Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Seventh Sunday of Easter/Ascension Sunday - 06/01/14 Sermon - “It just got real!"

Sunday 06/01/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “It just got real!”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 47

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Acts 1:1-11

Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:44-53

                            

Today is the Seventh Sunday in Easter, and it is also our Ascension Sunday. More specifically, this Sunday in our church calendar is not only the last Sunday of this Easter Season, but it is also the Sunday that we celebrate our Lord and savior Jesus Christ ascending into heaven. The actual date that our church and many churches celebrated Christ’s ascension was this past Thursday May 29^th. Some churches even have services on this Thursday every year, to celebrate the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven.

Remember that Jesus has been crucified, was resurrected on the third day, and has been appearing here and there to his disciples throughout much of this Easter Season. Yet he is now on this day, ascended into heaven.

How many of you here when you were younger secretly stayed up late at night to play, watch television, or something else? Perhaps you did that little routine where you peered down the hall, and then you whispered to you sister or your brother, “I think there asleep.” Then after thinking they were asleep, then maybe you would get out the comic books, the video games, or turn the television on, but not too loud to wake mom of course. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Any of you here ever do something like this, or has anyone here ever lied to your parents about where you were, and then it blew up in your face? Perhaps you accidentally got stranded somewhere, perhaps you got into some trouble, and needed help. In times such as these, we then want our loving parents or family to come in and save the day don’t we?

Today, Jesus Christ, the savior of the world ascends into heaven. For me then, I can imagine the small talk that might have occurred after Jesus Christ went up to be with the Father on this day. Did one disciple ask, “What do we do now?” Perhaps one said, “Maybe we can just do whatever we want, now that the Lord is gone?” Some of you may have heard the quote, “When the cats are away, the mice will play.”

Imagine having Jesus with you in the flesh for three years, during which time he performs countless miracles, changes the world, and conquers death. After conquering death, he then appears to his disciples for forty-days, before ascending to heaven.

I have heard young people say when something extreme occurs, “It just got real!” Maybe a young person has to give a speech in front of their school class, and they are fine with giving this speech, until it is there turn to actually speak. All of the sudden there hands are sweating, there heart is pounding, as the reality of what they have to do, “Just got real!”

So while this day is significant in remembering the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, it is also significant in that the early church, the apostles, and all the disciples were now without the Lord in the flesh. Jesus of course promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to further embolden the faith of his early followers. Next Sunday, on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate this occurrence, this miracle of the Holy Spirit descending upon the early church, and filling them with fire and conviction. Due to this, we traditionally wear red on Pentecost Sunday, to symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit.

So while the church will truly be born next Sunday, on this Sunday the disciples are now without Jesus Christ, in the flesh. “It just real!” In that moment of Jesus ascending, I wonder, did any of them panic and think, “I can’t do this Christian thing without Jesus!”

Yet as we will hear next week, the Holy Spirit did indeed come, and nearly two-thousand years later, we sit and worship here this morning. Due to the long length of time that our faith has existed, how could we have existed this long without the physical and bodily presence of Jesus Christ? The answer is through God, the power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and scripture. You see, how did the early followers of Jesus Christ know what to do, when it “got real?” The answer is, because God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit revealed and showed them exactly what to do when, “It just got real!”

In this same way, we have scripture, we have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and we can ensure that we are faithfully following Jesus Christ, because we have it all written down in our Bibles. Would we love to have Jesus Christ among us in the flesh? Sure we would! We know according to scripture though, that the next time he will come to earth in the flesh, will be in his promised second coming.

So the truths of Christ, the way were are supposed to live have been given to us through scripture, and have been passed down from generation to generation, to us here today. We know that Jesus told us in Mark 12:30-31 for example, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

My guess is that after Jesus ascended, and one of the early Christians saw a neighbor in trouble or in need, they said wait a second, “the Lord said to love and care for them.” You see what Jesus had taught them in this moment, “just got real,” when they actually saw a neighbor in need. In the same way nearly two-thousand years later, we must have our own “It just real” moments, in that Jesus Christ will not be seen among us in the flesh until he returns. So through the power God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we must preach the gospel of life. For Jesus knows when we are lying to our parents, secretly staying up late to play, or playing it cool before giving a speech in class.

