Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Third Sunday after Pentecost - 06/29/14 Sermon - “Love each other radically"

Sunday 06/29/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Love each other radically”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 13

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Romans 6:12-23

Gospel Lesson: Mathew 10:40-42

My brothers and sisters, today is the Third Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost was that day so long ago that the Holy Spirit moved like tongues of fire over the Apostles and the early Christians, igniting their passion and faith in Jesus Christ. For the day of Pentecost was the birthday of the Christian Church, as the Apostles and other members of the early church finally went forth and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the ends of the earth.

In proclaiming the gospel, in proclaiming Jesus Christ though, believing in Jesus Christ is only the beginning. You see in the gospels and throughout the whole Bible, we are given a blue print of how to live, and how to treat one another. You see in the gospels, some accepted Jesus, yet some rejected him, even though he was and is the Messiah of us all. Instead of just aggressively and meanly telling people who he was, Jesus often showed people who he was with great love and with great hospitality. In this way, we can tell people about Jesus Christ and tell people about the saving grace and forgiveness found in him, but in addition to this, we can show people who Jesus is with how we live our lives.

When Jesus went to the women at the well, he was showing her before he even announced who he was, that he had care and concern about her. When Jesus told the Apostles to love each other, and when he washed their feet at the Last Supper, he was not only telling them he was the Messiah, but he was also teaching them.

The Christian faith then, often grows not by just telling people this is what to believe, and this is the way to eternal life, but instead it grows because the people of God display God’s love and God’s grace to us. When we are sick, and the people of God visit us, we learn and understand more the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we feed the hungry at our church food pantry, we are showing the people of this community, that Jesus Christ is more than just salvation, and more than just the path to eternal life, but he is our teacher and our leader, who teaches us how to live this life better every day. While Jesus is the Messiah then, he was also the very model of love, compassion, caring, and grace.

For these reasons and others, we feed the hungry, we clothe the naked, and we love those who are hurting and are broken. We don’t do it just because it is a nice thing to do, but because Jesus the Christ, the savior of the world tells us every day, there is much more to me than just salvation. There is much more to me than just “fire insurance.”

For in a world of war, pain, suffering, greed, and injustices, Jesus lived a life that was for others, that was for us. He loved us so much that he died so that we may be free. Some might say, “Pastor Paul, I have faith in Jesus Christ, so why do I need to do all of these nice things you talk about in the gospels?” The answer is, because Jesus teaches us that if we have faith in him, that we will live with him in eternity, yet until we are in eternity, Jesus calls us to love and care for one another here on earth. In this way, as an older pastor said once, “We should not be so heavenly minded, that we are useless here on earth.” In this sense, the gospel of Jesus Christ is more than just salvation and eternal life, it is the building of the Kingdom of God here on earth, as we await the coming kingdom of God.

In Matthew 25:35-40 Jesus says, “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

You see then, the gospel goes much deeper than just salvation and eternal life. While these are the core of what the gospel of Jesus Christ is, Jesus calls us to “Love each other radically,” and to realize that we all have sin. Yet we so often live in a culture where we have some sort of “sin-o-meter,” whereby some sins register very high on the “sin-o-meter,” and some sins register very low on the “sin-o-meter.” Yet to God, to Jesus Christ all sin separates us from God, whether it is one sin or one million. We are all in this boat together, and we are all whether we want to admit it or not, covered in sin. Some less than others, but we should still be careful about judging others, or being critical towards others, when we ourselves are sinners.

Given this, Jesus Christ calls us to “Love each other radically.” This is not always an easy thing to do, but a good place to start is to realize that we all have sin. Yet the Lord says when we love others, we love him.

Recently, I have been reading through a book recently written by one of my seminary professors Chuck Gutenson, called “Church Worth Getting Up For.” In this book Dr. Gutenson explained that in his role of teaching and preaching in the United Methodist Church, it often affords him the opportunity to travel. Dr. Gutenson said in traveling, he gets to visit other churches while he is away. Yet Dr. Gutenson in the introduction of his book talked about some of his church visiting experiences. He talked about how he visited some churches, and no one said hello to him, no one introduced themselves, the pastor seem unenthused, and there seemed to be no fire of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Gutenson then said, if he had not been a lifelong Christian, than he would not waste his time getting up a second time on Sunday morning for the some of the churches he attended.

