Praise, God's Way

Good friends, this is what I intended to talk about today but for some reason God lead to speak without notes today. So some of this made it into the Message and some of it didn't. I pray that God speaks to you in his Word read and proclaimed.

Friends, what’s the good news for today? It seems like every day this week all we’ve heard about is politicians or political action groups grumbling about the proposed health care package or news people rehashing for us one more time Tiger Wood’s family problems. The good news, if there’s been any, has been buried deep beneath all the gloom and doom of the world’s problems.
The news Micah had for Israel came to people who had either been conquered by the Assyrians or were about to be conquered by them. This fifth chapter was written for those who had been in exile. Micah is sharing God’s good news with the people about one whom God has chosen to rule Israel; one who is descended from a respected family from the little town of Bethlehem. And they were really starving for some good news. I’d like to hear some good news, wouldn’t you?
Wouldn’t you like to shout to God like today’s psalmist? “God come back! Smile your blessing smile!” Everyone just needs to hear some good news!
Luke gives us the story about the angel Gabriel coming to Mary telling her that she was going to get pregnant and give birth to a son who would be the savior of the world. We know that was good news now but if you had been Mary and living when she lived would you have received that message from God’s angel as good news?
I believe that’s why Mary should be remembered. She heard God’s message, and other than asking how this would be possible since she wasn’t married and had never been with a man, she accepted Gabriel’s answer. Her response was, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” I wonder how many of us would have responded like she did given the same set of circumstances.
Since Gabriel had told her about Elizabeth she decided it was time to pack her bag and go to the hill country of Judea to stay for a while and visit. As she came up the path to the town she caught sight of Elizabeth and gave her a shout.
I know that babies in the womb respond to outside stimulation such as sudden loud noises and music and so forth but baby John’s reaction must have been different given the comments recorded by Luke. Somehow Elizabeth knew that Mary was with child and she also knew somehow that the children they were both carrying were blessed by God. The course of their lives had been predetermined by God. One was to be a messenger to prepare the Way and the other would be the savior of the world, the Messiah.
Mary was so filled with joy that she burst out in song, accapello, praising God for the many great things he had done and was doing for his children. This song is known as The Magnificat, the first word in the Latin translation of this passage. Did you notice how this is a song portrays God as a champion of the poor, the down and out, and those whom no one wanted any contact with? And I like to believe that He is still that champion.
Mary received the news that she was going to be the mother of God’s son and she accepted that news and praised God for granting her such a blessing. So how is God praised today? Who is lifting up praise to Him today with joy in their hearts for receiving his blessing?
Friends, I ask you to take time today and the rest of this week to reflect on the graces you have received from God. As you remember lift your voice in song and praise to your creator, God, who continues to bless us every day.
Today we are reminded to proclaim God’s message of love to all people. Friends, you will come face to face with many of God’s children this week. As you look them in the face don’t let the opportunity slip by without taking the time to share with them how God has blessed you; how he loved the whole world so much that he sent his Son to live among us to show and teach us about his never ending love for us, his children and that includes them.
The Advent season is all about preparing for the coming of the Messiah. Messiah has come. He is coming again. It could be today. That’s why it’s so very important that we share the good news with everyone we meet. God doesn’t want anyone to miss out on eternal life in the new heaven and the New Jerusalem.
Do you know someone who hasn’t committed their life to Jesus? Why not tell them the story today while it’s fresh in your mind. Sing them your song of praise to God.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Jesus Is Coming, Here!

Jesus is coming. Have you heard? Who told you? What does it mean? What should we do? Do we have to do anything? Is He really coming? Do you think it could be today?
The prophet Malachi tells us to “watch for this.” He says “the time is coming.” Zachariah is so happy to get his voice back that he breaks into song. His son has been chosen by God to proclaim the Good News that the Messiah is coming. His son, little baby John, is going to be the one who will be the one who is the “thunder in the desert” crying out from the wilderness. He’s one proud papa.
I wonder how he felt when his little boy came out of the wilderness and called the religious of the day “vipers.” John went to the wilderness and stayed there until God spoke to him, gave him the Message to proclaim to the people. His Message was that they had to get ready because the Messiah, Jesus, was coming. I don’t believe John knew then that his cousin, Jesus, was the One. He found out later but that didn’t deter him from coming out of the wilderness to the River Jordan, where the people were, to proclaim his Message of repentance, forgiveness, and baptism. Jesus, the Messiah, was coming, right there, right then. And they all needed to get things ready.
Luke named all these important people in history so that those who would be reading his gospel would have a reference point for John’s ministry. We can all understand that can’t we. When we begin to relate some story from our family history we usually begin by saying it was around the time when so and so was governor or so and so was president or such and such event happened around the same time.
The folks reading Luke’s gospel would know all these names and they’d say, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” John the Baptist is even referred to in the Qur’an as being the one who proclaimed God’s message about Jesus, the prophet. Historical references give us a point in time to fix our mind on.
With these words from the prophets saying that the Messiah was coming, I wonder were the people any better prepared than we are today. Friends, the Message for us today is Jesus is coming, here. Are we ready to receive the Savior? Are we prepared?
Do you want to know what I think? I don’t think we are. It’s just my opinion, but it doesn’t look to me like we are any more ready for the coming of Jesus than Israel or Judah were when John shouted his Message from the River Jordan.
You might be wondering why I think that. Look at the state of the world around us. There is war in Iraq and Afghanistan and it doesn’t look like its going to end any time soon. Do you hear a loud outcry from the churches that this is wrong? Is there a huge petition drive to provide food and water for those regions in the world where families are starving and/or dying because there is an inadequate food supply or clean water to drink? Do you hear people talking in the bakery or Aunt B’s about the genocide that’s occurring in Africa or Indonesia?
Are we really ready for Jesus? Are our hearts ready for Jesus to come again? Friends, Jesus is here whether we’re ready or not. Soon he will come in person and it will be too late to change. Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to lay it all out there and pray that God will forgive us. Today is the day we should make the commitment to change remembering John’s Message from the wilderness, “Prepare for God’s arrival.”
Everyday we let pass by without consciously making the commitment to change we risk not being ready. Jesus is coming, here!
Let’s change today so we can be forgiven. Open your heart today to God. Let his Spirit change you so that Zachariah’s words will come true…
“Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.”
How many more days do you think we have until he comes? I don’t think we should take any chances. I believe we need to change today. Jesus is coming. Here! Thanks be to God. Amen.

What's Important?

This is the Message I delivered at our Thanksgiving Eve worship service.

As you heard the scriptures read what did you think about? How did they speak to you this evening? How did you hear God talking to you in his Message?
As I read the lessons from The Message I was struck by the words. They just seemed to jump out at me, almost like they were saying, “Hey, this is important. Pay attention to what's being said here.” It may be because of the present condition of the world around at this time that they seemed particularly profound to me. At any rate I think there is a Message here for all of us in this season of thanksgiving.
The OT reading from the prophet Joel says in so many words that we, the children of God, should celebrate. Be glad in our God...full of praises to our God, the God who has set us back on our heels in wonder. Don't you get the feeling of awe sometimes as you walk about or travel about in this wonderful place God has placed us? Doesn't it just make you want to “celebrate” as Joel puts it?
The psalmist continues this when he says, “...it seemed like a dream, too good to be true...we laughed, we sang, we couldn't believe our good fortune...God do it again.” Have you ever thought to yourself, “This must be a dream. This is too good to be actually happening to me?” That's what the psalmist is feeling.
So, I know, sometimes our lives aren't really so good and we just don't feel like celebrating or singing or laughing. What do we do then, crawl in a hole, stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich? That doesn't fix anything but sometimes we are just too overwhelmed by what the world is doing to us.
Good friends, I believe it's then we need to remember Paul's words to Timothy, “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.” Have you ever got up in the middle of the night and then went back to bed and couldn't fall back to sleep? What do you do? Get up for a snack or maybe something hot to drink? How does that work for you? Have you ever tried praying for everyone you can think of? Have you ever thought of praying for the people on your block or your neighbors when you couldn't get back to sleep? It may be that God is telling you to pray not because he needs your prayers but because you need prayer, you need to take your mind off yourself and consider others. Who knows, it's got to be better than tossing and turning and trying to count sheep or goats or ceiling tile.
Have you noticed how every time the television goes to commercial it's an advertisement about something every person should have in their kitchen, their bathroom, their living room, entertainment room or their workshop? We just have to have it. If we don't how could we possibly live? The world continually tells us we have to own this or that. We just can't be complete with it, whatever it may be.
Matthew gives us Jesus' answer in chapter 6 that we heard read this evening. I don't believe he's telling us its wrong to possess “things.” I think he's telling us we need to decide where our priorities are. If we are the Christians we profess to be then we must realize we need to make a commitment to follow Jesus. When we do that then the focus is no longer on us it's on others. After all it's not about us but it's about what God is doing in and around us, that's what's important.
Making the commitment to serve Jesus and trust him to provide for us is certainly scary for us but as God grows our faith we are able to do so much more than we ever imagined we could do.
God is telling us that excessive worry and anxiety will get us nowhere. It only serves to separate us from God. In the verses that precede this passage we are told that we can't serve two masters. That's what Jesus continues to elaborate here. He wants us to think about where our priorities are, where are our values. The world would have us think that God comes after our jobs, after our homes, after our retirement accounts, you can fill in the blank with many other things we worry about.
Friends, where is our allegiance, where do we place our loyalty? Jesus told us we only have two commandments to concern ourselves with and the first is to love God with our hearts, our souls, and our minds. That should be our number one priority. And then we are told to love our neighbors as we ourselves want to be loved. It's still not about us. It's all about God and others and serving them.
So this thanksgiving season as you sit down to tables overflowing with delicious meals prepared with loving hands remember why we're all here, what our work is as children of God. We are called to serve and we all need to decide what that means.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God for his many blessings. Amen.

