Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Sidney UMC - Ascension of the Lord Sunday/7th Sunday of Easter - 06/02/19 - Sermon - “Ascended into Heaven”


Sunday 06/02/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Ascended into Heaven”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 47
                                            
New Testament Scripture: Ephesians 1:15-23
                                                   
Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:44-53

          Today, is Ascension of the Lord Sunday, and it is also the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Seven Sundays after Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin, death, and darkness, offering us new life, new hope, and victory through him.
          This past Thursday was Ascension Day or Ascension Thursday, as the gospels of Mark and Luke, and the Book of Acts speak of Christ’s Ascension into heaven. This literally means that Christ went up into heaven, and that he will not be physically present again on earth, until he returns to earth in his glorious second coming. Since we generally don’t have worship services on Thursdays though, I am using the lectionary scriptures from Thursday May 30th for this morning. This is why our prayers in our bulletins for this morning do not match our scripture readings for this morning.
          As far as Ascension Day goes, even further, some Christian denominations refer to Ascension Day, as a feast day. This is a celebratory day of worship and feasting, as this past Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension. This holiday occurs on the Fortieth-Day in the Season of Easter, as 40’s and 7’s are very significant numbers in the Christian Bible and in the Christian Tradition.
          So again, I am using Thursday’s Ascension of the Lord scriptures in place of the scriptures for this morning.
          With all of this said, I have a question for us all to consider this morning. I think that this is a good question to ask, especially in light of having a baptism this morning. A baptism of precious young child of God. So what is this question? This is the question, what does it feel like to lose your hero? What does it feel like to lose someone that you look up to and that you think the world of? Further, how do you go on after losing that person?
          The Ascension of the Lord story to me, is like losing a father, a grandfather, a best friend, or losing someone that means the world to me. How many of you would be lost if certain people in your life were simply just no longer there?
          Imagine for a moment that you were alive and that you knew Jesus when he walked this earth 2,000 years ago. What would it have been like to meet Jesus? What would it have been like to see Jesus heal, love, forgive, feed, restore, and to hear him teach and preach? What would it be like if Jesus were to just leave at a moment’s notice?
          Growing up, I always loved my Grandpa Winkelman. He was a wild guy. I mean wild! He had an Eighth Grade education, and him and my Grandma Maryann were two of the most loving, hard-working, and generous people that I ever met. They lived for years in a small little house. Grandpa was a farmer, and worked all sorts of jobs, as did my Grandma Winkelman. My Grandpa Harold was and is a Christian. He went to church, he loved others, he had a great sense of humor, and he was always there to help others in need. I remember when he died in August, 2015, I was asked to do the funeral for my own grandfather. It was a hard for me, but such an honor and a privilege. My grandpa Harold was a centralizing figure in our extended and crazy family, and then just like that, he was gone. It left a void, and we as a family had to then figure out how to move forward.
          In our Gospel of Luke reading for this morning, I can imagine what the disciples were feeling. Let’s look again at the Gospel of Luke reading for this morning. Starting in chapter 24:44 Jesus says once again:
“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.” 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, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Lk. 24:44-49, NRSV).

          Jesus is reminding the disciples, just who he is, and he is giving them a greater knowledge and a greater understanding of who he is. He is telling them also, that he is soon to suffer and die for us and that he will rise from the dead on third day. Jesus lastly, promises his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come soon and would reveal even more truth to them. Essentially, the disciples still don’t fully get it, but they will soon.
          This gospel reading and the gospel of Luke itself then ends once again with Luke 24:50-53, saying of Jesus:
“Then he 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. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God”                                     (Lk. 24:50-53, NRSV).

