Friday, March 15, 2019

Relationships, sermon at Lenten Prayer service March 13, 2019

March 13, 2019       Relationships        Pastor Carol P. Taylor

Ephesians 2 New International Version (NIV)

Made Alive in Christ

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
 
In our Ash Wed service last week, Pastor Dave Ewing spoke about Reconciliation. Tonight i’m sharing about Relationship. We can not have true reconciliation with God or others without effective relationship.

These Beloit area Lenten services have been going on for decades. As with most things, there’s been an ebb and flow to the churches participating. Over the last few years, we’ve been able to expand the number of churches and pastors who speak so we have a broader spectrum of the community. It’s a nice way for us to see other churches, experience other styles of worship, and to hear different musicians and pastors. Thru our offerings we support two valuable local organizations. And then we get to have some nice conversation over refreshments!  
Lent being a time of 40 days which remembers Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. In the early church, it was a time of repentance and preparation for new believers, who would be baptized into the Christian faith on Easter Sunday morning! And is a time for those of us who’ve been Christians for some time, to repent of wrongdoing and to search for ways God is calling to deeper faithfulness.
My scripture lesson for this evening is from the Epistle to the church in Ephesus.  I came across Ephesians 2:10 a few weeks ago in my devotional reading.. And it just spoke so deeply to me. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
 
Let’s look at the beginning of this chapter.. It’s a very Lenten chapter, isn’t it? The Bible over and over reminds us that humans are flawed and we fail in our relationship with God. We are dead in our sin….BUT GOD!! Rich in grace and mercy, LOVES us even tho we fail over and over…… And redeems us...thru faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. This is Grace.
Found a nice explanation of Grace in my study bible..
"Grace is God's unmerited love, favor, mercy, and action in our lives.
It's by this grace that we receive new life in Christ. God's Grace is pardon for the things we did wrong and power to grow day by day in the image of Christ . by Grace we are forgiven, healed, redeemed, restored, transformed, and Made Alive. by Grace we are saved!
We may sometimes think that we are not good enough to be saved- or we need to prove our worthiness... Ephesians 2 reminds us that God's merciful action in our lives does not happen because we deserve it or earn it we are saved by grace because God deeply loves us.
as recipients of this lavish gift let US in turn be bold in extending Grace to those around us." {CEB Women's Bible}
Grace is the story of Lent. We finite humans, created in the image of God but never managing to be anywhere near as good as God, that silly free will, after all, have the benefit of Grace.
We’re created in Christ Jesus (he was present In the Beginning, was part of the creation of all things AND is the body of the church in whom we live and move and have our being! (acts 17:28)

Ephesians 2:10 The Message (MSG) Paraphrase by Eugene Peterson

God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

We created for Good works! We’re created to live our faith. To love God and Love each other. (of course that is much more easily said than done!)
Someone said “You are a child of God, and so is that other jerk you are arguing with!”

Jesus set the example. Jesus, One with God, present In the beginning, came to earth, as a human, to live as we do. Came as a baby, completely vulnerable and dependent. As an adult, Knew the aches and pains of a long day’s work...as a carpenter, not an easy job by any means! Lived and worked and traveled with ordinary people and even those not accepted by their own society...purely out of Love, to Be ONE with us, and to show us how to be in that perfect relationships for which we’re created.
I believe with all my heart that people living as Jesus did, caring for one another, promoting compassion, and equality-- The Shalom of God for everyone--will prevail. And the WAY it is will be every single person knowing they are a child of God, created and beloved exactly the way they are, the way God wanted them.

One of the main reasons we do these Lenten services is to help two local Ministries, Caritas Food pantry/Diaper bank and Family Promise homeless ministry. I’ve worked closely with both as many of us here have!
This past fall, I had a wake up call about homelessness… we know there is a perception of addictions or just poor decision making being the reasons for homeless, but we’ve heard the statistics, that many homeless are veterans, which is a travesty, that medical expenses are a leading cause of homelessness. The expenses incurred by a devastating diagnosis or disabling accident can bankrupt a family in a heartbeat.

