Random Thoughts and Ramblings

Category: Sermons

  • Sermon: “Sharing Jesus With the World”

    More or less, here’s the sermon I preached this morning. In hindsight, I probably should have changed the title because the sermon took a slightly different turn than what I envisioned earlier in the week. I ended up approaching the text as a prayer for the disciples Jesus would eventually leave behind. By extension, I believe Jesus was also praying for us, specifically that we would be united in our mission of spreading scriptural holiness throughout the world and that we would be sanctified by truth of God’s love. In other words, this is a call to unity, not uniformity in all things.

    I hope you receive a blessing from my attempt to articulate the message of Jesus.

    Text: John 17:6-19 (NLT)

    Think to when you can first remember hearing about Jesus. Who was sharing the good news with you? If you’re like me, it was probably your mother or someone in your life who’s like a mother to you. For me, it was my mother who I remember as the first one to teach me anything about faith. I was very sick when I was a child, something I’ll talk about someday, but this gave us a lot of time to talk about God and things about the faith. Momma was the first one who taught me to pray at bedtime and to pray when I was scared when I’d have to go to the doctor or to the hospital. She shared many a story out of her Bible. She was far from perfect, but my mother was the one who introduced me to Jesus.

    No matter who first shred Jesus with you, they still had to take the time and make the decision to do so. Every single one of us is set apart for a ministry of some sort, something that’s perhaps unique to how we’re gifted and equipped. There’s one ministry we are called to called to: Sharing the gospel. We get off in the weeds about having the correct words and all of that, but Jesus has already prayed for us to be prepared. He’s already prayed for us as we carry out the mission he started. Do we claim that? Are we united in this mission? This is precisely what Jesus prayed for and his desire for us today.

    Jesus knows that his time is growing short. If you’ve read ahead or know already, then you know that this just before he is betrayed and arrested. Jesus is obviously concerned for the apostles that he’s leaving behind. He knows that they’re still a rag-tag bunch who still don’t understand everything he has been trying to teach them. That kind of sounds like us, doesn’t it? He knows they have their disagreements and their arguments. Still, Jesus knows that he can’t stay much longer and so he does what our moms taught us to do in times of trouble: Pray. 

    Notice something about Jesus’ prayer: He wasn’t praying for his own worries or to otherwise be comforted. He prayed for each one of his students. And, honestly, I can’t help but believe he was praying for us too. He prayed that they might be protected from the whims of the world and those of the enemy. He prayed that the apostles be set apart as being in the world but not of the world, that the world might know that they are here but that their loyalty lies with God and God only. He prayed that they might be protected by God’s guidance and sanctified by the truth. He prayed that they might be emboldened to proclaim the gospel and that they might united in that truth. 

    Jesus also prayed that they might remain in the world to be His presence after he eventually ascended. Again, Jesus knew that his time was short, but he did not want the mission to end once he died, rose, and eventually returned to the Father. Jesus wanted the mission of reconciling humanity to God to continue and even to expand. Jesus knew that this would begin with his apostles being emboldened and strengthened to be the ones to keep it going. 

    I want us to receive this as a prayer for us as well. We are the continuation of the work of these apostles. We are not only the recipients of the gospel through others who answered the call of Jesus to proclaim, we are entrusted with the task of spreading the gospel t others. The best news that the world has ever received should not be kept solely hidden in our hearts, it should be shared and lived as loudly as possible. 

    Do I believe that Jesus expected all believers to be united in everything? No, I don’t. Jesus understood the reality of his people. As I already mentioned, the very apostles had disagreements amongst themselves and even disagreed with the meanings of Jesus’ teachings. The history of the Christian church is full of disagreements, splits, reunifications, even wars. Disagreement is part of the human condition. Jesus certainly knew that believers would not always agree. What I sense in this prayer is that Jesus does want us to be one in the mission to share the gospel, live the gospel, and make disciples who go out as sanctified believers to proclaim the gospel to new people. 

    This is a good opportunity to weigh where our loyalties lie. If we are supremely loyal to anything or anyone besides Jesus, then we need to repent. People, institutions, you name it… they all disappoint, disappear, reappear, and go through all the parts of a lifecycle. None of that is true about God, because God never changes. Jesus is always our messiah. We are his hands and feet. None of those things ever change.

    We are not called to be of one mind on everything but we are called to be unified in Christ. The fact is, people aren’t always going to agree on everything. Jesus didn’t pray for uniformity, where the believers would agree on literally everything, He prayed for unity, something that’s stronger than any differences that we, as the church, share. If we’re striving for uniformity, we are not going to be satisfied because there is simply no way that people are going to always agree on anything. This is simply not possible. Unity means we willingly set those differences aside for the sake of something much bigger than ourselves or our disagreements. In this case, we find unity in Jesus.

    A quote that I’m about to share is often attributed to St. Augustine but he didn’t say it. It was Marco Antonio de Dominis who gave us a great quote for today. What’s important for us to know about Dominis is that he was twice declared a heretic by the Roman Catholic Church during the days of the inquisition because he did not agree with some of the tenants of the Catholic faith, specifically the papacy. At some point during all of that, he wrote this: “in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity.”

    As we prayed last week when we came to Christ’s table:
    By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
    one with each other,
    and one in ministry to all the world,
    until Christ comes in final victory
    and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

    May it be so, Lord. If we truly want to honor the person who first told us about Christ – maybe even our mothers – the best way to honor them is to remember that we are not of this world, but we are in it to be Christ’s presence and his hands and feet. Surely, we can all agree on that.

  • Sermon: The Guardian of the Soul

    religion, faith, shepherd

    More or less, here’s the sermon I delivered at Salem UMC and Pleasant Hill UMC on April 30, 2023.

    1 PETER 2:19-25 (NLT)

    For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.

    21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered[a] for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

    22 He never sinned,

        nor ever deceived anyone.[b]

    23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted,

        nor threaten revenge when he suffered.

    He left his case in the hands of God,

        who always judges fairly.

    24 He personally carried our sins

        in his body on the cross

    so that we can be dead to sin

        and live for what is right.

    By his wounds

        you are healed.

    25 Once you were like sheep

        who wandered away.

    But now you have turned to your Shepherd,

        the Guardian of your souls.

    In 2006, a movie called The Guardian was released. The film stars Kevin Costner who plays decorated Coast Guard rescue swimmer Ben Randall and Ashton Kutcher who plays a rookie rescue swimmer named Jake Fischer. Kutcher’s character is a young, cocky swimmer bent on being the best. Jake is obsessed with breaking the training center’s records, most of which are held by his lead instructor Ben Randall. Ben spends much of the time as Jake’s instructor trying to knock the chip off the younger swimmer’s shoulder, which turns out to be the result of trying to make up for being the driver of a car that was hit, an accident that killed most of the other members of his high school swim team. Jake asks Ben repeatedly what his “number” is, meaning the number of people he has rescued during his career. Finally, toward the end of the movie, Ben provides an answer: “22.” Jake is surprised that it’s not more and Ben responds, “22 is the number of people I lost, Jake. The only number I kept track of.”

    Like a good person who does things for the right reasons, Ben doesn’t keep track of the numbers that some people may view as important, rather he does his job but uses the tragedies to improve his skills and to fuel his determination. Later, Ben dies during a rescue mission. Later, another mission in the same area is conducted and Jake responds as the primary rescue swimmer. One of the men who’s rescued asks who the other guy who saved him was. Jake smiles at the thought that his friend and mentor may have had a spiritual hand on saving the man’s life. Thus, the legend of the guardian of the Alaskan sea was born.