For when Christ ascended, if the apostles did nothing, then the church would have never gone anywhere, but today Christianity is the biggest faith in the whole world. Clearly then, countless men and women “got real” and preached Jesus Christ’s gospel far and wide. That if someone is suffering, or is without, it becomes our personal responsibility as followers of Christ to love and care for them. That when someone in the community of faith is sick, we are all then sick. When someone does not have enough food or clothing, we do what Jesus commands us when he said, “Feed the sick,” and “clothe the naked.”

You see my brothers and sisters, God is at work in this place and all around us. In order for us to be effective, to grow in faith, to grow as a church, we must “get real,” and do this thing called faith and preaching the gospel, that Jesus Christ taught before he ascended into heaven. That Jesus has entrusted us with much, and we must preach, love, and share his gospel to a broken and a dying world. A world that need salvation, a world that needs Jesus Christ.

One of the ways we can continue to stay connected to God, is through the reading of scripture. We have a beautiful Psalm this morning, that says, “Clap your hands, all you prophets; shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.” You notice the Psalm does not say, “Jesus will personally come and teach every person on earth this scripture.” No, we have a responsibility to “get real,” and to share this with the world. A world that desperately needs to drink the well of life that is our Lord Jesus Christ.

This Psalm also says, “God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne,” and Christ this day ascends to the throne of his father.

In the reading this morning from the Book of Acts, or the Acts of the Apostles, it says, “I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostle whom he had chosen.” This scripture then cites that Jesus appeared to the disciples for forty-days, and, then it says that Jesus told the disciples to “not leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father.” This promise of the Holy Spirit coming, is what we will once again celebrate next Sunday on Pentecost Sunday. I wonder did the Apostles during time of waiting stay up late, play “hooky” from learning and studying scripture, or did they play it cool when really there were scared?

Jesus then tells his disciples, you won’t know the day or the hour that I will return, but once they received the “Holy Spirit” next Sunday on Pentecost, they will then share the good news of Jesus Christ, “to the ends of the earth.”

Specifically, in Luke’s gospel from this morning, it says, “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” The gospel then says, “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.” Jesus goes on telling them to preach about repentance and forgiveness in him, that it is now time to “get real!” Then Jesus according to the gospel of Luke, “led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” The apostles and the other disciples then headed to Jerusalem praising God, and waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit, that will come next Sunday on Pentecost.

You see my brothers and sisters, God is alive and well in the world today. The Holy Spirit can make himself known to anyone in any place. Yet Jesus commanded the early apostles and disciples to teach everything that he had taught him, and to “love their neighbor as themselves.”

This goes beyond just salvation then, Jesus further, gave us a road map, for how to treat the world, and how to treat each other in this church.

I have to admit that sometimes, I have to catch myself working for Jesus, instead of allowing Jesus to work through me. Sometimes I have, and continue to struggle with the rank and file of our church, of being ordained for example, when Jesus has already given me new life. This weekend at our Annual Conference, as I felt broken for a while that I was not “moving up in rank” yet, our Bishop Mark Webb, reminded us that we are chosen, loved, and called, no matter who or what we are. We all need to challenge ourselves to let God work through us, so that we can say daily, “It just got real!”

I would like to close this message with a story that Bishop Webb told us at this passed Annual Conference. Bishop Webb told us that there was a missionary in a country in Africa. This missionary had ministered to man in the village he was serving, and this man grew and developed great faith. As a gift, one day the missionary decided that he would surprise this man, and give him his very own Bible, which was actually translated in his own language.

The missionary then proceeded to pull out a beautiful new leather Bible. It was one of those Bibles with the gold coloring on the outer edge of the pages, and it had a nice ribbon to mark a page in the Bible. The next day however, this missionary was contacted and told that he was needed in a nearby village to help there with ministering for a couple of weeks.

