Matthew

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Form Without Power

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Form Without Power
Church - Part 1
Sunday, May 15, 2022
Acts 1:2-5; Matthew 12:43-46

“When an unclean spirit leaves a person, it wanders through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the place vacant, cleaned up, and decorated. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They go in and make their home there. That person is worse off at the end than at the beginning. This is the way it will be also for this evil generation.”

Matthew 12:43-45

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?

In this vow we declare our belief that God not only saves us from the consequences of sin, but from the power of sin itself.  Like the person in the scripture above, we are often quick to cast out the unclean things from among us, but we do not fully allow God’s Spirit to take up residence in its place.  We do not accept the freedom and power God gives us to overcome sin and darkness.

John Wesley once wrote,

I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America.  But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.  And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast to both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.

It’s easy to develop a like-minded club or group of people who like each other and want to live good lives and keep themselves separated from the world around them.  It’s easy to have worship services and read the bible together in Sunday School and share fellowship meals.  It’s even easy to do a few community service projects… We are very good at “playing church”. 

But without the fire of the Holy Spirit and the power He gives us to live out the discipline and commitment of our Baptismal Covenant, we are not The Church.

If we have been baptized by the Holy Spirit and by fire, God has consumed all evil and wickedness within us.  If we allow the His fire to burn within us, no evil can return and we will experience freedom from sin, guilt, and shame. 

Will we vow again, to live the Holy Life to which we were called, out of darkness into the marvelous light of Jesus, the Christ?  Let us pray:

Lord, I come, and I confess,

there are things in me, that are not of you

and I lay down my mess. 

I replace it with your love,

I replace it with your peace. 

I surrender all that is holding me back

from all you have for me.


Cheryl Vought, “Replace It”

 


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For Thine Is The Kingdom

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For Thine Is The Kingdom
Our Father - Part 6
Sunday, April 10, 2022 - Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-11; 1 Chronicles 29:10-13; Matthew 6:9-13

Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

1 Chronicles 29:11 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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For Thine is the Kingdom...

 “Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

 … and the power…

 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

 … and the glory…

 “Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes
        in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

 … forever.  Amen.

 … But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings.  When he found himself in the form of a human, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him a name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


(excerpts from Matthew 21:1-11 & Philippians 2:7-11)

 

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An Invitation to a Lenten Breath Prayer Practice -

As we sit with the “Our Father” Prayer Jesus taught us, I invite you to take one line each week and use it as a breath prayer throughout your day. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by difficulty or by gratitude, by pain or by joy, take a moment to breath a line of this sacred prayer. You may want to set a silent alarm on your watch or phone to remind you to pause and pray at least 3 times each day. Regardless of when you do it, be sure to let the prayer truly fill the depths of your soul. Repeat it, sit with it, meditate on it, until it becomes part of you. Allow the Spirit to transform your heart and mind as you pray.

Week 6: Breath Prayer Exercise

  • Breathe in: “For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory…”

  • Breathe out: “…forever and ever.”

Amen.





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Deliver Us

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Deliver Us
Our Father - Part 5
Sunday, April 3, 2022
1 Corinthians 10:12-13; James 1:13-15; Matthew 6:13

And don’t lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:13 (CEB)

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

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If there is any line in the Our Father that demonstrates how easily we gloss over the meaning of what we pray each week, it is this final line Jesus taught us:  “Lord, lead us not into temptation…”

It doesn’t take much thought for this statement to give us pause.  Why would God lead us into temptation to begin with?  If God really did lead us to temptation, why would we pray against it?

Things get even more complicated when we read James 1:13-14 —

No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.  But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it.

So if God is not the source of our temptation, why would Jesus teach us to pray this way?

Perhaps it would be helpful simply to add a comma, or a pause.  For example, “Lead us, - not into temptation, - but deliver us from evil.”

In this way, we are asking God to lead us - period.  What’s more, we acknowledge that God is leading us in a very different way than we so often lead ourselves.  We are good at putting ourselves in situations where we are tempted to sin.  Asking God to lead us in a different direction, not into temptation but away from evil, is an act of surrender and humility. 

