Embracing Trinity
Trinity Sunday – June 12, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner In a few minutes we are going to baptize Eleanor. initiate this beautiful child into this ancient faith. This is Trinity Sunday, the day when the Christian church Meditates on the meaning of this foundational Understand of God. Its completely humbling to try to preach on, because we know we can’t approximate it Its unfathomable, but that shouldn’t stop us. It only means that we will never get to the end of it. We can spend out whole lives discovering it! So, I’ll I begin with tears I shed watching the last episode of a series called Grace and Frankie The series begins as Grace and Frankie’s husbands announce that they were in love with each other and wantto marry. And so Frankie and Grace, who never really cared for one another, find themselves unhappily sharing a home. Over the course of the seven years, lots happens, and they develop a bond stronger than any other love in their life I wept at that embrace For I have known the power of friendship In our deepest friendships, and they can come in any relationship, we are understood beyond words, as Richard Rohr says, We release ourselves to the trust and shelter Of another person’s soul. Who receives our sacred and special identity As we receive theirs A holy bond Deep connection, bonds are in our bones. Scientists look through microscopes and see how the elements the very substance of our cells, respond to each other’s presence, Enormous energy is found, not in the elections and neutrons and protons themselves, but in the bond that holds them together with such force, we create nuclear power by separating them. And on a cosmic level, The energy of the universe is not the planets themselves The earth is a rock, it has no power in itself Yet it moves around the sun and the moon around us, All creation moves as in a dance. Cosmic energy is in what is between the planets and the stars So if relationality Is the power of the universe. From our cells to the cosmos And love is the bond that binds us as human being. How could Divine Reality, the source of all that is. Not be relational in its very essence. Not some separate and on high, Some God on Mt. Olympus Or a distance creator That started everything with a bang And then left. But something that was, in the beginning, Relational. Let us create humans in Our image, And that image is of a loving being That power, that bonding, that energy That we know in our relationships, And in our cells and the cosmos. That which draws us together And unites us with God’s own self Is God’s being Everything that is or was or will be flows from this love. The Christ, the expression of love, Which flowed into Jesus showed us that. Jesus, for it would take one of us to teach us the nature of things: And said: Let the children come to me, do not stop them, and, the greatest thing one can do is it give one’s life for one’s friends, And do not even stop love flowing to your enemies. And forgive them for they know not what they do. There were no boundaries, no place No person that holy love could be separated. I am in the father and the father is in me, says Jesus in John. And now you, by the holy spirit, dwell in me In the Christ that has always been \Because, then says Paul, God’s love Has flowed into our hearts Through the Holy Spirit. Love is the presence of God within you, moving in you prompting you To pray, to care, to heal, to give, to serve, to love. And so when we are drawn to love To give, to respect, to honor, to sacrifice for another How can it not be of God? Regardless of whom it is between. Indeed, how dare we seek to prohibit it, To judge, to outlaw it, In a universe that is alive by the bonds Between our cells, our stars and us, Why would we want to halt love’s flow? Love is not something God does, says Fr. Rohr. Love is what God is. “Everything you have ever seen with your eyes is the self-emptying of God into multitudinous physical and visible forms “ and that pouring out is God, in three persons, it is creator, is the Christ, made known in Jesus it is the spirit that flows into you. Into you, Love is not something you do love is someone you are. It is your True Self Love is where you came from , we say to Eleanor in baptism, and love is where you’re going. And love is where you came from, and where you are going. This is an icon of the Trinity, painted by the Russian artist, Rublev In the 1400’s Do you feel the gentleness here the deep peace and respect between them as they all share from a common bowl? And note the hand of the Spirit pointing toward the open and fourth place at the table! Is the Holy Spirit inviting someone to join them Who? Whom else but you? They are all turned to see you! C.S. Lewis, the Christian author describes An ordinary woman, Standing, praying She has been moved, by an inner prompting to pray. To pray to be whom God longs within her to be,. And meanwhile she is standing with Jesus in prayer. In the company of the body of Christ, The holy trinity of love is circulating within her very being. And as with her, so with you. God the creator, It is what you are praying for, God, the Spirit, It is the prompting within you to pray, God in Jesus, the Christ. It is your beloved companion along the way. So, let us know bring this beloved child, Eleanor, into the faith, Faith in the Loving Creator, into Jesus, the Christ and into the Holy Spirit Even with all that we do not know, Trusting that the love of God is with us, and with her Now and forever. Amen. Rev. Patricia Wagner
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June 5, 2022 Jeanette Belz Will you pray with me? Holy Spirit, You are the wind that I feel at my back pushing me closer to you. You are the flame that lights in me to lead me beyond myself, Let me be the song that you sing, Send the Holy Spirit to us today so that we may feel that flame, the flame of truth, within each of us. Amen. It all began when I was a toddler. My grandmother and mom were sitting on either side of me at the kitchen table and I was going to color while Sunday dinner was cooking. Does this sound familiar? I picked up a crayon and my grandmother, who loved me fiercely…. You know the kind of love that grandparents heap on the first grandchild? They watch everything you do. My grandmother took the crayon out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. As she curled my tiny fingers around the crayon, she told my mom that every time I picked something up with my left, to place it in my right. I know my grandmother wanted the best for me and she wanted me to fit in and have an easier life being right-handed, in a right-handed world. She didn’t want me to go against the grain. But my mom loved me fiercely too, and she was a little bit stubborn. She took the crayon out of my right hand and gently placed it in my left again. She said it looked like being left-handed was comfortable for me and they should just let me be myself. My grandmother and mom both wanted the best for me. But, that tension between fitting in versus being my true self has been one that has stayed with me my whole life. Today, we celebrate Pentecost. The apostles were in the upper room when they were overtaken by the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:4, it says that they “began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability”. The Holy Spirit gave them the means to spread the Gospel-- to