December 16, 2018 Come to Jesus - Bring Your GOOD Fruit

 December 16 2018 Come to Jesus – Bring Your Good Fruit Luke 3.7-18 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Story of boy who fell over his shoe strings; the church’s mission is to warn each other and keep each other from falling….

John the Baptist had been warning people in a fire and brimstone kind of way. He had a crowd of people ready to be baptized, [slide # 1 John in water, baptizing] so says the gospel of Luke in chapter 3. Instead of welcoming them, John rebuked them, calling them a brood of vipers.  It seems baptism had become a fad. That could explain why there was such a large crowd. The ancients were no strangers to worshipping the sun, the moon, the trees, and the stars. There may have been some who had found little meaning as they worshipped the sun and the moon and the  trees and the stars. Such worship falls short and may have left them hungering for God’s love, though perhaps they were looking for love in all the wrong places. Perhaps they heard baptism could keep them from the fires of hell and damnation because they had been terrorized by forest fires, earthquakes or volcanoes in the area along with the stories of the gods taking revenge through nature. Baptism may have become a popular way to get your feel good on, to fit in with friends and neighbors. Perhaps they were being socialized to believing that being baptized was a ticket to keep them out of the fires of hell and damnation.

There are always folks who are religious for all the wrong reasons. No one complained about the crowd of folks who packed churches back in the good old days, even if everybody was not trying to live like a saint. Now that the pews are emptier than ever, we are scrambling around the country – writing books, attending workshops, waving our magic wands, dreaming that our churches will soon be packed again.

We always need to remember that growing a church is like tending to a garden. We control some things, but not all. When the church is not what we believe it should be, we become very emotional. Our true colors come out. [slide # 2  true colors show eventually] Sometimes we humans put on a gorilla suit and act up. [slide # 3  gorilla]  Others wouldn’t know what to do with a gorilla suit if they had one. And that’s a good thing.

[story my dad and the evening news and the guerillas]

Grieving makes us emotional and reveals the status of our fruit. [slide # 4 grief-stricken soldier] Grieving change and loss sometimes means we are in hot water. Just like a tea bag shows itself when it is in hot water, [slide # 5 tea bag] the church shows itself. It shows our good fruit – our love, our joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – not pastor control or committee chair control – but self-control.  [slide #  6 fruit of the Spirit] When a church is in trouble, we don’t feel good about ourselves, we may feel rotten. So we can get up every Sunday morning and pack up our good fruit – our love, our joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – and bring them to the parking lot as we greet one another, and in the lobby, and in the sanctuary, and class, and coffee hour! Come to Jesus and bring your good fruit. [slide #  7 fruit]   as John says in verse 8, we ought to bear fruit worthy of repentance. [slide # 8 bear fruit worthy …]  May it never be said that our love is rotten, our joy stinks, our peace is pitiful, our patience is short, our kindness corrupts, our goodness is gone, our faithfulness is fair, our gentleness has gentrified, or our self-control has died on the vine. When we come to Jesus, we bring our good fruit!

At this year’s annual conference at the convention center in Oaks, we had several trainings by our bishop Peggy Johnson [slide # 9  Bishop Johnson] who is all about global missions. She is grateful for Bethel and all of her 415 churches that do missions.

Eric Law an Episcopal priest and founder of the Kaleidoscope Institute for diversity [slide #  10 Eric Law pic]   prepared us for the vote we will have during the February 23-26 special General Conference on behalf of our relationship with the LGBTQ community who are a part of all Methodist churches.

[ share definition of LGBTQ]

Eric Law taught us that when we look at each other, we size each other up about what language we speak or do not speak, where we grew up, our family situation, education, first full time job, travel experience, religious affiliation, etc. We size each other up and judge one another and make assumptions about each other. He says if we say we do not make judgments and assumptions about each other we are lying. No matter how close we are to someone, there are things we assume that may be correct, but our assumptions may also may be wrong.

Eric uses himself as an example. [ slide # 10 Eric Law – pic again] You cannot look at him and know he grew up in a house with 15 pianos because his parents owned and operated a music school with 400 students per week. You cannot tell that he is a third generation Christian and went to church all his life. He emigrated from Hong Kong, China to Augusta, Georgia as a teenager with his family in 1971. They moved to New York where he went to high school on the lower east side where 30% of the students were Chinese, 30% were African American, and 30% were Puerto Ricans and the rest were Italians and Jewish persons. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in electrical engineering and worked for Corning glass. He has a strong foundation for all his diversity work around the world, and all the books he’s written, training videos he produced, and that is why he wound up at our Annual Conference back in June, to help us prepare our hearts and minds for civil dialogue on sexuality issues.

We cannot afford to make assumptions about any community, even the LGBTQ community. Surely, we have enough good fruit to share, even when we do not agree with how and when it should be shared. Those who disagree can be found standing or marching with protest signs and songs at Annual Conference meetings and the ordination service. Others shout and scream and argue and bang their bibles, and walk out loudly, leaving a 1,000 people either very upset, nervous, or not ever wanting to go to another Methodist meeting. Others are super relieved that such disagreeables have left the building.

