his disciples to go ahead and find a colt for him, on which they place their cloaks. The second is Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 11: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The woman used these two images together to prayerfully imagine Jesus inviting her to take his yoke of love, in exchange for the heavy load of grief, loss, and doubt that she carried. She pictured releasing the pain she carried, which was placed by Jesus on the back of the young colt in exchange for the yoke of spreading the message of Christ’s love in word and action. Suzanne Watson Triumph in the Rubble Carlton Fletcher tells about his Uncle Walter who lived in Waldorf, Germany, during the Second World War. Uncle Walter was the descendant of Huguenots that had run away from France during the persecution of the Protestants in the 1600's. During the war he wanted to build himself a house, but all the necessary materials were reserved for the army. You couldn't build a house for yourself. To a member of Germany's middleclass, a house is most important. Building a house and getting out of an apartment is a priority. And nothing -even a world war - would deter Uncle Walter, even if it meant building a house and hiding it under a junk pile. Here is how he did it. He bought a lot and loaned it out for people to throw junk on it. And then he would go there at night and build, layer by layer of brick, and cover it up with junk. When the end of the war came, there was a big pile of junk, but there was a house under it practically completed. All it needed was a roof. In 1946, when the war was over, he raised the roof like a madman. And he was jubilant. He said, "I beat the Nazis, I beat them. I got my house." Don't you admire the spirit of a man like that - to be able to build a house amid the rubble of life? I suspect Bartimaeus was such a man. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Sheila Walsh is a lovely and talented woman, the former co-host of the 700 Club. On air, Walsh always appeared to be competent and confident. Few people guessed that she was lonely and struggling with faith issues. Although she counseled numerous people, Walsh did not share her troubles with others. Finally, after years of inner turmoil, Walsh checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital and got help. In an interview, Walsh remarks about that time in her life, ". . . the greatest thing I discovered . . . is [that] sometimes some of God's most precious gifts come in packets that make your hands bleed when you open them, but inside that's what you've been longing for all your life--to be fully known and fully loved." (2) "Some of God's most precious gifts come in packets that make your hands bleed . . ." Have your hands bled lately? Has your heart? Has a friend betrayed you? Has a loved one left? Are you facing an uncertain future? All you can see is that the perfect plan for your life has crumbled like a house of cards. But is there some joy hiding there in the pain? Can God's grace reach you even in your darkest hour? Master violinist Itzhak Perlman was performing at the Lincoln Center when one of his violin strings broke. He continued to play, improvising new arrangements of the music to avoid the one broken string. The concert was a huge success. Afterwards, Perlman commented, "Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left." (3) So your perfect plan didn't work out. Are you going to reject God? Are you going to turn inward in self-pity? Or are you going to improvise a new arrangement for your life? Are you going to re-submit your life to God's control and find out how much music you can still make with what you have left? A few years ago, a tragic car accident claimed the lives of Gerald Sittser's wife and one child. Sittser was left to raise his other three children alone. He claims that his grief has driven him closer to God. He cherishes every day, and sees beauty in the most common things. He writes, "I still want (my family) back, and I always will, no matter what happens as a result of their deaths. Yet the grief I feel is sweet as well as bitter . . . Never have I felt so broken; yet never have I been so whole . . . My soul has been stretched. Above all, I have become aware of the power of God's grace and my need for it." (4) One of my father's favorite stories was about a Bible study class that shared their favorite Bible verses with their pastor. When an elderly, uneducated man in the class got his turn to share he said, "Well, I've got a lot of favorite passages that I like a lot, but there's one that has helped me the most. In fact," he said, "it is five little words that are found all over the Bible." When asked what they were, he said: "And it came to pass." The preacher asked the old man to explain why that was his favorite verse. The old man said, "Don't you see? When the Bible says, 'It came to pass,' that means that it did not come to stay." He said, "During my life many troubles have come, but thank God, they did not come to stay. Instead, they came to pass." I believe that Job could say "amen" to this old man's favorite Bible passage. In the first chapter of the Book of Job we are given a graphic description of the troubles that came into Job's life. In quick succession on the very same day, a series of messengers came to inform him of the trouble that had come. One told him that all of his oxen and donkeys had been stolen and his servants slain. Another messenger arrived to tell him that his sheep and the servants who cared for them had been destroyed by fire. A third then appeared and informed him that all his camels had been stolen and the servants who cared for them slain. This seems to be a chronic problem within the church. There are those people who are always coming up with methods and gimmicks, acting as if the power of the gospel depended on them. Perhaps the reason that this book has been so valuable for so many people for such a long period of time is the very fact that "it is in the Bible," giving us permission to challenge and question God when our suffering compels us to do so. This very questioning, the honest expression of our doubts and uncertainties, is what builds trust My wife and I spend our summers in the