10/31 and 11/1 All Saints Sunday

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE-Matthew 3:7-17

1. remember who you are. 

1. One day she suddenly was not who she had been. A young woman to whom I am related by marriage, disappeared one day. There was a long time when no one knew where Sara was. (not her real name) Because of circumstances we believe she had gone by her own choice, but where was she and was she OK?

2. It turns out that Sara’s sister received a call from a social worker who knew her professionally, saying that Sara had been in a bad accident, but she was in the hospital recovering. Furthermore, Sara had lost all of her memories, including any memory of her sister. 

3. She changed her name to Clara. Clara has lived as a “friend” near the woman whom she doesn’t remember is her sister. It has been many years now. But it still makes me sad. 

• There’s power in remembering who you are.

1. I was watching the Lion King last week. What a great movie. And there is so much theology in that movie. 

2. Simba, the cub the King of the savanna, strays away on a journey in which he purposefully forgets who he is. He hangs out with Timone and Pumba a Meerkat and a Warthog, and sings “Hanukkah Matata.” Instead of hunting game, he eats the grubs from under the logs. 

3. Rafiki, comes to remind him who he is. Here is the scene. 

(video)

• There’s power in remembering who you are.

2. So, who are you? 

• Maybe you think you are how you look. 

1. Some young teen girls are posting videos of themselves on YouTube and Facebook asking, “Am I Pretty or Ugly?” One of those videos got 4.5 million hits and 114,000 comments that ranged from supportive to unthinkable. What is that doing to these girls’ self-image?

2.  $160 Billion is spent each year on cosmetic surgery making body parts bigger, smaller, or subjectively “better.” Remember, you are just who God created you to me. 

• God says, “This is my son. This is my daughter; I love them more than you can imagine. 

1. you are not what you DO, or accomplish or perform. 

1. – whether it is getting good grades, winning the championship, earning lots of money, or getting recognition. Accomplishments do not determine how valuable you are.

2. Some people even take their own lives because they cannot live up to either their or their family’s expectations. 

3. Others ruin relationships because they are trying to prove their worth working long hours.

4. Still, others risk serious injury trying to prove that they are the athlete their parent expects them to be. ---You may think that you are what you accomplish, but God says you are much more.

• Maybe you think you are defined by one small aspect of yourself. 

1. That often happens to those of us with mental illness. We often say, “I am depressed” instead of “I have depression.” And we let the illness define who we are, but God says we are much, much more.

• Maybe you think that you are nothing 

1. because of what others have done to you. You’ve been abused…bullied…neglected, raped, fired, betrayed, or abandoned. And you look at yourself and think, “I am worthless.” On the contrary, God says you are priceless. 

• There’s power in remembering who you are. 

• LET ME TELL YOU…  YOU ARE WHO GOD SAYS YOU ARE.

3. Today, we come to the last story of the Elite 8 favorite Bible stories. We examine Jesus’ Baptism. It is a fairly simple story but has great meaning. 

• One of the big questions about Jesus’s baptism is why Jesus needed to be baptized. He never had, and never would, sin. There was no church to join. He was the son of God. What good would baptism do him? The answer is right in the text. 

• “Just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

• What we see is that when Jesus was baptized, he was reminded who he was. He was the son of God before this and would still be the son of God after. But Jesus needed affirmation of who he was. You can imagine a scene something like the lion king. As Jesus looks deep into the water and then up to the clouds, the clouds part and the voice comes “REMEMBER” “This is my beloved son” “REMEMBER”

• In Jesus’ baptism, God affirmed for Jesus, and for all who were lucky enough to be paying attention, that Jesus was indeed God’s son. In baptism, as we peer into the waters of baptism, God speaks to our hearts to announce that we too are God’s beloved children. Servants of the one true king.  Disciples of the one and only son of God.                  

• We don’t have to wonder who we are any longer …We are who God says we are in our baptism.  And we are who God says we are. Remember.

1. You may have been an infant when you were baptized like I was and have no physical memory of it but you have a spiritual memory of God claiming you as one of God’s beloved children. REMEMBER

2. You may be lucky enough to have been older when you are baptized.   Even if you didn’t hear it with your ears then.  Listen now and hear God say, you are a child of the one true king. A prince of heaven, an ambassador for God. REMEMBER.

