Dog Days

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, May 31, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Luke 7:36-50.

            Everyone loves the underdog.  That’s what we always say, right?  Everyone roots for the underdog.

            We say that, but is it really true?  Nationwide, which baseball team has the most fans? It’s the New York Yankees, the team that’s won the most championships.  Who are the most popular NFL teams?  It’s teams like the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the teams that have won the most championships.  We may we root for the underdog in a particular game, but when it comes time to actually pick a favorite team, we tend to choose on one the top dogs.  Our favorite teams tend to be the teams that usually win.

            As Christians, of course, we’re supposed to love everyone.  Top dogs, underdogs, middle dogs, all dogs.  All people, in other words.  That’s what Jesus told us to do.  And that’s what Jesus did.

            And yet, Jesus did often stick up for the underdogs, rather than the top dogs.  Think about it.  Who were the top dogs of Jesus’ day?  They were the religious leaders, right?  They were the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the teachers of the law.  And who did Jesus usually get into arguments with?  That’s right, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the teachers of the law.  Jesus did not try to flatter the top dogs.  He did not even try to get along with them.  Often, Jesus fought against them.

            Who were the underdogs of Jesus’ day?  That’s right, they were the “tax collectors and sinners”.  They were the sick and the blind and the deaf and the lame.  They were the people who were threatened with being stoned.  They were the people who were looked down on by “proper” society, sometimes because of what they’d done but sometimes through no fault of their own.  Those were the people Jesus spent time with.  Those were the people Jesus stuck up for.  Those were the people Jesus worked hardest to save.

            And we have an example of that in our story from the gospel of John.  Jesus, for a change, is spending some time with a top dog.  He’s been invited to have dinner with a Pharisee.  So Jesus is sitting there in the Pharisee’s house, and here comes a woman who, we’re told, “lived a sinful life”.  It sounds like she was not invited to the Pharisee’s house.  She found out that Jesus was going to be there and crashed the party.  She brought with her an expensive jar of perfume.

            She comes up to Jesus, and she’s overcome with emotion.  She starts crying.  She wets his feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair, kisses his feet, and pours the perfume on them.

            The Pharisee sees this, and he’s appalled.  He probably thought about kicking this woman out of the house.  But since Jesus does not seem to mind, the Pharisee does not do anything.  Still, he thinks, if this Jesus was all he’s cracked up to be, he’d know what kind of woman this person is and would not let her anywhere near him.

            Of course Jesus knew exactly who this woman was.  And Jesus knew who the Pharisee was, too.  But I want us to think about both of them.

First, the woman.  All we’re told about her is that she “lived a sinful life”.  That’s it.  We’re not given any more details than that.  We’re not told what it was about her life that made it sinful.  We could guess.  I think, though, that there’s a reason we’re not given any other details about this woman.

I think we’re not given any other details because what this woman’s sins were is irrelevant.  What’s important is that this woman was a sinner and she knew she was a sinner.  And that’s why she was so overcome with emotion in the presence of Jesus.

We don’t know how much she really understood about Jesus.  We don’t know if she understood that he was the divine Son of God.  We don’t even know if she’d have understood what that meant.  What she did know was that Jesus was someone special.  She knew that Jesus was greater than she was.  She knew that she did not deserve to be in Jesus’ presence.  But yet, she felt like she had to come.  She had to be there.  Even though she had no right to be there, even though she knew Jesus was far above and beyond what she was, she still needed to be there, in Jesus’ presence.

Now let’s think about who the Pharisee was.  He was one of the religious leaders.  He was the one who defined Jewish religion for other people.  He did not think he had led a sinful life.  He did not know he was a sinner.  And so, he was not overcome with emotion in the presence of Jesus.  It would never have occurred to him to think he did not deserve to be in Jesus’ presence.  In fact, he probably thought he’d done Jesus a favor by allowing Jesus to come to his house.  He probably thought he’d been very generous by allowing Jesus to eat with him.  He did not think he needed to be in Jesus’ presence.  He thought Jesus was lucky to be allowed into his presence.

Now, this is a pretty clear case of an underdog and a top dog, right?  And it’s pretty clear which is which.  So, two questions.

First, which of these people do we think we are?  Do we think we’re the person who’s lived a sinful life?  Do we think of ourselves as the person who really has no right to come into the presence of Jesus at all, but simply feel like we need to be there anyway?  Or do we think of ourselves as the Pharisee, the person who feels like we’ve done Jesus a favor by allowing Jesus to come into our presence.

Now, we know what the answer is supposed to be.  We know we’re supposed to say that we’re all sinners.  We’re supposed to say that we’ve all fallen short of who we’re supposed to be and that it’s only by God’s grace that we’re allowed into God’s holy presence.

We know that’s what we’re supposed to say.  And maybe, in our minds, we know that’s true.  But do we really feel it?  Do we really identify with the lowest of the low?  I want you to think of the lowest of the low, and I’m not going to put a picture up here because who I think of as the lowest of the low might not be the same as who you think of.  But think of the lowest of the low.  Is that really who you identify with?  Is that really who I identify with?