mountains of North Carolina. There are days when the clouds are low and fog settles in. On those days, we cannot see the mountain across the valley, a half mile away. Someone could tell us there is a mountain over there. We could take their word for it, but only when the clouds and fog disappear and the mountain can be seen are we positive without a shadow of a doubt that there is a mountain over there. In the same way, a report that God exists is good as far as it goes, but the personal vision of God is the best and only way to know God. Job said, “My eye sees thee.” Can we today really see God? Indeed, we can in various ways. We can see God in nature. Nature is not God as the New Age claims, but we can see God in the beauty and power of nature. A famous French entomologist, Jean Henri Fabre, at the age of eighty-seven, wrote a ten-volume work on insects. Someone asked him if he as a scientist and scholar could still believe in God. He positively replied, “I don’t believe in God I see him!” He did not win his argument, but he did win a new relationship with God. And so it is with us. We do not always get our questions answered, but we can have God. We do not always understand God’s way with us, but we can always take his hand in ours and walk with him on the path that leads to eternal life. Life is not always fair. That's why the Apostle Paul says in effect, "I've learned to accept the fact that life isn't fair, and that's okay. I'm serving God, not my circumstances. I've learned how to play the cards that life has dealt me." Our earliest understanding of suffering may come at a young age, when we lose a grandparent or a precious pet. We may have wondered, "Why me?" The tragedy that invades our lives can be hard to accept, much less understand. This is where our faith comes in, where we know that God is with us just as God was with Jesus on the cross. God is present with you and speaks to you in the midst of your suffering. God's greatest passion is not your happiness, but your wholeness. Your most difficult times can become an opportunity for growth. Suffering does not have the final word. God and a victorious life await you. In the aftermath of the horror, Steve Goodier offered these beatitudes: * Blessed are those who mourn for the tsunami's victims; may they find comfort in their pain and hope in their helplessness. * Blessed are those who found a way to survive; may they now find sufficient strength and healing as they reassemble the scattered pieces of shattered lives. * Blessed are those who tirelessly strive to give relief; may they be amply encouraged in their valiant efforts. * Blessed are those who generously give money and supplies ... may they know the deep satisfaction of having made a difference. * Blessed are those in every nation who unite now in compassionate service and love; may they show us what it means to be family.[2] Why do these things happen? It is not a new question. It is as old as human existence. The book of Job is really one long compendium of the questions people raise when confronted with catastrophe: Why? Why me? Why him? Why them? Can’t see Jesus in the picture Pastor Steven E. Albertin told the following story. He said, in my church secretary's office there hangs a modernistic picture composed of a maze of colors and shapes. I realized these sophisticated, modern, and abstract pictures were supposed to contain some profound artistic or philosophical message, but I never was able to figure it out. It just looked like a jumbled mass of confusion. If there was a message there, I was blind to it. One day while I was standing in the office, waiting for the copier to warm up, one of the congregation's kindergarten-age boys, Adam, stood beside me and said, "Do you see what I see?" "Do you see something in that picture? I sure don't." Adam looked at me with glee in his eye, "Pastor, can't you see him? It's Jesus hanging on the cross." I stared as hard as I could, until my eyes actually hurt from staring. I wanted to believe Adam and that there actually was the image of Jesus hanging on the cross hidden somewhere in that mass of color and shapes, but I couldn't see Jesus anywhere. "Adam, I'm sorry but I must be blind. You will have to help me see." Directing his finger to a mass of color in the center of the picture, Adam said, "There, Pastor. Do you see what I see? There is Jesus, his face, his arms outstretched on the cross." And then, like an epiphany, the image began to appear. Yes, there hidden somehow "behind" the colors and the shapes was the barely visible image of Jesus, hanging with arms outstretched on the cross. "It's amazing, Adam. You have helped one blind pastor to see Jesus. Yes, I can see what you see, Adam." Steven E. Albertin, Against the Grain, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. D.L. Moody, the famed evangelist, told this story at one of his meetings: One evening just before Christmas, a man was walking through the streets of an Eastern city. The store windows were all beautifully decorated, and he observed three little girls intensely interested in one of them. He discovered that the girl in the center was blind, and the others were trying to describe the beautiful things in the window. “Why,” they said, “can’t you see that Teddy bear and that doll? Just look at that pretty pink bow!” But the poor little girl stood with a blank expression on her face and could not appreciate the beautiful things before her. “Now,” said Moody, “this is an illustration of the effort we Christians are making to arouse the unconverted to an interest and delight in spiritual things. The reason we can’t do so is because the sinner is spiritually blind.” Moody had scarcely concluded when a reporter was on the platform asking him where he had heard that story. “Oh,” said Moody, “I read it in one of those daily papers. I have forgotten which one.” Then the reporter said, “I’m the one who wrote the story because I was there and saw the whole thing. I see now that I’m just like that little girl, spiritually blind.” That man was converted then and there. Illustration: In fact, most Christians today perceive God like one person noted: God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week and I don’t understand him on Sunday.

