Friday, October 21, 2011

Sermon: Hope, Faith & Love

SERMON # 5  “HOPE, FAITH & LOVE”    October 16,  2011
From Sermon series, “You are Important to God.
I Thessalonians 1:1-10


One reason that we know that we are important to God, as our colored insert tells us, is that he gives us good gifts.  In fact, I have three which he has decided to give to us today.

HOPE.  What a wonderful thing hope can be.  Hope is defined by some is a human desire with the reasonable expectation of attainment.  Hope, it seems to me, is foundation by which we do anything.
When we make a purchase, or  go to work, or get married, or even get out of bed in the morning, are we not all hoping for something? 
But of course, that which is packaged as hope by ourselves and others, may ultimately disappoint.
·       The item we purchased does not perform the way the manufacturer’s claim.
·       Conditions at work  change;  hours may be cut, & jobs; we might even lose  our job.
·       The marriage which began with such energy, becomes problematic.
·       And getting out of bed becomes a chore, because our bodies ache and/or  we have nothing about which to look forward that day.
Of course, some hope is false hope.
·       Hope can sometimes be groundless wishful thinking, when we know in our hearts that things will not happen the way we might like.  In such cases, hope can be self deception.
·       Thomas Hardy, the great English author, says that the disappointment of hopes not fulfilled leaves scars that are never removed.
So, some hope is just wishful thinking, on one hand;  But on the other hand, God is continually encouraging us to receive His gift of hope.  You can see what I am talking about, if you  would take out the You are Important 2 God tri-colored insert.
Look at all the hope that God is offering to us, because we are important to Him  (Read a couple)
So, God makes all the encouragement to hope in Him.  Therefore, we have a choice to make—to accept the gift of hope by believing, or not.  Can God be trusted?

NEXT GIFT IS OPENED: FAITH .
Now the gift of faith is not some vague , cosmic faith.  This is not some type of believing in a general sense, but a recognition and acceptance of the truth that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, that we might have relationship and communion with God.  Every Sunday, we testify to this faith by walking through the doors, singing God’s praises, and receiving  holy communion.

Receiving God’s gift of faith does not mean an absence of doubts. 
·       Throughout the Bible , there are many faithful men and women of faith who experience doubts and questions in their relationship with God.
·        For goodness sake, even Jesus had doubts and questions.
·        Jesus , Himself, says that he came to earth not for the righteous, but for regular people like you and me who may have questions, fears, and confusion.  Jesus invites you to believe in Him as you freely choose to do so, without compulsion. 
Let’s look at our sheet again, this time to the scriptures in yellow.  Let’s read the line in blue at the left hand bottom corner, saying together, “You please me by having faith.”  How much faith?  How about a tiny bit or faith, the faith the side of a mustard seed, like that appearing at the bottom of the page. Jesus says that faith like a mustard seed, which is planted, nurtured, and grows into a beautiful  tree.  Don’t worry about how someone else’s faith is growing.  Just cherish what you have ,and expect it to grow.

LOVE
Okay—one final gift.  This should not be s surprise to anybody--The gift of love.  Returning to our tricolored sheets, please look at the bottom right corner to the line circled in red, and let us red that together, “I love you with an everlasting love.”  You are precious to God, and as the 2nd red circled line tells us, “Nothing can separate you from my love.”  The Bible reminds us that greater love has no one person, than to give up one’s own  life for his or her friends.  And Jesus says, you are my friends.

Actually, God’s love undergirds this whole process, because love is the foundation of faith, which is the foundation of hope.  This is what we hear in today’s  second reading from the first letter to the Thessalonian Christians.  Please take out your inset and let’s look at hat reading.
In speaking to this early church, God is also speaking to us:  Look at the sentence which begins the 3rd line down” We always give thanks to our god and father for all of you and mention you in our prayers, and let’s read this next line together, constantly remembering you before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Two things I want you to notice about this scripture:
First, it ends by saying that the Hope, faith ,and love inspired by Christ.  That’s the divine portion of this,
Secondly, look at what the human contribution is: work, labor, and steadfastness.  This is our contribution to make hope, faith, and love grow, not just in our lives, individually, but in our lives as a church.  And because this little church preserved in hop[e, faith and love, Paul says that they became examples for churches all around them.