I remember when I used to be an in home tutor for the Ithaca City School District. My last three years working for the school district I was in seminary. As it turned out, I had an inquisitive student who asked me countless questions about seminary and the Christian faith. In fact, he came into the library one day where I was working with him, and he proclaimed, “Paul, I am going to visit a church this Sunday.” I of course told him that I hoped the service that he was going to attend would be a deep and a powerful one. Yet on Monday morning when this student came in, he seemed jaded and distant. I finally asked the student if he was ok. He then told me that he had gotten up really early the day before, and that he put on a nice pair of slacks and a nice button down shirt. He then went to church service in the city. While he didn’t tell me which service he attended, he told me it was awful. I asked him what he meant by this, and he said as soon as he walked into the sanctuary, he got looks from church members like “what are you doing here.” He said no one said hi to him, and he felt like that he was intruding in the church that all of these folks attend. After the service was a coffee hour. This young man said that he got coffee, and that he sat down at a table all by himself, and no one said anything to him.

This young man then said, “You know Paul you seem like a caring and cool minister, but I don’t think that I am ever going to back to the church that I visited yesterday.” I then leaned across the table and told the student, “I don’t blame you, I wouldn’t go back either.”

You see my brothers and sisters we now live in era where churches tend to do one of two things, grow or die. When we live the gospel, and when we “Love each other radically,” the church grows, people accept and see the saving power of Jesus Christ, and the world is made better. So I don’t think some churches today are shrinking because they don’t have the right signs out front, or they don’t have the right kind of coffee, they are shrinking because after people leave those churches, they say, “this is not a church worth getting up for.”

My brothers and sisters, we attend a “Church Worth Getting Up For.” In this church we love all people, when people are sick or hurting, we are all hurting. We are not just members and attenders of this institution, we are a family that seeks to live out the gospel and build God’s kingdom here on earth. For is the church just speaks it and doesn’t do it, don’t you think young people like me can tell the difference?

Even though I picked this sermon title months ago, I laughed when I got to chapter four of Dr. Gutenson’s book called “Radical Hospitality.” You see the early Christian Church invented the public hospital, as they cared for and fed the sick and the poor. They grew not just because they told people of the saving power of Jesus Christ, but they lived the gospel he taught them. In this way, we might never remember anything specific that people like Mother Theresa said, but we will remember them by how they lived the gospel, and how they showed us Jesus.

In Psalm 13 from this morning, the Psalmist said, “But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” Does our faith compel us to radical love and hospitality? In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans reading from this morning, Paul said, “present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.” Paul then tells the church in the Rome that it is by the grace of Jesus Christ that we are saved and have eternal life, not from the old law from the Old Testament. For in Jesus Christ we find forgiveness, freedom, and we are freed to love others.

In this morning’s gospel reading, the Lord speaks to us in the gospel of Mathew account. Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Jesus then said, “Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person on the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.” The Lord then concludes this reading by saying, “and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

So our faith, the gospel of Jesus Christ goes much deeper than just salvation and eternal life, it includes the here and the now. Jesus calls us to “Love each other radically.” Jesus teaches us that the ground at the foot of the cross is level, as we are all looking up to what we can be, and what we should be. To live for and like Jesus, and as the song says, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

I would like to close this message this morning with a brief story called The Fish tank. Here is how it goes: “Once upon a time two brothers bought fish tanks. The younger brother’s setup was very simple – a fishbowl with some gravel and weed. The older brother’s was much more elaborate – a larger, enclosed tank with a filter, lighting and much better decoration.”

“The younger brother rarely cleaned his tank. The older brother was vigilant in keeping his tank clean. The older brother couldn’t understand then why his fish died but his brother’s lived. It turns out the cleaning chemicals the older brother was using were toxic to fish. Whenever he cleaned the tank tiny traces of the chemical remained, but these were enough to keep fish targets down.”

“Which all goes to show that when it comes to serving others good intentions aren’t enough. If we want to have transformative impact we need to match good intentions with good practice.”

