Remain

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

May 13, 2012

John 15: 9-17 (CEB)

“As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete. ¹²This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I don’t call you servants any longer, because servants don’t know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last. As a result, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. ¹⁷I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.

I’m going to do something this morning that I never thought I would do as a preacher. In fact, I’m going to break one of my cardinal rules of preaching, which is, don’t preach about politics! Now, the truth of the matter is, if I really did preach about politics, I could get myself and this church in a bit of trouble. So before you get too concerned, be assured that I have no intentions of preaching partisan politics in an election year. But I do want to point to the great political divide we see in this country, and how it is indicative of an ever-widening rift in our society, even among Christians. Let me to explain what I mean.

Several months ago, Ken and I were looking back at the electoral maps from past presidential elections. We went all the way back into the 60s and then began working our way up to the present day. We were fascinated to notice that in the 60s and 70s, the electoral map was always decidedly monochrome. That is, with just a few exceptions, the entire country tended to throw their electoral votes towards the same person, the person, of course, who ended up winning the election in that particular year. As we moved into the 80s and 90s, though, Ken and I noticed that trend began to change. With each progressive election, the country divided more and more, until we got to where we are now, with a pretty equal divide between “red and blue states.”

Now, the sad thing is, that I don’t even have to tell you about my brief historical research for you to know how divided we are these days. We saw a fine example of it this summer as our government was nearly paralyzed by this partisan division, unable to reach any sort of agreement and move forward with a budget and spending plan for our country. And the unfortunate truth is that these same sorts of growing divisions are evident everywhere, not just in politics. Parents are fighting over little league games. Cities are sparring about zoning matters. And even at the United Methodist General Conference that ended just over a week ago, there was great division on nearly every matter. No, I’m not exaggerating; I really do mean that the Church was greatly divided on almost every issue that was presented to the body.

In a synopsis of the 2012 UMC General Conference, one Bishop said, “Some aspects of this General Conference were unique to this session. In the past, there has been some degree of corporate optimism, as well as a spirit of cooperation among the body. This year, however, the combined assembly of delegates was often described as cantankerous, snarly, and flat-lined. There was an unusual air of unease every time we gathered. You could feel it.” The Bishop went on to say, “if we are going to ever reach a point of moving this denomination into God’s preferred future, if we are ever going to find a way to make our church relevant for the 21^st Century, we must find a way to respect one another more deeply and cooperate with one another more significantly. This conference should remind us that the church cannot change without all parties, or at least most of them, finding a way to compromise, cooperate, and respect one another. That applies to liberals & conservatives, Central Conferences & US Jurisidictions, the young & the old.” Even among Christians, there seems to be a general mistrust. We are paralyzed by fear, so we digress to name-calling and finger-pointing. The result is that very little is done to further our mission of “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Which brings us to this morning’s text; a continuation of Jesus’ words we heard last week about remaining in the vine so that we might bear fruit and thus bring glory to God. Today, Christ explains to his disciples what exactly it looks like to abide in his presence; and so begins a beautiful passage about love and charity, friendship and community. Jesus explains to his followers that just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, his disciples cannot love one another, much less bring others to faith, apart from the abiding love of Christ. As Jesus speaks here about love, the word he uses is agape. Agape love is love given freely, love offered without condition; it is sometimes translated as “charity” rather than “love,” but there is such a stigma around charity these days, that the more appropriate reference is love.

Such agape love is first and foremost interested in the good of the other person. It never attempts to possess or dominate another. In fact, so great is this love for others that it follows the very pattern Christ modeled for us – care and concern for others, even to the point that we will lay aside our very lives for our friends. Now, it is rare in this day and age that we have to love all the way to death, Christians are not persecuted now they way they were in the years immediately following Jesus’ death and resurrection. But I do think there is an important message for us even today, and that is that we must be willing to set aside our agendas in order to work in unity as the body of Christ; that we love others enough that we are willing to lay down our own beliefs in order to love our friends.

At a time when life seems to be scattering more and more, we know what it means to have friends. And here, as Christ is speaking to his disciples, he knows that he is about to leave them, so he is proclaiming to them a new relationship. At the very time when those disciples are feeling the least secure and will soon abandon him, Christ calls them his friends, bringing them to a new level of discipleship, and even community, as he calls us to emulate him, the pure embodiment of love. So what does it mean for us today to be Christ’s friends? It means that we live as a community, united in Christ’s love. We show solidarity in suffering, we share our spiritual gifts for mutual up-building; we confront conflict not with hostility but with reconciliation. We don’t focus on our differences, but rather celebrate our unity as friends in the body of Christ.

For some reason, as in politics, we seem to have decided it is more important to stake out our various positions than to seek the unity to which Christ calls us. We live as if we were sent into the world to compete with one another, or to dispute with one another, or even to quarrel with one another. Jesus did not choose us to live a life reflective of the world; Christ did not call us to bring the division of the world into our churches. Rather, we are to represent Christ in the world. Jesus chose us, first to come in to him and then to go out to the world. And that must be the daily pattern and rhythm of our lives. The friends of Christ, Christians, are called to a commitment of solidarity toward unity as we witness in a broken and divided world. We are to live in such a way that we show what is meant by loving one another. We are not sent out to argue people into Christianity, nor to threaten them into it, but to attract them into it through our love; so to live that its fruits may be so wonderful that others will desire them for themselves.

Yet, when Christian communities around the world focus more on our differences than what unites us, we are not reflecting the love of Christ, we are not bearing fruit, we are turning people away from Christ rather than bringing them into his loving presence. And the frustrating thing is that we always argue with “God on our side!” It’s been a major problem ever since Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4^th century! We argue about what color the carpet should be or what kind of worship service we should have. We argue about whether or not children should be in worship and who’s going to bring chicken casserole to the potluck. We argue about what sins are the worst and who is worthy of being called “leader.” And while we’re busy arguing, the world looks at us and wonders what’s so great about God because Christ’s church is just as ineffective as every other institution in the world.  And the truth of the matter is, that’s because you can’t legislate for love. But God, through Jesus, can command love, calling it out of his disciples, his followers, his friends.

When we are divided, love must prevail. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said it this way: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things charity.” There’s that word again, charity, agape, unconditional love in all things. Wesley went on to say, “As to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we [Methodists] think and let think. So that whatsoever they are, whether right or wrong, they are no distinguishing marks of a Methodist.” What are the distinguishing marks of the Methodist movement today? Or the Christian church around the world? Are we known for our unified work as the body or Christ, or are we known for other reasons? There are times when, before Christians can have any effective work in the world, it is essential for the church to unite its life as a community of agape, ensuring that all members experience the love and affirmation that Christ extends to his friends. If we are divided as the world is divided, we are useless; fruit-bearing is not possible.

For us living in a culture that celebrates self-autonomy and choice, that values “standing your ground” above all else, Christ’s words in this passage call us back to an awareness of God’s initiative in seeking us out, gathering us into a community, and sending us into the world. As friends of Christ, we are called, unified, and sent; in that order! We are sent to strengthen friendships, communities of solidarity, to affirm diversity, to promote healthy relationships in families and communities, and to embrace strangers and friends, neighbors and enemies alike. Jesus has come to claim us as his friends, to give us freedom and joy. He has come so that we will bear fruit that will last, whether in terms of a single life changed because we loved somebody as Jesus loved us, or in terms of a single decision that we had to make or task we had to perform, through which, the world became a different and better place. Love makes both the lover and the beloved more like Jesus.

My friends, I want to be more like Jesus, I think we all do. I’m tired of the “one-upmanship.” I’m tired of the fighting and division. I’m tired of having to try and defend a church that looks less and less like the body of Christ and more and more like the divided world around us. We have an opportunity to be something far, far greater than any other human institution because we are not a human institution, we are the friends of Christ; his very body. So let’s do what Christ did; let’s celebrate diversity, let’s stand united, let’s love unconditionally. I pray that we will someday soon move away from our current tendencies so that we followers of Christ can move forward as a united body and continue to address the needs of a divided and hurting world. We have a tremendous opportunity. Don’t miss it. Don’t miss it!

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

May 6, 2012

John 15: 1-8 (CEB)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vineyard keeper. ²He removes any of my branches that don’t produce fruit, and he trims any branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. ³You are already trimmed because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything. ⁶If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.