I believe that God is likewise, calling Christ Church to under anew the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope. We begin, right here , right now, by showing one another that each person is important to God.  Each person matters.  How can you do this?
·       Introduce yourself or greet someone you do not know
·       Forgive someone you do know.
·       Listen to someone who is tiresome.
·       Talk to someone who is shy.
·       Encourage someone who is down.
·       Pray with someone in trouble.
·       Thank someone who has blessed you or done something for the church.
·       Greet a child in Jesus’ name.
·       Reach out to someone you have not seen in a while.
·       Attend a dinner where you can get to know others.
·       Participate in a woman’s bible study or the men’s prayer breakfast
·       Give thanks, right out loud during the prayers of the people, for a gift that God has given you.  Maybe for the gift of hope, or faith, or love.  

The possibilities are endless, and so is the hope, faith, and love offered to us by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

--The Rev. John A. Donnelly

HOPE, FAITH & LOVE

Friday, October 14, 2011

"Winning over Worry" October 9, 2011

SERMON # 4  “WINNING OVER WORRY”    October 9,  2011
From Sermon series, “You are Important to God.
Isaiah 25:1-9, Ps.23, Philippians 4:1-9 Matthew 6:25-34

Once upon a time two men held a conversation:
“I have a mountain of credit card debt”, one man told another. “I have lost my job. My car is being repossessed and our house is in foreclosure, but I am not worried about it.  No, I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me, and that way I don’t have to think about it.”
 “That’s fantastic!” his friend replied.  “How much does your professional worrier charge for his services?”
“$50,000 a year”, the first man answered. “$50,000 a year? Where are you going to get that kind of money?” “I don’t know”, responded the first man.  “That’s his worry.”

From today’s reading from the Letter to the Philippians, Paul says
 “Do not worry about anything. Don’t be anxious about your life.  Be happy.”

EASY TO SAY.  HARD TO DO. For Americans living in the 3rd millennium ---we are a people bombarded by stress, anxiety, and worry, according to one author reporting on recent polls. He writes,
·       43% of all adults suffer health effects due to worry and stress.
·       75% - 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress & anxiety related complaints or disorders.
·       Stress is said to be responsible for more than half of the 550 million workdays lost annually because of absenteeism.
·        Add to the list the mental fatigue of nights without sleep and days without peace, and we get a glimpse of the havoc worry plays in destroying the quality and quantity of life.
·        Worry has been linked to all the leading causes of death including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis and suicide.

Wow.  That’s a lot anxiety.

It think it’s safe to say that most of us expect some short term and minor anxieties, which we typically face in a normal day of life. Most of the time, we can deal with such minor worries as they emerge, using our own personal resources and coping skills.   But the type of anxiety that I would like to discuss today is what I call MAJOR WORRIES.    The English word “worry” is actually rooted in old English and German words, which mean to “strangle,” or to “choke.”

When faced with upon problems, which we cannot immediately resolve with our own efforts and resources, many of us frequently react with “life choking worry.”
·       For example--declining health and disease, like cancer, heart trouble, Alzheimer’s may threaten us, or those we love.
·       Or think of the many, many dangers that our children face, including drug & alcohol abuse, car accidents, predators, immorality, and the like.
·       Financial concerns and loss of employment, in a very uncertain economic climate, can cause us to worry. 
·       Some of us worry about familial conflict, divorce and/or estrangement with those we love.
·       Caring for infirmed parents or spouses can be worrisome—just wondering if you have the strength to carry on.

So the potential dangers we face are real---but what about our many unnecessary worries, that are self-imposed?  I am convinced that many of us, including me, have lost many precious years of our lives by overindulging in unnecessary anxiety and worry.

Once upon a time, a man had a dream, when he met “Death.” Death was walking toward a city and the man asked, "What are you going to do?""I’m going to take 100 people," Death replied."That’s horrible!" the man said. "That’s the way it is," Death said. "That’s what I do."
The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell, he met Death again.” You told me you were going to take 100 people," the man said. "Why did 1,000 die?"
"I kept my word," Death responded. "I only took 100 people. Worry took the others."

Some of us become unnecessarily obsessed with worry, to the point where anxiety can poison our lives.

So, for example---a number of years ago, I was facing a problem at my last church.
·       In my own mind, I began to worry that the problem might get worse.
·        If the problem got worse, then I figured that it was my fault and I would get the blame.
·        If that happened, & the problem continued, & then things deteriorated, then I might lose my job.
·         If I lost my job, then I’d not be able to find another one, and then I’d become impoverished.
·        If I became poor, I would not be able to support my family.  I’d be humiliated…we’d be homeless, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Well, it may have taken me longer than others to figure this out---but I lived through this pattern of cycles of worry, much of my life.
·       Finally, I realized that I could not personally manage the anxiety in my life.  I needed to do something different than what I was doing, because I was depressing those I loved, and I was unnecessarily making myself miserable.

