Jeremiah 20:7-13 and Matthew 10:24-39

June 25, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Jeremiah 20:7-13

O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I must cry out, I must shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering: “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. “Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him, and take our revenge on him.”

But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they will not prevail. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous, you see the heart and the mind; let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.

Matthew 10:24-39

“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master.

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

| Centering Prayer |

The prophet Jeremiah was dealt a lousy hand.

Not flipping burgers at Burger King.

Not collecting garbage.

Not unclogging sewers or cleaning out septic tanks.

It was worse than that.

A lot worse.

God had a job that he couldn’t refuse.

Jeremiah was called by God to preach.

Preaching isn’t that bad.

It was the message

That came to defined his life.

The message God wanted to communicate to God’s chosen people

Gave Jeremiah the moniker

“The Weeping Prophet.”

The news wasn’t good.

This was God’s message to the people of Judah:

Stop worshipping idols. Worship only the Lord.

Stop following false prophets.

Temple priests are guilty of greed.

Stop altering sacred scripture to accommodate the worship of other gods.

Yeah.

Not exactly how to win friends and influence people.

That’s not all.

God had one more item to tell the people:

That Babylonian army closing from the north?

Yeah, they will destroy Jerusalem and all of Judah.

Punishment for sins.

Those not killed will be exiled,

Driven from God’s promised lands,

Banished to suffer for generations for their sins.

It’s a done deal.

No appeal.

1900 years later,

Even Rembrandt felt Jeremiah’s grief and pain.

Like Moses before him,

Jeremiah protested his life defining call.

God wasn’t hearing it.

Thanks for the input;

Now, zip it and get back in the game.

As soon as Jeremiah spoke

His cheery message of destruction and death,

His popularity plummeted.

Kings despised him.

Others plotted to kill him.

He was thrown into a cistern,

Trapped in mud,

Only to be saved by a slave.

Sound familiar?

Jeremiah complains to God,

Makes his lament,

Like any good child of Abraham.

God’s response?

Thanks for the feedback,

But, buckle down and ante up.

Nose to the grindstone, old chap.

Arrested.

Placed in stocks.

Mocked by all.

Assassination attempts.

All because

Jeremiah was being a faithful mouthpiece of God.

…

700 years later,

Matthew the tax collector,

And his larger Matthean community,

Felt Jeremiah’s pain.

Jeremiah’s story resonated with Matthew’s life experience.

Hated by the public.

Accused of collaborating with Rome,

An occupying enemy of the people,

Matthew preached that

Jesus was the fulfillment of Jewish expectation.

Jesus is the Messiah.

Follow him.

Matthew’s message was one that first century Jews did not want to hear.

Messiah? Savior of the people?

Jesus was

More like a major disappointment and a falling star from their myopic point of view.

For his efforts

Jesus was rejected in his own hometown,

By his own flesh and blood.

Jesus was rejected by organized religion;

Temple authorities,

Priests and pharisees, plotted against him,

Who had him arrested, tried, and killed.

For the Jews,

A cold, sealed tomb

Was the end of Jesus and his traveling salvation show.

Or so it seemed.

Today is Monday,

Tomorrow will be Monday.

Every day is Monday.

Everyday is Groundhog Day.

Life is misery, toil, suffering, slavery, and death.

“Life is a beach, and then you die,” my Uncle Dick would state.

Might just as well get used to it.

Matthew knew better.

The tomb wasn’t the final answer.

He had seen,

Personally witnessed,

the resurrection of Jesus and

Was personally commissioned,

Sent,

To spread the good news

Of what he had seen and experienced.

Today is

Release from captivity to sin and death.

Today is

The first day of your eternal life with Christ;

All for the low, low price

Of believing in him.

Carpe Diem.

Seize the Day.

Matthew preached first to the local Jewish community,

Then afield, tradition says.

He was led to Africa

Where he was martyred for this message.

Matthew’s band of brothers

(and sisters) carried on in Matthew’s name, call, and tradition.

They read the common text written by Mark

And used their memory of Matthew’s personal interactions with Jesus.

The Matthean community

Composed the text before us today;

The Gospel of Matthew.

It is in this context

They remembered and recorded

Jesus teaching.

“I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.” (10:34-36)

Dis me?

That’s one thing.

Dis my family,

Now you are itching for a fight.

Jesus condemns,

But doesn’t send to hell,

The actions of those who

Love others more than him.

Jesus condemns those who

Aren’t committed enough to risk their own lives

For the sake of following him and his message.

“Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” (10:38)

Are you willing to die for Jesus?

We are asked today.

The mortal / immortal gordian knot

Makes me want to weep.

…

Just as Jeremiah wept,

So, too, did Jesus.

Just as Jesus lamented his rejection,

So, too, did Matthew and his community

Of Apostles.  

The Lord commanded Jeremiah

“And I will utter my judgments against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. But you, gird up your loins; stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not break down before them, or I will break you before them.” (1:16-17)

“Get yourself ready!”

(1:17)

God tipped him off to those who plotted against him.

God rose up and protected his life.

(11:18-2:6)

God is our protector-in-chief,

Our sword,

Our shield,

Our staff,

Our stay.

God is our anchor,

Our rock,

Our foundation

Upon which we stand.

“Do not fear …” Jesus commanded.