Again, we know we’re supposed to.  The point is, do we?  Do you?  Do I?

I want you to think about that.  And then, I want you to get to the other question.

The other question is this:  If you were Jesus—if I was Jesus—which of these people would be our favorite?  Which one would we want to spend time with?  Would we want to hang out with the underdog, with the woman who apparently everyone knew had “led a sinful life”?  Or would we want to hang out with the top dog, the Pharisee, the guy everyone in town looked up to and wanted to be on the good side of?

Again, we know what the answer is supposed to be.  We’re supposed to say that we’d rather be with the underdog.  But is that really true?

I already asked you to think of the lowest of the low.  Now, I want you to also think of someone who represents the top dog to you.  And again, I’m not going to put a picture up here because who I think of may not be the same as who you think of.  And when you think of that top dog, don’t think of someone who lied or cheated their way to the top.  Think of someone you really admire and respect, someone who you think of as a good person.  Because that’s how people thought of the Pharisees.  We look down on the Pharisees now because we know Jesus looked down on them, but that’s not how it was at the time.  People looked up to the Pharisees.  People respected the Pharisees.

Have you got the two pictures in your head?  Okay.  Now, which one would you rather be with?  Which one would I rather be with?  Would you rather be with the underdog, or the top dog?  Would I rather be with the underdog, or the top dog?

The Pharisee did not want to be around the underdog.  He did not understand why Jesus did.  In fact, he thought Jesus must not know who this woman was, because there was no way Jesus would want to be around her if he did.

But Jesus wanted to be with the underdog.  He told the Pharisee that this woman had shown love to him and the Pharisee had not.  And Jesus told the woman that her sins were forgiven.

Who are the underdogs in our community?  Do you identify with them?  Do I?  Do you want to hang around with them?  Do I?

Jesus loved everyone.  And we’re supposed to love everyone, too.  And that includes the underdogs.  So let’s stick up for the underdogs.  Let’s spend time with the underdogs.  Let’s show love to the underdogs. 

And then, let’s realize that we are underdogs.  Let’s realize that we, too, are sinners in need of forgiveness.  Let’s realize that we do not deserve to be in Jesus’ presence any more than the woman in our Bible reading did.  But let’s realize that we need to be there anyway.  And let’s realize that we—you and I—need as much as anyone to hear Jesus tell us that our sins are forgiven.

It's Up to Us

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, May 24, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Acts 1:6-14.

            We talk a lot about the importance of reading the Bible.  And it is important.  It’s very important.  But the thing is, we cannot just read the Bible the way we would any ordinary book.  If we’re going to really get anything out of the Bible, we need to actively engage with it.  We need to interact with it.  Because a lot of times, the people who wrote the Bible describe incredible, extraordinary events in very matter-of-fact terms.  And so, if we not engaged, if we’re not actively thinking about what we’re reading, we’re going to miss just how awesome the events described really are.          

            Our reading for today is a good example of that.  Let me just read verse nine again.  “After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”  I mean, that sounds like it was a perfectly ordinary thing.  It’s about like saying, “After we’re done with worship today, I’m going to get in the car and go home.”  Like it happens every day.  No big deal here.  Same old same old.

            Think about what that must have been like for the disciples.  As far as we know, they had no reason to think Jesus was going to leave them on that particular day.  We know, because Luke tells us, that Jesus was on earth for forty days after his resurrection, but we have no indication that the disciples knew Jesus would leave after forty days.  In fact, we don’t know whether the disciples knew Jesus was leaving at all. 

Really, the question they ask Jesus right before this—“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”—sounds to me like they expect him to be around for a while.  And the way it reads, it’s about thirty seconds after they ask that question that Jesus leaves.  He says, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  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’s gone.  Taken up, and hidden by the clouds.

Imagine you’re one of the disciples.  I think I’d just be standing there with my mouth hanging open.  I mean, think of it.  You were just talking to Jesus.  You were having a conversation.  And suddenly, he’s gone.  Vanished in the clouds.

What do you suppose they thought?  At first, they probably did not think anything.  They were stunned.  Then they started thinking, okay, now what?  Maybe Peter, James, and John had a flashback to the transfiguration, when they saw Moses and Elijah with Jesus and a cloud covered them all.  They stand there for a while, just looking up at where Jesus had been.  Where did he go?  When is he coming back?

And then, apparently out of nowhere, two men dressed in white appeared.  And that’s presented very matter-of-factly, too.  Who were these guys?  Were they angels?  Maybe, but the Bible does not specifically say so.  It simply describes them as two men.  And the disciples don’t seem particularly startled to see them.  Maybe, after Jesus dying and being resurrected and appearing to them several times and then vanishing into a cloud, maybe after all that nothing much surprised the disciples any more.  Anyway, the two men are there.  And they say to the disciples, what are you doing waiting around here?  What are you looking up into the sky for?  Jesus is not there.  He’s gone up to heaven.

