A Mountaintop Milestone

Sermon given at Grace UMC 10/18/15

This was a special Sunday worship as we celebrated the 100th birthday of Rose Mott

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ² May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth. ³ For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! ⁴ The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he;…⁷ Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. ⁸ When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;

Today we have arrived at a mountaintop experience. I suspect that many of you are like me and realize that this might well be a singular event in your lives as you help Rose celebrate her 100^th birthday. I thought it might be fun to spend a minute exploring the world Rose was born into in 1915. The third battle the Isonzo began today 100 years ago between the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Ty Cobb was batting 369 and had 96 stolen bases, Babe Ruth had hit the first of his 714 home runs and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series two weeks ago 100 years ago. Woodrow Wilson was the president and stamps cost $.02 and the 1 millionth Ford rolled off the assembly line. But for us, the most important thing today is that Rose Mott was born in Mount Airy, Maryland. The world has changed quite a bit since that moment 100 years in the past. People move between places more and more quickly, money exchanges hands around the globe as if there were no boundaries and we stand at the pinnacle of new technologies that will propel us into the next 100 years. In Rose’s days we have fought two world wars, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War. We have sent young people to the Middle East for several conflicts and some are still there. We have sent people into space, landed a man on the moon and sent satellites to the far reaches of the solar system. We have survived Y2K, Watergate and now will certainly survive the Clinton-Trump escapades. We have found cures for most of our childhood illnesses and learned much about the human body. All in the last 100 years.   

Our scripture this morning is about remembering. Remembering who God is and how God works in the world around us. Deuteronomy is one to the first five books of the Bible and is part of the Pentateuch. The Pentateuch refers to the first five books of the Bible. For the most part, both Jewish and Christian tradition credit Moses with primary authorship of the Pentateuch. These five books form the theological foundation of the Bible. The word Pentateuch means "five vessels," "five containers," or "five-volume book." In Hebrew the Pentateuch is Torah, meaning "the law" or "instruction." Another name for the Pentateuch is "the five books of Moses." The books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God's divine purposes and plans, and explain how sin entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God's response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into the character and nature of God.

God sends preachers to get us to remember. He sends events to get us to remember. He sends people into our lives to get us to pause, remember, and consider. People like Rose who reminds us constantly that the world will go on and we have to acclimate to it. God sends trials, pain, heartbreak, and difficulty in our lives many times for the sole purpose of pressing us to pause, remember, and consider. Rose reminds us in the articles in the paper that life is full of adversity and struggle. You can flow with it or fight it, but if you want to live to be 100, flowing works so much better.

Once upon a time there was a little mouse. The little mouse lived in great fear all the time. This fear dictated the mouse’s life. He was afraid of his own shadow. He feared what might happen to him. The mouse could not learn that fear was doubt. The little mouse’s fear made mountains out of molehills. Because of his fear he was very suspicious and weary of life. The little mouse wished he could be a cat, and then he would not have to be afraid. One lucky day the mouse met a powerful magician. The mouse was amazed to watch the magician work. The mouse went up to the magician in great fear and asked. Please, Mr. Magician, I am so afraid, if I were a cat I would not have to fear. Could you please make me into a CAT? The magician said sure, Abra-ca-dab-bra --- and the little fearful mouse turned into a cat. The mouse, now turned cat, was so afraid that in great fear he hid in the corner. The new cat saw a dog and the dog caused great fear. Later, the cat saw the magician again and said, I am so afraid, could you please turn me into a dog. I will be OK if I could just be a dog. So the magician said, Abra-ca-dab-bra, you are now a dog. The new dog was so proud. As the new dog ran through the woods, he heard a lion roar and in a great panic, fear caused the new dog to run. The dog was shaking in fear; he knew if he could just be a lion everything would be different. The dog kept looking for the magician to add his new request, for he knew if he could become a lion he would have no fear. Finally the dog found the magician. The dog barked to the magician, please, please can you make me a lion? If I were a lion everything would be fine. The magician said, Abra-ca-dab-bra, I turn you back into a mouse. You have a mouse’s heart. I could change you into anything, but you have a mouse’s heart and all you will ever be is a mouse. You must learn to be satisfied. You didn’t like being a mouse. You didn’t like being a cat. You didn’t like being a dog. You will not like being a lion. You are a mouse at heart.
Abra-ca-dab-bra, be what your heart is. And the dog turned back into a mouse. What is really interesting about all this are two important truths. One, that we are born with the heart of a mouse or a cat or a dog and when we focus on growing that strength, life is so much better. And second, even the mouse can bring fear into the hearts of elephants and people, so being the small mouse doesn’t necessarily mean you are without power.