          So this is how the gospel of Luke ends. Jesus is officially physically gone from the earth, until he returns in his second coming. After Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples of Jesus once again return to Jerusalem “with great joy” and “were continually in the temple blessing God”.
          Now I think that this is a great thing that the disciples were filled with joy and were blessing God constantly in the temple. I have always wondered though, and maybe they didn’t, did the disciples ever really miss having Jesus with them psychically. On the Day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday, the Holy Spirit moved in that Upper Room in Jerusalem, and the disciples finally really got it. They were ready, preaching, loving, healing, and forgiving. They seemed unstoppable on the Day of Pentecost, but I wonder though did they ever have sorrow that the Lord, our savior, the Messiah was no longer physically with them?
          It would seem that at different points that the disciples had struggles, and it would seem to make sense that they did in fact at times miss having Jesus with them physically.
          One of the great privileges that I have been able to witness as a pastor, is to see families who are part of the churches that I have served that have four or even five generations in the church. I have served churches with Great-Great Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Grand Parents, Parents, and kids. Like my own Grandpa Winkelman, I have had the honor and the privilege of officiating the funerals for some of these people. Like my own family, I saw the mourning, the suffering, and the struggle, when a central person from a family in what seemed like an instant, was just gone.                                        
          This morning, as part of the Baptismal Covenant for our new brother in Christ, Alex, we have all agreed to love him, care for him, and be Christ-like friends and brothers and sisters to him. We hope that the love that God has given us through Jesus Christ, and that has been given to us through those that have went before us, can be given to little Alex.
          It’s humbling for me to know that I only have two of my four grandparents still alive here on earth. I know that one day I will have no grandparents alive here on this earth. I also know that one day I will even lose my parents. This saddening and humbling realization really connects with me to this morning’s gospel lesson. Here is how.
          When Jesus ascends to heaven in our gospel of Luke reading for this morning, the disciples are now fully in charge of the church. Sure they are waiting for the Holy Spirit to move in them next Sunday on Pentecost to fully understand who Jesus was and what he taught, but now they are in charge.
          When we baptize a person, we are continuing our 2,000 year Christian tradition of love, hope, mercy, liberty, salvation, and God’s grace through Jesus Christ. One day, we will be the disciples left behind, and God will be calling on us, not our grandparents, or our parents, to love, lead, and be the next generation of God’s people.
          Now do I know for certain if the disciples ever had sorrow about Jesus not being physically present with them? No, I don’t, but I can imagine that they did at times, as I am sure that we all can.
          As we celebrate Christ’s Ascension on this our Ascension Day Sunday, we should have some joy and we should feel empowered. For we are the church, we have been given the care of God’s people, and we have been called to change the world. We are now in charge, under God’s direction. How we lead, how we love, how we care, how we teach, and how we live, are a reflection of the love of Christ that has been passed down to us generation after generation.
          My hope is, my prayer is, that myself, that you, that little Alex, one day when all of our heroes are gone, that we will be ready to take up the mantle of leadership that has been prepared for us. When the grand parents are gone, when the parents are gone, and we are left to lead and carry on. Jesus Ascended to Heaven, put his disciples in charge of the church, and has called us even still today to lead it. I hope and pray that one day when little Alex is an old man, and when many of us will not physically be here right now, that his love, his faith, and his caring will lead others, and we, through God’s love in Jesus Christ, will continue to freely offer it to him. If this happens, then we have successfully passed on the faith and the love of Jesus Christ. If this happens, when Christ ascends he is happy know that his church is indeed in good hands. Happy Ascension Day Sunday and God bless! Amen.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Sidney UMC - Memorial Day Sunday/6th Sunday of Easter - 05/26/19 - Sermon - “The Advocate”


Sunday 05/26/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “The Advocate”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 67
                                            
New Testament Scripture: Acts 16:9-15
                                                   
Gospel Lesson: John 14:23-29

          Welcome again on this the Sixth Sunday after Easter, Six-Sundays after the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
          As many of us know, or all of us know, tomorrow is Memorial Day. Schools will be closed tomorrow. The banks will be closed, and it is a Federal holiday. I have canceled my Monday morning Bible Study for tomorrow, since it is Memorial Day. There will be parades, I will be doing some prayers for the Legion in Franklin tomorrow morning. Tomorrow therefore, is a significant day in our calendar in this country. Well just what is Memorial Day? Why do we observe it? According to one source that I researched, Memorial Day is:
“Memorial Day (or Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering and honoring people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The holiday, which is currently observed every year on the last Monday of May, was most recently held on May 28, 2018. Memorial Day was previously observed on May 30 from 1868 to 1970. Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of the summer vacation season in the United States, while Labor Day marks its end on the first Monday of September. Many people visit cemeteries and memorials on Memorial Day, particularly to honor those who died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day).