When he returned back the village that he was serving a couple of weeks later, the man whom he gave the Bible to ran up to him with great joy. In fact, the man had the Bible the missionary gave him with him. Yet the missionary noticed the Bible no longer looked new. Instead it was all beat up, and it appeared that several pages had been torn out. The missionary then said to the man, “did you beat up and tear pages out of the Bible that I gave you.” The man enthusiastically said, “Yes I did!” The missionary then said, “But you destroyed the Bible I gave you!” The man then said to the missionary, but I don’t see it that way, “You see I read this book so much the past couple of weeks that it already is getting beat up.” Then the man said to the missionary, “As I was reading page after page, I thought, I need to share this page with some one! So I tore it out, and gave it to someone in the village!” The man then said, “I continue to do this, and many pages are now missing from the Bible you gave me.” As he said that, the missionary began to look around, and he saw the people in the village all were reading a torn out page from the Bible he had given the man.

What is the point of this story you might ask? Bishop Webb told us that we have one savior Jesus Christ, and that so long ago, he taught us, he loved us, and he died for us, and like the man in Africa, we need to share that with others. The when Jesus ascended “It just got real!” So we all need to get real, and love, serve, and spread the good news of Jesus Christ to each other. For this is why he came. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Fifth Sunday of Easter/Heritage Sunday - 05/18/14 Sermon - “In my Father's house there are many dwelling places"

Sunday 05/18/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 1 Peter 2:2-10

Gospel Lesson: John 14:1-14

                            

Brothers and sisters, family, today is the Fifth Sunday of the Easter Season, and it is also Heritage Sunday in the United Methodist Church. On this Sunday, we are challenged to consider the history of our Methodist tradition, the history of our Christian faith in general, and the history of churches like this one. Everything from the pews in this church to our stain glass windows tell the story of this and many other churches. So once again, consider today and this week our Christian heritage, our faith heritage, and our church heritage.

As we are continuing to move through this Easter Season or Eastertide though, we are moving towards Pentecost Sunday, which is that Sunday that the Holy Spirit moved and the Christian Church was born. From the weeks from Easter or resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday on June 8th, we have had many good scriptures that have and will continue to discuss the ministry of Jesus Christ here on earth.

This morning then, we will are going to talk a little bit more about who Jesus said and still says he is. Further, we are going to talk about what Jesus promises us all. You see everybody that we have ever met or will ever meet has a view of Jesus. In Christian seminaries worldwide the fancy word for the study of Jesus of Nazareth is called “Christology.” One’s “Christology” then, is how one views Jesus.

In this way, almost all people agree that Jesus did indeed exist on this earth. In fact, I remember when I was in the college the first time that I had professors who were self-proclaimed Atheists, yet they believed that Jesus of Nazareth did indeed exist and walk on this earth. One’s “Christology” then, is one’s belief of who Jesus of Nazareth was.

For you see, some say Jesus was just a man, some say he was a prophet only, some say he was messenger of God with the ability to heal and perform miracles only, some say he was a liar, some say he was crazy, yet almost all Christians say Jesus was living God here on earth. Most Christians would say that Jesus Christ was the fullness of God and the fullness of a man who walked on this earth. So, almost everyone agrees about the existence of Jesus, we just disagree over who this Jesus was.

In our gospel reading from this morning though, Jesus tells the Apostle Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It would seem pretty clear to me then who Jesus is claiming to be, and how we all can obtain salvation and eternal life. For Jesus Christ is saying that he and he alone is the road map to glory, and if we follow him and trust in him, we will see heaven, we will arrive at a holy “dwelling place” in the house of Almighty God. That anyone who puts their faith and trust in him, whether they are successful in this world, or whether they are in prison, will have a “dwelling place” in heaven if they believe in and follow him.

When we look at our reading from Psalm 31 from this morning, the Psalmist says, “In you, O LORD, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me.” How do we get delivered then? How to when then see heaven? We do so by following, “The way, and the truth, and the life,” which is Jesus Christ. The pathway to glory is through Jesus Christ. For some people in fact, who are in dark places, they cling to Christ as if he is rope dangling from a cliff. Jesus Christ is the way to life.

The Psalm goes on to say, “Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.” Do we believe that Jesus Christ is the rock, that he is the fortress, and that he is the high tower that saves us? For the Lord of life says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  

When looking at the Apostle Peter’s First Epistle or letter, the Apostle Peter talks about being “newborn infants” in the Christian faith. Peter talks of the desire of the believer in Jesus Christ to have “spiritual milk,” and thereby to taste and see “that the Lord is good.” Do realize that Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life?” Do we realize that all people, even criminals can believe in Jesus, and can have eternal life with him?

