Stewardship Sermon

1 Kings 17

Acts 4:32

            After Sunday worship, a young boy walked up to the pastor and handed him a dollar.  The pastor asked, what is this for?  I thought you might need it.  And the pastor responded, why is that son?  And the boy responded, every Sunday when we get home from church, my dad always says what a poor preacher you are. 

            As we gather on this Stewardship Sunday, we have these two passages before us.  One is of the prophet Elijah that encounters a widow that has absolutely nothing left to care for her son and herself.  The other is of a community of people that have come together to share of their resources so that there is no need among them.  One is a story of isolation, the other is a story of community.  The widow and her son are on their own.  Once their meager amount of food is gone that is it, there is nothing more and it seems there are no outside resources available to them.  No soup kitchen, no food pantry, no community of faith pooling their resources to get them through.  They are going to die. 

            In the story of community, we have generous hearts, people taking what they have, selling what they don’t need, bringing together resources to make sure the entire group is being cared for.  Barnabas had a field, and he too sold it to bring the proceeds to the community.  We then have another couple, that decide they too will sell some property, but instead of being of one heart with the greater community, they proclaim that they are giving the proceeds of the sale to the group, but they withhold a portion of the prophets for themselves.  Ananias an Sapphira – have so much, and are generous in what they give, and yet.  And yet they cannot completely surrender what they have and the outcome is rather harsh.  They drop dead. 

            We have a widow with nothing that fears she and her son will die, and somehow, by giving the last of what they have to the prophet Elijah, their food does not run out.  Ananias and Sapphira had no fear of going hungry, no concern that their life might come to an end, but they also just can’t seem to fully trust in the community to which they are a part. 

            Throughout the generations, people have tried in various places to live out this type of Christian community.  Is it truly possible to come together as a people and share all of our resources?  And over and over again, people have learned that it just does not work.  The Amish are doing their best to model coming together as a community in times of need to help each other out, but even they do not pool all of their resources together. 

            So, as we ponder Stewardship, as we ponder what it means to be community here together, we each have our own possessions, homes, and cars, but we also have a shared resource and responsibility.  This church building, this sanctuary, this organ, these windows are collectively ours.  Generations of people have contributed from their own resources to come together and share, to share in creating a sacred place where people can gather in worship, prayer, song.  Where people can gather in Sunday School and Bible Study, where people can gather in fellowship and celebration.  This is how we pool together our resources in our modern world so that all have a church home. 

            But we also know we are more than a building, we are more than this sanctuary, this organ, and these windows.  We are to be like the prophet Elijah that goes to the widow and her son, we are to go to places of isolation, places that others have forgotten or don’t care about, we are to go and bring promise, bring hope, bring God’s promise of providing even in times when there seems to be nothing left.  For a small church, we do a lot.  We just gathered at least a dozen grocery bags full of food for the Roxbury Food Pantry’s Thanksgiving basket.  And now, today, we pack items for the military through Operation Shoe Box.  Studies show, that in our current society, people want to give to a cause, they want to give to something that is concrete, something that they can see, something tangible.  People want to give to charities that connect to their own lives such as: Breast Cancer, Alztimer’s research, or diabetes. 

            When we give to God, when we give to the church, it might not seem so concrete.  The work of God in this world, what we proclaim as the Kingdom of God is not always easy to name.  But it is there.  Your stewardship to this church building has allowed a scout troop to gather in this building for years.  Year after year, young men gain skills of leadership and are given the opportunity of becoming Eagle Scouts, and those are the tangible moments of the Kingdom of God breaking into our world.  Stewardship calls us to pool our resources, not always for ourselves, but for the greater community, for the support group that meets here on Monday nights, and for the yearly blood drives.

            Here are a few ways in which people within this congregation have shared why this church, why this community is important.  We can’t put a price tag on these things, but we can proclaim them as the work of God, the inbreaking of God’s kingdom here in this place, and within our hearts, and within our lives. 