            We are created to glorify God. We are formed in God’s image for the purpose of reflecting God to the world. The whole purpose of our lives is to bring glory to God and God’s kingdom! Have you ever given much consideration to this idea? Because the truth of the matter is, it has major implications for our lives.

We are a narcissistic society. There are no two ways about it. We are about as selfish as selfish can be. We are concerned only with our own glory, we live our lives accordingly, and the consequences are vast. Some of those consequences are obvious – wars and hunger abound around the world. Other consequences are not so obvious, but nevertheless severe – broken relationships and an ever-mounting debt, both personally and corporately to name a few. Then there are the problems of a more spiritual nature because you can’t have both. That is, when we are concerned with our own glory, we cannot bring glory to God.

Let’s consider this for a moment because we give lip service to glorifying God at least once every week, when in reality we are only concerned about ourselves. We call it worship. The purpose of worship is to glorify God, plan and simple! That’s why the Sabbath day has been set aside. For one day a week, God calls us, no commands us, to step away from everything else going on in our lives and to focus on him; to praise him for his creation, to thank him for his blessings, to lay our every trouble at his feet, to bask in his love, and to rest in his grace. When we worship each week, God is the audience. God is the recipient of the glory and praise. And yet, what is our mindset when we come to worship? We come wondering what we will get out of worship, whether we will like the music or the sermon. And then we leave measuring the value of the worship experience based on how much or how little we enjoyed it. God is not glorified in this process.

So this morning, let’s allow these words from Jesus to bring our lives back into focus. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit. Without me, you can’t do anything.” Our life purpose is to remain in God in Christ Jesus. Only when we do this is God glorified. So here’s how it works; Jesus is the true vine, God is the grower, and we are the branches.

The vine grower has tough work to do, indeed. The Greek word, kathairo is translated as “prune” or “cleanse.” It is the same word used in the foot-washing scene in John 13, and it carries the sense of cleansing, making pure, free from blemishes or shame. Vines have to be tended to in order for the branches to bear fruit. Jesus’ words to his disciples and to us invite all to stay close to him by placing their trust in him. He warns that no one can go it alone, trusting in their own strength. On our own, we are cut off from our life source. We cannot bear fruit. This is a word we all need to hear today, friends. The temptation to live for ourselves is great. The temptation to “go it on our own” is tremendous. We live in a society that promotes independence and making something of yourself. We value personal achievement over shared sacrifice. The question most commonly asked these days is not, “What can I give,” but “what can I get?” It becomes very easy to think that it is all up to us and our own resources as we try to solve problems and meet challenges. But to this, Christ says, “If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned.”

Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel “burned out”? Perhaps we can begin to understand why. Because we are growing away from God, because we are separating ourselves from the life-giving branch and bearing no fruit. Following Christ is never any easy road, but God will take care of us. But we have to have trust that God’s work in us is good, because that is a difficult process as well. Even branches that do produce fruit are cut or pruned in order to produce more fruit. So how does this process of pruning come into play in our lives? How does this keep us connected to Jesus? How does this bring glory to God?

As beginning gardeners soon learn, certain flowers benefit from being “deadheaded.” “Deadheading” is pinching off the first flowers produced by plant, which results in fuller plants with more blossoms down the road. But it’s hard to do even that, isn’t it? Those first flowers are so pretty that it’s so difficult to pinch them off! Yet that is what is required. The laws of nature seem to contradict what we desire. Still, there it is. Pruning now results in more beautiful plants later. But that takes faith, doesn’t it. And this is no less true when it comes to our life with God in Christ Jesus. In faith, we have to allow God to cut back the surplus. We have to be open to his movement within us, pruning away even the “good” so that we become “great” in God, so that God is glorified.

In a vineyard, the best grapes are produced closest to the central vine. As you can imagine, that is where the nutrients are most concentrated. So, the branches are not allowed to ramble all over the arbor. They are pruned and kept short. Cleansing and pruning are the work of God and the words of Jesus. They determine which branches are cut off and removed, and which are pruned. The mystery of these actions, the cleansing and pruning, is that the plant looks useless and dead. Yet the branches’ connection with the vine ensures new life and new growth. With God as the grower, with God doing the maintenance, we are assured that new life and new growth will result. Though sights may deceive, “never judge a book by its cover.” Despite how the plant looks, its connection to the vine makes it alive and not dead.

There was a teenager who didn’t want to be seen in public with her mother, because her mother’s arms were terribly disfigured. One day when her mother took her shopping and reached out her hand, a clerk looked horrified. Later, crying, the girl told her how embarrassed she was.

Understandably hurt, the mother waited an hour before going to her daughter’s room to tell her, for the first time, what happened.

“When you were a baby, I woke up to a burning house. Your room was an inferno. Flames were everywhere. I could have gotten out the front door, but I decided I’d rather die with you than leave you to die alone. I ran through the fire and wrapped my arms around you. Then I went back through the flames, my arms on fire. When I got outside on the lawn, the pain was agonizing but when I looked at you, all I could do was rejoice that the flames hadn’t touched you.”

Every day, that mother faced a sign of death. But in reality, what had been cut away had allowed for her daughter’s life to thrive. There is no doubt that was a painful experience. And she lived not only with the physical scars, but the emotional ones everyday. And we must be prepared for some pain as well. We have to be ready for the Father’s pruning knife, though it always hurts. Because we sit here this morning, we are connected to the vine. But so that we might produce good fruit, we have to let the Father cut away our growth away from Christ.

God is glorified, as are we, by the bearing good quality fruit, and lots of it. For that to happen, there will be extra growth that needs cutting away. The temptation to go it alone, the desire to serve self, the illusion that our lives and experiences are only about ourselves. Wherever we have strayed, we have to know and allow that God is looking out after our best interests, he is molding us and forming us so that we are never too far from the life-giving vine. So this morning, I pray that we might all say, “Lord, I live in you so that you may be glorified through me.”

“Lord, I live in you so that you may be glorified through me.”

It is appropriately fitting that we celebrate this morning the sacrament of Holy Communion. As we prepare to share in the feast of the Lord’s Table, may we be especially aware of the juice that we drink; the fruit of the vine poured out for us. As we drink this morning, it becomes a part of us, a physical reminder of Christ’s love flowing through us, bringing life. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, then you will produce much fruit…My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.”

“In my life, Lord, be glorified.”

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

April 29, 2012

1 John 3: 16-24 (CEB)

This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t care—how can the love of God remain in him?

¹⁸Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. ¹⁹This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. ²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. ²¹Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. ²²We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ²³This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us. ²⁴The person who keeps his commandments remains in God and God remains in him; and this is how we know that he remains in us, because of the Spirit that he has given to us.

“This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Last week, we heard as John reminded us how very, very much God loves us, so much so that he calls us his children. This morning, John is reminding us that as children of God, we are to share that same love with our brothers and sisters; all of God’s children! “We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

But what in the world does that mean? Lay down our lives? Well, for Jesus it ultimately meant death on a cross. And sometimes, for faithful Christians, self-sacrifice can mean physical death, but more often, the stakes are lower. Still, no matter the sacrifice, the principal is the same. We lay down our hold on our lives when we put others first. We lay down our lives when we live for the good of others. We lay down our lives when we take time for others. To love others is to lay down our lives for them. When we lay down our completely normal human desires to live for ourselves, and instead allow the love of God to flow freely through us and reorient us toward his will and the needs of others, only then are we truly laying down our lives. And there is nothing more beautiful in all the world!

In our Scripture lesson for this morning, we can see that John was pretty hard on Christians who say they have the love of Christ in their hearts but don’t share their material goods with those in need. That’s pretty convicting, isn’t it? What would John have to say to you or to me? John goes on to write, “let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth.” In other words, love is not only a word, it’s an action.

This week, the quadrennial meeting of United Methodists from around the world began. General Conference 2012, as it is called, brings together United Methodist representatives from every region of the world and they meet for two weeks to deal with matters important to the future of United Methodism. As with most conferences, there is a display area where various organizations falling under the United Methodist umbrella can share information with the conference delegates. I want to share with you the United Methodist Women’s display. (Now keep in mind that our UMW, the Ladies of Grace, has just recently delivered Easter baskets to each of our shut-ins. And United Methodist Women around the world are serving in the same way in their communities.) So here’s what the global UMW did. Despite the rather expansive space available to display boards and handouts, the UMW had a single sign. It read: “In 600 square feet, it is impossible to show 143 years of women in mission, the work our members are doing in their churches and communities every day, the lives transformed through the global ministries of the Church, and all the ways United Methodist Women will move into the next 143 years. So, instead, we used the money to fully fund the seminary education of two female local pastors in Cameroon. Turning faith, hope and love into action.”