(10:28)

Not one sparrow falls without God’s knowledge.

Your value is greater than many sparrows.

God values you so much,

God even knows the number of hairs on your head.

“Do not fear …”

Our value comes from God,

Not from others.

Meaning comes from God.

Our call comes from God.

The message comes from God.

“Do not fear …”

Though others will mock,

Hate you,

Hurt you,

Serve you up to a martyr’s death,

God’s grace exceeds the expanse of cosmos, time, and space.

“Do not fear …”

Though others may kill,

Jesus saves.

Jesus saves.

…

You and I may not like the message of the cross.

But it is our responsibility to

Proclaim it from the housetops.

We may oppose the scandal of grace

Revealed by an empty tomb.

Yet, this is precisely the message

God intends the world to hear.

We may be persecuted, suffer, even die

For the privilege to carry God’s message

Of Jesus, and his love,

To a world of hatred, evil, and death.

Even still,

Buck up, old chap.

Dry the tears.

Nose to the grindstone.

God has you covered.

Lose your life for Christ’s sake;

Eternal life is returned to you.

Eternal life.

Yours.

All yours.

Claim it!

Proclaim it!

Amen.

Matthew 9:35 – 10:23

June 18, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Matthew 9:35 – 10:23

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

| Centering Prayer |

Our Gospel for today

Is the only occurrence in Matthew

Where the disciples of Jesus are named

And given the title of “Apostle”.

The word “Apostle” comes from the Greek “Apostolos”

Meaning “person sent.”

In today’s Gospel,

Disciples of Jesus

Are tasked with additional responsibilities.

Disciples not only follow Jesus;

– Learn his teachings and follow in his example –

Disciples are now sent,

Transformed into Apostles,

Sent,

First to Jews of the house of Israel,

(as we will explore here today) and

Later, to Samaria, and to the world.

(Acts 1:8)

Every nation.

Every race.

Every language.

Jews, Gentiles, and every other religion under the sun.

Sinners and saints alike.

The contrast is important.

Discipleship is about being filled with Jesus.

Apostleship is being sent to bring the world to Jesus.

Jesus mixes his metaphors today,

Referring to the crowd as sheep,

And to the world as abundant crops ready to be harvested.

Animal farming v. cash cropping.

It isn’t clean,

But Jesus gets the job done.

…

Sheeplike.

Reality check, with a large dose of humility:

Apostles of Jesus are like sheep.

1. Without the Good Shepherd we are prone to wander.

Take the eye off Jesus

and become easily distracted.

There is much to distract

Partisan politics, building wealth, amassing pride and power.

The fallen nature of life

Will go to the ends of the earth

To distract you and me from Jesus,

Our ultimate concern.

2. When we, like sheep,

Draw a deaf ear to the guidance and directives of Jesus,

The world becomes a tempting cacophony of competing calls;

Undisciplined pride,

Unrestrained anger,

Mindless Envy,

Objectified Lust,

Limitless Gluttony,

Poisonous Sloth.

3. Without the protection and guidance of our Good Shepherd

We are in constant, chronic mortal danger.

Without Christ, we risk body and soul.

Be not naïve,

Apostolic work

Is dangerous, life-threatening work.

Apostles are like sheep in the midst of wolves.

Vulnerable.

Being forewarned

demands apostles to be prepared.

I’d love to pepper my message

With heartwarming antidotes and stories

Of growth, success, and clean living.

Of little David slaying the mighty Goliath.

Nothing to be seen here.

Jesus is no vaccine that prevents pain, suffering, or death.

Apostles are betrayed.  

Hated;

Rejected by blood,

Well-meaning family members.

Apostles who carry Jesus to the world are

Persecuted by good Christian neighbors-about-town

Who dress up to go to church on Sundays.

Apostles, beware wolves.

Wolves hunt, and don’t give up.

Wolves kill, not like the regeneration of a video game.

Wolves kill dead.

Wolves feast with an unsatiable appetite.

Apostles can be expected to be arrested, charged, and prosecuted

As enemies of the people

As heretics of the Church.

Like a good Boy Scout, be prepared.

Put on Christ,

Shelter in his protective love.

Be filled with his power and strength of the Spirit.

Allow the Spirit of the Father speak in you and through you.

Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

…

Servant Laborers.

Apostles are disciples sent.

Sent by Jesus to do what?

1. First, take notice:

Here-to-for, Jesus has been a one-man-traveling-salvation-show.

It’s time to delegate,

To multiply.

Elementary level mathematics is a helpful metaphor.

One Jesus

commissions and sends

twelve disciples.

It would be great if the net would hold millions,

Thousands even,

Instead of just twelve.

Good laborers are hard to come by.

Yet. Twelve were enough to start with.

Twelve are enough.  

Apostles of Jesus are sent to multiply.

One becomes twelve.

Twelve becomes 144.

One forty-four becomes …

In a similar, but opposing way,

Apostles of Jesus are not in the subtraction or division business.

If you’re not building,

At best, you are maintaining the status quo,

Setting the table

For another generation to drive a stake through the heart.

At worst, if

you are not building Church,

The Body of Christ,

You’re destroying.     

Build.

Multiply.

Compound.

Light the afterburners.

Take supersonic your role

In building the Church of Jesus Christ.