    A few years ago, I attended a workshop where the speaker reminded us that Jesus is in the rescue business. Indeed, Jesus rescues the sin sick soul from certain eternal death through his death and resurrection. It’s no accident that we talk of people “being saved” when they convert their lives over to the ways of Jesus, because their souls are being saved. Jesus makes this possible. We often look at Jesus as a shepherd and, perhaps, you’ve seen that shepherd theme in our scriptures today (if you’re joining us late online, our responsive reading today was Psalm 23). Today’s gospel reading is John 10:1-10 that records Jesus giving a lesson of his being the messiah being like the gate that separates the sheep from those seeking to harm them. Verses 6 through 9 says this:

    Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7 so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me[a] were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.

    This sounds very guardian-like to me. Jesus, protecting the sheep – that is, his people – from evil. Jesus is the guardian of our souls.

    Remember that Peter’s purpose for writing this letter is to encourage Christians in the Roman world who are suffering under the oppression of the government. We do have some historical records that recorded the kind of persecution the early believers often suffered. I won’t go into all of that today but, suffice it to say, the level of persecution was heavy. No matter how strong and committed someone is to a cause, everyone has their breaking point. Peter knew that some of these folks were getting close to theirs. Perhaps some of them had already caved under the pressure, fearful of death or what might await them on the other side. Perhaps some uncertainty had crept in with some of them. It’s easy to criticize but, when your family is starving because the government says Christians can’t buy the essentials of life, it’s also easy to understand that the temptation to cave is intense.

    Peter is reminding them that they have a savior who has their back, front, sides, and everything else under his protection, especially their souls. Peter is telling them that it’s a safe move to follow the example of Jesus who suffered a human death and everything that came before it. As he points out, Jesus never returned the abuse he suffered at the hands of the Romans with insults or any sort of retaliation. As I mentioned, everyone has their breaking point and there were people who felt that responding to Roman oppression in kind was justified. Peter reminds them that it was Jesus who didn’t defend himself physically and instead let God have the final say. Peter gives us this example to remind us that God can still be trusted to deliver us as well. Remember that final say that God had: That death does not win, the sword does not win, that love wins, resurrection wins, and nothing can beat those facts no matter how hard one wants them to be beaten.

    Peter is so convinced of God’s keeping these promises that he breaks out into song. If you look at verses 22 through 25, see that it’s intended. Indention typically indicates poetry or song. I can’t help but think that Peter is giving us a hymn, praising God’s faithfulness and praising Jesus for being the one who defends us against every evil. This isn’t a lament; this means that we should celebrate and be excited about Jesus defending us with his very life and defeating death for us by rising from the grave even when the enemy tried every trick in the book to keep him in that tomb.

    Note: It was at this point in the sermon that I opted to trust the Spirit and say something prophetic for each church. Obviously, it came out a bit different at each church. To see how it came out, watch the videos on each of the church Facebook pages linked at the top of the post.

    We need to be excited about the fact that we have a savior, a defender, a shepherd, a guardian, who watches over us every single day. Y’all, our guardian has secured the victory for us out of his immeasurable and eternal love for us. Bad things may come our way. Poverty may happen. Any number of things may come our way. BUT GOD… is watching over our souls. Peter calls Jesus the guardian of our souls. Think of what a guardian is – a defender, protector, or keeper. This is Jesus! We can trust him with everything we have and everything we are. If you’re doubting him, let him prove himself to you. He will not let you down. He already died and rose again from the dead for you.

    Don’t worry about what the future holds. Trust in Jesus to guard your soul.

  • Sermon: Revival!

    More or less, here is the sermon I preached today at Salem United Methodist Church and Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church. Initially, the title was “I Say…” but I made a game-time decision (appropriate since it’s the day of that big football game that I don’t have permission to use the name of) to talk about a portion of the Sermon on the Mount with the revival at Asbury University as a backdrop. May you be blessed by my attempt to flesh out what the Savior has to say about how His people are to live.

    “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’[a] 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone,[b] you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot,[c] you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone,[d] you are in danger of the fires of hell.[e] 23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice[f] at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. 25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.[g] 27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’[h] 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye[i]—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your hand—even your stronger hand[j]—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 31 “You have heard the law that says, ‘A man can divorce his wife by merely giving her a written notice of divorce.’[k] 32 But I say that a man who divorces his wife, unless she has been unfaithful, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman also commits adultery. 33 “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the Lord.’[l] 34 But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne. 35 And do not say, ‘By the earth!’ because the earth is his footstool. And do not say, ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the city of the great King. 36 Do not even say, ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black. 37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

    Matthew 5:21-27 (NLT)

    A big buzzworthy event that’s been hopping around in Christian circles over the last few days is of a revival that broke out on Thursday at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. A chapel service began that morning and has not stopped, with reports of various events being shared. This seems to be nothing short of the beginnings of a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit, one I hope continues to spread and take hold. The spread has already started with students from Asbury Seminary across the street going to AU to participate, students at the University of Kentucky reporting sparks of revival on their campus, Ohio Christian University, and others. It seems God is up to something, and this truly excites me.

    Perhaps you have labeled me a skeptic of the movement if you’ve seen my Facebook posts and a blog article about it. Yesterday alone, I was accused of hoping this revival is fake, even having multiple people question my faith and qualification to be a pastor. To try and make my position clear: I do not hope this is fake. I’m very confident this is a movement of the Holy Spirit. My misgivings are that I have seen countless times where God has moved, and the movement has caught on and taken on a life of its own, and people have traveled to the event to witness it and say they were there. I have witnessed “revivals” where the emotional aspect was shown, people got lost in it, and once the emotions were gone, they did nothing with what God was moving them to do.

    I want revival. We need revival. But we need more than a moment in time.  Holy Spirit brought revival is fully realized in the fruit it bears for the kingdom, not by a moment in time at one place or even a few places. That’s why my approach is “wait and see.” Nothing more.

    We pray for revival all the time. I hear from many of you about the need for revival in our world. When we have the camp meeting or attend a revival at another church, I often hear of how wonderful it feels to be in God’s presence. I agree that it’s incredible! But what do we do with that once we’ve left the tabernacle or the service? If we feel our souls awakened for the first time or reawaked for the first time in a while, we can’t sit on it and call it good. Remember, Jesus taught us last week that we are to be salt and light and that unless our flavor is active and our light fully visible, we are useless in the kingdom. Genuine revival leads us to show God’s love, not simply feel good for a few minutes and move on with our lives as if nothing happened.

    We’re still in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is teaching his audience of Jewish disciples in ways that they would be able to understand. He is expanding on the teachings of the Torah and of the prophets and giving them new ideas of what it’s like to live as God’s people. A lot of what he’s going over here are the rules by which Jewish people lived. In looking over this set of rules, it seems that it keeps boiling down to that way we can sum up most of the other teachings of God: Love God above all else and treat others the way you want to be treated. Here, Jesus is expanding on what all of that even means. As Jesus is the Messiah, he’s laying out the case for what living under God’s new covenant kingdom will be like, and what the expectations of discipleship and living in the way are. Jesus is letting us know that our relationships with other people matter. Jesus is introducing what the Christian community – the church – should look and act like.

