Drifting Away

So last week I took almost three days completely off.  I did a few things Wednesday morning, and helped with the Onida community Thanksgiving service at noon.  But after that, I did not come back to the church until Saturday.  I went to Armour and spent Thanksgiving with my parents.  We came back Thursday night, but Friday we went to Pierre and did some shopping and some visiting.  We did visit some people from the parish, so some of it could be considered work, I suppose.  Still, I was completely out of my routine.  I left the church on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. and did not come back until Saturday morning.

I found it kind of hard to get back into my routine when I came back.  Don’t get me wrong about that.  I still very much enjoy the things that I do as pastor, and that includes the office work.  I did not resent having to go back and do it.  I just felt kind of--off.  Like it was strange to be back in the office after a few days away.  Like something was not quite right, somehow, even though I did not know what or why.

You know what got me back on the beam?  It’ll probably seem obvious once I tell you.  Prayer.  I have a regular prayer time during the morning.  It’s actually a prayer walk--I walk around the outside of the church, praying as I go.  During that prayer time, I got back in touch with God, and I felt right about doing my office work again.

I realized, at that moment, that I really hadn’t prayed very much while I’d been gone.  I’d said prayers during meals.  I’d prayed briefly at various times.  But I had not had a concentrated prayer time where I could really focus on feeling close to God.  And because I had not done that, I had drifted away.  Not far away, but the process had started.  I needed to have that concentrated prayer time to feel close to God again.

It’s amazing how easy it is for us to drift away from God, and how quickly it can happen.  It was only two and a half days, and it’s not even like I had totally ignored God in those two and a half days.  I had not intentionally moved away from God.  I had simply drifted away, without even realizing I was doing it.  In the short time of two and a half days, I had drifted away, and I needed to get back.

Do you ever start to drift away from God?  As I found out, it’s easy to have it happen.  It happens without us meaning to let it happen.  It can happen without us even realizing it’s happening.  Maybe you’ve had it happen to you.  Maybe it’s happening to you now.

If it is, pray.  Get back in touch with God.  Find some time for some concentrated prayer, where you can focus on feeling close to God.  It does not necessarily have to take a long time.  It might, but it might not.  It takes however long it takes.  But try it.  Try going to God and truly opening yourself up to God.  I suspect if you do, you’ll start to feel close to God again.  That feeling of having drifted away will be gone.  You’ll feel God with you again, leading you, guiding you, helping you through life.

It’s easy to drift away from God.  But it’s not that hard to get back.  God wants to be close to you.  Focus on getting close to God again.  

Waiting for God

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 26, 2017.  The Bible verses used are John 1:1-18.

            This is kind of an unusual year.  Most of the time, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the first Sunday of Advent.  But this year, just because of the way the calendar falls, we have a Sunday in between Thanksgiving and Advent.  It’s kind of strange.  Thanksgiving is over, but Advent is not here yet.  So, while we might like to start celebrating the coming of the Savior, we have to wait.

            As I thought about that, I thought about how long the people of Israel waited for the Savior to come.  Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah go back at least to seven hundred B. C., maybe earlier.  That means the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come for at least seven hundred years.

            And we’ve talked about this before, but sometimes, when we look back this far into history, we lose sight of how long a time seven hundred years is.  In our minds, it all kinds of falls into the category of “a long time ago”.  We don’t think about how long it was between seven hundred B. C. and the coming of Christ.

            Think of it this way.  Seven hundred years ago was 1317.  Seven hundred years ago most people thought the world was flat.  Seven hundred years ago there were no gasoline-powered engines, no steam engines, no power of any kind, really, other than human power and horse power.  And I mean actual power from horses, or donkeys, or oxen, or whatever animal you might have.  Seven hundred years ago there was no such thing as the printing press.  Anything that was written was written by hand.  Seven hundred years ago Europeans had no idea that there was such a thing as the Americas.  That’s how long seven hundred years is.

            And that’s how long the people of Israel had been waiting for the Savior to come.  And of course, during that time, there were lots of false Saviors.  There were lots of people who claimed to be the Savior who were not.  There were lots of people in whom the people of Israel invested their hope, only to be disappointed.

            I’m sure some people probably gave up.  I mean, seven hundred years is a very long time to wait for something.  We think seven years is a long time to wait.  In fact, sometimes we think seven months or seven weeks or even seven days is a long time to wait.  Waiting for seven hundred years--I don’t think you and I can even imagine what that’s like, to wait that long for the promise of God to be fulfilled.

