The Power of Courage

Changed a bunch of this on the fly Sunday.  You may want to check out the audio recording instead.

http://meridianstreet.org/sermons/

Deuteronomy 31:6 (Common English Bible)

Be strong! Be fearless! Don’t be afraid and don’t be scared by your enemies, because the Lord your God is the one who marches with you. He won’t let you down, and he won’t abandon you. 

Hebrews 13:5-6 (Common English Bible)

Your way of life should be free from the love of money, and you should be content with what you have. After all, he has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. This is why we can confidently say,

The Lord is my helper,

    and I won’t be afraid.

What can people do to me?

What does it mean to have courage?

The dictionary defines courage as: “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.”

·         I have jumped off a cliff into the ocean

·         I have jumped out of a perfectly good airplane

·         I have helped create a non-profit organization that raised over $15 million dollars and helped 3,600 families devastated in flooding caused by Hurricane Ike in 2008

§  In the process, it was the first and only time in my life that an elected official asked me for a bribe

§  I stood up to union workers in NW Indiana in order to help more families and was able to convince them to join us and not fight us

·         I started a church with Nancy, Jessica and a hope and a prayer

By our definition above, I certainly did not demonstrate courage --- because believe me FEAR was a factor in all of them.

On July 20th, 1969 I was at Camp Edwards in East Troy, Wisconsin when we all gathered around a transistor radio to listen in as Neil Armstrong took that first "Giant Leap for Mankind"

Now that took courage --- but again, by our definition, was it courage? 

You could hear the fear in the voices of Mission Control, and Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong when their computer gave them a warning signal shortly before landing on the lunar surface.

So maybe our definition of courage isn’t completely accurate.

In 1953, Paul Tillich wrote: The Courage To Be.

Tillich was consumed with the existential questions of human existence and more specifically what is called ontology --- the study of being.

Since the nineteenth century, belief in God has become more difficult than at any point in human history.

Tillich writes:

“Feuerbach explained God away in terms of the infinite desire of the human heart; Marx explained [God] away in terms of an ideological attempt to rise above the given reality; Nietzsche as weakness of the will to live."

Consequently, we live in an age of unprecedented anxiety he suggests.

Tillich outlines three types of anxiety and offers three ways to display --- what he calls --- the courage to be.

Tillich writes:

We are struck with the anxiety of fate and death --- this is the most basic and universal form of anxiety --- for without God, we cannot be assured that we will continue existing after our bodily deaths.

          It is the recognition of our mortality

We become anxious when we are unsure whether our actions create a causal damnation which leads to a very real and quite unavoidable death

We display courage when we cease to rely on others to tell us what will come of us, (what will happen when we die etc.) and begin seeking those answers out for ourselves.

Tillich call this the "courage of confidence"

Second, we are struck with the anxiety of guilt and condemnation --- we know that without God there can be no assurance about the reality of any moral principle and therefore we cannot perform morally meaningful actions

This anxiety afflicts our moral self-affirmation.

We as humans are responsible for our moral being, and when asked by our judge (whomever that may be) what we have made of ourselves we must answer.

The anxiety is produced when we realize our being is unsatisfactory.

Tillich writes: "It [Nonbeing] threatens man's moral self-affirmation, relatively in terms of guilt, absolutely in terms of condemnation".

We display courage when we first identify our sin; despair or whatever is causing us guilt or afflicting condemnation.

We then rely on the idea that we are accepted regardless.

Again Tillich writes:

"The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself as accepted in spite of being unacceptable".

Third, we are struck with the anxiety of emptiness and meaninglessness --- for without God, we cannot be assured that existence has any real, concrete meaning or purpose.

This Anxiety of Meaninglessness and Emptiness attacks our being as a whole.

We worry about the loss of an ultimate concern, goal or purpose.

This anxiety is also brought on by a loss of spirituality.

We as beings feel the threat of non-being when we feel we have no place or purpose in the world. "It [Nonbeing] threatens [one’s] spiritual self-affirmation, relatively in terms of emptiness, absolutely in terms of meaninglessness".

We display the courage to be when facing this anxiety by displaying true faith, and by again, self-affirming oneself.

