Archive for category Passionate Worship
Easter Sunrise 2019 Isaiah 65 Our New Day in Christ
Posted by myoikos in #2019, #easter, #jesus, #resurreciton, #rsumc, atonement, Easter, Passionate Worship, Resurrection People on April 20, 2019
Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord. [nrsv]
- Jerusalem as a Joy?
- People will be a delight?
- No more weeping and no more distress?
- No more infant deaths or those whose life is cut short?
- Those who work will receive the benefits of their own labor?
- No injustice in wealth and home for all?
- No labor in vain, (note not a absence of work)
- Wolf and the lamb will feed together but not on each other
- Lion and the ox will eat straw
- Serpent will eat the dust…
- Though without war
God is building a new heaven and a new earth.. will we recognize it when we get there?
As we gather early on Easter’s sunrise we remember God is creator
- In the Big Inning, God makes all things
- In Christ, Changes the whole world,
- By the Holy Spirit, God is guiding us toward the New Jerusalem, that we might lead the world to God, through Christ.
In the New Jerusalem, there is not hurt, pain, suffering or injustice, but even the serpent has a place
evil, pride/selfishness, greed, gluttony, sloth, lust, wrath, and envy are no longer needed.
Think of the power of these forces in our world and in our lives
What would it take to no longer behave these ways?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
There is not other power, no other answer, no other hope, no other way.
There are various camps;
- Those who no longer care
- Those who want to prove there is another way
- Those who know Jesus is the way, but trust later
- Those who are free in Christ now and forever.
The prophetic words of the prophet Isaiah
[The whole chapter]
1 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name. 2 I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks; 4 who sit inside tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, with broth of abominable things in their vessels; 5 who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long. 6 See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps 7 their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions. 8 Thus says the Lord: As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,” so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there. 10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me. 11 But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny;12 I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter; because, when I called, you did not answer, when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my sight, and chose what I did not delight in. 13Therefore thus says the Lord God: My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; 14my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit. 15 You shall leave your name to my chosen to use as a curse, and the Lord God will put you to death, but to his servants, he will give a different name. 16 Then whoever invokes a blessing in the land shall bless by the God of faithfulness, and whoever takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of faithfulness; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my sight. 17 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. 24 Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Why read from Isaiah at the Sunrise?
When the day is new we can better see the darkness of our past and hope of our future in the Word of God made new and whole through Jesus Christ, for us
- May we invoke the blessing of this day
- May we call on Jesus Christ to make this day new
- May we trust Christ to overcome our sin and shame
- May we speak God’s name and not our own
- May the former things are forgotten
- And the New Day in Christ is eternally on our lips and in our deeds.
Psalm 100 Enter Ready to Praise
Posted by myoikos in #2017, #sermons, celebration, Fathers Day, Passionate Worship, Worship on June 18, 2017
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. [NRSV]
Fill my cup Lord
- If we are coming to church to be served, pumped up or filled we have not prepared for worship
- Come to worship
- Come to church
- Come in the holy gathering of the holy people ready for praise
Survey says
- People come to church because of tradition, habit or hurting
- We owe it to God to encourage, prepare and teach each other to come ready to find God
Why?
- God made us
- We belong to God
- We are Gods holy people
- We are sheep needing to a shepherd.
How to Prepare
- Joyful noise
- Glad hearts
- Start with Singing
- Shouts of Thanksgiving g
- Proclaiming God’s goodness
- Anticipating God’s faithfulness
Are we Ready to worship?
Or start over
Bottom line today is a day of praise
Christmas Sunday Luke 2:1-21 20161225
Posted by myoikos in #2016, #benotafraid, #Christmas2016, #gotell, #jesus, #linkChrist2Christmas, #rsumc, belief, Church, Extravagant Generosity, Faith, Fellowship, God, Goodness, grace, greatness, heaven, Intentional Spiritual Growth, Marriage, Passionate Worship, Relationship, Salvation, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Worship on December 24, 2016
The Appropriate Response
Shock and Awe
The Shepherds Go
Who is Christmas Intended?
Christmas on Sunday
Our Responses?