The Apostle Peter then continues to tell the early church to “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” For in following Jesus Christ brothers and sisters, we are made righteous, and acceptable before almighty God. Our faith in Christ, and us living out the gospel of Jesus Christ is how we build God’s kingdom here on earth, as we prepare for the kingdom to come. We can even build the kingdom of God in a prison.

The Apostle Peter then tells us we are a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Imagine if you first saw “his marvelous light” in the darkness of a prison cell?

In our gospel reading from John from this morning, Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Then Jesus says, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” So if we have faith in Jesus, if we follow him, we then have a place or a “dwelling” in our Father’s house in eternity. When our earthly lives end, will we be with the Lord in his house, in a “dwelling place” that he has prepared for you and for me. So if we die our earthly deaths in our homes, in a hospital, or in a prison, if we believe in and follow Jesus Christ, we will see eternal life.

Jesus then says, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” Then the Apostle Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus then said that if you know him, then you know his Father. What if you meet Jesus for the first time behind prison bars?

The Apostle Philip then says, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus then tells Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen my Father.” Jesus goes even further and says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Jesus then tells the disciples that he is going to the Father soon, and he says, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

To live holy, to live righteously, to be justified before almighty God, we must put our faith and our trust in Jesus Christ. This is the only way to the Father, to eternal life, Jesus says.

While many of us know people of different faiths or of no faith, we do not need be mean or to persecute the people of those faiths or lack of faith. Instead, if we love God and put our faith and trust in Jesus, and if we love all people, then people will see Jesus Christ in us. The truth and the power of Jesus Christ will flow in us, and through us. Due to this then, we need not be worried if our neighbor, or the person down the street is a non-believer, or is of another faith, as our faith in Jesus compels us to love one another and to show people Jesus through our words, our actions, and our very lives.

Some of you know that for the past two days that I have been doing prison ministry in the Cayuga County Correctional Facility in Moravia, NY. Some of you also know that I am headed back this afternoon to finish the retreat. So yes, your pastor is going back to prison later today.

This experience in this prison that I have had these past two days, has really shown more of what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” It also taught me more about when Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”

You see the past few days, a church group and myself have been ministering to convicted criminals, murders, thieves, broken men. Many of these men have families and have a story that is unique to them. Yet all of these men have changed their lives. These men have come to put their faith and their trust in Jesus Christ. In doing this though, they do not persecute the other inmates who sometimes ridicule them, mock them, and belittle them, no instead they pray for them. They love them. Even though Jesus Christ is “the way, and the truth, and the life,” these men display this reality through how they live, and how they have changed from the inside out. Some of these men have even said that other inmates often approach them and say things like, “you seem to have a joy and peace about you that I don’t. How can I get that in my life?”

In fact, I asked one these men, “How do you keep your faith in here?” As I was about to pray for this man, he broke down into tears. He said, “Pastor Paul, many years ago, when I was young and dumb, and angry, and foolish, and didn’t know the Lord, I committed the awful crime that I did.” This man then said, but I have been forgiven by the Lord, and he has redeemed me. This man then said, and the Lord has a plan for my life, and when I get released from this place one day, I am going to continue to live for Him.

Some of us struggle with our faith sometimes, in that we know Jesus Christ is the way to God and the way to heaven, but we can get discouraged. Over the past two days though, I met a family of men, who have died. I say they have died, because the old men they once were, the criminals, the angry, the violent, have all died, and they have risen again spiritually with Jesus Christ as men of faith.

