First Congregational Church
June 18, 2017 Fathers Day, Second Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 10:9-23 “One of the Fine Lines of Faith” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching Father Michael, of St Mary's church began his sermon with this story: 'I was on a plane last week, from Edinburgh to London, when we ran into some very severe weather which resulted in turbulence. As it got worse, the passengers became more and more alarmed, and even the airline stewards began to look concerned. Finally, one of them noticed that I had 'Reverend' in front of my name on the passenger list, so she approached me, and said, 'Sir, this is really frightening. Do you suppose you could, I don't know.........do something religious?’ 'So I took up a collection,' retold Father Michael with a grin. This morning’s lectionary scripture passage comes from the gospel of Matthew, after he had reported on Jesus taking a snooze on a boat during a storm and several instances of Jesus healing people, including the reviving of a dead girl. Near the end of the passage, it will mention leprosy. Back in Jesus’ day, leprosy was a word that covered a multitude of skin maladies, rather than just the terrible disease we associate with history. The passage will also use the words “disciples” and “apostles.” Disciples have the connotation of students or apprentices. The word apostle means “sent.” Matthew 9:35-10:8 35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus Sends Out the Twelve 10 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Thank you, Cheryl. Of all the passages in the four Gospels, I wonder if this one seems to be the most irrelevant. Disciples don’t heal these days, doctors and nurses and a host of other medically trained personnel are the main healers. The harvest being plentiful and workers being few was mainly a mission cry prior to the mid 20th century, used as encouragement to go out a convert “heathens” to Christianity. Modern mission programs no longer use that sort of language, and instead focus on coming alongside people, helping and teaching and bringing Christ by example and love. Even the last chapter of this same Gospel reverses Jesus’ instruction not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans. Jesus’ last words were “go and make disciples of all nations.” Jesus doesn’t prohibit mission work in certain areas; common sense and laws do that. And yet, later last evening, Jessie Grant’s Facebook posting came up. I’ve printed it for you all, because it is a picture of what is still happening in the world, especially in places far from Benzie County. Despite our modernity and the advancement of humanity, there is still a need for people to take Jesus’ love into the world. But a good many of us live in Benzie County, where most folks have heard about Jesus and have experienced Jesus through the citizens here - for good or ill. On top of that, I don’t know that God is calling too many of us to go to such places as Peru or the depths of rain forests - at least for long-term missions. So I admit that I surely didn’t see much of great challenge in this passage - until my guy, Steven Garnaas-Holmes, shed a little light from a different angle. His devotional from Tuesday said, “Maybe the harvest is not bringing people to Christ but gathering the fruits of the Spirit God has sown in you for the sake of the world. Maybe it's not an act of taking, but receiving.” Then his devotional from Thursday said, “We are not given a mandate to judge or an obligation to convert. We are not required to argue religion. We are given power to heal. We need not muster up the strength. We are given authority. Christ is in us to heal.” I’ve got to say that the idea of gathering and genuinely embracing our different fruits of the Spirit is a really cool idea. If we started allowing love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control to take the reigns of our lives, what would that look like - in our own lives, in the life of our families, in the life of this nation and in the life of this world? We all like to think that we do that already, but we also know that we all have some ways to go in making those fruits a little more prominent. We know that allowing love, joy, peace and all the way through to self-control would be good for us, but wouldn’t it be more fun to watch a baseball game? Or watch kids in a park? Or any other ‘good’ thing we can think of to avoid being the apostles - sent out - that Christ needs of us to be? Jesus said, “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” He said a lot of things, some of which we can see clearly contradict themselves. But we also have that thing - in our heart of hearts - whatever you might call it - that knows what is right. Like it or not, we know that helping those with afflictions is the right thing to do. Helping those with no hope - as those like the dead - is the right thing to do. Helping those who don’t look so good on the outside is the right thing to do. Helping everyone find peace - within their own being - is the right thing to do - because Jesus said so. Sometimes being healers of those sorts aren’t really all that hard. Calvin Seminary guy, Scott Hoezee wrote “whenever and wherever a college student refuses to participate in some