            However it is that we are able to give, we, as a community here in this place will need to find ways to gather as a community that fits within our means.  We are fortunate that we are not the widow, preparing our last meal, but we must be good stewards with what we have and with what we receive.  Let us live into the Bible characters of Elijah and Barnabas, whether we are able to take a meager handful of resources and multiply it, or give generously of what we already have, together, we are God’s people and together we are making a difference in our own spiritual journeys as well as sharing love and compassion with the world around us.  Amen.    

All Saints Day - sermon: More than Heirlooms

Rev. 21

“More Than Heirlooms”

            This past week, I attended a pastor’s retreat at camp Johnsonburg.  The theme of the retreat was story telling.  We sat around a fire, with full length windows on either side, so the gorgeous fall foliage accented the beauty of the burning logs.  Our speaker shared his stories, each beginning with a scripture and each ending with a connection to how God is present in not just the stories of our scripture but in the story of our lives.  We were then invited to share stories of our own lives, stories from our ministry, stories of life, and stories of death. 

            He shared a story on Revelations 21 of the new heavens and the new earth.  His story was of one of the reality of the world, that sometimes really bad things do happen and how, as a people of faith, we live in this time knowing God’s promise that in the fullness of God’s time God’s love overcomes oppression, injustice, suffering, and even death.  We live in this imbetween time, this time of proclaiming God’s work in Jesus Christ, a season of resurrection, but still not the fullness of all knees bowing before God, and embracing God’s love in their lives. 

            But the thing is, we have stories, we have stories of when God’s fullness is present in our lives.  We have glimpses of God’s future glory if we open ourselves to interpreting our life stories through the lens of scripture. 

            As I began to think more deeply about my stories, and this particular day we call All Saints Day, I began to think about the people in my life that have gone before.  I remember visiting my grandmother and how she was so adamant that there be no fighting over her things after she died that she gave us all masking tape and a marker and we were suppose to go around and put our name on specific items.  Grandma wanted her stuff to be passed along.  There were some really special things that I wanted.  I was one of the last of the grandchildren not to have children, and Grandma had made all the other great grandchildren baby blankets.  Well, wouldn’t you know, she had a hope chest, and in the chest were a pile of baby blankets waiting, waiting for future babies, babies not yet born, but waiting for future possibility, future expectations, future love.  Maybe like God’s hope chest of the new heavens and the new earth, filled with God’s love for not just what has been but for what will be. 

            Sometimes, the things we receive from loved ones are family heirlooms, other times they are deep connections to our loved one’s life.  I have a few items passed along to me that have very little meaning to me. I keep them only because they belong to grandma or grandpa.  But there are other things that are more than heirlooms, they hold a reminder to stories, to memories, to moments where our lives connected and our stories intertwined.  From both of my grandmothers, I asked for one of their quilting books.  They were both avid quilters and this is an art form that I am deeply drawn to.  Although I have only done a few small quilts, I plan to embrace this art form more deeply as my girls get a little older. 

            Another item I claimed, was my grandmother’s Bible Quilt.  I only learned of this quilt on her 90^th birthday when my mother and aunt put together a book for all the grandchildren.  After grandma’s death, I used the Pastor card and said, I am the only pastor in the family, I get the quilt.  This quilt is by far more than just a heirloom, just as our scriptures are by far more than just an heirloom.  It is grandma’s faith story.  She picked the fabrics, she picked the stories to remember, she retold the stories by her art, and her love for God and her love of telling God’s story is infused through this quilt.   As I think about all Saints Day, I think about all the stories of faith that were embraced by the generations before us and how people sought to tell the story, sought to share the love of God with others, with their family and with the next generation.  Our stories are more than heirlooms, our stories when told through the lens of faith, illustrate to the world our trust in God, our understanding that is at work bringing wholeness and goodness into this world. 

