Thursday, November 15, 2018

November 4 2018 Free to Weep


November 4 Free to Weep Isaiah 25.6-9 *John 11.32-44 All Saints Day- Pastor Jacqueline Hines  

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It happens often enough. When we see or hear someone crying, it stirs up our own tears. [slide # 1 baby crying]
We are wired to care and to create a world of compassion. We are designed to sympathize! What a beautiful world God has created, and there are people throughout the world trained by the Holy Spirit, whether they know it or not, specifically to help us maintain compassion in this world.
Though our world may be marked with death and destruction, God’s plan for us is to be surrounded by compassion and beauty. God’s plan bring us relief and new life. We cannot eliminate all the bad things in this world. We can, by the grace of God, cultivate goodness.
One of the passages that I find most inspiring is Romans 12.21 that says do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. [slide # 2…overcome by evil] There is another passage that stays with me when I am on high alert because of evil in this world. In Exodus 23 verses 29 and 30 God tells Moses that he will conquer the enemy but it will not be quickly [slide # 3 …in one year] because then the land would be desolate and wild beasts, like packs of wolves, would take over. [slide #  4  wild beasts] So Moses would have to teach the people to be patient in their warfare and to conquer the land bit by bit, [slide # 5 little by little] rather than all at once.
So when Mary fell at the feet of Jesus, weeping because sickness and death had slithered into her home, Jesus started crying, too. [slide # 6  Jesus wept] He may have been weeping for the physical loss of his friend Lazarus or he may have been weeping because Lazarus, like Jesus, was about to leave the glory of eternity and return to the troubles of this world…as Mahalia Jackson sang.
Bethel, like most churches, feels free to weep when others weep. When we weep with one another, kind deeds and gestures flow freely and form pools of unending love. [slide # 7 rain / tear drops] My mother has been gone for three years, now, but I will never, ever forget the spontaneous showering of prayers, affection, kind words, and deeds that kept me from collapsing in my grief. Someone or a couple someones prepared a large arrangement of fresh flowers; I can still see a variety of dewy white petals of lilies, carnations, and roses that seemed an endless reminder of the beauty and delicate nature of life. I still have one of the plants and the card with the loving words is still attached, though the ink is fading a bit. Three years later, it is just dawning on me that in the cafe where a few family and friends who had traveled a distance from other states were gathering and someone or a couple someones had prepared refreshments for them. To this day, I do not know who took responsibility for that. I just know that I was lifted up again and again by a group of Bethel angels, unnamed, but not forgotten.
Compassion and care create an atmosphere that raises us to new life or keeps us from dying before our time. Jesus weeps with us in our sadness and sorrow. We are not alone. That is the beauty of life that heals and empowers us and gives us life. If you have not experienced this kind of divine love and attention, you may be like many of us some days. We miss the forest for trees, we see the glass half empty instead of half full.
It takes all of our spiritual might to see life, when we are surrounded by death and destruction. That is why, I suppose we say so often with ease that our troubles make us stronger because unless we keep our eye on what God is doing, our troubles and temptations will definitely distract us and debilitate us.
It is important to learn that you are surrounded with the beauty that reflects God’s compassion and care for you. Just looking up at the sky and the clouds and the shining sun, the leaves of trees blowing with a gentle breeze, and the flowers delighting our sense of sight and smell, can give us pause to think and give thanks and remind us that God is with us, will never leave us and cares ever so deeply for us. We are refreshed and rejuvenated by nature and all of God’s creation, animals, and human kindness. And when the clouds are grey and the rain is fierce, we know that there is and always will be a silver lining, a bright side somewhere, a rainbow sign to cheer us and brighten our spirits, a seed whether gently planted or brutally buried that promises a future filled with hope. [slide # 8  plant growing through macadam ]
As Christians we know things that do not show up on the surface of situations. We know things that may only be found deep within a time of prayer, study of God’s word, and while serving obediently and faithfully. We see things that are not obvious when we are blinded by worldly ways and immoral habits. We do things in response to God’s love for us. We do not do just what we want to do or need to do. We act in faith knowing that our lives are not our own.
