What Am I Doing Here?

(As preached at Palmyra UMC, November 8, 2009)

Hebrews 10:1-25

1 Corinthians 12:14-31

Early one morning, a mother went in to wake up her son.

"Wake up, son. It's time to go to church!"
"But why, Mum? I don't want to go."
"Give me two reasons why you don't want to go."

“Ok - I want to sleep in, and I’d rather watch tv.

"Oh, those are not good reasons not to go to church. Come on now and get ready."
"But everyone there hates me!"
“That is not true – now get up.”
"Give me two reasons why I should go to church."
"Well, for one, you're 33 years old. And for another, you're the Preacher!"

I think if we are honest most of us have had at least one Sunday when we’ve woken up and wondered if we absolutely had to go to church. We have a lot of excuses for thinking that way; everything from ‘I feel too miserable to want to be with other people,’ to ‘I’d rather go fishing.’

This morning we continue our series on the vows we take when we join the United Methodist church, and how taking those words seriously can help us to grow as Christians and as a community of believers. And, if I haven’t said this yet, membership with the United Methodist Church is not a scary thing. If you regularly attend here and are not yet a member I encourage you to talk to Mike or myself about joining with us in membership – it’s simply a matter of meeting with one of us and then participating in a short service as part of our morning meeting time. It’s less painful than the flu shot – plus as a member you are then able to vote on church issues.

To remind you of our sermon series topic - as part of the membership service we pledge to be loyal to Christ through the United Methodist Church, and to faithfully participate in its ministries by our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.”

We began last week by looking at our witness, and this week we will be looking at two areas – our presence and our service; and I think some of you may be surprised to find there is a connection between the two.

First of all, let’s begin by asking everyone who has skipped church in the last year to stand up and explain themselves. Don’t worry, I am only joking. I’m joking, though, to make a point. Church attendance, or to put it another way, ‘serving Christ with our presence’ is one of many areas of church life that has become riddled with guilt. And I think that is a real pity. When guilt is what drags us to church we are missing out on the point of church. Our presence here should not be a guilt thing. Our presence among this community of believers on Sunday morning is an opportunity!

In preparing this sermon this week I discovered that today is the International day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We do well to remember that around the world there are communities of believers who by attending church services risk their families, their freedom, and their lives. Yet despite this risk they continue to gather whenever and wherever they can. What is it about meeting together that is worth losing so much?

First of all, gathering together as a community of believers is a right response to the priesthood of Jesus. The passage from Hebrews that we heard from earlier reminds us that Jesus is our high priest who has made for us a greater sacrifice than all the previous priests combined. The passage goes on to say,

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Coming to this building is by no means the only way to ‘draw near to God’. In fact, since God is constantly present with us we are near to Him wherever we are and whatever we happen to be doing. However, by coming to church we are making a statement with our actions that we desire to be in His presence. We are active participants in our relationship with God when we set aside the time to visit with Him in His House.

Secondly, we gather together to be encouraged and to encourage each other. Hebrews 10 verses 23 – 25 says,

²³Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ²⁵Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

If there is one thing we can learn from the persecuted church it is the value of community. While it is true that we can worship God in a fishing boat, the problem with attempting to make the river our ‘church’ is not that we might miss out on meeting with God – it’s that we miss out on meeting with each other! Remember, church is not a building it is the group of believers who gather in one. We are created not just to be in relationship with God but also with each other.

A third reason our membership vows ask us to participate in the ministry of Christ’s church through our presence is that in doing so we have the opportunity to exercise another part of the membership vows – service. Aha, now we get to point of how these are connected. There are two ways our presence here on a Sunday equips us in our service for Christ.

Firstly, there are opportunities here on a Sunday morning to serve. Do you have a heart for children’s ministries? Ask someone how you can help teach kids church. Would you like to read the bible passages out on a Sunday morning? Come and see me after the service – I’m starting a list of scripture readers? Are you gifted with musical or dramatic skills? There is a place here for you to share those gifts. Do you enjoy cooking? Our fellowship time between Sunday School and morning service could benefit from your gift of hospitality. Can you read and operate a space bar? We can use your help running the power point display. If you don’t think your skills are important to this congregation consider the reading from 1 Corinthians.

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

There is almost no limit to the ways you can serve Christ just by your presence here. Really your service is your decision to be active rather than passive in your presence here. As a pastor I love to see bodies in pews, but I’d rather see bodies in service.

Secondly, your presence on a Sunday morning equips you for your service throughout the rest of the week. The simple act of choosing to set aside an hour to consciously meet with God is a respite from the busy-ness of this modern world. On a practical level the encouragement we gain from meeting with other Christians and, I hope, the biblical instruction that is received here can be the boost we need to step out into the ministry that we all share – following Jesus’ commandment to go and make disciples of all nations.

So our presence and our service for Christ are about so much more than going to church to keep from feeling guilty. I don’t believe guilt and shame have any part in our lives as followers of Christ. Guilt and shame came into the world because of sin and death, and Jesus defeated sin and death on the cross. Our presence and service come from the knowledge that we have been made free in Christ – and we choose to be here, and to serve Him, out of joyful obedience.

Amen.

Jesus Weeps

(As preached at Palmyra UMC, November 1, 2009)

John 11:32-44

Revelation 21:1-6a

Last week I talked about how we have a Good Shepherd who cares for us, and that our response should be to put him in charge of our lives. This is the first of several weeks we will spend looking at five areas in our faith lives where we can allow God to grow us as individuals and as a congregation.