    As some of you probably want to say to me from time to time, Jesus has gone from preaching to meddling. No one enjoys their toes being stepped on, but Jesus was stepping and showing no mercy. And immediately, Jesus gives a teaching on a hot-button issue: Anger. We love to hold grudges and want to hurt people back even worse than they hurt us. Jesus says not only is this mindset sinful but goes to the extent that a sacrifice is not acceptable in the eyes of God unless and until the person making the sacrifice reconciles themselves to a person with whom they have had issues and makes amends. The idea that a sacrifice wouldn’t be accepted likely struck a major nerve with the audience and probably made them nervous. This lets them know that Jesus is serious about how we treat one another is vital to our discipleship.

    Of course, Jesus doesn’t stop there. He talks about lust, adultery, and even divorce, topics that would rile the dander of people today, perhaps even make some people blush. The way we view other people goes hand-in-hand with not holding grudges. When we lust, we’re making an object out of the other person, a means to some gratification for ourselves. You’re breaking a covenant between you, your spouse, and God when you commit adultery. I believe that’s why Jesus followed up his teaching on adultery with his teaching on vows or oaths. What he’s probably talking about is oaths made to the Roman emperor, but letting our yes be yes and our no be no has much power in other areas of our lives. It attests to our integrity and ethics, which we are called to hold in the highest standards.

    All of this translates to this: How you treat one another is vital, so vital that it’s the leading indicator of your spiritual condition. If you treat other people like garbage, the condition of your soul is no better than the pile at the George County Transfer Station on Beaver Dam Road.

    I believe that we are on the cusp of something extraordinary happening. I’ve felt this way for quite a while now, but we’re starting to see some of the first indications that God is actively pouring out a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit into the world. I believe people are being moved to confess, pray, sing, to testify in powerful ways. BUT. The thing about revival is that it’s only effective if we take the fire God has given us and take it out into the world. Jesus is teaching us here that how we treat other people is vital. I can tell you that actions speak much louder than words ever will. We can say we’re revived all day long, but if we don’t act like it, no, we’re not. If we don’t act as if God has moved in our lives, then all we did was go to a building somewhere, sing some songs, maybe say some prayers, or even testify, walk out and go about our business. That’s not revival. That’s self-gratification and self-justification. If God is truly moving in our midst, and we feel it, we must do something with it! Let us not hide our flavor or put our light under a sheet. Let us not continue to treat the people who are suffering as if they don’t matter. Let us not continue to claim to be Christians of any stripe and keep grudges, treat the people who ought to mean the most to us like trash, or show a lack of integrity, ethics, and morals. But, too often, we (the royal “we”) do exactly these things and dare to claim to be the people of God. Jesus says, “You can’t do that anymore if you’re one of my people.”

    Pray for revival. Long for revival. But when it comes, do something with it. Don’t let revival only be a moment in time that made you feel good; that was it. True revival only happens when we, the people of God, allow the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit to take hold, refine us, and use us to testify to the wonder of God’s grace, mercy, and love. Use words if you must, but actions speak much louder.

  • Epiphany Sermon: “Magi, Did You Know?”

    More or less, here’s my sermon from Epiphany Sunday at my two churches. As soon as I started studying for this sermon, the title popped into my head and wouldn’t leave, so I ran with it. I hope my attempt to share the story of the Magi and ponder whether they knew who they were visiting is a blessing to you! – Jonathan

    Matthew 2:1-12 (NLT)

    Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men[a] from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose,[b] and we have come to worship him.”

3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
    are not least among the ruling cities[c] of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
    who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’[d]”

7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

    During the weeks leading up to Christmas, two songs seem to be all over the place on the radio and playlists at gatherings: “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey and “Mary, Did You Know.” So many artists have covered this song, and I couldn’t name them all in the time we have today. I would be shocked if you didn’t know the song because I’m sure every one of us has heard it at least once. Perhaps you’ve heard it sung as a special here. Mary Did You Know initially written by Mark Lowry in 1984 and recorded by Michael English in 1991. I was surprised when I first learned that Mark Lowry wrote the song because I know him more as a comedian than a prolific music writer. Yet, he did. He has been part of the Gather Vocal Band and has some great singing chops.

    I get the question in the song; Lowry wasn’t the first to question whether Mary truly understood what she was being asked to do and the significance of the baby she would bring into the world. For the record, I do believe that Mary knew. She wasn’t an idiot, and she undoubtedly knew what the angel Gabriel meant when he said to her, as recorded in Luke 1:31-33, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel[f] forever; his Kingdom will never end!””

    Today is the day we observe the Epiphany, traditionally celebrated on January 6th. We remember when the Magi followed the star to Jesus’ house, paid tribute to him, and even worshipped him. Of all the people involved in the story of Jesus’ early days, the Magi are the ones I wonder about. Did they truly know who it was they were going to see? Did they understand the significance of their participation in the coming of the Messiah? Magi, Did You Know?

    The Magi were far from dumb. These men were highly educated in many areas. Today, we may call them Renaissance Men, meaning they had knowledge of many fields but were not experts in most areas of study. Mike Leach, Mississippi State’s football coach who recently died, was considered such a man by many people. Another way of describing the Magi and Leach would be to say they knew a little about many things and were experts in a few areas. For Leach, it was pirates, war strategy, and the air raid offense. For the Magi, it was astrology.

    Above all, they were seekers of truth, and when they saw a star that heralded the arrival of the long-promised King of the Jews, they were intrigued. As learned men, they were familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah, even if only in passing. They knew the signs and that God would let His people know when the Messiah arrived. So, when all of this started to come together, they had to go and see for themselves. They also knew that the right thing to do in the event they did meet the king was to pay him tribute, which they did with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  We often imagine they each held a small box or bag of the stuff, but the more likely scenario was that they brought a lot of each and probably traveled in a caravan to carry it all. On top of being well-read, they were also a wealthy bunch.

    When they stopped for directions and met up with Herod, I imagine they felt very uneasy when they heard his request. Sometimes, we “just know” something is off, and Herod’s words would have given me pause. Indeed, someone as powerful as Herod would have known the whereabouts of a king within his realm. One reason for suspicion would have been that this wasn’t right after Jesus was born. The Magi’s journey likely took months, more than enough time for Herod to have been informed of the presence of the so-called king of the Jews. The Magi knew something was up.

    Did they know whom they were paying tribute to and even bowing to worship? If we believe in prevenient grace, we must assume they had at least an inkling. The gifts were indeed providential, as the gold and perfumes could be used to finance the family’s flight to Egypt to escape the edict of the firstborn males being killed. Frankincense and myrrh were commonly used, among other things, to prepare bodies for burial, thus creating an illusion of what was coming later for Jesus.

    Did they know? If they didn’t, they came to understand once they saw Christ. I hope they came to a saving knowledge of him, but I am confident that their encounter, and God’s prevenient grace, helped the word to spread in their part of the world of what God had done to save his people. Who would have ever thought a group of wealthy pagan astrologers would have been the first to lay eyes on the Lord and presumably tell of him? Some of the most unexpected people to be the first evangelists because I’m pretty sure… they knew.

    We say that we know and spend much time wondering if people like Mary and the Magi knew as well. But what about our knowledge? Do we know? Do we tell of the wonderous salvific love God has shown us in the Christ child? The definition of epiphany is “a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.” The Magi had their epiphany. Have we? Perhaps, like the Magi and Mike Leach, we know a little about this and that about Jesus but are we experts? Do we know him and who he is? Do we know whose we are?

    Mississippi’s new bishop, Sharma Lewis, has issued a Bible reading challenge for all United Methodists in Mississippi. I hope you will join me in this endeavor to read the Bible from cover to cover through 2023. So here’s a resolution: Become an expert in all things Jesus in 2023.

