“The Loveable Unlovable”

August 24, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 8 of series-

“Love”

Luke 6:27-36 NIV Bible

1 John 3:11-18 NIV Bible

http://www.songlyrics.com/carolyn-arends/they-ll-know-we-are-christians-by-our-love-lyrics/#ao6zM5TDX02btVrO.99

“The Loveable Unlovable”

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

I have been talking about the Devo Magazine that the youth have been reading and how thoughtful these writers have been. They are just kids but their understanding of God is just astounding. I mean these kids really have a lot to say and they are very profound. For instance, in the March thru May edition, there was one week al about love….radical love. They talked about radical love and stepping out in faith and love to and for others. They understood that love is a verb and when you love it is an action rather than an emotion. One even talked about how love is life changing not only for the other person but for the giver as well. They understood that Jesus’ love was radical…something that was different from what the religious leaders taught in the Synagogue. It is hard to love sometimes. Especially when someone is “unlovable”.

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we have focused on one of the steps of the prayer beads. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we see.

I hope we have learned a few things as we have been going through the beads on the string.  Let’s see…the Gold Bead…which reminds us to begin with adoration ….the bumpy beady….that is to remind us to let go and let God….the embrace of silence with the “holey Bead” …the steeping stone bead…our journey of faith…the black...the black and white...the grey bead...we are to bring our spiritual struggles to God….and the green bead, represents concern…not worries but concerns.

This week…the first red one on the string…is a bead…a prayer…that may be difficult. Now it is the bead for love but not just the love you feel for family and friends. This bead is also about love of the “unlovable” people in our lives. You know those people that just get under our skin…those who we just can’t stand…those who may have caused us harm in the past.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

We will work with each other, we will work side by side

And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

The scripture I read this morning is all about loving. But it is not about your every day type of love, everyone can feel that, it is about that love that stretches you…about a love that has nothing to do with how you feel…it is an intentional love. It is easy to love those who are nice to you and are your friends but it is a whole other ball game when we are told to love those who we…well…really can’t stand. We all have those “unlovable” people in our lives. But it is how we react towards them that really truly matters.

1^st John talks more about this kind of love. The epistle talks about a love that is in action. Let me read to you what it has to say about this love action. I am reading from chapter 3 verses 11 thru 18…listen about this radical way of loving and see if this is a kind of love may be what Christians need in their lives…

More on Love and Hatred

11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[a] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

It is all about an action not just a “thing” called love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand

And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

As a matter of fact, God loves us so much that we are pursued by His love for us. In the book study from this summer “Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World”, we have read and heard about this type of love God has for us. There was one week that the video that we watched got me really thinking. It stated “because of the fall, God’s holiness required separation in the form of the temple veil. But then Jesus came as the final sacrifice to reconcile us to God. The veil was “torn in two from top to bottom” when Jesus breathed His last breath.” God pursed humanity and still does to this day because of the radical love that He has for us. Now if God has showed us this kind of love, how can we, in gratitude for what He has done, not show the same love for those who are the “unlovable” in our own lives. Remember how Jesus acted on the Cross. Remember His prayer…forgive them Father for they know not what they (we) do…radical love in action.

Love is patient, love is kind

Never boasts, not full of pride

Always hopes, and it always trusts

The evidence of Christ in us

This is my commandment that you love one another

That your joy may be full

Love, this is what we are called to do. Not just that emotional love but that radical love that causes us to act in love even when we don’t feel so loving towards others. As we pray for those we love and not so much love, we grow in love. As we pray for those unlovable people in our lives we begin to actually love them in spite of themselves. As we pray for those who are not “part of our circle of friends” we begin to let them into that very same circle. We may need to begin by praying for ourselves…praying that we will begin to love those unlovable people. Maybe if we start there we can not only change how we feel but have a radical change and new vision of what love really is. You see love is not just a word, it’s a noun and a verb, and hiding it is absurd.

Maybe…just maybe…as we learn to pray for and love one another, lives will be changed. Maybe if we show that radical love that Jesus showed from the Cross our lives will be changed. Perhaps then we will truly be known by our love…perhaps that is when the tide will change for humanity. Perhaps then and only then God’s Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. But it begins with you and me deciding to be radical in how we love and view others. Let us look to the example of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ…the perfector of our faith for it is through Him we can do all things…even love and pray for the unlovable that are in our lives and in the world. Maybe…just maybe…

Let us pray…pray about those we love and not so much love in our lives…

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

They will know we are Christians by our love

Amen

“A Weight Upon The Heart”

August 17, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 7 of series-

“Concern”

John 17:6-25 NIV Bible

“A Weight Upon The Heart”

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

Have you ever had anything that was just a weight upon your heart? You know…that thing that keeps you up at night. You are truly concerned about a person or situation and you just can’t get it out of your head.