          With this said, today is not Memorial Day, tomorrow is. Memorial Day is also not a church holiday, but a national holiday. The United Methodist Church rejects war, and like us all wants peace, security, and prosperity. Yet, we live in a world full of sin and brokenness. There have been times in our nation’s history when really hard decision had to be made, and men and women stepped up to serve their country. Stepped up to protect their family, to defend the innocent, and to safeguard the helpless.
          If I were a pastor in Canada, I would honor the men and women from the Canadian Armed Forces on their special days, but today, since we don’t have church tomorrow, I, in part today, honor our Armed Forces. I also honor all men and women that suit up and serve in the police forces, fire fighters, EMT’s, first responders, and countless others. Memorial Day is a day to honor and to remember those men and women who died in military service to our country.
          We don’t love war, but we live in a broken and sinful world. We are called as Christians to continue to make the world into what Christ has called it to be. Until that day though, that day that there is universal peace and prosperity, brave and men and women will continue to serve. They will continue to serve for love of God, love of country, and to make their families, their communities, and their country proud. I truly pray that one day we will have no more war, but the older I get, I don’t think that this will come until Christ returns. War is hell, but men and women enlisted, signed-up, became officers, because they believed in the principles of freedom, liberty, democracy, and because they had faith in God.
          Interesting then, that my sermon for this morning is called “The Advocate”. This sermon does not mean that someone is looking out for you and “advocating” for you in this church, although that might very well be the case. “The Advocate” I speak of is not our Upper New York Annual Conference publication that comes out for us to read, called “The Advocate”.
          This morning in our Gospel of John reading, Jesus tells his disciples, you don’t get what I have taught you just yet. Jesus is saying, you still do not understand the fullness of the truth that I have taught you. In a similar way, I doubt our American boys knew everything when they hit the shores of Normandy, France in 1944 determined to stop Nazi tyranny from spreading throughout the world. I doubt when American soldiers liberated Jews from concentration camps in World War II, and saw people that looked like skeletons from starvation, that they knew the fullness of the truth.
          When the soldiers of our Republic, the Union, charged the fields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in 1863 to end slavery and to bring an end to the Civil War, they probably didn’t understand the fullness of the truth.
          When King George III told our founding fathers and mothers that we would not have voice in British Parliament, and that would be taxed without representation, we took up arms. I wonder in our American Revolution, if we knew the fullness of the truth?
          When our United States military intervenes in warzones, shows up in national emergencies, and intervenes to stop human genocide, I wonder if they know the fullness of the truth. When men and women come home from serving, are changed forever, and wonder why they came home and some of their brothers and sisters didn’t, I wonder if they have the fullness of the truth?
          Jesus tells his disciples this morning, I know you don’t have the whole truth yet, but it’s coming to you. Jesus tells the disciples in John 14:26:
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you”      (Jn. 14:26, NRSV).

