CHILDREN’S TIME July 21, 2002

I’ve Got a Rock ... And God

What’s this?

A stone? Well, yea. But it’s also a pillow.

Today we’re going to read a story about Jacob, and how one night, he used a stone for a pillow

I guess he had nothing else ... when I camp I can usually find a coat or something to put under my head.

He had nothing.

He was working on having something

He had plans

He had schemes

He had just stolen a precious blessing that belonged to his brother

He was on his way to get a wife

But right then, he had nothing.

All he had was a stone pillow

So he went to sleep

And he dreamed

He dreamed of a great stairway reaching up to heaven

He saw angels ... messengers of God ... going up and down

Bringing messages to people on earth

Carrying prayers and praise back up to God in heaven

And he also saw God standing beside him

And God promised him a land and a home and a family as big as a nation

And to be with him always

And then he woke up.

Now ... it looked like all he had when he woke up was a stone pillow

But what did he have now?

He had God and God’s promises

[Give each of them a rock]

What do you have?

“A Rock”

Yes, you also have a little stone pillow.

But I want that little stone pillow to remind you – What else do you have? Who else?

You have God

"Lawyer" here doesn't mean litigator.

"Lawyer" here means "expert in the law," and the law here is the Torah of God. The Word of God.

"Lawyer" here means a good thing:

Reads through the Bible every year or several times every year.

Starts each morning with Bible reading and mediation.

Pours over the deeper meaning of the sacred texts with other believers.

"Lawyer" is not a bad word. It means a student of the Torah of God...a praiseworthy vocation.

But studying the Word is not enough. Being able to judge others on the basis of the Word is not enough.

Spending all day with the Word of God, and with God,

is not enough to justify...he wanted to justify himeself...

is not enough to justify anyone's existence.

[Note the emphasis in the text on testing one's life, on "justifying" one's self, and ultimately on "doing"]

This lawyer knows the right answer from Deuteronomy (6:4-5) and Leviticus (19:18)

Love God and Love your Neighbor

In effect Jesus says: You've passed the Bar exam, now do it and you'll live.

But this student of the Bible still wants to justify himself in the classroom, not in the streets;

so he asks, "Well, who is my neighbor?"

Jesus asks, "Which of the three was a neighbor?"

The sincere student answered, "the one who showed mercy"

And Jesus sort of says,

"Hooray, now go do it.

You don't pass the test in here.

Go out there and do likewise.

Today is dedicated to those who go out there and do likewise.

As an illustration, I would like to introduce Martha and Don Tramell who are here on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.

It is a faith movement that both reads the text and goes and does likewise.

(They've said they plan to say thanks to the congregation for helping in the past, as they invite us to pitch in on the house they've just had a ground breaking for.)

Now I'd like to close by remembering another passage.

This one features one who is king and judge.

It's the last part of Matthew 25 (verses 31-40)

"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, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?"”

Or, they might have said, when was it you saw our house on fire, or your children left to the streets.

"And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'"

As we went around inviting different people receive our thanks, and to come and be a part of this service

we would often see their eyes/your eyes rise and their/your faces turn into a smile,

as if to say,

"Really? Me? Us?

We didn't know anyone was noticing."

And here is where the title of this sermon, "In the Extreme" comes from 3 different things:

Sometimes some of you who "go and do likewise"

provide the needed help in the face of extreme personal danger.

Ultimately, the work of all you who, "go and do likewise"

makes an extreme difference in the lives of those who are helped.

And finally, I want you to hear this word of thanks from an extreme source:

"'Come, you that ("go and do likewise," and) are blessed by my Father,

inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; . . .

'Truly I tell you,

just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,

you did it to me.'"

On presbyweb.com I found a summary of reasons that we Presbyterians can take special pride in our country's heritage: (Perhaps you know that John Calvin is the primary source of Presbyterian thought)

but did you know that at the time of the American Revolution--

- 75% of the colonists were Calvinists?

- 50% of the soldiers in Washington's army were Presbyterians?

- When the war ended, all but one of the colonels of the Continental Army were Presbyterian Elders?

- The only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence was a Presbyterian?

Church Historian, Williston Walker wrote of John Calvin:

"His was the only system that the Reformation produced that could organize itself powerfully in the face of government hostility. It trained strong men, confident of their election, to be fellow workers with God in the accomplishment of His will, courageous to do battle, insistent on character, and confident that God has given in the Scriptures the guide of all right human conduct and proper worship. This was Calvin's work."

Historian John Richard Green wrote [slightly modified]:

"The meanest peasant, once called of God, felt within him a strength stronger than the might of kings. In the mighty elevation of the masses embodied in the (Presbyterian) doctrines of election and grace, lay the germs of the modern principles of human equality."

When the Stars and Stripes pass by, we Presbyterians can take a special pride in knowing the our predecessors helped make the American experience possible.

Almighty God, who hast given us

this great land for our heritage:

We humbly beseech Thee

that we may always prove ourselves

a people mindful of Thy favor

and honored to do Thy will.

