Sidney UMC - Sixth Sunday after Pentecost - 07/01/18 - Sermon - “With the Love of Jesus Christ" ("Living the Mission" Series - (Part 1 of 5)

Sunday 07/01/18 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “With the Love of Jesus Christ”

                  (“Living the Mission” Series – Part 1 of 5)

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 130

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Mark 5:21-43

          Good morning again, my friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ! What a joy and a privilege it is to be with you all this morning! Again, my name is Pastor Paul Winkelman, and I am blessed and honored to be your new pastor. Today marks the beginning of my seventh year as a United Methodist Pastor. Today is also a big day, as today I begin formally serving my fifth church. Of course, as well, I am ever grateful for the love and the support of my beautiful wife Melissa.

I want you all to know that Melissa and I have been treated with great love and hospitality, from the minute that we arrived in Sidney for my take-in interview in the winter, and from the moment that we moved into the church parsonage in June. This church is truly full of great and loving people. We are humbled and blessed to be serving here. It is my hope and my prayer that during my tenure here that God will bless this church, my ministry, and this great community.

With all of this said, on this my first Sunday preaching at the Sidney United Methodist Church, I am going start a sermon series this morning, called “Living the Mission”. For those of you that don’t already know, the mission of the United Methodist Church is, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world”. So how do we both individually and collectively live that mission out, not only here on Sunday morning, but each and every day? One way is, “With the Love of Jesus Christ”.

You know, when I first saw this sanctuary when I came to visit this winter, I was struck by the beauty of the stained glass windows, and the incredible size of this sanctuary. In fact, I then went home and called my mother, and told her that this church sanctuary was so big that I thought that I would be preaching at the Crystal Cathedral. Just call me Dr. Schuller I told her.

Yet in the great beauty that is in all of these stained glass windows, I noticed that one has Christ behind me, one has the founder of Methodist, Rev. John Wesley, and one has a Methodist Circuit Rider on horseback. So just to get this straight then, every Sunday I preach here, I will have Jesus eying me up from behind me, Rev. John Wesley from over there, and a Methodist Circuit Rider from other there. No pressure Pastor Paul.

In the tradition of the Methodist Church, these Methodist Circuit Riders on horseback, many of whom were even younger than me, rode hundreds of miles. What was there charge? Their charge was to bring the life giving hope found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ to all that they came into contact with. What was there duty? To build churches, build communities, and to love the people. The first Methodist Preachers, these Circuit Riders, half of whom died in the line of duty before the age of 30, and half of whom died or quit within the first five years, gave everything they had so that we can have the Methodist Tradition of our Christian Faith that we have today.

How dedicated were these men? Well if you look in your United Methodist Church Hymnals, hymn number 553 is called, “And Are We Yet Alive”. The first verse begins with:

“And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face” (UMH 553).

This hymn, written by the great hymn writer and brother of Rev. John Wesley, Charles Wesley, was written in 1749. Every year, as is the tradition of the people called Methodists, we gather for our Annual Conference. In the present day, in our clergy session on the first day or night of our Annual Conference each year, all the clergy begin by singing this hymn. For years, when the Circuit Riders gathered at their yearly Annual Conferences and sang this hymn, they would look around the room and see which of their brothers were still yet alive, and figured out who had died. This was the level of devotion that these preachers on horseback had.

I saw a good newspaper cartoon when I was in seminary school. It showed a farmer looking out his living room window on a rainy day in 1850s. The farmer lamented, as he really wanted to go outside and work. Through the window in the cartoon you could see a man on horseback and some crows. In the caption the farmer said, “There is nothing out today but rain, crows, and Methodist Preachers”.

Why do I tell you all of this on my first Sunday here? Here is why my friends, because I take my charge of preaching the life giving hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ seriously, and I take my duty of serving, loving, healing, and forgiving very seriously.

This is why on this my first Sunday, I tell you all that Melissa and I have come to Sidney, NY “With the love of Jesus Christ”. I am not here for a paycheck, for benefits, or for a parsonage to live in the size of China. I am here because I believe that Jesus Christ and his gospel are the hope of Sidney and the hope of the world. I am here because I love Jesus, I love the United Methodist Church, and because I love all of you.

You might be thinking though, “You love all of us? How can this be, you don’t even know some of us?” Well guess what I do love you all. I love your spouses, your children, your grandchildren, your family, and this whole community. I don’t love you because I have to, but because my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ told me to love my neighbors. You all are my neighbors. So I love all of you.

