Hope

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 11/27/16

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^NRS  Luke 21:25 "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶ People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."  ²⁹ Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; ³⁰ as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹ So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³² Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. ³⁴ "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵ like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

As I began to ponder this sermon the events of the last few days and weeks have imprinted on my mind important questions that this season answers. We celebrate the first Sunday of Advent today, a season of hope, peace love and joy. A season when we begin to act like Christian people in a way we should have been acting all year long. Charity becomes part of our makeup, compassion becomes part of our character, and joy becomes part of everyday nature. Now if I sound a little jaded it is because as Christians we should be doing these things all year long, not just at Christmas. To be fair, many of you are in fact sharing and caring all year long. Part of it comes from seeing God at work in our midst which always creates in me a questioning attitude wondering why people don’t get God. Why don’t people understand Christian behavior instead of being surprised by it? Why it is that prayer is not our first priority in life when God clearly wants to communicate with us? Why do people find it so surprising that Baptist and Methodist would worship together? Why are people so surprised that we would have a meal and give it away? Why do they put an “X” where “Christ” should be? Why are we so confused about the season, what hymns to sing and how to act? Why are Christians so upset about the commercialization of the holiday or respectful of others who celebrate their traditions at the same time as we do? Shouldn’t we be more concerned with whether that homeless man that came to the dinner has food today? Or the children we sponsor at Christmas, who provides for them during the year? Who gives them birthday presents and breakfast?

Welcome to the first Sunday of the season of Advent. Advent is a season of anticipation as we wait the celebration party of the birth of a King. Advent is a season of anticipation as we wait the celebration party of the coming of the King in judgment and glory. You see as Christian people we should live in a perpetual state of anticipation. After all, no-one else in the history of the world worships a risen savior. No-one professes their faith in a man who has died for us and was resurrected by God so that we can receive eternal life. So when we enter into Advent we should begin to celebrate that anticipation and share in its reflection on our lives through our actions, prayers and songs. When we anticipate the promise fulfillment of God, we live lives focused on eternity, not today or tomorrow, but forever and ever.

Today we celebrate the gift of prophecy as we anticipate the meaning of this season. I often preach on prophecy. Why is it important? What can it tell us? It can tell us several important things about God. First, it tells us what God is up to. God wants us to know what God is doing in the world and by giving us the future plans, we can have hope no matter how dismal the world around us gets. But many argue that we read into prophecy what we hope is there. So to counter that argument, let us remember that prophecy in the Bible is also past tense. And it is that past tense which gives us proof that God delivers what God tells us is the future plan. So much about the world around us in unknown, isn’t it great to have something that is set in a firm foundation for us.

We are tasked by God to make a difference in the lives of the world around us, right? Making a difference that lasts all year long. A difference that is evident in the expressions on people’s faces and the joy they share when they realize that your love for them is genuine and authentic. Like the expressions on the faces at a meal given to them because God loves them, no strings attached. Or the expressions on children when they open presents they hoped for but figured that Santa, like everyone else they know, was broke this year and there would not be anything under their trees this year. What if we had angel tree’s in February and provided hearts full of love, food and gifts. What if at Easter we focused on where their lives had emptiness and provided fulfillment of those needs. Or help them celebrate independence from poverty which holds them where they are by giving them educational opportunities to make a difference in their lives.

What is the meaning of Christmas? Two thousand years ago that light shone through the darkness and it tells us that the Shepherds were afraid. We are always fearful of what we cannot understand. Maybe that is why we cannot understand when friendship can overcome denomination, when prayer continues even if no-one comes and why the Greeks used “X” as their symbol of “Christ” so “xmas” is actually Christmas after all. And even though we cannot understand it, it still comes year after year. If they took all the nativity scenes away, Christmas with its special feeling, compassion and love will still arrive on time and it is a witness to the power of God, even if they find a way to disguise it. If we get upset that others are trying to push us out, let us consider that maybe they feel this mystical, magical power of God this time of year and they want a part of it even if they cannot find a way to truly understand it. Maybe by grabbing a piece of that mystical power, God can work within them to show them peace, love, grace and mercy. What we learned two thousand years ago is that God is supreme and God’s plan will prevail. If people are amazed that we can share worship, then maybe they can learn that while they focus on our differences, we focus on our promised resurrection.