  • A Sermon (more or less): “Keeping the Christ in Us”

    Photo by Jessica Lynn Lewis on Pexels.com

    This is, more or less, a sermon I preached on December 26th at my churches. This sermon is my ordination sermon, meaning this is the one I’m submitting to my annual conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry as part of my application to be ordained as an Elder. I wanted to share it here for any feedback anyone might want to share, but also because I want to share this message with as many people as possible. I hope you find inspiration and blessing in this attempt at articulating the gospel. – Jonathan

    The text: Colossians 3:12-17 (NLT)

    For many years, I have been hearing, reading, and otherwise seeing encouragement from various people and groups to “keep Christ in Christmas.” There are parts of this notion that I believe are valid, as the Christmas celebration has become more and more secular even among professing Christians, with many people choosing observances of the holiday that have little or nothing to do with the reason Christmas exists in the first place (spoiler alert: It’s when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday). Even Christians seem to have forgotten what Christmas is all about.

    A heads up for next year: Next year, Christmas will fall on a Sunday, and I have no plans of calling off worship. I remember the last time Christmas was on Sunday, there were churches cancelling services because it was Christmas! Think of this for a moment: The very idea sounds obscene and silly, but it was happening. I was even berated in a Facebook group for pastors when I expressed that the pastors who cancelled their worship services because Christmas fell on a Sunday were misguided and missing the mark of what the day even means. I remember one of the members of the group referred to me as an “old fashioned and uncaring” person, followed by a… well, it was a name I won’t repeat here because he said I wasn’t being sensitive to the needs of families. But, you get the idea. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement.

    The world we live in has, indeed, become more secular. I see a lot of hand wringing among people who worry that we are losing sight of God and that we’re “trying to take God out of everything.” First, know that none of us are that powerful. Trying to take God out of anything is like trying to command the oxygen out of this room right now. We simply can’t do it. Not to mention, God is where God wants to be and there’s nothing we can do about that. What’s more: The reason God often seems absent from our celebrations and our world is because we seem to forget about God. God hasn’t left, we simply fail to acknowledge him. We want others to “Keep Christ in Christmas” but what have we done to bring that about in our own right? As disciples of Jesus, keeping Christ in anything ought to start with us.

    Here’s the thing: We can’t give the impression that we’re keeping Christ in Christmas unless we keep the teachings of Jesus and the ways of Jesus close to our hearts and act upon those teachings. If people can’t see Jesus in us, why should they be concerned with the true meaning of a holiday we care deeply about? If we want to truly keep Christ in Christmas, we must also keep Christ in ourselves, every single day. Keeping Christ in Christmas – and beyond – starts with us keeping the ways of Jesus on full display in our lives.

    Christmas is vital to the Christian faith because the birth of Jesus brought about what I daresay is the most important aspect of the entire story, but one that we often overlook: It’s the incarnation. Dr. Ken Collins was one of my professors at Asbury and he spent a lot of time – at least two full class days – lecturing on the importance of God becoming flesh for us. Let me save you a lot time and expensive of going to seminary and boil down what Dr. Collins told us: Had the birth of Jesus not happened – that is, if God had not been born fully divine and fully human – then anyone who claimed that Jesus truly was the Messiah would have been wrong. That would have included the angels who appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed explicitly that the Messiah had been born and told the shepherds where they could find him. This much trouble would not have been brought forth for a lie so we know that Messiah came that night.

    As Jesus was alive in the barn that night, and is still alive at the right hand of the Father today, so should Christ be alive in us today. Paul is writing his disciples in Colossae and saying just that. If you want to summarize his message, he’s telling the Colossian Christians that if they’re really saved by Jesus and have the Holy Spirit within them, this is how they act like it. I don’t believe that Paul is telling them – and us – to simply play nicely together, rather he’s saying that every single day we must choose to put Jesus fully on display in every aspect of our lives, from how we treat one another, how we talk, even how we think. We choose to show mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and to make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.

    If Jesus is alive in you, then this is what it will look like to other people. This is how people will know that you have Jesus. Paul is listing these attributes and asking, “How well are you keeping the Christ in you?”

    Paul’s metaphor of putting on clothing as a way of displaying one’s devotion to Jesus is a frequent instruction and here’s one reason why I believe he states this: What we wear is a choice. It was your choice to wear what you have on today, just as it was my choice to have this robe on while I preach this morning. You or I could have chosen differently but this is the choice we made.  Our faith is the same way: Every single day, we choose to put on Christ by daily accepting His grace and mercy and choosing to live out that faith by taking the teachings of Jesus seriously enough to live them out. The way we treat each other and people in general is a choice that we make every single day. Everyday, we can choose to treat each other the way the world expects – with distrust, thinking the worst about the other, and general disdain – or we can choose to live “love your neighbor as yourself.” Being a disciple is more than saying we go to church or having a fish symbol somewhere on our car; being a disciple is an intentional way of life. It’s an ethical and moral responsibility.

    Conflict is going to arise, even within the church. I believe Paul is telling us to be on guard for that. In spite of any decision that we make to put on Jesus every morning, we are still going to have problems come up. Paul teaches us here that putting on Christ involves knowing that not all of us are on the same level and we are going to get plenty of things wrong. Lord knows I have my faults. Sometimes I can really put my foot in my mouth when I allow my fingers or my mouth to move faster than my brain and heart. We all have those times. We have a choice, however: When we are on the receiving end of offense, we can choose to hold that against the other person or we can choose to love, forgive, and understand that we all have faults. Paul tells us to choose love.

    I like verse 17 the best of all in this passage: “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus.” Every day, we are a representative of Jesus. People know us and know that we profess Jesus as our savior. The choice is ours as to how good of a representative we are of him. When we send representatives to Jackson or to Washington, we want them to remember where they come from and who they represent, not only to vote the way they believe is in our best interest, but also to represent us in the best way possible. As Christ’s representatives, we have somewhat of the same responsibility: Everyday we vote to uphold the gospel and follow it. Everyday, we represent Jesus and it’s up to us to give a good picture of Jesus to all people we meet. It may sound hyperbolic but one’s impression of Jesus could be based on you. What kind of impression do you want to make? Paul is letting us know that we have a responsibility to remember who we are, where we come from, and who we belong to. We belong to Jesus. Let’s represent him well.

    The choice is ours: We can take on this moral code that Paul is teaching about here or we can do our own thing and say it’s of Jesus when it really isn’t. There has been much damage done to the church throughout the ages by people – well-meaning for the most part – who have made majorly bad decisions in God’s name. From judgment on who’s worthy to come to the table, rants about coffee cups and “happy holidays” to the more heinous examples of genocide, these people do not represent Jesus well at all. I saw something recently that said, “People say they want to keep Christ in Christmas but I’d settle for keeping Christ in Christians,” Ouch. How well have we represented Jesus lately? Have we put on Jesus of the Bible of an idol of our own making and own moral judgments? Would Jesus approve of how we treat our neighbors?

    Let’s keep Christ in Christmas by putting on full display the Christ that’s within us. What’s more, let’s do it every single day. Let’s keep Christ all year ‘round.

  • A TL, DR Sermon: The Lost Sheep

    Matthew 15:21-28
    Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

    Going into my final year at Asbury Seminary, I did an internship where I worked with some of the homeless population in Lexington, Kentucky. The experience was a profound eye-opener that had a major impact on my life and my ministry. Among the lessons I learned was that much of what we think we know about the homeless is untrue and there are many systematic problems that prevent them from more quickly getting back on their feet. I was also reminded that the homeless that society – and the church – tends to often shun are seeking God and are just as precious in His sight as anyone else. Oh, that we would all be reminded of this from time to time!