This my brothers and sisters is the whole of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is how we “love each other radically.” Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Father's Day/Peace with Justice Sunday/Trinity Sunday - 06/15/14 Sermon - “Lessons from our Fathers"

Sunday 06/15/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Lessons from our Fathers”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 8

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Gospel Lesson: Mathew 28:16-20

Welcome once again on this Father’s Day, this Peace with Justice Sunday, and this Trinity Sunday. On this day in our church calendar we honor our fathers, our grandfathers, our male role models, and all men in general. On this day in our church calendar we take time to remember the ministries of our church that deal with issues of peace and justice, and we are encouraged to support these ministries on this Sunday. Lastly, on this Sunday we celebrate and reflect upon the Holy Trinity that is God: one in three.

While most of this message will be focused on Father’s Day though, I did want to take a few moments to discuss the other two things that this Sunday is being celebrated for. As I said, today we celebrate Peace with Justice Sunday, because our church sometimes engages in ministries where there are injustices. These injustices could be child trafficking, human rights violations, and etc. When we give to the Peace with Justice Fund, and when we pray for the valuable work that they do, we make the world better by pushing back against the many evils that stain this world.

Today we also celebrate our God, who is one in three. For we have God the Father, the creator, who made heaven and earth. We have Jesus Christ our savior and our redeemer. We also have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, that fills us and gives us the passion and will to move forward in building God’s Kingdom. In the same way water can be ice, liquid, or steam, we also have a God that is one in three. We have a God that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All one inseparable God, yet in three distinct and equal persons.

 While paying respect to the two other things that today is, the rest of what I want to talk about this morning is Father’s Day. For those of you that were here on Mother’s Day, you might remember that I gave a sermon called, “Christian Women: the torch bearers.” In this sermon, I said that in many but not all instances, the women of the church and of our lives were the ones responsible for teaching us our faith directly. By this, I mean that for many of us, the women our lives and of the church were and are often the ones that taught us the Bible, insisted that we go to church, insisted that we pray, and etc.

For some of us though, our fathers also did these same things and maybe still in fact even do to this day. I have found in my own life though, that while the men that have been in my life did not always do these things as much as the women of my life did, that I still learned many Christian “Lessons from my fathers.” You see for me, and maybe for you, it wasn’t that my dad wasn’t or isn’t a believer, he just displayed his faith differently than my mother did. Perhaps your father and your mother both displayed their faith equally and the same. This was not my own experience though. Further, some people that I know didn’t have the luxury of even knowing one or both of their birth parents. For those people, I would encourage you to think of the male role models in your life then. Perhaps those men that taught you “lessons,” whether directly or indirectly.

With all of this said then, this morning I want to talk about some of the “Lessons from our fathers.” My father and my step-father both taught me for example, that if I make an agreement with somebody that I should shake their hand and look them in eye as a sign of confidence and respect. After doing so, I was then obligated to keep my word, and do what I said. You see I was being taught the lesson of honesty, loyalty, and diligence. How many of us can say that we also learned this same Biblical lesson from our fathers?

I remember my father, my step-father, and my grandfather taking food

to or helping widowed women in the church and the community. They taught me that when a widow is need, that we are to help them. This my brothers and sisters, is in the Bible to. How many of you received this lesson from your fathers?

          My father, my step-father, and my grandfather’s taught me that I am to love and respect my mother and my whole family. That I am never to harm my sisters or any other woman, and that I am not harm anyone. I was taught to defend my family, to work extra hours if needed and not complain, so that my family had what it needed. I remember my biological father Ken when I grew up having old shoes and pants with holes in them, yet he always insisted that his family had the best. Yes, these are other Biblical lessons I learned from my fathers. To work hard, to love and protect your family, and to sacrifice for my family and for others. I don’t know about you brothers and sisters but my fathers and grandfathers taught me the Bible so often without ever speaking the scriptures to me.

          My fathers and grandfathers taught me not to steal and to be honest with my employers. I remember my grandpa Winkelman telling me when I was a young boy, “Paul if a man pays you minimum wage or a large amount per hour, you give him an honest and a clean day’s work.” I then said, “Why grandpa.” He then said, “Because this is what honest and decent men do.” Oh yes, while the women of my life taught me the scriptures, took me church, and taught me to pray, the men of my life also taught me so much about our faith, the scriptures, and how to be a Christian man. How many of you can relate to any of these lessons?