            Our Bible, our scripture is more than an heirloom, it is a living story.  A story of people that did their best to understand God in their lives and how they were to live as a people connected to God.  All Saints day is more than just remember our loved ones, it is a time to embrace the stories of those that formed us, fashioned us, molded us into the people we are becoming.  We are, only because of the lives before us, the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It all is a part of who we are.  Communion is more than just a heirloom.  Here is a story that we tell over and over again, not just through words, but through action.  Because we believe in God’s promises, because we believe that God is at work in the world, because we believe we are called to be the yeast of God’s love that works within the dough, we break bread and share the cup living into God’s story.  We are not just retelling the story, we are not just connecting the story to a moral or ethical meaning, we are participating with in the story, we are participating within the great chain of saints, those that came before, and those that have not yet been born.  We are the now of God’s work, the now of God’s promise, the now of God’s story, and in the bread and in the cup we are united with the entire body of Christ.  This is God’s promise, this is the new heaven and the new earth, this is the time when knees will bow and people will praise God with one voice.  Embrace your story, embrace the moment, and be fed on God’s covenant of grace, reconciliation, and newness.  In Christ, we are a new creation, we are the not yet, but someday will fully be.  

Sermon - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Hebrews

“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”

            Most mornings, as I get up, I turn off my alarm on my smart phone, turn on the hall lights, go downstairs and turn on my coffee pot, turn on the TV, and use my laptop to check my email.  On a daily basis I depend on inventions of others.  None of these inventions came into being over night.  The phone has taken its time to develop and adapt.  Growing up, we had one of those old fashioned phones in our kitchen.  It was my mom’s when she was growing up.  It was rather large and looked so funny.  I remember asking her how it worked and thinking how strange it was to have to share a phone line with others.  Way back before cell phones, we had rotary dial then push dial then finally, a cordless phone.  And as various companies and inventors seek to make a newer and more advanced phone, they only are where they are today, because of the work of others before them. 

            I was trying to explain to my children the other day that when nana and grandpa were children, TV was in black and white.  Andi asked if the world was in black and white.  And I had to explain that the world has always been in color, but it took time to develop TV to show color. 

            In my daily routine, especially my morning routine, I rarely take the time to think about the people that have come before me, creating things that are now just a standard part of my life.  I don’t stop to think about how it took one person’s idea, and then another to build upon it, and then another to build upon that, to get to where we are today.  There are times that I wonder what my children will have when they grow up, what will phones or TV or computers be like?  Will there be some new invention that will be the next must have device like the ipad or tablet. 

            Standing on the shoulders of giants.  Each and every day, driving our cars, using electricity, indoor plumbing, it all has happened because of those that have come before us.  We too, sit here today, because of those that came before us.  For over 250 years, God’s people have gathered here, sharing their faith, growing together, crying together, worshiping together, learning together, and transitioning through life together.  Just as we benefit from the technological advances of people building upon those that came before them, we too benefit from the faith of God’s people that came before us. 

            Today, we are celebrating those that have been members of this congregation for fifty years and longer.  As I thought about this celebration, the passage of Hebrews 12 came to mind.  Today, we are award and pay attention to the cloud of witnesses that are all around us.  Whether you have been a member fifty years or three months, you are a part of this cloud of witnesses, a part of this era of being God’s people, of being the ones that are building upon those that came before us and developing and preparing the sharing of faith to the next generation that is rising up before us. 

            Our first passage from Hebrews shares this celebration of how God calls people through time to be a people of faith.  God called Abraham and it was through faith that Abraham and Sara followed God.  God called Moses and it was with self-doubt but also with faith, that Moses liberated the Hebrew people.  These stories were collected and passed along and used over and over and over again as the foundation for guiding people in their own faith journeys.  None of us come to church this day without the influence of someone else in our lives.  Someone else exhibited faith, modeled a love for God, that either planted a seed within us, or nourished that seed to grow.  When we really stop and think about it, we are, each and every day, surrounded by a cloud of witnesses in our lives.  Each of us can go into the passage of Hebrews and rewrite the names of Abraham and Moses to Aunt June or Uncle John.   And then write your own name into the scripture story, for you too are a part of God’s story, a part of this passing along of faith from one generation to the next.  We may question whether our faith is strong enough, or mature enough, we may think we have too many unresolved questions or doubts, but so did Moses, so did King David, so did the Disciples, and yet, they built their lives upon the shoulders of those that came before them. And others built their live of faith upon their shoulders.  Just as Abraham had to take a leap of faith to follow God, we too, are called into this faith journey, trusting that God is calling us, and has a purpose for us.  We have a gift to pass along to the next generation, a gift of sharing God’s love for us and for this world in which we live.  Amen.            