    The texts I chose to preach on this week were part of the Lectionary, but I also believe that choosing just one for such a time as this was not adequate. I believe these texts give us two important truths: All people are beloved by God and are worthy of being invited to His table, and the calling to seek the lost sheep never expires.

    The gospel reading starts soon after a group of disciples is sent off on a missionary trip for the first time. Jesus instructed them not to go among the Gentiles. This text can often be used to justify bigotry but I do not believe Jesus did this as a judgment against the Gentiles. Rather, I believe He knew that the disciples were simply not ready ready effectively minister to the Gentiles and Jesus needed to show them that the prejudices that Jews held against Gentiles were wrong and sinful.

    This is where the Gentile woman comes in. The fact that Jesus illustrated to His flock that she, too, was worthy of love and receiving grace and mercy. This was the beginning of their eyes being opened to the reality that God’s kingdom is not just for certain people, but that He desires for all to have a chance to know Him.

    In the reading from Romans, Paul is teaching that not only does the call to seek all of the lost sheep never expire, but that God has not abandoned the Jews in favor of the Gentiles as many of them thought. Paul was saying that, yes, the Jews still matter to God, but so do the Gentiles. Until they understood this, the Jews would continue to hold these age-old prejudices against the Gentiles and consider them inferior. Yes, the Jews still matter but so do the Gentiles and so does anyone else made in God’s image (Spoiler: That’s everyone!).

    In God’s eyes, no one is inferior. I believe these two texts together are trying to teach us that. Who are the lost sheep that you need to invite to the table? Let’s stop acting as gatekeepers to the Kingdom and instead act as guides who show people the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

  • A TL, DR Sermon: “YOU Give Them Something

    (I’m at new appointment – more on that another time – and we have not been meeting in-person for nearly a month due to COVID-19. For people in my midst who don’t have reliable internet access and are unable to watch our worship service recordings, I’ve been including condensed versions of my sermons for the worship bulletin. Here is this week’s. I will be sure to include them here starting now. I hope you find a blessing from my ponderings. – Jonathan)

    Text: Matthew 14:13-21 (NLT)

    One of the most common questions for pastors right now is, “How should Christians respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? What should our witness be?” I believe this is an excellent question, because what we see playout on social media and elsewhere by people who state that they are followers of The Son seem to be anything but a positive response. I believe Jesus calls us to exhibit sacrificial compassion in the face of a crisis like COVID-19.

    I believe this is just one of the lessons we learn from what we call the Feeding of the 5,000. First of all, we need to know that the number was actually much higher because only the men were counted (the women and children present were not counted at gathers back then). Jesus likely fed closer to 10,000 – or more – people with five loaves of bread and two fish! People tend to get lost in the “how” of this miracle but I believe the more important question is, “Why?”

    The writer of Matthew tells us why in verse 14: “He had compassion on them.” We have to remember that this is just after Jesus found out that John the Baptist had been executed so He was in the midst of grieving the loss of his cousin and friend. This grief may not be unlike the collective grief we’re experiencing now.

    I believe there are several reasons why Jesus responded in the way that He did and I’m sure I could preach several sermons on this passage. The lesson we most need now is His example of sacrificial compassion. When Jesus told the disciples, “You give them something,” He wasn’t trying to pass the buck because He didn’t feel like performing a miracle, rather He wanted them to know that sending people away in their time of need is not how a disciple ought to respond to a need.

    How do we respond in the midst of crisis, whether it’s a pandemic, natural disaster, or something else? We show compassion, even to the point of personal sacrifice. That’s why we do things to protect our neighbors: It’s not out of a desire to make a political statement but out of a desire to make a moral statement, to give a strong witness for the love of Christ. We are called to be imitators of Jesus and showing compassion is one of the ways which we do this.

    Remember: Even Judas ate, had his feet washed, and sat at the right hand of Jesus – the place of honor – at the Last Supper. If Jesus can show the one who would betray Him this much compassion and mercy, what could we do?

    Let’s go and do likewise.

  • Sermon: Real Talk about Racism

    More or less, what follows is the sermon I gave this morning at Druid Hills UMC in Meridian, MS (Lost Gap had a different sermon because they were voting on closure today). I’m sharing this here because I believe this is a message that we all need a reminder of right now. The recent racial unrest has underscored that we have a long way to go in racial equity, much farther than we probably want to admit. I hope you will take my attempt to articulate what has been on my heart and “chew on” these words. Allow God to work on you and what your part may be in breaking the church’s silence on racism and how we can combat this sin.

    If you’d like, you can watch the worship service from Druid Hills here.

    LUKE 10:24-37 (NLT)
    One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

    26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

    27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[c]

    28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

    29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

    Parable of the Good Samaritan
    30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

    31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant[d] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

    33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[e] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

    36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

    37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

    Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

    Last week we celebrated the day that the Holy Spirit was sent to this world with a video worship service featuring clergy, laity, and children from all over our Mississippi Annual Conference connection. Did you notice the diversity that was represented? Men, women, white black, and everything in between coming together with but one two-fold goal in mind: To lead us in worship and to give glory to the Lord’s name. As I watched the video with you all last week, the sheer beauty of how wide and deep our own state is in terms of the different people we have in our midst brought tears to my eyes. In my mind, it was truly a reflection of God’s kingdom – the way the kingdom was always intended to be and will be someday when Jesus returns.

    We live in a fallen world where diversity is not always celebrated and, in many cases, is discouraged and even ridiculed. The killing of George Floyd sent shockwaves through our nation, just as such an unjust and evil event ought to do. While Mr. Floyd’s death may have been an event that brought our racial tension to a head, this was hardly the first time that we have seen unjust killing of people of color. Another recent example is the shooting death of Breona Taylor, a young black EMT from Louisville, Kentucky, who was killed when police executed a raid at the wrong address – her apartment – looking for a suspect who was already in jail on another charge. I resonate with the cries of our brothers and sisters of color when I say that enough is enough and it’s time for an end to these senseless deaths. As a white man who has family members who are biracial or of another race entirely, I must stand up for my loved ones. As a Christian pastor, I know we are all children of God. The children’s song says, “red or yellow, black or white, we are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” So why are we not doing that for each other now? We are all loved by God. And God taught us to love our neighbor, as we heard a moment ago. So, now above any other time in our existence, God is calling us to love our neighbors. We must love the most threatened among us. We should stand with our black brothers and sisters and protect them, love them, treat them as our equal… because anything less is a sin in front of our Lord and Savior.

    Now I say all of this as a pastor among a white congregation. I say this, knowing that this is not the popular belief in this area, but brothers and sisters, Jesus did not preach to what was popular. He preached to what is right.

    On Friday, Bishop Swanson sent out a video that was both a rebuke against the church for its long and deafening silence on racism as well as how we can begin to respond. Bishop Swanson is absolutely correct: The church has remained silent for far too long and this needs to change. The reason the church is often silent on racism is because we don’t want to seem to be preaching political topics or we don’t want to make people uncomfortable. The truth about the gospel is that the truths within it often are uncomfortable because we are forced to see ourselves for who and how we truly are. So, today, I do my part to change this trend of silence in the church. Today, I stand here and tell you that we’re going to get uncomfortable. I declare from this pulpit that racism is a sin. Racism is incompatible with Christian faith – you cannot call yourself a follower of Jesus if you are a racist. To remain silent is equally as sinful. Our baptismal vows that we make before God and His people include standing up for the oppressed and to resist evil in whatever form it takes. That starts with us acknowledging the sin of racism.