Friends I have been in churches in my life where I didn’t really know for sure if the pastor loved me or my family. I have been in churches before where to be very honest I didn’t know if the pastor would have been concerned if I lived or died.

So this is what I want to tell you all on my first Sunday in your beloved Sidney UMC, I don’t know how long I will have the privilege of serving here, and you might not remember any of my sermons after I am gone. You might not remember any of my corny jokes, and yes there will be many. For example, if a Methodist dies, how do you bury them? Well, in a covered dish of course.

What I do hope though, is that you all remember, how much Melissa and I love you and will continue to love you. I hope that when you put your head on your pillows at night, after you have said your prayers of course, that you will know that your pastor loves you. I hope you know that your pastor cares about you, your family, and is there if you need him. If it is the darkest day of your life call me, or come over to the parsonage the size of China, and let us suffer together. If you or someone you know is in the hospital, call me, so that I might be with them and pray for them.

You see my friends, like you, I stand in a line of heroes. This line of heroes goes all the way back to the living Son of God, who came to seek and save the lost, and give his life on a cross for you and I. This line of heroes extends through the great saints of the church, to people like the Rev. Billy Graham and St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta, and from what I have heard at the Sidney UMC, St. Dave Masland. Every placard, every stained glass window, is dedicated to a great saint or family that sacrificed and gave believing in Jesus Christ as there Lord and Savior.

So yes I have come to preach and live the gospel of Jesus Christ, because not only is it the hope of the world, but because it cost my Lord and savior his life. I am also here to serve, to love, and with God’s help to revitalize this beautiful church. I hope to have Bible Studies, maybe breakfasts, trainings, and other opportunities. In the next couple of weeks, I am planning to make a survey to put in the Sunday morning worship bulletin, so that I can get some feedback on the sorts of things you want in this church. Do you want Bible Studies? Programs? And etc. Let me know!

Now with all of that said, as I know there is a lot of introduction this Sunday, I want to talk about our Gospel of Mark reading for this morning. Once again this gospel reading is the Gospel of Mark 5:21-43.

          In this gospel lesson, Jesus has just crossed the Sea of Galilee, and waiting for him on the other side of the sea was a great crowd of people (Mk. 5:21, NRSV). When Jesus got off the boat and was approaching the crowd, a leader in local Jewish Synagogue named Jarius went to Jesus (Mk. 5:22, NRSV). He then begged Jesus to heal his daughter who was dying (Mk. 5:22, NRSV). Jesus went with Jarius to the child and the child was healed. After this, Jesus was in a crowd and a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years, touched Jesus’ cloak (Mk. 5:23-29, NRSV). This woman was healed.

          The gospel then continues on to say that Jesus Christ brought a twelve year old girl who had just died back to life (Mk. 5:35-42, NRSV). In fact, Jesus said to the girl, “Talitha cum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” Everyone was amazed by what Christ did.

          My friends, my brothers and sisters, Jesus loved, healed, and forgave, and before he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, he entrusted the church to the Apostles. Subsequently, over centuries, the church and the transmitting and the living of the gospel has been entrusted to us.

          So I, like you, stand in a line of heroes. Due to all of that, I come here to Sidney to serve “With the Love of Jesus Christ”. I do so because my Lord and Savior commanded me to do, and because it cost him his very life.

          I hope and pray my friends that when you put your head on your pillow tonight that you know that “the new kid,” as I am often called, loves you. Know that I have been, and will continue to be praying for you. Know that I am here to serve, and for however long God keeps me here, I pray that you would know above all else, that your pastor, this kid, loves you.

          So how do we live out the mission of “Making disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world?” One way, is our leaders, our pastors, our shepherds, preach the life giving gospel of Jesus Christ with passion, conviction, and love, and then these leaders live out and model the Christian faith. When we all do this even better then, we are striving to further live out our mission. We do this so that people would know the salvation power of Jesus Christ, and so that they would be forever changed. Through this changing, these disciples will then go out and make disciples and will transform Sidney, and the world. This is a part of how we live our great mission together. God bless you all, and Amen.

         

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Father's Day/Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - 06/17/18 - Sermon - “Sowing Seeds"

Sunday 06/17/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “Sowing Seeds”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 20

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:6-17

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:26-34

          My dear friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, welcome again on this our Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Father’s Day, Graduate Recognition Sunday, and this my last Sunday preaching as your pastor. I will be in the office this week, however.

