The Army of the Lamb

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Text: Revelation 7:9-17

Today in worship, we confirm and welcome twelve new professing members of our congregation and of God’s church.  They will stand before us, confess their faith in Jesus, and promise to serve him in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races. 

These twelve young people are taking their place as servants of God, followers of the Lamb, members of God’s kingdom.

They are joining in the multitude of those who are standing before the Throne. 

In this Easter season, we are exploring together the powerful message of hope and new life that we find in the Book of Revelation.

It isn’t a book that we read a lot, probably because it is full of cryptic language and messages. 

In fact, in the creed that our confirmands wrote, they describe the Bible as “confusing at times…” and this is a sacred text that even I, your pastor, have a hard time figuring out.

But as our students also proclaim, when we study God’s word, we are challenged and we grow in our faith and understanding. 

What we have discovered so far in our study of this text are a couple of simple truths.

First – This is a book of hope with one consistent message:  “Jesus is coming and he will sit on the throne… and the world and all its powers will not.  Our work is to allow God to make us into a kingdom, to serve as priests, and give God praise.”

No matter where we look, no matter what chapter, this message helps us understand what we might read. 

Second – as we talked about last week – the Book of Revelation also tells us about how God will transform the world as we know it into the world that God intends:

Not through violence and destruction, but through the sacrificial love of the Lamb. 

Only the Lamb is worthy. 

Only the Lamb is able. 

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/revelation-1-11/

 As part of the message last week, I talked about these three cycles of seven that we find in the scriptures:  the seven seals of the scroll, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. 

In this rendering from the Bible Project, we get a glimpse of how these three cycles repeat and overlap. 

Each cycle starts with destruction and devastation – but the message that follows is a reminder that destruction and devastation will not transform the hearts of the people of this world. 

People continue to be persecuted and suffer, hearts are hardened, the nations will not repent, everyone and everything is caught up in the chains of evil and by spiritual forces of wickedness. 

What we need is someone to break the chains of sin and death and set us free.

Only the Lamb is worthy.

Only the Lamb is able.

Only the Lamb can lead us to the Day of the Lord and usher in the new heavens and the new earth. 

But here is the thing… when the Lamb confronts the beastly forces of the world, he does so not with violence, but with love.  With faithfulness. With sacrifice.

His robes are stained with blood… not from his enemies, but his own blood given for others.

His only weapon is a sword that comes from his mouth… a word of judgment and redemption.

There is no fight, only victory, and the army of the Lamb simply sings in praise.

In each of these three cycles, we find not just the Lamb, but we also find those who are faithful.

Chapter Seven describes the diverse community of the ones who are sealed, or baptized – and who follow the Lamb.

This group shows up again in repeating images of a battle between the beastly forces of evil, power, and oppression and the Lamb (12-14, 16-20). 

Chapter Eleven describes two faithful witnesses, called “lampstands” – an image John has already told us is a symbol of the church.  These witnesses show us the mission of the church – to imitate the loving sacrifice of the Lamb – even to death – and share God’s love and mercy with the world.

Today, as our confirmands profess their faith, we are going to look at what our job is as those followers of the Lamb and servants of God.  So what, in all of this, is the role of the church?

With forces of evil and natural disasters and disease and death all around us – what is our role?

First – we have to make a choice. 

God wants to make us into a kingdom, but that means that as individuals and communities, we need to reject the kingdoms of this world.

Rather than compromise and give in to the national, economic, and spiritual forces of the world, we are called to declare our allegiance to the Lamb.

And one of the ways we do that is through our baptism and our confession of faith.

Our baptism is described as a seal upon our foreheads, a mark of God’s love in our life.

It stands in contrast to the mark of the beast – or the ways we declare our allegiance and support of the powers of this world. 

When we join the church, we stand in public and we renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of our sin. 

But we don’t have to do that alone.

You see, we also accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

War, famine, and disease?

Natural disasters?

Beastly forces?

Hate crimes and white supremacy?

Peer pressure?

Temptation?

Persecution?

“Who is able to stand?” the people of the world cry out when they are surrounded by the forces of destruction (Revelation 6:17). 

The people of God can. 

And that is because the Holy Spirit lives within us.

Because we have fixed our eyes upon the Lamb.

Because we chosen the way of love and mercy.