Bless our land with honest industry;

save us from violence;

defend our freedoms,

and keep us united

under Thy Fatherly protection.

In times of prosperity,

fill our hearts with gratitude;

in times of trouble, enable us

to trust our sovereign God not to fail us.

All this we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen [Again, on presbyweb.com]

Now, I invite you to see if you can figure out what kind of connection I may have felt between that summary and this reading:

Song of Songs 2:8-13 Here's the connection:

The settling of the "New World" by Europeans was driven, in large part, by a search for religious freedom.

Our ancestors they did not feel free to follow God in their native lands

They felt their flight to this new world was an act of obedience to the God who comes to us

and sings, "Arise my love my fair one, and come away" with me.

In their home lands they could not "arise" as they felt called

and so they raised the sails of ships

so they could "come away" to be more fully with God,

so we could be free to sing God's praise as we sense God calling us too.

They raised new systems of governance

so that all people could be free to serve God as they felt led.

They tried to establish a nation where people where all people would be freer

"To arise, and follow the one whose yoke is easy, whose burden is light"

Whose desires are nonsense to those who are satisfied with their own way,

who are wise in their own eyes

And to the extent that they felt they were doing well,

they began to feel that we had been called to be "a light to the nations" a beacon on a hill.

That we were called and "elected" by God to serve as a leaven to the nations.

The reminder of our presbyterian heritage

reminds me of how our Founding Fathers and Mothers were convinced that it was

God calling them

God raising them up

God driving and guiding them

To build a new nation

They heard the words of our song whispered in their ear,

"Arise my love my fair one, and come away" with me.

I'm aware that there's more to the story than this single minded

quest for the fulfilment of God's will.

There was a search for "financial independence"

There was a tendency for second and third-borns...to strike out on their own,

since, in that day, the first-borns usually got all the goods.

But this sense of being elected to follow God's call was there and it had an incredible amount of backbone.

I feel these words from the Song of Songs inviting us to continue the effort to follow the One who still calls, saying; "Arise my love my fair one, and come away" with me.

I just wish I could figure out, how to be more sure that we really are following the One who calls us

rather than following the clamor of the land upon which we have landed,

and with which we have fallen in love.

I wonder if, sometimes, we replace love-of-the-One-who-loves-us,

with love-of-the-gifts-we-are-given.

I wonder if we have this One who gives us a land from which, upon which, within which

we are set free to love God and neighbor

but we end up loving and serving the land, the nation

...because it is easy to see and fall in love with...it is easy to see its vulnerability.

I offer you this image, as I think about the challenge of answering God's call to

"Arise my love my fair one, and come away" with ME.

As American citizens. As people who also love and care for their targeted country.

I suspect that I've "told" you about the cartoon in which there is a group of people walking out the front door of a house, on the way to a prayer meeting to pray for rain.

And in the second panel there is a little girl, bringing them all up short because she alone has thought to bring an umbrella.

Well, the first frame of a cartoon for today has everybody at church singing

"He's got the whole world in his hands..."

In the next frame there's a daddy out in the driveway putting a bumper sticker on the car that says,

"God bless America."

In the last frame there's a picture of a little girl putting a home-made bumper sticker beside her daddy's,

and it says, "God bless Afghanistan."

It could say Iraq, or Mexico, or Madagascar, or all four.

I just want to be a part of those boat loads of people who first came here,

not because they loved America as we do...it didn't exist

But because they love the Lord

And we're seeking to follow that gentle and humble, sovereign One to still sings,

"Arise my love my fair one, and come away" with me.

SOME OTHER NOTES

Two things happened to me at the same time recently

1) I was carrying on an extended conversation about God's sovereignty as being central hallmark of Presbyterianism.

2) And I read a paper that claims that our present foreign policy can be characterized as policy as: American Sovereignty (Cultural, Economic, Political, Military)

And I wondered

– is that strong central characteristic of way Presbyterians understand God, have we made it our own.

– are we now in the position of saying, come away with us our neighbors. Follow us our neighbors. Dance to the tune we are playing, our neighbors.

Now there's a Foreign Policy statement: God bless the World

And if we took each word of the phrase seriously,

I wonder, how would that effect our foreign policy

After the stories of the little girls (umbrella & bumper stickers),

I had this thought: What would happen if a space ship from an alien planet/galaxy suddenly arrived at, wherever, here on the planet.

It had come from a place where energy shortages were unheard of ...they'd mastered fusion or whatever.

It had come from a place where food was abundant...they had plenty for their huge trip

It had come from a place where greed and jealousy had been mastered...they'd been able to work together, to pool their intelligence and supplies to build and crew such a ship.

They have a super abundance of all the critical shortages on earth, and they start to assess where to begin helping here on earth.

It's possible to imagine they would start with the greatest need.

And that's not here in America. Here we both have poverty and the world's densest accumulation of blessing.