          So four Sunday’s after the Holy Spirit moved, the church was born, this day that we honor fathers and all the men in our lives that have and continue to love and care for us. Those role models, and people that have and continue to shape us. This is also a special Sunday that we honor and celebrate our graduates. As I just said, it is also my last Sunday preaching as your appointed pastor. Melissa and I knew that this day would come eventually, yet when I sat down to write this sermon, I thought how I can condense five years here into one sermon?

          I don’t think that it is an accident that the lectionary gospel reading for this morning is about “The Parable of the Growing Seed” (Mk. 4:26-34, NRSV). This is a scripture about growth, harvest, and new life. In this parable, or story, or analogy, Jesus once again says:

“The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come”

(Mk. 4:26-29, NRSV).

Jesus said that God’s kingdom is like us scattering seeds, and seeing the growth, yet not necessarily expecting it or understanding it. Yet, then we reap the harvest. In the five years that I have been blessed to serve here, like this parable, I, and all of you have sown in a variety of ways, seeds of faith and love to many. We don’t always see and or understand the growth, but looking back, and looking out this morning, I see the growth. I see the growth in new members, new attenders, deepened faith, outreach, mission, repairs and upgrades to the church, and giving that has increased. By just about every measure the seeds of faith and love that we have scattered have sprouted and grown, and we are and will continue to reap this harvest. This has all occurred not because of me, or Melissa, or even you directly, but it has all occurred because we have allowed God to work through us. We have allowed the Holy Spirit to flow in us and through us, as people have come to Christ, as we continue to transform this community and this world.

Understand that this work that we are about, is the power of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the hope of the world. This power, this love, the movement of the Holy Spirit is something that we are called to partake of, to share, and to make known. The power of the church therefore, rests not solely in the pastor, but in all of us. For we are all pastors and priests. The future and the success of this church, its ministries, its vitality, and its witness to the gospel of Jesus of Christ in the world then, rests on your faithfulness, devotion, and the work of the gospel of Christ in the world.

          In our reading from 2 Corinthians for this morning, the Apostle Paul says once again:

“for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7, NRSV).

          Our faith in God, our witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and us being empowered by the Holy Spirit, is how the church grows, moves, lives, and thrives. The change agent, the growth, the power, rests solely in Jesus Christ and his gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.

          Well just how much faith do we need to accomplish all of this? The gospel of Mark reading for this morning continues with Jesus saying:

“He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade”

(Mk. 4:30-32, NRSV).

Jesus says, that with our faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, that God can use that faith to grow it into a great shrub or tree. From that one seed we can reap a harvest for Jesus Christ. As the Apostle said once again this morning in 2 Corinthians:

“for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7, NRSV).

The gospel reading concludes this morning with us hearing that Jesus spoke more parables to the Apostles, to explain more what the Kingdom of God is like.

So “Sowing Seeds” of faith, faith as small as a “Mustard Seed”. When we have these things coupled with a desire to share the truth, love, and hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you will see a church that is alive in the Holy Spirit, growing, flourishing, and filled with love and hope. You will see a church in mission transforming the world. Most importantly, we also see people coming to the life giving hope found only in Jesus Christ.

What I have seen in this church, through this church, and among the people of this church the last five years, is “Sowing Seeds,” and faith growing. This can continue and will continue as long you stay connected to Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In my time here, it is has been an unbelievable privilege and honor to baptize members of your family, and others. To be able to hold and love that child, as the church made a covenant to love that child in the name of Jesus Christ. It has been an unbelievable privilege and honor to provide pastoral care for many of you and your family members. You allowed me into hospital rooms, homes, nursing care facilities, and etc. Many you brought me into hard and even sensitive areas of your lives that I might minister and show the love of Christ. While some of these moments and times were hard, they were all an unbelievable privilege and honor.

I have had the unbelievable privilege and honor of doing funerals and burials for some of your family, friends, and people that I had never met. Each one was a child of God, and it was a privilege and an honor to speak on their behalf. It was an unbelievable privilege and honor to say the historic Christian prayers and words at their burials and memorial services.

 It was also an unbelievable privilege and honor to do the weddings that I did, and see and witness the great anxiety, love, caring, and cake that those days had. What memories, what love.

Yes indeed, over these last five years you all have entrusted me with very much. You have allowed me to minister to you, your family, and this community, as you have done the same for me. You have loved Melissa and I, cared for us, and treated us like your own family. All of this, I believe is what Jesus was proclaiming about “Sowing Seeds” and about growing faith and the Kingdom of God.

