The gift of looking forward: Maranatha First UMC, Carroll Nov. 30 and Dec 1, 2019

The gift of looking forward: Maranatha

First UMC, Carroll

Nov. 30 and Dec 1, 2019

Happy new year!

No, the pages on my calendar did not stick together. According to my calendar, this is the first Sunday of Advent, right? That means it is New Year’s Day for the church. Much like a fiscal year, the church’s year does not follow the calendar. We start with the first Sunday of Advent and run all the way around through Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and back to Christ the King Sunday which was last week. This is the first Sunday of the new year, so it makes sense that we call this the Sunday of hope.

  This morning we lit the candle of hope, we sing songs of hope but hope for what? What are you hoping for, today? <<who has a hope you are willing to share?>>

Frankly, if you are looking for something happy and Christmasy this first Sunday of Advent, we shouldn’t have read the gospel text for this week. Actually, every first Sunday of Advent in the Revised Common Lectionary we are assigned apocalyptic texts. Apocalyptic literature was common in Jewish and Christian writings around the time Jesus lived. The best-known example is the book of Revelation. We don’t really have close comparisons to apocalyptic literature in modern writing.

One of the basic characteristics of Apocalyptic literature is that it is highly metaphorical or symbolic, so be wary of anyone who tries to use it to tell the future or even more inappropriately create a timeline for the end. You may have enjoyed the LEFT BEHIND series of books, for instance, and that’s OK as long as you know that they are maybe 1% scriptural and 99% fiction.

Regarding today’s passage from Matthew, for example, the popular assumption of the left behind series is that being “left behind” is a bad thing. If we look at the context even that is not absolutely certain.

In this very passage, in fact, Jesus makes a connection with Noah and the flood. Listen to this again:

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.

In that story who is “swept away?” << unrighteous>> Who was “left behind?” Noah and his family.

Or consider another image Jesus uses right here in Chapter 24.

But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed

awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

            The thief comes to terrorize and kidnap… in other words to carry someone away. Who is “left behind?” The righteous owner of the house. That doesn’t fit with the popular understanding either.

If you aren’t yet convinced of the elusive interpretation of apocalyptic writings, keep reading into chapter 25, the story of the bridesmaids. Again, the ones who weren’t prepared were gone when the bridegroom came. Who was able to meet the groom? Those who were “left behind.”

You see the trend, right? 

The entire Book of Revelation describes Jesus coming to live with us forever, here on Earth.

 “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his

peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3).

So just where do we think we are going? Wouldn’t it be better to be “left behind” with Jesus? [i] Those are the kinds of questions we must ask before we jump on the bandwagon of the popular interpretation of Apocalyptic literature.

So, what is the message of this passage? What does the Bible have to say about the future?

First, this passage is a warning—a warning to never give up.

Black Friday makes it abundantly clear that some have given up on the true meaning and core story of Christmas mistakenly believing that it is about gifts and decorating. maybe we use them to push the nativity story out of the way. The other side of the picture is that we let the story of the nativity become so routine that we don’t even hear it. It becomes kind of cut and dry. When we start to read the Christmas story, people yawn and say, “Yeh, tell me something I didn’t know.”

I struggle with this in worship preparation too. There are only 3 Christmas stories in the Bible. Can I approach them from a different and interesting perspective this year? Can I design a Christmas Eve service that doesn’t sound like verse 2 of last years’ service? Do you know what I mean?

We must hang on to hope and resist giving up. We have to resist just going through the motions. We have to resist giving up on the promises of God.

Our Jeremiah passage tells us to never give up. God says, “I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up.”

Do you remember planting seeds in a Styrofoam cup as a kid? It doesn’t seem like anything is happening for the longest time. It is easy to forget to water the dirt. It is easy to get sloppy about taking care of the unseen plant because, well, it is unseen. But Jeremiah says, don’t give up…

 “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up.”

 One day our plant will begin to push the soil up and we will see that it has been growing all along. Similarly, at a time God has chosen (remember we don’t know the day, or the hour and it will probably be when we least expect it), God will break forth with a new thing. The branch will grow, and it will be apparent that God has not forgotten us. God will fulfill God’s promise. So, don’t give up.

 Second, HOPE requires that we stay alert. Stay alert to what? Stay alert to what God is doing because we don’t know when or how God might be acting in our lives or our world.

What does it mean to stay alert? It means that Advent and even Christmas are not about the distant past some 2000 years ago, they are about promises that may be fulfilled today. It is about a future that is truly in God’s hands.

God’s promise means that God is still working. Today, here and now and we need to stay alert.

·       Stay alert to the people closest to you. How will you find God’s hope in those relationships?

·       Stay alert to the strangers you encounter. How will God’s hope for all people be revealed in the way you treat them?

·        Stay alert to the people least like you. This may be more difficult but now look for the hopeful ways God works in the lives of all people.

