Feast on the Mountain

^{GIven at Sydenstricker UMC on October 5th and 6th, 2019}

^NIV Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." ²⁷ Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

^NIV Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. ¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. ¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; ²⁰ he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.

^NIV Isaiah 25:6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines. ⁷ On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸ he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

We come to this place and this hour preparing for communion. There is so much history and tradition within this service. So I thought I would start today with a little background. Jesus is in Jerusalem with the disciples and even though they are unaware of what is about to happen, Jesus, I believe, is fully aware. Jesus has come to this moment to set the world on a new path, to start a new church or should we say, resurrect the original intent of God. But on the night before all this will transpire, Jesus is doing something old, traditional and familiar. They are celebrating the Passover. Passover is the story of God’s unconditional love for the people we call “Hebrews” or “Jews”. It is the story of bondage and slavery, of being in the wrong place and under incredible oppression. They have come to Egypt 400 years before because of treachery and jealous emotions. They came because there was a great famine and they were hungry. They came because God wanted to reconcile a terrible act with a loving one, the reuniting of Joseph with his father and brothers.

Now they find themselves slaves for the Pharaoh, forced to labor in the heat of the day and to build the things that Pharaoh wants. There is a side story here too. Moses who supposed to be put to death as an infant has survived. Not only survived by was raised in the very court of those who wanted him dead. Moses, exiled now to the plains is called by God to come back and set the people free from bondage and slavery. God sends him back to Egypt and there he encounters some believe, the half-brother he grew up with. Pharaoh does not want to lose the workers so of course he says no. God sends plague and pestilence into Egypt that causes great disruption and harm but Pharaoh Stays the course and says no. God remembered that day when the Hebrew firstborn were killed. So God’s final answer is to tell the Hebrew people to take a perfect lamb or goat, to sacrifice it and place the blood of the animal on their doorways and lentils. That night, God sends the angel of death who goes throughout the land taking the lives of all the firstborn, except those who have the mark upon their doorways and lentils. This is the first Passover and the Jewish people celebrate this every year. Jesus sits with the disciples to celebrate this event and then changes it.

Jesus knows what is coming. So at the end of the Seder meal, Jesus takes the bread and passes it among them saying, “take eat, for this is my body given for you.” He also takes the cup of forgiveness and passes it among them saying, “Take drink of this, for this is the blood of my body shed for the sins of the world.” Sound vaguely familiar? It should, it resembles the Passover itself thousands of years before. What God did for the Hebrew people God is about to do for the world. Jesus sets up a meal for us to share with us what God’s unconditional love looks like that we might share it together until that day when we will share it with Him.

Communion is so sacred, so important that we have been celebrating this meal this way for over two thousand years. If you add in Passover, we may well have been celebrating this meal for twice that time. In the early days of Methodism, the circuit rider would appear every 90 days of so. Upon his arrival, he would share the news of towns far away or the village next door. He would baptize those who had been born since his last visit, share a sermon with the people and then they would celebrate communion together. It was and will always be a sacred event within our understanding. It is a mystery, we do not believe that the bread and juice is really the body and blood of Christ, but we do believe in the mystery that Jesus is present here with us in the moments when we partake of the bread and juice. We believe that this meal can be a converting experience for some and we invite all to God’s table, regardless of where we have been, what we have done and what iniquities, I love that word, we may have committed. God is offering us forgiveness, redemption and eternity in this meal.

I am a sacramental kind of person. I believe with all my heart that this meal is sacred and today we celebrate it across the world together in every nationality, every language, every culture and every understanding. Part of the sacrament is to understand that prophecy is important. God says it, and then makes it happen. God is right 100 % of the time. So in the Psalms God makes a point that the savior of the world, will be bruised, will be hurt, and ultimately killed for our transgressions. He will be suffer greatly that we might share in eternity free of the death from sin. Hear these words, The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; ²⁰ he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. HIS BODY WILL NOT HAVE A BROKEN BONE IN IT. When prisoners are crucified, their legs are broken to hasten death. But Jesus legs were never broken; He had already given up His life for you and me. So when you hear the communion message, we say that the bread is His body, given for us, because to say it was broken for us is to say He was not the Messiah at all.