As I mentioned last Sunday, there is now a new wording to the membership vows for the United Methodist Church. Previously incoming members were asked to pledge to faithfully participate in ministry through their prayers, their presence, their gifts, and their service. As of January 1^st, 2009 the word ‘witness’ was added to that list. Although ‘witness’ is the last and most recent faith area mentioned, I want to talk about it first in our series.

You see, today is All Saints Day. Today we honour the lives of those loved ones we have lost - specifically in the last year. I think it’s appropriate that we recognize the witness that these people were and are to this congregation and community. Also, I think it’s appropriate that we stop to consider that they have now joined that ‘great cloud of witnesses’ that we read about in Hebrews. So, not only did they witness to us through their actions during the time we spent together, they are now witnesses of our continuing efforts in the great race set before us.

The whole purpose of adding the word witness to the membership vows was to remind us that we are, each and every one of us, ministers to the people around us. Mike and I are your Pastors here – but please understand it is our job to equip you to do your work of ministry, where ever that may be. I know that living an active and visible faith as a witness is something that we talked about a lot leading up to, and during, our recent revival time. Today I want to talk about how to witness to a hurting world.

What is the appropriate witness in the face of death?

For such a short verse John 11:35 - ‘Jesus wept’ - has inspired pages of writing. It seems that everyone has an opinion on this verse and, sadly, many of those opinions cannot be backed up by the text. Much of the debate surrounding this passage focuses more on personal convictions rather than biblical study.

What we can know is that while Jesus walked among us he constantly demonstrated how we as believers can live lives that point others to God. His actions at the tomb of Lazarus present us with another such example.

The first thing He teaches us through his witness is that weeping is the appropriate response to death. The British have a saying in times of hardship – ‘Keep a stiff upper lip.’ This saying expresses the belief that, no matter what terrible things are happening, you should not show any emotion - let alone actually cry! Well, guess what? That is complete and utter garbage. Our emotions are as much a part of us as our hands and our feet. Medical science now even argues that physical damage can be done to the body if we don’t allow for the natural expression of emotions. In this passage Jesus is standing at the tomb of a man who was his friend – the appropriate response was to cry. Perhaps he cried not just for his friend, but also at the recognition of the pain that the presence of death in the world causes. Perhaps he was reminded of the importance of the work he had been sent to do. We don’t know if that was the case, because the text doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that he cried. That, in and of itself, is important.

The second thing Jesus we can learn from Jesus actions at Lazarus tomb is the value of a silent presence. At the beginning of the passage we read,

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

In this instance Mary could be speaking for so many of us. What she is saying – what so many of us have cried out in our pain – is “You let me down.”

Notice what Jesus does not do in response. He doesn’t explain to Mary all the reasons why he couldn’t be there before that moment in time. He doesn’t remind Mary of the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He doesn’t offer her any excuses, rationales or platitudes. His response is to take the time to stand beside the tomb with her and weep.

The third lesson we can take from Jesus’ actions at the tomb of Lazarus is that we are heard by God. Listen to Jesus’ words again,

"Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."

Jesus did not allow his grief to change his understanding of the relationship he shared with his Father. There is a wealth of meaning in the words ‘I thank you that you have heard me.’ To know that we are heard by God even in the darkest and deepest moments of our pain is a profound and humbling and encouraging thing – and something that Jesus teaches us by his words here.

How can we take these lessons off the pages and into our lives as we strive to witness to the glory of God in our lives?

Unfortunately so many of us have bought into this idea of a ‘stiff upper lip’. There is a world of difference between the pretense of happiness and the deep joy that only God gives. Too often our idea of perfection is bound up in the ideal of happiness. But this happiness we are desperately trying to sell to the world is more to do with us looking good than being a witness to God’s goodness. If we are to be courageous witnesses of the goodness of God we need to be fearless enough to allow people to see when we are hurting – otherwise how can we witness to the presence of God in the midst of our hurt?

The key to being a witness in a hurting world is to be genuine not only in our joys but in our painful times. Yes, this means being vulnerable. Yes! This is scary! But we have with us the great comforter and counselor who is with us in those painful times, and who hears us. Even when our words are “You let me down!” He is with us and He hears us.

Also to witness to the goodness of God we must be prepared to be the quiet presence in the lives of the people we encounter. It is much easier to try to make a good argument on God’s behalf than to allow yourself to simply be the arms of God in the life of a hurting soul. When a hurting person uses the phrase “God let me down!” they are not asking for an explanation of why that is or is not the case – they are asking to be proven wrong. The best witness in that moment is to be the hands of Jesus and with your presence to demonstrate “I’m here.” We are called to weep with those who weep. If we are called to be Jesus in this world, then Jesus not only wept – he weeps.

Finally, to witness to a hurting world is to offer something more. We weep, but we do not mourn like those who have no hope. The saints we honour today are remembered with our tears, but also with our quiet assurance that there will be more time yet to spend together. In the John passage Lazarus was brought back to life to live as he had done before. The life our saints are enjoying even now is a far greater and richer life than what what Lazarus was returned to or what we have. Listen again to the words from the passage from the book of Revelation,

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Who’s the Boss of Me?

(As preached at Palmyra UMC, October 25, 2009)

Hebrews 7:23-28 NIV

Two sheep are walking on the grasslands. Suddenly they both fall into a hole. They can't get out. The first sheep starts to shout: "Help!! Help!!" It does not seem to work. No help is coming. The first sheep shouts again: "Help!!! Help!!" The second sheep says: "It might help if we shout together." The first sheep shouts: "Together!! Together!!"

Sheep have a reputation for being stupid animals. In truth, they can do some pretty stupid things; however they have the advantage over humans in at least one thing – they know how to be lead. You see, sheep recognize that they are defenseless. If something is threatening the flock the only defense they have is to group together and follow the sheep in front of them. In fact, acting independent of the group would be a foolish action in that case. Usually the flock will follow the more experienced sheep to safety. Sometimes the leader will take the flock through a hole in a fence, or even off the side of a cliff.

