Sermon, January 2, 2022
Sunday After New Years
Today we celebrate two traditions. The first is celebrating a brand new year 2022! May it be a year of goodness and God-ness. The second is celebrating the age old story of Magi visiting the baby Jesus.
Both of these celebrations can be for us epiphanies. You might ask “what is an epiphany?” An epiphany is seeing an ordinary experience in a new way, a way that causes you to think outside of this moment in time. Epiphanies keep us from being self-centered. They encourage us to look beyond ourselves for some interaction or meaning that changes us, or makes us feel special, or cared for.
A New Year’s celebration usually involves a gathering of some kind, a party or a family dinner, and the making of resolutions to improve your life in the coming year. You think ahead. You make plans. You move forward. Moving forward in life is a must, otherwise we are prisoners of our past...for good or ill.
The visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus was also an epiphany. In the story these people, sometimes called kings and sometimes called wise men, traveled along way, guided by a star, to see a baby in a feeding stall. They brought gifts to him and then they left. The story tells us they did not return the way they came, they took a new way. They moved on in their own journey of life, and so must we. The message, or epiphany here is, whenever anyone comes tp the realization that the Christ spirit is real, loving, and powerful, then he or she intentionally takes a new way, a new road, to a new destination. Especially a spiritual one.
Epiphanies help us see our very small selves as an integral part of this very huge universe. Think about yourself as one atom in the entire universe...that if you were not here in it the universe would be different. It would be less, because you, as you are, are important. Your epiphany will be life-changing if you accept the fact you are important to God...that means you do not ever belittle yourself. If you belittle yourself, or put yourself down, you are telling God he made a mistake. And God does not make mistakes. It is us in our self-protective cocoon that sees life as less then it actually is.
Consider this fact: You would not exist today if God had not wanted you to be here in this place and at this time. You are important.
That’s why epiphanies are essential to us as humans. An epiphany emphasizes a light in the darkness. That light of which you are a part of reminds us that life continues on, that growth and new beginnings are always hovering on the horizon, and that new paths will appear and take us into new challenges, new opportunities to be the people God asks us to be.
You are alive now because God has a purpose for your life. Please know beyond all doubt that God is with you, in you, around you, and guiding your every step of the way if you are willing to partner with God.
Like the Magi we all have traveled a long distance over many years to be here at this time. What have you learned? What do you now see as vital to your life? How do you choose to live this coming year...with fear or optimism? With faith and hope or with dread?
Let us be the light of God shining out from us to brighten those around us. If so, the Grace of God will fill you with joy and peace. Believe it. Believe it. For in your belief is your life.
Happy New Year. Spend it with love.
Amen
Sermon, January 9, 2022
Be Radiant
Matthew 5: 14-15
The words radiant and radiance are used throughout our Bible. So what do they mean? To be radiant means you send out light. And radiance means the state of being radiant. When was the last time you felt radiant? When you sent the light in your heart to someone? Have you ever felt spiritually radiant? Have you ever experienced radiance in your relationships with God or other people? Have you ever experienced any kind of light or lightness in your being?
If not, perhaps you have and were not aware of it. Sometimes a person’s smile lights up the eyes and face...you can tell that person is feeling happy, or glad, or love.
When people are excited about something even like a football game, or a new job, or finding friends of like mind, those people do exhibit a kind of radiance that lets us know they are feeling good about themselves or their hopes and dreams.
Perhaps one goal of this new year is to be radiant in the light of Christ. There is no power like the power of his love for us. There is no grace grander than the grace he offers us. There is no forgiveness as absolute as his forgiveness of us. There is no compassion more encompassing than his. There is no love greater than the love he freely gives to all of us regardless of our status or position in life.
So if radiance, the giving of light, is that important to our Creator why is not important to us. It should be.
And it doesn’t always have to include other people. When was the last time you caught yourself smiling when no one else was around? How many times in a day do you experience a gratitude for who you are in God’s view? How often do you laugh with and by yourself?
Well, if radiance is not part of our self esteem and self worth we need to make it so. During the first months of 2022 smile more often when you are alone. Find something to laugh out loud about. Close your eyes and feel the power of your brain as it acts unconsciously to keep you alive. There are so many gifts given to us every moment of every day that we neglect or fail to be aware of. All too often we rely on our circumstances or other people to make us smile, laugh, enjoy the moment when we should experience these acts every day even when alone...if we do not do so we have failed in our efforts to be human, to be powerful, to be loving, or to be as Christ to one another. When we recognize God with us we can be self-sustaining for a while...not always relying on others to provide what we need or want. We have that strength, though it is not used as often as it can be, or should be.
Do you have to have a reason to be happy? If you don’t think you have one then think again. The very knowledge that God has created you to be with him in this life of yours should make you deliriously joyful. The fact that after all the days you have already lived and are still here able to think and feel is a great reason to smile all the time with gratitude and thanksgiving. The fact that you have at least one other person who either likes you or loves you just as you are is worth an hour or so of joy, smiles, and even laughter.
All of us are strange creatures in some ways and in other ways we are all so alike it is astounding. Nonetheless, we all share equally in the love God freely gives us, the guidance he offers us, and the patience by which he waits on us to respond to him and his love.
Now having said all of that, let’s look forward to this new year. Can we resolve to be more radiant knowing God is in us and his radiance is just waiting to burst forth from us! Can we resolve to be radiant with the fullness of what life offers rather than limiting God or ourselves. Can we resolve to allow God greater access to our emotions and behavior to further mold them into joy? Can we together, as a church, resolve to try to make our community a little bit better because you are in it? Can we resolve to commit ourselves more to God’s will for us than our own...knowing God is wiser than we are and far, far more loving than we are?
You are in worship today because you are a follower of Jesus, the Christ. In the book of Hebrews we are told that Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the representation of God’s being...and so are you, so are each of us.
All of us who believe do have the radiance of God within us. However, we are to show that radiance and not keep it hidden in any way. We are to display the character of our God to the people around us. We have the responsibility and opportunity to unveil God to the world through our own words and our own actions. We must be about radiating God’s compassion, joy, peace, and love every day of our lives as a first priority.
So together may we resolves to radiate God’s character to people we meet wherever that is...perhaps that is the first and most important resolve any of us can make today and all of our tomorrows.
Pray about about it. Think about it. Then Live it. Let it be resolved.
Amen
Sermon, January 16, 2022
Personal Responsibility
2nd Thessalonians 3: 6-12
All of us at some time in our history have made promises we did not keep. Some of us may have thought little of that violation of our character; others may have suffered for that supposed failure. In spite of breaking promises, and doing things we should not do, we know they are wrong or harmful because of the basic teachings in the Bible that have been translated into civic laws.
When God created humankind he told his people they were to labor in the fields and take care of themselves and each other. You might remember the story of Cain and Abel. While they were in the field working together Cain rose up and killed his brother Abel. The Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” Cain answered, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” Of course the answer to that question for all of us is “yes.” We are our the keepers of our Christian brothers and sisters ...meaning we pray for one another, we encourage one another to do what is right in the eyes of God, and when a neighbor is in need we respond with love, grace, and sharing what we have. But those honorable actions come after we realize we are responsible for our own lives, our choices, our words and actions. We are not allowed to play the blame game...ever. If someone treats you badly, you have the choice of how to respond, or to answer that challenge. The people who follow Jesus will not respond in kind, will not repay wrong with wrong. Rather, they answer bad behavior in a healthy way without being wrong themselves. That seems to be contrary to how we see the world and relationships today. Revenge is everywhere and it makes every problem, and encounter worse. We are to speak and act as lovingly as possible to any person or situation, whether we feel like it or not.
How well do we do we as individuals and as a church react when we are mistreated?
We have a scriptural answer. In the book of Romans, we are taught, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written: ‘Vengeance is mine: I will repay, says the Lord.’ The teaching continues, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Where does that leave us in regard to our personal responsibility to live up to God’s law? Each one of us has a personal relationship with God through the living Christ Spirit. It’s all about love, grace, joy, peace, and compassion. Yet, if we are not constantly on guard we allow someone who is acting badly toward us to steal from us our own kindness and goodness, and take away our Christian responsibility. In effect, if we act vengefully, we are just as wrong as the person who hurt us. Being personally responsible for who we are, meaning how we behave, what we think, say, and do, makes our lives whole, livable, more peaceful, harmonious, and much more loving. All too often when asked, “why did you do that?” The answer is usually so and so made me do it, or I treated him just like he treated me. No wonder we are warring people, no wonder psychosis is rampant, no wonder the mental health institutions can not take care of all the people who need their help. When we choose to act in any way that is different from the way we are taught by Christ, then we are on the wrong track and will make things worse for ourselves.
The largest resource we should use in dealing with one another is kindness. Being personally responsible for who we are and how we act determines our mental, emotional and spiritual health.
Now, having said all that I am assuming some of you are thinking...well that’s all pie in the sky spiritual stuff and it’s not realistic. It’s just sacred, holy stuff that has nothing to do with my day to day life. If you think that, perhaps you might need to re-think. If you meet with a skilled psychologist you will hear the same advice, perhaps spoken in a different way, but basically the same. Being holy actually means being wholly human...living into the highest form of humanity which is based on love, kindness, goodness, genuine authority, and personal responsibility! When we feel that we are our own authority, we have to ask where does that authority come from? In the western world, which up until now has basically been Christian, our authority is God illustrated through the human Jesus, the main representation of God that we have.
To summarize, each of us must learn to respect our responsibility, be humbly proud of our loving choices and responses. All of us need to learn to appreciate the fact that we have the ability to choose loving options. We must develop a habit to practice, practice, practice choosing the right option in all our interactions, behavior and self determination. Our Christian responsibility must be protected, nurtured, and well-fed throughout our lifetimes.
Today let’s take action to be personally responsible for all our own actions and see to it that they for the most part are the ones of which Jesus approves.
Amen
Sermon, January 23, 2022
How To Live “In Christ”
Ephesians 3:14-19
Our Bible, that is our guide to healthy meaningful living, teaches us to live in Christ. What does that mean and how do we do it?
Let’s look at some analogies. Have you ever been to a college football game or a pro-game where you really liked one of the teams, so you go to the ball games, you scream and holler words of praise or encouragement to your team, sometimes you even Booo the other team. But you show up, you are present, you participate in the emotion and attitude of the entire scene, you belong. You feel part of it all. It gives you pleasure. Even if your team doesn’t win you still feel you had an experience that gave you some joy, fun, and some sense of worth. You lived in that excited moment where you had hope for your team. Have you ever experienced that kind of participation over a football game?
Look at another analogy. Have you ever attended a musical concert, classical, country, or popular music? If you have, you bought a ticket, you showed up, you swayed to the music (depending on what kind of music you yelled and writhed around in complete surrender.) If you were at a classical music concert you sat quietly, thrilled with the music, the skill of the musicians, the beauty of the composer’s works and you were lifted up to a state of bliss, complete enjoyment, swayed emotionally by the loveliness of it all? Again, you participated. You were part of the scene. You belonged. You felt as one with other concert goers. When it was over you brought some of those feelings home with you and enjoyed remembering the experience. You lived in the musical moment and felt better for the experience.
Living in Christ is similar. However, living in the experience of a ball game or a concert is temporary. The pleasure lasts just for those few hours and the few hours you recalled the experience when you returned home.
Living in Christ is permanent. You show up a church, bible study, or any other group which focuses on spirituality. You participate. You support the work. You have the attitude of Christ that carries over even into ballgame or concert experiences. In Christ you are a hopeful person, sharing your faith, uplifting people, offering niceness and kindness to all you encounter. You make sure your moral compass is the same moral compass that Jesus exhibited. You worship the same God Jesus worshiped with the same assurance you are doing what God placed you here to do. Before you act, you check yourself to make sure you are taking with you that loving, sharing, compassionate attitude Jesus had for every life experience.
We are human beings created to live only a short period of time in our infinite universe. We are physically frail weak figures when compared to oak trees or other longer lasting natural creations. But within those short years of time, we are like a usable vessel able to carry a powerful treasure...the life of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul teaches “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Christ in us means we live, breathe, think, say, and act with the same loving attitude that Jesus showed the world. May we try to do the same? When we live in Christ we can almost feel his spirit wandering through our minds making sure we are thinking loving ideas, peeking around in hour hearts to make sure we are acting lovingly, kindly, compassionately. He looks at our hands to see how we are serving his people. He looks at our feet to see if they take us where love and forgiveness are most needed in our communities. He checks out our eyes to see exactly what we are seeing in movies, television programs, video games to insure we do not let our eyes bring into our bodies evil, revenge, hostility, aberrant sexuality, and madness. We owe ourselves and our God the very best of being human. How can we spread God love, Christ love if our minds and hearts are filled with evil images, negative ideas, hurtful messages from creators who are anything but holy. How about our younger generation. They live by electronics...phones, media, video games, etc….so who are their real teachers? What exactly are they learning? These are important questions to discuss in families, because to not do so makes us participants in efforts to dehumanize humanity. We are on this planet at this chaotic time to live in Christ. To live with love as our primary motivator. But don’t forget, love, genuine love, always involves sacrifice. Giving up some of what we think we want, or what we do want, for the betterment of those we love. If love is not sacrificial it becomes sentimental and often fleeting.
To live in Christ means to participate in his life, show up, live as he did as much as possible. And you do that through prayer, communal worship, sharing with each other what the God element in life means to you. You live every day with the love and the attitude of Christ Jesus as the best and most rewarding way to live...become a person of the way...the way of Jesus. Then see what miraculous changes might occur in how you think of your self and others, the level of your personal esteem, and the nights of peaceful sleep.
If Christianity is to survive it is up to each one of us to live into it, its beliefs, its morals, and most importantly to live in Christ.
Amen
Sermon, January 30, 2022
How many of you know how tall you are? Do you know how much you weigh? Do you know how many teeth you have, or are supposed to have? Do you know what your blood pressure is? Most of you seem to know a bit about your body. Indeed, your body is important but not necessarily in and of itself.
Your body’s primary function is to be a residence for your brain, heart, lungs and soul. At birth God gives you a body with brain, heart, lungs, bones, muscles, blood and tissue. However, we can be born with all of those elements in perfect shape, but we do not live until we take our first breath. Biblically speaking, our first breath is God breathing into us and bringing us to life. Likewise, when we take our last breath, we die.
According to scripture, human beings are souls. In Genesis 2:7 God did not make a body and put a soul into it like putting a letter into an envelope of dust; rather he formed a human body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust live...the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul...a whole creature. The bible refers to people as souls...the entirety of a person is soul.
Soul is crucial because it unites every part of us into one creature. It is through this uniting that we are able to invite and accept Spirit into our lives, the Holy creating Spirit. We can not fathom Spirits shape or form...but we do sense its power. This living spirit comes from outside of us and enters us by invitation. A mind or brain can believe. A heart can be compassionate. Lungs breathe without our thinking about it. But are we energized, vibrantly alive as loving, giving, and forgiving people unless God’s spirit within us? I don’t think so. Our vibrancy, our energizing elan comes from the Spirit within.
Often in our language, two words “soul” and “spirit” are used interchangeably. However, they are different. Spirit is like this: “If we follow the precepts of our God, we are spirit beings who have a soul and live in a body. Spirit comes from outside of us when all else about us is included at birth. Spirit is God in action in us. Spirit comes from outside our bodies by invitation and lives within us as a powerhouse for loving self and others. It guides our morality. It provides joy by giving of ourselves and to others. It rejoices in compassion and is strengthened by forgiveness of self and others. To know your God Spirit, at least as well as you know you body, then you know God/Christ/Holy Spirit is your all in all.
We when are born we are physical bodies. We become spirit beings when all our parts together realize we are not whole, nor holy, until we become vehicles to house the God Spirit. When we invite the Spirit to be part of us, we too become part of the Spirit that has always existed and always will exist, in some form, that impacts a universal goodness and safety for all.
If we understood the difference between living just physically, mentally, and emotionally without including spiritually, we are only half souls. We need the power God gives us. God showed us that power through the life of Jesus, the anointed one, who teaches us how to live meaningful, helpful, loving lives.
When you wake up in the morning do you say, “Oh I slept wrong, my neck hurts.” or something like, “Do I have to get up and go to work?” Are most of your early morning thoughts negative? If so, you are living in your body which is waiting for you to choose to live into your spiritual body and see all of life worth living, all people worth loving, all sins completely forgiven, and peace only a decision away.
We are built to be smart and most of us live into that smartness. But what about enlightenment? Which means to willingly co-exist with the God spirit within us as co-creators of our world today and all the days that follow.
Please think about this concept of being fully alive as a human being only when you invite and accept the God spirit within you….then your desire is to love like Jesus did, and to become Christ to one another.
Amen
Sermon, February 6, 2022
25th Birthday of The Nourishing Place
Can you believe this church began as an idea, an unlikely one at that. Through obedience to God’s nudging, and through hope and faith, the church happened. We turned a 16x20 foot shed, that had been my home, into a chapel. We held our first worship service there on Sunday February 8, 1997. That first Sunday 9 people had breakfast together and then we worshiped our gracious God. Within 5 years we had out grown the shed and two additions we had added to it. Miraculously, we moved into an old church that was rebuilt for us by the Grand Casino in Gulfport! Could you ever imagine a casino volunteering to build a church for us? Through Tom Brosig’s leadership the casino rebuilt, wired, and lighted the new facility. Attached to this new church we screened in the back deck which we used to freely give away clothing, food, and household items. We called it the Back Porch. Hundreds and hundreds of people were blessed by being able to receive needed items at no cost. We based this outreach ministry on the biblical verses from the gospel of John. Jesus says, “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.” Jesus’ love for people is extravagant. While we are not asked to lay down our lives for others on a daily basis, we can choose to give of our selves extravagantly in smaller practical ways. We can choose to go out of our way to help and serve someone in need even though it may be personally inconvenient to us. Jesus teaches, do it anyway.
Through the spirit of love and giving of ourselves, more and more people came to join us in that old church that we lovingly called Chapel in the Oaks. Our music ministry in the shed was a piano in my tiny kitchen. But in our newly reconstructed church our music ministry grew. Some of you might remember GiGi Hines and Bill Kelly, both night club performers who became our pianist and singer. Then Betty Bittner, Linda Machi, Michelle Kidd, and Helen Evans joined in to enhance our music. We remained in that church for nearly 15 years cooking breakfast every Sunday, and serving a hot meal on Tuesday night bible study. Through your asking people to join us, they did, and gradually we outgrew that wonderful old sanctuary, the Chapel in the Oaks.
With faith that if God wanted us to have a new, bigger church and fellowship hall it would come to pass. And four years ago it did. Many people, including each and every one of you, gave something of your selves, your creations, your prayers, hands-on help, and your resources (some dollar by dollar in tens and twenties and hundreds, and some a bit more) to make this holy space a reality. The building was built, furniture was specially hand made and upholstered for us. Original art work was donated to decorate our sanctuary, and many of you brought a cross to hang on our wall of crosses. And here we are! You are still donating time, food, funds, effort, ideas, and participating in church and Bible Study. How grateful we are to have such a loving, caring, unselfish congregation who continue to give and give and give. Our dove on the altar on Sundays is filled as is our Post Office Box during the week...and we never ask, you just give from the loving hearts you have. But most importantly you continue to give friendship to this whole community in and around our church building, and you continue to invite people to join us at worship and Bible Study. That’s how we grow, by living the life Jesus knew would enhance God’s kingdom in the here and now. And each one of you is an important part of ministry.
All of you without exception have been essential in creating and maintaining this Nourishing Place... both the gathering of people and the sanctuary….so it is not my church! It is God’s church and your church... It is ours together to tend, care for, nurture and grow this ministry and this mission to help bring God’s kingdom of love and compassion to an ever wider area. So today is a celebration of thanksgiving. We praise God for miracle after miracle, one nearly every day, to live as Jesus lived, enhancing love, treating all people with dignity, and walking the truth that God is Love.
Please this week, take your church directory and look through every single photo and say “thank you God” for this loving friend of yours and mine...and let’s keep the love going on and on through faith, hope, and possibilities we don’t yet know about.
I want to take this minute to say a personal thank you to each and every one of you for making this dream, this idea, a reality that is playing an important part in the Christian development of this community. You have put up with me for 25 years, that’s nearly 1000 Sundays and a thousand Tuesdays and I have loved every minute getting to know you, your stories, your challenges, and your faith. Each one of you is an inspiration to me...I need you. God’s mission on earth needs you. Please, let’s all keep coming to church and bible study, keep praying, keep singing, keep the blessings going and do so with joy, peace, and love every day, all day long. Be a God-filled person who offers kindness and goodness, and who makes those two traits your hall-mark and your motto.
Today is truly a day of celebration and thanks...you live to serve, and by so doing you are wonderfully expressing God in your daily walk.
Let’s pray and hope we continue to live, love, and worship together for years and years to come.
Amen
Sermon, February 13, 2022
Love
Romans 12:10-16
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. Why do we celebrate LOVE just one day a year? Love is the most profound, fundamental trait all humans beings need and want. Love is a basic characteristic of being human. Our primary goal as Christians is to love: love God, love our neighbor, and love ourselves. That in one sentence is what it means to follow the teachings of Jesus. Do we?
We all love someone in special ways like spouses, family members, close friends. But what about the rest of humanity? We don’t know all people on a personal basis and neither did Jesus. Yet God’s command and Jesus’ focus is on offering loving acts to all humans because all humans are made in the very image of our Creator.
Even when we accept these truths and desire to live by them, how do you love people you do not know? How do you love people you don’t even like? How do you love people who do evil to others? How do you love people who are so very different from you? We certainly can’t personally reach all human beings; but we can reach out to those we come in contact with in our church, neighborhood, and community. Those are the “all” Jesus is talking about.
Just this week, as I was thinking about today’s sermon on love, I was talking to Max and making some broad statements about love, what I think love does for us. I said, love makes hurts and disappointments bearable. Love creates harmony when things get tense. Love energizes us when we get tired. Love lifts us up when we need to keep going in spite of failures. I asked Max, what do you think of those things. He said, “love sounds like a blowout patch to me.” Well, two things about that. Men always see things from a different perspective than women do, and I did not even know what a blow out patch is, or was. I was enlightened. When bikes and cars had inner tubes there was a patch you could put on the inner tube enabling you to ride a bit further, to keep on going.
I laughed but the more I thought about it I liked his answer. We all need a sort of blow out patch in our lives. In talking to many of you I understand life is tough...times are demoralizing...money to purchase needed items is often less than we need...loved ones are sick or hurting…and we are tired. So, what kind of blow out patch could help heal these trying times. I think there are many. Let’s list a few.
First and vitally important, you must tell God how you feel and what you need. God is an awesome listener and just by telling him your feelings and needs you have identified things you can work on. Sometimes we just need to state clearly and precisely what would help and how we might possibly find that help. So God is your first contact. That’s called “take it to God in prayer.” Then know there is a divine solution for any and all problems, challenges, and emotions. You have the one who created all as your primary resource. I think God is greatly underused in solving daily issues!
Second, it would be helpful and soothing if someone would affirm you, that is speak to you, smile at you, and say something kind to you. That is a good booster for many of us. Importantly, as Christians, that is exactly what we need to be doing and must be doing for each other. It would be wonderful if each and everyone of us spoke to everybody else who is in this church. It could be a smile, a wave, any kind of acknowledgment, and when possible to speak and say glad you are here, it’s good to see you, hope you are well. Are we willing to do that for each other? That is why we have public worship...to share God’s love with one another in one place and at one time. Let’s not be lazy or complacent...let’s really show each other the face of love.
Third, we need to carry that attitude of acknowledging others wherever we go. In the post office you have time to be gracious to someone else in line; in the grocery store you have time to say something nice or encouraging to other shoppers who are feeling the crunch of empty shelves and empty pockets. How do you treat the people who wait on you in stores or restaurants? How do you treat the person who brings your mail? How do you treat the men who two times a week pick up your garbage? Do you ever wait to speak words of thanks to these laborers who help our lives be cleaner, better, healthier, and more convenient.
