Spiritual Coaching with the Greats: William Temple, Christianity and Social Order

Once a Department of Water Resources representative stops at a Texas ranch and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, “I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation.” The old rancher says, “Okay, but don’t go in that field over there.” The Water Department representative says, “Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me. See this card? This card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land. No questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?” The old rancher nods politely and goes about his chores. Later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the Water Rep running for his life. And close behind is the rancher’s bull. The bull is gaining with every step. The Rep is clearly terrified, so the old rancher immediately throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs, “Your card! Show him your card!” One of the things I love about that story is it highlights how complicated the idea of government is for us in the United States. The good news about today’s sermon is that we are not going to talk about particular policies or get into politics. The more good news is that good government seems to matter to God. The even more good news is that Paul and the Bible have a lot to say about how people who seek God and follow Jesus are to interact with the government. In our divisive times, wouldn’t it be nice to get some guidance from God on this?

So according to our passage, the Bible says good government does three things:

1.    Rewards good conduct and punishes bad conduct. Paul writes, “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.”

2.    Seek the good of the people. Paul writes, authority “is God’s servant for your good.”

3.    Gives people the space to live, love, and worship the way God calls us to. More on that in a minute.

You’ll notice that Paul doesn’t pick a favorite about the form a government should take—republic, monarchy, empire, theocracy, etc. What matters is, are they doing their job? We can debate the particulars, but these are the three things good governments do—reward good conduct and punish the bad, seek the good of the people, and give people the space to worship as God leads.

So that was pretty interesting, but the part that’s probably got you on the edge of your seat is how does God call us to interact with the government?

1.    Advocate for the poor, the marginalized, the widow, the orphan and the stranger, because these are the groups God has a heart for. Some might say, “I thought you weren’t going to get into politics.” I’m not. I’m just telling you what the Bible says about God’s priorities. If we had a little more time I could show you at least 20 places in the Old and New Testaments where God makes that clear. You’ll notice I’m not telling you how to take care of these groups, or how to be on their side—that would be politics! But the Biblical record is clear that we look after the folks who are least able to help themselves, because God has a heart for these people, just as God has a heart for us.

2.    Take thought for what is right, or noble in the eyes of everyone, especially what leads to peace. We are in the game of life together, so we should take thought for what, in our culture, makes the kind of impact Jesus would want to make.

3.    Live a life of grace. Paul quotes Proverbs 25:21–22, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Perhaps the original writer in Proverbs had in mind making people feel even worse about doing things, but Jesus changes the story, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” So we give our enemies food and drink because they are hungry and thirsty, because we want to be people of love and grace, and that’s what people of love and grace do. Paul adds, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

4.    Be involved in government and civic life. Paul writes, “Pay taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.” These are all ways that we contribute positively to the government—and even society—working for all of us.

God calls us to live a life marked by thoughtful justice and steadfast love. As William Temple writes, “The Church is likely to be attacked from both sides if it does its duty. It will be told that it has become ‘political’ when in fact it has merely stated its principles and pointed out when they have been breached. The Church will be told by advocates of particular policies that it is futile because it does not support theirs. If the Church is faithful to its commission, it will ignore both sets of complaints and continue as far as it can to influence all citizens and permeate all parties.”

While I really like the story about the rancher and the Water Resource representative, it suggests that people and the government are in an adversarial relationship, when in fact, we want the government to work for us and with us. The biggest problems that we face as a nation and a people probably boil down to self-centeredness—people seeking their own good, ahead of the good of others. William Temple writes, “Each of us takes our place in the center of our own world. But I am not the center of the world, or the standard of reference between good and bad. I am not, but God is. In other words, from the beginning I put myself in God’s place…I am in a state [of self-centeredness], from birth, in which I shall bring disaster on myself and everyone else unless I escape it. Education may make my self-centeredness less disastrous by widening my horizons. But this is like climbing a tower which widens the horizons of my vision while leaving me still the center of reference. The only way to deliver me from my self-centeredness is by winning my entire heart’s devotion, the total allegiance of my will to God—and this can only be done by the Divine Love of God disclosed by Christ in his life and death.” This is why those who follow Jesus Christ are so important to society, to our government, and to our world—at our best, we help the world look past self-interest and self-absorption by living lives shaped by Jesus, who was willing to be hung on a cross in order to make a way to a better future for all of us. That’s our mission too—to be the “soul of the world,” the conscience of our government, and the example of living for more than just ourselves, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Not just because it’s a good idea, but because the Lord of love is leading us.

The Cost of Nondiscipleship

This summer, I hoped that we might be in the same space with eight different spiritual mentors—some of the greatest writers, thinkers and pray-ers of the last two thousand years—to help us think differently about our relationships with Jesus Christ. My prayer is that from these great mentors, we might see something differently about life and about our lives. Each week, we will have a packet that I’ll email or you can pick up.Each packet has readings, reflection questions and some suggested activities…but you don’t have to do any of it! But if you want to and you have the time, maybe it takes you deeper with Jesus. This week we will spend time with Dallas Willard and his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. But first, to the Word of God!

Last fall, some of you may remember that my Dad was in a car accident. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Unfortunately, Dad’s car was totaled, so within a few days, Dad was looking for a new car. He really liked his Subaru Outback, so he wanted to get another one. He started spending time with Max at the Subaru dealership—no, I mean like they were long-lost friends. I’m pretty sure Dad had Max on speed dial. While in general I approved of this budding bromance, I felt bad for Max, having to put up with Dad calling him all the time. It was time for extreme steps: I showed Dad the Subaru website. Like all the other automakers, Subaru has this cool website where you put in the make and model you want, and it appears on the screen. Dad wanted red, so we selected red, and the car on the screen turned red. Dad wanted a cream, leather interior, and…poof! Now he could see it. He could choose all the custom trim options, and they too would appear on the screen. If he unchecked something, it went away. Oh, and they would tell you what the price would be for your dream car with all the bells and whistles. Dad liked the off-road tires and suspension, but they were a little pricey, so he took them off. Dallas Willard, in his book, The Spirit of Disciplines, suggests that sometimes we approach faith like my Dad picking the new car, “…to present [Jesus’] lordship as an option leaves it squarely in the category of the white-wall tires and stereo equipment for the new car. You can do without it.” Certainly, we are used to this way of thinking. We live in a capitalist society after all, and that’s brought us many improvements in our quality of life. But, to coin a phrase, if what you have is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. Our commercial approach to life together has us looking at everything through the lens of commercial value. That’s why “church-shopping” became a thing, right? We look for a church that meets our needs. That’s not a bad thing—having our needs met—but the problem is, we are making church revolve around us, instead of us revolving around Jesus and what Jesus wants from us. Churches get caught up in this commercial thinking too. The temptation is to think about our members as “customers” and to think about what the church offers as its “products.” That’s not a bad thing in some ways—focusing on people’s needs is something churches are meant to do—but the problem is, we are trying to be in control of the plan, instead of seeking what God wants. We may even be tempted to say, “The customer is king!” instead of “Jesus is Lord!” Ah! Interesting distinction, isn’t it? Dallas Willard points out two failings of how we often approach faith in our lives, and then he offers us some hope.

First, Willard points out that Jesus wants disciples. In His Great Commission in Matthew, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, all peoples…” What Jesus is after is not regular customers, not fans who will spread the word, but disciples, students who follow Jesus in order to learn from Him how to live. Willard laments that being that kind of student of Jesus was the ground floor for membership in the church back then. Not so now. In fact, now, even in this church, we invite people to become members who feel like this is home, and who want to learn more about how to be a disciple.

Second, Willard points out that Jesus wanted us all to teach about Him. Jesus says in Matthew, “Teach them to do everything I have commanded you.” What Jesus wants is a virtuous cycle of teaching and learning, not just attendees, not just participants, but disciples teaching and learning from disciples. When I was teaching in the Lay Ministry Training Program, one of my favorite assignments was asking students to pick a significant person from the Bible and teach us about her or him. You could tell they had to really know more and more deeply if they were going to teach it. So if someone came up to you and asked about your relationship with Jesus, sincerely wanting to know how to get closer to Him, what would you say? When one of your kids asks, “Why do we go to church?”, do you have an answer? If you don’t have an answer to these questions for yourself, perhaps this is God’s invitation to spend some time learning about faith from someone. Willard laments that most churches, including ours, don’t have a rigorous education requirement for joining. Instead, we leave it up to individuals to seek the discipleship training each of us needs. Our Monday night Bible study is great, but maybe we need to create some other ways to learn more about our faith. God calls us to be learning disciples.

In principle, I think this fellowship—our fellowship—gets it right. We approach discipleship like Jesus did. When Jesus called people, He didn’t check their resumé and call their references to see whether or not they were disciples already; Jesus simply said, “Follow me!” to the women and men who became His disciples. Did Peter, James and John, Suzanna, Joanna, Mary and the other Mary know everything about what it would mean to be Jesus’ disciple? Nope! But they knew Jesus, and they wanted to be with Him, to learn from Him how to live. Look at our passage:  It says, “They worshiped him, but some doubted.” They all worshiped, but in the midst of that, some doubted—they were still learning and growing in Jesus. So this fellowship invites people to come and worship, to see what this Jesus is all about, and to worship and serve others, even if you have doubts. We still have lots to work on and we can always get better at loving and showing grace to each other, but we recognize we all have to begin somewhere.

And Jesus didn’t require a year’s worth of discipleship class before someone could sign up. It was on-the-job training! In the same way, we recognize that we all come to following Jesus with different backgrounds and experiences, and we respect people’s undisturbed right to their own conscience, to know what they need to grow in their relationship with Jesus. So this fellowship invites people to learn more deeply about living with Jesus, but we don’t require it.

The downside of that freedom is that some of us might choose not to learn and grow. The downside of that freedom is that we might just decide we are happy with a “no frills,” á la carte version of Christianity. We can say to ourselves, “Hmmm. This week I’ll take a little community, but I’d rather not have the annoying people. Oh yes! I really like the music, but I’ll pass on the sacrificing part. I like what God says about grace, but not so much the part about giving up my favorite bad habit.” So we master being nice without actually learning how to love. We learn to feel guilt, instead of finding true freedom. So we miss out. Dallas Willard writes that, “…the cost of nondiscipleship is far greater—even when this life alone is considered—than the price paid to walk with Jesus. Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said he came to bring (John 10:10)….The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.”

This week, let’s go to school with Jesus on how to show grace. This week, let us not be satisfied with an á la carte, built-on-a-website faith, but let us seek discipleship. Can we love our enemies? Can we bless those who curse us? Can we forgive those who wrong us? Can we go the extra mile with someone who oppresses us? Can we show compassion to someone who has not earned it? Those are crazy things! Why do them? Not just because Jesus did them, but because we are trying to learn from Him how to live a life of grace. We don’t want to just know with our heads, we want to know with our hearts, to know in our bones, what it means to follow Jesus. The hope is this: Jesus promises, “Remember, I am always with you until the end of time.”

The Compassion at the Heart of Reality

Joseph Ton was pastor of Second Baptist Church in Oradea, Romania. In his book, Pastoral Renewal, he writes of his experiences during the Cold War: “Years ago, I ran away from my country to study theology at Oxford…When I was ready to go back to Romania, I discussed my plans with some fellow students. They pointed out that I might be arrested at the border. One student asked, ‘Joseph, what chances do you have of successfully implementing your plans?’” Reality is a tough task-master, isn’t it? Like for Joseph Ton, sometimes when we have an idea about how we want things to go, along comes reality to give us a splash of cold water. The house or car or vacation we want costs more than we can afford. The job we want requires experience we don’t have. The fun thing we want to do requires equipment we don’t have. We want to do something kind for someone, but there could be insurance problems with it. Reality is a tough task-master, isn’t it?

We see that kind of problem facing the disciples in our passage from Acts today, don’t we? On their way into the Temple in Jerusalem, Peter and John healed a crippled man, who walked, then danced, then jumped around with joy. Everyone who came to the Temple from near and far saw it or at least heard about—it’s the talk of the town. The next day, members of the ruling council of Jews in Jerusalem arrested Peter and John and started splashing the cold water of reality on them. No more preaching or healing in Jesus’ Name. Reality is a tough task-master, and what the ruling council hoped is that their splash of cold water would contain all this Jesus-talk and -action. Reality is a tough task-master, but the folks who decide what reality is, always choose what works the best for them, what keeps the gravy train rolling with the least amount of effort. Like the hired hands watching the sheep in Jesus’ teaching, the members of the ruling council are in it for what they can get out of it—money, power, prestige. Brought up in Jerusalem, perhaps in very religious and very wealthy families, they had paid their dues and done their time. They quite helpfully show John and Peter what the realities are—this is the way the world works.

Whenever the world and our culture tells us, or our co-workers, classmates and neighbors tell us what reality is, we who follow Jesus have to look to Jesus for direction. Joseph Ton, the Romanian pastor, remembers asking God about his decision. God brought to mind Matthew 10:16—“I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves”—and seemed to say, “Tell me, what chance does a sheep surrounded by wolves have of surviving five minutes, let alone of converting the wolves? Joseph, that’s how I send you:  totally defenseless and without a reasonable hope of success. If you are willing to go like that, go. If you are not willing to be in that position, don’t go.” Sometimes reality is reality—if you step off a roof, you’ll fall and get hurt; if you jump into the water, you’ll get wet, and Joseph Ton was heading into a dangerous situation—no doubt. God doesn’t sugar-coat that reality for him. What Joseph understood though, is the key for us when we get to tough decisions:  trust in the One who made reality. Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Where we in this world, including all the powers that be, can only imagine what we can see and touch, what we can predict with the conventional wisdom, Jesus can see more—the possibilities out ahead of us, a future in which we walk in step with the God who loves us, changes lives, shares Good News, heals and supports people, shows deep compassion, and opens up new, abundant life. Like all good shepherds, Jesus knows where we can have our needs meet, even if we aren’t sure how that will work. Like all good shepherds, Jesus cares what happens to us, was even willing to lay down His life, so that we could share in His promises and find the peace and wholeness we long for. In fact, Jesus’ great compassion and willingness to sacrifice is what threatened the ruling council of Jews and led to His crucifixion. In his provocative book, The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggeman writes, “Jesus…is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. In the arrangement of ‘lawfulness’ in Jesus’ time…the one unpermitted quality of relation was compassion. Empires are never built or maintained on the basis of compassion. The norms of law (social control) are never accommodated to persons, but persons are accommodated to the norms. Otherwise, the norms will collapse and with them the whole power arrangement. Thus, the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction, but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context.” Reality is a tough task-master, and Jesus’ compassion draws our attention to reality too, defined not by the world, but by God.