          War, fighting, conflict, it seems so senseless and unnecessary, yet we lock our doors at night, we lock our cars, and now we even lock our church. We live in a broken and sinful world, and sometimes hard decision need to be made, and sometimes fighting and wars are a product of this. Why do some soldiers come home and some don’t? Why are nearly 60,000 names etched in on the Viet Nam Memorial Wall in Washing D.C. of soldiers who died in war, and yet thousands of others came home? I truly believe, I hope that one day when we get to heaven that we will understand all of these things more fully.
          Let’s look once again at our gospel of John reading for this morning. In this reading, one of Jesus’ disciples asks Jesus how they will know the truth, the truth that he has given them. Once again this reading says:
“Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me”                                        (Jn. 14:23-24, NRSV).
To really know the fullness of the truth that Jesus was, is, and is to come, we must follow his teachings, love him, and try to live like him. We must share his love with the world, and love the world the way that he has and continues to love us. The gospel reading continues on with Jesus saying:
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe” (Jn. 14:25-29, NRSV).
Jesus tells us, as he told the Apostles, “The Advocate” the fullness of the truth is coming. He then tells us to have peace, to trust in him. He says one day it will all make sense. In this case in particular, Jesus is telling his disciples what would happen on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit moved, and the spoke God’s truth in tongues. On the day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate on Sunday June 9th, “The Advocate” arrives, the disciples then get the truth more fully like never before. On that day, the Christian Church is born, and the truth has been revealed.
The reason that I made the comparison of Jesus foreshadowing the “The Advocate” or the Holy Spirit showing up on the day of Pentecost with Memorial Day, is that sometimes we feel like we don’t have the whole truth. Sometimes we don’t understand why we have wars, why some soldiers come home and some don’t, and why our world continues to be so broken. I truly believe that one day we will have all the answers that we ever want, but it might be on the day we enter heaven, or on the day that Christ returns. Jesus tells us to have peace in him and with each other, even if we don’t fully understanding everything.
I want to share something with you that I like to read on every Memorial Day Sunday, about a woman who probably didn’t fully get it either. Maybe she never did until she got to heaven. This letter was written from White House in Washington D.C. on November 21, 1864 to Mrs. Bixby in Boston, Massachusetts. This is what the letter says:
Dear Madam,--
“I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle”.
“I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save”.
“I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom”.
“Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
          I can’t imagine what it would be like for Mrs. Bixby on a day like tomorrow, Memorial Day. I can tell you this though, I honor the duty, the sacrifice, and the bravery of her five sons. Why didn’t they come home? I don’t know, but I think that one day we will know.
Tomorrow on Memorial Day, we are called to remember those men and women who served in the Armed Forces and never made it home. We are called to honor their sacrifice, their bravery, and to remember them. Jesus Christ our Lord sacrificed his very life, to give us life.
To better explain this on this Memorial Day Sunday, I want to leave you with this story. It’s a great story that I have told before, but on this Memorial Day Sunday, I wanted to share it again. Here is the story:
“Years ago, there was a very wealthy man who, with his devoted young son, shared a passion for art collecting. Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and many others adorned the walls of the family estate. The widowed, elder man looked on with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector. The son’s trained eye and sharp business mind caused his father to beam with pride as they dealt with art collectors around the world”.
“As winter approached, war engulfed the nation, and the young man left to serve his country. After only a few short weeks, his father received a telegram. His beloved son was missing in action. The art collector anxiously awaited more news, fearing he would never see his son again. Within days, his fears were confirmed. The young man had died while rushing a fellow soldier to a medic”.
“Distraught and lonely, the old man faced the upcoming Christmas holidays with anguish and sadness. The joy of the season, a season that he and his son had so looked forward to, would visit his house no longer. On Christmas morning, a knock on the door awakened the depressed old man. As he walked to the door, the masterpieces of art on the walls only reminded him that his son was not coming home”.
“As he opened the door, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package in his hand. He introduced himself to the man by saying, "I was a friend of your son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you." As the two began to talk, the soldier told of how the man’s son had told everyone of his, not to mention his father’s, love of fine art. "I’m an artist," said the soldier, "and I want to give you this." As the old man unwrapped the package, the paper gave way to reveal a portrait of the son”.
“Though the world would never consider it the work of a genius, the painting featured the young man’s face in striking detail. Overcome with emotion, the man thanked the soldier, promising to hang the picture over the fireplace. A few hours later, after the soldier had departed, the old man set about his task”.
“True to his word, the painting went well above the fireplace, pushing aside thousands of dollars of paintings. And then the man sat in his chair and spent Christmas gazing at the gift he had been given. During the days and weeks that followed, the man realized that even though his son was no longer with him, the boy’s life would live on because of those he had touched. He would soon learn that his son had rescued dozens of wounded soldiers before a bullet stilled his caring heart”.
“As the stories of his son’s gallantry continued to reach him, fatherly pride and satisfaction began to ease the grief. The painting of his son soon became his most prized possession, far eclipsing any interest in the pieces for which museums around the world clamored. He told his neighbors it was the greatest gift he had ever received”.
“The following spring, the old man became ill and passed away. The art world was in anticipation! Unmindful of the story of the man’s only son, but in his honor, those paintings would be sold at an auction. According to the will of the old man, all of the art works would be auctioned on Christmas day, the day he had received his greatest gift. The day soon arrived and art collectors from around the world gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings. Dreams would be fulfilled this day; greatness would be achieved as many claim "I have the greatest collection." The auction began with a painting that was not on any museum’s list. It was the painting of the man’s son. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid. The room was silent”.
"Who will open the bidding with $100?" he asked. Minutes passed. No one spoke. From the back of the room came, "Who cares about that painting? It’s just a picture of his son. Let’s forget it and go on to the good stuff."
“More voices echoed in agreement. "No, we have to sell this one first," replied the auctioneer. "Now, who will take the son?" Finally, a friend of the old man spoke, "Will you take ten dollars for the painting? That’s all I have. I knew the boy, so I’d like to have it."
"I have ten dollars. Will anyone go higher?" called the auctioneer. After more silence, the auctioneer said, "Going once, going twice. Gone." The gavel fell, cheers filled the room and someone exclaimed, "Now we can get on with it and we can bid on these treasures!"
“The auctioneer looked at the audience and announced the auction was over. Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Someone spoke up and asked, "What do you mean it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of some old guy’s son. What about all of these paintings? There are millions of dollars of art here! I demand that you explain what’s going on here!" The auctioneer replied, "It’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son…gets it all."