guide all people in the body of Christ. The wind drove the flame of the Holy Spirit on the crowd coming to hear. The Holy Spirit did not discriminate. It was a radical act of inclusivity. We celebrate this as the birth of the church. Today, we also celebrate the beginning of PRIDE month. Pride is a time for the LGBTQ+ community and those who support and love them to celebrate diversity and inclusion. The celebration is to honor those who have come before, to be more visible in the community, to express the need for equality, and to share a pride in the ability to love themselves and others authentically. In the Gospel reading today, John 14:15, Jesus calls us to obey the commandments. And you are probably familiar with what Jesus said were the 2 greatest commandments in Matthew 22: “You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”. Also, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. It seems simple, love your neighbor -- but it is so easy to fall short. God sends The Holy Spirit to walk beside us to remind us that we are all a child of God and are all worthy of God’s love. And, according to John Cobb, a Process Theologian, Christianity is different from other religions because we are also called by Jesus to even love our enemies. The basic question is what does it take to love yourself and then to authentically relate to your neighbor in a way to love them also? I know the Bible warns us about a destructive pride. The kind of pride that is boastful and arrogant, that can be used to hurt others. I want to invite you to think about a different kind of pride: a healthy pride. Rev. Edman (Queer Virtue) explains a healthy pride this way: “Pride is the self-awareness that gives you strength to get through challenging situations. Pride takes your life seriously, all of it: the good and the hard, the joyful and the agonizing. Patrick Cheng, a theologian, says healthy pride is the affirmation of one’s self-worth. This personal affirmation allows us to be authentic and more accepting of others. Pride takes courage to claim your identity out loud. I am usually a private person but when asked to speak today I wondered if I could be vulnerable enough to share a little about my own faith journey. I grew up attending an evangelical church. It provided me with a wonderful foundation about Jesus and the love of God. However, as I got older, I began questioning and distancing myself from church and from God. I had internalized messages from the church I grew up in and from others in my life. That message was that I was a sinner just for being who I was and because of who I loved. They did not believe I could be a Christian and be my true self. I felt unworthy of God’s love. I reached out for support in community. I asked them to walk alongside me as I explored whether I could have an authentic relationship with God. There were some dark nights of the soul as I reworked painful times when people had pointed out how I was not worthy of God’s love. One day, I heard Pastor Patty say something in a sermon that stood out to me. She said, “My heart entered into danger and I found my faith”. That’s where I was, in that danger zone, but I was in the danger zone of losing my faith. Or so I thought. Then, one morning as I was waking up, the chorus of a song came to me from Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. The chorus goes like this: I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down down, down, and the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire. The ring of fire.” Well, that made me think the Holy Spirit was telling me I might be going to the opposite of heaven but it made me curious enough to listen to the whole song. As I listened, I was surprised to find that song is about an all-consuming love. A love that permeates your whole life. I began doing a lot of reading and listening to podcasts from different theologians. In this process – the Holy Spirit became even more real. I began to envision the Holy Spirit as a guide. I was beginning to see that God was calling me in a new way. God was waiting for me to be open to new possibilities. I gathered my courage to explore creeds, scripture and history. What I found was a journey to freeing Jesus in my life. The flame of the Holy Spirit burned away the shame and unworthiness the church had ingrained in me. I was no longer a scared bud hiding my true spiritual self. My spirituality began to bloom into a confident beautiful flower. I was able to feel that I have always been a child of God -- no matter what others said to me or about me. I was, I AM beloved. AND the good news is that so are each of you! God made us who we are to be in this diverse world. It took me a long time to find a healthy pride in my spiritual journey. I see now that God asks nothing from us to receive God’s blessing. Richard Rohr puts it this way: “God is always given, incarnate in every moment and present to those who know how to be present themselves. It is that simple and that difficult.” When that love is made aware to you, I promise you cannot keep it to yourself. That flame is present inside of you every moment. I encourage you to be open to how the Holy Spirit is leading you to have hard conversations. We hear a lot of criticism in the world today but what is gained and makes changes ---is made with love. Today I don’t worry about how I fit in the right versus left-handed world. I know that I am living authentically and I am an integral part of God’s creation. It’s true, I feel the vulnerability of telling my truth but I also feel the love of God holding me firm. This truth has cost me friends and maybe some family. I know my family loves me but I often wonder if they love me as the person they want to see or the person they want me to be; not as who I fully am in the eyes of God. The love between us has been strained over time by the reality of who we each see as God, the loving God of compassion or the punishing God who sees my life as a sin. There are churches that are leaving our denomination because we have different interpretations of what love looks like and who can fully participate in ordination. I am sorry to say that love has also been strained by politics. It would be negligent not to mention that legislation has been introduced and passed in many states, including Ohio, to strip the rights of LGBTQ+ people and their families. Despite my vulnerabilities, I stand here today to say LGBTQ+ people exist in our churches. We are devoted Christians too. We long to be involved in every part of the church so we can fully participate together in the glorification of God. I stand here to say that books can be removed from libraries and language can be censured by banning talk about gay people but we still exist. I am also acutely aware as I stand here that there are many who have spoken their truth before me. Some have paid a steep price for their truth. And if my speaking today causes any relationship with me to further strain, friends, I still must be true to who God made me to be. I have experienced the Holy Spirit at work right here at Maple Grove. I have pride in this congregation because you have let your hearts move into the danger zone that Pastor Patty talked about. You searched your souls and voted overwhelmingly to become a reconciling congregation. I also witnessed the Holy Spirit at work that was so moving when love won and because of that I was married right here in this church!