The thing is, like sheep we choose who we follow. We have heard Jesus tell us, “I am the good shepherd,” but we still sometimes think we can find a better leader. What are the things we look for in a leader? We would like to think we look for someone who is honest, competent, inspiring, intelligent, and fair. In reality, though, many of us make poor choices in our leaders.

We might choose to follow the person who promises the most excitement, or the best financial return, or the guarantee of happiness. Unfortunately excitement, good finances and happiness are all fleeting things. They are good things to have, but we build our lives around them at great risk. When those things fail we better have something more substantial to fall back on.

Although we can at times find ourselves following a bad leader, a more common mistake is following a good person. It is important that we seek out and maintain relationships with wiser and more experienced people. Those relationships can help us to grow in our relationship with God and each other. However, we sometimes need to be reminded that the people we admire are just that – people. Unlike the people who we follow, Jesus is faultless and eternal. He is fully human, but also fully God.

Our passage from Hebrews tells us more about the nature of this good shepherd. It tells us that Jesus is more than simply an inspiring leader. In Hebrews we read that Jesus is our eternal priest. Our Old Testament priests help the position for only a time, but Jesus is our time-less priest.

Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Listen to the following definition of the word priest

‘…a person ordained to act as a mediator between God and man in administering the sacraments, preaching, blessing, guiding, etc.’

In Jesus we have a mediator who always lives to intercede for us! We don’t follow a leader who is here today and gone tomorrow. We are guided by a shepherd who brings who brings us into the very throne room of God, and who continues to do so unconstrained by time. And the most amazing thing about Jesus being our mediator bringing us into the presence of God is that Jesus is also God.

God Himself is our mediator. God doesn’t wait somewhere for us to decide to follow him, He seeks us out daily. In Jesus, God steps into our humanity and invites us to be with Him.

We read,

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

There is no doubt that Jesus is a great leader, but he is more than that. He is the shepherd who made himself a sacrifice for his sheep.

What more do we need to know? How much more could God do for us to invite us to follow him? Yet we continue to make the people around us the boss of us. We make bad choices and follow people who will lead us astray, or we make slightly better choices and follow people – forgetting that they are only people, and becoming disillusioned in them when they fail.

We need to choose to make Jesus the boss. Why? Because He is a good leader who knows what is best for us? Yes – but, more importantly, because he sacrificed his very life to usher us into the throne room of the Father.

What does letting Jesus be the boss (and our high priest) mean for us as Christians? More specifically, what does that mean as United Methodists?

The appropriate response to our high priest should be love and praise. We know that the love and mercy God has for us cannot be earned through our works. When we live in relationship with our triune God we are living the life that we were designed for. God delights in us, and in our love for him.

A part of living in relationship with God is allowing that relationship to transform us. Sheep who follow the voice of the shepherd do not stay in the same pasture day after day, year after year. They may grumble and groan but moving to new pastures keeps them healthy and ensures they grow. In the same way, when we follow the Good Shepherd we show health and growth.

We’re going to be spending the next several weeks leading up to Advent looking at the areas that we as followers of Christ, and as United Methodists can be healthy and grow. The membership vows that we make when we join the community of believers in United Methodism include the promise to serve God with our ‘prayers, presence, gifts, and service’ – and we recently added the word ‘witness’.

These are all important areas of our faith lives and, even more importantly, they are all good and natural responses to the love of God; as demonstrated to us through our High Priest, Jesus.

We are going to spend some time as a church – as a community of believers – deciding who is going to be the boss of us in those areas of our lives. I pray, and I ask you to pray, that we will fully realise that hand of our High Priest, the Good Shepherd, guiding us as we make this journey together.

Amen.

Hebrews 7:23-28 NIV

Can I get a Witness.

(As preached at Palmyra UMC, October 18, 2009)

Jeremiah 29:11-13

1 Peter 3:8-22

I don’t think I know anyone who enjoys sitting for a test. Even under the best circumstances we can find ourselves making silly mistakes under pressure. Take for example, the following answers to bible questions, as given by children:

The first commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.

The greatest miracle in the bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he actually obeyed him.

Unleavened bread is bread made with no ingredients.

A Christian should have only one wife. This is called monotony.

In our passage from First Peter we read the following instruction –

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Talk about a test question that puts you under pressure! I’m not suggesting that we don’t have good reasoning and understanding under-girding our faith, but for many of us there are just so many reasons for the faith we have that summing it up into a simple answer seems impossible.

However, I think we can sometimes misunderstand the intent behind this scripture. We are not asked to have a pat answer prepared that we can spout off just in case a stranger approaches us on the street and asks us why we follow Jesus. I think the bigger picture can be seen by looking at the surrounding verses.

This instruction is only a small part of a passage that deals mainly with the way we live our lives. What it boils down to is that when we live with and through the love of God, putting our own wishes aside, the hope we have will be evident to the people around us. While we will still find ourselves at times in need of the right words to explain our beliefs to people around us, those words are less important than our commitment to allowing the light and love of God to shine out through us.

And actually, when I look back at the weekend of renewing services we have just had over the course of our fall revival – that’s the main message that I took away from our speakers. The topic of our revival was to ‘Re-think Church’. To me, this passage from First Peter describes the way I think church should be; not a building, not a corporation – but a community of believers who seek to make themselves last and Christ first.