Still Waiting

Another church year has ended and a new one begins today with the first Sunday of Advent. Today’s Message from the Scriptures talks again about Christ’s coming again. When Luke wrote his gospel the people were waiting…and waiting…and waiting…and we are still waiting. Have people given up on Christ ever coming back? Have we become discouraged with all the waiting? I wonder.
How patient are you? Some days I’m very impatient and other times it doesn’t matter, but the world has been waiting a long time for Christ to return and bring with him the new heaven and earth and a New Jerusalem. Do you think we’re ready?
We have heard this Message so many times and he hasn’t come yet that I wonder if we haven’t been putting changing our lives or even thinking about changing that we may be in danger of not being ready. Friends, I’m speaking from experience here. I am the classic procrastinator who puts things off until they absolutely can’t be put off any longer. But this is something I shouldn’t put off and neither should you.
Jesus said that he is coming and we are to watch for the signs. When these signs appear that means that the kingdom of God is near. So, should we be watching for signs or preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming? What do you think?
I think if we spend our time watching for the signs and trying to interpret what we think they mean that we may be in danger of putting of the hard work of changing our lives and doing the work God has called us to do. It could easily happen. We get so involved with listening to the news that we forget that we are to telling the Good News and bringing people into the kingdom of God that is here right now.
Our prayer should be what Paul wrote in his letter to the Thessalonians, “13May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you… May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.”
Our goal for the new year should be to do what we know we should be doing so that we are ready for Christ’s return, reading Scripture, studying Scripture, praying to God and spending time in silence so we can hear what God has for us. And then sharing the Good News of God’s love with our friends and neighbors and people we don’t know yet whom God brings to us everyday.
That sounds like a full-time job, and it is, but once we have decided how we can get this discipline ingrained in our lives it ceases to be a chore and becomes as natural as breathing. It’s just part of our daily living and then we don’t have to be worrying or anxious about whether we’re ready or not. It doesn’t matter that we’re still waiting, because we’re ready for Christ to return.
Friends, I can’t empathize enough how important this is. What if Christ came today? Would we be ready? I didn’t use to think about this very much but when I read Luke’s Message to us I am reminded of the state of the world today. It looks to me like “all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.” I’m not sure the leaders of the world powers are quaking or not but it sure looks to me like the things Luke talks about have begun. There’s war, there’s economic turmoil and uncertainty, there’s global warming, and who knows what else we’ll hear about in the news today. And so it’s even more important for us to make sure people are ready and not just biding their time waiting because they’ve been waiting so long and nothing’s happened yet.
So if God has set things right with Jesus coming into the world then I believe we should make the psalm reading today our prayer. Verses 5-7 speak to me in particular, “5 Take me by the hand; Lead me down the path of truth. You are my Savior, aren't you? 6 Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, GOD; Rebuild the ancient landmarks! 7 Forget that I sowed wild oats; Mark me with your sign of love. Plan only the best for me, GOD!”
Friends, I think we have our work cut out for us. We’ve put off doing the things we should have been doing and every day that we let slip by without changing is one more day wasted and maybe one more life that may be lost, never knowing that there is a God who loves and cares for all his children and doesn’t want to see even one of them lost to the Evil One.
So even though we are still waiting for Christ’s return we shouldn’t be sitting around watching the signs and waiting. There is work to be done. We are to be making disciples and loving and caring for neighbors. We are to be worshipping God and spending Sabbath time with Him. If we do these things we can be assured that we will be more ready when Christ does come with all his followers.
Friends, lets not wait any longer. Let’s make the commitment to give it all to God and do all he has called us to be and to do. Begin today by getting back in his Word and spending time with him. He misses you.
Sisters and brothers, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Who Is Christ the King to You?

I think everyone here today is a citizen of the United States of America, a country founded on the principles of a democratic government where the voice of the people could be heard. This country that we are all citizens of places a great deal of importance on individual freedoms. There are very few people living in this part of the world who like to have someone tell them what they should do, whether it’s how to live or what to eat or how to vote or what car they should be driving or what they should believe about God. And so it’s very hard for us to get our heads around the concept of Christ being King of the world let alone our lives.
The problem, I believe, is that if we accept the fact that Christ is King then that means that we would have to live lives that proved that out. People who observe us as we go about our daily tasks would be able to see that we have given our whole allegiance to Jesus the Christ as the King of our lives just by how we behave and act and live.
Today all churches who follow the revised common lectionary observe this Sunday, the last Sunday of the church year before the beginning of Advent, as Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday. The scriptures we heard read today reflect the fact that Jesus is the King, and his “king” –dom is not what any other kingdom has ever been like. His kingdom is not of this world, the world we live in.
That’s not to say that his kingdom isn’t here. What it says is his kingdom is not like the world’s idea of a kingdom. This day requires us all to take time to reflect on what that means to all of us who profess to be Christians, followers of Jesus the Christ. Jesus is King, so what’s that mean to you and me?
When Pilate asked Jesus if he was a king he was only concerned for himself. He really wasn’t too worried about Caiphas or the other Jewish leaders. His concern was with Caesar and those under him. If he allowed someone who claimed to be a king to go on speaking of his kingdom here on earth without challenging his kingship then he was in danger of losing control of his little corner in the world in Palestine. And then what would he do and who would he be? That was a real worry for Pilate. It was a major concern for the Sanhedrin too. If Jesus was the King and they didn’t challenge him, then they would have to relinquish some of their control in the Temple. Their lives would change drastically and they weren’t about to let that happen. Both Pilate and the Sanhedrin had too much invested in their power to concede the control to Jesus. Their sense of security was definitely threatened by Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, the King.
Isn’t it interesting that the Jews had been waiting for an eternity for the Messiah? They wanted the Messiah to come so that their kingdom could be restored. If only he would come and kick out these Roman oppressors and establish a kingdom that would surpass David’s and be even richer than Solomon’s.
But when we read the gospels Jesus, the Son of Man, the Son of God, isn’t anything like that at all. This King asked his disciples and he asks us to pick up his yoke, the cross, and follow him. Along with the rich young man who came to Jesus asking how he could be certain that he would secure eternal life we are told to give up everything we hold dear and follow him, follow Jesus. And friends, admit it that scares a whole lot of people. Give up control and trust in God, how could we possibly do that?
If we’re struggling with giving our all to God and trusting in his providence then can we truly say that Jesus is King of our lives? We celebrate Christ as our King but how is he the King of our lives?
Good friends, none of us, no one is perfect. None of us gets this right. The thing is we need to be reminded at least once a year who we owe our allegiance to, Jesus the Christ, the King. We have grown up with the idea that we are each responsible for our own welfare. That’s how most of us have lived. We got our education, we sought jobs that would provide a good income, and we made decisions for ourselves that would provide some amount of security for us as we grew older. And so it’s very difficult for us to let go of all that and let God have control. But he is the King. He is in control, whether we admit it, whether we live as if that’s true or not.
The whole gospel of John validates Jesus as Christ the King. So today, friends, I pray that you would re-dedicate your lives to the one who is truly the King of your lives. Let go of all the old baggage you carry with you and begin the new church year as a new person, a child of God who worships Christ as the King of your life. Let go of it all and unlock the padlocks the world has put on the chains that keep you bound to it.
Let’s all make the commitment to follow Jesus the King and live our lives as the new people God has planned for us to be.
What’s that mean? Friends, I believe it means that we begin to live as people who truly want to serve, service to God and to those he brings to our doors. It means that we trust God through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to provide everything we need to be of service to Christ’s kingdom here on earth.
Its hard work, but its work that is worthy of those who love and serve the Lord.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God for his Son, Jesus Christ the King. Amen.

Why Bother?