The hardest lesson Eric taught us was through a story he shared about two people who were on a corner when a police car approaches [slide #  11  police car] One thought the car was coming to help. The other thought the car was coming to harass. The lesson is that if two parties cannot agree on the problem, then there can be no dialogue. That is why our vote on LGBTQ matters is so hard and painful and complicated. All Methodists do not agree about what God is asking us to do. Is it good that same sex couples be married in my church? Should I attend the wedding? If I own a bakery or flower shop, would God approve if I made a cake or arranged flowers or would God be pleased if I refused to do so? As a clerk in the township, should I even grant a marriage license to a same sex couple? As a doctor or psychologist, should I participate if a couple or single person wants to have children? These are difficult topics to talk about but we have been talking about them for decades and it does not get any easier. That is why we are at peace with those churches and individuals who want to leave the church around our Conference and our country if we affirm certain gay rights or if we stay with our current position that homosexuality is not in keeping with the scriptures and we cannot ordain, officiate weddings, or use our buildings for weddings.

However the vote goes, the church is going to change and there will probably be some tears shed and some deep losses felt. Regardless of whether church changes satisfy us or frustrate us, God is calling us to bear good fruit, to make a difference whether we like it or not. Certainly, we all know by now that God will provide all the joy we need for whatever journey even if we do walk the via Delarosa.

Another training at Annual Conference was through a program called See All the People. [slide # 12  See All the People]

[share the many tools to help us remember to see…]

The program urges us to return to our spiritual roots, to remember Jesus told us to GO into all the world and MAKE disciples. There are millions of people in this world. We need to see them, ALL of them. We need to do what God guides us to do to help them become disciples. A disciple is one who knows Christ, is growing in Christ, serving Christ, and sharing Christ.  We are not all at the same level of spiritual growth. Mature disciples can make disciples.

The training book for See All the People declares – “For too long, The United Methodist Church has searched for a quick fix to help guide our discipleship efforts. We have been busy sending postcards, producing PowerPoint presentations and studying community demographics. While efforts like those may be important, they alone do not lead to disciple-making. The most essential step for making disciples of Jesus Christ is to immerse ourselves in the lives of the people who are right outside our doors, acknowledging that God calls us to have meaningful relationships in authentic, organic and consistent ways.” End of quote….  [slide # 13 see all the people…not about fixing churches]

There are always those in the church who see people others do not see, the homeless, the helpless, the hopeless. Still, it is time for a change. God wants us more of us if not all of us to look more intentionally, more deliberately, more consciously in order to see ALL the people. Something good is guaranteed to happen because if we do what we are supposed to do, we will be even more obedient, more powerful, more aware of God’s truths that set us free, more able to know Christ ourselves, to grow in Christ, serve Christ, and share Christ.

It is time for a change. Pastor John Wesley, [slide # 14 John Wesley ] our founding father of Methodism thought about all the changes he saw coming in the church and he was afraid just like we are.  He said, “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.

It is time to move from a fix the church agenda to a building the kingdom or as I like to say – the Kin- dom [slide # 15   KIN –DOM] growing more disciples rather than bigger churches doing more with people with a goal of having healthy relationships and not just doing for people. We cannot make disciples without relationships –relationships that are authentic that is they start from a good place, that are organic that is they take on a lie of their own, and are consistent that is a call or contact happens in some regular way.

A few years ago, Wesley Demarco told me about a church in Lancaster that spoke Japanese. He mentioned that the church was very loving. He described the love he experienced and I was so intrigued that I went to Lancaster and worshipped with Wesley and his Japanese family. From the minute I walked in the door, to the moment I left, young and old saw me, looked me in the eye and blessed me with a smile, a warm welcome, a bowl of rice. The atmosphere was overflowing with loving attention. A few days ago, I had dinner with two women who had spent time in a homeless shelter. They talked about church. One of them said she had been to Bethel and that it is a good church. They named two in Chester Springs area where they felt very comfortable even though their lives had been hard. I plan to go and visit those churches and see for myself what God is doing to make the homeless feel at home.

[story of Japanese mechanic who were clear that a good design determines good results]

In January’s leadership workshop, we will be thinking about change. We will ask ourselves, what are we producing? I believe God will meet us on January 12^th as God always meets us.

Let’s decide together today, to come to Jesus ad bear good fruit that will change us all for the better. [ slide # 16 We will all be changed]  Amen. [slide # 17 See All the people …city buildings.]

December 16, 2018 Come to Jesus - Bring the One You Need to Forgive

December 9 2018  Luke 3.1-6  Come to Jesus – Bring the One You Need to Forgive Luke 3.1-6 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

You heard the gospel reading, so I ask you, who does that? Who goes around telling the world to repent and change for the better? Yes. The Church does, the pastor during a sermon, our Bishop Peggy Johnson in her blogs, those commercials about children dying from starvation in Africa do, and those emails about those suffering on Native American reservations, or in the caravans, or those retraining police officers to kill when needed but to abstain from murder, those begging us to understand that we are likely to operate with skin-deep biases and unconscious attitudes toward the poor, hatred of the sick, the weak and God only knows who and what else.

We hear the clarion call to repent, to change our ways, to give up pugnacious attitudes, [ slide # 1 boxing ring] puppy mills, [slide # 2 puppy mill] and pornography…[slide #  3  red light district ]  [story of sex trafficking in our area, church, and serial killer Ted Bundy’s relationship to pornography.]

