Sermon Text for July 17, 2022 - "God Still Leads"

 

“God Still Leads”

July 17, 2022

 

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

            The very first parish I served, nineteen years ago, was in southwestern Minnesota, and was a two point parish. In the basement fellowship hall at one of the churches, there was this painting. It’s a picture of an old couple praying over a meal of bread and soup, and the woman has her Bible open. At one point, my dad came to visit me, and we toured both the churches, including the one this painting was in. He explained that this painting was a perfect example of the kind of faith that the people who had founded the church over a hundred years ago had had: a simple trust in God to help provide for them, following Him and His Word, and thanking Him for what He had given them. And really, that’s all being a Christian is: it’s trusting and following God.

            We can trust God, first of all, because He is the one who is supreme and is in control of everything. That’s not always easy, though, especially when everything seems to be going wrong. In today’s First Reading, it’s looking like things are out of control. Elijah complains to God that nothing seems to be going right: people are turning away from God and worshipping idols; prophets like him are being hunted down and killed; and even Elijah himself has been forced into hiding. Like Elijah, it’s easy for us to look around and think everything is doomed. The world isn’t the same as it once was. We’ve become frustrated because so much has changed. Things we once thought we could rely on are no longer there. Restaurants don’t always have enough staff to provide service for regular hours. The prices of gas, groceries, and even simple things we’ve always bought out of necessity have gone up, which has meant we’re short on funds. Stores don’t always have what we want to buy in stock. Meanwhile, war continues to rage between Ukraine and Russia. Divisions in our own society still run rampant – even despite repeated pleas for unity and peace. Violence continues to erupt, sometimes in unexpected places. Bullying continues to be a problem in schools, work places, everywhere. Even criticism on social media has become harsher and more unloving. Things seem out of control.

            But nothing could be farther from the truth: God is still in charge. He commands Elijah to anoint Hazael as King of Aram and Jehu as King of Israel, showing that He, God, still has the power to raise up and depose world leaders, and so be in charge of the course of history. He also tells Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor as prophet, which means God will not let His message be silenced, nor will He allow His power, which He works through His prophets and others whom He chooses to act on His behalf, to be stopped in the world. God then encourages Elijah by letting him know that He has reserved seven thousand people in Israel who have not worshipped idols – encouraging because this lets Elijah know that what he is doing is not in vain, that he is going to get results, and he has people who are on his side. Sometimes we may feel alone and unsupported, especially as we try to follow God. We may feel isolated, especially when we do stand up or speak out against anything God doesn’t want for us or others – but we’re actually not alone. God sends people to support us and be on our side. God makes sure we don’t feel like we’re having to fight our battles on our own. So no matter what happens, God still rules everything– us, the world, and everything that’s going on.

            And sometimes this means, as we hear in today’s Gospel reading, simply trusting God and following even when we’re unsure or uncomfortable with doing so. When a Samaritan village rejects Jesus and His disciples, the disciples want revenge by having God burn the village down. But Jesus rebukes them, probably by reminding them that not only is that not showing God’s love, but it means trusting that God has another plan for them – if He doesn’t want them to preach in that village, they’ll go on to another one, and leave the insults and hurts they’ve just had to suffer behind, moving forward to where God leads. Jesus then reminds a couple of men who want to follow Him that it probably isn’t as easy as it sounds: sometimes following Jesus means going in directions we may not expect, or we may not be comfortable with. Sometimes there are changes that need to be made in order to go the direction Jesus is leading us, especially to be able to reach other people. And this happens by having Jesus change us by His Holy Spirit: by transforming us to become more like Him, and, in doing so, to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are the very characteristics and attitude of God Himself, and which we can live by.

            Now, it would be easy to go on a long and brow-beating lecture about all the ways the world and society is engaging in the sinful nature, and going against the fruits of the Spirit. But many years ago, in Northern California, I had a chance to meet another pastor who had previously done prison ministry. He told a story about how, at one particular prison, he and one other preacher would be leading two worship services running at the same time. He noticed that maybe three or four people would be going to the other preacher’s worship service, and he himself would get a large crowd coming to his service. So one day he asked one of the guys who attended his worship service why this was the case, why there were more people coming to his service. This was the answer he got: “The other guy tells us about how much we’ve sinned, we’ve done wrong, and we’re going to hell if we don’t shape up. We know that already. But you tell us about how much God loves us. That’s what we need to hear. We need to hear some good things, and you tell us that.” That story is one I’ve taken to heart ever since.