            And even after Jesus came, a lot of people had a hard time believing it.  And if we think about it, we can understand why.  I mean, have you ever really, really wanted something to happen, and you kept waiting and hoping for it to happen, and then it finally did, and you had trouble believing it?  You had to pinch yourself.  You had to keep reminding yourself.  You just could not believe that this thing you had wanted for so long was actually real.

            That’s the position some of the people of Israel were in.  They wanted to believe Jesus was the Savior, but--could it really be true?  After all this time--seven hundred years--could he really be the one we’ve been waiting for?  After all the disappointments, all the false Saviors we put our hope in only to find out it was not true--could Jesus really be the one we’ve been waiting for at last?

            That’s the context the apostle John was dealing with when he wrote his gospel.  Yes, there were some who already believed, but there were a lot who did not.  They could not believe that, after seven hundred years, the one they had waited for had finally come.

            And so, John starts his gospel by trying to explain to people who Jesus was.  And what does he say?  Well, we’ll get to it in a minute, but first, we need to deal with how John refers to Jesus.  He calls Jesus “the Word” and later calls him “the Word made flesh”.  In other words, Jesus was sent to earth as God’s message, God’s truth, God’s word to us.  So in that Bible reading, when you hear the phrase “the Word”, know that he’s referring to Jesus.

So what does John say?  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus existed from the beginning.  In other words, when Genesis says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”, Jesus was there.  And it’s not that Jesus was there with God, it’s that Jesus is God, God the Son.  Jesus is not some guy who was born two thousand years ago.  Jesus is eternal, because God is eternal.  Jesus existed before this world was ever created.  Jesus will exist after this world is gone.  Jesus always was, always is, and always will be.  That’s who Jesus is.

And the reason that’s important, or at least one of the reasons why it’s important, is to explain why they had to wait seven hundred years for the Savior to come.  As we said, seven hundred years is an incredibly long time for us.  When your life span is, at best, a hundred years or so, seven hundred years seems like a really long time.  But when you’re eternal, seven hundred years is nothing.  It’s the blink of an eye.  Psalm Ninety tells us that a thousand years are like a day that has just gone by to God.  So seven hundred years, to God, is really no big deal.

There are a lot of other things John said in our Bible reading today.  Jesus is the true light.  As John puts it, “the true light that gives light to everything was coming into the world.”  “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children...born of God.”  There are a lot of good sermons in that passage we read this morning.

But I want to keep the focus on that time of waiting.  Seven hundred years, at least, from the time of the first prophecy of the Savior to the time Jesus came.  And let me tell you why.

The Bible tells us some things about the second coming of Jesus.  Not as much as we’d like to know, but some things.  And one of the things it tells us is that, in its own words, Jesus second coming will be “soon”.

Now, it does not define “soon”.  But most of us would think it means sometime before two thousand years have gone by.  And so, people wonder about that statement.  If Jesus was supposed to come again “soon”, where is he?  Why has he not come yet?

And when we look around at the world right now, we see a lot of things that make us think maybe it’s about time.  Look at all the disasters we’ve had in the world.  For a while there, it seemed like there was not a week that went by without a hurricane, or an earthquake, or a big forest fire, or a devastating mudslide, or something.  And look at all the threats of war.  Look at all the accusations of immorality about our elected leaders.  We see all that, and sometimes we think “If Jesus is going to come again and set things right, maybe it’s about time he did it.”  We wonder why God has, for so long, allowed so many things to happen that just do not seem right.  We wonder why God does not step in and do something about it.  We wonder what God could be waiting for.

But the thing to remember is that we have no idea what “soon” may mean to God.  Two thousand years?  Two thousand years is nothing to God.  Two thousand years is the day before yesterday, or the day after tomorrow.  Two thousand years is an incredibly long time on a human scale, but it’s nothing on God’s eternal scale.

We don’t know how much longer it will be.  It could be another two thousand years.  It could be another two hundred thousand years.  Or it could be two hours.  We don’t know.

And so, we wait.  We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting, just like the people waiting for the first coming did not know how long they’d be waiting.  We wonder if it’ll come in our lifetime, just like the people waiting for the first coming wondered if it would happen in their lifetime.  And sometimes we’re tempted to give up, just like people waiting for the first coming were tempted to give up.

But don’t give up.  Because Jesus is coming again.  And we need to be ready.  Even if Jesus does not come in our lifetimes, we still need to be ready.  Because if Jesus does not come to earth in our lifetimes, we will go to meet him.  And we need to be ready for that, too.  Because we don’t know when that day is going to come, either.  But we know it is going to come.

            In human terms, it took a long time for the Savior to come.  Seven hundred years or more after the first prophecy.  People did not understand why it took so long.  Some of them gave up.  But the Savior did come, and the world changed forever because of it.