In the face of his challenges, Joseph Ton continues, “After our return, as I preached uninhibitedly, harassment and arrests came. One day during interrogation an officer threatened to kill me. Then I said, ‘Sir, your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. Sir, you know my sermons are all over the country on tapes now. If you kill me, I will be sprinkling them with my blood. Whoever listens to them after that will say, ‘I’d better listen. This man sealed it with his blood.’ They will speak ten times louder than before. So, go on and kill me. I win the supreme victory then.’” And in the face of their own arrest, and the banning of preaching and healing in Jesus’ Name, Peter and John reply, “’Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’” And in the face of a world or co-workers who mock us for looking to Jesus—our Good Shepherd—for direction and strength, wisdom and compassion, we can listen to God first, put God first, lean into God’s guidance, and keep on living and loving like Jesus would. Joseph Ton concludes, “The officer sent me home [that day.] That gave me pause. For years, I was a Christian who was cautious because I wanted to survive. I had accepted all the restrictions the authorities put on me because I wanted to live. Now I wanted to die, and they wouldn’t oblige. Now I could do whatever I wanted in Romania. For years I wanted to save my life, and I was losing it. Now that I wanted to lose it, I was winning it.” The world and its powers that be want us to be so content that we are numb to the needs of people around us. The world and its powers will often tell us that compassion is a waste of time, or a danger to us or society. They may be right, but should we listen to them or to God? Today, let us find the life we have been missing, the life of compassion and imagination, that Jesus dared to live and die for. Reality is a tough task-master, and sometimes we can get discouraged. But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Faithful Witness in a Fractured World: Our Good over My Good

S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, “Are you a leader?” Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, “No,” and returned the application, expecting the worst.[1] In our Old Testament passage for today, Ezekiel talks about the leaders of his day. If they were filling out that college application, each of them would have said, “Oh yes! I’m dripping with leadership.” These days, we are all looking for leadership, and if we are leaders, we are trying to understand it. Either way, our passages for today lay out for us God’s ideas for real leadership—what it is and how to use it, and how real leadership is often different from how our world thinks of it.

First, real leadership knows who’s in charge. In our passage from the Gospel of John, Jesus knows

1.    that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father, and

2.    that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he had come from God and was going to God.

Though Jesus has God’s full authority, still he recognizes it’s God’s authority. Jesus’ leadership begins and ends with God.When people ask me if we can have dinner some time, I almost always say something like, “Sounds great. Let me check with my social planner,” by which I mean, Cynthia, because we all know that she’s really the one in charge of our family’s schedule. In another sense, though, really what I’m recognizing is that she and I are in this life together, and I’m not just going to tell her what to do—like that has ever been a good idea! In a deeper sense, before we were married, we both had strong relationships with Jesus Christ, deep and vital wells of living water, and we both know, God is why we are together and who we want to honor with our life together. When our kids ask why we have rules in our house, we say, “Because…” but really our parenting and family choices flow from a desire for God’s love and healthy relationships to become real. Our marriage works because we know that God started this, that we are seeking God day by day, and that God helps us love well even when it’s difficult.

Second, with Christian leadership, integrity is everything. To put it another way, what we do has to flow from, and be in synch with, our relationship with Christ. In the quick, but meaty, work, Leadership by the Book:  Tools to Transform Your Workplace, the authors write “I was having dinner one night with one of my oldest and dearest friends. He’s in the hotel business, and has helped create more five-star properties than anyone else in the industry. While we were eating, my friend noticed people waiting to be seated, and no one on the staff seemed to be taking care of them. Suddenly he jumped to his feet, approached the waiting people, and began to seat them. When he came back to the table, I asked, ‘What were you doing? This isn’t even one of your restaurants.’ My friend said, ‘I just couldn’t stand seeing guests waiting there and no one helping them. If I hadn’t done something, it would have bothered me all night.’”[2] This hotel operator didn’t take care of people because of the money he received, he lived the life of hospitality. In the same way, Jesus understands that to be a shepherd means serving the sheep, not being above them, but being for them. So he takes off his outer robe and washes their feet, so they will understand that humble service flows from knowing Jesus. Jesus lived the life he calls others to live. That’s integrity.

After the young woman had sent in her college application, to her surprise, she received this letter from the college: “Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower.” One of the things I think is interesting about this story is that I can’t decide whether the college response is for real, or whether they are “tongue-in-cheek” complimenting the young woman on her honesty and integrity. I suspect that the young woman is in reality a leader, because in my experience leadership is something we all do, and that (as Jesus shows) humility is vital leadership trait. Whether we are leading our family or leading a business, whether we are leading in our friendship circles or leading ourselves, we are all leaders. So the real question is not “Am I a leader?”, but “How do I lead?” One of the challenges of our day and age in America, is that most of us have bought into the world’s version of leadership—that leadership is a top-down thing, that to be in charge is to get all you can while you can. I suppose that’s ok if we live in a world where we are all in it for ourselves. But is that the world we want to live in? Is that the world God wants us to live in? Through Ezekiel, God chastises the shepherds who are in it to take care of themselves rather than to take care of the sheep, and God is going to model being a good shepherd. In Jesus’ death on a cross, Jesus modeled true, servant leadership. His outer and inner realities were completely in sync. Jesus was obedient, not in it for himself or appearances, not trying to build a mega-church or impress people. Jesus was in it for you and me, and Jesus is calling us to become true servant leaders too. The best part is that Jesus didn’t just die to give us an example, but rose so that He could be with us wherever we are, to trust in his strength and guidance when our resources and friends are running away, to trust that as we open our lives and hearts to Jesus’ Presence, we can be transformed from the inside out. But Jesus knew there was something incredibly beautiful and powerful that would happen when true servant leaders joined forces, we would become church…and change the world with the grace of God. And with Jesus’ help anything is possible.

[1]Told by Darren Ethier, www.SermonCentral.com.

[2]Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, and Phil Hodges, Leadership by the Book:  Tools to Transform Your Workplace (NY:  William Morrow & Company, 1999), p. 51.

Becoming All-Terrain Disciples

Study

22–23         Jesus made the disciples. Jesus literally compelled the disciples to get into the boat. This was not an optional experience for them. One commentator suggests that this was in part to prevent this amazing miracle from getting political with Jesus winding up crowned as king. Another commentator suggests that perhaps Jesus wanted his disciples to have a break, or to give himself a prayer break.

24     the boat…buffeted by the waves. The Greek for “buffeted” means literally, tortured or tormented. This was no small storm.

25     the fourth watch of the night. The Roman daily night had four watches beginning at 6p, each of 3 hours. The fourth watch would begin at 3a and end at 6a. We have a sense, then, of how long the disciples fought the wind and waves.

26     Given the circumstances, the disciples might be forgiven for thinking Jesus is a ghost. Who walks on water? They are bone-tired and drenched. Their response (they were terrified) is that of all who encounter angels.

27     It is I. The Greek phrase here, e˙gw¿ ei˙mi (ego eimi), could be translated, “I AM.” John uses the same phrase to indicate Jesus is God. The reference is to the Hebrew name for God, YHWH—Yahweh or Jehovah, which means literally, I AM WHO I AM or I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE. (See Exodus 3:14) Don’t be afraid. God always let’s us know there is nothing to fear when He comes to us for a purpose.

28     Peter alone asks Jesus to confirm his identity by commanding him. By faith, Peter understands that the one who can make it possible for them to multiply loaves, can also make it possible for him to walk on water.

29     Peter succeeds! He walks on water!

30     But then he realized what he was doing—huge waves, ferocious wind, and he has no protection, how can he be doing this?—and begins to sink. Lord, save me!” The cry of disciples throughout the centuries. Peter (and we ourselves) recognize that we are lost without the power of Christ. We cannot achieve more than we imagined without the aid of our Lord. No matter how amazing what we have done might be, only God’s power makes it possible, and only God can truly save us when we are losing it.

31     Jesus catches hold of Peter and gives Peter insight into his problem without the other disciples hearing. Great coaching moment!

32     The boat is the safety zone, and when Peter and Jesus are truly safe, the storm dies down.

33     The Twelve rightly recognize that this miracle (John uses sign) points to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.

Message

The great preacher, John Ortberg, tells the story of a very different kind of birthday gift. He writes,

“Some years ago my wife arranged for us to ride in a hot-air balloon as a birthday gift. We went to the field where the balloons ascended and got into a little basket with one other couple.” After introducing themselves, the pilot lifted them up. As they rose the day was just dawning and they could see over gorgeous valley and mountain terrain all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He writes, “It was scenic, inspiring and majestic. But I also experienced one emotion I had not anticipated…Fear.

“I had always thought those baskets went about chest high, but this one came up only to our knees. One good lurch would be enough to throw someone over the side. So I held on with grim determination.”

Hoping to comfort himself, John turns to the pilot. “I asked him what he did for a living and how he got started flying hot-air balloons. I was hoping for his former job to be one full of responsibilities—a neurosurgeon, perhaps, an astronaut who missed going up into space.

“I knew we were in trouble when his response to me began, ‘Dude, it’s like this….’” He had never really had a job! “He mostly surfed.

“He said the reason he got started flying hot-air balloons was that he had been driving around in his pickup when he’d had too much to drink, crashed the truck, and badly injured his brother. His brother still couldn’t get around too well, so watching hot-air balloons gave him something to do.

“’By the way,’ he added, ‘if things get a little choppy on the way down, don’t be surprised. I’ve never flown this particular balloon before…’

“Then the woman in the other couple looked at me and spoke…You’re a pastor. Do something religious.

“So I took up an offering.”

The great question at a moment like that is, “Can I trust the pilot?”

That’s really the big question about life, isn’t it? Is someone really driving this thing? What’s this pilot like? Does he have the kind of character and competence that mean he can be trusted?

First, the most important part, the hardest part of life is recognizing Jesus’ call. John Ortberg writes, “Courage alone is not enough; it must be accompanied by wisdom and discernment…before Peter gets out of the boat he had better make sure Jesus thinks it’s a good idea.” “If it’s really you,” Peter says, “then command me to come.” Are we listening clearly? Are we tuned into the voice of Jesus? When we are in the midst of life’s storms, do we look to find Jesus there?

Once we have discerned the voice of Jesus, the next hardest part is doing it. I believe this story is not primarily about taking risks, but rather about obedience, or as we say in our house, “being a good listener.” When Jesus gives the command, Peter, being the good scientist that he is, tests the truth of Jesus’ call, but the only way to do that is to get out of the boat. Ortberg:  “I believe there is something—Someone—inside us who tells us there is more to life than sitting in the boat. You were made for something more than merely avoiding failure. There is something inside you that wants to walk on the water—to leave the comfort of routine existence and abandon yourself to the high adventure of following God.” In my experience there are usually two things that get in the way of getting out of the boat:  comfort and fear.

In our society, we like comfort. Most of our lives we are trying to get more comfortable. When you get really comfortable, however, there is no reason to get up, especially if you have the remote in your hand. So what do you call a vegetable that sits in the Living Room and won’t get up? That’s right a couch potato. For Christians, we have boat potatoes. Twelve disciples are in a boat, but only one gets up and steps out to go to where Jesus is. What about the other eleven? Sometimes I think we get so comfortable with our good worship, our good family and good friends around us, our usual rhythms, that when Jesus calls to us over the storms of life, we really don’t want to get up. Ortberg:  “Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself. Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up, even if it’s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.” I wonder, are we boat potatoes?

So what’s your boat? You can tell by what it is that raises fear in you if you think about leaving it. Whether we’re talking about leaving the comfort of a dead-end job, sharing deeply in a comfortably distant relationship, or daring to change a comfortably unhealthy habit—all these kinds of comfort encourage us to trust these things instead of putting our trust in God—and we may fear leaving them.

With the courage of our good leadership, we have stepped out onto the waves a little in the last year, but we need so many more people to join us out on the waves, to take chances in trying to make this fellowship what God wants us to be, in doing things perhaps you have not done before to make this the loving, warm and adventurous fellowship we enjoy. We can’t get so comfortable that we have no desire to reach out beyond ourselves. Instead, we need to cast our eyes out on the water of the future, to catch sight of Jesus who wants us to come to him.

Which brings us back to the question about who is the pilot of our lives, and can we trust them? Are our lives drive by the comfort, the fear, that will keep us in the boat? Or will we let Jesus pilot our lives into unknown terrain? Just as Jesus was an all-terrain savior, able to walk on land or water, so he wants us to become all-terrain disciples. I think sometimes we read this story, and we see Peter as a failure—after all, he lost his focus on Jesus and started to sink. But for that brief moment, Peter was the only one who took the chance to know what it was like to walk on water, and Peter was the one who experienced the greatest, most exciting growth. I crave that experience of being able to do more than we ever thought we could, being able to do what only the power of God could make possible, answering the call of Jesus to get out of our boats onto the waves. What gives me great courage as look out on the waves of the coming years, is that Jesus is out there already, to catch us if we forget to focus on him, to teach us how to get better, and to help us to do what we never thought we could do. If we will only get out of the boat…and answer the call of the pilot we can always trust.

Peace, Power and Purpose at the Edge

Have you ever been to the mountains? Anyone ever been rock climbing? If you could choose to climb up or down which would you rather do? Why?

[Take a minute to write down your thoughts :) ]

When I was in college, I took a class that we students called, “Rocks and Ropes.” Of course, since I went to college in Indiana, there weren’t many mountains around, so we went up to the roof of the math and science building. Each of us was given some rope and we were shown how to make a harness with it that would wrap around our mid-section and hold it securely. To the front middle of the harness we attached a clip that we would connect us with the rope that would keep us from falling. One of the instructors wrapped the rope around herself—she would make sure we had the slack we needed and would keep us from falling. Of course, as Tom Williamson would have said, this was all a very interesting, academic project, but when we stepped onto the edge of the roof, with our backs to a 70-foot drop, and the instructor said, “Alright, now just lean way back and step off”—that was a whole different thing! Our lives are whole lot like that—we can only see so far ahead of us, and there are times when we stand on the edge of what feels like a major drop. When we come to the edge of what we know, what should we do? What is amazing about the way students of Jesus Christ face that edge? Our passage offers us some incredible insights into how to live life on the edge.