That’s not to say, though, that there aren’t still consequences for following the sinful nature. There are still things that go wrong in today’s world because people follow sinful instead of the fruits of the spirit, ways that we can’t ignore, simply because we’re bombarded with them on the news, and in everyday life. Women and children especially are abused and exploited: human trafficking continues to be a particular issue. Jealousy leads to broken relationships and friendships, especially if it is jealousy based on misunderstanding, suspicion, or paranoia. Dissensions and factions lead to disunity and a lack of love and trust, especially within groups and families. Uncontrolled rage leads to violence, especially physical and mental abuse, and even outright murder. It also hurts us physically and emotionally, as we lash out in anger, which affects our mental health and blood pressure, among other things. Selfish ambition causes us to want to fight against each other, causes competition, and is the primary cause of war. Envy causes people to slander and gossip about each other, which also leads to mistrust, dysfunctional relationships, and broken groups.

And all of these are to be called for what they are: contrary to how God wants us to live and treat each other. However, there is hope: in the death of Jesus on the cross, all of these things which are part of our sinful nature have been put to death. So, for everyone who repents and asks God to change heart and mind, there is forgiveness for all these things we have done, and we are free from them to live in a new way.

This means we are to be encouraged to live the way the Holy Spirit causes us to live, by the fruits of the spirit. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And, all these are not only ways that make us better people, they are, more importantly, ways that we can make things better for other people. By showing love and acceptance, we can help people know God loves and accepts them unconditionally. Living in peace with each other can help make our homes, schools, neighborhoods, churches, and everywhere else we are, inviting, welcoming, and supportive places for ourselves and everyone else. Being patient with ourselves and others helps ourselves and others become better versions of who we are. Showing kindness and goodness also helps us and others become better versions of ourselves – and it’s important for us to show kindness and goodness to ourselves first, so we can better show it to other people. Faithfulness means not only being faithful to God, but also being faithful to each other: standing by each other and continuing to remain friends and supporters for each other. Being gentle helps us to be able to relate to other people as equals, recognizing that we are no better or worse than anyone else, and that we are all the same, with the same struggles and needs. Being gentle with ourselves also causes us to feel good mentally and emotionally, which causes our physical health to be in good shape. This means we can also exercise self-control, especially in how we think or act towards other people. 

If we really want to have some sort of guideline for how God wants us to live, that’s really the best way to think about it: how are we treating each other? We can be asking: is what I’m thinking about someone treating them the best way, or the way I would want to be thought of or treated? Is what I’m saying about them building them up in the sight of everyone else? Am I helping others feel the best about themselves – which is how I would want to feel? Is my attitude helping to encourage others? All these are ways in which we can follow God’s leading, and live how He lives. If we continue simply to trust God, we will be changed to become more like Him – and help Him make this world a better place. God remains in charge of everything – so let’s have Him be in charge of us.

            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 July 10, 2022

 

Sermon Text for July 10, 2022 - "But Who is He?"

 

“But Who Is He?”

July 10, 2022

 

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

Jesus is everywhere! Well yes, we know that already: we know Jesus is everywhere because He is God, but that’s not what we mean at the moment. Instead, if we think about it, Jesus is more a part of our culture than we realize. Pictures, images, and statues of Jesus can show up in the most unexpected places, whether it’s in a cartoon, in an ad, or in a song. Jesus is even frequently invoked to justify various opinions or causes. But what all of these do is cause confusion about who Jesus really is – different images of Jesus show Him in different ways, but few of them really show who Jesus is.

So who is Jesus? The answer is probably easier than we imagine: Jesus is Jesus. Jesus is the one who came to show us all God’s love by healing the sick, raising the dead, and helping people in every kind of need. He is the one who came to tell everyone that God is free and fully accessible to all people. Most importantly, He is also the one who came to suffer and die to save us from the power of sin and death, to die as a sacrifice for all our sins, past, present, and future. Jesus’ suffering had even been predicted long before by the Prophet Zechariah, whose words we hear in today’s First Reading: in verse 10, it says “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” As Zechariah also prophesies, God even promises victory through Jesus’ suffering and death, as all the enemies which come against us, especially sin, death, and the devil, are destroyed by Jesus’ rising again from the dead. But He is more than a historical figure who just did things in the past: He is a real person, someone who is still here with us today. He is our King, but He is still here close to us. Just as He was when He was on earth, He is freely and fully accessible to everyone – especially to you. As many of us have experienced just this week, He answers prayer for everyone who needs any kind of healing, and hears and answers prayers of everyone who asks Him for help. He is our best friend – He is your best friend – someone you can go to at any time, who you know always has your back, supports you, cares for you, and loves you. He is someone who, no matter how close you may feel to Him, always keeps close to you. He will never let you down or disappoint you, but will always do what He promises for you.