Attendance is down, giving is down, people I talk to think they can be Christian without being part of a community of faith. And I think what am I doing? Don’t you sometimes think the same thing? Be honest, you do think that sometimes don’t you?
Why should we continue waiting for Christ to come again? We’ve been waiting for an eternity it seems. Is Jesus really going to come back? Is this evil ever going to end? Has God written us off? There are still wars. People are killing each other over the most asinine things. Families are being torn apart by alcohol, drugs, and infidelity. Sometimes I think, “Why do I bother?”
Maybe it’s the time of year that makes us feel so down in the mouth about things. If the sun would shine all the time then we’d all be happier and more optimistic. No?
All around the United States mainline denominations are losing members. Even our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters are seeing their numbers declining. What’s a church supposed to do? The world is just too powerful for the church.
Friends, this is nothing new. The epistle of Hebrews was written for a church that was experiencing declining numbers. People were staying away saying that they could be true to God without the church. That doesn’t sound too much different from today.
So what’s the good news? The good news is the word of God to His people. The word from the prophet Jeremiah was that this…
This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time "I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts."
He concludes, I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.
Jeremiah was telling God’s people about the “new covenant” that was going to written on the hearts and minds of those who believed.
The main problem we all have is that we know our sin and we don’t believe that we can ever be made clean again. Even when we hear that God forgives our sin through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we just can’t believe that anyone could ever love us after the wrongs we’ve done to our friends and families. We can’t forgive ourselves even though we hear in the Message that God has forgiven and forgotten all of our sins.
And that’s the reason we need to hear this Message again. Jesus died once for all of our sins. That sacrifice was enough and it never needs to be made again. Believe it, friends. Jesus was not ordinary priest. He was the priest who was and is still able to meet the requirements in order for us to have clear consciences again.
In the Feasting on the Word commentary they asked a very good question, “If the cross of Christ solved the problem of sin and Easter is the validation of this then why do we still see and feel so much sin and suffering all around us?”
What do you think the answer is? Is God losing the battle against the Evil One? The commentary pointed to Psalm 110, “…sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Jesus completed what he had been sent here for and now God continues waging battle against the “enemies” of Christ. It’s a little like watching a football game that you know one team has won but the clock hasn’t run down yet. There are still plays that need to be run before the score is really certain. That’s what’s going on now. Jesus has defeated death but all the detractors have to be put to bed before he can come back and assume his throne.
Friends, that’s why it’s so important to come together as a community of faith and hear the Word proclaimed, to be reminded “to hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering.” As Thomas Long put it, “…if you want to know the truth, pay more attention to the gospel you hear than to the obsolete evil you see, thrashing in its death throes in the world.”
So instead of coming to worship feeling all glum and down in the mouth you can come here to be released from those chains that have been holding you back. You can come into this sanctuary knowing that your sins have been forgiven and the slate has been wiped clean. You are really a new person and in the eyes of God you are pure and sinless because you have been claimed as one of Christ’s own children. Friends, we can live that way because the victory has already been won.
My friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Two Coins

As I was studying this last week I read in "Feasting On the Word" about the two coins and thought I would try to use it in Sunday's Message.
If we would try to put ourselves in this story what would we be? Would we be the widow, or maybe the scribes, or the disciples, or what if we were the two coins? What if “we” were the offering that the widow gave that day?
These two coins that the widow put into the treasury at the Temple didn’t amount to much. They were barely noticed when they were added to all the other offerings that day. Today, just for today, and maybe longer, we are those two coins.
There have been times when all of us have thought that we had nothing of consequence to give or what we did have wouldn’t amount to much; it couldn’t possibly be noticed if we gave or didn’t give and it probably wouldn’t make any real difference in the greater scheme of things in this world we live in today.
Have you ever been at that point in your life where you said to yourself, “What’s the use? No one cares anymore. I’m just banging my head against a cement wall. Why even bother?” Have you ever felt like that? Have you said those words in your mind? I have. Have you thought that about how the taxes you pay are often not used for the good of all the people? Or how your tithes aren’t used as you think they should be used? Have you ever felt like you’re in a losing battle? And the world is going to be destroyed anyway someday so who cares if I don’t put my two coins into the plate. It won’t make any difference anyway, whatever. When was the last time you voiced those words, yesterday, this morning, a few minutes ago?
Friends, we’ve all been there. We’ve all felt like the bureaucracy is too much for us to battle against. If that’s the case what do you think is God’s message for us today in this gospel? Are our lives just an exercise in futility? Are we just spinning our wheels and making nothing but dust?
If my life is two coins and each of you here today is two coins then all together as a community we might be 50 coins, or 60 coins or 80 coins or maybe some here are three coins and together we total a 100 coins. One hundred coins has more clout than 2 coins, right?
What do you think is the message God has for us in this gospel? Is it about the corruption in the world or could it be about us giving our all for the work of the Lord, whatever that may be. Let’s think about our actions this past week. Did we give our all as if the Lord were standing on a hill watching our every move? Did we stop to think that everything we did this week was for the Lord, things like raking leaves, combining beans and corn, baking cookies, visiting a friend who was hurting, or changing soiled bedding or cleaning up after guests in the Super 8. Did we give it our all as if it were our offering to God even if it was only 2 coins? Most of us probably never gave it a thought, that every thing that we thought of as just work was an offering to God. Something He would use to further his kingdom here on earth or to bring glory to his Name. It probably never entered our minds.
Friends, you have plenty of company. Most of the world doesn’t give a thought to how their lives and work is used by God to bring his plan to a glorious end.
That can change today. Today we can all make that conscious effort to change. We can repent of our sin and turn our lives around and give our all to God and his work. We can, along with the widow, put our lives on the line for Jesus, put our 2 coins, give all we have and put it in the treasury of God’s kingdom.
What does that mean for us? I think it is different for each of us. Some will want to make the sacrifice of their lives and give their all in mission work somewhere in this great world. Others will make a commitment to make everything they do a witness to the love God through Jesus Christ gave to this corrupt and condemned world.
Today all I ask is that all of us take time to reflect on what we are doing with our lives. How are they being used to bring glory and pleasure to this great God we worship? How can our 2 coins make a difference in this community, in this county, in this state, in this world? Let’s all pray that God grants us the grace of faith to step out and trust in Him to provide everything needed to grow our 2 coins.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Who Are the Saints?

As I sat down to think about what the message should be today I began to think about “saints,” who they are and how did they get to be recognized as “saints.” Have you ever heard the expression, “He/she must be a saint?” What does that really mean? Does it mean they are holy? Does it mean that they are perfect and never do anything wrong? Does it mean they’ve never sinned or neglected to do their daily devotions and they prayed all the time, every day as Paul said that we should? Is that what it means to be a saint?
Today is a day on the church calendar known as All Saints Day. It’s a day when we remember all who have passed on in the last year. Now I know all of those who have passed on and I can tell you they were folks who made mistakes and they probably didn’t remember to pray without ceasing.
Saints are those folks who have been declared righteous by God. That’s what I found when I looked it up in my Study Bible. So how did they become righteous? I think the process began when they were first baptized and it continued as they were taught by Sunday school teachers and parents and grandparents about God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit-the Holy Trinity. You know, how God loves and cares for us so much that he has come to dwell among us. Then as they grew older and wiser they became more aware of how God was working in their lives and in the world.
So the next question is, “Are we saints or are we saints in the making?” I think that we are saints. Now that’s just what I think. Some of you may not think that way and that’s okay. I’ve been wrong so many times in my life that it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if I’m wrong again. But looking around at everyone gathered here this morning I know in my heart that you are all saints. Now you and I know that we aren’t perfect so perfection certainly isn’t a prerequisite for sainthood, but I believe that we are saints because we are doing the Lord’s work while we are here. We are doing the Lord’s work aren’t we?
Paul referred to “saints” in Romans 8:27 when he was telling them about how the Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t have the words to pray and he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. He’s talking about all those who have given their hearts to Him and are going about doing His work. And in 1 Corinthians 6:2 Paul talks about the saints being the ones we should go to when we have disputes that need someone to arbitrate them. He asks us, “Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world?” It doesn’t sound to me as if he’s talking about just those who have passed on. I think he’s talking about folks who are still here. It might have been that he was referring to people like you and me.
Today, though, we are remembering all those folks who have passed on in the last year. We are doing that because we believe what Jesus said in John 11, that He is the Resurrection and the Life. Along with Martha we believe that we don’t have to wait until we die to accept this. This gospel lesson from John 11 was read at Marj’s funeral service.
Every time we come together to worship God and celebrate the life of someone who has gone on ahead of us we do it with the confidence that what Jesus told us in the gospels is true. That he has prepared a place for all of us and he is coming back again. That’s why we don’t fear death because Jesus defeated death when he rose from the grave.
Remember the words Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe this?” That’s the question we all have to wrestle with today, “Do we believe this?” Isaiah, the psalmist, and John all believed this. John believed in it so strongly that he could see a new heaven and a new earth and …”the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.” That’s not sometime in the future that’s now.
Do we live our lives as though God is with us? Do we believe this? We are all here today because we believe. We may waver sometimes but still we hold to the belief that death is not the end and someday we will join those saints in heaven.
So good friends, the answer to the original question is, yes, we are saints. We have made a commitment to God keep the commandments and to do the work Jesus has commissioned us to do. That is to make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Holy Trinity. We believe that, “The great ends of the church are the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.” And so, yes, my friends, we are saints. Some of us are a little rough around the edges but God loves us anyway. It’s the way he created us.
So when someone questions you about who are the saints we can all say very surely that we are the saints.
Thanks be to God for those saints who taught us, corrected us, and loved us even when we weren’t so loveable. Amen.