Our faith then, our repentance to, and trust in Jesus Christ, and our living for him, is what makes us justified and acceptable before God. Really and truly then, no matter what we have done, not matter how heinous it was, no matter how awful it was, we have forgiveness, mercy, grace, peace, and eternal life in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

In the Cayuga Correctional Facility in Moravia, NY the Lord is moving, and men are realizing and seeing that Jesus Christ, is “the way, and the truth, and the life,” and that one day, we will all have a “dwelling place” in the house of the Lord. One day we will all be together the way these men are housed in prison dormitories together. For Jesus said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwellings,” and you know my brothers and sisters, even the criminal on the cross that was next to Jesus Christ will be there in glory to. You know the one whom Jesus said in Luke 23:43, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

I think then that in heaven there are no prisons, there is just one “big house,” no pun intended, that almighty God has. So if God’s house is truly this massive, and if it has this many rooms, than one day we are all going to “the big house.” We are all one going to a maximum security heavenly house, were we will live, and were we will praise the Lord for eternity. For as the Song “I’ll Fly Away” says, “Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.”

So my brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is indeed and truly, “the way, and the truth, and the life,” and for those who believe in him and follow him, they will be united in glory, in a “dwelling place” in the house of the Lord. So if we are free or locked behind prison walls here on this earth, we call all be free in Jesus Christ. Praise our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Fourth Sunday of Easter/Mother's Day - 05/11/14 Sermon - “Christian women: the torch bearers"

Sunday 05/11/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Christian women: the torch bearers”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 23

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Acts 2:42-47

Gospel Lesson: John 10:1-10

                            

Brothers and sisters, welcome once again this morning, on this the Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season or Eastertide, and this our Mother’s Day. Perhaps it is interesting that during the Easter Season, that we honor all of our mothers on this Sunday. The fact that women are the ones who physically bring forth life into this world has a special connection to me in this Easter Season. You see, the Easter Season is the season that we celebrate Jesus coming back to life, and this morning we celebrate mothers, who bring forth life, who protect life, and who preserve life. In all of these ways then, to me it is only fitting that we celebrate Mother’s Day in a season of new life, for without mothers we would have no life at all. The Easter Season, the season of the resurrection, is a season of new life.

In addition to this, I have found that when it comes to the Christian faith, that for the near two-thousand years of our history as a faith, that so often our faith was grown, propagated, and spread, not by me, but by women. You see many men have worked to propagate, spread, and grow the Christian faith, but I have found that so often our faith has grown more generally because of women, not men.

  Now don’t get me wrong, you might very well have men in your life, or men that you had in your life, that have gone on to glory, that had and have shared their faith with you. Yet it would seem that for many of us, we can remember grandma, an aunt, or our mother, insisting that we go to church. Insisting that we say our nightly prayers. Insisting that we read our Bibles. Insisting that we accept and put our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

You see as I said, many people know or have known men of great Christian faith, but to me Christian women, have always been the “torch bearers.”

When I think of a torch bearer, I think of the Olympics and how many people bear the Olympic Torch, which is carried to the place of that particular year’s Olympic Games. It is very interesting to me that the Olympics Games cannot begin until the light, the fire, the torch, has arrived. In the same way, we cannot truly know Jesus, until we accept the light and the fire that God so freely offers us through the Holy Spirit. For Jesus is the light of the world, but what I would ask you to think about, is who in your life told you about Jesus, the light of the world?

I remember when I pastored up in the Adirondack Park, how some of the men of the churches I served did not make it to church during hunting season. In fact, one man told me, “Pastor I will not be here in church for a while, because I will doing my hunting ministry on Sunday mornings.” I have heard people tell me stories such as, “Well dad went to church on Christmas and Easter, but mom went every Sunday.”

Maybe you were lucky enough to have had men in your life that went to church and took our faith seriously, but I would guess that if I took a poll in church here and now, most of you would say that the women of your family went to church and took the faith more seriously than some of the men in your lives.

For all of these reasons, on this our Mother’s Day, I want to thank all our women, both past and present, for being torch bearers. For insisting that your grandchildren come to church every Sunday, knowing full well that gospel of Jesus Christ will save their very souls and will make them better people. Yes, on this day we honor all “Christian women: the torch bearers.”

Many of us can think back to when we were children and to the women who were in our lives that were so formative with our Christian faiths. Women who gave everything they had, knowing the power and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. One of the great Christian songs that I remember hearing when I was younger, was a song called “Thank you” by Ray Boltz. In the song, Ray Boltz says “Thank you for giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed.” So women of the church, God’s torch bearers, “thank for giving to the Lord, I am so glad that you gave.”