But at the end of the day, what I took away from the revival is not all that important. What I’d like us to do now is spend some time together sharing what we took away from the revival. After all, this is Laity Sunday – a time for me to sit in the pew and encourage the congregation to share in ministry. In light of that fact, I have asked some people to be prepared to talk for a few minutes about their impressions of our fall revival. So I welcome those people to come and share their messages – their witness – now.

(P.S.- if you missed morning worship with us that week you missed some great messages from our lay folk ;-p)

Wuv, Twoo Wuv. Part Three.

Luke 10:25-37

1 John 4:7-21

If you have ever watched children’s television, then there’s a good chance you’ve watched Sesame Street. And if you’ve ever watched Sesame Street there’s a good chance you’ve heard the colourful little felt and glue Muppets singing,

“Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
In your neighborhood?
Say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you meet each day”

Now, the answers from the song lyrics that I came up with in my research this week included butchers, bakers, and postmen. Although the song has appeared in some form or another on numerous episodes, it strangely never makes mention of the following example of a neighbour.

In September the New York Times printed the story of a neighborhood in Westport, Connecticut that is embroiled in lawsuits over the building of a wall. Two couples, the Hancocks and the Lilliens, have been battling over the issue of a stone wall that the Hancocks built to replace an older fence along the edge of their property. To quote from the article,

“After four years, the Hancocks have spent some $150,000 on legal expenses and $50,000 for modifications and inspections of the wall. These expenses have already exceeded the $170,000 cost of the wall. But with their case going to Stamford Superior Court on Thursday, Mr. Hancock’s lawyer said the couple could spend $150,000 more before the matter was resolved. If they lose, it would cost them at least $120,000 to tear down their wall, not counting any fines.”

I suppose the Sesame Street version of the story would go,

‘Now a lawyer is a person who

Will be helpful if you want to sue

Those annoying people from next door

But it’ll cost you more and more.’

Although we enjoy joking at the expense of lawyers, what this article really shows us is that it can be difficult to get along with the people around us; and more importantly, that the people around us notice when we disagree. Reading this story doesn’t give me a good impression of the community of Westport, Connecticut. For all I know the town may be entirely populated by warm and loving people, however what I have learned about them in the news media, correctly or incorrectly, is that they love a lawsuit.

The Christian church has also been struggling with an image problem. From the outside we often appear to be a group of hypocrital finger-pointers who obsess over following rules and making sure no one has any fun. There’s been a lot of talk about ‘saving’ the church, and ‘re-branding’ the church, but I think in the debate what gets lost is the truth of who the church is.

This is the third week that we’ve been talking about love. We began by talking about setting aside what we want in order to fully love our God in the way He deserves. Last week we talked about receiving the love God has for us – knowing that we are loved. All along I’ve been promising to get to the point of what this all has to do with our revival next week.

Well, we have finally reached that point. Here’s the one thing I want you to take away from today’s message -

‘You do not invite people with your words.’

If someone were to invite me to move to the community of Westport, Connecticut, the most carefully crafted, hand-written, embossed invitation card – delivered to me on a silver platter would not change the image I have of who they are as a neighbourhood.

For some reason we within the church think that an invitation to a church event begins and ends with the words “Would you like to come to our church?” In actuality the relationships we build, or fail to build, with the people around us speak louder than our words do.

We have been studying The Great Commandment - 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Wouldn’t it be easier if we could follow most of this commandment, and consider the last part of it as an optional extra? As difficult as it is to love God, it can be a hundred times more difficult for us to love our neighbours. But it isn’t an optional extra, it is essential. It is the logical conclusion we must reach when we learn of God’s love for us.

In 1 John we read,

“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

I know the repetition in this passage can make it a bit tough to follow at times, so allow me to boil it down for you.

God didn’t wait for us to love Him first - God loves us anyway.

God is not just loving, God is love.

God has proven his love for us through Jesus’ death for us.

Therefore, if we claim to serve God we must show that same love.

When we love others we are working with God in His great work for the world.

If we are to love each other with the love that God has for us it means we don’t have the luxury of holding back on love until it has been earned. It is human nature for us to disagree with each other at times, but at all times we need to love – even in the midst of conflict. If we claim to love God we must love each other – it is just common sense.

Let me tell you this, building a community of love is far more important than constructing a building. Yesterday I sat and talked with several of you at the bake sale at the Hilltop grocery store. Today I’m wondering if the people involved actually knew just how profound that activity was. A few people who approached our table asked what the proceeds of the sale were going towards, and the answer was – ‘It goes to our building fund.’

And that is true. Fundraising and good stewardship are an important part of church life, built I think the cash money raised yesterday was less important than the other work that was going on. What I witnessed and was involved in yesterday was a group of people demonstrating the love and community that we have here at Palmyra United Methodist Church. It may have felt like a fun day sitting and chatting with friends, selling some brownies and raising some money. However, what I believe people saw was the love of God in us. That is why people stopped to buy pie, but stayed to share their stories. They stopped to buy a brownie, but stayed to share about their lives.

This is what I mean when I say you do not invite people with your words. When we love each other with the love God has for us people can see it! And if we can take that love that God has for us, and show it not just to each other but also to our neighbours – they can see that too!

I think it is obvious that this church is aware of the need to show God’s love in the neighbourhood. But let’s remember that our neighbourhood extends further than Palmyra, or even Tennessee. This is World Communion Sunday, after all, which is a great reminder that our neighbours are next door, but also in the next state, and also on the other side of the world. We are a part of a world-wide community of believers. We have all the support and resources we need to do the work of God here and further afield.