Finding the Good in "Bad Luck"

October 3, 2021 World Communion Sunday Job 1:1,2:1-10 19th Sunday After Pentecost Proper 22 Year B Finding the good in “bad luck” Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Almighty God, even as the drums of warfare beat on through the night, even as the cries of injustice linger in the morning, even as the hustle of busyness rumbles through the day, quiet our hearts. Still our thoughts. Join us in our worship. Remember us in your mercy as we try to remember you, through the proclamation of your good news, in story and in song, and through the hospitality of your gracious table. Welcome us again, one Lord, Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Stewardship Moment Call for Offering We approach the table today but we don’t approach it alone. We approach it on this World Communion Sunday with Christians around the world, in congregations large and small, speaking every language and one language. And so part of our approach this morning is to remember in our offering our connection to the work of the church in every corner of God’s creation. Truly, God has blessed us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly. Prayer of Thanksgiving Gracious God, you create more than we could ever hope to return. You share more than we could ever hope to deserve. And yet, we pray, accept these humble gifts. May they honor and glorify you in all creation, and may they empower us for the work of witness and service, for the sake of justice, and for the sake of peace, now and forever. Amen. Passing the Peace In Jesus Christ, we know God’s forgiveness and peace. Let us share that peace with one another. The peace of Christ be with you. Scripture Job 1:1 Common English Bible Job’s piety and life of bliss 1 A man in the land of Uz was named Job. That man was honest, a person of absolute integrity; he feared God and avoided evil. Job 2:1-10 Common English Bible Job’s Adversary refuses to give up 2 One day the divine beings came to present themselves before the LORD. The Adversary also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 The LORD said to the Adversary, “Where have you come from?” The Adversary answered the LORD, “From wandering throughout the earth.” 3 The LORD said to the Adversary, “Have you thought about my servant Job, for there is no one like him on earth, a man who is honest, who is of absolute integrity, who reveres God and avoids evil? He still holds on to his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him for no reason.” 4 The Adversary responded to the LORD, “Skin for skin—people will give up everything they have in exchange for their lives. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his bones and flesh. Then he will definitely curse[a] you to your face.” 6 The LORD answered the Adversary, “There he is—within your power; only preserve his life.” The test intensifies 7 The Adversary departed from the LORD’s presence and struck Job with severe sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself and sat down on a mound of ashes. 9 Job’s wife said to him, “Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse[b] God, and die.” 10 Job said to her, “You’re talking like a foolish woman. Will we receive good from God but not also receive bad?” In all this, Job didn’t sin with his lips. Sermon Finding the good in “bad luck” I remember as a young adult -I thought the bible contained all of the answers to all of my problems in life. I was disappointed to read the bible and see that it was just a bunch of stories, with no real practical advice on how to solve all of my problems. I have also felt that every time I have read the book of Job. – there is no advice, and no answers. And then this year I learn that the book of Job is not even about a real person. None of this ever happened, Job and his daughters are not real persons. When I looked at the story this year, it even reads like a fairy tale. It starts out by saying A man in the land of Uz was named Job. Sort of life the famous – once upon a time. Uz is not even a real place, it sort saying – in the land of discernment and counsel – the land of our thoughts. At the beginning of the story he loses everything, and at the end of the story he gains it all back – sort of like living happily ever after. The whole bible can be described as the story of how we as humans were given paradise, we lost paradise, and we have been spending centuries trying to gain it back. I love fairy tales – They are fun stories with a back story with a valuable lesson in life. They are not necessarily true – but they contain truth. They give us advice about life in a way that our imagination and ability to think is engaged. The teach us timeless lessons about life – that is why they begin with Once Upon a Time. Fairy tales also give us important lesson in history, context and values of the culture that created them. Job may have been a story passed down orally from generation to generation. But it was written in the time of exile for the Jews. They have been driven to a new land, and they even had to find a new identity. This is the time that their faith became important to them. They turned to God to ask why this was happening to them. The traditional answer was that if something bad was happening and you were suffering, then it was all your fault. It was the consequence of a sin. Why were people dragged away from their life and held captive in Babylon – the forgot to put God first in their lives. That was just how life was – when you were righteous good things happened. When you were bad you were punished for your sins. The book of Job was written to thumb its nose at the old eye for an eye thinking. This story paves the way for the theology of grace that we still live for today. I am only going to preach on this once, but Job is a gem of a story with some rich meaning. Job was a good man, but he was also a foreigner. (a Jew would never to bold enough to disrespect the faith of their elders). The scripture says the Job was a good man who did everything to follow God. In return for his goodness God decides to throw him under the bus. He turns Job’s life over to circumstance. Satan in this story is not the devil. Satan is the defense attorney for fate. God is in the throne room holding court. He is proud of Job. But the accuser insist that Job is only good because he is rewarded. He is not a deep man, take away the rewards and Job will curse God. I love this scenery – God is bragging about Job to Satan – he asks Satan where he’s been – I just roaming the earth looking for trouble. God says well