Second – once we’ve made that choice, we can be witnesses to all of the world of how God intends for us to live. 

We are called to embody diversity, equality, and praise. 

Last week, I talked about how John of Patmos heard one thing and then saw another.

He heard that the Lion of Judah would be the one to save us, but when he looked, he saw a lamb that was slain.

In the same way, chapter seven starts with one of these reversals.

John HEARS that the people who are sealed, who have chosen to serve God number one hundred forty-four thousand, and come from the twelve tribes of Israel. 

He HEARS a sort of military census describing one ethnic group.

But then he LOOKS.

And as our scripture for this morning tells us, he SEES more people than anyone could count.

And they aren’t all the same.

They come from every nation, every tribe, every people. 

It is a vision of Pentecost and Palm Sunday all rolled into one with the multitude before the throne waving palm branches and crying out their praises. 

John SEES the church that Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races.

He has a vision of a community, as Magrey DeVega writes, “where all people, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, socioeconomic status, and background are included in this grand cosmic party.”

When we follow the Lamb, we work to become a community that welcomes all people and who intentionally reaches out and keeps expanding our circle of welcome.

But there is something unique about this diversity.

There is also a sense of equality.

Rather than clothed in their own garments, they are all robed in white.

There is no distinction between them.

No one is more important.

No one is above anyone else.

John has a vision of a community that acts, again in the words of DeVega, as “servants to one another, considering each other as equals, treating others as we would want to be treated ourselves.”  

When our young people join the church today, they might not yet be able to drive, but they are just as much a part of the professing membership of this church as those of you who have been members for 65 years. 

We are all called to do our part, to use our gifts.

And we are all called to celebrate and encourage and lift up the value and dignity of one another. 

When we follow the Lamb, we work to become a community that reaches out to a world of hierarchy and division to proclaim that all are equal and all are children of God.  

This community also has one more witness to offer to the world. 

It is a community of praise.

They wave palm branches.

They fall before the throne.

They cry out in worship. 

When they show up again in later chapters, they do so with music and song. 

All of them are focused on the throne and the Lamb of God. 

It is a vision of a church that DeVega describes as “clear about its priorities.  Not becoming more club-like, but more Christlike… a church that directs the world toward the glory of the risen Jesus.”

In our vows of membership, we don’t just confess our faith in Jesus, but we promise to serve as Christ’s representatives in the world. 

We commit to being living witnesses to the gospel, the good news of Jesus.

Now, you might do that through song or through words, but it might also be through your actions.

It might be through the attitude you bring to your work or the way you encourage others in your school. 

It might be through the offerings we lift up for UMCOR that are used to make a difference in the lives of people around the world. 

But in all that we do… inside and outside of the walls of this church… we do so in the name of Christ. 

And part of what we proclaim is the truth of God’s will for us.

We read about it this morning at the end of chapter 7.

We believe God’s will for all people is that there would be no more hunger or thirst…

No more hardships or difficulty…

No more grief or tears…

And whenever we respond to natural disasters, or support refugees fleeing from war, or to visit with a family that is grieving, we are turning those praise and prayers into action. 

When we follow the Lamb, we work to become a community that helps others to experience the love and mercy of God.   

What we don’t find in these chapters is a promise that once you are baptized or sealed or become a member of the body of Christ that everything is going to be easy.

We are not immune to the challenges of this life.

Instead, we find we have the strength to go through whatever might come at us.

We can stand in the midst of it all, like a lighthouse, a beacon, a lampstand, giving others hope and strength. 

And we do so together. 

With one another and with God by our side. 

Thanks be to God. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer: Thine is the Kingdom

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Text: 1 Chronicles 29:1, 5b-6, 9-13; Luke 19:28-40

In our confirmation lessons this month, we are exploring the vows that these young folks will make on May 15.

They will stand before this church and pledge to renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of their sin.

They will accept the freedom and power God gives them to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

They will confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and promise to serve him in the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races. 

And I can’t help but realize that they will be standing here, proclaiming:

For Thine is the Kingdom…

For Thine is the Power…

For Thine is the Glory… forever and ever. 

Today, we wrap up our exploration of the prayer that Jesus taught us. 

It is so familiar to us, and yet there is still so much to learn and discover about these few simple words. 

And one of the surprising things about the phrase of the prayer we are focusing on for today is that it is not included in the gospels of either Matthew or Luke. 