So, eventually, the disciples left.  And can you imagine the conversations they had along the way?  At first, they were probably silent, stunned by what they’d seen.  Then one of them speaks.  Maybe it was Peter—after all, it seems like he always had something to say, no matter what the situation was.  And then the ice was broken.  Everyone starts talking, in tones of awe and wonder and probably a little fear, too.

They start out by talking about what they’ve just seen and heard.  And maybe that was enough conversation on the road home.  But when they get back to the place they were staying, the start talking about other things.  They talk about all the things Jesus told them.  They talk about what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love each other.  They talk about the mission statement Jesus gave them, to go and make disciples of all nations.

And somewhere along the line, they realize that now it’s up to them.  Yes, Jesus is coming back, sometime, but they don’t know when it will be.  And they realize that until Jesus does come back, whenever that is, they’re in charge.  They’re in charge of spreading God’s word and showing God’s love.  They’re in charge of making disciples of Jesus Christ.

That’s a pretty awesome responsibility they had, you know?  So, what did they do?  They prayed.  They “joined constantly in prayer”, as our reading told us.  And eventually, they received power from the Holy Spirit.  And then, they went to work.  They started doing what Jesus told them to do.

You and I are disciples of Jesus Christ too, of course, so what Jesus told the disciples to do now applies to us.  That means that now, it’s up to us.  You and me.  The men, whether they were angels or whatever they were, are saying to us what they said to the disciples.  They’re saying, what are you doing waiting around here?  

We’re the ones who are in charge now.  You and I are in charge of spreading God’s word and showing God’s love.  You and I are in charge of making disciples of Jesus Christ.  Not just us here in this church, obviously.  Us along with everyone else in all the other Christian churches in town and around the world.  But still, it’s up to us.  Jesus told each one of us to spread God’s word and show God’s love.  Jesus told each one of us to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

It’s a pretty awesome responsibility we have.  So, what’s the first thing we should do?  Pray.  Pray for God to help us reach more people.  Not because we want to have a big church, but because there are people right here in the towns of the Wheatland Parish who have not accepted Jesus as the Savior.  Pray for God’s guidance, so that we will know where to go and what to do and what to say, so we can reach them.  Pray that God will touch our hearts and theirs, so we can reach those people for God.

If we pray with open, sincere, honest hearts, and if we’re willing to follow where God leads us, we will receive power from the Holy Spirit, just like the original disciples did.  If we dedicate ourselves to God and are truly willing to follow wherever God leads, God’s Spirit will come into our hearts and into our lives and we will be able to do things we’ve never imagined, because all things are possible with God.

And after we’ve prayed, and after we get that power, we need to do what the original disciples did.  We need to go to work.  And I know a lot of people in this parish have been working.  I know there are a lot of people here who are trying hard to share God’s word and show God’s love.  And we’ve seen some things happen.  Even in this strange time we’re in, we’ve seen things happen.  Our livestream is one of them—we’re reaching people on this livestream that we were not reaching before.  We are seeing things happen.  And we’re going to see more things happen.  So please, be encouraged.  Keep working. 

And don’t get discouraged if things don’t happen in the way we planned or as quickly as we wanted.  I’m sure there were times when things did not happen the way the original disciples planned, either.  And I’m sure there were times when things did not happen as quickly as they wanted.  And they probably got discouraged sometimes.  But they did not quit.  They kept working.  They trusted God enough to know that if they did what they were supposed to do, God would make things work out the way they’re supposed to work out, even if that was not the way they had planned or on the time schedule they had in mind.

The original disciples gave us the perfect formula, really.  At first, they were waiting for Jesus to come back.  But then they realized he was not coming back right away, and that now it was up to them.  So they prayed.  In response to their prayer, that got power from the Holy Spirit.  And then, they went to work.  And God helped them start spreading the gospel across the entire world.

That formula worked for the original disciples.  And it will work for us.  Pray sincerely, openly, and honestly.  If we do, both as individuals and as a church, we’ll get power from the Holy Spirit.  And if we then go to work, God will help us spread the gospel across our entire parish and beyond.

We know what to do.  So let’s do it.

Humble Ourselves

This is the message given on Sunday morning, May 24, 2020, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are 1 Peter 5:5b-11.

            Peter writes, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand.”

            We don’t talk a whole lot about the virtue of humility.  We also don’t talk a lot about its opposites, the sins of pride and arrogance.  I don’t know why that is.  Maybe it’s because, unlike some sins, pride and arrogance have less to do with outward behavior, which everyone can see, and more to do with inner attitudes.  And because of that, maybe we think of it as more of a grey area.  You know, murder, adultery, things like that, those are things that are black and white.  Either you did them or you did not.  Arrogance?  Well, a lot of times that’s a matter of opinion.  And so, we don’t talk about it much.