And I wonder if that's not an appropriate way for light-on-a-hill/American people to think about our life in the world...not in terms of what we can do for ourselves, but what we can do for others. (And certainly the others may begin with those who live on our streets...)

CHILDREN'S TIME July 7, 2002

Amoeba Tag B Or Being It for Jesus

Object: Amoeba Tag

Theme: A Covenant People Source:

Source: Fairchild & Ann Sutton for "Ameba Tag" as sent to "childrens-sermons-l@teleport.com" Nov. 16, 1998

and I found on http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/a-or11-99.html

Adapted!

Ameba Tag time!

I think we've played it before. It's a weird kind of tag.

I need one person to be "it"

When I say ready, set go, the rest of you scatter as I count to five, then you must freeze where you are. "...It..." will then come and tag each one. As each one is tagged, they have to move as a group to the next child until everyone is tagged....

Go! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 FREEZE!

Just when they think it is the end of the game, show them that there is a whole church full of adults to include...

What do you think? Kind of fun isn't it.

And think about this, there is a whole community out there to be touched - and if each one acts as part of "it" pretty soon the whole world would be included. That is the way it is supposed to be for us as followers of Jesus.

We are called by God to be his people - to be a nation of priests - of bridges between God and the world, to be ones who go out and tag people for Jesus.

Last week we were pregnant... This week we have kids... So what are we going to do??!!.

You know, Ishmael is Sarah's child. Right?

Abraham's and Hagar's. And Sarah's.

Here's the story.

Sarah knew the promise that Abram would be the father of many nations.

Sarah also knew that before you can be the father of many nations, you have to be the father of one.

And Sarah was convinced that her self, Sarah's body, was beyond hope, God couldn't use her.

And since God had bitten off more than he could obviously chew,

Sarah gave birth to an idea.

She planned a way to guarantee the promise God had made to Abraham.

She'd work out a way for God to do the impossible.

Actually, she was working it out so God wouldn't have to do anything

She was going to arrange it all

Consequently, what she ended up with was a human thing, not a God thing.

We can see this helpful, resourceful person, take her life and God's promise into her own hands in Ch. 16.

Sarai said to Abram, "You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children;

go into my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her."

And Sarai and Abram and Hagar got a child.

What do you do with a child of that kind?

A child of cunning, not grace.

I think this is going to be a different kind of sermon.

I plan to say that God has promised us blessing upon blessing.

That's basically what I said last week:

in spite of whatever our family life, church life, community life, personal life look like,

we are pregnant with the promise of God's transforming, world re-creating presence.

But Never-the-less, we keep trying to manufacture our own solutions.

With the craftiness of Sarah, or the tricks of Jacob

we work at manufacturing or swindling our way through life.

In the end, even so, I want to notice some good news, some reason to hope

Like unto Abraham and Sarah, God has promised blessing upon blessing. Life.

And like Abraham and Sarah, we keep fearing that life is one thing that God can't render out of our lives,

so we try to manufacture it for ourselves...and keep manufacturing complications/Ishmaels in the process.

"A young man cradles his newborn daughter. He remembers how hard his own life was and swears that this kid will never be in need."

What she needed was a father, but he threw himself into his work instead.

Oh, he got that other child, wealth.

And its twin, loneliness, with that sick feeling as she drove off to college . . .

. . . she's gone, and I don't really know her. Worse yet, she doesn't really know me.

"A woman sits beside a bed, stroking the hair of her dying mother who has fallen into a deep coma.

Things were not good for them for a long time"

And you can turn this around. It could be a mother thinking about her emotionally distant daughter.

One or both of them had this sense that things could be different.

But that would have cost them some vulnerability

It would have cost them some pain

It would have required some humility and patience and putting up with imperfection

But neither one wanted to.

And so they prevented their pride from being stillborn,

but born along with it was an enduring resentment,

a cold chasm between the two of them

and a deep ache that each knew wasn't necessary.

(The first lines in these examples come from M. Craig Barnes’ Hustling God, p. 15.)

God’s promise is richly about reconciliation

but they didn't trust that to be possible

And they got something else.

I grew up in the church, so I'd heard the good news...that I'm loved,

I knew how to sing, "Jesus loves me" and God has a plan for my life

but when I was at High School I was sure I wasn't loved

...like Sarah was sure God wasn't up to giving her a child.

So when anyone showed any interest in me,

I'd follow them like a puppy, almost no matter what they were doing.

And when a girl showed interest, I stuck to her like glue.

The problem was, she had the same problem with disbelieving that God could have made her lovable

So she clung to me too, and there we were, 4 years after we got out of High School, still clinging.

We didn't have any "children"

But we sure gave birth to our share of heartaches

in our efforts to save ourselves,

in our refusal to trust God's love.

And I am convinced that those heartaches came because neither one of us

could or would believe that God could or would make something out of us.

We were convinced that we had to hold on to someone, anyone for dear life.

We had to take love where we could find it, because we disbelieved that it would come to us.