          My fathers and grandfathers taught me that my priorities in life should be God, then family, then everything else. You see, the men in my family are goofy, funny, and light hearted people, but in a moment they would give you the shirt off their back. My grandpa Winkelman who is 92-years old is a man that has an eighth grade education, but yet he has a faith that is deep and is true. He often told me, “Paul were just passing through this life.” I remember my step-father telling me, “Paul when you put your head on your pillow at night, pray to God and give God everything you have, knowing that you did the best you could today.”

          For some of the men that have been or were in our lives, they might have always come to church, or perhaps they didn’t, yet I bet for many of us we can truly say that we learned many “Lessons from our Fathers.” In my case, I also learned some lessons of what to not do. For example, I remember calling my grandmother to wish her a happy birthday about 5-years ago. I wished grandma a happy birthday, and the she put grandpa on the phone. I then asked grandpa what he had gotten my grandma for her birthday that year, and he said, “nothing!” I then said, “Well grandpa that isn’t very nice that you got grandma nothing for her birthday this year.” Grandpa then said, “Well Paul I bought her a very expensive birthday gift last year, and she hasn’t even used it once. When she uses that gift, then I will get her another gift.” I then asked my grandpa, “Well what did you get for grandma last year that cost so much.” He then said, “A cemetery plot.” I then heard a loud grandma voice in the background shout “Harold!”

          Yet when grandma isn’t there, he speaks so highly of her, and he speak so highly of his kids and his grandkids, and how proud of us he is. How we got to go to college, and do things he never got to do. Yes, I have indeed gotten so many “Lessons from my fathers.” What lessons have you gotten from your fathers or the men in your life? Perhaps your dad was or is like my step-dad, who seems to be closest to God when he is in the Craftsman tool section at Sears. Or perhaps not. How did they teach you our faith, even if they never opened a Bible?

          In reflecting upon our fathers, our role models, our grandfathers, I want to discuss the scriptures from this morning. In the reading from the Psalm from this morning it says, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human being that you are mindful of them?” My fathers showed me in nature and many ways, the splendor of God’s creation, and how little we are in comparison to God. In this Psalm in verse 8 it says, “You have given them dominion over the works of your hands,” and admittedly sometimes my father’s took this one a little too seriously when they went hunting. Yet God is sovereign, all powerful, and we must bow before him. This I learned from my fathers.

          In our reading from the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, or the Corinthians, Paul says, “Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace with be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.” My father’s taught me this in so many ways, expect the holy kiss part. They taught me though, to serve, to love, to sacrifice, to defend, to honor, to uphold, to be honest, to be hard working, and to be a man of God. “Lessons from our Fathers.”

          In the gospel reading from Mathew from this morning, Jesus tells his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” My brothers and sisters my fathers and grandfathers in their own ways, with their own examples taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ. Without my “Lessons from my fathers,” I most assuredly would be a different man today, and would likely not be standing before you right now.

          For the men in my life taught me faith, values, and lessons, and while they were not always in church every Sunday, they taught me the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with how they lived and how they still live their lives today. Yes, for me, “I am a life that was changed” by the “Lessons from my Fathers.” So today, thank your dad, your grandfather, or that man that has always been there for you in your time of need. Honor them today.

I would like to close this morning with special Father’s Day story. This story is just called “Father’s Day has Methodist ties,” By Joey Butler. Here is how it goes “To all you dads out there: While you're relaxing in your recliner and watching sports this Sunday, and your kids are on their best behavior to honor Father's Day, don't forget to thank a United Methodist.”

“That's right. Not one, but two United Methodist churches with the same name, oddly enough can lay claim to originating the celebration of all things paternal.”

“In 1909 in Spokane, Wash., Sonora Smart Dodd listened to a Mother's Day sermon at Central Methodist Episcopal Church. Dodd's own mother had died 11 years earlier, and her father had raised their six children alone. Dodd felt moved to honor her father, and fathers everywhere, with a special day as well.”

“She proposed her idea to local religious leaders, and gained wide acceptance. June 19, 1910, was designated as the first Father's Day, and sermons honoring fathers were presented throughout the city.”

“When newspapers across the country carried the story about Spokane's observance, the popularity of Father's Day spread. Several presidents declared it a holiday, and in 1972, Richard Nixon established it as the third Sunday in June.”

“Dodd's pivotal role in the creation of a national Father's Day celebration was recognized in 1943 with a luncheon in her honor in New York City. Central Methodist Episcopal is now known as Central United Methodist, and holds a Father's Day service every year.”

