In all Things Give Thanks

Thanksgiving Weekend November 22, 2020 Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Year A Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer O Holy God, maker of every thought and thing, open our hearts this day, that we may know your presence in this time and place. Restore us now, so we may see the special gift and calling that you have for each of us. Masterful potter of life, mold us into the vessels you would have us be. Help us be ready for your promised return, when you will be among us and within us with new, creative, healing energy. Amen. Stewardship Moment Invitation to the Offering (Isaiah 64, Mark 13) During this late harvest time, when fruit and grain are gathered in and many are preparing for the cold of winter, God invites us to share what we have gathered so others may have enough. The Holy One, the gracious, giving source of comfort, shapes us into vessels of compassion and invites us to give of our bounty so that others may be fed and clothed and healed and loved. Let us be generous and joyful in our giving. Offering Prayer (Mark 13) Holy God, triumphant liberating savior of all, receive these gifts and the hopeful hearts that offer them as part of your bountiful harvest. Strengthen and sustain us through our hungers and our fears until your unexpected advent. Help us as we wait to know each day that we are a part of your generous, expectant household, the body of Christ. Amen. Scripture Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Common English Bible 7 because the LORD your God is bringing you to a wonderful land, a land with streams of water, springs, and wells that gush up in the valleys and on the hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without any shortage—you won’t lack a thing there—a land where stone is hard as iron and where you will mine copper from the hills. 10 You will eat, you will be satisfied, and you will bless the LORD your God in the wonderful land that he’s given you. Against wealth and overconfidence 11 But watch yourself! Don’t forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commands or his case laws or his regulations that I am commanding you right now. 12 When you eat, get full, build nice houses, and settle down, 13 and when your herds and your flocks are growing large, your silver and gold are multiplying, and everything you have is thriving, 14 don’t become arrogant, forgetting the LORD your God: the one who rescued you from Egypt, from the house of slavery; 15 the one who led you through this vast and terrifying desert of poisonous snakes and scorpions, of cracked ground with no water; the one who made water flow for you out of a hard rock; 16 the one who fed you manna in the wilderness, which your ancestors had never experienced, in order to humble and test you, but in order to do good to you in the end. 17 Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. 18 Remember the LORD your God! He’s the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous in order to establish the covenant he made with your ancestors—and that’s how things stand right now. Sermon In All Things Give Thanks For those who are not Facebook friends with me, this is my inspiration piece for my dining room table. Every month I decorate the table with a different theme. Instances where attention is a dangerous thing, because lately they have gotten pretty elaborate – because people from all over the country look forward to the table. But you may not have noticed that at the center of every setting is this sign – In Everything give thanks. I started decorating my table in 2001 – I was a campus minister at UIC, since I wasn’t in a church I couldn’t light an advent candle, so I created an advent wreath at home. Then it grew from there, to where I set the table every month. I happened to notice this sign in a Christian store – and decided that this would be my centerpiece to decorate around no matter what. This sign spoke to me – because of an incident a few years before. I gave my first sermon in Aurora. And I met a little girl about 12 who was excited for me to be her pastor, she sat in the front row with her parents. And after the sermon, she laughed at me and told me that was the dumbest sermon she ever heard. You preached about it being Thanksgiving – who celebrates Thanksgiving in July. My feeling were hurt, I felt obviously she didn’t get the point of my sermon – to be thankful all of the time, in every season. But today – we are approaching the Thanksgiving holiday – and it is a timely message to remind us to count our blessings. It has been a tough year – but still it is a time to be thankful. Have You Taken Inventory Lately? The renown teacher and author Dr. David McLennon tells a story of his very first job in a small town general store. This was the day before mails and supermarket chains at least it was in his community. At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy. He would sweep the flour, bag items for customers, put up stock. On one particular Saturday, he recalled., he heard the owner say to one of the clerks "It’s that time of the year again, it’s time to take inventory." Dr. McLennon Wrote that this was a word that had not yet entered into his vocabulary. When an opportune moment arrived, he went up to the kindly older man and asked, Sir, what is an inventory? Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made a list of everything that you had--from groceries on the shelves to wrapping paper and string. Still somewhat puzzled, the young McLennon then asked, Why? "Well, responded the owner, its easy to forget exactly how much you have each year. Every now and then you have to take an inventory just to see what all you have." That little story, to me, pretty well sums up what Thanksgiving is all about. It is a time when each of us needs to ask ourselves the question: Have I taken inventory of my life lately? Have I made an effort to count all the things that I do have in life instead of complaining about the things that I don’t have. It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to brood or whine in self pity. Have you taken inventory lately? What I am suggesting here is not some shallow "count your blessings" platitude. But from time to time, in a genuine kind of a way, we need to sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all of the gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us. Perhaps there is a deep underlying wisdom in the children's poem that says: "Count your blessings one by one, and you might be surprised what the Lord has done." Staff, www.eSermons.com An Inventory of Blessings Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and I don't really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God. Sermons.com Staff, ChristianGlobe Illustrations So speaking of counting out blessings, Deuteronomy is the perfect story for us this morning. We have been following the story of the Hebrews and how moses led them out of slavery into the wilderness in search of the promisedland. We have been following their struggles as a people. This by the way is the last story that we will hear in that journey. This is the last Sunday of the lectionary year. Next week is the first Sunday of advent and we start reading the book of Isaiah. In this passage, Moses calls the community together for a lesson on remembering God. Deuteronomy was actually written much later than Moses, but it is written in the voice of Moses. In this passage the people have arrived to the land of milk and honey, the promise has been fulfilled, and they are living in peace and happiness. Usually when things are going well, that is the time that we forget about God. We forget to be faithful. We start to rely on our own power to do everything. There was a man who noticed that a bus of young people was stranded on the side of the road. They were on their way to a mission trip and the bus broke down. Being a Christian himself, the man offered to take them to his church, let them sleep for the night, he ordered pizza for them and made sure they slept and got another church member to come and fix the bus. As they were ready to continue their journey – one of the leaders said – I sure thank God for all that God did for us last night. The man thought to himself – God didn’t do anything – I did all of the work. You should thank me. When you are salt of the earth people – you learn to rely on yourself. You work hard, you do what you can, you move forward in life and you stay faithful. The temptation in that is not so much forgetting about God, but in being self reliant – thinking that you are responsible for your own destiny. It was your hard work that got you where you are – not God. And sometimes it takes something, or some event or somebody to remind us that it is time to count our blessings. Moses calls the community together to remind them to count their blessings. He reminds them of all that God has brought them through. He tells them not to forget God, not to forget their history, not to forget that we did anything to be God’s chosen people, and not to forget that everything that we have is a gift from God – even our self reliance. Moses says – don’t think to yourself, my own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. Remember the lord your God! He is the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous. We can give thanks to God in all things at anytime – whether it is July or November. Everyday is Thanksgiving. It has taken me this long in life to realize Thanksgiving is an American holiday. Canada has thanksgiving – their harvest time is a little earlier, so it is in October. But no other country celebrates. And that first thanksgiving was actually 1942 – not during the time of the pilgrims. I think it was Roosevelt who declared that thanksgiving would be the third Thursday of November. George Washington declared a national thanksgiving, and then abraham Lincoln made a proclamation that we could have a national holiday in November giving thanks. And finally Roosevelt declared the exact time and stopped the presidential proclamations. And the rest his history. Of course this is a very strange time in history for our country and for the world. This thanksgiving, instead of telling us to gather together and be family, told to stay apart and be safe. And yet even in these circumstances, we can take the time to count our blessings and to give glory to God for what we have. The concept of thanksgiving is timeless. It is a good time to remember gratitude, grace and generosity. IT is a good time to remember God as the source of everything good in our lives. A little later, we will sing the song now thank we all our God. It is a staple of the thanksgiving season. The song was written in the 1600’s by a Lutheran pastor in Germany. The country was at war and he lived in small walled village. The village become a safe haven for many who came for safety and security. Soon the town because crowded with people. We all know what happens when you walk into a crowd. – there is the potential that if one get sick, everyone does. That is what happened, there was a plague and famine that killed many people. Soon he was the only pastor in town. He buried over 4000 people that year, including his wife and family. Instead of falling into despair – he wrote the words to this song. It was a perfect time to stop and to count his blessings – and to thank God for all things in life. In everything give thanks to God – God is the source of all good things. Let us pray….. Thanksgiving Prayer Prayer for Pandemic Gratitude Inspired by Deuteronomy 8:7-18 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 O God, bring us to that good land full of your living water and the abundance of good things. Bring us to that place where we might be full and satisfied because this nagging feeling is exhausting. This constant agonizing feeling that nothing will get better and nobody cares because we can't agree on what love looks like now just needs to stop. We are not cheerful. Don't ask that of us, O God, because we don't have that in us. Sorry. It's true. Skip ahead to the part where we give to the poor and multiply the seeds for the farmers and bread bakers except that