We draw from the "power of being" which is God for Tillich and use that faith to in turn affirm ourselves and negate the non-being.

We can find our meaning and purpose through the "power of being".

Tillich writes that the ultimate source of the courage to be is the "God above God," which transcends the theistic idea of God.

Thus for Tillich, courage is the courage to be YOU whom God has created.

          To recognize that God gives us purpose

          To recognize that God accepts us

Or as Krista Tippet described Tillich’s understanding of courage --- courage is about the way that we live our lives --- every day . . .

On June 22, 1996, 18-year-old Keshia Thomas attended a counter rally in her home town of Ann Arbor Michigan

Hundreds of protesters turned out to tell the white supremacist KKK members that they were not welcome in their town.

At one point during the event, a man with a SS tattoo and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a Confederate flag ended up on the protesters' side of the fence and a small group began to chase him. He was quickly knocked to the ground and people began kicking and hitting him.

As people began to shout, "Kill the Nazi," 18-year-old Keshia, fearing that mob mentality had taken over, decided to act.

She threw herself on top of the man she had come to protest, protecting him from the blows, and told the crowd that you "can't beat goodness into a person."

In discussing her motivation for this courageous act after the event, she stated,

"Someone had to step out of the pack and say, 'this isn't right'... I knew what it was like to be hurt. The many times that that happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me... violence is violence - nobody deserves to be hurt, especially not for an idea."

Several months after the event, a young man came up to Keshia to say thanks, telling her that the man she had protected was his father.

For Keshia, learning that he had a son brought even greater significance to her heroic act. As she observed,

"For the most part, people who hurt... they come from hurt. It is a cycle. Let's say they had killed him or hurt him really bad. How does the son feel? Does he carry on the violence?"

Mark Brunner, was a student photographer that day and took the now famous photograph, added that what was so remarkable was who Keshia Thomas saved:

"She put herself at physical risk to protect someone who, in my opinion, would not have done the same for her. Who does that in this world?"

COURAGE!

Last Monday evening, a dear friend was invited to sit in front of a camera and tell his story.

To tell why, despite being gay, he had not left the church or the God he loves.

That is courage.

I have never stood up like Keshia did and risked my life, or even really risked my livelihood for someone else.

Throughout the Bible, God promises, not only the Israelites --- but all of us --- that we would never be abandoned.

How in the midst of the Holocaust someone like Eva Kor kept her faith --- I have no idea.

          I have never been challenged like that

          But Keshia and Eva demonstrated amazing courage

Not the courage to jump out of an airplane --- but the courage to live their life fully --- every day

Each morning I read Richard Rohr's daily devotion that comes by email.

The focus has been on prophets lately.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran Pastor who was executed by the Nazi's in 1945 at Flossenburg prison camp --- shortly before it was liberated, once wrote:

We live by responding to the word of God . . . since this word is addressed to our entire life, the response, too, can only be an entire one; it must be given with our entire life as it is realized in all our several actions.

Following Christ is a matter of engagement in this world, Bonhoeffer writes:

“living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world . . . That, I think is faith, that is metanoia.” (transformation)

Bonhoeffer like Tillich, came to understand that courage is about the work we do.

          How we live every day

So how do we live courageous lives?

General Tom Jones shared with me a wonderful quick read called: The 10 Second Rule, written by Clare De Graaf

The simple premise of the book is that throughout the day, most of us have impressions that we are to do something --- and we are reasonably certain that it is Jesus that wants us to do it.

It could be an impression to either do something good for someone or it could be a warning about not doing something that would not be honoring to God.

While we can feel the nudge from Jesus, it is amazing how often we almost simultaneously sense another voice whispering: “You don’t have time to do that – helping that person could get messy – you can’t afford to help them right now – it’s okay, one more time won’t kill you – send it, you’ve been wronged!”

And when we listen to that other voice, the moment of opportunity passes (often to our relief).

DeGraaf writes:

Because I knew that almost every decision to obey would cost me something – time, money, embarrassment, inconvenience, or a momentary pleasure denied . . . By choosing not to obey Jesus, I could avoid all of that! As a result, I found myself settling for good enough almost daily – which is kryptonite for any would-be followers of Jesus!