The first thing that someone often notices about a devoted follower of Jesus Christ is peace. One of the things many people worry about is whether their prayers are heard. What if they don’t have the words? What if they don’t say something just right? Will God get angry or just ignore us? Paul writes, “8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” Charles Vaughan tells the story of a grandfather who was walking through his yard when he heard his granddaughter repeating the alphabet in a tone of voice that sounded like a prayer. He asked her what she was doing. The little girl explained:  “I’m praying, but I can’t think of exactly the right words, so I’m just saying all the letters, and God will put them together for me, because He knows what I’m thinking.” That’s right on target. Prayer is not magic—if you say the right words in the right way God will give you what you want. Prayer is about relationship, about expressing the deepest desires of our hearts, about listening to the whisper of God’s voice in our hearts, about being open to God working in us. In fact, there have been times in my life (and maybe your lives too) when I have no words and simply lay my sorrow or joy or longing in God’s hands. Peace comes because we realize that God does indeed search our hearts and knows what we need most. We discover that God wants us to know God better, and that whatever we pray sincerely will be blessed. When Christians have their backs to the edge, we can do so with great peace, for the One who listens to our hearts is the One who loves us.

The second thing someone often notices about a devoted follower of Jesus Christ is power. The little girl praying the alphabet could pray in confidence at least in part because of how close God is and how much God cares. Paul writes in verses 38–39, “38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Latin roots for our word, “convinced,” mean literally “conquer with” and when we grasp this profound truth, we are conquered by the love so deep and so powerful, and become in Paul’s words, “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We realize that Jesus Christ is not just an historical figure, but someone who comes to each of us, will never leave us, and desires to fill each of us. When we are conquered by Christ’s love, Christ gives conquering power to each of us for whatever we face side-by-side with our Lord.

But if we peel away the peace and the power from Christians, we find something even more amazing underneath—purpose. Paul writes in verse 28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We like the first part of this and hear it quoted all the time, “All things work together for good,” but how often we forget the second part of this, “who have been called according to his purpose.” As this and verse 29 suggests, God is at work in us so that we might be shaped and formed “to the likeness of his Son…” That’s God’s purpose! It’s not about what we want, but about what God wants. We have God’s indescribably peace and unbeatable power only to the degree we make ourselves available to God’s purpose. Rebecca St. James sings these words

To be like You is what I want,

Lord, to be like You is what I ask for

To be like You is what I am longing for

‘Cause at the end of the day

This is what will remain.

To love like You is what I want,

Lord, to love like You

To love like You is what I am longing for

 ‘Cause at the end of the day

This is what will remain.

You are what I want

Lord, you are what I ask for

You are what I’m longing for

‘Cause at the end of the day

You are what will remain.

We all have times when we come to the edge of what we know, and our heavenly Father says to us, “Alright, now just lean way back and step off.” Perhaps some of us are there right now. Lord knows, we have had plenty of things pushing us to the edge lately. It’s not easy to move forward faithfully, but we know if we have God’s purpose at heart, we can move forward with great peace and unbeatable power, knowing that God will use all things to shape us into the likeness of the One who loves us most, Jesus Christ our Lord. And so at the edge we can pray with this peace that comes from trust, and this power that comes with purpose, to want what Christ would want, “’Cause at the end of the day, Christ is what will remain.”

The Treasure Seekers

Bishop Fulton Sheen in his autobiography, Treasure in Clay, wrote about an experience he had when he was traveling around preaching:

“I stopped to ask a few boys for directions to the Town Hall where I was giving a lecture. They told me where the Town Hall was and then asked, “What are you going to do there?”

“I’m giving a lecture on heaven and how to get there. Would you like to come and find out?”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” one boy said. “You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall.”[1]

So if someone were to ask you how to get to the kingdom of heaven, what would you say? Today’s parables have some surprising answers.

Every day we experience the first parable:  we are just going about our business when we hit a snag. I can almost hear the farmer, “Dang it! Martha? ‘Nother stone!” Many of us when we hit a snag in our day, may have stronger language than that. What’s amazing is that the farmer, in taking the time to remove the obstacle from the path, recognizes the “obstacle” for what it is…treasure! Now in an ethical sense, what the farmer does next is a little fishy. In Roman law, as in our own, treasure belongs to the owner of a field in which it is found. The ethics are not the point here. The point is the great joy and great singleness of purpose that grip the farmer. If we are the farmer, it suggests that the kingdom of heaven can be found in the snags and interruptions of our day. But how often in our days we hit a snag, do we look for the “treasure” that may be hidden in it? How often do we seize the opportunity God has placed before us? Are we willing to throw everything we have into that opportunity? We are the treasure seeker, and the Kingdom of Heaven is a treasure we weren’t looking for, but we run into or run over the Kingdom in the course of our ordinary lives.

Some of us have experienced the second parable. Today, I think Jesus might have said that the kingdom of heaven is like a garage-saler. How many of you have seen the TV program, “Antique Roadshow?” My favorite part is when someone brings out a piece of junk and discovers that it is worth a fortune. One of my favorites was a young woman who went to a garage sale and saw three paintings that looked seemed a bit faded, but had an unmistakable flair for color and style…unmistakable to her anyway. She asked the seller what they wanted for them and they said $20 each. She walked back to the car, scrounged for every last dollar and fighting down her excitement, went back to buy the paintings. She had recognized that the paintings were done by one of the great artists of the 1800s and were worth tens of thousands of dollars if not more. The kingdom of heaven is like a garage-saler out looking for something valuable—you and me. Some people may not think we are worth much, but when God finds us, he recognizes all the best and most beautiful possibilities in us, perhaps things even we do not see. God is the treasure seeker and we are the treasure worth everything God had.

Which brings us back to how do we find the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus has some good news for us today. If we are looking for the Kingdom of Heaven, we don’t have far to look—we probably run into or trip over the Kingdom of Heaven every day. If we are looking for the Kingdom of Heaven, we won’t have far to look—the Kingdom of Heaven is looking for us! We will recognize we have run into the Kingdom or the Kingdom has run into us because the Kingdom is wherever God’s rule is felt. The real question then is not whether we will find the Kingdom of Heaven, but whether we will recognize it when we do, and as one commentator writes, “When we find it (“fully grasp its infinite worth”), [will we] joyfully let go of all competing claims on our lives and make it our one great possession?”

The curious thing about the Kingdom of Heaven is that although we can try to see it ahead of us, it seems the only way to really see it is through the sign of the One who embodied Kingdom come:  the sign of the cross. Here the Treasure Seeking Lord was willing to die to purchase us, His treasure. On the cross we discover that Christ is the steadfast, sacrificial treasure we have sought all our lives. Through the cross, we recognize the Kingdom of Heaven—the blind will see, the lame will walk, kindness will be done, compassion will be shown, beauty will be seen, love will be shared. Turn around! The Kingdom of Heaven is upon you!

[1]www.SermonCentral.com. Contributed by Tim Sherman.

Living in the Light of Eternity

Do you ever feel like there’s not enough time? What are some of the things we feel like there’s never enough time for?

[Take a minute to write down your thoughts :) ]

Sure. Of course, there are also times when deadlines are on us, and we get into a time crunch. In a sense, our experience of time is very weird—sometimes stretching out before us with endless possibilities and sometimes shrinking until we are funneled down to one moment. From the day we are born, we live our lives moment by moment, but always forward. Our passage for today is one of the most important passages you will ever read because it not only deals with the nature of the universe, but the meaning of life and how to escape the restrictions of time.

First, God’s Name says it all! In verse 14, God says, “I AM who I AM”—or the Hebrew could mean “I WILL BE who I WILL BE.” But if we are thinking about how we experience time, God has left out something. Did you notice? God left out “I WAS who I WAS.” Remember that God created time and space. Like a painter that stands outside her painting, or an inventor who stands outside their invention, God stands outside of time and space. Unlike a painter or inventor, God has chosen to be involved in life within the universe, but God is not limited by them. So where we are limited to living our life moment by moment only forward, God just is. In fact, in every time and every place, God is. Which means God is—in our past—and God is—with us now—and God is—with us in the future. Even though we are not there yet, God is in our future already. The idea that God is in all times at the same time, and still God is not bound by time, that is eternity. God says, “I AM.”

Second, God calls us. As many of you know, I love weddings, and when I run the wedding rehearsals, someone from the wedding party always asks me, “How do I know where to look?” I always say, “Wherever the action is, that’s where you are supposed to look.” That’s really true in our passage for today. So we are going to go through God’s words and look for the action. What’s the first verb you see that God speaks? Good! God sees—my people and what they are going through. What’s the next verb? Yes! God hears—the cries of His people who are hurting. What’s next? That’s right. God knows/is concerned—what they are going through matters to God. Another one? Come down? Whoa! God is stepping in?! Wow! To do what? Three more verbs here. Yes, to deliver, to rescue. Once a friend of mine had a retriever that found a rabbit’s nest and went to bite one of the little ones. The owner pounced on the dog, and before it could bite the baby rabbit, forced the dog’s jaws open, and snatched the baby rabbit out. The word for rescue here is like that, God is “snatching” the Hebrews from the jaws of Egypt. Alright! Two more verbs. “To bring up.” They are going to leave one land and go to another, to leave one life and find another, to leave the old and find the new. They are going to rise! God will bring them up. The last verb? Do you see it there? “Now, go! Because I have seen and heard and care…because I have come down to rescue and bring up…therefore, God says to Moses, ‘You go. I am sending you.’” Because God sees and hears and cares and has come down to rescue people and bring them up, God says to us, “You go! I am sending you!”

These words, these commands, are a little unnerving, and they start to awaken our reservations. We might start by pointing out that since God has come all this way, we would hate to deprive God of the chance to do even more. Or we might try to suggest that really we don’t have time right now. Would tomorrow work? Or we could try what Moses does, and say, “Who am I to do this?” Which brings us to third, God is with us. In a sense, this is the answer to all our reservations, struggles and excuses. There’s always a reason not to be one of God’s team, an excuse not to make one of God’s plays for the lost, the last and the least. We can always trot out some rationale for why we can’t help this person in this moment. We are, after all, finite beings—limited in energy and money and time. God’s call to adventure never begins conveniently, but if God has grasped our attention (with or without the burning bush), then we become aware of God’s Presence. We become aware that in our moment to moment life, we have reached a turning point. This is the moment. This is the time when we make a decision to follow God’s lead—or not—to let the One Who is outside of time guide our steps—or not—to learn to trust that the Presence of God comes with a promise to rescue and bring up, not just the other person, but us! God is with us!

Here we are face-to-face with one of the great mysteries of all existence:  that the God who sees and hears and cares has come down—to meet Moses and to be in Jesus Christ, who said, “I AM the bread of life…I AM the good shepherd…I AM the vine…” But even more incredible than God coming down is this crazy idea of God working in and through us—just like Moses and Jesus—to free those who are enslaved, to bring hope to the hopeless, and to love those who are left out. In these historic days, when the pandemic presses on us, and our stress levels are rising, and our anxieties about our own lives tangle with our anxieties for our community and our nation, God has come down. In these days when life feels like it is coming unglued, God has come down to be in our homes and our work and our play to penetrate our hearts, to carry our burdens, and to inspire our compassion. When in our moment-to-moment lives we take a moment and give it to God, in that moment we touch eternity. When we live for God in doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God, we are indeed living into the future, drinking deeply of God’s refreshing Spirit which is both beyond time and with us in all things. Instead of being on the world’s time, we step outside and live on God’s time in God’s terms. The more we love like God does, live like Jesus showed, the more we will laugh with joy! Our narrow, time-bound limitations are swallowed up in victory!

Why God Needs Us (and We Need Each Other)

When we think of relationships, and needing each other sometimes we get a little confused, and sometimes we get it right.

We have two blockbuster passages today, and they are chock-full of incredible insights into needing each other that can change our lives. Today I want to draw our attention to two epic truths. Watch out! These are world-changing ideas! Perhaps the most surprising thing about these epic truths is that they point to why God needs us…and incidentally, why we need each other.

The first epic truth is that we are made in the image of God. An episode of the classic TV show, Twilight Zone, is called “Number 12 Looks Like You.” In this vision of the future, at the age of 19, a person can be transformed to be physically beautiful. An average-looking young woman is given the choice of two different models, Number 8 and Number 12. Into which image will she be made? Or will she decide to remain herself? What if you could be made in someone’s image, who’s image would you be made in? Would you go for Tom Brady or Katie Perry? How many Jennifer Anistons would there be? How many Brad Pitts? In our passage for today, we read, “God created [humankind] in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Did you catch that male and female are both made in God’s image? It seems that God’s image is full of diversity—male and female, black and white, red and yellow, tall and short, and on and on. In fact, God’s image seems to be quite beyond the petty differences some people seem to dwell on.

If we are all made in the image of God, what does that mean? First off, it suggests that we are all equal in God’s sight:  all loved and all valued for who we are. M. Scott Peck, in his book, Different Drum:  Community Making and Peace, tells the story of a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. There were only five monks left in the decaying house:  the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order. In the deep woods surrounding the monastery was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for retreats. One day the abbot decided to visit the rabbi to see if he had any advice for saving the monastery. The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could only say, “I know how it is. The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore.” So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things. When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. “It has been a wonderful that we should meet after all these years,” the abbot said, “but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Can you think of anything that could help me save my dying monastic order?” “No, I am sorry,” the rabbi responded. “I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you.” When the abbot returned to the monastery, he said to the others, “The rabbi said something very mysterious and cryptic. He said that the Messiah is one of us. I don’t know what he meant?” As time went on, the old monks wondered whether the Messiah could he possibly be one of them. But which one? Could it be him? Could it be me? As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect. People still occasionally came to visit the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends. Within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi’s gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm. When we honor the image of God, of Christ, in each other, then love and beauty and grace will flow from us.