·       Stay alert to yourself. How will your body, soul, and spirit, receive God’s hope this advent?

·       Stay alert to all of God’s movements around you. Where do you see hope, love, joy, and peace in places you never expected?

I know, it is tempting to cling to our favorite stories and precious family traditions from the past. But do you drive your car with your eyes constantly fixed on the rear-view mirror? Of course not. We must be aware of what lies behind, but the driver's primary focus must be on where the car is now, and the road ahead.

We know our faith is firmly rooted in the past, but it looks with expectant eyes to the ways God is working today and the way God will work in the future.

 Finally, we live in hope. Hope is the rock on which our faith is built. Living in hope is living with our hearts in God’s promises fulfilled.

Giving up, and not being alert are barriers to living in hope.

You see we live in the already and the not yet. We live in the crevice between promises fulfilled and promises made.

God’s promise is that God is not done with us yet. The language of the New Testament is that Jesus will come back. Whatever language you use… however you envision this happening, we can know with absolute confidence that God makes good on all God’s promises.

Before Jesus, the Jews could not even conceive of God becoming flesh and living among them. We can not even begin to conceive of what God has in store for us. Those who say they know are way too confident in themselves. Those who place a timeline on God’s promises don’t understand the very basic theological principle of divine sovereignty- that God is free to do whatever God wishes to do, whenever God wishes to do it. God does not need our timelines or our help.

·       What God does need and want is a people who live with God’s gift of hope in their lives.

·       What God does need and want is a people who never give up waiting for God to act.

·       What God does need and want is a people who are keenly aware and alert to the little movements of God around them.

·       What God does need and want is a people who walk through advent not focused on the rear-view mirror… but ready for whatever future God has in store for us.

 The early church had a word that meant “come Lord Jesus come.” It was a prayer for God’s promises to be fulfilled. The word was “Maranatha”. You have probably heard it before.

·       Maranatha- come Lord Jesus come.

·       Maranatha- come Lord Jesus come. With complete hope in God’s promises … Say it with me one more time…

·       MARANATHA COME LORD JESUS COME.

---

[i] The Hardest Question: Let’s All Get Left Behind 10/22/19.   danielleshroyer.com/the-hardest-question-lets-all-get-left-behind

Who needs a King? Christ the King Sunday November 23-4, 2019 First UMC, Carroll, IA

Who needs a King?

Christ the King Sunday

November 23-4, 2019

First UMC, Carroll, IA

 Americans are not accustomed to the extravagance that accompanies royalty. The closest most of us can come is the wedding of Princess Diana and Charles.

I read descriptions of Queen Elizabeth II coronation this week and it makes that wedding seem like a square-dance in an old barn.

On June 2, 1953, after 16 months of planning the Archbishop of Canterbury, other distinguished clergy, and most of the British nobility gathered at Westminster Abbey. The Royal navy was lined up as if at attention, the guards and other military were dressed in their finest regalia.

 After much elaborate ceremony, the new queen took the vows of office and she was presented with the crown jewels -including the Royal Orb, the Royal scepter, and the St Edwards crown which together contain 23,578 jewels including the largest clear-cut diamond in the world. … get the idea? That is the way the world treats royalty.

 Not unlike the beginning of our Matthew scripture: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him.” Our divine king’s Royal robes and the heavenly crown jewels must be something to behold. Colossians has this same royal view of Christ.

He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation;

for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created,

things visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—

all things have been created through him and for him.

 He himself is before all things,

and in him all things hold together.

 He is the head of the body,

the church;

he is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead,

so that he might come to have first place in everything.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

 That certainly sounds like Christ the King Sunday, doesn’t it? “Thrones or dominions or rulers or powers… He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head… so that he might come to have first place in everything.”

In short, Christ is the source of our being, the sustainer of all that is, the master of all that will be, and he rules over a kingdom that will have no end.

 It doesn’t look that way though does it. Our world is one of monstrous evil, ruthless hate, genocide, ignorant prejudices, sex trafficking, child abuse, greed, murder, and lies. Is that world part of the kingdom of God? Well, yes and no. Yes, because we know that Christ is King over all creation and creatures. But no, because most of creation has not bowed to the power of the divine king.

That is where you come in. You are part of Christ’s Kingdom … and so am I.

Notice in Matthew, “the Son of Man” stands in judgment, not over creation as a whole, but over each and every individual according to the way they lived out the kingdom of God in their life.

If you read this and think it is about getting into heaven or going to hell, you would not be the first to think that. I, however, think that is missing the big point. This parable is not so much about who will get into the kingdom of heaven or who will be left out. It is not about Jesus tallying up all the good marks and all the and all the bad marks.

NO. The real question here is not, “where will I spend eternity.” The real question is, “what am I supposed to do today?”

There is a surprise in store for everyone.