One of the most grateful lessons of my young life was from my grandmother. When I was a child our garbage truck was an open air truck with wooden walls around the garbage. A cloud of buzzing flies hovered over the piles of open garbage. We could smell and hear the gears grinding as the garbage truck approached us. On hot summer days twice a week, when my grandmother heard the garbage truck approach, she handed me a large pitcher of iced lemonade she had made and 4 glasses. I had to wait by the road til the truck arrived then pour the lemonade for the garbage men. They were so grateful and spoke such kind words of thanks that I could face the ridicule that came from my friends...teasing me about my best friends were garbage men. Not only that I also waited for the mailman on those hot mornings and served him too. At first I dreaded those tasks. But when I complained, my grandmother would say something like, “Janie, that’s what Jesus did. He found ways to make people’s lives a little bit better and he did it with joy. Just think how happy you would be if you were the garbage man and someone gave you lemonade. Then she would say, those little things you do for others makes their lives a bit better and yours as well.
What a great philosophy! That’s what I hope we will commit to doing as individuals and as a church. Create kindness wherever you are. Seek out people to say nice things to. Go out of your way to encourage, energize, and love people...those you know and those you don’t know. Our world is crying out for kindness, people are hurting because we are too busy going about our own business to stop even for a minute to offer an affirming word, a kind gesture, a helpful hand. If we don’t do these things why bother calling ourselves Christian.
As a reminder on this day before Valentine’s Day, that love given away without any expectation of a return, is the foundation of real life. Love produces good mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. Love produces good times. Love produces good behavior. Your ever expanding love is what God desires for you and from you. Let us not disappointment our holy and gracious God. So maybe today or this week you can be a blow out patch for someone who needs to be acknowledged. It could change a life.
So today I wish your tomorrow to be a Happy Valentines Day..and may all your tomorrows be a Happy Love Day.
Amen
February 20, 2022
Matthew 12: 33-37
Be As Christ to One Another
If God came in physical form, approached you, and asked you this question, “who are you?” how would you answer?
You might tell him your name and what job you have...that’s how many people respond when meeting someone new. However, God is not meeting you as someone new...God has known you since your birth and since the first moment he breathed his breath into you to bring you to life. So, maybe he wants to know who you think you are...because God knows you better than you know yourself...God is all knowing.
I’ll ask again, who are you? Most people find that question very difficult to answer. We fumble around and murmur something like, I’m Jane, I live in Gulfport, and I’m married with 5 children and 9 grandchildren. That is basic factual information but it is boring and doesn’t say at all who we are in terms of personality, values, beliefs, interests, or skills. All the intangible things that make life meaningful are who we are. Perhaps a better question to ask you is, “what is the most important thing in your life not counting your family or job? Is that easier to answer? Some might say yes, others might say no.
Most of us can provide facts about who we are: where we live, who we live with, what we do job wise to survive...but facts are seldom what makes us interesting as people. What we think and do when no one else is watching is a great clue as to who we are internally, emotionally, and spiritually. Those are the things our God is most interested in. He knows what you look like...he helped create you, remember? But he wants to know how you have used the life he gave you up to now...what have you done to make life better for yourself and others? What have you done that has built your faith? What have you done to make yourself more hopeful? Peaceful? Happy? Whose life have you influenced that made a positive change in that person? What positive changes have you made in your own life?
Having said that and asking those questions help you determine just how important your God is to you, and how much you try to emulate the life of Jesus. Those are the most essential questions we ask, and the answers are truly revealing.
You are here today because you claim to be Christian. Christianity is unique among religions because it is more about a relationship than religious practices. Instead of adhering to dogma and doctrine, the goal of a Christian is to cultivate and develop a close walk with God...to communicate with God, sharing your hurts and joys with God. That close relationship is possible because of the Christ Spirit in you. That spirit is always there and available, but how often are you in tune to its presence?
One of the most important things a Christian must be mindful of is to know your words and behavior are the most powerful witnesses to your beliefs. Our nicest words are meaningless if our actions go in an opposing direction. Whether we like it or not, people of faith are to act a bit like Christ...that is to be as Christ to one another...treating all others as we want to be treated. That’s the golden rule for a reason..when we act on it we are reflecting God’s love just like gold reflects light. Acting on what we say means we are honest and authentic...and people are drawn to honesty and authenticity.
To be Christian is to be hopeful, to be forgiving, to be loving and caring. To be Christian is to look for the good in others, in life, and in ourselves. God gives us ample love to share...but how often do we share unconditional love, that is offering love without expecting anything in return? So back to the question of “who are you?” The answer God might want to hear is this: “I am a child of God, a traveler on the path of Jesus, and a caring friend to all I meet.”
If someone answered you with that response would you find it arrogant, holier than thou, meaningless? Many would say yes...and we would say yes because we have been taught to judge rather than to accept; we have been conditioned to look for the negative first instead of the positive because negatives make it easier to ridicule and gossip about...and those two things are top ingredients in too many social conversations.
If we truly honored our God, respected our faith, were exuberant to have such a loving God and encouraging Christ, then we would welcome those responses and perhaps even practice saying a similar sentence about ourselves and others.
We have a powerful faith, but do we use it? We have many reasons to be hopeful, but are we? We are called to be Christ to one another all day long, every day, but is that really how we act? There is another question that is of equal importance. What about Jesus do others see in you? And like the old standard comment: you might be the only face of Jesus someone else might ever see.
I think it is time for all of us to take the joy of Christianity and be more forthcoming with its goodness to self and others. I think it is time to make statements through our actions as to who our God truly is tous in our practical day to day living. I think it is time to put away the childish fun of criticizing others and begin to encourage, affirm, and love one another. The basic goal of life in our faith tradition is to be as Christ to one another….all day long, every day.
Those of us here today could commit to making a more intentional effort to be and do more of what Christ does for us...extend love, forgive all, assist people in need, and live life everyday as though you are being watched, even when you are alone...because in truth, you are never alone and always watched, nudged, and loved by Grace Himself our Almighty God and the Christ spirit within.
It’s worth an effort.
Amen
Sermon, February 27, 2022
Much of what makes us human today has been with us since the beginning of time. Not just our physical being which has been relatively the same, except for growth in height, from the earliest humans. Also, our image of God has essentially not changed since humans first thought of a god or a life force.
The earliest know religion was sun worship. Sun worship was the dominant religion in all ancient civilizations from Babylon, to India, China, Africa, Greece, Rome, Mexico, South America, Egypt, and Europe. The eminent Sanskrit scholar Jata Jha, says the concept of sun worship is as old as mankind. Very early societies were primarily agricultural and dependent on the sun for life and sustenance, it is no surprise the sun became deified...or God. Surya, the Hindu god of the Sun, is considered the creator of the universe and the source of all life. He is the supreme soul who brings light and warmth to the world. In Egypt, RA, their sun god, is believed to be the source of life. The Greeks honored Helios who was similar to the Egyptian Ra in many respects. Also, in many native American cultures the sun was recognized as a life-giving force. Worship of the sun was also important to the Romans as well. When people worshiped the sun god they looked up to the sun and were grateful for light and warmth.
Later in time, religions began to flourish in areas that had mountains and hills that often blocked the sun throughout the day unless they were on the mountains and hills. Very early on, being up, looking up, became a metaphor for a spiritual experience. Even in our own modern day bible mountains or hills are mentioned 570 times.
Many of the mountains mentioned in our bible had at least one or more major events tat occurred on them. For example, Mount Ararat is where Noah’s ark came to rest after the flood. Mount Carmel is where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to show his God was more powerful than Baal. Mount Moriah was where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac..is also where Solomon built his temple. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus delivered his Sermon on the Mount, where he prayed before his crucifixion and where he descended into heaven. All of these and many more were locations for spiritual experiences and guidance.
The Psalms in our bible speak about the up-ness of God’s presence. Psalm 122 says “ I will lift up my eyes unto the hills from which cometh my help.” Psalm 19 “ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Looking back at our spiritual or religious history, is it any wonder modern day believers still think God is up? Up in the sky? Up in the clouds. Up on the mountain tops? We are told over and over again the life force which created all things and all beings can not be known except through experience, but that abiding spirit of God is within each human. It comes to us at birth when God breathes into us to bring us to life. That spirit within us is our life force. Yet when we talk to God, or his earthly representative the Christ, we usually look up, or we look down with our eyes closed, while thinking of God as above us. Certainly in the way of wisdom, power, and love God is far more than we are...however he uses the planet we live on to assure us of our resurrection. Look at how many plants and flowers, vegetables and seeds, are resurrected year after year without our tilling the soil.
We know God is infinite...that his grace abounds in every direction...but to relate to him the way God desires we must begin to fully recognize his spirit within us. It is that connection that is real for us. It is that connection that makes life full, abundant, and meaningful. Whether you know it or not now, I pray you will know and recognize God’s holiness of love and assurance that is indeed God within. We are not God, but we are part of God...in fact his most precious creation so says Genesis. He has given us, humans, dominion over his creation here on our planet. Sometimes you might think God doesn’t listen to you, or God has abandoned you, or God did not give you what you wanted, at those times don’t look up, look inward. Put your hand on your heart and hear the beating of the universe in you. Put your hands over the area of your lungs and hear God’s breath still inhaling and exhaling without you having to remind your lungs to breathe. If we want to become all that God has made us to be we must, absolutely must, altar our thinking about who we are in God and God in us and we are a vital part of all nature and of the unfathomable universe that is within each of us.
If you still need to look up to see God, then look up to your brain where your thoughts are...your thoughts become your actions, and your actions become your character...and to live fully our characters must emulate that of Jesus, our guide, our guard, and yes, our God.
Amen
Sermon, March 6, 2022
What Have You Done With What You Have Been Given?
The season of Lent began this past week. Traditionally it is the 40 days before Easter. The observation of Lent emerged after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Throughout its nearly 1700 years of existence it has focused on fasting on all forty days until today when fasting is required only two times during Lent, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. However, during that time the idea of “giving up” something became an important part of the Lenten Season. Lent is more than giving up something like chocolate, or smoking, or alcohol...it is truly a time to think about the mind of Christ throughout his life and how closely developed is the mind of Christ in you.
You have been given many things to use and enjoy while you are on this earth: you have been given a body, a mind, and a spirit. You have been given a brain to think, a heart to feel, hands and feet to serve. You have been given an inspiration, a god-like role model, to illustrate how you are to act and behave in responsible and loving ways in every circumstance. You have been given opportunities to be schooled, to learn, and opportunities to work to support yourself and your family. You have been given hardships to show you how vitally important faith and hope are in order to have a meaningful, healthy life. You have been given moments of joy and excitement to show you how important these elements are to living fully.
So my question today is what have you done with what you have been given? Lent is a great period of time to ask yourself that question and then answer it. To answer that one question involves answering other questions such as: are you more selfish than giving and sharing? Do you know that real love is always sacrificial...that is to truly love someone makes you vulnerable...and are you willing to be vulnerable in order to have and give love? What are the obstacles in your life that make you veer away from commitments, self-responsibility, and thinking of others before yourself? Then the ultimate question is who or what do you really worship? Who or what do you give most of your thoughts, time, energy, and resources to? How you answer that question will tell you who your God is. Maybe Lent is a period of time to ask yourself if you are really participating fully in life? Are you? Maybe its time to ask yourself what is your basic attitude toward your life? Most scholars who study human beings will tell you life is 10% what happens to you and 90% your attitude toward what happens to you. What is your basic attitude? Is it one of joy that you like to share with others? Or, is it one of complaints, dissatisfaction, un-caring? Is your attitude basically self-centered, other centered, or God centered? Only you can truthfully answer these questions. And how you answer them continues to shape who you are and what life is to you.
As Christians, and because you are here today I assume you consider yourself Christian, we are asked to have the attitude and mind of Christ and to use those traits as paths for our daily journeys. These are some of the ways Jesus showed us his attitude and his mind: he seldom noticed differences in people, rather he looked for the common bond of being human in all people. He almost never looked for the dark side of people, rather he sought the light of love in others. He did not concentrate on the illnesses of others, rather he offered healing that is possible from belief and faith in God. Jesus did not often use words to tear down others. He used words to build up others’ esteem and worth. He tried to turn people away from dwelling in sorrow by showing them the joy of the presence of God within them. He also asked others to stop worrying and fretting and instead trust God, use the faith you have been given. Jesus maintained an attitude of forgiveness always. Every person and every evil act can be forgiven if the person repents. He encouraged people to ask for forgiveness, receive it, then forgive themselves. Let go of hatred and embrace love.
We as people of God have a responsibility to use what we have been given to help create God’s Kingdom here on earth. We are to enhance what we have been given so that we have even more energy and enthusiasm to work toward bringing that Kingdom of God into fullness now. We are to acknowledge God as our creator and Jesus as his best representative in being god-like day in and day out.
That is our purpose and the closer we come to fulfilling our purpose the happier, the healthier, the more joyous we will be and all that will bring personal peace. Also every act of kindness no matter how small, still adds another aspect of kindness in the world.
During this time of Lent please ask yourself the question: what have I done with what I have been given? As you answer that, please then ask yourself what can I do from this moment on to continue to develop the attitude and mind of Christ in myself? Be assured, with God’s grace, patience, and strength every effort on your part will be blessed and you will see a more exciting, peaceful, worthy self emerge day by day, moment by moment.
Let’s prayerfully do so.
Amen
Sermon, March 13, 2022
Alternative to Original Sin
Has anyone here at times felt unworthy? Or, felt you don’t measure up? Have you ever thought of yourself as a failure?
Perhaps we have all had fleeting moments of these negative emotions, and others allow them to control their lives. When we experience these hurtful feelings perhaps we need to remind ourselves who we are, each one of us. We are offspring of our Majestic, Almighty Creator, Loving God. We were created in God’s image of love. Our human nature is God’s own nature. Look at our universe and our natural environment on this planet and we see first hand some of God’s attributes, and they are our attributes as well.
God is a creator. Humans create. Humans create everything from delicious meals every day to building space stations where people actually live for a while.
God is spiritual but not religious. He is spiritual because he is not about dogma and doctrine, rather God is love. We too are spiritual people when we share love with each other and live within the framework of giving and receiving love.
God is intelligent. Look at the orderliness of nature: the sun and moon rise and set at precise moments and have done so for eons. Rain comes when needed as do droughts. God balances all of the infinite universes. Humans, too, are intelligent. Humans have the ability to think, conceptualize, imagine, to dream and to make choices.
God is relational. God seeks relationships with every one of us. We too are relational. We are at our best when we are in relationships that inspire us, care about us and that we enjoy.
Knowing these few things about God and about ourselves we must come to the conclusion since day one every human is born with original blessings, NOT original sin. The concept and belief of original sin was not one Jesus or the disciples believed. It was not one the early Christians even knew. It was not a biblical law. The concept of Original Sin is not in the bible in any direct way. Rather it was developed as late as 370 AD when Augustine of Hippo, a priest, offered an explanation for sin to the church’s council. Augustine proposed the Doctrine of Original Sin and blamed Eve as the reason for sin in the world. If you read Genesis carefully you will note that the serpent and the ground were cursed not Adam and Eve. Augustine was famous for his dislike of and disregard for women. So by his blaming Eve and encouraging the church fathers to do the same, he thought he had proved women to be evil, therefore not allowed as leaders in churches. That idea quickly became paramount...and only very recently have women been brought in to churches as leaders, teachers and even priests or preachers. That false doctrine of Original Sin reigned supreme for 1700 years.
Even the idea of Original Sin seems to belittle God’s view that all life is good, holy, sacred. Original Sin puts a negative connotation on all that is human and it has caused pain for many believers in God and Christ. Belief in the idea of Original Sin causes guilt, fear, anger, and unworthiness. All the things that lead to unhealthy lives.
Humans are worthy not because of any acts on our part. We are worthy because we are born, and born in the image of God, and we breathe the breath of God.
Now, yes, we all sin; we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. And when we ask we are forgiven. That is a blessing. What is equally important is to disregard the idea that sin is part of our nature...it is not. Sin is a choice we make. Toddlers at times do hurtful things because they explore the world...it takes time and training for little humans to learn about choices. They need parents, teachers, friends and churches to educate them about the power and intelligence they have to make wise choices. In fact, children and adults alike need wisdom to order their own lives in healthy ways by choosing loving acts not harmful ones. If you ever want to slap someone, hug that person instead. If you want to say something unkind to someone, stop and bless them instead. If you want to do real harm to someone, offer to help them in any way instead. Change your patterns of behavior by changing your frame of reference…doing wrong is not natural...giving love is natural because it is of God.
If you think the doctrine of original sin has been harmful to you, perhaps its time for you to make a wise and healthy choice. Disregard Original Sin and opt for the greater, wiser choice of Original Blessings. You as a human are unique among all other animals. Granted God created animals and does love and care for them. But he made us have dominion over all creation.
How are we doing? How do we treat animals? How do we treat our earth? How do you treat yourself? As a sinner or as a person of worth, dignity, and love? Choose the right way to see yourself because that is the way God sees you.
Amen
Sermon, March 20, 2022
Today I would like us to reflect for a minute on church...what it is and what it is not. As we said in the call to worship, the sanctuary or building where people gather to worship is just that...a sanctuary, a safe place to be totally yourself...sins, faults, and all. We as a group of believers can gather in the woods or on the beach or anywhere else and still worship our God. We can do this because we, us human beings, are the church. Church is the gathering together of believers that have a God and a message in common. In other words, church is the Christian community as a whole, or a body of Christian believers.
There are many reasons our faith has through the centuries encouraged people to gather at least once a week for many reasons. Here are just a few:
* the gathering of people who worship and serve a God in common is an opportunity to feel connected...to God and to each other. It helps us realize our beliefs in common put us in touch with something far bigger, greater than ourselves. By making the effort to attend church once a week, we are clearly making time for God...and that helps us grow spiritually.
* when we attend church we usually read a psalm or sing a hymn and many times the focus of those is gratitude. Science has proven that even in hardship, times of stress and distress, gratitude is an attitude that helps us cope more easily without us panicking or falling apart. Gratitude reinforces the truth that the inventor of gratitude, God, is with us especially in the hard times. We are never alone.
* attending church can be a pleasure because for the most part, Christians who do attend church, are usually nice and kind to others. That’s a blessing in today’s world when it seems many people are stressed, unhappy, and too distraught to be mannerly, or friendly. And,we who do attend church are the ones who should be friendly and mannerly
* being in church, sitting in a pew or chair, looking at an altar that usually has on it a cross, or flowers, or some other holy symbol, puts us in touch with reverence. Reverence is something everyone of us needs whether we admit it or not. To understand and acknowledge there is something holy about a spiritual gathering, gives us a sense of peace. In today’s chaotic and disruptive world our psyches need peace and reverence. It helps us feel complete, whole...or in the words of scripture, holy.
* being part of church also might help us all with forgiveness. Some people say the ability to forgive all is a huge barrier to internal peace. When you are in church, sitting next to someone you either know and love or don’t know, you might come to the realization people everywhere struggle to forgive. Some people sitting close to you have forgiven huge enormous sins committed against them and others have forgiven small offenses. Being with believers who have struggled for 2000 plus years to follow the path of Christ just might help you realize if Jesus can forgive the people murdering him while they are murdering him, perhaps forgiving others, and yourself, just might become less stressful and far more necessary. The rewards of forgiveness are peace and joy.
* attending church, and participating in the liturgy, we more fully understand there is a large portion of our local community that are in need of special assistance….the first of which is love...then when we offer love we have opportunities to help and assist with items families need to keep on going….like food, shoes and clothing, household items, books and toys. When we are part of a giving program we not only bless those who receive these gifts, we as givers are also blessed. Any time we offer comfort and help we are doing God’s work. Now having said that, we are out of food to give away. So this week please clean out your cabinets and bring canned or boxed goods so we can continue to offer food to children and families.
These are just some of the ways being part of a church family or gathering helps us and others. There is one other way that is vital. This idea was delivered in one of my seminary courses. The guest was a brilliant student of the bible. He was also an older, country gentleman who led a rural church in northern Alabama. The speaker was entertaining and had a way of speaking that some students found offensive. The speaker moved back and forth between what he called high-falutin’ words and local jargon. One day in class he said “Being in a sanctuary as part of a spiritual gathering, fully participating in the words of our ancient liturgy, fills our souls with ecclesiastical fervor.” He paused and looked around the class. One very young man in class raised his hand and asked, “What did you say?” Very slowly the speaker restated his sentence, “Being in a sanctuary as part of a spiritual gathering, fully participating in the words of our ancient liturgy, fills our souls with ecclesiastical fervor.”
The young man asked, “Can you put that in plain language?” “Sure”, said the speaker, it means ‘get yor ass out of bed, go to a church house, be an active part of the spiritual gathering, cuz that’s where yor blessings begin.” “Is that plain enough?” He asked?
Of course we laughed. And laughed. But then in a more spiritual way he said, “spiritual gatherings help deal with stress, ease our burdens, and they give us hope for the week and beyond. So do it. Do it every Sunday! Be the church that God builds!”
That might be a message to all of us today, maybe especially those of you who are able to attend our church gatherings but prefer to watch more comfortably in your pj’s. But please, re-think that decision. come to church. Come to the gathering of believers. You may not need us but here in this sanctuary in the midst of these loving people we need you. Please come. Take part. Be the church.
Amen
Sermon, March 27, 2022
Psalm 8: 1-9
This Psalm helps us realize how essential and important human beings are to God’s universe. He created us to be like God, to care, to love, to tend, to manage plants, animals, and all living beings. How are we doing?
Most of us remember or know about an ethos that was shared in churches, schools, missionary works, bibles, and stories from the year 1 AD to about 1950. That ethos was the characteristic spirit of western culture manifested in the beliefs and aspirations taught to all of us through those centuries. That western ethos was all about God, country, family where the large majority of people in Europe and America lived by same standards of goodness, personal responsibility, and the rule of law. That is until the Viet Nam war when young people began to rebel. They did not want to go to war. They began to disavow the religious teachings and the civil laws that had kept us primarily as one group with the same ideals...for us, the American Dream.
Since that time, in both Europe and America, we have witnessed lawlessness, a generation of non-church goers, and a disregard for the traditional family. So, who are we today? Are we still aiming for the great American dream? Or have our values so changed that what we live in now is more of a nightmare than a dream. And if it is a nightmare when, if, or how will we wake up from it?
Here are a few statistics we might need to know: From the Pew Foundation’s latest polling only 43% of respondents say they attend religious services at least once a month while 27% say they never attend any religious services. Evidently interest in church is rapidly declining. What about interest in the political landscape of America. In the 2020 Federal Elections, 220,000 Americans were eligible to vote, yet only 66% submitted ballots. Does that mean 40% of Americans don’t care about who governs us and by what policies? Now, what about education? In the latest U.S. poll only 66% of eighth graders are proficient in math and reading. In 2019 in the US, 34% of white adults had a bachelor’s degree or higher, 26% of Black Americans and 18% of Hispanic Americans had a bachelor’s degree or higher. That means nearly 64% of Americans have no college experience. We are guided by working Americans whose livelihood is primarily technical, vocational, or nonexistent.
The amount of money spent per year per U.S. public school student is $13,118. Yet for prisoners the cost is between $60,000 and $70,000 per year per prisoner.
Do these stats show us who we are today as Americans? How about this one? Every young person needs to know this statistic: When the last of the baby boomers turn 65 in the year 2029 (that is 8 years away) every single penny the federal government collects in taxes will already be allotted based on decisions made decades ago. The funds will NOT be used for education, research, defense, transportation, or any other federal priority. The funds will be allocated to mandatory programs, mainly entitlements or paying interest on our debt. Thomas Jefferson, brilliant man, warned of this when he said, “If the first generation could charge the second generation with debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation.” We are already there.