3. You may have been baptized with a little water (by sprinkling), or a little more water (by pouring), or by a lot of water (with emersion) it doesn’t make any difference how much water was used.  God said REMEMBER “You are my precious child. I have marked you as one of mine.  I love you more than you can imagine.” REMEMBER.

4. Today as I sprinkle you with the waters of REMEMBRANCE, look up and REMEMBER.  REMEMBER you are more than how you look, or what other people say you are. You are more than your limitations, or what others have done to you. God’s word for you IS REMEMBER. Remember who God created you to be.

5. As the water comes your direction REMEMBER your baptism is God’s tattoo on your forehead that says, “This one is mine.” 

6. As the water comes your direction look deep within and take a good look are who you are.  REMEMBER. Look down into the watery depths of the waters of life and transformation.  REMEMBER. Look up and imagine the heavens opening and hearing God say “REMEMBER, my child, who you are and whose you are. REMEMBER 

The elite 8 Bible stories: the Last Supper- 10/24 and 25 2020 first UMC Carroll

  Some things we never forget. 

Some are memorialized in national battle cries like “Remember the Alamo,” “Remember Pearl Harbor,” and “Remember 9-11.” 

Others are quite personal and individual: the days our children were born, the day your mother or father died, the day you had a miscarriage.

We set aside times for remembering every year: Memorial Day, 4th of July, birthdays, anniversaries… you know the rest.

Communion is a time to remember as well. No one says “remember the bread and wine” but Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me” and we repeat that almost every time we serve communion So I’m glad that you chose the last supper as one of your elite 8 Bible stories. 

One could spend a lifetime preaching on the last supper, but let’s get the story firmly in our heads and hearts. In order to understand this story, we have to start 1450 years before Jesus was born. The Israelites were slaves. Moses came to Egypt with God’s plagues. The last plague before Pharaoh said, “Go and good riddance,” was the death of the firstborn. In order to save the Hebrew families from this tragedy, God told them to kill a lamb, put its blood on the doorpost of their homes and when the angel of death passed over they would not be harmed. Thus “Passover.”

Passover was established as an annual ritual to be celebrated 15 days into the Hebrew new year. Like Easter, the date of Passover is determined by the Spring equinox and the phases of the moon. It is a fabulous dinner, the biggest of the year, at which Jewish families serve traditional foods, many of which are given special significance, like the bitter herb to remember the bitterness of slavery.

In the year 30 AD, Passover was on or about March 25th. That is the day of the Last Supper, which became the Lord’s Supper or communion, or Eucharist as Christians celebrated it in years to come.

The disciples came to dinner with great excitement, I am sure. The city was busy, longtime friends were in town. The food promised to be great, so they reclined at the table as usual. Festival meals were always eaten sitting on pillows, leaning back on the left elbow so the right hand was free to eat. 

John tells us about Jesus washing the disciple’s feet, but Luke does not mention it. He goes right to dinner, reporting that Jesus was anxious to eat this Passover with them before he suffered. 

There are 4 cups of wine in the Passover ritual. Luke tells us about 2. We believe they are the 3rd and 4th cups. Jesus takes the cup of wine and gives it to the disciples saying, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink the fruit of the vine until I drink it in the kingdom of heaven”. (22:17-18)

Wait, that isn’t what he is supposed to say is it? Luke is the only gospel that mentions this cup before the bread. Kind of interesting, because it sets the establishment of communion in a little more context. Share this among yourselves puts a little meat on the theological bone.

At Passover the Jews ate only unleavened bread to remember the urgency that the Hebrews felt as they fled Egypt. It did not have yeast because they couldn’t wait for it to rise.  Jesus, “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”   Jesus adds a whole new layer to the urgency by saying that the bread is his body which must be “broken” for them and us. 

Then Jesus takes what we believe to be the 4th cup of wine. Each cup in the Passover has a different meaning From Exodus 6:6-7. They are "I will bring you out," "I will deliver you," "I will redeem you," Which was the cup Jesus asked them to share. And this one is the cup meaning "I will take you." In exodus it reads “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.” Substitute the word sin in place of Egypt and you get a sense of what Jesus is doing at the dinner.