·       Anxiety had taken over like some bully tinhorn dictator. Well, that was it.  I had had it.  I wanted to over throw that dictator, and put Jesus back on the throne of my life, where he belonged.  So, I decided to take some action.  Now, it didn’t happen quickly.  Indeed, there were lots of fits and starts over the years, involving prayer (by myself, and with prayer ministry, like that offered after Sunday services by our prayer team), and many conversations with my loved ones, friends, and a therapist. But eventually, the Lord led me to win over worry. And there were three major factors that led to that victory: 

1.  FIRST, SOME OF US NEED NEW PRIORITIES.   Across our whole culture, too many of us are consciously or unconsciously on a quest for materialism, which adds unnecessary anxiety to our lives. Materialism is doomed to let us down, because the love of things can separate you from loving God. 
·        Jesus points out that some Christians are so worried about worldly rewards, riches, and pleasures, that they cannot hear God’s word.   They are like seeds, planted in the thorns, which are choked to death before bearing fruit. 
·        It’s interesting that the root word for “worry” in the Greek, means being of a double mind.  This is what Jesus means when he says, “No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one, and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Rather than elevating money to such an important place in our lives and being choked with worry, Jesus has a different idea.  He says, “Seek first my kingdom anomy righteousness, then all things will be added to you.”


2. SO, SOME OF US NEED NEW PRIORTIES, AND WE ALSLO NEED A NEW PERSPECTIVE.
·       There are times when I finally realize that worry has pushed Jesus off the throne of my heart. At those times, wherever I happen to be, I confess my sin to God.  I say, “Jesus, I apologize for letting godless worry consume me. It’s my fault—because you have given me the tools I need, to live a full, rich and abundant life.
·       “Your blood and resurrection power are more powerful than anything in this world.   I have overindulged this worry, like an alcoholic overindulging in whiskey.  Please forgive me, and deliver me from the sin of toxic worry.”  
·        When I choose, like that, to ask for God’s help in that way---most of the time, I begin to feel my burdens lifting.  Would you please take out the tricolored insert, and look at the line in blue, on the right side of the center page:   Repeat after me, “Rest in my love.”  (REST IN MY LOVE.)   That comes from Jesus words, when he said, “Come unto me, all you who travail and heavy laden burdens, and I will lift your burdens, and give you rest.”   (Mt. 11:28) When I come to God in this way, I feel released from oppressive worry, because I have humbled myself before God, and articulated before Him and me, the true priorities of my life.
·       God’s word is so encouraging in helping to change our perspective from exhausting anxiety, to resting in faith.  Let’s look at another word: This one is printed in red, and is one the right hand center page, above the red tulips.  Please repeat after me, “Trust me, and I will not fail you in anyway.”
·       As each of us grows to more fully embrace God’s perspective that 'we are important to Him,' we will also learn to trust him more, and not be so anxious.


·       And that leads to our third point of winning over worry, which is to remember and to receive GOD’S PROVISION. Once we have learned a new perspective, and we realigned our priorities, then we can be confident in receiving God’s provision. Today’s psalm, Psalm23, is perhaps one of the most powerful and beloved portions of scripture for any people looking for hope.  Would you take out your scripture insert, and read the first verse with me?  Saying together, “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD, I SHALL NOT BE IN WANT.”
·        Do you know whether or not the Lord is your shepherd?  If not, can you imagine what that would be like?  If He is was your shepherd, you could then say, with some confidence, “I will not be in want.”  The Lord wants you to have that confidence in him.  This is a conviction, a belief, a change of heart, which can grow by remembering how He has provided for you in the past.
·       Would you please turn over your bible reading inset to the back page, so that we can look at the Philippians reading.  Look at the first column second to last line.  Find where it says,”The Lord is near.”  Let us now read the sentence that follows.  Saying together, “DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND SUPPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE KNOWN TO GOD.”
·       The key word in this section is “THANKSGIVING.”  Tell God you are thankful for what he has already given you.  If I give you a present, and you never thank me, can you expect me to give you another?  Giving thanks to God is a powerful force that acknowledges the truth that we proclaims every Sunday, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
·       When we thankfully remember the ways He has already helped us, we can have greater inner confidence to believe Him.   For years and years, my wife has started out everyday, by giving thanks to God for 5 blessings she received in the previous day.  Remembering how God  provided for her yesterday, lays the foundation of a grateful heart, so that she can see  just how  God is  going to provide for her, today.  Consequently, her heart is not filled up with worry, but with faith.  Now, I am nowhere as disciplined as my wife is, but when I remember how God has provided for my family, my churches, and me, in the past, and then my worries in the present are put in their proper place.  I, too, can look back and see, thankfully, hat he has provided for me—and now I can see that reality is stronger than all my worries.