In light of these statistics, that don’t seem very promising, the conclusion we must reach is that schools, churches, values that support human growth and creativity must become relevant not only again but even more so in the current state of our being.
So, what are the solutions? Here is a brief list of possibilities:
*vote in every election and vote for policies, not personalities
*get involved in school board meetings, attend your children’s classes to know what is being taught, and advocate for a strong PTA
*invite your churches to be more meaningful and truthful about our Bible and what Jesus truly thought and taught… it is universal not denominational!
*speak loudly and often to your local and state governments to have consequences for lawlessness
*encourage families with children to have both good and corrective consequences for behavior
*you personally decide who your God is, what your God asks, then do it...God works through human beings...and that is us.
So, having said all that, let me encourage you to be faithful, spirit filled, fearless, open to discussions with others who think differently from you, and be involved in life and not just a spectator.
There are things we as individuals and as a church can do to make life better here. That is to stay involved in a church, learn more about your own spirit and how it relates to the truth about the bible and God’s prescribed way to live, then find the inner strength to offer real, honest caring and love to yourself, your family, and your community...that means you must be responsible and helpful to others with whom you share your life. If you as an individual do as God asks, that Godly power will spread your care and love to where ever it is needed most without your ever knowing it. Be a partner with God to make all lives better, healthier, happier, and more meaningful.
Let’s help make living more pleasurable as God has directed us to do. It will take all our faith, trust, hope, love, and to walk the path of Christ.
Amen
Sermon, April 3, 2022
Prayer
If our world and country ever needed real prayer, it seems now is the time. This morning let’s talk about prayer.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a prayer...a prayer to God? I think we are, or we certainly can be. Some actions that we as humans do are practices that began thousands of years ago among the first hominids who existed...beginning with the very early human type creatures, primitive people, then us...homo sapiens (thinking man). One of those actions that has been going on from the beginning is prayer. Every religion around the world prays and always have prayed. Prayer is part of our religious or spiritual heritage and it takes all forms.
Basically to pray is to petition something larger, wiser, more powerful than ourselves to give us assistance. It comes as a result of our human needs...need to survive and need to be safe.
Very early on, human types began to live in groups for reasons of safety. Groups are stronger together than one alone. Animals often ate humans and therefore humans were fearful. Sometimes lightening, floods, fires killed people, again those acts caused fear in humans. When the sun became too hot for them or snow froze their babies, they feared these events...therefore they sought refuge in caves where they felt more protected. Sometimes even caves did not protect these primitive hominids. To hopefully increase the possibility of safety, early people began to talk or gesture to the things that frightened them...like large animals, rain, rivers, lightening, and the sun. This was the beginning of nature worship. These early kinds of humans petitioned these events to not hurt them and to keep them safe. When they said these words and did not die or were not harmed by these events there was a desire to show some kind of thanks, or gratitude. They wanted to reciprocate the “favor” of living to these entities. They began to give gifts. They might decorate the entrance to their caves with stones, some even painted with the juice of fruits, or they might put food outside of their caves...tangible, touchable ways to say “you helped me so I help you.” Gratitude became reciprocal. Even today, that exchange among chimpanzees, gorillas, and gibbons as well as in primitive cultures still exist today. As it does in our own culture...especially at times of festivities like birthdays, valentines, Easter, and Christmas.
Basically, prayer exists between the spaces of two phrases: “please meet my needs and thank you for meeting my needs.” That is prayer in its simplest form...and you and I do it every day using many different words but with the same basic intentions.
When these activities began to be institutionalized, like church taking beliefs and making them the same for a group of people, rites and rituals began to be the focus of “worship” rather than just the simple acts of living day to day what those beliefs were and are.
Take for example, early Christianity...the religious groups that existed at the time of Jesus were the Jewish people who worshiped Yahweh, their God, and the Gentiles who worshiped gods and goddesses that were idols...some idols made by human hands. Prayers and gifts were given to these entities who seemed to be wiser, more powerful, and longer lasting than humans. More and more rituals were formed, so the words eventually had to be written down or specific people were chosen to remember them for everyone...hence shamans, priests, popes, then preachers...and ultimately creeds and bibles.
In that confusing meld of different faiths and faith practices, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray...they had long prayed the psalms to their God, but Jesus taught them through prayer a way of life that gave meaning to their existence. He taught them what we call the Lord’s prayer. The English translation of the prayer is very different from the prayer Jesus taught them in his own native language which is Aramaic. Here is the original Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. “Father/Mother who is every where all the time.” You create all that is and it is light. Focus your light within us making us as useful as the rays of a beacon showing the way. Unite the words “I can” with Yours, so that we walk as kings and queens with every creature, every person. Create in me a divine cooperation-from many selves comes one voice, one action. Grant what we need each day in bread and insight. Forgive our hidden past, the secret shames, as we consistently forgive what others hide. Deceived neither by the outer nor the inner, free us to walk your path with joy. From you is born all ruling will, the power and life to do, the song that beautifies all, from age to age it renews. Amen (From Dr. Douglas-Klotz)
I gather from Jesus’ original words we as human beings, made in his image, are ourselves prayers. To ask and receive, to show gratitude and thanks. The way we live is to honor and respect our God and one another. Think about your life...what you are doing with your life, your time spent here on earth. Perhaps your life is a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings you receive. Maybe your life is a prayer of connection where you and God are a partnership...God’s values and ideas and you as the way to live them, manifest them, pass them on to others. If we can begin to think of ourselves as prayers we may be a bit more conscious about how we spend our time energy, and resources each day. It might be worth considering.
The basic ideas of “Please, please, please, God” to “thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord” are the foundations of every prayer thought or said aloud. From those two statements come our hopes, our faith, our praise. It’s just that simple.
I hope you will continue to pray heartfelt expressions whatever they are, because our Eternal and ever present God is with you and within you, urging you on toward healthy, happy, trust-filled living. We are God’s partners in this endeavor, and our own faithful lives are prayers to God.
Amen
Sermon, April 10, 2022
Palm Sunday
Always a Possibility of Joy!
In our faith tradition today is the day we celebrate or recognize the first day of the last week in the earthly life of Jesus. As he rode toward Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed donkey, he had a few friends and several curious people follow him as he rode. Those who knew and loved him, put palm branches or cloaks down for him to ride on, simply as a sign of respect. The friends were not sure what this coming week was all about; they were apprehensive. Yet, they wanted to be with Jesus, their friend and teacher.
On the other hand, Jesus was very aware of what would happen this week of Passover. He knew his life was coming to a brutal end...but he rode on, fearful yet faithful to his God and his calling.
Many Christians around the world see Palm Sunday as a sad, sorrowful day….one to weep over rather than celebrate. And I suppose anytime we lose a friend, a loved one, a respected influential person we do feel a bit sad, a loss that is hard to explain. However, we celebrate these people and their kind because they teach us about faith and love and hope. And that is what Jesus was doing at that moment in time. In spite of his approaching death, he celebrated with his friends, enjoyed their presence...maybe just for a little bit longer.
The Jewish hierarchy and ruling class were aware of this small parade and the celebration. They knew the people thought of Jesus as King of the Jews. But Jesus only wanted to be a worshipful man offering love, peace, and hope to all others. This ride would not end at the palace….that was for another, different king. Jesus’ ride would end at the Temple...the seat of spiritual power.
Now, present day time, can you tell from the media’s newscasts who the true leaders, the real heroes are? Are you open minded enough to realize the most influential people in the world do not seek their own fame or fortune, rather they seek to help others achieve their own. That is one trait of worldly living that has gone on as long as humans have lived on this planet. The real truly important people are humble, grateful, helpful, and see themselves as servants not as kings and queens, not as heroes, just people who care and love. It is the greedy ones, the ones who desire power over others that flaunt their status and supposed superiority. Life and literature are full of both true heroes and false ones.
In the stories about the life of Jesus, that we have all read and heard, we know Jesus was born as an outcast, living in poor, humble surroundings. The people in religious power thought of him and his ilk as ragamuffins, marginalized because they were considered unworthy. These religious powerful people thought Jesus and his group of outcasts were disgusting and wanted very much to get rid of them all. But in spite of these prejudices, these spiteful sayings and hurtful comments, Jesus was finding joy in his life, in his friends, and in his decision to follow the path of faith no matter where it ended.
The ride on the donkey did end at the temple where Jesus, offended by what he found there, ran in and turned over the tables of the money changers, the sellers of birds and animals for sacrifice. He said to them, “My house is called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers.” Jesus was a brave, courageous man who became a holy man by his faithful actions.
In today’s world we need true heroes; not fake ones. Who are the young people our children and grandchildren can look up to, admire, and imitate? Many are sports figures, media and music celebrities, but also drug addicts, rioters, and some who joke about being a Christian is being a wimp and a loser. So where can we go to see truth in action? Where can we go to find joy and fun even in the midst of war and terror? Where can we go to see faith in action when these acts are not mentioned or shown on tv, u-tube, or other places young people have access to?
It’s worrisome and certainly counter to what we believe and expect to carry on through the next generations to come.
But at least here, in today’s story of Jesus, we find joy is still a possibility in the midst of fear and trembling. Perhaps we need this example to follow in our own lives when so many situations seem dire, serious, even deadly. Our first nature when God formed us was one of goodness and joy! How to we reclaim those traits in our own lives? We must find a way or the grayish days of discontent will turn into true darkness...it is up to us as believers in a better way to live, to act on love, faith, hope and joy that are available to us every minute of every day. This day, may we accept those godly traits as the ones to live by, and share.
I pray we will do so...the opposite is not even to be considered.
Amen
Sermon, April 17, 2022
Easter Sunday
Welcome to Easter Sunday...the high, holiest day of our Christian faith. We know it is Easter because of sun rise services, new clothes and shoes, dyed eggs, and chocolate bunnies...all relics of celebration of the ancient Sumerian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility, and war. Reproduction of humans and animals in ancient times was essential because people had to grow their own work force to labor and to protect. If a clan or tribe could not produce enough children to do the work and be the protective force, then the clan had to make war and conquer others to meet their needs. People worshiped this goddess by making animal sacrifices to Ishtar and praying to her in temples. Around 500 BC many people in Western Asia converted to Buddhism or to Zoroastrianisn. At that time Ishtar gradually became less important to them. However, she became the goddess Oester, goddess of love and light in England.
History shows when one culture diminishes, a new one emerges and looks back to previously successful events, festivals, and celebrations. The celebrations surrounding Ishtar or Oester began to be associated with the celebration of springtime...the sunlight lasted longer each day; plants and animals reproduced and grew more quickly in springtime. So the spring festivals with the theme of new life and relief from darkness or the cold of winter became connected explicitly to Jesus. He conquered death, and brought light and life eternal. Many of the pagan customs associated with the celebration of spring eventually became absorbed within Christianity as symbols of the resurrection of Christ. For example, eggs, as in Easter eggs, are symbols of new life. Rabbits are also associated with fertility and were symbols linked to the goddesses Ishtar and Oester.
In many ways our Christianity began to grow and move toward an institution. It then placed its holy days and festivals on ancient pagan celebrations in hopes that new converts to Christianity would have some idea of the new life in Christ based on their old ideas of life. It was a common practice.
Today, how do we keep the idea that Easter is based on a new life in Christ?
That is where you and I enter the picture and history.
The only way to keep Jesus’ presence alive and active is to believe it, live it, and share it. It depends solely on how you and I as Christians live our faith, how we express our hope, and how we exist as an example of Jesus, the Christ, himself. Toward that end, let’s look at some essential questions.
When you were younger did you ever say “no” to your parents? If so, did you experience consequences? I’m almost certain you did. Second question: do you ever say “no” to God? God laid out for us a plan of living that provides inner peace, confidence, and joy. Things we all want; yet everyone of us on a daily basis say “no” to God. We are often self-centered or too busy to care about God’s way. We hoard more often than we give, we speak God’s name in vain along with may other offensive words, and we don’t take time to care about all people as we are asked to do. Yes, we say “no” to God every day and we do have consequences: we don’t sleep well, we get easily frustrated or angry, we are impatient, and we often rely on emotional crutches to get us through a day or night. Emotional crutches are addictions of all kinds. All in all we are a rebellious people.
If we used the little bit of wisdom God provides, we would understand God is the creator...he makes and manages things like the universe, planets, foods of every kind, and all humans of every age. He is the great creator. But God only speaks, uses words, through humans. Jesus, a mid-eastern human, was God’s favorite chosen spokesperson. He talked for God. In the Gospel of John we read “Jesus is the Word of God.” The logo. Jesus put into words and actions the teachings that God wanted all of us to learn and live by. The primary teachings was and is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, then love your neighbor as yourself.” Just as Jesus was the spokesperson for God in his time, so in our time, we too are spokespersons for God. We are to live as He planned. Based on current actions of all of us, it is clear we do not know how to love God, self, or others appropriately. We skimp, we cheat, we lie, we pretend, and we do disobey! Then we wonder why we are not deliriously happy, content, and at peace.
Today, Easter Sunday, we celebrate the fact that the spirit of Jesus is still today very much alive and available to each one of us. He lives within us, usually awaiting us to recognize his presence. And when we do we have the energy, the time, and the wherewithal to live every day as a Christian, that is a follower of Christ. Let’s be clear about something. Jesus never once told his disciples or anyone else to worship him. He never did ask that. What he did ask is to follow him. That is to do what he did to enhance love among the people, speak as he did with compassionate words, and to accept that God’s way and God’s timing are different and wiser than ours.
The night before Jesus was arrested, he had supper with his best friends. He had told them he was going to die very shortly. But they did not want to hear that. Instead of celebrating Jesus that night, serving him and maybe even toasting him, Jesus himself did the serving. He broke the bread, blessed it, and served it to each friend. Then he poured the wine, blessed it, and served each one of them the wine. Then he said to them, do this and remember me. That is, serve one another all the time not just on a occasion or two. And serve not just food, serve whatever you have by sharing it every day. All that we think we have and own actually belongs to God. Everything single thing on this planet belongs to God. He allows us the pleasure of using what we have as long as we share it, tend to it, care for but never abuse or misuse, destroy, disrespect, or hoard. Share as Jesus did, even his life.
When Jesus was murdered, he could not stay murdered or buried. His spirit rose like the flames of a hot fire… so much so his disciples and friends saw him as a presence not just of the past but of the now. Jesus’ love and ways are risen….notice it is present tense. Is still rising, still lifting each one of us up, up for healthier, happier, more meaningful lives. Today, when we choose to honor and respect Jesus’s spirit and live by his teachings, he encourages us, energizes us, strengthens us, and reminds us that joy, glee, love are ours to spread abroad every day to everyone we meet.
So, just how risen is the Christ spirit in you? Did you awake this morning filled with joy that you can attend worship, celebrate the life of Jesus with others of like mind...or did you hesitate to get up, dreaded getting dressed to go out, and came with a glum attitude or chose to stay home for the sake of convenience?
I’m just asking.
Each one of us has our own set ways of doing things; we have our own set values and attitudes, and we have our own set ways of being. And that just may be the problem...they are set. Set in that context usually means not changeable. When we live in the status quo and avoid the necessary changes, we like all of nature begin to die...mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We may not be inspired from the outside to make changes that will add to the joyous fulfilling kingdom of God in the here and now….but we are absolutely inspired from the inside. That risen spirit of God urges you to think, act, say, and do love. That spirit often bangs on your heart and says “I’m here. Let’s do this together.”
Look at our combined lives...together they are like a jigsaw puzzle. If just one piece of the puzzle is missing, the whole picture is distorted. Therefore we know it just takes one person not doing his or her share of love that creates havoc for us, those we love, and the broader community.
On this Easter day, please think about how you spend the time of your life and what the quality of it is. If you want something better, look no further than what Jesus offers you...his love to share and his life to live.
Amen
Sermon, April 24, 2022
The Gospel of John is not like the other three gospels. It is a spiritual explanation of who and what Jesus is. John’s stories are by and large metaphors...that is he tells a little story that is to enlighten us about a much larger story. For example, there is a story only found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11. It tells the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We have all either read or heard this story. But let’s recap for a minute the major points of the story.
Lazarus lived with his two sisters Mary and Martha. Those three people were dear, close friends of Jesus. Lazarus’ sisters sent word to Jesus that his friend and their brother was quite sick. The women asked Jesus to please hurry so that Lazarus could be healed. When Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he did not hurry to them. Rather he stayed where he was for two more days.
When Jesus finally arrived near the home of Mary and Martha, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for 4 days. Many people had gathered at their home to give comfort and support. But when Martha heard Jesus was on his way, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed home. Martha went to Jesus and said, ‘Master, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Jesus replied to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said, “I know he will in the resurrection at the last day.” But Jesus said, “I am the resurrection.” Then he asked Martha if she believed this? “Yes,” she said, “I do believe.” Martha left, found Mary and said the teacher had asked for her.”
Mary immediately went to find Jesus, and others in her company joined her. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and those with her weeping as well, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. He asked, “Where have you laid him? Jesus went to the tomb which was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take the stone away,” he said. “But, Lord,” Martha cried, “By this time there is a bad odor for he has been dead four days.” Jesus asked Martha, “Did you not tell me you believed?” So they took away the stone. Jesus prayed, “Father, thank you that you have heard me. I know you always hear me, but I said this so the people here will know you sent me.”
Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” Don’t we too need to unwrap Jesus and bring him to light and life in our own lives? Don’t we too need to let him go to be who he is without our restraining disbelief? There is spiritual power in this story that is available to everyone of us IF we believed that Jesus is who he says he is.
There are two very practical things we need to know about this story that might add to our understanding of Jesus.
1. God’s timing is not the same as ours...his time is always the right time! Most biblical scholars agree this story is about the power of Jesus’ God to give new life to all who believe, even those who are dead in their hope or faith, dead in their commitments. In the story, Jesus waited to go to Lazarus to make sure Lazarus had really died and was not just asleep or unconscious. Jesus waited for two more days so that when he arrived at the burial cave Lazarus was certainly dead. The story was written 70 years after Jesus’ death...and whoever wrote the gospel of John and included this story was trying in his own way to make sure followers of Jesus know God’s timing is always the right time. Christians pray daily for events to occur “right now” for we are impatient people. But John’s Gospel assures us even death occurs at God’s timing, not ours. In fact, when we focus on time, it often comes between us and God.
There is a popular song about this story of Lazarus which is sung by Karen Peck. It’s called “Four Days Late.” The chorus of the song says, “Jesus, you are four days late and all our hope is gone. Lord, we don’t understand why you’ve waited so long. But his way is God’s way, not yours or mine. And isn’t it great when he’s four days late, he is still on time.” Healing message for all of us to learn to wait patiently for God’s guiding hand.
2. The second lesson we can take from this biblical story is that yes, Lazarus was raised. In this story, just one man, Lazarus, was raised from the dead. But, when Jesus’s spirit rose from his grave, millions of people throughout generations have received new life...a life of love, faith, hope, and compassion. That’s the life you and I live. As believers in the power of God’s love, We, you and I are the risen, active, loving body of Jesus the Christ. When we act on love as our primary motive in any action or reaction, we too are calling Jesus to life again and again and again in us. That is who we are in Christ, and that is who the Creator God is in Jesus. The power to love, change, grow, and rejoice are the gifts of the resurrection of the spirit of Christ lived out in every one of his faithful followers.
For each of us it should be a recognizable thrill to be included in such a dramatic, exciting, and faithful way to live each day. Be Grateful. Rejoice. Love and laugh because we are God’s and his timing is perfect, as is his love.
Amen
Sermon, May 1, 2022
Recharge Your Batteries
In the days of Jesus, 2000 years ago, there was not much documented science. However, the people were very aware of what we call energy, and they called spirit. Our nutrition and exercise and purposeful living provide energy for us, like a battery provides energy for flashlights, telephones, ipads, etc. When we take time to recharge our spiritual batteries we are filled with energy to think, act, speak, work, and play. The people in Jesus’ time relied on spirit to do the same for them. As far back as the time of Isiah “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Jesus is our hope. When we hope and have faith in Him He renews our strength.” How many of us feel that renewal flowing through us! Or do we feel tired or bored?
The true meaning of spirit is breath...actually the breath of God, the one who created all of life. In today’s hectic, fast paced world, many of us experience times when we are short of energy, or short of spirit, or even short of breath. Our batteries need to be recharged; which is another way of saying our spiritual lives...the true power we have, needs to be recharged often.
Each Sunday when I have an opportunity to either speak with you or see you, I can sometimes tell which ones of you are in need of re-charging, of re-experiencing the power available to you. Sometimes, some of you slump down in the pew, some actually go to sleep, some pick up something to read, or stare out of the window in what appears to be dis-interest. I am cognitively aware of what happens in this 35 minute worship service.
I know listening is difficult. We are so accustomed to listening only a few minutes at a time because we have been trained by television to listen to the news or the story for a few minutes then endure ads for minute or two in between. And when you are bored, or sleepy, or disinterested in what’s happening during worship it tells me you are here for something other than worship. You are here to get a warm breakfast, or to have a bit of fellowship, or to ask for a prayer or a need to be met, or to somehow feel recognized and special by at least one other person and all of that can and should be part of our worship together. But so should a brief homily/sermon/ which causes you to think, to think beyond yourself, to rethink the God within you, and to think of ways to serve God and others. That’s my job. To encourage you to use the brain God gave you at birth to rekindle your faith and hope.
Sometimes I think our time worship service here is so brief, perhaps it doesn’t seem as important as a service that might last an hour or two. Just wondering. While I was deep in thought about these ideas, my college age granddaughter called. She exudes excitement about learning, especially about the bible courses. I asked her, “What keeps you interested and excited about God?” Her answer was, “Jane, it’s pizzazz! God is the pizzazziest concept ever.
Have any of us older persons ever thought of God as Pizzazz? Maybe we need to think of God in that way. Look at what God is and does: God is in everything and every person, even in the worst of us. God’s is unceasing joy, God is excitement about life, God is the loving concern for every single person on the planet, God is the faith and hope within us, God is love incarnate, on and on and on. These are things we should think about often enough to rekindle some pizzazz in us.
Look at the colorful sunrises and sunsets we have every day. Listen to the birds that sing all different kinds of calls and whistles and even tunes. Be amazed at the spring flowers that bloom and burst forth with little effort on our part. Look at the people close by that we have daily opportunities to bless and serve...we lack nothing, nothing at all. So just maybe we are too busy or too interested in just our selves to recognize and worship our pizzazzy God through the ultimate pizzazzy human, Jesus the Christ. Remember this from the book of Exodus: The Lord God is your strength and your song. He has become your place of safety and wholeness.
Now, think about this place, the Nourishing Place. Is this sanctuary a place you come to recharge your batteries of faith, hope, and love? I want it to be. Do you?
In closing I have two other questions: 1. How nourished do you feel by coming here on Sundays to worship and for fellowship?
2. And how nourishing are you to others who come here?
I pray we will work together to appreciate and be grateful for the meaningful, joyful, helpful gifts God gives to each and everyone of us. Please let’s together make this place become a place to truly recharge our spiritual batteries and then pass on to others love, joy, and God’s grace..
Amen
Sermon, May 8, 2022
Mothers’ Day
Read Micah 6:8 and Hosea 6:6
Today we celebrate not just mothers but the art of mothering...that is the art of loving one another, which often originates with a mother cherishing her tiny just born infant. However, the art of mothering goes on forever. I can’t really separate children from their parents.