But that’s not right.  It’s not Biblical.  God has a lot to say on the subjects of pride and arrogance.  A few years ago, when we did a sermon series on the Minor Prophets, I was struck by how often God, speaking through the Minor Prophets, spoke out about the sin of arrogance.  In fact, when you look through the Old Testament, arrogance is all over the place.  

And inevitably, it gets people into trouble.  What happens, time after time after time, is that God blesses the people and the people prosper.  And then, those prosperous people decide that their prosperity is because they’re so good and they’re so great.  They don’t give credit to God for their success--they take credit for themselves.  They become arrogant.  And eventually, God decides it’s time to show them how wrong they are.  God withholds His blessings, and things almost immediately fall apart.  At some point, the people realize what’s happened, they humble themselves before God, and eventually God blesses them and they prosper again.  This cycle happens over and over and over.

Because that’s really where our arrogance becomes a problem--when we don’t humble ourselves before God.  I mean, yes, it’s not good to act arrogantly toward other people, either.  But think about what we’re doing when we act arrogantly toward God.

I mean, really that’s taking arrogance to a whole different level, right?  We’ve talked about this before, but think about who God is.  God is all-powerful.  God is all-wise.  God is all-knowing.  God is all-seeing.  God is the one who created the world and everything in it.  God can be everywhere and do all things at the same time.  God can be at each point in history at the same time.  God is bigger and greater and more than anything we can ever imagine.  You and I cannot even begin to get our heads around how incredible God is.

And yet, how many times do we think we should be able to tell God what to do?  How many times, when things are not going the way we want them to, do we get frustrated with God?  How many times do we act like God owes it to us to explain what it is that God’s doing?  Or not doing?  How many times do we ask, or even demand, that God explain what God’s doing to us?  And when things are not going the way we think they should, as is happening a lot right now, how many times do we question God or even doubt God?  How many times do we wonder if God cares or even knows what’s going on?

And it works the other way, too.  How many times, when things are going well, do we do what the people in Old Testament times did?  How many times do we give ourselves credit, believing that things are going well because of how great we are and because of all the wonderful things we did?  How many times do we look at ourselves as the source of all our good fortune, rather than giving the credit to God?

All of that is rooted in arrogance.  It’s rooted in a feeling that we know better than God.  We’d never put it that way, but that’s what it is.  It’s a feeling that we don’t really need God, and that in fact, God would do well to take our advice a lot of times.  It’s a feeling that God really should be doing things the way we want God to do them.  It’s a feeling that we know what God should be doing, and if God’s not doing things that way, then, well, there must be something wrong with God.  It’s a feeling that God owes it to us to make things go the way we want them to go, and if God’s not going to do that, then God had darn well better explain to us why not.

Again, we’d never put it that way.  In fact, when we do put it that way, it sounds kind of silly.  It sounds ridiculous, really.  That you and I would put ourselves on the same level as God?  And in fact, that we’d put ourselves on a higher level than God!  

I wonder how God must feel, when we do that.  We may not know that, but we know what God did, at least in Old Testament times.  God withdrew His blessings and let the people deal with the consequences of that.  Basically, God said, oh, you think you don’t need Me?  You think you know better than I do?  You think you can do things without Me?  Well, then I’ll just let you go ahead and try.  I’ll let you do things without Me for a while.  I’ll let you see just how that goes.  And of course, it does not go very well.

Does God do that with us sometimes?  I think God probably does.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  God always loves us.  God always cares about us.  God always wants to help us.  But when we refuse God’s help, when we make a conscious choice to live without God, I think God probably pulls away and lets us live with the consequences of our choices.  

But the good news is that God always gives us a chance to turn around.  God gives us a chance to turn back to God again.  When the people of the Old Testament did that, God forgave them and gave them His blessings again.  And God will do that for us, too.

Remember the quote from our Bible passage that I read to start this message?  I quoted Peter as saying, “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand.”  And that’s an accurate quote, but some of you may have noticed that it’s incomplete.  The full quote says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

When we humble ourselves, when we acknowledge who God is, when we acknowledge how weak and insignificant and low we are in comparison to God, when we put our faith and trust in God’s goodness and knowledge and wisdom, when we listen to God and do things God’s way, rather than trying to force God to do things our way--when we do all that, God will lift us up.  

Now it may not happen right away.  Peter says God will lift us up “in due time”, not necessarily right away.  Even after we turn back, God still may make us deal with the consequences of our choices for a while.  God may want to teach us a lesson.  God may want us to learn from our mistakes, from our sins, from our arrogance.  God may wait so that we know our turning back is real.  But God will lift us up.  It will happen “in due time”.  In God’s time.  And God’s time is always the right time.

But that means that sometimes we have to wait.  And waiting is not easy.  When we want something, when we need something, and yet we have to wait.  We get worried.  We get scared.  There’s a lot of anxiety involved in waiting.