we've confused what we can do in this great and terrible pandemic wilderness with what you can do. Remind us that gratitude doesn't have to turn over every table but only had to turn our hearts to notice the indescribable wonder of living in your love. O God, with every breath in our bodies, help us to live in our love enough to praise you with thanksgiving. Amen. Song for Reflection Now Thank We all Our God UMH 102 Announcements Last Sunday of the year. Next week is advent – start reading the book of Mark. Advent discipline is to read a chapter of Mark a day. Receiving worship bags to help with advent and Christmas. More details about that in days to come. Next week our reading is Mark 13:24-37 song People Look East UMH 202 Happy Thanksgiving – be happy, be safe, be grateful Benediction 1 Community Time Benediction 2 As we go out to meet a hungry world, know that God will give us what we need. We go forth to make ready as we wait. The Holy One, whose love turns fear aside, will show us what to do. Keep watch! The risen Christ is on the way! Amen. Children’s Sermon Object: A dictionary Good morning, boys and girls. The gift of speech is one of the most precious gifts in the world. Once upon a time, a few years ago, all you could say was, "Da-da" and "Ma-ma." But most of you now speak about 18,000 words a day. Can you believe that? 18,000 words--and you still won't use most of the words in this dictionary. Eighteen thousand words a day. Have you ever thought how many of those words are good words, and how many are not so good? I hope most of your words are good words. I want to point out the most important word in this dictionary. It's over on page ( ). It is spelled, T-H-A-N-K-S. What did I just spell? That's right, thanks. One of the best things you can do in life is to learn to say thanks. It helps people like you better. And it shows that you do appreciate the nice things other people do for you. I don't know a more important word. And I don't know anybody who deserves our thanks more than God. Why? Because God gave us everything we have. Sunshine, air, rain, food to eat, people who love us, and much, much more. So let's not forget, especially when we are saying our prayers, to say the most important word in the dictionary. What is it? That's right, Thanks! And thank you for being here this morning. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan Additional Illustrations The Gratitude Attitude In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonniere for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it became very special. As he was leaving the Sunday Service a young boy walked up to him and said, "Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?" At first the preacher didn't know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, "Do you mean this?" The boy said, "Yes, sir. If you're just going to throw it away, I would like it." The preacher smiled and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. The boy, who was probably no more than 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, "Sir, I'm going to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again, and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn't stay, so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me." When the little boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, "Son, that is the nicest thing that I've ever heard but you can't have this flower because it's not enough. If you'll look in front of the pulpit, you'll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the Church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best." Then the boy made one last statement which Rev. Ramsey said he will always treasure. The boy said, "What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet." That's the thankful spirit. That's the gratitude attitude. And it's that attitude that should guide our giving and our lives. Like that boy's granny, God has blessed us so much. God has been so good to us that giving shouldn't even be a question. It should just flow from us naturally. John R. Ramsey, Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Adapted by Billy D. Strayhorn, “The Gratitude Attitude" Better Not Bitter If we are not thankful then we can become bitter. If we are not thankful, then it becomes too easy to sit around and ponder the question: why me? Dr. Jim Moore, retired pastor of St. Luke’s UMC in Houston wrote a book entitled "You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better". He writes that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to him in a most tragic moment in her life. She had tears in her eyes and her knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief. She had just received word that her twenty-six year old husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three pre-school age children. One moment he was alive and vibrant, the next moment gone. "I don't know how I am going to be able to get along without him," she sobbed. "But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better." One way that we can get better rather than bitter is to develop a thankful heart. We must learn to be grateful to the Lord with whom we shall spend eternity. Our morning prayer should always begin: O Thou who has given me so much, I pray that you give me yet one more thing--a grateful heart. Staff, www.eSermons.com God’s Provision The words "harvest" and "thanksgiving" are linked together in many cultures. Most who till the soil know that our feeble human efforts do not produce crops; crops require sun and rain and other variables that are beyond our control. The early settlers and the indigenous people they found here also recognized the importance of God's provision for survival. Hundreds of years later, a commemorative meal serves as a reminder for us to thank God for those things necessary for our survival. Safiyah Fosua Thankful In All Things Our forefathers were not so much thankful for something as they were thankful in something. In bounty or in want they were thankful. In feast or in famine they were thankful. In joy or in misery they were thankful. There is a big difference between being thankful for things and being thankful in all things. Our closing hymn this morning was carefully selected. It was written in 1607 by a German by the name of Martin Reinkardht. The name of the hymn is "Now Thank We All Our God." In the year that Rinkardht wrote that hymn it is interesting to note that over 6000 persons in his German village, including his wife and his children, died of pestilence. Yet, in the midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss Reinkardht set down to pen this great hymn of praise: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.' The Christian faith affirms that in the midst of everything--in death, in loss, in hardship--we are to turn to God in praise. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com First National Thanksgiving Proclamation Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!" Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country. George Washington, 1779. The attitude of gratitude is important for several reasons: Thankfulness acknowledges that God is our provider. Thankfulness prevents a complaining spirit. Thankfulness creates a positive outlook on life Thankfulness invites joy to dwell in our hearts. Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, pp. 161. Thanksgiving Sermon Opener This morning I would like to hold up for you three different scenes. The strange thing about these scenarios is that when you first hear them you will be hard pressed to understand why I selected these stories to exemplify Thanksgiving. On the surface they will seem to be the antithesis of Thanksgiving. Yet, I am convinced that at the heart of these stories is the real Biblical understanding of what it means to be thankful. The first scene comes from the Old Testament. It is the familiar story of Job. Job has come to represent for us the epitome of suffering. Near the end of the story we see that all of his children have been killed in an accident; he is facing financial ruin; he has been stricken with illness. In fact, it seems that if any person is justified in saying: Let's just skip Thanksgiving this year it would be Job. Yet, in the midst of all of this immeasurable suffering the voice of God comes to Job and says to him a very interesting statement. We read it in the 37th chapter the 14th verse. God says to Job: "Hear this O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God." From all outward circumstances it seems as though Job has nothing at all to be thankful for yet here is God coming to him in the midst of it all and saying in effect, Job, it's time to count your blessings. Let's leave that story for a moment and take a look at a second. This one comes from the New Testament, the book of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul now finds himself squarely in the midst of a dingy Roman prison and facing serious charges. Things seem very bad indeed for Paul. But this is only one of a series of mishaps that has occurred during his stormy ministry. He has been shipwrecked, beaten nearly to death, imprisoned, and even many of his fellow Christians are now openly opposing him. Now he faces what surely seems to be a death sentence. In the midst of this situation Paul writes the Christians in Ephesus. Listen to what he has to say, "Thanks be to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every blessing." Strange words from a man facing execution. Like Job, we are forced to ask the question What has he to be thankful for? Staff, www.eSermons.com Now Thank We All Our God You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It's true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church's most popular hymns, "Now Thank We All Our God." This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony. Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue. In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg's agony, he was able to write this hymn: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom the world rejoices ...[So] keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills, in this world and the next. Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God's love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God's promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. Can we not do the same - we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn? Whom can you say "thank you" to? Erskine White, Together in Christ __________________________________ An Inventory of Blessings Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and I don't really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God. Sermons.com Staff, ChristianGlobe Illustrations Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Life Goes On