“So enjoy firing up that grill and napping in the hammock, dads everywhere. You've earned it, and the United Methodists have your back.”

“And when your kids give you yet another gruesomely ugly tie as a gift... well, we're pretty sure the Lutherans are behind that.”

“Today my brothers and sisters, we honor our Fathers, our Grand Fathers, and all of the men that have and do so much for us. On this day, we say to all of them, “Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed.” Amen.

Freeville/Homer Ave. UMC's - Pentecost Sunday - 06/08/14 Sermon - “To the ends of the earth!"

Sunday 06/08/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “To the ends of the earth!”

Old Testament Scripture Lesson: Psalm 104:24-34, 34b

                                            

New Testament Scripture Lesson: Acts 2:1-21

Gospel Lesson: John 7:37-39

         

Good morning and welcome once again, on this our Pentecost Sunday. This is the Sunday in our church calendar when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the early Christians like tongues of fire.

Last week, we celebrated Jesus ascending to heaven, and before he left, he told his Apostles and the other followers to go to Jerusalem and to wait for the Holy Spirit to fill them. Today is that day my brothers and sisters. For while the early Apostles and followers of Christ had faith, until this day they did not have the passion to fully preach the gospel of Jesus Christ without fear. On this day the Holy Spirit comes down and fills our souls like fire, and on this day, the Christian Church is born. For on this day, we now have the courage and the power to preach the gospel, not only here, but “to the ends of the earth!”

The word Pentecost come from the Greek word “Pentēkostē,” with translates to “The Fiftieth Day,” or what is called the “Feast of Weeks.” In Ancient Israel this “Feast of Weeks” or “Shavuot,” was and still is a holiday that celebrates God giving the law and Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the Jewish faith, this is more specifically a celebration of God giving the Jewish people the “Torah,” or what we would call the first five books of the Old Testament.

So on this very important Jewish holiday in Ancient Israel that celebrates God giving Moses the “Torah,” or the first five books of the Old Testament, this is when the miracle we are going to talk more about this morning occurred. This morning that the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles and the early followers of Jesus Christ.

Image for a moment that you are in the bustling city of Jerusalem almost 2,000 years in the 30’s AD. The city is feasting and celebrating the “Shavuot,” or the giving the “Torah,” which once again is the first five books of the Old Testament. The Apostles and the early Christians are in an upper room, perhaps the same upper room that the Last Supper occurred in, as we don’t know for sure. In this place they remain, praying, worshiping, sharing communion, and being together, until the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised arrived. Today is that day.

The portion of scripture from Psalm 104 from this morning, is a very joyous piece of scripture. The portion of this Psalm begins by saying, “O LORD, how manifold are your works!” It then goes on to say, “When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.” Today brothers and sisters, God’s spirit is unleashed like a mighty fire upon the Apostles and the early Christians.

Our focus for this morning then is primarily from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. In this reading from chapter-two from this morning, we find the story of Pentecost. The scripture says that all of the Apostles and the early followers of Christ were “all together in one place.” The scripture then says, “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” Then the scripture says “Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” What a mighty miracle that occurred in the city of Jerusalem of this day, the day of Pentecost.

For those of us who have heard of or have experience a Pentecostal worship experience, our brothers and sisters in Pentecostal Christian Churches often focus on the Pentecost experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and sometimes even speaking in tongues. So for those of you that have seen or have heard about Pentecostal worship, this scripture and a few others, is where our Pentecostal brothers and sisters draw upon speaking in tongues, and having powerful encounters with the Holy Spirit.

So at this point in the story, the scripture says, “Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem,” and many were likely there for this Ancient Jewish holiday. In hearing what happened, many of the Jews were “bewildered” scripture says, about what had just happened. Different people have spoken different languages, all at the same time. Needless to say, the Jewish people were confused as to what was going on, and how they heard all different languages from people that likely could not speak most of those languages.

While some were amazed, while some were “bewildered,” some said, “We think there drunk!” Yet the Apostle Peter now stands before them, with the eleven disciples. You remember Peter of course, the one who denied Jesus Christ three times, the one who had great fear and doubt. Yeah that Peter. Peter now stands before them like a mighty lion filled with the Holy Spirit, and ready to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, “To the ends of the earth!” The Apostle Peter then gives the first sermon ever given by a leader in the early Christian Church. First off though, which I think is really humorous, Peter says that he and the other Apostles are not drunk for “it is only nine o’clock in the morning.”