          Friends, I will never fully understand the sacrifice that Jesus made for us all. Tomorrow on Memorial Day, I will not fully understand what all of the men and women who served in our Armed Forces have done for us. I won’t fully understand why some men and women came home, and some didn’t. I believe though, the way that Jesus promised his disciples this morning that “The Advocate” the Holy Spirit will show up, that one day that we understand the answers to these questions that we ask.
          Until that day though, may be grateful to God, may we be grateful to the men and women who have and continue to serve, and tomorrow lets us take some time to reaffirm in our hearts that freedom, liberty, and justice are not things that are given out for free. Happy Memorial Day Sunday. Amen.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Sidney UMC - 5th Sunday of Easter - 05/19/19 - Sermon - “A change of Diet!”


Sunday 05/19/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “A change of Diet!”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 148
                                            
New Testament Scripture: Acts 11:1-18
                                                   
Gospel Lesson: John 13:31-35

          Brothers and sisters, friends, welcome once again on this the 5th Sunday of Easter. Five Sundays after Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin and death, and giving us hope, victory, and new life! For Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
          Today I want to talk about a topic that is a little bit of a taboo topic. Today I am going to talk about a 4-letter word, which for most people, is a word that we should never say under any circumstances. This is a word that we certainly should never say in church, if anywhere. It’s a dreaded word, and for many it strikes fear in us by us just hearing the word. That’s right, I’m going to say it, “Diet”. I just said the dreaded 4-letter word, “Diet”!
          While a “Diet” is the way we eat and how we eat, for many in our culture a “Diet,” means not eating as much to lose weight. When some people are on a “Diet” there are certain foods that they can’t eat, or that they must eat less of. How many of us here have been on a “Diet” to lose weight? How many of you do not like this dreaded 4-letter word? “Diet”!
          I think that I am very brave to bring up the 4-letter word “Diet” in, of all places, a United Methodist Church. You have heard my joke before, “How do you bury a United Methodist when they die?” The obvious answer of course, “Is in a covered dish”! I saw a funny meme or a little picture joke on Facebook a couple of years ago. The meme said, “When you want to lose weight,” and the next picture showed a massive Methodist covered dish supper. The next picture then showed a frowning face and said, “But you’re a Methodist”. “When you want to lose weight, but you’re a Methodist”.
          I have joked with people that Jenny Craig met with one of our bishops once about changing how we eat at Methodist covered dish suppers. I then say, that the negotiations quickly broke down. I have also been told that “if you are a United Methodist Church Pastor and you’re skinny, you have no one to blame but yourself!”
          My sermon title for this morning is called “A Change of Diet”? Has anyone here ever found out that they had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or some other medical condition? Not only this, your doctor then told you that you could no longer eat what you wanted to eat? I mean what do they know, it’s not like they went to medical school right? Maybe you had another medical condition and you couldn’t eat what you wanted to anymore.
          Our Jewish brothers and sisters, and our brothers and sisters of the Muslim faith, do not eat pork, for example. That is right, devout Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. Why don’t Jews eat pork? Well in the Jewish Torah in the Book of Leviticus, or our Old Testament, it says in 11:7-8:
The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you” (Lev. 11:7-8, NRSV).