If you were to pull out your Bible, and looked at Matthew, it would, however, likely include the phrase in brackets or italics or even a footnote. 

And that is because other ancient sources did include this ending… most notably The Didache… and it was then included in some copies and translations of Matthew as time went on. 

Didache literally means teaching and this document is the oldest existing catechism of the Christian faith.

Basically, it is like a confirmation lesson guide for the first Christians! 

It teaches Christian ethics, and about the rituals of the church and how the church is organized.

And it includes the version of the Lord’s Prayer… with the ending… that we are all so familiar with today. 

In fact, it instructs those in the faith to pray this prayer three times every day… just as we have invited you to practice during this Lenten season. 

In the chapter for this week from our study book, Adam Hamilton notes that the language of this ending, this doxology, this praise for God, is inspired by our scripture from 1 Chronicles for today which recounts the words of King David. 

“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might; and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.”

Yours is the power.

Yours is the glory.

Yours is the kingdom. 

Forever and ever. 

Our scripture lesson for this morning is actually a sort of altar call or a request for the people of the land to give freely of their own resources to help build the temple of God. 

David himself wanted to build this home for God’s presence, but because of his own sin, God replied that it would have to be carried out by David’s son, Solomon.

I think often of the fact that David, this man after God’s own heart, made such terrible mistakes in his life. 

He harmed people who were in his care.

And there was probably a bit of pride that tempted him to make up for it by dedicating this temple to the glory of God… a temple that might come with his own name attached to it. 

But he let go of his own power and wealth and pride and glory. 

He remembers that this is not about him, but about God and David puts his full energy into setting his son up for success in this task. 

David begins to gather the materials that will be needed and makes an offering from his own resources and treasures.  Then, he invites the leaders among the people to give from their own hearts and treasures as well. 

Wealth and riches and raw materials and precious gems are all laid before the Lord.   

For as David rightly proclaims, it all comes from you God… we have only given you what already belongs to you. 

Which is the same message Paul shares with the Romans, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.” (11:36)

Paul goes on to write to the church:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what [God] wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12: 1-2, MSG)

Take your everyday, ordinary life and place it before God as an offering.

All of which is another way of saying:

Thine, not mine, is Kingdom.

Thine, not mine, is the power.

Thine, not mine, is the glory. 

I’m going to offer what I have up to you, O God, because it all already belongs to you anyways. 

I surrender to your will.

I will love and care for those people you put in my path.

I will confess the places I’ve strayed and turn my attention back to you so that you can forgive me.

I will let you lead me and guide me, rather than the forces of the world around me.

You will be my focus today and tomorrow and as long as I breathe. 

Today is not just the end of our series on the Lord’s Prayer, but the start of Holy Week. 

On this Palm Sunday, we recall the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. 

And I can’t help but think about the disciples and the crowds who gathered to line the streets.

They recognized in Jesus the power and the glory of God.

They were ready and willing to offer up their lives and their resources to follow Jesus and to work for God’s kingdom. 

They set aside their own safety and privilege and power in order to praise and worship God. 

And all of this because they caught a glimpse of what it truly meant to allow God to take hold of their lives. 

John Vest reflects upon the power of this moment and I want to close today by sharing some of his words:  

“Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem was more than a show, more than a simple provocation, more than the beginning of a cute celebration.

It was a signal that things are changing, an unmistakably potent message to the powers that be that the world as we know it is becoming the world as it should be.

It was a radical act of defiance directed against those in his day who wielded power through violence, oppression, and tyranny…

This simple ride reminds us – and tells the whole world – that you are indeed coming to make all things new. 

You are coming to release those who find themselves in all manners of bondage: chains of injustice… addiction… conformity and apathy.

You are coming to provide for the poor: food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless.

You are coming to assure the dignity and equality of all who are marginalized or oppressed.

You are coming to end violence and divisions, to provide safe communities and opportunities for education.

You are coming to offer healing and wholeness, comfort, consolation, and hope.

You are coming to transform all that we know.

You are coming to save us.”  (https://re-worship.blogspot.com/search?q=palm+sunday+meditation)

God’s kingdom…

God’s power…

God’s glory…

It is all breaking into this world.

May we, like those first disciples… and like those faithful leaders… set aside our crowns and pledge allegiance to the only one who can truly save us. 

