Sermon Text for June 12, 2022 - "New Season, Same Purpose"

 “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 25^th. 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.

Weekly Word Podcast - Full Worship Service for June 12, 2022

 

06/12/2022 Full Worship Service

Community Worship Service, Sunday, August 7, 2022

Our annual Community Worship Service will be taking place on Sunday, August 7th, at 10:00 A.M. at the Farmersville Firehouse. The Fire Association will be hosting a Chicken and Pork Chop Barbecue following the service, and FABA will be selling ice cream. Tickets for the barbecue are on sale now, and are available at the Firehouse, Jerry's Meat Market, or any FABA member. Adult dinners are $10 apiece, and children's dinners are $6. Please contact Chief Erisman at (937) 696-2863 with any questions, or to reserve tickets. Come to enjoy our time of worship and community food and fellowship together!

Sermon Text for June 5, 2022 - "We Have a Story to Tell"

 

“We Have a Story to Tell”

June 5, 2022

 

            Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

            As I’ve mentioned before, throughout my service in ministry, I have had the privilege of meeting many unique and special individuals. One in particular is a man I met while serving in north central Montana. At the time, I was serving a three point parish, meaning that I served three individual congregations, two of which were located less than ten miles from each other on the same highway, and the third was located farther to the north up near the Canadian border. The man I’m thinking of this morning was a member of that congregation, the one up near Canada. Since I had a great distance to travel between the churches each Sunday, and would often arrive at at least a couple of the churches with only minutes to spare, I would deliver the bulletins to this man and his wife during the week, and we would engage in long and meaningful conversations. Now, I should explain that this man, who went to be with the Lord just only a couple of years ago, was incredibly fervent and zealous in his faith and devotion, and was always wanting to know what to think as a Christian about certain issues – which meant we would definitely have interesting conversations. During one in particular, since the topic of the possibility of life on other planets had recently been discussed in the news, he asked me what I would do if a spaceship full of aliens suddenly landed in the fields next door to the church. Now, as it happened, I had actually, and rather randomly, already been thinking about that particular scenario, so I told him what I would do, which is what I would hope any of us would do: invite the aliens to come to worship at our church.

            Now, of course, this was many years ago – and the model for growing the church was still very much just inviting people to come to church. We continue to assume that the best way to get people to come to church is to invite them to church, and they will automatically want to come. But, especially after the pandemic, that is no longer the case. Simply inviting people to come to church is only part of what we are called to do in the present day, but more importantly, we are to go out and bring what we have to everyone.

One thing that changed during the pandemic was people’s eating habits. With restaurants either being closed to public dining or having restricted service, more and more people started to order carry-out or Doordash. In other words, since people couldn’t go to restaurants themselves to eat, restaurants had to make sure that what they had to offer could go out to where people were. And that habit still continues: more people have gotten used to carry out and eating at home. Also, even though restaurants have fully opened up again, hours during which they remain open have tended to be a bit unpredictable sometimes due to available staffing. So, again, it’s just become easier to order something and either pick it up or have it delivered – to have it go where people are. We’ve tended to think of church as being like a restaurant: we expect people to come to us, receive what we offer, then leave and come back again. However, much as with restaurants, habits have even changed with that: people aren’t just going to come to church to receive what God has to offer, because church attendance simply isn’t the priority it used to be. Instead, we are to be taking all the good things God has to offer and delivering them to where people are: rather than just being servers at one place, we have to become delivery drivers, going out to different places.

