Why Church? Part 3

Why Church: What Will Stand in Breach? Psalm 23; Acts 2: 42-47

            Something I never thought would happen occurred this week. I found inspiration in the most unlikely of places. A friend who loves tv was telling me of her favorite episode of her favorite show. That show is South Park. If you don’t know what the show or cartoon is, I advise that you are all too young to watch it. There is one episode where they portray the entire world as atheist in the year 2500. Everyone has decided that religion causes war, fighting, turmoil, and problems, and the whole world has turned to science and reason to solve their problems as the better choice.

            What you soon find out, however, is that there are different groups of atheists: the United Atheist League (UAL), the United Atheist Alliance (UAA), and the Allied Atheist Allegiance (AAA), and they are all fighting one another ferociously and bitterly over their interpretation of science and reason. At the heart of the matter, it is not the truth of faith that is the issue. Bad behavior in the name of faith comes out in our practice.

            In Acts 2, we see the church at its absolute best. The people are devoted to worship, to fellowship, and to caring for one another. From their depth of Spirit with God, they perform miracles. They pool everything they have and care for all who are need. They even sell their possessions to share with one another. They worship in the Temple and share Communion at home. They praise God and enjoy the goodwill of all people. The result of all this devotion is that God adds to their fellowship many who are saved.

            This is the church at its absolute best in this whole sense of care and family together. They focused on several particular things: worship, Communion, and care of others. People came in droves to the believers because they found a warmth and love in this new take on their old faith. People also were attracted to Christ’s disciples because this was a community where they found healing, help, and support. This is our calling as Christ’s disciples today. This was the pattern given by the early church for us to follow. Our calling is to stand in the breach of what causes people to suffer in this world by turning them towards Christ for hope and welcoming them to our fold for help.

            Yet, we are constantly plagued with images, records, and video of the church behaving badly. As a prosecutor in Macon, I actually prosecuted a riot at a church board meeting. The whole thing was on video. Last week, I was talking with a friend and inviting him to come to church. His joking reply was that he’d make the holy water boil if he showed up. It was, of course, a joking reason to get out of coming. But underneath the joke you hear this sense of either I’m not good enough to come, or the belief that church will be hostile. There’s some validity to that. I’m sure almost every single person in here has some story where church was hostile and significant amounts of forgiveness had to ensue.

            Whereas the early church was warm, welcoming, healing, and a place of sharing, our modern churches are often seen as controlling, political, out of touch, cold, and stingy. But the biggest problem we encounter is found in a quote by Eli Wiesel, “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” Too often, church and faith are seen as irrelevant and unnecessary, and that leaves people indifferent.

            We are called to stand in this breach of suffering, struggle, and oppression. We are called to be disciples who make a difference in this world. The example of the rival atheist groups goes to prove a simple point. It is not what God has created that is at fault. What God created and established is perfect, holy, and good. The church plan Jesus left for us was truly amazing. Where it fell short was in how we interpreted and practiced it. It’s our humanity that started wars and crusades in the name of religion. To quote the singer Taylor Swift, “It’s me, hi, I’m the problem. It’s me.” And we have to own and accept that before we can do better.

            We need to come back to our roots as people who live faith and not as people who practice religion. We must teach and preach Good News to those who feel hopeless. We must share Communion with all who seek to deepen their relationship with God. We must be willing to welcome with all our hearts those who need a community and a relationship to Christ. We must share what we have to help those who are in need and suffering. These are the basics of the early church, and these are the practices that drew so many people to faith.

            A friend of mine was pastoring a church in New York. Their attendance had dropped dramatically post-COVID, a decline that was already occurring before 2020 as the congregation dwindled due to age and disinterest. The Treasurer and Board Chair came to him one day and said, our offerings are way off. I don’t know how we will make the budget this year. For years they had scraped by in order to manage the budget as the offerings went down. My friend sighed and asked if there were any reserves they could draw on.

            The two leaders looked at each other and back at my pastor friend. They said that there was an endowment, but the church had long been told never to touch it. My friend asked how much was there and if they could take just a little to hold them over. The reply was that the endowment was $2.7 million. My friend had to pause as he almost choked to death in that instant. And the next year, the church decided that they would live off the endowment and give all offerings to those in need for medical debt, food, to support single mothers, widows, and orphans like the Bible says. Their attendance and their offerings doubled.

            This week, if we ask, “Why church?” the answer is: because who or what will stand in the breach without it? We get a lot wrong…that’s something we have to admit. Pastors, churches, practitioners of the faith all make errors in judgment, thinking, and practice. When imperfect people try to approach what is perfect, mistakes are bound to happen. But fundamentally, the church is called to be a force for love, for care, and for God’s goodness on this earth. As the Psalm says, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” Goodness and mercy follow us and come from us because God is with us.

            Whether it’s the United Atheists fighting the Allied Atheists or the various religions fighting one another, there is one thing for sure—we will likely mess up at some point with our quarrelsome ways. But the good news is that there is a pattern and practice into which we are baptized in Christ and that we can follow as we strive to live for Christ in this world. When we get the practice of our faith right, it’s a truly beautiful and holy thing. Faith can call people to a place of hope, create a community that prays for and supports one another, and reach out to stand in the breach of suffering in this world. May we stay near the cross and near the Christ who calls us to live as hope and faith in this world.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=917238309543965

Why Church? Part 2

Why Church? Nothing Supplant Communion:

Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19; Luke 24: 13-35

            We continue our series this week asking, “Why church?” Last week we talked about the need for us to encounter God’s holiness. This week we get more specific—that holiness in communion. If you’ve spent any time in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) at all, you know that communion and sharing the Lord’s Supper at the Lord’s Table is central to our beliefs and practice? But why—what is so powerful about this portion of worship?

            A friend tells of an encounter he experienced at church one day. There was a younger woman of about 40 slowly limping down the aisle to take communion at the front. She had to use a walker to get around and moved very slowly. Her father, who appeared much stronger and healthy, accompanied her. As both finished taking communion, they returned to their seats with tears streaming down their faces.

            My friend spoke to them after the service and asked about their back story. The younger woman said a year or two prior her father was having heart surgery, and while she, her mom, and her brother were driving to the hospital, a car crossed the line and hit them head on. Her mother and brother were killed, and she was left permanently disabled. But she said that she and her father came very week and took communion because of the power it held for them.

            Jesus died an innocent person in his work to help and save others. In that death the father feels bonded to his wife and son, and he said he was assured of his hope to see them again one day. The daughter said that every time the priest said Jesus’s body was broken, she saw her own broken body in light of Jesus’s broken body, and she felt connected to her Creator and created in the image of God regardless of her abilities or impairments.