- Thank you Jesus
- Sharing the News
- Going to See, Show and Retell
- Pondering and Remembering in our hearts
Amos 8.1-12 “Final Fruit-Baskets?” 202160717 RSUMC
Posted by myoikos in #2016, #askseekknock, #findingJesus, #gotell, #jesus, #relationship, #weareprophets, 5 Practices, Boldness, Citizenship, Extravagant Generosity, Intentional Spiritual Growth, Meaning, Passionate Worship, Preparation, Prophets, Putting God First, Radical Hospitality, Resurrection People, Risk Taking Mission and Service, Spiritual Growth, Trust, Truth, Witness on July 16, 2016
This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it. [NRSV]
Sackcloth, baldness, morning only child, a bitter day.
- Sackcloth, baldness and morning, oh my!
- Sackcloth, baldness and morning, oh my!
- Sackcloth, baldness and morning, oh my!
-
• Sackcloth: A sign of sinfulness
• Baldness: A sign of unhealthiness
• Morning an Only Child: Grief for this generation and the next
• Bitter Day: A sign of our separation from God.
Sending a famine instead of a fruit basket.
Not a famine of land, bread or thirst
But a famine of HEARING the words of the Lord.
God’s bringing a basket that we fill find as empty.
• If I bring fruit every day, and no one takes even a bite, it will eventually spoil
• If I bring healthy snacks and no one even samples, we will eventually starve
• If I bring hope for this generation and the next and no one trusts and believes, we have nothing left.
The basket is full of unwanted, un-tasted, un-sampled, un-digested, un-used nourishment: It lies in waste (or lingers in our waists)
Seeking and not finding, Knocking and nothing opening, Asking and receiving none.
The question of the day is
how long will the famine take?
How many attacks can we stand?
How many bodies left on the ground?
How many reports of violence before we are numb?
Where is the fruit basket?
• The basket of milk and honey?
• The basket of power and grace?
• The basket of truth and certainty?
• The basket of goodness and peace?
We want that fruit basket, then
1. Why not eat it when it is placed in front of you?
2. Why wait until there are famine and ruin?
Today is the day for feasting on the Word of God.
• Open and read it
• Read and share it
• Share and sing it
• Sing and Teach it
• Teach and live it
• Live it and find the God, who loves us, living with us, still.
Luke 19:28-44
Posted by myoikos in #findingJesus, #helives, #jesus, #mysundaysermons, #ncaafootball; #football;, #palmsunday, Boldness, Christian LIving, Church, government, Holy Week, Passionate Worship, Politics, Putting God First, Salvation, Spiritual, Witness on March 19, 2016
As [Jesus] was going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?’ just say this, “The Lord needs it.’ “ So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.- Jesus Christ is real,
- Jesus is King, and
- Jesus is with us.
- When we know Jesus is real, this becomes the foundation of our life
- When we know Jesus is King, this becomease the guide for our living
- When we know Jesus is with us, nothing can stop us from praising.
- There story is about preparing for worship
- The story is about making way/room for Jesus in our public/fears
- The story is about remaing awake and aleart that it is Jesus that leads us and not anything or anyone esle.
- Peace does not come from armies and weapons
- Peace does not come from governments and policies
- Peace does not come from acts of kindness and justice
- Peace comes from God, through Jesus Christ, guided by the Spirit, through the church, through us for for the whole world.
- Peace comes when Jesus comes in.
- Peace comes when Jesus is praised
- Peaces is possible to see when we see God showing up on our streets.
- new life,
- a new way
- a new day, made possible thorugh Jesus Chirst, our King.
- Praise
- Words
- Witness of kindness
- Forgiving first,
- Our hearts
- Our gifts
- Our time
- Our presence
- Our wintess
- hearts,
- conversations,
- homes,
- streets,
- communities,
- nation and the world.
John 12.1-8. “The Price of Worship” 20160313
Posted by myoikos in #jesus, #sacrifice, 5 Practices, celebration, Extravagant Generosity, Grief and Loss, Lent B, Passionate Worship, Stewardship, Worship on March 13, 2016
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” [NRSV]
I recall visiting sanctuaries through out Europe, some hundreds of years and wonder on one hand did Jesus imagine the ornate gilded cathedrals would become witnesses of his body and presence in the world. On the other hand, having walk through those ornate and gilded cathedrals and having join in the presence of worship that was older than my prayers and praises the allow us to experience the glories of a presence that is beyond our imagination and beyond our wealth and beyond our interpretation.