Second, being made in God’s image means we are relational beings. The story is told that a Sunday School class was reading the Creation Story in Genesis, and how God created Eve from Adam’s rib. That afternoon, a small boy was running around when he got first a pained look on his face, and then a panicked look. He rushed to his mother. “Mom, mom, I think I’m having a wife!” But before Adam and Eve’s relationship, before Adam is even created, there are already relationships. How can that be? The real mind-blower (as I noted as I was reading the passage) is that the word for God here is Elohim, which is a plural form of the word for God, the word, El. But what we know from other places in the Bible (particularly, Exodus and Deuteronomy) is that there is only one God and God is One. Deuteronomy 6:4–5 reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” In fact, what we read from Genesis today is one of the key passages Christians have thought for centuries might point the way to understanding the idea of the Trinity, that miraculously, paradoxically, God is both Three and One, before the beginning. There’s a lot more meat to be had about this, but I’m going to save most of that for Bible Study tomorrow night. Since God is more than one (and One at the same time!), God has been about relationships and being in community before Creation! Which means we are called to be in relationship with each other.

Finally, being made in God’s image means that we are made to rule over the earth and its creatures, just like God rules over us. Caring for, nurturing, sacrificing. God demonstrates what that life is meant to look like in Jesus. He makes the effort to come to us, to be born as a human, to live and grow, to laugh and cry, to face temptation and be part of a family, and to give His life as a ransom for many. Paul writes in verses 19–21, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God… in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” In the same way that Jesus lived and sacrificed for us, so we are to live and sacrifice for the earth and its creatures.

Cool! So the first epic truth is that we are reflections of this God who created and loves us, so we take care of each other and the world. What’s the second epic truth? That God needs us! Whoa! Wait a minute! God needs us? Yes! God wants to work in and through us, to have a relationship of power and purpose. With the Holy Spirit as the channel, God wants us to live and sacrifice as heirs with Jesus Christ. Building relationships, loving our neighbor, seeing the face of Jesus Christ on each other—we were made to do these things, and to have the power of the Holy Spirit to help them all happen. Heady stuff, my friends! We are called to be the ones who get it best—everyone you will ever meet is made in the image of God, and we are part of the team that is trying to get that reflection clear in each other and our world. These are indeed, world-changing truths!

How God Enables Us to Defy Gravity

When I was a kid, if you didn’t want to be a firefighter, you wanted to be an astronaut. Still reverberating in the air were John F. Kennedy’s words, “we stand today on the edge of a new frontier. The frontier of unknown opportunities and perils. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science. Unsolved problems of peace and war. Unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice. I'm asking each of you to be pioneers towards that New Frontier.”[1] I had seen Neil Armstrong step onto the moon, and so I was delighted when my parents bought me my own rocket. It was one of those water-pressure rockets, the kind where you put some water into the rocket and then you pumped air into it until it pressurized. Then you would stomp on the release, and with a shower, the pressurized air and water would propel the rocket into the sky for a couple hundred feet. I remember how hopeful I was as I watched the rocket rise, and how unaccountably disappointed I was when it started to fall. I knew it was gravity that pulled the rocket back down, but I had hoped… I first noticed the same kind of thing happening in my own life, as a teen-ager, when I would try to do right, how often I would fail, how my ideals propelled my life upward, but then a kind of gravity seemed to always pull me back down again. I remember reading or hearing the words in our passage today, and recognizing in Paul, a shared experience. Why is it that that no matter how good our intentions, they fall short? Why is it we fail to do what we know is right? Paul offers us some great coaching on this.

First, there is indeed a right and a wrong. Even if sometimes we wish it weren’t so, there is in fact an unchanging, universal right and wrong. C.S. Lewis, besides writing the really wonderful children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia, also did a radio series that has been collected as the book, Mere Christianity. For Lewis, the idea of right and wrong boils down to our sense, which we have very early on that things should be fair. Where does that idea come from? It seems to be true all around the world, to be “baked into” our humanity. And morality seems baked into the universe, woven into the very fabric of the cosmos. Even if we are choosing between goods, there is a path that is best, what God wants for us and for the world. Right and wrong exist beyond our own mind.

Second, sin has a spiritual gravity, a natural attraction, human beings cannot fully escape. I have a friend who talks about his life before knowing Jesus as moving from pleasure to pleasure, selfish desire to selfish desire. It’s letting our humanity decide what we will be like. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because we see glimpses of humanity’s greatness in the lives of folks like Henry David Thoreau, Maya Angelou, Richard Feynman and many others. Or more collectively, the Truth Commissions in South Africa, or the creation of the Constitution in America. Glimpses of greatness, but we also have a sense that whatever greatness we intend, humans have the innate ability to completely mess things up. We are destined for lasting greatness, but that we are trapped in a never-ending cycle of wanting better, of trying to reach the truly good and failing. Paul echoes this when he says in verses 22–23, “For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” Our humanity seems to drag us down.

Third, there is an escape from the gravity of sin. What we need to escape is more power, a way to nullify the powerful pull of our humanity long enough for us to get away, to reach escape velocity. That’s where Jesus comes in. Just when we think we are trapped forever, Jesus died for us, and when we choose to follow Jesus, we also become dead to sin. And like Christ who rose, we too will rise to a new life, one in which the attraction of sin still operates, but we are freed from having to answer. Jesus’ death and resurrection open the door to freedom so that we can (and are empowered to) choose the good. We may still feel clueless, but with the massive power of God’s Holy Spirit surrounding and penetrating us, we begin to want what God wants more than what our fallen humanity wants. Indeed, the beauty of God’s redemption is that God can then start using even our mistakes as tools to bring beauty to ugly situations, and forgiveness into the world’s brokenness. Paul’s “Wretched man that I am!” becomes “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Why would God implant in us a desire for goodness and mercy, a longing for steadfast love and generous sacrifice, if it could not be achieved? Ah, but not by ourselves! Part of the genius of the framers of the Declaration of Independence was that they recognized this truth as they wrote, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” The Framers recognized the brokenness of human institutions, but they held out in hope that God has created us to know and seek “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” together! It is the same hope to which Frederick Douglass spoke on July 5, 1852, when he said, “I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. … This Fourth July is yours, not mine…” Despite the ugliness of slavery, the virulence of bigotry, and the seeming impossibility of justice, Douglass goes on to say, “notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. ‘… I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. … No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. … Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind.”[2] The same documents which founded our nation, included ways in which we could continue to press forward with hope towards a better day. But ultimately, our hope lies not simply in our Declaration of Independence or Constitution, nor in the individuals who, like Lincoln, called us to be touched “by the better angels of our nature,”[3] but in the Lord who gave up His life for us, and whose sacrifice enables us to form a more perfect union.

The call to explore a new frontier, to a space race where we learn how to slip the surly bonds of earthly gravity, to discover the gravity of other celestial bodies, was a truly powerful one. Who would have thought that we would live to see the day when President Trump would inaugurate a new Space Force? But more than a space race, today, God calls us to a race for making a better, more equitable society that helps the Declaration of Independence even more true today than when it was written and ratified. We can only escape our own gravity with God’s help. We can only create true community when we surrender to God’s new gravity. We can only find our way with God’s guidance. We can only imagine where God can lead us, when we walk in the way of Jesus Christ.

[1]Accepting the Nomination of the Democratic Party, Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, July 15, 1960

[2]https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/nations-story-what-slave-fourth-july. The full text of the speech is here:  https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

[3]From the conclusion of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address. March 4, 1861. https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/coretexts/_files/resources/texts/c/1861%20Lincoln%20First%20Inaugural.pdf

Finding Wholeness in My Brokenness

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six-year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.” I think many of us have experienced the frustrations of family—how can they be so infuriating? why don’t they listen? why do I let them get to me? Lord, give me patience! Especially these days, when some of us are separated from loved ones, and others of us are spending way more time with loved ones, our passage has some words of deep encouragement.

First, sometimes things are just going to be awful. A police recruit was asked during an exam, “What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?” He said, “Call for back up.” That would be a hard day, a good day for back up! Our passage from Micah talks about what life is like in his time, and things seem really rotten. He gives a litany of how bad things have gotten, how living for God seems to be something no one appreciates, something Micah just seems to get into trouble for. Maybe you have felt like that recently, how everyday things seem to be going from bad to worse in our world. Sometimes it can feel like that in our families or at work too. Sometimes we may even have times when are betrayed be the very people who are closest to us. In a world where everyone thinks good people don’t have problems, both the prophet Micah and Jesus recognize there will be times when things are just going to be awful. In fact, Jesus points out that sometimes when we are going in God’s direction, the people closest to us will give us the hardest time. That’s the time, as the recruit says, when it’s time to call for back up.

Second, hang in there living for God. Jesus quotes Micah, about how even close family is going to turn against close family, but he doesn’t quote the next lines:  “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” Now Jesus knows His Bible. Jesus knows that’s the next line, but he makes his action call stronger. Micah encourages waiting in hope on the Lord; Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me. One of my mom’s best friends was Barbara. A super wise and creative woman, she had all kinds of setbacks in her life, including a son who lost himself in addiction. When someone would put her down, block her path, or unfairly criticize her, she would say to herself, “I am not diminished by your rejection of me.” When we experience rejection or struggles, even when things seem hopeless, God is still at work. On those days when things seem hardest or darkest, Jesus calls us to not only hang in there, but to live like Him, a life of sacrifice. In fact, Jesus even says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Somehow, as we live faithful, sacrificial lives, even in the midst of our awful days, God will bless our efforts—indeed, we will find our true selves in the process.

Finally, expect blessings to come from unexpected quarters. As some of you know, I have been working to re-structure and rewrite our denomination’s Lay Ministry Training Program. About a year ago, I called up my friend, Polly, who is in charge of the Wisconsin Congregational Association’s Lay Ministry Training Program, to ask her a few questions and get a few pointers. As I explained how important I believed this effort was, but how difficult it was to get traction, she volunteered to do all the administration for the effort! I was not expecting that, but to have someone with such a great heart for God and the gift of administration willing to jump in with both feet was a total God-thing. But I could easily have mentioned the call from one of my kiddos this week when I was having a bad day, or the member of our church who out of the blue, called me this week to help with whatever needed doing around the church—we put up new shutters on the parsonage on Friday! Thank you, God! Before they head out on their missionary journey, Jesus talks to His disciples about the people who will receive them in Jesus’ Name, that even a cup of cold water given will be blessed.

Dealing with family frustrations may make us check the Ten Commandments for loopholes, especially when things get complicated or things go badly. In times like those, I am so grateful that Jesus recognizes that sometimes things are awful for us, so grateful that we can call on God for back-up. As we try to hang in there, living a life like Jesus lived—full of love and humor, compassion and sacrifice—I am so grateful to know that we will find our true selves along the way. Indeed, whatever we give up to live a life surrendered to Jesus’ call, the promise is that we will receive not only our selves but abundant life and unexpected blessings. Paradoxically, as we get clearer about who Jesus is, we get clearer about who we are, defined by Jesus, not our families. We are reminded that to live a life surrendered to Jesus is to take up our cross everyday, and perhaps we, too, by God’s grace, will become the blessing that comes from unexpected quarters in someone else’s life.

Sacrifice: The Only Way to Live

Genesis 22:1–18 (NRSV) • Matthew 9:9–13 (The Message) 

Gen. 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

Gen. 22:9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Gen. 22:15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Matt. 9:9 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.

Matt. 9:10 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. 11 When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?”

Matt. 9:12 Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 13 Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

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 After every flight, FEDEX pilots fill out a form, known as a ‘gripe sheet’ to tell mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics fix the problem, and then document their repairs on the form. Here are some actual maintenance problems submitted by the pilots (marked with a ‘P’) and the solutions recorded (marked by an ‘S’) by the maintenance engineers, who by the way have a sense of humour:

1. P:      Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
   S:      Left inside main tyre almost replaced.

2. P:      Something loose in cockpit.
   S:      Something tightened in cockpit.

3. P:      Dead bugs on windshield.
   S:      Live bugs on back order.

4. P:      Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
   S:      Evidence removed.

5. P:      DME volume unbelievably loud.
   S:      DME volume set to more believable level.

6. P:      Number 3 engine missing.
   S:      Engine found on right wing after brief search.

7. P:      Aircraft handles funny.
   S:      Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.

8. P:      Target radar hums.
   S:      Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.[1]

I wonder if God sees conversations with us like these ‘gripe sheets.’ We write up all the problems we see, and we ask God to fix them. In our passages for today, we find two gripe sheets, and we see how God and Jesus handle them.

In the first story, the one about Abraham and Isaac, I confess that I have a bunch of problems that need solutions. First, I find it really disturbing that God even asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, and I find it disturbing that Abraham is willing to do it, and I find it disturbing that Isaac doesn’t say anything about it. I recognize that that is my 21st century self reading of this, but I just have a really hard time with the story. Second, God’s promise to Abraham is on the line. God has promised Abraham descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore, but how can that happen if Isaac is dead? So if I’m Abraham, I think my gripe sheet might be, “Have son. Need faith.”

The second story, the one about Matthew and Jesus is a lot funnier I think. The folks filling out the ‘gripe sheet’ on Jesus are definitely the Pharisees. “Have faith. Need cleaner image.” I can imagine Jesus solution: “Have faith. Need more love.” Jesus says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” quoting the prophet Hosea. When we follow that back to Hosea, though, we see the word, “mercy,” is not just a nice word—it’s the rich, powerful, Hebrew word, hesed. To translate hesed, the King James uses the word, lovingkindness, but I think I like the words, steadfast love, or sacrificial love. So Jesus was really saying, “I desire sacrificial love, not sacrifice.”

I think these two stories combine to really challenge us today. The first challenge is to see what we treasure as belonging to God, not us. The story is told that two moms of teen-age sons were chatting about what it was going to be like when they went off to college. The first mom was really struggling with her loneliness and her worry for how he would do. She asked the second mom, “Aren’t you worried for your son? What are you going to do?” The second mom piped up. “Oh no! The Bible is very clear about this. Jesus said, ‘Untie the ass and let him go.’” For sure, one of the hardest parts of being a parent is allowing our kids to take risks—whether it’s climbing a tree, or going to school, or moving away from home, or dating someone—especially if we think they will make choices we wouldn’t make. So how do we manage to let them go? Isn’t it a combination of loving them enough to want them to be able to grow and become beyond us, and a recognition that whatever choices they make, they have to be accountable before God for them? Abraham treasures Isaac, but recognizes that he was a gift from God, not really his. Whatever we treasure—a child, a car, a dream, our partner, our business—at the end of the day, they are all gifts from God, and they belong to God, not to us.