We are more or less joined for life. Mothers are the primary vehicles to get our children to earth. And though we may live with them for years, there are usually a few brief moments in time when a child does something that indicates what he or she may become. Liz is gracious...even when maybe she shouldn’t be. One of our elderly neighbors lost her husband. A day or two after the funeral I took Liz who was 4 at the time, to visit the widow. Walking to her home I cautioned Liz to just be her sweet quiet self and not to mention Mrs. Evans husband because he had died a few days earlier. We went to Mrs. Evans home and she was delighted to see us. Liz sat very properly on the edge of her chair, smoothed out her skirt, and immediately said, “Mrs. Evans, just how is your dead husband.” Mrs. Evans smiled and said, “Liz after living with me for 60 years Mr. Evans is probably happier than he has ever been.”
So I survived that encounter. But Harry was another story. Harry loved the odd things about people and he never failed to mention them. One day I had to take him to a doctor and this Doctor had a huge nose...I mean it was an extreme nose. So, knowing Harry would focus on that oddity, I begged him not to mention the doctor’s nose. He said, OK. So the nurse puts Harry up on the table and the doctor walks in. Harry gasped, leans forward to get a closer look then turns to me and says, “Don’t worry mama, I’m not going to mention his nose I’m just gonna look at it.” But I think through many times like these we learned to love and respect eah other. When Harry was a senior in high school he had suffered through several different step=fathers. So on mother’s day of that year, even tho Harry lived with me, he mailed me a letter. It was addressed to me using all of may past last names. It was addressed to Mrs. Dr. Jane Ann Stanley White Lovitt Lovitt Borne. In the letter he said, “Fathers may come and fathers may go, but you are the only mother I’ll ever know.” Poor kid!
So let’s talk about Jesus and his mother Mary. How did Jesus know what traits to live by?
How did Jesus know to be loving, kind, humble, and just? I believe Mary, his mother, taught him the stories found in the Jewish writings by the prophets. Jesus was probably familiar with both the prophets Hosea and Micah. Those early heroes had fascinating happenings in their lives...some almost unbelievable. But what they taught those who knew the stories was information about how to live, act, and behave in daily activities to the glory of God but also to his own sense of peace and well being. These important traits were what God wanted each person to learn and to do and they still are the best ways for us to live .
From Hosea and Micah Jesus learned that God did not expect burnt sacrifices...rather God preferred acts of goodness. He wanted his people to be humble, not arrogant or self-important, and he asked that his people practice justice.
Many people feel justice means punishment, deserved consequences. That is not what scripture teaches. God’s justice is fair and righteous. In the book of Job, we find this statement, “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power, yet in his justice he does not oppress nor harm.” From the Psalms we know “God is full of unfailing love, and God is equitable.” God’s love is abundantly available to all people in the same portion, but we have to accept it by living it. We all have equal portions of God’s great love. Therefore, we as his followers are to love without prejudice and to stand up for what is right for all people...all races, all ethnic groups, all nations and religions. All too often we tend to shun or diminish those people who are different from us or worship a God that is different from our God. But remember God cares deeply for the well liked and accepted and equally loves the outcasts, the outsiders, and the marginalized. We too should emulate that all-encompassing compassion as well.
Look also at mercy. What God expects of us is mercy for self and others. Basically, in scripture, God’s mercy means when we deserve punishment God does not punish us. Rather God blesses us. We might punish ourselves through our poor choices and following actions, but God loves, forgives, lifts us up, and anoints us to follow the way of the Lord. We do find hate and harm in people, yet in spite of our emotions, we should pray that person or those persons who perpetrate evil will find love and peace enough to change their hurtful ways of acting. Remember we are here to do God’s will...and leave the results to God’s wisdom.
The third thing God requires according to these two prophets is to walk humbly with our God. That means we recognize God’s spirit of love and compassion is within us to act on. We have a very close relationship with our God because it is his breath we breathe and his energy or spirit that enlivens us and enlightens us. God resists pride in people but God gives grace to the humble. The more humble you are the more God works through you because you are willing to be a servant. Some folks think they are too good or too important to do the menial aspects of daily life. If so, they miss the joy that comes from serving others and loving those who need it the most. Interestingly, it is often the ones who act most self importantly are the ones who need love the most.
When we follow the will of our Creator, as spoken and lived through his earthly representative Jesus, we begin to live in a new light, and develop a newness in living. We will love ourselves and others in this new light. We know what we are here to do. We will receive the strength and guidance to do so.
This advice given more than 2000 years ago, and passed on to Jesus, then to us, is still the best advice anyone can ever follow to reap the benefits of peace and joy in daily living.
So on this recognition of mothers and the art of mothering may we remind ourselves and those in our realm of influence to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. May we desire to do so, because what we desire, we work toward. Be blessed and share the love.
Amen
Sermon, May 15, 2022
Every human who has ever lived has the same exact story as the rest of us. There are only 5 chapters in everyone’s story. Here they are: Before Birth, Birth, Experiences, Death, and Beyond. Assuredly, for most people, the middle chapter is the most extensive because it is our experiences that make us particularly human, both similar to and different from others. Of course, our genetic makeup gives us our basic tool box, but what we experience either moves us forward or backward. I don’t think life is neutral. I think it matters perhaps in way we can not explain.
It’s like the gulf. We get in the gulf and we either sink or swim according to our skills and experiences or lack thereof. But in truth I think the gulf wants us to swim because it has just enough salt in it to help us be buoyant until help comes. And some entity made the gulf salty.
I believe there is reason in our story of life...a reason that may be difficult to see or touch with our physical senses. It has something to do with Spirit, the unforeseen but certainly experienced energy we all have.
Nearly every story that has ever been told or written, including and maybe especially stories in the bible, are all about us as certainly as they are about any person. We all do suffer or have suffered a bit of the seven deadly sins which are gluttony, greed, lust, envy, pride, sloth, and wrath. They are considered deadly because they interfere with the more pleasing elements of life which are often called the 7 or 8 virtues. They are kindness, love, honesty, contentment, humility, diligence, and patience. These list of sins and virtues are found in almost all religions around the world in some form...the reason being is that both the sins and virtues are the aspects of every human as he or she grows toward moral maturity. And nearly every story you read that has a human or two in the story you will find both sin and virtue...they are universal.
In today’s reading about Stephen we see the sins committed by the accusers and the virtue exemplified in Stephen’s response. The first 7 verses tell a story about a man full of grace and power. He did great things for people, and he was wise. In the story there were also many people from different groups who told lies about Stephen. They accused him of speaking ill of Moses and the things Orthodox Jewish people held sacred. These first 7 verses end when the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these things so?
In the next 60 verses Stephen tells the history of Jewish people beginning with Abraham, Joseph, the Jewish tribes being held as slaves in Egypt, then Moses, Joshua, and king David. When Stephen finishes his story, the authorities are furious because Stephen says to them that the followers of Jesus are the good guys and those of you who claim authority are evil and hurtful and it is you who rebel against God. In their fury they kill Stephen. He became the first martyr of the followers of Jesus.
If we read the full story ourselves we might see the unjustness of it, the absolute unwillingness to recognize our own part in a hurtful history as these people in authority refused to do. We see a life of wisdom and grace of one man erased because those he was talking to refused to see the truth, the reality, the historical correctness of what Stephen told them. That is part of our age old stories...good guys get killed, evil guys stay in power.
When in our own world history has that fact ever permanently changed? My questions to us today, as each one of us moves toward our own moral maturity, what do we as Christians do to stop seeing people who are different from us as less than us? When will the church universal say to all people come here and be loved; you don’t have to do anything to be included. When will any large group of sane people in our own country have the courage to demand laws must be followed for all of us to be safe? Who will stand up and require reasonable consequences as necessary? Who among us has the courage to contact those in government to reiterate that giving money away without accompanying work or follow up is a sin? What time and courage are need to ensure parents are to be an integral part of a child’s public schooling? When will churches tell the truth about the love Jesus has for all, all, all people and not just those we love? What is our part in this current life story we are participating in? Do we tell the truth about Jesus’ love by our actions in our own community? Ask yourself these questions: When was the last time I gave time and attention to a homeless person on our streets? When was the last time I personally asked a single mother if I could help with her children? When was the last time I willingly gave up something utterly important to me to someone who needed it more? Or put another way, do you perhaps have or own too much?
These are the questions our spiritual and historical pass have demanded we ask and answer, for together they indicate at what level of God’s goodness we have attained through love, forgiveness, and compassion? Which acts that you do on a daily basis do you feel Jesus is walking step by step with you?
What part of yourself you do you hide?
Tough questions. But as Socrates said thousands of years ago, “an un-examined life is not worth living.”
In Jesus’ way of teaching he too asked hard questions. These are the questions Jesus asked: Who do you say that I am? Do you believe? Do you want to get well? Why are you so afraid? Why did you doubt? Do you still not see or understand? Are you also going to leave? What does scripture say? Who touched me? Do you love me?
Today’s world including our own beloved nation is in spiritual trouble. There is condemnation, but not much obvious love. That statement is part of the story we are in and sharing together. What is our role in bringing peace? What are ways in which we can enhance our national morality? How can we provide compassion in truly unselfish ways? We are characters in this national story...so which character are you?
Amen
Sermon, May 22, 2022
Fear Not
Are you ever afraid? And if so, what is your greatest fear?
In a recent poll in America, there was a consensus of what Americans fear most. Here are the top ten fears:
Loved ones dying
Loved ones becoming seriously ill
Mass shootings
Not having enough money for retirement
Terrorism
Government corruption
Becoming terminally ill
Hate crimes
High medical bills
Widespread civil unrest
Additionally, 45% of Americans reported they are experiencing daily anxiety; therefore, the American Psychological Association said such rampant anxiety has become a national mental health emergency. The problem with stress, fear, or anxiety is they seem to overtake you, most importantly when you need clear thinking or decisive action.
So, as Christians, we turn to the wisdom of God in Christ to help us in times of fear and anxiety. One of the best verses is 2nd Timothy 1:7: God has not given you a spirit of fear; rather God has given you a spirit of power, love, and a sound or sane mind.”
If you know your fears do not originate in God, where do they come from? To start to answer that, look at the definition of fear: “an unpleasant and often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.” Where and when do you feel a sense of danger? Can you specifically answer that?
One of the major reactions to fear is that it causes us to focus on our own needs and ignore the needs of others; therefore we feel isolated and alone. Those situations cause even more anxiety in us.
We can’t blame God for our fear, but can God help us face it? I believe so: God and His encompassing concept of love are the true sources of peace, joy, comfort, security, protection, and provision. God is never angry that we experience fear. He knows we are in need of his strength. That’s why the most repeated command in the entire bible is “Fear not!” “Fear not, for I am with you always.” That phrase is found over 150 times in the Bible. It is surely must be true!
Repeatedly in biblical stories, we see our heroes admitting their fears and asking for help. Do we do that? I understand that speaking aloud what our real fear is can help us identify the problem...then we can prayerfully focus on the negative aspects of that problem and realize our feelings are not nearly as large or consuming as God and His love for us are. The Bigger we see God in our lives the smaller our problems become and the less fear we experience.
To help ourselves we identify our fear or anxiety; we speak it aloud, preferably to someone dear to us; then we acknowledge that God can help if we ask him to do so. Then we trust his answer. We give thanks. It might seem to be impossible to truly feel thankful and fearful at the same time. That is exactly why something powerful happens when we offer thanks.
In the Bible, Paul offered advice to the churches he established. His advice is still good for us today.
1. He said to give thanks for what God has done by giving us life, by meeting our needs through loving family and friends. He also has offered us life far beyond what we now know of it.
2. Give thanks for what God is doing now in us and in the world...we may not see it, but we can trust it is going on in powerful ways.
3. Give thanks for what God will do now and in coming days...let these thanks be given with confidence knowing God works all things together for our ultimate good.
So put your life, your lack of faith, your anxiety, and all your fears into the hands of your Creator God who can be trusted more than any other person, thing, or effort.
Trust God for placing you here now knowing He would not have done so if He did not have your very best interest at heart. But also remember, a loving relationship with God is just that...a relationship. That is to fully know, love, and trust God you have to participate in the relationship. You must talk to God several times a day, that’s called a conversation with the best friend you could ever have. Tell him your troubles, then let them go into hands and hearts very much larger than your own.
You are not alone, ever. Perhaps your perception of being alone is prevalent...but that you have to change. You are never ever ever alone. The spirit of our loving God through Christ’s spirit is within you, around you, and guiding you...if you invite it and follow it.
Fears, stress, anxiety in small portions will always be with us on this earthly planet. But so will our glorious, strong, loving, competent Holy God. Be like a child again and trust the parent who knows you best and loves you the most.
Yes, the world we live in is scary right now...but in truth it always has been. Our source for joy and light in the midst of pain and darkness is the love our God has for each and every one of us...and in equal portions. To counteract any fear, stress, or anxiety it might help if you keep scriptural truth close at hand. Start by memorizing and repeating often the wise words from Timothy: “The Lord has not given you a spirit of fear, but he has given you a spirit of power, and love, and a sound mind.” Use those blessings to strengthen yourself. That is the path to peace, comfort, and trust.
Amen
Sermon, June 5, 2022
Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done
Let us pray together the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…..STOP STOP. Do you know what you for praying for? Are you truly asking God to have his kingdom come both now on earth?
Are you willing to live today in God’s kingdom, doing God’s will, not your own?
Well while you think about that, let me define a word for you...the word is radical. Radical means something new or different from the usual or ordinary. Using that definition, the human Jesus while on earth was radical in every way possible. We as Christians are taught to live as Jesus lived so we too are to be radical...living a new way, a different way from before. When we ask for his kingdom to come and his will be done we are saying to God we are ready today to live like Jesus, to love like Jesus did, to forgive like Jesus did, and to serve all people as Jesus did. In all honesty, are you willing to say to your God you are ready today, and every day of your life, to do those things and more?
Be careful what you ask God for because you then have to participate in bringing your request into actuality. Let me be specific about something. Your family, your community, even your world is as insecure, fearful, guilty, and angry as you are. You reflect the world you inhabit right here in Gulfport, MS. But the flip side is, your family, your community, even your world are as just as hopeful, desiring of peace, loving, and generous as you are. Every day, you get to choose which of those traits, emotions and actions you value the most….because those are the ones you live with most often every day. Do those thoughts and actions reflect God’s universal love and power, or do they reflect your own limited version of love and grace?
You have choice to live in his kingdom now or not. However, if you choose his kingdom you must be willing to change yourself a bit to fit into God’s kingdom and not have God’s kingdom fit what you want. This request to God to bring his kingdom to earth is to make us co-partners with Jesus our Christ in living daily according to his laws, not according to our comforts.
When you choose to participate in bringing the kingdom here, these are the actions you will take and do every day. You will help the poor by giving time or money or both to them; you will not ever ever judge another person and you will look first at yourself before you ever criticize another person. As a believer, God has already anointed you to heal the broken hearted, the lost, the weak, and the misguided. You will value every human life before birth, during birth, and during all the years of life. You will be peace-makers in every situation or circumstance. You will be courageous, fair, tolerant, just, and concerned. You will not look down on anyone, rather you will see all others as equal to yourself. You will love as Jesus did to the point that love flows from you constantly toward every person, every situation, at all times. These are just a few of the main actions you take when you ask God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done.
Can you even seriously think you can do these things always? Jesus said if you try to do so his spirit would give you the strength and the knowledge to obey his teachings and to live in his way.
I have a question: do we as individuals and as a church begin today to incorporate into our lives at least a little more of what God asks us to do, or do we quit saying and praying the Lord’s prayer? I don’t think there is a third choice.
Because we are earth people there will be sickness, disease, addiction, hatred, and terrible events. But, God has given us good brains to think through things; he has given us a conscience to determine right from wrong; and he has given us the power of choice. We don’t have to go along with the hurtful things in life. Rather we can be the Light shining in darkness to help make needed changes in our community, country, and the world and most especially in our own lives. When we pray “thy will be done” we are asking for God to do what God desires and we will conform to God’s will.
My belief is the Lord’s Prayer is in the Bible to guide us and to give us a path toward hope, peace, and more love in the world. God’s will be done acknowledges that God has more wisdom and knowledge than we do and that we trust his way is best. Do not conform to the to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
If we choose to live in God’s kingdom as he has laid it out for us, then God demands a radical human response. If you want a better, more peaceful, more loving world what part are you willing to play in making those things apparent? Just how radical are you willing to be?
Amen
Sermon, June 12, 2022
Acts 20: 7-12
Some of you come here for fellowship. Some come to enjoy a healthy, hot breakfast. Some come to sing and find joy in the music. All of that is good and are essential parts of worship. But how many come just for the “preaching,” that is for the sermon. How many get up on Sunday morning and without hesitation say something like, “Oh, today is great! I will hear a sermon!” I think not many.
By contrast many of you might attend, or you once attended, football games when your team of choice was playing. You looked forward to the day and even to the 3 to 4 hours the game may last. You probably gave it your attention so you would not miss the best play, the winning points. Or, some of you might go to a concert and be so thrilled with the music you don’t want it to ever stop. But sermons? Hmmm. That’s a different idea all together. But at one time in our Christian history, it was the sermon, the information and stories about Jesus, that captivated the people. Any sermon was a reason to rejoice, to listen for hours on end, and be saddened when it ended.
For example look at the story of Paul’s preaching in Acts 20: 7-12. According to the story, Paul began preaching at breakfast time which was generally around 10 in the morning. The group who had gathered broke bread together then Paul began to preach. He preached for hours and evening came. Lamps were lighted and the third floor room where they were meeting began to heat up. As the hours went by the room was sweltering. A young man name Eutychus was sitting the open window on the third floor. He was hot, probably tired of listening, and he fell out of the window landing on the ground below. Some people went down to help, but they called up to the third floor and said, “Eutychus is dead.” Then Paul went down, threw himself on the body of the young man and hugged him. Paul then claimed, “He still has life in him.” Paul went back upstairs, again broke bread for the gathering, and talked until daylight. Paul preached for about 17 hours.
The raising of the young man was certainly a spectacular event. Yet it is downplayed in the story. The focus was on Paul’s preaching. Or even more so, the focus was on the people who were so eager to hear Paul they never gave another thought to hearing him all through the day and the night. The proclamation of the Good news of God’s love, forgiveness, compassion, and redemption was better than anything else these people back then could ever hear.
What has happened in the ensuing years to make the sermon appear to be the least important reason for attending church. Obligation to attend, fellowship when you arrive, the breaking of bread with others, music and prayers should be significant...but according to scripture the message you hear in church from a preacher should be why you attend at all.
That puts a huge and heavy burden on ministers and preachers to fulfill what God has asked us to do. Most of us try hard, work at it, and still fail to deliver the satisfyingly delicious message of the eternal grace of God which includes the healing of your deepest sin and your greatest fear.
Most churches assure themselves they are successful by how many people attend each service, and/or how much money was raised during that service. Those are the very last two things that ought to be considered when assessing a church experience. To have at least one person in the congregation be touched with love and acceptance is the clarion call for each and every Sunday service. Just one is enough. If two or more get the message of how very important and essential they are to God and to us as a congregation then we have met this demand from God...that is what worship is. To attentively hear the word of God, then to have our behavior back up our words...all of our words not just the minister’s, then our church is on the right track and can move forward with confidence.
From my perspective as a teaching minister, I am grateful you do attend church. I am thankful that most of you seem to listen to the sermon as well as participate in the music, the psalms, the scripture, and the prayers. I hope and pray the Sunday Service will be ever more stimulating and satisfying if you truly want to hear what God through scripture wants you to know. Your part in worship is to care about each other, to care about our biblical foundation, and to listen attentively enough so that when you leave here you can effectively tell someone else what you heard and why it is still important today.
If and when that happens, we know we are in a triune relationship: God through Christ, us as believers, and scripture to teach us more about holiness in our every day lives. Let’s keep that three-way relationship in each of our services...it glorifies or Lord and it blesses each of us.
God’s love is for each of you and all those you love … and even those you claim not to love.
Amen
Sermon, June 19, 2022
Today is Father's Day. It is a day to recognize and celebrate the vital and essential role fathers must have in a child’s life. In the beginning, when God created animals and humans he made them in his image, both male and female. In so doing, he also had a job designations for each one. The male, called father, was to protect his family and clan and to guide his children in how to survive and be safe... that meant learning how to get along with others and how to effectively solve problems. For the mother he gave the jobs of feeding and nourishing not just the children but her family...it was her tender touch that gave her children a sense of security and confidence.
One of the saddest things happening in our communities today is the absence of fathers in the home. The latest research shows in America of students in grades 1 through 12, 39% or 18 million live in homes with absent fathers. In Mississippi, nearly 42% of our children live with no father in the home. These children are more likely to have a higher incidence or obesity, behavioral problems, failing grades in school, being delinquent, carrying guns, suffering from abuse, committing suicide, becoming an adult abuser and the list goes on. Also, tragically, many times the children of a fatherless family will have feelings of blame, guilt, or emptiness... feeling they are the reason the father is not with them.
This same research indicates that when men feel they are not meeting the social demands that define father, the idea of achieving other fatherly roles decreases and it may seem easier to leave the home than stay in a lesser role. There are other reasons for father absence such as imprisonment, infidelity, drug or alcohol abuse, and in some cases government laws that prohibit a man living in a home if the mother is on certain types of welfare. Also unemployment and a lack of education are contributing factors as to why fathers leave. If father-less living is generational, the result is the second and third generations will not know how to be loving, supportive fathers... then absentee fathers become a permanent situation for even more generations... leaving an ever larger percentage of our society in less than successful living.
When children are raised in a father-less home, the mother’s stress is increased by trying to fill the role of both mom and dad. Many father-less families live in low-income housing, meaning income from just the mother is never enough. Without fathers to guide the family often the entire family becomes dis-functional. Remember the recipients of good, caring fathers are our children.
Let’s also remember when God created male and female he created the family so that children could gain insights and understandings from both parents, thereby the children’s needs would be met. The children would learn protective measures and guidance from the father and tender loving care from the mother. It would take both to bring a safe and loving maturity to the children. We must try to get back to that original plan of family.
On this Father's Day perhaps it might help us realize necessary changes need to be made in our community to encourage families to include both father and mother. Schools, churches, community groups could join together to help solve some of these problems. Encouraging the government agencies to re-think the welfare system that seems to go on without any oversight or correction when needed. Have meetings with senators and representatives to discuss the problem and together find ways to undo the harsh reality in which millions of our children live.
The basic question for us as believers is “what would God have us do?” Then when we answer that question we ask these two questions: When and how do we do what God would have us do? One first step might be this: It is from the book of Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Perhaps a first step toward reaching solutions might be this: for each one of us in this congregation and those watching from afar agree to pray specifically asking God to show us how we might help correct the ever growing problem. Let’s agree that for a minimum of three minutes a day until the last day of this month every one of us will pray to be guided toward possible solutions. We are not asking God to fix the problem, we are asking God to help us know how to begin to make the needed corrections. Will you join me for the next eleven days in spending three minutes a day on guiding us toward solutions to bring more fathers into our local homes where all the family members, father, mother, and children will be blessed?
Specific prayer changes lives. It is one thing we all can do that does not cost a cent. Prayer for specific guidance has more power than any other way to start. I make a promise to you that for the next eleven days and probably longer, I will pray for this specific guidance. I also pray you will also prayerfully participate.
Together, let’s pray and work toward giving the children in our community the best of both mother and father.
Thank you and Amen
Sermon, June 26, 2022
One thing I strongly believe is that some benevolent, brilliant, creative source that we call God created our planet earth and made it to be healthy and useful. Millions of years ago, when our God made earth, God made it with precision and order. For example the sun and moon rise and set at the exact moments they are made to do and have done so forever. At certain times our earth experiences storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and volcano eruptions to keep our planet healthy and re-newed. This God we worship also placed on earth flowers, vegetables, trees, fruit of many different kinds so that his animals and humans would have plenty to eat and to share. With all this orderliness, do you think God made us humans to be ignorant? stupid? Or did God make us to be smart? I think human ability to think, know and choose is God given, but God hopes we will use all three in his way. When we do so we will choose the sane, healthy, healing way to live.
