Imagine

This is the message given on Sunday morning, July 29, 2018 in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are John 14:15-27.

            We’re nearing the end of our sermon series about the Communion liturgy.  We’ve said a few times that Communion is one of God’s means of grace.  It’s one of the ways God’s grace comes into our hearts and into our souls.  We’ve also said we don’t really quite understand how that happens. 

            That’s true.  But the Communion liturgy does tell us one thing about how it happens.  It happens by the work of the Holy Spirit.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to come and to act within us.

            Here’s what we pray for near the end of the Communion liturgy:

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.  Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

            We are preparing to take the elements, the bread and the wine or, in our case, the grape juice.  As we do that, we pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on each of us.  We also pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on the bread and the juice.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to make that bread and juice the body and blood of Christ for us.  The reason we pray for that is so that we can be the body of Christ for the world.  And that’s not all.  We also pray that the Holy Spirit will make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world.

            That’s what we’re praying for.  But how much of that do we really understand?  How often have we even thought about it?  Do we know what we’re really asking the Holy Spirit to do?  In fact, do we really even know who it is that we’re asking to do this stuff?  What is this Holy Spirit, anyway?

            Well, Jesus tells us a little bit about it in our reading for today.  Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is an advocate.  An advocate is someone who supports you.  An advocate is someone who represents you and works on your behalf.  So that’s one thing to know about the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is for us.  The Holy Spirit is for you, and the Holy Spirit is for me.  The Holy Spirit is supporting us and working on our behalf.  

            The next thing Jesus says is that the Holy Spirit will be with us forever.  The Holy Spirit does not come and go.  There may be times when we feel the Holy Spirit more, and times we feel the Holy Spirit less, but that’s not because the Holy Spirit leaves us.  It’s because we sometimes leave the Holy Spirit.  We go our own way, trying to do our will instead of focusing on God’s will.  But the Holy Spirit is always there for us.  The Holy Spirit will be with us forever.

            Jesus then says that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth.  You know, that’s an attribute of God that we probably don’t talk about enough--truth.  Jesus said I am the way and the truth and the life.  The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth.  Isaiah quotes God as saying, “I, the Lord, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”  Truth is incredibly important to God.  So the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth.

            And I don’t think it’s an accident that right after saying the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of truth, Jesus says, “The world cannot accept him.”  The truth can be very hard to accept sometimes.  That can be especially the case when we’re talking about God’s truth.  There are any number of Bible verses that make us very uncomfortable.  Jesus said any number of things that we wish he had never said.

            In fact, just the claim that Jesus Christ is the Savior is hard for the world to accept.  Right after Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life”, Jesus then said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  There’s a lot of the world that does not accept that.  In fact, there are a lot of people who call themselves Christians who don’t accept that.  They want to believe that there are many roads to heaven and that as long as we just try to be nice to everyone it does not matter what we believe.  But that’s not what Jesus said.  That’s one of the reasons the world did not accept Jesus.  And it’s one of the reasons the world does not accept the Holy Spirit.

            But Jesus goes on to say this of the Holy Spirit:  “But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”  When we know the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is not something separate and apart from us.  The Holy Spirit is with us and is in us.  The Holy Spirit is part of us. 

            Now maybe that’s not a new thought to you, but really realize what Jesus said.  Because after all, the Holy Spirit is God.  The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons of the Trinity.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  God in three persons, as we sing in the old hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”.  The Holy Spirit is God.

            So when Jesus says the Holy Spirit lives with us and will be in us, that’s God.  When we know the Holy Spirit, God lives with us and God is in us.  That’s an amazing thing.  God, the all-powerful, almighty, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-wise, all-everything God.  That God is in us.  God is in you.  God is in me.  If we know the Holy Spirit.  What an incredible thing that is.

            And that is what we’re praying for when we read the Communion liturgy.  We are praying for the Holy Spirit to be poured out onto us and into us.  We are praying for the Holy Spirit to make us the body of Christ.  If you think about it, that a really awesome and incredible thing we’re praying for.  And we don’t stop there.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one with Christ.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one with each other.  We pray for the Holy Spirit to make us one in ministry to all the world.

            What would it be like if that actually happened?  What would it be like if all Christians truly were one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world?  What would we be able to accomplish if that actually happened?  Can you even imagine it?  I don’t think I can.

            But you know, we don’t have to think that broadly.  The United Methodist church claims to have twelve million members.  What would it be like if all twelve million United Methodists truly were one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world?  What would the United Methodist church be able to accomplish for the Lord if that actually happened?  It would be incredible.

            But we don’t have to think that broadly, either.  What would happen if the Holy Spirit was truly poured out on every person in the three churches of the Wheatland Parish?  What would happen if all of us truly knew the Holy Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit would live with each of us and would be in each of us?  What would happen if, when we share Holy Communion, the Holy Spirit was truly poured out on each of us?  What would happen if, as a result of our next Holy Communion, all of us who are associated with the churches of the Wheatland Parish became one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world?  What would we be able to accomplish for the Lord if that happened?