            We are also continuing to hear about the different parts of our liturgy: today, in just a few moments, after we receive Communion, we will be singing “Thank the Lord and sing his praise, tell everyone what he has done.” Like many parts of our liturgy, it is based on a Bible verse, I this case, 1 Chronicles 16:8-10. That’s also the most effective thing we can be doing in the present day – not waiting for people to come to church to hear about what God has done, but telling people ourselves, wherever we are, whatever the occasion may be, what God has done. Even more specifically, what God has done for us. Believe it or not, if something wonderful has happened to us, if we have been healed, blessed, given something unexpected, or if a member of our family or a friend of ours has experienced a special blessing, we can tell other people about it. Even though it is something we tend to keep to ourselves, God does special things for us and gives us special blessings because He wants us to tell other people about them, and about Him. I’m sure many of us have similar stories to tell: many of us have stories about how we have been healed, restored, and delivered from illness, either mental or physical; addiction; an abusive family life or relationship; a struggle with doubt. These are stories, from our experiences, we can tell other people to provide encouragement: literally, to give people courage to be able to face what lies ahead, by reinforcing the promise that God is with them and will help them in whatever they’re going through.

There is actually another word for this, one which we hear a lot from certain other Christians, but we don’t hear a lot in our own tradition: testifying. To testify to something means “to serve as evidence or proof of something’s existing or being the case.” And there are doubtless a growing number of people who are wondering if what God says is true, or if He even exists, especially when things like mass shootings and increasing threats of violence continue to rise. But, believe it or not, we are the evidence that God exists. Who we are, where we have been, where we are now, are all because God has made us, given us life, and brought us to where we are by His power. We are also the evidence that God is who He claims to be: it is because of His love that we have been saved, and have the promise of eternal life, by the death and resurrection of Jesus. But how are people going to know that God is real and His promises are real unless we tell them? In fact, in today’s Gospel reading, in John 15:27, Jesus both encourages and commands us to testify: no longer to keep what God has done for us to ourselves, but to tell other people boldly and without any hesitation. The reason the Holy Spirit has been given to us is to make us aware of how God is responsible for everything good that happens to us; and to give us the courage and power to tell the good things He does – just as He did on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit also continues to speak to us every day: He speaks to us in our hearts, frequently in words of comfort, peace, and reassurance. If we are willing to listen, He calms our fears and anxieties, and guides us in the best direction. When this happens as well, these are times to testify to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and encourage others to listen, be calmed, and trust God.

The Holy Spirit also helps us to recognize that what we once thought of as impossible divisions to overcome no longer exist, and that we are united in this call and command to testify. The story we hear in Genesis talks about the Tower of Babel, which is used to explain the origin of different languages. In the story, the people speak one language, and fall into the same trap as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden: the desire to be greater than God. So they try to build a tower to reach up to heaven, and, in order to thwart their sinful plan, the sin being trying to be God and greater than God, they are given different languages, no longer able to understand each other and thus no longer able to work together. It was also previously the case that only one group of people were to be called God’s chosen people. But on the Day of Pentecost, God now shows that all those divisions have been overcome, and we have become united again. The miracle of Pentecost is not only that the disciples were given the ability to speak in other languages, but that they were given the power and boldness to tell the great and glorious things God had done in Jesus. The speaking in other languages was to show that this good news was now no longer for one group of people, but was for every person in every country of every language. Last week I mentioned that part of our calling as Christians is no longer to emphasize what divides us, but to find and emphasize things we have in common, and seek to work together in unity and cooperation with each other. One of the many things we have in common, which unifies us, and which we can work together on, is testifying to the power and goodness of God.

In just a few minutes, we will be receiving Communion. And one of the things we wish to emphasize about Communion is that, just like the good news of God, it is available for everyone. When we receive Communion together, we are also acknowledging our common faith in Jesus as Savior, our acceptance of each other as members of God’s family. We also recognize, and accept, that we have a responsibility to care for each other; to encourage and pray for each other; to help each other grow in our relationship with God, and with each other; and to support and accept each other as we are, because that is how God accepts us. In Communion, just as at Pentecost, we recognize that, even as diverse as we are in many ways, we are still united in the most important way: by our faith in Jesus, and our calling to tell everyone what He has done. But let’s not keep it within our walls any longer – let’s take it outside, to where everyone else is. Let’s testify – make God real for everyone, and let’s tell our story, with boldness and courage.

            Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Weekly Word Podcast - Full Worship Service for June 5, 2022

06/05/2022 Pentecost Sunday Full Worship Service