He explains how he learned a simple rule that helped him break that cycle.

He called it:  The 10 Second Rule:

“Just do the next thing you’re reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do.”

(and do it immediately before you change your mind!)

The question remains --- how do we know exactly what Jesus wants us to do!

Most of us have never actually heard God speak.

But, the more we fall in love with Jesus, through prayer and study --- the more confident we can become in responding to the opportunities that DAILY come our way.

Sure, we can never be 100% certain.

But I would suggest that the need for certainty is often the enemy of doing what God wants us to do!

Let’s just say this impression wasn’t from God.

So what?

You’ve still done something good for another human or kept yourself from something harmful. How can that not be the will of God?

This simple rule gives you a place to begin following Jesus, right now – today --- maybe even for the first time.

It’s following Jesus made simple and being led by Jesus, moment by moment, day by day (or even in just the next 10 seconds!).

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23.

Simply put, it’s trusting Jesus enough to say “no” to what we want, and “yes” to what Jesus wants.

If you want to know what courage is --- it is saying YES, when the opportunity presents itself later today.

Courage isn’t about BIG, heroic deeds --- it’s not about jumping out of an airplane, or even walking on the moon --- courage is about recognizing that you are a child of God, and as God’s child, you can make a difference every moment of every day in how you live.

I invite you to live courageously!

The Power of Kindness

Ephesians 4:25-32    (NRSV)

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

The theme of our Vacation Bible School, in case you haven’t figured it out yet was “To Mars and Beyond”.

Our children became Voyagers on a journey through space, exploring where God's power can take them.

Each day they began here in our Sanctuary which became their outpost on Mars and the they would blast off to distant planets on special missions to collect power sources.

The purpose of these power sources was to help a spaceship that was in trouble.

Along the way, they learned how God walked with heroes of the Bible,  

---- and that God is always with,

--- not just them,

--- but all of us every day

One of the daily themes this week was kindness.

The world is in desperate need of a little kindness.

Becky Bechtel shared with me a 30 Day Kindness Challenge, that she had come across --- the goal of the challenge is to help persons experience the transformative power of kindness.

In the challenge they stated:

“People have always had a remarkable capacity for both graciousness and harshness, but today it seems harshness is more easily let loose.”

We all know this is true

It often seems that when you watch the news it is just one negative story after another.

I have been forced to unfollow certain people on Facebook because everything that they post is negative and is designed to get people fired up.

          And the comments that get posted --- are just unbelievable.

We have stopped trying to point out the merits of what we believe and instead have taken to personally attack each other.

          We seem to personalize almost everything

                   For good and bad

And if that is not enough

          We all know people that complain about everything.

          They are like a black cloud wherever they go.

Our souls can be fed with so much negativity, grumbling, and frustration, that we simply become numb to it.

President George W. Bush said in 1988:

          “I want a kinder, gentler nation.”

Almost twenty years later, President Barack Obama declared,

“Qualities like kindness and compassion, honesty, hard work -- they often matter more than technical skills or know-how.”

What has happened to kindness in our world today?

And maybe more importantly --- How do we live kindness today?

I think our Biblical writers have offered us some great suggestions.

In Colossians 3:12  (New Revised Standard Version) the author writes:

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

Clothe yourself with kindness

Peterson says it even clearer in his translation known as the Message:

So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. 

Paul says we need to put on kindness

          We need to choose to wear it everyday

Jesus teaches this rather clearly in the familiar story of the Good Samaritan.

If you are not familiar with that story I encourage you to pick up Luke's Gospel and read how Jesus tells us what love in action looks like.

In Ephesians 4:32 we are instructed by Paul to:

"be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."

Earlier in Luke's Gospel, Jesus shares what many call the Sermon on the Plain and he lets us know what is really expected of his followers: (Luke 6:31-36 The Message)

“Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden-variety sinners do that. If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that’s charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that.

“I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.

I know that it is difficult to be kind all the time --- but that is the challenge that Jesus gives to us.

He wants us to literally put on the clothes of kindness

--- every --- single --- day.

So maybe this idea of intentionally trying to be kind for 30 days isn't such a bad idea.

Shaunti Feldhahn reminds us:

Remember: Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Kindness not only has the power to change the other person --- It has the power to change you.