Obstacles to Grace

This is about obstacles to grace. God through Jesus has given us his grace to be in a personal relationship with him. But, being the way we are because of sin, we aren’t always able to receive the grace given freely to us by our God.
Sin gets in the way of God’s grace. Sin is all about us doing it by ourselves, thinking that we know how to get right without any help from our creator. Sin is turning our backs on God and “doin’ it our way” as Laverne and Shirley liked to say it.
Our humanness is one our obstacles to receiving God’s precious gift to us. The world continually attacks and bombards us with reasons not to follow the ways of Jesus the Christ. We need this car or that house so that we can be defined as someone who has it all together, to be accepted by the world that surrounds us. When we let this keep us from God’s word and grace that is an obstacle to receiving the precious gift God has for us.
Paul called it “rebellion, refusing to be subject to him. God’s seen as the enemy rather than as our savior. We want to be in control of our lives. Nobody is going to tell us what to do. We want to be “God.”
Remember when our parents would tell us “no” and we’d say “yes” and they’d say “yes you will” and you’d say “no I won’t?” God asks us to say “yes” to his gift of grace and we answer with “no, I’m okay the way I am.” Our independence is an obstacle to God’s gift of grace.
Sin is such a powerful addiction that it’s a miracle that it can be overcome at all. But friends, we don’t have to let sin control how we live. It is powerful but there is something greater than sin.
Let me tell you a story about myself. And some of you may be able to relate to this. I said that sin is an addiction. I call it an addiction because it is so powerful that we don’t see any way that we can get away from its clutches. It’s kind of like my addiction to tobacco was. I smoked my first cigarette when I was a junior in high school. And then I left home and went to college. My parents were no where around to tell me “no.” I couldn’t hear their words admonishing me for smoking. Everyday my addiction got stronger and stronger. For thirty years I let it control my life. I tried to quit “cold turkey” and I’d be successful for a day or so, but then I went right back to where I was before.
I’d talk to others who had been successful in conquering this demon. They said you had to really want to quit before you’d be able to really quit. Doctor Swanson told me the same thing.
So I continued doing what I’d always done until finally I couldn’t take it any more. I went to the one who could really help me and asked for help. You see I tried to do it all by myself and it never worked. It wasn’t until I went to God and asked for his help and believed that He would help that I was successful.
Now it wasn’t only just coming to him in prayer that was the key that released me from this prison I’d put myself into. It was God removing every obstacle I had erected that allowed me to receive his grace. It began with prayer. My faith in God and his ability to help me grew stronger as I spent more time in his word allowing it to speak to my heart.
Obstacles to receiving God’s grace are overcome when we come to God in prayer and hear his words of grace to us. But that’s not the sum total of it. It’s not just prayer and God’s word. We have to come to the realization that we need to change our ways. Our old way of doing life has to “die” so that we can “live” new lives doing it the “right” way, God’s way. It’s kind of like my addiction to tobacco. I had to change what I had been doing and find a new way. What I had been trying time after time wasn’t working. I had to find a new way. And for me it was to stop trying to do it myself and picking up the yoke of Jesus Christ and letting him help me.
Friends, don’t get me wrong. I still struggle with sin. In fact, I feel my sin more today than I did before I asked Jesus to come back into my life. When I continue to do the things that I know I shouldn’t and can’t seem to do the things that Jesus asked me to my heart breaks and I ask God to forgive me and have mercy on my soul.
And then I get up and trust that God will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I can endure. But, friends, I am tempted. And I don’t believe my struggle with sin will end until that day I get to go to the other side to be with my savior, Jesus the Christ.
Good friends, you will encounter obstacles to receiving God’s free gift of grace. Just don’t let these obstacles define you and keep you from God’s gift for you, his child. Keep God’s word ever before you. Read it, study it, pray it, contemplate and meditate on it day and night and you will find that you are dying to your old ways and slowly but surely beginning to live more and more as a child of God.
Recognize and identify the obstacles in your life that are hindering you from God’s grace. Open your heart and soul. Allow yourself to be transformed and freed from the power of sin. You may think it’s way hard but my friends, once you commit yourself to it you’ll wonder why it took you so long. You’ll kick yourself for waiting so long to experience this wonderful gift of grace.
Friends, don’t wait another minute. Give yourself completely to the one who is calling you to him. Let him remove the shackles that have you so tied up. God’s grace is sufficient; it’s all we need. His strength comes into its own in our weakness. 2 Cor. 12:9
My friends, God loves you and so do I. Amen.

Transformation of the Environment

Paul wrote to his protégé, Timothy, and told him that God didn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but to be bold, loving, and sensible.
As I’ve learned in my life it’s not exactly easy to change how we are. If you have grown up an introvert then it’s almost impossible to transform yourself to be more outgoing.
But, if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking that I’m talking about a total transformation all on your own power. Another lesson I’ve learned is, it’s just not possible for human beings to completely transform themselves by themselves.
Friends, remember Jesus’ words, for humans it’s impossible, but with God anything is possible. Of course he was talking about entering the Kingdom of God receiving eternal life.
All through God’s word we’ll find many instances where the environment was transformed. Some that come to mind are the stories in the Old Testament. What great lessons they are for us. These folks found that they weren’t able to do many things by their own power but when they trusted God and followed his lead wondrous things began to happen.
Just think about God’s church and how it all was made possible. It began with our ancestor, Abram, a wandering Aramean from Ur. God promised that he would be the father of a great nation even though he was childless at the time and when he was told he would have a son he and Sarai were both past childbearing age
But it happened just like God said because they trusted God. That’s how it all started.
Because these folks trusted in a God they’d never seen a great nation was created. Sure they spent some time as slaves in Egypt and then wandered in the wilderness for many years. Eventually they reached the land that God promised them. And their lives were changed. And they changed the environment all around them. They accomplished it all by trusting and relying on God’s power.
How do we tap into this power? Is it possible to transform our environment? We can receive this power. It comes to us through God’s gift of grace.
If we want this power to take hold of our lives we have to make the decision to obey God and believe that God will give us grace.
Two other gifts Paul speaks of are love and self-control. In The Message Petersen translates it as being “sensible.” As we look at the world all around us we might get the idea that there’s not much in the world that makes sense. When we pick up our magazines or watch our TV’s we see so many ads that are all about satisfying our own wants and needs. The world around us seems to be only focused on “me.” Kind of like some of us were when we left home the first time. Mom and Dad aren’t here. I can do anything I want.
Remember what it was like trying to follow the examples of Jesus when you were in college or in the military, or at your first job. Remember the looks, the comments, “You’re a Christian?” But did you ever have one of them come to talk to you when they were in deep trouble somewhere in their lives. It was different then. They trusted you because they’d seen how you conducted your life. And slowly they may have been changed.
Power and self-control will get us pretty far but none of us will achieve our goal without love. Jesus reminds us in His word that it’s all about love. We are to love God with our whole being and then to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.
Friends, Paul said it in other letters that he wrote that nothing works or is successful without love. If there is love, then power and self-control are possible and the environment where you find yourself will be transformed.
You might not be aware of it yet but this weekend has started transforming your environment. The love that has been shown to you and that you have shared has began to change things.
Carry this love home in your heart and start the transformation where God has planted you.
My brothers and sisters, God loves you and so do I.

Where Do You Find God?

I've just begun to read An Altar in the World by B. B. Taylor. And since I'm on vacation I've been getting up earlier to be alone to read some of my favorite blogs. This morning they've all got "me" to thinking about where "I" find God, or rather, where He finds me.
As Murphy and I were walking in the cool, dampness of the early morning in the light of the street lamps I knew God was there. He was in the mist, he was in the wet sidewalk, he was in Murphy with his tail held high, he was in each house I walked by, and he was in me as I walked about town.
So many times we think that the only place we can find God is in church. And I think that's sad because we miss so much of Him then. But then I begin to wonder, "What do we do with Him outside of the structure where we go to worship Him?"
And that's another thing for all of us to contemplate. If God's not only in "church" but He's also in everything surrounding us then what do we do then? How do we worship? How do we live our lives? What do we do with our time? It really brings things into a whole new perspective doesn't it.
I read a blog this morning about the music that get stuck in our heads and we can't get rid of the tune until we pass it on to someone else. That could be God. We want to make God a physical being we can see and touch and lay our hands on as well as get our heads around but God is bigger than that. He is in the song that gets stuck in our heads. He's even in the buzzing that has taken up residence in our ears.
So friends, where do you find God outside of "church?" I'd be interested in hearing.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Don't forget Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage #6, October 15-18 at Camp Calvin Crest on the beautiful banks of the Platte River just south of Fremont, NE. God is also there. This is an open invitation to all who are wanting to enter into a relationship with God that is more than Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. Enjoy the day God has blessed us with.

Just Thoughts for the Day

Some of you know and some of you don't that I'm not preaching one sermon this month. I've been reminded that I haven't used my vacation so I'm taking a couple weeks off this month. And so you ask, "What about the other two Sundays?"

Good point. I'm going to be at Great Plains Presbyterian Pilgrimage serving this time as the Head Spiritual Advisor. So, yes, I will be speaking there but I don't have anything written yet. That's one Sunday.

The other Sunday we are going to be blessed with a musical Message by Simply Voices from the Mt. Ayr UMC. My youngest sister is part of this group of 10 women and though I haven't heard them sing I know they're great. So if you're in Walnut on October 11th at 9 a.m. stop in at First Pres for a wonderful message.

I do have some thoughts even if I'm not in the pulpit this month. The lectionary is guiding us to read and contemplate Job. I listened to Pastor Nancy talk about faith and suffering yesterday and was reminded how much we think that God's evidence of love towards us when we receive blessings, you know, the good things in life.

But God doesn't always keep us from experiencing suffering. Sometimes we get splinters under our fingernails and we cry out to God, "Why?" And he may answer with another splinter.

So, I would ask you to read Job this month and contemplate on its message to us today. How does it speak to you? What do you think about the suffering and violence that we experience in our lives? Why does God allow these things to happen?

I'm curious about your answer. Let me know in the comments.

Have a blessed week. God loves you and so do I.

PS. GPPP #6 is October 15-18 and I still have registrations at church.