    And that brings us to our scripture today: The Parable of the Good Samaritan. The legal expert who is questioning Jesus is really wanting to justify himself. While I fully admit that I’m using some conjecture here, I would speculate that the man that Jesus was talking to was one of the Jews who really hated Samaritans. Back then, Jews and Samaritans simply did not get along. Jews viewed them as inferior and as beneath them. Perhaps the justification that the man was seeking was really that which would affirm his hatred toward someone simply because that person looked different than he did. And as we see through the rest of the passage, Jesus is not having it. The fact is, a story where the Samaritan was the hero was very scandalous to the Jews who heard it.

    The belief back then was that touching certain people or people experiencing certain conditions would make one unclean and this certainly would have included touching a man who was beaten and bloody and left in a ditch to die. The Levite and the priest would have been considered to be ceremonially unclean had they touched him. It was because of those crazy fears that they went so far as to cross the street. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech using the story of the Good Samaritan as an example. He had this to say about it: “The first question the priest and Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me? But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop and help this man, what will happen to him?’” In other words, the priest and the Levite were putting themselves first. Instead, the Samaritan chose to put the man before him and to in turn take care of him.

    One thing I have seen over and over again is that children do not seem to have a racism gene. If you go to a park in most cities, you can see white children playing with children who are black, brown, and everything in between. Comedian Denis Leary says, “Racism isn’t born, folks. It’s taught. I have a two-year old son. You know what he hates—naps.” Children are not born to hate other people. Instead, this behavior is something that is learned. When children are raised in ignorance about other races, that’s how they learn to hate. And simply, this is not ok.

    More than anything, racism is not a skin issue, it’s a sin issue. The problem is not the color of one’s skin or their national origin, the problem is that the person who is racist is giving in to sin. James 2:9 says, “But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.” When the command handed down says, “Love the Lord with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself,” there are no qualifiers attached to that. There is no asterisk with a list of who our neighbors are not at the bottom of the page. Our neighbors are all people, period, full stop. There’s a meme that goes around from time to time where Jesus is telling those gathered to love their neighbors as themselves. Someone from the crowd goes, “What about my black neighbor?” Another says, “What about my Jewish neighbor?” And then Jesus says, “I’m going to start over, tell me where I lost you.” When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, he’s telling us that we are to love all people no matter what.

    So how can we neighbor those who look different than us? Well, it starts by taking a good look at the person in the mirror. We have to confront our prejudices. Let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute: We all have them. We all have those pre-conceived judgements about other people that are not based on any sound reason or experience (which is the definition of a prejudice, by the way). Some examples might be, “All rich people are snobs.” Or, “Old people are mean.” Or, “Which men can’t jump.” I could go on and on. Or maybe we say things like, “I’m not racist because I have black friends.” Well, that’s great! But do you truly see them as your equal? Are they just as much deserving of the love of Christ as you are? We have to confront those prejudices. We have to get real with ourselves.

    Next, we have to see to understand others. This is another hard part because this means we will have to get even further outside of our comfort zones than we did when we took a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror. This means that we have to actually pay attention to our neighbors, take the time to get to know them, really listen to them. This is the one that is the easiest to ignore because it takes real effort on our part, but it’s so vital. We can not simply look at people different from us who are on TV or read some data about what works in one place. We have to know how to love people and help them right where we are. This is where they live as well and it’s vital that we take this seriously enough to truly listen to them in order to find out how we can best show them the love of Christ.

    After we listen to them, we have to do the hardst thing of all: We have to love those who are different from us. This is not simply telling someone that we love them, it’s actually doing it. It’s putting our faith and our words into action to show them that we mean it. This is hard becasue it involves a lot of sacrifice. In 1996 in Michigan there was a rally by the Ku Klux Klan and the police in the town were doing their best to keep the Klan and the protesters separated. One of the Klansmen snuck over to the protesters side. Next thign you know, they started to beat on him with shouts of “kill the Nazi” being hurled. 18-year old African American girl named Keisha Thomas threw her body on top of the man’s to stop beating. She put herself at physical risk protect man that likely wanted to harm her.

    Who does this? Committed believer. “I knew what it was like to be hurt. The many times that that happened, I wish someone would have stood up for me.”

    Crossed the street—protect someone different from her.

    Thomas says she tries to do something to break down racial stereotypes every day. No grand gestures. She thinks that small, regular acts of kindness are more important. “The biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact, or a smile. It doesn’t have to be a huge monumental act.”

    Radical love is what she showed to that man. The best way to combat racism is with love because racism is not the presence of hate, it’s the absence of love! Paul wrote to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” God loves all people. He loves Americans. But he also loves Nigirians, Cubans, Hondurans, Mexicans, Choctaws, Jamaicans, Turks, Iranians, Russians, and all other people. He loves white people, black people, brown people, and everything in between. Heaven will be the most diverse place you will ever see. If you hate diversity, you are really going to hate Heaven. Ultimately we will all be together and it will be a beautiful sight.

    We have to face the sin of racism and combat it head on. Racism is not a Christian value. It is not acceptable to God and racism should therefore not be acceptable to us. Jesus said for us to love our neighbors with no qualifiers attached to that. He told us now to neighbor those who are different than us. We simply love.

  • Sermon: Stories of the Saints

    slide-5-communion-of-saintsHere is today’s sermon from Shiloh United Methodist Church in Stanton, KY. We are doing a series based on material from the United Methodist Church Disciple Ministries regarding the saints. In the UMC, our understanding of saints is not the same as our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters. We believe that saints are all of those who lived for Christ and have gone on to their reward in glory.

    This sermon is based on verses from Joshua 24 where the prophet tells the people that they can not serve two gods and to choose carefully who they will serve. He begins by relating the story of Abraham and how they, as a people, came to be through his lineage. The stories we weave as disciples are important and can also reflect on all believers. Thus, it’s important for us to make our story the best one it can possibly be.

    I hope you find some hope and inspiration in these words. May God bless you and yours. – Jonathan

    Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 (NLT)
    Then Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, including their elders, leaders, judges, and officers. So they came and presented themselves to God.

    2 Joshua said to the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River,* and they worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him into the land of Canaan.

    14 “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

    16 The people replied, “We would never abandon the Lord and serve other gods. 17 For the Lord our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from slavery in the land of Egypt. He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes. As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us. 18 It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other nations living here in the land. So we, too, will serve the Lord, for he alone is our God.”

    19 Then Joshua warned the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.”

    21 But the people answered Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”

    22 “You are a witness to your own decision,” Joshua said. “You have chosen to serve the Lord.”

    “Yes,” they replied, “we are witnesses to what we have said.”

    23 “All right then,” Joshua said, “destroy the idols among you, and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

    24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him alone.”

    25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the Lord.

    Last week we began a series on saints, but not the ones from New Orleans or ones who we might celebrate on certain holy days. We began to hear about the saints, ultimately all of those who are in Christ and have gone on to their reward and those who are currently in Christ and will go on to glory someday. We heard about the clothing that a saint might wear – how do we identify them? The white clothing placed on them by Christ certainly does much to show us who these people are – their everyday way of living. Today we hear their stories. What do we hear about from the saints? What ist their story?