            In our Gospel lesson for today, we read about the walk to Emmaus. Two of Jesus’s disciples meet him on the road to Emmaus, but do not recognize him. They listen to his teachings, they converse about scripture, and they tell Jesus the story of his own death, resurrection, and appearing to the disciples. Yet, they never recognize him along the way. Their hearts burned with every word of teaching and instruction he gave, but they didn’t truly recognize him. But then they come to the table together.

            Jesus is prepared to continue travelling on, but they stop him and bring him home to their table. Hospitality was one of the highest virtues for Ancient Judea. There were few inns, and no Marriott or Hiltons around, so most travelers relied on the hospitality of strangers. They brought Jesus into their home, fed him, and were prepared to shelter him for the night. This seems pretty crazy to us in the ongoing age of stranger-danger. But people of Jesus’s day practiced and expected hospitality. So, then there are two parts to them seeing Jesus—the invitation to the table, and Jesus’s presence there with them.

            One of the most powerful parts of Communion is the welcome or invitation extended. The invitation or welcome to the table is God’s to offer. Many denominations are very restrictive of who can come to the table based on tradition or theology. In college, I played organ for a church every single Sunday for 3.5 years, but I was never permitted to share in communion with them. It did not matter that I believed in God, worshipped with them, prayed with them, and made sure the preludes sounded good. I would never be permitted to take communion without going through a year-long catechism process.

            It’s a difficult pill to swallow when you think that at the first communion where Jesus instituted the holy practice that he turned and served broken body and cup of salvation to Judas. If Jesus brought Judas to his own communion table, what right do you or I have to send folks away? I think of the testimony of Lenny Duncan, a pastor in the Lutheran tradition. He tells a story of hearing Jesus speak to him in the midst of his trauma, drug use, spiraling mental health issues, and destructive life choices. He immediately sought out church, and in a Lutheran church, they brought him forward to the front and popped communion in his mouth while he was still figuring the whole thing out. But, he writes, it was a moment that transformed him forever and set him on a path away from drugs, evil, anger, and destruction, and made him into a preacher of the Good News.

            That happens because Jesus is present with us when we take communion. In the walk to Emmaus, they didn’t recognize Jesus when he taught, conversed, appeared, or even scolded their unbelief. But when he took bread, broke it, and blessed it, they immediately knew they were in the presence of Christ. I have fully accepted that I cannot preach someone to salvation. We can sing all seven verses of “Just As I Am” till the cows come home. We can pray till every disciple here is asleep like the ones in the garden before Jesus was arrested. But nothing will change a heart and soul until they experience Christ for themselves.

            Why church? Because there is nothing else in all of religious practice like Communion. One hundred sermons, a thousand hymns, and all of the order and practice we do does not compare to those moments of reliving grace. Jesus said to us, “Do this in remembrance of me.” It is both a time where we remember the hope and work that Christ did for us and our grace as well as a time when God remembers us. When words fail, when life is miserable, when we are confused, lonely, or struggling, we can go back every single time and remember in bread of life and cup of salvation that story of redemption and grace.

            It’s the one point of our faith where, not only does Christ invite our participation, but we also feel Christ’s presence with us. The two who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus were powerfully affected by his appearance. Instead of settling for the night, they jumped back up and walked seven full miles back to Jerusalem to meet the disciples. They heard how Jesus appeared to the disciples. Then the two shared with the disciples that they recognized Christ as he was breaking the bread. Do this in remembrance of me. They remembered and knew him as they broke bread and shared a cup together.  

            Communion is one of the central points that drew me to the Disciples of Christ. It’s a place where we are all together as one people, celebrating the same hope and grace, leaving behind our differences, experiences, and individual selves. As one body, we come to the table to meet Christ, who loved us, and is with us. There’s something so momentously powerful about that act shared together.

            In a world of division and difference, when we do this in remembrance of Christ, we take just a moment to focus completely and only on the Savior who loves us. You can still be who you are, believe or doubt where you find yourself, hold on to your philosophies and traditions, but in that moment, we are one body seeking Christ together in unity. Why church? Because there is nothing else which can unify in the same way an extraordinarily diverse group of people and direct them towards God’s love and grace.

            So when we wonder in the modern age, what is the point of still having church, we can point to this one act of remembering the most holy and powerful hope that exists in life and in death in this world. When you do this, remember me. And each time that we do this, God is present with us as well.

   Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1664321653990605              

Why Church? Part 1

Why Church? Because We Need Something Holy: Psalm 16: 1-9; John 20: 19-31

            If I were to be fully honest with you, I would confess my doubt and crisis of conscience. Don’t panic, please. When I met with Rev. Kyle before he came down to offer the church development seminar, I told him some difficult words. I said that I’ve been here for almost 15 years in total, watched it build and drop, and that I think I have nothing left to offer. I asked him to find a way to transition you all to someone more dynamic, visionary, and with more insight into what to do here. He kind of laughed, rolled his eyes (I’m assuming) and said, “Sure.” And before you panic, I no longer think and feel that way. It was a moment of doubt and disbelief.

            We all have those moments, though, don’t we? And it often doesn’t take much to trigger them. A major medical issue, feeling age creeping up on us, financial and housing difficulties, rising prices, seeing some act like nit-wits over their religious beliefs giving the rest of us Christians bad names, and feeling pretty tired and frazzeled by life...all of these things will trigger this part of our heart and mind to cause doubt in practically everything. For as long as there has been belief in humanity, there has also been doubt lurking in the shadows.

            Such doubt visited even Jesus’s closest disciples. Jesus was dead. They had watched him be tortured and murdered by the call of religious authorities and with the permission of Rome. He was dead, and they were terrified, traumatized, and filled with despair and doubt themselves. Thomas, one of the disciples who is not present at Jesus’s first appearing, demands to see the wounds, the pierced side, and says without seeing these things, he cannot believe.

            For years we’ve criticized Thomas’s lack of faith. He’s been held up as the example of faithless, unbelieving, bad Christian followers for years and earned this very bad reputation as a disciple. I think that’s unfair and misplaced for two reasons: first, he WANTED to see Jesus instead of just flat refusing to believe at all; and second, Jesus did the same for the other disciples when he spoke and showed them the wounds in his hands and side. They didn’t believe without seeing for themselves, so why is it only Thomas who is criticized?