And God understands that.  And God does not want us to be worried while we wait.  God wants us to trust Him.  That’s why Peter tells us this:  “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

            It all fits together.  If we humble ourselves before God, we can trust God.  And when we humble ourselves before God, God will lift us up in due time.  At the right time.  And when we humble ourselves before God, we don’t have to worry.  We don’t have to be anxious.  When we humble ourselves before God, we can give all that worry and anxiety to God, because we know how great and how good God is.  And we know that God will use God’s greatness and God’s goodness for our benefit, because we know God loves us and cares about us.

            Arrogance and pride will always get us into trouble.  But when we humble ourselves before God, we can relax.  We don’t have to worry.  We don’t have to be afraid.  We can rely on God.  God has it all handled.  God cares for you.  And He always will.

Imagine

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Wheatland Parish on May 17, 2020.  The Bible verses used are John 14:15-27.

Our reading tonight takes place on the night Jesus was arrested.  It’s part of what I call Jesus’ Farewell Address.”  It’s the last major speech of Jesus that’s recorded in the gospel of John.  After this, he’s going to go to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he’ll be arrested and eventually killed.

Jesus is trying to get the disciples ready for this.  He may be trying to get himself ready, too.  The disciples don’t necessarily understand what’s going to happen, but they understand that he’s going to leave them.  And they’re pretty upset about that.  For one thing, Jesus is their friend, and you never want to hear that your friend is leaving.  But more than that, Jesus was their leader.  He was the Messiah.  He was the Savior.  If he was leaving, well, where did that leave them?  Where were they going to go?  What were the going to do?

So Jesus tries to tell them that it’s going to be all right.  He tells them he’s sending someone else to be with them.  To lead them.  To guide them.  The Holy Spirit.

And I’m sure the disciples thought, “What?”  The Holy Spirit?  Who’s the Holy Spirit?  How’s the Holy Spirit going to lead us?  And how’s a Spirit, no matter how Holy, going to take the place of Jesus?             

            Well, Jesus tries to explain it to them.  Jesus starts by saying that the Holy Spirit is an advocate.  So what’s 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.

Truth is something that seems to be in short supply these days.  The truth still exists.  The truth is still the truth.  But it seems like it’s harder to find.  It seems like it’s not respected very much any more.  A lot of times, it seems like people are more interested in winning an argument than they are in finding the truth.  And if the truth does not support their argument, well, they’ll just refuse to hear it or accept it.  

But the truth is incredibly important to God.  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.”  God is truth.  And the Holy Spirit is God--one member of the trinity.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  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.”  Again, the truth can be very hard to accept sometimes.  And often, that’s 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 think about what Jesus said.  Because, again, the Holy Spirit is God.  So when Jesus says the Holy Spirit lives with us and will be in us, he’s talking about 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.

            You’ve heard me pray for God’s Holy Spirit to be with us.  In fact, when we read the Communion liturgy, we pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out onto us.  We pray 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 the Holy Spirit was truly poured out on each of us?  What would happen if 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.  Even in the current situation, you are still working very hard for the Lord, doing whatever you can do.  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.

            Imagine this.  And then, really think about it.  Think about what we’re asking the Holy Spirit to do.  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.  It could even change the world.

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

God Is There

The message give in the Sunday morning service in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, May 17, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Acts 17:22-31.

            The Apostle Paul is in Athens.  Paul traveled a lot, spreading the message of Jesus Christ wherever he felt God leading him to go.  He’s in Athens, in Greece, and he walks around the city, trying to get a feel for the place.  

            At this time the people of Athens did not have the idea that there was one God.  They thought there were lots of gods.  Their idea was that the gods went in for specialization.  There was a god for this, a god for that, a god for just about everything you could think of.  And Paul sees statues and idols and such to honor all these different gods.  And then, Paul sees one that has this inscription, “to an unknown god.”

            See, the people of Athens wanted to make sure they had all their bases covered.  They were worshiping every god they could think of, every god they knew about or even suspect might be there.  But they thought, well, what if we missed one?  So, just to make sure, they thought they’d better also put something up to honor this unknown god, too.  Just to play it safe, you know?

            We read that, and maybe we think that sounds like of strange.  Maybe even silly.  How can you worship an unknown god?  How can you worship a god you don’t know anything about?  In fact, why would you even want to?  What we be the point of it?  “O unknown god--please do--um--whatever it is you do.  Please help us in--well--in whatever way it is you can help us.  Please give us the benefit of--whatever it is that you can give us the benefit of.”  How strange would that be?

            And yet, how many people do you know who do that today?  How many people are there who worship a God they don’t really know?  In fact, how many of us, as Christians, can really say that we know the God we worship?

            Now, on one level, this is inevitable.  In many ways, God is beyond our ability to understand.  God is greater and bigger and more of--well, everything, really--than we could ever get our minds around.  We can describe God--we can use words like holy and righteous and all-powerful and all-knowing and all-wise.  He can use words like omnipotent and omniscient omnipresent.  We can talk about the trinity--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  But how in the world that works, how God does what God does, how God can be what God is, we really don’t have much of a clue.  The only way we could fully understand God is to be God, and of course we’re not.  We’re not anywhere close, and we never will be, at least not while we’re on earth.