If I may, I would like speak directly to the LGBTQ+ community; If you are in the process coming out or questioning; maybe you have previously been hurt by the misuse of scripture; maybe you are here in the sanctuary and are wondering if you can say your truth, or maybe you are at home wondering if you can be yourself and affirmed here at Maple Grove. If this is where you are today, I invite you to feel pride in your faith journey. You are deserving of the love and grace of God. Know we are open to walking with you, alongside you, to affirm your place as a Child of God. Come and see what we can do together as a community who welcomes and affirms you, just as you are. You are a beloved child of God. SONG—No matter what people say, say or think about me, I am a child, I am a child of God…. Choir sings…
May 29, 2022
Rev. Patricia Wagner He was one of us Son of Man, child of Mary, A human being, made of flesh and bone, Feel your hands His were just like yours Had a heart beating within his chest A heart that warmed and raced and broke, A mind that soared and pondered And eyes that sometimes could not stop weeping Like ours this week. He was blessed, tempted, befriended, tormented. Who knew tenderness, and savagery and practiced forgiveness. He taught us To love ourselves To love our neighbor To love our enemies All as God loves us And to lay down our lives for one another And then he did Rather than take back what he’d taught us Rather than to deny the Christ within him. To renounce those who said there was no God but Caesar, or corrupt religious power, both who proclaimed God lived by their limits. Death might have ended Jesus’ life But not the Christ within him. Christ arose. On Easter morn And then, once more and finally according to both Matthew and Luke. Luke gives us two accounts of the ascension. The one David read And again, in the Book of Acts of the Apostles. The Risen Jesus, still bearing the scars of his mortal life Has been appearing among his followers On the 40th day, the disciples asked him: Lord is this the time when you will restore the kingdom? Still hoping it seems for what Judas and the rebels wanted for that kingdom of Israel to rise again in glory and power. Jesus was always speaking of the Kingdom of God. And he does, again: “Yes, you will receive power from the holy spirit to be my witnesses” Mou martyres in Luke’s original language: my martyrs the holy spirit will give you power to bear the cost of following me. And then he is raised up. The scarred, resurrected one, becomes Divine light and grace his human journey ended, enfolded into the pervasive presence Of the Eternal Jesus becomes Christ for the world. Here is a poem by Anglican priest and poet Malcolm Guite, We saw his light break through the cloud of glory Whilst we were rooted still in time and place As earth became a part of Heaven’s story And heaven opened to his human face. We saw him go and yet we were not parted He took us with him to the heart of things The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings, Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness, Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight, Whilst we ourselves become his clouds of witness And sing the waning darkness into light, His light in us, and ours in him concealed, Which all creation waits to see revealed. His light in us We enabled by the power of the spirit To be his martyrs, his witnesses. His light in us seems deeply concealed this week And our readiness to be his martyrs, his witnesses challenging. I wanted to hear the voice of a victim And found Taylor Schumann, who was shot through a door By a young man with a gun at her college in Virginia, bullet fragments lodged in her eye. Taylor is an evangelical Christian And this is her witness: I believe in the power of prayer deeply. And I think when we pray about gun violence we are not always open to hearing what God has to say. Are we really willing to be used to reduce this violence? If God’s answer to our prayers requires personal sacrifice, are we willing to hear that? Every single year, 40,000 image-bearers of Christ are taken from this earth by these acts, If we are truly pro-life, must we not speak for life? 40,000 image bearers, including all those children What happens when we think of one another this way? When our understand of Christ for the world Means Christ in all? Caryll Houselander was on the underground train in London, A crowded train in which all sorts of people jostled together Suddenly, she says I saw with my mind, Christ in them all. Christ in every one of them, living in them, dying in them, rejoicing in them, sorrowing in them I came out into the street and walked for a long time in the crowds. It was the same here, on every side, in every passerby – Christ.” I had long been haunted by the Russian conception of the humiliated Christ, the lame Christ limping through Russia, begging His bread; the Christ who, all through the ages, might return to the earth and come even to sinners to win their compassion by His need. Now, in the flash of a second, I knew that this dream is a fact . . . Christ in us Alright, we say, but what do we do with those who commit such Horrific crimes, surely Christ is not in them. But Yes, she says, their sin is in reality their utmost sorrow Christ is suffering in them. Even in those sinners whose souls seem to be dead. Because Christ Who is the life of the soul, is dead in them. They are his tombs, yet from such tombs he can rise. The Christ weeps in those who have no mercy these angry, broken, manipulated sick, and likely grieving men. pleading: Stop, stop, stop…… But Christ, there, too, in that classroom of holy innocents And in their teachers, their holy mothers spreading their arms like angel’s wings that they would know God’s love in death. Christ dwelled in them, And they rose with Christ Each elder, each child, each teacher, rose to light, to grace upon grace. And we, we here in this room With hearts that beat, and minds that ponder And hands fit for work We have been given power by the holy spirit We, says the risen Lord, not the kingdoms of the earth We have been been given power to become Christ witnesses, Christ’s martyrs. Paul says to the church at Ephesis: God will give to you, A spirit of wisdom and revelation So that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened You may know what is the hope to which he has called you. Let us feel the Christ within our bones Within our tears, within our voice. Let us bear witness To the Christ within In Jesus’ name. Amen. Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
Did anything happen this week you weren’t expecting?
