February 19 “Loving Our God: Building A House Together”

February 19 “Loving Our God: Building A House Together” Leviticus 19.1-2,9-18, *I Corinthians 3.10-11,16-23 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

We are the Church. We are not just members of a church. We are the Church. When the world looks at us they see Jesus. [slide # 1 …see Jesus in me?]

I met a Muslim sister this week whose accent reminded me of an Ethiopian. [slide # 2 Ethiopian Muslim] When she found out that I was a Methodist minister she smiled as if she had won the lottery and asked me to please, please pray for her Iranian friend who was going to surgery the next day. [slide # 3 Iranian woman] I was stunned and confused. Concerns and stereotypes swirled around in my head. As I prayed out loud, with the three of us, four when I count Jesus, I could not help wondering if her mother would arrive safely to the United States next week to be with her daughter as planned. We were strangers who had quickly become friends and I dared not open a Pandora’s Box by asking too many questions.

But, what a privilege it was to pray. We are the church and every word we say and every kind and gentle deed we do, no matter how great or small, keeps the church alive and strong. God moves by the Spirit in every corner of the world, for those of every language, race, and creed. We are building the church everywhere. We are building, peace, and love, and gentleness that will last for generations to come. We are the church.

Paul reminds us in verse 10, saying “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, [slide # 4 like a skilled… ] and someone else is building on it.”

We are the church and every day we are building on Christ as our foundation. We are building the house of God. You have heard the story of a man who was contracted to build a house. He cut corners carelessly and whenever he thought he could get away with it, he used second grade products that were made to last just a short time.

The day came and the contractor presented the house to the buyer and the buyer said thank you very much. I want to give this house to you. If he had known the house was for him, he probably would have been more diligent.

God knows that whatever we build is designed to be a blessing to us, too. So we should care for others in the same way we want to be cared for. Everything we do affects someone else, but it also affects us. [slide # 5 give what you…]

As we are building God’s house, we want to build a home. We want to build with heart. We want to build for health.

If you have ever been homeless, even for one day, you have probably given thanks whenever you were living in a place that was safe and welcoming. If you have ever been threatened with homelessness, even for an hour, you may appreciate having a roof over your head. If you have ever felt out of place and that you did not belong, even for a second, you understand how important it is to have God on your side, sending persons and circumstances that help you to feel at home.

The church finds a way to make everyone who wants to be at home with God, to feel at home in the house that we are building. The building is the house of God, but it is welcoming Christians who make it a home.

As we are building, we want to build with heart. We want to be soft and gentle, tender, flexible, and positive. We do not want to be hard because being hard-hearted keeps us from being smooth and vibrant. We DO want to be strong. We want to be strong enough to beat 70 times in one minute. [heartbeats  ] We want to be strong enough to pump all 5 of those liters of blood in 60 seconds. [slide # 6 two liter bottles]

Hundreds of people have climbed Mt Everest. It must be exhilarating to get to the top. On the way though, climbers often see those on the side of the mountain who can’t go on any further. There is no way they can make it to the top. Those who pass by decide to do so thinking there are others climbers coming who are experts at helping and will be far more effective. So they keep going. Some decide that they will keep on their journey to the top because those who are not going to make it to the top are dying anyway and there is nothing that can be done for them. They cannot risk their lives in temperatures that are a hundred degrees below zero and altitudes depleted of oxygen.

On OUR way to the top, we need always ask the hardest question of all, “God, what do you say?” For the church, it is not what we say that counts first. It is what God says. There are definitely times when God calls us to keep moving in spite of the needs of others, in spite of others dying, in spite of our own desire to rest. It is what God says that makes us a Church. [slide # 7 ear listening]

As we build God’s house, we are working to assure that God’s house is a home [slide# 8 home swee…] to all believers and we are building to the beat of God’s heart. [slide # 9 heart beat]

We also want God’s house to be a healthy house. As Paul says in verse16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 

Even before we enter the house of God, even before we do what we do to make God’s house a home, we want to build up our own physical bodies in ways that glorify God. We are born with physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual limits. We are born imperfect by design, so God can work perfectly in us! Whatever our status – God can get the glory. God can shine through us and bless someone else and reflect great blessings back onto our lives. It is good to take   care of ourselves.

A healthy church is a holy church. A holy church is not a perfect church. It is a church that depends on God year after year, it is a church that believes that the Holy Spirit will guide us in the way that we should go and we make every effort to follow where we are led. [slide # 10 healthy church]

We want to be as healthy as we can be in our minds, our bodies, our spirit – which is our connection to God, and our soul which is our will. If we need a good listener to keep our sanity, we can find that in the church. If we need a good therapist, we can find one through the church. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. The church can help us keep our minds healthy.

Medical advancements that keep us alive and physically well have been incredible in recent decades. No matter how ingenious our scans and medications may be, we cannot avoid the fact that God continues to urge us to stick with the basics of exercise, clean water, plenty of fruit and vegetables and learning to relax, meditate and spend quiet time in prayer. The basics make a world of difference for our bodies no matter what our status.

If we need a closer spiritual connection to our Creator, the church has ways to make that happen. If we are seeking our soul’s salvation, that is to have our will be more in tune with God’s will, we can find real strength and power in the Holy Spirit in this holy place. [slide # 11 light bulbs]

A pastor accompanied his grandchildren to a soccer event on a Sunday morning, instead of participating in Confirmation Class. There were hundreds of young people there who had been preparing since 7 a.m. They had all made a choice to be on the field rather than church. It is not for us to say who is right or wrong. All the good people cannot be in church every Sunday. There are good reasons to be in many places. We do know that God gives us power to make good choices that keep the church strong, to say, ”Your will be done.” [slide # 12 strong leaders]

A healthy church is a church that can stand strong in its convictions to do good. A healthy church can manage any problem by the power of God. We do not run from problems. We thank God in every problem because we know God has the perfect solution.

You may have read in a recent Daily Bread that an experiment was done with trees. In a three-acre glass dome built in the Arizona desert. [slide # 13 glass dome] There was no wind in this glass bubble, and the trees grew fast, faster than normal. Then suddenly the trees collapsed.

Researchers concluded that without the stress of the wind, the trees could not grow strong enough to deepen their roots, so they could not stand. Instead, the trees fell to the ground. [slide # 14 fallen tree]

A healthy church is a church that stands by the power of God. We are the church, God’s beloved. We are a work in progress, just like the toddler in a family that had 3 new kittens in the house. [slide # 15 kittens] The mother warned him. DO Not Touch those kittens. He went into the room to play near where the kittens were tucked away in a corner. Mom called out to him, “Did you touch the kittens?” The little boy called back. “No, mommy. I did not touch the kittens. The mother asked, “Were the kittens soft?” He answered, “Very soft, and one of them even said, ‘meow’.” [slide # 16 toddler/kitten]

We are a work in progress. We are beloved. [slide # 17 beloved] We are the church. May we be the church in this generation and the next! May we spend the rest of our days building God’s house that is a home for all God’s children, that moves by the heartbeat of God, and that is healthy enough to handle every challenge that comes our way. Amen. [slide # 18 you are my beloved]