Revelation 2:1a, 2a, 4-5a (NRSV)
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: . . . “I know
your works, your toil and your patient endurance. . . . But I have this against
you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what
you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.
I want to begin this morning by apologizing.
Some of you seemed to have
misunderstood my sermon last week
I was very worried about that --- I
actually had Nancy read it prior to Sunday to see if it was too confusing ---
and she thought I could get away with it --- I guess she was wrong
Despite what some of you heard --- it was not about
self-loathing
I am not a bad person
Nor am I a
perfect person
I am a flawed child of God
And just like you, God has great plans for me.
HOWEVER, --- unless we recognize and combat the demons in
our lives --- we will never be able to change the world ---- let alone
ourselves.
I have demons to combat --- and God is helping me to defeat
them so that I can do those things that God has called me to do.
Listen again to our scripture this morning:
Revelation 2:1a, 2a, 4-5a (NRSV)
“To the angel of the church in
Ephesus write: . . . “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance.
. . . But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at
first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you
did at first.
The Christian Church is suffering from exactly what the
author of the Book of Revelation was writing about.
"The church" has lost sight of its mission
It has become
--- like the old Pink Floyd song --- "Comfortably Numb"
"The church" has lost their spiritual center ---
because they got too busy majoring on unimportant things.
My life has often gone through ebbs and flows of spiritual
vitality.
Part of my malaise these past few months was that I too, had
somewhat lost my center.
I too, was majoring on the things
that weren't truly important
Then something amazing happened.
Kathy O'Brien mentioned a book to me a couple months ago
when it first came out, and said --- "It might make for a good Wonderful
Wednesday Evening study."
I thought, "That sounds great, I will have to check it
out . . ."
Everything I read, every movie and show that I watch I am
always asking myself --- HOW CAN I USE THIS --- for a sermon illustration ---
teaching material. EVERYTHING!
And so I bought the book, looked at it quickly, and said ---
NOPE, won't work on a Wednesday Evening.
So, do you know what I did with it?
I put it away, and out of my mind
If it wasn't going to be useful to
teach with ---- what was the point.
On December 23rd, in the midst of the chaos of Christmas ---
for whatever reason --- I picked that book back up and decided to start reading
it.
It is a yearlong devotional book.
52 chapters
designed to be read and pondered over --- one each week
As a result of starting to read it, I also started a journal
(something I have done off and on over my ministry).
And then after the holidays, I decided I wanted a devotion
for each day of the week --- so I picked up Anne Lamott's book GRACE
EVENTUALLY, a book, that had been gathering dust beside my bed and have been
reading one chapter every day and then journaling about what is going on in my
life and how the spirit is nudging me through these devotions.
It has been amazing --- and part of the reason that you are
stuck with all this self-reflection by me.
I was sharing this with Pastor Ken the other day and he said
to me: "It's hard to grow ourselves spiritually when we are so busy trying
to find things for others spiritual growth and neglecting our own."
And spiritually I was stuck in neutral
And I can't
lead you (or myself) if I am stuck!
John Wesley is the spiritual founder of the Methodist
movement.
He was born in 1703 in Epworth, England about 150 miles north
of London.
He was the 15th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley
Samuel Wesley was a graduate of the University of Oxford,
and since 1696, had been parish priest of Epworth.
He had married Susanna, the twenty-fifth child of Samuel
Annesley, a Dissenting minister, in 1689.
Samuel and Suzanna had nineteen children, of which nine
lived beyond infancy.
When John was a child of 5, on February 9, 1709, the
parsonage at Epworth burned --- some suggest that angry members of the church
may have started the fire --- regardless of how it started --- young John was
left sleeping in his bed on the second floor while the rest of the children
were all ushered to safety.
With the stairs burning, and the roof about to collapse,
John was plucked from a second story window by two men, one standing on top of
the other.
Later, Susanna would describe the experience saying that
John was "a brand plucked from the burning." (quoting Zachariah 3:2)
That experience, was one that shaped the rest of his life.
England in the 18th century was not all that different than
today.
England was in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, and
the middle class was shrinking --- the rich were getting richer --- while the
poor were growing in larger and larger numbers --- and getting poorer and
poorer.
Religion seemed to be losing influence on the culture.