Good things, hard things? Costs up, market’s down, Losses, gifts, And you had to figure out what to do Make choices, Adjust. Feel like you are not getting it right, Because we are all doing this for the first time We are all improvising. And maybe, aside from all the wondrous order of the universe Creation is full of improvisation, Of responding to the choices every creature makes. And bringing forth new possibilities. And what we sense, we creatures of both habit and impulse, Is that God the eternal, is in the flow, In the movement of our lives, Its changing rhythms, unexpected turns, Working, as Marjorie Suchocki says, with the world as it is to bring it to where it can be. Working with us, as we are, and bringing us to where we can be. Jazz is a form of music that we don’t typically hear in worship Worship, at least in many traditions, Feels reliably steady Whereas Jazz can seem like it evolving as you hear it, Jazz has unexpected notes, movements, rhythms, But somehow, with the right director And musicians who know music in their souls. It all comes together. A good metaphor, says my friend and teacher, Carolyn Bohler For the nature of the Divine. A name for God “Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you” Says Jesus in Matthew. Maybe God is like a jazz conductor, say Carolyn, Who helps us know what to do when the time comes. Like with the music we will hear now from our choir and instrumentalists: Missa Jazzis Ancient hymns to the life of God in Christ put to new melodies, new rhythms, We and the musicians, the singers will have to lean in, trust one another, and their director, Greg, go with the flow and not worry about mistakes but keep flowing, together. So, in the movement, the rhythm of your life, You respond to what is new Trusting that you are not alone. earning to live in the flow. Responding in way, that, with our loving Jazz Conductor Brings forth something good. Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
May 15, 2022
Cathy Davis, Assistant Pastor Scriptures: Acts 11:1-18, John 13:31-35 Here we are on the fifth Sunday of Easter, in this season known as Eastertide. Which is the fifty days following Easter, taking us up to Pentecost. Christ is risen! He’s appeared to Mary in the garden, to the disciples in the upper room, on the beach of Galilee and on the road to Emmaus. Christ is alive – it’s a time to celebrate and yet, it’s not the same, everything has changed. Life with Jesus as his disciples knew it, is gone. What was, is no more. The hopes and dreams of many followers for a political uprising and social reform to usher in a golden age, a new kingdom, those have been dashed. It’s time to recalibrate. Those first followers of Jesus are between ‘what was’ and ‘what will be.’ They have left behind the tried and true, or it has left them, and they don’t yet know what will replace it. Times such as these are what are sometimes referred to as liminal space – it’s a time of transition, a threshold. Between worlds. The old one has been left behind, and what’s to come is still a mystery. That’s where those first followers of Jesus found themselves…living in the mystery of life, death, and resurrection. And in the fear, grief, confusion and even excitement of it. Eastertide is also a season known as "mystagogy” which is an initiation into the “mysteries” of Christ. It’s a spiritual process of moving from the visible to the invisible, into deeper spiritual realities, those that can’t be easily explained. In the midst of this season of mystagogy, our lectionary Gospel reading for today takes us back to John 13:31-35. To the Last Supper, Maundy Thursday, to words spoken by Jesus right after Judas leaves the Passover meal. These verses are also the beginning of Jesus’ Farewell discourse that goes through the next few chapters. And in these chapters, Jesus provides instructions to his disciples on how to live, in his visible absence. I didn’t really want to go back to the Maundy Thursday scriptures right now. I was hoping for stories about the Risen Christ and his appearances to the disciples - walking beside them, comforting them, breaking bread with them, and yet, perhaps today’s scriptures on how to carry on in uncertain and troubling times may be exactly what’s needed right now. Of the two scripture we read from today’s lectionary, one looks back and one looks to the future with these disciples. As we look back in the Gospel of John we hear, love each another as I have loved you and as we look forward in the Book of Acts, we read about Peter’s vision from God that does away with the labels of ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ and welcomes the ‘outsiders’ into the new church community. These readings remind me of the need to take the wisdom of the past and yet also stay open to what God is creating new, now, and the potential the future holds. The words Jesus gave to his disciples to carry them into the future was, “Love each other. Just as I have loved you.” He said, “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” The Eastertide season is also a time to shore up our identity as Christians, this is when the newly Easter baptized members, deepen their understanding of what it means to be a Christian. And Jesus has established love as the defining characteristic “everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” It is by our love they will know us. And yet, especially during difficult times - times of change, of anxiety, shock, grief, fear ---- love is not usually our initial response. We may be more likely to strike out or withdraw. Here we are in this season of transition, of now and not yet. When we are not sure what the future holds but we know the past is now the past. We have all experienced these liminal spaces. Those times in our lives when we’re transitioning – by choice or not. Those who are graduating from high school or college – they’re in liminal space – standing at the threshold of something new. Now and not yet. When we wait for the birth of a child. When a loved one dies, our old life dies too, and we wait as new life slowly emerges. When we’ve experienced a serious health crisis. When we go through a divorce. We have a new identity, new relationships. When there are major social and political shifts, and we wait and watch, wondering what’s next. When a pandemic hits, people are sick and dying, we stop gathering, we’re uncertain what the future holds. These difficult times and many others, are between ‘what was’ and ‘what’s next’ – what do we do in times such as these? I’m reminded of a poem by Dan Albergotti called Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale, some of his suggestions are: Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days. Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals. Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices. Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Review each of your life's ten million choices. Think of all the things you did and could have done. So, it’s said, change is inevitable, transformation is optional. Jesus gave instructions for transformation to the disciples – he said, love each other, and he said it the most important commandment. This is how his followers are to become, to belong to, the body of the Risen Christ, this will sustain them even when there are any number of things threatening their faith. In his book, We Make the Road By Walking, author Brian McLaren says, “Jesus was living by a different interpretation of the old stories…Instead of arming his followers with daggers, swords, spears, chariots, and war horses, he armed them with faith, hope, service, forgiveness, and love.” Theologian Ian Paul says that these words from John 13 and the farewell discourse that follows, was “consolation to the inner circle but also becomes a word of consolation to us, facing different kinds of challenges and tragedies.” He says: “The future home with God is found now in the present, as we take our place amongst the people of God and as God makes his home with us now, by the Spirit.” When our world falls apart, when war breaks out, when covid surges, when we’re fearful of who get elected to a political position, when stocks are plummeting, and cost are rising, when our spouse, child, parents, or siblings die. When we head to college, we leave an old life behind and begin a new one. It’s a good time to return to love. To press in on love. We listen again as Jesus says, you do know how to love, you know how to do this, because you have been loved by me. Author Richard Rohr says: “Perhaps we don’t want to hear these commandments to love one another because we can never live up to them through our own efforts. We’d like to whittle this down to a little commandment, like “Come to church on Sunday,” so that we could feel we have obeyed the commandment.” Love demands a lot of us. We are asked to be vulnerable, face fears, to let go of judgments or forgive an offense. Patterns and responses that are natural and can be difficult to change on our own. It is in Christ and through Christ, as Paul so often said, that we are transformed. Last Sunday’s Gospel reading was John 15: 4 & 5 and a portion of that read: Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Another McLaren quote from his book We Make the Road by Walking, he said: "Where the Spirit is moving, love for God always, always, always overflows in love for neighbor." Today, the high school graduates were given the book Three Simple Rules by Bishop Rueben Job. These are the three general rules for holy living that Methodism founder John Wesley taught – the rules are: do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. Rules for holy living. And Jesus said, “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” Last week I had a conversation with longtime Maple Grove member Judy Becker. I have known Judy pretty much since the day I came to Maple Grove over 20 years ago. I was welcomed in then by her warmth and kindness. I really got to know her when we were in a year-long Disciple Bible study together and she has remained a friend and wise teacher in my life. For years Judy served in visitation roles here at Maple Grove. She used to visit the first-time visitors who came to church, and she also visited church members, especially those who were