Sermon October 17, 2010

Sermon A Three Part Series on Stewardship

“Stewardship as Persistent Prayer”

Scripture Psalm 121 read responsively and Luke 18:1-8

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ October 17, 2010

INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 121 is the second of the Psalms of Ascents (120-134). These texts seem to have been used by pilgrims during their travel to Jerusalem. Travel for the ancients was at best difficult and commonly dangerous. The availability of water would have been a constant concern. In addition, the danger of bandits could never be ruled out, as the parable of the Good Samaritan later bears witness. Psalm 121 responds to what must have been unavoidable misgivings about travel with unwavering reassurances that God protects his beloved. In fact, the Hebrew verb translated as "keep," which has the sense of "watch over, protect," occurs six times in only eight verses. In all of these occurrences God is the one doing the action. God protects the traveler from a host of possible dangers. So the next time you take a trip you might want to pull out Psalm 121 and pray this psalm.

1. I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?
2. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Luke 18:1-8
I have often suggested that Jesus’ parables are meant to surprise us and turn our world upside-down. But in this parable the surprise is found in Jesus’ interpretation of his story. We come away wondering, “Is God like the unjust judge?”

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

SERMON
So is God like the unjust judge and like the widow we just have to be persistent in our prayer life? Father Pierse in his reflections on this passage writes that instead of God being the unjust judge we need to see ourselves as the one “who neither fears God or respects people.” When we are dominated by our egos, we generally are just looking for what is in it for us. We are really stubborn in our self seeking. But God is persistent in love for us. God is the hound of heaven who wears us down, like the widow, by persistently pursuing us. Eventually, we yield and let God enter our lives and guide us to do the right thing.

In Peirse’s interpretation we see God as persistent in trying to break down our defenses. We see prayer as allowing this pursuing God to enter our lives and challenge us to change our self destructive behavior.” I like Peirse’s interpretation and from it I see where stewardship is like persistent prayer. Once we have opened our hearts to God, prayer is our connection to our life with God, with our Master. In Jesus’ day stewards were servants of a landowner, master, whose resources it was there job to grow through good management. What is the resource that God owns? Everything including our very lives belongs to God. So what kind of steward are you? How would you know? Has God done a personnel review with you? Received any memos from the hand of God lately? Probably not! But prayer is our personal access to God will for us. That is where the persistence pays off. If you regularly are in prayer with God, and a crisis comes upon you or those you love, you are already confident that God is with you in those time of trial.

The whole world has watched with bated breath for the arrival on the surface of the Chilean miners. What a joy to see them free at last. One of the youngest had report that there weren’t just 33 miners trapped but 34 because God never left them. A persistent God never leaves us. But a persistent steward of prayer is always aware of God’s presence in ordinary and extraordinary days.
Many of you know Tom Logan director of the Marion Medical Mission and Shallow Well program in Malawi Africa. This summer their son was killed in a boating accident. Still he and his wife, Jocelyn headed out to Malawi for another amazing year

Here is a brief update from them. Titled “We struggle on...” written on October 6, 2010

Things have been very hard this year – especially for Jocelyn, Marie and I. The well program in Africa has been the most difficult ever as we struggle to provide safe drinking water. In April Mr. Malata died of malaria, he was the foundation of the Shallow Well Program in the Nkhoma Synod. Then the death of the 4 year old boy on September 21, who ran out in front of one of our trucks in Tanzania. But know that all of US team 1 members are fine, 2 of our African Coordinator’s have had malaria (Mr. Khosa and Mr. Mhango) and Mr. Damalankhunda, one of our Field Officers, was in a motorcycle accident and lost half of his index finger on his left hand, yet they continued on hardly missing a beat. God’s blessings and power are clear, even with all the problems (diesel shortage, lack of pump fittings, malaria, etc.) over 1,000 wells should be completed by the time the first team leaves on Sunday! (and indeed over a 1000 wells were completed) This is a record for first teams. Please keep the prayers coming – pray hard and often. Love to all!

In these stories of faithful stewards of prayer, can you hear God’s call to prayer for you? Take some quiet time to open your heart, mind and will to God’s direction for your life. Amen.

Sermon - October 3, 2010

Pursuing Peace

Romans 14:13-19 and Matthew 15:10-20

Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ October 3, 2010

World Communion Sunday with

Celebration of our Lord’s Supper and Dedication of the Peacemaking Offering

Introduction to Scripture Readings
Romans 14:13-19
This text is not ever included in the lectionary, which is a shame because this is a beautiful message of how Christians are called to live together in peace. Listen to Paul as he writes to the church in Rome.

Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Matthew 15:10-20
In contrast to Paul’s message of peace making with our brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus challenges his listeners and then his disciples not to think that following arbitrary rules of cleanliness will make a person truly clean when their intensions are evil.