2. Apostles of Jesus are sent to harvest.

Often, scripture uses harvest as a metaphor for the end times,

The return of Christ, and a final judgment.

No sign of that here.

Different sermon.

Different topic.

Another place.

Harvest:

Plentiful.

Abundant.

Full-to-overflowing is the harvest God provides.

Harvest isn’t just about

Swinging a scythe, gathering, separating, processing fruit, and burning the chaff.

Harvest demands compassionate Apostles

Who are willing to be servant laborers

Called and sent by Jesus.

Be the servant who

Proclaims the Good News.

This is the message to communicate through everything you think, say, and do:

God created you.

God loves you.

God forgives your sins.

God saves you into eternal life!

Pass it on!

…

Life happens in-between.

Illness, demons, and death.

So what?

God’s got you.

Be the servant who

Cures the sick, raises the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons.

We are in the fix-and-repair business.

Scavenge the junkyards of life.

The well have no need of a physician.

Seek out the lost, the left behind, the discarded and left for dead.

Fix the broken.

Heal.

Cleanse.

Purify the world with unblemished righteousness.

…

Be the servant laborer

Who places complete dependence upon God

And God alone.

One only needs bread daily.

Yesterday’s bread is today’s waste;

Tomorrow’s bread is wholly dependent on the grace of God.

Today’s bread is God’s intentional act to sustain and strengthen you.

God hasn’t failed once in the history of the world.

Grace won’t fail today.

Tomorrow? Nope.

As certain as tomorrow’s sunrise,

God provides, sustains, protects, loves.

Bank it.

…

Be the servant laborer

Who isn’t afraid to move on

if returns are not worthy of our heavenly Father and King.

Shake off the dust and leave.

In other words,

Leave the past behind.

Walk away from toxic circumstances and people

Who remain unmoved, unchanged,

Despite our every prayer and all our effort.

Pay attention to “return-on-investment”

More carefully than a corporate accountant.

“Shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” (10:14)

Shake it. Leave it.

No apologies.

No regrets.

Let God judge.

Move on.

…

Servant laborers who cut losses and move on

discover a newfound serenity.

Peace becomes

the divine replacement

for anxiety, frustration, and failure.

“God; grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

To change the things I can change,

And the wisdom to know the difference.”

(Reinhold Niebuhr, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer)

Self-flagellation ceases.

No dead horses are left to beat.

Moving on opens the door.

Peace once held, returns.

Peace returns to you.

…

Disciples learn and follow.

Apostles go and serve.

Be both / and.

Service is harvest focused.

Sick? Be healed.

Let me introduce you to the one who heals.

Follow him.

Dead? Bring life.

Let me introduce you to the Lord of life and resurrection.

He knows the way.

Jesus knows the tomb, but he also knows eternal life.

Follow him.

Filled with the devil? Satan! Be gone!

The Light has come to replace the darkness.

His name is Jesus.

Come and meet him.

Beloved, modern-day Apostles of Jesus;

It’s all about the harvest.

There is no time to wait.

No time for distractions.

The kingdom draws near, oh, so near.

…

Praise God

For the Apostolic authority,

Given and passed,

From generation to generation

To this age and time and place.

Simon Peter, the first among equals, and Andrew.

Adult sons of Zebedee, James and John.

Philip and Bartholomew.

Thomas, who demanded proof, and Matthew, the tax collector,

The son of Alphaeus, James,

And Thaddaeus,

Simon the Cananaean, and

Judas.

Even Judas.

Take thou authority.

Take the Good News.

Share the Good News.

The Lord of the Harvest is drawing his kingdom near.

Amen.

A Sermon for the African Immigrant Congregation,

Aldersgate United Methodist Church

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

June 11, 2023

the Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”

And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples.

Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”

Jesus turned, and seeing her he said,

“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.”

And instantly the woman was made well. 

When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.”

And they laughed at him.

But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

And the report of this spread throughout that district.

| Centering Prayer |

There are many joys to being a pastor.

I’m surrounded with great people who are passionate about faith.

I’m privileged to be invited into the great celebrations of life’s passages-

birth, baptism, confirmation, graduations, weddings, anniversaries, and deaths.

Indeed, I draw strength and courage

from many examples of experience, faith, and hope.

My faith is deepened through

your commitment and resolve.

There are many joys to being a pastor.

In recent days,

I’ve come to recognize

That my life swims in an ocean of God’s grace.

At a young age

I dipped my toe into the surf.

It was a loving God who caught a hold of me,

Pulled me through a life altering undertow

Into a life of

abundant love,

extravagant forgiveness, and

eternal salvation.

There are many joys to being a pastor.

I don’t take lightly other people’s pain or suffering.

But, quietly, privately,

I do delight in self-imposed guilt.

This is what I mean-

when I was a medic on the ambulance,

taking a drunk from a bar fight to the hospital,

teeth knocked out like spilled Chicklets,

cussing and swearing to beat-the-band,

to have another member of the crew say

“by the way, I’d like you to meet Reverend Goddard…”

I secretly delight in self-imposed guilt.

At the daily conclusion of Vacation Bible School

For 300 village children in Nicaragua,

We would team up

And hand out a small, sugar-coated roll

To each excited, squealing child.

