Do you say Thank You?

Sermon – November 20 2011 – Luke 17:11-19

I shared part of this story last Sunday at the Community Thanksgiving Service, but I want to share it with all of you. It had been three long years. I didn't know if I would ever feel my wife’s touch again. I didn't know if I would ever feel the touch of another human being ever again during those three years. But then three weeks ago . . .Three years ago I was working in the field. Plowing the ground. Getting it ready. Plowing is back breaking work but I was glad to be doing it. As I was working, I could feel my fingers getting numb and at first I thought I must be gripping the scythe too tightly. I didn't say anything to my wife over the next few days as the numbness never went away but she must have suspected something. I carried my hand next to my body like, well, like a wounded bird.

One evening as I plunged my hands into the wash basin the water reddened. My finger was bleeding and bleeding freely. I hadn't realized I had cut myself. I didn't remember using a knife or anything sharp. "It's on your clothing as well," My wife told me softly. I looked at my robe. There was crimson spots in different places. I stood there for the longest time not wanting to look at my wife. I knew as I stood there my life would never be the same again. "Shall I go with you?" my wife asked.Where, I asked her.
"To see the priest.""No, I'll go alone."

The priest wouldn't touch me. He looked at my hands. He looked at my face that was covered with worry and sorrow. I couldn't fault him. He was only doing his job. "You are unclean." With those words I lost my family, my farm, my future, my friends, my life.

My wife met me at the city gates with a bundle of clothing and bread and coins. She didn't speak. She stepped back. I turned away. Over the last three years my hands gnarled from the disease. My clothes became rags and covered the ever increasing sores. I was left to carry a bell and beg for food, beg of forgiveness, beg for my life back.

I shared a cave in the pits with a Samaritan. Never in my life would I have ever even considered breaking bread or sharing space with those that were beneath me. It is amazing what the disease did. At the bottom of the pit we were all equal in a strange sort of way. Each of us missed our families. Each of us missed what our life had been. Each of us prayed and at the same time cursed God. Each of us lost hope and buried our dead. Each of us saw the future and welcomed hell.

Then three weeks ago, several of us, were near the pits in a village between Samaria and Galilee. We were ringing our bells, begging for coins and food when one of us, I don't know who started yelling, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" I didn't know who he was yelling to until I saw him. I had heard of this man Jesus but this was the first time I had seen him. I looked, well he looked so ordinary except for his eyes. There was something about the way he looked at us. I saw no pity. No fear. There was something in his eyes that I had never seen in the eyes of another man either before or since.

In a voice so low it was hard to hear he told us to go show ourselves to the priest. He didn't touch us. He didn't give us anything. He just told us to go show ourselves. I hadn't been made clean but I felt something. I felt that I had to go and do as he told us and on the way — on the way something happened. Not only did my hands clear but they changed. My finger tips were restored. I touch my nose. It was whole. I was whole. I wore the rags of a leper but I knew that I was clean.

We went to the priest and he examined us. He told us what I already knew. He pronounced us clean. Each of us was ordered to shave our hair and burn our old clothes and to bath. You have never seen such splashing and joy. But there was an urgency. We each wanted to go home.

Home. Were would home be? Were was my wife and my child? I know that the farm is gone but it didn't matter. I had been given my life back. I was whole. I found them at my in-laws home. She was at the market but would return home soon. I waited for what seemed forever and then I saw her and I saw my little girl. You can never know what that embrace was like. You can never know how the touch of another after so long a time can restore your very being. I stood in the street and hugged and hugged and cried and cried.

In the days to follow, my wife and I made plans. We had a life to live and a reason to rejoice. Just the other night my wife reminded me that Passover was near and we needed to go to Jerusalem. I had lost all concept of time in the pits. Passover. How many times had I been to the Temple to give thanks. But this year would be so special. What a day of Thanksgiving it would be.

As we entered the city on the day before Passover I heard someone calling my name. I turned and there was my friend, truly my friend. My Samaritan friend. I did not hesitate a moment in introducing my wife and my child. We embraced and look at one another. We looked so different. We looked so . . . normal.