Embracing God

How many here today have given God a hug? Nobody? Well, how many of you have hugged a grandchild or a great grandchild? Then friends, you have had your arms around God.
Jesus told his disciples that, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me." So I understand that to mean that every time I welcome a child whoever it is into my arms then I am welcoming God into my arms. Wow, hugging God. I’ve never picked up on that before have you?
It gives everything a whole new perspective. If I welcome kids into my arms then maybe I could welcome strangers. And if I could welcome strangers then I just might be welcoming God into my house, into my life, into my heart.
But sometimes these little ones are all covered with yucky stuff and I’m afraid that they will get my clothes all sticky or it might get in my beard. Isn’t that the way we feel about someone we don’t know too well who wants to get close to us or talk with us and we just don’t feel like talking to them. Maybe they don’t smell very good. Maybe they didn’t brush their teeth today. Maybe they just have a way of making everything yucky. And we’re afraid they might get some of that on us. Right?
But Jesus tells us that we should welcome them like little children. And James, what does he tell us. He say, “18Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”
So Jesus tells us that we should live lives of service and James is telling us that we should work really hard at being gentle and reasonable and be full of mercy and blessings. And he says he knows it’s really hard work but it is worthwhile.
So good friends, welcome those around you who are kind of prickly and hard to love just like you would welcome your children and grandchildren, with open arms and full of happiness to see them. Get along and be gentle and kind to everyone treating each other with dignity and honor. It’s not easy. God knows that but it is good for us and it will bring us closer to God. And friends, that’s a good thing. Who doesn’t want to be close to our creator?
So when you have the wonderful privilege of holding a child in your arms or on your lap think about the fact that you are holding God close to your breast.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Where Does Wisdom Start?

Do you crave wisdom? Have you ever wished that you were wise so people would come to you for your sage advice? Have you ever thought about what it is that makes people wise? Is it the number of our years here that makes us wiser than those who are many years younger and haven’t experienced the things we have?
Wisdom speaks to us from the first chapter of Proverbs and is a little miffed that no one pays any attention to her. Can you understand what that feels like? It’s a little bit like when we used to try and teach our children by telling them what they should and shouldn’t do and they didn’t seem to hear what we were saying. They went ahead and did the very things we warned them against. It was pretty frustrating. So you can understand why Wisdom is so perturbed that no one is paying her any attention as she tries to warn people about what they’re doing with their lives. It’s as if their ears were plugged up like the deaf man in last week’s gospel lesson.
I suppose God feels that way most of the time with us. We let his words of wisdom go in one ear and out the other. We do what he wants as long as it fits into our plans. God must be pretty frustrated with us. Doesn’t that worry you, just a little? It does me and I think it should everyone else.
There quite a few folks in the world today who have a very high opinion of themselves. They spout words of wisdom all over the place, in newspapers, on television, on the radio, and now on the internet in blogs, live videos, you tube, Tangle, twitter, Facebook, and text messages on cell phones. Wisdom is just zipping through the Ethernet. With so much wisdom flying through the air we should all be so stinking wise that we could solve all the issues in the world just like that. Right?
I don’t think it works that way but there are quite a number of people who think they have all the answers to the problems of the world.
There is power in language. And that’s what James is warning people about in his third chapter. He’s talking about the tongue but words are what the tongue creates. It puts the words together to make sentences and puts sentences together to make paragraphs and paragraphs create books, and voila, words of wisdom are right there in front of our eyes.
But is it really wisdom. Is everything heard and read true? Even if it’s true is it always necessary for everyone to hear it or read it? Some would have you think so.
James urges his readers to use caution. For something as small and seemingly as useless looking as our tongue it’s amazing how much trouble and grief it can cause. When used without restraint it can do more damage than the fires in California.
I imagine there are many of you sitting here this morning who could give examples of how words have hurt or destroyed you. Or maybe you have never been hurt but you could give us examples of how words have lifted you back up from the pit you had fallen into. These simple letters that are put together to make words are way more powerful than many people imagine.
Jesus is called the Word, Logos, by John. God created everything when he spoke the Word. The sun, moon, stars, planets, the whole universe was created out of the chaos when God spoke the word.
Jesus used words to teach the disciples who walked with him in Galilee. He used words to tell stories, to ask questions, and to heal people.
The question is do we use words to build up or to destroy human lives? Do we share the powerful wisdom of the good news of Jesus Christ with our family and friends and neighbors? How do we use our tongues?
When folks hear us speak can they tell that we are Christians? What do our tongues say about us? Do they tell people who Jesus is? Do they show love to others by the words that roll off them? Are the words that come from our tongues words of wisdom or are they the sparks that ignite fires that cause catastrophic damage before they can be extinguished?
Friends, there is so much to chew on in these words from scripture today, wisdom, language, the Messiah. What do people say about you? Who are you?
Who do you say Jesus is? How do you speak about him to those you meet? Peter got it right when he said Jesus was the Messiah but in the next instant he spoke words that caused doubt within the group of disciples. And Jesus rebuked him.
Our words can do so much good one minute and cause so much harm the next. If we would always keep that thought in our minds we would save ourselves so much grief.
There is wisdom and power in words. That’s the reason we all need to be very careful how we use them.
As technology continues to progress faster than thought we move further into an age of disinformation as well as information. Think about how many different emails you receive warning you about one thing or another that prove not to be true. They are just works of fiction that people send out there to cause people to worry and fret.
Everything that’s written is not the gospel. Everything you hear spoken is not the gospel. The good news is God loved us enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for us and defeat death by rising from the grave. The good news is God still cares. Jesus is our intercessor who prays for us and stands in for us with all the right words all the time. The good news is we are forgiven for all the sins we have committed and for those we will commit through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
The true power is in Jesus, the Word that gives life to all who hear it and believe. There is wisdom in the living Word.
You are wise if you hear, read, pray, and live the Word every day. And share that wisdom with those God sends your way everyday.
Thanks be to God for his gracious inspiring Words. Amen.

God's Calling You

(This is the Message I gave to the folks at Peace Haven Retirement Home last evening. Listen for God's Word)

Don’t you just love the Old Testament stories? This week at morning prayers I have been reading the stories of the kings of Judah and Israel. After David and his son Solomon’s rule the nations were led by some kings who were just plain evil. Ahab, the king in today’s scripture reading, was one of the worst. And to top it off he married Jezebel who was about as evil as he was. She may have been worse.
Ahab was so bad that God had told the prophet Elijah to go to Ahab and tell him that the nation was going to experience a severe drought. There wasn’t going to be any rain until God said so. And then he told Elijah to run far away from there to the Kerith canyon and He, God, would have the ravens bring him his meals and he would have water from the brook.
Eventually the brook dried up because there hadn’t been any rain and so God told Elijah to go Zarephath and there he would meet a widow and her son. He was to live with them and God would provide for them so they wouldn’t want for food.
And God did what he promised and Elijah did what God told him to do. Today God called Elijah to go to Ahab and he would send rain on the land.
Now we will fast forward to the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 2. An angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him that Herod was coming to Bethlehem to kill his son, Jesus. So he got up, took the child and his mother, went to Egypt and remained there.
When the danger had passed, Herod died, the angel of God appeared again to Joseph in a dream and told him it was safe to return to his home. And so he got up, took the child and his mother, and returned to Israel. But he heard as he was traveling that Herod’s son, who was also pretty evil was in charge of things so he was directed in a dream by God to go to the Galilean countryside to the town of Nazareth. And that’s exactly what he did.
Have you noticed that there were no questions asked, there was no discussion about any of the little details of the trip. Both Elijah and Joseph just packed it up and went on the way that God showed them?
Friends, God is calling each of us. I wonder if we are hearing his call. I wonder how we are each responding to his call to us. I wonder what it is that he is calling us to do or be. Are there any folks left with ears to hear God’s call to ministry, to mission, to love and care for the least and the lost?
I’m the only one who can answer for me and you’re the only one who can answer for you. And that’s all that really matters. It’s really no one else’s business if we hear His voice and how we answer his call.
I believe that what is important is to open our ears, our hearts and minds, to God’s voice. From what I’ve observed in my few years here on earth I think that people don’t really believe that God can speak to them. It seems to me that there are quite a few cynical people living in the world today.
Maybe God’s voice is silent, maybe we are in a drought of sorts from hearing God’s voice because we’ve angered God by the way we live our lives. What do you think?
I think it’s more likely that people are spending time daily in God’s word and therefore they aren’t getting the Message he has for them. It’s kind of like going on vacation and forgetting to let the newspaper person know. The newspapers keep piling up outside your door until you finally get back home. The news was there it just couldn’t find a way in. You weren’t there so you could read the news and learn. You have to pick the paper up, open it, put on your glasses if you need them, and read the news in order to learn what’s going on in the world.
Email’s the same way. We have to open our email software, open the message, and read them before we can know what the sender wanted us to know.
Friends, God calls us and he has a Message for us. But we aren’t going to get his call unless we pick up the Bible, open it, read it, meditate on it, and then live it.
God sent an angel to Joseph. He sent the ravens to feed Elijah. He spoke to Elijah and Elijah heard because he was alone most times. The noise pollution of the world didn’t compete with God’s voice. God personally spoke to Paul who sent Epaphroditus to Philippi in his place since he was in prison.
I believe that God spoke to these people and there heard his voice. I believe that he speaks to us today but our hearts and ears are plugged and we don’t hear so well. I pray that God puts his fingers in our ears, as Jesus did with the deaf man, and that our ears would be opened up so we can hear God’s beautiful voice speaking to us.
We can’t know what he has called us to do or be unless we can hear. We can’t hear unless we go to the Message and read it. We can’t understand what it’s saying to us unless we have someone teach it.
Friends, there are so many who give the excuse that they’re too busy to do daily devotions. We have time to do other things like watch movies on TV or go to ball games or go to music concerts but we don’t have time for God. And we wonder why the world is in the mess that it’s in.
God is calling us. He calls to us every day. Do we have ears to hear his call? Are we listening for his voice? Pick up the word, read it with a friend, discuss its message. Meditate, pray, and live the word and you will hear God’s voice loud and clear calling you to the particular ministry he has prepared just for you. Who knows maybe you’ll be calling fire down from heaven like Elijah. God wants you to answer his call. May you be blessed by God this evening.
Thanks be to God for his gracious Message for us through his son, Jesus. Amen.