            If we ask ourselves why church—why do we still come here, sing hymns, pray, assemble, and share in the blessed sacrament of the table—the basic answer is that we need something holy in our lives. A simple definition of holy is a connection with something miraculous and powerful beyond ourselves. That’s why the disciples followed Jesus in the first place, because they sensed this holy and miraculous aspect in his presence with them. It wasn’t just some inspired teacher they were following—they sensed his power as the Son of God.

            When done correctly, church should help people connect with the holy, or God. The Psalm tells us these words, “Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.” Church should be both a place of safety and of refuge. As much suffering, doubt, anguish, and trouble as we see in the world, this should be the place people can come to find a place of refuge from it all and dwell in safety.

            In many ways we’ve failed at that. Martin Luther King, Jr. once called Sunday morning at 11 AM the most segregated hour in America, and sadly 60 years later this is still true. For those who may ask questions and disagree with things said in the pulpit, this should still be a safe place of refuge. For those who look differently, love differently, have different heritages and cultures, this should be a place where they feel welcome and connected to God. For the white, middle-class, moderate conservative looking to escape the constant diet of doomsday news and politics, this should be a place of joy and hope. Anything less and we’ve gotten too far in the world to remain separate from the world. The Psalm wraps up with the words that the writer’s heart is happy and his body rests in safety.

            Years ago, a pastor said that when he asked the doctor how to lose weight, the doctor said, “Eat less and move more.” So, the pastor applied this to his sermon. The way to grow as a Christian is this: doubt less and have faith more. Someone from the back of the church shouted, “Thanks, Doctor Obvious!” The first step in answering, “Why church?” is acknowledging that it’s hard. Yes, the equation of less doubt and more faith is a simple answer, but it’s only the words that are simple.

            Trauma, sadness, loss…all of this, a lifetime of experiences…often drive our sense of doubt in ourselves, in our world, and in God. Every time we see the news unfold of another massacre of school children in gun violence, in the back of our collective mind, there’s this moment of wondering, “If God really exists, how…?” And I think when suffering and pain bring us to the point of doubt, we have to remember that God also knows suffering very, very well, for every time we hurt, God sees the hurt in the creation made in God’s own image, and God hurts too.

            Maybe this is why the disciples loved him so dearly. They knew he was holy, but they also saw him hungry, tired, angry, deeply saddened, experience death of a loved one, and even suffer real pain. That’s what makes faith so truly amazing for us. God is not just the high and mighty, but God also got a very intimate understanding of the pain and suffering that humanity experiences.

            Thomas, like the rest of the disciples, was in fear, saddened by Jesus’s death, grieving the point of misery, and had no idea where to go from here. But in his worst moments of doubt and fear, he wanted more than anything to see Jesus. His doubt drove him, not to a place of permanent separation from God, but to a place where all he wanted was to see and be present with Jesus for himself—to experience what is holy.

            For faith to flourish, we must have the courage to let our doubts drive us to Jesus instead of letting them drive us to the brink of insanity. We must sit back for a moment, surrounded by our faith community, in a place where we can expect to experience God’s holiness, and wait for that blessed presence of Jesus to be with us. If we ask why church, it’s because we need these holy encounters in an otherwise dull and routine life.

            A friend of mine, Sam Ogles, is a Christian writer. He had a column this week on conversion where he talked about St. Francis. He wrote that St. Francis was once a great partier, the son of a wealthy merchant. Francis was the life and chief of all things party and pleasure. But one day, in the ruins of a chapel, he hears the voice of Jesus saying to him, “Francis, rebuild my church.” From that day on, he devoted himself to a life of poverty and service, renouncing all his wealth and power in society.

            The story goes on to say that one day, St. Francis meets a leper on the road, and he recoils in disgust. This man of God, a saint, one who had taken a vow of poverty and service to the poor let his old ways and doubt creep into the point that he recoils in disgust from those he vowed to help. My friend, Sam, comments that “conversion is as much a matter of renewal as it is initial choice.” As long as faith has existed, humanity has wrestled with doubt.

            But doubts should never lead us away from God, instead, they should be a means by which we run to God for assurance and guidance. It is only in those moments that we seek out God’s holiness that we can grow beyond the doubts we face. When a church is at its best, this is what it offers—this experience of God. Doubts will plague us throughout life, but in each moment of vulnerability, we need to remember those reassuring words we are about to sing, “I need no other argument; I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died, and that he died for me.” So, my friends, rest assured, God’s grace is more than enough.

 Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/6058238554265929

Easter 2023

So What Are You Going to Do? Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24; Matthew 28: 1-10

            Many years ago, a friend of mine was having a difficult time with a truly deplorable roommate in college. He listed all of the grievances and issues, and honestly, the other guy was truly a snotwad…just a hateful guy. I advised my friend that he need to address and handle the situation, and I asked him, “So what are you going to do about it?” A week or two later, I ask him about this situation. He said that he took my advice to heart put some of his contact lens saline solution in the roommate’s large bottle of fruit punch which in turn caused some intestinal upheaval. After a few moments of silence, I responded quietly, “I meant tell a dorm monitor or student life person, not…that.” And I never made that friend angry again, that’s for sure.

            In many ways the story of the resurrection asks that same question of us—so what are you going to do about it? Please don’t mess the answer up like my friend did. The fact that Jesus died and was resurrected is a powerful piece of theology central to our faith. But it’s more than just a point of belief. It’s a call to live our lives in a way that reflects this mystery of faith. I’m mindful that the question, “So what are you going to do about it?” can seem a bit harsh in its challenge. But let’s look less at the stark push and more at what is offered. We are offered both opportunities and possibilities in this challenge.

            Opportunities are much like asking what can I physically do here and now? In our Gospel lesson we read how the women came to the tomb where Jesus was. John’s Gospel adds the detail that they basically were going to embalm him for burial. But instead, they encounter an empty tomb and an angel awaiting them with good news. And what does that angel say: “Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.” It's a very simple command—go and tell. I like to pause and note here that the first gospel messengers  right from the tomb were women who went and told the men. But I digress.

            How do we go and tell in a modern world? The message of hope has not changed, but the means of telling it has. Social media, YouTube, we often see them as platforms for some of the worst and most conspiratorial or weird of society, but they can also be used to spread a message of redeeming love and grace. I am sure that if someone told the old evangelists of years past that one day preachers would Tweet scripture, they’d be both baffled and enthusiastic. For centuries we have worked to share a timeless message in relevant ways to modern times.