"Have you found your family," I asked him. "Oh, yes," he told me as his eyes filled with tears. "So you are coming to Temple . . ." I stumbled. I knew he wasn't Jewish. What was I asking. "What brings you to town." How foolish I felt.

"I understand. Before I returned home, I had to find that man Jesus and tell him ‘thank you.' I found him that day and some of the men he was with told me he was coming to Jerusalem for Passover."

I could not have felt any smaller. I had forgotten. I had never told this Jesus, thank you. How could I have failed to . . . How do I . . . I had to correct this wrong. This man gave me a new life and I hadn't said thank you. My friend who was not even Jewish knew to do what was right and I, in my own joy had forgotten.

"Did he come to Jerusalem?" "Oh, yes. Earlier this week, as he came into town, people lined the road spreading palms and singing. And since this last Tuesday, he has been teaching those who gather around him at the temple.” I turned to my wife and told her that I must go to the Temple now. I must find this man and thank him. She understood. She heard in my voice the look that had been on her face just three years ago. How could I have forgotten?

I hurried as fast I could toward the Palace. The crowds were even worse. There was some kind of parade or procession going on and the streets were blocked. When I finally got to the Palace it was all but empty. I asked one of the Centurions. "Where is Jesus?" He looked at me like I was a criminal. "Why do you ask? Are you one of his followers?" "Well, no. But you see I have to tell him thank you." "Well you are too late. They have taken him and some of the others outside the gate to Golgotha, the rock outside where we crucify criminals."

I stood there at Golgotha for the longest time. I didn't see any of the men who were with him that day just three weeks ago. I turned to walk back to find my wife. Tonight I lie in this bed and keep asking myself how could I have failed to thank him? Even more important, how do I thank him now? If only . . . I had one more chance.

Those nine lepers that left were healed, but they missed our on being made whole. Who are we most like? I think if we are honest, we are more like the nine than we are the one. If something exciting happens in our lives, we are so anxious to enjoy it, or celebrate it, or call our spouse or parents or friends, we get so wrapped up in the joy, in the healing, that we forget to say thank you.

We take so many things for granted. We take our freedom to worship God for granted. Do you realize that there are places in this world where people still have to hide and risk their lives just to worship Jesus and thank him for the life that they do have? Do you realize that there are people in this world that don't have a place to worship in, or a place to call, 'their' church?

We take the sunrise for granted. Everyday the sun will rise. We might not see it, but everyday the sun that God created on the fourth day will rise and set everyday. The sun is our lifeline. The sun gives us food, the moon keeps the tides, the sun gives us warmth, the sun gives us health, the sun gives us life. When was the last time you thanked God for the creation of this world?

We take our breathing for granted. I don't even know how many breaths we take each day, but, when was the last time you thanked God for giving you one more day to be alive and share your life with your family and friends?

We take our healings for granted. We are healed everyday. Not from leprosy, but from other things. Not just physical things, but emotional things. We are constantly healed, but when was the last time you thanked Jesus for healing you?

We have the chance everyday, every minute to not only be healed, but to be whole. As the lepers saw themselves clean, one returned praising Jesus and laid at his feet and said "Thank you, Jesus for healing me, for caring enough to heal even me." Jesus said, "Get up, and go on your way, your faith has made you whole." I once heard that God has two dwelling places. One is in heaven and the other is in the thankful heart. Thank God for all of your blessings. AMEN

How much do you give?

Sermon – November 13 2011 – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Matthew 25:14-30

From his book, Extravagant Generosity, Bishop Schnase says, “Giving helps us become what God wants us to be. Giving is not merely about the church’s need for money but about the Christian’s need to grow in generosity. Generousity is a fruit of the Spirit, a sign of our spiritual growth. God uses our giving to change the world for God’s purposes, and God uses our giving to reconfigure our interior lives and to change us!

We are stewards of the earth. We are stewards of those things entrusted to us, inherited by us, and earned by us. WE are stewards of our wealth and possessions and physical bodies. Stewardship, Generosity is an aspect of character. It focuses on the spiritual qualities of the giver.