I know that some of you might be apprehensive about the future of this church, but remember the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is in you, and will continue to work through you if you let. Continue to share that love, hope, and salvation that is offered through Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

I would ask you to continue to pray for your new pastor and there family, and the mission of the United Methodist Church, of “Making disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world” will continue. The work that we have to do in this community and in this world is immense, and it will continue.

So I say, stay in the game, stay suited up, the mission of Christ continues, until we go to be with him, or returns in glory.

It has therefore been an unbelievable privilege and honor to serve as your pastor. Know that before I got here five years ago that I was praying for you. Before I got here I already loved you, as Jesus has told us to love each other. Know that I will continue to love and pray for you. I also know that we all don’t always agree on everything, but if we disagree, may our love for each other be steadfast.

I also ask for forgiveness for any offenses or harm that I have caused and of you, as I know that you have and will offer me the same. I am far from perfect, but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is perfect. I pray that we would continue to seek after Christ, knowing that through him and his gospel all things are possible.

So if we stay focused on Christ, his gospel, his love, his truth, and speaking, living, and doing this in the world, the church will flourish, grow, and continue to transform the world. When this happens will all say as Saint Julian of Norwich said so long ago:

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well”.

(https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/156980.Julian_of_Norwich)

I thank you all for your love, your support, your prayers, your council, and your friendship. It has been a great honor and a privilege to serve as your pastor. Know that you are all loved and prayed for. Blessings to you all in the name of Triune God. Amen. 

Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Third Sunday after Pentecost - 06/10/18 - Sermon - “I believed, and so I spoke"

Sunday 06/10/18 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “I believed, and so I spoke”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 138

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

                                                   

Gospel Lesson: Mark 3:20-35

          Welcome again, on this the Third Sunday after Pentecost. Three Sundays after the Holy Spirit moved, and the Christian Church was born. We read that in the Book of Acts chapter 2, the Apostle Peter preached a powerful sermon (Acts 2:14-36, NRSV). In fact, on the day of Pentecost, we read in Acts 2:41 that the scripture says after the Apostle Peter preached:

“that day about three thousand persons were added” to the Christian faith

(Acts 2:41b, NRSV).

          Pentecost, was the first day that those first disciples formally began preaching, teaching, healing, loving, and forgiving. For on the day of Pentecost the disciples really “got it,” as the term goes. Or as the Apostle Paul says from our reading from 2 Corinthians for this morning:

“I believed, and so I spoke” (2 Cor. 13b, NRSV).

While this is my sermon title for this morning, the full verse from 2 Corinthians 4:13 says:

“But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13, NRSV).

          So again this verse ends with:

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          In the first part of the verse of Psalm 116:10 it says:

“I believed, therefore I spoke,” (Ps. 116:10a, NKJV).

          The Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, formally the Jewish Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, knew the Old Testament or the Hebrew scriptures inside and out. He knew what faith was, and he then met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. Saul became Paul, and his faith was made complete through Jesus Christ and His gospel. Due to this, in quoting in part Psalm 116:10, the Apostle Paul this morning says once again:

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          Sometimes in our own lives we believe strongly in certain political, social, and or economic issues. We believe in them, and as such, we speak. Or we put them all over Facebook and cause World War III. We all have things that we believe and are passionate about speaking about, Tweeting about, or “Facebooking” about. Yet, the Apostle Paul didn’t have a Facebook account, or a Twitter account. So what exactly is the Apostle Paul so emphatically speaking about? What exactly does he “believe?” Let’s look once again at our reading for this morning from 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1. It says once again:

“But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal”. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 4:13-5:1, NRSV).

          The Apostle Paul is saying in this scripture that he believes and thus he speaks. He believes that Jesus Christ is the risen savior of the world. He says that even though our physical bodies age and begin to breakdown, the truth of Jesus Christ is eternal. The Apostle Paul believed and preached, because he believed that Jesus was Lord and savior, that he came to earth to love, heal, and forgive. He believed that Jesus died for the sins of the world, was physically resurrected, ascended to the right hand of God of the Father, and that he would return one day in glory. The Apostle Paul believed that Christ was and is our savior, and that the only truly thing is eternal is God’s kingdom.

          As many of know this physical church building has been here for many years. Yet, I wonder will this physical church building be here in 100-years, or 200-years, or 300-years? If the answer to any of those is no, does that diminish what has and continues to do through us in this physical building? Many of the ancient church buildings that we read about are no longer in existence today. The church then is not a building, it is you and I. The Apostle Paul believed and spoke that through Christ that even though the temples of our bodies and the temples where we worship will one day be gone, God’s kingdom is eternal.