            Telling also necessarily involves doing. I remember visiting a friend’s church. He was working to grow and develop a fledgling church. One of his members came up after service and said rather pointedly, “Boy we really need some young families and children in this church.” My friend looked at her and said, “Okay, so tell me about the family ministry program you’re wanting to do, and who would you like to get to volunteer with you?” She replied, “What?” and backed away from him slowly as he challenged her do where she saw a need. If God gives you the idea, God is also giving you the opportunity to make it a reality. “Go and tell” is so simple that it presents unlimited opportunities to share good news of hope.

            I watched a couple of members the other day talk to someone about coming from church. They made a connection, were gentle and friendly as that person opened up about their life, and they made them feel like there could very well be a place and a church to belong to…not a place that demanded a strict creedal adherence, not a place that comes with an exhaustive list of rules, but somewhere to find connections, welcome, and growth in God. Go and tell—it’s a call that offers endless opportunities of faith to us.

            But the story of Easter and resurrection also offers us possibilities, and these are more spiritual and contemplative. In our Gospel reading, after the startled women leave the angel, they run straight into Jesus next. There’s almost a bit of a humorous hint in Matthew’s telling as the women bounce in confusion and bewilderment from the angel to Jesus, and he tells them to tell the disciples he will see them soon. There’s a lot of literature on seeing Jesus. Sandi Patty sang “I’ve Just Seen Jesus.” Fanny Crosby wrote “Face to Face with Christ my Savior.” What does it mean to “see Jesus?”

            If we take the challenge “what do we do about it,” and live in the possibilities of what we can experience in faith, we can truly “see Jesus.” Think of that prayer or scripture that stirred your heart. Think of that hymn or anthem that moved you and maybe even had you tearing up a bit like the soulful and haunting sounds of “Were You There” on Friday. Think of times when you just feel this overwhelming sense of peace and hope. That may very well be God’s presence with you.

            I remember when I was waiting on the results of the bar exam. It’s about three months from the test date to find out if you passed or not. All morning that cold, October day I waited in fear for the pass list to be posted. I remember I drove out to Starbucks for a pumpkin muffin and pumpkin coffee to calm myself down. As I was driving back to the church to pick back up work, I suddenly felt this calm and warming sense of everything would be okay. It was overwhelming, and I felt flooded with relief. It was maybe five minutes later that the list posted, and I knew I had passed the exam. Now, I might have passed by just a couple points, but nobody asks that question once you’re actually a lawyer, thank God.

            In that moment I believe I saw, or rather experienced, Jesus. When we feel those stirrings in our soul, we know that God is there. And the Psalm tells us that God’s faithful love endures forever. The Psalm also goes on to offer this reminder: “I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory.” Christ’s resurrection calls upon us to live in this world of seeing the possibilities of faith at work in our lives—to live as people of hope in the knowledge that we, too, have something beyond pain and death. Lean into that possibility thinking and for there is security and comfort in remembering all of God’s promises to us, the first of which is that God’s faithful love endures forever.

            The other day I was talking with a friend. She is nearing 80 years old, and said to me, “I’m really beginning to feel my age.” Then she added this thought. She said, “I am grateful for all the ways that God has challenged me throughout my life, both the good and the bad. I can look back over every moment and every day and see how God was with me, helping me to leave a legacy throughout my life, helping me to love others, help others, and grow as a person and as a faithful follower. I know with Christ there are endless possibilities in this life, and that even as I look toward my journey into whatever awaits, God will still be with me till the journey is over, and I am home. All of that is possible and even certain with God.”

            I like how verse 17 of the Psalm says it, “I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the Lord has done.” Indeed, we live to tell that good news. Christ is risen indeed, so now what are we going to do about it? We have countless opportunities to live and tell the good news which brings us peace and hope. We have limitless possibilities of dwelling in faith and delving into that knowledge that God is with us all the way. For me personally, I look at it like this when Jesus said go and tell: has my life been better for the fact that I have believed in God’s promises and trusted in Christ’s love? And despite the truly difficult days, I still believe it most certainly has. And I pray that same assurance for you as well.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/786521843035201

Palm Sunday 2023

Believe Pt. 2: With All Your Heart—Psa.118: 1-2, 19-29; Matt. 21: 1-11

            In 1972, a song of great wisdom and importance was release to the public. The singer was Janice Joplin. The song went like this, “O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? My friends all drive Porches, I must make amends. I’ve worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends. O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” How I truly wish faith and prayer worked like this. But when Jesus said, “Follow me,” I don’t remember reading about a luxury car in the contract…sadly.

            In our Gospel today we read a somewhat triumphant story but with a dark backstory. On this day the people praise Jesus, and a few days later they demand his death. The fickle people did not love Jesus with their whole heart, nor did they believe him truly and completely. They looked for a political and military deliverer from Rome, but instead they found a humble spirit on a donkey. Where do we end up when society jumps headfirst into their best idea of faith, but fails to truly believe and trust in Jesus with their whole heart? I’ll give you three outcomes, but fair warning, some might be rather uncomfortable in our current climate. So, then, what exactly happens when folks get mad that the Mercedes Benz doesn’t show up like they wanted?

            The first problem we get is control. Part of faith is admitting to ourselves and in our lives that we really don’t have all that much control. Now, we can control some small things—the food we fix, how we dress, our schedule (usually). But there are many things where we simply don’t have all that much control—sickness and health, the world in general, catastrophes, the sun coming up, the earth spinning, and so much else in life we simply don’t have control in those realms. Here, we see control in the form of Rome oppressing the people and ruling with an iron fist. There were local leaders, of course, but all political and military power went through Rome. And Rome ruled with power and oppression.

            A friend of mine worked for a larger church. One day she was called in by the pastor and associate. They interrogated her about her job as music director. She told them, “I answer to God—I trust and believe in God, and God is the one who is in charge of and controls me.” They replied to her, “And that’s exactly why you’re fired. WE are the ones in charge here. Period.” When we don’t trust God, we seek control because it gives a false sense of security that we can guide things to the outcome we want. If you feel the need to control the outcome, you’ve already failed in the faith to start. As the Psalm reminds us, “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Instead of control, we must find trust in God.

            While we’re on this topic, another issue for those who fail to trust with all their heart is political and social domination. I’ve heard and read a lot about this idea of Christian Nationalism. It’s a fusion of state and church power, where the church runs the state. It’s highly patriotic, charismatic, and devoted to that idea that the state does nothing without church approval. And fundamentally, I think the story of Palm Sunday tells us that’s wrong.