Now that the girls are getting older, I find myself in prayer more often than before. I never really thought much about them going out into the world. I know they have been brought up knowing God and God’s love for them. I find myself praying for them as they leave the house. It is hard for kids, I think, living in the world as it is today. There are so many things that bombard their minds during the day, things that are of this world, things that could lead them to stray away from God, things that could be dangerous for them. The list just goes on and on. They are near and dear to my heart and at times it really weighs upon my heart. It truly concerns me that they are going out into the world sometimes…

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we have focused on one of the steps of the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer long. I would ask that you take out your beads if you brought them with you this morning. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we see.

I hope we have learned a few things as we have been going through the beads on the string.  Remember…the Gold Bead…which reminds us to begin with adoration and the second bead….the bumpy beady….that is to remind us to let go and let God. The “holey Bead” invites us to sit in silence, listen for what God has to say. Then the steeping stone bead, our journey of faith. The next bead …the black...the black and white...the grey bead...we are reminded to bring our spiritual struggles to God. The next bead, the green bead, represents concern. What concerns you most in life?

Now…we’ve talked about the worry in our lives…about “Letting Go and Let God”…but what about our concerns. Are we not trusting God if we have “concerns”? Now there is a difference between worry and concern…we learned that in the book study of Mary and Martha.

·        Concern=Involves a legitimate threat, is specific (one thing), addresses the problem, solves problems, looks to God for answer.

And

·        Worry=is often unfounded, is generalized (spreads to many things), obsesses about the problem, creates more problems, looks to self or other people for answer.

Jesus modeled prayer for you and me. We read many accounts in the bible of when Jesus went away, by Himself, to pray. We read some of those prayers in the bible and some are about things and situations that concerned Him about humanity. As a matter of fact, Jesus, just before He was betrayed and arrested, prayed prayers if concern. Three of them are found in the Gospel of John chapter 17…as a matter of fact it is all of chapter 17. The first in this series of prayers was for Him-self. It was time for Him to complete the purpose He came for and now it was time for Him to do his final ministerial act for humanity. He was about to die for all of humanity.

The next part of the prayer is the one I read this morning as Jesus prayed for the disciples that were with Him as He was healing and bringing the Good News to a hurting, still hurting, world. Jesus was concerned for them. He wanted them to be protected from the evil one who is in the world. He was concerned for them because they have now become in the world but not part of the world because of their faith in Jesus.

And then Jesus does something that is truly hope and life giving to me. In the third part of the prayer, Jesus prays for all believers to come. Listen to this part of His prayer that is found in John 17 verses 20-25…now as I read this prayer, I want you to put your name in where ever you hear the word “their, they and them” because Jesus is praying for you and for me…future believers…

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus, who taught the first disciples how to pray, was modeling a prayer of concern for those around him and those yet to be. Even the Lord Prayer that we prayed just a few minutes ago has a concern…request…from God…give us this day our daily bread….forgive us of our trespasses…and lead us not into temptation…

So…is it a matter of distrust if we have concerns in our lives. It becomes a matter of distrust of we don’t bring those concerns to God. We doubt God and His goodness and mercy when we keep them to ourselves. It is an act of disbelief when we think God is not concerned with our concerns. If even Jesus…the perfector of our faith…brought His concerns to His heavenly  Father…well…you get the picture.

Are there things that are concerning you and you don’t know who to turn to for help? Are you having trouble believing that God wants to hear you “silly concern”? Is your heart heavy laden with concern? Come to the cross of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ who knows what it is like to have concerns upon the heart. Come to the One who will share your concern with you and lighten your load. Come and lay your concern down at the feet of the Shepherd and rest in the meadow by the still waters of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, and live…

Let us pray…pray about those concerns that we bring to God…

Amen

“G.W.E.”