My wake up call came from a pastor I know, who is from KC, about a year ago took a call in Northern California. Andrew’s a great guy, for a KC Chiefs and Royals fan…
One day last fall, within a matter of minutes, his church, his home, and most of his town, burned to the ground. He lived in Paradise Calif.

He posted one day on Facebook, “Never judge the homeless or the refugee, you don’t know how quickly it could happen to you.”

Came across a story about one person living as Jesus did.. A man in Ohio named Keith Wasserman who works with homeless. He periodically becomes “homeless by choice’ as he puts it, to better understand the situation of the homeless in our society. Every few years, he spends several days at a time on the streets and in shelters, in various cities.  His story is fascinating. {good-works.net}

He wrote “I believe that since Christ incarnated himself into our world in order to be a bridge for {people} to have a relationship with their maker, we too then, must incarnate ourselves into the world of those whom we care about in order to understand how they think and how they feel in order to really love and help them.”

He is striving to understand and re-evaluate the experience and treatments of homelessness, to serve in ways that are safe, meaningful and truly helpful.

He has, in these various stays, found that he may be treated as an alcoholic or drug addict. Staff may assume he is lying. He has witnessed staff being verbally abusive to clients. He has been made to sign long lists of rules without being given time to read them. He has experienced an utter loss of privacy and loss of identity. He wrote that "living in these situations, and the constant hopelessness and Fear changes one’s personality and affects a person’s life choices. Prolonged fear can turn you into someone you don’t like and don’t want to be with. Could it be fear that prompts some people to lie in order to survive?"

"I am aware more than ever before how these experiences have helped me to more fully understand that those who experience homelessness are people; human beings made in the image of God; people who in many ways are not much different from myself. Over the years, I have learned that for any of us to understand and help people who are suffering, we must learn how to leave the comfort of our own security and reach out, perhaps incurring some personal risk and pain. As a Christian, I now more fully understand what Christ Jesus has done for me. I am grateful and I want to continue to turn my gratitude into a godly activism."

Eph 2 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Now i am not saying that we all need to go live in a shelter for a while. But we can determine to prayerfully serve better, with more compassion than judgement, and to spend time with our neighbors in need in a grace-filled way. You know, sometimes the best talk you can have with someone is not to talk.. But to listen. To say only, “thank you for telling me. I care for you. We’re praying for you.”  This is living in grace.

Grace is God's unmerited love, favor, mercy, and action in our lives.
Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15)
 
Shall we pray! Holy Lord God, this Lenten season, draw us ever closer to you, so that we recognize your powerful Grace. Let us take action to more completely live out the relationships chosen for us, to share that unmerited love, favor, mercy, and action with our all of our neighbors, especially those in need. Thru the Name and Spirit of our Lord Jesus we pray, Amen.

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Meeting Jesus, the Prequel Sermon at United Church of Beloit March 3, 2019


Meeting Jesus, the Prequel           

Proverbs 8: 22-31 NIV
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
He began, In the beginning… to be absolutely clear that Jesus was indeed God, the Son of God, one with God and yet “Dwelling with us” also fully human.

    before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
    at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
    when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
    before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
    or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
    when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
    and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
    so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30     Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
    rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
    and delighting in mankind.


Sermon Series “Meeting Jesus Up Close”
So why should we need to meet Jesus? We come to church, we give, we volunteer here at church and for other organizations. We are nice people who say please and thank you!
But… we can always do better. We can always be better. Our faith can always be deeper, stronger. And for that to happen, we need to be up close and personal with Jesus. Jesus is and was and ever shall be..the embodiment of God, who lived among his very own creation, died and was raised from the dead, to give us eternal life.
And by spending time examining the life of Jesus, we can live as He did, sharing, caring, being even more kind, more generous and nicer…as He was.

The various stories in the bible tell us about the life and love of Jesus. How he interacted with the disciples, and everyone he met. And no one who met him was the same afterwards!
The Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) Book of Proverbs, written by Solomon, the great and wise king, son of King David. Proverbs is a compilation of teachings, called “lady wisdom”  Yes wisdom is female.