We hear about repentance, which is the call to change in lots of places. Verse 3 says John the Baptist went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance…[slide # 4 repent and live] We know what he did, but Luke tells us why he was proclaiming repentance….verse 3 says he was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for what??? ….for the forgiveness of sins,  We hear clearly the call to repentance. We may have to listen more carefully to hear that the REASON we are called to repent is so there will be forgiveness of sins – our sins or somebody else’s sins. [slide # 5 forgive]

A wise person noted that reason for education is to get rid of ignorance. The reason for medicine is to get rid of disease, and the reason for Christianity is to get rid of sin.  When we repent and forgive, sin takes a back seat. [slide #  6  back seat]

Bethel knows a lot about forgiveness! It is an everyday thing for Christians to step on each other’s toes, but like the energizer bunny [ slide # 7 energizer bunny] we keep right on lovin’. Somedays we may roll our eyes at someone who just doesn’t get it. [slide #  8  eyes rolling] Other times we may say something sassy and brassy, [slide # 9  gossip...rumor…] but for the most part, we support one another and care for one another and get over it. We can do that because we have been forgiven ourselves. We can forgive because Christ lives in us. [slide #  10  Christ lives in me]

When we forgive each other, we are saying there is no debt to be paid, that we do not owe each other anything. When we go to the store and pick up a loaf of bread, we owe anywhere from two dollars to five dollars. We must pay what we owe or there will be penalties and consequences. We are held accountable. [ slide # 11  pay up]

When we offend one another, we must pay up in great or small ways. I went to the laundromat where a code of courtesy was if you your clothes were dry and you had time left, you would offer it to another person waiting to dry their clothes. So, a young gentleman offered me 15 minutes of dry time and I thanked him, and went about my business. [slide # 12 dryer] A still small voice, I believe it was the Holy Spirit, spoke to my heart and said “He wants to be paid for those minutes.” So I gave him 50 cents or so and he received it gratefully. Another week, another gentleman offered me time leftover on his dryer and, remembering my earlier experience, I offered to pay him 50 cents for the dryer time and he was vigorously opposed. I insisted, thinking he was being polite and he seemed insulted and refused to take the money.

Everyone is not the same. We all live by different rules. What one needs is not the same as what another needs. What one of us thinks is not what everybody thinks. We need to get to know one another and we need to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and understand that what we understand does not always apply to every situation.

Just like parents know that every child you raise is different, [slide #  13 …we ae not all the same] God knows that every child of God has their own needs and their own wants and their own ways. Some children love Reese’s candy. [slide # 14  Reese’s] Other children would have to be taken to the emergency room if they ate a Reese’s.

We want to live by a rule that says we treat everyone the same, but instead we have to pray about everything because we are not all the same. The Holy Spirit is our guide and our comforter as we figure out what to do. [slide #  15 pray about everything]

Every now and then the church universal is challenged to forgive. We have different ideas of what it means to forgive. Forgiveness never means we should ignore unacceptable behavior and smile and say anything goes here. You can do and say anything you want to the children of God and God want us to forgive and forget even when the situation is neither safe no sound. [ slide #  16  with you I feel safe and sound]

A pastor Dana tells the story of a college girl who came to him and said her boyfriend hit her, and she was having a hard time forgiving him. By forgiving him, she meant deleting the hurtful event from her mind and trusting him again. To forget the event and trust someone who is untrustworthy is not forgiveness but foolishness. God is not asking us to do that.

God is asking us to repent, to change our ways, and to help each other repent and grow in character and become better Christians and I see that happening at Bethel and in many places.

When we repent, we are ready to be forgiven. That is why John the Baptist went around proclaiming repentance; it was so that our sins could be forgiven. It was to remind us that we ought not forgive someone until they repent! The purpose of repentance is to be forgiven and to start fresh, to start over, to do the right thing and not the wrong thing.

It is easier for some churches to forgive and forget the hurtful things that are done, than to draw a line when repentance is what is really needed. [slide # 17 turn around]

The meaning of forgiveness in verse 6 means to release from bondage or imprisonment, pardon, let someone go as if they have never done anything wrong, it is to have them go with no penalty, to free them up to go and not pay. When we forgive one another we are saying “It’s all good. We are good!” We dare not communicate that if it is not good. That just makes us superficial and keeps us from deepening our roots in love. [slide  #18  forgiveness…form of love]

When we go to the market, we get free samples. It’s all good, but if we could load up our baskets with groceries and not pay, the store would soon be bankrupt and the economy would be broken. (Maybe that is the world economy is broken, because too many are stealing...)

As I served in First Church Germantown, I met people from all walks of life. I will never forget the day I served communion in the front pew to a wealthy lawyer, an immigration lawyer. Sitting next to him was another man dressed in women’s clothing who was known to roam the streets. Perhaps he had lost half of his mind, but the other half had found the church to be a safe place where he was content to partake of a Holy Communion. I did not ask him if he were baptized and confessed Jesus as his savior. I knew all I needed to know!! I served him communion.

Another woman I met in Germantown lived in extremely sparse conditions. She looked like a movie star on the outside. On the inside she was emotionally disturbed.  It is said that 51% of the population suffers from some type of mental disorder at some point in their life. This mother came to service with her children, and she beat the living daylights out of them in the pews during worship, until one of the ushers stopped her. I went to her home and explained to her that she was not to beat her children in church. Later, it seemed the children were taken away from her, for she was not capable of repenting, changing and rising to a standard that most hold dear – a standard of child protection.  [slide # 19 promise to protect… ]

Her children are probably grown by now and in the best of all worlds has found God’s hedge of protection to keep their mother and anyone from hurting them. Perhaps miraculously mom got the right therapy and medication and changed her ways and has a healthy relationship with her children.