I have shared this story before that some years ago a woman asked me a pointed question. She said she had been operated on some years back and had died on the table according to her doctors. She remembered that she was in a place where she could sense people she knew even though she could not see them. She was behind people who were clearly at a table but she was not allowed to come to the table. She was turned around and woke up in recovery. She wanted to know where she had been. Isaiah lived during a time when the people called Hebrew, had turned their backs on God. They had turned away and God sent them Isaiah to attempt to turn them back. It is an interesting read if you never have read it. In the prophetic voice of Isaiah, God lets us see that there is a path to redemption through one that God will send into the world. I love the words that Isaiah says about a feast on the mountain. Here them again: ^NIV Isaiah 25:6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines. ⁷ On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; ⁸ he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

With all my heart, I believe that this woman was at that table but because God still had work for her to do, she was not allowed the feast yet. Her story convicted me of the truth of this scripture and how God’s promises will be fulfilled in our eternal lives one day. This meal we are about to take is a foretaste, a teasing if you will, of the real meal that will come one day.

So here we are today, about to take of this wonderful meal that Jesus has set before us. But there is something important I want to share with you today. As you come prepared to take the bread and dip the bread into the juice and consume it, prepare your heart. What Jesus established two thousand years ago, what God put in place in Egypt is an opportunity to be free. It is an opportunity to experience God’s unconditional love in your life. It is more than just bread and juice; it is the gift of God that hung on a cross that we might spend eternity at a feast on a mountaintop. All you have to do is open your heart to God and be transformed by the power of love. Next month, why not invite a friend to come with you and share with them the story I have shared with you today. God’s meal is open to all. Come; be filled with bread and juice that you may never thirst again, that you may spend eternity without suffering or pain. Come, rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, even though as He says these words, He hangs upon a cross that we might be free. Come!

Let's start over

It has been a while since I posted on my blog and I am not sure who if any of you are still following. If you are it would be nice if you left a comment or two to let me know. My life is wonderful and complicated as a Senior Pastor of a mid size church in Northern Virginia. We have been growing steadily over the last three and one half years, from 207 average worship attendance to 297 as of this week. We Methodist are anything if not methodical. There is much turmoil in who we will be after general Conference in May and my prayers are that we find a way to stay united, even if we disagree on issues. The Methodist Church is my home and I love it beyond measure. It is a place of compassion and love, not hate and anger as some would desire. It is a place where all can feel welcomed, at least in the churches that I serve and have served.

I have received great love here in Springfield as I have throughout my now 19 years of ministry. I have weathered difficult people and situations during those times, no more so than in the last 12 months from a limited few people bent on stopping what I hope to achieve, love and welcoming for all. I will be posting sermons again starting with those from October forward of this year. To listen to them go to the Sydenstricker UMC webpage. https://www.sydenstrickerumc.org/, where they are posted or our Facebook pages. https://www.facebook.com/SydenstrickerUMC.

Again, if you are following I will attempt to post weekly if not more often, but let me know you are there.

Love you, Shalom!

Where do we go from here?

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 3/3/19

Click here for audio

^NRS Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the LORD came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ² He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³ He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." ⁴ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. ⁵ Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶ I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD." ⁷ So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸ I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹ Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." ¹⁰ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. ¹¹ Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' ¹² Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken and will act, says the LORD."

I love this scripture. Let me set the stage for you. The people of Israel had not loved God with their whole heart, had not loved their neighbor as God had instructed and for that, they were conquered and scatter to the four winds. Ezekiel has prayed for hope for the people of Israel and God answers that prayer with this vision. Some believe that he was in the Megiddo valley, the sight of numerous battles for control of trade routes and country wealth. There God shows Ezekiel that God is in control and that no matter what, God can reclaim and redeem. Can you imagine this vision? It has been recreated in a dozen horror and/ or science fiction movies as the bones take on flesh and live again. What Ezekiel saw, we will live into if we are both faithful and perseverant?

