Sunday 09/08/12 FUMC/HAUMC
Sermon Title:
“Because I love you and God this much”
(Reclaiming our Wesleyan Heritage Series,
Part 1 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
New Testament Scripture
Lesson: Philemon 1-21
Gospel Lesson: Luke 14:25-33
Good morning
brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name of our risen Lord and savior
Jesus Christ! Let me start by saying what an honor and a privilege it is for my
beautiful wife Melissa and I to be worshipping with you here today in this
house of the Lord. I want to especially take a moment to thank all of those who
greeted us, and for all those who helped to prepare the parsonage for Melissa
and I, and our very Pentecostal dog, Mylee. You all have been resources for me
when I had questions or needed information, you have showed us continued
kindness, love, and feed us more than perhaps we have ever eaten, but after
all, we are Methodists right.
While we have not been in Freeville
very long, we already have a piece of our heart here. While we just left two
loving congregations in the Adirondack District of our United Methodist
Conference, and while we have left a piece of our heart there, we now as I
said, have some of our heart here. In the same way that the Apostle Paul wrote
in his letters to the Romans, the Galatians, the Corinthians, and etc., he
would often tell his people that he missed them. That he longed to be with
them, but that God had called him elsewhere. On this morning, while Melissa and
have left our version of the Galatians in Adirondacks, we now come to a new
book in our journey. We come to serve the Freevillians and Homer Aveians. While
the heart laments and grieves the loss of leaving, God has much to show us, and
much to do in these churches. For God is not done with us, and Jesus Christ is
still securely on the throne.
While Melissa and I had a thriving
ministry in the two churches that I pastored in the Adirondacks, and while God
blessed both of these churches with remarkable growth, with kids going to camp
for the first time in a decade, baptisms, and much fuller pews, our dear Bishop
Marcus Webb asked Melissa and I to come back to the Finger Lakes. While I was
originally asked to begin here on July 1st, I would have had to have
given the two churches that I was serving less than 2-weeks’ notice of this
move. You see this would have devastated my people, so I asked to stay longer,
to ensure that those two little country churches continued to grow, and
continued to be loved and upheld.
Melissa and I hope to be here with
you our new brothers and sisters for many years to come, and after moving from
the Adirondacks and then moving from our house in Moravia, I really mean this
many years to come thing! This I will tell you though, if the day ever came
where I would have to be moved in less than 2-weeks’ time, I would do
everything possible to stay at these churches we are serving longer to
transition, because my brothers and sisters, “I love you and I love God this
much.”
I am here like any pastor then, to
order the life of the church, administer the sacraments, and to preach the
Gospel, but in addition to all of this, I am here to love you. Brothers and
sisters I have been in churches in my short life where I did not feel like that
pastor loved me. What I want you to know about me here today though is that I
love you, I love your children, and even after hearing that some of you are
Buffalo Bills fans, I guess I still love you. As you folks really needed to be
loved! What I want you to know, what I want you to believe, is that when you put
your heads on your pillows at night that you know how much your pastor loves
you. That he prays for you, that he had been praying for you for weeks, and
that you are a precious child of Almighty God, and that God doesn’t make any junk.
If nothing else in the time that my beautiful wife and I are here, I hope that
you can say “that kid loved us. He might have had several corny jokes, he might
have had a haircut that looked like Dennis the Menace, and he might have put
his foot in his mouth so much that you would think that the pastor eats Nike’s
for lunch, but oh how he loved us. Oh how he treasured us, oh how he treasured our
children, and oh how he served us and the community.” Brothers and sisters, I
humbly and with great love for Jesus Christ come to you, “Because I love you
and God this much!”
Since this is an introductory sermon,
I will give a testimony about myself in the coming weeks, but this morning I
wanted to bring you this message, and this is why. About a month before I
started my first pastoral appointment back in July, 2012, I was on the phone
with my dear friend and then District Superintendent Pastor Bill Mudge. As some
of you maybe have already figured out, I was chatting the good Reverend’s ear
off. Suddenly during my endless chatter, Pastor Bill said, “Oh and hey Paul
have you thought about what your first sermon will be?” No sooner than I begin
to start to tell him ideas of what I was going to preach on, I heard that chirp
noise of an incoming call. I then said, “Pastor Bill, is someone trying to call
you?” He then said, “Yes, the head of the trustees of one of my churches, along
with some of the other members of the church, who are quite unhappy with their
present pastor.” I than said, “Oh I am sorry to hear this.” Pastor Bill than
said, “Yeah, you know the funny thing is, is that I pastored at that church
about 30-years ago, when I was just getting started in ministry, and I know the
head of the Trustees there and many others well. I then said, “well would you
like me to let you go, so that you can call that head of that church Trustees
back.” He then said, “No that is ok, I will call her back when were done
chatting here.”
Then he said something that change my
entire focus for doing ministry. He said, “You know Paul, the interesting thing
is, I told the woman that was the head of the trustees, when I was young pastor
there about 30-years ago, that I said and did much worse things that what you
are describing from this new pastor.” Pastor Bill then said this, “The head of
the Church Trustees Committee then paused for a few seconds on the other end of
the phone, and then said, but you loved us, so we forgave you Bill.” Then the
good Pastor Bill and I hung up. I then had the first sermon that I will preach
for the rest of my life, at every pulpit, on every first Sunday. That I come
here, “because I love you and I love God this much.”