The second challenge is to sacrifice our agenda to secure someone else’s good. People before program. People before institutions. People before policy. We don’t know if Jesus wanted to hang out with the disreputable, but he seems to be enjoying the party. Doesn’t he know how disreputable they are? Of course, he knows! But Matthew and his disreputable friends’ need to know they are loved. Their need to celebrate what God is doing, far outweighs the Pharisees’ concern for holiness and purity. Before I was a pastor, I remember going church shopping. I remember going into one church, and I guess they were friendly enough—with each other. But it was like I was a ghost, only one person greeted me, and no one ever asked my name or introduced themselves. I never went back. The danger of our consumer-driven age is that many people think the church exists mostly to take care of its members. Of course, we care for each other. Of course, we are trying to create the kind of faith community where we are thoughtful of each other. Of course, we are trying to encourage each other in the faith. But we in this fellowship are always looking to show grace to folks who are not part of this fellowship, who are different from ourselves. We are looking to see the needs of our neighbors and even people we have never met, so that we can show our neighbors and strangers the kind of love we have experienced from God. I like to think that our fellowship is becoming the church with so much grace that it will draw in the people who aren’t here yet. In order to become the church that will go into our future, we will have to give up some of our comfort zone in order to create a zone where others can find comfort.

We live in a time when we like to fix things. We have a problem; we need a solution. Unfortunately, we don’t always know how to frame the problem. The problems surrounding George Floyd’s murder, for example, are so deep in our society and our culture, that we are tempted to either throw up our hands, or else to deny that the problems exist. Before we can solve the causes of deep problems like racism and bigotry, though, we have to fix something far more basic:  we have to recognize that George Floyd, Ahmad Aubery and Brionna Taylor and all the protestors and all the police are made in the image of God. At times, some of our police have forgotten or ignored that, but if we are honest with ourselves and our God, sometimes we have forgotten or ignored people too. We need fixing on the inside as much as our society needs fixing on the outside. People first. People are the real treasure, not just as they are, but as they are becoming. Confronted by hatred, bigotry and injustice, we have to sacrifice our agendas, in order to attend to our wounded and oppressed neighbors. I don’t know where all this will lead—none of us do—but God is calling us to listen with open minds, to hear what will be hard to hear, to sacrifice our comfort bubbles in order for true compassion to enter in. At the end of the day, we want to live lives motivated by sacrificial love in the same way God has shown us. Jesus was willing to set aside heaven in order to come to earth, willing to sacrifice even His life in order to show us that the love of power will ultimately fall before the power of love. May our lives and this church stand as beacons of that hope through sacrifice. Amen.

[1]https://innerstrength.zone/funny/these-airline-pilots-learn-how-not-to-talk-to-engineers-the-hard way/?fbclid=IwAR2el7avhia4NCUhxXBWHqv9tfKpOFBJsQBPyg_

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Setting Our Sails, Trusting God’s Wind

Acts 2:1   When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Acts 2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,  10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”  12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”  13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

When I was 8 or 9, my parents bought me and my brother our first skateboards. We were pumped! These were the early days of skateboarding, and none of us really knew what we were doing. Nobody wore helmets or pads. Being the inventive young men, pretty soon my brother and I were coming up with things to make skateboarding interesting. We built a ramp to jump…that was painful. One of our better ideas was to get giant beach towels and use them as sails. That actually worked, as long as the wind was blowing the way we wanted to go. Wind has been an important symbol for the Holy Spirit since the beginning of the church that we read about in our passage for today. For those of us who are trying to know God better, this passage has lots of fabulous ideas.

First, when the Holy Spirit comes it is surprising. Harry Reider tells a story about the first car that he ever owned. He was sixteen years old and his father took him to a car auction and bought a pink car for $75. It was a 1957 Ford that his dad insisted that the color was really “coral.” “I can’t drive a pink car to school!” to which his father replied, “Son, a poor ride is better than a proud walk.” Harry said that his dad said it so convincingly that he figured it was probably somewhere in the Bible. Then his dad opened the hood and to Harry’s surprise was a 390 engine that had two four-barrel carburetors. The car had been a South Carolina highway patrol car and was a “police interceptor.” There was no other engine that was as powerful as this one. Harry said there were some very interesting things that happened when Corvettes or other high-end roadsters would pull up beside his pink ‘57 Ford at red lights. The drivers in the other cars would sneeringly look over at him and Harry would just nod and then turn his attention back to the light. When the light changed, he would shock them by leaving them in the dust. Harry’s car didn’t look like much but there was power under the hood. What we have to understand is that there is power that has come to our lives after we have received the Holy Spirit. We may not look like much to others, but if the Spirit of God is working, the world will be shocked at what we can do.

Second, diversity of expression fuels unity of purpose. Many years ago, I met a pastor I didn’t like. That really doesn’t happen very often you understand, but this guy just rubbed me the wrong way. I found him egotistical, condescending and even smarmy. It seemed like he was always making life more difficult for people. But I knew that his church adored him, knew that there were people who could witness to God doing great things through my brother in Christ. Sure, I found him difficult, but look at the difference he made in other people’s lives? How could that not be the Spirit of God? I have another sister in Christ who is really good at drama and often does plays as part of worship—well that’s very cool! I wish I could do that. I have another brother in Christ, who is very analytical and is great with the numbers, can make them sing and dance and tell stories. I wish I could do that too! In today’s passage, you’ll notice how many languages are being spoken…lots!...but they are all communicating the same message…telling people how amazing God is, the wonders of God! All these different ways of following Jesus, all these different ways of expressing God’s love, but it’s all about helping people know they are loved.

Third, whatever the Holy Spirit is doing, it will have God’s mark. C.H. Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of the 1800s, told the story of the preacher who was walking in the country side and stopped by a farm house for a drink of water. The old farmer who lived there went out to talk to the preacher. As they were talking the preacher noticed that the barn had a weather vane on it that was spinning around in the wind. On the weather vane the words “GOD IS LOVE” was engraved. The preacher said to the man, “I don’t think that is a very good way to talk about God’s love. Are you saying that God’s love is Wishy Washy and changes depending on the way the wind blows?” “No, no” said the farmer. “That weather vane is saying, “No matter which way the wind blows, God is Love.” Whatever the Spirit is doing, it’s God doing it and so it is always love.

My brother’s and my idea for a wind-powered skateboard was a cool one, but it had all sorts of challenges similar to ours in the faith. That we would let God power us by His Spirit. That we would let God speak His Love through our unique lives. That we would learn to trust the Spirit and His Love. God knows what He’s doing, and if we trust in Him and His Spirit, God will blow us where we are meant to be. May we set our sails to God’s wind, and trust in Him in all things.

Worship In-Person First Week 5-24-20

Thought to Guide Meditation

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and co-operation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.

    Dwight D. Eisenhower

Prelude

Welcome and Introductions

Glad to be here.

Welcome to our first Sunday back after being in coronavirus lockdown.

This is how we will be for the next few Sundays until our community gives the go-ahead to ease up more.

Annual Meeting of the Congregation June 14.

Heart-Opening Song                       Sweet, Sweet Spirit

Call to Worship and Opening Prayer (from Deuteronomy 8)

One:   Remember how the LORD our God has led us through the wilderness all these years…

Many:    He humbled us, causing us to hunger and then feeding us with manna, which neither we nor our fathers had known, to teach us that we do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

One:   When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

Many:    Let us take care that we do not forget the LORD our God, failing to observe his commands…for it is the LORD who gives us the abilities to produce wealth, and the LORD who will lead us on. Let us worship God!

Opening Hymn                       #799, America the Beautiful

Opening Prayer

O LORD, we give You thanks for this day and for our place in it. We especially give thanks that we are together—some of us online, some of us in person. We thank You for our nation, for the dreams of using our freedom to worship You and be a blessing to the poor, the hungry, and the hurting. Today we remember all those who have offered up their lives for Your dreams. Help us and our nation to be filled with Your purpose, to shine Your light for all the nations to see. We pray all these things in the Name and Spirit of Jesus Christ, who teaches disciples to pray, saying, “Our Father…”

Prayer Response                    Glory Be to the Father

Prayer Concerns

Prayer Song                                    If My People

Pastoral Prayer

Prayer Response                    Doxology

Hymn of Preparation              10,000 Reasons

God’s Word                                     John 17:1–11, 20–23

Understanding God’s Word for Our Lives

If Jesus Were Praying for You, What Would He Ask for?

Closing Hymn      #808, Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Unison Benediction

We gathered in hope today, and now we head into the rest of our lives. We trust that You will go with us, Jesus, and that Your guidance and strength will come when we most need it. May others see Your grace shining through us, and know the power of the new life we are finding in You. Amen.

COVID Worship 5-17-20

Welcome

Good morning! Glad you could join the First Church of Squantum for worship. Of course, the beauty of this medium is that you could be worshiping any time, any day. I trust that wherever and whenever you are, that through our music, God’s word and our prayer time, that God will come to You in a way that can change your life and draw you closer into relationship with Jesus. In a sense, though mine is the face you see, mine is the voice you hear, the real host of our worship today is Jesus Himself, because He promised to come whenever two or three gather in His Name. So here we go!

Call to Worship

One: Come, dare to leave ye4sterday behind…

Many: But yesterday is comfortable and familiar — we want to stay.

One: God calls us to set comfort aside, with the promise of a tomorrow that shines brighter than we can even imagine.

Many: We will follow, then, and trust in God to lead us. Let us worship God!

Opening Hymn O God, Our Help in Ages Past

Opening Prayer

Holy Spirit, come and lead us into all truth today. Come and remind us of how You desire to work in our lives—speaking through us words of kindness, doing through us works of justice, working through us lives of steadfast love. Come, Holy Spirit, come, and fill us who worship the Lord! Hear us as we pray as Jesus still teaches us to pray, saying, “Our Father…”

Song Nothing Without You

Stewardship Minute

Are you anxious enough yet? Boy, it’s really stressful out there. We are worried about coronavirus itself and our physical safety. We are worried about the effects the virus is having on our communities and our country as a whole. I don’t know about you, but the differences of opinion about whether to re-open now or wait, only ratchet up my anxiety levels. And we haven’t even talked about how much more anxiety you must have if you’ve lost your job, and if you’re working from home for the first time. And that’s just for starters! Because our kids are stressed and wound up and missing their friends and routines too, and when they are stressed, our stress levels and anxieties rise too. So I’ll ask you again, are you anxious enough? We are looking for security, so our anxieties can shrink. You’ve heard of the COVID-19? It’s the extra 19 pounds we are all picking up from eating extra to pass the time or to quiet our anxiety. Sometimes we worry about money—perhaps with good cause—but ultimately, neither food nor finances, neither drugs or buying stuff, or anything else brings true security. Jesus said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we make God first in our lives, we recognize that our true security rests with God. Giving is one of the ways we plant God’s flag on our lives. When we give we declare that God is the source of all we are, all we have, and all we will ever have. God can give us more. If you would like to plant God’s flag on your life today, I want to encourage you to pause this video and take a moment to give to our fellowship’s ministries. If you go to the church’s website, www.firstchurchsquantum.org, you’ll find a donate button. Thanks for being a blessing!

Hymn of Preparation Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing!)

John 14:12–28

Devotion

Pastor James Doyle tells the story of how he walked to and from church. He writes: It was about 1 mile each way. Being little wasn’t my problem. The length wasn’t my problem. I enjoyed the walk with my family. However, my older brothers teased me by telling me that in one of the fields we’d walk through there was a “boogey man” who would “get me”. Now that frightened me! We have lots of reasons to be afraid in our world, but as our passage today suggests, we have some great promises that make all the difference.

The first promise Jesus gives is:  “Ask anything in my name and I will do it.” That’s a pretty amazing promise. There was once young boy in church who was praying really hard. The pastor saw this, but to his surprise, he heard the boy say from time to time: “Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.” So the preacher approached the boy after he had apparently finished his prayer and said, “Son, I was very pleased to see you praying so devoutly, but tell me, why did you keep saying ‘Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo?”
The boy replied, “Well, you see sir, I just finished taking my geography test in school, and I have been praying for the Lord to make Tokyo the Capital of France.” Ask anything doesn’t mean to ask for anything WE want, but anything that Jesus would want to put his name to. When we learn to pray for what God wants, our desires are more like God’s, and it’s amazing how fruitful our prayers can be.

The second promise Jesus gives is “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth” One of the things I realized as a teen ager is that no matter how consistent someone was in my life, they were all human, and they would all die or move away, or I would. At first this made me feel profoundly lonely, but then I realized that I would always have God, that Jesus would always walk with me, that the Holy Spirit would always guide me. That’s the promise Jesus has in mind here—whatever the changes and shifts in your life, the one constant is that you will always have the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth.

The third promise Jesus gives is that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” There are always gaps in our knowledge, aren’t there? Indeed, if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that really, we can never know enough. So God invented “just in time education” headed up by the Holy Spirit. When we need it, God gives us what we need to know and say and do, in order to accomplish what God wants. So if you don’t have all the answers to life’s questions, that’s ok. Let God lead.

Our world is full of things to worry about—especially these days—like the field was for Pastor Doyle told him about. Pastor Doyle remembers that one night while he was at church, he really fell asleep. He writes:

Dad picked me up. I woke up right away but continued to pretend to be asleep as he carried me. That night we went right through that frightening field and I was not one bit afraid. I felt the warmth, the strength and the protection of my dad’s arms. To this day, some 50 plus years later, I can still “feel” his arms and “hear” his breathing as I remember his ultimate protection.

My friends, lots of people will try to spook us by telling us of all the things we have to worry about. Jesus has promised that He will always be with us, that the Counselor will teach us all things (even things we don’t know about yet!), and will always be there to help us. The real key is being in the Father, relaxing in His arms, and realizing that the Father is in us, doing works of steadfast love and justice in us. Indeed, people will know that the Father is in us and we are in the Father in the same way as Jesus:  by what we do. We are more than ourselves. Trust the promises—Ask and receive, trust God will always be there, and that the Spirit will lead. If the Spirit is in us, then under God’s direction, we can relax and let God do the heavy lifting. With God’s help, doing our part will allow resurrection power to flow through us. We have nothing to fear, for by God’s grace at work in us we are becoming more than ourselves…so that others might become more in Christ.