November 15, 2020 Judges 4:1-7 Life goes on 24th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship inspired by Psalm 123 O God, you have been our help in ages past. You’ve reminded us what was possible and pushed us beyond our fears. You’ve raised our eyes to higher groundand made our hearts soar with the hope of years to come. Be our guard while these troubles last and dare us to dream in this new day. Surprise us, O God, with good trouble in our worship this day. Stewardship Moment Offertory With great joy we receive our morning offering today. This is a vital reminder of the many ways in which we can serve God through the ministries and mission of this church. Let us joyfully receive this morning’s offering. Prayer of Dedication Lord of blessings and hope, we give to you these gifts as tokens of our lives. Use these gifts for healing and hope in your world. Use us as instruments of peace; for we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Scripture Judges 4:1-7 Deborah, Barak, and Jael 4 After Ehud had died, the Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil. 2 So the LORD gave them over to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he was stationed in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3 The Israelites cried out to the LORD because Sisera[a] had nine hundred iron chariots and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years. 4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth,[b] was a leader of Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraim highlands, and the Israelites would come to her to settle disputes. 6 She sent word to Barak, Abinoam’s son, from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, Israel’s God, issued you a command? ‘Go and assemble at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand men from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. 7 I’ll lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to assemble with his chariots and troops against you at the Kishon River, and then I’ll help you overpower him.’” Sermon Life Goes On One of the challenges of preaching from the lectionary, is that after 3 years, you have already preached all of your sermons on the scriptures. And you have to strive to be come up with a new message every year. I have always worked to be creative and to come up with new messages every Sunday, so that I don’t get caught in a sermon rut. So today is very interesting. I have honestly never preached a sermon on the book of Judges. So this is truly a first. As I said before, this is the only time in the three year lectionary that Judges even comes up. The title of my sermon is Life Goes On. For the last weeks we have been following the history of the Israelites out of Egypt into forming an identity as a people. We heard about Moses leadership, and eventual death. Last week we heard the story of his predecessor Joshua. At the end of his rule, Joshua makes one last appeal to a generation that he did not understand to stay united and to follow God. The first chapter of Judges beings by saying that Joshua died, and there was no obvious leader to rise up and to keep the Isrealites united and focused. So they move away, they come in contact with other cultures, they are not as connected as a family. Each person kinda goes their own way and does what they think is best. A new form of leadership emerges – it is more democratic. When there is a dispute or disagreement – they go to a judge. The Book of Judges is a story of 12 judges, 6 major judges and 6 minor judges. We have all heard the story of Samson and Delilah – Samson was the last judge. Our Scripture for today – is the story of the 4th judge – Deborah. I had never heard Deborah’s story until seminary. Deborah was a married woman. But she has a huge reputation of being a fair judge. People came from miles around, to sit under the Deborah tree with her, as she make judgements and settled disputes. Interestingly, history does not make a big deal about the fact that she is a woman. Her story stands out because oppressors have been making the people miserable for years. And Deborah has a strategy to defeat them and to free the people. Chapters 4 and 5 are her story. Her leadership is important because she recognizes the gifts of others, and empowers them to be true heros. She leads by example. Ronald Sisk remembers his first pastorate in rural Kentucky. The church possessed an old-fashioned belfry with a bell that could be rung by pulling on a rope. This fascinated him. In his mind, he envisioned ringing that bell every Sunday morning, calling the faithful to worship, and announcing faithful witness to the community at large. However, when he asked about the bell, he was told the sad tale that the bell had not been rung in years. "That bell keeps rusting, pastor," one of the men of the church explained, "the roof is high and steep and we can't get anybody to crawl up there and grease it." Ron admits that he was both "young and stupid." One Saturday morning, he climbed the roof, crab crawling his way to the belfry with a can of grease. His wife stood on the ground thirty feet below holding a safety rope. He got it greased and made it down safely. Several church members saw their new, young pastor on the roof of the church that day. By the next day, the new pastor's stunt was the talk of the congregation. Before church was over that morning, at least two members of the building and grounds committee made a point of telling their pastor, "You don't have to worry about that bell next time, pastor. That's our job." Ron proudly claimed, "We rang the bell every Sunday for the rest of my tenure with that congregation."2 Deborah’s story is the story of how every day people became heroes because they were willing to do what is necessary. Barak goes into battle to destroy the oppressor. He fights diligently, but does not kill the leader. Deborah tells him that he is not intended for that role – Jalil a young women finds the leader in her tent and drives a stake into him. When Barak says that he must destroy the leader, Jalil says it is already taken care of - all in a days work. Its gory – but Jael becomes the hero of the story – just by doing what was necessary in a time of need. The story of how the Hebrews developed is the story of their relationship of God and also a story of leadership. A charismatic leader brought them out of Egypt. When he is gone, they are told not to have a strong leader, because they are supposed to put God first as their leader. Eventually, they would choose a king to lead them, but that is down the road. The form of leadership evolves with the needs of the community. Those who step up for leadership are responding to those needs? What are the needs of our church, our community our world? What leadership will respond to those needs? Judges is actually a pretty long book. It is 21 chapters. Many of the stories are pretty gory and even upsetting with its level of violence. But it teaches some very important lessons about leadership and in many cases lack of leadership. There is one overarching lesson in the book of Judges. It seems that over and over again in all circumstances, the people get sidetracked and forget to put God first. God gets mad at them and punishes them by sending an oppressor. They cry out to God, a leader emerges to lead them to freedom. Lives get better and life goes on. Debbie’s story is an important example of that. I think one reason that the lectionary designers left this story out of the 3 year cycle is because it is pretty gory. This is all that we know about Deborah. But it teaches us some important lessons as we look at our lives, our times and our leadership. • In tough times, When we cry out – God sends a leader to get us through • Salvation comes from unexpected places. No one would have expected a woman to be the leader in such an important battle. Even in its goriness, this is a powerful story. Barak, the general is afraid to go into battle, so he asks Deborah to go with him. Deborah tells him to destroy the oppressive leader. Barak kills all of his followers, but not the leader. Deborah tells him that it will be a woman who kills the leader. Barak just happens to talk to the oppressors wife telling her that her husband must be killed. It’s the wife that tells him – already done – killed him last night. No one would have expected that – but that was the one who God chose to the work. • When we battle the oppressor we don’t go out alone • Author Ann Lemott notices that when God wants to bring change – God starts the work in hardship and hardtimes • As a leader, Deborah did not do all of the work herself – she was able to empower others to be leaders on their own. • Deborah’s strength as a leader came from her willingness to be herself, and to do what she could. It is said that heroes are not those who stand apart. Heroes are just ordinary people who were willing to address the needs in their lives. Heroes are not the outspoken, but the humble. • Sometimes we may never know that names and stories of the heroes that saved us, but God calls us to be a nameless part of history in order to empower nameless others. Fred Craddock enjoys sharing the story of a time he returned to the little church of his childhood.3 He had not visited there in years, and walking into the sanctuary, he was surprised to discover that they had purchased new stained-glass windows. Inscribed at the bottom of each was the name of the donor, but to his dismay, Craddock was not familiar with any of them. "You must have had a good many folks join this congregation since I was a boy," Fred remarked to a woman after the worship service, "because I don't recognize a single name." "Oh, those people aren't members here," she said. "This town hasn't grown a bit since you were a child, and for that matter neither has our church." "Then how did you get these beautiful windows?" "Well, it's kind of an interesting story," she said with a smile. "You see, they were made by an Italian company for a church in St. Louis. Unfortunately, when they arrived, none of them fit. The company apologized, of course, and said they would make new windows. But they were too expensive to ship back, and so the company told the church in St. Louis to sell them wherever they could. We bought the windows from them." "But don't you want to remove these names?" asked Fred. "Well, we thought about it," the woman explained. "We even discussed it at the board meeting. We're just a little church, you know. Not many of us here, never any new people. So we finally decided that it was important for us to remember all these folks we'll never meet, through whom the Lord is working in ways we'll never know." I think that we all have to ask ourselves how is God calling us to be leaders? What are the needs in our lives that God is calling us to respond to? What are the obvious things in our world that we could easily do. Life Goes on in our actions. Let us pray…. Prayer Gracious and generous God, you are always with us, offering guidance, healing and hope. We know that with things seem dark or are dazzlingly bright; when troubled times assail or peace reigns; there you are with us. Continue to guide and challenge our lives. Lead us in pathways of service and away from trails of fear and anxiety. Open our hearts to receive your healing transforming love that we might serve you more faithfully; for we ask these things in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection A Charge to Keep I Have UMH 413 Announcements Next week is the last Sunday of the Christian year before Advent. Instead of looking at Christ the King Scriptures, we will look at Thanksgiving scriptures. Our service will be based on Deuteronomy 8:7-18. The song for reflection will be Now Thank we all our God – hymnal 102 if you want to get the words. Will not meet, will look at the situation. Please stay safe We will decorate the church on November 28th – concentrate on outside decorations Benediction Community Time Benediction Closing Prayer/Sending Forth Go forth into God’s world as children of the light, offering ministries of hope and healing to a hurting world. Go forth filled with God’s abundant love. Go forth in peace. AMEN. Children’s Time – Do you know anyone names Deborah? Additional Illustrations Swimmy is just like all the other fish swimming in the large minnow school, except that while they are all reddish-gold, he is pure black. The school of little fish swims along peacefully until any larger predator fish comes along. Then whoosh all the little fish, including Swimmy, scatter. Swimmy begins to observe his watery neighbors and in each case, it seems that the big intimidate, bully and consume the small. What could one tiny little misfit fish do about that? Suddenly Swimmy got a brilliant idea. It is a plan that both celebrates his own unique style his solid black coloring and depends on the cooperative teamwork of all his minnow schoolmates. Swimmy organizes the school of all his little friends so that they are swimming in the shape of a large fish. Swimmy himself, his dark body flashing, creates the "eye" of this illusionary giant fish. In the last scene of the book, we see a huge would-be predator take one look at this intimidating mammoth and then turn tail and run (Frederick's Fables [New York: Pantheon Books, 1985], 71-79). Sometimes it only takes one problem, one barrier, to prevent us from claiming and keeping the "Promised Land" the Lord has intended us to inhabit. African-American preacher Buster Soaries likes to say that whatever the problem in your life it is your own personal "Goliath."