If there is anything I have learned about this wonderful community of people that we call Meridian Street is that you want to make a difference in the world.

You want to leave the world a better place than where you found it.

It is easy to forget just how powerful kindness can be --- Dr Marin Luther King reminds us of just how important it is.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Kindness is the key to changing the world

And who knows just what your simple act of kindness might do. . .

          the ripple effects can be amazing

Friday, Roger and I were interviewing candidates for our open youth position.

Between interviews I was given a card from some of the youth at VBS thanking me for “helping our church and the world.”

          You have no idea how precious that is to me

On a cold December evening, Kelly McGuire and her husband Sean were leaving a Bears game in Chicago when she spotted a homeless woman across the street. The woman held a sign reading "I am in need of winter boots and winter clothing items."

McGuire had a bag of warm clothing with her because she had worn layers for the game. She wrote: "I had everything in that bag that she needed. Shirts, sweatshirts, gloves, scarves, etc."

After giving her the bag of clothing, McGuire sat down next to the woman and started removing her boots, intending to walk to the train in her socks. That's when the woman stopped her and offered her the old, dirty boots she had been wearing. McGuire wrote, "She, who had nothing, offered me these boots. Her boots. I wore them all the way home."

McGuire concluded her: "If you have the urge to do something kind for someone, I encourage you to do it."

Aesop reminded us: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.    

For many of us, it is not truly a New Year's celebration unless we join together with friends to sing that wonderful poem from Robert Burns

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

So let us take a cup of kindness --- and share it with the world.

          Do something kind today

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.    

For there is great power in that cup of kindness.

The Power of Hospitality

Romans 12:13-21 (The Message) 

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. 

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. 

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” 

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. 

Have you ever wondered what Hospitality looks like?

          What if I added the word radical to it ---

what does radical hospitality look like?

We find radical hospitality modeled throughout the Biblical story

Abraham modeled a radical hospitality, when he welcomed the strangers into the shade of a tree, washed their feet, and offered them the finest of foods (Genesis 18:1-8).

Lydia, too, modeled this when she housed Paul and Silas (Acts 16:11-15, 40).

The author of Hebrews writes:

“Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:1-2).

Hospitality is not just having someone over for a nice meal.

Hospitality is not just inviting someone in for a visit.

And really, when you think about it --- there’s no such thing as “radical” hospitality

We like to add all kinds of adjectives to our hospitality practices as if to suggest that ours is better than others.

At its heart, hospitality is, simply, radical.

There is no other kind of hospitality.

You either are or you aren’t hospitable --- and if you are, it is pretty radical

If we welcome some and exclude others we shouldn't pretend we are hospitable.

Last Monday was the 4th Anniversary of the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Four days after nine people were murdered at the end of a bible study, on Sunday June 21st, Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church flung open its doors so that the community could gather for worship --- can you even, imagine what it would have been like to walk through those doors that Sunday?

          Are you ready for that kind of hospitality?

          Are you prepared for that kind of showing of mercy?

          Are you willing to be received with that kind of welcome?

Phillip Gulley is an Indiana Quaker pastor who has written a number of provocative books.  In Front Porch Tales, Gulley share that he believes that one of the reasons for the decline of community in our country is the demise of the front porch as a feature of American homes. 

How many of us ever sit on our front porch (if we even have one)?

Instead we have shifted to back porches and decks and do everything we can to shield ourselves from our neighbors. 

Gulley writes:

Perhaps more things were resolved on America’s front porches than in any other place, and yet so few are used today.  . . .  Community is a beautiful thing.  It heals us and makes us better than we would otherwise be. I live in the city now.  My front porch is a concrete slab.  (But) community isn’t so much a locale as it is a state of mind.  You find it whenever folks ask how you’re doing because they care, and not because they’re getting paid to inquire.

Hospitality is all about building community --- something we struggle to do in our world today.

Too often the church acts as if it is selective in who is welcome --- and who is not.

We sometimes act as if building a welcome station, or an information hub in our welcome center, and encouraging each other to wear nametags is enough.

We frame our conversations around who is in --- and who is out --- of God’s redeeming grace without even realizing it.