Jesus says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” But behind that he is saying. “I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of your sin.” That is all pretty cool… but I want you to notice. 

There is a but…But… oh oh, this can’t be good. But… “The one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table.” The one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. “Matthew puts it this way, “"The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.”  To dip the hand in the bowl was to share the matza and charoset which was a sign of deep friendship. And this friend is the one who will betray the Lord. 

The disciples start the “is it I?” conversation. “Surely, not I, Lord”

My question is why did Jesus even let Judas in the room? Shouldn’t that seat have reserved for the faithful disciples, the strong disciples, the disciples who were not, Oh I don’t know… an accessory to his murder? Shouldn’t this have been just people who deserved to be there?

That is not a bad question, but that would mean that 

 

We would obviously have to take Judas out of the picture

Peter would have to go. He was impulsive and would deny Jesus 3 times.

James 

and John would have to be excluded because they were hot headed and liked to boast. For instance, in arguing which one would get to sit beside Jesus in heaven. That’s why he called them the sons of thunder.

Nathanael, also known as Bartholomew, was prejudiced he said ““Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47) in other words, aren’t all Israelites the same, lazy no good cheats and liars?

Matthew was a stinking tax collector

Of course, Thomas was a doubter

Simon the Zealot may have been a murderer, at least by association. The zealots were political radicals and some of them were responsible for dozens of political assassinations.

Judas, son of James and Phillip never seemed to get it. In John 14 they were still very confused about what Jesus was doing. 

That leaves 2 Andrew and James the less…the truth, however is we know almost nothing abbot them except their names. They are included with those who abandoned him at the arrest (Mt 26:56); they let others burry their friend and they were all slow at first to accept the testimony of the women who first saw Jesus after his resurrection. (Lu 24:10, 11) Because they were hiding in fear behind locked doors. (Joh 20:19, 26)

Do you notice what I did? Yes, I was hard on the disciples. I convicted each of them without so much as a jury of any kind. My point, however, is that none of them deserved to be at the last supper with Jesus. None of them understood what he was doing. None had the strength to stick with him. Not one.

And neither do we. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say, “I don’t’ take communion because I feel unworthy. I don’t take communion because I don’t feel close to God. I don’t take communion (or I don’t think children should) because I don’t understand it.

Are you really that much worse than the assassin, or the tax collector, or the doubter? Even if you are…Jesus says come to the table and do this in remembrance of me. Jesus says come to my banquet and do this in remembrance of me. I sacrifice my body and my blood for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.

Get my point? None of us deserves communion. None of us deserves God’s love. None of us deserves forgiveness.  That is the very definition of grace …communion for the undeserving, love for the undeserving, forgiveness for the undeserving.

I can’t explain how it works because communion is a mystery.  It is a miracle. 

Whether you take communion or not is of course a personal choice, but please do not wait until you deserve it, or understand it… you will have a long wait. 

Jesus doesn’t say do this when you s=deserve me. He said do this and remember that I came to save the least and the lost. 

Jesus doesn’t say do this if you understand. He says do this and remember that I came to reach out to the poor, imprisoned, and outcast… people just like us. 

Jesus doesn’t say do this when you get your life all together. He doesn’t say do this when you can explain how it works.  He doesn’t say do this when you overcome your sins. He says do this and remember that I specialized in people who didn’t have their lives together. Just like us. 

Remember this banquet in one that is spread for you because you are loved more than you can imagine.

This banquet is one that was prepared for you by a God who more than anything wants to be loved in return.

This banquet is one that promises to fill you with all good things and bring you closer to God. 

Come and do this in remembrance of him. 

Elite 8 stories: Walking with Jesus or swimming on your own Carroll first UMC 10-17 and 18- 2020

 Elite 8 stories: Walking with Jesus or swimming on your own

Carroll first UMC 10-17 and 18- 2020

I want to ask our online participants a question we’ll use a little later… If you were Peter, would you have jumped out of the boat. Yes or no, thumbs up or sad face. Would you have jumped out of the boat or stayed right where you were? If you are in the sanctuary and want to jump on Facebook and you can vote too.