I love the movie “It’s a wonderful life.” Just the idea of having a chance to see what the world would be like if you had never been born. The opportunity to see not only the good things you did but the mistakes you made and how they impacted the world around you. How the people you impacted changed the world for the better. All of these things would be wonderful to know, wouldn’t they? I am going to take a little literary license with an old favorite story of mine. You may recognize its source. My little friends say there is no God? Well Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the selfishness in this skeptical age. They do not believe unless they can see if for themselves. They think if they cannot see it, touch it and wrap their arms around it then their minds cannot conceive it. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s, women’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours we are a mere insect, an ant, in our intellect, as compared with the boundless world about us, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge. Yes, Virginia, there is a God. God exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound, especially this time of year and give to our lives its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there was no God. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginia’s. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, and no redemption to make our existence in this world tolerable. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.     

Not believe in God! You might as well believe that there is no tomorrow and the sun will no longer rise in the East. If you set about to find God without opening your eyes you will never find God. But that is no sign that God does not exist. Did you ever see bottom of the oceans or create the rays of sunshine that shine down upon us. Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You can take about the fabric of life itself, explore its DNA, determine the makeup that brings life into the world but you cannot create it or duplicate it. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside the curtain and view the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No God! God lives and God lives forever! A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten thousand years from now, God will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.  Remember Virginia as you hear those bells more loud and deep. God is not dead nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.[i]

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[i] Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and “Is there a Santa Claus” by Francis Pharcellus Church,  September 21, 1897, New York Sun

Await my Return

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on November 20th, 2016

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^NRS  Matthew 24:42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

"A Thanksgiving Day editorial in the newspaper told of a school teacher who asked her first graders to draw a picture of something they were thankful for. She thought of how little these children from poor neighborhoods actually had to be thankful for. But she knew that most of them would draw pictures of turkeys on tables with food. The teacher was taken aback with the picture Douglas handed in... a simple childishly drawn hand. "But whose hand? This class was captivated by the abstract image. 'I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,' said one child. 'A farmer,' said another, 'because he grows the turkeys.' Finally when the others were back at work the teacher bent over Douglas's desk and asked whose hand it was. 'It's your hand, Teacher,' he mumbled. "She recalled that frequently at recess she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child, by the hand. She often did that with the children. But it meant so much to Douglas. 'Perhaps this is everyone's Thanksgiving, not for the material things given to us, but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others,' she thought"

(Author Unknown, Stories from the Heart (Multnomah Books: Sisters, Oregon, 1996), 52).

Someone shared with me what would we do if the only thing we could have are the things we thanked God for today. What would they be? How empty would be the closets of our life if the only things we could have in them were the things we thanked God for. I share with people to pray constantly because we were told by our ancestors to do good, to do no harm and to pray daily to God. Maybe we could be more thankful for the hands that guided us when we needed to be guided, for the hands that held us when we need to be surrounded by love and for the hands that worked to provide us opportunity and growth.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt got tired of smiling that big smile and saying all the usual things at those White House receptions. So, one evening he decided to find out whether anybody was paying attention to what he was saying. As each person came up to him with extended hand, he flashed his big smile and said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." People would automatically respond with comments such as "How lovely." or "Continue on with your great work." Nobody listened to what he was saying, except for one foreign diplomat. When the president said, "I murdered my grandmother this morning," the diplomat responded softly, "I'm sure she had it coming to her.

Sometimes we spend so much time focused on ourselves or the big things that we miss the little things. How often have you been going up the road and remarked on something new only to have the person in the car with you tell you that new thing has been there for a long time and you realize that you had never seen it? You have heard me say this before that homeless people become invisible. We are so focused on the store we are going towards that we ignore those around us and have actually made them invisible to our conscious mind. We do the same thing with everything we don’t like in life. That way we don’t have to deal with it. But what about the good things in life? We do the same thing with them. We stay so focused on the things that attract our attention, like tragedy, violence and dramatic things that we miss out on the good things. A young man helps on older woman through a doorway and we don’t even register that a good thing just happened. Yes, I am generalizing as I often do but truth is truth. We do it all the time. So here we are in this week of Thanksgiving and we need to celebrate the things that are good in our world.