In any case, it is good that the children not let mom of the hook until she repents. We should keep each other on the hook until we repent. Comedian Kevin Hart wanted to fulfill his life -long dream of hosting the Oscars. [slide #  20 Kevin Hart] This week he stepped down from hosting or was asked to step down because of some anti-gay tweets that he shared a while back. That was wicked and unkind. It was perhaps more savage than human.

More than ever we are seeing that our past may come back to haunt us. But, when we hurt someone, we need to help each other understand what that person needs to be – as Judge Judy – or any lawyer of a U.S. court of law would say – what that persons needs to be made whole again. We cannot turn back the hands of time, but need to do something that would help us or someone else to recover and get back to a state of wholeness and health – which would be holiness.

I am not sure Kevin is there yet. He said he did not want to apologize again because he already did it and that should be enough. Perhaps those who understand and love Kevin should help him understand that maybe he needs to listen, that perhaps there is more to be said or done or less to be said and done. Perhaps he may recognize that he does not get to decide for every LGBTQ person what is enough…that there is a higher court and a higher judge. We are all children of God, but we are all different.

We must also keep in mind that some people do not want to be whole or holy. Sometimes our first priority is to punish, get revenge, ignore, belittle, backbite, withdraw, run away, hold a grudge, have a pity party, discredit, or get attention – for “po’ strokes are better than no strokes” But, as Romans 12.18 tells us “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.“

We live in peace when we hear God’s call to repent, [slide # 21 kneeling in repentance] when we keep each other on the hook until we are made whole and holy. It is possible to love each other and hold each other accountable at the same time. It is healthier than just pretending or being polite. [slide # 22 change ahead sign]

We are Christians. We want to be on the Lord’s side. That’s where the power is. So we have to ask ourselves - what’s more powerful repentance and forgiveness or being beat down with bitterness? When we do our part everybody wins who wants to win and nobody is mad but the devil. [ slide # 23 beautiful blessing…repent…]    Amen. [slide # 24 still going…energizer bunny...]

December 2, 2018 Come to Jesus, Bring Your Fears

December 2 2018 “Come to Jesus – Bring your Fears” Luke 21.25-36 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

In the last few years, more than ever, people have asked me, “Pastor, do you think that we are living in the last days?” It surely feels like it. The terrible things described in the bible about the end of the world and Jesus’ return are happening now. Jesus said it himself in this morning’s text:

²⁵“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 

Now more than ever, for more reasons than ever, we are afraid for our lives. Now more than ever, I recall the saying of the elders as I was growing up, “You better keep your bags packed, because you never know when you will have to leave this world.”  Now more than ever, when disastrous things happen to us, especially when bad things happen to good people, we remember the answer to those who say “Why me?” is “Why not me?”  We remember that the bible says “The sun shines on the just as well as the unjust and rain pours out from the heavens upon the just and the unjust!”

One of the most memorable stories that teach that awful things can happen to anyone is the tragic story of the Jerusalem tower that fell   and killed some Galileans. Jesus told that story and reminded his listeners in Luke 13 that just because a person suffers does not mean that they are a worse sinner than someone who is not suffering. That is worth repeating. Just because a person suffers does not mean that they are a worse sinner than someone who is not suffering the same way…Jesus went on to say that everybody needs to repent. Everybody needs to turn from wicked ways. Everybody does well to have holy intentions regardless of whether you are suffering or not suffering. In the end, everybody is accountable to an almighty, all-knowing, all–powerful God.

If we are going to fear anything in this world, we ought to fear falling into the hands of an angry God as Jonathan Edwards preached during the Great Awakening – a Christian revival that impacted Britain and the Colonies between 1730 and 1740. Folks were following a trend and wanted to know all about Hell and damnation. One source says that Jonathan Edwards preached this famous fire and brimstone sermon several times in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and even to a group of miserable pirates on July 10th 1726, before they were to be executed. He formed his sermon title in part from Hebrews 10  verse 31 that says:   It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

This time of revival was said to be a time when the Holy Spirit was going dramatic work. Historians say many things happened during those revival services. Sometimes people would cry so loudly and shout so happily or repentantly that Pastor Edwards could not even finish his sermons. He just went from person to person and prayed or encouraged. Some could be found in a corner in a trance-like state, fixated by God’s love.

Historians also note that if you did not come early, you were not going to get a seat in most churches. It was that exciting. Some of the drama that people were drawn to was definitely the work of the Holy Spirit, some was from people showing off due to ego and pride and some undoubtedly demonic. Whatever the case, the work of the Holy Spirit in Jonathan Edward’s life did not stop his church from arguing and splitting over who should receive Holy Communion. Jonathan was hard core on the issue. He believed the bible taught that only baptized, repentant believers could receive communion. He did not affirm like we do as Methodists, that Communion is an act of grace. Thus, all are welcome to the table and God is our judge. That God is in the heart and life of men and women boys and girls and longs for us to come to the table freely and respectfully.

We all are invited to come to Jesus and especially in these days we are to bring our fears, whether they be personal fears or private fears or public fears. We can bring them to the table, where the communion is holy, where God is waiting to heal and deliver and strengthen and restore and refresh, not just to juge.

