“Marks of Methodism: Loves Others” 1 John 4: 7-21

A few weeks ago we got into a discussion at one of our parish Bible Studies about ways that we can stumble and go astray as disciples and as the body of Christ. We talked about all sorts of things, but one that stuck out to me is that we miss the point, miss the mark of what it means to follow Christ, when we fail to love one another, calling to mind this passage from 1 John. 

We are now in our final week of our sermon series of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ. We’ve built this whole sermon series around the fact that you can only be a disciple Jesus if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. From there, we who bear the name Christian are called to build lives that reflect the Truth and Power of Jesus Christ in this world. We do that by being thankful in all circumstances, by staying connected to the Vine through prayer so we can bear fruit, and loving God with all we have and all we are. The call to a life of discipleship is not always easy, but it can change the world for the Kingdom of God, my friends. 

But one of the reasons that discipleship can be hard, is if we aren’t really careful, we can slip into the mindset of “what’s in this for me?” And we can carry that mindset into our faith lives. The problem is that mindset of putting myself first, that flies in the face of what John is lifting up in today’s passage. 

John is writing to a group of believers who are getting confused by what others are teaching them. There are folks coming into the area claiming that Jesus did not come in the flesh, but instead he was just a Spirit, and therefore he couldn’t have died. In the face of these false prophets, the author wants to remind them exactly how they can figure out what is true - are they teaching to live a life that lines up with the commands of Christ, and are they proclaiming that Christians will be known by their love. 

Time and again Jesus proclaimed that believers will be known by how they love others. In fact in the 12th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we hear that ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:33), but that doesn’t make it any easier. We start to put limits on what that love looks like - who are we love? How are we to love them? Are they to earn that love before we give it? - that distract us from this idea that Christians will be known by their love. 

Our personal relationship with God, the beginning part of what Mark is talking about in that particular verse - manifests itself in how we live our lives friends. Let me be clear, yes, I firmly believe in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but if it is so personal that no one can tell what you believe, we’ve missed the point. If we are so caught up in the “me and Jesus” mentality, that we fail to love our neighbor. We’ve missed the point. 

Love of God and love of neighbor are deeply connected. Somewhere in my Sunday school journeys I remember learning that the cross points us to how we live our lives in the world - having a relationship with God and reaching out to our neighbors in love. And that has stuck with me. It’s in line with what I see Jesus teaching time and time again in the Gospels. And it is what John is speaking about in this letter. 

Why do we love one another? Because love is from God. In fact, God loves us so much that He sent his only son so that we could find Life, when all we knew was the death of darkness and sin. In other words, we love because God first loved us. And the way we love, who we love, should say a lot more about God than it does about us.

One of our recent confirmation lessons was built around the idea that we are blessed to be a blessing, but it could have just as easily been that we love because we are loved. We are loved with the perfect and everlasting love of Jesus Christ. And as we share that love, we ripple out into the world, like a stone that skips across the water, widening the reach of the message of the cross. 

And why? Why do we love? John puts it this way - No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. At the fellowship that I was part of for young clergy, our leader, a seasoned pastor, leader, and teacher in the church put this concept in these words - we as the church need to be able to answer the “so what” question. Why does it matter that we share the love of Jesus? What is our hope? What is the vision of God that we want to share: that through our love the grace of God may be made known, not for our sake, but for the sake of those who do not yet know Jesus. Loving isn’t about what we get out of it church. Its about making the light and truth of Jesus known.

Wesley said that those who called themselves Methodists should be “full of love to all humankind, to every child of the Father”, and from day one of the Methodist movement thats what they did. They went to the prisons to preach the good news. They gave alms for poor to have food. They preached everywhere that they could, and many places that they were prohibited, because they looked out and saw children of God - children of God who had not yet heard, who did not yet know that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

But that type of love - the love that changes hearts and lives, isn’t always easy. We are going to screw up along the way. We aren’t going to always get it right. But we trust and believe that this command that God gave us to love others, is one that we strive after by God’s grace alone, trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead up and equip us for the mission. 