The protestant revolution, which began with Martin Luther
nailing his 95 thesis (attacks against Roman Catholicism) on the door to the
Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany --- had been raging for 200 years.
People were forced to choose who they would be loyal to: The
Pope or Luther and his Protestants.
But in England the situation was even a little more
interesting, and confusing.
If you know your history, you remember a man named Henry
VIII ---- Henry, like all kings, needed a male heir. But his wife kept producing girls or still
born children.
Eventually Henry would divorce his wife and begin a long
string of failed marriages that always seemed to end with a dead wife.
England then suffered through Bloody Mary and the
Elizabethan age.
A period of religious persecution
--- that could get you dead if you belonged to the wrong group.
Because of this 200 year period of religious turmoil ---
many people had grown weary of religion and the Church.
The age of enlightenment brought scientific reason and
skepticism toward religion and all things supernatural.
It was into this world that John Wesley was born.
John's father Samuel was pastor of St Andrews Church in
Epworth for almost 40 years.
But as was typical in that day, John and his siblings were
taught by their mother. She insisted
that the girls too learn to read, and write.
Education was very important in the Wesley home.
Susanna's influence on John cannot be underestimated.
She instilled in him many of the values that would come to
dominate his ministry the rest of his life.
One of the things that Susanna did with each of her children
was spend an hour with each one of them --- she asked them about their faith
--- their fears --- their hopes and dreams --- she asked about the state of
their souls.
This practice becomes the genesis of Wesley's small groups
in which each participant shared with each other and held one another accountable.
Each week at our staff meeting we
ask each other: "How is your
soul?"
John also was given another gift from his parents --- and
that was how to preserve in the midst of conflict.
It was not an easy time to be religious in England ---
people were deeply divided.
Much like today people seemed to be separated into two camps
While they weren't
Red
and Blue
Fundamentalist
or progressives
Liberals
or conservatives
But they were divided
Tories and Whigs
conformers and dissenters
Anglicans and puritans
And that division, as we all know --- drains us of our
spiritual vitality
Sometimes we
just want to throw up our hands and give up
But Wesley --- because of his upbringing --- found a
different way.
Wesley once wrote:
Would to God that all the party
names and unscriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world
were forgot; and that we might all agree to sit down together as humble, loving
disciples, at the feet of our common Master, to hear his word, to imbibe his
Spirit, and to transcribe his life in our own.
In a sermon he once said:
Though we can't think alike, may we
not love alike? May we not be of one
heart, though we are not of one opinion?
Without all doubt, we may.
Wesley offered us another way --- one in which we listen to
each other --- focusing not on where we disagree --- but instead identifying
our common ground.
He showed us how to build bridges and not walls.
We learn to assume the best of each other --- and not the
worst!
We give people the benefit of the doubt.
We listen more and talk less.
Adam Hamilton in his book Revival writes:
We have forgotten how to listen, as
individuals, as churches, and as a nation.
Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, progressives and
fundamentalists find it easy to demonize others. The mark of those early Methodists, and a key
element of personal and corporate revival in the twenty-first century, is a
willingness to see the good in others, hold our positions with humility, and
treat others with respect. It is a
willingness to make our hearts pliable in God's hands. It is a willingness to follow the highest
calling of Christians, which is both a prerequisite and the goal of revival:
love.
John Wesley's life was never easy.
But if there was one hallmark of it --- it was that he never
gave up!
Even when things seemed to be crashing around him.
As his family reflected on the fire in the parsonage at
Epworth --- they came to see God's hand in it.
They believed that God had spared John for a special purpose.
I, like every other pastor, have sometimes received difficult
letters from parishioners. Sometimes
they have been sent to me, other times I have been copied because they were
sent to the bishop.
And while I have gotten frustrated at times, and wanted to
throw in the towel --- you have never set my house on fire, like they did to
John's house
John never gave up.
Even when he failed --- and he often did --- he preserved.
If we want revival in our lives.
If we want revival in our church.
If we want revival in our nation ----
It must start with you
Without a humble spirit --- one willing to see growth
opportunities --- we will never have the opportunity to change the world.
John Wesley changed the world --- we are products of his
vision.
Let us not:
abandon the love you had at first.
Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at
first.
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