            Now please don’t take this the wrong way.  Our churches do a lot of things right now.  A lot of you work very hard for the Lord and have been for quite a while.  I’m sure I don’t even know all the things you have done and continue to do for this church and for God.  A lot of you have done more than I have.  So please, don’t hear this as the pastor complaining that people are not doing enough.  That’s not my point at all.

            What I’m inviting you do, really, is imagine.  Just imagine what could happen.  Imagine what the Holy Spirit is capable of doing.  Imagine what it would feel like to feel the Holy Spirit being poured out on you.  Imagine what it would feel like to be part of a group of people--the people of this parish--who all feel the Holy Spirit being poured out on them.  Imagine what it would feel like to truly feel one with Christ.  Imagine what it would feel like if everyone in this parish felt at one with each other.  Imagine what could happen if we were all working together and felt the Holy Spirit working in and through us.

            The next time we get together, we’ll be sharing in Holy Communion.  When we get to this part of the Communion liturgy, please focus on it.  Think about what we’re asking the Holy Spirit to do.  And try to feel God’s Holy Spirit being poured out on you.  It could change your life.  It could change our church.  It could change our parish.  It could change everything.

            Imagine it.  Then feel it.  Then let it happen.

Belief and Unbelief

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning of July 22, 2018.  The Bible verses used are 1 Corinthians 15:1-22.

            As we continue our look at our Communion liturgy, we come to what is called “The mystery of faith”.  It’s a very simple statement, and yet a very important and powerful statement.  We say it each time we share communion.  It is simply this:  “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”

            Did you ever wonder why that’s called “the mystery of faith”?  After all, it’s something that as Christians we sometimes take for granted, right?  It’s what we celebrate during Holy Week every year.  We have a Good Friday service, remembering the death of Christ.  We have an Easter Sunday service, celebrating the risen Christ.  And we acknowledge that Christ has promised to come again, even if we perhaps don’t think about that as much as we should.

            But us taking it for granted does not make it any less of a mystery.  Because we cannot really explain it.  Christ dying we can explain--he was nailed to a cross.  But how did Christ rise?  We don’t know.  I mean, it was through the power of God, obviously.  But that does not explain how it happened.  And the same thing with Christ coming again.  We don’t know how that’s going to happen, either, other than, again, through the power of God.  We accept them as true, but they really are mysteries to us.  We don’t actually understand them.

            Because we don’t understand these things, we need to accept them on faith.  Or not, of course--we can refuse to accept these things if that’s what we choose to do.  But the choice we make on this--whether we accept it or don’t accept it--is really what determines our faith in Jesus Christ.

            That’s the point the Apostle Paul was making in our reading from First Corinthians today.  Listen to what he says, “What I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  

            That Christ rose from the dead is a matter of first importance.  Nothing about our faith matters if we don’t believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.  Listen to what he says later:  “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead….And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins...If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

            People call Jesus a lot of different things.  He’s sometimes called “Teacher”, sometimes “Rabbi”, sometimes a prophet.  And Jesus was all of those things.  But if that’s all Jesus had been, he would not be the Savior.  He’d just be a man.  A good man.  A wise man.  A man worthy of respect, even admiration.  But still, just a man, a human being.  And we don’t worship a human being.  We don’t look to a human being for our salvation.  A human being, no matter how good or how wise, cannot give us eternal life.  Only the divine son of God can do that.

            That’s why this is the matter of first importance.  That Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the proof that he was not just a man.  He was not a mere human being.  He was, in fact, the Son of God.  He was fully divine, as well as being fully human.  He is not just a good, wise, respectable human being.  He is, in fact, the Savior.

            Paul tells us we cannot overemphasize that point.  He says that if Christ has not been raised, our faith is useless.  Not just misguided.  Not even just a harmless diversion.  It is useless.  It has no value whatsoever.  It is completely pointless.  There’s no purpose to it whatsoever.  Paul would say that if Christ was not raised from the dead, we might as well all just go to the river on Sunday.  There’s no reason for this church to be here if Christ was not raised from the dead.

            In fact, Paul says more than that.  He says that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, we are the most pitiful people in all the world.  Because we’ve put our faith in a lie.  And we’ve spent our lives spreading a lie.  We’ve based our entire lives, we’ve put our entire hope, in a lie.  If Christ has not been raised from the dead, you and I have basically wasted our entire lives.

            “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.”  Those are the words we say each month before we share Holy Communion.  Do we think about them?  Do we mean them?  Do you really believe them?  Do I really believe them?

            Those are important questions.  They involve the matter of first importance.  But they lead to a bigger question.  If we say we believe those words, do our lives show that we believe them?

            You know, the more I’ve studied our Communion liturgy, the more I realize how well-crafted it is.  These are not just words we say because they sound good.  This is not something we just do by rote because it’s part of our tradition.  The Communion liturgy is well-organized.  Each piece is put in exactly where it is for a reason.  These words:  “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again”, could have come anywhere in the Communion liturgy and have been true.  But they come here because they relate directly to what we talked about last week:  offering ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice.  Dedicating one hundred percent of our lives to God.