May it be so. Amen.

UMC 101: The Local Church & Membership

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Text: 2 Corinthians 3:12-13, 3:18-4:1, 5-6;   Book of Discipline 201-204, 214-221

Over the last seven weeks, we have explored together some of the foundational beliefs and practices of the United Methodist Church. 

Our focus on grace and faith put into practice.

The call to reach out and share the love of God with all people.

A charge that makes room for difference and invites us to use our brains and celebrates diversity. 

All grounded and centered in the core of Christian tradition… praising the God of all creation who became flesh and lived and died so that we might truly know life and who continues to empower us by the Holy Spirit. 

As we come to the close of this series, we also come to a transitional date on the Christian calendar:  This Sunday before the season of Lent is Transfiguration Sunday. 

It is the day that a few of the disciples retreated with Jesus to a mountain top and witnessed the glory of God. 

They experienced for themselves the very presence of God, radiating with light, in the person of their rabbi, Jesus. 

He shone like the sun and they could hardly take it in… much like Moses before them. 

Moses, too, had been to the mountaintop. 

He had spent time in the presence of God and for more than just an afternoon. 

In the account of Exodus 34, Moses spends forty days and forty nights with the Lord learning about the covenant God wanted to make with the people.

Exodus 34:29 tells us that when Moses came back down from the mountain, his face was radiant.  He shone and reflected the glory and the presence of God.  But the people were afraid and so he put a veil over his face (34:33). 

The Apostle Paul picks up on this idea in his second letter to the church in Corinth. 

He describes the law of Moses as a ministry of condemnation, because as individual human beings we couldn’t live up to what it asks of us. 

That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a reflection of God’s glory… it was!

But Paul believes that the ministry of righteousness we receive from Jesus through the Holy Spirit is even more glorious, because we are set free to truly reflect God’s glory in all that we say and do. 

We are transformed by God’s glory and Paul describes the church in Corinth as Christ’s letter… written not with ink, but with the Holy Spirit. 

They are the reflection of Jesus Christ to the world and all who see what they say and do will come to know the glory of God. 

That local community and its members reflect the light of the knowledge of God’s glory to everyone they meet.

And so do we. 

As our Book of Discipline proclaims, “The function of the local church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is to help people accept and confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and to live their daily lives in light of their relationship with God” (¶202, p. 147).

It goes on to say that the members of the church gather for worship, to receive God’s grace, to be formed by the Word, and then we are sent out to do the work of Christ.  (¶203)

Or as that familiar song from our childhood reminds us: 

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine…

That light, however, it isn’t my own light. 

It isn’t your light.

It is the light of Jesus Christ.  

I was thinking about the solar lamps that I installed in my garden last summer. Every evening they light up the path.

But the lamp has no light of its own… it simply captures and stores up the energy from the sun.

The more time it spends soaking up those rays, the brighter and longer it will shine.

Much like Moses shone radiantly after those forty days and forty nights in the presence of God’s glory.

And to keep our lights shining…

To fill up our lamps…

We need to continually spend time in God’s presence.

So as United Methodists, we don’t believe that membership in the local church is simply a box that we check. 

It is a commitment and a covenant we make together with God and with the other members of our congregation.

In the coming weeks, our confirmation students will be exploring these vows deeply, but maybe it is good for all of us to get a refresher. 

Membership Vows

  • Renounce, Reject, Repent
  • Accept God’s freedom and power
  • Confess Jesus as our Savior
  • Serve as Christ’s representative to the world
  • Strengthen the ministries of the UMC
  • Participate with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness
  • Receive and profess the Christian faith

Just as John Wesley brought classes and societies of people together to focus on their spiritual life with one another, our membership vows are a commitment to “a lifelong process of growing in grace.” (¶216.1).

We turn away from sin and evil and turn our lives towards Jesus.  Then, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we become ambassadors of Jesus to the world.  We see each member as a vital part of the church and we have “method” for helping one another to keep these vows.

First – a local church provides opportunities for a member to grow in their discipleship. From small groups to worship, from mission events to our stewardship campaign, this local church offers ways for you to go deeper in your faith and to discover the will and grace of God. Each one is an opportunity to spend time in the presence of God.