We all have good brains, we know how to solve problems, we know how to be creative...so why, knowing all this, we humans choose to separate ourselves from God’s plans and live according to our own plans? Why do we try to overthrow God and make ourselves the ruling one? That is utter foolishness...yet many of us attempt to do foolish acts every single day.
We know the way God laid out for us makes sense. It is the best way to be. It is to be caring, then we too are cared for. To be forgiving, then we too are forgiven. To offer peace and understanding to others, then we too will receive peace and understanding. We are made to share, to live in love, to be givers not takers….and yet time and time again we violate those very laws that keep all of us safer, healthier, and happier than we can ever be in any other way. However, many of us choose our own ways, not God’s, then ungodly events may occur.
The result of people choosing to be their own own god is we have mass shootings in holy places. We have elected officials who do not uphold the rule of law nor do they enforce consequences for harmful, hurtful acts. We have taken God out of our schools, out of our government, out of our college and university classes, and out of our leisure time activities. Our society is failing partly because we absence ourselves from the teachings of God...God who honors all races and ethnic groups, but also expects all races and ethnic groups to follow the laws that truly allow freedom and safety for all.
We have left behind the rule of “Let Go and Let God” and seem to be using just the first half of that concept...let go. Let go of God. Let go of laws. Let go of love. Be your own god. Make your own rules. Our country and world are suffering because of the thoughts and actions of supposedly smart human beings who are not using their smarts in smart ways.
In every way we need to reinstate the philosophy of Let go and let God. That means we recognize God as mighty and loving. When we let God we give to God room to wield his mighty arm in our lives. When we are weak and tired, God is strong and powerful...and is for us. Letting God have room in our lives means to put our faith in God to help us work out things for our good. When we give God our trust and faith, we know it will be His good will and not our own limited one that determines the outcome. To let God gives us the guidance we need moment by moment. We must learn to surrender and base our choices on the sacred teachings of God and godly people. There are influences every day that cloud our minds with worries, doubts and fears. But we do not have to hold on to those...smart people give those worries to God to help us make right, helpful, loving decisions.
Here is some spiritual advice. Make it personal! You might want to take time at the beginning of every new day to talk to God and say, today I give you my worries, I give you my fears, I give you my finances, I give you my future. I trust you God. I need your powerful hand to help guide me to peace, joy, and a heart full of love. I know I am not here to live alone...I always have access to the living holy spirit to guide me, lead me, and provide what I need everyday to make the decisions that are intended to be made.
Today and all of your tomorrows trust and believe that God is for you. God loves you and wants only the best for you. When you do let go, you can fully rest in God’s power and strength. You don’t have to worry. The creator of the world is on your side. Trust. Let go and let God.
Amen
Sermon July 3, 2022
Today is close to the day we American’s celebrate our freedom from England. This freedom was gained through war called the American Revolution in the late 1700s. In later, more modern years there was a country in South America which was also facing the desire to be free and at peace. The country was Brazil and in it 25 million people were illiterate ( could not read or write ) and most of them felt oppressed...even though they were politically free.
One of my favorite educators and authors is a man from Brazil named Paulo Freire. He was a devout Christian. He was influenced by the way Jesus loved his enemies...which set Jesus free to be who he was meant to be. Freire wanted a large majority of oppressed people in his country to be and to feel free. The way he began to accomplish that desire was to teach 5 million South American adults to read in two years. He created cultural circles where teachers and students learned to respect each other. Freire had a philosophy that people who do not feel free are often not willing to learn something new. The new, the unknown, can be frightening. To counteract that fear, Freire’s cultural circles taught Brazillain adults about freedom...real freedom. Not everyone on earth is physically free; not all people experience freedom of speech; but every human can know and experience freedom of thought...because what you think you become.
Freire’s philosophy encouraged freedom of thought guaranteeing the students there would be no harmful results from expressing their thoughts. Freire’s teachers helped these adults express themselves and to feel free enough to do so. An amazing thing happened. The more these adults expressed their thoughts, even their deepest ones, without fear of being criticized or harmed, they began to feel free. Once these adults experienced freedom of thought and resulting peace and comfort, they wanted to learn to read. They wanted to know about their heroes. They wanted to learn what government is and what it should be. They wanted to know their history. They wanted to talk about a possible future. Their curiosity grew, their interest in life grew and many became happier than they had ever been before. Freire and his teachers loved and respected their adult students. Without any domination, but offering an equal playing field, these 5 million adults learned to read and reading changed their lives.
To paraphrase his philosophy, Freire taught, “Education must become the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their own lives.”
When people have the freedom to learn and then do learn about their lives, they almost simultaneously work for peace. Working for peace means securing a decent standard of living for all people. It means taking care of our environment. It means justice and a road to equality. It means accessible quality public education, health and housing services. It means finding a human alternative to the globalization of indifference. And it means leaving no one behind.
In America our Founding Fathers covered many of these vital aspects in the documents they wrote and hoped we would all live by. But do we?
What seems to be happening in our nation today is that some people feel neither free nor peaceful. We see destructive mob behavior, because some people are not strong enough internally to live by proven helpful standards. They want to rebel and be their own god. In our country today, if someone doesn’t like something, rather than changing self, that person or group seems to demand everyone else change to suit them. Their lack of freedom (for they are following someone else’s thoughts) causes the group to hurt and harm other people, businesses, and homes. And not just in America but around the world.
If we truly want freedom and peace we must first find it in ourselves and practice it daily. Many philosophers teach us that freedom is the primary condition for peace. If we as humans harbor anything, cling to anything, whether possessions, anger, resentment, or even our own self perceptions, we will not be free...nor peaceful. What we think makes us who we are. Likewise, the only people who are capable of getting along peacefully with others are those who have made peace internally...that is within yourself.
To be internally peaceful requires commitment, work, and strength. That is why many people continue being angry, resentful, violent, and/or delusional...they are not willing to put the work in to find both freedom and peace.
As Christians we are blessed because our Lord Jesus taught us how to have both peace and freedom...both of those are gifts of the spirits of love, compassion, and forgiveness. None of us, not a one, can withhold love and then feel loved; not a one of us can withhold compassion and then experience compassion ourselves; not a one of us can withhold forgiving others...all others, then expect to be forgiven ourselves. That is the beauty and power of having Christ live within our thoughts, our words, and our actions. When we line up our choices to be like those Jesus made, then we are both free and at peace. These are offered to us constantly from our own Creator God through Jesus the Christ….but we are the ones who must opt to live by them.
So the next time you are unhappy about something, or dismayed, ask yourself where is Christ in this? Where am I in this? Will I choose a loving response or a hateful one? The truth is if more of us who claim to be Christian would choose blessings and love and forgiveness always instead of anger and revenge then the world itself would move toward a more peaceful place full of freedom for all.
On this day before July 4th celebrations, let each one of us re-commit to the way of Christ...and then do so every day and in every opportunity.
Real everlasting freedom and peace can be ours only when we acknowledge and obey the God who made us...let us rejoice for those gifts of peace and freedom for together they can and will heal our society if we as individuals allow them to heal us.
Amen
Sermon, July 10, 2022
There is one thing every human has in common….we have arrived at self consciousness. That is we are aware of ourselves, our surroundings, and our emotions. If our world crumbles, if life has brought sorrow to our door, if people have abandoned and betrayed us, we hurt, we are vulnerable, we must cope and deal with these harsh happenings. But it is how we deal with them that makes the difference in not only who we are but how we are to survive and live.
Most animals are acutely aware of possible danger. By and large their reactions to danger and fear are either flight or fight. They may or may not have the same thought processes that we have, yet they make the decision to fight or flee not so much by choice but by instinct. Humans have a bit of that instinctual capacity as well.
However, as humans...made in the image of who or what we call God...we have more than two choices as to how to cope or deal with fear, danger, loss, and great sorrow.
All of us have faced fear and distress of some kind. It may have been caused by the death of a dearly loved one, it may be because of divorce that not only harmed the couple but usually the children as well. Or it may have come from losing a job, a home, a best friend, or disappointments in not being able to care for self and family due to other extenuating circumstances.
Whatever harshness you experience, you do deal with it in some way. Many times when we are hurt all we want to do is make the hurt go away as quickly as possible. That desire often leads to deal in a way that is probably not really helpful. People turn to alcohol, or drugs, or overeating, or going on spending sprees, or shutting ourselves up in our homes and watching tv all day and night. These reactive actions may seem to alleviate the pain somewhat...the problem is all of these are temporary fixes. And the problem with temporary fixes is, we always need more. The next drink, or the next smoke, the next pill, or the next piece of chocolate will make everything better. They never do. They are temporary fixes that sometimes add to the problem rather than help solve it.
How might we find pain and hurt relief in a more permanent way? I am assuming we are all Christians...that is we have chosen to follow the path Jesus showed us in how to deal with sorrow, loss and pain. Jesus, loving, gracious, godly man that he was, faced more sorrow and persecution than all the rest of us combined. What did he do and what did he teach that might help on a permanent and positive way.
This is his way: The best thing we can do when our world is shaken and we feel it is collapsing all around us, is to stand fast and hold on to what we know is sure and true; hold on to the rock which cannot and will not move...the living Christ spirit that is within us at all times...waiting to be tapped into.
Even when we wonder if our faith is real, or worse even if our God is real, even when we might wonder if we are to blame for what happened...God is and God is for us, with us, and holding us. We are never alone.
Because we live in a world with millions of humans who seem to have no faith, who do not seem to value what we value, or when little wars or huge all encompassing wars come to us they are all to be expected in some form, because we live in a world that is often fearful, challenging, and perplexing at any moment in time. The question becomes are we prepared? Are we able with assurance and hope to cope with whatever comes by relying on the only true and permanent help we may ever find...in God’s own holiness responding the to holiness in us. Christian believers often struggle with trusting God in the hard times because life can be cruel. However, we do know hope and joy are possible because of the eternal life we have with our Creator. God’s desire for us is to be full of faith and grow in his divine direction, comforted by the Holy Spirit. By trusting, putting our lives in God’s hands, we will come to true peace and great fearless comfort that will effectively guide us through any hardship, large or small. There is really no other way.
Seek the permanent solution not the temporary ones. Seek the solution that is divine, not man made.
Seek the solution that brings real solutions in positive ways not just for you but for those you love.
Because you live, you have the breath of God in you. You belong to him as part of his Kingdom. Therefore learn to trust God and your relationship with him...there is no other way to experience the peace that is needed in this life we each live. Remember fear is a reaction; courage is a decision.
When bad things happen to good people don’t just endure. Decide to live, live joyfully, live with excitement, live with peace and comfort...thereby helping yourself grow in spirit as well as showing others they can do the same. Through trusting the God you say you worship, you can awake each day with hope not dread, with love rather than fear, and with a sense of freedom you will never find in man-made negative temporary solutions. The temporary solutions you may choose whether alcohol, drugs, food, or other favorites will make you a prisoner of them...never again a person of true freedom.
So when your world is shaken for what ever reason, be prepared to let God’s grace and love for you be the solution. Trust and grow, rather than lament and fail.
Amen
Sermon, July 17, 2022
Most of us here today have lived long enough and have had enough experiences to realize there is more to being human than our five senses...much more. We are people of spirit. Spirit is that phenomenon which connects us with the source of all life. Spirit is what makes us an essential part of the continuity of past, present, and future. We are part of the ancient and on going flow called Life. We are part of the universe...not just the millions of galaxies that exist, but also the spiritual or nonphysical aspect of life. The word universe comes from 2 words – uni meaning one, and verse mean all..or all into one, one voice, one existence, one life. We are part of the one life that is.
Because we are people of spirit, and if we are willing to have open minds, that is interested in things beyond our five senses, then we realize the universe communicates with us.
Just as we humans have a language, so does the universe. It communicates with us through normal, every day objects, persons, ideas, dreams or visions, and observations.
We all know what a coincidence is..it is experiencing events which are causally unrelated and yet they occur together. The occurring together can carry meaning to the person observing the events. Coincidences are similar to signs and wonders but different as well. A sign can be an event or information sent to you by the universe to get you to understand something, or become aware of something that could help or hurt you. Signs and wonders can seem like coincidences...but when a coincidence occurs more than once, take a longer look at it. It could be a sign...it could be the universe is nudging you to think and possibly take action on something. Signs may be beneficial to those of us who seek help, guidance, and assistance from something greater than we are and much longer lasting...I call that God. God uses the universe as one way to communicate with us. This communication can seem perfectly normal. It isn’t magic, its just part of opening ourselves up to be all we are meant to be.
If we are open to accept signs as signs and not just coincidences, they are usually helpful in a human way. Let me give you two examples.
A friend donated a shed to the Giving Place. However, it was a dis-assembled shed and I did not know anyone who would attempt to reestablish it. However, two weeks ago I was in a meeting. A woman I had never met began telling me about a man she knew. She thought I might want to know him as well. She gave me his first name then said nothing else. I sort of forgot about that. But two days later, this same lady texted me the full name of this man and his telephone number. She said he might be a help to our church. I thought about that for awhile, but got busy doing something else and forgot about it. However, the next day I was driving up Hewes Avenue and saw in front of 4 different structures the same political sign on the road side with this man’s name on it...the name is Jeffrey Hulum. I thought, wow. What’s going on. I drove home and called Mr. Hulum. I told him my name and he immediately said, “yes how can I help you?” I said, I don’t know. Who are you and what do you do. He said I am right now running a church camp for two weeks and my trade is as a handy-man. Do you need any work done? Well, I laughed and said. “Yeh, our Giving Place received a donation of a shed, but it has to be put together.” He said, “Oh, I’ll be glad to do that for you. Call me again a week from Friday and we will set a date.: He said, “Thanks for calling.”
That was not a coincidence. That was an answer to prayer. I didn’t know who could put the shed together or who had time to do it. That series of events was easily recognized as a sign from the universe, or God. When I acted on the message, a wonder was the result! A man willing and eager to help is always a wonder-full thing.
There is another example of a sign I want to share. It’s difficult to share with you because it brings up hurtful memories. But here it is. Most of you know my first husband and the father of all four of my children had the name Neil. Neil. We had been married for 14 years when everything fell apart and we began to live a nightmare that was devastating me and our children. At that time, Neil was having a serious mental and emotional illness and the children and I were scared most of the time. I had been in counseling. I had relied on faith to stay strong, but I needed real help. I needed to know what to do that would help Neil and help me and our children. I was often in a near state of panic. On this particular day I truly was scared beyond belief. We were driving on a busy interstate on the outskirts of Chicago. Neil was angry, screaming, and driving wildly. I began to badger God. I prayer Lord, what are you doing? Why aren’t you helping me? Please you can accomplish anything. Just give me a sign, anything that makes me know what to do or even if to stay in this mess. God, please. Tell me now...just because you can do anything why don’t you write his name in the sky, make a cloud in the shape os his name, do something to tell me you are real and here! And just then, up ahead well above us was an enormous highway sign across four lanes of highway directing traffic to the next exit. The huge sign read: Next Exit, Neil Street.
I couldn’t believe it. I knew the answer to my nightmare. I knew Neil would leave us...and days later he did. (just as an aside, today Neil is alive, well, healthy, and a servant for his God. That is a wonder!)
When we look for signs we get them. When we trust the signs, then wonders occur. I was in awe of a God who managed the whole universe but took time to answer my prayer for help, assurance, and hope. What an amazing God.
This spiritual God, this amazing spirit of holiness, is always eager to guide us, to answer questions, to lead us on...but we have to believe it is possible...otherwise we are not able to see the awe in which we live.
Our task as human beings is to become more spiritual ourselves...that is to know there is more to life and the world than meets the eye...much more than just material things. When we grow spiritually we attend to our inner being, our inner life. We pay attention to our mental and emotional states in the hope of gaining more knowledge but certainly more wisdom. When we grow spiritually, we seek spiritual signs to help us be more compassionate, more empathetic, and much more open-hearted. A person who trusts communication from the universe accepts signs and wonders, lives with awe, and knows our Creator God is the perfection of all goodness, all knowledge, all power and all love.
I think our God who placed each of us here and now uses any and everything to help us come to him and trust him. Learning to trust God and the many ways he communicates with us makes life exciting, brings newness to life every day, as well as comfort, hope, and peace. Let us all be more open minded and open hearted about the way God deals with us. It makes us grateful and useful.
Jesus’ disciples lived by signs and created wonders. They were aware of the awe of miracles and did them. We too in this present day are disciples of Christ...we hold within us and are part of the living body of Christ. We too can expect to be guided by signs, to create wonder, and to live and share in a beautiful spiritual world of awe. Never forget who you are. One created image and reflection of the very source of life...our gracious and giving God. Just believe. Just trust.
Amen
Sermon, July 24, 2022
Romans 8:38-39
Those of us who grew up having a church’s influence, or a family’s influence, learned early on how to behave toward God, self, and others. Nearly every story in the New Testament is somehow related to love. In the Old Testament love was a foundational belief. Love is stressed more often than most other actions. Therefore, we know love is important. How is God’s love for all people stressed in our own lives? That is a vitally important question...don’t shrug it off.
My question today, who among us genuinely cares for all human beings as created by our Holy One? And then who acts on that caring? To care is to feel concern or interest in someone and then attach importance to that someone. Just how important to you is caring for others?
As Christians we are taught God is love. Jesus showed us how to love ...yet not many people today seem to care about love across nationalities, regions, religions, and just love for those we don’t know. Ask yourself how often you discuss love of self, or love of neighbor, with a friend or a family member? How often when you tell someone you love them you are actually thinking about the care and attention you give to that person? To many people in today’s world, the biblical instruction to love seems to be just a theory of God’s. Surely God doesn’t truly expect us to care about all people, and to do something about it. You think?
Love, in its intention, is an action verb. It is not just something we feel, rather it is something we do. But even when we do put love into action, who cares? Do you? Does the person you show care to care?
Then does God care? Oh, yes God cares. But who else? Do you care? Do you actually give time and attention to loving others, even your enemies? When we say to someone “I love you” what you are really saying is “God is in this relationship and I honor God in you!”
Love is an easy word to abuse. It is a hard word to make real.
The scripture today does a pretty good job teaching about love. We should be convinced that we can’t do anything at all that will stop God’s love for us. But, God gave us the ability to choose, and many of us choose to not act on loving God...we are the ones who move away. God never does.
That is a challenge to Christian people and churches around the world. We are not obeying God’s law to love others including our enemies. We talk ugly about people different from us. We judge others who don’t live with the values we have. We complain about other people and refuse to admit each and every other is equally loved by God...and is just as important to God as you are, as we are.
As smart as we think we are, why don’t we act on God’s dictate to love, to love above all else? We continually have a spiritual coop, where we displace God and put ourselves in his place….then we make our own laws and regulations and hope we can find peace and joy in them...life doesn’t work like that. We obey the creator or we lose out on the great importance and joy of living.
A church’s role in today’s society is to remind each of us who we are and what we are called to do, and that is to love God, yourself, and others. In fact the way Jesus loved was radical. His life force was loving compassion offered even to those who were murdering him..
When we truly desire to do as Jesus taught then our action is required. Today, think about those you have criticized, or lied about, or spread rumors about, or who you consider your enemy. Then as you remember, lift those persons up for a blessing and mean it.
Our nation and our world seems troubled, it always has...yet today it seems more troubling. Perhaps because there are more humans living on the earth...and many show through their actions they really do not care. What our nation and world need is more love from every person alive today. You think you may not matter in the great schemes of life...but you do matter. You matter so much God expects you to love him but then love others for him. We are his voice, his hands, his feet, his disciples...if we don’t expand our love for others how can we expect others to love us, or to care.
My questions today may seem insignificant. They might even seem sarcastic. But they are the most significant questions we as Christian human beings must answer. Here are the questions:
Are you truly interested in giving love to people you don’t like? Do you spend time praying for your personal and national enemies? Are you willing to give time and energy to let others know you believe in the healing power of love? If not you giving and sharing God’s love, then who?
Who cares? Do you?
Amen
Sermon, July 31, 2022
When we on the Gulf Coast hear the word “storm” we automatically think of hurricanes...huge ones like Camille and Katrina….these storms completely destroyed homes, businesses, and many lives. These storms are devastating to those of us who live here. But look at what happens around 8 or 10 years after the storms. Life becomes hopeful again. Homes on the beach front are re-built, businesses re-open, and new life emerges. Scientifically, we know storms must occur to keep our planet earth a viable place to live. Yet knowing that does not lessen the heartaches and heartbreaks that storms cause.
There are other storms in our lives besides hurricanes. Some storms we suffer are caused by losing loved ones, being disappointed in not having enough money to support a family, unhappy or unhealthy family members, losing a job...one crises after another...heartache, heartbreak, turmoil...theses storms create such anxiety and fear in us we think we have no control….and often we don’t. However, we do have help, help that is constantly available. It is help from our Spiritual side...our ability to rely on the God of love in our deepest darkest moments is a gift beyond measure. Our loving God, the Spirit of the risen Christ is as close as your beating heart and breathing lungs. When we receive bad news we tend to fall apart and allow our emotions to control us...crying, screaming, beseeching seem to be normal reactions. There is another way...it is not often taught. When bad news enters our lives and threaten to destroy what we hold dear, when we are unprepared to handle whatever the storm might be, the most helpful way to react is first of all do nothing but breathe. Sit still, breathe and recognize you are breathing the actual breath of God. When you reach a moment or two of calmness you may have to face the fact that some storms seem to linger and we become truly burdened by them. We do seek help from others and receive comfort from caring family and friends. Other storms can be over quickly and we can be reminded that even in the strongest, loudest rain storm the rain eventually stops. That too can give us hope.
We will always face challenges, storms, hurts, betrayals, on and on and on. But whether the storm is a hurricane or one a bit less threatening there is always a presence within us. We as believers are never alone.
Our Bible is about us...humans have always suffered the same kinds of problems and storms that you and I face. But by reading the Bible we realize God is our refuge. God is love. God is the divine answer to whatever our problems are. Look at the book of Zephaniah. It is one of the many books that tell us the truth. We either believe our God and live for and with him, or we suffer the consequences of our own stubbornness, stupid-ness, or our own desire to be God ourselves. And, believe it or not, these are choices we have, that we always have.
Our scripture today was from the OT book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah was a prophet...and all prophets were not tellers of the future but rather were the consciences of the kings and leaders of Israel. Zephaniah’s message was one of both judgment and encouragement. It was his purpose to tell the leaders of the nation that if their people don’t change their ways and begin to better honor and obey their God, then tragedy will occur...both personal and national tragedies. God is sovereign and his way is the only way. So we do what he says or we reap what we sow. The second part of Zephaniah’s message was one of encouragement. He stated those people who did follow God and his laws will be vindicated and be at peace. Then he added a third law: God will bless those who repent and trust in God.
No matter what nature our storms are, we need look only to our Creator for encouragement, hope, and a healthy way to proceed. To go from despair to joy, from hurt to health, from disappointment to hope is always our desire when we are floundering, suffering, and ready to give up. The availability is near...but we must be wise enough to take advantage of what is available...and that is always the strength and power and comfort that comes to us from our loving Lord. We know the love and power are there, why don’t we use it? Perhaps today is the day we can all get a better grip on who God truly is in our lives. There is nothing we go through that he is not with us...God respects us enough to allow us to choose when and how to connect to him and to use the gifts he offers. Perhaps today is the day we will take time to think about and re-consider just how much we will allow God to be in our thoughts, words, deeds, and choices.
It’s like God has placed before us a banquet of every delectable thing we can think of..and we choose to turn away from that table of plenty and go to our own ill conceived sense of power. We eat instead of the banquet a torn off slice of stale bread. It is our choice….it is always our choice. I pray some of us will more often than not opt for God’s banquet instead of our own meager way to live.