So what does this boil down to for us – the people who have attended church this morning, in this building? First of all, we need to be prepared to be the church outside of this building, just as I saw happening yesterday. I think one important aspect of the Good Samaritan story from Luke that often gets over-looked is that the love as shown in the ‘good neighbour’ story goes beyond the boundaries of religion. We are not told to love other Christians because God first loved Christians. We are told to love everyone because God first loved us – before we loved Him!

So let us continue to create a community of believers who share the love of God with each other, but let’s not forget to show that love outside of this building. That person who bothers you so much at work is loved by God just as much as you are – even if they don’t know it yet. We are having a revival next weekend, but don’t let that be the sum total of the communication you share with the people around you. Don’t let “We’re having a revival, would you like to come?” be the only invitation you give to people. Allow God to work through you to show His love to the world. That is the more important invitation. It is great to invite people to come and attend our revival, but it is a far greater thing to invite people, through the love we show, to come to know God.

When we began on this journey together two weeks ago I talked a lot about the movie, The Princess Bride. In fact, for anyone who wasn’t here, the sermon title is a quote from that movie. In that scene of the movie the priest with the terrible speech impediment provides comic relief, but the words he speaks are no less true for it.

“Wuv, twoo wuv, shall follow you foweva.”

I trust that we all know it. If you don’t know the love I’ve been talking about today, please come and see me, because I would love to introduce you to that love. For those of us who do know God, I pray that we can show the people around us the true love that follows and leads and surrounds us forever.

Amen.

Wandering Feet: Wuv, Twu Wuv. Part Two.

Wandering Feet: Wuv, Twu Wuv. Part Two.

Wuv, Twu Wuv. Part Two.

Mark 12:28-34

Ephesians 2:1-10

Movie sequels can really mess with us cinema goers.

You watch a movie; you enjoy it - the end. However, the next thing you know a sequel is out. So you go and watch the sequel, only to find that the purpose of that movie was to set up the audience with all the plot information they would need to watch the THIRD movie. I know, it can be very annoying.

Well, I have a confession to make. If you remember, last week when we began this sermon series on love I told you that this week I would be talking more about what love has to do with our upcoming fall revival. However, as I worked on this sermon I began to realise that I was working on the wrong sermon. Before we can talk about making the love we have external, there is another form of love that we really need to look at.

In 1986 recording artist Whitney Houston released the single ‘Greatest Love of All’, written by Linda Creed. In the chorus Whitney sings,

Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

Now Ms Creed, the songwriter, is so close to getting to the truth of things here.

Last week we looked at one of the passages in the bible that tells of the words of Jesus that we know as The Great Commandment. We heard those words again this morning, this time from the book of Mark,

'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 30}Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

We talked about how loving God means putting aside our wishes, and embracing what God wants for our lives. The truth is that the more we learn about God, the more we come to see that what He wants for our lives is…love.

The song says, ‘The greatest love of all is easy to achieve.’ Ok, but really? Is it so easy to learn to love yourself? According to the World Health Organisation, depression affects about 121 million people worldwide. Teen magazines dedicate page after page to articles about the harm young people can do to themselves as they struggle with self-esteem issues. And don’t think the problem stops with teens. We live in a world that is filled with hurting people. We are surrounded by hurting people. We are hurting people.

If we are honest we often struggle to even like ourselves; yet according to the song, all we need to do is look inside ourselves and discover this great and profound self-love. You see, this is where the songwriter missed the boat on this point. The ‘greatest love of all’ is not found inside us – it is placed there.

Let’s look at the reading from Ephesians.

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

For some reason there are preachers who feel that they need to constantly remind people of just how unworthy and wretched and miserable we all are. Guess what? We already know that. As I stated earlier, we are hurting people. Admittedly, there are times when we sink into our wealth and comfort and self-assurance and need to be reminded that we are nothing without God. Honestly, that is not the message for today.

Today we’re talking about love – the greatest love. Not a love that relies on our own efforts or understanding. We didn’t do something great to earn this love. We aren’t loved because our clean living made us worthy. Quite the opposite – we were dead in our transgressions. It is only because of God’s great love for us that we are made alive in Christ.

You know, in the church we hear ‘God loves you’ so often that we often struggle to take in what that means. Let me put it another way – God likes you. To borrow from the novelist Paul Young, God is especially fond of you.’ God’s love is not like our frail human love. He’s not waiting for you to get good enough to be loved - He loves you now! His love for you began even before you knew Him - He loved you before now! His love doesn’t fade away with the passing of time – He loves you into eternity.

How can we know this is true? In Romans chapter five, verses six to eight we read,

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.)

We struggle in vain to find something about ourselves to like, when the God of all creation loves us abundantly! Do you want to exchange self-loathing for love? Consider looking at yourself the way God looks at you. We are creatures of great worth because our Creator loves us.

I am reminded of yet another quote from The Princess Bride – the movie that gave us the sermon title for today. In this scene the lovely Buttercup, who is engaged to the villain of the film, has just discovered that her true love is not dead as she believed. Wesley says, “I told you I would always come for you, why didn’t you wait for me?” Buttercup replies, “Well, you were dead.” To which Wesley answers, “Death cannot stop true love, all it can do is delay it for a while.”

Through all the stories we read in the bible we see this theme. You know, this book is not a book of judgment, it is a love story. Despite the repeated unfaithfulness of His people, God says, “I told you I would always come for you.” Time after time we read about the children of God growing impatient and wandering off to do their own thing, and each time God says, “I told you I would always come for you.” The culmination of this promise is in the person of Jesus who demonstrates once and for all that death cannot stop true love. In fact, Jesus’ actions in stepping into and defeating death prove the great love of God for us.

In the same way, in our personal life stories we see the same theme. We tend to take on the hurts that come our way and don’t hear God saying to us, “I told you I would always come for you.” But we have an advantage over the children of Israel, because the Spirit of God - the presence of God - is with us already and always.

