November 13, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
After Trump Election
Psalm 29
Luke 21:5-19
Isaiah 65:17-25
Malachi 4:1-2
“A Whole New World…”
Prayer for God’s illumination and for His
word to be heard through me or in-spite of me…
Please stand, as you are able, for the
reading of the Gospel Reading. I am reading from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 21,
verses 5-19. Listen to the word of God…the comfort of and from God…for you and
me, His people…the sheep of His keeping…
v In
Wellsville, New York, a baseball dugout was vandalized with a swastika and the
words “Make America White Again.”
v Nazi
graffiti was also found painted on a building in South Philadelphia along with
the words “Sieg Heil” and “Trump” with the T-replaced by a swastika.
v In
Rochester, New York, two rainbow flags were burned.
We
live in a world that has truly gotten out of control. It seems as if everything
is just blowing up all at once.
v At
San Diego State University, a female student wearing a hijab was robbed the day
after the election by two men “who made comments about President-Elect Trump
and the Muslim community,”
v At
San Jose State University, a female student was attacked from behind by an
assailant who grabbed her hijab, choking her and causing her to fall, police
said.
There
have been over 200 hate crimes since the United States elected Donald Trump as
our next president on Tuesday evening.
v A
woman wearing a hijab near the University of Michigan was forced to remove her
headscarf Friday night after a man approached her and threatened to set her on
fire, according to the university’s crime report.
v these
incidents of harassment and intimidation have been most prevalent at K-12
schools, according to the SPLC findings. Middle school students in a suburb of
Detroit were caught on camera chanting “build the wall” during lunchtime the
day after the election. At a high school in Maple Grove, Minnesota, a bathroom
stall door was found defaced with the words “White America,” “Whites only” and
other racial slurs
Our
future…our next generation has joined in on the depravity of humanity…We are
talking about young girls and boys re hating each other. Hate is a learned behavior…who are they learning it from…? These
incidents come amid massive protests against Trump and divisive rhetoric
protesters say was espoused by his campaign.
The
Christian community claims we are in the last days. What do you think? The Luke
scripture I just read speaks of “a time such as this.” There are times when all
seems lost and anarchy seems to be the temperament of the world in which we
live. It is a fearful time for many and for others…who are caught up in the
chaos…it is a time that they have longed for. A time that everything gets set
back to how it was in the “good old days”. It is a fearful time because we know
what happened last time there was such hate in the world and we don’t want to
see it happen again. History truly does
repeat itself…especially when we didn’t learn the first time…They are claiming
that the hate crimes are worse than the time of 911…
v A
pupil at Shasta High School in Redding, California, handed out ‘deportation
letters’ to non-white students, just one day after Trump was announced
president-elect.
v ‘Black
lives don’t matter and neither does your vote’, reads the graffiti scrawled on
two walls in Durham, North Carolina.
v Pupils
at one high school were reportedly shouting ‘Sieg Heil’ and doing Nazi salutes,
as well as calling black children ‘cotton pickers’ – among a slew of other
racist attacks.
When I write sermon’s, I like to bring what is going on in the
world to the forefront… How would you feel if this was slipped under the door
of your home…?
v ‘Attention!!!!’
the flyer, which is written in all caps, begins. ‘All n*****s and sp*cs have
one week to vacate this building!!! ‘This is now a Trump friendly building! The
people of America have spoken. The time has come for good decent white people
to take back our streets from thugs and illegals!
‘We
know who you are and where you live. If you are not out in one week, we will
put you out! Immigration will now begin doing their job! Police will have the
power to reclaim our violent streets from black thugs. ‘You have been warned!
Proud American voter! Trump 2016’
How
much deeper are we going to sink? Didn’t
even have the guts to sign with their own name…only the description of what he
had done…vote
Perhaps,
we as Christ followers…you know Christians…should be even more serious about
the Great Commission. OK…what is the commission? Give time to answer… And what does it mean to and for you and I? Again, time to answer… The signs of the
times are right there in front of us. What are you and I going to do?
‘This is now a Trump
friendly building! The people of America have spoken. The time has come for
good decent white people to take back our streets from thugs and illegals! ‘We
know who you are and where you live. If you are not out in one week, we will
put you out! Immigration will now begin doing their job! Police will have the
power to reclaim our violent streets from black thugs.
Maybe
if we believed in the promises of God we would be more emboldened. We know the
time and we will have difficulties as we stand up for what Jesus did and would
do…
12 “But before all this,
they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues
and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and
all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make
up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I
will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to
resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and
sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17
Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will
perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
So,
what are the promises? What is the next chapter? What do we have to look
forward too? Let me read a couple of my favorite descriptions of what it will
be like when the old era (human time) is ushered out and the new era has come
(God time).
Isaiah
65:17-25New International Version (NIV)
New
Heavens and a New Earth
17 “See, I will create new
heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not
be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice
forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and
its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over
Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will
be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there
be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live
out his years;
the one who dies at a
hundred will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a
hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses
and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build
houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree, so
will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their
hands.
23 They will not labor in
vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a
people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will
answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb
will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be
the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor
destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
Everything will be made
new…made how God created it to be in the beginning…it all started in a garden
and it will end in a garden. God truly is the master gardener… And
Malachi
4:1-2New International Version (NIV)
Judgment
and Covenant Renewal
4 “Surely the day is coming;
it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be
stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord
Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who
revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.
And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.
We
are going to frolic…
We
should be shouting for joy from the roof tops…we are going to dance and frolic
for joy and for the love we feel or our God. All this evil will be gone… But in
the meantime, …we have a job to do and it is not going to be easy. But that
doesn’t negate the commission. Perhaps if we would begin to get excited about
the fact our God will have the last word. Perhaps if we truly believe His
promises to us. Maybe, just maybe, we would be too busy doing God’s work to
fear. Perhaps if we believed and rejoiced others would be attracted to our
joyful life and want it for themselves. Heaven is not full yet and we need to
make it our job…no our choice to fill it with our neighbors, our friends our
family…heck the stranger on the street. God doesn’t want anyone to perish. How
would you feel if someone perished because of your complacency…because of my
complacency…because of our inactivity? The time is set…we are here, you and I,
for a time such as this. We know the end of the story…we know who is going to
win… Now how about sharing that with others…because on that day…we will sing as
Isaiah did in chapter 12:
Isaiah
12New International Version (NIV)
Songs
of Praise
12 In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my
salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself,
is my strength and my defense[a];
he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw
water
from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord,
proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has
done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he
has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for
joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among
you.”
AMEN