As we celebrate this week let us leap ahead into the Passion narrative of Easter. Jesus is looking into the face of death itself. He knows what is coming soon and in spite of that, He asks God to stand by the promise that all of humanity is given into the hands of Jesus. Jesus tells us that He has complete authority over the whole earth and all of its inhabitants, not just for the first century but for all time. Jesus is asking God to give us, those that believe in the love of God brought through the love and sacrifice of God’s Son, Jesus, to receive the promise of eternal salvation and life. All of this while looking into the very depths of Hell itself and death. What kind of love is there that can do this kind of thing? I suspect one that we cannot truly understand or appreciate. But this is exactly what happened and what we must be thankful for it. How can we ever repay that which is given to us freely and without strings attached unless we spend our lives witnessing to the grace and mercy of God? How can we ever truly sit at our tables or in our houses comfortable without thinking about the sacrifice that God has given to us? Thanksgiving is a time to do that very thing. Jesus is saying to us that He is ours if we are willing to open our hearts to Him and invite Him in. Will you, can you, won’t you?

Next week we will begin the Advent season. There are some things I want you to know. First and foremost, this season is all about how much you are loved. God loves us so much that God sent us God, in the form of a little baby boy named Jesus, who showed us how to live in that love and how to love when he went to the cross for our lives. Nothing is as important as that message and it is the message of Christmas past, present and future. God still loves us as strongly as that morning when Jesus came into the world to bring peace, be our counselor, our savior and our friend. No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done or how you’ve lived your life, God’s love never wavers nor leaves you. We Methodist refer to that as Prevenient Grace, the love of God who desires to be in relationship from the moment of conception until the last breath we take. No greater gift can or has ever been given than that grace which we celebrate on Christmas morn.

The second is that the world is focused on commercialism not Christianity. It has been that way since the beginning of time and will not change until Christ comes again. Even the Peanuts Christmas classic in 1965 discussed the commercialism of Christmas and who can ever forget Linus sharing the Luke story of Christmas for us. So we need to get over ourselves when someone chooses to have a plain red cup instead of one with Christmas decorations all over it. I understand that this year’s Starbuck cup is actually all of the designs of those who took the plain cup and made it special and unique. Actually if we are thinking, we should realize that the world is giving us additional time to share the true story when they extend the Christmas selling season. It allows us to touch more lives, to bring the message of love to more people because we have more days to do so. And “X” is the Greek first letter for Christos or Christ. So when the world makes Christmas, Xmas, they haven’t done anything to persecute us. Whether they realized it or not they simply accented the name of Christ for which this season is all about.

And finally, we live in a difficult time in the world today. There can be no doubt that there is more violence and bloodshed, hate and anger, than when many of us were young. The world is full of terrorism and hate amongst the peoples of the world. We saw it played out in throughout the world and in our own country in recent days. But we must also remember that there are thousands who have struggled in those places where hate originates and they are fleeing to bring better lives for their families and themselves. Is that any different than the story of the Exodus from Egypt by the people we call Israelites under Moses? Or for most of us, the stories of our ancestors who came to this country fleeing religious persecution, difficult times in their homes countries of Europe, Italy and the Middle East. Can we but take a moment and remember that if not for the generosity of this place we call America; all of us would have lived and died in places like Syria though the names would have been Scotland and Ireland, Germany and Italy among many.

We are reminded that we are a people of anticipation. As we approach Advent we begin that season of anticipation. People get nicer, friendliness seems to surround us and the sounds of the season make us better people. Jesus told us to look for the signs so that we might know when He is coming again. Truth be told, we should be anticipating His arrival whether He will arrive today, next week or a thousand years from now. Jesus gave us signs so that we might begin the work that needs to be done. That is, to share the Gospel of the Christ, the love of God not only with those who come into the pews on Sunday morning but every single person wherever they live.