            A pastor friend said to me once that those who do not trust God prefer to trust a theocracy. If faith rules the land, then it’s easy. But Jesus didn’t give a message of overturning Rome, Herod, and the Temple with him as the political ruler in its place. Jesus taught of spiritual things, to be practiced in our lives, and preached as an invitation for others to follow. If you want to know what a nationalist religion looks like—it’s the Pharisees. They wielded both political and social power over the people in all things.  

            Look to the exchange with Pilate. When he wanted to acquit Jesus, they didn’t say, “God will get you.” They, the religious leaders, threatened Pilate with punishment from Caesar. They exploited the power of the state because they had lost their faith in God. Jesus wanted people to follow because they loved him and believed in him, not because it was the rule of law. People who are Christian because the law requires it are not Christian at all, and we do a disservice their grace and their soul when we look for political power over a Gospel of love and redemption in life. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to save it, but it was the religious law that had him killed, not the unfaithful in that town.

            And the last struggle with not believing with all of one’s heart is the descent into two-facedness. A pastor-friend once said a quote which stuck with me, “If you don’t trust, you won’t be trustworthy.” Jesus rode into that city knowing they would say, “Hail, hosana!” then they would soon say, “Crucify him.” They were excited about the idea of Jesus, but they didn’t fully believe and trust in him. Their hearts and souls were unsettled and waffling between what Jesus said and what the religious powers told them. Lack of trust begats a lack of trust.

            The same of all this is true in all of our churches. They have gathered, sang, prayed, and preached. And at the end, they all said, “O Lord, won’t you send me a Mercedes Benz?” Only, the reward isn’t necessarily a car, a good life, or something nice and shiny here. The reward for a life of faith lived with all your heart is holy, spiritual, and eternal. Those who were at the triumphant entry in the Gospel had their own expectations, beliefs and hopes for what they thought they wanted. But in reality, God wanted to send them the Mercedes Benz. They just didn’t understand it at the time.

            The way to combat the shortcoming in trust or struggle to believe with all your heart is to shore up your commitment. Faith is a practice wherein we must know what we’re signing up for and commit ourselves to the work while believing in the hope. Ultimately, when we take a step back and ask for the help in trusting God fully, we can kick to the curb these things which hold us back. We won’t need to be in control all the time because we know that God will be with us and journey along the way. We won’t need to take the easy route of hoping the church takes over all aspects of our politics, because we are called to follow Jesus, not Rome, and not a Jesus made into the image of Rome.

            And we will be able to avoid being two faced. In life, there are too many people like the folks offering their hosannas to Jesus. One day they praise, the other they tear down. Too many people in life are two-faced and untrustworthy. As people of faith, we have the opportunity to live our lives in such a way that we teach what trust means, convince hearts and minds that God’s love for all is truly amazing, and that faith has a role to play in helping us build a community of care, trust, and hope wherever we are.

So, this Palm Sunday may we set aside those things that hold us back from fully trusting God. May we be able to confidently say that we have a blessed assurance for Jesus is with us. And may we share that good news. This hope, this truth of God’s love, this calling to bring good news to others…these are the things the hymn means when we hear, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” Remember today those words, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. You may not get the Mercedes Benz, but I think we can say that what God has promised is even better. 

 Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1150957855590572

Lent 5

Believe 1: In Life—Psalm 130; John 11: 1-45 (excerpts)

            A friend of mine who is a very, very tired mother of a four-year-old told me of a moment she overcame temptation. Her son likes toy monsters, not the scary kind, but the fun Disney kind that are goofy but not quite scary. Every night they have a full-blown battle to get him to go to bed. They would look into the closet and make sure it was clear. They’d look in the drawers to make sure they were clear. And they’d check carefully under the bed.

            One very frustrating night my friend thought about getting a two-way radio, hiding it under the bed, and every time her son tried to get up have a deep male voice say, “This is the monster. If you wake your mom up again, I’ll get you.” Obviously, she didn’t, though she was tempted. And every night they had the same ritual to find sleep. He would ask her, “Is it real?”

            Sometimes I wonder, how often do we ask that same question of faith? After a bad day, a particularly low-feeling month, when we go for a while and feel like God is silent and troubles talk too much, we might ask, “Is it real?” Though it sounds like asking something a bit disobedient, I think it’s a fair question. In Mark 9, a worried father cries out, “I do believe, but help my unbelief!” After the resurrection, Thomas, a disciple, demands proof Jesus is alive. The crux is that in both of these instances, the questioning drove the two people TO Jesus to find the answer.

            The Gospel story for today is one that should make us struggle. Prayer and healing are not too far-fetched for us to figure out. Faithful living sermons from Jesus are very easy for us to learn and implement. But what an incredible step to ask a people of science, reason, enlightenment, technology, all of this to believe that this presumably holy man of ancient times raised someone from the dead without the abilities of modern medicine. Is it real? I think there are two types of life we see in this lesson—new life and abundant life, and yes, both are real!

            Jesus, in our Gospel lesson today, is overwhelmed by people who give back-handed criticism. If you’d been here, he wouldn’t have died. You could have done something Jesus, but you were late and failed. As he comes to the tomb, we read that well-known verse, “Jesus wept.” But it’s not tears of grief, it’s an angry cry. Verse 33 tells us that there’s a deep anger in Jesus, and he was troubled. He sees their weeping, wailing, and carrying on in total disbelief, anger, and condemnation of him, and he is so angry he weeps. We are told in verse 38 that he’s still angry when he comes to the tomb.

            Then Jesus brings new life. He calls Lazarus out of the tomb, and the man—now four days dead—walks out with new life in his body and spirit. None of those people believed him. He told them, “I am the resurrection and the life!” Yet they didn’t listen to the hope and carried on in their wrong beliefs. What’s the proof? How do we know that God is the God of resurrection and new life?

            The other day I took a walk. It was warm from the sunshine. I strolled around the apartment complex and felt the warm restoring my tired, sore body. I inhaled the warm air (and immediately gagged and coughed from all the pollen). But even there is a lesson. Every year we are reminded from cold, dead, hard earth, new life blooms. Look at the beauty that God has created. The flowers, the tree leaves, the growing grass…all of these things are signs of new life built into God’s design for earth. And if the flowers and trees get new life each year, how much more will God take care of us, who are made in God’s own image. Is it real? Yes! Just look at the world around, and choke on the abundant pollen of new plants and you’ll have all the proof you need.

            But God also gives us the gift of abundant life while we are here on earth. Jesus and Martha have an exchange where he talks about resurrection AND life and adds that belief in him will keep away death. Ponder those words—resurrection and life. Then he says to Martha, “Do you believe this?” It’s a question of trust for us just as it was for Martha. Do you trust in Jesus to offer resurrection hope as well as abundant life here?