Love in action is laying down one’s life, and in this passage, that means giving to those in need; providing for those who cannot provide for themselves. Whether it’s sending two African women to seminary or buying school uniforms for the neighbor children, there are people all around us who have needs, and there is something we can all do to meet those needs.

In Matthew 21, Jesus tells a parable of two sons. In it, a man asks each of his sons to go into the vineyard to work. The first son answers that he will not go, but later he repents and goes into the vineyard to work. The second son answers that he will go to work, but he does not go into the vineyard at all. The second son responds to his father’s request in word only. The first son, however, loved his father by his actions. When it comes to love, Jesus is never just talk. He is first and always a doer, someone who actually serves! “How can you claim to receive the love of God in your life,” John asks, “if you do not show love in your actions?”

It has been said that “many Christians today claim they believe in Jesus Christ. By that, they mean they assent to the truth of the gospel. But what is the truth of the gospel, if [you don’t believe] that living a life of sacrificial love is the starting point of your new life in Christ? Believing in Christ means believing that Christ saves us by making us like himself.” When we believe in Christ, we are transformed by his love. Faith and love are bound together then, aren’t they? You can’t have one without the other!

In Mother Teresa’s biblical mindset, when we love others, we love Jesus. She said, “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by: ‘I was hungry and you gave me [something] to eat. I was naked and you clothed me.’ I was homeless and you took me in.” Friends, we won’t get it right every time. There is no doubt that we will falter. But loving and serving is a natural reflex to the love of God living in us, working through us.

In his book, Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson tells how he saw a family of birds teaching their young to fly. Three birds were perched on a dead branch that stretched out over a lake. “One adult [bird] got alongside the chicks and started shoving them out toward the end of the branch—pushing, pushing, pushing. Till the end one fell off. Somewhere between the branch and the water four feet below, the wings started working, and the fledgling was off on his own.” Peterson writes, “Birds have feet and can walk. Birds have talons and can grasp a branch securely. They can walk and cling. But flying is their characteristic action, and not until they fly are they living at their best, gracefully and beautifully.”

It’s similar with people. Giving and loving is what we do best. It’s the way God created us to be. It’s the air into which we are born. It is the action that was designed for us from the very beginning. Yet some of us try desperately to hold on to ourselves, to live for ourselves. We look so bedraggled and pathetic doing it, hanging on to the dead branch of a bank account for dear life, afraid to risk ourselves on the untried wings of giving. We don’t think we can live generously because we have never tried. But the sooner we start, the better, for we are going to have to give up our lives finally, and the longer we wait, the less time we have for the soaring and swooping life of grace!

You know the bumper sticker: “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” The truth about life is: “Whoever dies with the most toys loses.” Because that means we never laid down our lives; we never allowed ourselves to be transformed by God’s love. At its core, loving service is not something we do for ourselves. When we serve only out of self-motivation, it tends to be sporadic, done only when it is convenient for us. That is what John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, called “the doctrine of the devil” – doing good only when you feel like it. And the thing is, that’s not really living a transformed life. Anybody can do a good deed every now and again, but Christians transformed by God’s love live new lives full of grace and generosity! Many of us have little bursts of good work at Thanksgiving or Christmas. But people are hungry in April, homeless in September, and malnourished in July.

Real love in action is regular; a constant and normal part of our lives. That is what John is talking about when he says, “This is how we will know that we belong to the truth…” Isn’t it awesome to know that the measure of whether or not we are God’s children is whether or not our lives are oriented outward, toward others, in love? Whether or not we are becoming like Christ is measured by how much we empathize with our fellow humans. It’s measured by our generosity. It’s measured by whether or not we lay our lives down for others. Because that is what God does and is! That’s the kind of God we have, is it not?!? John tells us that the command for our lives is to “believe in the name of [Jesus] Christ, and to love each other…” That’s right, it’s all about God. And God is all about grace.

In Ephesians we are told that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works or something we have accomplished. And that even this faith is a “gift” from God. So that none of us can boast about ourselves. And then it says, “we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way we live our lives.”

Some of you may be familiar with the Upper Room Daily Devotional. In the devotion for Saturday, April 14, the devotional writer wrote: “Everyday children are born into this world. Each begins as a little baby with promise and an open future.” Knowing this and reading Ephesians, I think about those who are in need – hungry, ill, incarcerated, homeless. I wonder, aren’t those who have been neglected or mistreated, those who end up in hospitals, prisons, or homeless shelters also made in God’s image and created for life in Jesus Christ? All of us come into the world with promise, imprinted with God’s desire that we live fully. Mother Teresa used to say, “In the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, we meet Jesus in the most distressing disguises.”

Shane Claiborne, a Maryville native and one of the founding members of the Simple Way, a Christian community in Philadelphia, describes how God has revealed God’s self to him through the homeless. He says, “I saw a street kid get 20 bucks panhandling outside of a store and then immediately run inside to share it with all of his friends. We saw a homeless man lay a pack of cigarettes in the offering plate because that was all he had. We met a little 7-year-old girl who was homeless, and we asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She paused pensively and then replied, ‘I want to own a grocery store.’” Claiborne asked her why and she said, “So I can give out food to all the hungry people.”

Hunger is everywhere. Hunger for food, hunger for love, hunger for belonging, hunger for employment, hunger for healing, hunger for hope. What hunger can we satisfy? How can we feed the hungry of the world? When God creates saving faith in our hearts, God creates active love in our lives. And thus, we begin the transformation of becoming the people God created us to be.

We cannot believe in Jesus without believing in love, and we cannot have love without action. And the good news is that when we act lovingly, we can be assured that nothing less than the love of God in Jesus Christ is pulsing through our hearts and hands! When we love, we are one with Christ, John tells us, and Christ abides in us! May we love with the same love God has so graciously laid down for us! Amen.

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

April 22, 2012

1 John 3: 1-7 (CEB)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God’s children, and that is what we are! Because the world didn’t recognize him, it doesn’t recognize us.

²Dear friends, now we are God’s children, and it hasn’t yet appeared what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him because we’ll see him as he is. ³And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. ⁴Every person who practices sin commits an act of rebellion, and sin is rebellion. ⁵You know that he appeared to take away sins, and there is no sin in him. ⁶Every person who remains in relationship to him does not sin. Any person who sins has not seen him or known him.

⁷Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, in the same way that Jesus is righteous.

Last weekend for my birthday, my parents gave me two throw pillows that were made out of the old band uniforms from my alma mater, Furman University. The band purchased new uniforms this year, and as a way to defer the cost, they cut up the old uniforms, the ones I wore when I was in the band there, and fashioned them into pillows. When I discovered the Furman band was having this fundraiser, I immediately told my parents that I would like one of those pillows because I knew it would be a great way to have a memento from a very fun and important part of my life. Two of the greatest mentors I have ever had taught me as I went through the music program at Furman, and I have many fond memories from that time in my life. I was proud of the Furman band when I was a part of it, and I put a lot of time and energy into the music department while I was there. And now I am proud to be an alumnus of that school; to say that I graduated from what has recently been recognized as one of the top ten college music programs in the country!

It’s nice to belong, isn’t it? To say that you are a part of a great household, or a great church, or a great regiment, or a great school is a matter of extreme pride and an inspiration to fine living. So, too, even more, to bear the name of the family of God! In our scripture reading for this morning, John reminds us of a wonderful privilege; God’s great love for us! In fact, so great is God’s love that we are called “children of God”! But, as John points out, we are not merely called the children of God; we are the children of God! By nature, we are all simply creatures of God, part of his great creation; but it is by grace and love that we become children of God. So today, we are going to consider what exactly that means because being a child of God is a far different matter from belonging to any human organization.

Jesus was misunderstood by nearly everyone around him, and as Christians, we must learn to expect the same. Indeed, we humans like to belong. We like to brag proudly about our fine affiliations because we all long to fit in and to be appreciated by everyone around us. But the Christian community and Christian identity functions differently in the world, and so it is not understood by the world. John is clear: if we are called the children of God, the world will not know us or understand us.