homebound. And when I began working at Maple Grove, Judy mentored me in pastoral care, I went along with her on her visits and she taught me then, and continues to say today, it’s all about the people. Judy didn’t rush a visit, she patiently listened, she remembered important details, taking notes as needed. She related to people in what Jewish scholar, Martin Buber called an I-Thou relationship, and he describes that as an attitude of reverence, a loving “yes” to God and to others. She treated people as though it was an honor to be with them. Last week Judy and I were talking about her and her husband, Willard’s upcoming 70th wedding anniversary. They were married, right here, in this sanctuary 70 years ago on May 24th. And I want to wish Judy and Willard a very happy anniversary. But somewhere in our conversation, as it often does with Judy, it turned to the bigger, deeper concerns of life and the nature of God. And Judy said to me, “it is really very simple, God is love.” She said, “The older I get, the more I love what’s around me.” She went on to say, “we help God enter into the world through our love.” Holy living. It’s not what we see, it’s how we see. Holiness looks out through the eyes of love. In his book The Universal Christ, Richard Rohr gives what he calls his only definition of a true Christian, he says, “A mature Christian sees Christ in everything and everyone else. That, he says, is a definition that will never fail you, always demand more of you, and give you no reasons to fight, exclude, or reject anyone.” He goes on to say, “Isn’t that ironic? The point of the Christian life is not to distinguish oneself from the ungodly, but to stand in radical solidarity with everyone and everything else." We become what we press into. We probably know this to be true now, more than ever. Our social/political breakdown may have something to do with too much pressing in on fear, division and hatred. In an Eastertide homily, Pope Francis talked about how the Risen Christ had left a message for his disciples to go back and meet him at Galilee, the Pope said we need to return to those moments of being captivated by the love and mercy of Jesus, but he said, “not in a kind of nostalgia but rather it is returning to our first love, in order to receive the fire which Jesus has kindled in the world and to bring that fire to all people.” St. Ignatius of Loyola says that we are to “find God in all things in order that we might love and serve God in all.” Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t jealous, it doesn’t brag, it isn’t arrogant, it isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints, it isn’t happy with injustice, but it is happy with the truth. According to Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13. And according to our Acts scripture from today’s reading, love is inclusive. Love doesn’t decide who is worthy and who isn’t. Peter’s transformative vision from God reversed centuries of rules and practices deciding who was ‘clean’ and who was ‘unclean’. Many years ago, I went to a conference in Arizona with some friends. It was about spiritual practices for connecting with the Divine. One morning my friends and I went to a restaurant for breakfast and the waitress was just terrible! The worst I’ve ever had. It was not a busy morning there, and yet she took a long time to get to our table, she made it very clear that she was not in the mood to be waiting on us. After an extended period of time our food arrived, delivered grumpily with items missing, she didn’t check back with us, neglected to refill coffee, and we had to flag someone else down to bring us our check so we could get to our conference on time. However, inspired by what we had heard at the conference, we made a decision to respond with love. It was definitely not an earned love. We each tipped her $20 for our $10 breakfasts. It was a gratuitous tip, and it felt loving, not because of the money but rather because we set aside the question of whether she deserved it or not, whether she was worthy or not. According to Dr. King the necessary ingredient for the Beloved Community was agape love. He said that “agape is the love of God operating in the human heart. Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for their sakes” and “makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community.” Maple Grove is one place we can practice creating a community of agape love and strengthen our identity as followers of Christ. In this Eastertide season of mystery, this time of now and not yet, we recalibrate, and even as we wait for what’s to be we can:
And on those days, allow this community of Christians, to love you, because that is what we do, that what followers of Christ do, they help God enter into the world, in our lives, through love.
May 8, 2022
Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Acts 9: 36-43, John 15:4-5 Acts 9:36-43 36Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. 37At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” 39So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. 40Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. Scripture: John 15: 4-5 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. I Choose you, says a mother to her child, says a child to her mother, says the one to whom they both belong. My mother was a nurse at OSU, she was the surgical nurse requested by Dr. James, and Dr. Zollinger for their particularly difficult surgeries. When Jack Nicklaus needed hand surgery, mom was called in. But she spent most of her career working in the outpatient clinics, her heart was in caring or those of lesser means and she would come home with stories of trauma and resilience. She was born in 1927, so was a child of the Great Depression. Her father was a pastor, and there was almost no salary for a while. He was paid in bushels of corn, tomatoes, and beans, so with that, and the food from their garden her mom fed the family of six as well as all the hungry men passing through who came to their back door. My Mom would make pies when we had company always making a second one which she sent home with her guests. She was always giving things away, we don’t need this, she’d say, and she was disappointed in us when we chided her for being generous forgetting that it was hers to give, her life to offer. We can forget that, folded into the domesticity of mother’s lives is a path of holiness. Like her mother, mom ended her days on her knees in prayer by her bed. The strength to feed, to make, and make do, to care for those in the household and those at the door or the hospital, was possible because they were connected to a source. Came from and led into union with God Just once in the New Testament do we hear the word, mahetria, the feminine form of the Greek noun for disciple: It is in our story today, Tabitha, a widow, is a disciple. She does good works, and when she dies, the women are bereft. They lift up all the garments she has made, What shall they do without the one who has clothed them with love. We get the despair, its hard not to feel that for the nation, our sense of union, failing, or the world economy, or the only three months old. But seemingly endless war on Ukraine. And of course, we have our own issues in our own particular lives and homes. We may find ourselves shutting out the hard parts drinking it away, ignoring it, walking away. But Walter Brueggeman, a bible scholar says, The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the that can also steel yourself against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. In the 15th chapter of John, Jesus gathers his disciples around him. He foresees the hardships and death he is about to face and wants to console them. He knows the trials they will face in the days ahead. And wants to prepare them. Rather than arming them with words and strategies to defeat the enemy, Jesus speaks of vines and branches. Of hope and trust I abide in God, you, now abide in me, he says, make your home in me just as I do in you.” You cannot go it alone, he says, you will not bear fruit abide in my love. Paul knew this story, walks into this community of bereft at Tabitha’s death as one who was abiding in God’s love, and through God’s spirit, life returns to Tabitha and to that community of faith. We hear this story of resurrection in Acts and we think it impossible, we see the devastation in Ukraine and in other places and think, how can it return, we sense the strife among us, and the reports of what is ending. Yet, Jesus says, abide with me and be open to the restorative power from which all things come. I heard a radio reporter tell of visiting a place that was home to dozens of severely disabled children, whom parents had left to institutional care and then their caregivers, as the invasion came left behind again. There were others who came, who stepped in when parents and caregivers failed. But they, like the reporter, sounded shattered. Bereft on behalf of these innocents caught in war. As the reporter was recording, one of the young girls, who was blind, with infirmity of mind, and body, became interested in the reporter and his microphone, and she took it in her hands, she spoke, with delight, and then she began to sing. To sing! She was singing the song in her heart. The life that we listening to her had presumed was beyond hope was insistent on saying, I am here and I can give you my song. In the depression, Grandma always answered the back door at the clinic. Mom was present to the sick. We enter into the world we’ve been given, and to which we are called and in the midst of it, sing our song. A song given by the one in whom we abide. A song for all those who abide or hope to abide. The magnificent community, this magnificent community. For if we abide in the love of the Christ, then we abiding in one another, we build a bridge. I’ve been thinking this week about a mom named Naomi who was a nurse and her daughter, Wynonna, and their song about what endures the love between God and us, between the Christ and us, and between all of us. That we can bear God’s love in the world. Love that is greater than death. Love that abides. Love can build a bridge between your heart and mine. Love can build a bridge, don’t you think it’s time. Don’t you think it’s time?