            We cannot fully understand God, but we can understand enough.  And so could the people of Athens.  So Paul started telling them about God, this God who was unknown to them.  And the things Paul tells them about God are important for us to know, too.

            He starts out by calling God “the God who made the world and everything in it.”  That’s one of the most basic Christian beliefs that there is, but let’s think about it.  “The God who made the world and everything in it.”  Everything you and I will ever see or hear or touch or taste or smell was made by God, or at least it was made from the things God made.  There was nothing in the world, there was not even a world for there to be nothing in, until God made it.  

            That tells us what power God has.  But it also tells us something else.  It tells us that God existed before the world began.  I mean, if God made it, then God must have been here before it, right?  And so, logically, God will still be around after the world comes to an end someday.  This tells us that God is eternal, with no beginning and no end.  Just that is a hard thing to understand.  But it’s true.

            Paul goes on to call God “the Lord of heaven and earth.”  So, not only did God create everything, God is in control of everything.  After a lord, any lord, is someone who has power and control over whatever he’s lord of.  So, by calling God “the Lord of heaven and earth”, Paul says God has power and control over heaven and earth.  Nothing can ever happen, either in heaven or on earth, that God does not allow to happen.

            Paul goes on to say that God “is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything.”  We maybe need to think about that a little bit.  After all, don’t we talk all the time about how we need to serve God?  How can we be serving God if God is not served by human hands?  How does that work?

            Well, I think both statements are true.  We do serve God, but God does not need our service.  I think we serve God the way a little kid “helps” Mom and Dad around the house or in the yard or in the field.  Mom and Dad don’t need the help--in fact, they could probably get things done faster if the kid was not there.  But they allow the kid to help, partly out of a desire to teach, but mostly just out of love.  They love their children and like having them around.  They like seeing them try to help, even when their “help” is not really much help at all.  I think that’s how our service to God is.  As Paul says, there’s nothing we can do for God that God could not do without us.  But God allows us to serve, partly out of a desire to teach us, but mostly just out of love for us.  God likes seeing us try to help, even when our “help” is not really much help at all.

            Paul goes on to tell them that God “made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed time in history and the boundaries of their lands.”

            Again, that points to God being eternal.  We think of that as meaning God lives forever, and it does, but it means more than that.  It means that God stands outside of time.  God can see the entire sweep of human history all at once.  God knows everything that has happened, everything that is happening, and everything that is going to happen.  God sees the rise and fall of empires.  God saw it all before it ever happened.  And God knows how it all comes out.

            I think that should give us hope.  More than that, it should give us confidence.  We’ve all been kind of discombobulated by this coronavirus.  A lot of things we could on, that we considered a fixed part of our lives, are not there now.  And we don’t know if some of them are coming back--maybe they will, but maybe they won’t.  And that leaves us feeling really strange.  It leaves us feeling out of sorts.  Everyone’s trying to keep going, and everyone’s doing the best they can.  In fact, most of us are handling things pretty well, really, as far as I can tell.  But still, it bothers us.  When something that we thought would always be there is gone, it shakes us up.  We’re not sure what we can trust any more.

            If you feel that way, know that you can trust God.  We may not know what’s going to happen or when or how.  But God does.  None of this has come as a surprise to God.  And God knows exactly how it’s going to all come out.  You and I may not know how to handle this.  We may feel like we’re flailing around, trying to figure out how to handle it.  But we don’t need to.  God already has it all handled.  God has it all figured out.  We can trust that.  We can trust God.

            And after that, Paul says this:  “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

            There’s our answer.  If we’re struggling with handling things, there’s our answer.  Reach out for God.  Find God.  God is not far from any of us.  All we need to do is reach out for Him.  If we do, we’ll find Him.  Because God is right there.

            God is as close as anyone and anything you can imagine.  God is our closest friend.  God is our closest relative--after all, we’re His children.  God is as close as our next breath.  God is as close as our fingertips.  God is as close as our innermost thoughts.  All we need to do is seek Him.  All we need to do is reach out for Him.  God is right there.

            That, my friends, is the God we have.  A God who is all-powerful.  A God who is eternal.  A God who is in control of everything.  A God who stands outside of time itself.  And yet, a God who loves us so much that He treats us as His children and allows us the privilege of serving Him.  A God who has everything figured out, even when you and I don’t have a clue.  A God who, as awesome and incredible as He is, is as close to us as our breath.

Our God is not an unknown God at all.  Our God is right here with us.  Leading us.  Guiding us.  Helping us.  Caring for us.  Handling whatever needs to be handled.  All we need to do is trust him.  All we need to do is reach out for Him, and we’ll find Him.  Because he’s right here.

Worse Than Death

This is the message given at the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on Sunday, May 10, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Acts 6:8-15, 7:54-60.

            For a Christian, death is not the worst thing that can happen.