So, three steps to diminishing anxiety involve perspective, priorities, and provision.   1) Get God’s fresh perspective; 2) set Godly priorities; and 3) remember & and receive God’s provision. 

You see, like the man in the story at the beginning of the sermon, God hired a man to take all your worries upon himself.  He carried them to the cross and died.  THEN HE rose from the dead, lifting those burdens for all who come to Him. Through Him you have been set free; AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.  AMEN.  

Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Fruitful Vineyard

SERMON # 3  “THE FRUITFUL VINEYARD’   October 2, 2011
From Sermon series, “You are Important to God.
Isaiah 5:1-7, Ps. 80:7-14, Philippians 3:4b-14, Matthew 21:33-46

A thorough reading of the Bible, makes it clear that Jesus had a thing about wine.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a ‘wino,” but his enemies did.  They condemned him for going to too many parties and getting drunk.  Of course, many of us recall that Jesus’ first miracle was to change water into wine at a wedding; and then on the night before he was lynched and murdered, he told his disciples to drink wine to remember him.
However, it’s also clear from the bible that Jesus loves vineyards.  After all, His father created the first vineyard, which the Bible calls the Garden of Eden. Jesus clearly had worked as a vinedresser; He knew exactly how  to plant, raise and cultivate the vines, and to harvest the crop.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of the vineyard, just as it is used in our first reading fro Isaiah and the Psalm.  In all these instances, God’s word says that God built and planted wonderful vineyards, and then raised up people to manage the vineyards on his behalf. God’s instructions to these stewards were clear— “Produce fruit for me and produce fruit for you. That way, everyone benefits. “
 Unfortunately, in all three instances, the stewards of the vineyards failed. God did not get the fruit that he was due, and it was clearly the fault of the managers, who were either thieves or incompetent.  So, God threw the bums out.  Specifically, Jesus says that the irresponsible stewards will vanquished and that He will, quote, “lease the vineyard to others who will give him the produce at harvest time.” Unquote.
Now in telling this story in today’s Gospel, Jesus did not intend to give us a lesson in agriculture.  Rather, as He does so often, Jesus uses physical images as metaphors to express spiritual truth.  Today’s Gospel is a message to those of us who are so important to Him—His followers, His people, the Christian church.

The church world wide, and Christ Church Quaker Farms, comprise the vineyard of Jesus Christ.  As we hear in the Gospel, He died to save us, His vineyard.  And He rose from the dead.  And now He leads us, as He says in the Gospel, that we might be, quote, a people that produce the fruits of the kingdom.”  Would you please repeat that after me, ‘THAT WE MIGHT BE A PEOPLE WHO PRODUCE THE FRUITS OF THE KINGDOM.”  Our purpose for existence, individually, and as a parish is to produce fruit for the Kingdom for God and for us.  All God wants,  is for us to do what is necessary to produce the fruit of the spirit, for his happiness and ours.

I believe that Jesus wants Christ Church Quaker farms to be a safe place, where each person is valued because he or she is important to God….a place for healing…comforting…a place acceptance and warmth. It is here, in the Christian community, that God shares his love for us as we share his love for one another.  Jesus says, “If you obey my command, that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.  And this is my command; please repeat after me, “THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU.”

So, what might such a place look like?   Well, it might look something my silly drawing, which you will find as an insert in your service sheet.  Look for the grapes. This drawing is based upon Galatians, Chapter 5, which describes the “fruit of the spirit.”  However, I have extrapolated and paraphrased that famous passage, to help in our discussion today.
At the top of the page, we see the fruit that is produced by the fruitful vineyard, or parish:
Jesus wants his church to be a place of forgiveness and reconciliation.  This happens when we put others before ourselves, and defer to their needs and wants, instead of insisting on our own. Instead of broken relationships, he wants us to engage in problem solving. Acceptance, warmth, and joy will be hallmarks for his church.  And of course, He wants all people included, because each person is important to him.  So, that sounds pretty good, and I know that so many of you are dedicated to that end.that you go out of your way to be patient, and understanding, and kind.