For me, I can honestly say that many “Christian women: the torch bearers” fed my faith and grew my relationship with God. So as I said, today we honor you, today we want to encourage you, and to tell you that what you do matters. That when you continue to carry the torch of our Christian faith, that you change lives, that people meet Jesus, that the world is better, and that one day all of the kids here will thank you and be so glad that you gave.

When looking at Psalm 23 from this morning, many of us have heard that famous Psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me life down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.” My question to you though, is who read those words to you as a child, the men in your life, or the women? I have heard the words of this Psalm spoken many times, sometimes by men, but even more by women. In fact, I knew a woman once who had this Psalm memorized.

In our Book of the Acts of the Apostles scripture from this morning, the scripture begins by say, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Of course these people who “devoted themselves to the apostles” were the early Christians, but how many of you when you hear these word about devotion to God think of your aunt, or your grandma, or your mother?

I remember knowing one of my great grandmothers when I was really young, and if the weather was too bad to get to church, then she would read her German Bible, and try to listen to church on the radio. This deep faith was instilled in my father, who always went to church with his mother, my grandmother, who insisted that he go.

This reading from this Book of Acts reading goes on to say, “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.” Many of us first of such things from the Bible, from the women that were in our lives.

This scripture goes on talk about how the early Christians would “sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” How many of you had mothers or grandmothers who went without, to make sure your needs were met? Sounds like we were taught about giving, sharing, and helping others, as it was often lived out by our mothers and grandmothers.  

This scripture from the Book of Acts goes to say, “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.” How many of you growing up needed to be home for dinner with the family? How many of you were expected to especially be at Sunday dinner, were expected to thank God for all your blessings, and were expected to have a generous attitude for all that God has done for you? “Christian women: the torch bearers,” the trailblazer, the back bones of our Christian faith, and of our churches. For this church would not be what it is without all of our strong, faithful, and devoted women.

In our gospel reading from this morning, Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.” Jesus then says, “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

Jesus is saying in this gospel reading, beware of false shepherds. Beware of those who claim to be him, but who are deceivers and liars. How many of us can say that our mothers or grandmothers did everything that they could to keep us away from such false shepherds as Jesus said to do?

Jesus goes to say in this reading from the gospel of John, “When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” The question I have for us all this morning, is who in our lives taught us about Jesus, the good shepherd? Who in our lives taught us to follow him, to listen for his voice? Brothers and sisters, “Christian women: the torch bearers.”

Jesus then tells his disciples and other followers, that the gate that shepherd leads the sheep to, is him. Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.” Who told us and taught us growing up, who the gate to heaven was and is? Who told us and taught us growing up who to put our faith our trust in? Who told and taught us, that Jesus is the good shepherd?

Jesus then ends this gospel reading by saying, “I came that they may have live, and have it abundantly.” How many of can thank “Christian women: the torch bearers” that today we have faith and life everlasting, and have it abundantly? So Christian women, you who are the torch bearers of our faith, thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed.

I would like to close this morning’s message with a story. This story is called, “The Mountain,” by Jim Stovall. Here is how it goes: “There were two warring tribes in the Andes, one that lived in the lowlands and the other high in the mountains. The mountain people invaded the lowlanders one day, and as part of their plundering of the people, they kidnapped a baby of one of the lowlander families and took the infant with them back up into the mountains.”

“The lowlanders didn’t know how to climb the mountain. They didn’t know any of the trails that the mountain people used, and they didn’t know where to find the mountain people or how to track them in the steep terrain. Even so, they sent out their best party of fighting men to climb the mountain and bring the baby home.”

“The men tried first one method of climbing and then another. They tried one trail and then another. After several days of effort, however, they had climbed only several hundred feet. Feeling hopeless and helpless, the lowlander men decided that the cause was lost, and they prepared to return to their village below.”

“As they were packing their gear for the descent, they saw the baby’s mother walking toward them. They realized that she was coming down the mountain that they hadn’t figured out how to climb. And then they saw that she had the baby strapped to her back. How could that be? One man greeted her and said, “We couldn’t climb this mountain. How did you do this when we, the strongest and most able men in the village, couldn’t do it?” “She shrugged her shoulders and said, “It wasn’t your baby.”