Peter then goes to give a powerful sermon, and that day 3,000 people are baptized and give their lives to Jesus Christ. For Jesus had said them, that he was baptized with water, but that they would be baptized with “Holy fire.”

So what is the point of all of this, and how does this connect to us in the here and the now. Here is how, on this day, the Holy Spirit moved twelve-men and some other followers to make our faith the biggest faith in the entire world. In fact, about one-third of the world is Christian today.

While salvation or getting to heaven begins with faith in Jesus, the Apostles and the early Christians were offering so much more than that. You see many people say in the present day, “why should we go to or be involved in the church.” Perhaps they say, “Well we believe, but why do we need the church?”

The answer my brothers and sisters, is when we are filled as Jesus said with “Holy Fire,” as one parishioner told me very recently, it causes “our hearts to be softened.” It causes us to radically change from the inside out, and we not only believe in Jesus Christ to get a good “fire insurance” policy, we are changed by our faith in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are a new creation, and because of the great faith and fire that we now have, we then begin to feel called to go forth and to make the world around us better. We go forth in love, compassion, mercy, and justice, to preach the “Good News,” but to do so in way that radically transforms other lives.

You see Jesus Christ desires for us all to know him, and in knowing him and in receiving the Holy Spirit, to live in peace, love, unity, and justice. This means that if the Holy Spirit has truly “softened our hearts,” we become concerned with the needs of all of God’s children. Brothers and sisters, sometimes God’s children are not only hurting out there, but sometimes God’s children are hurting within the four walls of this church. Sometimes people with our own family our suffering, and the power of God and the power of the Holy Spirit calls us forth to serve and love those people.

For these reasons, the mission of the United Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” So is it enough to just know Jesus Christ? Author, pastor, and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that if we just know Christ and do nothing with that, than we have “cheap grace.” I don’t know if this next quote is authentic, but a seminary professor told my class once, that Mother Theresa was once asked, if she could change two things in the world, what would she change? My seminary professor then told our class that Mother Theresa looked the reporter who asked her the question, and said, “I would change you and I would change me.”

You see brothers and sisters, at the heart of Pentecost is transformation, it is our hearts burning with fire, and when we have that fire we are called forth to “transform the world.”

If we truly knew how much power that God has given us to serve and love others, if we truly knew what we were capable of when we radically love each other in this church and in general, and if we then capitalized upon it, the world would be better. People would have salvation, the hungry would be fed, the naked would be clothed, and the hurting would be healed.

Oh my brothers and sisters, I need an Amen right now on this Pentecost Sunday! For this is the heart of preaching the “Good News, to the ends of the earth!” This is why we do we what we do. This is why in the Gospel of John reading from this morning that Jesus said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let one who believes in me drink.” Do you know him here this morning? Do you really know him?

I want to share a story with you called “Desmond Tutu’s Confidence.” This comes from the book called God’s Politics by Jim Wallis. “During the deepest, darkest days of apartheid when the government tried to shut down opposition by canceling a political rally, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declared that he would hold a church service instead.”

“St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa was filled with worshippers. Outside the cathedral hundreds of police gathered, a show of force intended to intimidate. As Tutu was preaching they entered the Cathedral, armed, and lined the walls. They took out notebooks and recorded Tutu’s words.”

“But Tutu would not be intimidated. He preached against the evils of apartheid, declaring it could not endure. At one extraordinary point he addressed the police directly. He said, “You are powerful. You are very powerful, but you are not gods and I serve a God who cannot be mocked. So, since you’ve already lost, I invite you today to come and join the winning side!” With that the congregation erupted in dance and song.

“The police didn’t know what to do. Their attempts at intimidation had failed, overcome by the archbishop’s confidence that God and goodness would triumph over evil. It was but a matter of time.”
          Brothers and sisters, the founder of Methodism John Wesley said in in reference to us being filled with the Holy Spirit, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” John Wesley also said, “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.”

My brothers and sisters, today in Pentecost Sunday, the day that “Holy Fire” descended about the Apostles and the early followers of Jesus Christ. Today is the day that the Christian Church was born. So given all of this, do we on this day have “Holy Fire” in us, and if so, how will we “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?” Amen and Hallelujah!