But, let’s be frank here. Whether your community is  church, or a family, or a business, or a school, there is always one thing that you can always expect, and that is this: WHEN YOU RUB ELBOWS IN  COMMUNITY, YOU CAN ALWAYS EXPECT THAT SOMEONE’S TOES WILL BE STEPPED UPON.  Sometimes this happens unintentionally; other time, it may appear to be deliberate; but it always happens.  So, with this reality in mind, we who value our churchcommunity must be aware of the disease of sin, which can kill any vineyard.  No vineyard is immune from the spiritual forces of death, which include, as listed on the bottom half of the picture, grudges, vanity, anger, depersonalizing others into rivals, and on and on.

If you care about this vineyard, then you need to be vigilant, so that this disease does not infect that which we love.

This past summer, while my wife and I were on vacation in southern face, we lived in an isolated farm house, which was surrounded by mountains; and on those mountains, were rows and rows of grape terraces, covering whole slopes.  And you know what?  All these vineyards were dead.  They had been abandoned over a hundred years ago, because this particular variety of vines were infected by a blight called  “PHY-O-LLEX-ERA, which wiped out the entire area.  It was a disease, for which there was no defense against, in this particular variety of grapes.  So, farms and vineyards which had been in families for 500 years, were abandoned then, and are still abandoned to this day.

Now, this is my metaphor for sin. Don’t play with fire, don’t play with sin.  Such sin  is  lethal and deadly to God’s vineyard, which is his church.  If left untreated, then church after church would become dying vineyards.

There’s a story about a man who died, suddenly, unexpectedly. You see, he died of a disease which could have been cured.  But he didn’t go to the doctor, because he didn’t go to the doctor until it was too late.

Today’s Gospel is a phone call from Doctor Jesus.  He’s calling up to tell us that there is a cure for the disease of sin, and that is called forgiveness.  Maybe you need to hear this message.   Maybe we need it.

You see, I have suffered from this disease previously, and I am now in  recovery.  During my life in God’s vineyard, I have personally endured gossip, lies, and rejection.  I have held grudges and nursed resentment for years. Frankly, at one time, all this negativity became so consuming, that it crippled my spiritual and religious life.  It poisoned my attitude toward the church.
 However, I finally listened to a  phone call from God,  where Jesus  inspired me to forgive those, who have hurt me; and to seek reconciliation with those, whom I have hurt. This took prayer, and soul searching, and talking with someone I trusted, and then I chose to forgive, ands to ask for God’s forgiveness for my own hardness of heart.   And slowly, but certainly, my attitude began to change.  I began to more consciously nurture the fruit of the spirit, especially with those people, whom I had previously resented.  And then, I felt the burden of antagonism lift.  Then gradually, I became a more fruitful vine in the vineyard of Jesus Christ.
 Indeed, God’s word calls each of us to be ministers of reconciliation, first within our homes and families, and then in the  world. Jesus not only calls us to be ministers of reconciliation, but if we ask, He, Himself, will spiritually empower us to do this.  You see, the power of God is the power of peacemaking and reconciliation, through the Holy Spirit.  So, if we ask for help, He will give it.

We pray in the Lord ’s Prayer, we pray for forgiveness.  How does that go?   “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

Jesus would not have us pray those words, if He had not provided the power for us to obey that . Indeed, this is what Paul is saying in today’s reading from Philippians.  The apostle Paul had been beaten and battered by his own people, including the Christian church.  But, like Jesus, he forgave his enemies.  So Paul write, quote, “This one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, and straining for what lies ahead, I press forward to the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Now, today’s scripture readings are specifically focused on the church community.  But of course, the reconciliation and the fruit of the spirit are needed in all communities; including those, outside the church in which you live.  So, I’d like to conclude my remarks to day by asking you to consider one person you need to forgive in any community in which you live.  This person may be living or dead; someone you see everyday, or someone you have not seen in years.  You may want to talk to this person, or you may just ask the Lord to help you forgive this person in the quietness of your heart.  Now, in each pew, we have left small little reminder notes, featuring a picture of some grapes and a place where you can fill in a name or initials.  Take this home as a reminder.  Forgive, as you have been forgiven.  And by doing so, you will produce fruit for the Kingdom of God.  AMEN.

   --The Rev. John Donnelly   Christ Church Quaker Farms, Oxford, CT.