While you are doing that let me continue. I worked on staff with a youth mission project in Tennessee while I was in college. One of our days off we headed to the little river that flowed alongside our camp. It probably had some name like “cow pie creek” because the local cattle... uh... I think for my emotional well-being we’ll stick with “bathed” in the creek.

We hiked through the woods through the oppressive July heat and the prickly bushes, not to mention likely poison ivy. I was just glad to get to “cow pie creek,” or whatever it was called. 

Upstream about a ¼ mile we saw a small cliff with a rope hanging from a huge oak tree over the water. You guessed it we headed to the cliff to swing on the rope. 

Now, you have probably figured out in the last 2 years that I am not the most adventurous person in the world. A new food is sometimes too much risk for me. So, flinging myself off this cliff (which was probably not as high as my mind made it) was WAY out of my comfort zone. But I couldn’t be the only one who didn’t jump. After all, I had a “reputation” to uphold. So, I swallowed my fear, grabbed the rope and flew what seemed like 1000 feet slow motion into the water below.

It was cool and refreshing and I jumped several more times that afternoon. It was a nice afternoon. Even though now I must wonder about the sanitary wisdom of swimming in a small river just downstream from where 20 or 30 cattle were all… um… “bathing.”

Nonetheless, that is a day that reminds me, sometimes we must face our fears, embrace the adventure, and take the plunge. 

Do you suppose that was one of the lessons for Peter the day he walked on the water; “face your fears, embrace the adventure, and take the plunge?” Sometimes I wish I was more like Peter. I don’t particularly want to be the impulsive, foot in mouth disciple who is ready to cut off an ear for Jesus. But sometimes I think I should take the plunge and take more risks in faith.

Christian discipleship is risky business. It is no easy kayak ride down a lazy river. Discipleship is more like white water rafting; you become a disciple of Jesus at your own risk. 

This story takes place in Matthew immediately after the feeding of the 5000. Jesus “” made” the disciples get into a boat going toward the other side of the sea of Galilee.

Jesus went up on a mountainside by himself to pray alone. 

A storm blew up that night and a 2 ½ boat ride became a three-hour tour, and another three-hour tour. Just before daybreak John, tells us in his version of the story, they were still only ⅔ of the way across the 6-mile lake. The square sailed boats of the day were very inefficient in a headwind, and difficult or even dangerous in a side wind. Mark tells this story adding the detail “He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.” 

Matthew is the only gospel that tells of Peter walking on the water, but they all agree that Jesus walked on the water and the disciples were afraid. They thought it was some kind of ghost… I imagine between the sea mist, the blowing wind, the predawn lighting, and the fact that one doesn’t expect to see people to be walking on the water, (as illogical as it was) a ghost was the most logical conclusion. 

Doesn’t it seem like that is kind of the way life works? As If the exhausting storm is not bad enough, here comes a ghost.

As If a pandemic is not enough, look out for the wildfires.

As If cancer is not enough, the furnace goes out.

As if losing your job is not enough, the kids need new clothes. 

You know what I mean. It seems that no matter how bad the storm, something happens to make it worse.

In those times, we are helpless to help ourselves, blind to what is coming around the corner, and easily overwhelmed by the huge waves battering us.  We all know the feeling of being unable, under our own power, to row against the wind and the waves when life is storming around us.

We need help… we need to be rescued...not by some ghost, but by something more powerful than us. Something like, I don’t know…something like the son of God who can calm the wind and the waves. 

 

It is no coincidence, that just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, Jesus said, “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matt 14:27) 

What a relief. With those eight words the disciples, who may have for good reason been afraid for their lives were saved. This is the same Jesus who earlier in Matthew was asleep in the bow of the boat when a storm came up. When they awakened him they said, “Don’t you care that we are about to drown?” Jesus looked at the water and wind and said, “be quiet.” And the storm calmed.

When Jesus appeared the disciples sat back and waited to see what Jesus’ next trick would be, right? Well, yes, most did, but the star of the story stood up and said, “If that is you, master, tell me to come to you on the water.” When Jesus replied “Come.” I have to wonder if Peter thought, “Oh man. What have I just done? What did my mouth get me into this time?” Whatever he thought, Peter stood up.