But, here’s what each of us can be thinking about this morning, maybe something we don’t think about all that often: what does Jesus mean to you? When you think of Jesus, who is He to you? Not just what has He done for you, but what kind of relationship do you have with Him? How important is He to you? What does it mean for you to follow Jesus? And this is actually something for which, for each of us here today, there may not be a single answer. Jesus means different things to each of us, because each of us have had a different experience with Jesus. Jesus has helped us and spoken to us in many different ways. But if we were to ask each other, and ask other people, who Jesus is and what He means, every answer we give, or other people give, is perfectly valid. No one answer is more correct or incorrect than the other, because Jesus helps us in many different ways, ways that He has been able to help us best at any given time. But all of these experiences we have had with Jesus have one thing in common: they are meant to bring us to where He wants us to be. As we talked about last week, being crucified with Jesus means letting who we used to be, especially everything that has been harmful to us, die, and a new, and better self, replace who we used to be. It means letting go of all of our old habits, thought patterns, actions, reactions, and instincts, and letting Jesus replace them with a new way of being. This is what it means to deny ourselves: to let go of who we are, especially what is not where God wants us to be, and allow God to change us. Here, we have to be clear, though: this does not mean that everyone is expected to end up becoming the exact same way, nor are we to expect to end up exactly like other particular Christians we know. The outcome of where Jesus is leading each of us and how He is changing us is different and unique for each of us. We certainly are not to assume that everyone is going to have the exact same behavior and lifestyle as a result of believing in Jesus, nor are we to try to impose a certain kind of way of being on each other or on everyone else. Instead, following Jesus means freedom – giving ourselves the freedom to be transformed by Jesus, with whatever happens being between us individually and Him; and letting others be transformed by Jesus, becoming themselves, and who Jesus is helping them to become. It also means freedom from having to think that following Jesus means living according to a certain set of rules or laws. As Paul points out in today’s Second Reading from Galatians, now that Jesus has come, we are free from having to think that living by a law code, especially to prove that we are good people or good enough people. Instead, it means being free to be ourselves, who God helped us become, and allowing others the freedom to be themselves and who God has made them.

However, this does not mean that following Jesus is always easy. Following Jesus is a life of becoming, as well as being. As we become who we are meant to be, there is often a lot of struggle involved. Every day we are involved in this struggle: the best kind of example is cleaning out a closet or a room. Our struggle is what to keep and what to throw away, and trying to figure out what we need or don’t need any more. We try to figure out what’s just taking up space, or what we can actually use. And that’s what following Jesus means: throwing away what we don’t need any more, what’s just been taking up space in our lives, something we may think is useful or even enjoyable for us, but has been keeping us from moving forward. This struggle might even involve pain, since some things we have held on to tightly for so long, things we have thought were important to us, are painful to let go of – but necessary to let go of. Sometimes, following Jesus may even mean following Him to places we don’t expect, or maybe even in directions we may not have wanted to go in the first place. But when we get there, we find that where He has led us has turned out to be the best thing we’ve needed. Even though we can’t see the end of where Jesus is leading us, we can still trust that what we are becoming is who we are meant to be. But it means having a great amount of trust, something which itself can be a challenge. We want to be completely in control, to be able to make all our decisions entirely on our own, and to have everything planned out down to the last detail. But following Jesus means surrendering any desire to be in control, and plan out everything ourselves: instead, it means letting Jesus take charge and determine our direction. It does not mean that where we end up will be the same as where someone else we know has ended up or will end up, but instead where Jesus knows we are to be. And, when we trust and follow Jesus, where we are will often be more wonderful than we could ever hope for. Jesus Himself, after suffering and dying, rose again in victory. If we continue to follow Jesus, and trust where He is leading us, we too will end up in victory. Even though not all the problems we face in this life will be overcome, we still have the promise that, ultimately, we will live with Jesus forever. We are also to support and encourage each other as we each struggle, and pray for each other to be able to follow where Jesus leads. And as we each follow Jesus in our own way, let us continue to be changed by 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 July 3, 2022