So today, with Christ’s death and resurrection reshaping our journey with God, we face a choice. Either we enjoy the love of the world and the respect of our contemporaries, or we let our lives be claimed by God. And the reality of the situation is; if we let God’s love make us into children of God, then we really should expect that many people today will have trouble understanding our values and our strange sense of identity.

Our culture values individual achievement. We lift up star athletes, forgetting the team of which they are a part. Actors and actresses makes millions, while behind the scenes work the forgotten but all important directors, producers, writers, set designers, make-up artists, and others. We all recognize names like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, but forget that they stand at the helm of giant companies, with employees creating and perfecting their products all over the world.

In such a culture of individualism, we belong to a community, the body of Christ. And this community is different. We don’t value fame or fortune. In an age that seeks security through oppression and violence, we seek solidarity, forgiveness, and peace. In a society that finds personal identity through TV and internet, self-help blogs and social networking, we find our true name in our baptism and in following Christ. By the world’s standards, we are odd. And very often, we try to smooth over our oddities so that we better match the world, but that is to our own peril. When we feel right at home in this world, we should wonder whether we have perhaps traded the joy of divine love for the empty comfort of worldly acceptance.

We are God’s children. We are different. And we are different because of God’s love. Knowing that we are loved by such a love, accepting it and confessing it, we agree to be made different, to let ourselves enter a process of transformation that pulls us apart from the world and fundamentally reshapes our lives. Our birth certificate states our natural identity. Our baptism certificate declares our true identity. By God’s love, we are no longer strangers, wanderers lost without hope or direction. We are loved, claimed, and redefined as nothing less than God’s children. By pure love, we are adopted out of the social system of the world and into the family of God. We still live here, of course, usually in a home that looks ordinary. And like everyone else, we do our work, pay our taxes, support our community, and care for the common life. But unlike everyone else, our heart’s true home is in a different time and place. That is why we are so easily misunderstood.

The love of God, John tells us, makes us nothing less than the children of God. We do not always act that way or think that way. We do not look like God’s children—not yet, at least. But most often, the truth comes before the appearance. We are God’s children now, John tells us, because God has claimed us for that relationship. Never mind that we do not yet appear to be God’s children. Never mind that we certainly have more changes to undergo. As God’s children, our identity is not fully revealed until Jesus appears. When he returns, we become visible, radiating the truth that until that time is veiled. Only then are we fully, purely, and completely like him.

For now, we live in a social world characterized by anything but love. Our own lives are twisted and tangled by a combination of our own sin and the effects of the sins of others. We are broken and incomplete, yearning for a peace and a holiness we do not yet possess. The world does not understand us because we have been given a new identity. But in a deeper sense, we do not really understand ourselves, because we live with a double identity, old and new. We are being transformed, but as we still make our way in this world, the overlapping of old and new is often bewildering, confusing not only to others, but even to us!

As I pondered John’s text this week, I considered all the ways that we struggle with our old and new identities as we are transformed by God’s love. There’s one scenario in particular that came to mind that I think we can all relate to. You’re walking down the street in downtown Chattanooga, and you notice up ahead a homeless beggar. If you’re like me, as you approach the person, you’re having an internal dialogue with yourself. It goes something like this: “I really should help this guy. I bet he’s hungry. Who knows when he last ate? And the weather has been so awful lately. I suppose I should give him a few bucks. Of course, if I give him cash, he could just go buy some drugs or alcohol or cigarettes. And what a waste of money that would be! I really shouldn’t enable him to do that. I don’t really want to give him cash. I guess I could take him into the Panera and buy him some lunch, but he probably smells bad. People won’t like him being around. Besides, I’m running late, I don’t really have time to do that. I’m just going cross to the other side of the street. If I don’t look at him it’ll be better.”

Sound familiar? We all do this kind of thing. And then for the next several hours, or maybe even several days, we have this nagging sense of guilt. We know that we should have helped the man. We were wrong to make judgments about someone we don’t even know. Christ calls us to love and to serve, not to judge and condemn. We know that. We know that! We look at ourselves and we know that the old identity is too plain to ignore and too powerful to escape. The old and the new clash, we are still being transformed, and we are not living fully into our new identities, into the love that God showers upon us. The grip of the world pulls us down into apathy and despair. We think we are incapable of living fully in God’s love; perhaps we are ashamed because we know he loves us so much and our love pales in comparison. We think, “A child of God? Not me!” Indeed, that is a truth about us, a truth that John does not deny. We sin. We rebel.

But we are met with another truth, not grounded in the experience of our own brokenness, but resting in a promise, the promise of God’s love. It is a truth impossible to believe apart from the gift of faith. The truth is that love wins. God’s love has staked a claim on us that overwrites the truths we think we know from our experience in this world. We experience brokenness, but God’s truth declares us whole. We struggle in the lingering grip of sin, but God’s truth declares us holy. We mess things up, but God makes things right.

Unfortunately, like most of our peers, we trust experience more than we trust God. We believe the sorry facts of our broken lives more than we trust the saving promises of scripture, the promises made real in Christ’s resurrection. God’s truth is more true than any other “truths” because it is a deeper truth, a final truth, a truth not of what is, but of what is to come! It is the truth of grace greater than all our sin!

My friends, when we look into our hearts and ask, “Am I a child of God?” we have to learn to stop saying, “Not me,” and instead learn to utter the deeper truth: “Not yet complete, but Yes! By grace I am God’s very own.” Not yet complete, but already begun. And as we are transformed daily, we have to keep hope for all those around us who do not understand us, that by the witness of our love they too may come to say: “See what love God has, that we too are called children of God!”

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

April 15, 2012

Acts 4: 32-35 (CEB)

The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. ³³The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all. ³⁴There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, ³⁵and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need.

“Ahhhhhh. Those were the days!” So begins one of our favorite pastimes, recalling the pastimes. But it never seems to take too long before eyes start glazing over or heads start shaking. Because there’s nothing like a good dose of nostalgia to make life seem pretty awful. And for whatever reason, playing the nostalgia game, longing for “the good old days,” is often a part of church life. Especially in well-established churches with storied histories intimately connected with the growth of the community, one often hears the story of how things were “back in the day,” which often means the 1950s. Churches were full to bursting! Pews were packed, Sunday School programs overflowed with adults as well as kids, there were choirs for every age group, and everyone happily contributed to the “unified mission.”

Of course, anyone with a good sense of reality knows that such descriptions represent a case of highly selective memory. There have been problems at every point in history, just like there are problems now. If you had asked a church-goer in the 1950s if his church could be better or bigger, I feel certain he would have answered with a resounding, “YES!” just as any of us would today. Anyone who has hummed, “Those were the days” knows the trap that such nostalgia represents. For one thing, it draws us away from the reality of the present into an imagined past. And for another, it causes cynicism – we all know the past had its problems too. But we have a tendency to see the past through rose-colored glasses.

And so we come to this morning’s passage. Here on the other side of Easter, we encounter the early church as it begins to find its way in the world. And the whole thing sounds like nothing more than “those were the days” nostalgia, doesn’t it? Luke paints this beautiful, almost utopian picture: “The whole group of those who believed” (which number well over 5,000 at this point) “were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions…There was not a needy person among them.” Now, I don’t know about you, but this certainly doesn’t sound like any church group I’ve ever experienced. Even excluding the remarkable willingness to give up private ownership and share with others in need, the vision of a faith community being “of one heart and mind” hardly seems realistic. We just do not know a human community – much less a church – like this!

The natural thing to do with such a passage would be to simply dismiss it as a romantic notion of a bygone era. It’s much easier to just read through this part of the Book of Acts than to consider the implications it has for our lives. But the gospel does have implications for our lives, BIG ones. And as we stand here on “this side” of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have to consider what that means for our lives. This passage forces us to do just that; it makes us think deeply about the effects Jesus’ resurrection might actually have on our lives. And here’s the thing: there’s a lot in this world that can change our lives, but there’s only one way that we can be changed for the better, and that is through Christ. That’s why we celebrate the resurrection each Easter and every Sunday; it is the way to NEW life!