            In human terms, it’s taking a long time for Jesus to come again.  Two thousand years since the first mention of it.  Some people don’t understand why it’s taking so long.  Some people are tempted to give up.  But the Savior will come again, and again the world will change forever.

            May we all be ready for that day when it comes.

           

Being Thankful

This is a week to be thankful.  There are a lot of things to be thankful for, of course.  We can be thankful for material possessions, and there’s nothing really wrong with that.  It’s good, actually to be thankful that we have food and shelter and clothing when many people don’t.  It’s good to remember that we’re fortunate and blessed to have things like that.  We should do what we can to see that others have them, too, and I’m sure many of you do.

We can be thankful for family and friends, too.  It’s important that we don’t take the people in our lives for granted.  It can be easy to do that, you know.  When we see people every day, when they’re a consistent part of our lives, we sometimes just assume they always will be.  We don’t stop and think about how fortunate and blessed we are to have those people in our lives.  We should stop and be thankful for that.  And we should, to the extent we can, be one of those people who is always there for others, too.

And, of course, we should be thankful to God.  There’s no wrong way to be thankful to God, really, but I think sometimes we don’t do it as well as we should.  Here’s what I mean.  Sometimes, we’re thankful for all the things God has done for us.  Or, we may be thankful for the things God is doing for us now.  We may even, as an expression of faith and trust, be thankful for the things God is going to do, because we know God is still active and that God is always faithful.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with any of that.  I would suggest, though, that we make a mistake when we limit our thanks to God to the things that God does.  We should also remember to thank God for who God is.  The things God does for us are directly related to who God is.  

God is lots of things, of course.  God is holy.  God is righteous.  God is perfect.  God is all-knowing.  God is all-seeing.  God is all-wise.  God is all-powerful.  God is almighty.  God is caring.  God is compassionate.  God is gracious.  God is forgiving.  God is merciful.  God is love.  God, truly, is more than we can ever express in language.

And we need to remember to be thankful for that.  Because if God was not all of those things, God would not do the things God does.  God would not have given us the life God has given us.  God would not have given us the chance for salvation and eternal life God has given us.

And that, of course, is the most important thing for which we should be thankful.

Don't Worry, Be Thankful

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 19, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 4:4-9.

            It’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  It hardly seems possible.  It seems to me like Thanksgiving should still be at least a month away.  And yet, here it is.  Soon it will be Christmas and then 2017 will be over.  And I just finally stopped writing 2016 on my checks.

            So, it’s time for the pastor’s annual Thanksgiving message.  And this presents kind of a challenge.  Not because of the topic itself.  There are all kinds of Bible verses to use about thankfulness.  But it’s like what I wrote in the church newsletter.  You’ve heard all this before.  Some of you have heard literally dozens of Thanksgiving messages.  You know we’re supposed to be thankful to God, not just at this time but at all times.  You know what it says in First Thessalonians Five, Eighteen:  Be thankful in all circumstances.  You already know all this stuff.

            The question is not whether we know about it.  The question is whether we do it.  And of course, the answer would be different for each one of us.  Some of us probably do live up to that statement of being thankful in all circumstances.  Others of us probably remember to give thanks when things are going well, but are not so good at feeling thankful when things are not going the way we want them to.  Others of us probably are not even very good at giving thanks when things do go well.  We’re all at different points on the spectrum.

            But no matter where we are, I think most of us could probably do better than we’re doing. Even if we’re really good at giving thanks, we can probably still get better.  If we’re not so good at it, we can probably get a lot better.  But how?  How can we get to where we really do live with an attitude of thankfulness, no matter what’s going on in our lives?

            Well, let’s look at what the Apostle Paul write in his letter to the Philippians.  Look at how he starts out.  “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!”

            How many of us ever do that?  How many of us ever rejoice in the Lord.  Even if we sometimes give thanks to God, even if we are truly grateful for what God has done, how many of us actually rejoice in the Lord?

            In fact, how many of us even know what it means to rejoice in the Lord?  That word, rejoice, means to feel or show great joy or delight.  And those words, joy and delight, mean to take great pleasure.

            How many of us, when we think about God or when we pray to God, feel joy or delight?  How many of us, when we think about God or pray to God, take great pleasure in doing that?

            I’m guessing not very many of us, and not all that often.  And I base my guess, quite frankly, on the fact that I don’t feel those things that often.  Now, maybe that’s not fair.  Maybe you’re a lot better at this than I am.  Maybe you feel great pleasure and joy and delight every time you think about God and every time you pray to God.  I really hope there are some of us here who do.  If you do, that’s awesome.  That’s wonderful.  You probably don’t need to listen to any more of the message today.