 Let’s reverse the order that Jesus uses in the parable. First, the unrighteous are in for a big surprise. You see they spent their lives judging who is worthy of help. They only helped those whom they determined to be deserving.

•            The mother of 3 whose husband was unemployed came to the unrighteous for some help at the holiday time. They discussed it among themselves and said, “We can’t help her if she didn’t spend so much money on bingo and cigarettes she could take care of her family herself.”

•            The teenager from up the road was facing court proceedings because of drug offenses. The unrighteous said, “We can’t help that family, where do you think he learned to be a druggie. His parents taught him.”

•            A young woman, a single mother who is pregnant again. You know, the one who “got herself into trouble” but insists on hanging out with the same low life’s. The unrighteous said, “She needs to get her act together before we help her.”

•            What about the drunk who lives a few houses up the street? Or the divorced man who has walked out on his wife and family? The unrighteous said, “they made their beds and now should lie in them?”

•            They saw some of the kids at school dressed in old jeans and always untidy, they don’t seem to care about their work. The unrighteous asked, “Where are their parents?”

•            Or what about the elderly woman whose mind is not what it used to be. He has become cranky and hard to get along with? The unrighteous said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to talk to her.”

They asked “Lord, when did we NOT do the right thing? … You can’t judge us!” … They were completely oblivious to the judgments with which they have been burdening others.

 They complained, “But Jesus, if we had only known it was you, we would have helped.” Maybe they would have… but it is too late.

 . The righteous similarly asked, “When was it that we saw you and DID those things” … The Son of man replies, “when you did it unto the least of these, you did it to me.” In other words, YOU are the kingdom of God. In every encounter, every friendship, every person you help, every person you love.… you are the living kingdom of God.

Today’s text makes it clear, to live in the kingdom of Christ the king means…

•            When the woman with three kids who spends her money on bingo and cigarettes comes for help, the kingdom citizens see a hungry child of God and kids who deserve at least a little joy at least at Christmas.

•            When the troubled teen comes, kingdom citizens see a victim of his parent’s addiction and take him under our wing to mentor.

•            When the pregnant (again_ single mother comes, kingdom citizens find a place for her in our fellowship.

•            When the drunk or the divorced man comes, kingdom citizens realize that we can only guess their pain, so we show them compassion

•            When we see the kids at school ill-kept and uninterested, kingdom citizens ask ourselves, “I wonder if they had anything to eat for breakfast this morning or even supper last night.”

•            When the cranky old woman comes to the door, kingdom citizens know that we too might be unpleasant to be around someday. So, we take one on the chin.

Who needs a king? We do. We need our king, so we learn to live in the glorious Kingdom of God, in which people love simply because there are people in need of love.

Who needs a king? We need our king by whose example we learn to live in the eternally present Kingdom of God, in which people share simply because others don’t have enough.

Who needs a king? We need our king who died for the life-giving Kingdom of God, in which death gives way to life we so we can lay ourselves down for others as we work for justice, peace, and hope.

That is why we need king Christ in our lives.

 I remember hearing some great preachers at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, but I wish I had been there for Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermon just two months before his assassination. He shared how he would like to be remembered, and in doing so, he zeroed in on that ultimate question: “If Christ is King, what does that mean for me today? If Christ is ruler over our lives, Dr. King told them, then

•            my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry.

•            If Christ is King, then my invitations to the White House are less important than that I visited those in prison.

•            If Christ is King, then my being TIME magazine's "Man of the Year" is less important than that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, with all my being.” 

That should give us all pause for thought. Let’s look at Matthew’s list again: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. There are probably 100 more groups of people… Can I add one that is on my heart these days? How about those who disagree on issues of gender and sexuality. The attitude in our denomination is that if we disagree, we can’t worship together, serve together, commune together, or get along together. No that is not what the discipline says but it is exactly what folks on BOTH sides of this sexuality argument are saying.

However, Christ is my King. If Christ is your king, we are not only citizens of the same kingdom, we are brothers and sisters and children of the one and only God. That is greater than any opinion either of us will ever hold.

 May we live each day looking for ways to share the love of God with others and guess what. When you least suspect it, there will be a surprise. “Come, you blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world.”

Connecting the dots: service First UMC Carroll 11/16-17/2019

Connecting the dots: service

First UMC Carroll

11/16-17/2019

 Here we are in tournament season High school Football and volleyball; before long the NCAA season will be talking about bowl games. And what do they all want:  to be #1

We all dream of being number one. Most people would like a promotion and the extra pay that comes with it that in our culture equals success.

We would all love our kids to be #1; have a perfect 36 on the ACT, or be the valedictorian, AND homecoming king or queen.

It may (or may not) surprise you that it happens among pastors too. “My church is bigger than your church, nana-nana, boo-boo”

I’m not saying that any of us really think “I am better than everyone else, but the lure of being #1 is always in the background of our lives; sometimes quietly… sometime not so quietly.