How many women here would do what this woman did for her children? This, is what makes Christian women: the torch bearers” of our Christian faith. Thank you to all women and mothers who give to us and teach us in Jesus’ name each and every day. Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Third Sunday of Easter/Native American Awareness Sunday - 05/04/14 Sermon - “When you have you walked and talked with Jesus?"

Sunday 05/04/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “When have you walked and talked with Jesus?”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Gospel Lesson: Luke 24: 13-35

                            

Brothers and sisters, welcome once again on this the Third Sunday of this our Easter Season, or Eastertide, and this our Native American Awareness Sunday.

While we all continue through this season towards the day that Jesus will ascend to heaven, and to the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out powerfully filling the early disciples, today we will hear of another post-resurrection appearance of the Risen Christ.

Further, this Sunday is also a Sunday in the United Methodist Church that we remember our Native American brothers and sisters. The United Methodist Church has many Native Americans in it, some of which worship even to this day on reservation churches. Some of the history of this country and the sufferings of the Native American people is something that continues to stain our country, like slavery does. As a result, today, let us remember our Native American brothers and sisters, both past and present, who are Americans, and some of whom like us are followers of Jesus Christ.

As I said then, today however, we will hear another story of an appearance of Christ after he was resurrected, or post-resurrection. Last Sunday if you remember we heard about the “Doubting Thomas” story, and just how human Thomas was. How Thomas had the courage to show us all that at times we all have doubts. That sometimes through doubt, and through our trials and our tribulations, our faith can grow much stronger.

You see brothers and sisters, even though the original twelve Disciples of Christ walked with him and talked with him, they still had times of doubt. In this Easter Season or Eastertide, the disciples struggled to understand Christ’s resurrection. Some had even doubts over who Jesus was.

I mean after all, Jesus Christ the Messiah had just been crucified. He was brutally beaten, mocked, whipped, spat upon, and crucified, and as a result, most of the disciples were shaken up by this. Perhaps this is not what they expected. Perhaps they did not think that Jesus would truly meet his end like this, and soon fear, doubt, and worry set in on them. They might have talked with each other and asked, “what if he wasn’t truly who he said he was?” Another might have asked, “What if he was just a nice guy, and not the Son of God?”

I can imagine that if the mighty King David was brutally murdered, that his devoted soldiers would have had their faith in him shaken. They might have asked, “If King David is truly so powerful and mighty, how could this have happened to him?” Now King David was not brutally murdered, but I think that you get the idea here.

In this way, the disciples didn’t fully get the “big picture” yet, as some were doubting and questioning who Christ was. It would seem that some of them almost thought that Jesus had a “fall from grace,” when they crucified him. Since Jesus often spoke in parables or stories, the early disciples were still sorting out all that Jesus taught them, all that he said, and all that he was. They also had a sense of lowliness, and there Lord was gone.

Realizing that his disciples had all of these feelings, Christ appeared to his followers at different times in this Easter Season or Eastertide to encourage and embolden them. In many ways, this is exactly what the community of faith does today. We pray, we follow Jesus, but we embolden each other to grow in faith. We call upon the spirit of God to fill us, and God works through us to fill each other.

This morning then, we will hear about the famous gospel story that is often known as the “road to,” or the “Walk to Emmaus.” In this story, Jesus walks with two of his followers, and they cannot see who he truly is until later in the story. This walk of faith is such a popular story, that in the United Methodist Church we have a spiritual retreat program called “Walk to Emmaus,” which is named after this story. The purpose of this retreat and the youth version of this retreat, is grow faith, grow understandings in Christ, and grow leadership in the church.

Given all of this then, the question that I have for all of us to be thinking about this morning, is “When have we walked and talked with Jesus?” When have we taken a stroll and been chatting with Jesus? What if we “walked and talked with Jesus,” and were so caught up in our own thoughts, that we neglected to realize that the Lord of life was right next to us all along?

          In our Old Testament reading from Psalm 116 from this morning it says, “I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.” How many of us this morning feel like you have recently heard from God? How many of you feel like you are still waiting to hear on what God would have you do next? Keep praying, keep seeking Him.