August 3, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 6 of series-

“Spiritual Struggles”

Genesis 32:22-28 Common English Bible

Psalm 139:1-14 NIV Bible

“The Long and Winding Road” The Beatles

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

I remember growing up I used to always hate Saturday afternoons. My brother and I would be watching T.V. together and all of the sudden wrestling would come on the T.V. I hated wrestling but my brother loved it…the old W.W.E….World Wrestling Entertainment. Well my brother would get entertainment out of it and all I would get is bored. I think he liked it so that he could learn some moves to try out on me later that day. What is so mesmerizing about wrestling any way? Two guys throwing each other around the ring. I just don’t get it.

Some times when I think about it…our faith walks can be kind of like a wrestling match with God. We wrestle with God over this or that…instead of W.W.E. I like to call it G.W.E….God Wrestling Entertainment… Boy I am sure He must get some entertainment out of me sometimes. He knows He will win but the way I struggle must make Him giggle sometimes. Why do we wrestle at times in our Faith Walk? God usually wins out but we still have to try to put Him in some type of Suplex or something trying to have our own way…

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we have focused on one of the steps of the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer long. I would ask that you take out your beads if you brought them with you this morning. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we see.

I don't know about you but I have had an awesome time so far as we have been going through the beads on the string.  Remember…the Gold Bead…which reminds us to begin with adoration and the second bead….the bumpy beady….that is to remind us to let go and let God. The “holey Bead” invites us to sit in silence, listen for what God has to say. Then the steeping stone bead, our journey of faith. What a hard bead it is. To think our Faith Journey can lead others to God as He illuminates our walk for others to see. The next bead is one that is very important in our journey of life. The black...the black and white...the grey bead...it represents our struggles in our faith. What do we struggle with each day...what are we struggling with spiritually?

So…why do we struggle so much? Through experience we know that God will win out in the end. There is no hiding from God as the Psalm I read this morning tells us. No matter where we try to go…no matter where we try to hide…God finds us… As Paul says…at times “we know what we should do but we do what we shouldn’t do.” I guess that is human nature. We want to be in charge and we know better than anyone else what we should do. But there are those times that while we are “doing our own thing…thinking our own ways” God breaks through and we begin to wrestle with Him about our thoughts and attitudes.

There is a story in the Bible that talks about a wrestling match. It is one that I think of when my hip starts bothering me at times. I think to myself…OK Lord, what am I wrestling with you on? It is the wrestling match between Jacob and God. It is found in Genesis 32 verses 22-28. Listen to the commentary on this match and see if you can put yourself in Jacob’s place from time to time…

Jacob wrestles with God

Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”

He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”

Jacob…now Israel…won but at what cost. He walked with pain and a limp for the rest of his life. It can be like that sometimes when we wrestle with God. God usually wins in the end and we walk away limping. God wants us to bring those things that we struggle with to Him in prayer so that He can help us with those things that can take us away from His loving care if we let them. He wants us to be real with Him with our struggles. Remember as the psalmist wrote…God knows everything about us so we shouldn’t try to be something we are not.

So…what are you struggling with today? Being judgmental or gossiping…maybe causing another to walk away from the church…being harsh on yourself and on others…un-forgiveness or envy…how about not spending alone time with God…no matter what it maybe, God wants us to come to him with our struggles so that together they can be conquered. As we come to God, through our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, in prayer we will find our burdens lifted and our struggles ended. So what are you struggling with? Take it to the Lord in prayer and feel the wrestling match end and come away stronger, wiser and closer to God. Or…we can go along in life limping as our spiritual life has been “put out of joint.” The choice is yours and mine to make. Which will you choose?

Let us pray…pray about those things we struggle within our spiritual life…

Amen

“A Long and Winding Road”

July 27, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 5 of series-

“Faith Journey”

Luke 12:1-6 Common English Bible

Romans 10:12-15 NIV Bible

“The Long and Winding Road” The Beatles

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

A reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, verses 12-15…listen for a word from God to you and me the people of God…

The Twelve sent out

“Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.”

The long and winding road that leads to your door

Will never disappear

I've seen that road before it always leads me here

Leads me to your door

Journey - an act of traveling from one place to another… to travel somewhere. Jesus sent His Disciples on a journey. He sent out to heal and to proclaim the Good News. What a journey that must have been. I am sure they must have been a little frightened…remember they followed someone who was very radical and now they were sharing the words that He had taught them to a world that was about to put Him to death because He was so radical. But He sent them out two by two…kind of reminds us about how on the Ark creation was saved two by two…and gave them power to cast out demons and heal people of their sickness and disease.

