“New Season, Same Purpose”
June 12, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
It’s hard to believe it’s Summer already! It seems like the first half of the year has flown on by, and here we are, looking forward to Summer and everything it has to offer. So, as we look forward to this new season, let’s take a moment briefly to recap where we’ve been so far, and what we can look forward to. We had a bit of a challenging winter, including at least a couple of unexpected major snowstorms, and lingering winter weather even going into Spring, but God, in His grace, helped bring us through safely. Many of us struggled with health issues, or are continuing to struggle with ongoing health issues, but God either brought us safely through those as well, or, we believe, is going to bring us to healing and wholeness again. We celebrated Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, and we were able to revive at least a couple customs during Holy Week which had previously been put on hold due to the pandemic. This past month, we rejoiced with Lilli Miller as she graduated from high school, and Cali Miller and Noah Seim as they were confirmed. We were able to host a successful snack bar to provide refreshment for everyone shopping at the yard sales earlier this month, especially as there were many more yard sales around the community this year. We will be hosting a Family Movie Night on the evening of the 25th. Much has also been happening with at least a couple of the churches in town as well. Our friends at Slifers have recently welcomed Pastor Shelley Wiley as their new pastor, as well as her husband Jon, and are eagerly looking forward to sharing their new partnership and relationship in ministry together. Our friends at the Methodist church will be saying farewell to Pastor Brian Thie today, and wishing him and his wife Donna well as they move to their new home to await the next adventure and opportunity God has in store for them. The Methodist church will also be looking forward to what God has in store as far as bringing in a new pastor who will lead them through this continuing time of challenge. Even outside of the churches, there are at least a few new things that are going on around town. Over Memorial Day Weekend, we were thankful to dedicate the new Hometown Heroes banners, which are hanging up around the main parts of town. Our newest restaurant, the Farmersville Café, which is operated by the Farmer in the Deli in Germantown, will be fully open starting this coming Wednesday. The Fire Association has begun showing movies on Friday evenings during the summer. So we have had much to celebrate, and much to look forward to. All this is not to say that we will be free of challenges: covid still remains a reality, and one which we still need to be aware of. Recently we had some tornadoes blow through our wider area, and we continue to pray for all those whose homes were lost or damaged in those tornadoes. The ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has affected the rest of the world in a lot of ways, not least of which the price of gas, which itself dictates the price of food in grocery stores, delivery costs, and even, especially for farmers, the price of seeds and fertilizer. Yet, one of the blessings is that, even though the overall price of gas remains high, the price at our own gas station has, at least this past week, been lower than most other places in the area. Nevertheless, the cost of living has gone up for every one of us, and our community has been hit hard as a result. One major example of this is CAMP, who served nineteen families just this past Thursday, which is a new high, and is anticipating serving at least thirty families over the next two weeks. Therefore, CAMP is especially in need of canned goods, laundry detergent, dish soap, and shampoo. Increased violence continues to be a problem, especially against churches and schools, and in neighborhoods. Yet, even with these recent celebrations and ongoing challenges, one thing remains constant: God still has a purpose, a direction in which He is leading the world, and He still has a purpose for us.
Also, in keeping with our ongoing series looking at the various parts of our worship service, today we will be talking about the Apostles’ Creed, which we will be reciting together in just a few minutes. The reason it is called the Apostles’ Creed is because it reflects the teachings of the Apostles, as laid down in the Bible, which we, as heirs of the Apostles, continue to carry on; and which summarize everything the Bible teaches about God, who He is, and what His purpose is. For us, saying the Creed each Sunday is not merely reciting a statement as part of the service, but it is a clear and bold affirmation of what we hold to be true; the truth that determines how we live; and the truth we hold on to to give us an alternative way of thinking about life and the world, especially given the current struggles going on in life and the world, and reminds us what our purpose is, which reflects God’s purpose. We state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, who created heaven and earth. In fact, this is also what we hear in today’s First Lesson from Proverbs: the fact that God, using His wisdom and power, created everything that exists. The wisdom of God also says that it existed even before there was such a thing as time or existence – meaning that God Himself existed even before anything was created. He also, at the very beginning, set boundaries for the oceans, and established foundations for the earth. Even though things may seem to go out of control sometimes, God has, even today, set limits for how far things are allowed to go – meaning that the struggles we now face will eventually come to an end, and be resolved, because God Himself will resolve them. In the meantime, as we hear in today’s Second Lesson from Romans, we can still rejoice even as we struggle and suffer, because our sufferings, as tough as they are, can only help us to learn to trust in God even more. This is what it means that suffering produces perseverance: perseverance meaning that even though we may want to give up, especially give up waiting for God, we can’t do so. We have to keep waiting patiently for God to act. This then helps us become people of a certain character: people who are patient, who let God take charge, who are at peace with ourselves and others because of letting God take charge, and who hope. Hope is also a choice. God does not force anyone to trust Him, yet, when everything else we have trusted in seems to have failed, we have the comfort of knowing that there is someone we can trust who will come through for us every time, just like He always has. Hope also, as verse 5 says, does not disappoint us, because God Himself has given us the ability to love and trust Him, to hold on when everything else seems impossible, and to believe that His glory will prevail over all the other powers of this world. This is then why we say we believe in Jesus Christ, who is the only Son of God, and is our Lord, and through whom God has made it possible for His glory to prevail. He is fully God and fully human, born in a virgin birth from Mary and conceived by the power of God in a miraculous way. He suffered, died, was buried, and descended into hell, where He broke and defeated the power of hell and the devil once and for all. He then rose again and ascended into heaven, where He sits at God’s right hand in eternal victory. All of this is a reminder about who is really supreme, and who is in command of us. Jesus alone is to be our leader, and He leads us through the Holy Spirit. This is why we then state that we believe in the Holy Spirit, who is the very power of God who continues to maintain everything He has made. Jesus also says in today’s Gospel lesson that the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. This means that all the voices of fear, hopelessness, and despair which we hear, especially with everything going on, are false voices, and the voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks God’s words of encouragement, hope, and comfort, is the voice which speaks the truth. In a world where there remains much division and hatred, we still believe in the holy Christian Church and the communion of saints, the family of God, a place where all people are loved and welcomed, and where we are unified by our being saved by Jesus. We believe in the forgiveness of sins, meaning that all of our sins are forgiven not because of anything we do, but because Jesus has earned it for us. Finally, we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting: our destiny, where we are headed, is for eternal life. That is when we will be completely free of all the sufferings of this life and this world, because we will live with God in His Kingdom, where there will be no more suffering, illness, violence, or pain. We then end with the word, “Amen,” the ancient word which means “Yes, this is true” – everything we have said is true.
What is our purpose? To affirm and live out courageously the truth of what we believe: that God the Father remains all-power and sovereign over all the world He created; that Jesus reigns supreme as King; and the Holy Spirit continues to make God’s will happen, especially for us. Even as God comforts us with this truth, we are also to comfort everyone, especially anyone who is on the verge of losing hope. God has never once given us a reason not to lose hope, He has never given us a reason to be disappointed, and He never will. When we want to give up, we pray instead: we pray for God to take control. When everyone else wants to tear other people down, we encourage, because we have been encouraged. When everyone else wants to insist that there is no hope, we have hope. We believe that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is alive and here for us. Whatever has happened, whatever will happen, God will remain the one constant. Let’s continue to trust, follow, and believe in Him.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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