During this week I've been spending a lot of time wondering what kind of children we have

been conceiving by our anxious toil

by our efforts to clothe ourselves more spectacularly than the lilies of the field

I've told you one of my stories of how I tried to save myself by

clinging to a high school sweetheart

I can't help but wonder,

if we are in any way securing our borders,

What children we are also giving birth to

By the bombs we have dropped on Afganistan

By our "casting off" of the illegal immigrants

That we also beacon to come provide cheap labor

By means of our "either or" arguments

And this doesn't mean not to try

but to try in trusting ways

to try in ways that line up with what we know of God in Jesus Christ

The way of mercy, not violence and backstabbing

The way of concern, not turning our back

The way of drawing people in, not casting them out

During this week I've been looking at all the stray children we have created out there,

Children, real children, are born because we use sex to manufacture/secure the love

we don't believe anyone would freely give us if they really knew us.

There are sexually transmitted diseases that are swapped around

because, in our culture, we use television shows and popular music to encourage one another

to use sex to manufacture/secure the love "feelings"

that we don't believe anyone would freely give us if they really knew us.

Children and adults, are "cast off" because we don't believe that anyone, including God

has enough love to love us all.

So we "cast off" the competition to make sure we get our own,

and in the process we create angry castoffs,

who strive more angrily than ever to get a piece of the pie.

We are tempted to cast off the children of Ishmael today...the Arabs, many of them Muslim

Because it is a natural temptation

To think that Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life,

Means that God only loves those who love Jesus

Because that means we don't have to share God's love.

And the children of Ishmael get angry,

just like we do when we see Christians castoff through persecution

Children and adults are "cast off" economically,

because we don't figure God can care for us,

So we build new barns to store all the stuff we can't take with us

And pass out crumbs to stave off starvation,

And we create children driven by hungry, hurting stomachs.

Relationships are either entered into, or destroyed - because like Sarah and Abraham,

we're afraid God can't deliver the goods through the likes of us,

So we take matters into our own hands;

Gambling that we can hit the blessing jackpot

Or Locking out the competition for the limited goods we can imagine.

And I wonder about what children we are creating now

And you know? It makes a certain amount of sense.

Like Sarah, whose body felt tired and aged, we feel hopeless.

We grow cynical for a reason. People have let us down and have hurt us. We have let ourselves down.

We don’t feel much promise.

But we do have a little bit of expertise and competence, and ability to grab a little gusto out of life

But we don't count on much promise

But just like the promise of Sarah's laughter, Isaac, comes through her hopeless body,

God's promise comes to us through these very bodies, our very lives.

I've spent a lot of time on this other stuff, but

here's what I want you to remember:

God still keeps the promise...it's cluttered up with the many complications we give birth to

but God still keeps the promise.

And be at peace...You know all those cluttering complications you've given birth to?

God can still care for them too.

Like a resentment between you and your mother or father, or you and a son, a daughter.

God is able to be concerned about that too.

To fulfill a promise there.

Remember Ishmael, the result of Sarah's extra effort to secure the promise?

By the end of the story, Sarah still disagrees,

but all the others in the story are still agreed on the preciousness of Ishmael

Yahweh, the angel, Hagar and Abraham

Walter Brueggemann points out that,

"The celebrated birth of Isaac

and the anguished settlement of Ishmael

are set (side by side).

The one has rights which are honored.

The other evokes laughter and is celebrated.”

(Brueggemann, Genesis, p.183)

The passage does not choose between the two

unless you care to say that God is able to choose both.

God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all we think or imagine.

Have you been laughing?

Like Sarah laughed - And Abraham before her.

She's in her 90's, God, or God's messenger, says - you're going to have a baby

she laughs

You been laughing?

We're in our 2000's

God's messengers keep saying - wondrous things are coming, indeed you are God's people

You are God's messengers.

You are God's ambassadors

You are the Body of Christ, God's hands and feet on earth

You are the one's, we are the one's, God will work wonders through in this age.

Have you been laughing?

The song

"We are the people of God, yes, we are the people of God,

and he calls all of us, to be just like him, for we are the light of the world."

It's possible to sing a song like that with chill-bumps but still be "laughing"

"Sure, Yea, Right, ... Me?

Warm fuzzy song, but Us? This church? This denomination? This family? Our community?"

My brothers and sisters -

the love of God has been poured into our hearts

- and new creations are meant to be born!

This is the church's "e=mc2"

If there were a black chalk board like they still have in old universities, and a pack of chalk

I could write a professorial equation on the board, complete with squeaking chalk:

There is nothing too wonderful for God - and we are pregnant, we remain pregnant

To give birth daily to fleshed out acts of the love of God toward the people around us.

I started thinking along this line as I read the Genesis and the Romans passage almost back to back.

First, there's this mother thinking - yea right, me have a baby - impossible

And then there's Paul saying - yes, we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God,

"We're pregnant with the hope of sharing the glory of God . . . " but it is hard.

We also boast in our sufferings - and God knows we suffer.

Life is hard, we have much to endure.