So what great wisdom can we learn if we are willing to listen to those who are older than we are and have seen much of the world change? The scripture this morning raises the question, why aren’t we spending more time asking our elders about the world, about life and about the answers to so of the simplest but unanswered questions. They have figured something out or they would not have survived all this time. Rose will tell us to go with the flow. Face adversity head on and trust God in the midst of it. She has shared that great piece of insight with us this week in the two articles in the Post and Eastern Shore News. The scripture this morning says the same thing for us to hear.  “⁷ Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you.” There is great wisdom in spending time listening to the stories of our elders. Especially when they are willing to share the adversities of their lives and teach us valuable lessons in how to deal with the stuff when the stuff comes. And it will come.

I have some words of advice from those who reached that special milestone of 100 years:

• “Don’t look at the calendar. Just keep celebrating every day.”
• “Invest in quality pieces; they never go out of style.”
• “Even if you feel hatred, keep it to yourself. Don’t hurt other people for any reason.”
• “Don’t ever give up on love.”
• “Nobody else controls you.”
• “Make time to cry.”
• “Don’t be a cheapskate.”
• “Find your passion and live it.”
• “Learn to adapt.”
• “Take time to mourn what you’ve lost.”
• “Get a great education. That is something that no one can take away from you.”
• “I think [people] have to be curious. They have to be interested in life outside their little aches and pains. They have to be excited about seeing new things, meeting new people, watching a new play—just passionate about life.”
• “Don’t die too early.”

I want to leave you with a word of advice this morning. One, that God is the God of creation, the God of yesterday and today and tomorrow. That the message of God’s love has not changed since the creation of the world and will still be the same message tomorrow, the next day and the next. That you who believe have been given a special gift of eternal life to be used for the good of the world, to share insight and inspiration for the rest of us, just as Rose Mott has done over and over again. We are never alone and God’s love can penetrate even the most difficult adversity or obstacle to bring joy.

Rose loves music and she and I often talk about what it takes to get by in this life. So I want to leave you this morning with the words of a song from the Sound of Music. It reminds us that we cannot give up and we must continue on our journey, no matter what. But along the way we are to give all the love we can give.

Lyrics from the Sound of Music

Climb every mountain,
Search high and low,
Follow every byway,
Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need
All the love you can give,
Every day of your life
For as long as you live.

Climb every mountain,
Ford every stream,
Follow every rainbow,
'Till you find your dream.

Passover 10/4/15

Sermon given at Grace UMC 10/4/15

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^NRS Exodus 12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:  ² This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.  ³ Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.  ⁴ If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.  ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  ⁶ You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.  ⁷ They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.  ⁸ They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.  ¹⁰ You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.  ¹¹ This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the Passover of the LORD.  ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.  ¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.  ¹⁴ This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.  

This passage is one of the most important and significant events in the history of the world. A people in slavery pray for deliverance, a deliverer comes from God and they are delivered. That is the basis of the story that threads its way throughout the history of humanity. We see it played out on the picture screen, good versus evil with God holding the pendulum as it moves from one side to the other. And yet do we really appreciate and understand the significance for us? I attended my last year of seminary an African American seminary and it was there that I was stretched in unbelievable ways. For you see, we as Americans, all races and cultures have dreamed or lived the exodus story. Enslaved by ideals, state religions or just plain slavery, only the American Indian’s among us have failed to realize an exodus story. Why did the people pray for deliverance? Because ingrained in each of us is the desire to be free, to live our lives unburdened by the oppressive world around us and yet we also become the oppressors in the world when we gain our freedom and then subject others to subordinate roles. This story is important and significant if we are to understand the fullness of God’s love for us and the extent that God will go in order that we might enjoy the freedom we so often desire and cherish. So my questions today are what did the people pray for and did God deliver as he promised?

Here is where we need to make a connection that God wants us to make. Jesus is the continuation of a long story, a story that began with Adam, continued through Noah and Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David to this moment in time. What occurred in Egypt is the foretaste of life that we receive through the cross at Golgotha. When we take communion which we will do next week, we forget that connection all too often. That what God did for the Hebrew people in Egypt God does for the whole world at Golgotha. What God began in Egypt is fulfilled by Jesus on the cross. So why is it significant that they had to eat the whole lamb? Accepting Jesus is not a part time or partial thing. We accept Jesus completely or not at all. There is no fence sitting allowed. God loves us so much that God sent us Jesus as the sacrificial lamb, His blood flowing down the cross to set us free from death. God’s love given to us in a service that allows us both to remember and then participate in the eating of and blood of the lamb.