Second – we share a mutual responsibility for one another.  We need you, just as much as you need us, and together we shoulder burdens, share risks, and celebrate joys.  We encourage one another along in this journey. After all, the people that make up our church are the body of Christ and we also experience the presence of God in one another.

Third – each person is responsible for their own participation.  We can have all the opportunities in the world, but ultimately, you are the one who prays, who shows up, who gives, and who reaches out to share God’s love with the world. 

However, as part of our Wesleyan heritage, we are called to hold one another accountable to these commitments.  Those early Methodist class meetings were designed for members to keep one another on track, it is the responsibility of the local church to reach out in love to invite people to return and to nurture people back into community. 

Sometimes that might look like a call or a note from the pastor, but this is the responsibility of all of us. 

It is the phone call you make to invite someone to join a small group with you. 

It is the note you put in the mail to let someone know you have missed them in worship. 

It is the way you speak up if someone in a meeting has said something harmful. 

It is the advice you offer when someone seems to be taking a wrong turn in their journey.

We do all of this, because we believe that through these ministries and this community, the glory of the Lord is transforming us more and more everyday into the image of Christ… and that we reflecting that glory to the world. 

In Sara Groves’ song, “You are the Sun” she writes:

You are the sun, shining down on everyone.

Light of the world giving light to everything I see…

I am the moon with no light of my own

Still you have made me to shine

And as I glow in this cold dark night

I know I can’t be a light unless I turn my face to you. 

The work of the local church and our responsibilities as members of that church is to turn our faces to the Light of the World and let God shine through our lives.

As the Book of Discipline says:
Each member is called upon to be a witness for Christ in the world, a light and leaven in society, and a reconciler in a culture of conflict… to identify with the agony and suffering of the world and to radiate and exemplify the Christ of hope” (¶220).

And we don’t do it alone.  We do it together. 

The work of the local church is only possible because all of us have gathered our resources and our talents and our time together so that we can reach out to the people in this community, and work to help one another grow.  And we also are part of a larger connection, so we partner with other local churches – like inviting students from Windsor UMC to join us for confirmation.  We work to be stewards not just of our resources, but of God’s creation as we participate in the mission of the larger United Methodist Church.  (¶202, p147-148)

Let us keep soaking up the light of God so that in all of these things, the glory of God might shine through us. 

Amen. 

You Have (Are) a Gift

Text: Romans 12:3-8

As we start off this morning, I want you to find a blank piece of paper… or if you are on Zoom or Facebook, type in the comments or chat window.

I want you to think of one thing that you are personally good at.

What is one thing that you know how to do and do fairly well?

Now… if we were together in the sanctuary, I’d have you turn to your neighbor.  But, since we aren’t, I want you to share in the comments a few words about how you were able to use that skill or talent recently.   

For example:  one of my skills is that I can grow things.  I set out some of my extra seedlings on the sidewalk in front of our house for our neighbors to take.

Take a minute to share and read one another’s comments!

Thank you all for sharing!

This week on our road trip across the United States, we find ourselves in northwest Washington at Olympic National Park. 

With nearly a million acres of land, spanning a huge range of landscapes and precipitation, it contains so many different ecosystems that the largest concentration of life on the planet is found here! 

Photos of coastal survey research.

You can explore seventy miles of coastline with whales and puffins and oysters, driftwood from ancient trees, and the ever present ebb and flow of the ocean…

A tree in a forest

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Or make your way inland through old growth rainforests where 12-14 feet of rain fall each year. Centuries old hemlocks, threatened species like the northern spotted owl, mosses and ferns as far as your eyes can see…

Or maybe you want to climb to the top of glacier-capped mountains where golden eagles and Olympic marmots play among the alpine wildflowers…

All in one spectacular park.

But the balance between each of these seemingly separate and distinct elements cannot be ignored. 

As the National Park site describes, “Olympic National Park takes an ecosystem approach to management.  We believe that the health and survival of individual species depends on the health of entire habitats.” https://www.nps.gov/olym/learn/threatened-and-endangered-species-of-olympic.htm

To put that in our own faith language…  the health of any part of the body depends on the whole.   

And every unique part of that habitat, or ecosystem, or body of Christ has an important and distinct function.

Each one is necessary.

Each one is valued.

Each one matters.

I want you to think back to that skill or gift that you mentioned earlier.   