Perhaps some of you are struggling to see the link between accepting the love God has for us and the Commandment to love God and our neighbour. Next week we will be looking at the importance of loving our neighbours with the love of God. However, I put it to you that we can not give what we have not received. How can we tell people to come to our great revival and hear about how God loves them, if on some level we doubt that He loves us?

I want to encourage you to be embraced by the greatest love of all. And I mean, for the first time or for the thousandth time. If you are hurting, if you are struggling to love or even like yourself, I invite you to take your sense of self worth from the God who knows you better than you know yourself, and who loves you anyway.

This is a Pointless Post.

My darling husband (who is the greatest and bestest person in the whole wide world – and who is also in the same room as me right now) bought me a new laptop for my birthday this week.  She’s shiny and red and I love her.  I have decided to name her Scarlett (I DO live in ‘The South’ now, after all).

She also has a very neat feature which allows me to update my blog without going through the rigmarole of signing in to blog spot, and clicking ‘new post’ and etc.

Mike is so excited by this that he has offered to ‘test’ it for me.

Thoughtful of him, hey?

However I have decided to test it for myself – thus saving Mike from all that effort, and also proving that I am not the complete techno-fail that I generally consider myself to be.

Wuv, Twu Wuv. Part One

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Matthew 22:34-40

Later this year Mike and I will celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary. As my husband is fond of saying, ‘you get less time in prison for grand theft auto’. I’m sure some of you have a romantic, funny or unusual proposal story to share – ours was quite simple. Mike proposed to me at a church movie night. The movie? The Princess Bride.

The Princess Bride is, consequently, a favourite with us. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, let me fill you in on the basic plot. A young boy is sick in bed when his grandfather arrives to entertain him, by reading him a story. The story is an adventure story, a comedy, a love story. The story is about how the fair young maiden Buttercup and her brave love Wesley, together defeat adversity, pirates, a wicked villain and – let’s not forget – Rodents Of Unusual Size.

Mike and I have seen the movie so many times that we can almost quote it word for word. If you will indulge me for a moment, I’d like to share few favourite quotes.

The King's stinking son fired me, and thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut, and pour lemon juice on it?

Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.


…iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them…

However, perhaps my favourite part of my favourite movie of all time is the moment when Buttercup reaches the front of the cathedral, resplendent in her wedding gown, and the priest turns around in all his official vestments and says…

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam... And wuv, twu wuv, will fowow you foweva...

Now, true love (or twoo wuv) is an ideal that we are bombarded with in our society. I do not claim to be an authority on true love, but I know that novels and television shows, magazines and advertising and movies (no matter how much we enjoy them) do not necessarily give us the best understanding of love. Of course, even our best understanding of love is flawed by our limited wisdom and our human frailties, however I would like for us to spend some time together looking into this concept of ‘true love’ and what it means for us as a faith community and for us as individuals.

You’ll notice that the title of this sermon is ‘Twoo wuvv, Part One’, and that is because I plan to continue this series for the next three weeks; leading into our fall revival. Why am I talking about love instead of evangelism leading into a revival? Well, because in many ways love is evangelism and evangelism is love – although I will talk about that more next week, in Part Two.

In our reading from the book of Matthew we heard that Jesus was tested by an expert on the law – ‘what is the greatest commandment’? In answer Jesus responded by quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, our Old Testament reading for today. Jesus replied.

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

So, what does it mean to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’? How do we follow this directive, this passage of the bible that we commonly refer to as The Great Commandment? And how does this teach us about the nature of love and prepare us for our revival?

It would fit in neatly with the preferred ‘three point’ pattern of preaching to split the commandment up into three parts and discuss them.

We could talk about how the ‘heart’ is the emotional part of the way we should love God. Emotions are an important part of our makeup as humans. We might prefer to set them aside when they inconvenience us, but our emotional pain is just as real as our physical pain, and our emotional joys are just as real as our physical joys. As we strive to love God better we should direct our hearts to receive from, and respond to, Him on an emotional level. That is certainly a part of love.

We could look at all the definitions of the word ‘soul’. We consider the soul to be the very essence of our being, the part that remains when our flesh fails. Hollywood loves the notion of a ‘soul mate’ – someone who matches with us perfectly on every possible level. In reality our soul mate is the God who answers every cry of our heart. The things we see and love and admire in our human ‘soul mates’ are but poor reflections of the perfect relationship we can share with the Creator who designed us in His image. A loving response to a loving God does require that we dedicate to Him that spark that sums up our very existence.

We could talk about loving God with our minds, and how being a Christ follower does not require us to put our brains on hold. We could study the natural order of things and marvel at a well-ordered creation. We could look at the history of the bible and marvel at the way the text has remained largely unaltered despite the printing press and the photo copier being only recent inventions. We are called to use our brains as we love our intricate and fathomless God.

These three aspects of The Great Commandment are true, but really when we break it down that way we are both complicating and over-simplifying the point. We are complicating it because the heart of the message is that we should love God with every part of our being. We over-simplify it because loving God with every part of our being is not something that can be understood just by breaking down the words ‘heart, soul and mind’ into basic definitions.

This Great Commandment is both beautifully simple and profoundly complex.

What we can know is that the nature of love is the same – both beautifully simple and profoundly complex.

So, again, what does it mean to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’?

There is another famous quote from The Princess Bride that I think goes some small way towards answering this question. You see, at the very beginning of the movie Buttercup delights in giving Wesley, the ‘farm boy’ orders, and when she does so his only response is to say “As you wish.” She continues to do so until one day she discovers that,

…when he was saying, "As you wish," what he meant was, "I love you."