    There is a song that came out several years ago that contained these lines: “What’s your story about his glory? You gotta find your place in his amazing grace.” Recently I heard this song again for the first time in several years and I began to ponder these words. On first look, I have my faults. Every single day I do things that perhaps at the time I don’t realize are displeasing to God. This could take the form of anything from being rude to someone or not doing something that I know God would want me to do as a disciple. But I also know that I love Christ and I seek to grow in his grace every single day, to do better than the day before, to continue to be transformed into a completely new creation. I desire nothing but Christ and to walk in the Holy Spirit. My goal is perfection and I am, as John Wesley asked his pastors when they were being ordained, earnestly striving for and going on to perfection. But how I live my faith – the outward everyday testimony that I give – tells a story that will be my legacy. I hope to make it a good one.

    Here’s a question that’s good to wrestle with from time to time: If I were to depart this world for glory right now, would my story as a disciple of Christ be one that’s worth being shared by others? Every single one of us will be remembered in some way by the people we leave behind. Another sure thing is, some will remember us differently. Some will remember us for the way we made sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving or for the way we told jokes around the fireplace on Christmas Eve. Some will remember that we did some heroic thing one year in a blizzard that kept everybody and everything frozen in place for a week. These, of course, are examples of the good things that someone might remember about us. Let’s hope there are many more of these sorts of stories than the other kind.

    A saying that is popular among those in sales is that it can take a very long time to gain a customer but only a very short time to lose one. Likewise, it can take someone years to obtain a good reputation while it may only take a split second to have a bad one. The bad stories that may be recalled about someone after they have departed, unfortunately, can outweigh the good one. We have all seen it. Someone with a bad reputation can die and all some people will talk about is how much of a jerk they were, how badly they treated their spouse, beat their kids, did drugs, or any number of other things. Nevermind that that person could have once saved a building full of school children from a fire, it will be the vices and other bad things that will be remembered the most. Research has proven that negative events and traits can have a larger impact on our memories than positive ones. This may seem counterintuitive but the numbers do not lie. We tend to remember the bad stuff and forget the good stuff.

    This is why it’s all the more important for every one of us who are in Christ to strive every single day to leave a positive legacy and to make sure that the story told about us is the best that we can possibly make it. Not only will this story reflect our life but can also reflect on all disciples of Jesus Christ.

    Stories are exactly what we are reading about in this passage from the prophet Joshua. Of course, by the time Joshua is talking to the people about their stories as we pick up his story this morning, it has likely been well over three centuries since Abraham had lived and died. His name and some of his stories had been carried forward through the ages. But the first thing Joshua wants to tell the people about their ancestor as he is about to finish his work among them is that Abraham was not always connected to the God they knew as their God. He had served other gods, as his family before him had.

    And the second thing he wanted them to know about Abraham’s story was that first our God made a choice, and then Abraham did. Our God chose to call this man who was not serving our God, and Abraham chose to pay attention and devote his life to following where our God led him. God acted first. God called. Then Abraham forsook all other allegiances and followed.

    That’s our story, too, isn’t it? John and Charles Wesley would call this preventing, or prevenient grace. Before we were even trying to pay attention to what our God was calling us to do, even before we couldpay attention to such things, God called, and kept calling.

    For many of you, you heard that call and you followed. You made a pledge at your baptism, if you were older, you would renounce all other allegiances, and serve Jesus as Lord, accepting the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. And over the years, you’ve learned what it means to rely on grace to keep you connected to God and to others in the body of Christ, the church, and to serve as Christ’s representatives in the world.

    This is our story. We were serving other gods. We were following our own way. Even if we were “good Christian people” and “in the church,” and for some of us, even if we were confirmed and meant it at the time, we still hadn’t completely broken all those prior allegiances. Just being “in the church” may not really have been enough of an influence to do what the church promises to pray for us at every baptism– “that we may become true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.”

    Hear this good news. God keeps calling. The Spirit keeps striving. Prevenient grace is still very much a thing! Even when our story is that we’re ignoring God, God doesn’t ignore us. Indeed, God is calling us toward the fullness of life in Christ even then, even when we’re actively serving other gods or ends.

    Hear this even better news. We don’t have to keep ignoring God’s call and God’s promise. We can “choose THIS day whom we will serve.” And in making that choice, our story can become more like that of those robed in white.

    Joshua told the people an ancient ancestor story to speak of a God who made them a people –in effect–out of nothing, out of no prior allegiance.

    They responded with their allegiance to their God who had done something even more remarkable than that. It would have been enough if God had simply called Abraham and given him descendants. But their story was their God did more. Their God delivered these descendants from slavery and cruel oppression at the hands of the Egyptian empire, brought them through a long journey, and enabled them to settle in a new land. Their God wasn’t just out to get them started, but to see them through whatever would come and work for their good. How could they not pledge sole allegiance to their God?

    That’s the story of the saints, too. It’s our story. Some of us may have found ourselves caught in literal slavery and cruel oppression from others. Racism and white supremacy still exercise sway among us. Some of us may struggle with other forms of slavery and oppression such as addiction or other diseases beyond our apparent control. Probably all of us have struggled with patterns of selfishness or habits or actions or attitudes that destroy our relationships with God and neighbor and ourselves. And in our struggles, we may forget the best news of all. God really is out to save us.

    God is out to save us.

    And save us to the uttermost.

    The story that we proclaim and that we weave for ourselves must be one worth telling and remembering. This is especially vital in the age in which we find ourselves. As I mentioned a few moments ago, we all have other gods whom we have been serving and at some point, those of us who have taken membership vows have professed before this or some other congregation that our allegiance is first and foremost with the risen savior Jesus Christ. What we see playing out in certain circles around us is nothing short of evil and idolatrous. We are more polarized than ever and we are also in a place in our nation’s history where we see many people throwing away what they know is morally correct and in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ for the sake of political gain. We are seeing people use scripture to justify everything from racism to pedophilia. We are seeing people equate allegiance with this or that politician or party with being a Christian. It makes my soul ache to know that such is the story that we are collective weaving about the witness of the church of Jesus Christ in the United States. Political gain and the setting aside of morals for the sake of political clout is not why Christ died on the cross. This is not why our veterans offered themselves up for us and why some gave literally everything they had. We can do better than this, we must do better.

    As we write the story of our lives and our witness, we must make sure that if nothing else is said about us, it is proclaimed that we placed God above all other things in our lives, period, full stop. That means that we must do everything that we can to serve him and to take every single opportunity to show others the love of Jesus Christ as often as we can. In the sermon titled “The Use of Money” John Wesley said, “Employ whatever God has entrusted you with in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree . . . to all mankind.” Do we do all the good that we can, in all the ways that we can, in as many places as we can, to as many people as we can, for as long as we ever can? And when we fail to do good and we cause some kind of harm, do we make amends by confessing, repentance, and amends to the person we have wronged? This is how we make our story as a saint one worth telling. Above all, we love God and then we love all people as Christ loves them. Leave a lasting legacy, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… Amen.

  • Sermon: The Apostle’s Tale – Groaning

    Note: This is, more or less, my sermon from this morning’s worship service at Shiloh UMC in Stanton, Kentucky. Last week I began a series called The Apostle’s Tale which mostly is based on readings from Romans 8. This series was designed to go along with readings from the Revised Common Lectionary from a few weeks ago but I was doing another series and began this one late. It worked out perfectly, as this sermon dealt with our responsibility as disciples in light of the suffering and evil in the world. Perfect timing. I hope you receive encouragement and food for thought.

     

    Romans 8:12-25 (NIV)
    Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

    14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

    18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[c] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

    22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

    Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

    Do you accept the freedom and power that God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

    Do you confess Jesus Christ as your savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord in union with the church which Christ has opened to all ages, nations, and races?