When is the last time you recognized Jesus’ voice saying “come?”

Come, feed the hungry. 

Come, call your neighbor. 

Come, you aren’t being as generous as you could. 

Come, and teach Sunday school, or go to Sunday school. 

Come, help at the pork chop supper. 

Come donate to the homeless. 

Come, invite that neighbor to worship. Do you hear Jesus calling you? Where is Jesus calling you? What is Jesus calling you to do? 

I don’t always hear Jesus’ voice, but I’ve come to recognize a particular knot in my stomach that is often the voice of Jesus. How do you recognize Jesus' voice saying “come?”

`When Jesus said, “come.” Peter did. This is where I usually fall down. I’ll sit and wonder, “was that really Jesus?” “Did I hear that right?” And frankly sometimes the opportunity slips away while I am thinking about it. But not Peter. He got up and stepped right out of the boat “onto the crashing waves.” as the Casting Crown’s song says. And he walked on the water. 

Would you have done that? Would you have gotten out of the boat? If you are in the sanctuary, raise your hand if you would have stepped out of the boat while we put up the results of our very unscientific online poll.

I must admit, I am afraid I might have stayed in the boat. I told you, I am not a big risk taker. So, I can understand those of you who said no, but we can do better than that, can’t we? 

So, to review, if we want to be water walkers first we must hear and recognize Jesus’ voice. 

Second we must choose to get up off our pew or our couch and answer.

Finally, Peter looks around… he sees the wind the Bible says. The wind wouldn’t bother me as much as looking down at the water. So maybe he saw he wind driven waves. 

And for just a moment he might have thought “Hey, Yall, watch this” or “Look ma, no ground.” At any rate Peter forgot why he was doing it and began to sink. 

I was surprised by the number of sermons I saw this week that condemned Peter for his lack of faith. I can’t say I have ever heard that before. But I find it more than a little odd that the folks who frankly are still sitting on their butts in the nice safe boat, would accuse Peter of having a lack of faith. That is a little like me sitting at home booing Ter⒠⒠k Hill for dropping a pass that I couldn’t have caught in my wildest imagination. 

The truth is, whenever we get brave enough to take a risk by answering Jesus call to come, there will be criticism. 

When we were getting ready to step out of the boat in Reinbeck and start the Wednesday night family ministry, I received a lot of heat. I remember one lady who said, Sunday morning is good enough for the rest of us, it ought to be good enough for them. There were about 12 Children in Sunday school… the first week of Wednesday night LIGHT there were nearly 100 in class on Wednesday night. You would think that would quiet the criticism. But it didn’t. 

Whether we walk on water or nearly drown, I learned the folks inside the boat will always criticize anyone who is bold enough to step out of the boat in faith. And the only solution is to grab hold of Jesus' hand and hold on for dear life. 

When I talk about recognizing Jesus' voice, stepping out of our nice safe boat, and holding on to Jesus' hand, I am not talking about any kind of magic, or optical illusion, or a trick. It is simple discipleship. 

Two places I think Jesus is calling the church as we come out of the depths of the pandemic, are how do we do digital discipleship and how do we reconnect now that we have 2 congregations (in person and digital) and in an age of social distancing and 

As an individual you may hear Jesus call come, love your neighbor better

Come love your children better.

Come get help with your mental health condition.

Come, teach, preach, lead, coordinate, organize or facilitate something.

Or maybe come and read scripture more often, pray more deeply, or worship more actively. 

Or.. or what? What is Jesus' voice calling to you, come will you get out of your boat onto the crashing waves, or will you stay in the boat, and pray for a lazy river. 

I hope when Jesus says get out of the boat you will say I WILL. During the closing song, Just a closer walk with thee. I hope you will prayerfully consider saying “I will.”  I will listen, I will risk getting out, I will walk with Jesus wherever he leads. Folks in the physical sanctuary have a response card that says “I Will “ and I invite them to come down the center aisle, keeping social distance, and place their commitment in the boat and return by the side aisles.  If you are in the digital sanctuary consider liking the “I WILL” post. Let’s be in prayer.