Amen
Sermon, August 7, 2022 Colossians 3: 12-17
When you were younger did you ever have a costume to go with the game your were playing? For example, in our neighborhood we played cowboys and Indians. We either wore cowboy hats and had holsters with cap guns in them or we were the Indians with a band around our heads full of bird feathers. I loved being a cowboy and my bicycle was every bit a Palomino Trigger for me to ride. When I put on the cowboy hat and buckled that holster around my chubby tummy, I remember feeling as though I was a different person. I was a cowboy and had to act like it. I walked different. I talked like I had a wad of gum in my mouth...which I probably did. I was a different, new person in that costume. I was no longer just Jane, I was a better, stronger, newer version and I liked the feeling it gave me.
When we tired of cowboys and Indians, my friends Jan and Cynthia and I would play Tarzan...but since we were girls we had to be Amazons...so we swung on vines in Bailey woods screaming Ama Ama Amazon!. And we were amazed at our agility. We were new people; we sensed the change, and we lived into the change. We were Amazons, taller, stronger, better versions of ourselves.
I think that is exactly what Paul means when he tells us to clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, patience and forgiveness. We need to wear these characteristics. We need to live into those actions, we need to feel them in and on us, we need to know these actions are different from our old way of being for many of us. Being a new person by way of actions is a delightful image to keep in mind. Often we might think, well I was really nice to that old lady in the store today. I helped her unload her groceries into her car. Or, when we have an opportunity to truly listen to someone in pain, that listening is a different kind of act...it is selfless. When we do things like that we do feel different, we like ourselves, we want that feeling of goodness to continue.
The basic truth behind this lesson in Colossians is when we truly clothe ourselves in the Christ Spirit we feel different, we act different, then we become different….and it all makes us feel free! Peaceful! Happy!
Paul teaches this idea because when we listen and learn, then act on what we learn, we do become more like our god-model Jesus. And that is the whole purpose of Christianity. Be yourself with your innate talents and skills, then put on the traits and characteristics of Christ which will enhance us in every possible way making us healthier, happier, and stronger.
Paul puts the idea of forgiveness in a different sentence...because forgiving is the one giant barrier every Christian must step over in order to be true spiritual selves. Once you forgive someone you thought you could never forgive, then you have accomplished a small miracle...and that in itself opens you up to want to forgive all the hurts you’ve ever had...and the bonus is you are willing and able to forgive yourself! That is quite a victory for those who want to carry the blame and the pain around to remind themselves how miserable they are.
Many times in Scripture Jesus asks one question to soldiers, to the women at the tomb, to many others. The question he asks is “who are you looking for?” or What are you looking for?” If we use the bit of wisdom we have, and if we want to live a life of faith and hope, our answer to Jesus question is:
“Lord, I’m looking for you in me.” Or, Lord, I want to know you as part of me.”
We are all on this same journey, whether we know it or not, and quite a journey it is.
I pray this week you will take time to examine your thoughts of how you already clothe yourself in some of the traits Jesus wears so humbly, yet so brilliantly.
I pray. Hope you do too.
Amen
Sermon, August 14, 2022
According to today’s scripture and other verses from Paul, we see that God gave us the ability to choose...we have choices to make nearly everyday. Also in scripture we understand that God wants us to make healthy, good decisions. Paul also teaches choices have consequences. Sometimes those consequences are blessings, sometimes they can be more like curses.
Can you remember the first time you made a serious choice? And if so, can you remember what the consequences were?
I’ll never forget my first big decision. I was 7 years old and my father gave me an allowance of 25 Cents a week to do chores around the house...sweeping, mopping, cleaning appliances, and keeping my room neat. I had to be very frugal with the money I had and saved. Being frugal was a big deal at our house. So was God. About this same time, I was in Sunday School learning that I had to do something for God everyday. Well, an opportunity arrived for me to do something for God but it would cost me some of my hard earned money. My aunt was visiting from the Delta and she was listening to a radio station from DelRio Texas. The Jessup Brothers preached long and hard on that particular radio station and they were good at raising money. This particular night I heard that for $5 sent to the Jessup Brothers they would send me an autographed photograph of Jesus and a bar of soap to wash my sins away. That was made to order for me. By sending money to preachers I was doing something for God. And, I was frugal because just $5 for those two awesome gifts seemed to be a real bargain.
I went to my little treasure box, picked up 20 quarters. Wow, they were heavy. When I took them out and looked in my shoebox treasury and so how empty it was, I nearly changed my mind. But I really wanted that autographed photo and I needed the bar of soap to wash my sins away. A bit reluctantly, I asked my father to please mail these quarters to the Jessup Brothers for me. And here is the address. I When I told him what I would get in return, he said, “Jane, that is robbery There is no such thing as a photograph of Jesus nor a soap that can wash your sins away.” I argued this. “Daddy, I know the photo and the soap are real because the Jessup Brothers are preachers and preachers always tell the truth.” At that my father laughed out loud! I couldn’t image what was funny.
After a minute, my father said, “Ok. Maybe this is a good learning experience for you. We will send your money and see if you get the gifts those preachers promise.” Starting the next day, not realizing it would take time for an envelope to get the Texas, I began to meet the mailman every morning. With great excitement I would ask, “Did you bring me something?” Day after day the answer was “no, not today.”
By the end of three weeks of waiting, I was feeling bereft. All that hard earned money I chose to spend did not bring me what was promised. That night my father pulled me up on his lap and said, “Let’s talk. As disappointing as this experience is for you, the lesson you are learning is something you need to know now that may help you for all the years ahead. With every choice or decision you make there will be good things that happen or hurtful things might happen.” He went on, “Sometimes you might make a choice that seems to be exactly the right one, and that very one ends up being a big disappointment!”
Well in my 80 plus years of living that’s the understatement of the century!
A week later a brown envelope arrived for me. In it was a glossy, black and white photo of Jesus’ head. At the top of the picture was an inscription: To my friend Jane. At the bottom of the photo was another inscription: Love, Jesus Christ. The bar of soap to wash may sins away never did arrive...and by that time I really needed that soap because I was saying a lot of bad things about the preaching Jessup brothers.
That experience was a good lesson for me to learn. I did learn my choices have consequences. I did learn that physical gifts from me to God are not as important to God as my attitude is, or my positive words, or hard work that helps others. Those are what please God.
To remind me of that costly lesson, I got tape and put the photo of Jesus on my bedroom wall right next to the black and white glossy photo of Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger. With those two photos hanging side by side I knew I had the best, safest bedroom in the whole world. Every night before bed I prayed to both to come rescue me from the misery of being wrong.
That early childhood episode may not mean much to you...but I think you probably had something similar happen...something that might seem trite now, but if you look back at it you may realize it shaped you more than you remember.
Since today’s scripture about choices was written by Paul we remember the choices he made as a young man...and what it took for him to learn the lesson of bad choices in order to avoid them in the future. Paul’s original name was Saul. He was an evil man, murdering the men and women who were following Jesus. He was in the Pharasaic Guard and was probably present at Jesus’ crucifixion...yet he kept on in his evil plan….until he saw the light! He was struck blind by a bright light from the sky. His traveling companions heard the noise but did not see the light. When they realized Saul was blind they led him by hand into Damascus. Three days later, by Christian men laying hands on him and praying for him, his vision was restored. In the home of his new friends he learned about the power of Jesus and his work of love and service to all. Saul converted to be a follower of Jesus and wanted to change his way of living. To celebrate his choice his new Christian friends gave him a different name. Saul was a short man, so they named him Paul, which means “little.” But through his new found faith and commitment to Christ, Paul became big in his efforts to teach others the saving grace of Jesus. Paul preached first in Damascus, then went to Arabia, then back to Damascus and eventually he went to Jerusalem to meet with the remaining original apostles. Saul’s change into Paul resulted in Paul helping people change their lives by making right, healthy, loving choices. It was and is the best way to live.
Making right, healthy choices every day makes us who we are. We are reflections of the living light of our Christ. Choose the light, avoid the darkness. Be one who welcomes changes when they come and encourages changes in others. Renewing ourselves is one important reason we are here today.
Be blessed by choosing to be wise. Be blessed by choosing to be safe. And may each of us choose to grow in wisdom, health, and in favor with God and with each other.
Amen
Sermon, August 28, 2022
This morning I want to start by telling you a story I read about an incident that occurred in the early 1990’s in New Orleans. There is a prominent Baptist Theological Seminary in the city and back in the early 90’s no women were allowed to attend... it was for men only. I was living on Toulouse Street in New Orleans at the time, and one morning at my favorite coffee shop I picked up a Times Picayune News Paper, which at the time was the New Orleans daily news. There was a front page article that caught my attention. I read it and have never forgotten it.
Here is the story that was told in the newspaper. It was at the end of the Theological School's academic year and classes were taking their final exams. One professor, who had grown fond of his students, wanted to make their last day a memorable one. He told the class he wanted them to walk down Bourbon Street and take it in. He said he knew some of them had been there before, but others had not. He said he had booked a meeting room at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel for them to have a nice off campus place to take their final exam.
On the day of the test, the bus picked up 25 young seminarians and dropped them on Canal Street to start their walk down Bourbon. As they men walked the street some were amazed, some a bit horrified, and all were concerned. As they slowed down to look into open bars, the leader cautioned them... don’t stop. Remember the professor told us not to be late and we have to walk about 7 blocks. So they hurried along
As they reached the hotel, and found the room where the test would be given, the professor met them and gave each one a sheet of paper and a pen. When all the test-takers were seated, the professor asked them how the walk down Bourbon Street was. Several said it was disgusting, some said the smell coming from the bars was awful, and of course some mentioned the risque photos on the walls. Several at the same time said, it was all disgusting.
Then the professor said, did any of you see a man who had obviously had too much to drink and had fallen? He was leaning against a wall holding a broken whiskey bottle. Did any of you see that drunken man? Several said, “Yeah, it looked like he had been in a fight.” Another said, “it looked like he had cut himself on the broken whiskey bottle.” Another said, He was pitiful and should be ashamed spread out like that for us to have to walk over him.”
Then the professor asked, “So all of you saw him?” The students agreed. The professor then said, “Well how many of you stopped to offer help to him?” “Did any of you ask if you could call a cab for him, or a family member? Or, did you ask if he might need to go to the hospital for help? “Did any of you even speak to him?”
No one did. The professor asked, “if you saw him and did not offer help, why not? Why didn’t you?”
One said, “Sir, we were in hurry. You told us not to be late for our final exam.
There was a long pause. The professor said, “Gentlemen, that man was your final exam.”
“Whaaaat? What do you mean?” the students cried? The professor responded, “I hired that man to get dirty, break a whiskey bottle, put a little ketchup on his face to resemble blood. I want to see if any of you would do what Jesus taught us to do. Obviously you did not. Therefore, everyone of you failed this final examination. He continued, “Come back to class Monday morning and once again we are going to examine the meaning of the parable of the Good Samaritan. I’ll see you Monday.”
This is the parable, the young all-most ministers went back to class to review: Luke 10: 25-37
“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, “Teacher,” he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” The law expert asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite (a temple priest) when he came to the place and saw the man he also passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan (a person all Jews hated) as he traveled, came where the man was; when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him” he said, “and when I return I will reimburse you for any extra expense he has caused you.” Which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “You go and do likewise.”
That’s the parable the Seminary professor wanted his students to learn, know, and act on the meaning of it. This parable is called the Good Samaritan because all Jews hated all Samaritans. They were all considered bad... simply because they had left their Jewish heritage behind, had left the territory and intermarried with families who according to Jews here pagans. Since this Samaritan did the out of ordinary act of caring for someone who hated him, he was thenceforth known as Good.
I pray all of us as we read and discuss the Bible and especially Jesus parables, let us remember they are stories that tell us what exactly we are to do to live as his followers... be merciful and caring of all... not just those we already love.
Amen
Sermon, September 4, 2022
Tomorrow our country celebrates Labor Day, the last holiday of the summer. Labor Day began when a carpenter and labor leader named Peter J. McGuire thought American workers should be honored with their very own day. He proposed his idea to the New York’s Central Labor Union in 1882, and they thought the holiday was a good idea too. The first labor day was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 with a picnic, concert, and speeches. Ten thousand workers marched in a parade from City Hall to Union Square in New York City.
Soon after that first celebration, the date was moved to the first Monday of September, the day we still honor. In 1894, Congress passed legislation making Labor Day a national holiday. It is still a day to honor workers across our nation, but it is also a day to be with family, talk about concerns, and in labor unions to find better ways to support the workers regarding working conditions and salaries.
Most thinking people know that it is the workers who make America work, make America successful, and make it possible to support families and have the time to be creative. Other nations around the world still do not honor workers...rather they use child labor, long hard hours of work with little pay, and almost no regards for the workers themselves. We are fortunate to live in a country that still honors workers. So tomorrow is truly a day to celebrate and to be thankful for all our blessings.
The truth of the matter is we all work….we work every day. Even those of you who have worked your whole lives and are now retired. You have retired from one job, only to find you have many jobs maintaining your home, property and family. And if you are older, you probably tire more easily than you once did. Even in tiredness you can sit back and enjoy the job of having labored and provided. The main thing to keep you healthy and happy during your later years is to kindle or rekindle an interest in your God and his work. Prayers are necessary for the prayer and the prayee. Our nation needs prayers. Our community needs prayers, our families and friends need prayers. So, like any other “job” make prayer a daily labor that is both joyful and productive. It is a call to live well, to keep a bright and joyous attitude, and to stay as healthy as possible. One way to look at a life-time job of living is to realize when you stop living at work, start working at living. Be nice. Stay young at heart, kind in spirit, and enjoy what each day brings.
Theodore Roosevelt said, “the greatest gift life has to offer is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing.” Living joyously no matter what is a work worth doing. Several agencies, work advisers, and theologians agree. Together they have compiled a list of principles about work, work ethics, and God’s own involvement in work. God himself worked….He worked six days creating all that exists, then on the seventh day he rested. That is still a good plan that many of us follow.
Meaningful work, or meaningful activity, plays a major role in being a human being...whether paid or volunteer. Work is healthy for us. It teaches us to plan ahead and implement the plans we make. Work of all kind is valuable and necessary for the world to continue to exist... as God planned.
Many people consider work a hardship or a drudgery. Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Yet, work is part of living a fulfilling life. It is important for each of us to find satisfaction in work whether it is running a huge corporation or washing dishes after dinner. How we approach work makes a difference in how we live, our attitude about our time and energy, and self-esteem. It all matters.
Work is necessary. People work to earn money to provide the necessities for their families; they work to provide a quality of life for themselves through the satisfaction of doing a job well, and also work, your work, serves God by helping maintain a safe and healthy environment for all humans.
Work also calls us to be obedient. Whether our boss is watching or not, we are to give our very best to the job at hand. If we don’t, we begin to lose the feeling of satisfaction that is so important to our mental and emotional health.
Working and doing well at your work is also a service to our God and our own spiritual growth. Most people need to work at something to feel part of the general body of life with God himself being the ultimate one to please. Without that connection we are less than we can be.
It is a proven fact that when we strive to become better than we are, everythig around us becomes better too.
There seems to be too many young people today who avoid work; many prefer to live by government handouts than to know the real joy of labor, the thrill of doing a good job, and the better rest at night knowing you have contributed to the overall success of your own family. If you have an opportunity to advise young people, encourage them to work and to find success and joy in a job well done.
Let’s close this morning with this thought: “Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can not buy more hours. Scientists can not invent new minutes. And you can not save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” Denis Waitly
Let’s agree that as each day approaches we will greet it with enthusiasm, fill it with worthy work, be blessed by knowing the joy of your labor, and most importantly whatever job it is, God is your boss, your overseer, your encourager, and your strength.
In his name, Amen
Sermon, September 11. 2022
Twenty one years ago this morning, America was attacked by foreign enemies. Flying planes into tall buildings killed more then 3000 working Americans and injured thousands more. In fact some say that attack injured the soul of America.
Several things occurred as a result of that horrifying event. Almost immediately people across our nation began rebuilding their faith. They returned to church and sought to be nearer to their God. Many felt that’s where their safety was.
At the same time Americans began to doubt...perhaps more than ever before. Questions flowed. Are we safe? Will there be other attacks on us? Does our government really know how to protect us? And, what can I do?
Faith and doubt walk hand in hand.
We believe in a caring God...that’s why we come here on Sundays and Tuesdays to express our faith and to give thanks to God, and to each other for love and tenderness. Yet, we doubt. Doubt can be useful and spiritually healthy when a thinking person takes doubts and turns them into questions to ask. Questions are the very gift we need because in pursuit of the answers to our questions our faith can be rekindled!
Benjamin Jowett, a Victorian professor at Oxford University in England, was a translator of many of St. Paul’s stories and lessons. Through his own studies, he taught his students that doubt comes in at the window when inquiries and questions are denied at the door.” Unfortunately, many churches close their doors to doubt and thereby might spiritually injure their congregants. Look at a verse in our reading today: the Israelites complained and griped constantly. They had no food. Moses was probably at his wit’s end with the constant negativity and doubt from his people. But God said to Moses: “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them “at twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”
The next morning quail and manna filled the camps of the Israelites.
Most of us grumble and complain at times. Some ministers condemn us for complaints and criticisms. I don’t think we should overdo our complaining or expressing our dissatisfaction forever, but I do believe we should not be made to feel sinful or wrong for our feelings and disappointments. I believe the verse we just re-read showed God does care for his people and responds to real needs.
God does look after us and tends to us. While unceasing complaints show a real lack of faith, the occasional fear and occasional doubt will occur. God who is with us and will remain with us will not deal harshly with us because of doubt...rather God will respond to us in love and mercy.
Even when we doubt and complain, even then, God deals with us with tenderness, love, and care.
At times there are stresses in our lives when we fear and doubt. Often it is the doubt itself that is answered by divine understanding and grace. Stresses do not make it wrong to question God. Through prayer and conversation with God we can tell God our deepest feelings and even our worst fears knowing they will be heard, understood, and met with a power of grace and peace. God will always provide us with what we need here and now, yet he is open for future questions and discussions. Trust God with your faith and your doubt. He created both and placed them in you. For one reason only. To help you know his grace, his wisdom, and his favor.
What an amazing and wise God we have. I pray as believers we will grow to be more like our God. We can be so when we stop judging and start living with understanding and patience...with ourselves and with others.
As we remember of the crisis of September 11, 2001, and the many current world crises, of course we doubt. We ask who is really in charge? What is being done to further world peace? What can we as believers do to make life better in our own community that might lead to less angst, less violence, less stress and much more peace and understanding? We are here to represent our holy and gracious God, and to do so with enthusiasm and grace.
So...Are you willing to try to change doubts into questions which can lead to faith? Are you willing to take the faith you have and share it with people who need more of it? Those are questions we as Christians must ask and answer. Blessings to each one of you as your faith grows and brings comfort and peace to you and yours. Pray fervently for those who choose to live with doubt rather than seek faith in God’s grace and wisdom. Are you one of those?
Amen
Sermon, September 18, 2022
Our scripture today, Psalm 138, is one person’s individual hymn of thanksgiving. This single voice of King David praises God for goodness, evidently thanking God for delivering him from some hardship or uncomfortable situation. Actually, David sings his thanks to God and does so in the presence of 3 different groups: gods, kings of the earth, and enemies. In this song David addresses God directly.
The power of this psalm is that it celebrates the name of God, the steadfast love, faithfulness, and intimate care of God in all the different places in which we might find ourselves...in sanctuaries of safety, in our chaotic social, political and economic world, or in our daily trials and troubles. David reminds the faithful that their God is a God who remembers and cares, their God is a God worthy of worship, and their God is a God above all gods.
Through this psalm we become aware of how close David feels to our Almighty God...it’s like they have a special and personal relationship for which David is grateful. David, like the rest of us, had to grow his faith in God, he had to experience God in his thoughts and in his activities, and he had to be able to relate his deepest feelings to God, like we do to a best friend or spouse.
Today, many Christians are thought Christians rather than acting Christians. Somewhere along the years of recent history, many people gladly give lip service to God but often do not follow up by acting on the love and grace that is ours to share.
By now, each one of us should know that God is not only outside of us as Creator of the universe and all living things in the universe, God is also part of our inward being. God is in every breath we breathe...therefore we can proclaim with truth God is omnipresent...always present. God’s presence is eternal which does not be later, it means timeless...his presence has always been and always will be. That in itself should provide enough self confidence for us to live life fully, abundantly, using the gifts, skills, talents and knowledge we have. God living within you, you as a temple where his spirit lives, should provide you with enough self confidence and courage to actively serve him by serving others.
Here is a question for you to consider: what kind of God do people see in you, in your words, and in your actions? I hope others see a kind, loving God in you and not a harsh, self-centered one.
God resides not only in you but also in all humans. God resides in the person you like least of all. Realizing God’s presence in people you don’t like must impel you to change your actions toward that person or people...because how you treat the people you dislike is actually how you treat God, whom you say you love. This is hard for us to accept and live with...but every unkind, mean, vindictive thought or word you have toward a person is also what you are saying about and doing toward God, because God is in that person or those people too.
Knowing that concept as truth, is there anything in your words and actions you need to change? Or want to change? That in a small packet is the basis of all the teachings of Jesus given to him from his God. We are expressions of our great and worthy God...but are we? Do we often negate the goodness, the blessings we do have by being unkind or unsympathetic?
God has given each of us a life full of wonder...yet, in this life some of us experience sadness, sorrow, illness, unthinkable horror. But God has given us a spirit of forgiveness and a strength of perseverance which helps us cope with debilitating situations. We can not let personal hardships diminish the wonder in which we live. In fact it is in the midst of hardships and loss that we are able to feel the true power of love from God shown by us...his people.
In fact, it is often through real hardships that we discover our true potential. There is a poem by Douglas Malloch. It is a metaphorical poem that compares good people to good timber. It is call Good Timber. Listen to his words:
“The tree that never had to fight for sun and sky and air and light, but stood out in the open plain and always got its share of rain, never became a forest king but lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil to gain or farm his patch of soil, who never had to win his share of sun and sky and light and air, never became a manly man but lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease, the stronger wind, the stronger trees. The further sky, the greater length, the more the storm, the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, in trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth we find the patriarchs of both. And they hold counsel with the stars whose broken branches show the scars of many winds and much of strife, this is the common law of life.”
So whether in person, in scripture, or in literature the truth prevails. That hardships, disappointments, and loss are part of being human….but under it all, and over it all, and in it all is a great a gracious God who loves, provides, encourages, and sustains. That is who our God is. That is what our God asks each of us to be and to do.
Amen
Sermon, September 25, 2022
Have you ever been in a place of complete, total darkness...a place so dark you can’t see your hand if you put it up to your face? If you have been in a place that dark you understand it can be confusing and might cause you to be unbalanced. I was in such a place a few years ago. My son Harry took me to a restaurant in Zurich called The Blind Cow. It was a restaurant run by blind people to benefit the blind people in that community. When we entered the restaurant, a gentleman took our watches and phones and said we could collect them when we left. We were led through three curtained off rooms to insure no light was getting in the restaurant. Someone, I assume it was a waiter, took myhands and led me to a table. I could see absolutely nothing. I was helped us to a chair. I could not see Harry so I asked if he was there with me. Yes, he said. I said, “I want to leave. I can’t take this total darkness.” Harry said, “Mom, relax. There are hundred of people in this town who live like this always. Just be patient and feel the experience. I could feel the experience but I could not relax. Food was served. Someone took my hand and put it on a plate, then put a fork in my other hand. I wasn't sure the food on my fork was entering my mouth. I was fearful, unbalanced, nervous, and uncomfortable. Lunch was finally over. Again someone took me by the hand and led me back to the entrance. When I saw the light I took a deep breath of relief. I wanted to hug the light. I still wondered what I had eaten for lunch. I looked down at my blouse and something like spaghetti sauce was all down my front. I looked at Harry. He had chocolate pudding all over his face. We laughed.