            We talked last week about how hard it is for us, as human beings, to really dedicate one hundred percent of our lives to God.  We talked about the human concerns that get in our way, that distract us, that drag us down.  But it seems like, if we truly believe these words, it should not be that hard.  If we truly believe that Christ has died, that Christ is risen, that Christ will come again; if we truly believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead; if we truly believe that this is the ultimate proof that Jesus was not just a human being, that he was, in fact, the divine Son of God; and if we truly believe that Jesus will come again.  If we truly believe all that, it seems like it should be easy for us to dedicate one hundred percent of our lives to God.  If we truly believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the way to salvation and eternal life, it seems like we should be eager to dedicate one hundred percent of our lives to God.

            And yet, it does not seem to work that way, does it?  And please don’t hear this as me standing in judgment of anyone.  As I said last week, I know that I am very far from dedicating one hundred percent of my life to God.  Some of you are probably closer than I am.  But why are we not all the way there?  Why is it so easy for us to let those human concerns get in our way?

Well, the answer is because we’re human beings.  That’s not all bad, of course.  God created us to be human beings.  And sometimes, as human beings, we do wonderful, incredible, loving, caring things that make God proud of us.  But at other times, we do some things that are not so wonderful at all.  And, as human beings, we worry, we get scared, we have doubts.  We struggle with our faith.  We want to turn our lives over to God, and yet we want to keep control of our lives for ourselves.  We’re like the man in Mark, Chapter Nine, who said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

            So what do we do?  After all, we cannot stop being human beings.  We can try to be better human beings, and we should, but no matter how hard we try, at the end of the day we’re still going to be human beings.  We’re still going to have our faults and our fears.  We’re still going to be reluctant to turn everything over to God.

            And that’s why this is all in the Communion liturgy.  Because what have we said about Holy Communion?  It’s one of God’s means of grace.  God knows we cannot stop being human beings.  And God does not want us to.  Again, God created us to be human beings.  And because God created us, God understands us better than we understand ourselves.  God understands why we do the wonderful things we do, and God understands why we do the not-so-wonderful things we do.  God understands why we worry, why we get scared, why we have doubts.  God understands why we struggle with our faith and find it hard to give God control of our lives.  God understands how we can believe and at the same time need help with our unbelief.

            God understands it all.  And so God gave us Holy Communion, what we’ve called the incredible gift of Holy Communion.  God did that so we would know that our sins can be and are forgiven.  God did that so we would know we can have salvation.  God did that so we would know that, even though we are human beings, we can still have eternal life with God in heaven.

            “Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.”  Lord, we believe.  Thank you for giving us Holy Communion to help our unbelief.

The One and Only

These days, you can find anything on the internet if you know where to look.  For instance, there’s a website called howmanyofme.com.  Supposedly, if you put your name, it will tell you how many people there are in the United States who have your name.

I don’t know how accurate it is, really--I’m sure it’s mostly just for fun.  It’s at least somewhat accurate:  putting in “John Smith” gives 47,356 people, and Bill Jones gives 927.  You’d expect those names to be somewhat popular, and they are, so I guess there’s some degree of accuracy there.

Naturally, I entered “Jeff Adel” to see what I’d come up with.  It tells me that the number of people in the United States named “Jeff Adel” is “one or fewer”.  On the one hand, it’s nice to be unique.  On the other hand, I didn’t really like that “or fewer” part--does this website know something I don’t know?  So I entered “Jeffrey Adel”--which is, after all, my given name--and was told there are two people in the United States named “Jeffrey Adel”.

Well, I’m one, of course.  So I googled “Jeffrey Adel” to see if I could find the other one.  And I did find the other one, or an other one at least.  There’s a Jeffrey Adel who’s a professor in the Culinary Arts department of Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.  He’s apparently in his sixties, so he’s not much older than I am.  I also found an address and a phone number, so if I wanted to contact him, I could.  Had I wanted to spend the time and money, I could’ve found out more about him, I’m sure.  

I haven’t contacted him, but I’ve thought about it.  I wonder what he’d think if I did.  Would he have enough sense of whimsy that he’d think it was kind of cool to hear from someone with his name?  Would he think it was creepy that I’d dug up this information about him online?  Would he think I was some kind of a stalker, or a scam artist, or maybe just some kind of a nut?  Who knows?

It’s kind of interesting to think there’s only one other person in the country with my name.  But even if there were lots of them--even if there were 47,356 of them--I would still be unique and special to God.  So would you.  God created each person to be unique and special.  And God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives.  That’s true no matter what age we are.  Whether we’re three or thirty-three or a hundred three, God still has a plan and a purpose for our lives.  And we need to do what we can to follow God’s plan and fulfill God’s purpose.

I’ll probably never get to know the other Jeffrey Adel.  But God knows him.  And God knows me, too.  And God knows you.  Let’s all make sure we know God and follow God’s plan for our lives.

One Hundred Percent

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, July 15, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Mark 8:31-38.

            We’ve been doing a sermon series going through our Communion liturgy, the stuff we say every month before we take Holy Communion.  And today we come to what may be--well, I don’t want to say the most important part, because it’s all important, but perhaps the most challenging part of the Communion liturgy.