sermon - Dr. Suess

John 5:1-18

“Oh, the Places Jesus Goes”

            Congratulations!  Today is your day.  These are the opening words of Dr. Sues’ book:  Oh, the Places You’ll Go!  I was given a special copy of this book when I graduated from high school from my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  Each one of them wrote me a note of encouragement for my future as I began my journey to college.  Oh, the places you will go, looking back, now 25 years later, these words ring true.  Oh, the places I have been. 

            Through the book, Dr. Sues shares that there are choices in this future journey that we are all taking.  There are places that we choose we just don’t want to go.  And we can choose to steer ourselves in a completely different way.  The book then hits on the reality of life, not everything will go our way.  We will hit times where we feel like we have been left behind or times when we just don’t know which direction to go.  The message continues that with perseverance we will succeed as long as we keep trying there will be places to go. 

            Congratulations!  Today is your day.  These are not the words Jesus speaks to the man at the pool, but they might as well have been.  He asks: Do you want to be made well?  And the man explains that he has waited and waited and waited to be made well, but others push ahead of him and there is no one will help him.  For thirty-eight years he has waited to be made well.  His only option in life is to wait, wait until a day and time come when indeed, he will be made well.  Not really much of a life is it?  The living conditions must have been horrid.  The scriptures share that there are all kinds of invalid people gathered here.  This place has a reputation for healing, when the waters are stirred, and the people enter the water, it was believed that they would be healed.  But from this man’s account, it sounds like it was extremely difficult to even get to the water. 

            Congratulations!  Today is your day.  Stand up, take your mat, and walk.  And the man has been made well.  Jesus does not pick him up and place him in the water, but speaks and the man stands up and walks away.  He does not even know Jesus’ name.  He just knows that someone has finally noticed him, someone has honored him as a person, someone has shown enough compassion to him and not pushed him away one more time.  He wants to be made well, and perhaps he felt something happening within his body as Jesus spoke, but he did not insist that he needed to be placed in the water, rather he just stood up and walked away. 

            Oh, the places Jesus goes.  Why does he choose to go to the places that he goes?  As he entered into Jerusalem, he could have gone to any number of places, but he chose to go to this place, a place of human suffering and desperation, yet a place with potential hope as people waited to be healed.  Perhaps that is why Jesus chose to go to this specific place, the underlying potential hope that each of the invalid person had within him or herself as they waited, waited for the opportunity to enter the waters of the pool.  They had not yet given up on life.  They still had enough within themselves to expect life to be different, to expect life to be better.  And so they waited.  And Jesus comes to them.  He comes to a suffering and miserable place and ignites the small spark of hope within one man who has waited thirty eight years to be given a different life.  Thirty eight years in those days was a complete life time.  Amazing that he even lived that long, but he did, and Jesus chose to go to that place, and offered him a fuller life. 

            Oh, the places Jesus goes.  And he goes on the Sabbath.  Once again, we have a healing story on the Sabbath and Jesus is getting the attention of his opponents.  And Jesus’ explanation for his actions on the Sabbath are this:  My Father is still working and I also am working. 