Somewhere in the combination of faithful stewardship and extravagant generosity we find the sincerity and and passion of worship.
There are times for simple and there are time for excess
The Garden of Eden reflects a sips relationship, one love and one rule, one trust and the consequences one transgression/choice.
Think of worship in the home of Mary and Martha. Recall Martha is the practical, hard working, thrifty with time and extravagant with comfort and dependable order. Mary is willing to throw caution aside! She is willing to leaving the house messy for a time, eat brunch for dinner, and invite too many guests to the party.
Mary take an extraordinary gift worth a years wage and gives the entire jar to cover Jesus. One pure of nard retailed for $700. Not a dab with the lid behind the ear r on ones wrist. She covers Jesus’s feet. Nard is viscous, acidic and concentrated scent similar to gardenia. It would have filled the house
Today we come to a historical day in the life of the church that is a mar rage of extravagant generosity AND a practical challenge. The big news is about t be revealed and it is a unique and exciting opportunity that draws on both our Mary and Martha sides.
The waste is not in using our gifts, the waste would be not to give.
Give extravagantly.
Love passionately.
Life in the Joy of Chrost with us.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Reset: The Power of Love 20160131 RSUMC
Posted by myoikos in #2016, #jesus, #loveneverwins, #marriage, #sacrifice, #umc, 5 Practices, Christmas, Extravagant Generosity, Faith, Forgiveness, Generosity, God, holiday, Holy Spirit, Intentional Spiritual Growth, Love, Marriage, Passionate Worship, Prophets, Putting God First, Radical Hospitality, Relationship, Risk Taking Mission and Service, Sacrifice, Service, Sin, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Truth, Wisdom, Witness on January 30, 2016
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. [NRSV]
Do I love that dress?
In a world, where we love mashed potatoes, love our sports teams and love or hate the weather, it is important to spend a moment being clear about love.
This past Christmas Eve, I ran a few errands and saw three stores putting out Valentine season products on the shelf. At first, I was frustrated that we had not officially started Christmas and retailers had moved to the next money grab. But if we stop and think what Christmas is about, God loving us so much that our heavenly father sends his only child to bridge the gap of love that we cannot build nor complete. Maybe a giant heart-shaped box of delicious treasures is better Christmas gift.
Love: Nothing Gained
ELOQUENT SPEECH: Genuine Love needs no response. That’s hard.
- If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels,
- but do not have love,
- I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
- but do not have love,
CHARISMATIC VISION: Genuine Love sees through a show.
- If I have prophetic powers,
- but do not have love,
- I am nothing.
- but do not have love,
INSIGHTFUL COMPREHENSION: Genuine Love is not calculated.
- If I understand all mysteries
- but do not have love,
- I am nothing.
- but do not have love,
MULTIPLE DEGREES IN MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES: Genuine Love has nothing to prove.
- If I had all knowledge,
- but do not have love,
- I am nothing.
- but do not have love,
UNWAVERING TRUST and BELIEF: Genuine Love is the core of faith.
- If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
- but do not have love,
- I am nothing.
- but do not have love,
EXTRAVAGANT SELFLESSNESS: Genuine Love is Forgetful of the score.
- If I give away all my possessions,
- but do not have love,
- I gain nothing.
- but do not have love,
SACRIFICIAL OFFERING: Genuine Love cannot be faked.
- If I hand over my body so that I may boast,
- but do not have love,
- I gain nothing.
- but do not have love,
IF, THEN STATEMENTS
- Conditional statements about unconditional, foundational core of relationships.
- SuperMan/SuperWoman are meaningless without love. Right Action, Wrong Purpose
- Love is God’s meaning, purpose, and energy, what we have to gain. Love is God’s power plant
- BOTTOM LINE: Without Love all in life is meaningless. Scientific Method can never love. Science is accurate in measuring how, but not why. Love is why. The universe is not so big to make us feel special; it is to show how incredible God is.