Poor, Homeless, & Hungry Are Welcome Here

Last Sunday the Message was about what’s important to God. The theme of today’s scripture lessons continues along the same road.
James ended the first chapter by reminding his readers that what was important to God was reaching out to the homeless and the loveless and to guard against being corrupted by the world.
This morning the lessons from Proverbs, Psalms, James, and the gospel of Mark are more or less about the things that are priorities in God’s plan for his children. Ah, just who are God’s children? It seems like this question has been asked before.
In light of the Word you heard read this morning who would you say are the beloved children of God? Who are those who will inherit the kingdom of God, you and me?
It doesn’t sound like it to me. What I heard was it belongs to those who are down and out who have been chosen to be the first in the kingdom. Friends, I hate to burst your bubble, but that’s not you and me. To me it’s more likely to be someone who may be living on the street or very close to it. It’s more apt to be someone who is receiving federal assistance to pay their rent and buy the necessities of life like food and utilities. That’s not anyone I see sitting here this morning.
Now that sounds a little harsh to me and maybe does to you too. But think about who Jesus hung out with and the kind of people he ministered to. It wasn’t those who had everything they needed. No, it was those who were living the hard scrabble life on the edges of society, prostitutes, rebels against the oppressors, adulterers, thieves, fishermen, and tax collectors. Not anyone like I see sitting here today.
Do you know anyone who is poor? Do you know anyone who is struggling to make their rent every month? Do you know someone who needs help with just living? Do you know anyone who is almost homeless? Are any of your neighbors one of these people?
Friends, they’re living in Walnut. How do I know? I know because I talk to them. Sometimes they ask for help but most times they are too proud to ask. I only hear from them when they’ve exhausted every other avenue of help. And that’s really sad.
I wish they’d call the church first. Don’t you? It would be so much easier to help someone pay bills before the electricity is turned off and the gas shut off. But it doesn’t usually work that way.
There are poor, there are folks who don’t have much living here. They are most times too embarrassed to ask us for help. Maybe they think we’d think they weren’t worthy. Or maybe they think we think they should be able to pull themselves up by their boot straps, get themselves out of the pickle they’re in. It doesn’t always work that way though. Sometimes, in fact most times, they, we, need a hand, your hand, or my hand, any hand that reaches out to them in love, without judging or condemning them for being where they’re at right now.
What if we choose to do nothing? What if we walk on the other side of the street? What if we just shrug our shoulders and tell them we can’t help them today but, “Hey, God loves you and so do I?” What’s that get them? What’s that get us?
It doesn’t help them a bit and we get condemned because we did nothing, actually we did worse than that. We brought the Name into it.
What did Jesus say, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself?” So if we tell them God loves them how does that help? The truth is it doesn’t. And that’s the point James was making. The early church wasn’t treating the poor very well. In fact, they really wished they wouldn’t come into the meeting place to worship. They smelled bad and their clothes were rags. Shoot, our churches don’t always treat the poor very well either.
So how do we change our actions? What can we do to help those who need help but don’t always come forward and ask for it?
Tell them where they can go for aid. Tell them about the food pantry in Avoca open every Monday afternoon from 4-6. Tell them about the Good Guys who will help them pay their utilities at least once to help tide them over. Offer to help them any way you can. Give them a ride, take them a hot meal, visit with them, maybe they need help caring for children or a mom or a dad. Maybe they do just need to know there’s someone out there who isn’t judging them.
Remember, friends, God made us all, the rich and the poor, the have’s and the have not’s and we all depend on him for our needs.
We are all called to ministry to care for God’s children as he enables us. Today God has issued his call to care for his children. How are you going to answer?
September 20th there is a Walk-A-Thon in Omaha from Gallup University to the Open Door Mission, about a mile. The cost to walk is $19.20. And sure you have to walk a mile and it’s not quite the same as helping someone here at home but it may be just what we need to get us off to a different path of mission.
And then there’s the basket at the back of the church. It’s there to be filled with items for the food pantry. It’s been kind of empty for awhile.
Friends, these are only two things that came into my brain. Go to God and listen to him. This week one of the scriptures I read called us the road upon which God walks. Think about that. Where are we going to take God this week? Where does God want us to go? Who does he want us to help? Let those with ears, listen.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God for his wondrous grace. Amen.

What's Important to God?

Friends, tell me, what’s important to God? Come on. I know someone here has an opinion about what’s important to God. In fact I’d wager that all of us have our very own thoughts about this. And we’re probably pretty certain that what we believe is the way it is or at least the way it should be. Am I right?
I think it would be very helpful for us to know what’s important to God. Because whatever’s important to God should be what’s important to us, right? So where do you go to find out what that is?
Maybe you are one of those who are blessed to hear God speak to you. Now I’m referring to those who actually hear God’s voice in their ear or maybe in their mind. Whatever it is they hear God speaking and they know first hand what’s important to Him. But what about those who haven’t been blessed with this gift? How do they find out what’s important to God?
I’ll tell you how I find out what’s important to God. The first place I go, the place I believe has the most authority, is the Bible. Reading, meditating, praying, and contemplating God’s Word for us is how I believe we can discover what’s important to God.
The Word read this morning is God speaking to us. He shared with us this morning what was important to Him. What did you hear Him saying to you? I think it’s not the same for everyone. Why do I think that?
Well, it’s this way. Men, you know how your wives are always telling you something, something they would like you to do or some bit of information they want you to retain in your memory banks. You know how it is that later they ask you something about what they said or they remind us to not forget to do this chore and darned if we didn’t hear and interpret what they told us differently from what their original intention was. You see, in case you haven’t heard this before, men and women are different, our minds take in information and process it in different ways and therefore what is said and heard is not always the same. And to make it even more difficult, two or three men could have heard the same directive and each heard something different.
I believe it’s the same way when we hear God’s word read. Men and women hear it differently. God speaks to us differently. And I guess he would understand since he created us, each of us, just the way we are. Since we’re all different and in different stages or places in our walk with the Lord then what’s important to God for us may be different for each of us.
But what does his word speak to us today? What’s he saying to us that’s important to Him as our Creator? Which reading should we start with?
Let’s begin with James’ epistle. What’s important to God here? James, I believe wants us to know that we can’t just listen to what God speaks to us and then not act on what we hear. We shouldn’t just let God’s message for us go in one ear and out the other. We are mandated to Act on the word we hear from God. But what’s important to God from the epistle of James?
What’s important is “reaching out to the homeless and the loveless in their plights, and guarding against corruption from this godless world.” Friends, this is what’s important to God. Is it important to you?
We must ask ourselves, “Are we living out God’s word today?” If we aren’t, why aren’t we? Is what’s important to us what’s important to God, that’s the question?
We all know that we should try to live as Jesus lived. Jesus is the model we should try to emulate. So what’s important to God in the gospel lesson from Mark?
Jesus was saying, “It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.”
I hear Jesus telling us we need to look at our church rules, the written and the unwritten. What’s important to God? Traditions that enhance our worship and that enable worshippers to be closer to God are not bad but traditionalisms that keep people from entering the church to worship and pray to God for forgiveness because they aren’t clean or like us is wrong.
It’s not what we look like or how we dress or what kind of work we do that’s important to God. It’s the condition of our heart that’s important to Him. It’s not what’s on the outside but what comes from our hearts.
Friends, what’s important to God? I go back to how Jesus answered the question about what the greatest commandment was. Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself. Care what God wants and desires and care for our neighbors as we would like to be cared for. Take care of the homeless and the loveless that’s what’s important to God.
Friends, it doesn’t get any clearer than that. Let those with ears to hear, listen. Thanks be to God for his grace and love. Friends, God loves you and so do I. Amen.

Make a Meal of Jesus

The gospel lesson from John begins where we left off last Sunday with Jesus explaining to his disciples that only by eating his flesh and drinking his blood are they able to enter into him and him into them. In the same way that the God, the Father, gives him life and he lives because of the Father so anyone who makes a meal of Jesus lives because of him, Bread from heaven…Whoever eats this Bread will live always.
Jesus invited his disciples to make a meal of him and many of those who were following him had problems with his words. They understood him to mean literally eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This repulsed them because the Law given to the Moses by God strictly prohibited drinking blood from any animal and eating human flesh just wasn’t right. So you can understand how people might have been put off by Jesus’ words.
When you hear these words what comes into your mind? As you hear these words of Jesus again what words or phrases speak to you? For me it was, “…the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me.” How can we begin to “make a meal of Jesus?”
If we take what Jesus is saying literally it is “tough teaching, too tough to swallow.” I don’t think he meant for us to take his words literally especially after hearing his explanation in verses 61-65, “The Spirit can make life…Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.”
So we make a meal of Jesus spiritually? How do we do that? Friends, in the words of Jesus, “…no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.” It’s God’s grace that allows us to make a meal of Jesus.
And it’s only by hearing God’s word read again and again and again that we are able to be fed with the Bread of heaven. It’s only when we hear, meditate, pray, and contemplate the Word that we are truly fed by the body of Christ.
I’m in the process of finishing a book that I started a year ago and just this week picked up again. I realized that I had never finished it. It’s called “Eat This Book” by Eugene Petersen. What I read this week was about how we can make a meal of the Word of God.
I would imagine that everybody here this morning has a Bible in their homes. Maybe you have more than one. And I suppose that you pick it up and read it every day. Now, let me ask you, do you read it silently or do you read it out loud so you can hear the words echoing off the walls, so you can hear the different inflections and different nuances?
The Israelites only heard the word God spoken. Even in Jesus’ day most of those who went to the meeting place to worship didn’t read a Bible or from the scroll, they heard the Word read. And it was through the reading and hearing the Word that it came alive and became part of them. The Word went into them and they were fed by God.
It’s through the hearing of the Word that we are fed. It’s, as Jesus said, a Spirit-filled Spirit-led experience.
So to make a meal of Jesus we have to hear with our ears the Word read. And it’s probably not enough to hear it just once but we need to hear it multiple times in order for the particular Message God has for us to sink in and nourish our souls.
What do you think? When you hear the Word read do you hear the voices of those saints who have gone on before us, the ones who are gathered in heaven watching us and cheering us on as we make a meal of the Word, Jesus the Christ?
Before we can fight the battle against evil that Paul talks about in his letter to the Ephesians we have to be strengthened by eating the Bread of heaven. We have to take in the Word and make it a part of us. And it’s only through God’s grace through faith that we are able to do that.
I asked you last Sunday what you would ask God for if you could have anything. I pray that you ask him to fill your body and soul with his Word. Because if you are filled with Jesus then you have everything you could ever want, love, peace, forgiveness, quietness, everything.
Friends, make a meal of Jesus and be fed by his Spirit. God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