            But while it’s the most challenging part, it seems to me that it also tends to be the part we just kind of gloss over the most.  Maybe we do that because it’s the most challenging, I don’t know.  It’s only one sentence, but it’s incredibly powerful sentence.  Here it is:

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ’s offering for us.

            Before we break that down, let’s go back to a couple of things we’ve talked about earlier.  We’ve talked about how Jesus said “Do this in remembrance of me.”  And we’ve talked about how remembering what Jesus did should make us feel grateful and thankful.  We’ve talked about how we can receive God’s love and forgiveness through the act of sharing in Holy Communion, and we’ve talked about what an incredible gift from God that is.

            And all of that’s true.  But that gratitude and thankfulness needs to do more for us than just give us a good feeling.  It should give us a good feeling, no question about that.  And there’s nothing wrong with having that good feeling.  We all need to have that God feeling of knowing that God loves us and that our sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.

            But the thing is that a feeling is just that.  A feeling.  We can feel good, but our feeling good does not do anything if we don’t do something about it.  It stays just a feeling.  And a good feeling, but itself, does not help anybody else.  It really does not even help us, in the long run, because our good feeling will eventually fade away if we don’t do anything about it.

            When we get to this sentence of the Communion liturgy, we’re promising to do something about it.  We offer ourselves to the Lord.  We offer ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice.  A sacrifice that’s in union with Christ’s offering for us.

            A holy and living sacrifice.  That’s what Jesus was, right?  Jesus was holy.  Jesus was perfect.  Perfectly good, perfectly righteous.  And Jesus was a living sacrifice.  He sacrificed his life for us.  For you and for me.

            When we read the Communion liturgy, that’s what we’re promising.  Now, that does not mean that we’re all supposed to literally die for our faith.  There are people who are called to do that, of course.  The original disciples knew it was a real possibility that they might be killed because of their faith in Christ.  And there are people now, in various parts of the world, who run the risk of death because of their faith in Christ. 

But for most of us, that’s a pretty remote possibility.  It’s very unlikely, living here in rural South Dakota, that we’ll ever be called on to literally die for our faith in Christ.  I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s not likely. 

But when we say we’re going to be a living sacrifice, we’re still making a promise.  We’re promising to give our entire lives to the Lord.  We’re not just promising to give Sunday morning to the Lord.  We’re not just promising to give the entire Sabbath Day to the Lord.  We’re promising to give our entire lives to the Lord.  One hundred percent.  Everything we do.  Everything we say.  Twenty-four/seven.  It all belongs to God.  That’s what it means when we say we are offering ourselves as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ’s offering for us.

            That’s why this part of the Communion liturgy is so challenging.  It’s why we tend to gloss over it.  To be honest, it’s not the easiest thing to preach on, either.  Because this is a really, really tough standard.  And it’s not one that I think I live up to in any way.  Sacrificing my entire life to God, giving one hundred percent of my life to God.  I mean, I’m willing to give some of my life to God.  Maybe twenty percent.  Or even forty percent.  Or maybe, on a really, really good day, sixty or seventy percent.  But one hundred percent?  Everything?  I should give God every aspect of our lives? 

Man, that’s--well, I just don’t know if I could do that.  In fact, I don’t really know if I want to do that, even if I can.  I mean, I really like my life the way it is right now.  There have been times when I was not that happy with my life, but right now, finally, I really am.  And now, when I finally feel like I have my act somewhat together and I finally feel like I’m on the right track and doing what I’m supposed to be doing, now I’m supposed to change it?  I’m supposed to be willing to give up all that stuff that’s finally going right in my life and give a hundred percent of my life to God?  I don’t think so.

Well, that’s why it’s called a sacrifice, right?  Because if we’re going to do this, we are going to have to give some things up.  And that’s where it gets hard.  Because the more we like the way our lives are going, the harder it is for us to give things up.

But it fits in perfectly with our reading for today.  Look at what it says.  Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

There it is, in a nutshell.  Jesus says we need to deny ourselves.  And again, the more we enjoy our lives, the harder it is for us to give things up--to deny ourselves--and follow Jesus.

Now, don’t take this the wrong way.  I am not saying that if we follow Jesus our lives will be miserable.  I’m also not saying that we need to stop doing everything we enjoy.  That kind of sour Christianity--the kind that’s always on the lookout for someone having a good time so they tell them to stop--is probably the least appealing form of Christianity there is.  The point of denying ourselves is to gain something better.  The point of denying ourselves is to be better able to feel the joy and satisfaction of truly following Jesus Christ.

But still, to do that, we are called to deny ourselves.  And we do.  All of deny ourselves at one time or another, in one form or another.  Because what we’re talking about here, really, is doing what we should do instead of doing what we selfishly want to do.

And we all do that, to an extent.  But the thing about that is, we do that kind of sporadically.  We do it when we have time.  We do it when the mood strikes us.  And again, I’m no better.  In fact, I’m sure I’m not as good at this as some of you are.  Again, I’m willing to deny myself to a certain extent.  Twenty, forty, maybe even sixty percent on a good day.  But I doubt that any of us does this the way we say we will in the Communion liturgy.  I don’t if any of us truly makes ourselves “a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us”.