 

Sermon Text for July 3, 2022 - "Restoration"

 

“Restoration”

July 3, 2022

 

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

            Today, on this Sunday of the Fourth of July weekend, there are doubtless going to be many sermons preached that will be talking about either how great America is, or what’s wrong with America. In the latter case, there will probably be a lot of sermons that are going to try to point out specific sins that, in the preacher’s opinion, are leading America astray. Such sermons are also going to try to call out specific people, or groups of people, for bringing judgement on America, or even outright blame certain people for the problems and struggles we are currently facing as a society. The problem: first of all, we already have too much division in our society right now. We already have enough judgment going on, with people blaming the other side for what the problems we’re facing are right now. The other problem: in doing so, we set up a situation where there have to be winners and losers. One group has to be good, the other has to be evil. That may be how we want to see things, but, as we hear in today’s Bible readings, that is certainly not how God sees things. As Christians, we want to be able to see things how God sees them, because that is the true way. And, in order to be able to speak on God’s behalf, and speak the words He wants us to speak to everyone else, we have to be able to see things as He sees them.

            In today’s Old Testament reading, we hear the story of what happens to David after he lusts after Bathsheba, and arranges for her husband, Uriah the Hittite, to be killed, so he can take her for himself. David is certainly remembered as being the most righteous king of Israel, but he in no way is perfect. And in this case, he forgets that God has given him more than he possibly could have expected, including being given King Saul’s wives. So God sends Nathan the prophet to tell a story about two men, one a rich man having lots of lambs, but taking the lamb of another, poor man, to feed a guest. David, still being a king who desires justice, is angered by the story, and demands that the rich man face justice for what he has done to hurt the poor man. Nathan then gives an unexpected twist: he tells David, “You are the man!” In other words, the very thing David is condemning the rich man for is the very thing he himself has done. However, before we start blaming David for his foolishness, we have to remember ourselves: very often, there have been times when we have been responsible for the very thing we have blamed another person for. We frequently want to blame “the other person” without taking responsibility for our part in the relationship. We forget that if we point a finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at us. This is especially something our whole country needs to hear: that even though we may want to blame whoever we think as being “the other side” for our problems, we are just as responsible for bringing problems on ourselves. There are consequences for how we treat other people, which is ultimately what sin is. Sinning against another person means mistreating them, and there are consequences when we mistreat other people. Relationships especially get damaged, and mistrust between people happens. God especially points this out to David: David will continually face violence in his family from this point on because of what he has done to Uriah. But not everything is completely hopeless: even though David has done this, he will still not be overthrown. Later on, his sons Absalom and Adonijah attempt to usurp his throne and put themselves as king in his place, but God still shows grace and preserves David’s position. He restores David to the position He has for him. God does this because He has an ultimate plan: He is going to cause the Savior of the whole world, Jesus Christ, to be born from David’s royal line and family. So God does not even let one misstep by David get in the way of what He has planned. Which means that all is not lost for us either: God is giving us an opportunity to make things right.

In the same way, God has a plan, and a great destiny for America. He called us into being as a nation a little over two hundred years ago, to be a place where people could come to experience freedom from oppression and tyranny, and be free to be themselves. Even though we certainly have not been perfect, and during our history we have at different times engaged in slavery, discrimination, and segregation, the purpose on which we were founded has continued to remain the same. Many people have benefitted from the freedoms we have offered, have come to this country seeking a better life, and have been able to find it because of the opportunities we have been able to give. We have also, as a country, been able to make things better for people in other parts of the world. But we always have to remember that the reason we have been able to do so is not because of our abilities or efforts, but because God has given us the ability to do so. If we, as a nation, keep remembering God, and asking Him to overcome our divisions, heal the hurts we have done to each other and have been done to us, and free us from the consequences of all the ways we have mistreated each other, we will be able to carry out the purpose He has given us in even greater ways than before. But we also have to repent, that is, look at the ways we have treated other people badly, ask to be forgiven, and turn away from whatever has caused us to sin against another person.