          Throughout this whole Psalm, the Psalmist speaks about trusting God, having faith in God, and about serving God. The Psalm even ends with “Praise the Lord!” Yet despite this, much like the early disciples, many of us today have struggles, and sometimes we have doubts.

          In our reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, or Acts, the reading picks up just after the Pentecost story that we will hear about on Sunday June 8^th. This scripture picks up with the Apostle Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit. You see at this point, the Apostle Peter finally shed his doubt, his fear, and his worry, and preached boldly to the people of Jerusalem. Peter told the people of Jerusalem, “let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Remember though that Peter denied Jesus three-times, that he abandoned Jesus on the day of crucifixion, and in the “Doubting Thomas” story from last Sunday, he was still in hiding “for fear of the Jews.”  

          When the Apostle Peter did this in this reading from the Book of Acts however, it said that the listeners that heard Peter preach, “Were cut to heart.” Peter then told the people to repent of their sins, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and to put their faith in him. The Book of Acts reading from this morning ended by saying, “So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.” So in one day, “three thousand” new followers of Jesus Christ. This is what can happen we when we overcome fear, and worry, and doubt. “When have we walked and talked with Jesus?”  

          In our gospel reading from this morning, as I said earlier, two of the early followers or disciples were walking on a road to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven-miles from Jerusalem. On this road, the two were discussing Jesus with each other. The gospel then says, “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”

          So the two disciples are now walking to the village of Emmaus discussing Jesus, and Jesus then joins the two in their walk, but they cannot recognize who he really is. Then Jesus says to the two disciples, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” At this point the two disciples, “stood still, looking sad. Then one them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” Jesus then says, “What things?” The two then “replied, “the things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.”

          The next thing that they then said, is statement of real doubt, real worry, and real fear. The two disciples then told the unrecognizable Jesus, “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.” You see, these two disciples were doubting, were saddened, were not yet fully convinced, as they said that they “had hoped” Jesus would be the Messiah. It is similar to us saying, we had hoped for a better day. We wouldn’t hope for a better day, if it were already a good day, the way the two disciples wouldn’t have truly believed that Jesus was the Messiah, if they only had hoped he was the Messiah.

          Further, the two disciples then say to unrecognizable Jesus, “Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.” Yet many did not see the resurrected Jesus, they told unrecognizable Jesus. As they continued to walk, Jesus then explained who the Messiah is and why he is important. He explained how the Messiah came to suffer and die, so that we may have life.

          When the two disciples and the unrecognizable Jesus were approaching the village of Emmaus, Jesus started walking ahead of them, as to walk on without them. At this point though, the two disciples said to the unrecognizable Jesus, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”

          The unrecognizable Jesus agreed to stay with the two disciples. As such, the three sat down to eat dinner. At this dinner, the still unrecognizable Jesus “took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to them.” The gospel then says, “Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.” Then the two said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

          These two disciples then “got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” The two disciples then told them “what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

You see my brothers and sisters, the early disciples in this Easter Season had doubts, had fears, and had worries, yet Jesus showed them who he truly was. For as Jesus was sitting at the Last Supper with the disciples, he said that they would not share food with him again until the Kingdom of God has come. Yet by Jesus breaking bread with these two early disciples from the gospel reading from this morning, he not only proved he is the Messiah, but that the building of God’s Kingdom here on earth, has come indeed, and we are still building it, even today.

I would like to close this message this morning with a poem called, Christian Assurance, by B. Killebrew. Here is how is goes, “When we accept our Savior, and let his Holy Spirit in, we are shielded by His grace from falling into sin. With the Holy Spirit in us, we never walk alone, no matter where we’re walking, or how far away we roam. Christians have assurance purchased on the cross, that accepting our salvation, will prevent eternal loss.”          

So “When have we walked and talked with Jesus?” By the way, if Jesus is the Prince of Peace, is it any wonder that he was revealed and seen when the two from the gospel showed him hospitality, by inviting him to eat and stay with them? For we often don’t truly see Jesus in our anger, or in our hostility, or in our violence, or in our greed, rather we often see the face of Jesus in our love, in our charity, in our mercy, in our prayers, and in our hospitality. “When have we walked and talked with Jesus?” Amen.