To you or me

A roll would be

Just a roll.

To these children,

it was their daily bread.

I looked to

My fellow missionary traveler

Handing out rolls

And saw his face and tears when he

Realized he had enough spare money in his wallet

To feed 300 for a year.

Guilt has it’s place.

I realize guilt convicts.

I know that I’m unable

to sit on my holier-than-though, high horse for too long.

I put my pants on just like everyone else,

one leg at a time.

I know myself well enough

to recognize that

I am a sinner, no better, and no worse, than anyone else.

I have fallen short of God’s expectations and

I beg mercy and redemption before a benevolent, gracious God.

Guilty as charged.

Convicted of my sins.

I have no excuse,

Only confession.

There is no moral high ground here.

There is no pontifical, episcopal, or ordained protection

from the wages of sin.

Ordination doesn’t grant me a “Get out of jail free” card.

Neither is there safety

simply because you might be a Christian,

or in the failed attempt to lead a righteous life.

I applaud you for your effort;

but I know better.

Not only are we united by our common baptism,

but we are also united by our common sin.

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

I know that everyone of you is a sinner, because I am one, too.

Sinners come to church,

often led by the hand

by well-meaning parents.

Many do not come willingly.

Some may have put up a fight just an hour ago.

“I don’t want to go to church. Why do I have to go to church?

No one else from school is at church.

I hate church!”

But a rule is a rule,

so here you are,

arms folded,

brows furrowed,

determined not to get anything out of it.

“I’m here, but I don’t have to like it.”

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Sinners come to church,

motivated by guilt or family pressure.

Out with friends last night until a late hour

– or early hour –

the incongruity between the party last night

and the service this morning is striking.

The posture is impossible to miss:

slouched rolled shoulders,

downcast eyes, queasy light headedness.

Thoughts are mostly “I just want this to be over with.”

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Sinners come to church,

motivated by good intentions and true desire,

only to experience troubling thoughts.

Sin that’s deep, dark, and carnal.

Have you ever had a dirty thought during worship?

I have.

In the midst of sacred worship,

a thought turns to something that you are not supposed to think about,

and I certainly am forbidden to say.

Hormone driven thoughts lead to shame and fear

that God might be eavesdropping.

“Oh, my goodness! What’s wrong with my filthy mind?!”

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Sinners come to church,

filled with new ideas,

calling into question

what is taught

and what they used to believe.

Youth challenging authority- Shocking!

Perhaps they don’t believe in God after all.

Perhaps this is a sham, a lie, a farce and no one should be here.

Organized religion is nothing more than organized crime.

It’s all a bunch of hooey!

Despite a newfound freedom to question,

most remain slaves to sin,

and like everyone else,

love to roll in the muck

with the pigs.

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Sinners come to church,

upright and proper,

heads of the household,

respected members of the community,

who put on their Sunday’s best,

hoping to reflect an unblemished exterior.

But deep inside, all are wondering.

Wondering about those marriage vows.

Break them?

Who would know?

Wondering about children.

Is it right to bring innocent children into this world?

Who better to raise a bunch of sinners than sinners?

Wondering about …

the IRS return,

the little white lie on the timecard, or

the office supplies that make their way home.

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

Sinners come to church,

Elders pushing a walker or sporting a cane.

Middle aged …

Many have put on weight,

balding or graying,

divorced, depressed, or simply disillusioned.

starting to become a little ragged around the edges.

Life isn’t turning out like

What was expected thirty or forty years ago.

Youthful indiscretions securely vaulted and locked away in the past.

Aches and pains,

behind closed doors, belching (farting) and

belly-aching about every new twinge or pull,

all-the-while failing to follow the doctor’s advice.

A little too much wine with dinner,

a credit card overextended,

growing anxieties,

grown up kids who won’t move out.

Good old,

middle of the road,

over-insured, middle-aged sinners.

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

All kinds of sinners walk through the door of the church.

Some walking slowly,

stooped with age,

others running,

giggling, and paying no attention

to what anyone else might think.

Some have lost the sin of ambition, and

in its place are yielding to the sins of

despair, disappointment, resentment, or finality.

Some sinners come to church

wearing shoes made by children in sweat shops,

wearing clothing that is made by virtual slaves in developing world countries.

Some ate breakfast this morning

Mindful of those who have no breakfast,

While others come to know the injustice of global food distribution.

My consumption comes at the expense of others.

When I eat,

I force hunger on others.

Some sinners care …

but do nothing.

Other sinners could care less.

Jesus said, “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

I’m the first to admit that

the biggest sinner might be the preacher,

the one who leads,

the one who does all the talking,

the spiritual shepherd of the flock.

It is far easier to do as I say,

not as I do.

Some may lift the office to a higher plane,

but I know that reverend is nothing more than a title,

and it doesn’t cut too deep.

We all come and close the door behind us.

There is no one without sin.

Not a one.

No one bears any more guilt than anyone else.

When it comes to sin

Size doesn’t matter.

We’re all in this together.

And Jesus walks into our life and says,

“Follow me, sinner. Follow me.”

Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners!

“And suddenly

a leader of the synagogue came to Jesus.”

Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners!

“And suddenly

a woman reached out and touched his garment.”

Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners!

And suddenly,

oh, so suddenly,

you and me,

we find our voice.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost,

but now am found,

was blind but now I see.”