Have you ever played that game with someone, the one that goes: “If you won the lottery what would you do?” I did that one time with my college roommate. First she said she’d buy a Corvette for herself. Then, she went on to say she would purchase a huge mansion for herself. This went on and on and on until my friend couldn’t think of anything else she could buy for herself. After a moment or two of being stumped, she finally looked up and said, “Oh, and I’d give some away.” I remember thinking that was hilarious, and also very insightful into the way we humans often think.

As most of you know, recently three winning tickets were sold nationally in the March 30^th Mega-Millions Lottery drawing, which had a record $656 million dollar pre-tax payout. The country seemed to go crazy over this. Before the drawing, the news outlets carried stories and pictures of people standing in line for hours in order to buy tickets. Sometimes they would interview the hopefuls as to what they would do with the money. And although the answers varied greatly, one thing which came through loud and clear was the message that: “If I win this lottery it will change my life.” And no doubt it would.

A recent Boston Globe article asked this very question: “Does Money Change You?” The article reported, “As a mounting body of research is showing, wealth can actually change how we think and behave—and not for the better.” The article reported that the richer people are, the more difficult it is for them to connect with others. They show “less empathy to the extent of dehumanizing those who are different from them. They are less charitable and generous. They are less likely to help someone in trouble. And they are more likely to defend an unfair status quo.” The article goes on, “If you think you’d behave differently in their place, meanwhile, you’re probably wrong: These aren’t just inherited traits, but developed ones. Money, in other words, changes who you are.” The article noted that “if you win the lottery and you want to avoid becoming an insensitive lout, there is a simple solution: ‘Give at least half of it away.’”

Christ seemed to know how much money can change us. He easily recognized how it can keep us from being the people God created us to be. And so Christ talked about money and riches a lot, and most of what he said urged his listeners not to hold on to it; to give it away, to share, to take care of the poor, the needy, the ones who no one else was looking after. So now, early in the Book of Acts, Luke is telling us about the early church. This was a Church which had a number of members who had personally known Jesus Christ. They had been followers as he taught in the villages and towns. They had watched as he lived by example. Then, they had seen him die. And most impressive of all, many of them had seen him resurrected! And verse 33 informs us that because of this, “The apostles continued to bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” and one of the most powerful ways that they “bore witness” to Christ’s resurrection was that “None of them would say, ‘This is mine!’ about their possessions, but held everything in common.”

It’s as if “worldliness” had lost its luster this side of Easter! Who cares about money when you’ve got Jesus?!? By giving Jesus Christ lordship over their wealth and possessions, these early Christians were providing a mighty powerful “living sermon” to the world! Not only were they proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus with their lips, they were embodying Jesus’ redemptive and transformative truth by caring for one another in ways unheard of. And, as a result, the Christian faith was spreading like wildfire! Lives were being changed. The broken, the hurting, the thief, the liar, the hopeless were becoming new creations all together!

There is no question in Luke’s mind that the source of this extraordinary behavior is the resurrection of Jesus. He says, “The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all.” Does the whole thing sound a bit too idealistic? Perhaps. Is it really likely that there was complete accord among these first Christians? Probably not. But that’s not the point. The point of this passage is that the gospel changes lives, and Luke is telling us the story of how, from the very beginning, Christians were living new lives because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we stand on this side of Easter, the question for us today is, “Are we going to live new lives because of the resurrection of Jesus?” We’ve all heard the statistics. Unlike the early church described in Acts, churches today are in rapid decline, everywhere. Could the fact that we live in a consumer culture have anything to do with this? As we listen to this passage from Acts, we have to consider that possibility. Because materialism is on the rise everywhere. It’s been noted that “One of the many results of the amazing growth of global economy has been a transformation of values.” And our transformation into a highly consumer culture stands in stark contrast to scripture. The Bible has a very balanced view of wealth. The problem with wealth is spiritual; it easily takes our minds off of God and weakens our faith. Money itself is not evil, but the Bible proclaims that the love of money is the root of all evil. And for this reason we are advised in Hebrews to “keep our lives free from the love of money.”

“Greed is good,” may go down well on Wall Street, but not in the pages of Scripture. Jesus tells us plainly that we cannot love both God and money. And so we have a choice right in front of us. We can continue to live the way we have always lived; we can reminisce about days gone by and how wonderful things “used to be.” Or we can start living new lives. We can acknowledge that Christ’s resurrection really does mean something to us and we can proclaim it not only with our words, but through the way we live. Sharing the blessings God has given us with others not only increases our faith, it also makes us happier and more at peace.

There is no greater gift bestowed upon humankind than the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! There is no greater example of love in all the earth. And there is nothing more important; not money, not possessions, nothing! We should never be satisfied to live in a world where there are people who do not know the richness of God’s blessings in their lives, where the generous love of our savior Jesus Christ is not experienced by every single person.

Jesus said, “From everyone to whom much is given, much will be required.” In Acts, chapter 4, we are given a mode to imitate for a reason. The sign of God’s reign in Acts is the creation of a new community where life for everyone is sustained. We celebrate a risen Savior; we worship the Lord of Life! So this Easter, let’s not only say that, let’s live it! Resurrection is not just about praise, it is about a new way of life for all people!

The Greatest Day in History

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

April 8, 2012

Easter Sunday

Mark 16: 1-8 (CEB)

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint Jesus’ dead body. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they came to the tomb. ³They were saying to each other, “Who’s going to roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” ⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. (And it was a very large stone!) ⁵Going into the tomb, they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right side; and they were startled. ⁶But he said to them, “Don’t be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He isn’t here. Look, here’s the place where they laid him. ⁷Go, tell his disciples, especially Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you. ⁸Overcome with terror and dread, they fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

Salome! Mary! Please, slow down! Please, I can’t keep up with you, not this early in the morning. Besides, it’s so cold, and I’m tired. And when we get there, we’re going to have to move that big stone. And that’s a really big stone! How are we going to do that if you wear yourselves out getting there? We’ll probably have to find someone to help us. Of course, at this hour, who would be around? Just slow down, please! What’s your hurry, anyway? He’s not going anywhere!

Wait! What? You say the stone is rolled away, well how did that happen? Let me see! Are you sure this is the right tomb? Maybe it’s this one…no, nevermind, that’s too big. Or over here? No, that’s not it either! This is the right one, but how did that stone get rolled away? And where’s Jesus? How could this be? Find the gardener, perhaps they have moved his body. We need to figure out where they have put him. Surely this isn’t the work of grave robbers! This is only the third day. And it’s not like he had anything with him; just his grave clothes. We haven’t even had time to prepare his body! Why would anyone do something like this?!? (Sits down, distressed.)

Oh! What are we going to do? This is terrible! We have to tell the disciples. But what are we going to say to them? They are going to be so disappointed! What if they blame it on us? What if they think we did something with Jesus’ body? They are going to be so angry. This is just awful! Maybe we should just leave. We don’t have to say anything to anybody. It’s early, no one would expect us to be here this early. They’ll never know. Then, at least, we won’t get blamed for whatever has happened here. He’s dead anyway, so what difference does it make? Maybe we can just roll this stone back into place and no one will ever know the difference. That will be easier anyway. We can just get back to normal, life as it was before he started preaching and stirring things up. What a relief! I was getting scared thinking of what it would be like to go on without him. I sure don’t want to be put on trial and mocked and beaten and crucified the way he was. This will be easier. (Leaving.) Let’s just put the stone back, head home, and pretend like none of this ever happened. We don’t have to say anything to anybody.

Whoa! What? I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there! How long have you been here? Are you the gardener? Well, who are you? Yes, yes, we are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified! Do you know what has happened to him? We are so worried. We just came to prepare his body and anoint him, but we can’t seem to find him. Do you know where he is? Have they moved Jesus somewhere? Please, tell me where we can find Jesus’ body!

I’m sorry, did I hear you correctly? You said he has been raised? (Returns to seat.) Raised. What exactly do you mean? Raised. Raised as in, you’ve moved his body to the tomb up on the hill? Well, that’s awfully kind of you, sir, but really we can’t afford…What? You want us to go and tell Peter and the other disciples? Well, what exactly do we tell them? I don’t understand what you’re saying to us! I mean, Jesus was dead two days ago, we laid him here after he was crucified. I don’t understand what exactly you want me to tell the disciples!