Fundamentally, we either consider the material things in our life as owned by God and belonging to God, and we manage them for God’s purposes, or we view them as owned by us. If they are owned by God, then our tithes and offerings represent our returning to God what belongs to God. Do you manage God’s resources to honor God? Or yourself?

John Wesley taught extensively about the use of money, the danger of riches, and the important in giving. For Wesley, all things belonged to God. This changes how we perceive the manner by which we earn money and save money, causing us to do so in appropriate ways. And it changes how we spend money, making us more responsible, and shapes how we give money. Do you realize that there are no stories from Scripture that tell of people living the God-related spiritual life while fostering a greedy-self-centered, self-serving attitude? Can you name a person that you admire because of all the KEEP for themselves? Knowing God leads to generosity.

Let’s look again at the parable. The first two slaves took the gift from their Master and used them. Not only did they receive responsibility for more, but they also were given more joy. There is joy in the giving.

The third slave was scared of his talent and buried it. He took the opportunity to serve the Master and simply buried it. He took the easy and comfortable way out. And what happened to him? He showed his unfaithfulness and it resulted in a lack of joy, a loss of opportunity to build in the kingdom of God.

These three men took what God had given them. They were given different talents, one got five, one two, and one one. However, once again, two of them used their talents. They were called “good and trustworthy” and were put in charge of many things.

Paul in 1 Thessalonians, reminds us of who we are as God’s children. He tells us to remember that we are children of the day. We have the opportunity to wear the breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of hope of salvation. HE reminds us to encourage one another and build each other up. No matter what our gift is, we can encourage one another and build each other up because we are indeed Children of the Light. We must encourage one another, not break one another down. Sometimes this is hard because we think we have all the answers, but EVERYONE is a gift from God and have gifts to offer. Sometimes we have to let people, let others do what they feel God is calling them to do, whether we think it’s right or not.

These two men in the parable gave everything back to the Master. We talk at various times about how everything we have is from God, but how do we return thanks? How do we thank God for everything that we have? Do we give back to God? Do we give of our time, our talents, our gifts and our service?

Do you tithe? To tithe is to give means to give a tenth, and involves returning to God ten percent of income. It’s simply concise, and consistent. Why don’t we tithe? Sometimes it’s because our hearts and minds are more powerfully shaped by our affluence. We find it harder to give because our society’s values shape our perceptions more than our faith’s values do. Again from Bishop Schnase’s book, “the practice of tithing provides a concrete way for us to take the words we speak, god is the Lord of my life, and put them into practice. Our giving becomes a way of putting God first, an outward sign of an inner alignment. Tithing challenges us to ask ourselves, is my giving generous? Do I only give for practical reasons? Or for spiritual ones?

The practice of tithing is not merely about what God wants us to do, but about the kind of person God wants us to become. Tithing requires prayer. What would God have me do? Are there things God would want me to give up in order to tithe? No one tithes accidentally. It requires soul work, deep conviction, a maturing spirit. Tithing is not merely a financial decision; it is a life choice to rearrange all the furniture of our interior lives. Tithing blesses us.

How to tithe? Give. If a tenth of your income seems out of reach right now, give a little more next year back to God than you gave this year. Begin the practice of tithing. Teach children to spend wisely, to save consistently, and to give generously.

At some point, we followers of Jesus must decide who we serve, whether we will listen to the wisdom of the world or to the wisdom of God. We need to continue to give in faith. Not only our tithe, but our time, our talents, and our service. It doesn’t matter the size of our talent and service, or the “glory” of the job, what matters is that you give back to God in thanksgiving for all the gifts that he has given you. It is the true and faithful way in which we give it. It is your turn as it was for the servants to put on your breastplate of faith and love, and your helmet of hope for salvation and give back.

It is your turn to take the opportunity that God has given us and give everything back to God in order to be a “good and trustworthy” servant, and not be the one who buried God in the dirt and thrown into the darkness for all eternity.