“I’d like to come and dine at your table today,”

the Savior says, point directly at us.

So, gather we must,

around this table of God’s grace.

There is plenty of room for every sinner.

Make sure we make room for the Savior.

Would you just take a look

at the company Jesus keeps?

Outrageous …

Scandalous …

Amazing …

… just like God’s grace

The Word of the Lord,

as it has come to me.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Matthew 28:16-20

June 04, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

| Centering Prayer |

According to the Greek philosopher and mathematician, Pythagoras,

Three was considered the perfect number,

The number of harmony, wisdom, and understanding.

(Google search “meaning of three”)

There are three, wonderful creation stories in the Bible;

each serving a vital purpose.

Genesis 1:1-2:3, (which we read from this morning)

Genesis 2:4-25.

John 1:1-18.

Our God is a god of creation

as revealed through our scriptures

from before time,

up to, and including, today.

God is just as creative now

as God was on the first day.

“In the beginning,”

as the book of Genesis so majestically begins,

“when God created the heavens and the earth,

the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep,

while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”

(Genesis 1:1-2)

The Wind,

known in the Hebrew as RUHAH,

was the Spirit of God

from the beginning of time.

In the second story of creation found in Genesis 2,

RUHAH makes yet another appearance:

“then the Lord god formed man from the dust of the ground,

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

and the man became a living being.”

(Genesis 2:7)

The Spirit of God

fills our lungs

and gives us life.

The Spirit was, is, and will forever be,

that which gives us life,

life abundant.

In John masterful Gospel we hear,

“In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being through him,

and without him not one thing came into being.

What has come into being in him was life,

and the life was the light of all people.

… And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”

(John 1:1-4, 14)

The Word and God are one;

one in creation,

and one in the Spirit.

And the Word became Jesus

and dwelt among us.

…

Today is Trinity Sunday.

For history buffs,

Trinity Sunday is a day so designated by pope John XXII

who reigned from 1316-1334,

instituted as a universal feast

in honor of the Most Holy Trinity.

Also known as Whitsunday

By our Eastern Orthodox sisters and brothers,

Trinity Sunday continues to be celebrated almost 800 years later,

being deeply rooted in scripture,

our tradition,

and our experience.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is a foundational,

essential statement of Christianity.

It is unique to Christianity;

Islam and Judaism have

no similar statements of faith or

similar understandings of the Divine.

Unitarians and Jehovah Witnesses find it deplorable.

Foundational beliefs about our common belief

In a triune God was defined at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.,

Affirmed at Constantinople in 381 A.D,

And, therefore, it is imbedded in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles’ Creed.

The early church Fathers looked to the four Gospels,

Paul’s letters- known as epistles,

written to the churches he helped establish,

and weighed scripture with their own experience

to formulate this doctrine.

They focused on our Gospel passage for today,

the command of Jesus

to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Trinitarian Baptism became a guiding principle in their work.

We baptize because Jesus told us to.

We baptize in the name of God our Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Exactly as directed.

We teach newly baptized Christians the same content Jesus had taught his disciples,

Because we are faithful in following Christ’s commands.

This effort corrected some communities of faith

that had practiced baptizing in the name of Jesus only.

Being baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

indicates a new relationship,

a rebirth,

an adoption

involving all three faces of the Trinity.

[Richard Niell Donovan, copyright 2002, www.lectionary.org]

Simply stated,

“Christians believe that God is revealed (sic.) in three persons:

God the Father,

God the Son (Jesus),

and God the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost),

but these three persons are one and indivisible.”

[Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend, JCJ Metford]

God in three persons,

persona in the Greek,

as in one actor on the stage

using three different masks to describe

the inner, dynamic, communal life of the Trinity.

Our own doctrine,

As found in Our Doctrinal Standards and General Rules

from The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, state

“There is but one

Living and true God,

Everlasting,

Without body or parts,

Of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness;

The maker and preserver of all things,

Both visible and invisible.

And in the unity of this Godhead

There are three persons,

Of one substance, power, and eternity-

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

[The Book of Discipline, Year 2016, P.104. Section 3]

To talk in terms of Trinitarian language

means that we believe in the God of history;

as revealed to us in the history of Israel,

the works and acts of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels,

and through the works of the Holy Spirit

empowering and sustaining the work of the faithful in the Church.

God, as the loving Father,

created in the first day,

and continues to create with us

in every subsequent day.

God, as the human Son Jesus Christ,

experienced the fullness of humanity,

established an example for Christian living,

forgave us our sins,

saves us into eternal life,

ascended into heaven,

and commissioned us to make disciples of all the world.

Jesus is the sole source of our redemption and salvation.

God, given to us as Spirit,

is God with us,

in every breath we take and in every deed we accomplish.

The Holy Spirit is with us

and in us.

To speak in Trinitarian language

we recognize the value of a tripart balance in the world

between God, humankind, and creation.

We speak in terms that value relationships;

an intimacy with God

and a commitment to one another.

In our politically correct world,

there has been efforts

to change the way we think and believe in terms of God as Father.

Often, Father is seen in terms of alpha male,

the dominant,  

too often, the abuser,

one who is quick to violence.