Now, my point here is not to ask us to beat ourselves up when we fail to meet this standard.  But let’s look at this thing.  Why is this so hard for us?  I think the reason is what Jesus said to Peter.  “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

I think that’s why we struggle so much to truly dedicate our lives to God.  We have in mind human concerns.  We get caught up in our own stuff.  We get caught up in our own desires.  We get caught up in all the things we enjoy.  They make us happy.  We all want to be happy, right?  And it seems like taking care of these human concerns makes us happy.  And so we do them.  And we do more of them.  We get more and more immersed in our human concerns.

The thing is, though, that those human concerns will never really satisfy us.  Not in the end.  They may make us feel better for a little while, but eventually we feel let down.  Those human concerns, while they may be a lot of fun at the time we’re doing them, don’t ultimately bring us the kind of peace and satisfaction that we want out of life.  We’re doing what Jesus warned against.  We’re gaining the whole world, but we’re forfeiting our souls.

So what can we do?  How do we get rid of all those human concerns so we can truly dedicate one hundred percent of our lives to God?  How do we get to where we can be that holy and living sacrifice?

Well, it’s not just accident that the Communion Liturgy puts this in the place that it does.  Because what are some of the things we’ve talked about in this sermon series?  Giving thanks to God.  Holiness.  Accept the promise of the new covenant, the promise of salvation and eternal life.  The whole point of all those things is to take our focus off of ourselves and put our focus on God.

Because those things are all the keys to it.  We get rid of our human concerns by being thankful to God in all circumstances, no matter what may be going on.  We get rid of our human concerns by focusing on the holiness of God.  We get rid of our human concerns when we focus on God’s promise of that new covenant, that promise of salvation and eternal life.

And we get rid of our human concerns when we do one more thing.  We get rid of our human concerns when pray.  When we ask for God’s Holy Spirit to come into our hearts.  When we do what we can to form that union with Christ that our liturgy talks about.  We’ll have more to say about the Holy Spirit in a couple of weeks, as we near the end of this sermon series.  But for now, just know that we are not supposed to do this alone.  We could not do this alone.  We cannot, just by the sheer force of our human will, get rid of our human concerns and give one hundred percent of our lives to God.  We can only do that with the help of God.

But with God’s help, we can do it.  So let’s get started.  As we go through this next week, let’s take our focus off of ourselves, and put it on God.  Let’s make God the focus of everything we do:  at home, at work, in the community.  Let’s do what we can to give one hundred percent of our lives to God.  Let’s become that holy and living sacrifice.  Let’s put our minds on God.

It's a Gift

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, July 8, 2018.  The Bible verses used are Mark 14:12-16, 22-25.

            In our sermon series on the Communion liturgy, we’ve talked about our need to give thanks to God.  We’ve talked about the holiness of God.  We’ve talked about the new covenant that God has made with us, that God will give us salvation and eternal life if we simply accept Jesus as the Savior.  We talked about what an incredible gift from God that new covenant is.

            Today, we’re going to explore that gift a little further.  We’re going to take another look at the part of the Communion liturgy that we read last week.  It starts at the top of page fourteen of the hymnal, and it’s on the screen.  It says:

On the night in which he gave himself up for us he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:  “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

We read that every month when we take communion.  Some of us have been doing that all of our lives.  We’ve become familiar with it.  In fact, we’re so familiar with it that often we don’t really think about it any more.

Try to imagine yourself as one of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus actually said these things and did these things.  This took place at what we now call the Last Supper.  We’re told that this meal was actually a Passover meal, which means they ate a whole lot more than just bread.  We’re talking about a full meal.  And not just any meal.  There were specific foods you were supposed to use, and each of them had great symbolic meaning.  After all, this was a tradition that commemorated the people of Israel being rescued from slavery in Egypt.  It commemorated God striking down the firstborn of the people of Egypt, but passing over the people of Israel.  That’s why it’s called “Passover”, of course.

So all the disciples are eating this traditional meal.  And they’re thinking about all the things that this meal represents.  And of course, they have other things on their minds, too.  This is, after all, the night that Jesus is going to be arrested.  The disciples did not know that, of course.  But they knew tensions were high.  In fact, Jesus has told them that one of them is going to betray him.

Again, imagine you’re one of the disciples.  You’re eating the Passover meal.  You’ve got all this stuff running through your mind.  The sacred nature of the Passover meal combined with worry about the future.  And then Jesus takes some bread.  He breaks the bread, which is kind of an odd phrase in and of itself.  “Breaking the bread”.  We slice the bread.  We might tear off a piece of bread.  But “break” the bread?  Sound kind of strange, when you think about it.

But Jesus takes the bread, he gives thanks, he breaks it, and he gives it to you and the other disciples.  And he says, “Take it; this is my body.”

If you’re one of the disciples, do you have any idea what that means?  I don’t know if you do.  I mean, you know it has to mean something.  Jesus is always making these vague statements that have symbolic meaning.  Sometimes you understand them, sometimes you don’t.  Sometimes, later on, Jesus explains them.  Sometimes he doesn’t.  You hope this will be one of the times he does.  Again, you know “this is my body” has to mean something.  You just don’t know what.