            Don’t misunderstand.  God gave each of us a natural survival instinct.  It is a human thing, and a good thing, to want to live as long as we can. Suicide is wrong, for a lot of reasons.  Living recklessly, putting our lives in danger for no good purpose, is wrong.  God put each of us here for reasons, and as long as we are here God has things for us to do.  It is not for us to say when we’ve done all the things God put us here to do.  That’s for God to say.  When it’s time for us to move on, God will take us home.

            But my point is that for a Christian, there are things that are worse than death.  And one of the biggest ones is denying Jesus Christ.  We are called to be faithful to God, and to serve God, and to love God, even to the point of death.  And a Christian cannot be faithful to God, we cannot serve God, we cannot love God, without accepting the divine Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior.  And if we accept Jesus Christ as the Savior, we cannot refuse to acknowledge that to others.  In fact, we are told that we need to spread the word about who Jesus is to everyone we can.

            That’s what Stephen was doing in our Bible reading for tonight.  Stephen was letting people know that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  Stephen was filled with God’s Holy Spirit.  He was full of God’s grace and power.  He was performing great wonders and signs among the people.  There were, of course, people who did not like that, and they tried to argue with him.  But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave Stephen.

            Now, at that point, someone who was actually interested in the truth would realize that they had lost the argument and would admit that Stephen was right.  But the people who were arguing with Stephen were not particularly interested in the truth.  They were interested in winning.  They were interested in trying to keep people from accepting Jesus as the Savior.  They were interested in defeating Stephen and everything he stood for.  And if they could not do that with the truth, they would do it with lies.  So, they got some people to say that Stephen had committed blasphemy.  They said that Stephen had been speaking out against God and against Moses.

            Stephen was in trouble.  He had the truth on his side, but it did not look like that was going to help him.  He might be killed.  But he did not try to run.  He did not give in.  He continued to proclaim Jesus Christ as the Savior.  In fact, we’re told that, when he heard these people lying about him, his face was like the face of an angel.

            Now, in the part of Acts that we skipped over, Stephen did give a defense.  But it was not a defense designed to get him off the hook.  His “defense” was an indictment.  He went through all the times, starting from the time of Abraham, when God had been there for the people of Israel, when God had helped the people of Israel.  And Stephen went through all the times when the people of Israel turned on God, and disobeyed God.  He went through all the times when the people of Israel refused to listen to God’s prophets.  He went through Abraham, and Joseph, and Moses, and Joshua, and all the way up to Jesus Christ.  And then he said to the people who were accusing him, “You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

            And you heard what happened to Stephen after he said that.  They took him out and stoned him until he was dead.

            Now, Stephen was not a fool.  He was not naive.  He knew what was likely to happen when he said what he said.  I don’t know whether he knew he would be killed, but he certainly knew he would not be set free.  At best he might be thrown in prison for a long period of time.  And I have to think he knew his death was a distinct possibility.

            And yet, he would not give in.  He would not compromise.  He would not do or say anything that would deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  And in fact, listen to what he said.  As the people are charging at him, he says, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  While they were stoning him, he said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  And just as he was about to die, his last words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

            Now, I don’t believe that Stephen wanted to die.  I believe he wanted to live, just as you and I and everyone else wants to live.  Stephen had that survival instinct in him, too, just like you and I do.  I would think that he had hoped to continue to serve the Lord on earth, to continue to perform wonders and signs, to continue to feel God’s grace and power.  But Stephen knew that his first priority was not to keep himself alive.  His first priority was to love God.  His first priority was to serve God.  His first priority was to be faithful to God.  He was going to love God, and serve God, and be faithful to God, no matter what happened to him.

And Stephen also knew that for him, and for all Christians, dying was not the worst thing that could happen to him.  Because he knew that, if he stayed faithful to God, then when he died he would go to heaven to be with God.  The worst thing that could happen to him would be if he denied God, if he denied that Jesus was the Savior, if he failed to be faithful.  Because that denial, that failure, while it might help him hold onto his life on earth a little longer, might cost him his eternal life in heaven.

Now, we say, “That’s a lot of faith”, and of course it is.  Stephen had a tremendous amount of faith in God.  And Stephen had complete trust in God.  Stephen had so much faith and trust in God that he did not look at what he did as a sacrifice.  He looked at it as a trade--trading his life on earth for eternal life in heaven.  And he knew he was coming out on much the better end of that trade.

But while we recognize what a great example Stephen is, sometimes we have trouble applying it.  I mean, what are the chances that you and I are going to be faced with giving up our earthly lives because of our faith in God?  Sure, there are places on earth where it can happen, but most of us are not likely to find ourselves in one of those places.  So for us, living here in South Dakota, how can we apply this example to our lives?

Well, try looking at it this way.  We may not be asked to be willing to die because of our faith in Jesus, but we still may be asked to give up our lives, or at least part of them.  Because, when you think about it, every time we do what we know Jesus wants us to do, rather than doing what we might selfishly want to do at that moment, we’re giving up a part of our lives for our faith.