Often Trinitarian language will be substituted

with Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer

– which speak to the works of the Godhead,

but not the identity of God.

A word of caution.

Before we abandon the words and commands of Jesus;

before we walk away from centuries of shared tradition and history;

perhaps we should consider

changing the way we think about fathers in society today.

Perhaps we should seek to restore fatherhood

into an institution of goodness, love, and forgiveness

– the way that God meant it to be.

York Peppermint Patties had a wonderful marketing tag line:

“It feels like I just bit into a York Peppermint Patty!”

It expresses the feeling of fresh,

A memory renewed with every bite,

The potential for future discovery or novelty.

When I come to recite the traditional Trinitarian formula,

“in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,”

either in worship or in private prayers or devotion,

I like to think of it as like biting into a York Peppermint Patty!

A Trinitarian invocation provides a fresh recollection of God,

how God has acted throughout salvation history,

how God has been experienced in my own life, faith, and experience,

how God continues to work in the world today.

It is a renewal of the promise

that God will continue to be with us

“always, to the end of the age”

(Matthew 28: 20b),

just as God has been with us since the beginning of creation

when God traced our profiles,

man and woman,

created in the near image of God.

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”

(Genesis 1:31)

Speaking aloud Father, Son, Holy Spirit

is a reaffirmation of our covenant with God,

who formulated covenant with Abraham

– the Lord our God shall be our God, and we shall be His people.

It is an acceptance of the redeeming and saving acts of Jesus

done for our benefit.

It is an acknowledgment that the Holy Spirit is alive and well,

empowering disciples and churches today,

giving life to you and me and this great Church.

Reflection and prayer

focused upon the Trinity

is a great place for the new Christian to begin a life of faith.

The Trinity is a rich doctrine of faith

A diverse means of attracting and discipling

The naturalist,

The humanist,

The experiential.

The depth and breadth of Trinitarian doctrine

Can lead the matured Christian to reconsider and deepen faith.

My beloved,

today I invite you to join me in my belief,

solely by faith,

that in the “unity of this Godhead there are three persons,

of one substance,

power,

and eternity

– the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”

The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost – May 28, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

| Centering Prayer |

Red is my favorite color.

It has always been my favorite color.

And it will always be my favorite color.

As a child I fell in love with

fire engines.

Deep red.

A fire engine that wasn’t red just wasn’t a fire engine.

Unmistakable.

Unique.

No other vehicle on the road is that color.

Fire engines were to be respected,

breathed in fire, and

torqued out raw horsepower.

Real men ran fire engines.

Developing through the various children’s leagues of organized baseball,

I took on allegiance to

the Cincinnati Red’s.

It wasn’t the players, coach, or city of Cincinnati

that captured the imagination of a boy

from upstate New York.

It was the fact that they were the Red’s;

the Big Red Machine spoke to my soul!

Rose, Bench, Griffy, Parez, Conceptione, Morgan…

baby, they were Reds!

In seminary,

working towards my Master’s degree,

I was exposed to the basics of psychological testing.

I was intrigued by a number of questions on the MMPI,

the Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory,

which inquired about the color red.

I was told that people who tend to be attracted to red

often had some type indicators

which often present with schizophrenia.

I remember smiling,

holding my teeth together,

telling my mentor that I liked blue,

but knowing deep in my heart I am Red!

RED!

In the final weeks of my appointment as the associate pastor of

the Canandaigua UMC,

Summer 1991,

I decided to go out with a bang!

For Pentecost Sunday,

I ordered $4,000 worth of specially screened red tee shirts to hand out to worshippers.

And red we became!

It was glorious!

Leading worship for a congregation that appeared to be on fire with the Spirit.

It is only by the grace of God

that people offered to pay for their individual shirts

and I wasn’t held personally accountable!

I love Red!

Red is the color of fire,

the flames of the Holy Spirit,

as symbolized with the icon of the United Methodist Church,

as depicted by the cross and flame before you today.

…

The flames of the Holy Spirit gave birth and empowered

the beginning of Christianity

in our narrative from Acts of the Apostles this morning.

Just as St. Luke began his gospel with the birth of our Savior,

so too does the author of both Luke and Acts

begin his narrative with a birth;

the birth of the Church.

Those early disciples felt the coming of the Holy Spirit.

“The Hebrew word ruah,

the Greek pneuma,

and the Latin spiritus all mean

“air in motion,” “breath ” or “wind.”

According to ancient language scholars

The root meaning of spiritus is “power.”

(John J. Pilch, The Center for Liturgy at Saint Louis University).

The early disciples experienced the power of the Holy Spirit,

coming to them with divided tongues,

as of fire,

resting on each of them.

They were filled with the Spirit of God

and began to speak in all the languages of earth.

As the impious generation thousands of years earlier

erected a high tower called Babble,

and so brought about the division of the human race into many language groups,

at Pentecost, by contrast,

the piety of believers brought all these diverse languages into the unity of the Church.

Saint Augustine wrote

“What discord had scattered,

love was to gather together.

Like the limbs of a single body,

the separated members of the human race

would be restored to unity

by being joined to Christ their common head,

and welded into the oneness of a holy body by the fire of love.”

(Augustine)

“Ah,” the critics sneered, “They are filled with new wine.”

“No.

No, they are not,” Peter countered.