I want to share with you that I received this week a thank you card from our District Superintendent. He was thanking us for our fruitfulness and our tenacity to keep on going no matter what. He was acknowledging that we now have had three years of sustained growth in average worship attendance and two years in a row where we have increased the number of professions of faith/ reaffirmations of faith. Jeff was also acknowledging the growth in children, youth and young adult ministries in the numbers of growth that we have experienced. In the last year, we have been renovating the church with new air conditioning units, new heating/ AC in the Agape house, new carpet in the chapel, new paint in numerous places and new carpet soon to be installed in the Agape House along with some renovation work in the kitchen there. We have groups focused on defining and implementing discipleship programs in the church, more adult education and small groups than ever before and we are focusing our attention on how to connect with neighbor. All in all, we have been sharing the good news of the Gospel, the love of Jesus Christ with the world around us. I haven’t even touched the surface of the activities and mission we are involved with in our local community, El Salvador and around the world. My friends, as your Pastor, I am excited to share that we are church.

We have much work yet to be done. Many of you have listened to news reports, followed Facebook accounts or spent time following the General Conference. I want to share with you what they outcome of General Conference is as I know it. First, I want to remind us that we are called to love God with all our hearts, all our minds and all souls and then love our neighbors in the same way. Some of you today are happy about the outcome of General Conference. Some of you are deeply hurt and saddened. To both of you I ask that you respect each other with kindness, patience and love. That is what we are called to do. General Conference passed the Modified Traditional Plan. That plan keeps the language concerning LGBTQ as if currently is in the Book of Discipline and adds teeth to the accountability of clergy, Bishops and Conferences to uphold the Discipline. In some ways, nothing changed in who we are and how we operate. It did not address membership, which means that everyone, regardless, is open to membership in the United Methodist Church. We as Pastors cannot marry same-sex individuals and openly LGBTQ persons cannot be licensed, commissioned or ordained as it is currently written in our Book of Discipline. So in simple terms, nothing changed in the way we are allowed to pastor our churches or appoint pastors to churches. What did change is that pastors, bishops, churches and annual conferences that violate those rules now face stricter consequences.

General Conference also passed a less restrictive “I want to leave” clause. John Wesley in his infinite wisdom was concerned that we would become more enamored with our buildings than our mission. Therefore, he instituted a trust clause that says that property, buildings and financial assets of the church belong to the Annual Conference, not to the local church. If a local church no longer desires or is able to be church, then the property reverts to the Annual Conference. That trust clause has been upheld in numerous court battles of churches that wanted to leave the denomination. General Conference passed a less restrictive rule for leaving than is currently in place. Before you ask, I am not sure what the exact language is so we have a little sit and wait in front of us.

All of this is subject to a Judicial Council ruling that decides whether the actions taken by General Conference are constitutional in accordance with our rules and regulations in the Book of Discipline. That will occur April 23-26^th in Evanston, Illinois when the Judicial Council meets. They had previously said that parts of the Traditional Plan, this thing that was passed by General Conference, was unconstitutional. If they find parts of it to be unconstitutional, then the original, language of the Book of Discipline will stay in place. Therefore, we wait and see a bit.

So what does this all mean, really? It means that our denomination is continually going through the pruning and growing process. It means that as a church we are going to be inviting to some and not to all. That part saddens me and should you, regardless of where you fall in this issue. We will likely see some of our denomination split and go in a different direction. We may even have to make a choice one day, which denomination we will live in, much like our Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist and Lutheran brothers and sisters have already done. If and when those decisions need to be made, we will be transparent as we discuss and then discern God’s will for us. For the moment, nothing we have been doing and are currently planning on doing will change.

We are called to love God and love neighbor. Everyone is our neighbor, even those who we struggle to agree with, connect with or like. We are called not to be the church of exclusion but rather the church of inclusion and this decision, though it may be seen by some as exclusionary, is not. At Sydenstricker, our prayer is that we continue to connect with people of all ages, races, genders, and persuasions. Our goal is to follow the Gospel that tells us to love God with faith and trust in God. What we have seen in the past few years, is when we do, we grow. We grow in discipleship, we grow in numbers, and we grow in connection. If we continue to trust God, putting God’s will in front of our own, we will be fruitful. I am calling on each of you to trust that God can even take the dry bones and bring life, that God can take us and make us fruitful and prosperous. We are called to be the church that welcomes all. We are called to love one another. Nothing less is acceptable. Let us move forward in radical hospitality and love.