            And there are times when I do feel those things.  But there are a lot of times when I don’t.  And so, for those of you who are still listening and feel like you can improve on this, what do we do?  How do we get that feeling of great pleasure and joy and delight?  How can we get to where we rejoice in the Lord?

            Well, let’s look at what Paul says next.  “The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            The Lord is near.  The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds.  That would great, don’t you think?  To know that the Lord is near?  To have the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds?  I mean, that’s really what we all want, right?  If we felt the Lord near, if we felt the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds, we’d be able to do what Paul said.  We would not be anxious about anything.  And how awesome would that be?  To not be anxious about anything.  Because my guess is that almost every person here is anxious about something.  It may be a big thing or it may be a small thing.  It may be something that some people would think of as a small thing, but it’s a big thing to you.  

            It would be so wonderful to be able to get rid of all that anxiety.  It would be so wonderful to not have to worry about anything.  It’s our worries that keep us from feeling that the Lord is near.  They keep us from feeling the peace of God.  And because we cannot feel the Lord near, because we cannot feel the peace of God, we cannot rejoice in the Lord the way Paul tells us to and the way God wants us to.  And because we cannot rejoice in the Lord, we cannot live with an attitude of thankfulness the way we know we’re supposed to.

            But does saying that help us any?  Probably not.  Saying “do not be anxious about anything” is easy.  Actually not being anxious is hard.  How do we do it?

            Here’s what Paul says.  “In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  Paul says that if we do that, we will feel the peace of God.  And then, we’ll be able to rejoice in the Lord and live with an attitude of thankfulness.

            So let’s break that down a little farther.  What are we supposed to do?  Present our requests to God.  That means any requests.  There is nothing too big for God, but there is also nothing too small for God.  That’s one of the amazing things about God.  God loves us so much that God is interested in every aspect of our lives.  God is interested in the big things, but God is interested in the small things.  Remember, this is the God that knows the number of hairs on our heads.  Basically, if something is important to us, it’s important to God.  That’s not to say God will always do what we want, and we know that.  We have no ability to order God around.  But there is never a time when we request something of God and God says, “Ah, that’s not important.  I’m not interested in that.  I’m not gonna pay any attention to that.”  God is interested in everything.  God pays attention to everything.  Everything is important to God.  So, no matter what our request is, we can present it to God.

            By what method are we supposed to present these requests to God?  By prayer and petition.  And when are we supposed to present them?  In every situation.

            In other words, we don’t need to wait until we have a specific prayer time to talk to God.  It’s fine to do that, don’t get me wrong.  I have a specific prayer time of my own.  But we don’t need to limit our prayers to that time.  In fact, we’re not supposed to.  We can pray to God in every situation.  No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing, we can pray to God.  We can present our requests to God.

            Now all that should help.  Knowing that we can pray to God at any time, that we can present our requests to God at any time, knowing that there’s nothing too big or too small for God to be interested in, that all can help us feel the peace of God.  It can help us be able to rejoice in the Lord.

            But here’s the big thing.  How are we supposed to present our requests to God?  With thanksgiving.  Paul says we should present our requests to God with thanksgiving.

            Think about that.  Present a request with thanksgiving.  Does that make sense?  I mean, I can understand being thankful after our request is granted.  But Paul says we’re not supposed to wait for our request to be granted to be thankful.  We’re supposed to be thankful as we’re making the request.  We’re supposed to present our request with thanksgiving.

            If we’re thankful to God as we’re making our requests to God, what does that mean?  It means that we trust God.  It means that, as we’re making the request, we trust that our request will be taken care of.  Whatever request we make, whatever the situation is, God’s going to handle it.  Once we’ve prayed to God about it, it’s over.  It’s in God’s hands, and we trust that God will take care of it.

            It’s trust.  It’s faith.  It’s believing that, once we’ve prayed, we can turn the situation over to God.  We can leave the situation in God’s hands.  Again, that does not mean God will do exactly what we want exactly when we want it.  That’s not what we’re thankful for.  What we’re thankful for is that we can trust God to do what’s right.  We’re thankful that we can trust God to do what’s best.  We’re thankful that we can trust God to take care of things and handle them in the right way, not just for us but for everyone involved.

            When we present our requests to God, we’re turning our problems over to God.  When we turn all of our problems, large and small, over to God, and when we do that with thanksgiving, knowing God will take care of them, we can feel the peace of God guarding our hearts and our minds.  Then, we truly will be able to rejoice in the Lord.  And then, we will truly know that the Lord is near.