          A week and a half ago, our UNYUMC 2018 Annual Conference began with what is called a “Clergy Session,” for all the pastors that are in our conference. While we begin every “Clergy Session” every year by signing a certain hymn in our hymnal, it struck heavily this year. I was approved that Wednesday May, 30 to get ordained that Saturday, and the weight of that struck me. What is the hymn that we sing every year at the beginning of our “Clergy Session”? The hymn is # 553 in our United Methodist Hymnal, called “And Are We Yet Alive”. Has anyone ever sung or heard of this hymn?

          What I learned last year, was that from the earliest days of the Methodist Movement, whenever the clergy and laity leaders would gather for each year’s annual meeting or annual conference, that the clergy would begin every year by singing this hymn. So this tradition goes all of the way back to the 1700’s. An odd hymn I would say to begin every Annual Conference. So why did the pastors start every Annual Conference singing this? Why did we do the same on Wednesday night May 30^th?

          Here is why, our first pastors or preachers in the Methodist Church were circuit riders on horseback. Most of them were very young, and they road hundreds and hundreds of miles to bring the life giving hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people all over England, this country, and soon after, the world. Since it was tough work riding all those miles on a horse, and due to disease, and many other factors, half of those first Methodist preachers didn’t make it to the age of 30. In fact, I was told at this last UNYUMC Annual Conference, from our former Finger Lakes District Superintendent Rev. Dr. Richard Barton, that the average circuit rider lasted only 5-years.

          So why going back to the 1700’s did and do we begin every annual meeting or Annual Conference by singing #553 “And Are We Yet Alive”? The answer is this, in singing this hymn those first Methodist Circuit riders were praising and thanking God that they had literally lived another year. There were singing because they were able to be there among their friends singing the hymn “And Are We Yet Alive”. These young pastors, many of which are nameless to history, but are faithful for eternity, gave their lives to preach, teach, build, and create the Methodist Church. They are responsible for the construction of colleges, universities, hospitals, schools, and countless ministries and programs.

The first Methodist Preachers like Psalm 116:10, or like the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:13 this morning would likely tell us:

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          Every year then at those annual meetings, or those Annual Conferences, those circuit riders, those Methodist Preachers, stood singing “And Are We Yet Alive”. In doing this, many of them would look around the room and be overjoyed that some of their friends were still “yet alive”.

          I tell you all of this to make this point, the first Apostles and the Methodist Circuit Riders, had a primary focus. This focus, this goal, was to speak and live the life giving gospel of Jesus Christ. For when people come to Christ as Lord and Savior, they are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. When this happens they can then further be equipped to go forth and change this community and the world.

          My name is Pastor Paul Winkelman, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I believe that His gospel is our hope. Or as the Apostle Paul wrote nearly two-thousand years ago:

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          I am proud to be part of a movement that founded what is today Syracuse University, which founded other hospitals, colleges, schools, and so on and so forth. All of this, all of the Methodist Churches that you see in virtually every town that you drive through exist because millions and millions of saints that went before you and me said:

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          The witness of the United Methodist Church and the worldwide church is strongest when we bring people into relationship with Christ, with each other, and then we go forth and live that through mission in the world every day.

          My worry as a United Methodist Church pastor though, is that some of our churches have forgotten this. Yet, this is who we are, and when believe, speak, act, love, heal, forgive, and pursue justice, well I believe that we would not be talking about closing churches. Instead we would be talking about how the proposed church building expansion would be able fit on the current church property.

          In briefly looking at our Gospel of Mark reading for this morning, we are reminded by Jesus that work we do is unto God, not unto the world. Once again the gospel reading says:

“And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.  But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

          In this gospel reading, Jesus is being attacked by his family and others, as he had come home. They seek to denounce him, so say that he is insane. Jesus then tells them:

“Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk. 3:34b-35, NRSV).

When we serve God, follow Jesus, and seek the Holy Spirit, there will always be those who seek to denounce us, to cut us down, and to try to make us look foolish. What I know though is what Jesus preached and lived, what the Apostle Paul wrote and preached, and what many of the Methodist Circuit Riders died for. What is this? That Jesus Christ is our savior, and that through him and his gospel all things are possible. How are we then living this out? For me,

“I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and so we speak,”

 (2. Cor. 4:13b, NRSV).

          So what do you believe? What do you speak? I believe in Christ, and speak and live Christ. Amen.