Jesus said that as we see the world around change dramatically, the telling of the season when He would return would be approaching. For thousands of years people have predicted, without success I may add, the actual day of His arrival. Whether it was the Millerites who sold off all their possessions in 1843 and stood on top the mountain waiting for the return of Christ or the misguided prophet some years back who wanted everyone to know that Christ was coming again on May 21^st, 2011. Both were wrong by the way. Jesus said to us there would be wars and rumors of wars. We certainly live in that kind of world today. He said that the Gospel would be preached throughout the world and it is coming to that fulfillment today as we sit here among the pews of this church. He foretold of entire weather patterns shifting and of illness and famine throughout the world. All of these things are currently happening.

Paul wrote to us in 2^nd Timothy, ^NRS 2 Timothy 3:1 You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. ² For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them. The writer of 2nd Timothy is telling us at the end of the age, the moral fabric of the world will decline.

I believe that Christ will come when it is time. And none of us will know the hour or the day until it arrives. I also believe that Jesus if He were up here talking to us would say to us, be thankful for what we have, share it with the world around us and await my return with anticipation sharing the love of God with everyone so that when I do return, all will be waiting like the wedding party for the bride and groom. Happy Thanksgiving!  

Pray in Faith

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on 11/13/16

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NRS Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. ²² Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."

I want to share a story with you about an election that occurred. The followers of the candidate reveled in the wisdom they received when listening. They got excited about the almost revolutionary aspects of the message and how the candidate was going to change the establishment and the order of things including bringing women into their rightful place in society. They marveled at the way that the opposition pointed fingers of hate and exclaimed that the candidate was the devil incarnate, not the righteous person they knew in their hearts the candidate to be. As the election drew near the media of the day proclaimed the righteousness of the other candidate and drew the crowds against their beloved candidate. Day after day the two sides debated and argued. So the day of the election came and the candidate the media had swayed the people to vote for won. The other side was shocked and angry. They cried for hours and railed against those that had clamored for the other candidate. Out of their mouths hate and violence filled the air and they proclaimed that they would never accept the other candidate even though that candidate had been chosen. The media incited them in their explanations of justice and they were determined to never follow the candidate that won. So they followed their candidate. They followed him up the hill and watched him crucified and felt the shame of loss. For three days the two sides simmered at each other in hate and anger. And then they realized that the problem was not the people’s choice, but that they had trusted the media of the day to lead them, rather than trusting in the Lord. Both sides had allowed human thoughts and human decisions to sway them in their own focus about who to believe in and who to follow. And the world was changed from that day onward, at least for a little while.

Today I am going to finish my series on prayer. We have explored the Lord’s Prayer as an example of how to pray. We have talked about the need to have a prayer life and even have had several suggestions on how to do that. We have been challenged to pray an hour each day to God in prayer. So what does Jesus mean when He says to us, to pray in faith and whatever we pray in faith for will be received? But the real question that we need to ask is do we in fact trust God? Do we trust God in all that we do and all that we say? When we pray do we pray believing that God is going to answer those prayers?

I love the message in Proverbs 3: 5 that says, ^NRS  Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Trust in whom, in the Lord. With what, all our hearts. And do not rely on our own insight. The NIV uses the word understandings. Maybe the reason we are struggling with the election is that we trusted the wrong people to tell us what other people thought. Certainly that is the case when we put our trust in Hollywood or with the media. Hello, they have an agenda, selling us their ideas about justice and what is right or wrong. I don’t agree with Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel rather than stand for the national anthem even though I do agree he should have that right. But I also think he should realize that he should hold some sense of appreciation to the young men and women who fight for his right to do so and realize he could find a better way to send his message. Why? Because there are young people who follow his lead and put their trust in his judgment as their guide to right and wrong.