            In engaging scripture, we can always ask the question, what does this story share about who God is, who people are, and the relationship between the two?  This story shares that God is a God of love and compassion and desires to be present to people no matter what their life journey is.  God goes to the places of human suffering, of human desperation, and seeks to bring wholeness.  This passage shares that people often are out for their own best interest and leave the weakest behind.  This passage again illustrates that the religious leaders of the time desired obedience to the law over the gift of lives changed.  And this story shares that Jesus is willing to go to places others fear.  He is willing to go to places that are ritually unclean, that are most likely pretty smelly, and he goes to these places because God is alive in this world.  There are no religious leaders at the pool trying to help this man enter into the waters.  There is no one willing to help this man.  There is only God present in the life of Jesus. 

            Oh, the places Jesus goes.  How do we engage this day with the words:  Congratulations!  Today is your day!  As we first have to accept it as our own and then bring this message of God’s hope into the world?     

sermon - Full Armor of God

Joshua

Ephesians

“Embraced in God’s Love”

            In our house, it is always: Safety First.  My children know that they are not allowed to ride their bikes or scooters without the proper equipment, they must wear their helmet and they must have on sneakers.  No ands, ifs, or buts.  The rules are the rules because for us, it is always, Safety First.   In today’s world, our children are used to wearing a bike helmet, or shin guards, or shoulder pads when playing football, soccer or lacrosse.  Perhaps that would be a more suitable metaphor for us in today’s world.  The whole sports equipment of God.  Football, Hockey or Lacrosse probably work best for this metaphor, since those players tend to wear the most equipment. 

            Whether we are donning armor, or a bike helmet, or soccer shin guards, or football shoulder pads, or a mouth guard, as we put on these items, they embrace our body, they cover us, they protect us.  Sports equipment embraces our bodies in order to keep us safe.  Helmets protect us against concussions, mouth guards protect our teeth, and so on. 

            In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul is reaching out to a fledgling congregation of people that need encouragement.  They are living in challenging times and their faith is being challenged and questioned.  So, Paul uses an everyday image as a metaphor for the people:  Armor.  Now, when I think of armor, I immediately think of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and the medieval exhibit hall that is filled with armor including horses in armor.  For me, the image of armor is a bit outdated.  Just as the Ephesians were facing challenges by others, the church of today is also facing numerous challenges.  We too need the encouragement of Paul in order to stand strong as a people of faith in the diverse culture of our day.  And so it is, Paul desires this small group of people in Ephesus to know, that in challenging times, they too have the equipment of God to keep them safe.  The full armor of God, to me, embraces what our faith is all about.  As we think about who we are as a people of faith, do we think about the ways in which God is embracing us, protecting us, calling us to stand strong in challenging and questioning times? 

            Paul is giving them a step by step simplistic way of defining their faith and understanding who they are as a people of God.  First, they must define what the truth is for them.  It is the foundation, it is the building block of what they believe.  Do they believe in the God’s of the Roman Empire or do they believe in the one true God of the Jewish faith?  Do they accept the teachings Paul brought to them of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, or do they believe in other ideologies of their culture?  Whatever it is that we believe, we wrap that truth around our core, around our inner being.  What we name as Truth impacts how we live our lives.  If, for me, truth is: an important education and career, then that is how one seeks to equip themselves as they journey through life.     

            Naming one’s truth is the central meaning in the passage today from the book of Joshua.  Joshua is asking them to name their truth.  What is it that they believe?  Will they worship the God’s of their ancestors or will they move forward into the Promised Land believing in the one true God?  Joshua asks them to take a solemn vow:  Who on this day will you serve?  And he names for himself:  As for me and my family, we will serve the one true God.  The belt of truth.  Stand strong in what you believe and know that God wraps that truth around the core of your being. 

            Throughout our faith journey within the life of the church, we come to these moments where we need to come back to our foundations, to what we consider the truth, whether it be as individuals or as an entire congregation.  And we have sacraments and other rituals within our time of worship to name those truths: such as in baptism and communion, such as in ordination and installation of leadership, and in the litany of membership.  We engage in these lifelong patterns of faith, reminding ourselves and each other, that in God we have the belt of truth.   