binge-drinking party, whenever and wherever someone refuses to cut corners on his (or her) taxes, whenever and wherever a kindly old woman (or man) brings light into a neighbor’s darkness by speaking a word of peace, whenever and wherever a man or woman sits down to tutor a homeless child, and whenever and wherever all such things are done because all these people believe there is a cosmic Lord named Jesus, then there–right there and right here and right now–the kingdom of God is present because the effective will of Jesus is calling the shots.” Yeah, but I still don’t wanna. I wanna go to the beach and forget the rest of the world! I wanna watch the last of the US Golf Open in peace and quiet! I wanna go fishing and catch a 25 inch walleye! Mind you, I’m not insinuating that any of those things are wrong in any way. Sometimes they are truly needful. But so is healing needful - of all the different sorts that there are - not only because it is the right thing to do - but because those sorts of ministry, healing, gifts, fruits - have been given to you - freely. Over and over and over again, people we’ve known and complete strangers have controlled themselves in order to be kind to us, to be gentle with us. Time and time again, other people have patiently loved us, genuinely wished us joy and peace of heart. We have been recipients of others’ goodness and faithfulness, and those gifts were given to us freely. It would go without saying that God also grants us those same gifts, through nothing we may or may not have done. Like Simon and Andrew, James and John, Jesus has always seen in us the possibility to be brothers and sisters to each other. Not when we feel like it, not when we are supposed to act like it, but all the time. Like Philip and Bartholomew, James and Thaddaeus, Jesus has included each one of us, to stand alongside all the famous headliners of faith. Like Matthew the tax collector and Thomas, Simon the Zealot and even Judas Iscariot, Jesus sees through our reputations and claims to fame to see us for who we really are - as beloved of God. Centuries ago - and for centuries, missionaries would travel halfway around the world to bring Jesus to those who didn’t know Christ. I wonder if our mission trips today are far shorter and much more personal: the single step toward those who are unlike us, whom we don’t know well, who just might be needing a little God loving more than any of us could know. So shall we pray. Patient, loving, beloved God, we are well aware that we are not always your best ambassadors. Sometimes our words are more harsh than we intended or our intentions are not as good as we’d like to think. So we ask for your forgiveness. And we ask for your help to lead us and guide us in the ways that bring the gifts of your Spirit to those who need them - regardless of where they are. Thank you for your forgiveness and for bestowing the fruit of the Spirit to us - even when we were least deserving of them. For each and every blessing that comes from being one of your beloveds, all your people say, Amen First Congregational Church
June 4, 2017 Pentecost & Communion Sunday 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 “Koinonia of Gifts” wear red light shoes Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching Someone from over there at DesperatePreacher.com told this story on him or her self. I say her, because I can SO see this happening to me! While preaching a revival a couple of years back I was sitting on the platform with the pastor during what was a rather stirring Pentecostal worship service. As the people were singing and praising the Lord, the words to an old hymn came to my mind that would go very well with my sermon that night. I quickly grabbed a song book from nearby, looked up the song and hurriedly attempted to memorize the page number.(#238) Right about that time a 'fresh wave of worship' began to swell among the entire church as people began to leap to their feet and shout praises unto the Lord. Wanting to join them I laid aside the book and rose to shout "Hallelujah!" Instead of the intended shout of praise, however, what I heard myself cry out was "Page 238”! That anecdote got me to thinking that I think there is a whole lot of Holy Spirit influenced worship that goes on right here in this little place. Sorry to say, there are not a lot of sermons that I recall other people giving over the course of my life. Truth be told, I’d have to work at recalling my own sermon from last week. But there is one that was given by one of my mentors, Rev. Jeff Utecht, of the Methodist persuasion. He was one of the reasons I ended up deciding to go into ministry and to Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN. I can’t tell you the title, but it had something to do with koinonia. And somewhere in those dusty, spider-webbed corners of my mind, I sort of remember him likening the idea of koinonia to a cornucopia. Maybe it’s just that the two words sound a little similar and it is only a connection in my mind of memory. But there is a resemblance in that a cornucopia is a quantity or mass of harvested fruits spilling out of a conical shaped container. Although the Bible doesn’t use it in that way, those that were gathered together on that 50th day after Jesus’ resurrection could have