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

SERMON
The standard for cleanliness has changed through the centuries. Most of that changed with the discovery of germs and viruses. A Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis had his hospital staff wash their hands before attending to patients in 1840. He was trying to figure out if it made a difference in saving lives. In 1860 Louis Pasteur is discovers that bacteria causes illnesses. He is the first to call the bacteria "germs." 1892 Viruses are discovered by Russian scientist Dmitri Ivanovski. Soap is a great source for killing bacteria and removing dirt that can carry them and viruses. It has been around for thousands of years but not always valued for its ability to keep us clean, especially by little boys. Through modern science and marketing we have come to value and strive to live the proverb of “cleanliness is next to godliness.” But we also know a sparkling clean kitchen may look wonderful, but it does not tell us if the food prepared there will be great eating. Both Jesus and Paul are talking about ritual cleanliness. What makes us clean enough to approach God or be in communion with God. Jesus is challenging us not to just look superficially at cleanliness but to find what is life giving. What makes one worthy to come to the table of the Lord? – washing your hands seven times or forgiving your enemy seven times?

Pursuing peace is like pursuing cleanliness. It is a nice ideal, but does it have any meaning for the way we live our lives?

Presbyterians have celebrated World Communion Sunday since the mid-1930s. At that time North Americans were experiencing the economic upheaval of the Great Depression, and many were concerned about the instability in Europe and the possibility of another world war. A group of Presbyterian ministers met to pray and talk about the church’s role in such a time. Rediscovering the unifying power of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, they reaffirmed that in Christ all Christians are one, regardless of nationality, race, or ethnicity. From their meeting came the first World Communion Sunday in 1936. In the years that followed other denominations began to celebrate this special Sunday until it really is world communion Sunday. In the mid-1970s a later generation of Presbyterians, also experiencing a time of challenge revisited World Communion Sunday. Many were feeling a sense of urgency to work for peace. Thirty-one presbyteries sent overtures to the General Assembly asking that the church direct energy toward peacemaking. As a result, the 187th General Assembly (1975) commissioned the Advisory Council on Church and Society “to reassess the concept of peacemaking . . . in the light of our biblical and confessional faith.” The Advisory Council created a special task force… to study and prepare a report on peacemaking.

Members of the task force met, prayed, and studied, then came to the conclusion that peacemaking was central to the gospel and to the mission of the church, that it was at the heart of being a Christian, and that it ought to have priority in the church. Their work was a call directed at the inner life of Presbyterians to commit to work for peace individually and as a church. A commitment to peacemaking, though, would need to be reflected both in the structure and in the finance of the church so that it could be translated into action. The task force recommended creating a national peacemaking program and a special offering to fund the work of peacemaking… The 192nd General Assembly (1980) adopted the task force’s work, “Peacemaking the Believers’ Calling.” Thirty years later Presbyterians continue to work for peace and to receive the offering used to fund that work. (The task force also) recommend that the Peacemaking Offering funds be divided among every level of the church so that congregations, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly’s program could all find creative ways to work for peace. That is why our congregation keeps 25 percent and has designated a variety of ministries that work for peace in our community to receive this gift. This year CODA was chosen. Its goal is to eliminate domestic violence. True peace making write here in Terre Haute.

It was that first task force that connected World Communion Sunday as an ideal time to receive the offering that would be used for peace work in the name of Christ.
But in thirty years what have we accomplished in our pursuit of peace? Is it just on the surface or have there been systemic changes in our communities? Should we give up because war and violence still rage in our world? Yet we have touched lives in the name of Jesus from Columbia to Korea. From domestic abuse to HIV/AIDS networks for change; we have made a difference. The pursuit of peace is a life long journey. It comes with terrible risks which our Lord and Savior bore on the cross. We remember his sacrifice and take up our cross to follow him.

The letter from Paul says put the needs of new Christians before our own. Jesus continues to challenge us as his disciples to make more than just surface changes. Here we come to the communion table and consider how we are serving the Prince of Peace our host. We know we come to the table as God’s children. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called Children of God.” This bread is a gift of grace that says God has not overlooked us or our neighbors. No matter what gender, race, political affiliation, ethnic background, sexual orientation or any other human boundary divides us; Jesus has called all to this table. It is a table of reconciliation. God searches our innermost thoughts and loves us. Eating of this bread is accepting this wondrous gift of God’s love and believing that it will make a real difference in our lives. At this table we ask who else might this bread feed? Have we exclude people from this table? This bread of life is not a scarce commodity to be jealously guarded or eaten only in times of crisis. God's banquet table is abundant; there is more than enough to invite others. Come to the table, receive this bread and be reconnected with God, receive this cup and be reconciled and whole with one another. Make peace real in your lives and in our world. Shalom, Salam, Mir, Paz, Pax, Heiwa, Peace.

Resources:
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00923/germs.htm
See: http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/specialofferings/peacemaking-offering

Matthew 5:9
Rev. Todd Weir, bloomingcactus.typepad.com, November 21, 2005