That for which we hope, does not always get delivered. Or when it is, it is often born breech.

Even the best in the world around us is not what we want it to be.

It does not give birth to goodness easily

Those that are supposed to be most on our side seem to be on another side.

They do not give birth to faithfulness consistently

Jesus has won the victory

But the full victory in our lives has not yet been fully born.

Here is what I am really talking about: These passages make me think about your church, your family, your schools, and most of all - yourselves - ourselves

These passages make me think about our church:

I enter this week very much aware that our General Assembly for our Denomination started yesterday

And I laugh at the naive expectation of goodness, faithfulness, and victory

Easily, consistently, and fully coming from any denomination.

But our denomination is pregnant.

I suspect every denomination is pregnant, Catholic, Presbyterian, Southern Baptist

A pastor from Vancouver, Washington, said it well:

"The Presbyterian church, while I love it, is not the church. The Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, and that Church is indestructible. Echoing the words of Jesus: 'I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.' So the Lord is more than up to the challenge we face." Heidi Husted, in AHow to Thrive in a Divided Denomination, reNEWS, June 2002, p. 8

These passages make me think about our families:

Some of us may be blessed with families that have it all together.

But most of us struggle with families that have as many and more divisions than denominations.

Too often we meet people who have stopped laughing at the

expectation of goodness, faithfulness, and victory

Coming easily, consistently, and fully from every corner of their family.

They've moved on to quietly weeping over what they've been powerless to prevent

Or, over what they long to be able to bring to pass.

But our families are pregnant.

Labor is not easy, but God's love for us is not limited to our own hearts or souls,

Knowing what is dearest to our hearts - God's love flows there too.

Biblical History centers itself around God's call to families

- Adam/Eve, Abraham/Sarah, Mary and Joseph

It is not naively happy, or poly-anna

but the Bible demonstrates God=s concern for and work within families

These passages make me think about our communities

I listed schools as a sort of representative of our government agencies and political parties

that we sort of laugh at.

I can imagine some of you laughing at the idea of anything good coming out of our schools

Because you feel so bored . . . or so bullied.

It occurs to me that others might be inclined to laugh, or worry, about anything good

Coming out of our county government - or city or state or nation.

And who knows, the day may come when one or another of these will fold up and blow away,

But biblical wisdom includes the injunction to

pray for the good of the city where we are - to pray for our leaders.

This means we may have a good hope

These too are arenas through which God gives birth to justice, mercy and peace.

Whether or not it seems these agencies are delivering the goods now, or the way we want it

God would like to use them to deliver peace and justice to people in every land.

These passages make me think about ourselves

Sometimes we give up on ourselves, but we're pregnant too.

All over this planet God is at work giving birth to flesh and blood acts of God's grace.

It does not happen in the easiest places on earth.

It happens in the hardest.

It did not happen for Jesus in Herod's mansion - It happened in an inn Keeper's manger

Jesus did not mature with his citizenship intact and stable neighborhood with a pool

He matured as a migrant - seeking asylum in Egypt,

then returning after a political death, when a changing power structure made it seem safe.

Jesus' rise of fame came without the support of his family,

with misunderstanding, with betrayal by his own people and their leaders, and the denial of his best friends

Yet, in all these things God was giving birth to a new creation

- to hope for you and me - because of the love that pours out of his wounds into our hearts

And in all these things God laughs

"Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain? . . .

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD has them in derision." (Psalm 2:1-4 NRSV)

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Cor 15)

The God who laughs is giving birth to a new creation, you, today.

Laughing God, fill us with the joy and future that is your own.

Bring to birth in us, with each breath we breathe, the new creation you plan for us.

Shatter the attitude that says, "Hah, hah, hah! I won't do anything new."

Grow in us the faith that trusts, Nothing is impossible for you.

Be born anew in us today. Make us be born anew in you. Amen.

We Are the Sent People of Promise.

That title was provided over 2 weeks ago and my thoughts have matured a little since then.

So if it would make you feel better, you can scratch out “Calling” and write in its place,

“We Are the Sent People of Promise”

I’m just kind of going to go through that phrase in light of this reading from Genesis. 12:1-9.

“We Are the Sent People of Promise.”

By definition, Graduation is a sending.

Your names are written on new documents, in new ways, with new possibilities.

You start looking for new things to do, whether it’s a new school, or a new job,

or a new way of being a family,

You may or may not do it, you are set up for moving into a new part of the world – near, far

With different people, and new opportunities.

Graduation sends you into the world in a new way.

And when I think about people in our community, this county, this region and across the country

I realize that losing a job is a sending, a prying free.

Marriage is a sending – sometimes just to a new household across town,

sometimes across the country, away from childhood family and friends.

Into new neighborhoods.

Divorce sends us.

Getting pregnant.

Having a child.

Having a child become a teenager.

Becoming a teenager – getting a driving license.

What are some others?

Retirement.

Getting a new job.

Losing a loved one.

Joining a new club

Going to a new school.