Remember, that giving from your abundance misses the point of giving. Gifts that don’t cost us, are not worthy of God. For the cost to God was his Son on a cross. Giving what we won’t miss is hardly a faithful act of a good and trustworthy servant. Remember, don’t just say or agree, but truly remember that everything we have is a gift from God, so let us all strive to find our gifts, give our tithe and use them to the glory of God so that we all can be called “good and trustworthy” servants of the living God. AMEN

The Choice is Yours

Sermon – November 6 2011 – Joshua 24:1-3, 14-25. Matthew 25:1-13

This story is patience and preparedness. Are you prepared?

Have you made your choice? Jesus tells us about ten women in our Scriptures. Ten bridesmaids who took their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Not all of them were prepared however for the party. The bridesmaids waited and waited for the arrival of the bridegroom. As they waited, they fell asleep.

Upon the arrival of the bridegroom, they woke up and five of them realized that they had no oil for their lamps. They could not join in the lighted walk with the bridegroom because they were not prepared, they had no light. While they tried to find oil for their lamps, the bridegroom came and went into the wedding banquet and the door was shut. The people that were not prepared were kept outside.

Are you ready? Is your house in order? Is your life in order? Do you have enough faith and hope and love within you to keep the candle burning in order to walk with Christ? There are many instances in the New Testament where the return of Christ is mentioned. People are always preparing for the return. There are people who use scholarly measures to calculate just when the time will be, we read Scriptures and try and figure it out.

But whenever it is, five bridesmaids were prepared. They were ready when Jesus came. When an expectant mother says “it’s time”, people better be ready. When the light turns green, we better be ready to travel onward through the light. All of the ten bridesmaids looked the same on the outside. All ten of them claimed to be ready. They were all given the opportunity to be ready. They all knew what was going to happen, and how it would happen, however, when the time came, only five of them were actually prepared, and ready to make the commitment.

We must be ready. We must be prepared to make the commitment, we must be prepared to take a stand and make a choice for our lives and the lives around us. We must be ready to holds in accountability the people in our lives that are either taking our oil from us, or simply draining it slowly. What is your oil?

What is it that Christ expects us to have when the time comes to meet him again? Maybe it’s faith, or hope, joy or peace, maybe it’s good deeds, and Christian living, maybe Christ simply wants us to join in the walk of the true light. But, we can’t let others snuff our light out before it comes time to share it. We can’t allow others to dampen our light because we are afraid of offending them or hurting them.

We each know what it is that makes our candles, our lives flicker in and out of God’s touch. We know what separates us from God. We know that sometimes we are too easy going or too comfortable to step out and stand up for when we know is right, for the Bible tells us is the truth. Love is an interesting thing. It isn’t always a kind word, or deed. It isn’t always a positive pat on the back or a little gift. Sometimes love is a stern word or a word of concern.

Often times we are afraid to stand up for what we believe in because we feel that we are being judgmental or non-loving, but in the unconditional love of God, in the love that is so immeasurable as God’s, there is still right and wrong.

Even God, who loves us so much, tells us right from wrong. Accountability doesn’t have to be judgmental. The five bridesmaids that were prepared were held accountable for their actions, they knew what to do, and they did it. The five that weren’t prepared, needed to be held accountable. Someone needed to remind them to be prepared for the coming of Christ. Maybe they were told and forgot? Maybe they were told and ignored the words, and maybe they were not told at all. We don’t know for sure, but the one thing we do know is that they weren’t allowed into the banquet.

Everyone makes choices. Choices of freedom, choices of love, choices of serving others, choices of holding each other accountable, choices of trust, and choices of faith. Joshua.

This story of Joshua involves the opportunity and celebration for choice. It is a covenant of action of choice and the celebration of the choice. Joshua gathers the people together, all the tribes and reminds them of who they are. He said, “long ago, your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods”. He was reminding them that somewhere along the line, their ancestors made a choice.

They chose the God of Israel. They chose to serve the one true God. Joshua was telling them to remind them that it was now their turn to make a choice. It was time for them to renew the pledge of their ancestors, to renew the pledge of faith and allegiance to the God that was able to do so many things for them.

He then recounted everything that had happened to the people and their ancestors and everything that God had done for them. After he shares all those things, he states, “Now therefore, revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the other gods.”