There is a pastor named Frank Laubach who is talked about in the book that this sermon series is based off of Marks of Methodism. The story that is told about Frank is that every day he gets up and prays some version of the same prayer - Lord, what do you want to do in he world today that I can help you with. By praying this prayer, Frank is putting his life on the front lines of the Kingdom of God, asking that God opens up his eyes and heart for whatever work God is calling him to. To the people, God wants him to love in ways great and small through the day. Romans 12:1 embodies such a prayer, when Paul writes (Message Version)  So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

What about us, friends? Who are we being called to love? Are we asking that God uses our every day life to make the love of Christ known? May we be a people who look to God, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, to use to love with the love of Christ. Amen. 

“Marks of Methodism: Giving Thanks” 1 These 5:16-19 2 Cor 9:10-15

“Marks of Methodism: Giving Thanks” 1 These 5:16-19

2 Cor 9:10-15

This week, Americans will be celebrating Thanksgiving, in homes and in communities, with friends and families. Many of us have fond memories about Thanksgiving and especially use this month to think about what they are thankful for. I even have friends who are intentionally thinking of at least one thing a day, each day throughout the month of November that they are thankful for.

But thankfulness, giving thanks, is not something that is contained to the month of November. And as wonderful as the holiday of Thanksgiving is, it also is not the only time in our lives to be reflective about what God has blessed us with. As Christians, we are to be giving thanks to God at all times and in all places. 

However, while we may thinking that giving thanks is simple, it doesn’t always make it easy. Think about the verses we read today - Paul is writing words of encouragement to these communities, but not everything among them is perfect. They are experiencing pressure from the outside world. They are not the dominant part of society by any means. Some they know have experienced persecution, and yet Paul has these words that are ringing out about giving thanks. 

In fact the words we heard from 1 Thessalonians are almost the last words penned in that particular letter - part of the benediction, or sending forth - and what does Paul say - “to give thanks in all circumstances.” How in the world are we supposed to do that? 

Honestly, as Christians, I think sometimes we misuse this verse. I still remember one of the hardest debates I was part of during my time in seminary was in this vein. Some people seemed to be claiming that “to give thanks in all circumstances” means that we need to be happy when we are in situations we would rather not be in - things like illness, losing a job, death. But that isn’t what Paul is saying here. He isn’t speaking about happiness, he is speaking about thankfulness. As Christians we need to be very careful about our wording here - because if we go around telling people to be happy, no matter what heartbreaking thing is happening in their lives, we may be creating a stumbling block between folks and Jesus. 

Instead, as we grow in faith, we realize that Paul is saying that we can give thanks in all circumstances, no matter how hard, not by our own power, but only though God’s grace and help. That debate we had in seminary - it really boiled down to this - folks asking if you could wave a magic want and not having those heartbreaking parts of your life happen, wouldn’t you always choose to do so? And surprisingly some of us answered no. Not because what we faced wasn’t earth-shattering at the time, but because that was a time when we grew closer to God. Felt the presence of God with us. Now that may not be true for everyone. And as Christians we certainly aren’t saying that we give thanks for the heartbreaking thing itself. But we realize that we can give thanks, because we do not walk through this life, joys and concerns, alone. We give thanks because our God is with us. 

We also give thanks because we worship the God of redemption. What do I mean by that? I mean our God can take that which we offer and make something beautiful out of it. What do I not mean - I don’t mean that God causes the awful things we go through in our lives. Recently I was listening to This American Life, which weaves together stories of people like you and I, every day people who do extraordinary things. I have been listening to this show for years, but just a few weeks ago I heard the first story that made me cry, I was so deeply moved. Sandy and Lonnie Phillips lost their daughter in the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Since then, they have traveled across the United States when there are mass shootings to simply be a presence. Someone for folks who are grieving to connect with. To say, I’ve been there. They talk with other parents like themselves and just listen. Cry. And support hurting communities. Why? So that no one has to be alone. 

Now I’m sure if you asked the Phillips’s if they wished their daughter was still alive today, they would answer yes in a resounding heartbeat. But they know that out of their pain they have a gift to offer other families, so they go and love strangers. Something that they would not be able to do by their own strength. They admit that this work is hard, but it is also their call, coming out of the darkness of grief. I don’t know if the Phillip’s are people of faith, but I cried in the car that day thinking that is redemption. That is God’s grace and help and presence. 

Another facet of thanksgiving is found in 2 Corinthians 9. The crux of this chapter is talking about helping other churches, believers helping believers. Paul is reminding the church in Corinth that everything that they have received has first come from God, therefore they are to thank God for their incredible gifts by giving back. 