Having to ride a different bus.

Sometimes we feel like we are being sent reeling.

Other times we feel like, finally, we are soaring.

But always when we are sent, we are sent with the grace and promise of God.

Even though the grace and promise of God are at risk.

Look at these stories:

“Abram passed through the land... At that time the Canaanites were in the land...”

And still God said, “To your offspring (the sons and daughters of Abraham) I will give this land.”

But you’ve got to wonder, how is God going to do it.

Abram is married to Sarai, they are both old,

God promises them children as numerous as the stars,

At an age when Abraham’s body is as good as dead – this is before Viagra

At an age when Sarah scoffs at the idea of ever being able to be pregnant.

God’s promise seems even more impossible.

Later when Abram and Sarai travel to the land of a certain king,

The gallant Abraham tells Sarah, “pretend you’re my sister so this king won’t kill me to get you.”

And the king takes Sarah into his own harem.

How is God going to keep the promise to a family like this.

But that is exactly what I want to remember this morning, to confirm this morning:

God does keep the promise – exactly to a family like this.

It is not to a perfect family that God makes the promise – but to a potential family

It is not to an extraordinary family – it is to a willing family

It is not to people of perfect faith

She laughs at God’s promise

He throws away God’s promise

It is not to people of perfect faith

– but with perfect faithfulness that God makes God’s promise

Whether it is God or some chaotic circumstance that is sending you

spinning or soaring into new arenas of life these days,

it is ultimately God’s hand that is upon you,

And to bless others through you.

Not only does the gospel of Matthew show us Jesus

Sending a despised tax collector into the new life of following Jesus

But he also shows us, at the climax of the book in which he is both crucified and raised:

Jesus says to us,

“Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

“A pastor baptized a baby.

After the baptism, the pastor said to the baby,

in a voice loud enough to be heard by the parents and congregation,

‘Little sister, by this act of baptism,

we welcome you to a journey that will take your whole life.

This isn’t the end.

It’s the beginning of God’s experiment with your life.

What God will make of you, we know not.

Where God will take you, surprise you, we cannot say.

This we do know, and this we say – God is with you.’”

Stanley Hauwerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens, pp. 52-53

This is what we learn.

God comes along side of people,

comes along side of us, and says – precisely in this troubled world –

I am with you to bless you,

and to make you a channel of my blessing to others

– – And then God makes it so – –

Pray with me.

Here we are Lord.

We don’t know how you are going to accomplish that in us

Give us peace, with not having to know,

Give us peace, and the gift of faith.

CHILDREN'S SERMON June 9, 2002

Father Abraham Had Many Sons Source: Homeletics, June 1999

You know "Father Abraham . . ."?

How's it go?

Father Abraham had many sons,

Many sons had Father Abraham,

I am one of them,

and so are you,

so let's all praise the Lord.

Now, why am I a son of Abraham?

And what makes you sons and daughters of Abraham?

We are sons and daughters of Abraham because we belive in God.

And because we trust God's promises.

God promised to give Abraham a new land and many, many grandchildren.

All Abraham had to do was believe in God, trust God, and follow God on an adventure to a new place.

We are all welcome to believe in God and drust God and follow God every day.

And when we do that, then we are being children of "Father Abraham."

I know, I know, “The Church: The Next Generation” is more of a play on a Star Trek movie title,

but it fit, so there it is.

It was 25 years ago when the Star Wars movement began with the release of Episode 4.

Who would have guessed that it would have grown into a movement.

And now there’s a conspiracy theory being put forward about the last two.

Someone noticed that two years ago Episode I was released on Pentecost weekend.

And now Episode II is being released . . . this weekend . . . Pentecost weekend.

Brett Blair believes Lucas is trying to use the themes of this season to underscore the meaning of his movies. This is, Pentecost is, the time of year that we celebrate how the church began.

Pentecost is the story of the Holy Spirit breathing a movement into the life of the disciples.

Pentecost is in effect the church’s Episode II.

Episode I – is the life of Christ.

Here’s what happened in the church’s Episode II:

The disciples had gathered in Jerusalem.

They waited there for the gift that Jesus had promised.

And it came to be Pentecost, which falls 50 days after the Passover, or our Maundy Thursday.

It was the custom of the Jews to celebrate two things at this time:

the first fruits of the Harvest and the giving of the Law.

They called it the Harvest of Weeks.

So as the disciples wait in Jerusalem, they find themselves surrounded by travelers

from all over the world: Europe, Asia, Africa.

And then it happened.

The Gift that God had promised came into this world.

Like a rushing violent wind and

With flames of fire, each of the disciples were filled with and engulfed by the Holy Spirit.

And the sound reverberated into the crowds who surrounded the house

And the disciples began to speak to everyone about what Jesus had done.

The disciples began to live as people who believed what God had done in Jesus Christ.

Those who believed in Jesus began to live in the strength of his Spirit.

And there were special effects.