Now make sure your seatbacks are in the full upright position because we are about to make a dangerous landing.

 You just heard the story, now imagine Jesus kneeling on the floor washing the disciple’s feet. OK? Now the voice-over starts.

at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9 -10)

Isn’t it like a sour chord in a song? Do you know how you feel sick when your inner ear and vision get different messages on the amusement park ride? This is the same thing. You hear that Christ is, Lord, Savior, God in the flesh, worthy of worship. At exactly the same time you see him demonstrating that the greatest greatness of all, is being the servant of all. You hear Peter calling Jesus, “The Christ the son of the living God” but you see him kneeling at his feet ready to wash off the day’s grime and we feel a little dizzy.

The truth is our heads tell us it is best to be number one. But Jesus is teaching that whether we are number 1 of 15, or 3 billion; the call of Christian discipleship is a call to serve.

This is the last of our connect the dots sermons for now… however, you will continue to see the discipleship wheel and we will encourage you to use it.

 We have been talking about our mission statement which is what? <<<Connecting people with God>>>

 The discipleship wheel helps us envision how we grow as disciples. Walkthrough it with me. We connect… <<<UP WITH GOD>>>

 We Connect …<<<IN WITH EACH OTHER>>>>

 We Connect … <<< DEEPER IN OURSELVES WITH GOD>>>

 And do you know the last one yet…. <<<OUT WITH OTHERS>>>

 These are 4 main ways we connect people with God and there are lots of programs, ministries, and individual practices in each slice of the pie.

Today we talk about CONNECTING OUT TO OTHERS by serving.

Several years ago, Psychology Today published an article about the powerful impact that serving has on our mental and emotional health. Those who helped, volunteering in nursing homes, in poor areas of the city, or in churches, were found to be happier and healthier in emotional and physical ways than those who did not.

I can tell you my personal experience (and I have heard this from others); when I am depressed, sometimes getting out of my own head and helping someone else does make me feel some better. It does not take away the chemical imbalance, but it soothes the pain at least for a while.

 Psychology today credited neurotransmitters and hormones affecting the brain when we serve. Even on the surface, we can see that serving others breaks down stereotypes and prejudices, creates strong bonds among those serving and brings hope to the person being served.

I think this also happens, in part, because in serving we draw nearer to the very image of God in which we were created. Humans were created to love and serve God and neighbor. When we don’t serve God and others, we experience spiritual pain. We need to serve God and people in order to be the whole people God created us to be.

Just like the disciples, however, we find serving to be hard. Our created nature and our cultural teachings put us in a real bind. So, if we are to become the servants God needs let’s take a lesson from the master himself.

 First, check your ego at the door. In our story today, “during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God…” That is some pretty heavy stuff. It says Jesus knew who he was, knew his mission, and heard God say something like, “It’s all yours.” How scary is that? This is serious stuff.

  “He got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.” Jesus, the host of the meal, was not too important to wash the guests’ feet. Jesus, the teacher, is seen bowing before the students. Jesus didn’t think of relationships as a hierarchy. Later he said, “ but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.” Jesus effectively turns any idea of one person being better than another on its head.

When I was one helping with flood recovery in Muscatine we occasionally had someone who wanted to help. It didn’t take long to identify those who were in it to impress someone or to feel better about themselves or to fulfill a community service requirement.  If your attitude is other than loving a brother or sister, STOP. If you are about to serve because you feel guilty, or you want someone to recognize you, or someone to be in debt to you, STOP. If you are about to serve because it will look good to the neighbors, STOP

 Serving is reaching out to others and it is reaching up to God… but it has nothing to do with you. Get over yourself. The only good reason to serve is that someone needs help. Someone needs to make a difference. And Jesus would say, “Go be the someone,” So, check your ego at the door.

Second, get your hands dirty.

There are three kinds of people in the world: helpers, helpers who don’t want to get their hands dirty, and non-helpers. Jesus’ instruction is that we should all be helpers whenever we can. Do it unto the least of these, right?

  “Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.”

Jesus didn’t get up and call ServiceMaster to get the grime off his friends' feet. Jesus didn’t go to get one of the household servants to do this nasty job. didn’t even ask one of the disciples to do it (which makes me wonder if they were sitting around saying to one another, “I’m not washing feet… well you don’t think I am going to wash feet do you?)

NO. Jesus took the basin and the towel and started right in.

You know when your kids notice something that has to be done and they do it voluntarily? Yea, you know it is either getting close to Christmas or (at least for the moment) they have a servant heart.