Life is Full of Choices

November 8, 2020 Joshua 24:1-3,14-25 23rd Sunday After Pentecost Year B Life is Full of Choices Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Contemporary Gathering Words (Matthew 25) (Each line could be read by a different voice.) It is time to wake up, for God is about to surprise us. It is time to prepare, for God's love is about to change the world. It is time to get ready, for God needs us to proclaim the good news. It is time to start planning, for God's invitation will fill our church. It is time to worship, for God is here now! Stewardship Moment Offertory Lord, as you have so abundantly blessed each of us, let us return a portion of these gifts in gratitude for all you have given to us. Let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Dedication Lord, we return a portion of all the gifts you have given to us in remembrance and in gratitude for these blessings. Use these gifts to support ministries of healing and hope, for we ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Scripture Joshua 24:1-3 Common English Bible What God has done 24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. What God has done 24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau to take over. But Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron. I plagued Egypt with what I did to them. After that I brought you out. 6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians chased your ancestors with chariots and horses to the Reed Sea.[a] 7 Then they cried for help to the LORD. So he set darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea down on them, and it covered them. With your own eyes you saw what I did to the Egyptians. You lived in the desert for a long time. 8 “Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They attacked you, but I gave them into your power, and you took over their land. I wiped them out before you. 9 Then Moab’s King Balak, Zippor’s son, set out to attack Israel. He summoned Balaam, Beor’s son, to curse you. 10 But I wasn’t willing to listen to Balaam, so he actually blessed you. I rescued you from his power. 11 Then you crossed over the Jordan. You came to Jericho, and the citizens of Jericho attacked you. They were Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But I gave them into your power. 12 I sent the hornet[b] before you. It drove them out before you and did the same to the two kings of the Amorites. It wasn’t your sword or bow that did this. 13 I gave you land on which you hadn’t toiled and cities that you hadn’t built. You settled in them and are enjoying produce from vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant. Challenge to be faithful 14 “So now, revere the LORD. Serve him honestly and faithfully. Put aside the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve the LORD. 15 But if it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the LORD.” 16 Then the people answered, “God forbid that we ever leave the LORD to serve other gods! 17 The LORD is our God. He is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. He has done these mighty signs in our sight. He has protected us the whole way we’ve gone and in all the nations through which we’ve passed. 18 The LORD has driven out all the nations before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” 19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you leave the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn around and do you harm and finish you off, in spite of having done you good in the past.” 21 Then the people said to Joshua, “No! The LORD is the one we will serve.” 22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” They said, “We are witnesses!” 23 “So now put aside the foreign gods that are among you. Focus your hearts on the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and will obey him.” Joshua makes a covenant 25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and established just rule for them at Shechem. Sermon I don’t think it is just me, I think it has been a crazy out of control week for most of us. This is the first time ever that there has been a whole week of 70 degree weather in November – to distract us from staying inside all day. And now that we are starting to gather indoors more – the cases of COVID are skyrocketing. Many of my colleagues have been talking about just tearing up their sermons for the week and dealing with the divisiveness in our country in the midst of an election. No matter who would have won, there would have been deep feelings on either side. Many decided to talk about the results of the presidential election. Lucky for me, I don’t put my sermon on paper until Saturday night. But also my message has not changed because of the events of the day. My message is still to love Jesus, serve Jesus, keep the faith in all circumstances. A little boy asked his busy mother to help him find something to do. So the mother found a large map of the United States on a page in a magazine. With a pair of scissors, she cut up the map into small pieces like a puzzle. Then she gave the pieces and some tape to her son and challenged him to put it together. The youngster returned in almost no time with the map together. Mother was amazed and said, "Son, how did you get that entire map of the United States together so fast?" The youngster said, "It was easy. On the back of the map was a picture of a family. So I turned it over and started to work. Once I got the family put together, the country turned out just right." Faith, service, trust brings us together. As long as we all follow Jesus, he keeps us united in spite of who we are and where we stand. The whole point of Christian community is to learn to keep the faith with people that you disagree with and whom you may not even like, but you know God loves. Our scripture for today comes from the book of Joshua. Now you may not realize that Jesus is the latin version of the name Joshua – meaning God saves. Now when Joshua in our story, came from Egypt in the great exodus – his name was Hoshea. Even as a young man, Moses noticed something special in him – a certain kind of holiness. A devotion to God. So when Moses took him in as his confidante and body guard, he changed his name to Joshua. The adult Sunday school is having a 4 week class on Joshua by the way if you want to know more. I love the challenge of Joshua 24 – choose who you are going to serve. I have a sign in my house that says – As for me and my house I choose to serve the Lord. Before learning the story of Joshua now, I always pictured this scene at Shecem where Joshua gathers the people, happening while Joshua was a young strong soldier, challenging the community to serve God. And as head of a household telling people that he had made that choice for his family. When actually, this story happens after Moses death. Joshua has been leading for 28 years, and now he is an older man. As a matter of fact, this is two years before Joshua dies at 110. By this time there was a generation gap between him and the majority of the families he was leading. Back in his day, it was assumed that you were faithful and that you loved God. Your family had no choice but to go to the tabernacle. In the wilderness of course you were faithful to God – you had no choice. But this generation was settled, they did not have to rely on God for survival, and there were other tribes that they could relate to. With this new life came choices – choices of what to do with you time and even of what to believe. It is sort of like in modern times, when young families can decide between church, sleeping in, or sports. True story – Chris, a young lady was in the confirmation class. In order to be confirmed they all needed to meet with the church elders. Chris did not show up for that meeting because she had a soccer game at the same time. Everyone else attended. When it was time for them to have class, everyone but Chris showed up. Her family had planned a trip for that Sunday, and they would not reschedule. When it came time for her to be confirmed, the elders chose not to allow her. They said that given the choices that she was making with her time, that perhaps she was not ready to become a member of the church. Being long time members of the church, of course the family was furious that this decision had been made. Life is full of choices, sometimes the choices that we make are not so much about right and wrong, good and bad. Sometimes both choices are good. But many times one of those choices doesn’t involve God. Joshua was giving the message that we should chose God in all that we do, But he also warned not to choose God lightly. God takes our choice very serious. Every choice that we make has consequences, every choice that we make has responsibilities, every choice that we make involves change. As I said, as a young man, Moses saw that Joshua was a man of faith. When Joshua became a soldier, and worked with Moses – He had to take a personal vow to be a servant of God. That personal vow made all of the difference in the world. Now as he is trying to get the community to be united under God – he realizes that the community has to take that same vow to put God before the world. In the midst of all of the choices that they had to live, He wants them to choose God. Interestingly, this is the first time that the people have been given a choice to serve. In all of the Hebrew Bible stories, It is God who makes the choice, and the people who follow along. That is not a real personal choice. I taught confirmation class for many years. And I always stressed to parents that I was trying to get the child to make a choice for themselves. When my son went through confirmation, I told him that it was his decision to make, as long as he made the right choice. In which case we would have to resort to other measures. He chose to be confirmed, so all is well that ends well. But of course as an adult, he does not attend church on a regular basis. Joshua wants to make sure that the people stay faithful long after he is gone. Joshua’s challenge was not a beginning, it was an end. He knew he couldn’t lead them much longer. There was not an obvious leader to pass the mantle on to . He was not giving direction on what the future holds for them. He didn’t give them any answers about what comes next. All he did was to challenge them to choose whom they were going to serve in the midst of the uncertaintly. A lot of times, when we are uncertain about the present, we look into the future, and we don’t see God anywhere. We start to panick and think that God has abandoned us. Have you ever noticed that in those times, the only way that you can regocnize God’s presence is to look back at the past, and see that God was there all of the time. Some years ago, I heard the poignant story of a woman struggling to reestablish a relationship with her father.2 "When I was a child," she recalled, "my dad and I were as close as we could be. And the times I knew it best would be at those family reunions, when after the big meal, they'd move all the furniture, crank up the stereo, and start playing polka records -- one after another. Eventually, someone would put on the 'Beer Barrel Polka.' It was our special song. And my father would come over with outstretched hand and say, 'Come on, girl, let's roll them blues away!' And we'd dance -- my father and I -- we'd dance. "As a teenager, however, I started to despise the silliness of those family get-togethers. I remember one occasion in particular when, for reasons known only to adolescents, I sat moping on the sofa in one of those don't-associate-with-anybody moods. As the 'Beer Barrel Polka' began to play, my father came over with outstretched hand. But I glared at him with icy indifference. 'Just leave me alone,' I muttered under my breath. Startled, he turned, and never invaded my privacy again. He danced with my mother, he danced with my sisters, but not with me. "I'd come home from a date, and he'd be waiting for me in the old chair -- his bathrobe loosely tied at the waist, an opened book in his lap, half asleep. 'What are you doing up?' I'd say. 'Why don't you just go to bed?' He'd look at me with sad, pleading eyes and whisper, 'I was just waiting for you, that's all. I was just waiting for you.' "I was glad to leave that house when I finally graduated high school. My father and I had a distant, formal relationship, but not much more. Eventually, though, I began to miss what we had once enjoyed -- only I wasn't quite sure how to bridge the gap. Until one day, when I happened to be home for a family reunion, somebody put on the 'Beer Barrel Polka.' As my father walked across the room, I went up to him with outstretched hand and said, 'Daddy, I believe this is our dance.' He looked at me and smiled, 'I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you.' " "As for me and my household," Joshua proclaims, "we will serve the Lord." Are there any other takers? The choice is ours. The time is now. And all of heaven waits .... Some people say that all of us give attention to at least four basic relationships throughout our lives: our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with what’s around us, or in other words, our relationship with things. Each of these relationships takes some of our time and demands a certain portion of our energies. Figuring out which relationship matters most can be tricky. Of course, in those 4 relationships, there are 4 types of choices to make. Joshua’s message to us in the modern area, facing an uncertain future, is that when we choose God first – everything else falls into place. I tell that story to let you know that there will be times when we will Forget, Neglect and Turn Away. But hear the Good News. God will not forsake us or leave us. Hear the Good News, God will continue to call us and remind us of God's promises. Hear the Good News God will continue to offer forgiveness and a way home; if we will turn to God and Remember, Remind and Recommit. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn Let us pray……. Prayer Knowing we won’t know and sitting in the not knowing are not the same. We are in this together, for the short term and the long haul. We see each other, and we know that the only path to wholeness is through the rough terrain of truth-telling and repair work that will be required no matter the outcome of this election. We will feed each other and care for one another, meeting despair with tender compassion and anxiety with deep peace. We will reach for the visions and dreamcasts of our ancestors and conspire for a kind of peace and liberation that will set us loose in ways our opponents can’t even imagine. Breathe now, so you are restored for the resistance. Breathe deep, so you are grounded in love. Take courage, and remember, you are not alone. Rev. Shawna Bowman Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection The Battle Hymn of the Republic Announcements Benediction Community Time Benediction Closing Prayer/Sending Forth Hold back and wonder what might have been; choose God and rejoice in the many ways you will see God’s love in the world. It’s all about choices — which will you choose? This answer can make all the difference in your life. Go in peace! AMEN. Children’s Sermon Additional Illustrations An old Reader's Digest story told of a man who flew his own plane but got tired of the long auto trip from the airport to his country place which was situated on a lovely lake. So he equipped his plane with pontoons so he could land right in front of his cottage. However, on his first trip up to the country with his newly-equipped plane, he headed for a landing at the airport just as he always had done in the past. Old habits are hard to break. But just as he was going in for the landing it dawned on his wife what was happening and she hollered, "What do you think you're doing? You can't land this thing on the runway. You don't have any wheels, you've got pontoons on it!" Fortunately, her warning shout was in time and he pulled up from his landing pattern, swung the airplane around, and headed the plane for a landing on the lake. After the plane landed safely on the lake he heaved a really big sigh of relief, turned to his wife and said, "That's about the stupidest thing I've ever done!" And then he opened the door, stepped out and fell directly into the lake." I tell that story to let you know that there will be times when we will Forget, Neglect and Turn Away. But hear the Good News. God will not forsake us or leave us. Hear the Good News, God will continue to call us and remind us of God's promises. Hear the Good News God will continue to offer forgiveness and a way home; if we will turn to God and Remember, Remind and Recommit. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn Another issue just as important as the generation gap has to be brought up before we dive into the story told in Joshua 24. The issue in mind has to do with the relationships we nurture across the years. Our nation will stand strong or feebly fall on the foundation of its homes. If moral and spiritual decay continue to nibble away at the fiber of American family life, then the downfall of this country is approaching rapidly. But if you and I, as Believers, will set an example by constantly working to create strong Christian homes for our families, there may be hope for the future. How true that is! The strength of our nation depends on the strength of our families. Let us be challenged today to work hard to make our houses into homes,... where positive Christian values are transmitted from one generation to the next;... where friends are welcomed and children are more valuable than furniture;... where undesirable pressures are kept out, and where Jesus Christ is kept centralThat's how you make a house a home! C.S.S. Publishing Company, HOME IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD, by R. E. Lybrand

Infinite life, love, peace

All Saint’s Day November 1, 2020 Revelation 7:7-19 Year A Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Let us begin our lament here, O God, in an act of memory for all that has happened, in all that we could not believe was possible as good people, as people who had never known how far and wide a virus could actually reach , as people who that we had enough faith. Show us what we do not want to remember and what we cannot bear to remember. After so much has been lost in a few short months. O God, let us begin here in all full lament. By Elsa Cook Lighting of the Christ Candle Stewardship Moment November 1, 2020 – Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (All Saints’ Day Observed) Loving Father, we humbly dedicate these tithes and offerings to your use. Like the saints who have gone before us, we are comforted by the knowledge that you will multiply these gifts. Allow this money to become a resource that lifts the shadows of despair from the recesses of people’s lives. We recognize that only you can restore faith to the faithless, hope to the hopeless, and love to the loveless. May your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven! Amen. I Thessalonians 2:9-13 Scripture Revelation 7:9-17 Common English Bible The great crowd and seventh seal 9 After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out with a loud voice: “Victory belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and always. Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders said to me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he said to me, “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15 This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them, 17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water,[a] and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Sermon Infinite life, love and Peace – Rev. Harriette Cross Infinity is an ancient concept that life, time, God, energy, are all quantities that are too deep for us to number. I learned a while ago, way before seminary that in the Jewish world view, the past, the present, and the future are all happening at the same time on different levels. It just depends on where you are on the infinity circle. It’s moments like today when we remember, that it seems that we are looking back at the past, feeling the present, and wondering what the future holds all at the same time. I think that every moment in life has a little bit of the past, the present and future in it. John writes the book of Revelation through the lense of infinity. Revelation is full of symbolism that is a little creepy to the modern mind. He is trying to give his congregation hope, but he speaks in such a round about way. We can’t help but to wonder why he needs to be so outrageous to explain his present situation. Lately, as I study and read the bible, through my own lense – the pandemic. I have been fascinated about how much the bible both old and new testament have to say about a pandemic. First let me explain through comparison what a pandemic is. An outbreak is something that effects a group of people. It is serious, but it only affects certain people and it can be contained to that particular group. An epidemic is something that affect a larger group of people, even a whole nation but it can still be contained. A pandemic is something that is universal and affects all people and cannot be contained to a certain area. The World Health Organization declared our present situation a pandemic on March 11, 2020. I remember that announcement like it was yesterday. Back then we all had no idea of what that meant. Life was so different back then. As a pastor, I never thought I would have to deal with such heaviness in life, such grief. Not only are we mourning the loss of loved ones, we are mourning the loss of a lifestyle. My greatest fear as a pastor is that the suffering, the grief has just gotten started. I have had to do a lot of praying, asking for answers, and depending on God for direction. Only when I experienced a pandemic myself, can I understand why John would dig so deeply to find answers for his congregation. The book of Revelation is the story of the great tribulation. What else would you call a great tribulation – but a pandemic? A pandemic that not only threatens your life, but also your faith? The scripture for today takes place in heaven. God is on the glory throne, and people dressed in white surround him. Scripture even asks, who are these people who are dressed in white, waving palms praising God day and night. The answer – these are the people who have survived the great tribulation. White robes were a symbol of victory. They were the overcomers, the survivors, the faithful, those who made it through the tribulation. Scripture says that it was a number that couldn’t be counted – an infinite number. And they were from every nation, tribe, language. Maybe sometimes it takes a pandemic to help us to put aside our differences and to come together as one. In this case it was God who united them. Not only is God infinite, but love is infinite also. When we come together to praise God, there is no limit to what we can do, no limit to what we can overcome. The good news for the faithful is that God helps us to overcome our grief. John Wesley – the founder of methodism loved All Saint’s Day. As a matter of fact, he had a fascination with death. He would ask if he could be in the hospital with those who were dying to pray with them. He would then pray with this church members, to help them to learn to dye well. To die at peace, preparing with certainty to the time that they would die and be in the presence of God. Methodist got a reputation for knowing how to die well. Wesley believed that the key to dying well, was to live well. As a matter of fact, the book of Discipline talks about Wesley’s beliefs on death. For those who think that death will get you out of serving on a church committee – nope. Wesley believed that those who passed on worked just as hard as the living in the building of God’s Kingdom. Besides, they can’t say no, because they don’t have anything else to do. That is what the faithful do – spend day and night at the throne of God – working for the kingdom. There is nothing that separates us from the presence of God – not death, no suffering, not pain. I know that is a lot to process – but a pandemic sermon has to be short. The last lesson for us, is that hope is infinite also. Hope promises that pain and suffering will end. A mother lost her two year old daughter – and had to return to her home in Georgia to bury her. It was a pleasure to return to the peach trees, the blossoms, the smell. She remembered that her friends told her as a child that if you hold onto a peace stone in your hand long enough, it will sprout. Of course she never had the patience to hold onto the peach stone long enough to see if it would sprout. Until her daughter died, and she yearned for the day when she would be reunited. When she would see for herself that her daughter was okay. She has been holding onto that peach stone for ten years. Holding on to that peace stone helped her to understand the meaning of infinite hope. In this moment, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of our grief – as we remember the past, live in the present, look to thr future – May we be filled with the infinite love, peace, and hope of the lamb of God. Amen. Prayer Almighty God, your saints are one with you in the mystical body of Christ: give us grace to follow them in all virtue and holiness until we come to those inexpressible joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. Song for Reflection For all the Saints UMH 711 All Saints Day Ceremony After this I looked and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Robed in white with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb. Let us give thanks for these brothers and sisters in Christ to whom God has granted rest from their labors. Almighty God, we give you thanks for these your servants whom we remember today. Grant us grace to follow them as they followed Christ. Bring us, with them, to those things no eye has seen, nor ear heard, which you have prepared for those who love you. Give us faith to look beyond touch and sight, and seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, enable us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Bring us at last to your eternal peace, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Communion Invitation to Communion Siblings in Christ, join me today at this table to a feast belonging to Jesus the Christ. Siblings in Christ, join me today for a feast which will comfort our souls. Siblings in Christ, join me in this sacrament knowing that we will grow close to God, neighbor, and self at this table. Prayer of Communion Friends, we come to this bittersweet ritual today filled with a bundle of emotions. While our gratitude for this family of faith is plentiful, our spiritual pain still may be suffocating us at five weeks or four months or three years or even two decades after the death of our beloved. Our pews are a little lighter. Our homes are a quieter. And our hearts know well of the gaping hole resulting from our loss. Even as this void still consumes this day-to-day living, we come here looking for hope that we can find only in you. Through this meal, we connect the past and present together, knowing that generation after generation has come to this table in their joy and grief. God, we pray that this feast be one that fills our souls with comfort. Even as winter is growing close and nighttime arrives early, this meal will kindle warmth and light inside our spirits. May your Holy Spirit bless this bread and cup. May the Spirit bless us as we celebrate at the peaks of life and as we abide in the shadow-filled valleys. May the Spirit bring us the peace that will permeate our grief-coated hearts. And may the Spirit use this time and space to remind us that we are never alone in our difficult spaces. REPORT THIS AD With his friends, Jesus shared his last communion before death. The group recognized the sacred in their gathering and celebrated their friendship and their community of faith. One more time, Jesus took the bread and blessed it. In his breaking of the bread, Jesus yearned for them to remember his teachings and their times together. “Whenever you eat this bread, remember me.” One more time, after supper, Jesus took the cup and blessed it as well. In his grasping of the cup, Jesus yearned for his followers to recall their times together. “Whenever you drink of this cup, remember me.” As we join together for this meal, let us remember with gratitude our loved ones who once ate at this table and many other tables with us. While they no longer abide with us here today, help us to recognize that they are a part of the great cloud of witnesses, celebrating eternity with our Creator. May this meal be a gift to each of our souls today. Unison prayer of Thanksgiving We express our gratitude for this meal, Divine Host. We give thanks for the times we spent with our loved ones here at this table, and we thank you that this table is a reminder of our love for you, God. Accompany us into the world with peace in our hearts and strength in the days to come. Amen. By Rev. Michelle L. Torrigan Announcements Benediction 1 Community Time Benediction 2 BENEDICTION (based on Revelation 7: 12, 16-17) Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen! We go out to be God’s people. Go in strength to be the saints of God for you will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike you, nor any scorching heat. We go out to be God’s people. Live the way of God with confidence for God is your shepherd, and will guide you to the spring of life. We go out to be God’s people.