For example:  any time we’d really like to stay home and relax, but instead we go and visit someone or call someone who we think might feel alone, we’re giving up a part of our life for Jesus.  Any time we’re feeling tired and just want some time to ourselves, but instead we do something with our kids, we’re giving up a part of our life for Jesus.  Any time we’re feeling rushed and wonder how we’re going to get everything done, but we still volunteer to help with something in the church or in the community, we’re giving up a part of our life for Jesus.  

We could go on and on with examples like this.  I’m sure you can think of some.  In fact, I’m sure you can think of examples from your own life.  Times when you really did not feel like doing something, but you did it anyway, because you knew it was the right thing to do, you knew it was what the Lord would want you to do.  Any time you did that, you gave up a part of your life for Jesus.

And that’s not a small thing.  Any time we give up a part of our lives, that’s something we can never get back.  Any time you spent a day, or a few hours, or even a few minutes, doing something for the Lord, that day, those hours, those minutes are gone.  They’re gone forever.  We cannot get them back.  And all of us only get so many on this earth.  And so, to that extent, we’re doing what Stephen did.  Not completely, not making a total sacrifice.  But still, we’re trading a part of our lives on earth for eternal life in heaven.

            You say it that way, and it sounds like it should be easy.  And maybe it should be, but a lot of times it’s not.  We can all think of times where we’ve done these things, but if we’re honest, we can all think of times we’ve failed to do them, too.  I know I can.  Times when I told myself I was too tired, or I had other things to do, or I could wait and do it tomorrow, or that I just plain didn’t feel like doing it.  Maybe it should be easy, but in real life a lot of times it’s not.  We want to save up those days, those hours, those minutes for ourselves.

            But you know what?  No matter how jealously we try to save those days, those hours, those minutes we have on earth, at some point we’re going to run out of them.  Our lives on earth are going to come to an end.  But that’s okay.  If we hold onto our faith, we know that death is not the worst thing that can happen to us.  The worst thing would be to lose eternal life in heaven.  So let’s be willing to give up those days, those hours, those minutes on earth because of our faith in Jesus Christ.  When we do, we will get eternal life in heaven.  And getting that eternal life is the best thing that can happen to us.

Mother's Day

I hope that everyone had a good Mother’s Day.  This Mother’s Day, of course, was different from a lot of them.  Many of us were not able to see our mothers, and many mothers were not able to see their kids or grandkids.  That’s especially true for those mothers who are older and are living in nursing homes or assisted living facilities.  Most of those places are not allowing visitors, even close family members, because of concerns over the coronavirus.

I understand that.  I know why they’re doing it.  But still, it stinks.  It’s not anyone’s fault that it stinks, necessarily, but it still does.  It’s no fun to have family separated at any time, but on a special day like this, it’s even worse.  

In my case, I haven’t seen my Mom since late February.  I did not see her then in anticipation of the coronavirus or anything else--it just so happened that I went down there just before all the lockdowns took place.  I know I could have it worse--lots of people do.  There are a lot of people who have not seen their mothers for a lot longer.  And, of course, there are a lot of people whose mothers have passed on, and who won’t see them again until they have a reunion in heaven.  There are others whose mothers have dementia, and are not able to even talk to them on the telephone.  I can at least talk to Mom every day, and I do.  The people at her nursing home were even nice enough to arrange a video chat for us once.

I know it could be worse--but it still stinks.  There’s just no other way to say it.  Mom will turn ninety-five next month.  She’s in remarkably good health for ninety-five, but still, ninety-five is ninety-five.  There’s no way to know how many years she’ll have left.  And it feels like part of whatever time she does have left is being taken away.

Again, I understand it.  I’m not blaming anyone.  It just is what it is.  We have to deal with it because, well, what choice do we have, really?  We can get mad, we can get sad, we can yell and scream and cry, but it does not change anything.  All we can do is find a way to cope with the situation as it is, because, well, it is.  We make the best of it, because what good is it going to do us to make the worst of it?  

I called Mom later this morning to wish her a happy Mother’s Day.  I wish I could’ve given her a hug, and I’m sure she wishes that, too.  But she’s doing the best she can to deal with the situation.  She’s actually dealing with it remarkably well.  Sometimes I think maybe she’s dealing with it better than I am.  She’s seen a lot, of course--she grew up in the Depression, went through World War II, had her father pass away at a young age, had her spouse die, and all sorts of other things.  I suppose the more you go through, the better you can handle life.  And she has an incredibly strong faith, and I’m sure that helps her, too.

Anyway, I hope you had a good Mother’s Day.  If you’re a Mom, I hope you’re able to see your kids.  If you cannot, I hope you’ll be able to talk to them or do a video chat, and I hope you’ll be able to see them again soon.  And I hope, whatever your situation is, that you have as strong a faith as my Mom has.  If you do, that will carry you through this Mother’s Day and every day.