The timid disciples were transformed into compelling speakers on behalf of Jesus Christ

The often self-centered disciples,

“Grant to me that I may sit on your right hand – and I on your left”

became servants of the people,

So that Peter would say to a paralytic,

"silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give you,

In the name of Jesus rise up and walk"

So that in the presence of those who would judge and beat them

They would say, “You judge if it is right for me to do what you say, or what God says,

As for me, I must do what God says.

Yes, there were Star Wars-like special effects,

The sound like a rushing violent wind and

flames of fire,

disciples were filled with and engulfed by the Holy Spirit.

sound reverberated into the crowds who were attracted to the house

And disciples speaking to everyone about what Jesus had done.

These are wonders beyond Star Wars

Not artificially generated, they were accomplished by the power of God.

And the real special effects were those of people reaching out to other people

So that they would experience and know the grace and power and mercy of God.

The power of God still invades the body, inflates the mind,

swells the soul, lifts the Spirit and make us more than we ever imagined.

It'll make you young when you're old, and it'll make you live even when you die.

The power and presence of the Spirit will disturb, delight, deliver and lift.

When God sends forth the Spirit,

"the whole face of the earth is renewed."

When God sends forth the Spirit

chaos is changed into creation

the Red Sea opens up to a highway of freedom.

When God sends forth the Spirit:

A young woman (named Mary) says "Yes."

Jesus is born and life is never the same.

When God sends forth the Spirit amazing things happen:

Barriers are broken,

communities are formed,

opposites are reconciled,

unity is established,

Disease is cured,

addiction is broken,

cities are renewed,

races are reconciled,

Hope is established,

people are blessed,

and church happens.

Today the Spirit of God is present

So be ready, get ready...God is up to something...

discouraged folks cheer up,

dishonest folks 'fess up,

sour folks sweeten up,

closed folk, open up,

gossipers shut up,

conflicted folks make up,

sleeping folks wake up,

lukewarm folk, fire up,

dry bones shake up,

and pew potatoes stand up!

And by all of this, the Holy Spirit is working

so that Christ the Savior of all the world is lifted up.

(Adapted from Rick Kirchoff, Germantown United Methodist Church, Opening remarks to the Memphis Annual Conference.

Remember – You are the next generation

You are the episode that is playing now

Amen.

Just a story I found that I thought I might have used:

In his autobiography WHY NOT THE BEST? Jimmy Carter,

shared an incident that made him aware of his lack of evangelical fervor.

Each year the congregation of Plains Baptist Church holds a one-week revival service. In preparation for the week, the leaders of the congregation would venture into the community inviting non-churched members to the services. As a deacon, Carter always participated in this exercise. Carter would always visit a few homes, read the Scriptures and have prayer, share some religious beliefs, then he would talk about the weather and crops and depart. Carter wrote: "I was always proud enough of this effort to retain a clear conscience throughout the remainder of the year."

One day Carter was asked to speak at a church in Preston, Georgia. The topic he was assigned was "Christian Witnessing." As Carter sat in his study writing the speech, he decided he would make a great impression upon the audience by sharing with them how many home visits he made for God. He figured in the fourteen years since returning from the Navy he had conducted 140 visits. Carter proudly wrote the number in his script.

As Carter sat there, he began to reflect on the 1966 governor's election. As he campaigned for the state's highest office, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day trying to reach as many voters as possible. At the conclusion of the campaign Carter calculated that he met more than 300,000 Georgians.

Sitting in his study the truth became evident. Carter wrote in his autobiography, "The comparison struck me--300,000 visits for myself in three months, and 140 visits for God in fourteen years!"

Jimmy Carter, "Why Not The Best?"

I was at a retreat when I heard a man talking about loaning a friend a large amount of money, about one hundred dollars or more. And then, week after week, the guy who borrowed the money would say, every time they crossed paths, "I'm gonna pay you back, I'm gonna pay you back..."

This went on for quite some time and one day the man who loaned him the chunk of money stopped him.

He said, "You have any money on you?"

"Yea," was the puzzled response of the debtor.

"Do you have 10 dollars?"

"Yes."

"Give it to me," he said.

And with that the guy pulled out a crumpled 10 dollars, handed it over and the loaner said.

"That's it. We're even. Your debt is paid off."

And that was it, they got back to being buddies the way things had been

and the one who borrowed the money never said "I'll pay you back" again.

And the one who made the loan ... never had to hear it again.

Are you that tired? The words "I am coming soon?" Have they become old and cold? "Yea, right."

The church has been rehearsing this statement for a long time.

The fulfillment of Jesus: "I am coming soon," requires a miracle, wanting them to come true involves risk.

We've gotten use to the Lord of this world.

As much as people are said "throw the bums out," we sure are reluctant to do it.

And politicians are by no means the only "lords."

There are the great twin lords, leisure and comfort.

Also, of course, Almighty Dollar, and whatever it takes to get it and keep it.

There is the status quo, the TV Guide, and the season line-up.

It is risky to invite Jesus to come and be our visible Lord.