Life is Just that Simple

October 25, 2020 21st Sunday After Pentecost Matthew 22:34-46 Year A Opening Music Welcome Opening Prayer Welcome to the house of God’s love. Is this the right time? Is God’s love available now? God’s love is always here, always ready. But what about emergencies? What if the system crashes? God’s love has been around since the beginning, and it will be here after the ending. We’re ready to live in God’s love, 24/7! Stewardship Moment Offering From the abundant ways in which God has blessed our lives, let us share our tithes and offerings in joy and gratitude. Let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Dedication As you have poured your healing love into our lives, O God, we now offer these gifts to you. Let them be used in ministries of peace and justice through the work of this church in your world. AMEN. Scripture Matthew 22:34-46 Common English Bible Great commandment 34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. 35 One of them, a legal expert, tested him. 36 “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[a] and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Question about David’s son 41 Now as the Pharisees were gathering, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “David’s son,” they replied. 43 He said, “Then how is it that David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called him Lord when he said, 44 The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool’?[c] 45 If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” 46 Nobody was able to answer him. And from that day forward nobody dared to ask him anything. Sermon Life is just that simple You may have never heard the name, but Karl Barth is one of the most famous theologians in the world. Every pastor who has ever been to seminary has at some point had to write a paper are Karl Barth. Barth was a German theologian who not only taught but also challenged the popular beliefs of his day. According to the best accounts of the incident I have heard (many have taken on weird additions), Karl Barth was at Rockefeller Chapel (really a Gothic cathedral!) on the campus of the University of Chicago during his lecture tour of the U.S. in 1962. After his lecture, during the Q & A time, a student asked Barth if he could summarize his whole life’s work in theology in a sentence. Barth allegedly said something like “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” When we think of all of the problems of the world, we think that surely life cant be that simple. Books on the teachings of Jesus could fill this whole room, as a matter of fact this whole church. Karl Barth wrote over 600 books himself on the teachings of Jesus. In Jesus' day there was a group of people who pored over the ancient writings of Moses to look for every law in the book. They were called Pharisees and they were very scrupulous about the observance of all the religious laws. They counted up all the commandments of Moses and found that there were 613 of them; 248 of these were positive, and 365 of them were negative (one for every day of the year, they said). Instead of condensing and simplifying the commandments, they expanded and complicated them, so that what had started as a sincere desire to please God had become a terrible burden of ever-increasing requirements. They needed someone who could cut through all the burdensome requirements of the law and focus on its essence. Pastors spent a lot of time trying to simplify these rules into something that the average person could remember. When Jesus whittles the 10 commandments down to two, he may have been thinking of the words of another Rabbi - Hillel. One famous account in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!" Every morning and every night every faithful person was supposed to recite the Shema – to themselves and to their Children. Hear on Isreal, the Lord your God is one. Love the lord with all of your mind, your heart, your soul. This is the most important rule. Everyone knew these two rules, but Jesus loved to challenge popular thinking. As a matter of fact, that is the whole point of this scripture. In those days it was popular to challenge people by asking questions. The questions were not always confrontational. Questions were a way that you got to know who people really were. Questions bought out your differences. So as Jesus is teaching, the leaders of the day can’t help but to ask questions. Before this scripture for today, the Sadducees start to ask Jesus questions – which Jesus uses as a chance to teach about resurrection. Now the pharisees, whose job it is to know all 600 rules for life, are asking their own set of questions. Jesus knows his stuff, so he is prepared. Unfortunately, this is the last time that Jesus is questioned. Once the questions stop, the plot to get rid of him starts. They don’t want to change, so they set out to act upon their own misunderstandings of the law of grace. Jesus made a point to challenge the status quo and to redefine their and our understandings of the simple things in life. For instance Jesus repeats the greatest commandment – love the lord with all of your mind, heart and soul. But he challenges also. The second commandment love your neighbor is not just the second commandment, but also the third commandment – love your neighbor – as you love yourself. In order for you to love anyone else, including God – first you have to love yourself. Selfishness is not self love. When you love yourself, it is easy for you to love others. Loving Ourselves She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents were sincere, no doubt, but they had given her a terribly distorted understanding of the Christian life. Because of what her parents and pastors had taught her, she was afraid of affirming any good thing about herself. She was afraid that self- appreciation would lead to pride, and pride would lead to alienation from God. So, for her, the life of faith required self-depreciation – putting herself down! She believed that rejection of the self was the only way to God! That’s why her religious convictions led her to the brink of suicide. During the counseling session there in the hotel room, Dr. Trobisch led her to a mirror where he asked her to look carefully at her image. She turned away, unable to look at herself. He held her head gently but firmly and made her look into her own eyes. Obviously the experience was painful for her emotionally. Dr. Trobisch asked her to repeat after him: “I am a beautiful girl – I am a beautiful girl.” But she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it - because in her eyes that was sinful. Where did we ever get the idea that to affirm ourselves, to appreciate ourselves is wrong? Certainly we didn’t get that from Jesus. When we read the gospels carefully, we discover that Jesus went around day after day looking for the good in people, pointing it out to them, and asking them to celebrate it. And, in the scripture from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. How? As we love ourselves. Notice that Jesus does not say we are to love our neighbors instead of ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is inarguable: Jesus wants us to love ourselves! James McCormick, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Love is a way of life. Love is a place inside of us that determines our actions. One day a certain man hurriedly headed out the door for work. In his path was the 3 year old son playing with blocks. The man patted the boy on the head, stepped over him, opened the door and went outside. Halfway down the walk a guilt bomb exploded within him. What am I doing, he thought to himself. I am ignoring my son. I never play with him. He’ll be old before I know it. In the background of his thoughts he heard to pounding of Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin’s balld to lost fatherhood. He returned to the house and sat down with his son and began to build blocks. After two minutes, the boy asked – Daddy, why are you mad at me? He was acting out of duty, not love and it was obvious to the 3 year old. A daughter took her other into her home after surgery. Things were okay until one day they got into an argument over a dirty plate. During the argument, the mother asked why are you doing all of this for me anyway. The daughter thought about it and came up with a million reasons - I don’t want anything to happen to you, I want to keep you safe, I worry about you, I wanted to prove that I was an adult, I wanted to show that I was strong. Finally the mother stopped her and said all of her reasons were a bunch of junk. They didn’t mean anything – the only reason that mattered was that they loved each other. When we act out of love it makes all of the difference in the world. One of the last questions that the pharisees asks is who is the messiah? Is the messiah really the son of David? Jesus points out that even though he is son of David, David still calls upon the messiah. David’s weapon of power was war. Jesus’ weapon of power was love. Love is stronger than war, that ‘s why David called upon a messiah. Jesus is the messiah because he reminds us of the power of love. Life is just that simple – love ourselves, love others love God. One is not more important than the others, they are all expressions of the same love. Let us pray… Prayer In the midst of frightening times when words of war soar to the heavens and anger seems to be the way to treat others and to respond to difficulty, be with us, merciful God. We do not want to live in these hideous ways. We seek your peace and healing love. Our hearts are filled with concern for our families and friends as well as those in far off lands who face great times of difficulties, illness, mourning. We share the names of those for whom we seek prayers knowing that you hear our cries and respond in love. Let us pray silently for a minute then offer the names of these dear ones. [Silent Prayer]. Yet in the midst of darkness your light of joy abounds within us as we share those moments which have caused us to rejoice in delight and love. Let us pray silently for a minute and then offer instances of joy that we have encountered this week. [Silent prayer.] Lord of hope and peace, we have brought before you the names of dear ones on our hearts. Some of the names have been uttered out loud in the congregation; others are whispered in our hearts. Be with all of us, O Lord. Heal our wounds. Direct our lives in pathways of peace. These things we offer in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Song for Reflection O God Our Help in Ages Past UMH 116 Benediction for Facebook Community Time Benediction As you leave this place, may God’s love surround you, uphold you, and empower you to be agents of love in this world. Amen. From The Abingdon Worship Annual, edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? Sermon Opener – The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer – Matthew 22:34-46 Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist." In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure. The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?” Some people have a talent for getting to the core of things. Julius Caesar wrote a good-sized book titled On the Gallic War. It is still used as a textbook by students of Latin. However, Caesar was also able to cut through all the details and get to the nub of a matter. He wrote a sentence that has become a classic in condensation: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." That sums it all up. One of the Pharisees, perhaps dissatisfied with his own search for a meaningful religious life, approached Jesus and asked him which was the great commandment, the one that would satisfy God and oneself. In responding to the man, Jesus cut through all the liturgical requirements, taking from the book of Deuteronomy the requirement to love God, from Leviticus the requirement to love one's neighbor, and welding them together with an emphasis on love and not on the observance of a host of laws. For Jesus, meaningful religion was expressed in a triangle of love: love for God, love for others, and love for self. In that triangle of love is found the secret of a fulfilling life on earth and a foretaste of the life to come. Let's look more closely at what he said. First, he said, we must love God. One of the ways we do this, he said, is with the heart... In Love with Christ Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before." Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love." The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?" "Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ." The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?" Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything." G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225. The Complexity of the Situation The Constitution of the United States started off with only 7 articles and 21 sections that took up only four handwritten pages including signatures! 4 pages! But to that we added 27 amendments. Today, the United States Code, which is all of the laws in this country, fills up around 80 volumes of books, nearly 800,000 pages, and this doesn’t even include the Federal Regulations. In 1942, the Virginia Code was a single book that had 2800 pages. Today, the Virginia Code is a 25-volume set of books with 15,000 pages, nearly 20,000 separate laws! And that is just Virginia! But, let’s not think for a moment that we are the only ones to take something simple and make it complex. God gave the Israelites something simple to follow, the Ten Commandments. Just ten simple rules to follow. Nothing complex about it. But were the Israelites content with just ten commandments? Oh, no. They ended up making 613 separate commandments, 365 negative and 248 positive. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Try following all those laws in order to be considered faithful and righteous, and you probably thought the original ten was hard enough. For the lawyer and the Pharisees there was certainly a complex issue at stake. The Israelites were under assault from a man who claimed to be God, and who did God-like things. But this man was a Jew; he should have known better, no one is God, but God. Yet, he was a man who knew and quoted the Hebrew scripture, who knew the laws and commandments better than any religious leader. The Pharisees had to put a stop to it, the situation was getting out of control, it was becoming too complex to let it go on much longer. This man must be stopped and the only why to stop him was to discredit him. And what better way to discredit Jesus, the Jew, than to ask him such a question, on a complex issue about the greatest commandment, that any answer he gave would spell defeat. Author Unknown Shema In Jewish circles the single most famous verse from the Torah is the so-called Shema from Deuteronomy 6. "Shema" is the Hebrew word for "hear" or "listen" and it comes from that verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The Shema was traditionally recited by every Jewish child and adult at the start of each day and at the conclusion of each day. In other words, there was no single verse from the entire Torah that the average Jew knew better than this one. So when Jesus responded to the Pharisees' tricky question by quoting a portion of the Shema, he was throwing back in their faces something they took to be exceedingly basic, something that was second-nature to even the youngest Jewish child. It reminds you of the time Karl Barth is said to have been asked what he thought was the most profound of all theological truths. But instead of giving some jargon-laden, academic answer that used words like perichoresis, kenosis, or the insuperable transcendence of God's prevenient grace as it comes through the vicarious supererogation of the Son, Barth simply said, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." That answer was charming and disarming. Barth said, "The greatest truth is the one you already know, the one all Christians know, the one a three-year old can sing about." In Jesus' case, he was slyly insulting the Pharisees, demonstrating to everyone there that the Pharisees were not really interested in seeing if Jesus could answer their question since even the youngest person there knew that answer already. This was not a difficult question. It was like asking Albert Einstein, "Do you know what 2+2 is?" This was basic, elementary stuff. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations You Can Read All Day The story is told of a little boy whose father taught mechanical engineering at a prestigious university. One day he came in the back door and asked his mother, “What time is it?” She wasn’t wearing a watch; plus, she was busy, so she said, “Your father's in the living room, go ask him.” The little boy shrugged his shoulders and said, “Never mind. I don’t want to know how to make a watch; I just want to know what time it is!” When it comes to religion and our understanding of the Christian faith, I suspect there are times when we all feel like this little boy. For example, there are sixty-six books of the Bible. Many of them are long and complex. For each book of the Bible there are commentaries explaining every nuance of every verse. If that weren’t enough, there are books on just about every conceivable topic of the Bible. There are books on church doctrine, Christian ethics and the history of Christianity. There are books on worship, mission, education, stewardship and prayer. Christian writers are all too happy to tell you how to improve your prayer life, your sex life, your golf score and your investment portfolio. O.K., maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. The point is you could read all day, every day, for the rest of your life and still not make a dent in the mountain of information available on understanding the Christian faith and what it means to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Philip W. McLarty, The Christian Shema The Center of the Christian Universe There is no question, in the Bible, or in the history of the church, that love is the center of the Christian universe. It is one of three things, along with faith and hope, that lasts forever, and is the greatest of the three. It is the dynamis, the power that moves the world. It is the basic magnetism holding everything together: God's love for us, and our love for him and for each other. Just as carbon is the universal element of physical life, love is the universal element of spiritual life. "If I have not love," Paul said, "I am nothing," and he meant that literally. "Nothing!" Matthew Henry said love is "the spring and fountain of all the rest." But the word is much abused today. Love has been cheapened down to a Pavlovian response. Love has a million impostors, and many things that aren't love try to pass for it. How can we tell? What's the difference between Hollywood love and the love of God? William R. Boyer, Old Law, New Law What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? “.

Rules of Community

October 4, 2020 Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Year A 18th Sunday After Pentecost The Rules of Community Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Opening Prayer (Psalm 19) Almighty God, your word bursts forth into our lives like a glorious sunrise. You speak, and our hearts rejoice. You command, and our eyes are opened. The sound of your voice brings revival to our souls. Your words are purer than the finest gold. True and righteous one, living Word, light our way. As we listen to your Spirit, may the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be accepted in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. Stewardship Moment Lord of grace and forgiveness, you who gave everything and spared nothing to make us your own, we offer back to you what you have so freely given to us. Let all that we say and do, all that we think and plan and consider, be pleasing to you, blessed Creator, Provider, and Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer: Washed in your peace and love, O God, we bring our gifts to you. Bless the gifts and the lives that they represent, that all may be used in your service and to your glory. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN. Scripture The Ten Commandments 20 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You must have no other gods before[a] me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 7 Do not use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the LORD won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. 8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 Do not kill.[a] 14 Do not commit adultery. 15 Do not steal. 16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 17 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” Sermon Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen if you only speak. 2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy - and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance. 3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. 4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor. 5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours. 6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant. 7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes, and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression. 8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you. 9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven. 10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body, and spirit. Practice optimism. 11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family. 12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow. 13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you. 14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one's will within this universe. 15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails. 16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions. 17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden. 18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first. 19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others. 20. Share your good fortune with others. These are some of the codes of ethics attributed to the Lakota Native Americans. Whenever I am teaching a class, I usually start out on the first day with having participants develop a classroom code of ethics, rules of understanding for how we will treat one another in class. Most classes come up with things like treat all with a sense of respect, all answers are important, to be positive with all people. The 10 commandments are a code of ethics of how we will treat one another when we are together in community. I know that I have preached a sermon with this congregation on the 10 commandments. That time I focused on each of the individual commandments. But today I don’t want us to think so much about what the commandments are, but why they were given to the community in the first place. We have been following the journey of God’s people as they are wandering in the desert. We hear of their concerns and of God’s response. As they journey they develop their identity. They start to form a solid community. With community, comes rules of understanding of how we treat one another. These particular rules come directly from God- the 10 words. Jesus Christ would have known these commandments – he summarized them down to 2 commandments – Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul, and to love the neighbor as you love yourself. The most important commandment – Love God. For God the unforgivable sin of the people was that they did not come to God when they needed something. And when they did come to God, they did not believe that God could do anything about it. Hence the most important commandment in life – Love God enough to have a relationship. The second, there is not anything in the world more important than God. In other words – do not have any idols. Martin Luther says that an idol is anything that occupies your mind and anything that determines your actions in life. I think under that definition, we all have some idols. In modern times we have also gotten away from wanting to be commanded to do anything. We want to rewrite, redefine and even forget about the 10 commandments. A little boy was once asked by his Sunday school teacher if he knew the Ten Commandments. "No ma'am," came the reply, "my dad said that I don't have to know them since they are doing away with them anyway." It is one thing to be ignorant of the Ten Commandments; it quite another to mock them with impunity. Millions dismiss them as mere platitudes fit for nothing more than a dusty old bookshelf. They disdain them because they are "religious." Instead of listening to Thou shalt not, we want to rewrite them into positive affirmations – things that should do. In reality there is no proof that the 10 commandments were intended to be positive affirmations. God always said, if you love me, this is what you won’t do. Even Jesus says that he did not come to take away the law of obedience, but to fulfill it. Setting boundaries around our behavior was God’s way of showing love for the community. They were never intended to be demands of behavior. God never withheld God’s blessings. As a matter of fact, God gave us grace and salvation first. Obeying the commandments was our response to God’s love, not a condition for it. Once, he was being interviewed by Bill Moyers, who looked at the new President of the United States of America and asked, "What is the most significant discovery Jimmy Carter has made?" President Carter flashed his famous smile and said, "This is embarrassing a little bit for me to talk about because it’s personal. But, the most significant discovery that I have made is my relationship with God through Jesus Christ." He was the most powerful man in the free world. Every day he made decisions that affected the destiny of our nation and the world. He was busy as he sought to move our country in a new direction. Yet, he had his priorities straight, because he recognized that his relationship with God was the most significant part of his life. Are you putting God first in your life? It so happened that several people from the church were going to both the uneducated bishop and the therapist for advice and counseling. Some of them felt that they were getting more help from the bishop than they were from the psychiatrist, and they told that to the psychiatrist. He was a little professionally troubled by this, so he went to the bishop and asked him what his secret was. What methods or teachings or counseling or therapy did he use which were so effective in helping people to improve their mental and emotional health? The bishop took the question very seriously and gave a typically blunt answer. “Well,” he said, “I just ask them questions until I figure out which commandment they are breaking, and then I tell them to stop it.” (5) Maybe he’s on to something there. There is no question that you cannot willingly violate any of God’s laws and have a completely satisfying life. The Ten Commandments were given to us by God for our protection. Have we strayed too far as a community away from the Bible