          In Islamic or Muslim law, and even in some Christian denominations, it is taboo or you are not allowed to eat pigs. In Judaism, many call what devout Jews are allowed or not allowed to eat in the Torah, or our first five-books of the Old Testament, “Dietary Laws”. This means in Judaism, Islam, and even in some Christian Churches, specific “Dietary Laws” prohibit what you can and cannot eat. These prohibitions aren’t just for losing weight either, they are permanent.
          So devout Jews cannot eat ham, bacon, pork chops, or pepperoni. I saw a funny meme or picture joke years ago. The meme showed a Muslim religious leader, a Jewish religious leader, and a Christian bishop. The bishop was smiling, and the caption said, “Christianity, we have bacon!”
          In India, people of the Hindu religion traditionally cannot eat beef, as they consider cows to be sacred animals. Maybe some of you are vegetarians, or vegans, flexitarians, or maybe there are foods that you can’t eat. Diabetics have limited diets, and some have an allergy to gluten. Many people have some type of dietary restrictions. On some level then, we are all on a diet of some sort.
          So if our ancestors in faith, our Jewish brothers and sisters, can’t eat pork, then why can we? I mean in the Book of Leviticus, in our Old Testament it says to not eat the meat of a pig. It also says that we can’t eat shell fish, by the way. How many of you if I told you today that to stay a Christian, you would have to stop eating bacon, would consider departing from the Christian faith? Don’t worry, you’re good!
          So the Torah, our Old Testament, says do not eat from a pig, as it is unclean. Yet, we Christian eat ham, bacon, pork chops, and pepperoni. What gives? When did Christians start eating pigs? In our reading from the Book of Acts for this morning, we have one of the answers in the New Testament.
          Some of our Jewish brothers and sisters to this day, still follow the Jewish “Kosher Dietary Laws”. How many of you have ever noticed a product at the grocery store has a “Kosher” label on it? For a food to be kosher, it has to be handled and processed in a certain way, and a Jewish Rabbi must bless it.
          When I was in Israel five-years ago, in the Holy Land, our group was told that when archeologist unearthed a former settlement they would know that Christians were there in part, by finding pig bones. The crosses were a giveaway to.
          So let’s look once again at our scripture from the Book the Acts of the Apostles 11:1-18. It says once again:
“Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” (Act. 11:1-3, NRSV).

          Christianity in its very first years, consisted of only Jews. Then Greeks, Romans, and other non-Christians began to accept Christ as there savior and become Christians. Yet of these “Gentiles,” as the Jews often call us non-Jews, none of them observed the Jewish Laws. The men were not circumcised, and were according the Jewish Law therefore, unclean. Eating with them was unclean, according to the Jewish Law. Yet, these non-Jews, these gentiles accepted and believed in the gospel and Jesus Christ.
                The Book of Acts continues on saying regarding these non-Jews or Gentiles becoming Christians, as it says:
“Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven” (Acts 11:4-10, NRSV).

So Peter is in Israel in Joppa, or what today is called “Jaffa,” which is a city in present day Israel. Peter tells the church that while in Joppa, he had a vision from heaven. In this vision, a voice from heaven was telling Peter that he could eat animals that were previously forbidden to eat under the “Jewish Dietary Laws”. Peter then tells this voice from heaven, that he nothing “profane or unclean”. The voice from heaven then tells Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane”. Essentially, Peter has a vision that eating restricted animals, according to God, is now ok. Peter in fact, even says that he had this same vision three times. So are we to then break with “Jewish Dietary Laws” now? Let’s see how the Book of Acts continues once again for this morning, as it says:
“At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:11-18, NRSV).

          Peter then explains the experience that he has had, and the vision that he had three times. The church leaders and other Christian, then begin to expand the church to include no just converted Jews, but also Gentiles. Further, it is revealed to Peter three times that Christians, followers of Christ can eat any animal. That the “Jewish Dietary Laws” no longer apply to Christians. Jesus of course said that he did not come to destroy the Jewish Law, but to fulfill it. Therefore the “Dietary Laws” in the Torah, the Old Testament are not binding for us.
          Jesus also discusses in Mark 7 about what is and isn’t clean (Mk. 7, NRSV). Other New Testament scriptures illuminate this when the Christian Church was just in its infancy. This also is how the church in its earliest of days went from being a small faith of Jewish converts, to a worldwide faith that included people from all over.
          In our gospel lesson from the gospel of John for this morning, it says once again:
“When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn. 13:31-35, NRSV).

          Jesus tells his disciples that soon he will be crucified, raised from the dead, will ascend to the Father, and he will not be seen again, until he returns in glory. Jesus then tells us to love on another. Jesus tells us to love God and to love him.
          So we are not bound by Jewish Dietary Laws of Torah, as we have precedents in the New Testament for this. Nowhere in the New Testament though, are we told to not follow the Ten Commandments for example. In fact, Jesus reteaches and reemphasizes some of the Ten-Commandments. Some of the Old Testament beliefs have been she by precedents in the New Testament, but some are maintained in mainstream Christianity, and have been for 2,000 years.
The founder of Methodism, John Wesley called this view of scripture “the general tenor of scripture”. By this, Wesley would say that the truths that were written and presented in the Old Testament were still binding to us as Christians if the continued on into the New Testament of the Bible. The “Jewish Dietary Laws” were canceled out in the New Testament, but many things in the Old Testament continued to be taught, emphasized and practiced in the New Testament, and to this day. As Jesus said, he came to fulfill the law, not destroy it. What we eat no longer became as big of deal. How we live, the choices we make, and how we treat people though, well much of this still applies.
So with this said, let’s eat bacon! Amen.