you won’t find it in Job. God then lets fate take control and destroy everything that Job has. I don’t know what I would do, if I found out that God had intentionally created all of my problems. When his wife and friends see all of Job’s suffering, First his wife tells him to abandon a God that allows bad things to happen to you. Just curse God and die she says. His friends come over to cheer him up – but only make things worse. According to the old stories – if you are suffering there is something you did to cause it. You are just dealing with the consequences of your own actions. Why worship a God who does not have your best intentions at heart – that was the old faith. Job is a pretty long book – I had to write a paper on it in college, I thought this story would never end. It is 26 chapters. During this journey each of his friends come in to tell Job that when God throws your under the bus, your faith is useless. All of this time Job is struggling to find answers to understand what is going on. His wife talks to him, his friends talk to him, God even talks to him. Through it all Job does not understand, but he is determined to hold his ground – he didn’t do anything to deserve this treatment. Job is a foreigner, no real Jew would question the faith of the old people. But Job loves God and has made a commitment to serve. After his faith ordeal, finally God restores everything that Job lost, and he lives happily every after. We love our happily every afters – that is the best a part of a fairy tale. I always wondered what happily ever after looks like? How long does it last. Job has always been a disappointment to me – no one lives happily ever after. And being blessed does not make us anymore likely to have a rough life than that person who never went to church. The thing I hated most about the book – it gave no answers, no conclusions, no practical advice. God does not even have the final word. It is just a story. But the one thing that I noticed about Job’s story – he lost everything in his life but his choice of how to respond to his circumstances. He choose to be faithful to God, rather he received a reward or not. His faith was a choice, not a loyalty, not an awareness. It wasn’t a reward for being lost, and it wasn’t a punishment for doing wrong . He chose – to have a relationship with God, to move on, to do what was right, and to accept the power of grace in his life. He even chose to maintain that he did not deserve what happened – but it was grace that restored his life. Someone made this whole story up – but the gift of this lesson – the truth in the tale – we cannot control suffering. We cannot control the bad times in life. And most of the time, it is just to circumstances of life. Suffering is not our fault. When we lost everything – let us remember that we still have our choice. We get to control how we respond to the situation. We choose our response and we can always choose God – the more excellent way. Let us pray…… Affirmation of Faith (adapted from the Belhar Confession) We believe in one holy, universal Christian church, the unity of the communion of saints of the entire human family. And we believe that that this unity of the people of God must be manifest and active, in that we love one another; that we give ourselves willingly and joyfully to one another, that we are share one baptism together, that we eat of one bread and drink of one cup together, that we confess one name, one Lord, for one cause, with one hope, which is the height and the breadth and the depth and the love of Christ, forever and ever. Amen. Song One Bread One Body UMH 620 Communion UMH 13 (not necessary to print) Each time we come to this table, we recognize Jesus’ teaching about the Realm of God not only in words, but with signs and symbols. Especially on this World Communion Sunday, we recognize the table extends globally, from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth. From Albuquerque to Zionsville, from Austria to Zambia, from Zanzibar right back to Alberta! All are welcome! Whether the bread is our traditional bread/crackers, or is naan, whether the cup is filled with Welch’s Grape or milk and honey, these gifts are for the people of God, gathered in this sanctuary and symbols like these are for the people of God, gathered in other places. These tiny gifts whet our appetite for that gathering of God’s beloveds from across time and space. (if you have images from around the world, those graphics would fit here!) The images which flash (on our screens/in our mind’s eye) are images of God’s Realm! This feast we share, remember, is a rehearsal dinner for the marriage feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9). Rejoice! God’s Realm, while not yet fully here, teases into reality our best expectations as we share this meal. Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook You were called to this table. You were fed at this table. You were united at this table. Now, you are sent from this table into all the world. Go therefore into the world, with courage. Set a place for all who hunger. Fill the cup of all who thirst. And as you go, May the Spirit of power and love attend you, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ uphold you, and may the great faithfulness of our God sustain you, now and forever. Amen. Community Time Benediction Shalom to you UMH 666 Liturgy written by Matt Gaventa, the Pastor of Amherst Presbyterian Church in Amherst, Virginia, and the chaplain at Sweet Briar College. Children’s Time Invite the children forward and introduce World Communion as a special meal that is shared with Christians all over the world. Talk with the children about special meals: the guests invited, the food that is prepared and the things that are done to make it special—decorations, good china, silverware and linens. Gather close to the table and ask the children to identify the things that look different or special about the table. When the table looks special, like it does today, everybody knows that something special is going to happen. Ask them to identify other countries, denominations and churches that might be celebrating World Communion today. Hold hands around or near the table. Remind the children that when we gather at this table today we remember that Jesus loves us and that we belong to the family of God that stretches all around the world. Ask the children to repeat the following prayer after you to end the children’s time: God of us all, we remember our brothers and sisters around the world today. Help us to treat all people as your children. Amen. -Contributed by Holly Purcell Albrecht Additional Illustrations