The wild and windy night that the rain washed away

Has left a pool of tears crying for the day

Why leave me standing here, let me know the way

Faith Journey – Faith is often called a journey. Faith is a process of moving deeper and deeper into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Christian faith comes in an instant but it takes a lifetime to grow and develop. The moment that you accept Christ as Lord and savior, the work of salvation has only just begun…the Faith Journey has begun. Like the disciples being sent out by two’s, we are also being sent out on our Faith Journey by two…ourselves and God. We are never alone; we are always partnered by God…

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we will focus on one of the steps of the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer long. I hope that you brought your beads with you this morning. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we see.

We have had an awesome time so far as we have been going through the beads on the string.  We have talked about the first bead…the Gold Bead…which reminds us to begin with adoration and the second bead….the bumpy beady….that is to remind us to “Drop it…leave it”…to let go and let God. How about the silence bead from last week? I have really worked on that one this past week and shall I say it is still a work in progress. The bead this week is one that we all may struggle with from time to time…the “Stepping Stone” the journey of faith bead.

Stepping stone…our faith journey is made up of “stepping stones.” Each step is a new stone set in place. It may be a difficult journey at times and we may wonder if we are on the right track in our journey…are we going in the right direction. It is sort of like the finger labyrinth’s you were given this morning. Our faith journey may have many curves to it but it is in the center where we find God…He is always at the center of all we do in His name…

Do you know how they make stepping stones?

·        They mix the concrete and shape into a rough finish form of a stone

·        Then they wait until it is firm enough to stamp into the form of a stone and they smooth out the sides.

·        Next they put a light coat of stamping powder on it and proceed to stamp a texture on it so that it has depth and texture…Kind of like how I told the children in the Children’s Message last week about how God puts different textures on the canvas of our lives…

·        Then the stone cures of at least 24 hours.

·        Then color is added.

·        The final step is they put a sealant on the stone to protect it from the elements.

Our faith journey is a lot like the making of a stepping stone. As we walk our journey of faith there may be times we feel we are in the “mix master”. As we wait patiently…or impatiently…for God to move, we can feel the pressure of the stamping of our lives. It is a difficult place to be.

Many times I've been alone and many times I've cried

Anyway you'll never know the many ways I've tried

And still they lead me back to the long and winding road

You left me standing here a long, long time ago

Don't leave me waiting here, lead me to your door

But as God gives depth and texture to our faith journeys it is being formed into a stepping stone for others. As the color is added to our faith journeys it illuminates with His mercy and grace. As we are sealed with the stamp of the Holy Spirit we are now ready to continue on our faith journey. Oh yah…remember we are never alone…we are in partnership with God who goes before us.

But there is a very important thing I want to share about our faith journey. As we walk in faith with God, our paths are illuminated. As our path is illuminated others who come behind us can find the path to God. Now they may begin following our path but God will make them a path of their own but…they need our path to begin their own journey. Think of those in your life that helped you find your path. Did you begin because of their journey that was illuminated? Then we too need to be that illuminating factor in others lives so they too can begin their life’s journey with God.

Our journey of faith…it really can be “The Long and Winding Road” but…but…isn’t the trip worth it? The journey may be filled with the joy of victory and the agony of defeat but we don’t travel it alone. We always go out in two’s, us and God. How awesome is it that as we travel our journey of faith we become those who are up stream for those who are downstream needing someone to show them how to “navigate by the star’s that God has put in their lives”. Let us hold fast and persevere to and on the journey. The Romans from this morning asks us:

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””

It is not only our lives that depend on it but the lives of those downstream looking up stream for mercy, redemption, forgiveness, healing and strength that can only be found in our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ…

But still they lead me back to the long and winding road

You left me standing here a long, long time ago

Don't keep me waiting here, lead me to your door

Yah, yah, yah, yah

Let us pray…pray about our journey of faith and how others will follow…

Amen

“Is silence Really Golden?”

July 20, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 4 of series-

“Silence”

Psalm 37:5-7 Common English Bible

1 Kings 19:9-23 NIV Bible

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

A reading from the book of 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 9 through 13 from the NIV Bible…listen for a word from God to you and me the people of God…

9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

The Lord Appears to Elijah

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we will focus on one of the steps of the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer long. I hope that you to bring your beads with you to church as we spend the summer sitting at the feet of God spending time in prayer. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we see.