April 24, 2022
Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: John 20:19-31 19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. A man who was dead, walks into a room Jesus appears and says the most extraordinary thing. Peace be with you. This from this one who’d just suffered a staggeringly painful death. Still bears its marks. Said to the disciples who fled when he was arrested. Were not there when he died, even denied him, and who now have locked themselves inside out of fear, something he had never done. And he’s not mad at them, or Disappointed or hurt by what they’ve done or haven’t done. He’s comforting them! Offering them peace, inviting them to forgive as he’s forgiven them to realize that’s in their power. And then breathes on them the very spirit of the living God. No conditions, no requirements. It’s there for them, exactly for who they are. And where they are. Thomas is not there, perhaps the only one not afraid to go out isn’t there. And when he’s told of Jesus’ appearance, he can’t bring himself to rejoice in it, he must have his own experience, like you and I want to have. Like every human being who was not in that room. Now, we cast aspersions on the man, give him the monitor, Doubting Thomas. But Jesus, the one doubted, doesn’t. He appears again. Although I wonder if he was always there, just not seen, anyway, in this moment, he is seen and offers his wounds to Thomas to see and touch. Look, he says, with tenderness I am scarred and yet I live. This revelation of God’s own woundedness this a vision of the vulnerable divine, brought forth from Thomas a confession of faith. The Christ blessed Thomas , blessed all who doubt, but then blessed, too, those who do not see and yet believe. So indeed blessed all the world. Imagine for a moment the love that filled that room the perfect acceptance. What more witness do we need that death has no power over love. Everyone here has lost someone, some of you very recently, its only been days, weeks, months. The love you felt from them, you do still. Love is stronger than death. And yet it is with us, on such a massive scale. A million have now died from COVID. What does Jesus word of peace and power over death mean to the creatures and communities that are endangered by rising tides and storms and heat. Or to Ukraine where Passover ended last night. And today is Easter Sunday where there seems no passing over of terror and Risen Christ unseen, at least from here? Shall there be on earth, peace? Jesus walks into a room, a traumatized community and speaks a word of love: Peace be with you. Everything holy, healing, redeeming flows from that. Let’s start a smaller than the world. Let’s look at Los Angeles where Father Gregory Boyle works with persons in gang life. There are about 450 gangs in LA. with tens of thousands of members who perpetuate war, generational hate, violence and death. For 35 years, Fr. Boyle has been speaking peace to people others might not see as worthy. But he knows have experienced levels of trauma. That he can not possibly comprehend. He says, we know that traumatized people create trauma damaged people cause damage. But then it must be equally true, that a cherished person can cherish themselves and others. Father Boyle doesn’t judge, he’s not mad at them, even when they start using again, or leave, he speaks peace. Then gives them a job - always beside a rival gang member. Okay, but I won’t talk to them. Right. Let’s see how long that lasts. It doesn’t. It’s an ecosystem where enemies realize their mutual humanity and inevitably see each other’s unshakable goodness. The goodness that God plants in everyone. He tells the story of one gang member who told him that the state ordered him and his brother to live with their grandmother who made them sit on the floor and taped over their mouths. I hate the sound of your voices, she said. And this man, who had been loved by Homeboy folks, said, about his own daughters: “I love their voices.” That when he and his wife find their eldest has taken a crayon and drawn across the wall. That instead of scolding her, as his wife asks him to he wraps his arms around his child and says That is the most beautiful art I have ever seen!! Christ walks into the room and sees the goodness in his people. If he was present then, surely he is in Ukraine, and is witness to the goodness there, even in war: People are taking risks, dying for one another. Staying to care for the sick, the elderly, the children. In Russia, some journalists and politicians, and everyday folks, are telling the truth, fully knowing they will suffer terribly for it. And surely he is in Poland and Germany, and all places offering shelter and schooling and medicine to those who have fled the war. Physicians in Ukraine contacted St. Jude hospital in Memphis. Who have had staff at the border to bring out children with the forms of cancer that require the highest level of care. Speaking life into the mouth of death. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was naked, and you clothed me sick and you cared for me, says the Christ. I am right here. You think you can crush the bones of the people and turn the landscape to rubble, you think you can lock yourself in a fortress, and God will leave you? Where else would God be but here? Father Boyle says, The only God we have is the God of this world and the only world we have is the world of this God. My grandfather was an electrical engineer who started working on clean air in the 30’s and 40’s. Researched coal stacks and airplane fuel output, helped found the International Air Pollution Control Society to build awareness and mechanisms for change. What would Grandpa say about what’s happening today? Well, first, he’d be thrilled about electric vehicles, and that wind and solar power are growing exponentially, by 20% a year, helping climate goals come within reach. And that some electrical engineers just recently figured out how to get solar power from the night sky so that day or by night, we can have power. He probably felt like a voice crying out the in the wilderness in his time, so I don’t think he’d be mad at where we are, on the environment, I think he’d be amazed at how young people of the world are rising up and claiming the earth as precious, demanding that we stop warring with it. Reminding us, as God reminds Moses, to take off our shoes, for the place we are standing is holy! Like the disciples in the upper room, we are on the earth are in the presence of God. Tred the Earth Lightly is a hymn in our Faith We Sing hymn book by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette: let’s sing one verse: Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God's garden, hope in God's children, regeneration that peace will complete. What if we breathe in the peace that Christ offers us. The peace that regenerates life, health, hope, the peace that allows our souls to be at rest? Even when war seems war’s only answer, let us remember the Christ who speaks peace. A few days ago, as we laid a body of a beloved family member to rest in a plot of earth. One of those present saw, clear as day standing there among us, the Risen Christ, and others around him, including the one who had died, who was full of joy! Oh, we wish we’d seen it, too, but blessed are those who have not seen and believed, Right? Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Pass it on. Amen. Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