So, let me make sure I’ve got this right. We need to go and “tell the disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of us into Galilee. We will see him there, just as he told us.” Just as he told us. But what did he tell us? I don’t remember him saying anything about meeting us in Galilee. What was it he said? Sir? Sir? Where did you go? Oh….Jesus said so many things to us. He has been raised…just as he told us. I can’t possibly think of what that man was referring to. Raised. Just as he told us. Just as he told us…he is raised. He is raised! Oh! Raised! Just like he said all along! It’s true! He’s alive! Just as he told us!

It all started when Jesus was baptized. He came up out of the water, and that voice from heaven said, “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Why was it so hard to understand what that meant? Jesus taught us over and over again. He kept telling us he was with us for only a short time and then he would go to the One who sent him.[1] It was just as he said; such a short time. He told us that the Son of Man must be lifted up.[2] But I didn’t really believe he was talking about himself. I didn’t think he was actually going to die, and now he’s gone for good. Even though he said, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.”[3] Why isn’t he here now?

“He was raised, just as he said.” I wish that man had told me more. What did he mean? What did Jesus say? I remember so well that day he told the people that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.”[4] That was really beautiful. But Christ really did die, so how could he have eternal life now? Of course, he told us the Temple would be destroyed and then raised again in three days.[5] But that’s the Temple, and Jesus isn’t the Temple, besides, the Temple hasn’t even been destroyed. Of course, just a few weeks ago, he told us that we would be “going up to Jerusalem and that the Son of Man would be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They would condemn him to death and turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified.” That’s exactly as it happened. So if he knew that was going to happen, then he must’ve been right about all the other things as well!

“He was raised. Just as he said!” He said so many times and he was going to return to the one who sent him. Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many rooms” and that he is “going there to prepare a place for us.”[6] Could that be where he is now? Could he have really gone to be with the Father? It actually kind of makes sense. I mean he did say that he is “the way, the truth and the life. [And] no one comes to the Father except through [him].” He must be going to the Father. I didn’t think it was possible, but where else could he be? When we thought Lazarus was gone, Jesus told my friend Martha that he is “the resurrection and the life. Whoever believe in [him] will live, even though they die.” Resurrection. Life. Live, even though they die. Just as he said. Even though Christ died, he lives. He is the resurrection. He is the life. Just as he said.

It really is just as he said! It is just as he was telling us all along. He is raised! He is alive! Christ was dead and now he is alive again! I didn’t think it was possible. I didn’t really believe that all he told us was true, but now I can see that it was. God really does love us! Christ loves us so much that he died so that he could defeat death, so that we can have new life in him! He’s alive! He’s not here because he has been raised! Just as he said!

But if those things are true, then all the other things Jesus told us are true too! We didn’t believe it because it was too scary. He told us that whoever serves him must follow him.[7] If he really is alive, then we do have to follow him. We can’t just pretend like this didn’t happen because he is still busy, he’s making a place for us. Oh my goodness, this is so overwhelming. How can we do what he did? He was such a great man; he was the Son of God! And we are just people. I don’t really think I can forgive those people who were so awful to me. I know Christ forgave them, but I just don’t know if I can do it. Much less, to love them! He told us to love our enemies! Love our enemies, that’s unthinkable! And to turn the other cheek! How on earth?!?

Do you remember that day that James and John were arguing about who would sit at Jesus’ right and left in his glory? Ha, man. Jesus’ face got so red. But he stayed calm and he asked them if they could drink the cup he was going to drink. And they said they could! I don’t think they realized what they were saying. Jesus died! And now he’s raised and we have to drink the same cup. He told us that if he was persecuted, we would be persecuted too![8] I don’t know how I can withstand it. He said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.”[9] I don’t know if I can go all the way to the cross like Jesus did. It was such a horrible death, and it was wrong, they didn’t understand who he really was. I don’t want that to happen to me. We’ve got to figure out what to do! The thought of following Jesus is so scary, but he told us that “the one who endures to the end will be saved.”[10] And he said that “in this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world!” It seems that Jesus really has overcome the world. He conquered death! If Jesus has been raised from the dead! Then that must mean if I follow him, I will live too!

We have to do this! We have to follow Jesus. He has been raised just like he said. And all those things he told us to do, we have to do them because he really meant that too. We have to tell the disciples! We have to let them know that Jesus has been raised, just as he said. We have to get to work. We have to let the people know that Jesus really is the living Messiah. I don’t know what words to say, but we have to say something. We have to tell the people!

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

December 4, 2011

Second Sunday of Advent

Matthew 1: 18-24 (NIV)

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

As you all remember, we are taking a special Journey this Advent season, we are traveling the road to Bethlehem with Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and others, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Christ-child, and open our hearts to welcome Christ into our lives in a new and special way this Christmas. Last week, we spent some time with Mary, and we talked about Mary’s willingness to follow God’s will, even though it would take her through what would certainly be many trying circumstances. Mary was a humble servant who willingly said to God, “Here I am, use me. May it be with me according to your will.”

To a great degree, the same is true of Joseph. Here is a man who was prepared to marry this woman, who as we see, had just revealed that she was pregnant, and not by him. Joseph had decided to dismiss young Mary and move on with his life, but as Matthew tells the story, he didn’t. After the angel visited Joseph in his dreams, Joseph changed his plans. He set aside his bad feelings against Mary and he disregarded the future struggles that might come because of this unplanned path that had now been laid out before them, and he, like Mary, submitted himself to the will of the Father, and God’s new plans for their lives. We see that Joseph, too, was a humble servant of the Lord. But there is something more at work here with Joseph, and that is the mercy and compassion that he shows in the face of Mary’s unexpected news.

We heard again this morning the story of Joseph and Mary’s engagement, their pledge to be married. Among Jews at this time, the marriage vows were made at something called a betrothal, and the law required that only death or divorce could end them. The normal interval of time between this pledge to get married and the time that the husband and wife would live together and have a physical union was a year. But during this interval Mary became pregnant. And according to the law, this is a situation that could be punishable by death. Imagine what a difficult problem this must have caused! We talked last week about the challenges Mary would have faced, so let us think now about what this news means for Joseph. Mary was pregnant, but Joseph knew that he had nothing to do with it.

Can you imagine how Joseph would have felt? I mean, think of a time in your life when you felt you had been betrayed by someone you loved and trusted. You feel angry, frustrated, hurt, let down, wounded, heart-broken, sad, hopeless, perhaps jealous. I imagine that Joseph probably felt all those emotions, and maybe many more. Matthew tells us, “[Mary] was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” (Period) “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” It seems like it was all so simple doesn’t it? Mary was pregnant. (Period) So Joseph decided to divorce her. But think of all that is not said. There is a whole lot that happens where that period is. Joseph has to sort through all those emotions. He may even think about what he’d like to do to that guy who got Mary pregnant. He has to think about the implications of this news, and his own actions related to it. If he turns Mary in for adultery, she could be put to death. If he claims the child as his own, they could both be punished for their failure to follow the marital laws. It’s not just that Mary was pregnant and so Joseph decided to divorce her. There was a lot to sort through, I’m sure Joseph lost some sleep over the decision, but finally, he decides what to do.

Matthew tells us, “Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.” And here’s where we get the first glimpse of Joseph’s deep level of mercy and compassion. Joseph could have decided to publicly accuse Mary—making a spectacle of her, and thus causing her to be stoned to death. He could have gotten his revenge! After all, the law was on his side. Joseph already had a career as a carpenter, and there were probably plenty of other fish in the sea. These thoughts must have crossed his mind. It would have made perfect sense, and the townspeople might have been more than happy to participate in a public stoning. Joseph could have been a hero in the eyes of the people. Joseph could have decided to do things the way most people would have done them, but instead, Joseph decided he would dismiss Mary quietly. This would allow him to save face, but it would also save Mary’s life. Joseph chose mercy over the law of retribution.

During his ministry, Jesus taught that God “desires mercy, not sacrifice.” Any righteous Jew, like Joseph, would understand that righteousness comes through obedience to the law. Emphasis was on following ritual, obeying regulations, and making sacrifices of burnt offerings. But even before Jesus is born, God teaches us about a new kind of righteousness; righteousness that is borne out of the mercy and compassion that we show to others. The way that we begin to learn about this new righteousness is through Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, in his actions toward Mary. And look what happened!