            The words of the Psalmist begin with this plea, this cry from the depths of despair and suffering. Then the writer starts this new and hopeful thought. In God there is forgiveness in verse 4, redemption in verse 7, and hope in verse 5. But the greatest statement of the Psalm is this: “I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him.” It reminds me of the words of a hymn from 1680, “All my hope on God is founded, who does still my trust renew. Safe through change and chance God guides me, ever faithful, ever true.”  

            What does abundant life look like? It’s not being free from all trouble. It’s not being free from all illness. It’s not being free from a physical death here. Abundant life means that God is with us in every moment of every day throughwhatever troubles come to us. Lazarus was sick. Lazarus died. People mourned and wept.  But none of that had the final say because it took Jesus only moments to summon the power to overcome death, suffering, and fear. Abundant life doesn’t mean avoiding adversity and struggle. It means having a God who is with you. It means looking not to the heavenly king, but to the Christ of the cross, who suffered and died. It means looking at the Jesus who walked here on earth and knew God the Father was there the entire time.

            I have a friend who often struggles with being her own worst enemy. No matter her smarts, her success, her achievements, she always ended up having something ruin her work, and it was usually a problem of her own making. Many condemned her for her choices, blamed her directly, saying she should have done better, had better control, gotten herself together and figured it out. But none of that blame or condemnation helps a person who is struggling, does it? The biggest issue was that she chose her own control over trust in God. And just as new life is found in Christ’s resurrection, abundant life can only be found in living and trusting Christ’s life and example.

            We’re about to sing soon, don’t worry. I’ve had some angst over the years about the hymn, “Softly and Tenderly.” It’s been used a lot in tandem with sermons that tell people how miserable and wretched they are as evildoers in the world. People get beaten up enough by all the bad that happens in this world, and I’m no longer a fan of rubbing their noses in it. “Told ya so” does not make for good theology. But it’s hard to escape the call to believe in a Savior’s love found in the words: “Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me; patient and loving, he’s waiting and watching, for you and for me. Come home.”

            If we ask the question, “Is it real?” the words in this Psalm and Gospel give us a resounding yes. New life is real, and you need only look around this world that grows anew, blossoms into new life and gives us beauty each and every spring in the same way. It’s a testimony that in life’s design, our God planned for new life and resurrection of what is dead and dormant. But God has also planned abundant life. You are not alone on your walk here. There is a whole world of places, people, and things for us to encounter and enjoy. There is good news to be told. When the monsters under your bed scare you, and hope seems to dwindle to the point of asking if any of it is really real, remember Jesus’s words, “I am the resurrection AND the life.” And all you need to do is follow the advice in the hymn…come home.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/209115251765310

Lent 4

Belong 2: Every Last One—I Sam. 16: 1-13; John 9: 1-7, 35-39

            Nearsighted. That’s what they call it. Since I was little, I was told I was nearsighted and would struggle to see things far off. It’s always fun to go to the eye doctor because they put the little chart of letters up there which goes from the big letter at the top, “E,” to all the smaller letters below. At a -2 or -3 you may only be able to see the top third of the chart. At a -4 or -5 you may see the blurry “E” at the top. At my fantastic -12 vision, I cannot see the chart at all, let alone the letters which may be on it. Nearsighted…that’s what they called it, and beyond two inches from my face is too far off to be seen.

            We’ve used that term in society in a more slang term as shortsighted, and it means someone who reacts only in the immediate and fails to see the bigger picture or long-term plan. Both our Hebrew scripture and our Gospel lesson involve a bit of short-sightedness in the stories. But wherever there is a problem with vision, God also provides a cure or a corrective vision for God’s people. Here are a few cures for faith’s short-sightedness.

            First, you must see as God sees. The story of Samuel anointing David as king gives us this very powerful insight into how God sees people. God has spoken to Samuel, the prophet and told him that the next King of Israel would be one of Jesse’s sons. I’m sure Samuel had hoped this would be easy, but then he finds out this Jesse has eight sons. The first one, Eliab, is tall, handsome, and powerful…the very image of royalty. But God says no.

            And here’s the explanation: “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Samuel was shortsighted in how he saw people—strength, power, courage. But in the end, it was the youngest, a shepherd who would be anointed king because God saw a good heart. Look on life and on others with God’s vision of them, and not how we see as humans. That is how we evaluate character.  

            Second, we have to embrace new ways of seeing. In our Gospel, part of the story tells of the anger of the Pharisees that Jesus healed this man on a Sabbath. They often got mad at Jesus for doing good work on the Sabbath. They discounted Jesus entirely here because, even though he had signs and miracles, he broke the rules to perform them. And to them, the rules were more important than what was right and what God wanted. This is why Jesus says, “I entered this world to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” He calls the Pharisees, in their ignorance, blind.

            Many of us wear glasses. Some of us have had cataract surgery. All of these things are tools or methods to give us better sight. I’m reminded of a friend’s church. They had a women’s group that met at noon during the week. It was an orderly affair with an elected chair, vice chair, and parliamentary procedures according to the biblical Robert’s Rules of Order every member got. But there was a group of working women who couldn’t make it during that time.

            One night 3 to 4 of the working women got off work and met up at the local Applebee’s for half priced appetizers and “Wedding at Cana Water.” Several more joined them. They rotated around talking about their week, sharing some scripture, and having a bit of prayer.  The first group was enraged. They assailed the pastor and board chair over the iniquities of this second meeting—not the location, the refreshment choice, not the hard-hitting topics, nor anything like that. No, the great sin was no one followed Robert’s Rules at those Applebee’s meetings. Sometimes we have to see differently and use God’s vision to see new ways of living on earth.

            Lastly, we have to lean into the vision that Christ gives us. The healing story here says that Christ spat on the ground and rubbed mud into the man’s eyes to make him miraculously see. Sometimes, I fear we take these stories a bit too literally. We want to assert that God should heal every literal infirmity we live with. But here, sight to the blind was metaphorical. It was spiritual. The man received vision spiritually. The pharisees were metaphorically blind because they couldn’t see past their severe rules to the good work that needed to be done and the love in this man, Jesus.

            The healed man began to see spiritually. He wanted to believe in Jesus, and this encounter gave him the vision to understand both that there is a Savior and that it was Jesus. The Pharisees were too short-sighted in their beliefs, their rules, their way of living to see the grace and love of Jesus which stood before them.

