Sunday
06/05/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Do miracles still happen?”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 146
New Testament
Scripture: Galatians 1:11-24
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 7:11-17
My friends, my sisters and brothers, welcome again on this
the Third Sunday after Pentecost. Three Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved
almost two-thousand years ago, like a mighty fire, like a mighty wind, and the
disciples of Jesus Christ were filled with God’s love and hope. On the day of
Pentecost, the Christian Church was born, and the first disciples of Jesus
Christ went forth sharing the good news of Jesus. The day of Pentecost, was
truly a miracle.
As I mentioned last week, we as a church find ourselves now
in “Common Time” or “Ordinary Time”, as we will not have any major Christian
holidays, until All Saints Sunday in November. While the schedule has slowed,
God’s love and grace hasn’t slowed. Further, our ability to connect to God
hasn’t slowed either. I pray that these coming months will be a time of faith
renewal and revitalization for us all.
With this said, this morning I want to talked about the
concept of miracles. We likely have heard stories of miracles, or have read about
stories of miracle. Perhaps we have seen stories about miracles on television,
or perhaps we ourselves have witnessed a miracle.
In
looking at the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the word “Miracle” is defined
as:
1. An unusual or
wonderful event that is believed to be caused by the power of God.
2. A very amazing or
unusual event, thing, or achievement.
In
the Bible in the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible, as well as the New
Testament, we have many recorded miracles. These miracles are things such as
Daniel standing in the Lion’s Den in the Old Testament and not being killed, or
Moses talking to a burning bush. We also have countless miracles performed by
Jesus, or God working through others in the New Testament. Jesus healed many,
multiplied food, raised the dead, and etc. It is pretty undeniable therefore,
to say that the Bible isn’t filled with many stories of miracles. These
miracles, as I said, could be healings, surviving hard circumstances,
overcoming great adversity, and or even bringing the dead back to life.
The
question that I would ask us to think about this morning, which is my sermon
title, is “Do miracles still happen?” Specifically, do we have a God that can
and does intervene in our daily lives, or do we believe that miracles don’t
happen?
Some
theologians that I have read believe that miracles occurred in Biblical times,
but not anymore, and some argue that miracles have never occurred. Some argue
that anything that appears to be a miracle is merely a coincidence.
For
me though, not only do I believe in the miracles that are contained in both the
Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible, I believe that miracles still
happen every day, all around us. Now a miracle could be something small, or it
could be something great. Perhaps some of us can think of small or great
miracles that we have witnessed in the past week, month, year, and or etc., for
example.
When
we are suffering, and when we pray to God to ease our pain, do we believe that
God can do that? Or, are we just praying to make ourselves feel better? I realize
that I am asking some very hard questions this morning, but I believe that
miracles still happen every day. I don’t believe that God created the universe,
this planet, and us, just to have no involvement in our lives. I believe in a
personal God that is intimately involved in our daily lives. I believe more
specifically in a God that is revealed in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and I believe this God is actively in our lives. I believe that God
created everything, and is active in his creation, which includes us. I believe
that God took on flesh in the form of Jesus Christ, and was very much in our
lives when he walked the earth and even now. I believe that the Holy Spirit
continues to come to us, when we call upon the Spirit.
Even though I believe all of that, I
can’t say that I always understand what God’s plan is. For example, in this
very church, we have prayed to God passionately and whole-heartily for healing
over many people. We have asked to God to intervene, to heal, to restore, and to
renew. In our many prayers, some people were miraculous made better in a short
time, yet some got worse. Some were healed, and some were not.
I
believe my brothers and sisters, that “miracles still happen,” but I don’t
always understand why God choses to intervene here, but not there. I also
believe that one day when we are with God we will understand this better, and
we will have the answers that we seek.
To
me, when I see the flowers budding in the spring, when I see the grass and
foliage growing around me, this is a miracle. When I see a new born baby, to me
that is a miracle. I try to live my life with seeing God’s greatness in
everything, as to see the countless miracles that God is doing every day.
This
morning in our gospel of Luke reading, we have in the narrative, Jesus
performing a miracle. The gospel this morning begins with this verse: “A little
later Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a great crowd
traveled with him. As he approached the city gate, a dead man was being carried
out” (Lk. 7:11-12a, CEB). So Jesus’ disciples, and a great crowd has followed
him into the city of Nain, so that might hear, see, and learn from this great
healer, this messiah.