You know when someone is willing to do the thing that no one wants to do… I had a man like that in Reinbeck. If someone needed to crawl through the tiny, nasty tunnels beneath the church Cliff was your man. If someone needed to climb the ladder to change the very highest lightbulb at the peak of the roof, Cliff was your man. He had a servant heart. (It also helped that he had no fear)

Now, let me address the relationship between money and service. Giving money is a great way to serve, but it doesn’t give you a chance to get your fingernails dirty and to eye to eye, heart to heart ministry.

Maybe you honestly cannot do the work. Maybe kids or work get in the way. That’s OK.Money is a fine way to serve. And honestly as one who likes to serve, we are grateful for you because without you we could not do some of the things we do.

However, don’t make that the only way to serve.  Serving others means meeting them heart to heart and getting our fingernails dirty.

 Check your ego at the door, get your fingernails dirty and you will be serving as Christ calls us to serve.

Finally, Serve without any expectation of return.

If we check our egos, we are willing to get a little dirt under our fingernails, the last thing is to serve without expecting anything in return. I can almost guarantee you that you will receive something, but that is not the goal.

 A nursing school graduate took her first job in a long-term care facility. One of her first patients was a woman named Eileen. Eileen’s major health problem was that she had an aneurysm burst in her brain, leaving her apparently totally unconscious. We might call it a coma. Eileen had to be turned every hour to prevent bedsores, and she had to be fed through her stomach tube twice a day. Eileen never had visitors. Apparently, no one cared about her. One of the other nurses said, "When it's this bad you have to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation…." As a result, Eileen came to be treated as “case.”. But this young nurse decided that as a Christian with a servant attitude, she would treat Eileen differently. She talked to Eileen, sang to her, encouraged her, and even brought her little gifts.

It was truly an act of service offering kindness with no expectation of return.

On Thanksgiving Day, the young nurse came to work reluctantly, wanting to be home on the holiday. As she entered Eileen's room, she knew she would be doing the normal tasks with no thanks whatsoever. So she decided to talk to Eileen and said, "I was in a cruddy mood this morning, Eileen because it was supposed to be a day off. But now that I'm here, I'm glad. I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing you on Thanksgiving. Do you know this is Thanksgiving?" Just then the telephone rang. She turned away from the bed to answer it. As she was talking, she turned to look back at Eileen. Suddenly, she said, Eileen was "looking at me…crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow and she was shaking all over." That was the only response that Eileen ever showed, or ever would show as she slipped back into her coma.

The nurse didn’t expect anything but see how she was blessed.

 It was also enough, however, to change the attitude of the entire staff toward her. Not much later she died.

 The young nurse closed her story this way: "I keep thinking about her….It occurred to me that I owe her an awful lot. Except for Eileen, I might never have known what it's like to give myself to someone who can't give back." That's catching the spirit of Jesus: serving someone with our egos in check, getting our fingernails dirty, and expecting nothing in return. But look at the blessing!

Go serve for Jesus.

Connecting the dots… sharing our faith Carroll First UMC November 9 and 10 2019

Connecting the dots… sharing our faith

Carroll First UMC

November 9 and 10 2019

 Real-life stories can be powerful – they tend to get people’s attention. They can shape minds, touch hearts, and change lives. They can even change the course of history forever.

Take, for example, the story of the hard-living, liquor-slogging, vulgarity-spewing captain of a slave ship in the 1700s who in the midst of a terrible storm cried out to God for deliverance from the wind and waves—and mercifully received it. His name was John Newton. He wrote a song you might know… does anyone know “Amazing grace?”

John Newton’s story became a strong influence in the life of William Wilberforce who, decades later, succeeded in abolishing the slave trade in the entire British Empire.

That’s quite a story, isn’t it?

Stories have the power to change lives and history.

A young missionary named Bob Pierce felt such compassion for a young Chinese girl whose widowed mother could not afford to send her to a mission school that he gave all he had to help: fifteen dollars. That was enough to enroll her in the school—and he committed to sending money every month for her continued support. When he returned to America the concept of child sponsorship caught on. Today World Vision has over 500,000 people sponsoring children every month, supporting 100 million people in 99 countries, and it has become one of the largest relief agencies on the planet!

Everyone has a story. Maybe yours won’t change the history of the planet or write the next generation’s most beloved hymn, but I guarantee you have a story that just may change someone’s life. But one thing is absolutely for sure… your story will do nothing if you ever tell it.

 We have been talking about our mission statement which is what? <<<Connecting people with God>>>

 The discipleship wheel helps us envision how we grow as disciples. Walkthrough it with me. We connect… <<<UP WITH GOD>>>

 We Connect …<<<IN WITH EACH OTHER>>>>

 We Connect … <<< DEEPER IN OURSELVES WITH GOD>>>

 And do you know the last one yet…. <<<OUT WITH OTHERS>>>

 Last week we talked about CONNECTING OUT THROUGH GENEROSITY. Today we come to CONNECTING OUT BY SHARING OUR FAITH.