The man exclaimed, “I believe!” and the Pharisees called it ridiculous. But I ask you, who left this encounter with a refreshed and joyful soul and spirit, and who left with their same old, tired ways?  

            So then, they call it nearsighted or short-sighted because I can’t see very far at all, and I have to wear these glasses in order to see what I’m doing. Many of us as well live with being nearsighted, or with the dreaded bifocals, or some kind of eyesight correction. Here, Jesus teaches us an important lesson. In God’s kingdom, your physical ability to see does not determine whether you are blind or not. It’s the vision coming from your heart and soul.

            The man who was healed had no physical eyesight, but I would argue to you that it was the Pharisees who were the most short-sighted or blinded in this story. As a church, it is okay if our eyes have trouble, so long as we see God clearly. It is okay to near-sighted, so long as we are not lacking in vision. We must see things through God’s vision of the world. We must embrace new ways of seeing and some of God’s corrective lenses when needed. And we must lean into whatever new vision Christ gives to us.

            Jesus encountered a man in need of seeing as God sees, his own sight correction, and a new vision of hope. Jesus gave him all three. The man was healed, restored, and came to believe in the Savior who loved him and showed him such amazing care. It was the power in Jesus’s healing, love, and gentleness that convinced this man he had truly met the Savior, the Son of Man. And that same power works for us too, healing where we are short-sighted or in need of a vision and direction. For in our Savior, as the hymn says, there is wonder working power. Thanks be to God.

 Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/530833599173131

Lent 3

Belong Part 1: Every Corner—Exodus 17: 1-7; John 4:5-26, 40-42

            A friend of mine shared a story of a church that sent a letter to one of its members. The letter essentially addressed that the member had not been attending church for several weeks. They said, “After attempts to discuss this situation with you, we fear you are no longer convinced in the need to assemble with the church.” The letter the goes on to address another problem about her un-Biblical living situation and her failure to avoid all appearance of evil. They say to her in closing their first duty is to her soul, then their second duty is to protect the congregation by making sure none of them associate with her disorderly walk. They wrap up by giving her a deadline to come and publicly repent before the church or they’ll kick her out. It’s signed by the elders…in Christ’s love.

            To say that walking in faith is a discipline does NOT mean that it should also be a punishment. The goal of the church is to draw others unto Christ and into fellowship of faith, love, and hope everlasting. There are a few things we can learn about this work from the Gospel for today. In this Gospel story, we see Jesus coming through Samaria on his way to Galilee. The scriptures say Jesus had to go through Samaria. As we read this encounter, keep in mind that the journey through Samaria was not just because of geography, but also for theology.

            Jews and Samaritans hated one another. Samaritans were constantly treated as second class citizens and in many ways as sub-human. At the heart of this hatred wass a fight over the location of a holy site of worship. Jews said it was only Jerusalem, and Samaritans said it was Mount Gerizim. Now, there was a lot of ethnic hatred and bigotry as well, but folks of that time would say that the battle was the location of worship. Thus, the two people were never to have contact with one another. They didn’t worship together, didn’t associate, and it was sinful for Jews to even associate with a Samaritan, for it would make them unclean according to the law.

            Jesus broke that rule all to pieces. First, he was a Jewish male teacher associating with a woman, which was forbidden. Second, he was a Jewish person associating with a Samaritan, which was also forbidden. He even drank after her at the well. Jews and Samaritans could not share the same water source. It was illegal, not tolerated by the religion, and socially unacceptable. Why would Jesus do this? It broke every custom, rule, and regulation of the day. Why?

            Jesus knew that she needed his teaching and his gifts more than society needed its rules. Jesus knew the Samaritan people needed the love and welcome that faith in him could give. And he knew that no matter what society, religion, and the law said, their souls were worthy and deserving of grace too. Now, she didn’t get away completely free. There were some things in her life that were a bit problematic. Jesus hints that she may have had some adultery in her past or in her present. There’s not much detail given about why Jesus brings all this up, but likely it’s an area she struggled with in life. She’s not condemned, called a floosy, or turned over for stoning by Jesus. He simply speaks the truth of where she falls short, then he introduces her again to God’s love and redeeming grace. In the end she believes. And because of her belief and testimony in this man who spoke so prophetically to her, others come to Jesus, and eventually many people of Samaria believe simply because they met Jesus through her.

            The church of today has gotten trapped in playing the game of identity politics of society and wild fervor of our country to legislate morality. As a friend of mine said, legislating morality is no more helpful than a 65-mph speed limit on the interstate. Our morals and ethics are not found in a legislature; they’re found in hearts that follow the love of a Savior. Everywhere we look there is panic over whether a person is gay, trans, speaks another language, different races, is too conservative, too liberal, pro-police, anti-police, capitalist, socialist, on and on, x-y-z, to the nth degree. There is some kind of fear attached to every characteristic we can find in a person these days. Why? Where has it gotten us? Why do a person’s characteristics matter on whether we should tell them of God’s love or not?

            When Jesus met the woman at the well, he did comment upon her life in a challenging way. He noted behavior that seemed somewhat problematic. Maybe she had 5 husbands die, but likely there were issues of divorce, adultery, and a departure from God, a withdrawing from that holy presence. She had awareness of God, of grace, and of a Messiah, but she seems detached from faith. Jesus calls her back to faith, calls her out of ways that seem to have caused problems in her life. But you know what he never called out, shamed her for, or even questioned—that she was a Samaritan. Never once did Jesus make her feel less than worthy because of who she was—a Samaritan living in a society which hated them.

            The church cannot be a place where we act or react based on the characteristics of others.  To us, every single person, regardless of who they are, is a soul created by God in need of God’s redeeming love and the church’s support. I fear the church has lost its urgency to share God’s love because the church is so caught upon the details and characteristics of a person’s life. We’ve been given a mission here on earth, and that is not to be the arbiters of who is and is not worthy of society’s concern, but to simply introduce others to the God who loves them.

            The church ought to be a haven for those who feel abused by society. Jesus went to the Samaritans, to those who would be stoned, to those that the Jewish religious leaders scorned him for healing and loving. He took their lives, their situations, and he made something beautiful because all are created by God, and all are deserving of God’s love. There’s an old chorus titled, “People Need the Lord.” It says, “People need the Lord, at the end of broken dreams, [God’s] the open door. People need the Lord; when will we realize people need the Lord?”

            It’s like the question in the Exodus scripture where the people asked, “Is the Lord here with us or not?” The answer is yes. God is with us and people see Jesus in our lives each and every day, so long as we let the love of Jesus shine from our lives. But that song is true now more than ever—people need the Lord, not our judgment, questions, conditions, and uncertainty, but they need to see God in us, shining out from us, and sharing that wonderful love.