April 17, 2022 Rev. Patricia Wagner Scripture: Luke 24: 1-12 24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body.[a] 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women[b] were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men[c] said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.[d] 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.[e] They’d been all in, everything they had, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary “the mother of James”, women of Galilee, who Luke told us earlier, provided for Jesus’ ministry “out of their own resources.” Surely, they’d been changed by being with him like all the disciples and those listened to him as Ezekiel describes: A new heart I will give you, says the Lord. And a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. A vulnerable heart, an aware and attentive heart. Now those women of aware and attentive heart did not turn away, but looked into Jesus face of suffering. Witnessing his crucifixion and his body being laid in the tomb. Then went home and prepared spices and linens to anoint and wrap this precious, lifeless form, so that he might be buried once the sabbath was over. Then women rose early the first day of the week and made their way to the tomb. A Hasidic rabbi once said: There is nothing so whole as a broken heart, for it is open to suffering, just as the Lord’s own. These wholehearted, broken-hearted women walked to the tomb not sure how they would roll the stone away but proceeding nonetheless for they would do what must be done. Only find the stone rolled away. The heart of stone was rolled away and two beings, dressed in light, asked them: Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why are you here in the tombs, when the Lord is the Lord of life? Don’t you remember? Remember that he told you all this would come to pass? That death would come, but that would not be the end of it? And the women remembered what Jesus taught them what he’d shown them. What they were never to dwell in death, nor vengeance, nor hate his healings, his stories, his teaching all were of the unstoppable power of God. Luke says that the women returned home to tell the other disciples about what they had seen. The men didn’t believe them. Who could? But no matter, no matter that Peter had to run to the tomb to see for himself the linen cloths. For they had faced the unfathomable and then been told the impossible, the broken hearts were whole. For they knew, KNEW, that that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Indeed, who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or homelessness, or pandemic, or inflation, or the peril of bombs in the night? No, says, Paul, no say the brokenhearted, wholehearted women, no say the pastors in Ukraine, no say the believers who have risen up in Russia. For if God is for us, then who is against us? For we are convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God made known in Christ Jesus our Lord. And knowing that, the women’s hearts, the disciples’ hearts, Paul’s, and we are free, free to live in the heartland where Jesus lived. Even with all its risks, and vulnerabilities. And uncertainties. We live in this heartland. This home of God, planted in in our hearts. As have those who have followed Jesus before us. In the 3rd century, believers forged a list of the unfathomable, impossible. Truths of the faith, the story of the Christ, so that those who had not seen. Might believe and we have joined in this apostle’s creed ever since. Words that we might not have written ourselves. We might take out one or two lines. But it binds us, to those faithful women at the tomb, the other disciples, to Peter, to Paul, to believers hiding in Rome, and living in China, in El Salvador, in Poland. We may not believe every word. Rachel Held Evans says “There are parts we might leave out, or did, but we do say, “I want to believe”. I want to believe in there is a good and gracious God who created all the beauty we can see as well as all we can’t and who redeems all things. I want to believe there was once a man, who, like all other men, went to the grave, but unlike all other men, triumphed over it and ascended to a place we don’t yet know but will someday. I want to believe that there is one church, one holy catholic church bound together across time and space. In marvelous mystery and faithful companionship. By a spirit who knits together what we only know how to tear apart. I want to believe in a love so lavish it overwhelms us. I want to believe in a faith that can handle all my questions. I want to believe in a religious that not only tolerates but embraces my whole heart”. I want to believe the women who went to the tomb and found the stone rolled away. To find my identity, my homeland, in the same God, the same Jesus. The same gospel of this community of believers. And living there, in the heartland, can make us brave. What if we, here in this place, pledge to live there, whole heartedly. The church is changing, and if some of the ways we are used to are dying then so be it, for we trust that others are rising. Quite a few young folks I’d never met came to services this week. One walked up to me after Good Friday service, smiling. What is your name I asked? Angel she said, smiling, Of course it is, I said. And so, with the angels among us, we are rising. Rising from our grief, rising from consuming worry, and self -destruction. Rising to be a place of freedom. Rising to be a people of hope amidst war and pandemic. Rising to be a selfless people. Rising to be gracious in a time of discourtesy, to be merciful, in a time without mercy. Rising to sacrifice rather than covet and hoard. Rising to be the wholehearted people. Jesus invites us to be. To live with him, even now, wholehearted and rising. Rising, rising, rising from the dead. Amen.
And so, on the day the emperor’s occupying army would have entering through the Western gate. To keep the people of Jerusalem in order during the Passover. Jesus enters through the Eastern gate. The Sha’ar Harahamim, the “Gate of Mercy” by which the prophets have said the Messiah will come. The people outside the city welcome him. They recognize him as the one foretold, who will bring forth goodness and mercy. Hosanna, they sing as they lay down their robes and the branches from the trees. Blessed is this one who comes in the name of the Lord.