And it is not just us, the church that does this; our society at large is built on FEAR of the other, and we want to build bigger walls and put security at every public space in an attempt to calm this irrational fear.

          And fear prevents hospitality

As I have pondered over this topic the last few weeks the key to hospitality is simple, yet elusive.

Simple, because we all give at least lip service to the idea.

Elusive, because we struggle with living it out.

The key to hospitality (and really to Christian discipleship) is understanding that God loves us UNCONDITIONALLY.

          God loves YOU unconditionally --- exactly as you are

Everything starts there.

The author of 1^st John makes this abundantly clear when he proclaimed:

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Hospitality begins in the very heart of Jesus as he extends to each one of us his unconditional love.

Paul Tillich, the great theologian of the 20th Century, writes that one of the first steps to a relationship with God is that we must “accept that we are accepted.”

Before we can reach out to others with the hospitality of Jesus --- before we can share his love and grace and acceptance --- before any of that we must not only receive God’s unconditional love --- but truly believe it we have it.

That is the first step in becoming a follower of Jesus.

Tillich goes on to ask the question that makes it personal for each of us.

“Do we know what it means to be struck by grace? We cannot transform our lives, unless we allow them to be transformed by that stroke of grace.”

Bishop Schnase continues this thought when he writes: 

God’s love for us is not something we have to strive for, earn, work on, or fear.  It is freely given.  That is key; that we are loved, first, finally and forever by God, a love so deep and profound and significant that God offers His Son to signify and solidify this love forever, so that we get it. 

We have to start there!

          I know how hard it is --- but hear me GOD LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY

If we don’t feel that love, we will always fall back into fear.

          And there is NO hospitality when we live in a state of fear

But Jesus love for us is so powerful it enables us to move beyond our fears and to live in hospitality

So let me share four practical ways that we can demonstrate hospitality.

Welcome everyone you meet.

I mean this literally and figuratively.

Extend a kind word to everyone you meet, but also, share your time, energy and life with others—especially those who may need you more than you need them.

Jesus welcomed strangers and outcasts

In the same way that Zacchaeus was a "son of Abraham" and worthy of Jesus' time, the people that you interact with are loved by God and worthy of your time too.

I love the suggestion that Glennon Doyle offers --- she offered this advice at a women’s retreat but the advice is good for all of us.  She said:

If you are standing with other woman in a circle and there is a woman standing alone in your circle’s vicinity --- the thing to do is notice her, smile at her, mover over a bit and say, Hi, come join us!”  Even if she decides not to join your circle --- even if she looks at you like you’re crazy --- inviting her is still the thing to do.  Widen your circles.  All the time.

She continues:

Also: horseshoes are better than circles.  Leave space.  Always leave space.  Horseshoes of friends is greater than circles of friends.  Life can be lonely.  Stand in horseshoes

Engage people.

Engage others with the mindset of being Jesus, not just inviting them to a function at church.

But I will tell you right now, this type of engagement requires a personal connection, not just a "connection" via text or social media — I'm talking about face-to-face interaction.

I have a favorite phrase that I like to remind the staff of every now and again --- and it goes like this: An announcement is not an invitation

An invitation is always personal and filled with hospitality

Make meals a priority.

The table is always central in the most important moments in Jesus’ ministry. 

Invite a person to a meal.

Pay for the meal if possible

Pray for this new friend specifically and serve him or her.

Use mealtimes to build relationships and talk about things that really matter.

Pay attention.

We all interact with people at work, at church, at school and in our communities.

But how many times do these interactions go unnoticed or undeveloped.

Take some time out of your day to stop, look around and show kindness to others.

Your uplifting word or kind action may change someone's life forever.

If you do these things --- simple --- but oh so hard --- you will be living Jesus message of hospitality.

Karoline Lewis, from Luther Seminary challenges us when she wrote:

A theology of hospitality requires a reassessment of everything -- practices, language, and symbols; rituals, confessions, and flags; sacraments, rulings, and where we falsely assume power is located. But it’s worth it. Because to experience the kind of hospitality that Jesus has in mind is to experience the love of our God -- so deep, so wide, so huge; the love of our God which shows mercy no matter what; the love of our God which became flesh so that the doors of the divine heart might be flung open to all.