Maybe it is a skill that you trained long and hard to learn, or maybe it is a gift that came naturally for you.

Whatever it is, it is something you see within yourself.

Hanging on to that gift in your mind, I want you to hear what Paul writes to us from Romans chapter 12.

You see… he continues his message from last week about what it means to be connected to Jesus Christ.

Hear these verses again from the Message translation:

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.

Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God.

No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

This gift that you have identified within yourself… it does not represent something that you own or possess or even have control of.

It represents something that God has given to you.

It represents a part of God’s plan for this world.

It represents one way in which the Body of Christ, the church, is called to share the love of God.

Have you ever thought about your gift that way?

Have you ever thought about how your baking or knitting or carpentry was a part of God’s plan for this world?

Or how your mechanical skills or photography or singing could bring the love of God to your neighbors?

Or how your laughter or negotiating skills or sense of direction could be used to share the gospel?

How your mathematical sensibility or your hard work or your ability to listen is an integral and important part of the church?

Or is your first response whenever the call of Jesus Christ comes to look around and say, “who, me?”

When I was in junior high and high school I loved speaking in front of people.

I was always the first with my hand up when it came time to read out loud in class.

I tried out for every play and musical.

I signed up for speech contests.

I competed, I practiced, I simply loved doing it.

Speaking in front of people came easily to me.

It was never something I had to think twice about.

I knew that in whatever field of work I chose, this skill would be useful.

It was something in the background, something I could fall back on, something I never had to think that much about.

But one day in college, I was asked to prepare a sermon for our campus worship.

Easy-peasy… I had written speeches before.

And I had preached before as a part of my youth group.

I didn’t worry too much about it.

In the midst of the preparation however,

in the midst of my wrestling with the text and really trying to find God in the middle, something in me clicked.

I realized that I wasn’t just writing another speech…

I was sharing God’s love with people.

I wasn’t up there acting or putting on a persona…

this was real.

This is what I was made for.

God wanted me to share his good news with people.

God created me to do this!

As Paul tells the people of Rome and by extension us… we are like the parts of a body, parts of a vital ecosystem.

We get our meaning from the body as a whole – our gifts and skills find their purpose only in relation to these other people and parts of God’s family.

Each one of you matters to this body of Christ.

Each one of you has something unique and amazing to offer to the world. 

God has created us for this! 

I want you to think for just a second about what this church would be like if someone like Rick stopped playing guitar…

or Wendell stopped fixing things…

or Sherrie stopped calling on neighbors…   

or Ella stopped serving…

or Becky stopped asking amazing questions…

or Hope stopped reaching out to friends…

What would happen if I decided to keep my gifts to myself, instead of sharing them?

Think long and hard about that gift you claimed earlier.

You have something unique and beautiful and powerful to offer.

You are called by God to do amazing things.

Yes, YOU.

Today, we are welcoming three new people into professing membership of the United Methodist Church. 

We are witnessing Becky, Ella, and Hope claim their roles and their gifts as part of this Body of Christ. 

Their gifts join together with all of the other ones in our vibrant and rich ecosystem.

Our congregation is filled with teachers and accountants and musicians and creators and parents and builders and leaders and servants…

We are stronger and healthier and more vibrant because each and every one of you are part of us.

As Paul writes:

since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, lets just go ahead and be what we were made to be.

In everything you do,

in everything that you offer,

from the moment you wake up until the moment your head hits your pillow at night,

ask how God can use you.

Take those gifts you have and share God’s love

through every goodbye you make in the morning

and every meal you deliver to the elderly in our community

and in every car your fix

and in every meeting you have at work.

Share the good news through every post you make on facebook

and every class you have at school

and in every game you play.

Do what you do with integrity, with love, with compassion.

Paul breaks it down like this:

If you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

We are the body of Christ.

We are his living, breathing, hands and feet in this world.

In everything we do… let God shine through.

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Later this morning/This morning, I’m sharing these words with our Confirmation Class – 10 remarkable young men and women who have worked hard all year long to arrive at this moment.  This sermon is in part for them, but it is also a message for all of us and so I hope you are willing to eavesdrop in  and hear as well.

My young brothers and sisters being baptized and confirmed today: Sometimes people think of Confirmation as the day you join the Church. After you are baptized and confirmed, you now belong to church.