Now, we have talked about the first bead…the Gold Bead…which reminds us to begin with adoration and the second bead….the bumpy beady….that is to remind us to let go and let God (remember…drop it…leave it…?) This week’s bead is one of the hard ones…the Bead of Silence.

We live in a world that always has something going on…there is always something that can invade our scenes. We, as a society, have learned to almost hate silence. It’s too quiet. We tend to feel on edge when it is too quiet around us….almost like we are nervous because of the silence. We need to have noise to feel secure. Many people turn on the T.V. or radio because it is too quiet around the house.

I know I am guilty of that sometimes. I need the noise so I don’t feel I am all alone in the house. It can give me a sense of security. But there are times when I crave silence in my life. Sometimes there is just so much going on at once that I can’t keep up with the demands of ministry and family. There are those times when I just want to run away to a quiet space where I can meet God and just be…

I remember the song from the Four Seasons “Silence Is Golden” back in 1964. But is it really “golden”? Silence is something that can be very difficult for us to embrace but that is what God wants us to do, embrace the silence and to quiet ourselves. It is within the silence that we can hear Him more fully.

Throughout the Gospels we hear of Jesus preaching o the masses and healing them from their infirmities. There was always a “buzz” around Him. People would flock from miles around to see Him and hear His message of the Kingdom of God. There was almost a chaotic atmosphere around Him with people pushing and shoving to be near Him. Zacheus, a tax collector, even climbed a tree in order to se Jesus. After he spent time doing what he came here for, to preach God’s love and heal people, He often went away to be by Himself to commune with God. He needed these times of silence in order to reconnect with God, to refresh Himself, to hear God’s instructions for what He needed to do next. We all have that chaos in our lives clambering for attention. Just as Jesus did, we too need that time away with God to regenerate ourselves so that we too can be reenergized to do what we are called to do for the Kingdom of God.

The Psalm that I read this morning tells us that we need to be still before the Lord and to wait for Him. We need to trust enough to take that time away knowing that God will refresh our souls so that we can go on in strength that is only found in and through Him. It is within the stillness that we can refocus ourselves from the chaos around us to following God’s will for our lives. How can we move forward for the Kingdom when so much stuff is crowding out God’s voice of comfort, of strength, of peace?

Then we have the story of Elijah in the cave. Elijah had become so busy and zealous for the Lord that he was weary and couldn’t go on. He felt as if his life had come to end and maybe he couldn’t hear God’s voice because of all the chaos around him. He had just called down fire from heaven. He had just killed all the prophets of Baal. He had just heard the “death sentence” that Jezebel had pronounced over his life. Now, warn and weary, he had climbed into a cave to hide from the world and chaos around him.

Here is where he heard the voice of the Lord. He had finally come to the end of himself and was ready to hear the word of God. But when did he hear the voice of the Lord best and his instruction of what to do next. Was it in the earthquake? Was it in the blazing fire or in the wind? No, it was within the silence…the after math of the noise that he clearly heard the voice of God. And it came in a gentle whisper. How can we hear the gentle whisper of Go din or lives when we are in the midst of the chaos?

Is silence Golden? For me the answer is yes. It is within the silence that we can here God’s still, small voice.  It is within the silence that we are refreshed and renewed. It is within the silence of our hearts that we can hear God’s instructions in our lives. It is within the silence we are given hope and strength. It is within the silence that we commune with God. In all the chaos and noise this world offers it can e hard to tell whether God is speaking or the sirens of the world. In all the chaos of life we too can become tired and defeated as Elijah was. It is within the uncomforting silence that we receive the comfort of God. Being silent is so counterintuitive of the chaos of the world. But we have been called to be in the world and not of the world. We need that silent time with God so that we can be His hands, feet and voice in a chaotic world. We truly do need to be still and know that God is God. Then and only then will we be able to give God the adoration and let go of what needs to be removed so that we can be that refreshed  and renewed person that God has always intended us to be. Yes, silence is golden and more precious than silver and much gold. Silence is what keeps us above water in a world that is sinking in the deep. It is where we meet God…

Let us pray…pray about finding God in the silence…

Amen

“In The Letting Go We Find…!”