But on the way home, I kept thinking how many blind people have never seen a light. But they cope, and work, and live. I am in awe of their courage.
Many people have visual sight but are still blind to the hope and peace that we can have through faith. I know people who live unbalanced lives out of fear and anxiety. They wonder what might happen to them or those they love. They hesitate to dream the dreams of their youth so they drown their spiritual blindness usually in unhealthy ways.
I think that’s why the early church referred to Jesus as the light of the world. If anyone ever had reason to fear, to be unbalanced, to have no hope it was Jesus himself. He was in constant danger of brutality and eventful death. Yet he provided enough love and attention to the hopeless that many were able to carry on and become hopeful, productive, and at peace.”
I believe the early church did see Jesus as a light shining in the darkness in which they lived. It was that light that led them on. It was that light that gave them a balance between fear and hope. It was like the teachings and actions of Jesus, when remembered and acted on, led the way for those early Christians to have courage, to continue to grow spiritually, to have the wisdom to continue their faith walk, pass it on, and they did for generations. That is why today we have a church, a group of believers who worship God and live his love.
Jesus can still be a light for us. Like a candle we light when our electricity goes off. That light provides a way to move about without falling. Jesus and his faith, his actions to all, is a light for us to know how to live abundantly, how to care for one another, how to live joyously even when we don’t know what might happen next in his misled world in which we live.
Many times Jesus is called a light house to keep us from running aground and getting stuck in places we need not be. Many times Jesus is like a flashlight providing just enough light for us to keep going when we are not certain of where we are going. So, yes, Jesus and what he did remains the light for us believers. But the early church went one step further. In Matthew we, Jesus followers, are told that we are the lights of the world. We are not to be a candle and hide it under a bushel. We are to be lights, to know where our faith is leading us and encourage others to join the journey with us.
Today, people are nervous. We have inflation that hurts us all. We have the potential for an ever more encompassing war because of the greed and power of Russia and others. We are facing elections and are not sure who can provide the true leadership our country needs. There are so many unknowns that we desperately grasp for something certain we can hang on to to make life bearable. We can try many ways to provide that certainty but truly there Is only one way. To trust our God who loves us; to learn from our Jesus how to live fully in spite of fear, and to acknowledge the Holy Spirit within us to guide us in the darkest places we might find ourselves.
Today is the day to decide to trust God and worry less. To emulate Jesus and spend our days loving and serving those in need. To acknowledge the guidance available to us every moment of every day through the gracious, brave, seeing holy spirit.
It’s time we as Christians act on the faith and hope available to us and lessen the stresses we so amply live into. It’s time for us to be wise, to be fearless, and to be lovers of all God’s creatures….then and only then might we live to see future decades and generations.
I pray that light and hope will be who we choose to be in every circumstance.
Amen
Sermon, September 25, 2022
Have you ever been in a place of complete, total darkness...a place so dark you can’t see your hand if you put it up to your face? If you have been in a place that dark you understand it can be confusing and might cause you to be unbalanced.
I was in such a place a few years ago. My son Harry took me to a restaurant in Zurich called The Blind Cow. It was a restaurant run by blind people to benefit the blind people in that community. When we entered the restaurant, a gentleman took our watches and phones and said we could collect them when we left. We were led through three curtained off rooms to insure no light was getting in the restaurant. Someone, I assume it was a waiter, took myhands and led me to a table. I could see absolutely nothing. I was helped us to a chair. I could not see Harry so I asked if he was there with me. Yes, he said. I said, “I want to leave. I can’t take this total darkness.” Harry said, “Mom, relax. There are hundred of people in this town who live like this always. Just be patient and feel the experience. I could feel the experience but I could not relax. Food was served. Someone took my hand and put it on a plate, then put a fork in my other hand. I wasn't sure the food on my fork was entering my mouth. I was fearful, unbalanced, nervous, and uncomfortable. Lunch was finally over. Again someone took me by the hand and led me back to the entrance. When I saw the light I took a deep breath of relief. I wanted to hug the light. I still wondered what I had eaten for lunch. I looked down at my blouse and something like spaghetti sauce was all down my front. I looked at Harry. He had chocolate pudding all over his face. We laughed.
But on the way home, I kept thinking how many blind people have never seen a light. But they cope, and work, and live. I am in awe of their courage.
Many people have visual sight but are still blind to the hope and peace that we can have through faith. I know people who live unbalanced lives out of fear and anxiety. They wonder what might happen to them or those they love. They hesitate to dream the dreams of their youth so they drown their spiritual blindness usually in unhealthy ways.
I think that’s why the early church referred to Jesus as the light of the world. If anyone ever had reason to fear, to be unbalanced, to have no hope it was Jesus himself. He was in constant danger of brutality and eventful death. Yet he provided enough love and attention to the hopeless that many were able to carry on and become hopeful, productive, and at peace.”
I believe the early church did see Jesus as a light shining in the darkness in which they lived. It was that light that led them on. It was that light that gave them a balance between fear and hope. It was like the teachings and actions of Jesus, when remembered and acted on, led the way for those early Christians to have courage, to continue to grow spiritually, to have the wisdom to continue their faith walk, pass it on, and they did for generations. That is why today we have a church, a group of believers who worship God and live his love.
Jesus can still be a light for us. Like a candle we light when our electricity goes off. That light provides a way to move about without falling. Jesus and his faith, his actions to all, is a light for us to know how to live abundantly, how to care for one another, how to live joyously even when we don’t know what might happen next in his misled world in which we live.
Many times Jesus is called a light house to keep us from running aground and getting stuck in places we need not be. Many times Jesus is like a flashlight providing just enough light for us to keep going when we are not certain of where we are going. So, yes, Jesus and what he did remains the light for us believers. But the early church went one step further. In Matthew we, Jesus followers, are told that we are the lights of the world. We are not to be a candle and hide it under a bushel. We are to be lights, to know where our faith is leading us and encourage others to join the journey with us.
Today, people are nervous. We have inflation that hurts us all. We have the potential for an ever more encompassing war because of the greed and power of Russia and others. We are facing elections and are not sure who can provide the true leadership our country needs. There are so many unknowns that we desperately grasp for something certain we can hang on to to make life bearable. We can try many ways to provide that certainty but truly there Is only one way. To trust our God who loves us; to learn from our Jesus how to live fully in spite of fear, and to acknowledge the Holy Spirit within us to guide us in the darkest places we might find ourselves.
Today is the day to decide to trust God and worry less. To emulate Jesus and spend our days loving and serving those in need. To acknowledge the guidance available to us every moment of every day through the gracious, brave, seeing holy spirit.
It’s time we as Christians act on the faith and hope available to us and lessen the stresses we so amply live into. It’s time for us to be wise, to be fearless, and to be lovers of all God’s creatures….then and only then might we live to see future decades and generations.
I pray that light and hope will be who we choose to be in every circumstance.
Amen
Sermon, October 2, 2022
Today I want us to think about a topic that is probably not your favorite one to discuss. The topic is obedience. As adults, we think we know the difference in right and wrong; we know how we are to behave by obeying laws and regulations; and we really don’t like others to tell us what to do.
However, when you decided to become a follower of Jesus, you agreed to know his teachings and to obey them. We all must realize the obedience involves submission and surrender. We are more willing to surrender our desires and accept Jesus’ desires for us when we acknowledge that trusting God’s ways are better than ours. Do you acknowledge that supposition and live by it, or is it just something to think about on a random occasion or two?
As Christians we are called to do more than just believe in Jesus. We are instructed to follow his commands and submit to his authority.
Well, if we are to follow his commandments, what are they? We know Jesus was Jewish...he had a Jewish family and tribe, he worshiped at the Jewish synagogue, he participated in the Jewish festivals, and honored the Jewish temple. He knew from an early age what the 10 commandments were and he lived by them more enthusiastically than any other person we can name. So Jesus’ commandments contain the 10 commandments. How many of you can list all ten of them?
Let’s review for a minute. The first four of the commandments are how we should honor our God, the Almighty Creator God. Here they are: you shall have not other God’s before God; You will make no graven images or idols to worship, you will not take the Lord’s name in vain, and you will remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. How well do you live by these four? What other gods do you have? In other words, to who or to what do you give most of your time, attention, energy, and resources? Who ever or what ever that is, that is a god to you,
The next six of the Ten Commandments tell us how to live in harmony with others. Here they are: Honor your mother and father (meaning the family and tribe are basically your ways to survive!) You will not kill because we are to protect human life; you will not commit adultery because faithfulness begins within the family structure; you will not steal for everyone works and earns what is his. And this law is also the basic law of the society in which we live. You will not lie...don’t say things about others that are not true, because trusting one another keeps us safer and more secure; you will not covet which means you are not to want something that belongs to someone else. It has become a well-known fact that a person who covets may be led to break most of all the other commandments.
So how well do we act always on these commands? Is there room for improvement? These commandments of God’s were made to protect his people...and that includes us in the 21t century.
Jesus lived these commandments, but he also added others called the teachings of Jesus. Early on in his ministry, Jesus introduced a new standard of rightness that expanded on the 10 Commandments. You will not kill was no longer enough: Jesus required his followers to reject hatred, be forgiving, and even love their enemies. He asked for us to change our hearts as well as our actions. You don’t lie, steal or covet, rather you share with those in need. You don’t take revenge on anyone, rather you forgive, bless, and care for those who have offended you. Do we obey these, or do you ignore them?
Many people heard Jesus teach and saw for themselves how he treated everyone else, so Jesus hoped that would be enough for them to change their behavior by obeying his teachings. But he found people, some like some of us, try to skim through these without much thought. Therefore, he made it easy. He said, “ok, here is just one commandment...it is the most important of all. Because if you do this you will automatically live by the others. That one commandment we are to obey in every situation is: Love the Lord your God with all you heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Your neighbor is whoever needs you.
Just how obedient are we? When you exceed the speed limit on the highway, you are endangering yourself and others….that is not love.
When you drink too much and lose some of your common sense, you damage yourself and perhaps others as well...that is not love.
If you spend money on cigarettes, eat lots and lots of sugary goodies, overeat, don’t share your food with others in need...those are not acts of love.
Wanting something someone else has and trying to manipulate a way to have it is not love.
Cursing and using God’s name in the curse is not love.
Loving something more than you love God is not love at all...it is wrong in almost every way.
Wanting to kill someone, murder someone, is not love….but praying for that person and praying that your opinion of that person changes for the better is love.
Hoarding things you have is not love. But sharing a little bit to help others is love.
Downplaying your own self worth and esteem is not love...because you are downplaying God’s worth and esteem...remember God is in you.
We could go on and on. But you get the message. Or, do you?
Obedience is not a onetime thing. It is a lifetime of commitment to God and his mission of love for all.
When we do our very best to obey God’s laws and Jesus’ teachings, then we are living a life of faith...that in itself gives our lives meaning, purpose, and joy. This week, let’s each of us reconsider love as God defines it...how we treat God, others and ourselves. Maybe its a good time to do an inventory of our faithfulness.
Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy.
Amen
Sermon, October 9, 2022
Love Is All
Love is caring; love is an action. Deep, real love is sacrificial and makes you vulnerable. Let’s look at two stories in the bible that illustrate these truths.
The first one comes from 1st Kings 3: 16-28. King Solomon had just asked God for wisdom, and God had granted wisdom to Solomon. Shortly thereafter, two prostitutes came to Solomon. One of the women said, “My Lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, there was no one in the house but the two of us. During the night, this woman’s son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him to her breast and put her dead son by my breast. When I got up to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne”
The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son, the dead one is yours.” But the first woman insisted, “No! The livingng one is mine.” And they argued before the king.
Then King Solomon said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead’ while that one says ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’”
Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: “Cut the child in two and give half to one woman and half to the other woman.” The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king,”Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other woman said, “Neither I nor you shall have the boy. Cut him in two.” Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” That is both a deep feeling of love and love in action. That mother was willing to sacrifice her own joy and thrill in order to keep the baby alive. Real love is always sacrificial. When we do give up some things we need and want for a better good, we are acting on the kind of love God has for all of us. Terrible story, but a right moral.
The next story is about how deeply loving someone causes you to be vulnerable. The word ‘vulnerable’ means susceptible to a physical or emotional harm. This story is found in the book of Hosea. Hosea was a preaching prophet. He wanted a wife to love and care for him. God told Hosea to marry Gomer, who was a harlot, a prostitute. Hosea could not understand this demand, but he did follow God’s will and married Gomer. Soon they had a son to bless them both...the son’s name was Jezreel. Hosea was thrilled beyond words. But soon Gomer became restless and unhappy. She on occasion would stray for awhile and Hosea welcomed her back, even though he was sad for her unhappiness. They soon had two other children and again Hosea was content. But Gomer was not. This time she left Hosea and her children and told them she would never come back again. Hosea suffered. He loved her so much the loss of her caused him unrelieved agony. Much later, word came to Hosea that Gomer’s lover had deserted her and had sold Gomer into slavery. By now Hosea knew he had to give her up for good and get use to not having his beloved with him. He was vulnerable and devastated. But God had other ideas.
In prayer God told Hosea to go buy the slave woman Gomer and remarry her. Love her. Hosea set out to find Gomer. When he did she was ragged, torn, sick, dirty, disheveled, destitute, chained to an auction block in a filthy slave market..a repulsive shadow of the woman she once was. Can you even imagine Hosea’s pain. Yet he obeyed God, and paid 15 shekels of silver and 13 bushels of barley to have Gomer again as his. He remarried her, brought her home, forgave her and showered his love on her. That is an act of love so deep it resembles the love and forgiveness Jesus has toward each one of us.
We need to love like that. We need to forgive like that. When we fully forgive someone we will be released from the bondage of resentment that has been building a wall between us, and we shall be free to grow in all our relationships.
As Christians, we love and we forgive. Both make it difficult for us at times...we do become vulnerable and hurt; we do act sacrificially if we love….parents who have lavished love on children for 18 years only to see them leave, move away, go live their own lives...we sacrificed so they could have their own lives, and it left us vulnerable because the loss of them hurts and often deeply.
But that is God’s way. He shows us his own sacrificial love every day and he forgives every sin. Because that is who God is….all love, all the time.
Let us at least try to be a bit more like our loving God because he is wiser and kinder than we are.
Amen
Sermon, October 23, 2022
Have you ever thought about the fact that what you think of yourself may actually be what you think of God?.
That might be a difficult idea to grasp, or it might be a bit intimidating...because many of us know God is a wonder, a power, a source of love...and we do not consider ourselves in the same manner. Yet that is how we are made. Scripture tells us we are wonderfully made. We humans are the crowning glory of all God has created...and God has given us dominion over all other aspects of this earth.
Most alive creatures live and survive through inner instinct. Fish swim. Birds fly. Squirrels climb trees and run along the ground. Larger animals like deer, horses, elephants find habitats on earth to feed them and keep them safe. Each one of these living creatures can do only one or two things that are implanted in them to do mostly by instinct. But humans are different. We might have a few instincts, but we are generalists. That is we are guided by our brains to swim, fly, climb, run, hop, and have choices because we have a unique ability to cognitively think. Humans imagine, create, produce and construct...usually based on the potential to make live better for all.
Our universe is amazingly huge...we can hardly comprehend it. Yet our earth, as an important part of the universe, is the place where humans find their grace and glory. We are in a superior position on this one planet...and on this planet we are the best, the brightest, the acme of all earth’s creatures. You, as an individual belonging to the human family, are the best of all this is good, all that God has made. Yet, many of us do not feel significant, or majestic, or of having any power at all.
I believe the reason we do not recognize ourselves as such is because we dismiss the power of the spiritual aspects of human life. We seem to pay more attention to our material possessions and existence than to our souls. The soul is our connection to the sacred, our connection to God and to one another.
The science of botany that studies plant life has discovered that trees are connected to each other by way of their underground roots. It’s like each tree spreads its roots out toward other trees, on and on, until an entire forest of trees are connected and have become one. All together they are just one tree. In the same manner we as individuals stand apart, yet our souls are the roots that connect us to our Creator God and to each other, making us one in spirit with the purpose of enhancing life for each of us. We are one!
Our Creator is positive, wise, responsible, brave, loving, and compassionate. He has offered all of those gifts to us as well, but we must be willing to accept those gifts. And we show acceptance when we use those gifts. Our God asks us to enjoy life, enjoy living, enjoy the experiences of both joy and sadness...because only by having opposites do we understand the value of the “good.” So for us to enjoy life fully we must be in balance. Our minds, bodies, souls must act together for our own good and the good of others with whom we are connected. Acting on those gifts bring harmony, peace, laughter, and a sense of good will. We lose those when we focus on the material aspects of life...then we feel empty, depressed, dissatisfied, and we yearn for energy and love.
I think all of us want a quality of life in whatever set of circumstances in which we are living. We read or see on media daily the examples of men and women who have overcome unbelievable pain, have faced fear that paralyzes, have lost everything yet come out the other side to offer hope, compassion and love to the rest of of. Those are the real heroes of our human life. To walk through the valley of the shadow of death over and over again and still reach out a hand of hope, peace, and true living to others. That’s the spiritual life we all have when we choose to live it.
Spirituality is not just a life define by the do’s and don’t’s we know. Rather true spirituality is recognizing the holy God in each and every human and bowing toward that holiness in one another. It means forgiving completely the worst that has been done to you. It means offering hope when you don’t seem to have any yourself. It means listening to those in need when you would rather talk yourself. It means smiling at strangers, it means offering simply kindnesses to all you meet in any given day, it means stop belittling others and find something, at least one good thing to say about them.
It is true what you think of yourself is exactly what you think of God, and the more you belittle yourself the more you belittle God….and that is totally unacceptable.
Spend some time thinking about your own thoughts and actions. And here is the real deal. Every one of us can do better. We can be more helpful. We can be more attentive. We can be more caring. We can be more God-like...so to do those things let’s live by this motto: A positive mind finds opportunity in everything while a negative mind finds fault in everything. Let us be the positives in life!
We must be more positive in every aspect of life if we want to live into what God says about us: that we are wonderfully made and created in God’s own image. Let’s each one of us choose to do more to make life better for all of us and then energetically act on those choices. And may God grant us the wisdom and energy to do so...always.
Amen
Sermon, October 30, 2022
All Hallows Eve
Tomorrow is Halloween. The word is a contraction of All Hallows Eve which is a Christian day observed on October 31, the evening before All Saints day.
Last year, even in the midst of the pandemic, over $10 billion was spent on Halloween decorations, costumes, candies, and parties. That is $2 million more than the year before, and during the pandemic. Are those expenditures justified in today’s economic hardships? Just asking.
In the year 839, All Hallows Day became All Saints Day which Pope Gregory IV designated as November 1 for all church calendars. It was important to the church for people around the world to remember the Saints of the church and to honor them on a special day each year.
In earlier decades, when Christianity began to move into other regions of Europe, such as France, England, Ireland and Scotland, the Christian faith became entangled with some pagan festivals. In these areas, the Celts celebrated a festival of summer’s end called Sanhaim (Sew een) which also marked the eve of the Celtic New Year which was November 1. In Celtic traditions, like the change of one year into the next, were considered thin times when the veil between life and death thinned. On the eve of the Celtic New Year, spirits of the dead could roam around their previousareas of life. These ghostly meanderings often caused trouble for the living, like ruining crops, destroying homes, for farm buildings. Therefore, the Celtic peole set out food and goodies o appease the spirits...hoping no harm would be done. They hoped by offering treats bad tricks would not be played on them...hence our trick or treat.
During the Middle Ages, superstitions increased and witchcraft flourished. October 31 became a potent day for spells, curses, and wicked incantations. Therefore, the more ominous symbols of that Celtic festival grew and included witches, black cats, bats and skulls. These images came to America throgh the English and Irish immigrants during the 1800s.
At the same time, Christianity was spreading. In each new area the church came face to face with whatever pagan rites and rituals were present in those geographic regions. The cultural aspects of the Christian faith began to place its own rites and rituals on the same dates as the pagan festivals hoping tomove the pagans into the Christian faith. However, just the opposite occurred. The pagan and Christian festivals and holy days became intertwined which added confusion and complexity to the simple faith of Christ which was to love, forgive be kind and merciful. The church’s intent was to counter pagan influence and provide a Christian alternative.
Perhaps now is a good time to take some time to remember and thank with great gratitude all the saints and believers throughout the centuries for keeping the powerful story of Christ love alive. To look back at the mistreatment of saints and believers, the horror many withstood to save the church and its belief systerm is to see courage unabated, bravery in the face of torture, and lives crippled to maintain a faithful stance. Do any of us today even begin to understand what history has done to our faith and its holy traditions? How many of us today would willingly face torture rather than deny our God? How many of us would even be willing to be inconvenienced to stand firm for God in the face of harm?
In truth, we are facing those questions today. Secularism is taking over Christianity at an amazing rate. God seems unimportant. Jesus is forgotten except as a curse word. Violence is the thrill of the day...is this what life is about? No, of course not! But what can be done?
What can this church do to preserve our faith and all its love oriented teachings? More specifically, what are you personally willing to do today to keep and preserve for the future your belief in a loving Christ? How could we ever live without love, compassion, and morals? That seems to be a choice we must make every day, and I pray each of us will make the right choice for self and others.
Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister of Erie, has spent her life helping others see the relevance of church’s that teach peace, hope, and justice. She once wrote these words: “For centuries the church has confronted the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we really often mean to say is ‘icon, hero, or star,’ ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human race. They give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves.” Please, take her words to heart and be a person of true greatness yourself, one who is willing to put Christ love first in your own life. The world needs you to be counted for God’s way, and for Goodness Sake!
Amen
Sermon, November 13, 2022
Every now and then, if we want to grow as believers, we need to take time to consider our faith...how much do we depend upon our faith to help us live loving, useful lives….or how little do we depend upon our faith? Those questions are good guides for us. How we answer them influences and directs our daily lives.
I like to know how other people or groups of Christians view life through their faith. Recently I re-read Phillip Newell’s book “Listening to the Heartbeat of God.” Newell, a teacher in the Celtic Christian faith, makes it clear when our faith primarily focuses on the “sky” part of belief, then we tend to be less motivated to act with faith and influence on earth. We sometimes neglect to realize God is an earth spirit living here now, within our hearts, minds, and actions, just as surely as God is in the whole infinite universe. When we limit God’s presence to the sky, then we cease creating newness with love in our own earth bound lives. The sky focus puts God out of reach for most of us. And yet, we continue to say and or think God lives in the sky, heaven is in the sky, Jesus ascended to the sky when our own Bible teaches God, heaven, and the Jesus spirit are here on earth within us human believers. This is one place they live and work for our benefit and to assist us in growing in faith so we can be the encouraging part of all that is good in our lifetimes.
One of the aspects of Newell’s writing that motivates me are statements like “If we are not challenged in our thinking and in our traditions we do not grow spiritually.” I agree we need to challenge what we know or think we know about God, Jesus, and us. Many of us out of fear, or misunderstandings, put God in a small box and seal the top. When we limit God we limit ourselves.
If we believe God is a living God, then we can have a refreshing, renewing counter to any limiting beliefs oriented in the sky. If God is indeed the Almighty, creative God then God is omniscient...everywhere all the time...up, down, around, infinite in every way, in every living cell on this earth and especially in us as human beings. To consider or re-consider who God is to us is a vital step in growing in ways other than physical, mental, and emotional. We are more than our genetic makeup. We already have the mind of God through the living Spirit of Jesus, our guiding representative of the great Over-All God.