The Object of Love NOT loves itself.
LOVE is sacrificial, selfless, extravagant, unwavering, trusting, knowing, insightful, visionary, and charismatic, but the reverse does not necessarily describe love.
The test if Love is love or something else: Does my love stop if Love is not returned?
- You can take one for the team and not love the team at all.
- You can act selflessly, seeking approval for your random act of kindness.
- Your extravagance can become enabling.
- You can be “committed” and support something evil
- You can trust wealth, fame, opinion polls or deeply held principles, but these are based on us, and we inconsistent, fragile and often wrong.
- You can know many facts but not know how to use information
- You can misguide judgement selfishly
- Your visionary work can be selfishly motivated
- Your charisma or charm can fool people
- The Object of God’s Love is you. Hear the Good News..
- God’s love is not if, then. God’s love is. God may not like our behavior,
- God forever loves us.
IS / IS NOT
- Love is patient; tolerant of us and intolerant of our manipulations
- Love is kind; when is the last time we were snippy, rude or down right mean
- love is not envious; I want vs. God wants
- love is not boastful I’m right, you are wrong
- love is not arrogant I know better than you
- Love is not rude. Thoughtless or intentionally vindictive
- Love is not insistent My way or no way.
- Love is not irritable How can I get attention
- love is not resentful How come I’m not getting attention
- love cannot rejoice in wrongdoing, I told you so
- love rejoices in the truth. Admit I am wrong, especially when they are wrong too.
- (sometimes being truthful is not popular or pleasing)
- Love endure and hold up through all things, vs. I will give you one more chance, or no more chances
- Love believes through all things; You crossed my line, your out.
- Love remains hopeful through all things, We can’t do it, That’s impossible.
- Love lasts longer than anything else. I give up
If we are honest, our conversations and actions reveal, while we know what loving is, we are not always loving when it get self-less.
Timeless
- Love never ends.
- Prophecies end
- language ends
- knowledge ends
- wealth ends
- Love never ends.
The Best is Yet to Come
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
We learn to love as children, and it is to mature and grow.
- Speaking.. saying I love you.
- Thinking— Thinking about
- Reasoning Justifying Love
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
- Adult love, mature love, doesn’t have, to say it. We are not there yet..
- Adult love, doesn’t have to plan it and think it through, it is automatic. We calculate..
- Adult love, doesn’t have to have everything neat. We try to fix, cover up or manage love.
- When we move toward God’s love, we loose ourselves and more fully enter the heart of God.
For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Love is a work in progress.. try letting your guard down and God through.
Colossians 3:12-17 “Clothes for Christmas” 20151227 RSUMC Xmas1
Posted by myoikos in #sermons, 5 Practices, Christian LIving, Christmas C, Extravagant Generosity, Forgiveness, Generosity, holiday, Intentional Spiritual Growth, Joy, Missions, Passionate Worship, Radical Hospitality, Risk Taking Mission and Service, Spiritual Growth on December 26, 2015
94% of American’s celebrate Christmas (3). We have verbal and ideological battles with 6% of the population who don’t feel comfortable greeting each other this season by saying, “Merry Christmas.” It’s important to keep this in perspective. The number who keep a religious Christmas is about 70% with 29% celebrating some holiday during the same period of holidays (4). And yet we hear political debates about our nation not being a Christian nation, when 70% of the 94% who celebrate Christmas do so for religious reasons. Tis the Season to be religious.
The National Retail Federation reports
- average spending per person reaches $805.65 in 2015
- Gifts for family members will total $462.95 this year
- 46 percent of their shopping this holiday season was conducted online,
- 21.4 percent of smartphone owners used their device to purchase holiday merchandise in 2015,
- 47%) said free shipping/shipping promotions are important factors where to shop.
- 55.8 percent of holiday shoppers will splurge on themselves
The number one anticipated “item” for Christmas is what category? ____ Clothes. Men 48% / Women 56%. But the number one “non-item” requested is gift cards. Men 51% / Women 66% (3)
What does that say? We expect Clothes at Christmas and more than half the time we’d prefer to pick out our own clothes than have people guess.