Well, you have belonged to Immanuel for a long time. You have attended Sunday School with Eunice and Deb. Wendy and Pat have taken care of you in the nursery. You have had lock-ins here. I bet there are places in this building some of you have been in that I haven’t seen yet. You have belonged to Immanuel for a long time, and Immanuel has belonged to you.

Baptism and Confirmation are really about something even more profound than belonging to church or belonging to Immanuel or even the United Methodist Church. Baptism and confirmation are celebrations, ceremonies, that announce to the world that we belong not just to church; they are announcements that we belong to Christ.

My young sisters and brothers being baptized and confirmed today: You belong to Christ. All of us here who have taken Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and who have decided to be followers and disciples of Jesus, we belong to Christ. We are Christ’s.

And that means that you now have a new role to play in your everyday lives. It means that your job, every day, for the rest of your life, is to represent Jesus Christ to the world. Your job is to love people like Jesus would have loved them. It is to treat them with the respect Jesus would have shown them.

I think this job is harder to do today than ever before.

Because our world wants to divide us up into groups.

The athletes and the musicans.

The smart kids and the popular kids.

Rich and poor.

White and black and brown.

Republicans and Democrats.

United Methodists and Baptists and Catholics.

And sometimes when you find yourselves in one of those groups, you start to think that your group has it all together and has all the answers. And you stop paying attention to the people in other groups. You stop trying to figure out what they think. You might start to judge them for who they are and what they represent.

But here is the thing that I have learned so far… a lesson that is lifted up in our scripture this morning…

We need one another.

Last week, at the confirmation retreat, we took a survey to help us figure out our spiritual gifts – our place in the Body of Christ.

And we learned that some of us are like stomachs: we are teachers who can digest complicated ideas and explain them simply to others. We learned that some are brains: we are organizers and planners and lead others. We learned that some of us are feet: we are willing to go to the places in this world we are needed to love and serve.

We each have a part to play. We are not the same, but we are each essential to the Body of Christ.

 

A really big part of growing up and belonging to Christ is letting go of all of the ways the world tries to divide us and looking for the unique role we can play in bringing others together.

Paul encourages us to be worthy of that calling to belong in Christ. We are to be humble and gentle and patient with one another. We are to accept each other with love.

 

Friends, that is not always easy. We are not always going to agree. Sometimes those worldly divisions of money or power or color or preference sneak into the church, too. Sometimes there are fights in churches because we can’t agree about what to do.

And if we are ever having a hard time with that, then Paul tells us we need to remember that this Body of Christ, all of us, are bound together in unity. There are some things that link us together, like ligaments and tendons that hold this whole church together.

We have to remember that we are one body and one spirit. We have one hope that we share. We claim one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God.

Together, as confirmands, you spent some time figuring out what it is that you believe. The creed that we wrote together lifts up that oneness and unity. It describes what we mean that we are one body, together.

One of our founders, John Wesley, had a saying that he used regularly:

In essentials, unity.

In non-essentials, liberty.

In all things charity.

And that means that we are always united by these things you have said together in your creed. They are what bind us together. In all the other details, we might not agree. We might choose different ways. We might not believe exactly the same thing. And that is okay. We have the freedom – the liberty to do so.

But in absolutely everything, we are supposed to love. Because we belong to Christ.

And so in the future… when you are the Ad Council chairperson or the head of Trustees… when you are teaching the preschool class or volunteering in the kitchen… and you get frustrated with one of these church folks, remember this unity.

Remember what holds us together. Remember the core of who we are: we are human beings, created in the image of God, who mess up sometimes, but who are defined by how we have been forgiven and our forgiveness of others. We belong to Christ.

Format Aside

I confess…

Tonight our confirmation students were asked to state their faith. To imagine that they had been arrested for their faith and had to write their confession for their “crime”.

And, it’s important for all of us as adults and teachers and mentors in the faith to do the same.

As I think about my confession, I really do believe in the power of God to transform this world.

I see signs of love and mystery all around me in creation and in the lives of other people. And I see so many ways that we have completely failed to take care of the gift of this world and one another.

I confess that I have been part of that failure. I confess that my church has been part of that failure. And I confess my sincere desire to live differently.