Passover was not an end, but a beginning.  It meant that the Israelites were beginning a journey to the Promised Land.  It was in many ways the beginning of the nation of Israel.  It was for most of them the beginning of their relationship with God.  So it is with us.  The Lord’s Supper is not the end, but the beginning.  We acknowledge our sojourn in this world.  By it we are made one people, the people of God around the world.  By the sacrifice it represents we have fellowship with God. Passover was to be eaten in haste, dressed for a journey.  The Hebrew was to be ready to go out and follow the Lord wherever God might lead them, even though they were under a roof celebrating a feast.  They were to have their garments belted for a journey, their sandals on their feet.  Passover was to prepare them spiritually for the trip that would take them from their homes, into the wilderness and then into the land of promise.  So it is with us.  The Lord’s Supper should be taken as if preparation for spiritual combat -- for such it is.  We are not here to relax in angelic arms, but to tighten our belts, put on our combat boots and prepare for battle. God will be faithful and we who believe will take on immortality and spend eternity with God. But it requires sacrifice and choice. It requires obedience and struggle. Take, eat, this is my body! Take drink all of this for this is the new covenant between God and God’s people. We are on a journey that God is leading.

This is the story of God’s deliverance. Moses had asked pharaoh, pharaoh had said no, many times. God had brought trouble against pharaoh in the form of seven plagues but pharaoh was unmoved. That’s how it is with the oppressors of the world. No amount of trying and political wrangling will move them. Through oppression they are powerful and wealthy. Without the help of the oppressed they are just as you and I are, simply people. Why do we allow the rich and powerful to lead us along in chains and slavery? Because we, like the Hebrew people are more fearful of the future than the present. But pharaoh was unmoved so God had to resort to a difficult decision. One that would not only allow the children of Israel of be set free, but provide them wealth and food to sustain them for a time. So God decides that for the faithful, he will allow them freedom and life, for the faithless, death. And he tells them to kill the unblemished calf, the perfect lamb that is among their flocks. To take the blood of this lamb and place it on the door jambs of their homes as a sign of their faithfulness to God And that night, the angel of death comes and takes the life of the firstborn child of all of the unfaithful, passing over the doors marked with the sacrificed blood of the lamb.

Was death a necessity? It appears that only death could bring about the freedom of the chosen people of God. But is it also prophetic? Certainly I am going to suggest that that is the case. How do we understand this scripture? Is this story a history lesson or as a teaching moment for our own lives? We must focus our lives on the future and on our own freedom.

When William Gladstone was Prime Minister of Great Britain, he was approached one day by the son of a close friend. The young man sought counsel regarding his career plan. First he explained to Gladstone, I plan to complete my studies at Oxford. Splendid replied the prime minister, and then what next. Well, Sir, I plan to study law and become a prominent attorney. Excellent replied the prime minister, then what next. I plan to seek election to the parliament. Wonderful, replied Gladstone, then what next? I plan on doing well in the parliament and being elected to influential cabinet positions. A noble desire, and then what next. Well, sir, in time I would strive to attain the position of prime minister. Well said, but then what next. When I retire I plan on teaching until I die. Gladstone said to him, worthy paths you have decided but what next? The young man confused said why I just die, there is no next. Young man said Gladstone, you are a fool. Go home and think your life through from its end. Gladstone understands what we need so strongly to understand. Death comes to all of us in time.

We celebrate communion today with the whole world as we celebrate World Communion Sunday. Churches all across the globe are sharing in the meal of God on this day. We celebrate the means of Grace that this time together allows us to enjoy, a sacred time, a time of God working within us through this meal that God provides and time to be in relationship with Jesus who is present with us. We believe that the bread and juice are not the physical body of Christ but that Jesus is here with us as we share these elements. We believe that everyone is invited to be a part of this service. We believe that Passover is the foundation of this communion service as we celebrate the past, the present of the Upper Room and the future promise of Isaiah that we will feast on the mountain. Are we ready to travel, do we have our traveling clothes on and are we ready to go where the Lord sends us?

Nature and Mission

Sermon given at Grace UMC 9/27/15

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^NRS  Matthew 28:16  Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

I believe that the thing that separates us the furthest from our brothers and sisters of faith in the first century is that we have forgotten our purpose. I believe that they accepted their commission and never wavered from it. I believe that they understood the message that it gave and what message they were supposed to send. And I believe that when we accept our commission and understand the message we can do great things. George Sweeting, in his book The No-Guilt Guide for Witnessing, tells of a man by the name of John Currier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, Tennessee. In 1968, Currier’s sentence was terminated, and a letter bearing the good news was sent to him. But John never saw the letter, nor was he told anything about it. Life on that farm was hard and without promise for the future. Yet John kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he worked had died. Ten years went by. Then a state parole officer learned about Currier’s plight, found him, and told him that his sentence had been terminated. He was a free man. Sweeting concluded that story by asking, "Would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message -- the most important in your life -- and year after year the urgent message was never delivered?" The young man knew better than the so called “man of God” about what his purpose was.

