A Small World Sermon given 7/22/18

A Small World 

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

1 John 3:1-7

New International Version (NIV)

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

The summer just seems to be flying by doesn't it? Last weekend, we had fun with the Vacation Bible school kids and Sun Valley Pres. Our friends Wes and Laurie played, their band is now called Taking Refuge and they're one of the groups that will play at S.W.A.G. School supply giveaway event on Saturday Aug 18. That is at Telfer Pavilion starting at noon.

Of course Martin and I were gone for the last half of June and 1st of July.. as you know we drove the truck of supplies, displays and AV equipment from the National Association office near Milwaukee to the annual meeting in San Diego. This was a Penske truck...16 feet long. Yeah it was big. To be clear, I did not drive it at all. Martin did all the driving...4619 miles!! Eleven states. from Wis, thru the Plains, New Mexico, AZ and southern Calif...across deserts and mountains, to San Diego CA., and home again. We saw incredible natural beauty and met wonderful people as we went along. Thank you all for your prayers for our travel.  And for having us represent you all at the meeting.

One of the things we are reminded of on our trips is that it is a small world. We met folks from all over -- on the road and at the meeting. And when we'd get to chatting, we all had something in common or some kind of connection.

We are all children of God aren't we! As our NT text tells us. As God's children, we are to be in community, together with eachother and with God. That is what John was saying as he wrote these letters, Epistles. There were problems with false teachings that were causing church friction. So John wrote to help correct the false teachings and to remind his beloved flock of their calling to be in good relationship with each other and to be good followers of Jesus. Good followers of Jesus may slip up, but be careful to stay true to God's word, and not do things that contribute to ill will and dissension. Those are not of God, as our lesson from Proverbs spells out.

In the book, Common Grace, which women's circle will be looking at, author Anthony Robinson in a chapter on parenting, talks about love that is accepting love, and transforming love. As he puts it, accepting love affirms the child, and lets them be, and transforming love seeks their well-being and prods their growth. I think in some ways we do this in many relationships. Not just children. We may affirm and let be, or we try to help someone change. But sometimes I think we just want people to change..to be more the way we want..more like us, presumably. That's human nature. But we..people of faith are to be more like Christ. Jesus showed both kinds of love...accepting and transforming...but mostly accepting. The people he spent time with were "Sinners" and tax collectors, and riff raff. And his accepting love transformed them!! I think of the story of the rich young ruler, who had personal wealth and had followed the commandments all his life, but went away sad when Jesus urged him to give up his belongings. But "Jesus looked at him and loved him"

That profound accepting love -when we know it for ourselves-can be transformative!! When we choose to be more accepting and respectful of others, we are transformed. We will feel better about ourselves!! And they will respond positively to that acceptance.

Dalai Lama

“when our intentions toward others are good, we find that any feelings of anxiety or insecurity we may have are greatly reduced. We experience a liberation from our habitual preoccupation with self and paradoxically, this gives rise to strong feelings of confidence.”

In other words, when we choose to be more accepting, and positive towards others, our own negative feelings will be less and we will feel better and more confident! Gosh, when we act in Godly ways, we feel good! (go figure!)

One way to do this is to be more aware of the presence of God in every day life. That takes some intention and focus. This is one of the reasons for having regular bible and prayer time-for doing morning devotions, for example. And maybe to journal about your bible time. To deliberately spend time with God helps us be aware of God at other times. And in other people. And yes, it takes some practice to remember that everyone is a child of God.

As someone said, You are made in the image of God. And so is that other jerk you're arguing with! 

As we told the vbs kids, God is with us always.

 Choose to to focus on the presence of God..  . 

A highlight of our trip, a very Godly morning, was seeing the sunrise over Grand Canyon. We stayed overnight in a hotel right in the National Park, and got up at 4:30am...

we got to Yavapai (Yah VAH Pay) Point on the South Rim a bit before sunrise... there were a few other people there, including another couple about our age, and 2 ladies who were from someplace that's mostly warm, they were wearing warm jackets and had a blanket over them. Martin and walked around a bit, I was taking some pics and the other couple and we chatted a bit and photographed each other with the canyon in the background. Then I went to sit down, asking the bundled up ladies if I may sit next to them, they nodded. And one said yes. After a moment one of them said something about 'Frio” which I remembered from years ago Spanish lessons, means cold. I said si, frio, it;s cool and smiled. I asked where are you from, they answered Roma! I was surprised!! and said Roma, Rome? Italy? Si, si Roma, Italia!! I said WOW, welcome, welcome to US!! thank you grazie!! where are you from? Wisconsin, here? Wisc..yes, si, here! :D

so I offered to take pics of the 2 of them with their camera and phone and then the sun was coming up. So we were all clickety-clicking away. And one lady said “Bella” Bellissimo” and I said Si Bella, Beautiful!! finally the sun was over the rim of the canyon and our Italian friend said Buon Journo Sol!! I said Buon Journo Sol, Good Morning Sun!! we all smiled and nodded and watched the sun rise some more...it was a holy moment –for all of us!

We were all there for the chance to experience the sunrise, the beginning of a new day, at one of the most stunning examples of God's creation. It was a holy moment, and more so because of being able to connect with these other folks, especially the lovely women from Roma. To say together Buon Journo Sol!! and then Arrivederci when it was time to leave. I'm sure we all have differences, but none of those mattered just then.

God's presence is everywhere We were very cognizant of this that morning at Grand Canyon. It's easier for many of us to perceive the Presence when we are in nature.

But God is in everyone also, and we can choose each day to seek out and honor that presence. To give accepting love. Love that honors and is from our Loving Lord. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Let's Pray... Lord of all, help us to accept and love as You do, to see You everyday and in everyone. Help us to bridge gaps in this small world... filling those gaps with You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.