So this is where we begin hearing this passage from the church to Colossae:
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. [NRSV]
Clothe one another in love
- compassion
- kindness
- humility
- meekness
- patience
Imaging celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. Not just the first one.
Imaging, after all the celebration of Christmas morning of day one, we continues giving the gives of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.. all together as example of Christ’s love for us.
What does that look like?
Seeing or hearing the needs of someone who is hungry or wanting and we take them food for the day. It does not solve their every need, but it gives them one more day of perspective that they are not forgotten and their transformation is not hopeless. Or teach them skills to work or to deal with their brokenness, fears or depression. This is not the task of someone to do FOR us, but for us to give one-on-one. Gifts of compassion.
You could think of sarcastic and judgmental comments, that might be accurate, yet, instead you find kind words of encouragement or forgiveness. In speaking where you would have remained silent and offering kindness instead of leading with what’s wrong, you lead with the kindness you would hope to hear when someone is speaking with you. A gift of Kindness with words.
You and I could choose to give a gift out of our abundance away. You know how special it makes you feel to know someone has given you a gift of love, think how sharing what you have might make you both feel loved, even if it is yours to keep. A Gift of humble sharing, it cost no more because it is yours to give.
Often it is not the value of the gift, but rather the appropriateness of the gift. We wait and save up to give expensive gifts, when it is our present half-hour each day that transform lives around us. Which would I rather have today: a grand gift from my father, who died a decade ago or 20 minutes talking about the day with him face-to-face? In the meekness of time, we share the lives we have to share.
Or could you find it possible to not fix someone’s problem, but rather be one who stands with them while they work through the trial and error of failures. So often we don’t want folks to live life for us, we want someone with us, to make certain we are not alone. Can you be present with someone who is alone and listen, encourage and wait with them, the gift of patience, for you and them.
For the remainder of the Christmas season, ten more days, try giving these gifts in love for Christ.
In the next ten days: Let everything you do, be done in Jesus name.
As you wake to start the day: In Jesus Name
As you write a check or open your purse or wallet: In Jesus Name
As you open you mouth to speak or your mind to consider: In Jesus Name
As you cook, clean, travel, read, share or listen: Do so in Jesus Name
As we shall then be clothed in love.
—–
(1) http://www.statista.com/topics/991/us-christmas-season/
(2) https://nrf.com/media/press-releases/retailers-very-digital-holiday-season-according-nrf-survey
(3) http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29153886/from-spending-celebrating-2015-holiday-season-25-stats
(4) https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/699-tis-the-season-how-technology-is-affecting-the-holidays#.Vn9dPpMrLBI
Luke 1.39-55 “Fruit of the Womb” 20151210 RSUMC
Posted by myoikos in #jesus, #marriage, 5 Practices, Advent C, Christian LIving, Christmas, Disicpleship, Extravagant Generosity, Intentional Spiritual Growth, Passionate Worship, Preparation, Radical Hospitality, Relationship, Risk Taking Mission and Service, Salvation, Scripture, Spiritual, Spiritual Growth, Trust, Witness on December 20, 2015
Thirty years ago a preacher was called into the District Supervisors office to be reprimanded for saying that a woman was “pregnant” when in fact, she was actually “expecting with child.” It is amazing how the power of words touch our sensitivities and expressions about the world and time in which we live.
If only folks would focus on the Good News and get as excited and motivated to action and response when they heard the Christmas story. This encounter with Mary and her Aunt Elizabeth helps us recapture some the power and presence of God’s word.
Our first look at the text, as an overview, Mary, who is now “with child” as an unwed mother goes for an extended visit to her aunt’s house.
The CDC National Vital Statisti#285869B report that the number of unwed mothers was at 29% in 1980 and up to 44% in 2013, the a high water make of 51% in 2008 prior to the economic turn. Millennial women, those ages 26-31, have a current rate of 57% of children being born out of marriage, and 74% of those without a college degree had children outside of marriage, according to research from Johns Hopkins University. Read-Online.pdf.webloc. The 2014 report from childtrends.com Read-Online.pdf.webloc, report that of all the births to mothers who are 15-19, 88% were not married, and 65% of women who had babies last year where 20-25 were not married. The church has already lost the corner on the marriage market long before the Supreme Court expanded its definition of marriage.