            Jesus broke the rules and shared water and conversation with a Samaritan woman. He stayed for two days with the Samaritan people, sharing meals, living in homes, teaching, and showing love, even though his own people would call this an abomination. The church cannot forget the urgency of its calling here in this world. May those who are Samaritans in our world see the Jesus in us come and sit down beside them.

Service Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1330932250809608

Lent 2

The Gift of the Goose, Rev. Kyle Ermoian,

Director of New Church and Church Development for the Georgia Region

Service Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/1385558892192240

Lent 1

Connect: Together to Overcome—Gen.2: 15-17, 3:1-7; Matt. 4: 1-11

            The other day, while working in Atlanta, I met some friends for dinner after work at Atlantic Station. Now, if you’re not familiar, Atlantic Station is a large outdoor mall, cinema, plaza, and row of restaurants right in the heart of midtown off of 17th Street. It may sound daunting, given the location, but there is a very nice system of color-coded and numbered parking in the parking deck. I assumed nothing could go wrong with this, right? Oh, how wrong I was. I parked and remembered my area carefully—P2—near the green/purple area. I had dinner and came back down to the parking deck.

            It was then that I learned that there 3 different green and purple sections, and that P2 was the floor—Parking Level 2—and not the area of the parking deck I was in. For 25 minutes I searched for my car clicking the panic button and hearing no car alarm sounds. I was beginning to get nervous as it was nighttime, downtown in a parking deck, and smelled suspiciously like a strong semi-illegal “herbal” cigarette, if you know what I mean. So, I did what I had to do. I called security and spent the next 25 minutes riding around on their golf cart up and down the parking deck looking for my car. We found it. 20 feet away from where I was looking.

            Sometimes, we cannot face situation, trials, and struggles alone. It leads us to unhealthy, unsafe, and bad places in life when we turn away from our support and strength. Over this Lenten season, we will walk through our tagline, found on the letterhead and website—Connect, Belong, Believe. I had a couple of people didn’t even know it existed. Well, by the end of Lent, you’ll be very familiar, I promise! In our lessons for today we read about two instances where temptation was faced, trials were endured, and two different endings came from the struggle.

            For Adam and Eve, the manipulation and temptation of the serpent did not lead to a strong or happy ending. It appears to have taken very little convincing for Adam and Eve to both ignore God’s commandments and eat of the tree they were supposed to stay away from. Eve looked to Adam, her help, her partner, her support system, but neither of them looked to God. They both listened to false and enticing manipulation and gave in to what was wrong. The consequences were dire and permanent. When we listen to the snakes in our lives, we will suffer. Adam and Eve looked at everything around them, but they forgot to look to God.

            In the Gospel lesson, Jesus is out in the wilderness facing hunger, temptation, struggles, and trials. The devil comes to him, just like he came to Adam and Eve with sweet and convincing words, seasoned tricks and manipulations, and suggestions that might have fixed the suffering in the short-term, but still led deeper into sin and evil in the long run. Yet Jesus looked to God’s wisdom.  When tempted by food, Jesus quotes the Word of God. When Satan tempted Jesus to make a foolish and pointless statement of power, Jesus hurled back God’s commandments.

            When Satan finally tempts Jesus with power, prestige, and royalty, Jesus bluntly refutes him. All of these trials tempt Jesus in his vulnerability: his hunger, his work to proclaim his authority and position; and his struggle and living in a limited, human way. The trials of life will always hit us where we are most vulnerable and most susceptible to the spiritual assault. Jesus had no one to help him—no circle of friends in the wilderness or partner in the garden like Adam and Eve. Yet he had God, and as the Son of God, that was enough.

            When we encounter our struggles, trials, temptations, and painful edges of life, we need to connect—both to God’s power and our community of support. We’re not Jesus in the desert. We need a little extra help to overcome. We have to connect together with God and as a church of support in one another’s tough times.

            I told you the story of my foolish car hunt as an example of this. There was no way I was going to find my car on my own. I needed the wisdom of my friends in knowing what to do, and I needed the support of the moderately irritated security guard who came out to help me locate the car. My education, intellect, wisdom, whatever talent and ability I have were no longer able to help me as tiredness and panic began to set in. I needed help, or I was going to be wandering that parking lot for heaven knows how long.

            There is no shame in saying we need help when we face the struggles that come to us in life. There is no shame in needing a medical doctor, a support community, a loving and listening ear, or a combination of prayer, medication, and therapy. God wants us to be made whole, to find redemption, and to be able to follow Jesus with our complete mind, soul, and spirit. That is why we are told to both trust in God and to live in a community of faith together.

            We often talk about the work of the church and being a community of faith that works for God’s will in the world, and community outreach is a good and wonderful thing. Being a church community together, however, is about far more than just the outreach we do. We need folks who will make food for us when a loved one has died and check on us. We need folks who will pray with and for us. We need a place where we can come in and know that there’s a group of people there who love us and will be there to support us in every way.

            Being connected means having a place and a people who will care for us in our time of need. I’m reminded of a story a friend shared with me. The author, Naomi Shihab Nye wrote of the time she was walking through the airport and heard an announcement asking if anyone could speak Arabic. The call was coming from her own gate at the airport. She found there an older Palestinian woman sitting on the floor sobbing uncontrollably.

            In broken half English half Arabic, she discovered that when they said the flight was delayed, the woman had believed it to be cancelled. The woman was flying to another state for life-saving medica treatment and was terrified she wouldn’t arrive for it. Her son was waiting at her destination. After being reassured, Naomi helped the woman call her family, then they called Naomi’s own dad to speak more fluently in Arabic to the woman.

            It took little time for the woman to be smiling, laughing, and offering homemade cookies to those who were there. Everybody took some of the small cookies covered in powdered sugar and shared them around. They all shared stories as well. Naomi writes it was like sharing a sacrament together. She went on to say, “This is the world I want to live in.”

            When we are faced with life’s struggles we need both God’s power in our lives and the folks who are there to support us. We have to connect together to overcome life’s trials. There’s a contemporary Christian song that speaks directly to this. It says, “I need you; you need me. We’re all part of God’s body. Stand with me, agree with me, we’re all a part of God’s body. It is God’s will that every need be supplied. You are important to me; I need you to survive.” Faith and life are too hard to be lived alone. So may we connect together both in God’s power and in support of one another to overcome all the trials of life.

Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/167136442341616