I know, I know it’s romantic and mushy and more than a little silly. However, we can take this a little deeper – perhaps even deeper than was intended by the original author who wrote the book the movie was based on. ‘As you wish’. This statement is about setting aside what I wish in order to do as you wish.

I believe that this is the very heart of true love. If we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind we are to set aside our own wishes and follow his wishes - follow Him. It is as basic and as profound as that. It would be nice if we could make one decision to do this, and then live our lives accordingly, but in reality we are unfaithful people. We must continually and consciously tell God ‘as You wish’.

And the best part is, our God is not like Buttercup! He isn’t a spoiled teenager handing out orders just to have the pleasure of watching us obey. We can trust Him with our heart and our soul and our mind because His ‘wishes’, His plan, His design for us is that we will have only the very best. We can let go of the wishes of our own heart and soul and mind because God’s wish for us is that our hearts be emotionally whole, our souls be found safe in Him, and our minds be rich in knowledge and wisdom.

Is anyone sitting here wondering how our upcoming fall revival plays into all this? Well, I hate to be the one to have to say it but maybe we need to let go of our wishes for that event. For me, as a pastor, my wish is that this October we open the doors to the community of Palmyra and every person in a twenty mile radius rushes in and meets Jesus for the first, second, or hundredth time. My wish is that every person attending and participating will discover the love of God in beautiful new ways. My wish is that the latest winner of the Publishers Clearing House giant novelty check will attend, and decide to tithe. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of these wishes, but I need to say to the God I love and trust, “You know what? Not as I wish, as You wish.”

So here’s my suggestion for this congregation. Let’s love God with our hearts, souls and minds. Let’s tell him, “As You wish.” Let’s apply that love, that ‘as You wish’, specifically to our plans, preparations and prayers for the upcoming revival. And you know what? What God wants for us could be exactly what we wish for, but it could also be for something even better. Whatever happens, it doesn’t change the fact that we are called to love Him completely.
Yes Lord, as You wish. Amen.

Bite Your Tongue.

(James 3)

Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain America… all these heroes pale into comparison next to a legend who has been a part of the American psyche for over six decades. On August 9, 1944 the US Forest Service debuted a new America hero. Smokey Bear was shown wearing jeans and a campaign hat, pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. The caption read “Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires!” Three years later the now iconic motto was entered into common language – “Remember… only YOU can prevent forest fires.”

Our scripture passage today is pretty direct about the damage we can do with our words. We read,

'Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.'

The truth is the damage caused by the tongue is so very similar to the damage caused by a fire. Consider the damage a fire causes. First, there is the destruction of the flames. Trees, homes, livestock laid waste as the fire front moves through. Then there is the smoke damage. Even when a house fire is extinguished fairly damage caused by the smoke and soot can often be greater than the damage caused by flame. All of this, we realise, brought about by a tiny spark.

In a similar fashion, we can cause a great deal of destruction with out words.
There is a Sunday morning experience that is, I am sure, familiar to many of us here today. A friend of mine, also a pastor, once described it in a way that seemed to really hit the nail on the head. She said-
“Every Sunday morning we wake up grumpy. We argue over whose turn it is to use the bathroom or shower. We demand to know who forgot to buy milk or iron the shirts. We accuse each other of hiding the shoes we want to wear, or of losing the car keys. We fight over who sits where in the car. All in all we pretty much shout, scream, push, shove, fight, and bicker our way to church so that we can share the love of Jesus.”

Sure, this is just a light-hearted look at family life… but isn’t it also a little bit too true?

Now, I have heard people refer to this passage from James as evidence of the evil of gossip, or of using cuss words, but I think the picture is much bigger than that. Yes, cussing and gossip are examples of the way we misuse the tongue and hurt others, but they both fit into a wider pattern of destructive speaking that we all can fall into.

Despite our best of intentions we find it so easy to slip into hurtful ways of speaking within our families, our churches and our communities. We are speak judgmentally of people we disagree with in this nation. We make hateful and hurtful comments about people of other races, religions or nationalities – usually because of our own ignorance. Notice, I don’t say ‘you’ do it; I say ‘we’ do it. This is something we all have been guilty of at times. It is all too easy for us to forget that we are meant to be Jesus to a hurting world. Imagine if the only time our co-workers ‘met’ Jesus, He was standing over a jammed printer shrieking at them? Yet this is the image we show the world when we fail to tame the tongue.

The truth of the matter is – it is hard to tame the tongue; James says no one can tame it! That is not to say that we should not even try.

The old saying goes “Stick and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me.” Anyone who has attended high school can attest to that being untrue. However, aside from the fact that our thoughtless words cause pain in the lives around us, I would argue there is another important reason for us to make it our aim to speak kindly to each other.
James writes,
9
'With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. '

We laugh at the imagery of the family who ‘fight and bicker their way to church to share the love of Jesus’ because it doesn’t make sense – it shouldn’t make sense. We speak praises to God, yet speak destructively to people who have been made in God’s likeness. When we are hurtful to each other, we are hurtful to God.

Don’t believe me? Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 25. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” And also, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” That is serious stuff!

Since the tongue is so dangerous, and so hard to tame, how can we put it under control so that we don’t offend against each other and against God?
Firstly, we need to seek forgiveness of each other, and of God. Yes, we have all spoken harshly or in haste. The good news is we serve a loving God who is grace is without measure.

Secondly, we need to grant forgiveness to people who have hurt or offended us. We are told to ‘bless those who curse you’. This is not necessarily an easy thing, but remembering our own mistakes is at least one way of letting go of the damage done by the unkind or thoughtless words of others.