It is risky to invite Jesus to come - because he will rearrange everything -

so that he is not "Lord" only in name, but in fact. Lord of Lords.

Richard Neuhaus, in his book. Freedom for Ministry, summarizes Dostoevsky's Legend of the great Inquisitor (in The Brothers Karamazov)

"When Jesus appeared in the Spanish town square, the Grand Inquisitor has him put in jail

and spends all night explaining to the silent Jesus why he has no right to come back

and interfere with the Church's operation.

After this eloquent defense of the Church's mandate and authority, the

Cardinal Inquisitor declares to Jesus, 'Go, and come no more.

Come not at all ~- never, never!'"'

That story has the judgement the wrong way around.

These texts- the Lord of these texts - are the mandate and the chart and measuring rod for our existence.

So risky or not, this is what the church proclaims, in season and out.

My experience is that this promise - I am coming soon - is being more & more fully embraced in our day.

I noticed a change during my three years at seminary.

During my first year I have no recollection of anyone using anything but the most general language

about the return of Christ and the fulfillment of the Kingdom.

During my second year I began to notice casual references to it

During my third year I was amazed at how often I heard this promise remembered.

The book, Freedom for Ministry, that has received a broad audience among conservatives & liberals alike,

and made the argument that our Ministry is based upon that very faith;

that Jesus will return, the Kingdom of God will be fulfilled. (Richard John Neuhaus, especially chapter 2)

That it is not the past or the present that measures our ministry, but the future that God is calling forward.

John reports his experience, "Jesus says, I am coming soon."

To churches all over; people giving and taking in marriage.

People going about their daily business; watching kids, being kids,

planning for the future, ignoring the future

For people in waiting rooms, and emergency rooms,

dealing with cults, dealing with motivation:

To people persecuted into silence,

to people struggling to be faithful,

or torn and tempted to just go their own away,

John shares his experience: "Jesus says, I am coming soon."

In John's Revelation we see Jesus himself saying, "I am coming soon."

In John's Revelation we see Jesus himself saying,

There is the reward for all who are found in the lamb's book of life.

And evil will be absent, as all those who would bring evil with them are left outside.

In John's Revelation

All creation is embraced as Jesus proclaims that he is the first and the last, the alpha and the omega.

Salvation history is embraced as Jesus declared, - I am the root of David, and I am David's offspring.

In John's Revelation we see Jesus,

These are his words, "It is I, Jesus."

And, "Behold, I am coming soon"

"I am the bright and morning star."

And this is beautiful country for dwelling on that image:

It is as though mid-night is passed, the darkest hours are gone.

Look he says, I'm the star that you can see on the horizon, the bright one.

I am the star that

breaks the night, and brings the dawn;

ends the darkness, brings the light;

ushers in the new day:

Behold, look for daybreak!

John tells us how to look for daybreak

"The Spirit and the Bride (i.e., church) say come'"

That is what they do, we catch them in the act.

It is not a command here, it is a description, they do say / we do say, "Come."

With all of our groanings and our longings, and our service and our worship.

Jesus says, "I am coming soon."

And we say to Jesus, "Come".

And we say to anyone who will hear God's good news, "Come!"

In this shout, we are finally of one accord with God:

"Jesus, come to fulfill our hope and your promise,

And to anyone here who is thirsty for God, come,

drink freely from the waters of life we discover in Christ."

'Looking for daybreak' Revelation style.

Is God's future too scary?

Dare we join in the heavenly chorus, calling out to Jesus, "Come!"?

Dare we call out to all who thirst, not just the lovely and the popular,

not just the well breed and the "got it all together" types?

Dare we call out to all who are thirsty?

Dare we not? If we are the church, the bride, we have no choice.

Today, we heard from the Deacons who will lead us in "Looking for Daybreak"

In the lives of people in need - if we let them, if we'll take the risk.

Today, we heard from the Stewardship Committee who will lead us in "Looking for Daybreak"

As we finance ministry and mission

This summer's Vacation Bible Experience will lead another 100 in "Looking for Daybreak"

This summer"s Mission Trip will team brothers and sisters in Christ from Mexico and this church

in "Looking for Daybreak" together

In Youth Group, in Worship, in the Women"s Circle's service, in the Men's Breakfast's service,

in helping our neighbors, in serving at school and work

we "Look for Daybreak"

For the in - breaking of the Bright and Morning Star

The real risk is letting our lives be run by practicality.

This world tempts us to make God a means to an end so that when we want something, THEN, we turn to God.

This world can try and make us wait until we finally get bored, THEN, we turn to God.

But we don't want to wait until

Christ is finally, totally, all the way, visibly here.

If we wait until Christ has totally arrived,

if we wait until Jesus is practical, popular and all the way here,

that will be too late.

Beware being weary of waiting,

Keep Looking for Daybreak.

CHILDREN'S SERMON May 5, 2002

Connected To God

By McGregor, used by permission, for Easter 7 -- 5/12/2002, A