I said in the email this week that we have only one chance to make a good first impression. 

That is true every day, every week, when someone new comes into our community.

If you are visiting with us this morning, I pray that we have made you feel welcomed and accepted here.  And I hope that I get a chance to personally meet you today.

I had a young man, at another church, who always wore a silly looking hat --- it was just him --- and I can’t tell you how many people complained to me about his hat (and believe me, without even intending too --- many shared their distain with him).  There were women in the same service who were wearing hats, I NEVER heard anyone complain about them.

          How welcome do you think he felt?

I also know of a young pastor with three small children whose wife wanted to sing in the choir but could not sit with the choir

There was not Sunday School during the worship time so the children would have to be in the service

She went to the choir director and asked if she could sit in the pews and come up and sing with the choir and then return to the pew with her children.  The choir director never said yes, or no --- but made it clear that was not a welcome idea.

I am thankful that we have young children who sit in our choir pews on Sunday morning.  Are they disruptive sometimes? ---- sure --- but which is more important, that they are here or that they make a little noise.

I prefer noisy children over prim and proper adults --- it is good to know that there is life out there.

Hospitality is filled with grace.

We must be careful not to consciously or unconsciously build walls that separate us from each other.  Walls that preclude us from being hospitable to each other

In two weeks Mary Dicken will be joining our staff as a pastor.

How will we welcome her?

          What kind of first impression will we make?

Let me offer some suggestions

Pray for Mary and the transition

Be here on July 7^th

Yes, I know it is summer . . .

Send her a card or note welcoming her

Include it in your card or note, or bring to the office a gift card to your favorite local place

Offer to meet her for coffee or a meal (and pay for it)

Help us provide food in the house and meals for her first few days

WEAR YOUR NAMETAG and introduce yourself repeatedly

I am sure there are many other things that I am forgetting, but if you will take these on it will be a great start and we will make a wonderful first impression.

Hospitality is powerful

          Powerful when it is offered

          Maybe even more powerful when it is withheld

May we be a people who share (who live) the hospitality of Jesus.

The Power of the Holy Spirit

John 14:16-17   (CEB)

I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.

Ephesians 1:13-14   (CEB)

You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.

This has been an interesting week.

This morning I took Nancy to the airport as she flies to North Carolina to help get her mom’s house closed up

For the past three days I have been attending the Annual Conference of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church.

The Annual Conference is the body that sets the policy and the tone for United Methodists throughout Indiana. 

One of the most important things that we do is affirm candidates for ministry as well as commission and ordain new pastors. 

But we do much more than that. 

We celebrate those who are retiring from active ministry --- and we saw 70 elders, deacons, local and supply pastors retiring this year. 

We also remember those who have died in the past year --- and much like we do here on All Saints Sunday --- the names of 56 deceased clergy and spouses were read and honored for their lives and legacies.

Certainly one of the highlights of the conference was the powerful and challenging message of our Bishop -- Julius Trimble --- when he preached his Episcopal address. 

His sermon evoked memories of Dr Martin Luther King, as he reminded us:

”There’s nothing you can do—or anyone else can do—to change your sacred worth in Jesus Christ. That has always been settled!”

But, unfortunately, what became the main event this year was the election of Clergy and Lay delegates who will represent Indiana at the 2020 General Conference. 

It took up a huge amount of time and energy --- but is important. 

The clergy delegation that was elected was 100% persons who disagreed with the Traditional Plan that was adopted in St Louis earlier this year --- including Pastor Matt.

The theme of this year's conference was From Water to Witness and it was a reminder of the gift that God has giving us. 

And we were reminded that nobody voted you into the church.

Just a little while earlier we welcomed Margret Louise into the family of God.

          How did that happen?

          How did she get to join the family of God?

          Did she do something to earn it?

Of course not!

          It is a gift from God

          It is the action of the Holy Spirit working in our lives seeking to change us

Last week Matt reminded us of the chaos and challenge that was that first Pentecost for the fledgling community of followers of Jesus.

Jesus was dead --- his followers, we are told, had experienced his resurrection in some powerful ways.

Yet something was missing --- they did not have the zeal --- they did not have the passion to risk their lives to change the world.