That is what Paul encourages in today’s Second Reading from Galatians. And here we have to make one thing clear: even though God gives us a lot of freedom, that doesn’t mean He permits everything. He does want us to live a good life, and He also wants us to help others live a good life. Anything that keeps us from doing so is something He doesn’t allow. Also, if we have been freed from a sinful habit, especially one that has caused us to abuse ourselves, or treat another person badly in any way, then we are to leave it behind and get rid of it. Simple as it sounds, the best way to avoid consequences for sinning is to get rid of the sin that is causing those consequences. And that is true freedom: being free from sins which cause us to damage and break relationships with ourselves and others. It means letting God restore us to where we need to be in life. It also means to recognize that forgiveness of our sins can only come through what Jesus has done on the cross: only by His sacrifice, all our sins, everything we have done, and everything others have done to us, have been forgiven. Nothing we do, no following of rules or laws, can earn us being forgiven – we are already forgiven. We have already been restored.

And, because we are already forgiven and restored, we can recognize that God has already forgiven and restored other people, even those we don’t think deserve to be. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells a woman, who is probably a prostitute, that her sins are forgiven. He doesn’t make her go through some sort of long restoration process, and He doesn’t even demand that she show any kind of change right away. Instead, He just tells her she is forgiven. This angers many of the people at the meal Jesus is at, including Simon, His host. Simon is a Pharisee, someone who believes that strict obedience to the commandments is necessary to be considered a believer. Like Simon, we say, “If God knew what kind of person this really is…” and insist that someone doesn’t deserve to be blessed because we disagree with them for any reason. It’s hard for us to imagine God could love and accept someone just as much as He does us. We actually say this more than we realize: this is called envy, or jealousy. We think that someone deserves to be punished for who they are or what they have done, and we ask God to punish them. We want to exact vengeance on those whom we believe have done wrong, and on those whom we think have wronged us. We want to judge. But, as with David, we are to recognize that not only are we guilty of the same things we blame other people for, but that others are just as equally loved, forgiven, and accepted by God as we are. We are to ask for God’s help in overcoming envy and jealousy, and instead see others as He sees them – the same way He see us, as people He loves equally in need of His help.

What all this shows is that ultimately, judgment belongs only to God. It does not belong to us. What God wants us to do today is not to judge or blame any longer, but to restore what has been broken. Where we have damaged our own lives, we are to ask for God’s help in removing the sin that has caused the damage. Where we have mistreated other people, and have wronged them in any way, whether they are family members, friends, or neighbors, we are to try to restore broken relationships by recognizing our part in the relationship being broken, apologizing, asking for forgiveness, and working to move forward with restoring the relationship. If we want America to be unified and at peace again, it has to begin with us. We have to be pursuing relationships again: a relationship with God, and loving relationships with each other. Instead words of blame, we are to be speaking words of support. Like Jesus, we are to speak comforting words of forgiveness and acceptance to other people – true words that come from God. If we are to be one nation under God, then let us be restored – restored to live in forgiveness and peace with each other once again.

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

Sermon Text for June 26, 2022 - "Life is the Reason"

 “Life is the Reason”

June 26, 2022

 

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

            This morning, as both the beginning and main illustration for today’s sermon, we will be hearing the Rev. Marvin Hileman give a brief presentation about the fire which burned our church’s original sanctuary to the ground back in 1952, seventy years ago this month. We will now hear the story of what happened on that fateful evening:

(Marvin Hileman presentation here; please see the video or hear the podcast for the presentation.)

            Thank you, Marv. What this is an illustration of is something quite simple, and powerful: God has always been faithful. The fire could have done far more damage in a lot of other ways than it did: at the very worst, it could have ended our life as a church family. But that’s not what happened: instead, the sanctuary was rebuilt, and we are still here today. Why? Because God caused it to happen. He is still causing us to worship, fellowship, and serve together, and He has guaranteed our existence to continue. The reason for this is also simple: He has a purpose for us. That purpose is for us to be alive, and in being alive, to give and spread life. More importantly, our purpose is to be alive in Him. The life we have is meant to be lived to carry out the mission God has for each of us.