been called a koinonia of followers. Long before that day recounted in the second chapter of Acts, during that same time of year, the Hebrew people celebrated the festival of the early harvest - in May and June, with a second harvest in the fall. The Hebrew people called it the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks. On the day of each festival, the High Priest was to take two loaves of freshly baked wheat bread and offer them before the Lord. In all probability, on that specific day in the book of Acts, somewhere around that time of lifting bread and offering, the Holy Spirit, that third person of the Trinity, came waltzing in with tongues of flame dancing on the heads of worshipers, and caused each person to hear what was being said - to be heard in the listeners own native language. And now we celebrate that day as the birth of the church. Over time, that phenomenal event in the life of the church, coupled with Jesus’ promise of return caused the people to become rather myopic in focus, so the apostle Paul wrote a letter to the people of Corinth, to suggest and encourage the people in the living and witness to Christ. They were struggling, living in their culture that was anything but helpful as followers of Christ, and they started fighting amongst themselves, as human beings do from time to time. He could have beaten them over the head, telling them to straighten up, could have scolded them for being bad “children of God,” but he said this instead. 1 Corinthians 12:3-13 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Thank you, Carlisle. In thinking about this passage, one of the things that occurred to me was that if one of our homes burned down, I have no doubt that 100% of the people here today would offer their help for that person in getting their life back on track. It wouldn’t matter if the fire victim were Republican, Democratic, Independent or Alien from Mars, the desire to help that person would be rather significant. If someone here were to be the victim of a financial scam, I don’t know that there would be many who would not be willing to give a few bucks to help out that victim until things could be sorted out. If there were a lawyer or legal/law person in the church family, I have no doubt that that person would offer their help in rectifying the situation. They would offer out of care and because of their gifts and training, and whatever our own gifts and training, even if it is simple “life” training, we bring all those things to the table of koinonia - of living in the gathering of individuals in the collective following of Christ. I think it was this last February that I did a sermon on water, and part of that rather spectacular piece writing that has stuck with me, was in a suggestion from my hair dresser to check out an article on the effects of prayer on water. The gist of the article was that a sample of water in a specific place was taken and tested for contaminants, healthy stuff, unhealthy stuff, all the stuff that makes up water - besides H2O. Then some person came beside that same place and spent 45 minutes praying for the water and the water was tested again, and the water had changed. I don’t know all the technicalities of the change, but for simplicity’s sake, prayer had changed the water. We sometimes forget the incredible effect of prayer, and probably more true is that we forget the power of our collective prayers. Extrapolate that, and include all the quantum physics of our life - and our togetherness in the Spirit of God becomes a much bigger deal. Our koinonia is a big deal. The koinonia, the gathering of our spirituals gifts is even greater. Who do you know that is a good discerner - one who can make a good suggestion from available information? It might even be you, but is most likely someone you know fairly well. We don’t have to be all things to all people. Who do you know as one who has great faith - one who inspires you to greater faith? Have you told them that lately - that you see that gift in them? People so need to hear that - to encourage them in the use of their God-given gifts. There are some people with the spiritual gift of tongues, which can be a somewhat debated topic in the religious world. But in the regular world, who do you know that can speak the language of finance, or the language of medicine, or computers? All too often we forget the big deal of how much God gifts people to do amazing things in this world. Probably more often, we forget to tell those folks that we appreciate their work and gifts. So how’s your spiritual gift or gifts these days? Some of us were raised to make sure our own gifts weren’t too shiny or too pretentious. Others of us are still wondering if God might not have given us a different set of gifts, or if there is a rebate shop for spiritual gifts, and that’s fine, too. God gives us all the days we have to use our gifts to the best of our abilities, and that is cause for celebration. As we prepare our hearts for the celebration we share with all of God’s people, let us be mindful of not just those around the world, and not just all the individuals from our history, but of the gifts within this church family that have served to make the koinonia of God the better. |
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