Yet within all of this, we have many
challenges in front of us don’t we. We have church budgets, buildings that
constantly need upkeep, and some churches seem to continue to be shrinking. Yet
Melissa and I just came from two amazing churches that are alive and well! A
church where two years ago the people were worshipping in the basement of the
church, because they couldn’t afford the heat. That the old furnace from the
1950’s, that looked and sounded like the monster under the stairs in the Adam’s
Family TV show, has just a few weeks ago been replaced with an entire new
furnace system. That the attic of that church now has blown in insulation, and
on my last Sunday, last week, I told these churches, “I leave you with the
knowledge of knowing that never again will you worship in the basement.” I then
said, “and remember that this is your church, and while my wife and I have been
immeasurably blessed to serve here, this is your church. This church is part of
this community. Many of you were baptized and married in this church. Many of
you came to know Jesus Christ in this place. Many of you raised you children in
this church.” Then I said, “This house prayer, this house of Jesus Christ, and
this is your church. It belongs first to God, but second to the people of this
community. Let us reclaim in the Wesleyan traditions, our roots, our
communities, and our churches. For our founder John Wesley loved the people so
much, and his churches grew as a result of this.
While I do normally very much preach
about the scriptures and the Gospel lesson that we read on Sunday morning, I
have chosen to eat up a lot of this first sermon, with this message of greetings.
However, the Gospel according to Saint Luke reading from 14:25-33 from this
morning, concludes with Christ saying, “So therefore, none of you can become my
disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” You see in the Gospel
reading from this morning Jesus is talking about the “Cost of Discipleship.”
That when we chose to follow Christ, we give up much, but that we gain so much
more than we will can ever imagine. So when we feed people at our food pantry,
when we give clothes to people who need them at this church, we are saying to
all people, “we do this, because we love you and Jesus Christ this much.”
I want to
close this message with a story. This is a story about a rich father, who lived
in Pennsylvania around the time of World War II. The father had a wife, but she
passed away, leaving him with just his one beloved son. The father being so wealthy
did have a butler, but the father still loved his son more than anything. The
father wasn’t shocked when his son announced his intention to enlist in the
army and fight in World War II. Reluctantly, the father sent his son to fight.
While away his son excelled in the army. He was a leader, but mostly was a
servant to his fellow soldiers. He was also the first to volunteer, and loved
his brothers in arms so much, that one day he dove on top of a hand grenade
that suddenly flew into the vicinity that his military unit was in. Realizing
that there was enough time to throw the grenade back at the enemy, he dove on
the grenade and sacrificed himself so that everyone else may live. The war then
ended a few months later. The father in Pennsylvania as you can imagine was in
mourning, as he had heard the news shortly after his son had died. In the late
fall of that same year, one day the father had a knock at his door, and it was
one of the son’s best military friends. He told the father that the son was the
bravest soldier that had ever seen, and that he sacrificed himself for everyone
else. Fancying himself an artist, one night of low military activity this
soldier drew a grease pencil picture of the son, and wanted to make sure that the
father had it.
The father
once again being immensely wealthy took one of his multi-million dollar Pablo Picasso
paintings off his wall above his mantle, and then framed and put the drawing of
his son up. It wasn’t much to look at, but it really did look like his son, and
he was pleased with it. That winter, the father completely grief stricken by
the loss of his son, died. His last will and testament called that all of his
possessions and belongings be auctioned off, and that the money be donated to
various charitable causes. The father also requested a man in his will that he
knew who was an auctioneer to oversee this auction. The auctioneer was given
some special instructions that no one else had. Allowing a couple of weeks
before the auction, wealthy and prominent people for all corners of the globe
came to this auction to buy up the expensive art work and the riches of the
father. The auction then began, and the first item to be auctioned, as per the
will, was the grease pencil picture of the father’s son. Everyone in attendance
seemed frustrated as no one wanted this cheap grease pencil drawing of the son.
The butler, who was still working for the father’s estate through the end this
auction, assured everyone that after this piece of art sold the real riches
would come. So the bidding be began, $500 dollars… nothing, $300 dollars…
nothing, $100 dollars nothing. The auctioneer also having had know the son
seemed frustrated that no one would buy the picture of the son. The auctioneer
then said will no one bid on this drawing? The bidders of the auction seemed
determined to have the item tabled, skipped, and not auctioned. Just before
this happened though, the father’s butler said, “excuse me auctioneer, I know I
am not part of this auction, but I did really love the father and I loved his
son.” If it is ok with the rest of the folks who are here to buy the father’s
riches, I was wondering if I might bid on the drawing of the son? The group
quickly agreed, and the butler bid $20 dollars.
The auctioneer than did his normal routine of “going once, going twice,
sold!” Upon say sold and hitting his gavel, the auctioneer then suddenly and unexpectedly
said, “well thank you for coming folks, this concludes our auction.” The
wealthy bidders from far and wide were furious and said, “But we haven’t even
gotten to the real riches yet.” The auctioneer then said the special
instructions I had from the father’s will were very clear. He said it says here
who ever receives my son, gets everything. You see brothers and sisters when we
receive the son; we get all of the riches of the father.
My dear
brothers and sisters, I come to you, “because I love you and God this much.” I
am so excited to be serving with you, and let us all dream big dreams together.
For we are the Children of Resurrection and we stand to inherit the greatest
Kingdom of all time. Let us see together what the Risen Christ has in store not
only this town, but for this whole area. I bring this message to you in the
name of Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Praise God and amen.
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