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Sidney UMC - Mother's Day/4th Sunday of Easter - 05/12/19 - Sermon - “Walking through the valleys of life”


Mother’s Day - Sunday 05/12/19 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title: “Walking through the valleys of life”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 23
                                            
New Testament Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17

Gospel Lesson: John 10:22-30

          Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters, on this our Mother’s Day, and this the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Four Sundays after Jesus rose from the dead, to then appear to his disciples and others for 40-days, before ascending into heaven. This day is also the day that we honor mothers and all women. Whether or not a woman has her own biological children or not, most women are the mothers to someone, a pet, or have served in a mothering role. Today we honor mothers and all women who have loved, cared, given, and sacrificed for us and for so many. This means that today we don’t just honor mothers, but we also honor grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and even great-great-grandmothers.
          Since we are honoring, remembering, and focusing on mothers and the women that are or have been significant in our lives, I want to focus my sermon this morning on Mother’s Day.
          To begin this, I have a few questions for us to consider this morning. First, how many of us have or had mothers that would do anything for us? How many of us have or had mothers that would (or maybe even have) drove through the night to help us. Maybe your car was broken down, you were having a crisis, you became a Mets fan, or things were just not going well. In those moments of distress, your mom showed up.
          How many of us, when we have had tough days or tough times in our lives, we got good advice and help from mom? How many of us had clean clothes to wear, were taught how to live and behave, and maybe even had a lunch to take with us to school because of mom? How many of us, if we asked our moms for everything they had, they might actually give it to us. This is the love of a mother.
          How many of us here would not be the people we are today without our mothers? Now don’t get me wrong, dads are very important to, but today is mother’s day. We will celebrate Father’s Day next month on Sunday June 16th. So dads and men be prepared for that!
          Some of us here might have also had mothers that we think weren’t very good mothers. This is unfortunately the reality for some. In addition to mothers though, maybe we can think of grandmas, aunts, Sunday school teachers, and other women that have been influential and impactful in our lives. In this way, I like to think of mother’s day as a day to honor all women. If we had good mothers, may we honor them today and always. May we honor grandmothers, great-grandmothers, great-great-grandmothers, and all the women that have helped to shape us, have loved us, and that have sacrificed so much for us. So while we come to praise God this day, today we honor mothers and all the women that have been impactful and influential in our lives. I would encourage you all this day to take some special time to reflect upon, to remember, and to reach out to any mothers or women in your lives that have meant so much to you. Today is about moms and the women that have impacted us and have loved us.
          Given all of this, why is my sermon for this morning called “Walking through the valleys of life”? Well, one of scripture readings from this morning, once again, is Psalm 23. This is a beautiful Psalm, and I read it at most funerals that I do. Psalm 23 is a Psalm that reminds us that God is with us during the trials and the hardships of life. This Psalm so often gets read at funerals, because we believe that God was with us, is with us, and will continue to be with us in eternity.
          I asked just a minute ago, how many of our mothers have been there for us when we were struggling or when we had a hard time in our lives? How many of us are grateful that our mothers loved us enough to be there when we needed them the most? In the same way that God promises to be us through the trials and tribulations of our lives, for many us, our mothers and or other women in our lives have been there for us.
          Let’s look again at what Psalm 23 says. It says in 23:1:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Ps. 23:1, NKJV).

How many of us have or had mothers that made sure that we always had enough to eat, and that we were well taken care off? Now don’t get me wrong, many of us have or had great dads and men in our lives to, but today is Mother’s Day. For many of us, we can probably say that our mothers do or did everything that they could to make sure that we did not want or need. This verse from Psalm 23 encourages us to trust God to supply our needs, as many of our mothers helped to do or did this for us.
Psalm 23 continues on speaking of God, as it says in 23:2-3:
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Ps. 23:2-3, NKJV).

The Psalmist is telling us that God is with us and will give us peace and comfort in our times of struggle and trial. The Psalmist is telling us that God is with us through all of our ups and downs. How many of us can say that our mothers, grandmothers, women in our lives, and etc. have done this for us? For some of us, our mothers and grandmothers do or did live the love of God through Jesus Christ is ways that impacted and even changed us.
Psalm 23 continues in 23:4-5 saying once again:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over”
(Ps. 23:4-5, NKJV).