July 13, 2014

Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church

Sermon Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”

Inspired by Marcia McFee

Sermon 3 of series-

“Letting Go”

Psalm 33:20-22 Common English Bible

Psalm 25:1-3 Common English Bible

Romans 8:30-32 Common English Bible

Matthew 11:28-30 Common English Bible

Let us pray… (Pray for God’s illumination…)

A reading from the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 30-32…listen for a word from God to you and me the people of God…

30 Those who God decided in advance would be conformed to his Son, he also called. Those whom he called, he also made righteous. Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified.

31 So what are we going to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He didn’t spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. Won’t he also freely give us all things with him?

I have a friend who is just awesome with dogs. She is very patient in their training as she teaches them how to be social animals but also to be obedient to her. She has this one thing she does when she teaches them that really amazes me. I can’t believe how obedient they are. She would have them bring one of their favorite toys to her and she would tell them “Drop it…leave it…” and they would do just that. She can walk away from them, even with her back turned, and they would just sit there and not touch the toy until she told them it was OK. They may sit there staring at their toy…really wanting to pick it up and play with it…but they have been told to leave it and they do.

Now I think it is very cool so I have even tried it with the girls. You know when they touch something or pick up something that belongs to one of their sisters. Well…I haven’t gotten it to work yet. Every time I turn my back they pick it back up. They just can’t let it go and leave it. But then again, we as humanity have a hard time with letting go. We can tend to hold on to things that we really don’t need to hold on to and we wind up carrying all this baggage…like David Broadbent talked about last week when he came to preach for us. I can just see God in heaven going, “Drop it…leave it…no I said leave it not pick it back up…” Why can’t we just leave it alone and not keep picking things back up after we give it to God? Or even give it to God in the first place instead of carrying it around with us like an old worn out, heavy suit case…?

This summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we will focus on one of the steps of the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer long. I hope that you to bring your beads with you to church as we spend the summer sitting at the feet of God spending time in prayer. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we survey.

Now, last time we talked about the first bead on our string of beads, the “Adoration Bead”, the one that reminds us to begin our prayer time in adoration of God. This week we are going to the second bead…the bumpy bead. This bead reminds us to tell God our worries and leave then there with God.

Now Marcia McPhee states that, “As we move into times of prayer and devotion, we are often faced with the distraction of those things that are worrying us, that are demanding our attention and focus. Letting go of these worries, even if for a while, is a practice of trust in God. This Sunday we wrestle with the difficulties (and the joys) of “letting go and letting God.”

Letting go…how hard is that at times? At times we have stresses and worries and it is so hard to stop thinking about them and redirecting our thoughts and hearts towards God. But how can we give our whole selves to God without letting go of those things that take up so much of our thoughts?

Now I don’t know about you but for me it can be really hard. I start with prayer and adoration of God and then all of the sudden thoughts and worries start creeping in…thoughts about what I have to do that day…thoughts of someone who may have wronged me…worries about how Shyanne is doing with her diabetes…worries about family and friends.  These thoughts can take over my whole prayer time with God. But…but…there are those times that as soon as they come to mind I let them go to God. In the letting go we can find peace. In the letting go we can find healing. In the letting go we can find peace.

In the Psalms from this morning we heard how our God is faithful. We heard that our hearts can rejoice in the God who is our shield. We heard how putting our hope in the God that created the universe is a source of joy and blessings. We shall not be put to shame. We can trust God with our deepest, darkest fears and He will give us peace in knowing He is in control…as Romans 8 tells us…if God is for us, who can be against us.

God wants us to have peace and hope in our lives. Mathew 11:28-30 Jesus tells us “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.” As we let go and let God we are blessed beyond measure. Our burdens in life are so much easier to carry…our worries disappear…when we give it to God and let God be God.

Letting go of what troubles and concerns us is never easy, and sometimes the act of placing these worries in the care of God and the care of others can help us to release them. So this is what I want you to do. As we sing our last song I would like for each of us, as the Spirit leads, to come forward with the note card that was given you this morning with your worries written on them and place them in the basket here up front and I will put them on the altar as we given them to God. But we all must remember to “drop it and leave it” with God. Now during prayer time if you start thinking about these things I want you to say to yourself “I have given it to God and I know that He is moving in my life and will take care of this worry for me. He is for me and not against me. I will trust and not be afraid.”

Letting go is never easy but in the letting go we are blessed beyond measure because we receive peace, joy and hope. In the letting go we enter the heart of God. What can be more precious than that?

Let us pray…pray about letting go…

Amen