Very few people like the “e” word. You know, “Evangelism.” For many people that is right up there with other favorite words like “colonoscopy” and “IRS.” I wish things were different. It is a perfectly good word, “Evangel’ being the Greek word for angel. An angel is one who brings a message from God. In Evangelism one person brings a message of GOOD NEWS to another person. It has been explained as ‘one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.’ What a great image! Or in my terms today, one friend telling their story to introduce Jesus to another friend. There is nothing scary about that.

But our minds go crazy… (missile VIDEO It will freeze white… leave it there.)

Stop right there… am I right? Isn’t that what your minds do when you think about inviting someone to church? Maybe you don’t imagine them blowing up your garage, but maybe it is something similar. However, that was his anxiety talking… let’s see what really happened.

(Second video followed by the second powerpoint.)

You see it turned out to not be as scary as he thought. And I promise you… it probably is not as scary as you think either. Let me tell you why.

 First, when we talk about connecting out to share our faith, we are not saying that we should stand on the street corner and talk to strangers. When we talk about sharing our faith we are talking about connecting to our friends, neighbors, relatives, coworkers, and people who, at some level, we call friends. They are people who know and love you and the reason you want to share with them is that you love them as well.

Many years ago, preaching caused me a LOT of anxiety. Then I realized that most of the people in the congregation are my friends. When I realized we are all on the same side, my Sunday morning stress was greatly diminished.

I hope the same can be true to you when you realize that no one is asking you to convert a stranger on a plane or the clerk at Walgreens. We are asking you to love your friends, neighbors, and relatives enough to give them the greatest gift you ever received.

 In John 15, Jesus makes a huge theological and psychological move. He says “15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

Why is that so huge? It is huge because none of Jesus' listeners could imagine anyone being a friend of God. God was OTHER, God was not bound by the human constructs of who is a friend and who is not.

Here is God himself… the almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, divine being in the flesh in front of the disciples saying, “YOU ARE MY FRIENDS.” That is like incarnation squared.

If we are friends of Jesus, then sharing our faith with our friends is nothing more than introducing one friend to their new best friend ever!

 Second, I want to look at Acts 2, the birth of the church through the movement of the Holy Spirit. We all know the wind blew the spirit descended like flames on their heads but something even more remarkable happened. The disciples began to speak other languages… languages they did not know.

 There are some who connect this passage to the gift of speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The difference is that speaking in tongues, or Glossolalia, is a language between the believer and God and requires interpretation if it is to be understood by others. This was different, The disciples began speaking in languages known by the visitors Each of these locations on the map has a different language or a variation of the language. The disciples spoke to the partheniums in their language, the meads in theirs, and we would have heard them in English.

 Do you know what they call that today? “Contextualization.” Literally: speaking to people in their own languages… what a concept. Instead of re-making these friends into our image of what the church is or should be, … The Spirit met them right where they were and offered exactly what they needed.

That is why we sing old hymns. For Some people, the old hymns speak their language. For other people, the contemporary music we have been using is their birth-language. The church will never be all things to all people, but Jesus can be. This is a reminder to the church that people come speaking different languages, and we need to fluent in all of those languages in order to reach them for Christ. If you have a friend dealing with guilt, you can share with them a story about experiencing Jesus' forgiveness, or a time when you forgave. If your friend is grieving, you can share with how your faith brought you comfort in your grief and what the promise of eternal life means to you. If your friend is seeking direction you might pray with them.

This is why “evangelism” as a program does not work. Evangelism is a program and therefore, by definition a one size fits all – or one size fits none. Something like that is doomed to failure.

When you share your faith with a friend you can tell them exactly what they need to hear and show them that Jesus can help them. So first we are dealing with friends… second dealing with friends individually one on one knowing them, loving them, and wanting nothing more than to help them by introducing them to a new best friend.

Finally, when you share your faith, tell a story. These are your friends, You know what they need. You love them and want to help.

This is not the time to preach. Preaching a sermon, trying to stir up some guilt, or persuade someone to believe in Jesus might work for some, but not for most!

 It is also not a time to walk them through a pre-memorized set of scriptures. Again, that might work for some, but not for most. It works much better to tell them a story.

 Not a story like “A pastor, a priest, and a rabbi walked into a bar.” (someone shared that with me this week.)

 No share a personal story: your story.

On Pentecost Peter said to the crowd, “No, they are not drunk, let me tell you a story about why these men act like this.” And he proceeded to tell them about their experience with Jesus and now the Holy Spirit;

So don’t just give your friends a tract, or a bible verse, or some generic greeting card, and for heaven’s sake don’t be afraid give them yourself. That is what sharing a story is about giving a part of your experience as a gift to someone else.

Do you remember when I did this? Well, I felt about like you do now and here’s how Jesus helped me. Here’s why I was glad I was part of the church.