The
gospel then says of the dead man, “He was his mother’s only son, and she was a
widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When he saw her, the Lord had
compassion for her and said, “Don’t cry” (Luke 7:12b-13, CEB).
The
gospel continues with, “He stepped forward and touched the stretcher on which
the dead man was being carried. Those carrying him stood still. Jesus said,
“Young man, I say to you, get up.” The dead man sat up and began to speak, as
Jesus gave him to his mother” (Lk. 7:14-15, CEB).
This
is certainly a powerful miracle that we are reading about this morning in the
gospel of Luke. This gospel reading then concludes by saying, “Awestruck,
everyone praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God
has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and
the surrounding region” (Lk. 7:16-17, CEB).
Now
again sisters in brothers, I believe that Jesus did really and truly raise this
young man from the dead in this story, and I also believe that God still works
miracles all around us every day. Do you?
I
have a story about miracles that I want to share with you. This story is taken
from www.ainglkiss.com, and is called “We
Should Have Died”. The author’s name was not listed. Here is how the story
goes:
“I had had my license for about 6
months (I was 17, I’m 20 now) and my friends and I decided to go shopping. I
thought it was perfect my parents were going out of town and they were leaving
me the van. Kimi and Evan and I hopped in the car when Evan remembered that he
had forgotten his wallet. He lives far out of town and I said no worries lets
go get it. Well we drove 30 mins and got to his house, he ran inside got his
wallet, and we left. We were approaching the intersection on the highway.
Something told me that Evan wasn’t wearing his seatbelt so I told him to put it
on. He was in the back seat, Kimi was in the front changing the CD. I looked
both ways getting ready to turn left and as I did, I suddenly heard metal on
metal, crunching and we started to spin, I hit the curb flipped and rolled my
mother’s van down an embankment. We missed the light pole by 2 feet and landed
2 feet away from the power line pole in the ditch. We landed on two wheels,
(like Herbie does). Kimi was hanging in her seat belt and Evan and I were
leaning against the hole where the windows used to be. We crawled out and got
Kimi out”.
“The moment we got out the car
landed fully on its side. As we were crawling out someone pulled up and saw us
and called for help. Soon many people started to show up and help us. When we
got to the top I noticed what I hit. I had hit a loaded logging truck and its
trailer. Many people were hovering around me and I looked up and saw my old
cabin leader from bible camp. I haven’t been to bible camp in 2-3 years. When I
saw BJ I was so happy and totally felt a calming come over me. Someone I
recognized made me feel calm and know that we were all going to be fine. I sat
up and gave her a long hug, and said thank you and she smiled at me, never
saying anything. Help arrived and as the police officer was asked me what
happened and I told him. When Evan and I were getting ready to go into the
ambulance I look all around at all the people there to help us, trying to find
BJ and she was gone, the guy that looked like he was with her was still there.
She just disappeared”.
“4 hours later, as I was waiting in
my gurney and neck brace for my x-rays I suddenly realized what had happened.
God had sent an angel or many of them to save us. We hit a speeding loaded
logging truck and missed 2 poles by 2 feet. As my mom and I were talking about what
happened she and I noticed that none of the airbags deployed and mine and Evans
seatbelt came undone sometime during our flips and rolls. We all walked away
with no injuries. Just a few scratches that you can’t even see now”.
“We should have died. Looking at the
pics we took of my mother’s van is incredible. All the windows were broken
except for the back window, the inside panel on the passenger sliding door was
ripped off and flew out of the car, the vents were ripped out. We figure that
when we rolled my side hit first because they is a huge dent on the top of the
roof, where my head was. Kimi’s side was the side that was hit by the truck and
the truck hit the back of the van and slid right up to the front, leaving a
huge scratch. The police officer and the paramedics don’t understand how we
could have possible lived. We should not have lived”.
“All I know is that someone up there
loves me and us and knew that it wasn’t mine or my friends time to go to our
home in the sky. So we got to stay in our rental home… earth”.
Friends, sisters and brothers, as
Christians, believing in and calling upon the power of God has long been a part
of our tradition. We ask God for healing, we pray for peace, and we pray for
blessing. Let us believe in what our God can do, not just in this moment, not
just today, but always. May we witness and may God use to be miracle workers
today and always. Amen.
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