Solomon writing in Proverbs tells us that we are to acknowledge God and walk in the path of God. Children of God, we are truly blessed and we should have faith and trust in that blessing. Today as we enter this place we need to kneel down in prayer thanking God for being God, thanking God for the love that God gives us and thanking God for the abundance that God has provided. We need to kneel down in prayer and trust that God is going to see us through whatever the next few weeks, months and years will bring knowing that no matter what God is God and God’s message of love will be the same today, tomorrow and the next day.

Jeremiah tells us, ^NRS  Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. ⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. We are reminded that when we trust in God then we will grow; our root structure will be strong and even in the hard times we will survive. We have a responsibility to share the message of God with the world. I am not talking about the right or left politically but the center spiritually.

First John tells us, ^NRS  1 John 5:14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we pray to God in keeping with the will of God, whatever we ask for will be answered. So we pray for others, praying that they will be healed according to the will of God, praying for comfort and compassion and praying that God will bring presence and peace. But do we believe that God will answer those prayers? I believe, do you? I believe because I have seen and felt the presence of God in the midst of trial and tribulation. I believe because I have witnessed God’s hand at work in those who are suffering and oppressed by illness or situation. If we come to God in prayer trusting God’s will and believing that God will provide God will show up.

Why do we pray and how does prayer matter? Let me share a story with about Mother Teresa. One day in the mother house in Calcutta there were about three hundred novices and they were all out for the morning. One of the novices working in the kitchen came up to Mother Teresa and said, “We’ve planned poorly; we have no flour to back these chipaties for lunch.” Chipaties are little flour and water pancakes. The situation looked bleak—three hundred plus mouths are coming to be fed in about an hour and a half and there’s nothing to cook with. There’s no food.

“What I would expect Mother Teresa to do,” Fr. Langford explained to me, “was that Mother would pick up the telephone and call some of her benefactors and mobilize them to find some way to feed her daughters. Instead, her reaction—her spontaneous reaction—was to say to this little one, ‘Sister, you’re in charge of the kitchen this week? Well then, go into the chapel and tell Jesus we have no food. That’s settled. Now let’s move on. What’s next?’”

Lo and behold, ten minutes later there was a ring at the door and Mother Teresa was called downstairs. A man she had never seen before was standing there with a clipboard. He addressed her saying “Mother Teresa, we were just informed that the teachers at the city schools are going on strike. Classes have been dismissed and we have 7,000 lunches we don’t know what to do with. Can you help us use them?”

God provided for the needs of his children.

Mother Teresa’s sanctity was built on a very simple foundation of deep faith and trust in God. Mother Teresa turned to Him in prayer, not only in need, but also to rest in the arms of the Father—body and spirit. (This is an excerpt from the book, Let the Fire Fall, by Michael Scanlan, TOR, Servant Publications.)

The writer of 2nd Corinthians tells us to walk by faith, not by sight. To trust what we cannot see rather than what we can see. Trust is that kind of faith that Indiana Jones had when he looked beyond the great divide and believed that there was a path to cross. So he stepped out in faith and came into the place where the promise of God’s abundance existed.

There is a story about a man who is wandering in the darkness and falls off a cliff. As he is falling he reaches out and grabs a small tree growing out of the cliff and there he is hanging on for dear life. He cries out in the darkness, is anybody there, help, help! No one answers, so he cries out again and again, help, is anybody there, help. A voice cuts through the darkness, Yes my son. Who is there asks the man, can you please help me. Certainly says the voice, if you will trust me I can help. Who are you says the man. I am the Lord your God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Moses. Ok, says the man, please help me. Do you trust me says God. Yes, Yes I trust you says the man. Then let go! The man ponders that for a moment. Help Help me, says the man, is there anybody else up there that can help me, help, help.

In the very middle of the Bible, that place where there are as many verses before it as after it is Psalm 118:8. It says these words, NRS  Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in mortals. Pray in faith means that we take refuge in God, trusting that God can do what only God can do and not having our faith in human means. When we put our faith in humans we set ourselves up for disappointment and pain. God tells us to come to God in prayer and to trust in the Lord God with all our heart, mind and soul. Pray with conviction and belief. Pray in faith.