It's What You Celebrate

So the latest “controversy” appears to be over when it’s socially acceptable to celebrate Christmas.  On one side are people who love the Christmas season so much that they want to start celebrating it as soon as Halloween is over.  Their ready to hear the Christmas carols, put up the decorations, and start watching the Christmas movies on November 1, and would probably do it earlier if they could.

On the other side are people who say no, that’s not acceptable.  They love Christmas, too, but they say that there’s a time and a place for it.  They say we need to make sure we take the time to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We need to take the time to be thankful for all that God has done for us.  They believe that if we start celebrating Christmas too early, it won’t be special any more.  They believe we’ll lose the meaning of Christmas if we don’t wait until December to celebrate it.

What do I think?  I think you should do whatever you want.  We all have enough rules that we have to follow in this world without adding more rules to them.  If you want to start celebrating Christmas on November 1, go ahead.  In fact, if you want to celebrate Christmas in October or September, it’s fine with me.  And if you want to wait until December to start, that’s fine, too.  That’s what I personally prefer--much as I like Christmas music, I’d get tired of it by Christmas if I started listening to it this early.  But that’s just me.  If you won’t get tired of it, then fine.  Start listening to Joy to the World any time you want.  The world can certainly use all the joy it can get.

But here’s the thing.  Whatever you choose to do, make sure you involve God in it.  If you start celebrating Christmas now, that’s fine, but don’t just spend the extra time celebrating Santa and Rudolph and Frosty.  Spend the extra time celebrating the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  And if you choose to wait until December to celebrate Christmas, don’t spend the time from now until Thanksgiving watching football and eating pumpkin pie.  Spend that time giving thanks to God for all that God has done for us.

I don’t care when you start celebrating.  But I do care what you celebrate and how you celebrate it.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with the secular celebrations of life.  But make sure you make time for religious celebrations, too.  Make sure God is involved in all your celebrations of life.  Make sure God is involved in the rest of your life, too.

The Power of the Holy Spirit

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 12, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Acts 1:3-11.

            Today we end our sermon series on the earthly life of Jesus.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned some things from it.  I know I have.  Looking at Jesus’ life in this way has shown me all kinds of things I’d never thought about before.  I hope it’s done that for you, too.  

We called this sermon series “From the Manger to the Cross”.  Actually, though, we extended it beyond the cross.  The last few weeks, we’ve been dealing with the appearances of the resurrected Jesus.

            Today, we deal with the last one.  We’re told that Jesus gave the disciples many convincing proofs he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days.  He spoke to the disciples about the kingdom of God.  He told them to stay in Jerusalem until the time they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

            We’re told that they asked whether, at this time, Jesus was going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  Jesus answered that it was not for them to know that.  Then he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

            And then he was gone.  Did the disciples know Jesus was going to leave right then?  Did they know they would never see him on earth again?  Nothing tells us that they did.  In fact, the way they reacted, staring up into the sky, makes me think they probably did not.  They may have thought, or at least hoped, that Jesus would come back again.  But of course, he did not.  At least, not yet.

            It must have been a tremendous reunion in heaven when Jesus got back there, don’t you think?  I mean, try to imagine how Jesus would’ve felt.  The divine Son of God, finally free of his human body, reunited with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  The three in one were truly one again.  That must have been something.  There probably was as much rejoicing in heaven at that as there’s ever been about anything.

            But meanwhile, the disciples were back on earth.  And they did not know what to do.  All they knew was that they were supposed to stay in Jerusalem and wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit.

            I wonder if they had any idea what that meant.  To be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  They knew what a regular baptism was, of course.  But what would it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit?  Did they understand?  Would we?  I mean, we talk about the Holy Spirit, but do we know what it would mean, what it would be like, how it would change us, if we were actually baptized with the Holy Spirit?

            Jesus did say one thing about it.  Jesus said they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.  But of course, the disciples may not have known what that meant, either.  Jesus did not say any more about it.  It sounds cool and all, but what kind of power?  The power to do what?  They did not know.

            I wonder if we know, either.  I mean, we talk about the Holy Spirit in church.  We talk about needing to open our hearts so that God’s Holy Spirit will come in.  We talk about asking God’s Spirit to lead us and guide us.  

But we don’t talk very often about getting power from the Holy Spirit.  We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as a spirit of love or a spirit of kindness or a spirit of forgiveness and mercy.  And of course the Holy Spirit is all those things.  But the Holy Spirit is so much more than just that.  The Holy Spirit is all the things God is, because the Holy Spirit is God.  One of the persons of the trinity:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  So anything we can say of God we can also say of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is perfect.  The Holy Spirit is righteous.  And the Holy Spirit is almighty and all powerful.