He enters, and tyrants tremble. The recognize him, too. This one who speaks for God. Who says that first shall be last and the last first. That God’s blessing is not with Caesar but the poor blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This Messiah dares to speak for God. The religious authorities will reject him, The Sanhedrin, will call out to Pilate: We have no king but Caesar. Words now echoed by leaders of the Orthodox Church in Russia. We have no Savior but the President, they cry, as the bombs rain down upon the innocent. There have always been religious leaders who do not honor the Prince of Peace or fathom the Suffering Servant, who bend their knee to Caesar, whatever his name, rather than to the one who stoops to wash the feet of his disciples. Not the one who bears the cross. Jesus haunts them, I expect, these men who turn away from the suffering, For he is there, in that time, in this time, for all time. Real and present among us. For we are, always, asked to see and welcome the one who reveals the one who shows us God’s mercy. God’s sorrow at our cruelty to one another, God’s love for each one of us. And particularly this week, this holy week, we are all asked to examine our hearts and to look upon the wounded heart of God. ------------- I spent the last 36 hours in emergency rooms and CBD shops and all-night pharmacies trying to get help for my daughter, who was in pain for her chronic illness. This morning she is sleeping, and there is much relief in my house. I finally slept a few hours. It is hard to stay with those who suffer, the news that floods our inbox. The images and stories of the war are only getting worse. And yet, we know that part of this life Christ calls us to is to be willing to look at the suffering of the world. To speak to it, to do all we can to ease it, and in so doing, to recognize that God is with the wounded ones, that God is with us. A carol has been in my mind: He came down to earth from heaven Who is God and Lord of all And his shelter was a stable And his cradle was a stall, With the poor the mean and lowly Lived on earth our Savior holy And the next verse ends: And he feeleth for our sadness And he shareth in our gladness. It all comes down to this – really, to these words and this week. That he feelth our sadness He shareth our gladness and through him God feels and shares our life on this earth. Jesus is the evidence that the God of heaven and earth. God’s sensory life include us, we lowly humans. That God feeleth for our sadness and shares in our gladness. This is the very mystery of God. This is what makes holy week holy. There are paintings of the crucifixion which have Jesus standing on a block of wood not hanging from that cross. It is hard to look upon suffering, it is hard to see the savior suffer. But this week, we do. We turn our attention to him, take in the stories remembered by those who were there, and when we do so, we find more than suffering. We find courage, we find purpose, we find what is worth these lives we’ve been given. We remember, and are shattered by the truth by the infinite vulnerability of infinite love we gaze upon the wounded heart of God and by his love, we are healed. Patricia Wagner, Maple Grove UMC
April 3, 2022
Confirmation Message - A New Heart Xema Whitley Scripture: Psalm 119 I invite you to listen to some ancient words from Psalm 119 and search them for what they could mean for you today: Verse 105: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path Verse 114: You are my refuge and my shield. I have put my hope in you. Verse 89-90a: Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations… We’ve had a strange, wild ride for Confirmation this year, I think.
Here’s my main point: I am looking forward to making MORE and MORE memories with you. Because SERVING and LEARNING with wonderful young people like you renews my heart and faith. Did you know that simply by SHOWING UP to Confirmation, others have been encouraged? That’s the POWER of YOU – the power God has given you that JUST in SHOWING UP, you can bring others light and hope. YOUR FAITHFULNESS can impact generations that have come before you AND generations that come after you. Some of you have chosen to be confirmed today – some of you have said “ I need to wait and think and learn a bit more.” All of you have listened to your heart and I respect that. Sometimes life gets so busy and overwhelming, we don’t take time to slow down and listen to our hearts. Sometimes our hearts can feel old, tired and broken no matter what age we are. So why is the title of this message A NEW HEART? Because, as you know already, there are times in our lives our hearts are disappointed, crushed and even broken. Yes- even when we choose the path of Christian and follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our hearts can become sad and discouraged. Think about this for a second – how many times in your life have you wished you could start over – take back the words you said – choose a different action or doorway to walk through? Where do you go when it feels like your heart has a glitch…? where do you go for a Heart-Re-Boot, a Heart Tune Up? I know you talk to good friends, family members – but I’m here to remind you that you can always go to the One who Created your heart in the first place to help you feel renewed. I chose the three scriptures from Psalm 119 at the beginning to help show you how to do it. Listen again to what this clever poet said in Psalm 119 which is 176 verses long!!!! Don’t worry, I only chose three to focus on.
READ, PRAY, WORSHIP & SERVE To wrap this up, I formed an ACROSTIC to help us remember what we’ve talked about today. An ACROSTIC IS a poem, word puzzle or other composition in which certain letters in each line form a word or words. In fact, Psalm 119 itself IS AN ACROSTIC where each line of each stanza begins with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet! So I worked on this on Friday and here’s what I came up with: “WORPS” – that’s not inspiring me, then I thought of… “PRAWS” – for Pray, Read (and)Worship, Serve – still doesn’t sound right Then I found it…. “SPRAW”- if I add an L there’s a real word – and I think God is ALL for laughter – so let’s add an L to the word for God’s gift of Laughter and we get SPRAWL That means to spread the arms and legs out carelessly in an untidy way while sitting or lying down…think of when your dog or cat is REALLY relaxed and on its back with all its legs spread way out – A true SPRAWL is when you are letting everything go and feel you are in a safe space to do it. By the way, the Urban Dictionary has a slightly different definition for the word sprawl, but we don’t need to use that one. Let’s see how we can use SPRAWL to help us remember to go to God when our hearts hurt.
The last words John Wesley was said to speak before he died were these: “The best of all – is God is with us.” Those words mean a lot to me, and I hope something I’ve shared today can mean a lot to you. Through all life’s trials, I’ve come to this conclusion: There are no guarantees in life except this: God loves us and God is with us through it all. SPRAWL out in God’s love and let your heart be made new and healed. AMEN |