Our United Methodist theology affirms six New Testament reasons we come to this table, this sacrament: Thanksgiving, fellowship, remembrance, sacrifice, work of the Holy Spirit, and eschatology which means a study of the end times.

The Greek word for sacrament is mysterion translated as mystery. [slide # 1 mysterion = mystery] A sacrament reflects a moment in the bible when Jesus is and was especially present in all his mysterious ways, in all the ways he comes to us now past our finding out. Now a priest or pastor or ordained elder are obligated to officiate in order for the sacrament to be legal.

Our Catholic sisters and brothers have 7 sacraments – baptism, communion, confirmation, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, marriage, and ordination. We Methodists only have two sacraments – communion and baptism.

There are many teachings and cultural nuances that shift and change through the years and within each culture, so much so that we have to be very careful. It is ok to be different. I grew up with anointing of oil. Every Sunday my pastor would invite people to come to the front pew and have special prayer and every Sunday he would make the sign of the cross on the forehead using anointing oil made of frankincense and olive oil. Oil in the bible is a symbol of God’s grace that is always with us, a reminder of God’s mercy that surrounds us, and a way to get close to God’s healing hand.

When I became ordained, I would anoint myself and my mother every week. Anointing with oil is not the experience of every Christian. Not long ago, someone asked me if I would offer anointing of oil when I do communion. A couple months ago, it was received comfortably in our 8 30 service. Ed helped me by laying hands on people and saying prayers for everyone and I anointed each worshipper with oil. On the other hand, I quickly learned that all those whom I visited at home had not experienced an anointing with oil. It was strange and awkward for some. Some even thought a pastor only does this for those who are getting ready to pass away, confusing anointing with oil with the Catholic teaching of last rites. We need to be very careful. We never want the mystery of the sacrament to become a mess.

While the Greek word for sacrament is mysterion, the Latin word for sacraments is sacramentum [ slide # 2 sacramentum = vow] which means a vow or promise. When we agree to come to the table we come in covenant, we come as children of the living God, loved and loving.

We can appreciate our Episcopalian and Catholic and other sisters and brothers who often use the word Eucharist when they talk about Holy Communion. Eucharist is from the Greek word eukharistia which means thanksgiving. [slide # 3 eukharistia = thanksgiving] We come to this table for thanksgiving – to give God thanks, for giving thanks heals us and sanctifies us, setting us apart for God’s special purpose. We come to this table for fellowship because scriptures tell us it is good for us to be together in unity and harmony and minister to one another.

We sometimes wonder if we Methodists eat too much. Gathering around food is a universal human desire for every culture and every age. The English words companion and company according to the late Laurence Stookey author of Eucharist - Christ’s Feast with the Church are both formed from two Latin roots meaning “those who share bread” with each other.

From the Garden of Eden and its freedom to eat of everything except the forbidden fruit, to the feeding of the 5,000 to the wine at the wedding of Cana, to the many Passover Feasts, including the last supper, there is no shortage of examples of gathering together and being spiritually fed and emotionally nurtured. 

We gather to give thanks, to fellowship and to remember who Jesus is – the one who came bringing the good news of God’s love, even though he knew some did not want to hear it and it would cost him his life.

The scriptures tell us that not everyone wants good news and that we may be punished and persecuted just for being a Christian, just for bringing another viewpoint than others. We see persecution around the world. I read Charles Stanley’s story of the day a man came into his service to kill him and recently I heard of John Hagee being shot at five or six times because someone wanted to kill him.

We come to this table to give thanks, to fellowship, to remember, to give – offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. We come to this table to plug into the work of the Holy Spirit. We labor in prayer, we sing praises knowing that God inhabits the praises of God’s people, we come seeking the God the father, son and Holy Spirit diligently, we come to serve faithfully, and we come to obey quickly.

We come to the table with our eschatological views in sight - that is our views of the end times. Eschatos is the Greek word for last. Eschatology is the study of the last days, the end of time. [slide # 4 eschatos = last] A few years ago we did a bible study with two books. One was called Divine Revelation of Heaven. The other was called Divine Revelation of Hell. Church history often focuses on the punishment and judgment that the bible talks about regarding Hell. That is real, but the grace and mercy and comfort are just as real. Heaven is for real.

We try to wrap our minds around the ideas of Heaven and Hell and life eternal. We can trust God’s word that there will come a day like no other.

Lately, we have seen many days that are like none that we have seen before. All the tsunamis, rain, and flooding we have heard about around the world makes the story of Noah seem closer to home. The fires that have come suddenly bring Hell to our mind more often. One man said he was put on alert that fire was near. Three minutes later he said he was running for his life. Eighty eight people died trying to escape, 11,000 homes were destroyed, a whole town burnt to the ground. The distress of nations aiming nuclear weapons at each other and the incessant newsfeed of foreign and domestic terrorism, caravans and cataclysmic # movements has turned the whole world upside down.

Nothing in this world is as unbelievable as it may have been in the past, not even the thought that Jesus will return in a cloud of glory. As verse 27 tells us -

27Then they will see ‘the Son of Man [another name for Jesus] coming in a cloud’ [slide # 5 …coming in a cloud] with power and great glory.