When that spark of compassion ignited in Joseph, his desperate situation was completely turned around by the entrance of God. God’s will literally led Joseph in a direction that he did not expect to take! Once Joseph had made the decision to do the ‘right’ thing, we see that an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” What a shocker that must have been!

We only need to open the door of love and mercy just the wee tiniest bit, and God will take that opportunity to come marching through in a big way! Have you ever been beset with a moral dilemma? I think most of us have. What happened when you chose mercy and compassion over judgment and anger? Did you experience God coming through the door of your life once the decision was made, once the deal was sealed in your heart, mind and soul? Is this not how lives are re-created?

Miss Thompson taught Teddy Stallard in the fourth grade. He was a slow, unkempt student, a loner shunned by his classmates. The previous year his mother died, and what little motivation for school he may have once had was now gone. Miss Thompson didn’t particularly care for Teddy either, but at Christmas time he brought her a small present. Her desk was covered with well-wrapped presents from the other children, but Teddy’s came in a brown sack. When she opened it there was a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker but Miss Thompson saw the importance of the moment. She quickly splashed on some perfume and put on the bracelet, pretending Teddy had given her something special. At the end of the day Teddy worked up enough courage to softly say, “Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you like my presents.”

After Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and prayed for God’s forgiveness. She prayed for God to use her as she sought to not only teach these children but to love them as well. She became a new teacher. She lovingly helped students like Teddy, and by the end of the year he had caught up with most of the students. Miss Thompson didn’t hear from Teddy for a long time. Then she began receiving notes with news from Teddy; he was graduating from high school second in his class, and then first in his class from college. Many years after Teddy had left Miss Thompson’s fourth grade classroom, she received this note, “Dear Miss Thompson, As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard.” Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat, and she was able to celebrate with Teddy because she let God use her as an instrument of mercy and compassion. And when she did, God went to work in a big way, not only in her life, but in Teddy’s life too!

The same was true for Joseph. Joseph’s life was changed when Mary told him that she was pregnant through the Holy Spirit. No matter how he responded to the news, his future was going to be radically different. He could have chosen to cast judgment upon Mary and sent her away to be ridiculed and ostracized, maybe even stoned. And that would have been a pretty miserable future, not only for Mary, but for Joseph as well. Instead, Joseph decided he would handle the news with as much compassion as possible, he would dismiss Mary quietly so no one would know of the scandal, and Mary’s life would be spared. That, too, would have led to a pretty miserable future; he would have to separate from his wife, this woman he loved and to whom he had devoted himself. And he probably would have worried regularly about the baby’s health and well-being without a Father to care for it.

But because Joseph opened a window of mercy, God’s work carried forward in the best possible way. He showed Joseph his plan, and before long, Mary and Joseph were the happy parents of the most important person who has ever been born. They were the parents of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. And because of their devotion; because of Mary’s willingness and Joseph’s mercy, we are all offered hope for the future through our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ is a sign that we are not alone, that God himself is with us. Who needs to know that this Christmas? With whom do we need to share God’s mercy and compassion so that they too can have hope?

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

November 27, 2011

First Sunday of Advent

Luke 1: 26-38 (NIV)

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God.”

³⁸“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

I imagine that as the Thanksgiving festivities wound down this week, several of us took the extra time and opportunity to begin decorating for Christmas. We pull the boxes of decorations from their storage places, we unpack the Christmas tree and assemble it again, paying careful attention to make sure all the branches are well-placed. Or maybe we pile the family into the car, with saw and rope handy, and head out to the Christmas tree farm in search of the perfect Christmas tree to adorn our home. And that’s part of the joy of decorating for Christmas isn’t it, finding the perfect Christmas tree; well-proportioned, symmetrical, with full branches, and that wonderful pine scent. Yes, when it comes to finding a Christmas tree, we typically walk past the short ones, or the thin ones, or the ones with lots of needles lying at their base, without even a sideways glance.

But perhaps some of you remember Charlie Brown’s quest for a Christmas tree in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Chuck and Linus have been charged by Lucy to find the perfect Christmas tree for the children’s Christmas pageant, a tree which reflects the “modern Christmas spirit.” As the two boys enter the Christmas tree lot, we see an array of Christmas trees in every color; pink, purple, orange. Linus knocks on one of the trees and we hear the rattle of hollow metal. But then the boys spy the tree they want; a short, spindly pine, with barely a handful of needles. Linus comments, “I didn’t know they still made wooden Christmas trees.” It isn’t much, but it is the “perfect” tree to Charlie Brown and Linus, and so they carry it back to the school where their friends are rehearsing for the pageant. Only, the Peanuts gang isn’t so enthusiastic, and they are quick to make fun of the pathetic-looking tree, and Charlie Brown’s poor choice. So, shoulders sagging and feet dragging, Charlie Brown takes the tree and heads home.

I suppose we shouldn’t be terribly surprised by the reaction of Charlie Brown’s friends, I mean, it really was a pretty pathetic Christmas tree, but Charlie Brown’s choice of a Christmas tree is a good reminder of God’s choice of a mother to bear the Messiah. And that woman, Mary, is going to be the focus of our attention today as we begin our journey to Bethlehem, our journey to Christmas, our journey into deeper relationship with this Messiah whose birth we celebrate each year.

So, it doesn’t take much to realize that Mary, was a lot like that little Christmas tree Charlie Brown picked out for the Christmas pageant. There was nothing special about her. She was not rich, she did not have a prestigious social standing. She probably lived in a very modest home, a cave, most likely. There would have been nothing to make her stand out from the hundreds of other women of her day, who went about regular chores of fetching water, cooking, cleaning, and otherwise looking after the well-being of their family. And, she was from Nazareth. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Nazareth was nothing more than a tiny, insignificant village. It would be what we might call “Podunk” today. There was a reason that when Philip shared with his friend Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel’s response went something like this, “Are you kidding me? Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” But something good did come from there, didn’t it?

Of all the places God could have gone, of all the women God could have chosen to bear the Messiah, God sent the angel Gabriel to this tiny village to knock on the door of a normal, humble, young woman, Mary. What does it mean that God went to Nazareth instead of one of the big cities of the day where there would be refined and cultured women? Even before Jesus is born, God is teaching us anew, reminding us of his long-established values. God favors the meek, the humble, those who “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God,” who love others as they love themselves, and who “take up [their] cross daily” to follow him. God saw in Mary the kind of humble servant, that he desires all people to be, and despite all the challenges, Mary did not disappoint.

Could you imagine being in Mary’s shoes? Some of us were sort of light-heartedly joking last week about what it would be like to be visited by an angel, a messenger from God, and told that you were going to become pregnant, not in the usual way, but because God has chosen you, and “the power of the Most High will overshadow you” until you conceive and bear none other than the very Messiah! This is nothing short of crazy! If we were to take such news out into the world today, people would call us crazy, we would be admitted into the local mental institution.

But here’s the thing, the scenario really wasn’t all that different for Mary. In her day, the penalty for pregnancy out of wedlock was death. At best, under normal circumstances, Mary would have been abandoned by Joseph because of her “infidelity;” and, assuming she made it through the dangerous ordeal of childbirth, she would have been ostracized by her family and left to raise her child as a single mother. She would have been mocked and ridiculed and become an outcaste. But that didn’t stop Mary; all those challenges didn’t keep Mary from doing what she knew in her heart was the right thing to do, and opening herself for the work of God that was to happen through her. As a humble servant, Mary “took up her cross” and followed this most unlikely path described by Gabriel, and in this early part of the gospel, Mary is the star of the show.

There is a pastor who tells of the annual children’s Christmas pageant at his church. Each year, as Advent approaches, the children are gathered, and the parts of the Christmas pageant are assigned. The children play all the parts; wise men, shepherds, stable animals, but none is more popular than the part of Mary. Only when the question, “Who wants to be Mary?” is asked, do all the little hands in the room fly up in eager anticipation. And yet, this pastor reflects, “I wonder if Mary wanted to be Mary?”

As a young woman, probably no more than 13 or 14, she compromised her entire future. She surrendered her body and carried within her the Christ-child for 9 months. Do you think Mary wanted to be Mary? She became Theotokos, the “God-bearer,” and she went through the dangerous ordeal of childbirth. Then she nurtured the child; she fed him, clothed him; she raised him, taught him scriptures, and modeled the faith. And 33 years later, after he had taught the world about the unfathomable love of God, she watched him die on a cross, in accordance with God’s will. The will of God which, she knew, requires so much of all of God’s servants. Do you think Mary wanted to be Mary?