Perhaps we might take a lesson from Peter.  Instead of declaring in pride that we will not sin, we will not deny Christ, and we will not falter in our faith, we might take Jesus’ lead and acknowledge that we are not strong enough on our own.  Given to our own devices, we will indeed deny Christ.  As Jesus himself reminds us, our spirits are willing but our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). 

God never promises that we will not be tempted, but rather when we are tempted, God will always provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13).  The key to this final line of the prayer, and indeed the entire prayer Jesus taught us, is humility and complete reliance on God. 

We pray these things because we cannot do them on our own.  We pray for deliverance from evil precisely because evil is so prevalent in our world and it will always find us, if we don’t find it first.  We must be vigilant and alert.  We must stay awake to recognize temptation for what it is.   We must watch and pray as Jesus prayed… Lord, not our will, but yours be done.  Amen.

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An Invitation to a Lenten Breath Prayer Practice -

As we sit with the “Our Father” Prayer Jesus taught us, I invite you to take one line each week and use it as a breath prayer throughout your day. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by difficulty or by gratitude, by pain or by joy, take a moment to breath a line of this sacred prayer. You may want to set a silent alarm on your watch or phone to remind you to pause and pray at least 3 times each day. Regardless of when you do it, be sure to let the prayer truly fill the depths of your soul. Repeat it, sit with it, meditate on it, until it becomes part of you. Allow the Spirit to transform your heart and mind as you pray.

Week 5: Breath Prayer Exercise

  • Breathe in: “Lead us not to temptation…”

  • Breathe out: “…but deliver us from evil.”

Amen.





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As We Forgive

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As We Forgive

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

For some, this is the kind of prayer that comes out in a desperate situation. We seek God’s mercy to get us out of a bad place, to heal us or a loved one from a terrible disease, or to forgive us from some deep dark sin that keeps us riddled with guilt, shame, or regret.

In the flow of ordinary life, however, our need for mercy rarely comes bubbles to the surface. After all, we are good people. We’re not out committing immoral acts in need of constant forgiveness. Perhaps that’s why it’s so easy to condemn others we deem “sinners” because their so-called immoral behaviors or beliefs are unthinkable to us, even if we don’t know them or if they have not done any harm.

The problem is that the more we focus on everybody else’s “sin”, the less we are able to experience God’s mercy for ourselves and in turn, the less we are able to extend God’s mercy to others…

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Our Daily Bread

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Our Daily Bread

For nearly 15 million (10%) Americans and 2.37 billion people globally (30%) who face food insecurity in some form, the prayer for daily bread is truly a desperate cry for their very survival.

Most of us, however, probably think very little about it. When we ask where our next meal is coming from, it is often a question of which restaurant we will go to or who will deliver rather than a question of whether or not there will be any food available for us at all.

Perhaps from our places of relative comfort, this prayer for daily bread should trigger something more…

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Thy Kingdom Come

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Thy Kingdom Come

On earth as it is in heaven…

Of all the things that sound too good to be true, surely this ranks among the top. It seems so far fetched that most Christians have all but given up on the idea. In practice we have traded in this line of the prayer Jesus taught us for another prayer, a simple and almost magical formula for Jesus to forgive our sins so that after we die we might get into some distant heavenly city somewhere over the rainbow or beyond the Crystal Sea.

Such thinking might seem innocent enough, but historically the influence of such teaching has led to an utter disregard for the physical realities of an earth and of bodies which we assume are passing away. Violence and destruction against creation and humanity is much easier when we assume that one day we will “fly away” into glory and nothing on earth will matter anyway.

The theme of God’s Kingdom coming on earth is not only central to the prayer Jesus taught us, but also to the whole of Jesus’ teachings and the New Testament. One could argue that Jesus must have missed something, as we continue to wait over 2,000 years later for a Kingdom that feels more distant now than ever. We are not alone in our impatience and anxiety. The apostles certainly believed Christ would return to earth in their lifetimes, as have countless faithful Saints in every generation since, and still it seems that God waits. As Peter reminds us, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, but remains patient toward us, giving everyone time to change their hearts and lives (2 Peter 3:9).