Then Jesus takes the cup of wine.  He passes it around, and everyone drinks from it.  Then Jesus says, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”

You probably don’t know what that means, either.  Think of what this would be like.  You’re sitting there, and Jesus is making these vague statements.  You can tell, just by the way Jesus is saying things, that this is important.  You can tell that something is about to happen, even if you don’t know exactly what.  

I suspect that you have the feeling that this could be the last time you and the disciples can sit down with Jesus and eat a meal in relative peace.  Even if not, you know somehow that this is a really special time.  You know that Jesus has arranged all this just for you.  This is, somehow, a gift from Jesus, this special time together.  And so you’re trying to take it all in.  You’re trying to remember everything.  What the room looks like.  The smell of the Passover meal.  The taste of the bread Jesus gave you.  The look on Jesus’ face.  And, of course, every word that Jesus says, even if you don’t understand them.

It’s kind of odd, when you think about it.  Here the disciples were, at this incredibly historic occasion.  Something so historic that we still remember it nearly two thousand years later.  Not only do we still remember it, it’s the foundation for one of our sacraments.  And yet, at the time it happened, no one really understood what was happening.

But then, how much do we really understand it now?  We talked last week about how Communion is one of God’s means of grace.  We talked about how it’s one of the ways in which God’s Holy Spirit comes into our hearts.  We know that it is a gift from God to us.  But do we really understand how that works?  No, not really.

I can still remember the first time as a pastor I gave Communion.  I was in my first year of seminary.  I was also the interim pastor of the Wessington Springs United Church of Christ and also the Templeton Church, which was out in the country.  I was always a United Methodist, but they were looking for a pastor, and I was looking for experience, so it worked.  I went to a weekend seminar in Yankton so I could be licensed by the U. C. C. to give communion.  It was not this exact Communion liturgy, but it was close enough. 

I stood at the front of the church.  I said the words.  The people responded.  I handed out the bread and the juice.  The people took it.

And I felt like a total fraud.  Who did I think I was?  What did I think I was doing?  I act like something’s going to happen, just because I’m saying these words?  I felt completely unworthy to be up there doing that.

And the fact is that I was unworthy.  I still am.  I mean, I have a certificate now, saying I’m a real live pastor.  I get to use the title Reverend and everything.  But I’m not worthy to give Communion to you.  I’m really not even worthy of taking Communion.  And, to be honest, neither are you.

But that’s part of the beauty of Holy Communion.  We don’t have to be worthy of it.  In fact, we really cannot be worthy of it.  The original disciples were not worthy of it.  In fact, think about this--one of the disciples who was there for the Last Supper was Judas.  Judas, who was going to betray Jesus.  Judas, who Jesus knew was going to betray him.  If there was ever someone who was not worthy, it would be Judas.  And yet, Jesus handed Judas the bread.  Jesus handed Judas the cup.  Jesus offered the gift of Holy Communion to Judas.  Jesus offered God’s love and God’s mercy to Judas, the man who was going to betray him.

None of us is worthy to receive Holy Communion.  That’s why, in the United Methodist church, we don’t have any restrictions on who we’ll give Holy Communion to.  We are all sinners.  That’s why we need God’s love and God’s mercy so much.  That’s why we need to feel God’s Holy Spirit with us.  

That’s why Holy Communion is such a special and incredible gift to us.  It’s a way of receiving God’s love and God’s mercy.  It’s a way of allowing God’s Holy Spirit to come into us.  That’s not something we can earn, and it’s not something we could ever deserve.  In fact, the less we deserve it, the more we need it.  That’s why Jesus offered it to Judas--because he knew how much Judas needed it.  And that’s why it’s offered to us, to you and to me--because of how much we need it.

God does not love us because we deserve it.  In fact, the idea that love is something we deserve goes against everything Jesus said.  Jesus said that we should love our enemies.  Jesus said we should pray for people who persecute us.  Love is not something that is deserved.  Love is something that is given, as a gift.

God does not love us because we deserve it.  God loves us because that’s what God does.  God loves us because that’s who God is.  God does not ask us to be worthy of God’s love or God’s mercy.  God does not ask us to be worthy of taking Holy Communion.  It’s all just a gift from God.  It’s a wonderful, incredible, special, awesome gift.  May we all accept that gift.  May we all accept the love and mercy that God offers us.  Not because we deserve it.  But because we need it.

Surviving the Storms

We’ve had some really bad storms in our parish.  There’s been a lot of hail, and a lot of wind, especially in the Onida and Agar areas.  The Mobridge and Eagle Butte areas were hit hard, too.  Buildings have been damaged or destroyed.  Crops have been lost.  Some livestock has been lost, too.  It’s not a good situation.