We can relate to this. We hear stories of our ancestors, we hear stories of the Bible, yet, do we truly listen? We seem to make the same mistakes generation after generation. We are able to commit to some things, but have a hard time committing to God. We profess to worship God, and yet are often too busy on Sunday mornings to come to worship and Sunday School. We profess to serve all people, yet we forget and gossip, and work around those people we aren’t fond of. We say that we are faithful, yet we don’t stand up for Christ. WE say that we are Christians, yet we cower down when adversity faces us.

But Jesus and Joshua both tell us to stand tall. Joshua says, “Now, if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your ancestors, or the gods of the land you are living, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Essentially, Joshua was telling them to make a decision. Choose THIS day whom you will serve, and do it. Stand up and serve your God. Our decisions affect more than just us, they affect our families, our communities, and our country. Joshua wasn’t the people to realize the gravity of their decisions. Faith decisions are just that – decisions of faith. And sometimes, they are hard because we want to understand too well and want it our way. Faith, however, is never a guarantee of anything except a relationship with God.

Are you going to prepare yourselves and have the oil for your lamps? Or are you going to be locked out of the party? We must continue to reflect and decide upon Joshua’s questions. We must choose who we are and who we serve. That might mean standing up with love in conflict, or standing up in peace. It might mean tough love, it might mean simply loving. But whichever your decision is, you choose THIS day whom you will serve, and do it. AMEN

Ascension Sunday

June 5 2011 – Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-52

Last Thursday, June 2^nd was Ascension Day. The climatic ending of Jesus’ time on earth. It is 40 days after the resurrection that this special event happens. Jesus spent 40 days after rising from the dead proving himself to be alive and speaking of the Kingdom of God. For thousands of years prior to the birth of Jesus, the Hebrews, the Israelites, the Jews were waiting for a Messiah. They waited for the King of Yahweh to come and save them from their oppressors. They hoped for a grand entrance of this King into the courts of their oppressors and to wipe away all the pain, the suffering, and the slavery away with one giant swoop.

Then came the birth of Jesus. I would suppose that only about four people knew who Jesus was in the beginning. We know Mary and Joseph both knew, and I would guess that Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah knew, for they had just been through a similar event with the birth of John the Baptist. The Jews still held fast to that ancient hope for a King.

We know from Scriptures, that when Jesus was 12, he read scrolls in the Temple. We know that the scribes and the priests couldn’t believe their ears, and yet they still hoped for the Messiah. We know that when Jesus started his recorded ministry in the Bible, that some people did indeed believe who is was. Some people believe that he was the Messiah, or at least could be the Messiah. There were the disciples, the women who followed him, some of the people who witnessed miracles, some of the people that saw and were healed by Jesus, these people believed. But, the majority of the people were still hoping for the King that their forefathers spoke of.

We know that at the death of Jesus, a few more people knew that he was indeed the Son of God. We know that because of the resurrection, more people believed, and we know that at the Ascension, the people believed. During Jesus’ whole life, people hoped. They hoped for what they already had. They looked for a purpose. Today, I want to show you where you can find a sense of purpose in your life, and a sense of joy, that can last a long long time. We’re going to discover that if we really want to have a sense of purpose in our lives, we don’t need to look down into this world for that. Instead, we can look up, at our ascending Lord, and there we will find a permanent sense of purpose. And if you’re looking for joy in you life, you don’t need to look down at this world where everything is so temporary. Look up, and you’ll find a deeper and longer lasting kind of joy in Christ.

We find Jesus and his disciples together in Luke 24. It was a little over five and a half weeks after his resurrection from the dead. Jesus gathered with his followers on the Mount of Olives, the same general area where he had been arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Not too far away from that mountain was the hill where he was crucified. Today, the resurrected Jesus gathered his disciples together because he had a few more things he wanted to say to them before his ascension.

As you watch those disciples here, you can see that they are still confused about why Jesus had come. They asked him if he was now going to restore Israel to the grandeur it had enjoyed in the past. Jesus told them not to think about those sorts of things. What he really wanted them to think about was their purpose in life, now that he was about to leave them. Over the last 3 years, their purpose had been to follow him, and to watch him fulfill every single Messianic prophecy that was ever written about him in the Old Testament. Their purpose was to watch him suffer and die and rise from the dead. Very soon, with the Holy Spirit’s help, they would come to understand what all these things meant. For now, they were done. Done following. Done learning. Now, Jesus was going to give them a new job, a new purpose for their lives.