        God promises us to be with us through thick and thin. How many of us have or had mothers like that? How many of us had aunts or grandmothers, or other women in our lives like that?
          As I was getting ready for this Mother’s Day service, I read the scriptures over for this morning, and as I read Psalm 23, I keep thinking, “God’s love for us is unfailing”. Then I thought, “Well don’t so many mothers, grandmothers, and women in our lives fit the mold of what the Psalmist says God is like?” Don’t get me wrong, our mother are or were not perfect, and they have or had their faults. There not God. For some of us though, our mothers, our grandmothers, and the other women in our lives showed us the love, the hope, and the caring of God through Jesus Christ like no one else. Some of us can say that we have more faith, more hope, and more love, because of these women that are or were in our lives.
          As I was re-reading Psalm 23, I thought of my own mom, my Grandma Winkelman, and others. This Psalm once again ends with 23:6-7 that says:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever”
(Ps. 23:6-7, NRSV).
         
          For some of us, we could or can always go home when we needed to. For some of us, we could home and mom would be delighted to see us. We could back into our old bedroom with those old posters and others things, and we were welcomed. Many us are and were loved and cared for. For me, as I read Psalm 23 in getting ready for this sermon, I just thought that for many of us it probably connects well to mothers and those women in our lives who have done so much for us.
          In our reading from the Book of Revelation for this morning, we once again hear about the second coming or the return to earth of Jesus Christ (Rev. 7:9-17, NRSV). In this scripture once again, we have a glorious image of people praising Christ. We hear how on this day there will be no more hunger, no more thirst, no suffering, Christ will lead us, and he will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 7:15-17, NRSV).
          This scripture is I believe, a prophetic image given by God to the Apostle John of what the second coming of Christ will look like. When we hear of the love and the regard that Christ will have for us in these end time moments, many of us might think of how our mothers, our grandmothers, or other women have or continue to love us. Many moms want to make sure that you are fed, not thirsty, not suffering, and not crying tears of sorrow. I don’t believe that the scriptures that we were given for this morning then, were a mistake. It is amazing to me how God pulls all of these things together, and we can honor moms and the other women in our lives.
          So how can I tie our gospel reading from John 10 into this message for this morning? Well once again the gospel lesson says:
“At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (Jn. 10:22-30, NRSV).
         
          In this gospel lesson, some of the Jews are asking Jesus if he is the Messiah, and it so, to just tell them already (Jn. 10:22-24, NRSV). Jesus says I have told you, you don’t listen and you don’t believe me (Jn. 10:25, NRSV). Jesus said, he is one in the same as God the Father. Jesus says that he is the incarnation of God, and that he gives eternal life.
          If we’re honest, how many of us at times never listened or still don’t listen to our mothers? They told us over and over, and we just don’t listen to them. Yet when things go bad, we say things like, “But mom! Why didn’t you tell me or warn me!” Your mom then says, “I have told you this at least 100-times!” In the gospel reading for this morning once again, Jesus tells them he is the Messiah, but they just don’t listen, they just don’t believe him. I bet some of us have been guilty of not listening at times to what mom told us, what grandma told us, to what that wise woman in our lives told us. Maybe your mom said something like, be very careful driving through this town, the police monitor the speed zone changes very carefully. Then you walk in the house one night looking grumpy. Mom says, well what’s wrong. You say, I got a speeding ticket when I got into the village, because I didn’t slow down fast enough. You then say to your mother, “You know mom, you could have told me about the speed zone!” She then says, I have told you that 100-times!
          So for me, as Psalm 23 says, my mother has walked with me “through the valleys of life,” as have other women in our lives. On this Mother’s Day, this day that we honor all women, I would like to close with a story about mothers. This story is called “The Mountain,” and is taken from Jim Stovall’s, You Don’t Have to Be Blind to See. I don’t know if this is a true story, but 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.”
On this Mother’s Day, I can say that my mother and other women in my life have truly helped me to make my sermon title of “walking through the valleys of life” a reality for me. I am grateful for my mother, grandmothers, the many women that have been there for me, and my many church moms that I have. I hope and pray that we take some time today to thank, to remember, and to honor moms and all women. Today is Mother’s Day. Praise God, and amen.