God’s word reminds us that so much of what we know in life is unfathomable and inconceivable. Life is a mystery. Death is a mystery. Sleep is a mystery. Dreaming is even more of a mystery. Some have visions and premonitions that warn or predict things that touch on the matters of the heart. We have moments that we call miracles when we are saved or provided for in ways that are unusual or against the odds. Have you ever experienced an out of the body experience, or Déjà vu, that feeling that we have been somewhere or done something before, but you know it couldn’t be true? There are so many inexplicable situations in this life, Jesus return is one more to add to the list.

Jesus closes his conversation with these words in verse 36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength [slide #6 pray for strength] to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

So it is for us to meet Jesus at the table, to bring all our fears and to pray for strength. Strength to give thanks, to fellowship, to remember that Jesus is love, to understand he sacrificed his life and calls us into a covenantal promise, to move when the Spirit says move and to be alert to the day finally coming that will be a day like none other. Amen. [slide # 6 prepare your heart]

November 25, 2018 Free Stuff

November 25 2018 Pastor Jacqueline Hines Free Stuff Joel 2.21-27, *Matthew 6.25-33

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A comedian went on and on about how we humans get carried away with stuff….he noted that we have a house, just so we can keep our stuff…we buy a bigger house because we have more stuff…we lock up the house so no one can get our stuff…stuff is so ridiculously important…some days. [slide #  1  closet bursting]

You may remember the Band-Aid commercial…. [  slide # 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxgBXJM6zJ8   ]

We humans are stuck on stuff. Typically, our closets are full of things we do not wear. Habitually, we fill our pantries so full that hundreds of dollars’ worth of food can go years past their expiration date.

My high school Spanish teacher was from Cuba and she told the wartime story of rationing. Gas was rationed, sugar was rationed, (what else? – ask congregation). Years after the war, my teacher found a five pound back of sugar in the back of the pantry. It was a reminder of the war, and it was a reminder of the insecurity we feel when there seems to be a lack. We deal by gathering more goods rather than gather together in the name of God. [slide #  3   dealing with too much stuff…]

God can handle any season of lack. If God is all we have, God is all we need. We may lack some things, and we surely in many cases have more than enough, even after we have shared with others.

I had a light bulb moment   [slide #  4  aha…]  after hearing a sermon in New Haven…. As always, God helps us to see the light and grow.      [ slide #  5   several bulbs ]  

   The lesson I learned is simple - We do well to purge….  [slide # 6  baskets/bins]

The Holy Spirit can help us to let go and let God, to be secure rather than insecure, to trust God will provide what we ultimately need, to trust God to be enough instead of being afraid of not having enough, instead of trying feverishly and recklessly to take care of ourselves. [slide #  7 children taking bags out]

We can trust God to take care of us. Jesus tells us not to worry…about what we eat, drink, wear,…worry does not help, worry does not make anything good happen. “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” so says Erma Bombeck. [slide #   8  rocking chair]

And Christians know, the more you pray, the less you'll panic. [slide 9 pray more…] The more you worship, the less you worry. [slide #  10 worship more…]

The Holy Spirit will help us to get past our issues and move by faith into freedom from stuff. The Holy Spirt can fill us until we are overflowing with trust and care and we have less room for fear and worry and the desire for more and more stuff. [slide #  11   letting go..forward]

The stuff God gives us is free and it makes us free and it frees us up to give more and be more and value the most valuable things in life – doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. God is faithful and powerful enough to guide us to a better place. [slide #  12  I made all this….]   

The hardest thing we can do is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and be ready to let go and let God. We may never be perfect disciples, but if we follow, there will be little doubt in anyone’s mind that we are disciples, even if we are like the cracked pots in the story you probably heard about at one time. [slide # 13 cracked clay pot]

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years, this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you”.  The bearer asked, “Why? What are you ashamed of?”  The Pot replied, “For these past two years I am able to deliver only half of my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you don’t get full value for your efforts”.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion, he said, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”  As they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it somewhat.  But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. [slide #   14  water pots…flowers] For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

We are all on a journey to fulfill God’s purpose and plan. Whether we are weak or strong, God makes us beautiful and blesses us to make this world beautiful, too. [slide #  15  beautiful by the hand of God.] Amen. [slide # 16 pray more, worry less]

November 18 2018 Free to Choose

November 18 2018 Free to Choose *I Samuel 1.4-20, Mark 13.1-8 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

I heard a part of a story on the wbyn - 107.5 radio station this week that can give us pause to think or smile. Two men were having lunch and one of them bowed his head down and whispered a prayer. The other man looking on with concern asked, “Do you have a headache?”

The man replied, “no”. Is your food o.k.?

The man answered, “My food looks fine.”

“Well then, why did you put your head down?”

The man explained that he was just giving thanks.

The other man said, “Oh, I never give thanks. I just dig right in.” “Oh,” noted the man who had given thanks, “That’s what my dog does. He just dives right in.”

This story reminds us that giving thanks somehow humanizes us.

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Did you notice in the scripture reading from Samuel that there is a whole lot of holiness going on? The name of the book itself – Samuel directs us to God, for the name has the “el” in it. In Hebrew “el” is the word for “God”. [slide #  1 “el” means God in Hebrew] Samuel means “God has heard”.  In the first verse, of this chapter in the book of Samuel, a husband and father named Elkanah –   meaning “God has created” makes a sacrificial offering to God. That’s what Godly men do; they make holy sacrifices and offerings to God. They are leaders in giving to God and creating an atmosphere that is generous and kind. Praise God for Godly men and women!