The God of Second Chances

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington March 24, 2019 Luke 13:1-9 Year C The Third Sunday of Lent The God of Second Chances Children’s time "And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down." Object: Some fertilizer. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever tried to grow a plant or a tree? (Let them answer.) Did it live? (Let them answer.) How did you take care of your plant? (Let them answer.) There is a story Jesus tells in the Bible about a man who had a fig tree planted on his farm. He asked another man who worked for him to take care of the tree. After a while, he came back to pick some of the fruit that had grown on the tree, but he was surprised to find that the tree had no figs. The owner was disappointed, and he told his worker to cut it down. But the worker asked him to give the tree one more chance. So the owner told him to give the tree some fertilizer, and that if it did not grow in one year, then he should cut it down. Fertilizer helps plants to grow strong so that they will produce fruit, flowers, or whatever they are supposed to produce. If you want a strong plant, one that grows and grows, you must fertilize it. Fertilizer is very important for plants and trees. Jesus told this story so that we would learn something very important about ourselves, too. Sin makes us weak. We all sin. Every one of us is a sinner. Sin makes us very weak and keeps us from living the way that God wants us to live. When we are weak, we cannot even do the good things that we want to do. There is only one way to make things better so that we can get over our weakness. We must tell God how sorry we are for our sin. This is called repentance, and it is as good for us as fertilizer is for a plant. Tell God that you are sorry, and ask him to forgive you, and you will get rid of your sin. When you do not have the sin, then you can grow strong and be the way that God wanted you to be. The next time you see someone feeding a plant some fertilizer to help it grow strong, I hope you will remember how telling God you are sorry for your sin will also help you to grow strong. Will you do that? Good. God bless you very much. C.S.S. Publishing Company, CALL in the CLOWNS, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 13:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB) Demand for genuine change 13 Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. 4 What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.” 6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer.9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible It is pretty easy to hear the stories of Jesus and to think of these as stories for another time. None of the them apply directly to the situations of today. But every once in a while, Jesus hits the nail on the head for us, and he addresses a situation that we have just heard about in the headlines. I chose this verse in Luke for just that reason. In this verse Jesus is meddling, and talking about our time. In chapter 12 Jesus is talking to the crowd about what it takes to be a Christian. And they have decided that this whole Christian thing is a lot more trouble than it is worth. And takes a lot more time and energy than they are willing to give. Now Jesus is talking about repentance, and give your life to Jesus. And the wages of sin is death. For centuries, they have all heard this same message. If you are sick, unlucky, or die, then that is a punishment for unfaithfulness. If you are suffering, then obviously it is something that you have done. It is your own fault. Everyone seems to have the same two events in mind to prove a point. First is a group of Galileans who went to temple to protest Pilates, rules. Pilate came and crushed the rebellion and killed all of those involved. But they had no business revolting, so may be they got what they deserved. And then there were those salvodoreans who got killed when the roof collapsed. But they chose to cross the picket lines and were killed in the process. Interestingly enough – neither of these cases is recorded anywhere in history. There is no proof that either happened, or if it did, it was not worth even recording. But today – mass killings have become way too common on the news. There was just the instance of 50 muslims killed also while in worship. Did they deserve it for being muslim? How to protect ourselves in worship is not a big concern. But nothing seems to stop people being killed while going to worship, while going to the movies, while going to work. even for just waking up and going to school – they have been killed. We have been conditioned just like the people in Jesus time, to wonder who is to blame for all of this violence. If something bad happens, obviously you did something to deserve it. Jesus makes a point that this is not true. No one deserves to die just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It reminds me of an even more recent headline of a young girl who committeed suicide – because her classmates died in the parkland shooting and she survived. In a world where we have been conditioned for generations to equate sin with suffering. We live in a world – like she did of blame, guilt shame, accusations. We are meaning making machines – we have to make everything mean something. We have to find the root cause of bad sitiuations. But sometimes it does not matter – and there are things happening in our world that we just cannot make sense of. In my younger days I used to attend a self development program – landmark education. One of the first lines that we were taught to remember was life is empty and meaningless and it doesn’t mean anything that it doesn’t mean anything. The point was not to buy into the world of blame and guilt. That generational curse can be broken because we don’t have to buy into them. Jesus spent a lot of his ministry trying to prove that point. Blaming a situation on someone or something does not make the situation any better. But Jesus does not take the meaning out of the situation, he puts the meaning into it. Jesus uses this whole situation as a teachable moment. Jesus does not say that those killed in mass killings were innocent – he says that we are just as guilty as they are. Tragedy is just around the corner for all of us. But do we let sin and suffering define who we are? Jesus says no. He uses the example of the fig tree to make a point. What you have to realize is that it took a lot of time and energy to plant a fig tree. It required