            I spent several hours this past week at a meeting at the presbytery office where we were discerning what faith and discipleship means in today’s world and what resources the churches in our presbytery might need in equipping our congregations in faith formation and discipleship growth.  In a way, it is the same question Paul has before him as he reaches out to this fledgling congregation in Ephesus.  He wants them to be a people of faith, a people that believe in God and in Jesus and in salvation and righteousness, not because they are told to believe it, but because they truly do believe.  In order for one to begin a journey of faith formation, there must be a truth to build upon. 

            We can see on a daily basis on how people seek to name a truth, and then convince others to be a part of their truth.  Scientists gather data, politicians give speeches, the media present stories, and sometimes it is all just so cluttered we can throw up our hands and shout – I just don’t know who or what to believe. 

            At least in the church, we can begin through Paul’s metaphor: the belt of truth and then the breastplate of righteousness, or the shoulder pads of right living within the community.  If we believe a truth of being a people of God involves love for our neighbor, then as we adorn our shoulder pads, we should find ways in which we express love for our neighbor.  We live out the truths we have named.  As we grow in our faith formation, we can learn from our actions or from the actions of others.  If you see a person of faith always being compassionate and caring for others, you may begin to seek to model that behavior yourself.  Again, in the world in which we live, we have challenges with what right living within our faith community may be.  We have temptations all around, they may look different from the day and age of Paul, but they are still there.  And since God understands that they are there and that we stumble and struggle with them, we can stand strong because God places upon us the breastplate of righteousness.  We do not do this one on our own, we seek right living but we do not believe in works righteousness.  This was a hard one for me when I was younger, and probably the biggest area of growth in my own faith formation when I truly understand that it is God’s grace that places the shoulder pads upon each and everyone of us. 

           

             

Sabbath Sermon Series

Exodus 20

“Fast-Food Living”

            Last week, we started a summer sermon series on Sabbath.  In the creation story, God works for six days, creating this world in which we live and then on the seventh day, God rests.  God takes time to enjoy the creation, blessing time and creation.  God creates a rhythm for living, six days of work and one day of rest, one day to set aside to be present in God’s being, a sacred break from the toils of work. 

            We jump ahead today to the Ten Commandments, and again are reminded of Sabbath keeping.  The Hebrew people have been living in Egypt for around five hundred years.  They trace their arrival to Egypt back to Joseph who arrived as a slave and rose to privilege and power by interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams.  His eleven brothers arrive during a time of famine and the extended family settles in the land and prospers.  By the time of Moses and the Exodus, one estimate of the Hebrew population is as high as two million people.  The scripture states that there were six hundred thousand men which does not include the women or the children.  Together, this massive group of people, leave the oppression of slavery and follow Moses into the wilderness on their journey to the Promised Land. 

            It takes the people three months to reach Sinai where they camp at the base of the mountain and Moses climbs the Mt Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments.  Just prior to this, Moses goes to his father-in-law asking for advice as to how to be present for all of these people.  There are many complaints among them, and Jethro advises that Moses should call elders from the people to help handle complaints and be present to the people’s concerns.  Three months into the wilderness and these people that had only known a life of oppression under Pharaoh are now struggling with how to live as free people.  It is an incredible change, from a daily routine of work to this new life of journeying, a new life of not really knowing where they are heading, a new life of putting trust into Moses and this God that Moses proclaims is leading them into their future.  This was all new to them.  And so God gives them a code of living, a short list of laws in which they are to practice is they begin to form their lives as a new culture, a new people, a people set aside to be God’s people. 