We make a mistake when we forget about the power of the Holy Spirit.  We don’t mean to--I’m not saying it makes us terrible people or anything.  But forgetting about the power of the Holy Spirit can keep us from truly following the Holy Spirit.  And that keeps us from serving God and showing love to God as well as we should.

            What’s one of the main things that keeps us from truly opening ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit?  Fear, right?  That fear can take a lot of forms.  It can be fear of the unknown.  It can be fear of having our comfortable lifestyle upset.  It can be fear of looking foolish.  But whatever that fear is, it comes down to the same thing:  we don’t truly trust God’s Holy Spirit.  And one of the main reasons we don’t trust God’s Holy Spirit is that we don’t think enough about the power that God’s Holy Spirit has.

            God’s Holy Spirit is all-powerful, because God is all-powerful.  That means that there is nothing God’s Holy Spirit cannot do.  And that means that there is nothing that we cannot do if we allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

            Here’s an example.  We’ve been talking for some time in church about the need to reach the unchurched people of our community, especially the unchurched children and their parents.  And I know some of you have done some things to try to do that.  And I know sometimes you’ve succeeded at it.  So please don’t take this as me criticizing anyone or saying that no one’s doing anything.  I know a lot of people are doing things.

            But one of the things that keeps us from reaching these unchurched people--and I’ve heard this from a lot of people--is that we think we don’t know how to do it.  We say, “I don’t know how to get people to come to church.  I don’t know what to say.  I don’t know what to do.  I don’t even know how to start.  I just cannot do it.  I don’t know how.”

            Now, understand, when people say this, I think they’re being completely honest.  Because I can say the exact same thing.  I don’t know how to get people to come to church, either.  And you know what else?  I don’t think there’s anyone who does.  Believe me, I’ve been to a lot of seminars and workshops on reaching unchurched people.  I’ve read a lot of articles and books on it.  If there was somebody out there who had the magic formula for reaching unchurched people, if there was some program we could adopt or some five-step model we could use to reach unchurched people, everybody’d be using it.  And all the churches would be reaching so many unchurched people that we’d all have to hold extra services to fit them all in.

            But here’s the thing.  God does not expect you and me to reach unchurched people.  What God wants from us is to trust God’s Holy Spirit.  What God wants is for us to open ourselves up to where God’s Holy Spirit is leading us.  Where we go wrong--where I go wrong--is when I think I’m the one who has to figure out how to reach the unchurched people of our community.  I don’t.  All I need to do is rely on God’s Holy Spirit.  All I need to do is to be open to allowing God’s Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me.  That’s all you need to do, too.  If we do that, God’s Holy Spirit will give us chances to reach unchurched people.  And when those chances come, God’s Holy Spirit will show us what to do and tell us what to say.  That’s how much power God’s Holy Spirit has, if we’ll only allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in and through us.

            If you read further in the book of Acts, you see that God’s Holy Spirit worked in and through the disciples in all kinds of amazing ways.  They were able to speak in tongues.  They were able to heal people.  Most importantly, they were able to reach all kinds of people for Jesus Christ.  They really were Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem and in of Judea and Samaria, just like Jesus had told them they would be.  They reached thousands of people and started a movement that still continues two thousand years later.

            None of these things were things the disciples knew how to do.  Peter, James, John, all the rest of them--they were lost when Jesus left them and went back to heaven.  They did not have a clue what to do.  But when they allowed the power of God’s Holy Spirit to work through them, they were able to do all kinds of things they never dreamed they could do.  They were able to do things most people would’ve said were not possible.  And in fact, the disciples would’ve agreed that these things were not possible if they’d tried to do them by themselves.  They were only possible because the power of God’s Holy Spirit was working through them.  Because with God, all things are possible.

            A lot of times, when we think about reaching unchurched people, we feel like we don’t have a clue what to do.  But when we allow the power of God’s Holy Spirit to work through us, we can do all kinds of things we never dreamed we could do.  We can do things most people would say are not possible.  But they are possible if we allow God’s Holy Spirit to work through us.

            So let’s focus on opening ourselves to God’s Holy Spirit.  Let’s allow God’s Holy Spirit to work through us.  When we do, God’s Holy Spirit will work in and through us in all kinds of amazing ways.  Because with God, all things are possible.

Keep On Dreaming

I saw a quote on facebook the other day.  It was short, and I’m sure the person who posted it meant well.  Here’s what it said:  “Die with memories, not dreams”.

Now, I know what the quote is trying to say.  It’s encouraging people that, if there’s somewhere you really want to go, something you really want to do, then go there and do that.  Don’t put it off so long that you never get to do it at all.  I understand that, and there’s nothing really wrong with it.