What happened?

          Pentecost happened

                    The Holy Spirit came

I am not sure why they seemed so surprised.

In one of the most powerful parts of the New Testament John shares what we have come to call Jesus farewell discourse.

Jesus is trying to prepare his followers so that when he is murdered by the Roman authorities they are not caught off guard.  And he makes a profound promise to them.

(John 14:1-4,18-19,25-27 NRSV)  "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. {2} In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? {3} And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. {4} And you know the way to the place where I am going."(18)  "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. {19} In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. (25)  "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. {26} But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. {27} Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

But on that day of Pentecost everything changed

They moved from the waters of baptism to witnessing ---

to telling/living the story of Jesus

         

It is because of those who were transformed on that day of Pentecost that we are here

We may not agree on every biblical or theological interpretation --- actually I am pretty certain that there are things that we don't agree on (and I am speaking to each one of you individually).

          But that is OK

For me one of the most important realizations is to accept the fact that we are all hypocrites --- we just each pick different things to be hypocritical about.

Robert Farrar Capon reminded us:

          “God’s grace in Jesus Christ isn’t cheap. It’s not even expensive. It’s free.”

It is the Spirit of God, the ruacḥ ha-kodesh, that brings us together.

It is God's spirit that reminds us that we are beloved children of God --- despite ourselves.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to move us from the waters of baptism to sharing the grace that we have been blessed with.

But we need to be careful --- listen again to Robert Farrar Capon

“The Gospel of grace must not be turned into a bait-and-switch offer. It is not one of those airline supersavers in which you read of a $59.00 fare to Orlando only to find, when you try to buy a ticket, that the six seats per flight at that price are all taken and that the trip will now cost you $199.95. Jesus must not be read as having baited us with grace only to clobber us in the end with law. For as the death and resurrection of Jesus were accomplished once and for all, so the grace that reigns by those mysteries reigns eternally - even in the thick of judgment.”

“God’s grace in Jesus Christ isn’t cheap. It’s not even expensive. It’s free.”

The spirit comes to you

          comes to me

                   NOT because we are worthy

But precisely because we are not worthy

We must be very careful not to believe that God's grace is sufficient for us --- but isn't sufficient for someone else.

Catherine LaCugna (1952–1997) ended her giant theological tome God for Us with this one simple sentence:

The very nature of God, therefore, is to seek out the deepest possible communion and friendship with every last creature on this earth.

That’s God’s job description.

The Holy Spirit is how God does that.

That’s what it’s all about.

Let me ask you a simple question and leave you with something to ponder.

What would happen in your life—right now—if you fully accepted what God has created -- is creating in you?

What if you truly welcomed the Holy Spirit --- the ruacḥ ha-kodesh --- into your life?

Suddenly, this following Jesus is much safer.

You have nothing to be afraid of.

God is for you.

God is not expecting you to do the heavy lifting --- because God has already done it for you. 

And God is actually leaping toward you!

God is on your side, honestly more than you are on your own.

E Stanley Jones, that great Methodist Missionary of days gone by was originally trained to be a lawyer.

After he became a Christian he as was asked to preach a sermon and he said that he wanted to preach the greatest defense of God ever given.

He worked hard preparing this defense of God

And the day came he got up to preach --- and it bombed

As he was concluding the sermon --- he knew he had bombed and in that instant God spoke to him

God said --- why do you need to defend me? 

What I need you to do is witness for me.

Recognizing that his sermon was a disaster --- E Stanley Jones stopped and just shared how much God loved him --- even him

And he became --- certainly in the Methodist Church one of the greatest witnesses for God

We don't need to defend God

          We don't even need to prove God to someone

All we need to do is let the Holy Spirit shine through our lives and let our lives be a witness for Jesus.

Let me close with this prayer, this poem from Mechthild of Magdeburg (1207–c. 1282/1294)

Effortlessly,

Love flows from God into [humans]

Like a bird

Who rivers the air

Without moving her wings.

. . . Thus we move in [God’s] world

One in body and soul, . . .

Though outwardly separate in form.

As the Source strikes the note,

Humanity sings—

The Holy Spirit is our harpist,

And all strings

Which are touched in Love

Must sound.