Pastoral Prayer

Closing Hymn #433, Rise Up, O Church of God

Unison Benediction

COVID Worship 5-10-20

COVID Worship 5-10-20

Welcome and Introduction

Good morning! On behalf of Jesus Christ, welcome to worship with the First Church of Squantum. We are scattered across our community and our state, but we are still meeting together this way. I hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this week. Spending more time inside means I really crave the open air and clear sunshine. And Happy Mother’s Day! Today I’m thinking about my mom and the other important women of faith who have mothered me. Have you thought about the women who have made a difference in your faith walk lately? Who are the Sunday School teachers or youth ministers? Who are the people who have helped you have clarity and called you to your best self in Christ? If you’ve got a minute, why not pause this video and write a few of those names down. Go ahead…I’ll wait. [pause] I’m going to give a shout out to a few of the folks on my list

Eldyne Johnson Gray (my mom)

Evelyn Pearson Johnson (my mom’s mom)

Helen Lorbeer Gray (my dad’s mom)

Karen Gwinn Barger (my mother-in-law)

Rowena Baker, my Sunday School teacher who never had more than 3 or 4 kids in class. You changed my life with your faith.

Emily Wallace, who directed my leadership camp experience, and taught me how loving and leading go together

Pam Smith, who taught me so much about loving God with all my resources

and you know, once I started, I found more.

Wherever you are today, however you are celebrating those who have mothered you, however you are coming to this time of worship, my prayer and the prayer of my fellowship is that God would be powerfully present with you.

Call to Worship

One:    We love You, O Lord, our strength.

Many: The Lord is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer;

One:    The Lord lives! Praise be to our Rock!

Many: We lift You up in praise, for You are God our Savior! Let us worship God!

Opening Hymn              Faith of Our Mothers (AB Patten)

Verse 1

Faith of our mothers, living still,
In cradle song and bedtime prayer;

In nursery lore and fireside love,
Thy presence still pervades the air:

Faith of our mothers, living faith,
We will be true to thee till death.

Verse 2

Faith of our mothers, loving faith,

Fount of our childhood’s trust and grace,

Oh, may thy consecration prove
Source of a finer, nobler race:

Faith of our mothers, living faith,
We will be true to thee till death.

Verse 3

Faith of our mothers, guiding faith,

For youthful longing, youthful doubt,

How blurred our vision, blind our way
Thy providential care without:

Faith of our mothers, living faith,
We will be true to thee till death.

Verse 4

Faith of our mothers, Christian faith

In truth beyond our stumbling creeds,

Lead us in service and save the Church,
And breathe thy spirit thro’ our deeds;

Faith of our mothers, living faith,
We will be true to thee till death.

Opening Prayer

King of kings and Lord of lords, we have come out of hope, hope that today You will again keep the promise You made—to come wherever people gather in Your Name. Help us put aside what holds us back and turn to You. Show us the way of hope and open us to Your transforming Holy Spirit. We pray all these things in the Name of Jesus the Christ, who teaches his disciples to pray, saying, “Our Father…”

Song                             How He Loves (John Mark McMillan)

Verse 1

He is jealous for me loves like a hurricane
I am a tree bending beneath
The weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of
These afflictions eclipsed by glory
I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

Pre-Chorus

Oh how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us
How He loves us so

Chorus

(Yeah) He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves us
Oh how He loves

Verse 2

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
So Heaven meets earth
Like a sloppy wet (unforeseen) kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way that… [Chorus]

CCLI Song # 5032549 John Mark McMillan © 2005 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (Integrity Music, David C Cook)) For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 11151618

Stewardship Minute

It’s not uncommon for people who come to worship on Sundays to think of following Jesus as something separate from real life. For a while that was true for me. I thought worship was great, but when I left worship, I was leaving church and going back to my real life. I was trying to keep God in a manageable compartment—God could have this much of my life, or work on this much of me, but not more. When my life reached points where it became unmanageable—we will talk about some of those in my devotion today—that’s when I had to let God out of the box and have free-rein in my life—all my life. What I found was that God was really part of my real life all along, and that letting God into all the most tangible, real, measurable parts of my life changed everything. One of the places I held onto the longest was my finances. A mentor of mine once said, “God didn’t really get into my heart until I let Him into my wallet.” When we give what is real, tangible, measurable, to God, give in a way that stretches us, then our heart knows it, and we are changed. I long for that for each of us. If you would be willing to take a moment, to make your gratitude and joy toward God real, tangible and measurable, would you write us a check and send it to the church, or log into www.firstchurchsquantum.org and click on the donate button.

Song                             Oh How He Loves You and Me (Kurt Kaiser)

Verse 1

Oh how He loves you and me
Oh how He loves you and me
He gave His life
What more could He give
Oh how He loves you
Oh how He loves me
Oh how He loves you and me

Verse 2

Jesus to Calv’ry did go
His love for sinners to show
What He did there
Brought hope from despair
Oh how He loves you
Oh how He loves me
Oh how He loves you and me

CCLI Song # 15850 Kurt Kaiser © 1975 Curb Word Music (Admin. by WC Music Corp.)

For use solely with the SongSelect® Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com

CCLI License # 11151618

First Scripture                        John 14:1–14

John 14:1   “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.  2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.”  5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:8   Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.  12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Second Scripture                   1 Peter 1:2–9

1Pet. 1:1   Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

 To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  2 who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

 May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

1Pet. 1:3   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,  5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials,  7 so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.  8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,  9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Devotion

Most of us know the expression, “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” One of the great blessings I experience as a pastor is the chance to be with people when things happen in their lives that take them out of the pan and into the fire. Anyone here ever experience that? What are some of the things that can make us feel like we are being thrown in the fire? [death of a loved one, taking care of someone who’s sick or hurt, losing our job, worrying about our children or grandchildren, etc.] I’m willing to bet that right now, most of us feel like we are  in the fire, feeling the heat rise and not sure how long it will go on, how hot things could get and whether or not we can make it through the fire without being consumed. Writing from a time when lots of Jesus-lovers were feeling the heat, Peter offers us three critical lessons.

First, stand on your foundations. When we are in the fire, we find we just don’t have the energy to do everything or be everything to everyone. The hotter things get, the more we realize we have to get back to basics, to do only what really matters. Peter lists several but the first verses 1 & 2 is also perhaps the most important—God chose you! When I was a scrawny kid playing on the playground, whenever we would choose up sides to play kickball, I was always one of the last. I hated it! So it floored me when I discovered God wanted me on His team. In fact, we are all starters for God. Out of all the talented people in the universe God looks deep into your eyes and heart and says, “I choose you!” God loves you and chose you. When the fire burns white hot and everything else is swept away—on this you can stand and not be moved.

Second, keep your eternal perspective. We cannot pretend that the fire is not there, but just because it’s hot does not mean we have to jump. Peter writes in verses 4-5, that we have “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” The decisions we make today are not what’s good for just ourselves or even for just our loved ones, but the decisions that fit into God’s ultimate plan for the universe. So when we are in the fire, we cannot let ourselves be pressured or overwhelmed into making decisions that take us out of God’s way. We need to keep the big picture before us. Charles Hobb tells the story of a ninety-five year old woman who invited a young man to visit. They were having a marvelous conversation when the phone started ringing. As soon as it started to ring, the young man started getting anxious, while the woman kept right on talking as if she didn’t hear a thing. Finally, on the fifth ring, the young man couldn’t stand it any longer: “The phone is ringing. Aren’t you going to answer?” “Oh no,” she said. “I’m having much too good a time talking with you.” “But what if it’s important?” the young man asked, disbelieving. She said, “They’ll call back.” We cannot let what is urgent keep us from doing and being what is eternal.

Third, put all you are and all that’s going on into God’s hands. Part of what makes the fire hot is that all too often we are trying to control things that are beyond our control. Peter is talking about this in verses 6 and 7, “though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” There is always a way through. When we place our lives and all we are becoming into God’s hands, we can have a great, powerful peace that our ever-loving Father and Lord will be at work for our good.

So how do we make it through the fire? Sometimes just outlasting the fire is all we can do. But if we stand on our foundations, keep our eternal perspective, and put all we are in God’s hands, then something amazing happens. Peter says, “These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Somehow, when we find ourselves in the fire, we find Jesus Christ is there with us. As we give ourselves over to him, and let his life and teachings live and guide us, people begin to see Jesus in and through us. Yes, something amazing happens, because we discover that though we do not have to give thanks for the fire, we can rejoice that Jesus is there with us and find that good can come even from the fire. Indeed, the promise of the resurrection is that no darkness is so great, that God’s light cannot chase it away. And no fire is so hot, that God cannot keep us cool in it. And no evil is so awful—even a wrongful death on a cross—that God cannot use it to bring some good, perhaps even the greatest good of all. Out of the frying pan, into the fire…and still we are in God’s tender care We worship an awesome God who wields an awesome power to show us his awesome love, so that even in the fire, he can give us abundant, peace-pumping, jump-for-joy life..

Prayer

I’d like to do something a little different for our prayer time. In fact, believe it or not, we started our prayer time at the beginning of our worship, when we were thinking about the women who have mothered us into deeper faith. If you didn’t take a moment to make a list of the women of faith who have helped you grow closer to God, would you do that now? Really. I don’t care if you do it on your phone, a piece of paper, your computer, or just want to say them out loud. If you are worshiping with more than one person, why not take a moment to share your lists between you. Go ahead. We’ve got all the time you need. Just pause me for a bit.

[pause]

Lord God, there are no accidents in our lives. Sometimes the women in our life have not mothered us well, and so we are grateful that You are the Mother who has never failed us. Some of us had had women who called us to account, and who loved us enough not to let us get away with things. We are grateful that they embodied Your Truth. Some of us have had women who called us to our best selves, encouraged us to give all we are and are becoming to You, O God, and then lived out lives of deep and abiding faith. For all these women, Lord, we give You thanks and praise. We ask that You would make us mindful of the women in our lives today, and how we treat them. May we be more thoughtful of their needs and wishes. May we be more mindful if we have prejudices against women or certain types of women that You are calling us out today, calling us to recognize that women are made in the image of God, gifted by God for ministry, called by God to high purpose. Call out our whole society, great God. Call out all those who think women’s work is worth less than a man’s, or who think women have less to contribute, or who give women less credence. You are the God of us all, and You are even now, nurturing us, leading us, sacrificing for us, that we might come to You and find clarity and hope.

Closing Hymn                           Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Benediction

COVID Worship 5-3-20

Welcome and Introductions 

Good morning! On behalf of Jesus Christ I want to welcome you to the worship of The First Church of Squantum. Our church is one of the most loving groups of people I have ever had the chance to be with, so it’s no accident that our motto is “Love Kindness!” In case I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Doug Gray and I have the great blessing of being pastor for this fellowship for the last seven years. I don’t know about you, but one of the things I am missing most while we are in lockdown for the coronavirus is just being together, but also the small rituals of getting ready for worship—flinging wide the doors of the church’s building on a glorious day like today, shaking people’s hands, giving someone a hug who needs it, running on the lawn with our kids, hearing all your voices join with mine in the hymns. We are all making sacrifices to save the lives of people we care about, but also people we have never met. I have to think that Jesus is honored as we sacrifice for others. And still—even with these restrictions—God is worthy of our worship. Still, even if we are wearing masks and growing out our hair—when we worship it helps bring our lives and God’s great plan into synch. I hope you wherever you are and whatever your weather, you are enjoying the day God has given you. Let us worship God!

Awesome Power

Call to Worship

One:       I love the Lord. God hears my voice.

All:         Gracious is our God.

One:       When I was in despair, God saved me.

All:         Gracious is our God.

One:       I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

All:         Gracious is our God. Blessed are we, the children of God. Let us call upon God’s Name and give thanks!

Servant Song

Opening Prayer

We have made our journey to this moment, Holy God. Thank You for safe travels and the good company we find together. For those who have not found their way to You yet, we ask blessings for their journeys. We are all pilgrims on the path, God, on a journey that takes us into Your heart. Help us to know that though the road may be rough in spots, we are never left alone on the way. Today, may we feel Your Presence in all we do and all we are becoming. Hear us as we pray the prayer Jesus still teaches to pray, saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.”

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever

Stewardship Minute

As some of you know, we are in the midst of a capital campaign at the First Church of Squantum. Great timing, don’t you think? I was talking with our consultant for our project and asked him how other churches are doing right now around the country. He and his larger consulting consortium are in touch with hundreds if not thousands of churches that are in the midst of their own building and generosity projects. He says he and his buddies are finding that it breaks down by thirds. About a third are struggling financially for whatever reason. About another third are holding steady even in the midst of this crisis. And believe it or not, there’s a third who are doing better than they were before the crisis! Many of you have continued your giving as steady as it ever has, and for that the church and I thank you. Some of you have even stepped up your giving, knowing our fellowship’s need to keep moving forward in touching people’s lives for God, and for that I’m doing backflips in celebration. They’re not backflips on the lawn—that would get me into the ER—but I can’t tell you how amazing your generosity it. Thank you! Thank you! If you haven’t had the chance, would you take a moment to write a check to this mission-minded fellowship? If it’s easier for you, please feel free to use our church’s website, www.firstchurchsquantum.org, and click on the Donate button. God is at work especially in these challenging times. Somehow, God can even take what we are going through, and work it all to His glory. Thanks, friends!

I Love You, Lord

Old Testament Lesson                                    Psalm 23

New Testament Lesson                                  John 10:1–21

Devotion

Have you ever had a dog? In my family, we’ve had a number of dogs over the years. When I was a teenager we had a husky named, Judah, who had a mind of her own. Sometimes she would listen when we called, and sometimes not. She was much more likely to listen to my mom, because my mom was the one who fed her. If you were a stranger, even one of our neighbors, Judah was not even going to kind of listen to you. In our passage for today, Jesus uses two images to help us think about Christian leadership, and how God is calling us today.