            When many people think of the Ten Commandments today, they think, sure, these are easy enough to follow: I don’t steal and I won’t kill anyone, unless it is in self-defense.  Those are the two that seem to have risen to the top of how to summarize the Ten Commandments.  But what about commandment number four?  This one is not written as a Thou Shall Not, but rather as a positive:  Remember the Sabbath.  And unlike the others, it is given with an explanation.  Remember the Sabbath – because – because even God rested on the seventh day.  Again, this is all new to the people, they had been living in Egypt and living under Egyptian law, rituals and practices.  They knew Egyptian Gods and now, they are beginning the process of learning about this one God that is molding them into a Promised people.  As an oppressed people, a people forced to work, learning to set aside a day of rest is a gift. 

            Do we think of Sabbath keeping in our lives today as a gift?  I found a cartoon on-line that has two young people talking and it says this:  Our grandparents called this day Sabbath, our parents call it Sunday and we call it the weekend.  We ask each other, what you doing this weekend?  And the response of going to church or taking a Sabbath rest is rarely the answer.  The Ten Commandments were not meant to be a list of Laws forcing people into a strict way of living.  They were intended to be a way of life in which people lived with respect for each other and respect for God.  Where people worked, lived, and rested remembering that they did these actions because a loving God established a world in which this should be the way to live. 

            Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.  I asked last week, what would this look like for us in our lives today?  Other than attending church, do we keep Sunday just as another Saturday?  Perhaps we can look deeper into our culture and pay attention to who works on the Sabbath.  Some people, such as myself, do work on the Sabbath, but we have the gift of taking another day off.  Friday becomes my Sabbath, my day of rest, a gift given by God, commanded by God.  But what about the people all around us that don’t have a day of rest.  In this Fast-Food world we live in, there are many people that are working seven days a week, holding several jobs, just to try to make ends meet.  All we have to do is go across route 10 and walk through Kohls, or Walmart, or eat at McDonalds, or Wendys and we will encounter people that might be working multiple jobs, seven days a week.  If, we choose, in our freedom on this Sabbath day, to go to the grocery store, or have brunch at a local restaurant, let us lift up in prayer those that are working.  We often don’t know their stories, but everyone has a story.  Some are working because they don’t have the financial freedom to have a day of rest.  While others are given a day off on another day. 

            I came across a church that has taken this Fast Food Living as a ministry.  Believing that Sabbath is not a luxury, believing that Sabbath is not just for those that can afford it, this church felt called to providing Sabbath rest for those that are truly overworked.  It is a simple gift of a free meal, not the gift of a whole day, but a start.  A church saying, we know you are there, we know you are working hard, we know we benefit from your labor and we would like to give you the gift of rest.  Come and Eat and we will serve you.  First we start with prayer.  Let us pray for the overworked, for those that desire Sabbath rest but cannot.  Then let us pray for the greater church, for the ways in which our Presbytery might be able to work together as God’s people to name the Sabbath as a Commandment given by God with the same weight and importance as Thou shall not steal and thou shall not kill.  Remember the Sabbath, keep it holy, because God labored for six days and on the seventh day rested.  

sermon - Christ is our Peace

Ephesians 2

“A World in need of Peace”

            I was recently at a birthday party for a four year old.  While the children played, a few of us parents were able to sit and talk.  There was definitely some anxiety in the conversation, anxiety for the way in which our children, even at the age of four are engaging technology.  There is great concern about how easy technology can be abused, cyber bullying, hacking, spying, etc.  One mom said, we hear all these issues now, I can’t even imagine what it will be like when our children will be in high school.  What will they be facing then?  She continued, I just want to build a wall and fence them in to keep them safe. 

            Keeping children safe.  It is by far a major concern in today’s world.  Last fall, when my daughter was playing soccer, it really struck me as to why organized sports have become so important in our culture today.  Not only are the kids outside getting some exercise, and not sitting inside watching tv or playing videos, they are interacting with each other face to face, not via social media.  But more than that, I personally, found the soccer field a safe place for my children to play.  I was able to watch them, but I also knew that there were other parents there also keeping eyes on them.  We were able to be together, find an hour or so for some socializing, some relaxation, and provide some good fresh air for our children.   I found this time out at the soccer field rather peaceful.