Elkanah’s wife, Hannah had it going on, too. “Hannah” means “grace.” [slide #  2  Hannah means…] We all appreciate God’s grace. Hannah presented herself to the Lord by the grace of God. She did not just enter the temple to worship with her friends and family. She went to God to spend some quality time. She sat in the sanctuary in order to have a private conversation and some personal one-on-one time with God. That’s what Godly women and men do; they nurture a personal relationship with God, so that their public persona will personify the purposes and plans of God, more perfectly. Godly men and women of the bible were a work in progress, just like the rest of us. [slide #  3 keep calm…]

Verse 11 tells us that Hannah was holy enough to make a vow, a pledge, taking a risk to make a promise and commit something so BIG to God that only God could make it happen. This is how we make our stewardship pledges; we make a promise so big that we could never accomplish it without the power of God. [slide #  4  Hannah promised…]

Verse 19 is also a reminder of the continual holiness that illuminates this text. Hannah rose early in the morning – not to put her makeup on, or to get breakfast ready for her family, or to get a head start on the camel traffic to go on vacation. Hannah rose early – like we do on Easter morning – to worship God, and her husband rose with her. They went to worship God together. [slide # 5  They rose early..]

It was in the sanctuary that the priest Eli saw Hannah whispering her prayers to God. He thought she was intoxicated. Most churches would find it unusual to find a drunk person in the pews, but there are always exceptions. [slide #  6  Hannah seated in prayer] When I was a student, trying to make a great impression one Sunday, in downtown New Haven, just when the service was about to begin or end…I do not recall, a man came stumbling in the front doors, disheveled and wreaking with alcohol. I was trying to show him the way out, but one of the members tucked her head underneath my arms as I was holding the door and told him where he could get food. She had her holy ears on and heard what I could not hear. She heard him ask for food.

The scripture is dotted with a lot of holy activity throughout this passage. At the same time, Elkanah was a product of his culture. He had two wives, which was not God’s plan. Hannah and Peninnah competed anxiously for the same husband. God’s people do well to pray and reflect on our religious as well as our cultural traditions and conditions. When we think about what we do and say rather than simply follow the crowd, when we promise God we will do what God guides us to do, we come out better, even when it is not easy. [slide #  7  think…]

Since the culture was set up for women to get their basic needs for food and water through men, and men could only be men if they had a lot of women, clearly the writer’s inspired purpose of this scripture is not to put a spotlight on the fact that Elkanah was torn between two lovers. It was not to tickle our ears with the drama of two women in a dog fight for one man. What our spiritual ears hear is the conversation between God and a woman who had the courage and conviction to take her burdens to the Lord and a man who held her close through the thick and the thin or life. [slide # 8  Elkanah and Hannah]

His other wife, Peninnah – whose name means “jewel” was a shrewd cookie. All that glitters is not gold. Peninnah was very noticeable for her acting like the wicked witch of the west. She was indeed, God’s diamond in the rough.

Peninnah knew the glory of every man and woman was to have a son. She knew Hannah was barren, and she teased Hannah to death, putting her down instead of lifting her up. [slide #  9  Hannah’s despair] Peninnah knew how to bring a grown woman to her knees. She had a quiver full of choice words, toxic tones, shrieking laughs, and cruel gestures that could keep you crying all night long. And Hannah did cry. It was by the grace of God that Hannah did not fall apart and run away; instead, Hannah rose and went to worship the God who could save her. And save her, God did.

God not only saved Hannah from being laughed at, embarrassed and ashamed because of the culture’s rejection of her, God did it in a surprising way. Everyone understood that she was physically unable to have children. They thought it was impossible. The scriptures encourages us to think big, and pray big [slide #  10  pray big] because with God all things are possible. It was a welcome surprise when she did get pregnant. [slide #  11 …God surprises…] And it was a boy. She named him Sam u el which means “God has heard”. Perhaps she was less stressed and worried after deciding to trust God and less stress made it easier to conceive as is often the case.

We too, do well to make the choice to present ourselves to the Lord, to let go of the stress –if only for a moment – and to think big and pray big, [slide # 12 think big…trust God] to refuse to cry when the world rubs us the wrong way. Prayer is the only way to survive in this world. Prayer opens the door to hear the wisdom of God, to receive God’s care and comfort.

Prayer is planting seeds for a spiritual harvest. There are no guarantees what that harvest will be. We may have to let go of some blessings as Hannah did when she dedicated Samuel to God as we do when we have our children baptized. We will surely gain other blessings along the way, for God’s mercies are new every  morning, but it is always a good thing to pray big  [slide # 13  pray big…listens] and expect to be surprised like Hannah and give thanks to God for every blessing that comes our way. Amen. [slide # 14  light is greater than darkness…]

November 11 2018 Free for All

November 11, 2018 Free for all Psalm 127 *Mark 12.38-44 Lou Dolente playing both services Pastor Jacqueline Hines

A father tells the story of before his son could start going on job interviews, he needed to dress the part, that, he decided, he required a $500 suit.

"What!?" I answered, gagging at the price tag. "I've bought cars for $500!"