the best soil and demanded a lot of water and care to grow. And once it started to grow, it would be three years before you say any fruit. You weren’t supposed to pick any fruit from the tree for seven years. That was a lot of work. A vineyard keeper had been growing and taking care of this tree for 9 years, and still nothing. At what point do you give up. Nurture or Wither We used to have a swamp maple tree in our front yard. It shaded our porch and added to the landscaping in front of our house. We took it for granted and we never pruned it or fertilized it. About three years ago it began to lose its leaves and some branches withered and died. I pruned it back to give it some life. One fall we hammered fertilizer spikes into the ground in a circle around it. The following spring it sprouted new branches and you could see new foliage. For the first time in two seasons it appeared that it might make it. But, we had an unusually dry summer and the tree continued to lose branches. Finally it was invaded by carpenter ants and the tree was doomed. We should have given the tree attention sooner but instead we procrastinated. Our efforts to save it were only temporary. Eventually the time came when we had to cut it down. In a matter of minutes the tree came tumbling down. All that was left was the stump, about 10 inches in diameter. The front yard looked bare and our front porch no longer had shade. My wife wanted to replace the tree with something new. So we went to a nursery and purchased a Bradford Pear. We selected the best tree we could find. It took several days to remove the stump. I chopped and I sawed and I dug. Finally I succeeded in removing it. We then fertilized the ground and planted our new tree. We followed the directions that were given to us by the nursery worker to detail. He had told us that the Swamp Maple was really a poor choice for our soil and area. As long as we took good care of our new Bradford Pear Tree, we could expect good results. Our lives are much the same. Without nurture they wither and rot. We can’t always control the forces against us, like weather and even people who do mean things to us. We can, however make every effort to change our ways. Keith Wagner, Does Mercy Have Limits? When we hear the story of the fig tree, we usually say that the vine grower is God and that each of us is the tree. The tree which took way to much time and energy to take care of. But what if the vinegrower was each of us. The one’s who judged that the fig tree was not worth the effort. God says give them another chance, and we say no it is not worth the effort. God says let it grow, and we demand that it is time to take it out. God says don’t judge a book by its cover, and we insist that if it it what it is. God says I gave you a chance, give others a chance, and we still insist that people get what they deserve. We stay in the world of blame, guilt and suffering. In the Methodist church, the LGBTI community says that the African church is holding is down and they need to be help accountable, and the African church says that the sin of the Americans has allowed sin in the LGBT community and they need to be held accountable. But what does God say – I don’t know I am not God. A colleague from Australia points out that as we comment on recent headlines, we all can say that the Islamic community did not deserve what happened to them. But what about the one person who pulled the trigger – is he not also a child of God. Is he not also the fig tree – that God invested a lot of time and energy to developing. Do we blame him. Perhaps Jesus would say that the one who is free of guilt can cast the first stone. Jesus does say that we are just as much a sinner as those who were killed. And that we need to first turn from our sins and repent. Turn back to the God who has nurtured us so tenderly all of these years. We don’t have to live in a world of blame, sin and guilt. Jesus and 11 blokes are sitting around on lounges and comfortable chairs. Peter the Apostle is lying on the floor with his head on a cushion, and they're all waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Lunch is sitting on the table, but they wait. It's the year 2587. The Apostle John is writing the 15th version of his gospel on his iPad! And there's a tentative little knock at the door. A bloke nervously sticks his head around the corner, and Jesus springs to his feet and rushes over and says, "Judas! What kept you? Thank goodness you've arrived. We can get on with lunch! "And, of course, lunch is the Eucharist. God will wait for all time, even for the worst sinner. Jesus felt so strongly that he wanted us to be free, that he even went to the cross to pay for our sins. So that we could have the freedom to repent and have a relationship with God. God wants what is best for us, wants us to be our best self. God doesn’t do things to hurt people – Always there trying to help and make us feel better. If I die tomorrow – can I stand before God? What is it that I need to do differently? What is it that I may need to prune in my life, in order to be more connected to God? All of this is a part of our task – as we watch Jesus go to the cross to pay for our sins. We can listen to Jesus message to us to repent while we can – before it is too late. Let us pray…… Additional illustrations….. The Evening News Imagine for a moment that Jesus is watching television with his twelve disciples. They're on furlough from teaching and healing, taking it easy in the living room of Peter's mother-in-law, doing a little mindless channel surfing. Maybe they catch a little of an NCAA Tournament game, March Madness. These are guys, you know, just relaxing from a demanding schedule. But eventually the evening news comes on. They put down the popcorn and listen intently to the day's tragedies. One disciple says, "Hey, Jesus, that horrible bombing over on the West Bank where that guy drove a bus into a crowd of people. Do you think that because these Palestinians suffered in this way they were worse sinners than the rest?" It was a popular question in Jesus' day. Still is. If something bad happened, it must have been for a reason. Jesus scratches his beard for a moment. "No, they didn't die because of anything they did. It was a purely random thing. But let me tell you something. Unless you guys clean up your acts, you'll die just as tragically." There is a low murmur in the room. The disciples look at each other like Jesus has missed his morning medication. As two begin to leave to find a bathroom, the newscaster reports another catastrophe, this one