Before we were friends there was a time when I was lost and couldn’t figure out what to do with y life. Do you know that helped me? I joined this Sunday school class and my friends in the class really helped me.

You know when I was unemployed my church was able to help me. Let’s go talk to the pastor.

Those are YOUR STORIES of how Jesus or the church helped you. Those are the most powerful stories in the world. Those are the stories that will make a REAL difference for your friends.

Sharing the treasure of Jesus with a friend is the greatest feeling in the world.

But there is not one treasure map for everyone. Your life and your stories are the best maps your friends will ever find. So share the treasure with them. It is not so scary.

Connect with your friends!

Meet them where they are.

Tell them your story and invite them to church. And maybe you have to tell them again another time, and another time, and another time…

 And let God do the heavy lifting. Remember, you are not alone. They are Jesus’ friend also, Jesus knows their needs, and Jesus has his own powerful story of how much he loves each and every one of us.

Share your story and trust Jesus to seal the deal.

Amen.

Connecting the dots: Connecting to God with generosity November 2nd and 3rd All saints day Carroll UMC

Connecting the dots: Connecting to God with generosity

November 3

All saints day

Carroll UMC

 Saint Nicholas ( We know him as Santa Clause) was the Bishop of Myra (which is in Turkey) in the 4th century AD. He knew a family with several daughters who could not marry because they had no money to pay for a dowry.

In the middle of the night, Bishop Nicholas put a bag full of gold coins through the window on the man’s nightstand. With that money, the man was able to pay the dowry and the girls were able to get married.

That is not exactly what we think of when we think of Santa Clause, is it? But think about it. He came secretly in the middle of the night and left gifts for the family. We appreciate both St. Nicolas and Santa Clause because they are the patron saints of generosity.

 When we consider Generosity as a spiritual practice, there are two directions from which you might approach it. On the one hand, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Some of you will approach generosity in the third quadrant, digging deep within yourselves to do battle against greed, or selfishness, or insecurity.   Others may think of Jesus saying, “If you have done it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.”  Others of you might approach generosity fro the perspective of how much good can we do for others.  In that case, generosity might fall in the 4th quadrant, connecting out to others. This is a reminder to everyone that the wheel is made of clay, not concrete, so even though it provides a great plan, we have to be willing to mold it to fit each person’s individual style of discipleship.

 Do not make the mistake of thinking of generosity as just money. Frankly, neither I, nor the church, nor God is all that interested in your money. We ARE interested in what money represents.  In our culture money represents time, knowledge, hard work, helping, sacrifice, and so much more. The most important thing to us is that you to experience God’s generosity and connect with God by living by God’s generous example.

This church has some great examples of different kinds of generosity.  I am told that there was a group of saints, one of whom was Bill Farner, that were largely responsible for making this building a reality. They probably made financial donations, but more importantly, they generously of their time, their vision,  their energy, and their prayers to see that this very nice facility was constructed for generations to come.

You may know we have a Wilma Mohler room right off the kitchen. (Kids, it is the science room during Vacation Bible School.) Mrs. Mohler was the choir director for many years. She generously dedicated thousands of hours and all of the talent God gave her to bring glory to God through the music program here.

I asked Verona if I could do this, and she reluctantly gave her permission. our own Verona Fuller, who couldn’t be with us today, but will be watching the recording, is one of the saints of generosity in this congregation for all those years as church secretary. I doubt that the pay was very impressive, but it wasn’t all about money. It was about her superhuman generosity giving of herself to help make this church what it is today.

There are many of you generous saints sitting out there. You are generous with time, knowledge, love, energy, ideas, support, prayers, and a thousand other gifts. Or maybe you have a saintly grandmother who gave up things she needed to make sure you had shoes to go to school. The list could go on forever.

Whether it is the saints of old, the saints of yesterday, or the saints of today, there is one thing that they have in common: generosity.

 The first thing I want you to remember is that God invented generosity out of God’s own character. It is a fundamental characteristic of God’s nature. Only a generous God would create the flaming red trees we see around us. Only a generous God would offer people the opportunity to be created in God’s image, essentially giving away part of himself to us. Only a generous God would go the extra mile by becoming a human being. and living among us, and generously giving his son for the salvation of the world.

  God created us in his image to be generous.  – but more importantly, He shows us how to be generous. God gave us everything we have and placed the seed of gratitude in us, so it is natural to turn to God with hearts overflowing with generous praise.

•             In turn, we are to turn to our neighbor and generously share the good news of God’s grace.

•             We are to turn to people who live in poverty, people who live in fear, people who live with mental illness or addiction, people who struggle with grief, or guilt -- and generously share the hope that God has given us.

•             We are to turn to people imprisoned behind iron bars or even stronger bars of guilt and shame to share a generous word of God’s love.