First, Jesus says, “I’m the sheep gate.” When I first read that, I thought what the heck! What does that mean? How can a person be a gate? There’s a great scene at the end of the third Raiders of the Lost Ark movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. To get to the Holy Grail and save his father’s life, Indiana Jones must pass the first test, “the Breath of God, only the penitent man will pass.” “Penitent” is not a word we use often these days. It describes someone who is sorry for the ill they have done, and being humble before God. Indiana Jones, who it might be added is not a man of faith—quite rightly decides that the only way through is on one’s knees. In a similar way, when Jesus says, “I am the sheep gate,” he is telling us the only way through is to be like him, to live like him. But how does one live like Jesus?

The second image shows how Jesus lives, and hints at how we could live too. Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” The good shepherd knows his sheep and calls them by name. Maxie Dunnam spent a year hanging out with a shepherd, learning the ways of sheepherding. He tells the story of coming upon the shepherd he was working with, standing out in the middle of the field. As Dunnam got closer, he realized that the shepherd was standing at the edge of a pit, and sure enough, down in the pit was a sheep, grazing on some fresh green grass. “Aren’t you going to get the sheep out?” asked Dunnam. “Not yet,” said the shepherd. “If I get her out now, she’ll just jump back in to get to the grass. I’ll wait until she’s done eating the grass, and then I’ll get her out.” I love that image! The good shepherd knows his sheep! Being the strong-willed, I-want-to-do-it-myself type, sometimes in my life, I have gone down blind alleys, pathways that weren’t going to take me anywhere. I suppose that God could have kept me from going down those blind alleys, but instead, God seems to have waited for me to notice that path isn’t going anywhere and turn around—turn towards him—asking for help before I could go in another direction. I think God knows each of us through and through. God knows how to shepherd each of us in the way that will actually work with us. So your way and my way may be different, but just right for each of us. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, guiding us, loving us, helping us through our journey.

How do you tell the bad shepherds in our world from the Good Shepherd? Really it’s simple. The bad shepherds are in it for themselves, and when trouble comes, they will only do what helps them—cut and run. The Good Shepherd is Jesus and those who truly serve Jesus. They truly care for the sheep in their care, for the sake of the sheep first. They are even willing to lay down their lives for their sheep. When we are looking at leaders—others as well as ourselves—and testing them, we hold them up to the standard of Jesus, and measure them there. The leaders worth following will do it with the same personal attention and self-sacrifice Jesus does. We mattered enough to Jesus that He was willing to die on a cross for us, and every day, Jesus walks with us, not for his sake but for ours.

Which us back to my dog, Judah. Sometimes just calling Judah’s name didn’t seem to get her attention, but when my mom called and shook the box of Milk Bones, that always worked. In this time of great stress and anxiety, we may not want to listen to God calling us, even if Jesus is the Good Shepherd, even if we know He will guide us through to better times. Like my mom shaking the box of Milk Bones, God shows us blessings everyday, to remind us that when He calls, if we answer, we will often find treats J Of course, that’s for those of us who are wayward. What God is really hoping for, guiding us towards, is a love-relationship where Jesus, The Good Shepherd, doesn’t even have to call, only look this way or that, only point this way or that, only step out and know that we will follow.

He Leadeth Me

Benediction

Jesus Finding

COVID Worship 4-26-20

Third Sunday of Easter

Welcome and Introductions

Good morning, dear friends who are looking for Jesus Christ! On behalf of the members of the First Church of Squantum, welcome to another of our COVID worship services. In case I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Rev. Doug Gray—please just call me Doug. I am so blessed to be pastor and serve with these extraordinary people. It’s a little weird for me to be worshiping with you like this. I expect it’s a little weird for you too. I don’t know about you, but I am so glad that the Lord we see today is bigger than anything we face, greater than our limitations, and more loving than we could ever imagine. It’s in that spirit that I welcome you today, on Jesus’ behalf. Wherever you are today, I pray that as we worship, God would come to you.

I should also welcome you to the third Sunday in Easter. In the ancient church, Christians would gather on Easter and a leader would say, “He is risen!” to which the congregation would respond, “He is risen indeed!” and then everyone would say together, “Alleluia!” which means “Praise God!” So let’s bring this ancient tradition, full of joy, alive with our new technology today. Shall we try it? Here we go!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

 Let us worship God!

**Heart-Opening Song                  More Precious Than Silver

 **Call to Worship

One:     We have been invited to change and turn to God.

Many:  We have been invited to turn over our stressed lives and our endless lists of tasks.

One:     We have been invited to turn away from our prejudice, our judgmental behavior, our self-righteousness.

Many:  We have been invited to turn away from fear and toward love.

One:     We have been invited to turn toward laughter and delight, toward wonder and joy, toward amazement and surprise.

Many:  We have been invited to turn our lives around and turn to God.

One:       He is risen!

Many:    He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Opening Hymn                               Thy Word

 Opening Prayer

Divine Joy, we confess that all too often we are motivated more by fear than love, and we don’t know why. We know how to build walls, make rules and set boundaries. We know how to feel guilty. We are good at trying to make ourselves (and everyone else) conform to some ideal we have fashioned, not You. We confess that too often we don’t know what to do with Your unconditional love and joyful surprises. We are afraid to stand under the flood of Your miracle and wonder, goodness and healing. Fold us into Your comforting embrace and bless us into courage, so that we can join the dance at Your side. Drench us in trust in the Name of the One who trusted You even on the cross, and who still teaches disciples to pray, saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.”

Stewardship Reminder    

As a young teen, I was struck by the story of Jacob as a young man. Jacob has to leave his family, get out of town, and truly alone for the first time, when he has a dream of God making promises to him. Jacob says, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear, so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God…and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” I thought, “Great! That’s how you do this!” So I tried making promises like that—you do this for me God and I’ll do this for you. It’s not a bad approach to getting to know God, but for me, it was a way I kept God at arm’s length, tried to keep God from penetrating my whole life. In fact, I had the whole idea of giving and God backwards and upside down! God had already given me more than I could ever have asked for or deserved—life and resources, talents and relationships, sorrows and joys and opportunities. God had even been willing to die on a cross for me. In discovering faith was a relationship, not a transaction, giving become pure joy and a source of great peace in a way I crave for you too. We give, not to pay for what we have received—as if we could ever give enough!—but in joy out of grateful hearts. If God is moving in your life like that, could you a take a minute to head to our website, firstchurchsquantum.org and give as God leads you. If you just want to continue to enjoy worship, beautiful! You are receiving another example of God’s grace today!

Prayer Song                        Your Grace Finds Me

Old Testament                                Psalm 116

New Testament                               Luke 24:13–35

Devotion                                          

Can I make a confession? This is one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible! Jesus comes up to these two followers—and we know it’s him, but they don’t! The tension starts to build as Jesus asks them what’s been happening in Jerusalem, and it’s just too rich that they are trying to explain to Jesus what He just went through. Here they are in their confusion trying to explain to Jesus when Jesus could actually tell them (and does) what it all means and why. And still the tension rises. Still Jesus’ followers don’t recognize him. What I love about this story is that in it, first we see how Jesus finds us, and second we learn how to find Jesus ourselves.

Most of us learn to find Jesus as these two disciples do. Did you see how it worked for them? 1. In prayer. The disciples shared their devastating grief and profound confusion with Jesus. Straight up. What they were really thinking and feeling…and then they listened for Jesus’ response. I’m telling you:  that’s great praying right there! What if you and Jesus went for a walk today? What would you talk about? Imagine how this person who loved you enough to die for you, enough to show up in your life—imagine how this person would look at you and what Jesus would say to you. If you haven’t tried this way of praying, give it a whirl. If it helps, try actually talking out loud, though you might want to do it where other people can’t hear you…it looks weird to people. 2. Spending time with God and the Bible. Jesus led what must have been one heck of a Bible Study with these two disciples on the road, so great they said afterwards, “Were not our hearts burning within us…while he was opening the scriptures to us? If you’re looking for a place to start reading the Bible, pick the Gospel of Mark maybe, or Genesis and Exodus. If you’re caught up in emotional or troubling times—and who isn’t right now—try Psalms. The writers of Psalms lay all their raw emotions out there—good, bad and ugly—trying to find a faithful path. Like the two disciples on the road, Jesus comes to us in the Word of God. 3. Through worship and especially communion. When Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks and gives it, those four things he did at the Last Supper! It was how Jesus’ followers always ate together, but especially that last night was very special to everyone there. Have you ever heard of Solomon Stoddard? He was a pastor in Northampton, Massachusetts during the 17th and 18th centuries. The story was told me—and I’ve not been able to confirm it though I’ve tried…but it’s a great story—anyway, the story is told that Solomon Stoddard was really worried about his people, really worried about his town. At the time, in order to have communion or the Lord’s Supper, you had to first prove that God had claimed you—often in front of everyone, but certainly at least to the pastor. Stoddard had a special heart for teen-agers and, like lots of us, some of these teens weren’t sure what they believed. They were not allowed to have communion. So the story goes that Solomon Stoddard was mulling this over, and one day while he was leading worship, as he took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to the people, his eyes were opened. Like our disciples, Solomon recognized that Jesus was in that act, that it was so powerful an act, that it could open the eyes of anyone who knew what it meant, and help them recognize Jesus in their lives. Communion was not just for folks who had arrived. Communion was for folks who trying to find their way. Communion was not a seal on those who were called. Communion was a way God could touch and change the heart of someone, so they could hear God’s call better. That’s why in our church, you don’t have to prove you’re a good enough Christian to be able to share in communion. Like Solomon, we believe that we can experience the grace of God not just through prayer or the Bible or worship, but that God can come to us in ways that can catch us by surprise.

As cool as it is to find Jesus, Jesus finds us in the middle of our life’s turmoil and imperfections. Did you ever resist coming to God because you didn’t think you were good enough? I know I did. The more I knew about Jesus, I knew I wasn’t good enough for Him. But just as Jesus comes to the two disciples on the road in the midst of their sorrow and confusion, Jesus comes to us. We don’t have to be good, or have our act together, or even have a clue. Jesus finds us as we are, in the middle of our messy, chaotic, confusing lives. And then, as we walk together, we will find Jesus has been with us for longer than we thought. In fact, as you look back over your week, you might discover Jesus was there, and is here, and will walk us from here. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

Closing Hymn                                 He Lives

Benediction

We gathered in hope today, and now we head into the rest of our lives. We trust that You will go with us, Jesus, and that Your guidance and strength will come when we most need it. May others see Your grace shining through us, and know the power of the new life we are finding in You. Amen. 

Catching God's Breath (COVID Worship 4-19-20)

Welcome and Introductions

Good morning, dear friends and seekers in Jesus Christ! On behalf of the members of the First Church of Squantum, welcome to another of our COVID worship services. In case I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet, my name is Rev. Doug Gray—please just call me Doug. I have the great blessing and joy of being pastor to one of the most loving bunches of people around. Normally, I’m a big fan of worshiping in each other’s physical presence, but we are not living in normal times, and the power of God is greater than any of our pre-conceived notions. Wherever you are today, I pray that as we worship, God would come to you.

I should also welcome you to the second Sunday in Easter, what in Orthodox churches is actually Easter Sunday. We celebrate with our Orthodox sisters and brothers today. In the ancient church, Christians would gather on Easter and a leader would say, “He is risen!” to which the congregation would respond, “He is risen indeed!” and then everyone would say together, “Alleluia!” which means “Praise God!” So let’s bring this ancient tradition alive with our new technology today. I’ll say “He is risen!” You say, “He is risen indeed!” and we will all say, “Alleluia!” Shall we try it? Here we go!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

Let us worship God!

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**Heart-Opening Song           Come, Now Is the Time for Worship

Words and Music by Brian Doerksen

©1998 Vineyard Songs (UK/Eire). CCLI License # 11151618

Chorus

Come, now is the time to worship.  Come, now is the time to give your heart.

Come, just as you are to worship.  Come, just as you are before your God.  Come!

Verse

One day every tongue will confess You are God.  One day every knee will bow.

Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose You now.  

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**Call to Worship

One:     Our lives are filled with uncertainty because of COVID—what about work? what about our neighborhood? what about our kids, our parents, our friends?

Many:  Whatever is happening in our lives, what we long for is that God would come to our hearts—to bring true peace the uncertain world cannot know.

One:     We are facing the very question: what shall we fill our lives with?

Many:  And we have lots of answers, but not all of them will truly satisfy our hungry hearts. Only You, O God. Only You!

One:     He is risen!

Many:  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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Opening Hymn                       To God Be the Glory

Words by Fanny Jane Crosby / Music by William Howard Doane.

Verse 1

To God be the glory great things He has done
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin
And opened the life gate that all may go in

Chorus

Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the earth hear His voice
Praise the Lord praise the Lord
Let the people rejoice
O come to the Father through Jesus the Son
And give Him the glory great things He has done

Verse 2

O perfect redemption the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives

Verse 3

Great things He has taught us
Great things He has done
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son
But purer and higher and greater will be
Our wonder our transport when Jesus we see

Used by permission. CCLI # 11151618

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Opening Prayer

Gracious Lord, we are uncertain about so many things. Yet we are certain of one thing, that what we are is not enough. So breathe on us, gentle Lord, and set within us new and right hearts. Come, Jesus, into our worship to renew and sustain our lives with Your promises. Hear us as we pray in Jesus’ name the prayer He still teaches disciples to pray, saying “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.”

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 Worship Song                                          Trading My Sorrows

Words and music by Darrell Evans. ©1998 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music.

Verse 1

I’m trading my sorrows;   I’m trading my shame—

I’m laying them down for the joy of the Lord

I’m trading my sickness;   I’m trading my pain

I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Chorus:

I said: Yes Lord, Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord; Yes Lord, Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord

Yes Lord, Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord; Amen

Verse 2

I’m pressed but not crushed; Persecuted not abandoned—

Struck down but not destroyed

I’m blessed beyond the curse; For his promise will endure;

That his joy’s gonna be my strength

Bridge

Though the sorrow may last for a night; His joy comes with the morning

Used by permission. CCLI License # 11151618

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Stewardship Reminder 

Did you ever go to church as a kid? I know I wondered about a lot of things I saw and did there. One of the things I really wondered about was the offering. I guess I thought it was when people paid for what we were doing, but the beauty on some people’s faces made me wonder if there was something more. Not until I was in my 20s and married, did I come to understand giving more deeply, that it was about how much of God’s grace I’d experienced, how grateful I was, and how much I needed to give to express the love I had for God. Is that Spirit working in you today? Would you be willing to take just a moment to pause this and go to our church’s website, firstchurchsquantum.org and make a donation? One of the things I love about worshiping this way is that wherever you are and however you are with God, you get to experience the grace of just worshiping, and receiving God’s beauty today. Thanks for your help and for your prayers!

