Sermon by Frances W. Stewart
Friendship and Damascus United Methodist Churches
Exodus 32:1-14; Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost – October 12, 2008
I greet you in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It has been a while since I have had the privilege of preaching here at Damascus—a church that is on my list of the top 10 churches. Churches where I’d rather be at any given time, to worship and grow with others who serve God by loving each other and the world. Your ministries engage people in work that bring healing and wholeness. They are significant in transforming the world, and are worthy of note. I think it would be an eye-opening experience to see for yourselves, just how many mission teams and projects are supported by this faith community. I would like you to stand (as you are able) if you have been on a mission trip, served on a mission team, serve in a ministry that reaches out to the poor, marginalized and disenfranchised, or supported—financially or otherwise—in these kinds of ministries. Your standing up is a personal testimony to your willingness to go where the Lord leads, and to serve God by serving others.
I am going to name some of the groups that serve through this faith community. If you are involved in them, or have supported them in ANY way, consider this as an opportunity to glorify God through your faithfulness to the cause of building the Kingdom here on earth: Hearts and Hands, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, support for Nan McCurdy, a missionary in Nicaragua, Alicia Feuillet’s work in Malawi, Amada and Michael Jones in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the Charles Wesley Singers, the Puppet Ministry, Youth Hand bells, St. Cecilia Youth Orchestra, Kairos, VIM teams (Hopi, Costa Rica, New Orleans/Gulf Coast, Kenya, Russia, Poland, South Africa, Ghana, the University of Africa, and others), Action In Montgomery, DELAI, Damascus Help, the Crop Walk, Harwood House Thrift Shop, Sunday School projects that provide global and local aid to persons in distress, the UMW and the UMM. That was just SOME of the efforts this church family has supported over the years. I think that you deserve to be commended for walking with Christ, and for being His hands and feet in the world. You also should be recognized for being faithful to the covenant you made with us and with God when you became a member of this church. You might recall that when we are received into membership into the United Methodist Church, we are asked an important question. “As a member of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries, by your prayers, your presence, your gifts and your service?” And in response, we make a covenantal vow with God and each other, by stating, “I will.” I hope that every time we baptize someone here, or receive someone into membership, each one of us will remember those vows as our sacred trust and promise. God gives us grace to do what must be done to transform the world, and God never abandons us when we are called to any task. The Lord is with us always, even to the end of the age. (Christ’s own promise to us)
After seeing so many who are involved in mission and service, some of you might think that we have done (or are doing) enough. But I am going to be bold to suggest to you that we have only touched the surface in what is needed to bring healing, wholeness, and love to our world. There is so much more to do; there will always be somebody worse off than you or me, and God expects us to reach out to them.
In the Scriptures, there was a woman who came to anoint Jesus before he was arrested and crucified. Some of the disciples were outraged that she took this exotic oil, a very costly item, and wasted it (on Jesus). In response to their comments, He said, “the poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11). We know that the poor are indeed with us; and we have been called to do justice; to raise them up; to proclaim the Gospel; to love our neighbors as we love ourselves; to give of our time, talent, gifts and service, until we breathe our last breath. That is God’s charge to us as Christians. That is our purpose as followers of Jesus Christ. That is simply what we do, until we can do no more. Whatever we do—our vocation, our daily work, our service in and through the church, is to be done joyfully, to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul reminded the body of Christ to look at life from the perspective of being happy and content in all things. There is an abundance of good in this world for which we can be thankful and joyful . But, unfortunately, like Euodia and Syntyche, we can get distracted by the day to day struggles and lose our grip on the peace and joy that God makes available to us.
Paul called for the rest of the body of Christ at the church in Philippi to gather around these women who were in conflict, and help them resolve their differences so that they could continue to do the work to which they were called. He did not devalue their contribution to the ministry of Christ because they were in conflict. No, Paul celebrated their previous work. He encouraged the entire congregation to consider and DO what is the most important thing: to stand firm in the Lord! That means to keep the faith, to stay on task in ministry, to keep the commandments of Christ, with a heart that is joyful, thankful and eager to be a servant in the Kingdom of God simply because of the grace we have received. “If you love me, Jesus said, you WILL keep my commandments.” (emphasis, mine. John 14:15)
Christ’s call on our lives comes with struggles. It is easy for us to lose our focus and get caught up in the distractions of every day life. When troubles and trials, misery and distress come our way, we tend to focus on the specific problem(s) and become entrenched in it/them. I imagine it’s like being in a foxhole in the middle of a battle. Gunshots are whizzing by overhead. If you rise up, you might get hit, which could be deadly, but if you stay in the foxhole, you still might die; but for other reasons—lack of food, water, unsanitary conditions, whatever. Sometimes life feels like that, like we have no way out, and no solution we come up with is going to be a good one. We can also get sidetracked by doing things that look like they are for the good, but pull us farther away from God. Our relationship with God is top priority, and it is one relationship that needs our attention above all others. The blessing of that relationship is evidenced by the fruits that grow through our prayers, presence, gifts, and service. There are times when we are aware that God is near, and that God longs to be in communication with us, but we have too many other things to do to pay attention. We get distracted and drawn in other directions.