All these statistics help us think about Mary and Joseph and the community’s response to marriage and childbirth. In a current time when our youngest mothers might even take their children to school or have the child’s grandparent raise the baby. Mary is more old school and goes to visit her Aunt for a while.
Our second look at the text, we see Elizabeth providing a safe-haven for Mary and her baby. She does not great her with judgment nor shame. Elizabeth’s focus is on the children, both her own and Mary’s.
Look back at the statistics of all the years and all the age groups and periods of time. How many unwed-expectant mothers have been told by God that their child is to be the Messiah and the child ends up being born and becoming the messiah? There is but one.
It is interesting that Mary’s hurried trip to the hills to see her aunt is first a response to that she could not explain in a way that the community and family could accept or understand. Even with Joseph’s willingness to take responsibility and Mary’s skipping town reveal that we live in a time when marriage less of a covenant of love, trust, and faith and an event, a tax deduction and a perceived hindrance to self fulfillment.
The Loop hole: They were engaged, betrothed, technically committed, covered? Surely it is more than this.
The Messiah and Savior of us all is born in a relation of broken-ness and twisting of the laws to suit our world view and personal experience. The balance of how we make sense of the world is our of order.
John Wesley taught us to ready and study scripture as a part of experiencing Jesus as the Word: spoken, alive and forever present for our benefit. We study, read and sing scripture as one of the ways we practice our faith.
But how we understand the Word is gathered through (3) three lenses/filters.
- We read and interpret the Word from our own experience in the world, our personal context as a spiritual being in a physical world.
- We read and hear how other faithful followers have experienced the Word in the past and learn from their trial and errors as well as their faithfulness.
- We also measure the world through the context of the world around us using our God given gifts of reason and part of us that reflects God’s image in our lives.
Therefore we lean about marriage by
- Asking and listening to those in the faith have been married successfully for generations.
- We ask God to reveal directly through our own experience of relationship and marriage.
- We learn from the minds and psyche God has given to each of us.
If we only value one or value one more than another, we skew God’s perspective in exchange for our own.
Time OUT! What does all this have to do with Christmas and Baby Jesus?
The greatest news that God loves the world that he wants to:
- Move in with us
- Show and teach us how to live and disciples others
- Come to give himself for our selfishness, pride, greed, and all matters of sin.
Can we hear this message in the conversation and visit to Aunt Elizabeth’s House?
Despite the perceptions that Joseph and Mary were out of bounds with marriage.
Not married, Difference of Ages, spiritual maturity, Expectations from family and society
(1) Elizabeth is filled with Joy, when the sound of Mary’s voice enters her house.
..When the angels show up to tell the shepherds, Be not afraid, be filled with, JOY.
Mary comes, for a time to move in with Elizabeth.
(2)Elizabeth hears the news and affirms, ‘my Lord has come to me.”
..Jesus says to disciples, Come to me all you who labor and heavy laden.
Mary is welcomed into the heart and home, because of joy AND for fulfillment of the WORD/ promise, salvation.
(3) Elizabeth, as a person of the Word/Scriptures acknowledges our Savior is here/now.
..Jesus explains to those on the road to Emmaus all the scriptures how the prophesies and teaches have all paved the way.
She teaches and encourages the fearful that God’s plans are unfolded, dependable and available.
In less than two minutes, Elizabeth speaks and models the work of Christ in the world.
JOY, I share:
Her own child rejoices within her, and she communicated the JOY by telling it.
MY HOME, Go is present in our real lives, NOW.
The Joy has come into our house, into our hearts, into our crazy brokenness
The Promises are worthy of Trust
All the Words and promises are fulfilling in Jesus.
So Elizabeth teaches some radical hospitality in welcoming Mary:
She Passionately shares her worship
She Intentionally shares her faith with encouragement
She Takes the Risk of welcoming the expectant Mary
She celebrates the Extravagant Generosity of God’s preparing us for this moment.
So Elizabeth gives us the homework assignment for Christmas prep and it takes two minutes.
STEP 1. Listen for Joy in the midst of Bad News
STEP 2. Claim that moment as time for God to be real in your life/experience
STEP 3. Place the current moment of Faith Sharing in the context of scripture.