(Author Warren Wiersbe) -- book of Proverbs, we are given access to a perspective similar to that of a brilliant teacher, offering her insights on a wide range of subjects from relationships to wealth to spirituality. Proverbs shows us that there is an aspect of God, wisdom, that can guide us through our lives. Proverbs personifies this wisdom as "lady wisdom" and attempts to show us that anyone can access this wisdom and make an incredible life for themselves out of the gifts that it freely offers, so long as they are careful to respect the source of this wisdom—God.  Through hundreds of short pieces of insight, the book of Proverbs distinguishes wisdom from foolishness.

Our text from Proverbs, read by Stephanie, echoes Genesis 1, the creation of heaven and earth.   

Wiersbe: One of the lessons of this paragraph is that the power and splendor of God, seen all around us in creation, are evidence of what God’s wisdom can do.
Many of us find we catch a glimpse of God in the beauty of nature, in a sunrise, in the V shaped flight of geese overhead, in the stars and moon shining brightly on a clear night. When we take a moment to enjoy this natural beauty, we are enjoying God! Next time you see beauty in nature, whisper a ‘thank you” to God!
(This passage) is an explanation of the wisdom of God at work in the creation of the universe. While it isn’t a description of Jesus Christ, for the eternal Son of God was never created, it does foreshadow Christ as the creative Word that brought everything into being.

The same God who worked in the “old creation” also wants to work in our lives in the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10; 4:24; Col. 3:10). The Lord Jesus Christ, who holds the universe together and causes it to fulfill His will, can hold our lives together and accomplish His purposes for His glory.

Let’s look at another beautiful passage that tells us of Jesus being present with God…
John 1 New International Version (NIV)
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all HUmankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.


 This is called the Prologue.. John’s gospel was written several years after the other gospels. Mark’s was first, written roughly 30 years after the death of Jesus. Matthew and Luke wrote about 10 years or so later than Mark, and John’s gospel came probably 20 years after them.

Why were these written so many years later?  They initially believed that Jesus’ coming back to take all believers to heaven once and for all, would be very soon after his death and resurrection. When it got to be a few decades, and the original disciples and followers were getting old, and being martyred, they began to compile and write down all these amazing stories. There was also beginning to be false teachings that the original followers wanted to be sure to correct. John’s gospel in particular was written to correct many wrong ideas. 
Gospel writer John tells of another John—John the Baptist. The forerunner of Jesus who proclaimed that he would be followed by one for whom he himself was not fit to unlace his sandals! John baptized Jesus in the Jordan river, God spoke, this is my beloved Son, and the Holy Spirit (present with God at the beginning hovering over the waters of the deep) descended upon Jesus like a dove.

Writer John then explains his use of the imagery of Light, (in the beginning God said let there be light) saying that the darkness could not understand..
This is one of those words in the original Greek that has several layers of meaning. It means to Understand, comprehend, to hold onto..as we hold onto an idea or concept, or to overcome or extinguish,..to put out the light.
The darkness can not fathom, nor extinguish it! Or as the epistle to the Romans states, NOTHING in all creation can separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus!


In the Proverbs text, did you notice the verbs? Lady Wisdom, coexisting with God
I was filled with delight day after day,
    rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
    and delighting in mankind.

Wisdom, created by God, sharing with God and delighting, rejoicing, celebrating all of creation, including humans!

Now if all you know of humans is what’s on the news, there may not seem to be much that’s worth celebrating?! Humanity as a whole would seem to be less like a beautiful ocean shoreline and a lot more like a road filled with debris and potholes! But there must be hope for us, because Wisdom delights in us!

And that hope is of course the one who lived, died, was raised from the dead and will indeed come back for us…and we will be together for all time in heaven, the New Jerusalem, the holy city, where there will be no suffering nor pain, and God’s very own self will wipe every tear from our eyes!

Author James K. Smith
In Jesus we hear God saying to us, “What you cannot do for yourself, I myself will do. Your sin stands between us, and you cannot remove it, so I will do it for you. {I} will cleanse your sins, and I will remember them no more. Nothing will stand between us. I will rise from the dead so you can live. My love is too strong for death to conquer. Once alive, I will invite you to die and rise with me. Eternal life is now available. It is in my Son.”


This is why we meet Jesus again, up close, in the Bible, in prayer, in community, and at the table. In the Lord’s Supper, Holy communion, we unite with God and each other exactly as we were created to From the beginning!
AMEN