When I read Paul’s words, I am reminded that gratitude is rooted in God’s nature, not in how we feel at any given time. What is great about this time of the year is that we actually take time to think about what we have to be thankful for, but God is still the God who deserves our thanks and praise, even when we forget. Even we get busy. Even when we aren’t as attentive. Gratitude is our Christian response to God, because God has richly blessed us in Jesus Christ. Thanks should be our first response when we realize that God helped us. 

When John Wesley prayed, he set aside a whole day to reflect back on his week and say thank you. This is not to say that he didn’t say thank you through the week as well. But on Saturday, during his prayer time, he reflected on all that had happened during his week and the ways that God had provided. He was able to thank God for walking with him through the difficult times. And praise God for the times of blessings. 

Recently, I was talking to one of the folks helping out at a funeral service. He commented that when you go to a United Methodist Funeral, for the most part you may hear a different sermon and different hymns are sung, but overall the Word of God is proclaimed in a similar liturgy. I believe that is because the Words that we say, especially during difficult times in life are powerful. So I want to leave us this day with the words of the prayer of thanksgiving, as we leave to celebrate this particular holiday this week: God of love, we thank you for all with which you have blessed us even to this day: for the gift of joy in days of health and strength and for the gift of your abiding presence and  promise in days of pain and grief. We praise you for home and friends, and for our baptism and place in your Church with all have faithfully lived and died. Above all else we thank you for Jesus, who knew our griefs, and died our death and rose for our sake, and who lives and prays for us.

May we be a thankful people, who take time to praise our God, no matter what we may face, in all times and in all places. Amen. 

“Marks of Methodism: Pray Continually” 1 Tim 2:1 John 15: 1-17

11/11/18 “Marks of Methodism: Pray Continually” 1 Tim 2:1

John 15: 1-17

I love to be in worship. To gather together as the body of Christ and hear the Word proclaimed through songs, prayers and scripture reading. But even though I geninually love worshiping, there aren’t as many moments that I truly remember in worship. Ones where I was touched so deeply that they feel like they are seared in my brain. 

One of those moments, however, came from annual conference a few years ago where the guest professor leading a Bible Study during worship took this passage from John 15 and made it come alive for me in a whole new way, as she showed a spoken word piece by Allyson Weremelskirchen called “Jesus is the Vine” that I have watched many times since. One of the lines that struck me was “I am the only way that you can flourish”.

Friends, how very true. Jesus Christ is the only way we can flourish in this world. He is the foundation that we build our very lives upon. In fact, being a disciple is built upon the premise that you have a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. But discipleship isn’t about regulation or religion, it is about continuing this relationship with Christ. Its about growing more in love with him every day. And one of the ways that we do that is through prayer. 

Growing up, I could often tell how some of my friends felt on a given day by how they communicated. One friend, when he was angry, he avoided talking to you, cutting off all communication. Another would talk all the time, but not about anything that was bothering them. When folks started to cut off the line of communication one way or another, I knew that we weren’t in a good place.

Yet, how often, do we do the same thing - cutting off communication with God? We cut ourselves off from the only One - the only Way, the only source of Truth and Life, the only way to flourish. 

Sometimes we do this unintentionally. We get to the end of the day, we’re tired. So we just skip praying. And then at some point we think back over the last few days or weeks or months and realize that we simply haven’t been praying, haven’t been communicating with God. 

Take time to think about the people who are important to you in life. What would happen if you went weeks or months without speaking to them? Could you imagine not talking to your spouse or children or best friend for weeks at a time? For me, that’s really hard. I grew up in a family that treasured time together and communication. We always talked. The thought of being cut off from them would break my heart. 

And honestly, friends, I believe that it breaks God’s heart too. When we slip away - making choices other then spending time with God. Other than communicating with God. Cutting ourselves off from the vine. 

Other times, I have known people who have intentionally cut themselves off from God. Some people do this because they believe that God has failed to hear their cries, failed to answer their prayers, so one day they just decide that they aren’t going to pray anymore. Allyson Wermelskirchen puts it this way, God is asking that we not cut Him loose. Yet, we can probably all think of someone who did just that. 

When we look at prayer as a transaction - I tell God what I want and then God gives it to me -  it becomes really easy to cut God loose, to distance ourselves from God, when we feel like we didn’t get what we want. 

