Mission
Sermon 2014
Vermont
and North Carolina
Jackie:
There are so
many opportunities to share our faith just outside the doors of our churches.
Lost, lonely, hurting, needy people can be found in every community in every
country on the face of the earth. Every one of us could make it our life’s work
to demonstrate the love of Jesus to people in need and never get outside a
twenty mile radius from our homes. So why does God tell his people to “go”? Going
has always been a part of God’s plan. Jesus, himself, continued the call to
“go”! As part of their training the disciples were sent out to surrounding
towns. There is a calling on those who follow Jesus to leave their places of
comfort and familiarity and share his love in ways that stretch us and impact
others. God knows something of the power of a stranger showing up on the doorstep
of someone in need We should all be helping our next door neighbor, but
something amazing happens when we go out of our way . . . physically,
emotionally and spiritually . . .
Perhaps we come to know what it means to be a
stranger in a strange land and so better understand that the earth itself is
not our true home. Our journey of faith is about becoming people who go. These
mission trips gave our young people a chance to hear the voice of God and
respond. Respond by leaving the comforts of life behind to become the hands and
feet of Jesus on the doorstep of a stranger; to become the voice of one crying
in the wilderness; God has entrusted the
parents and members of this congregation these youth of CCQF to your care, you
in turn provided the chance for them to participate in these mission trips, which
gave them a chance to join the bigger picture of God’s purpose, His love, His forgiveness, His
blessings.
Through
youth mission trips over the past 4 years we at Christ Church have seen many
young people transformed—in dramatic and enduring ways. It’s a mystery how
simply serving in Christ’s name impacts the people serving . . . and the people
being served. Hearts change. Behaviors change. Relationships with God change.
Is there genuine, lasting value in youth mission trips? Yes! And here’s why…
Tammy:
Fr. John gave us the
theme of Transformation to focus on while on our Mission Trips for the sermon
today.
As I thought about this
I realized that brokenness could be in itself a transformation; A
transformation from brokenness to redemption.
To understanding that God takes our brokenness, however small or large
it is and brings us to redemption, if we lay that brokenness at the cross. He sent his son to take our pain, our
brokenness, and our sins and to free us of the pain and shower us with his
love. As this thought came over me I
began to see all the transformations that occurred.
For example, our
worksite was broken the first day of our trip.
Our leader was angry with us; our children were overwhelmed with the
task at hand and disappointed by the location, work, and leadership provided by
the mission trip. The trip itself was
broken at its core. However, with prayer
and open conversation with God and each other we changed our thinking, changed
our actions, and changed ourselves to focus on what God wanted us to do. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves
because all that we had envisioned in our heads or experienced in past trips
was not happening, we focused on the Lord.
We turned that all over to him and spent some more time with him before
our day started and things turned around.
Our hearts were transformed and God redeemed us with his love. God’s was present and foremost on our worksite.
However, the most
amazing transformation occurred at our last worship service. For the first time all week we could relate
to the message. The worship leader
shared the story of the prodigal son and spoke of all the characters in the
story Jesus shared with us. I think we
all usually focus on the younger son, the prodigal son, but the father and the
older son were brought to the forefront as well. They were all broken and God redeemed them.
They were all lost and God brought them home.
We could relate to the feeling of loss the father must have felt, the
anger and frustration of the older son, and of course the feeling of
disappointment, failure and regret of the younger son. We were able to see and pray about the
brokenness in our lives and we had the opportunity to leave them at the cross. The Holy Spirit was present on this night and
God transformed our hearts and brought us together in his love and grace. He brought us closer together and allowed us
to share in each other’s love while being wrapped in His.
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Fights, hurt friendships, losing family
members, making bad decisions, events on the news, divorce – these things and
more can make us feel “weary and burdened”.
Only by giving these things to the Lord, by listening to what the Lord
wants for us and trusting in Him can our hearts and lives be transformed.
Bring your brokenness to Lord, as these
remarkable young adults have done this past week, and experience the amazing
power of our Lord. Let your heart be
transformed by the overwhelming love of our Lord.
Ken:
This week in
VT we learned that Jesus was the ultimate DEMO of how to serve, love, live
well, and know the plan God has for us. We were taught how to live more like
Jesus. He came to earth to not only to pave the way for us but He also walked
the path. We live in a broken world that can often feel like we are alone.
There is brokenness in our families, in our Church, in our community, in the nation,
and throughout the world. But God loves us too much to leave us broken and
alone. Jesus is the BIG FIX.. All we
need to do is rely on Jesus to break the barriers between us and God. One way we
can do this is live a life more like Jesus did. He demonstrated a life that was
full of goodness, compassion and purpose – Jesus life is a demonstration of how
all people can live a full and good life that honors God. The youth and leaders on both trips took the
opportunities this week to challenge ourselves to live like Jesus.