Sometimes, when God calls us, what God calls us to is hard, not easy. It’s not what we want or what we dream about; it could be risky and dangerous, it could separate us from everything we know and love. And that is where we have so much to learn from Mary today. We cannot downplay Mary’s significance in history. No other person, besides Jesus himself, plays a greater role in the salvation of the human race than Mary. And it was all because of her faith in the God who called her, and her willingness to serve him.

So what is it we need to take from this lesson this morning? That God favors the humble and lowly, and that we need to make sure are hearts and minds are always in the right place to respond to God’s call? Absolutely. Perhaps the thing to remember is that nothing is impossible with God. That’s important too. Does this story remind us that God is the giver of new life? It certainly does! But the most important part of this story is that when Mary was asked to do something hard, when Mary was asked to surrender everything and serve God, her answer was “Yes!”

Are we so very willing? This Advent season, as we prepare once again for a Christmas celebration not only remembering Christ’s birth, but anticipating that day when he will come again, we need to take time to search our own hearts and minds. We need to ask the tough questions of ourselves and examine our values. In the midst of the chaos of Christmas shopping, musical programs, and holiday parties, we need to pause, and humble ourselves before God in prayer, crying out, “I am the Lord’s servant. God, I am your servant.” And then as we listen for that often unexpected call of God, we all need to explore our own willingness to say like Mary, “May it be with me according to your will.”

“Here I am, Lord, use me.”

Grace & Fairview United Methodist Churches

November 20, 2011

2 Corinthians 9: 6-15 (NIV)

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written:

“He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

¹²This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. ¹³Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. ¹⁴And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. ¹⁵Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

In mathematics, there is a theory that some of you have probably heard of called “the butterfly effect.” Now, there’s plenty of complicated ways to describe this theory, but what it basically boils down to is the idea that a single, seemingly insignificant change or event can have profound, large-scale effects later on. The most common example used to illustrate this theory is a butterfly, flapping its wings, which produces air waves that intensify over time to such a degree that it becomes a huge storm, perhaps even a hurricane.

It’s really interesting to me how the smallest things can have the biggest impact; how a single decision can send us hurdling down a path to a future that would have been completely different if a different choice had been made. Or how one prayer can reverse a terminal illness, or a simple note of compassion can bring hope into the midst of a seemingly hopeless situation. The things we do and the choices we make can have a significant impact not only in our lives, but in the lives of others as well.  And that is the point that Paul is driving home in our scripture lesson for this morning.

Paul is making a specific appeal for the collection for the Jerusalem Church, a collection which is important in the continued work of the early church. But Paul’s words have a much broader application, especially as we think about the continuing work of the church in the world today, and our call from Christ to make disciples of all nations. Basically, what Paul is saying is this: “Your ability to show gratitude to God for the work of grace in your life becomes the way by which many others can experience God’s grace firsthand.” And as we approach Thanksgiving 2011, this is an important lesson for all of us to keep in mind. Our embodied thanksgiving makes it possible for others to offer thanksgiving to God as well. It could even cause a “butterfly effect.” Just one act of generosity, just one show of thanksgiving to God, could be the spark that spreads a wildfire of God’s grace; and before we know it hundreds, even thousands, of people are lifting their voices in praise to God!

As a matter of fact, a life of thanksgiving may be positive in more ways than we realize! A growing body of research has tied an attitude of gratitude with a number of positive emotional and health benefits. An article in The Wall Street Journal summarized the research like this: “Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not…They are also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly, and have greater resistance to viral infections.” The article ends with, “The key [to benefiting from an attitude of gratitude] is not to leave it on the Thanksgiving table.” Continually giving thanks to God brings us joy, and it brings others joy as well! Our gratitude to God should be a whole way of life that infects others with the wonderful blessings of God’s grace!

We have much for which to give thanks to God, do we not? In this passage, Paul lifts up specifically the gift of God’s grace at work in our lives, but think of what all that means! We are here because God has brought us here. We are blessed because through Jesus Christ, God’s unconditional love has poured over us. God’s grace has opened so many doors for us, most of which we’ve walked through without even noticing! It is so easy for us to forget all the blessings in our lives. It is so easy for us to say, “Woe is me!” One of the great mistakes of life is to turn to God only in the overpowering emergencies or the shattering crises. It is so easy for many of us to curse God; to blame God when catastrophe strikes. But we have things upside down! We live in a fallen world! We all sin! And yet, by the grace of God we still have the good times and the good things that we do have! It’s not as if we deserve them! Where would we be without the help of the Lord, without the goodness of God, without the love and faithfulness of our Savior? We can try to live without God’s grace, but it really is an impossible assignment. Thanksgiving is about more than family gatherings and cranberry sauce; it’s about recognizing and proclaiming what our Savior has done for us so that others can do the same!

Have you ever given any thought to the possibility that, perhaps at times, the way we live our lives is a hindrance to others coming into God’s presence in thanksgiving? I believe this probably happens more than we are aware. Maybe because we don’t live the other six days in any way that reflects what we do on Sundays. Or perhaps people see us sinning, but never repenting. This may happen because we are a little like the Pharisees we talked about last week; we say one thing but do another. Or maybe because we are not generous in the way we should be, generous in the way Paul describes in our reading this morning. And the result is our behavior keeps others from being able to experience the generous grace of God.

You see, our generosity is an outpouring of God’s own generosity in our lives. It’s like the ripples that cascade out from a rock thrown in a pond. It’s like the butterfly effect. As Paul says, “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever. Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” We do not deserve God’s favor, and yet we receive it. God graces and God sows. And grace received demands a response. The grace that comes from God finds its fruition as it flows through us to others.

As we prepare to gather around banquet tables this week and offer up words of thanksgiving for our family, friends, health, and other abundant blessings, we would do well to think about others who might not be feeling so blessed, who cannot so really lift up words of thanksgiving. And then to consider how we might live our lives more fully, generously sharing God’s grace with others, so that they too are able to lift thanksgiving to God for the blessings that truly matter.

As Christians, we are called to continually strive after the example of Christ and to grow in our image and likeness of him. One of the greatest ways we can grow and show our thanksgiving to God is by proclaiming God’s goodness and seeking to bring others into God’s presence. The writer, James, in the New Testament declares near the end of his letter that there is no greater good than to bring another into God’s presence. A great part of thanking God is sharing the Good News of God’s grace and love with all the people around us. You know how it is; when something great happens in our lives, we want to share the wonderful news with everyone we know, and perhaps even everyone we don’t know! This should be no less true of God’s blessings in our own lives. Actually, it should be even more true!

There was a man who served as a medical missionary for many years in India. He served in an area where there was progressive blindness. People were born with healthy vision, but there was something in that area that caused people to lose their sight as they matured. Well, this medical missionary developed a process that would stop progressive blindness. So people came to him and he performed his operation, and they would leave realizing that they would have become blind, but now they were going to be able to see for the rest of their lives. The people never said: “Thank you,” to this missionary because that phrase was not in their dialect. Instead, they spoke a word that meant: “I will tell your name.” So, wherever they went, they would tell the name of the missionary who had cured their blindness. They had received something so wonderful that they eagerly proclaimed it!

Have we not received something so wonderful that we eagerly proclaim it? God has been so good to us, God has poured his grace upon us, God loves us so much, and if we really want to thank God, we just can’t keep the wonderful news inside us! We have to be generous with others in the same way that God is generous with us, we have to go and tell the name of Christ in the world!

How can we thank God enough? We thank God by living as God would have us to live; by worshiping and praising, by studying God’s Word and communicating with God through prayer. We thank God by preparing our hearts and seeking to draw nearer to God, even as God in Christ Jesus draws nearer to us. We thank God by sharing the message of God’s great love, which has transformed and blessed us. We thank God by serving others in the name of Christ, and by bringing others nearer to God through our witness. We thank God by anticipating with great joy that day when we will celebrate “Emmanuel, God with Us,” as we all gather around the great Thanksgiving Table, with Christ the host in our midst, and young and old alike lifting voices together in praise of God’s Divine Goodness!