And that in some ways is so similar to the second way that we can intentionally cut ourselves off from God - when we make prayer all about us - us talking, us receiving, instead of a conversation where we also listen. 

Prayer was never intended to be a one way conversation, friends. When we are in relationship, with the people around us and with God, we have to communicate and commune - or spend time with. Now that may look different for each of us, and that’s absolutely okay, because we were created differently. But what is not okay is cutting ourselves off from the vine, intentionally or unintentionally by not praying. Prayer helps us to create and sustain our relationship with God. 

In this fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, we find Jesus giving this teaching to his disciples about what it means to connected to him, and bear fruit. What it means to abide in Jesus. Yet, somehow we have taken the power out of this passage by forgetting that’s what its about - about following Jesus. About bearing fruit in Jesus’s name. But friends, believe me when I say that you cannot bear fruit for Jesus, no matter how badly you may want to, if you aren’t connected to the vine. If you aren’t staying connected to God through prayer and time with the Lord. 

So how do we do that? For some of you, the idea of praying may be new. It may be hard for you to think about taking time out of your day - but really prayer is talking to the God who loves you. To simply say, God this is what’s going well today or Lord, this is where I really need your strength and wisdom. Start small, but make time for the Lord. 

For others of you, perhaps you used to pray, but something has separated you from that time with the Lord. Maybe you do need to make time to pray, but I would encourage you to also take time to listen more closely to the Lord and respond more. Its not just about talking to God, its about listening for God to speak to our hearts. would encourage you to take time for sacred silence and point your hearts towards God. 

Maybe others of you feel like you have a rich and vibrant prayer life. Then John Wesley would admonish us as United Methodists to be a people who pray without ceasing. John Wesley would encourage people to pray for anyone and any time and anywhere, which 1st Timothy lifts up to us this morning. Maybe for you, you need to mediate and pray both on the reflections of your heart and printed prayers as well. Prayers that maybe we wouldn’t think about praying on our own. Wesley would pray on his own, he would pray in groups, but he would also pray using the Book of Common Prayer - this wonderful collection of worship resources and prayer, because sometimes we shy away from the things we would rather not think about or confess. Its not about reading prayers, its about praying them and making them our own. 

Friends, if we start seeing prayer as a way to be connected to God, a way to communicate with God, then many of our excuses start to fall away. Its not about whether we feel like it or not. Its not about whether we know what to pray for, or about whether we have the right words. Its simply about being connected to the source of all life and love. May we stay connected to the One True Vine through a heart of continual prayer. Amen. 

“Marks of Methodism: Loving God and Rejoicing in God” Neh 8:10 Matt 22: 36-38

11/04/2018   “Marks of Methodism: Loving God and Rejoicing in God”

Neh 8:10

Matt 22: 36-38

If I asked you what the foundation of your life was, how would you answer? Really take time to think about it. Now picturing that foundation in your mind, how does your life actually reflect this?

I think for many folks inside of the Church, they would say the foundation, the thing that they have built their life upon, is Jesus Christ. And praise be to God for that! But I have to wonder how that is actually lived into. Are you so in love with Jesus, that folks cannot help but know that about you? Does you life radiate the hope you have in Jesus Christ?

Not too long ago, one of the members of the parish and I ventured to Windy Hill to lead worship. Generally, local pastors and lay members take turns throughout the year leading worship on Sunday afternoons for the residents. However, the pastor that was slated for that day couldn’t do it, so I stepped in for him. When I lead worship, I usually preach a similar message to what you hear on that Sunday morning, but we also share life - asking the residents to shout out joys and concerns for prayer as well as their favorite hymns. As wonderful, however, as this worship is, usually my favorite time comes before and after the actual service when I take time to spend with the residents. For some of them, they have family that is able to visit all the time. Others hardly have anyone to visit at all, so this is such a powerful time for them. 

On that particular day, one woman grabbed my hand, looked me in the eye and said, “You love Jesus. I can tell because his joy radiates out from you when you talk about him.” Friends, that was my first time meeting that woman, and yes, she had watched me lead worship, but that wasn’t what she identified as the way she knew I loved my Lord. It was the passion with which I spoke about him. 