It is interesting that

the one who had denied Jesus three times only seven weeks earlier

is the one whose voice and stature rose above the crowd

and placed himself into a position to preach.

Peter begins by recalling the prophets of his Jewish foundation.

He recites Joel,

whose original prophecy to Israel was a pretense

of disaster and destruction.

However, for Peter,

Joel’s prophecy has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ himself,

“whose purpose is nothing less that the redemption of humankind.” (Cousar, Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV, Year C, 1994)

God’s judgment is no longer destruction.

God’s judgment is salvation,

a broken world redeemed, restored, recreated,

reunified with the Lord himself; that

“everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

(Acts 2:21)

Peter probably had no idea

the implications of what he just spoke.

He was preaching to a thoroughly Jewish crowd.

He turned their religious life upside down.

No longer was faith accounted according to established orthodoxy:

the Torah, the Law,

and how righteously one observed the rules God put forth.

Now, faith is accounted

according to calling upon the name of the Lord;

bearing witnessing to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Yet, the Spirit had greater plans than Peter’s limited foresight.

The Spirit reached out to “all flesh,”

to Jews and Gentiles alike.

Oh, the scandal of the cross and empty tomb!

It wouldn’t be until the 10^th chapter of Acts,

when Peter preaches to, converts, and baptizes

Cornelius and his host of Gentiles,

that Peter would begin to see the larger implications

of God pouring out His Spirit to “all flesh.”

The promise given by the Holy Spirit through Peter’s sermon,

that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,”

became reality when Peter concluded his witness.

Everyone who

“welcomed his message were baptized,

and that day about three thousand persons were added.”

(Acts 2:41)

The first order of business for the disciples was proclamation.

Through witness and testimony,

disciples of Jesus were transformed into apostles of Jesus.

Following Peter’s sermon and the conversion of 3,000,

St. Luke reports in verse 42 that

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,

to the breaking of bread

and the prayers.”

(Acts 2:42)

The Holy Spirit fueled the revival,

provided all the energy necessary to kick the early Church into afterburners.

The apostles taught from their firsthand, eyewitness experience

about the life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

The apostles taught from their Jewish experience

how Christ had impacted it, and

how their lives had changed as a result of Jesus.

The apostles spread their witness,

first to Jerusalem,

then to Judea and Samaria,

then to the ends of the earth,

just as Jesus had directed

immediately preceding his ascension into heaven.

What then

are we to glean from today’s

historical account of the coming of the Holy Spirit,

giving birth to the body, known as the Church?

What does it mean to me?

How does it impact my life today?

…

1. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Revival.

God is not content with leaving things the way they are.

God wants revival, renewal, a change of heart;

nothing less than the complete transformation of society.

We pray for Thy Kingdom to Come,

yet we act like we want to keep everything just the same.

The Holy Spirit of God fuels revival;

changed hearts, changed lives, a changed world.

Silent contentment smothers the Spirit;

chills it’s red flames with blue ice.

If God wants a revived, changed society,

then we should, too.

If God wants a revived, transformed church,

then we must open our hearts and submit our will.

Our passion for divine transformation

should burn red with desire,

as a fire in our bellies,

deep within our souls.

2. The Holy Spirit is given to all flesh;

that means you and me.

Pentecost reverses the curse of Babel.

The Holy Spirit of God comes in every language,

to every race,

through every culture,

to you and to me.

Though we are removed some 50 generations and half a world away,

the Holy Spirit is given to you and to me-

if only we claim it.

If only…

What a shame it would be

to leave the Holy Spirit unclaimed in our lives,

to allow it’s power to go untapped,

to enable the further secularization of the church.

What a shame it would be to leave the Holy Spirit unclaimed in our lives,

to allow ourselves and grow content with the way life is.

God wants to change the way life is!

God wants to transform your life and mine!

God wants to fuel our efforts on His behalf to transform the world,

to bring about His kingdom on Earth as it is in heaven.

The Spirit is given to you and to me

to make it happen.

3. God’s judgment is no longer destruction. God’s judgment is salvation. Let us never grow tired of this message.

This is the heart of God!

God’s desire is for us to keep ourselves attached to Him,

to graft our lives into his Divine nature,

to be united and joined together as the Body of Christ to the Body of Christ.

God sent us his Son, Jesus,

NOT to condemn the world,

But that the world might be saved through him.

(John 3:17)

We destroy ourselves when we separate ourselves from the Body of Christ,

when we allow ourselves to fall away from the refining fire of His love,

when we cut ourselves off from the fellowship of His Holy Spirit.

This is Hell,

when we separate ourselves from God.

“Turn back, O Man,”

and accept God’s gracious gift

of redemption and salvation

for your own life.

God wants you to be joined to him for eternity.

4. Finally, Proclamation is essential.

I remember listened to an interview with Peter Gomes many years ago,

(Plummer Professor of Christian Morals

and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard Divinity School).

Dr. Gomes said point blank

that he preaches for 35 minutes or more each Sunday.

Why should I be limited to 12 minutes

when we are dealing with the eternal nature of people’s souls?

The Word is life- eternal life.

We must join ourselves with the early apostles

and proclaim the witness that has been passed on to us.

Jesus died for our sins.

Jesus rose from the dead to give us eternal life.

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is all the rage.