When the Israelites, who had escaped from Egypt, camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai, they were very much aware of the presence of God in that place. In the smoke and the fire, and the thunder and lightening, they knew that the Lord was near. So near, that it frightened them. At the same time, they were waiting for God to give them a Word, a sign, a special message, to encourage them to continue their journey to the Promised Land. Life was hard. Food, like what they remembered from the good ol’ days back in Egypt, was scarce. They were wandering through desolate terrain, there was no peace and quiet; there was no relief. Nevertheless, the people could cling to the very real and living promise of hope; the hope that God did call them out of bondage, to give them a new life; a new home.
In today’s Old Testament lesson we learn that Moses had gone to the top of the mountain to pray; to commune with God. But he was gone a little too long, and during that time, fear, discomfort, and worry grew. They were frustrated and uncomfortable. They wanted to move on, to get real and stop reaching for the “pie in the sky. They wanted to DO something besides wait on the Lord to solve this problem (wandering in the desert). They grew impatient waiting on Moses and his “pipedreams”. So they decided to create a monument, a golden calf to worship. As far as they were concerned, that god was no better than any other god, and it was better to have a god they could see, than one they could not. So, they set up a golden calf, similar to what was common back in Egypt. This golden calf became a distraction. This golden calf stood as a monument to what they really had put their faith in—themselves. This golden calf, made by human hands in the image of one of God’s own creation—represented strength, leadership and fertility. To worship this golden calf was easy. It made no demands. It had no rules to follow (except what they wanted to set up for themselves). It required no measure of accountability, responsibility, or even faith. The people began to run wild, reveling in immorality and all the things that dishonored the God who delivered them from bondage; all under the guise of worship. The Israelites got distracted. And the more distracted they were, the more distracted they became. It was apparent that they had moved far from God. (You know, when God seems distant to you, you can be sure that YOU’RE the one who moved!) The Israelites put behind them the hope-filled promise that God had made to them. They put aside their loyalty to God. They put away their faith in the God who promised to lead them to the land of promise. They took matters in their own hands, chose not to wait for God, and set in motion a painful, and horrific judgment against themselves. Distractions…, so many distractions.
Now I have some questions for you. Have we, in 21st century America become distracted and fallen short of the glory of God? Have we looked at the world problems and determined that we have the answers to fix them, without consulting God in the matter? Have we given ourselves over to sports, money, entertainment, and recreation as the new idols we worship? Has our time become such a commodity that when it comes to worshipping God or participating in ministry through the church, we opt out for more pressing demands? Look in your check book, what does it say are the main things in your life? Look at your calendar, what are the main things that occupy your time? Look at your family and extended family and friends. On what do you focus when you are together? Is God and God’s ways the center of your joy, your livelihood, your foundation, and source of healing and wholeness? If not, then I’d say you’ve been distracted. If the stock market, and the war, and the pollution and the upcoming election, and TV and radio, and Ipods, and laundry, chauffeuring, working, cooking, cleaning, playing, etc., are consuming the 24 hours you have in a day, and the seven days you have in a week, you are distracted. If you lack peace and are depressed and struggling through inner turmoil, then you are distracted. If that is a synopsis of your life, then what do you think God would have you do?
As a first step, God would have you come back to rekindle the love you had when you first accepted Christ. Then God would have you build on that foundation to live, and speak, and act with love toward your brothers and sisters in the world. Then God would have you do this simple thing: consider whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable. And upon finding anything of excellence—if there is anything worthy of praise, then think on these things (i.e. focus on these things.). And keep on doing ministry and missions; doing the things you have learned and received and seen in Christ and in his most faithful followers. Miraculously, amazingly, the God of peace will be with you—and IN you.
Rejoice, church, that even today, God IS for us and loves all people everywhere. We have only to remember Christ who died for our own soul’s salvation and His victory over death through His resurrection, to remind us that there is One God, whose light still shines in the midst of darkness. Whose faithfulness is a living promise to us. When we come to Christ, and stay with Christ, we can by the work of the Holy Spirit in us, avoid the distractions of the world, and live in the assurance that we do have a future filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 reads, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” The living hope that God promises to us is the hope that rises above all distractions and brings us to that blessed place of oneness with God and each other. Seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s justice, and all things – even peace that surpasses understanding, will be added unto you. Rejoice in all things and celebrate the living hope that comes from God alone. To God be the glory! Amen.