halfway across the world. Jesus pipes up this time. "Hey, guys," he says, "those people over in El Salvador. What about them? The earthquake that hit there killed hundreds of people. Does that mean that these Salvadorans were worse sinners than their neighbors in Guatemala?" Jesus waits for his question to sink in. "No, the tragedy had nothing to do with their morals. Those people just got in the way." The disciples breathe a sigh of relief, gladdened to know that God doesn't work that way. But then Jesus looks at them all. "Let me tell you something, though. Unless you people start going in the right direction, you will share a similar fate as those Salvadorans and it will seem like a building falling on your head to crush the life out of you." I believe somebody got up and changed the channel after that. Frank G. Honeycutt, Sermons on the Gospel Reading, Cycle C, CSS Publishing Company _______________________________________ Things that we spend our time and energy on, are they bearing good fruit? Repent – focus on the things that are life giving. Our Chaotic Life This notice appeared in the window of a coat store in Nottingham, England: "We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of coal nationalization, coat rationing, government control and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about, lied to, held up, robbed and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next." Unknown Becoming What We Are Somerset Maugham said it best in his autobiography, Summing Up, "I knew that I had no lyrical quality, a small vocabulary, little gift of metaphor. The original and striking simile never occurred to me. Poetic flights...were beyond my powers. On the other hand, I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed. I could put down in clear terms what I saw...I knew that I should never write as well as I could wish, but I thought, with pains, that I could arrive at writing as well as my natural defects allowed." Somerset Maugham discovered the secret of genius. The point is that life does not ask us to become what we are not. The fig tree was only required to produce figs. No more. You and I are asked only to accomplish what our natural gifts allow, but we are asked to accomplish just that. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Using Up the Ground Soil was at a premium in Israel. It was not unusual for a vineyard owner to give a little bit of his soil up for a fruit tree but the tree took up the best soil, the deepest soil, and required the most water. A fig tree doesn’t grow fruit until three years after planting. The owner in this story, had given the tree “due season” to bear fruit and yet the tree bore no fruit. It took up valuable space and resources. The owner questioned why the tree was allowed to “even use up ground.” God had given the Israelites the choicest ground. Their land possessed everything necessary to make themselves a great nation, indeed, a light to all nations. They were strategically positioned to send the fruit of God north and south, east and west; but instead, in-fighting continued to make them a worthless fruit tree. Everyone one of us and all of our churches will have to answer (from God’s perspective) this same question; “Why does it even use up the ground?” Jerry Goebel, Why Does HE Even Use up the Ground? Suffering and Repentance Trevor Beeson stood at the high altar of Westminster Abbey to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, Catharine, to Anthony, aged twenty-three. Nine months later he stood before the same altar for Anthony's funeral, who was killed when his car ran into a wall in East London. Four months later, Trevor returned to the altar beside the coffin of his friend and hero Earl Mountbatten, who died when his fishing boat was blown to pieces by Irish terrorist. Reflecting on the experience, he said he could not blame God for these senseless tragedies. He wrote: I should find it impossible to believe in, and worship, a God who arranged for the great servants of the community to be blown up on their holidays and who deliberately turned a young man's car into a brick wall…This is not the God of love whose ways are revealed in the Bible and supremely in the life of Jesus Christ. Beeson found two insights that helped him to cope with his tragedy and to look beyond it: "The first is that, although God is not responsible for causing tragedy, he is not a detached observer of our suffering. On the contrary, he is immersed in it with us, sharing to the full our particular grief and pain. This is the fundamental significance of the cross." Second, although we naturally ask, "Why did it happen?" Beeson discovered that the more important question is "What are we going to make of it?"; "Every tragedy contains within it the seeds of resurrection." This is, after all, the whole point of our pilgrimage through Lent, to Good Friday, and Easter morning. Are those who experience innocent suffering worse than anyone else? Of course not. It can happen to any of us. But is there a connection between innocent suffering and human action? Of course there is, and unless we change our way of living, we may all experience the same suffering. What does Jesus offer us when we experience this kind of suffering? The power of God to hold us firm, to give us strength, and to see us through. John K. Bergland editor, Abingdon Preachers Annual 1992, Nashville: Abingdon, 1991, p. 108. Not Nearly as Big a Man It seems that the University of Tennessee coach bought a bolt of cloth thinking he would have a suit made out of it. He took the material to his tailor in Knoxville where the tailor measured him, examined the bolt of cloth, did some computations on a piece of paper, and said, "I'm sorry, coach, there just isn't enough material in this bolt to make a suit for you." The coach was disappointed, but he threw the bolt of cloth in the trunk of his car, wondering what he was going to do with it. A couple of weeks later he was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- the home of the Crimson Tide -- arch enemies of the Vols. He was on his way to the coast for a vacation. Driving down the main street in Tuscaloosa, he noticed a tailor shop, which reminded him that he had that bolt of cloth in the trunk. He stopped, thinking he would give it a try. He told the tailor he had bought this bolt of cloth and wondered if he could do anything with it. The tailor measured him, measured the bolt of cloth, did some computations. Finally he said, "Coach, I can make you a suit out of this bolt. What's more, I can make you an extra pair of pants. And if you really want it, I can give you a vest out of this, too." The coach was dumbfounded. "I don't understand," he said. "My tailor in Knoxville told me he couldn't even make one suit out of this bolt of cloth." The tailor said, "Coach, here in Tuscaloosa, you are not nearly as big a man as you are in Knoxville." I tell the story to make the point that things are not always what they seem. Our Scripture lesson -- the parable of the fig tree -- is clearly a parable of judgment. But at the very heart of it is a marvelous word of grace. Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Not Nearly as Big a Man It seems that the University of Tennessee coach bought a bolt of cloth thinking he would have a suit made out of it. He took the material to his tailor in Knoxville where the tailor measured him, examined the bolt of cloth, did some computations on a piece of paper, and said, "I'm sorry, coach, there just isn't enough material in this bolt to make a suit for you." The coach was disappointed, but he threw the bolt of cloth in the trunk of his car, wondering what he was going to do with it. A couple of weeks later he was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- the home of the Crimson Tide -- arch enemies of the Vols. He was on his way to the coast for a vacation. Driving down the main street in Tuscaloosa, he noticed a tailor shop, which reminded him that he had that bolt of cloth in the trunk. He stopped, thinking he would give it a try. He told the tailor he had bought this bolt of cloth and wondered if he could do anything with it. The tailor measured him, measured the bolt of cloth, did some computations. Finally he said, "Coach, I can make you a suit out of this bolt. What's more, I can make you an extra pair of pants. And if you really want it, I can give you a vest out of this, too." The coach was dumbfounded. "I don't understand," he said. "My tailor in Knoxville told me he couldn't even make one suit out of this bolt of cloth." The tailor said, "Coach, here in Tuscaloosa, you are not nearly as big a man as you are in Knoxville." I tell the story to make the point that things are not always what they seem. Our Scripture lesson -- the parable of the fig tree -- is clearly a parable of judgment. But at the very heart of it is a marvelous word of grace. Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Look to God Bryan Zuckor was the quintessential 14-year-old boy-next-door — adventurous, athletic and popular at the Southern California Presbyterian Church where he worshipped and vigorously participated in youth activities. Zuckor’s wholesome life ended when he was shot and killed by a fellow student at Santana High School in Santee, CA. I suspect his grieving parents have asked themselves, ‘What did we do to deserve this?’ We moderns understand, of course, that this is not a rational question. We know that the question itself comes from a far more primitive time, a time when people thought God was a vengeful, eye-for-eye kind of God. We moderns know better. And yet, the question lingers. By all accounts, 15-year old Andy Williams was none of the things that Bryan Zuckor was. Andy was not athletic or popular or a member of a church youth group, or even a school club. But he had access to a gun, and now the whole nation knows just how frustrated and angry Andy was. He was apparently the shooter who killed Bryan Zuckor and fellow student Randy Gordon. Surely Andy’s parents, his friends, and teachers are asking, "What could we have done differently to have adverted this tragedy?" With that question we show how different we are from our ancestors. We moderns do like to believe that we have the power, we have the strength and wisdom to alter the course of human events, if only we make right and timely choices. Today, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus speaks to us all. To those who would see themselves as the ones to blame. . . . To those who assume their suffering is some form of divine punishment . . . . To mortals who see themselves as immortal, as able to exercise control over people and events . . . . Jesus speaks to us all, saying, "Humans need to look to God, not to themselves and their life experiences for the security for living." For the confidence to live life to the fullest, humans need to look to God. Sid Burgess, When Bad Things Happen _________________________________________ The Evening News Imagine for a moment that Jesus is watching television with his twelve disciples. They're on furlough from teaching and healing, taking it easy in the living room of Peter's mother-in-law, doing a little mindless channel surfing. Maybe they catch a little of an NCAA Tournament game, March Madness. These are guys, you know, just relaxing from a demanding schedule. But eventually the evening news comes on. They put down the popcorn and listen intently to the day's tragedies. One disciple says, "Hey, Jesus, that horrible bombing over on the West Bank where that guy drove a bus into a crowd of people. Do you think that because these Palestinians suffered in this way they were worse sinners than the rest?" It was a popular question in Jesus' day. Still is. If something bad happened, it must have been for a reason. Jesus scratches his beard for a moment. "No, they didn't die because of anything they did. It was a purely random thing. But let me tell you something. Unless you guys clean up your acts, you'll die just as tragically." There is a low murmur in the room. The disciples look at each other like Jesus has missed his morning medication. As two begin to leave to find a bathroom, the newscaster reports another catastrophe, this one halfway across the world. Jesus pipes up this time. "Hey, guys," he says, "those people over in El Salvador. What about them? The earthquake that hit there killed hundreds of people. Does that mean that these Salvadorans were worse sinners than their neighbors in Guatemala?" Jesus waits for his question to sink in. "No, the tragedy had nothing to do with their morals. Those people just got in the way." The disciples breathe a sigh of relief, gladdened to know that God doesn't work that way. But then Jesus looks at them all. "Let me tell you something, though. Unless you people start going in the right direction, you will share a similar fate as those Salvadorans and it will seem like a building falling on your head to crush the life out of you." I believe somebody got up and changed the channel after that. Frank G. Honeycutt, Sermons on the Gospel Reading, Cycle C, CSS Publishing Company _______________________________________ The