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 Prayer Song                           Come Just As You Are

Words and music by Joseph Sabolick

Verse 1

Come just as you are, Hear the Spirit call.

Come just as you are

Come and see. Come receive. Come and live forever.

Verse 2

Come just as you are. Hear the Spirit call

Come just as you are

Come, receive. Christ, the King. Come and live forevermore.

 Chorus

Life everlasting, and strength for today.

Taste the Living Water, and never thirst again.

© 1993 Universal Music - Brentwood Benson Publishing (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.) CCLI License # 11151618

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 Old Testament                       Psalm 16 (God’s Word Translation)

Psa. 16:1 Protect me, O God, because I take refuge in you.

2       I said to the LORD,

                  “You are my Lord. Without you, I have nothing good.”

3       Those who lead holy lives on earth

                  are the noble ones who fill me with joy.b

4       Those who quickly chase after other gods multiply their sorrows.

                  I will not pour out their sacrificial offerings of blood

                           or use my lips to speak their names.

Psa. 16:5 The LORD is my inheritance and my cup.

                  You are the one who determines my destiny.

6       Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me.

                  Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.

Psa. 16:7 I will praise the LORD, who advises me.

                  My conscience warns me at night.

8       I always keep the LORD in front of me.

                  When he is by my side, I cannot be moved.

9                         That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices.

                                    My body rests securely

10     because you do not abandon my soul to the grave

                  or allow your holy one to decay.

11     You make the path of life known to me.

                  Complete joy is in your presence.

                           Pleasures are by your side forever.

 New Testament            John 20:19–31 (God’s Word Translation)

John 20:19 That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” 20 When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

John 20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

John 20:24 Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

John 20:25 The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.”

     Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”

John 20:26 A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”

John 20:28 Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

John 20:29 Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.”

John 20:30 Jesus performed many other miracles that his disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. 31 But these miracles have been written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that you will have life by believing in him.

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Devotion                       Catching God’s Breath

In our passage for today, we find the disciples desperately needing to catch their breath. In the span of a few short days, they had had their world turned upside down. On Thursday night, they had a wonderful evening with Jesus that turned into a nightmare when he was arrested and the next day crucified. All but a few of them ran away and hid on Friday, and Saturday doesn’t seem to have been any better. Sunday morning came with strange reports of Jesus’ body going missing, of Peter and John running to see the empty tomb, of Mary Magdalene meeting the risen Jesus by the tomb, and going to tell the others. It seems Jesus’ students gathered at last on Sunday, trying to sort out what was happening and what it all meant. Most of us have had times in our lives when we have just wanted to catch our breath, perhaps when our emotions are swirling and we are having trouble catching up, or maybe we just aren’t sure what to do. We think to ourselves, “If only I could just catch my breath.” Well, this morning you can take a breather, and while you are catching your breath, let’s explore the gifts Jesus wants to give us.

The first gift Jesus wants to give us is his Presence. In verse 19, we read, “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…” Sure, Jesus can and does come to us as individuals any time of the day and night, but in some extraordinary way, when we are together we find Jesus is Present. In Matthew 18:20, Jesus even says, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” This reminds us that we cannot worship by ourselves—that’s devotions. To worship takes at least two or three…why? To be witnesses! In order to have true worship, it takes two or three to witness to what God does with us. When we gather together, Jesus comes into our midst and gives us the gift of his Presence.

When Jesus gives the gift of his Presence, the gift of peace comes. In verse 20, John writes, “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’” This peace is the deep peace. It does not ignore the awful realities of this world. Instead, it sees beyond them. Only someone who has been through hell and come back can have this kind of peace. That’s why Jesus can offer peace, because no matter how bad our lives get, Jesus has seen worse, and he’s lived to tell about it. Jesus comes to give us peace.

Jesus’ third gift is joy. John writes in verse 20, “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” They recognize him by the wounds in his hands, feet and side. So, too, when we recognize the pain Jesus is still willing to bear for us, we realize what a marvelous gift he has given, a gift which turns to joy in us. Just as the peace Jesus gives is more than the world can give or understand, so this joy is not the fleeting happiness of the world. Even when the world tries to freeze the river of our lives with ice, joy this deep and this strong becomes the undercurrent for Jesus’ followers that can still move and refresh us and those around us.

Jesus’ final gift is the Holy Spirit. In verse 22, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” What a tender intimate thing! When do you notice someone’s breath? How close do they have to be? Imagine then, that for Jesus to give the disciples (and us!) the Holy Spirit, how close he has to come. Jesus does not hold us at arms’ length, but comes in and loves us with a deep and intimate love, a love that shares the Holy Spirit with us. In John, Jesus talks about how this Spirit “will guide us into all Truth.” When we don’t know what to say or how to pray or what to do, if we will allow it, the Holy Spirit will lead us in the way God wants us to go, and give us what we need to go there.

When we need to catch our breath, what we really need to do is catch God’s breath. When we are hard-pressed on every side, overwhelmed by all that’s happening, perhaps we need to realize that Jesus is much closer to us than we think. Perhaps we need to allow him to breathe on us, to catch Jesus’ breath, the Holy Spirit, so that we can face what comes with the same peace and joy that seem so evident in the disciples after this experience. But Jesus adds this:  “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” The more we catch God’s breath, the more we realize that the incredible peace and astonishing joy are meant for others. We are meant to love as Jesus loved us, to give peace as Jesus gave it, to forgive as Jesus forgave. In the shadow of COVID, God is blowing his love and forgiveness through us into our lives and our neighborhoods to change our community in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

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Closing Hymn — #368, Because He Lives

Words and Music by Gloria and William J. Gaither

Verse 1

God sent His Son they called Him Jesus
He came to love heal and forgive
He bled and died to buy my pardon
An empty grave is there to prove
My Savior lives

Chorus

Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives 

Verse 2

How sweet to hold our newborn baby
And feel the pride and joy he gives
But greater still the calm assurance
This child can face uncertain days
Because Christ lives

Verse 3

And then one day I'll cross that river
I'll fight life's final war with pain
And then as death gives way to vict'ry
I'll see the lights of glory
And I'll know He reigns

© 1971 Hanna Street Music (Admin. by Gaither Copyright Management)

CCLI License # 11151618

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Benediction

We gathered in hope today, and now we head into the rest of our lives. We trust that You will go with us, Jesus, and that Your guidance and strength will come when we most need it. May others see Your grace shining through us, and know the power of the new life we are finding in You. Amen.

Finding God in Disney: Beauty & the Beast (COVID Worship 4-12-20)

Welcome and Introductions

Good morning, friends and members of Jesus Christ! It’s in Jesus’ Name that we gather today, trusting in Jesus’ promise that “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in the middle.” On behalf of the members of the First Church of Squantum, a hearty welcome to another of our COVID worship services. For those who are joining in that I haven’t met yet, I’m Pastor Doug Gray and I have the great joy of being the pastor for the First Church of Squantum. Wherever you are today as you join us, I trust God is able to bridge the miles to link us all together. And it’s Easter Sunday! In the ancient church, Christians would gather on Easter and a leader would say, “He is risen!” to which the congregation would respond, “He is risen indeed!” and then everyone would say together, “Alleluia!” which means “Praise God!” So let’s bring this ancient tradition alive with our new technology today. I’ll say “He is risen!” You say, “He is risen indeed!” and we will all say, “Alleluia!” Shall we try it? Here we go! 

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

Let us worship God!

**Heart-Opening Song Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord

**Call to Worship

One: By the waters of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus walked and taught and watched the sun rise.

Many: Though some felt threatened by Jesus’ message of the coming Kingdom, Jesus’ Kingdom is a place of grace and steadfast love.

One: Jesus died 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, put to death by the authorities of His day.

Many: We believe, Lord. Help our unbelief.

One: He is risen!

Many: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Opening Prayer

Be present in our midst this morning, Risen Jesus. As You appeared to the disciples, help each of us recognize this morning where You have walked with us over the course of our lives. Give us eyes to see and faith to trust, that You are our risen, living God, faithful to all Your people. Inspire us to be Your witnesses, and stir us to be Your hands and feet in the world. Hear us as we pray as Jesus still teaches disciples to pray, saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.”

Song Tale as Old as Time (Beauty and the Beast)

Tale as old as time

True as it can be

Barely even friends

Then somebody bends

Unexpectedly.

Just a little change

Small to say the least

Both a little scared

Neither one prepared

Beauty and the Beast.

Ever just the same

Ever a surprise

Ever as before

Ever just as sure

As the sun will rise.

Tale as old as time

Tune as old as song

Bittersweet and strange

Finding you can change

Learning you were wrong.

Certain as the sun

Rising in the east

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast.

Tale as old as time

Song as old as rhyme

Beauty and the Beast.

Stewardship Reminder Today, in my office, I am surrounded by the most beautiful lilies and tulips. They’ve been given by some families and memory or celebration of loved ones. I invite you to take a look in the notes for those names. On behalf of everyone who gets to enjoy these flowers, thank you to those who provided them to us! Thanks, also, to those who are continuing to give. Encourage you to take a moment to sign onto our church’s website and use the donate button.

Prayer Song Glorious Day

Scripture Luke 24:1–12

24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Devotion I’m with Jesus!

Most of the time, our world tries to convince us that we can be gods. “Have it your way,” Burger King says. Apple names its online service, “me.com” because after all what matters is me. The saying, “The customer is king” has become “the customer is a god.” The more choices, and the more power we seem to have, though, the harder our lives seem to get. Have you ever felt like your life was too complicated? Does it ever seem that life is moving so fast that you can hardly keep up? Do you ever long for a simpler life? You are not alone. One of the problems with the Church in America is that we have made faith just as complicated. In fact, a woman once said to Max Lucado—one of the great preachers of our day— “I’d like to try Jesus, if I could just get past the religion.” For Jesus, it wasn’t about the clothes we wear or the sanctified language some Christians use. It wasn’t about believing certain, obscure teachings. Jesus wasn’t trying to start a movement—he was trying to start a relationship, to keep it simple. He said simply, “Follow me.” Our passage for today offers some critical insights into what it means to follow Jesus and simplify our lives.

First, the tomb is empty. Anthony Robbins tells the story of Richard Bandler who once visited a mental institution to deal with a man who insisted he was Jesus Christ—for real. When Bandler met this man, he asked, “Are you Jesus?” “Yes, my son,” the man replied. Bandler said, “I’ll be back in a minute.” This left the man a little bit confused. Within three or four minutes, Bandler came back, holding a measuring tape. Asking the man to hold out his arms, Bandler measured the length of his arms and his height from head to toe. After that, Bandler left. The man claiming to be Christ became a little concerned. A little while later, Bandler came back with a hammer, some large spiked nails, and a long set of boards. He began to pound them into the form of a cross. “What are you doing?” the man asked. As Richard put the last nails in the cross, he asked again, “Are you Jesus?” Again the man said, “Yes my son.” Bandler said, “Then you know why I’m here.” Somehow, the man suddenly recalled who he really was. His old pattern didn’t seem like such a good idea. “I’m not Jesus. I’m not Jesus!” the man started yelling. When we look at our seemingly infinite choices and extraordinary power, we are tempted to believe we are our own savior, but the world and we ourselves shy away from the sacrifice of love that would make us real saviors. The angels said it beautifully, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” If we want to find Jesus, it won’t be in empty complexity or purposeless speed. 

Second, He is risen. We will have to seek Jesus among the living. Joyce Hollyday tells the story of a school teacher who was assigned to visit children in a large city hospital. One day she received a routine call asking that she visit a particular child. The teacher took the boy’s name and room number, and was told, “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in this class now. I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn’t fall behind the others.” It wasn’t until the visiting teacher got to the boy’s room that she realized he was in the hospital’s burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain. The teacher felt that she couldn’t just turn around and walk out. And so she stammered awkwardly, “I’m the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs.” This boy was in so much pain that he barely responded. The young teacher stumbled through the English lesson, ashamed at putting him through such a senseless exercise. The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher started on her apologies, but the nurse interrupted her: “You don’t understand. We’ve been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back; he’s responding to treatment. It’s as if he has decided to live.” The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope. “But then I realized,” the boy said with joyful tears. “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy who was dying, would they?” Even when all we seem to see around us is pain, disappointment and brokenness, on the other side of pain, there is resurrection. When we seek Jesus among the living and show the hope we know, somehow Jesus always finds us and catches us by surprise!

In many ways, we are like the women who loved Jesus and came to the tomb looking for him. It’s Easter and we came here at the break of dawn to find Jesus. In Jesus’ death on the cross, we see how far God was willing to go to show His love. But on the other side of Good Friday’s darkness comes the brilliance of Easter morning. As we look at the sacrifices it will take to show God’s steadfast love to the people around us, we will say, “I’m not Jesus! I’m not Jesus!” How could we love enough? How could we—failed, flawed and feeble as we are—ever love like that? Especially when we look at all the pain and need in the world, all the deep, deep darkness, we are tempted to throw up our hands. Something amazing happens when we stop trying to be God. He makes it simple for us:  joy comes in the morning! In the dark places of our lives, when we cry out to our God, Jesus comes…with a brilliance that beats back the darkness, a compassion that fills our hearts, and a strength we need to face it all. We are not alone. Jesus is with us. When we follow Jesus Christ, living out His sacrificial love, then even Death, our ancient enemy, will find us ready. For as we face the final darkness, our cry has become, “I’m with Jesus! I’m with Jesus!” He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Easter Prayer

Closing Hymn — #367, Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Benediction

We gathered in hope today, and now we head into the rest of our lives. We trust that You will go with us, Jesus, and that Your guidance and strength will come when we most need it. May others see Your grace shining through us, and know the power of the new life we are finding in You. Amen.