What Would You Ask God For?

If you had been in Solomon’s place what do you think you would have asked God for? If you had been the his age, a teenager actually, do you think you would have asked God for “wisdom?” I don’t think it would have entered my mind. But then I’ve never thought of myself as Solomon.
Let’s put ourselves in Solomon’s place and think for a moment about what we would ask God for if he spoke to us in a vision like he did to Solomon. Some of us have lived a few decades and so have more life experiences to draw from than others gathered here today so those who are more senior may have an advantage of our less experienced in life members.
Solomon asked God for a God-listening heart so he could lead God’s people well, discerning the difference between good and evil (1 Kings 3:9). Did Solomon know what to ask God for because he had lived in David’s presence so long that God was a personal friend he talked with? I don’t know but he did have the advantage of growing up in the royal household and had the advantage of being instructed by the best scholars of his time. At any rate he was very astute in answering God. I’m afraid I might stutter and stammer quite a bit if asked the same question.
Friends, God is speaking to you today in the Word. What have you heard him say to you and how will you respond? Solomon asked God to bless him with a heart that was tuned to God, Paul wrote to the people of Ephesus and told them make the most of every chance God gave them and to sing songs to Christ from their hearts, sing praises for everything. In the gospel of John Jesus tells us that he is the Bread of Life and if we include him in our normal diet we will live forever. And not to leave the psalmist out, he praises God for everything with everything he has. Everything from God is a gift, a blessing, never out of date, never poor quality, lasting forever. God has paid the ransom for all of us and this good life begins in our reverence of God, the fear of the Lord.
You may not have ever asked God for anything specific or you may have asked him for many things but they weren’t like what Solomon asked for. But today, God is offering you whatever you desire, what will you ask him for? What’s the most important thing for you to receive from God?
Every one of us is different and we’re all at different points in our lives and in our walk with the Lord so of course we may need different things from God. But what is your heart yearning for today that you know only God can give you?
Friend, take the time right now and make your thoughts known to God. I know he is listening and he wants to hear you put into words your deepest desires. Let him know what you need.
Jesus wants us to be filled with him inside and out. He wants us to take our nourishment from him by being in his Word. You may not have considered eating the Word but that’s what Jesus is asking us to do. Take the Bread of Life, Jesus, into our very souls and be filled and nourished by him. And then, friends, whatever you need for the work God has for you will be given to you.
Quite a few people in the last weeks have gone away from home on trips for work or vacation and what’s the first thing they need to do when the get home? No, it’s not the laundry! They need to replenish their pantries. Most of them don’t have any bread or milk or eggs. Friends, aren’t these the basic necessities for us to have in our kitchens? You can’t make a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich without bread. Nutritionists tell us that bread should make up a large percentage of our diets. The vitamins and minerals and the fiber are things our bodies need. And we’re so used to having these things in our kitchens that we never think about them as the staff of our lives.
Do we think of God and Jesus in the same way? Have we become so complacent to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that we don’t understand the importance of having daily communion with them? Have we quit asking God for the things we need?
What do you want from God today? What would you like Jesus to give you today? How is God’s Spirit talking to your heart today?
Right now, right where you’re at, ask God for what your heart is aching for. Don’t wait until you get home. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Do it right now.
If you haven’t asked the Bread of Life to take up residence in your heart now is the time to do that. If you have let your relationship with God slip today is the day to let him know you need him. Just open the door of your heart.
What do you need today, bread, peace, forgiveness? Whatever it is, ask. God is waiting to hear from you today.

Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Looking for Free Food

It seems that today there are so many people who are looking for things that are free, free food, free housing, something for little or nothing. But isn’t that just human nature you ask? It would seem so.
The people of Galilee came looking for Jesus because he had fed them the day before with just 5 barley loaves and two fish. And so they came looking for him to feed them with free food again. But Jesus said enough is enough.
Jesus told them to quit wasting their time looking and hoping for things that wouldn’t really satisfy them. And they wanted to know what they needed to do. Not so different from all of us today. Isn’t everyone looking for something to satisfy the cravings of their souls? Aren’t we all looking for something to make our lives more full and meaningful?
The problem is that we are all looking in all the wrong places as the country song puts it. So where do we go you ask?
What did Jesus say? He said, “Throw your lot in with God. Work for food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.”
But what do we do? What is required of us? Remember when the Pharisees asked Jesus what the most important commandment was. Remember the answer he gave. Listen, Israel. The Lord your God is one: so love God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy. And love others as well as you love yourself.
When we read and study the Bible we find the word “love” used quite often. And that, I believe, is what it’s all about. Love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We can’t love our neighbors without loving God and we can’t love God without loving our neighbors.
Friends, we need the Bread of Heaven for nourishment so we can love. We need this bread that Jesus provides us so that we can be filled with compassion for our neighbors who are suffering because of the poor choices they’ve made in the lives. Even so they deserve our love. We are commanded to love them, unconditionally.
And friends, the Bread of Heaven is free. It’s a free gift from God. All we have to do is accept it. There is no price put on this bread. It’s been paid for by Jesus.
So accept this free food provided by God for our nourishment and we will never again be hungry or thirsty. Trust in the Lord and you will be filled with the bread that never runs out.
Ask God to come into to your heart today. Believe in his Son, Jesus the Christ. And through the power of the Holy Spirit you will be convicted of your sin and God will forgive you and welcome you as one of his children. And friends, your life will be fuller than you’ve ever imagined.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Five Loaves and Two Fish

Jesus had gone to the land by the Sea of Galilee. The people followed him there because they were intrigued by the healing power in his touch and the common sense in his teaching.
On this day there were more than 5,000 gathered to listen and to watch. They apparently didn’t pay much attention to the time or to the growling in their bellies. Jesus knew they needed to be fed with more than his words and his touch so he asked Philip where they could buy bread to feed them.
Can you get a picture of this in your head, 5,000 people, no money, and your Master wants you to tell him where to buy bread? Was he crazy or was he trying to make a point? He was the Teacher so you know he wanted us to learn from him.
In Mark’s gospel he says that Jesus said, “You feed them.” In John Andrew brings the food that a young boy had brought with him for lunch, five loaves of bread and two fish.
Do you think what Jesus did was a miracle, feeding more than 5,000 people with just one boy’s lunch? How did it happen? How did God make it enough to feed them all?
Do we really need to know the answer? I don’t think so. The point, and I need to be reminded of this often, is, God can do great and wondrous things with the smallest contributions from us.
What did Paul say in his letter to the Ephesians? “God can do anything …far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”
Friends, it’s all God’s grace and our faith, and that’s a gift from God too. When we are called by God to do something like feed his children we are to be reminded of what God did through Jesus on that grassy knoll by the Sea of Galilee with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus fed 5,000, actually about double that when you count the women and children, with one boy’s lunch. Just think what he can do with what you bring to his table. You might think that you don’t have anything God could use to feed his children but you do.
God made everyone of us for a particular purpose. He has granted all of us with a gift to be used to further his kingdom. We may be afraid to step out of the boat and take the first step but Jesus tells us, “Don’t be afraid.”
Jesus has asked us to feed them. Jesus asks us to feed each other. Jesus asks us to make disciples. We might think he’s crazy but remember he’s God and he can do anything.
What’s in your basket? What are the five loaves and two fish that you bring? Will you let God bless them and multiply them so that his children can be fed? I pray that you will trust enough in God to let him increase the gifts he has blessed you with.
Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Redemption, Forgiveness, and Grace