This becomes a blessing for Elizabeth, Mary and God
Christmas is not about the gifts; it is about the giving.
It is not about preparing for the future, its about living in God presently.
It is about opening our hearts and homes to disciples others in their weakness and fear.
This is when Christ shows us as CHRIST-MASS.. Start today!
John 6:24-35 Which Tank is Filled? 20150802 RSUMC
Posted by myoikos in #jesus, #mysundaysermons, #rsumc, Boldness, Christian LIving, Communion, Meaning, Passionate Worship, Prayers, Sacrifice, Suffering, Worship on August 1, 2015
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. [NRSV]
We want a new sign
From the text, the people ask Jesus for something new and improved. We like something bigger, better and more sensational that the last performance. Human nature has not changed since Jesus’s time.
You fed 5000 yesterday what will you do today?
We actually want more.
You gives us something we didn’t work for yesterday, keep feeding us so we don’t have to work.
Occupier Mentality: “It’s no trouble for you to feed us, we don’t have to do any work, we just ask and you give.”
Jesus said, you will be hungry for food everyday, You sound like Moses’s people. God wants to feed your spirit.
We want ANOTHER show.
The crowd: was also saying. We are heard to be fed and entertained.
Keep proving yourself to us. A little is never enough, we want the greatest show on earth.
Jesus tells the crowd, You need to be asking for the “true” bread that gives eternal life from heaven. Not just daily bread, heavenly bread.
We want tangible, physical proof of more and we want it now.
Prosperity-preachers tell folks that the way to wealth is to trust in Jesus: Are the people who are in Costa Rico, Culebra, Porte Rico, or 80% of our students at our local schools who are faithful in Jesus, but stay wealthy. Who can’t afford to make it to the wealth palaces.. there is a disconnect..
In a world filled with struggles, grief, trials and sin… we want to find the path of least resistance for the greatest personal yield..
Here is Jesus’s question to those who seek peace, satisfaction, fullness, wholeness, justice, power and life.
Which tank do you fill first?
The gas tank or the prayer tank? The stomach tank or the spirit tank? the bank tank or the eternity tank?
A couple of years ago I remember pumping eighty dollars of gas into my gas tank on the way to the grocery store. Preoccupied with my grocery list, I looked back at the tank I realized I had nothing left to spend at the grocery store. I went home empty-handed but with the one tank full, the other empty.
Jesus wants us to be full, in the eternal way.
Communion in one certain way we fill our spiritual tank. This is not just bread and juice this is the presence of Christ live and at work in us. This is not just the juice this is the real power of Jesus’s sacrifice at work on our behalf making us whole, fresh and new.
Do you have room for communion?
One Sunday afternoon I watch Monty Python’s Meaning of life and reached scene where the very large person was eating a disgusting amount of food and was do full that he was expanding to the point of exploding his fullness. The waiter offers him a “wafer thin mint” to cleanse his pallet. “Oh I couldn’t eat one bite more.” the man protests. The waiter persists: It ‘s just a wafer thin mint. They banter back and forth and the large, completely full man yields and places the thin mint on his tongue and proceeds to literally explode. I was both disgusted and rolling with laughter at the literal interpretation of having eaten beyond the point of being full. I could not keep from laughing all through communion that night. How could a wafer and drop of juice fill us beyond fullness.
alternate..
Phil DeMoore: What you do when you get ready to cut the grass: Fill the Mower.
Rather than drain tank, lets fill each other’s tank.
Bottom line.
We don’t need to be entertained by Jesus
We don’t need more proof.
We don’t need another illustration.
We know we need Jesus.. Are you full of Love? Are you filled with a passion to share the Good News? Are you filled with the peace and assurance that God will be with us and will prevail through all evil and all trials and struggles and if we stick with God and do what God guides and calls us to do for others,… then we will already know what eternity will be like.
Communion
The filling station is here. Check you gauge, is it time to fill up.
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Vanderbilt Lectionary Weekly Texts- January 31, 2021: Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B)Deuteronomy 18:15-20 * Psalm 111 * 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 * Mark 1:21-28
- January 31, 2021: Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Year B)