•             We are to turn to people on the other side of the world, whom we may never meet, by giving generously to the church and missions so an UMCOR truck will pull in to their town on the worst day of their lives.

•             We are to turn to one another and, like the good Samaritan in Luke, give generously to comfort and heal. He gave his time, his love, his compassion, his donkey, his money, and his promise to make sure the poor fellow received the best care available. He gave generously of himself. And we are to give generously of ourselves.

  So, the first thing we have to understand is that God is generous first and most. We will never “out-generous” God. But the proper response to God’s generosity to us is to live generously toward God and other people.

 As1 Timothy says “do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.”

 Preacher John MacArthur says, “God made all of His creation to give. He made the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the earth, the plants to give. He also designed His supreme creation, people, to give. But fallen humanity is the most reluctant giver in all of God’s creation.”

 The second thing to understand about how generosity connects us to God is that our generosity both flows from and establishes our priorities.

Jesus said “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:21 And I would add the corollary, where your heart is, there will your treasure follow. The more money, time, energy, passion, and gifts we invest in God, the more connected to God will be.

I’d like you to try something. Ask yourself this question… what is the most important thing in my life?

Now, prove what is most important to you using only your checkbook or bank statement?

Could you prove it using your calendar?

Could you prove it by examining the things that receive the most energy from you?

 If not, maybe you weren’t honest about your priority, but maybe you just need to line up your finances, time, and energy with your priority

 From the big picture, God is the most important thing in all of our lives. That is why God created the tithe. To teach us that God gave first and God gave God’s best to us. Therefore our response is to give our first and best to God. That is the lesson of the tithe it is a lesson in gratitude and generosity. The specific percentage is right for some people but everyone is different.

No one knows better than God that everyone’s life is different. And whether we are talking about giving money, time or energy God only asks for our first and best. That’s partially the lesson of the story about the widow. The widow came up to the temple and by the time she bought her heart medicine and some food and paid the rent in her little subsidized apartment, and gave $5 to her grandchild for his birthday, she didn’t have 10% to give… but she gave what she could.  She did the very best she could, and Jesus says she contributed more than all the rest. He says she gave all she had, the others were giving some of what was leftover. That is all God really wants whether it is our time, our energy, or our money. Use the first and best you have to help do God’s work as you feel called, and you will discover if you don’t know already- it is often the case that when we practice generosity, the giver feels at least as (and sometimes more blessed )than  the receiver

The more money, time, energy, passion, and gifts we invest in God, the more our hearts will be where God is,  and the more connected we will be.

  Finally we talked about how we were created to be generous, being generous with all that we have, and finally, I want to say just a word about our attitude in giving. I found a quote from Bill Gates. It came near the end of an interview with Bill Moyers on the PBS series Now. Gates recounted a litany of reasons why some people think addressing global health problems is a good idea. “Some use economic arguments. If we cure something like malaria in an African country, say, then that country's Gross National Product will be higher (and presumably they will buy more things). Some use security arguments; ‘If we don't cure these diseases, the instability in these countries will be bad.’ Others use the neighborhood arguments; ‘Somebody could get on a plane from one of these places and you might get sick.’ None of these arguments,” Gates said matter-of-factly, “is the right one. The right argument is this mother's child is sick. And that child's life is no less valuable than mine. I can help, so I must give generously."

When we give our time, energy or money we don’t give for any other reason than it is the right thing to do we can. It has nothing to do with politics, tax deductions, or fear. We give in love because God loves us so generously.

  Allow me to sum all of this up with a simple illustration.

Let’s say you stop to see Les for lunch and get an order of french fries from McDonald's.

Can you take credit for those fries? Not really. Let’s think about this. God created the earth and put fertility in the soil. God helped the farmer know how to plant the potatoes. Who made them grow? The farmer? NO. God.

When the harvest was bountiful it was God who should get the credit. God created the truck driver that took them to the warehouse and the one who brought them to McDonald's. It was even one of God’s children who scooped the fries out of the basket and salted them for you. And Don’t forget Les. He is God’s child too, just trying to do a good job serving you.

Every step of the way God has prepared for, nurtured and provided those French fries so we can enjoy a thin salty delight. Now they are all yours to do with as you wish… except…

  except God asks for just one French fry back as a way to say thank you. Just one out of the whole bag. One French fry doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Of all the time God has given you all God asks is for you to be generous enough to give a little back, maybe serve in the church or visit a nursing home. One French fry doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Of all the energy and passion God has given you, all God asks for is for you to generously put a little bit to be directed toward loving others or growing spiritually. One French fry doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Of all the money you have, all God asks is for you to be generous with just a little bit to make sure that children are taught, the elderly are visited, hospital and jail ministries are supported and those who serve in faraway places have what they need for their serving. One French fry doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

Connect to God by reaching down into your pocket or purse, your heart, your time, your energy, your love, and being generous with all that God has given you.