How many of you here today remember S & H Green stamps? Just for those who may be younger and never heard of Green stamps I’ll tell you what they were.
Every time we would buy things in grocery stores or gas stations we would get so many Green Stamps. When we got home we would lick them and put them in books. There was a catalog with different things that we could purchase by redeeming the books of stamps. We would take the books to the redemption center and tell them what we wanted and they would take the books, count them and make sure that all the pages were filled with stamps. Sometimes whatever we were buying wouldn’t need a full book and then they’d tear out just the pages needed. It’s kind of like the stamps that Subway issues when you buy their sandwiches.
It seemed as if everyone collected stamps. There were gold ones, green ones, and then there were coupons that came with cigarettes that could be saved and redeemed for items from catalogs. It gave us something to dream about and plan what we do with the thing we were saving stamps for.
Paul uses the word redemption in his letter to the Ephesians. Instead of stamps or coupons our lives are redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ. So what does it mean to have our lives redeemed?
In the times when the Old Testament was written the people of the Mediterranean area were divided into different social classes and whatever class you were born into was the class you were in for the rest of your life. That is unless you got yourself in debt and you lost the family property. Or you broke the law of the region and you were thrown into prison. Then your social status changed, dramatically. And you could only regain your place on the social ladder if someone would redeem you. In Israel this could only happen if one of the next of kin were able to perform the task. They in fact were obligated by Jewish law to assume the role of the redeemer. The next of kin almost had to be someone of great wealth in order for this to work. You couldn’t be restored to your original status without some money or something of great value being exchanged for whatever it was that had put you where you were.
In the Old Testament God usually isn’t portrayed as the sponsor of redemption but the one from whom beings were redeemed. In other words something of value had to be put up as a substitute to make compensation for the wrong that was done.
Just about all the way through the Old Testament the basic understanding of redemption is very close to the basic social meaning. Something of value had to be exchanged for redemption. If a person lost their social status then God would make it happen for them they would be restored to their former position on life’s ladder.
In the New Testament the work of redeeming lost souls is a joint effort with God and Jesus working together. Sometimes the redemption took place in a person’s lifetime and other times Jesus talked about redemption happening sometime in the future, in the end times.
Now we can understand having to pay a price for a wrong that’s been done but we have a very difficult time understanding and getting our head around forgiveness that’s freely bestowed on anyone. We like it when it happens to us but we find it hard to accept when someone else gets off the hook without suffering. That’s the human point of view.
God on the other hand doesn’t do things the way we would. He’s willing to forgive us for our sins; in fact he has forgiven us for our sins. He doesn’t say that we’ll get off without punishment but we are promised that our sins will be forgiven. And that’s good news for us, since most of us couldn’t come up with enough to compensate God for the things we’ve done wrong in this life.
Friends, that’s grace. That’s a free gift from God and even though we feel indebted to God for it there’s nothing we can do to pay him back for it.
He has forgiven us. The slate has been wiped clean. Our sin is gone from his mind. He doesn’t keep bringing it up to remind us how bad we’ve been. It’s gone forever from his book.
Now if we could just do a better job ourselves of forgiving each other for the things we do that hurt our family and friends. Jesus taught that in order for us to receive forgiveness we are obligated to forgive others. It’s not that easy to do.
It’s not an easy thing, this being a follower of Jesus, admitting our sin, accepting forgiveness, forgiving our brothers and sisters, being disciples, and sharing this love and forgiveness freely with everyone around us.
And sometimes it can be downright dangerous. There are people in this world who don’t want to hear about Jesus and they’ll hurt and maybe even kill you for talking about Jesus. Look what happened to John when he let it be known that what Herod was doing was wrong. Eventually it cost him his life. The same thing happened to Jesus. He stood up and held the religious of his day accountable for the wrongs they were doing to the children of God. It cost him his life to go against the political powers of 1st century Palestine.
It was all part of God’s plan to save the world but it wasn’t easy knowing the pain and anguish that was required.
Because of the sacrifice of Jesus for us God lavishes on us the riches of his grace. I don’t think we can even begin to understand what that all means. We may never totally understand it until we feast at Christ’s table in glory.
God has redeemed us through the blood that Jesus poured out on the cross. We have been forgiven totally for our sins against God and each other. And it’s all grace. We have been restored to new life. Our lives have purpose.
That’s why we come here to worship. Since we have been redeemed we can then spend the rest of our lives praising God and giving him all the glory.
As we hear every time we witness a baptism, we are marked with the seal of the promise of the Holy Spirit. We are free to be all that God has planned for us to be.
We may think we’re already free but unless we give our lives totally to Jesus we haven’t even begun to experience the true joy of freedom in the Lord.
Friends believe the good news. You have been redeemed, forgiven, and given new life in Jesus Christ. Accept it, believe it, and share the good news with everyone you meet.
Brothers and sisters, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Called

If someone were to ask you what it’s like to be called by God to a particular mission or work how would you describe it? When God called you how did you respond? Do people who know you know that you’ve been called by God? How do they accept that? Did they know you when you were growing up and making the usual teenage mistakes? Do they remember those mistakes and have a hard time believing that you’ve grown up, both physically and mentally?
That’s kind of the problem Jesus encountered when he went home to Nazareth. He went to the meeting place to teach. More than likely he was invited because they knew he was a rabbi and they’d heard about the things he’d taught and the people he’d helped.
Mark tells us they were amazed at his teaching. They knew him when and they couldn’t believe that he’d become so wise. How’d that happen? Has anyone ever said the same thing about you?
They were amazed at his wisdom and his debating abilities but then just as quickly they turned. After all they’d seen him grow up and he wasn’t anything special then. He was just a carpenter’s son who repaired doors, roofs, wagons, anything made out of wood he fixed it or learned how to fix it. His home town “friends” couldn’t believe it was possible for him to be a learned rabbi with disciples.
And so Jesus wasn’t able to do much good there because his hometown just didn’t believe in him. Not that they needed to have faith to be healed but even if he had cured lepers, made lame people walk, and cast out demons would they have believed that he was God’s Son? Not likely so why expend the energy to do something that wouldn’t make any difference in their belief. There were others in Galilee who wanted to hear the Good News and were willing to have their faith made stronger.
Have you ever experienced anything like that? Have you ever been rejected by your old friends because they couldn’t believe that you could ever change from what you were when you were growing up? If you have, then you have some idea what that feels like and you can empathize with Jesus.
Mark doesn’t say that Jesus knocked the dust from his sandals in Nazareth but he does say that he left there and went to other villages where he taught.
So he wasn’t received well in his hometown. He just moved on. There was no need to waste anymore time there. There were others who needed to hear the Message of the Way.
Jesus knew at some point his work here would end. Spreading the Good News would then rest solely on the shoulders of his disciples. Before he left them he had to be sure that they understood what it was they were being called to do.
So Jesus sent them out in pairs to preach. If someone called and said you will be leaving today with a friend to go to, oh let’s say Alabama, you would immediately begin thinking about what clothes and shoes you should pack and how much money you would need so you could buy food and so forth. But Jesus didn’t give his disciples time to do any of that. They were to go with just what they had right then, nothing extra. They didn’t have any vouchers that would allow them to stay in any Super 8’s or Comfort Inns or even a Motel 6. No, they were going to have to depend on the hospitality of strangers they would meet in the towns they traveled to. What about that? That required quite a leap of faith.
Now before you jump to the conclusion that you could never do that remember that they had been with Jesus for a while. They had been sitting at the feet of the Rabbi listening and learning. He had been preparing them for this work. And he sent them out in pairs so that they could encourage each other, help each other, and protect each other. He gave them authority, power over evil opposition, unclean spirits.
He didn’t promise them that they would be accepted everywhere they went. But he told them what to do if they weren’t. Just shrug your shoulders, accept that they weren’t interested in hearing the Message and go on their way to the next village.
But still, we can see that this required a huge amount of faith, not only in God’s providence but in the hospitality of their fellowmen. I’m trying to imagine what that would be like for me if I used this philosophy when I take off on RAGBRAI. Just ride into town and stop at a house and ask if I can camp in their yard. And, “Oh by the way would you be able to put me up for supper? And do you suppose I could use your shower?”
It sounds funny doesn’t it? But I’m not going on RAGBRAI to spread the Good News. I guess I don’t really know what God has planned for me. Who knows who I might meet.
The whole point of this gospel lesson is about faith, trusting in God’s providence. It forces us to think about our own faith, the strength of it or the lack of it whichever the case may be.
The Twelve trusted that Jesus knew what he was doing and so they went out. They may have had some doubts when they first stepped out but that changed as they began to teach and heal and cast out evil. Their faith grew and they came back filled with excitement over what they were able to accomplish.
So what about you? You knew I was going to come to this point sooner or later, didn’t you? What has God called you to do? What is he calling you to do? What is he asking you to leave behind or to give up before you begin?
It’s at this point, when the question is directed at us, that we begin to look at our lives and do an assessment. We come face to face with our priorities and they may not match what God is calling us to do.
Jesus calls us to give up our old life and follow him. We are called to leave everything behind, pick up our cross, put on the yoke of Jesus, and go out and make disciples of the world.
Friends, Jesus is calling us to go out into the world and spread the Good News. Leave all our bags behind and trust in God to provide. If no one listens to our story, so what, we move on to the next place down the street.
I don’t know for sure if God is asking us to give up our savings entirely but I do believe that God is asking us to go out and share our stories about how God is working in our lives with our families and friends so that they can hear and see what a great God we worship.
I believe that God would like us to make our lives less complicated so that we could work for him with fewer things to worry about.
Last week I talked about when healing began. I said that I believe healing begins when we have faith. It may not be a very big faith but it is faith. I also believe that we can be sent by God to proclaim the Good News if we just have faith, faith in God and faith in the folks we are sent to visit.
As John Ortberg said, “If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat.” If others are going to know about Jesus and God’s love for them we all have to tell our stories.
You’ve been tagged by God. You’re it. It’s your turn to step out onto the road with faith that God is beside you all the way.

Friends, God loves you and so do I. Thanks be to God. Amen.