We know these things happen, of course.  Every year we hear about severe storms in some part of the Dakotas, and in surrounding states as well.  We know, inevitably, that at some point it will be our turn.  Knowing that does not make it any easier to handle, though.  It’s still a terrible thing to have happen.  I have not heard of any lives being lost because of the storms, and if that remains true then we should certainly praise God for that.  And I haven’t heard about anyone sitting around feeling sorry for themselves—that’s not the way people do things around here.  Still, the losses should not be minimized.  They are significant and substantial, and they need to be treated that way.

I said, “We know these things happen”, and that’s true, but it begs the question.  Why do these things happen?  God, being all powerful, could stop things like this.  God could’ve created a world in which there were no bad storms.  God could’ve created a world in which there was no hail and there were no strong winds.  But that’s not the world God created.  We don’t know why God did not create that world.  We assume God thinks this world is better, even if we don’t understand that.  And if we’re going to maintain our belief in God, we pretty much have to accept that God’s opinion is right, even when we don’t understand.

But you know, there’s a sense in which asking “Why do these things happen” misses the point.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to ask.  God won’t get mad at you if you do.  But have you ever noticed something?  Whenever something bad happens, especially when it happens unexpectedly, people ask “Why did God allow that to happen?”  But when something good happens, even when it happens unexpectedly, people rarely ask “Why did God allow that to happen?”  We just accept the good things that God gives us.  We don’t question them.

It’s kind of like we think it’s God’s job to give us good things.  Like it’s God’s job to make things go right for us.  When God does not do that, it’s like we think God messed up, like God’s not doing the job right.  And when God does do that, it’s like, well, so what?  God’s just doing what God’s supposed to do.  A lot of times, we don’t even say thank you.

If you or your family suffered losses due to the storms, know that our prayers are with you.  If you’re going through some other sort of storm in your life, know that our prayers are with you in that, too.  And know that God has not abandoned you, even if it might feel like that at the moment.  Don’t lose faith, and don’t lose hope.  God is still with you.  God will help you through this time.  And if there are things we can do to help you, please let us know about that.  We want to be there for you.

A Poem About Forgiveness

I had messed up badly, and yes, I knew it

I had wanted to do the right thing, but I blew it

I asked God’s forgiveness for what I had done

And God responded and said to me “Son

You know that I love you and I always will

No matter what you do I’ll love you still

And your request for forgiveness has been heard

But getting forgiveness takes more than just saying the word”

“What else must I do?”  I asked in surprise

“’The all-forgiving God’ is how you’ve been advertised

I’ve asked for forgiveness, now you do your part.”

“I will,” replied God, “if your request comes from the heart.”

“What do you mean?”  I asked, perplexed

“I’ve made my request, what must I do next?”

God said, “It’s not a matter of what you must do.

It’s a matter of whether your request is true

Have you truly repented of your sin?

Will you do your best not to do it again?

Or are you just trying to get out of a pickle

So that your asking forgiveness is actually fickle?”

I was silent a moment.  I wasn’t so sure.

What was my motive?  Was it truly pure?

Was I really ready to change my ways?

Or was this forgiveness thing just a phase?

“I am ready,” I said.  “I’m ready to change.

There are things in my life I need to re-arrange.

“That’s good,” said the Lord, “I am happy for you.

But there’s still one thing more than I need you to do.

There are people in your life who have done you wrong

They’ve hurt you, betrayed you, and that hurt is still strong

You need to forgive how they’ve treated you, my son

Then I can forgive you for what you have done.”

“But God,” I said, “I’ve really been hurt

Some of those people treated me like dirt

And they’re not sorry, not a little, not at all

If they got the chance, they’d still make me feel small

I don’t want to forgive them, and even if I tried

I don’t think I could, I don’t have it inside.”

God said, “Well, you’re honest.  At least you’ve not lied

But it’s interesting that you mention what you feel inside

You said you’ve been hurt, and I know that’s true

And it’s hard to get past what’s been done to you

But when you think of those things, do you feel good or bad?”

I said, “It’s the worst feeling I’ve ever had.”

God said, “That’s why you need to let it go

Holding onto it is only hurting you so

I know it’s hard, but you can do it

Give it to Me, I’ll help you through it.

You need to forgive, not for the ones who hurt you there

The chances are they’ll never know or care

But you need to forgive for your own peace of mind

Then you can move forward and not look behind

You cannot control what other people say or do

The only person you can ever hope to control is you

And you can’t even do that all by yourself

But if you turn to Me, I’ll give you my help

With that you can put these things in the past

And then you can be at peace at last

But it’s your choice to make:  will you trust in Me?

Will you let go of the past, so you can be set free?

A happier future is yours to take

But it’s up to you:  What choice will you make?”

The New Covenant

This is message given on Sunday morning, July 1, 2018 in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Hebrews 7:23--8:13.

            This is communion Sunday.  And of course, that fits very well into our sermon series, in which we’ve been looking through the communion liturgy.  We started with the first part, which talks about giving thanks to God.  Then we moved to the second part, which talks about the holiness of God.  

            Today we pick up right where we left off.  It starts on page thirteen, then carries on to page fourteen.  It says:

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant, by water and the Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:  “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:  “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

There’s a phrase that shows up twice in that section of the liturgy.  Actually it’s just two words.  Those words are “new covenant”.