I believe that the nature and mission of the church continues to be centered on Jesus Christ, offering Jesus to all persons that they may know him as the Son of God and through him enter into the Kingdom of God growing in the image of Christ and witnessing to the world. The nature of the church is to be the sign of the reign of God, exists to be a redemptive community and to be the instrument of God’s presence by providing the means of grace in the offering of the sacraments, Word, order and service. The church is a foretaste, an appetizer of the Kingdom of God which will be fulfilled completely in the feast at the table of God on the mountain of God. The church through its worship brings the Word of God to the world and proclaims the message of grace, love and salvation. The church is, “a community of believers brought together by the profession of the same faith and conjoined in the communion of the same sacraments.”[i]

When someone comes into our worship service, from the moment they enter the doors, they need feel the very presence of God and the Kingdom of God.

We do that and we do it well. But what if we did it seven days a week and we did it everywhere we live? What if we gave hugs, showed genuine concern and showered people with love every day and every place in the world? You see the church is not the building as the song says, it is the people. That means that it is you that is the church. So we can share the very essence of the church, the very essence of God’s love with the world by reaching out into the world and loving one another. That is what is meant by the Go therefore in the scripture. In other words, do not stay where you are but go into the world. We are to be the message carriers of God’s love and we cannot do that if we spend all our energy in these walls. Jesus wanted us to know that we are being tasked by God to Go.

The mission of the church includes leading a meaningful, relevant worship within the church which relates to the community both inside and out through the use of a scripture based interactive and uplifting service. And in that worship we proclaim the WORD of God through the message and the grace of God with the Clergy presiding over the giving and taking of the sacraments. In addition to the worship service, the church builds disciples for the transformation of the world through Sunday school and small group study where we continue the study, discussion and understanding of Christ together in fellowship with one another.

We are told that we need to baptize. But this baptism is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that Jesus described to Nicodemus. It is more than just pouring or immersing oneself in water. It is the immersion of the Holy Spirit within us that we might share in the total relationship with God that God desires of us. Notice that it does not say go out and baptize. Rather it says, go and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, this is a total immersion of God surrounding us, cleansing us, and filling us up with the power and love of God. Don’t get this total immersion confused with total immersion in water. They are not the same. One gets us wet, this one gets us well. Jesus tells us this so that we know what is being asked of us in our own lives as well what we are to do with others. Anything less is unacceptable. If you give yourself to God, it must be a complete giving. Do you stand at the plate in baseball and give less than all. If you do you cheat yourself and your team. So it is also true in our Christian faith.

We are to teach ourselves and those who come to know Christ the commandments of Christ. Do we know what they are? How can we teach what we do not know ourselves? Jesus commanded us to Love God with all our hearts, our minds and our souls. That is that total immersion of God that we talked about. And then to love our neighbors in the same way with a total immersion of love that they might feel and experience the love of God. Bishop Cho has a saying that he says at every prayer and in most of his sermons. “God’s will be done, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else.” I think that sums up pretty well the idea of God filling us up so that there is nothing else but God within us. Jesus wants us to know that the church is about love. Our central focus needs to be love. Love for God and love for one another. Jesus did not exclude anyone in that message. He wants us to love one another unconditionally as God loves us first. That is the central message of the Gospel and the whole Bible. What Jesus taught about loving God and loving neighbor is integrated in the stories of the Old and New Testament. We are to be a loving people, caring and nurturing our fellow human beings.

In addition, the church is responsible for outreach and nurturing ministries to the community and the world. We do this through service ministries aimed at providing for those who are in need with an emphasis on eliminating poverty where we are able to do so, standing against social injustice wherever we find it and reaching out with love to those we encounter. The church has lost its focus as the center of the community and we as clergy should work to reestablish this within our appointed communities.

Our primary task is completed by receiving, relating, equipping and sending disciples in the world, found in our missional statement in (Matthew 28:19) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." I believe that the nature and mission of the church is summed up in those words, that we are tasked with finding those who are searching wherever they may be, building relationships with them in order to win them to Christ, building disciples through our instruction on the Word and then sending them out in mission to the world.

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do. "Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them." For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked -- "By the way, did you take my advice?" "How did it work?" "Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed." "Well," asked the chaplain, "How did that work?" The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest." 

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[i] Garrett, 2005/06, n.p.