    Last week, we began this series with a backdrop of dystopia using examples from The Hunger Games and the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale. We also touched on the dystopia all around us, a world where there is much fear and violence, always an “us” versus “them” mentality. We talked about people being oppressed and some people having while others go without simply because of issues such as social class, race, and any number of factors. At least to some extent, dystopia is all around us and, unfortunately, is not just the stuff of books and movies.

    We have been seeing some of this play out over the last few days. The North Korean government has made threats of a nuclear strike against Guam and on the mainland of the United States.Kim Jong Un claims that his government is working on specific plans and once it’s completed he will sign off on it and that will be all that’s needed to launch a strike. Allegedly a nuclear warhead can be rocketed toward Guam and be there in 14 minutes. Because of these threats, there has been much anxiety and fear in Guam and elsewhere, mainly at not knowing whether North Korea is truly capable of launching such an attack or if they would actually have the moxy to make such attempt. And, “What if they do and they do it?” Fear. Dystopia.

    Yesterday we saw a little piece of dystopia play out with the racial unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia, in what I feel is a true expression of evil. Violence irrupted and a few people have even lost their lives, ultimately because of racism. Neo-nazis gathered to protest the removal of Civil War monuments and also rallied against the acceptance of other races other than white. Let me very clear: Racism is evil. Violence with racism as the root cause is evil. Racism is incompatible with Christian teaching and should not be tolerated within the church. And yet, so many of these groups claim to be Christians, they claim that they are doing work for God, and they claim that the Bible endorses the enslavement of blacks and calls them evil. Their views are contrary to scripture – scripture does not say any of that. Their actions and words, while they may have the right to hold their opinions, are evil. It’s dystopia playing out on the news.

    As Christians, we often feel that we should somehow be exempt from having to experience the evils of the world. Evil is really hard to avoid but we try anyway. We hide ourselves with whatever we think will shield us and we try to pretend that it isn’t there. This really is the complete opposite of what we should do. We can lament and say, “Oh, that doesn’t apply to me because I have Jesus and therefore I don’t have to endure it.” But we see that Paul tells is that part of being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ means that we don’t look away from the suffering going on in the world. We simply can’t. We must acknowledge it and call it what it is. We must confront the sufferings head on.

    So how do we do this? How do we keep our eyes on Christ and yet make sure that we see the evils which are happening in the world for what they truly are, something that simply should not being ignored? We do this by joining in God’s sorrow over the state of this world. We join in and take our place in the chorus of all of God’s creation as it groans. The groans are caused by the long pains of labor as God’s promised kingdom is birthed.

    I remember a particular call when I ran when I was an EMT. I was working in Mississippi and had not yet enrolled in paramedic school. In fact, I had not been an EMT for very long at all. When the dispatcher called us she was obviously very upset when normally she was calm and professional. I won’t go into the details of the call for a lot of reasons but I will say that it was… gruesome. The patient was in terrible shape and severely disfigured. It was difficult to look at him but I had to force myself to. I had to care for him. I had to look at him and his injuries. Thankfully this was toward the end of my shift but the rest of it was spent in a daze. The sight that I had to force myself to observe was completely overwhelming. When I got home, I was physically and mentally exhausted. I simply had nothing left to give and I ended up sleeping most of the day… Well, when I couldn’t see his face in a dream. That was the price I had to pay but I had no choice. I had to force myself to take it all in and provide the best care I could for him.

    Life is like that sometimes. Sometimes the reality that we simply must force ourselves to take it and to not ignore is so overwhelming that it takes all of our energy and we simply have nothing left to give.

    Those of us who claim Jesus as Lord must pay attention to the goings-on in the world but we also need to make sure that we acknowledge the suffering and evil as well. We may want to ignore it and try to shield ourselves from it but we shouldn’t and, let’s be honest, we can’t. We can’t turn out backs on the suffering of our neighbors. We can’t turn our backs on heroin and opiate addicts. We can’t turn our backs on the homeless. We can’t turn our backs on the poor. We can’t turn our backs on racists and other bigots. We can’t turn away from threats from North Korea and other entities who seek to do our country harm. And we can’t turn our backs on people within our own borders who wish to do harm to our country. We must acknowledge. We must look. And we must act, even if that action is simply praying for God’s guidance and wisdom.

    Paul tells us this – he tells us that we must look upon and acknowledge those places where the most pain and the most groaning by all of creation is happening. But here’s the tricky part, the part that we don’t tend to like: We must join in the suffering. We have to take the pain of others on ourselves and bear it. And even when we don’t see hope, we must never, never, never give up. When the enemy tries to drag us away and distract us from the suffering of the world, we have to dig our heels in deeper and stand our ground. We must be patient, we must remember that God is good and God is working to bring about his kingdom and that day will be here sooner than we think!

    It’s natural to wonder where all of this evil and suffering comes from. A common question is “where did all of this come from? How did it start?” It seems to be counterintuitive to God’s intention for the world. And, really, that’s because it is counterintuitive to God’s original plan.

    John Wesley talked about this in one of his sermons. He wrestles with the question of how it can be that God provides for all of creation and yet there is suffering.

    Ultimately, he chalks it up to original sin. He begins by noting that God created human beings in God’s own image of perfect righteousness and love and gave humans dominion over all of creation, especially those lesser animals, or “brutes” as Wesley names the non-human animal kingdom. The difference between humans and brutes, for Wesley, is that humans alone were endowed with the capacity to obey their creator. Thus endowed, God’s original intent was that humans would ensure that no beasts under their care suffered: “All the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures, as man was the great channel of communication between the Creator and the whole brute creation,’ Wesley writes.

    Unfortunately, as we all know, human beings messed up the transmission of those blessings in an irreversible way. This has affected not only all humans, but all the creatures under humanity’s care. Wesley laments that there is no way to know what suffering creation has endured because of original sin. All we know is that “the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; not only creation but we ourselves”

    This is why we have evil. The downside of free will is that one is free to commit evil acts if we so choose – that is, if the enemy can fool us into thinking that we should do these things. This is why the neo-nazis and the dictators of the world are allowed to make their threats, shout their vulgar racial slurs, and to drive their cars into groups of innocent people.

    Christians are not people of isolation. We simply can not and should not hide ourselves from the suffering of the world and simply remain in our bubbles. Maybe you’ve seen the movie, about the boy who was so sick that he could have absolutely no contact with the outside world? He literally had to live in the bubble. I feel that we Christians often hide ourselves in our bubbles to try and ignore the evil of the world but Paul tells us that we simply can’t do that. Christians are not bubble people! We can’t ignore evil and hope that it will go away because, at least until Christ returns, evil isn’t going anywhere. We must acknowledge it. We must name it. We must feel pain with each other and with our neighbors. We must join in the collective groaning of the world rather than ignoring it.

    I want to remind us about the words that we heard last week after we confessed our sins just before having Holy Communion last week: “Hear the Good News! Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. This proves God’s love for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!” And we celebrate that because of Christ, we have been set free from the law of sin and death.

    This IS the good news of Jesus Christ! As the women would say in The Handmaid’s Tale, “Praise Be!”

    But being saved from eternal suffering does not give us a pass to avoid the suffering of God’s creation. Rather, we are called to join with Christ in his suffering, just as we will also join in Christ’s glory.

    I want to read the baptismal vows one more time. I want you to ponder them one more time. Are you all in and do you truly affirm these vows or are they just words?

    Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

    Do you accept the freedom and power that God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

    Do you confess Jesus Christ as your savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord in union with the church which Christ has opened to all ages, nations, and races?

    If you do, say “amen.”