            Last night, many of us also had the chance to see the movie “Breakthrough” here at the church. Besides being a powerful film, it also had a strong message: God can perform miracles, especially if He has a reason for bringing someone back to life. In the movie, which is based on a true story, a boy, whose name is John Smith, and two of his friends fall through any icy lake near St. Louis, Missouri. John is stuck under the ice for fifteen minutes, and is nearly drowned. He ends up in the hospital without a pulse, with damaged internal organs, fully unconscious, and unresponsive. Several things happen, however: first of all, John’s mother prays for the Holy Spirit to give her back her son, and, after not having a pulse, John suddenly has a pulse. Next, several miracles happen, which no one, not even the doctor, can explain. John’s lungs end up being completely clear and healthy, and he is able to breathe fully on his own again. He regains full use of his mind and senses, and is able to be discharged from the hospital and return to school sixteen days after his accident. He ends up with no permanent physical or mental damage of any kind, and experiences complete healing.

Something else happens as well: early in the movie, one of the first responders, whose name is Tommy, is about to give up after not finding John under the water, but then Tommy hears a voice which says, “Go back.” Listening to the voice, which Tommy thinks is from his Chief, helps him to find where John is under the ice. After finding out the voice didn’t come from the Chief, Tommy is told it had to have been God talking to him. The problem: Tommy doesn’t believe in God. Towards the end of the movie, though, John and Tommy meet by the same lake where John nearly drowned, and Tommy tells John that if God actually exists, then He obviously has a purpose for bringing John back to life. In the epilogue shown at the end of the movie, it says that John is now studying to become a pastor. The real life John Smith also once said in an interview, “I see three 14 year old boys who were being dumb on the ice and that fell through, and that the Lord saved us. And really he used it in his way to save other people, not just the three of us.” 

This is true, because God performed what can only be described, and what was described at the time, as a miracle – something unexpected and out of the ordinary to accomplish a special purpose He had. That is also what is happening in both today’s First Lesson and Gospel Readings, where God performs miracles to bring two beloved sons back to their families. In the First Reading, much like John Smith’s mother, the Prophet Elijah pleads with God to give the boy’s life back to him – and that’s exactly what God does. In the Gospel reading, Jesus Himself commands a young man to come back to life after being dead. These miracles not only bring the boys back to life, but they also cause people to believe. The parents of the boy Elijah raises to life believe in God’s promises more strongly than before. The people who witness Jesus raising the young man to life believe that God is coming in a special way to help His people. Both of these also point to the greatest miracle of life over death of all: God raising His Son from the dead, showing that nothing, not even death, is impossible for Him to overcome. God used what happened to us to save other people, not just ourselves. We may not have realized it, but God has used us to touch and change many different lives of many different people, some of whom we know personally, others whom we may never even meet. God has used us to save people: over the years, God has helped us to be able, in many different ways, to rescue people from hopelessness, addiction, hunger, homelessness, wondering where the next money to live is going to come from, and even wondering whether anyone cares about them or is interested in them. We have caused miracles to happen for people. People have come to believe and trust in God because of us. We have been making a big difference all along, and, if we keep faithful to what God wants for us, we will continue to make a huge difference.

There’s another part of the story of what happened after the fire: two of the items that were discovered undamaged were the Communion vessels and the Bible. The Bible had blown open to a passage which, although no one seems to remember exactly which one, basically said that everything was going to be okay, because God was in control. And that’s what we need to hear more than ever now: everything’s going to be okay, because God is in control. In the movie “Breakthrough,” when John’s mom is able to surrender to God’s will, that’s when the miracles really start coming through. Also, in the movie, when John’s schoolmates, church family, and many others in his community pray for him constantly, that’s also when miracles really start happening. And that’s what we need to be doing right now: we all need to be praying. We need to be praying for God to rescue us from fear and frustration; to help us focus on faith in Him and fellowshipping with each other; and to believe that not only do miracles still happen, God can cause miracles to happen among us right now. But for that to happen, we have to surrender to God’s control. We have to believe that if God could bring two boys back to life in ancient times; if He could give a boy full recovery from being drowned; if He could give us a new sanctuary after a devastating fire; then He will help us rebuild, rebound, revive, and re-grow. There are many churches that are struggling just as we are, so we’re not alone – and we all have to ask God to give us the power to believe and keep going. Miracles still do happen if we expect God to cause them to happen. But we have to believe, and we have to pray. God still has a purpose for us, and He still has a reason for us being alive. So just as our forebears did, let’s keep trusting God, because He is faithful, and He will make us live again.

            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 26, 2022