for our own good? A couple of years ago, I was asked to serve on a panel to discuss the problems facing teenagers in our society. The panel included a school counselor, a Juvenile Judge, a drug counselor, a couple of other experts on teenage problems, and, I guess, I was the representative of the religious community. There were a variety of people in the audience, including the parents of several teenagers. During the question and answer period, there was one woman who acknowledged that she was at the symposium because her adolescent daughter had become a handful and she could no longer control her. Then, looking at me, she began to blame the church for the problems that her daughter faced and the problems that teenagers were encountering in our society. She stated that the problems of teenagers could be traced directly to the church which was no longer teaching "the basics." She talked about the failure of the church to give proper instruction and moral guidance to the younger generation. Her strongest and most self-evident point was that children were no longer required to memorize the Ten Commandments. Finally, when she had finished listing her complaints, I asked her, "Madam, do you know the Ten Commandments?" "Of course," she responded, somewhat insulted by the question. Looking directly at this woman in the audience, I challenged her by saying, "Name them!" She coughed and sputtered and looked embarrassed. Finally, she was able to name three or four of the commandments and a couple of quotes from Shakespeare before giving up and sitting down. While I can sympathize with that woman and her worry about her daughter, I think it is a mistake to attribute magical qualities to the Ten Commandments. Instead, I think it is more appropriate to look at them as rules for living. . I am probably a part of that sinful generation. I never had to memorize the 10 commandments. It would probably take me a minute to come up with all 10, and I don’t know the order from memory. But I do know that the most important is to put God first in all things. My relationship with God determines my relationship with all other people. And how we treat one another, determines the quality of our community. Who are we as a community? What are the rules that keep us together to do the work of God? Let us pray…… Prayer "Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace. God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun, raising courage when we’re shrinking, find scope for faith begun." We are afraid of silence. So much of our world is claimed by noise and clamor. But here, in this place, we are called to let go, to let go of the noise, to let go of the anxiety and worry, to let go of our fears. Silence is truly a friend who claims us. Now for just a moment. Be in silence. Let the beating of your heart and the rhythm of your breathing be your focus. Put aside your worries. Focus on God. God of our lives, who offers to us peace in the silence, a moment apart from the demands and struggles of life, relax our spirits today. We have brought to you the names and situations which have claimed our worries and our attention. We come seeking healing for those who suffer, comfort for those who mourn, direction for the lost, and peace for all your people. We have brought our joys and celebrations to you, thanking you for the many ways in which you have touched our lives with your love. Give us peace and strength for our service to this world in your name. AMEN. Song for Reflection One Bread, One Body UMH 620 Communion Today is world communion Sunday. Day when we realize that the body of Christ is united all throughout the world. Community is not just who we are in this room, extends throughout the world – cant see each other but held together through love. I have been part of a lectionary group for about 20 years, participants from all over the world. We have a tradition that every World communion, we put together greetings from churches from all over the world. Some from ……. We are different people, with different ways of worshipping. See same God in different ways. Wilda Gaffney, womanist midrash (page 105), puts the words of the Isrealite journey in her own words. God gives the 10 commandments in person, not through Moses- wanted to make sure everyone saw it - In her words she says, the people of Israel gazed upon God on the mountain. They saw smoke and fire. Within the flames and of the flames some say flames, some say great wings, some saw a mountain, others saw the tree of life, some saw lightening, some saw rainbows, some saw a robe of many colors, some saw stars, all of them saw God. Yet none of their descriptions alone, nor all of them together were sufficient to convey the majesty of the fire of sinai. As we come together in communion today – in the midst of a world crisis, a church crisis, a community crisis – we are all in different places, literally some of us our outside, some are inside, some are at home, some are not. We are in different places politically, we believe different things about who God is, we believe different things about the church. None of us have the final say on who God is and What God is doing. But in this moment we are called to together – to be witnesses to God – to show love to one another, but to be love to the world. In this moment, God has provided for us all. Jesus has given us all of special place in the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit binds us together. Jesus we ask for your blessings upon the communion elements. We ask for your blessing upon the work of this church. We ask for your blessing upon each of us. Let these blessed elements lead us to a deeper relationship with you and one another. I invite each of you – take the body of Christ, the blood of Christ, and to feel Christ’s salvation in our soul at this moment. Dear Lord we thank you for your body blood, we pray that we truly in this moment be the body of Christ redeemed by your blood. Give us the strength to go forward in the world to transform it and to make disciples of Christ. Amen. Announcements October 18th is Laity Sunday – the theme of the day will be the ministry of all Christians. The work that we all are called to do on behalf of the church Benediction Hear the voice of the Creator, the mighty God, the One who built the vault of heaven, who set the sun on its blazing course through the skies! Hear the words of life, declared not by speech or language or voice but written on the heart! Go forth in the name of the living Word, the One whose words bring forth the fruit of the kingdom in your own lives! Amen. Children’s Sermon Object: Something listing the 10 Commandments Exegetical Aim: To understand that the Ten Commandments are God’s gift to us and guide the way we should live our lives. Lesson: Good morning! Some of you have been in school or preschool for a while now. I have a question. How many rules did your teacher set for your class? (Response. Hopefully this will range quite a bit.) When I was your age, I had a few teachers who had lots of rules. I think my second grade teacher had a separate rule for every occasion. Sometimes it felt like I couldn’t turn around without breaking a rule! But other teachers only had one rule. Can you guess what it was? (Response) That’s right, to treat others like you would want to be treated. We call that the Golden Rule because it is so important. Do you know why we have rules? (Response) That’s right, to tell us how to act. Sometimes we need a guide to help us figure out the best way to act. What if I told you that God gave us 10 rules to help guide us through life? Application: In today’s reading, we learned about 10 big rules. Can anyone tell me what we call these rules? (Response) That's right. These are the 10 Commandments. Moses and his people, the Israelites, were wandering in the desert after escaping from the Egyptians. The 10 Commandments are the rules that God gave to Moses to guide how God’s people should live. I’m going to read the Ten Commandments to you and I want you to listen. This is very important because these are God’s rules to you, too. (Optional: Instead of jumping into reading the list, you might want to ask the kids to list some of the Commandments. Also, you could carefully choose a few Commandments which might be especially meaningful for them to define, i.e. Honor your mother and father. Ask the kids to elaborate on what these Commandments mean. This would be very appropriate for a group including older children.) First, You shall love the Lord with all your heart. (Deuteronomy 6: 5) Second, You shall not worship false idols. That means that you won’t worship anything other than God. Third, you shall not use the Lord’s name in vain. That means you should not curse with the Lord’s name. Fourth, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Sunday is the Sabbath and we should worship God and rest on Sunday. Fifth, honor your mother and father. This is a biggie for you guys. This means you should respect and love your mom and dad. Sixth, you shall not murder. Seventh, you shall not commit adultery. Eighth, you shall not steal. Ninth, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This means you should not lie. Tenth, you shall not covet your neighbor. This one means that you should not get jealous over what other people have. If someone has a really great toy, you should not get jealous over the toy. Instead, you should be happy your friend has such a great toy. These are the big rules that God has given us to help guide us through life. If you have any questions, I want you to feel free to ask your parents, grandparents, your Sunday school teacher, the preacher, or even me. We would be happy to answer your questions about these big rules. Let’s Pray: Dear God, thank you for the Ten Commandments. We know that sometimes we need a little guidance and help in living our lives. Thank you for helping us out. Help us to always remember your rules. Amen. ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Children's Sermons, by Mary O Additional Illustrations God’s Patience Robert Ingersoll, that great agnostic of a day gone by, once said to a contemporary, "I will give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things I have said." After five minutes and nothing had happened, Ingersoll's friend remarked, "Did you think you could exhaust God's patience in just five minutes?" Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., hrough these commandments, God was calling his people back then and today - to share a covenant relationship with him. This covenant relationship simply means that we learn to give God a prominent place in our lives. Not long ago, I was reading a book about the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He was the Democratic president of the United States from January 1977 to January 1981. During that time he dealt with many difficult issues. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in his efforts to bring peace between Israel and Egypt. He dealt with an oil embargo crisis and the crisis of the hostages in Iran. But, one thing that Jimmy Carter will be remembered for is the influence of his religion in his life. In, James Mitchener’s novel The Source, he describes an ancient family. The father of the family sacrifices his son to Malek, an ancient God. The mother grieves while the father then goes and visits the temple prostitutes. She is deeply grieved at what her husband is doing in the name of religion. She laments: “With a different god, he would have been a different man.” We are shaped by our god or gods. Martin Luther once wrote: “whatever you confide in, that is your god.’ Whatever we count on to give us meaning and value in life, that is our god. G. K. Chesterton said years ago, "Good art and morality teach us the same lesson--it is wisdom to know where to draw the line." Leland Gregory, in his book Stupid History, tells of a colossal error that once occurred in transmitting the Ten Commandments. In 1631, King Charles I ordered 1,000 Bibles from an English printer named Robert Barker. Printing was not an exact science in those days, and sometimes mistakes were made and usually overlooked but not in this case. Barker inadvertently left out a single word in the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 the word “not.” Readers were shocked to find out that God had commanded Moses “Thou shalt commit adultery” as opposed to “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” King Charles was not amused by this mistake and ordered all the Bibles destroyed, fined Barker 300 pounds sterling (a lifetime’s wages in those days), and revoked his printing license Barker was out of business. Not all the Bibles were destroyed; there are eleven known to still exist. Because of the infamous mistake, this printing of the official King James Version is referred to as “The Wicked Bible.” (1) I don’t have to tell you that many people would like to rewrite the Ten Commandments. In her autobiography, My Life So Far, actress Jane Fonda reveals some interesting details about dating and marrying media mogul Ted Turner. On one of their first dates he bragged about replacing the Ten Commandments with what he called The Ten Voluntary Initiatives, which included caring for the earth, having no more than two children per family, etc. He assured Fonda that in the modern world people just couldn’t stomach being commanded to do anything. First: The Rule Of Common Sense. Second: The Rule Of Sportsmanship Third: The Rule Of Your Own Best Self. Fourth: The Rule Of Publicity. Fifth: The Rule Of The Most Admired Person You Know. Sixth: The Rule Of Foresight