            We, as a people, desire moments of peace.  Peace, this one word can be packed with so many definitions.  Peace can be people getting along.  Peace can mean moments in history where there is no war.  Peace can be sitting at the beach and soaking up the sun.  In today’s passage in Ephesians, Jesus is described as our peace.  As Paul writes to this gentile community, he is reminding them that before they came to learn about God’s love made known in Jesus they were outsiders.  It is only through Jesus’ love for them, for this world, that they have been brought into God’s covenant.  Prior to Jesus there was a division, there was God’s chosen people, but God has now open wide the gate and invited all into the promise of being God’s people.  The dividing wall has been shattered and both groups have been made one.  In Christ, through his peace, through his desire to break down all that divides us, we are to think of ourselves as being brought into a new humanity, a new creation, one where we celebrate God’s love for us. 

            So how do we embrace this peace of Christ in a world that seems so chaotic, so in need of the end of the hostility between us?  Paul wrestled with bringing together the Jews and the Gentiles, he himself persecuted those that followed Jesus.  He was a part of the hostility, part of the dividing wall, but through his conversion, through the transformation of understanding God’s deeper meaning and purpose for people in this world, he let go of all that he knew, all that he understood about God and his faith, and embraced a new way to be a part of God’s community. 

            First, we have to name and address the hostility.  What is it that brings fear and concern into our lives today.  For some, it is the constant concern of terror threats and this movement of Isis.  For others, it is these off the wall mass shootings, whether they be at schools, or public places and now a church.  For others, it is cyber bullying, or the use of the internet to lure child.  For others there is hostility towards immigrates and the issues with people being here that are undocumented.  Paul names the hostility, that there is tension and discord between the Jews and Gentiles and that we need to know and understand that Jesus is our peace, Jesus is the one that brings the two together, that unites us as one. 

            Can Christ be our peace in today’s world?  He brings a spiritual peace, but Paul is talking about a relational peace.  Paul is discussing the way in which two groups of people need to be connected, united, and reconciled.  How do we bring the peace of Christ into our fears, concerns, anxieties of today’s world?  How do we begin to work on the walls of hostility between us when those walls seem mysterious and unseen to us?  One way is through education.  We can learn more about cyber bullying and how people use the internet to lure children.  Perhaps we can work with other congregations or the school system to develop a program for at risk youth to find a place where they feel safe, welcomed, and valued and combat the negativity that bullying presents. 

            Some churches have named themselves a peace site and hold vigils in times of chaos, lifting up prayer, and naming the evil of the world for what it is, and proclaiming that God’s love will overcome the darkness of people’s hate and anger.  In Rockaway, the clergy have created an interfaith group, bringing together people of various faiths into conversation with each other, educating each other, and learning that we all live in our community together and desire the best for our children and the community in which we live.  I was blessed a few years ago to be invited to an event at the mosque and gave one of the prayers.  In some communities, there are dividing walls between people of faith, in Rockaway, there is a movement to be a people of peace, a people that honor the differences between each other and focus on common goals, concerns, and are now seeking to develop a ministry together. 

            Going back to the conversation at the birthday party of this deep desire to keep our children safe in today’s world.  We need to know and understand that the Peace that Christ gives is not a magic shield that keeps us safe no matter what.  Even if we build walls to keep our children in, we cannot keep them safe for ever.  But we can provide the peace of Christ, a tool that should help us navigate this world, that should call us to seek ways in which the dividing walls can be shattered and the hostility between us broken.  This mom that was so concerned about the shootings throughout our country also commented that we need to do more in our country with mental health issues.  So many of these shooters seem to have mental health issues that if they were addressed, perhaps the outcomes would have been different.  Can we as a culture, do better at addressing issues of anger, isolation, and violence?  Let us turn to God in prayer, praying that Christ, who is our peace, will inspire us to be present to the walls of hostility in our world today and be those we seek to bring God’s love into those places so that we can all be a part of the household of God, beloved children, living in unity with each other.  Amen.