We talk about that new covenant every time we take Holy Communion.  Our Bible reading from Hebrews talked about the new covenant, too.  So what is it?  What is the new covenant?  For that matter, what’s the old covenant?  In fact, what’s a covenant?  And why do we talk about it in our communion liturgy?

Well, synonyms for “covenant” include contract, agreement, promise, words like that.  In fact, it’s still a word you’ll hear lawyers use in regard to contracts.  But a covenant is basically something that someone agrees to do for someone else.

The Old Covenant was one made between God and the people of Israel.  If the people of Israel did what God had told them to do, if they kept the law and obeyed God, God would protect them and bless them.  But of course, the Old Covenant was not kept.  It was not God’s fault.  God was happy to protect and bless the people of Israel.  But they did not keep the law.  They did not obey God.  In fact, as we said before much of the Old Testament is this cycle of the people turning away from God and getting into trouble, the people turning back to God and asking for forgiveness, God forgiving them and blessing the people again, the people turning away from God and getting into trouble again, and on and on.

And so, God instituted a New Covenant.  It’s also a promise from God.  God will offer us grace and forgiveness and love.  And all we have to do to accept it is to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Our reading from Hebrews explains how this new covenant compares to the old covenant.  The Old Covenant, which involved keeping the law, had priests who were in charge of overseeing it.  The New Covenant also has a priest--Jesus Christ.  There were lots of priests under the Old Covenant, because they were human beings and they died.  There’s only one priest in the New Covenant, because Jesus lives forever. 

In the Old Covenant, the priests would make sacrifices.  It was by those sacrifices that the sins of the people would be forgiven.  But because the priests were mere human beings, the forgiveness was not permanent.  They would have to be repeated day after day.  But in the New Covenant, Jesus, the high priest, was the sacrifice.  Jesus sacrificed himself.  And because Jesus is the divine Son of God, that sacrifice was permanent.  As it says, “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.”

So what’s all that got to do with Communion?  Why do we talk about this new covenant in the communion liturgy?

Well, I think there are at least two reasons.  One of them is what Jesus said on the night of the first communion, the Last Supper.  We read that in our communion liturgy, too.  Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  Later, Jesus said, “This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

So that’s one reason we talk about the new covenant:  to remember.  To remember the sacrifice Jesus made.  To remember the incredible gift we’ve been given.  To remember that we no longer are under the law.  We don’t have to try to earn our way into heaven by following a list of rules and regulations so long that we would never even be able to remember them all, much less follow them all.

That’s one of the things our communion liturgy means we in talks about how Jesus delivered us from slavery to sin and death.  We’re still subject to sinning, of course.  The Apostle Paul told us that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  But we’re not slaves to that sin, because we’re not under the law any more.  We’re under God’s grace.  And that’s one of the things we remember.  We remember that God offers us forgiveness and salvation, and all we have to do to get them is repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Savior.

But that’s not the only reason we talk about the new covenant.  As we’ve said before, Holy Communion is one of God’s means of grace.  It is one of the ways in which God’s grace comes into our hearts and into our lives.  Our reading from Hebrews explains that, too.  Listen to what it quotes God as saying about the new covenant:

I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

            When we share in Holy Communion, we accept God’s New Covenant.  God’s grace comes into our hearts and into our souls.  We don’t have to worry about that list of rules and regulations that are too long to remember because God puts the laws in our minds and writes them in our hearts.  That’s why we don’t have to say to each other “Know the Lord”--because through God’s grace, which comes to us through Holy Communion, we already know the Lord.  There is still more we can learn about God, of course.  There’s always more we can learn.  But we know what we need to know--that God loves us, that Jesus is our Savior, that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins.  We receive the grace of God, we accept that New Covenant, when we share in Holy Communion.

            Now, as we said last week, Holy Communion is not magic.  And it’s not the only way God’s grace can come into us.  God can give us God’s grace in any way God chooses.  But communion is one way in which that happens.  And that’s an incredible gift that God has given us.

            Maybe that’s why we talk about this right after we talk about the holiness of God--so that we’ll realize what an incredible gift this is.  We talked last week about how God is perfectly good, perfectly righteous, and perfectly sinless.  We talked about how God is worthy of our complete and total loyalty, devotion, and dedication.  And we talked about how often we fail to give that to God, even though God is worthy of it.

            And yet, despite all that, God has given us this gift of Holy Communion.  God has given us this gift whereby God’s grace can come into our hearts and into our souls.  God has given us this gift by which we can receive forgiveness and salvation and eternal life.  If that’s not incredible, I don’t know what is.

            As we read our communion liturgy today, in preparation for Holy Communion, let’s remember the things we’ve talked about.  Let’s give thanks to the Lord, our God.  Let’s remember who God is--perfectly good, perfectly righteous, and perfectly sinless.  Let’s remember the New Covenant that God has given us, a covenant of grace and forgiveness.  A covenant that says we no longer have to remember a long list of laws, because through God’s grace, God’s laws are written on our hearts.  And let’s remember that all this is possible through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, the high priest of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ.  And let’s be truly grateful for all that God has done for us.