In Newell’s book he tells us a bit about Celtic Christianity. At one time the Celts made up of many tribes, were the largest group of humans living in western Europe. Through many wars, the Celtic faith eventually rested in northern England, Scotland, and Ireland...yet its roots are still in Europe. The Celts thought the daylight sun was a god because the sun brought light to their lives. When they pictured god, it was a circle. When the stories of Jesus came to them through travelers, they became believers in Jesus the Messiah...the anointed one of God to teach the rest of us how to live loving lives. They incorporated the cross as their symbol, yet they placed the circle of the sun in the middle of the cross. All Celtic crosses have that circle in the middle of the cross.
The Celts liked and believed many of the stories of Jesus. They were told Jesus spent his time with sinners, losers, the diseased and the dishonest...he loved all people. They were comforted by the story that Jesus would leave 99 sheep to go find the one which was lost. They liked the story of Jesus rescuing the woman caught in adultery. They idolized his compassion when he cured the lepers that one one else would touch or even go near. They believed faith does contribute to one’s healing. They began to understand Jesus loved, cared for, identified and socialized with the lost, the wounded, the not too bright, and he even made some of those his disciples. The Celtic Christians clearly saw God’s passionate love for all people even when we act in hurtful ways. These biblical stories expressed changes in a person’s life. And the Celts were all about changing for the better. They counted on God’s natural world...the earth and sea….to feed and clothe them, and to keep them warm on cold and windy nights. They lived as people of gratitude knowing God provides all that is needed….they just did the labor to bring those natural gifts to their doorsteps and the homes of others. As the Celts learned and grew from other sharing a Christian faith, we can learn from the Celtic faith. In fact, all the belief systems that cherish the Jesus Spirit, whatever it might be called, have in common one vital aspect. The grace and love God gives us provides a way for us to come into a life-altering relationship with God through a man to whom we can relate...Jesus, the chosen one. God who created the unending universe, yet paid special attention to this sacred earth, is available to us every moment of time. Maybe God is waiting for you to realize how vital you are personally to our planet and our community today.
Gratitude is central to growth in faith. Think about it. How often do you express gratitude for the sun, moon, oak trees, green grass, singing birds, romping creatures who live in the woods and forests, and for your family, neighbors, and yourself. The Celts knew how to listen to the heart beat of God in their daily routines. Moment to moment gratitude is a key ingredient in Celtic Christianity, and it should be much more prominent in our own Christian lives.
To love, care, and forgive are essential ingredients to all faiths. All people need love and all people need to give love. One of my favorite Celtic sayings is this: “ There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” I wish we all could experience this in our own realm of daily living. All people are important. All people carry God within them. And all people have complete access to the power and grace of our loving and almighty living God.
If you don’t think about these things, please start doing so. A whole new wonderful arena of thoughts, ideas, and ideals may come to you to bless and enrich your own life….thereby enriching the lives of those you love.
Amen
Sermon, November 20, 2022 Thanksgiving Week
Thanksgiving. A day to be grateful. A day to celebrate with family and friends. A day to rejoice that we have many relationships to be thankful for; that we have experiences galore for which we give thanks. But when we stop for just one day to give thanks, what are we really thinking? For what are we truly, deep-down, gut-level thankful for?
I ask that question, because over the past few weeks I have listened intently to many people I have spoken to...some of you, and you around this room, seem to be grateful. You seem to appreciate your health, if you have it, your wealth if you have it, your families if you are close to them, your activities if you are able to enjoy them, on and on and on.
However, and there are always howevers. In the very midst of seeing and hearing gratitude, I hear complaints, criticisms, rumors, lies, crippling desires for revenge, non-forgiving attitudes again on and on. At what point in our lives do we realize we actually have a choice in whether to celebrate with gratitude or complain about what seems to be missing.
I remember in the third grade hearing about the first thanksgiving in America. When the pilgrims and Indians got together for a feast. I kept the image of that joyous occasion for years. I pictured in my mind a table set with flowers and well dressed pilgrims dining on china and crystal. Yes, I kept that image until I read the true stories in the writings of those who were there on Massachusetts Bay in 1621. The Pilgrims were a group of about 100 people who wanted to separate from the Church of England so they could select their own pastors, interpret the Bible they way they felt they were led to do. They had stayed for awhile in Holland still seeking religious freedom. They did not find it there. At that point in time they made the decision to sail to the new world...America.
Their arrival in the new world was not what they expected. In fact, it was a nightmare! A day after day of horror. Nothing to eat. No safe warm place to sleep. Many survived on salt beef and had scurvy because there were no fruits or vegetables. One half of the hundred who landed died horrible deaths before spring. William Bradford, the first governor of the new colony, wrote the colonists died 2 or 3 a day and the 50 or so who remained were sick, unable to work, leaving only 6 or 7 able persons to care for the rest of them. It was, they said, through the grace of God that the friendly Indians of the local Wampanoag tribe shared food with the Pilgrims that winter, helped them plant and cultivate corn. Without their aid, all the Pilgrims would have died. In fact, with the instruction the native Americans gave the pilgrims, their spring harvest of corn and other crops was amazing. They learned how to hunt with bow and arrows and were shown where and how to fish in the native way.
Here is the amazing thing...here is the answer we all seek...in the midst of the horrors of life, the loss of families and friends, near starvation for all, no warm clothing, no dishes, not kitchen aids, no medicines, the few who remained alive decided to have a celebration and thank God. Historical records report they gave a three day feast of food with a party spirit and invited Chief Massasoit and 90 other Wampanoags to the celebration. Against a backdrop of unrelenting pain and suffering, the pilgrims chose gratitude over bitterness! They chose generosity over greed. They chose giving thanks over self pity. These pilgrims did not deny their desperate situation, yet they chose hope over despair and life over death.
Here we are in Gulfport, MS, a small, beautiful place that at first glance appears to have healthy, happy people who have what they need and want. But just lift the curtain of other people’s lives for a minute and you see here too unrelenting sorrow, despair when single moms must live in a car with her children, or hundreds of homeless veterans who served our country so heroically live in woods, and on the beach, and on any bench they can find because they have no cure for the real suffering they experience. Look at the wasted lives of our young people who drop out of school and choose to join the drug community, thereby ruining their chances at a future, or a good job, a healthy family, and a successful life. Look at the little ones in our public schools who fail at such an early age because our system of governing does not allow daddies to live in the homes of mothers on different kinds of welfare. It takes two to successfully raise and encourage children. And that state of being for children in our community does not exist to the extent it must. How will we ever, ever, ever recover lost lives that live among us every day.
We may not have political, social, or economic solutions. But we always have spiritual ones. We can choose to care. We can choose to pray. We can choose to spend three or four minutes a day in genuine momts of gratitude for what we do have and the access we do have to godly solutions...and those solutions always involve reaching out in love, compassion, and fellowship.
We don’t need just one day of Thanksgiving. We need a few minutes every single day of our lives to stop thinking about anything at all except gratitude. My prayer is that those moments of gratitude will lead us to courage, conviction, and actions to take every day by doing one thing to help, or assist at least one other person….and above all, may those moments of gratitude replace our emphasis on complaints, criticisms, and negativity with deep appreciation to God for life and the hope of love.
Spend just a few minutes each day thinking about Jesus who had no personal wealth at all yet had God’s wealth of wisdom, grace, and love. He made a difference to people from every walk of life every day. His teachings are still alive and those great messages tell us we too can and must make a difference to people in need, even when we are in need as well.
With intention we must look beyond the tiny spot of land on which we live and experience our lives. We need to look beyond ourselves and act on loving self and others everyday, as a primary way to live the hours God has given us. Then and only then will we experience the kind of peace Jesus did even in the midst of pain, suffering and disappointment. We can do better. We must do better one day at a time, one act at a time.
This week of Thanksgiving, make the decision to be grateful. To speak words of thanks, and mean them. Grand blessings flow when you have and act on the attitude of gratitude.
Let’s encourage each other to do so more often and with more faith and conviction. If we do so ww will definitely please our gracious God and perhaps even ourselves.
Amen
Sermon, Sermon, November 27, 2022
First Sunday in Advent
In our church calendar, today is the first Sunday of Advent. What do we mean by Advent? The word “advent” means “coming.” It also means “adventure.” In out faith tradition, which is Christian, Advent means the coming of the adventure of the Christ Spirit in our lives to help us build the Kingdom of God on earth.
Scripture often seems conflicted about the two comings of the Christ Spirit: the one at his birth here on this earth, and athe other one when he returns to bring peace. Some parts of the Bible seem to teach the time of that second coming is unknown, yet we must be ready for it whenever it does come. How are we to do this, that is be ready for the adventure of Christ in us.
People who focus on the end of the world believe that some future day the Christ Spirit will descend from the sky to bring in a regime of peace. They believe they must live godly lives in order to be part of that future kingdom that some call “heaven.”
However, many biblical scholars teach by reading the original Hebrew, Greek, and Latin versions of scripture, that second or future coming of the Christ Spirit is available to us today. It is available for us if we choose to invite the Christ Spirit to live in and through us NOW. Now, because in God’s timelessness, Now is eternal, now is eternity.
To be fair, if we seriously read Matthew’s scripture, there seems to be a sense of dread in the passage, almost a sense of futility, which is the opposite of hope! So, what’s going on here? Let’s look to understand: the reading about the flood that Noah survived devastated the earth and nearly all who lived on it. That sounds threatening. But that is not Matthew’s point. Remember God vowed after the flood to never again destroy the world, at least not by water. That’s why traditionally the rainbow in the sky is a reminder of that promise. That is hopeful. In Matthew’s scripture, the coming of the Son of Man, another way to speak of Christ, is compared to the flood because people refused to heed Noah’s warning...therefore they suffered the consequences. Matthew is telling us not to make the same mistake. This scripture encourages humans, past, present and future, to choose to live by Jesus’ love and forgiveness, grace and mercy, in order to live in that kingdom of peace today! What an amazing gift that is to us. We do not have to wait until we die to enter that kingdom...it is here now.
Matthew states God’s natural order of the world created the flood, but we humans will be the perpetrators of our own destruction if we refuse to live into the glory God offers us today.
In an act of true faith in his human creations God gives us humans the responsibility for spiritual living. God is not threatening us, rather he says because He made us, we are strong and capable...able to live into the glory that is available now. We must pray, believe, hope that is true of us...yet that glory is still what many people are waiting for after they die. If we truly desire peace and joy in our lives today, we must swap our selfish desires for unselfish desires. We must give up our self centeredness for other-centeredness. Why do we procrastinate and choose a worldly life full of pitfalls rather than an adventuresome, spiritual life? We each must answer that question and better now than later. If we say “yes, Lord, I want to be involved in the adventuresome coming of Christ into my life today” then we have access to the strength, assurance, and power of a merciful, loving, forgiving God at all times. That is life changing for the better. It’s an opportunity we must now miss. Therefore, choosing God’s way is something each of us must seriously consider.
I leave this question for you to ponder this week: What if our sacred God of all is waiting for your decision about your own spiritual growth? About giving God top priority in your life now? Maybe this Advent can be a renewing for you to be all you are meant to be in this world and what ever lies beyond it? Jesus says “Come to me and come now...be a co-creator with me of our spiritual universe.
I pray, we all say “yes” to God and “no” to the things that distract us from loving, giving, and forgiving.
Amen
Sermon, December 4, 2022
Faith
The Advent topic today is faith. Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” That could mean a lot of different things to us, so I like to think of faith as a sense of inner well-being no matter what happens to us on the outside of us.
Faith is an attitude that ultimately everything will be ok. Or faith could be a belief that God and Jesus’ teachings will make us right and whole because God is still omnipotent.
And faith can be actions. You persevere in spite of failures. When you fail or get knocked down you try again, you get up and keep going.
We all have some measure of faith or we would never get out of bed. When we awaken we have faith that there is still a floor under us and a roof over us. If we get in our car we have faith we will get to our destination safely. If we try a new venture we have faith that with hard work and God on our side we will be successful. All of those statements are true. But often, because we can’t see faith or feel faith, we have to depend upon our experiences to know faith works and how to live a life of faith.
To me, practical faith, that is everyday faith making the best of what you have, eventually leads to a greater faith in God, in the universe, and in yourself.
All too often when we talk about God, Jesus, the Bible and things spiritual, we sometimes don’t bring those concepts that are made to help us cope with life full of unknowns, into our physical being. We don’t apply them in the small moments of everyday life. But practical faith is something we all need to use.
I want to share a story of faith that has influenced me for over 55 years. In the early 1970’s the youth court Judge Sempski asked me to start a school for dropouts who were delinquents and therefore wards of the court. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I said ok. He gave me keys to an abandoned school. The Judge appointed a young woman to assist me. Our first day of school we met with 21 male and female juvenile delinquents who lived up to their identities. They were riotous, loud, did not want to sit down nor open any book. They pushed, shoved, cursed and fought. I looked at my assistant and she shrugged her shoulders.
As a last minute effort, I shouted at them, these words, “I need a strong student leader to help me!” Three boys rushed at me and each one said, ME, ME, ME. One was Ira, handsome young black man who stood about 6’4’, another was Donny Ray, a shorter version of Ira, and then there was Paul, a way too skinny young white boy who stuttered. I looked at all three and said, “Each one of you go select six students to be in your team. You will be their coach and teacher. After and hour or two of complaints, whining, fist fighting and books thrown across the room, the students became silent and we started the school. Ira was an immediate hero. What he said got done. Donny Ray was a clown and he controlled his team with humor, some of it off color. And Paul ended up with all the six girls in the class.
Over the following days, I heard the history of each of these young men. Let me tell you about Donny Ray. He was born right here on Hewes Avenue in a house kinda behind the little store that’s there now. He was the oldest child of a single mother and he had 3 young siblings. Donny Ray had been successful in schools for 10 years through his athletic ability and his laughter. He controlled playgrounds. When little leagues stated he was the best ball hitter, the best runner in football, but he excelled in track. As a tenth grader he won whatever track event he entered. The coach was thrilled.
According to Donny Ray’s story, one day in the hall at school two large white football players tripped him and he fell. Then one of them kicked him in the stomach. Donny Ray got up and both of the boys hit him. Donny Ray hit back. The football players were given detention, Donny Ray was expelled and sent to the Youth Court. I asked him if he was angry. He said, “No. Not angry. Its just the way life is.” I asked, “Then why did you hit them?
He laughed and said, “I shouldn’t have hit them back but I didn’t want them to ruin this handsome face I got so I defended myseff. I kinda good lookin’ don’t cha think?” And he was.
I said, “Donny Ray, you are a natural leader. We need to get you back in school. You can be a success in life. If you continue in track you might get a college scholarship.”
“Teacher, I already a success. I can live with myself no matter who does what to me.”
I replied, “So, you are a young man of faith.”
“Faith? Not sure what you mean.”
“It’s like trusting God to make things all right when the time is right.”
“I don’t know God and we shore enuf are not good friends, but my granmaw on my side. She say she know God an if you get angry your muscles cry. I don’t get mad.
“How do you deal with things in life that don’t go your way?”
He thought for a minute then said, “Take a day with what it bring and smile at it, least as long as you got shiny teeth. And I do.” He stayed in the drop out school and became an even more influential leader. The student that I nor the assistant could handle, we turned over to Donny Ray. He was my personal hero.
Toward the end of the school year Donny Ray made another mistake. He got in a car with a wrong group of older men who robbed a 7/11 and Donny Ray went to jail. I visited him. One day I took him a book and some cookies. The jailer said he could have the cookies but could not have the book.” I asked why?” He said, “Just jail policy.” I visited Donny Ray often. And one day he said, ‘You know that thing you asked me about faith?
“Yes, I remember.”
“Well, I think I got that. I a leader in this jail cell. I’m teaching these dudes to smile all the time no matter what and then we just bust out laughing. Not a bad life. Teacher, thanks for puttin’ a name to what I got. I got Faith.”
Then more seriously, Donny Ray told me he was being moved to another prison out of town. I never heard from him again. I did inquire but to no avail. For me, what Donny Ray had was a gift from his God whom he knew through his grandmother...and the gift was practical faith. He would make it through life with three gifts he knew he had...a smile, a sense of humor, and no anger.
I have thought of him through the years and I have tried in many situations to let anger go and smile instead...When I can do that it gives me a sense of inner well being no matter how difficult the situation might be. I highly recommend that each of us identify a God-given gift we have so that we too can act with kindness and joy and smiles no matter what the occasion or how difficult the time. That is practical faith...and its worth more than all the gold on earth. Practical faith leads to greater faith in every other way.
Advent is a time to live our gifts...may each of us live the gift of faith more often and more abundantly.
Amen
Sermon, December 11, 2022
Third Sunday of Advent:Joy
Today is the Sunday of Joy. Doctors and Social Scientists tell us there are three levels of joy. The first one is laughter. Laughter strengthens immune systems, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects from damaging effects of stress. Laughter lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner. Laughter truly is good medicine. Then why don’t we laugh more often? Didn’t we use to laugh more? However, as a first level of joy, laughter usually only lasts for a few moments and is dependent on such things as a joke, a surprise or a happening.
The second level of joy is happiness. Happiness is not something you look for and find; rather it is a result of your doing something or thinking something that gives you personal pleasure, that gives you meaning. Happiness happens when you act on what makes you feel good about yourself. Happiness is God’s way of boosting your spirits for a longer period of time. We all have God-given interests and talents. When we use those gifts we usually feel a sense of happiness.
The third and highest level is joy itself. Joy is not just an emotion, rather it is a state of being. True joy is ever present within you; it is part of the divine in you. Joy is a sense of inner comfort and peace knowing you are an important part of God’s universe and it depends on absolutely nothing other than accepting the gift of joy as a permanent way to be. Joy is feeling a sense of comfort so powerful that you experience it even when bad, hurtful, disappointing events occur. This level of joy is actually your natural state of being because it is symbolic of God, the awesome God, abiding within you.
Let’s look at level one for a minute. Let’s laugh together. Our English/American language is funny. For example, there is no egg in eggplant; no ham in hamburger, and neither pine nor an apple in pineapple. Then there is confusion in our language: if writers write, why don’t fingers fing? If singers sing, why aren’t people who live called livers? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn[t the plural phone booths called phone beeths? And if vegetarians eat vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Humans? Then to make it more confusing, why do you recite at a play and play at a recital? Why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways? Or, when a house burns up we say it burned down. When the stars are out they are visible, when my lights are out they are invisible?
Since this is the Christmas season, look at some Christmas funnies: what do you call a child who doesn’t believe in Santa? A rebel without a Claus. What do you call a Santa who is broke? Saint Nickle-less. Why did Frosty the snowman want a divorce? He thought his wife was a flake. What nationality is Santa? North Polish. Finally, what do you call an elf who sings? Elphis.
Okay, so laughter is silly, fun, but healing.
Look at the second level of joy which is happiness. Happiness usually has something to do with how comfortable you are in your own skin...and that involves how you spend your time and resources, as well as how often and how well you act on your interests each day. In other words, what do you love to do? Work? Garden? Sew? Paint? Write? Clean house? Care of animals? Do yard work? Study? Travel? Watch movies? What you are interested in and what you do about that gives meaning to your life. It helps you feel you accomplish something each day. When we feel some bit of accomplishment our spirits gain energy and we are not bored with our circumstances or our lives. Happiness generally means you are doing what you came here on earth to do, or you are living the purpose of your life. Happiness lasts longer than laughter. It builds confidence, it helps connect you to others of like minds, and it helps you sleep better at night and live more abundantly in the day. Happiness is essential to human life...all human life.
The third level of joy is a state of being that provides a quality of life found nowhere else except in your relationship with the God you worship. As Christians that means following the teachings of Jesus….to love all of life, to care deeply for one another, to forgive all the hurts you have ever experienced, and to live each day with the fervor, energy, and compassion you might have if you thought it was the last day of your life. True joy is your connection to the Divine, to the God who created you with purpose and intention. True joy always involves loving and serving the source of life and doing so through loving and serving each other. Joy is a gift that has already been given to us...our task is to know, accept, and live it. Divine joy is a positive choice, choosing life in all its mystery and splendor. It’s the best choice and I pray we make each day.
That kind of happiness sustains us so that we can smile, laugh, and feel good even as we sometimes cry, grieve, and mourn.
On this Sunday of Joy, let’s laugh more and more often. Let’s intentionally do what we were put here to do. And let’s love, adore, and serve out God with greater enthusiasm each day. In loving and serving are eternal blessings.
Amen
Sermon, December 18, 2022 Fourth Sunday of Advent: Peace
When we speak of peace what do we mean? Peace can mean many different things to each one of us. There is world peace...that is a world without war. There is national peace, when people of various political beliefs might willingly work together to benefit our nation’s people. There is familial peace, that is peace among parents and children without over-reacting to rules and behavior. Then there is personal peace, that is peace within each one of us. That personal peace means a sense of calm at least enough to make it through a day with both responsibility and enjoyment. We all want each one of those different kinds of peace.
However, as Christians we want to know what Jesus meant by peace. Jesus understood us humans very well, for he was one of us. He understood our desire for peace...what ever that meant to each of us. However, he told us that many troubles would plague his people; nonetheless, he offered us hope. (John 16:33) Today, we as follows of the Christ, can be reassured that worldly peace, if it ever comes, will be temporary. But, Jesus offers us something better. The peace Jesus offers us, if we have a loving relationship with our God, is a harmony of thought and feeling that transcends any circumstances, and it is eternal.
Specifically, for Jesus, peace is not just the absence of conflict; it is taking action to restore a broken situation. It is more than a state of inner tranquility, rather it is a state of wholeness and completeness. Therefore, spiritual peace is not something we create on our own; it is a fruit of the spirit freely given to us by our Creator. This sense of wholeness is also a sense of holiness...that is we as a people are sacred, honored by God, subject to his rules that complete our joy and happiness. It means seeing ourselves and all others as part of God, as loved by God, and as co-inheritors of the earth and what happens in it. God’s plan for us, according to Ephesians, is to find peace IN Christ!
Toward that end we can contribute to peace. We should welcome our God-given gift to find a harmonious peace with all of life, and especially with all other humans. A guiding principle for that kind of peace has been well defined by David Beasley. He is he director of the United Nations World Food Program (UNWFP). That organization was awarded the Nobel Peace prize under the direction of Mr. Beasley. He knows a bit about peace. In his personal life he is motivated by Judeo-Christian beliefs, especially by scripture such as found in Leviticus 19:18. He teaches this verse which states, “Love your neighbor as your self” is better translated to “Love your neighbor as your equal.” He believes that translation and that verse should be the foundation for all scripture. He goes a bit further and states that if you love your neighbor as your self you can narrowly define that to exclude some people. However, if you love your neighbor as an equal, the context is broadened and it represents the image of God in all of us….each and everyone of us.
He presented this concept at a conference in Harding University in Arkansas. He told faculty and students the way you change the world is through personal relationships. He then asked his audience this important question: “When you look at your life, what is the EVIDENCE of your faith and the peace that comes from your faith? That is a question each of us should ask and answer about ourselves.
Perhaps in guiding us to the right, correct, holy answer we might remember that to be and live in-Christ and Christ in us is the plan God put in place when he created humans in his image. When we live in-Christ we live and thrive in the undeserved love that God offers us.
On this earth, believers who worship together, like us here today, are to be a beloved community. Our purpose, as we live in-Christ, is to share love among us. Then we have the spiritual power and wisdom to reach beyond our comfort zones to share love with those who, by evidence of their lives, need to experience love. Those less fortunate than us need to be loved by you and me...for we claim to know Christ and to live-in Christ. What is the evidence of that love we give?
If we indeed want peace we must know it comes only through our relationship with Christ who taught us how to love. Love and peace go hand in hand. One strengthens the other in a never ending circle of divine energy. In a world full of chaos and hatred, it is essential we as believers live as peacemakers. Words from scripture teach “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” And, peacemakers share their love as evidence that Christ is who he says he is.
Amen
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