Friends, that passion is not reserved for pastors. Its not reserved for those who have loved Jesus for countless years. In fact, John Wesley described it this way: “A Methodist is one who has ‘the love of God shed aboard in the heart by the Holy Ghost given to us’”. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, we should be shining the love of Jesus out into the world. When our heart is changed, we cannot help but share the love of Christ. 

And that changed heart, that changed life, leads us on the journey of a lifetime - the journey of discipleship. For the month of November we are going to take time to talk about what that looks like for each of us. But before we get into this sermon series, I want to take a moment to make an important point - discipleship is what comes after the foundation of our life being Jesus. In other words, the scriptures that we are using this morning to talk about discipleship - what it means to be sold out for Christ - presuppose that you have already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. This is the fruit that comes from having our lives rooted in Christ. If that isn’t you this morning, know that I would love to talk with you about what it means to give your heart to the Savior. Please find me afterwords or someone else you can trust to talk to you about having a life in Christ. 

The truth is, however, even when we have that foundation of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it doesn’t always mean that we are great at reflecting that truth out into the world. For John Wesley, that reflection most often shows itself through living into Matthew 22: 36-38. The story surrounding these verses goes like this - some of the religious leaders called Pharisees were getting upset about what Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God, so they wanted to trap him in something they could bring charges against him with - so they sent of their disciples, their followers, to ask Jesus a bunch of questions about paying taxes and resurrection of the dead. Finally, one of the lawyers for the religious courts asked the question that he thought could ultimately trick Jesus, saying which commandment (singular) is the greatest. Remember that there are hundreds of commandments throughout the Jewish scriptures and he is asking Jesus to rank them in a way. But Jesus doesn’t give a singular answer - he gives two - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind. Noting that this was the first of the ten commandments, on which everything else hinges. And to love your neighbor as yourself. All of the laws boil down to these two. 

I often sum these up by saying love God with all you have and all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. For John Wesley this was the essence of the Gospels, just as it was what Jesus said its the essence of what the laws and the teachings of the prophets boil down to. 

Yet, even the disciples didn’t always get that love right. As Jesus gave his life on the cross, all of the twelve fled but one. Peter, after Jesus’s resurrection, has this encounter with him on a beach over breakfast, where Jesus keeps asking him the same question three times, Peter - do you love me? Jesus was asking Peter to make sure that this love - love of God and love of neighbor  - was the foundation of his life. And friends, we need to be asked this question as well, because if we take time to admit it - we know that we are just as prone to wonder and flee from the love of Christ as Peter was so long ago. But this wasn’t the end of the story for Peter - he went on to boldly share about Christ in Jerusalem and beyond. Read through the first eight chapters of the book of Acts to just see how he was making the love of Christ known in the world and how many people were having their lives changed. When he reclaimed that foundation and lived into it. 

This, Church, this the love that will not let us go. This is the love that leads us to have a whole life response, because that, that’s what discipleship is. Not giving a piece of our life for Jesus to use, but giving our whole lives. To share this love with our neighbors - not just those who love us in return. But unconditionally love like Christ. Love with grace. 

Now I am under no allusions that we are going to get this right all the time. Or that we we love perfectly as the Church. We are broken people bound together by a Savior. But we can try. We can be the people that have joy that flows froth from us because of the love of God. Joy that can spill out onto the streets and have people ask what’s different about us. 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Nehemiah talks about a Jewish man in exile who was a cupbearer to the King. God spoke into his life and gave him a vision that he was to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple - not an easy task. But as the people returned, they  were called back together to hear the word of God and worship. And Nehemiah told them that as they faced this insurmountable task ahead of them, that they joy of the Lord was to be their strength. 

Do you know where that joy comes from, Church. Loving God. Do you know how it expresses itself - love of neighbor. It takes strength to love and one expression of that strength is joy, joy that flows from the love of God. 

But when we lean into that joy, friends, lives can be changed. We have opportunities to share that the joy of the Lord is our strength because we are a forgiven people because of the cross. We have the opportunity to share how our lives have been changed. We are given the privilege to share the word of God. The love of God. The hope we have in a Savior. 

Friends, how is the love of God the foundation of your discipleship? How are you responding with your whole life to the love of the Savior? How are you loving God with all you have and all you are and your neighbor as yourself? For now is the time. The time to rejoice in the love of our Lord. Amen.