We have been bought with a price, purchased with the blood of the lamb. [slide #  9  lamb of God…] All that we have and ever hope to be we owe it all to God. Our money is not our own, our time is not our own, our family is not our own, our friends are not our own, our ministry is not our own. Whatever we buy, we buy with God’s money. What we do, we do with the strength God give us. What we say, we say in the name of Jesus whose purpose is to encourage, comfort, and strengthen anyone, especially the hopeless, the helpless, the heedless, the leaderless, and the scattered.
A Christian sister shared a wonderful lesson she received from the Holy Spirit. A male coworker and friend would on occasion ask to borrow her car. She allowed, but she soon understood that he was using it to cheat on his wife. She turned a blind eye because she thought that was the nice thing to do and she did not want to lose a friend. She did not want to cause conflict, or mind anyone else’s business. One day she heard the still small voice of God rebuking her, asking her a question, ‘Did I bless you with a car so it could be used to do this dirt?’
At that point she was given the choice to confront her own demons and the demons of her “friend.” The deeds that the Holy Spirit urges us to do may require courage and confrontation or “carefrontation” as I learned from my social work training. If we are going to confront an issue or a person, we need to care so that we can speak the truth in love as Ephesians 4.15 tells us so that we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Christ is the head. [slide  #  10  grow…]
If God is not the head of our home and our church, if God is not directing our words, our moods, our behavior on a day to day basis, let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we are in charge. Either God is in charge or Satan is in charge. There are only two ways about it. [slide  # 11 …in charge here]
Recently, I read an article online entitled 10 things healthy churches do well. The first on the list is that a healthy church expects to have problems. 2 They handle criticism well, 3  deal with problems promptly, 4 depend on lay leadership, 5 pastors stay in line with their divinely-given priorities, 6 the congregation chooses good and Godly leaders – not just those bearing treasured gifts, 7 the congregation supports the leaders, not hinders their work, 8 the solutions are models of Christlikeness, 9 the world is impressed with the way problems are dealt with, and 10 as a result of doing these 10 healthy things, 12 things happen: God is glorified, Jesus is pleased, the Holy Spirit is freed to do what is planned, the only one mad is the devil, the enemies are confused, the critics stop their nonsense, the church is built up and strengthened, members who are going through things are encouraged and instructed, outsiders and onlookers are impressed, the church and everyone is blessed, a reward awaits us in Heaven, and our church’s reputation goes through the roof as others are convinced that we are true Christians when they see our love for God and one another and we take responsibility for the little things before they get out of hand.
There is no perfect church, no one good but God, but since the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we are made righteous, we are acceptable to God, we are accomplishing the way and the will of God. As my colleague and civil rights worker Rev. Gil Caldwell would say, [slide # 12  Gil Caldwell and wife] We are the church in spite of ourselves.
Jesus is our source of new life. [slide #  13 Lazarus rising] He raises us to a new life, taking us beyond our temptations and trials. When Jesus told the crowd to roll away the stone, Mary said, ‘But, but, but…Lord he’s been dead too long. He stinks…’. But, praise be to the God who meets us in our stinky place!
There are moments that stink to high Heaven, but when Jesus calls us out like he called Lazarus from the dead, he has also already called faithful followers to roll away the stone that block God’s will for us to witness life. The only thing left to do is for us to listen to see if he is calling you or me to use whatever we have to unbind someone who is wrapped up and tangled up by something sinister and to get out of the way so they can move out into the light of God’s love. [slide #  14 Lazarus coming forth]
We cannot live life in this world alone. Lazarus’ hands were wrapped up and so were his feet and his face. We need each other to live. That is God’s design and plan. And, it is so beautiful! [slide #  15 God is beautiful] Amen. [slide #  16 I am beautiful…]


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