Thirdly, we need to think of the tongue as being an indicator of the heart. School children study their times tables over and over again until the numbers are so deeply ingrained that they can recite them without even thinking. Our words are the result of the workings of our hearts. If we allow hurt and anger to be burned into the heart, the tongue will show it. If we allow forgiveness and love to be imprinted on our hearts, the tongue will show it.

St Francis of Assisi once said,

'While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.'

In times of stress we will speak the words on our heart. The trick to taming the tongue is not, despite our sermon title today, to bite it. It isn’t to work harder to restrain the words trying to get out. It is to ask God to work within us to change the source of our words. It is not so much about controlling the tongue as it is about reworking the heart.

Our greatest example in this, as in all things, is Jesus. Stripped, beaten, tortured, nailed to the cross – his words were not hurtful things to shame those who betrayed him. He didn’t curse the men who wielded the hammer. The words from His tongue, the words from His heart, were “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

I don’t know about you but when I reflect on this I am embarrassed that I allow a morning when I am running five minutes late be the excuse for my poor taming of my tongue.

So I offer you this three-step program, and I covenant with you to follow it myself. Seek forgiveness - hoping that the people we hurt will grant it, and knowing that our God always forgives. Grant forgiveness – knowing that we too are in need of grace and mercy. And most importantly, ask God to rewire the heart so that the words our tongues release are words that heal and not hurt.
Glory to God, Amen.

A Race of Biblical Proportions

(AKA 'The Mario Kart Sermon')

(As preached at Palmyra UMC, Augest 23rd.)

Hebrews 11 and 12:1-3

I should begin by saying that I am hopelessly incompetent when it comes to electronic games. I doubt I am the only person in the room with this problem. Recently, however, my children convinced me to join them in a Mario Kart race on their Wii game system.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, Mario Kart is a video game which features animated cartoon characters racing go-karts around a series of race tracks. These tracks tend to run through unlikely locations, such as shopping malls, castles and gold mines.

Obstacles include banana skins, blocks, turtle shells and other racers. Rewards include stars, coins, and objects to throw at other racers.
If all that were not intimidating enough apart from racing against the machine, you can also race against your family members and friends. The screen splits into different sections, so you can each race your own little go-kart at the same time. This means when your children challenge you to a race it’s really hard to find a good excuse to get out of it.

Despite my conviction that this would not go well for me - I gave in and they talked me through the instructions, in baby steps, and the race began.

Well! I was amazed at myself! I was turning corners, collecting coins, jumping over terrifying canyons – I was the champion of that race…
… right up until I realised that I was watching my daughter’s corner of the screen, and not my own.

When I looked to see what my own little Mario was doing I discovered he was back at the starting line, driving repeatedly into a wall. Feel free to go ahead and laugh – I sure did.

In Hebrews 12 verse 1 we read about another race. This one does not take place in shopping centres or castles, and you don’t need a go-kart to participate. The verse reads,

‘Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,’

I take three things from this passage of scripture. First of all, there is a great cloud of witnesses, we do not run alone. Who are these witnesses? We heard a listing of some of them in chapter 11. Abraham, Moses, Rahab – the heroes of our faith. But this is not a complete list. Who are the heroes gone before you in your life who make up your heavenly cheer squad? I lost my Mum to cancer when I was sixteen, and I believe she cheers me on as I race. My oldest son, Sam, is in that crowd. And I put it to you that Ms Madeline, a cherished and faithful matriarch of this congregation, just last week took her seat in the stadium and lifted her voice in support of our efforts here.

The second thing I take from the passage is somewhat obvious, but I’ll say it anyway – there is a race. You will notice the verse does not say ‘since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us put our feet up and make the most of all the good things they did for us’. In fact, the end of chapter 11 tells us that,

‘…apart from us they should not be made perfect.’

No, this does not mean our good works can earn perfection for ourselves or for those gone before us. It means the work begun by the people who went before us is continued by us. Your life of faith is not just your story, it is the continuation of God’s story – as told by Abraham, Moses, Ms Madeline, and you. This is a relay race. You didn’t start it, and you won’t complete it. What’s important is to faithfully run your leg of it.

The third thing I take from the passage is the importance of running the race set before us. Let’s go back to the story of my embarrassing defeat at the hands of my eleven year old. I was so impressed by how skillfully I was racing, but in reality I was not moving at all.

I think many of us in the church fall into a similar trap. We focus so much on the actions of those around us that we are unaware of our own actions and direction.

The social club in town may be running some great programmes in the community – but is that the race set before us?
The local elementary school may be having great success with fundraising – but is that the race set before us?

There is nothing wrong with looking outward every now and then for new ideas to better serve the community or improve our finances. We absolutely should serve the community, and this congregation should be applauded for the acts of service Palmyra United Methodist Church already provides. We absolutely should improve finances – that is simply good stewardship.

However, if all we do is watch those around us we neglect our own race and find ourselves driving back and forwards into a brick wall.
As a church our focus needs to be on the race set before us. I wonder who here knows The United Methodist Church mission statement? The mission statement of The United Methodist Church calls us to,
‘… make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world.’
We take this from Matthew 28:18-20, by the way.

'And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

This being the case we need to be mindful that the policies and programmes we implement reflect that mission. When we are committed to that mission we live out our faith to the applause of the heroes who have run before us. When we are committed to that mission we remember that we are running a race, not just warming a seat. When we are committed to that mission – the mission of ‘making disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world’ – we are focusing on the race set before us.

So in your personal walk of faith this week remember the race, and the cloud of witnesses who cheer us on. And as we think and pray over church decisions this year let us always have in mind the importance of running our own race – to the glory of God.
Amen.