Look at what Jesus tells them in verse 48 in Luke: “You are witnesses of these things.” The same thing is repeated in Acts, 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” That’s what Jesus wanted those disciples to do – that was their new purpose in life - to be witnesses to other people. They had seen all these things happen. Soon they would understand why they happened. Their purpose now, was to witness the things they have seen and learned to other people.

As a Christian today, that’s your purpose too. We just celebrated Easter not too long ago. Through God’s Word, you watched Jesus as he suffered, died, but then rose again. Even though you didn’t see those things with your eyes, we heard about it and believed it with your hearts. And God the Holy Spirit has led you to understand why Jesus died, and why he rose from the dead. He was your sacrifice. He is the reason you are forgiven of your sins and have the sure hope of eternal life. Today, your purpose is to be a witness of these things to others. That’s why you’re here, why God has put you here on this planet – to be a witness.

Sometimes, I think we get confused about the purpose of our lives – why God has placed us on this planet. We do have lots of temporary, earthly purposes – to earn a living, to be a good son or daughter, to be a good mother or father or spouse – those are all good purposes. To look for ways to help other people, to make this world a better place – those are good purposes too. But there’s something deeper. Something more spiritual that is keeping you here on this planet. If you want to know what it is, don’t look at this world. Look up, at the ascended Christ. Those other purposes are good, and may God bless you as you seek to fulfill them. But your deeper, more spiritual purpose can be found in verse 48: “You are witnesses of these things.”

In other words, God has put us on this planet to witness what Christ has done to others. Last week we talked about witnessing Christ by doing what? By showing love. Remember that special, agape-kind of love? That’s part of witnessing. And the other part is talking about what Jesus has done. Having conversations with people about the deeper things of life. It is a fact – Jesus Christ has come. He has died on a cross. He has taken away your sins and the sins of all mankind. Someday he is coming back. That’s amazing stuff that you know. God wants you to be a witness of those things to others.

After talking with his disciples, Jesus performed one last visible miracle for them. He lifted up his hands to bless them, just as we do at the end of the service. And then he ascended into the sky, right before their eyes, and eventually, he was hidden by a cloud. As the disciples were staring up at the sky, two angels appeared to them, and told them that someday, Jesus would come back, in the same way that they saw him go into heaven.

And so what did those disciples do? We are told in verse 52 that they worshipped Christ on that mountain. And then they returned to Jerusalem, filled with a sense of great joy. They met with each other in the temple courts, praising God for the things they had heard and seen.
Think about that. Before, the disciples would hide in their houses, afraid of the Jewish leaders. Now, we see them out in public, worshipingJesus, filled with joy. Why the big change? They had just seen Jesus victoriously ascend to his heavenly throne. There was no doubt in their minds anymore that he was the God of the universe, the King of heaven and earth. They had just heard two angels tell them that someday, Jesus would return on the clouds, just as they had seen him go. That’s what filled them with joy. The angry, growling Jewish leaders couldn’t keep those disciples from publicly displaying their joy in the temple courts.

If you’re looking for a sense of joy in your life, a deeper, longer-lasting sense of joy, look where the disciples looked. Look to Jesus. Sure, there will be times in your life when you are upset. Things will happen that will anger you, sadden you, depress you. But for a Christian, underneath that anger or sadness, you will find a layer of joy that the world can’t take away. “I know God’s not punishing me,” a Christian can say. “All my sins have been taken away by Jesus. I know I’m forgiven. I know that God will work this problem out. I know that God will give me the strength I need. This world isn’t perfect, but I’m OK. There’s a better world coming anyway.” That’s Christian joy. The disciples had it after they saw Jesus ascend. May God give that same kind of joy to you. God has given you a kind of joy that you can’t find anywhere else. Don’t hesitate to witness that to others. Amen.