But at the same time, it kind of bothered me.  I happen to think dreams are important.  I think they’re important no matter what our age or position in life.  I would not want to die without dreams.

The thing is, when you think about it in this context, what are dreams?  They’re things you want to do.  They’re things you want to be able to accomplish.  Having dreams means you’re still looking forward.  Having dreams means you still have things you want to do with your life.  Dreams, really, are one of the things that give meaning to our lives.

As we go through life, of course, our dreams change.  When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a major league baseball player.  It quickly became clear that wasn’t going to happen, so I dreamed of being a baseball broadcaster.  As I grew up, I dreamed of being a lawyer and became one.  I sometimes dreamed of being a judge or even a state supreme court justice.  God had a different plan, so I started dreaming of being a pastor and became one.

I no longer have grandiose dreams.  I don’t dream of being a bishop or anything like that.  I don’t even dream of being the pastor of a large church.  I love the things I do and I love where I do them.  I don’t want to do anything else.

I do still have dreams, though.  My dream now is to keep my heart open to wherever God might be leading me.  Does that sound self-serving, like I’m patting myself on the back for it?  I don’t mean it to be.  I’m not saying that I always succeed at doing this.  A lot of times I don’t.  But it’s something I pray about frequently, and it is my dream.

I hope it’s your dream, too.  All of our situations are different, of course.  There are some things we cannot do, some opportunities that are denied to us.  But I still hope this is your dream.  Because no matter how many things we cannot do, there are still things we can do.  No matter how many opportunities are denied to us, there are still opportunities that we do have.  As long as we’re here on earth, God has reasons for us to be here.  And if we pray for God to help us open our hearts to wherever God might be leading us, we’ll usually find that God will answer that prayer, often in a way we didn’t expect.

So keep dreaming.  Keep praying, too.  Open your heart to wherever God might be leading you.  You might be surprised at what God has in store for you!

Jesus and the Nobodies

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, November 5, 2017.  The Bible verses used are Luke 24:13-35.

            When you think of Jesus’ time on earth, who do you always think of as being with him?  The twelve disciples, right?  Peter, James, John, Andrew, Thomas, all the rest of them.  These were Jesus’ closest associates while he was on earth.  These are the ones who were with Jesus the most.

            But the twelve are not the only disciples Jesus had.  There were lots of people who would’ve called themselves disciples of Jesus.  A disciple, after all, is simply a follower.  There were lots more people than just the twelve who were followers of Jesus.

            We meet two of them in our story today.  Now, this was obviously after Jesus was crucified.  It’s after the tomb was found to be empty.  Two people are leaving Jerusalem, walking toward a town called Emmaus.  The only thing we know about Emmaus is that it was about seven miles from Jerusalem.  It apparently was a small town--in fact, it’s referred to as a “village”.  It’s apparently not a very important place--this is the only time in the Bible that it’s even mentioned.  We don’t know why these two people were going there--maybe they lived there, maybe they had business there, maybe this was just a stopping place on the way to somewhere else.

            And of course, you just heard the story.  They’re walking along, discussing all the things that have happened--Jesus being arrested and killed, the empty tomb, the rumor that Jesus was still alive.  Jesus joins them, but they don’t realize that it’s Jesus.  They start telling Jesus what’s happened, and Jesus explains things to them.  And that must have taken some time--we’re told that “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”.

            They invite Jesus to stay with them.  Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and gives it to them.  At that moment, they recognize Jesus.  And immediately, he vanishes.

            We’ve said before that, when we read things like this, we need to ask the question:  Why is this in the Bible?  I mean, yes, it’s another appearance of the resurrected Jesus, and that in and of itself would make it noteworthy.  But is that it?  Is that the only thing we’re supposed to learn?  Or is there more to this event than that?

            Well, obviously, I would not have raised the question if I did not think there was.  So let’s look at this event a little closer.

            There are two people walking down a road to a village called Emmaus.  One of them is named Cleopas.  So who was Cleopas?

            Basically, he was nobody.  This is the only time in the Bible Cleopas is ever mentioned.  Over the years, all sorts of things came to be said about him, trying to make him out to be an important person.  One story said he was the brother of Joseph, Mary’s husband.  Another story says that he was also known as Alphaeus and that he was the father of one of the disciples.  But the fact is that the only things the Bible tells us about him are that he was a follower of Jesus, that he and another person were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day the empty tomb was found, that Jesus appeared to them, and that they apparently were known to the twelve disciples, because they knew where to find them and were welcomed in when they went back to Jerusalem after Jesus vanished.