I confess that I believe God wants to help us find abundant life and sent leaders and prophets, strong men and women to speak a word of hope and possibility. I believe that God came to show the way as Jesus… Flesh and blood and as much as the world wanted and needed the message of transformation, we crucified him. But our NO to God was trumped by God’s YES to us… And not sin or death can stop the love of God.

I believe Jesus rose from the grave and I believe eventually we will die and will rise again. I believe in between, we have a chance to do the best we can to learn from and to follow Jesus every day of our life.

I believe through the Holy Spirit we can heal. I believe we can conquer addictions and sins. I believe God has called me to be light to the world and yeast in the lives of others and to make trouble for those who are making trouble for the least of these. And if I get arrested for those things… Then I’m probably doing exactly what God has called me to.

And I confess that not having been arrested for my faith, I sometimes feel like I’m probably not doing enough and I’m probably a bit too comfortable and fearful to really step out and stand up against evil, injustice, and oppression.

You know… The things we are asking our youth to stand and say on confirmation Sunday.

Reproducing in the Church #NaBloPoMo

I was sitting at a conference with some friends and the speaker kept lifting up the decline in membership of the United Methodist Church.

One of the reasons cited was United Methodists were having less children than we used to.

And the four of us all stole a glance at one another.

The speaker was talking about us.

We represented three couples that were intentionally choosing not to have children.

 

Of course, making babies isn’t the only way to make new Christians.

And, even if we had babies, that doesn’t mean when they grew up they would choose to carry on our faith.

 

So what does “reproduction” really look like in the faith?

One of the first things I thought of was the “each one, reach one” campaign in my district about 10 years ago.

The idea was simple:  Every person should try to bring one person to church in the next year.  If everyone took the time to bring one friend or family member or neighbor to church, we would quickly double in size.

Which is essentially the process of mitosis.

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We learn, grow, build our own faith, and then we pass it along to another person.

No, we don’t actually split ourselves in two, but the “each one, reach one” concept has the potential to multiply the church in the same way.

 

There is another important reproductive parallel here.

Because our role along the way, as we nurture someone into the faith, is to act like a spiritual midwife for them.

Midwives today are there to support during the entire pregnancy, but also provide care and advice months after a child is born.

And we can help guide someone into faith in the same way.

We can first make the invitation to church, but we have to be prepared to answer whatever questions they have in a non-judgmental way.

We need to not just invite them, but be there in a real and incarnational way: offering to pick them up, walk with them through the doors, sit next to them at whatever worship or church event or small group it is.

If we are taking ownership for truly nurturing someone into faith, then we can’t forget about them as soon as they have shown up once.  It’s a continual  process of support and encouragement.

As a pastor, I am actually probably more like a doctor who is called into provide medical assistance when necessary. Most of the work of bringing someone to the faith is done by the lay people, the midwives, who actively support and care for people as they become Christians.

(and, parents, this is how you help nurture your babies, too)

 

In my own church, I’m watching as our confirmation students go through the process with a mentor.  And what I’m discovering is that the personalized attention really impacts their growth, and the mentors are growing, too.  They are building new relationships and becoming stronger and more confident in their walk with God.

What if every one of us took on the work of inviting and mentoring one person in the faith?

We’d become a completely different church.

 

my very first confirmation class

Sunday morning our church witnessed seven young people profess their faith. They did so in song and in words and in jokes, in standing up before all of the church and their families. They were terrific.

Teaching confirmation has been a really exciting and a very strange experience. There is SO much that I want to share with them and yet I think I realized how much I have to learn about being a teacher – especially with young people. I was always someone who just took information in and wanted to learn more and more and more. It’s hard to remember that not everyone functions that way =)

My theology of teaching is to lead by example. I asked questions that “you’re not supposed to ask.” I made it okay to doubt things that I had said. I wanted to peak their interest by showing how excited I was about certain things. We used our cirriculum, but probably not as well as we could have. We used our mentors, but definately not as well as we should have. Both of those are pieces that I need to include better next time… because leading by example also means that it’s not just me doing the leading. I got to have a lot of personal time with the kids, but I really wish that we had the kids meet one on one with a single mentor throughout the entire process. I was trying to lure people to do it with the promise they only had to commit to one Sunday a month – and I think that all of us would have benefited from more regular contact.

Other than that, it was exciting to see the young people up there. It was exciting to help them share pieces of their story with others and to take leadership during worship. It was exciting to see the church supporting them the way that they did.