"That's why I want the $500 suit," he said. "So I don't have to drive $500 cars."++

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Poverty is no joke. One of the prayers that has flowed through my heart every morning for the last twenty years is “Lord, deliver our children from ill health and poverty.”  [slide #  1   children] Children are more vulnerable to poverty than adults. Children depend on us to do the RIGHT thing, to take care of them, so that they can take care of themselves and eventually help to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

The riches of God’s kingdom are free for all creation. Still, we must seek God with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength because everything good comes from God. The spiritual life is not a free-for-all. It is not a lifestyle where anything goes, no matter how hungry we are for our needs to be satisfied or for our will to be done at all times.

The riches of God’s love and mercy are free to all who treasure them. There are times when we could not care less about being blessed, when we trash God’s treasure. Such moments come naturally for us. Still, the spirit-filled life calls us to live super-naturally. [slide # 2  super naturally]

Jesus noticed a widow who gave a small amount in the offering. She is usually pictured as feeble and unimportant because she is poor. Yet, Jesus lifts her up as an example of great importance. The widow’s great stewardship offers three keys for us to unlock the treasures of living supernaturally.

The first key to unlocking spiritual treasure is to look in the faces of poverty in the mirror [slide # 3  mirror] as well as in the world around you. There will always be a need in our lives or the lives of others around us. Oprah Winfrey once said, “You can have it all in this world. You just can’t have it all at once.” That puts all of our lives in perspective to some degree. No matter who we are or where we come from, we do not have all we want or everything we need all of the time. So, God fills in the gaps. When God is all we have, God is all we need.

When Apostle Paul asked God to take away his suffering, he said God told him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” [slide # 4  my grace…is all you need.] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

In this life, there is an equal opportunity for all humans to be in need or to have a deep, unfulfilled longing for something great or small. Our needs and wants are very, very personal and very subject to being judged by ourselves and the rest of the world. God knows it all.

Last week we heard Jeanne share that she thought her grandmother’s ring was so beautiful and she prayed it would be hers someday. God heard the desire of her heart. One thing led to another and she got exactly what she wanted. As Amy and Elaine were setting up the Attic Treasures for the bazaar, Mike DeMarco came in, spotted a tin canister, and lifted it up, saying I saw this being sold on EBay for $10,000. It was missing a lid so he concluded it might sell for $5,000 – maybe...but probably not….What one person barely notices or even sets aside as trash, another will long for and greatly treasure. Our needs and wants are personal.

No matter who we are and where we have come from, God treasures us. We may be carrying a load of trash, we may talk trash, we may trash a person, a place, a thing, but still deep down in God’s heart, God longs for us because God sees each one of us as deeply treasured, as valuable and worth a million.

In Monday night bible study, we discussed how God wants us to be in harmony with one another, whether rich or poor. God wants us  to be compassionate to others whether living in abundance and luxury or living in dire need; and to be humble whether you’re in charge or wishing you were in charge. We are all to be cherished, beloved, and valued. Only the power of God can make us cherish, love, and value one another when our feelings of fear, hatred, and superiority are so deeply rooted in the hearts of us Christians. I often think of how the night before the Columbine shooting, the murderous teens had spent the evening in their United Methodist Youth group. Things are not always as they seem.

Jesus noticed a poor widow. She was precious in his sight. He saw her for who she was, beloved and treasured. Such beauty can only be seen when we dare to look and see each other’s needs as well as blessings and know that the Lord is good even when life’s situations are not good.

It is not easy to see the truth about someone’s struggle when we are living in abundance and luxury. God helps us. Our eyes are open after being on a mission in a place where people are literally starving for food or freedom. So, the first key to unlocking God’s treasure is to see poverty in the mirror or in the lives of the 43 million Americans around us, nearly two-thirds of this country, and the billions around the world, including those who die in poverty or those who wish they were dead, rather than poor.

God’s treasures are revealed to those who are willing to see the truth and be set free. The treasured fruit of the Spirit is made richly available to feed hungry hearts, the gifts of God, like diamonds and gold, are unearthed, stirred up and displayed. The joy of the Lord flows like precious oil from heart to heart and mind to mind, bringing strength to the weak. There is no need to worry and fret about every need or all who suffer. Just trust God to guide you to do what you need to do.

If we want God to tell us if we are our brother or our sister’s keeper, we should at least look at him or her, and see them as the dear one as God sees them.

The second key to unlocking God’s treasure is to give to God no matter what, no matter who sees or does not see; who credits or does not credit; no matter how much or how little you have to give; no matter how the future looks, no matter how mad or afraid you are, give to God, give a tithe, or give the widow’s mite, but whatever you do, give. If you are worried about whether your giving is in vain, remember the scripture promise from Romans 6. 38 – “38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

You may have read Wednesday’s Upper Room where a husband says he and his wife read the Malachi scripture and began tithing though they thought they could not afford it, but when their resources increased, they were convinced it was because they had obeyed God’s word.

Growing up, I was reminded often never to come to the Lord’s house empty-handed, which is direction taken from the book of Deuteronomy. Even if it is a penny, or a smile, I need to give something. God is always worthy to receive some gift from us.

The third key to unlocking God’s treasure is to let your light shine. The widow could have stayed home and missed coming into God’s presence. She came and she was a shining light. She also received the blessed sunshine of God’s love. We need the sunshine of God’s love in order shine our own lights.

Solar lights shine at night without batteries. [slide # 5  solar lights] The more sunlight that they are exposed to during the day, the brighter they shine. The only way our lights can shine is if we have been in the presence of the SON. May you walk in the light, today and forever! Amen. [slide # 6  the light in you…]