            So that’s Cleopas.  Who was the person with him?  He’s even more of a nobody than Cleopas.  We have no idea who he was.  We don’t even get his name.  In fact, we don’t even know if he was a he!  Again, the only things the Bible tell us are that this person was a follower of Jesus, was walking with Cleopas from Jerusalem to Emmaus, the Jesus appeared to them, and that, again, they were apparently known to the twelve disciples.  That’s it.

            Cleopas was nobody.  His companion was even less.  Except for one thing.  Both of them were followers of Jesus.  And that was enough.  That was enough for Jesus to come back and appear specifically to them.  It was enough for Jesus to spend what must have been quite a bit of time with them.  In fact, it was enough for Jesus to explain all the things said in Scripture about himself, going back all the way to Moses and the prophets.

            What an awesome thing that must have been.  They say, later, that their hearts were burning inside them when Jesus was talking to them.  That must have been the most incredible thing that ever happened to these two people in their lives.  To have the resurrected Jesus explaining the Scriptures to you.  

I mean, I know they did not know it was Jesus, but they had to know it was somebody pretty special.  Imagine Jesus, with all the knowledge he would have, knowing things that no human being would know, explaining the Scriptures.  Explaining them in a way that no human being possibly could.  And imagine him doing that specifically for you.  Not as part of a lecture, not with you standing in the crowd, but explaining them personally to you.  That must have been incredible.  That must have been life-changing.  And Jesus did that, not for a king, not for the Jewish elders, not for the Pharisees or the ruling council or anybody like that.  Jesus did that for two nobodies.  Cleopas and someone who’s so much of a nobody we don’t even learn their name.

Do you ever feel like you’re a nobody?  It’s pretty easy to do.  We don’t live in a place that most people would consider important.  Very few people outside of South Dakota have even heard of it.  In fact, even in South Dakota, I run into a lot of people who don’t know where it is.  It’s just a small town.  A village, really.  Sort of like Emmaus.

And most people would not consider any of us to be very important, either.  None of us here is special.  None of us here is famous.  Outside of our families and a few friends, most people would not know our names or know anything about us.  We’re just a bunch of nobodies here.  Sort of like Cleopas and his companion.  

It’s easy for us to think of ourselves as nobodies from nowhere.  And when we do, we wonder if God could really care about us.  I mean, we say it all the time.  We talk about how God is love and how Jesus was sent to earth for the forgiveness of our sins.  And a lot of us believe it, at least in general terms.  But did Jesus truly die to save me?  An unimportant person like me?  A nobody from nowhere like me?  Could God really love me that much?

Society considers all of us a bunch of nobodies from nowhere.  Just as it sounds like society considered Cleopas and his companion a couple of nobodies from nowhere.  But to Jesus, Cleopas and his companion were not nobodies from nowhere at all.  They were God’s precious children.  They were Jesus’ important followers.  And Jesus was willing to spend all kinds of time with them.  He was willing to explain all the Scriptures that talked about him.  He was willing to stay with them until they came to understand and believe.

That’s how Jesus looks at you and me, too.  We are not nobodies from nowhere.  Nobody is a nobody to Jesus.  There is no such thing as a nobody to Jesus.  To Jesus, each one of us is important.  To Jesus, each one of us is special.  To Jesus, each one of us is one of God’s precious children.  Each one of us is Jesus’ important follower.  Each one of us is the most important person in the world to Jesus.  And Jesus wants each one of us to understand and believe, just as he wanted Cleopas and his companion to understand and believe.

Jesus came specifically for all of us nobodies.  Jesus came specifically so that all of us nobodies from nowhere could be saved.  Now don’t get me wrong.  Jesus loves everybody.  Jesus wants the rich and the powerful and the famous to be saved, too.  But that’s the point.  In Jesus’ eyes--in God’s eyes--we’re all the same.  Wealth, status, power--none of that means anything to God.  To God, each and every one of us is a sinner in need of love and forgiveness and salvation.  And that’s why Jesus came to earth--to offer each and every one of us sinners love and forgiveness and salvation.  God loves each one of us that much.  God loves you that much.  And God loves me that much.

So if you ever think of yourself as a nobody, know that you are not.  Not to God.  To God, you are the most important person in the world.  To God, you are so important that the divine Son of God came to earth to die so that your sins could be forgiven.  To God, you are so important that God offers you the chance for eternal life.  And all you need to do is accept it.  All you need to do is accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Society said Cleopas and his companion were nobodies.  Sometimes it seems like society says you and I are nobodies, too.  But Cleopas and his companion were incredibly important to Jesus.  And so are you.