So what do we as anxious and impatient people do in the waiting?…

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Our Father

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Our Father

…Jesus invites us to pray not to some distant God, but to God, Our Father. Sometimes though, God Our Father feels a lot more like the father in Erma’s story. We know God loves us, but when it comes to our everyday lives, we’re not always sure what Our Father actually does.

To make matters worse, not everyone’s experience with their earthly fathers are positive. Some are outright painful or even abusive. For better or worse, our image of father will always fall short of who God is. Nevertheless, Jesus invites us into a shared relationship with “Our Father.” Instead of creating God in the image of earthly fathers, he essentially says, “My father is your father too. My father in heaven, who loves me, sent me to tell you that he loves you too. You are my brothers and sisters and my beloved father is Our Father.”

Perhaps Pope Francis puts it best when he says, “When we address God as ‘Our Father’, we are invited to remember that, regardless of whether our human fathers loved us deeply or abandoned us entirely, or whether our fathers died or were simply absentee, we are not orphans.” Jesus’ Father is your father... my father… OUR FATHER…

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The Radical Grace of a Living Wage

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The Radical Grace of a Living Wage

Have you ever noticed that whenever Jesus starts talking about money, we are very good and spiritualizing the conversation? Today’s parable is a perfect example.

There was a land owner who paid the same wage to those who came to work late in the day as he did to those who came first. Those who came early feel that they were cheated or paid unfairly, despite the fact that they received the fair daily wage they agreed to when they came to work. Their problem, of course, is not that they were cheated, but that those who came later were given the same amount.

Like the laborers who worked all day, we too often feel such a payment arrangement is unfair because the workers who came later earned less. That’s the nature of capitalism. The more you work, the more you get paid… that is, of course, until you work yourself to the point where most of your income comes from investments and other passive sources which require less work. Then we simply say, “you’ve made it.” And the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

But we don’t want to talk about that. So instead we make this a story about heaven. God’s grace, we say, is the same for the person who prays for forgiveness on their death bed as it is for the one who has served God faithfully all their lives. It’s never too late to make a choice to “accept Jesus as your savior” and “get into heaven.” While this may be a true description of God’s grace, we do Jesus’ teachings a great injustice when we strip them of all practical worldly application…

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What Are You Looking For?

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What Are You Looking For?

Last weekend my daughter and I watched the animated movies “Sing” and “Sing 2.” It’s a story of big dreams and going after them with everything you’ve got…

…One key scene included in the trailer shows a theater full of fans singing Bono’s famous track, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” In the movie, the writer of that song is stunned that people even remember it, let alone still sing it after so many years. The scene reminds us not only of the power of music, but of the longing for something more that resonates with almost every human heart. Like the characters in the movie, we are all still looking for something that we haven’t quite found yet.

… The characters of “Sing” remind me of the merchant in Jesus’ parable, forever in search of the great pearl… of that one undefinable thing that always seems just out of reach. Perhaps Bono’s hit song could be that merchant’s anthem for life, always searching but never quite finding…

… until he / she does.

And that’s when everything changes. The Kingdom of Heaven is not the pearl itself as if it could be bought or sold. Rather, it is the whole of the search for that which always seems just beyond reach… until it isn’t…

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Love Through a Jewish Heart

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Love Through a Jewish Heart

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Such a simple question and yet the answer very much seems to depend on who you ask. For some, all that matters is that you believe in Jesus and pray the “sinners prayer” to confess your sins. For others, it’s about how you work toward justice and mercy in the world. Still for others it appears to require agreement with a particular set partisan political positions. If you don’t vote X, for example, you must not be a Christian.

We are very quick as Christians to determine who is “in” and who is “out.” We are quick to say we love God and just as quick to assume the person who disagrees with us must not love God.

There’s only one problem. Jesus doesn’t allow us to simply “say” we love God. By connecting Leviticus 19:18 to the greatest commandment of loving God, he has declared that the only way we can actually love God is by also loving our neighbor… even the neighbors we most despise…

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