When asked to summarize the New Testament,

The AI response is right from the Gospel of John:

God so loves the world

“that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whosoever believes in Him,

shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Believe it! Preach it!

Witness to it!

It is a matter of life or death;

eternal life or death.

The divine redemption and eternal disposition of the world

is dependent upon you witness, and mine.

…

Dearly beloved,

Red is not dead!

Red is alive and thrives!

We have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It has been poured into the church.

It breaths and blows.

It rushes like the wind.

The Spirit is the red hot refining fire, tempering us, the Church,

to proclaim our witness to all the world.

May we receive it.

May we claim it.

May it empower us.

May we proclaim it.

“That everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Amen.

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Sunday, May 21, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.

Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

| Centering Prayer |

I cannot tell you why.

I’m only able to report to you

That which comes from my own personal experience:

I find great interest in the war in Ukraine.

Each evening

I watch YouTube for the latest developments

From the BBC and other international news outlets,

From domestic news sources,

From respected political scientist and historians, and

With much caution,

From individuals who have proven over time

Their front row seats to the conflict and

Their accurate assessments of events unfolding around them.

The geopolitics, expert analysis, technology, and 4K video

Keeps the war interesting, yet, sterile,

Beyond arm’s length,

Reducing the violence, tragedy, and suffering to

A screen reflecting suffering half a world away,

A podcast strong on subject but weak on context,

Rumbling sounds of artillery,

Images of graveyard services,

Processions led by orthodox priests,

Surrounded by mounds of graves decorated in national colors.

Propaganda is as real as water is wet.

Eyes wide open is only the first step in critical thinking.

Why are humans murdering each other? with such efficiency?

What are the Russians and Ukrainians thinking?

Perhaps we are not so evolved after all.

Follow the money, I warn myself;

Where does the money come from?

And where does the money go?

Will money follow failure?

Or does money always follow success,

Regardless of the moral high ground?

Has the Russian offensive failed?

When will the promised Ukrainian offensive begin?

Old, Russian grandmothers stating to correspondents on Moscow’s streets that the war is necessary.

Old, Ukrainian grandmothers from Kherson crying over the deaths of husbands, sons, grandsons.

…

The opening words of the Apostle Peter

Will be received differently

From civilians caught in the cross-fire of an existential struggle

Then from you and me.

…

“Beloved,” Peter begins.

Take note Lay Leaders and members of the Leadership Ministry Team

Church leadership

Begins and ends with love.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you,” (present tense).

No surprise; for you were forewarned.

Jesus told you it was coming.

“It” being the “fiery ordeal.”

He even gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit

To endure,

To guide,

To ensure victory.

Fiery ordeal.

Quite the description of the predicament of the Early Church.

Promised.

Delivered.

Martyrdom was the reality

For first century Christians gaining a toe-hold in modern day Turkey.

It is

Collateral damage for those hunkered down in the trenches of the Donbas.

Pain; chronic pain.

Emotional, physical, spiritual.

Withered, shattered limbs, memory impairments, hardened livers.

Broken relationships, separation and divorce, death and grief, estrangement.

Broken lives.

Rock bottom.

The kaleidoscope of fiery ordeal

Is dependent upon circumstance, experience, perspective.

Fiery, destructive, and fully consuming,

Non-the-less.

….

Take the collective suffering of the world,

Compare and contrast with the pain Christ suffers,

“so that you may be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.”

When.

Future tense.

A promise.

Hope.

Hope that is meant to be our daily bread,

Sustaining us

for this day of hunger and spiritual suffering,

With the promise that God will provide

More bread for tomorrow.

Purpose? You ask.

To make you glad and joyous, Peter replies.

Moping around?

Feeling sorry for yourself?

Grumpy? Grumbling? Complaining? Gossiping?

Undermining? Hurting? Destroying? Oppressing?

Awash with arrogance? Pride? Self-esteem?

Discontented? Malcontented?

Suffering anger that just won’t let go?

If life isn’t filled with joy and gladness, Peter observes,

The cross becomes a lie

And the empty tomb becomes a broken promise;

Grace denied,

Grace unrealized,

God gift unclaimed.

Happy?

Got joy?

Assess thyself.

Make corrections, as necessary.

That’s how to live

The life of faithfulness,

The abundant life promised by Peter,

Paid for by Jesus,

Fulfilled by our loving Father.

….

Oh, the anxiety of this age!

Oh, the suffering that humankind endures!

The Apostle Peter

Provides additional insights into the nature of God,

How we are to live,

And the danger we face. 

1. Our God is a god of love, who calls us beloved.

You are loved, good, bad, or indifferent, warts and all.

Accepted or rejected?

It doesn’t matter.

Your past indiscretions?

It doesn’t matter.

God loves you anyways.

God loves you in spite of yourself.

God love you just the way you are.

2. Our God blesses us
by sending us his Spirit
to take up residence in our lives.

The Holy Spirit moves in.

You’ve got a divine roommate.

It takes intentional effort to learn to live with a divine partner.

It takes a thoughtful, disciplined life to lead a life that is Spirt filled.

3. Our God cares for you.

What you do.

Who you are.

How you live. 

God notices.

God cares.

God cares and always desires your wellbeing,

Always.

Everywhere.

Without exception.

What is to be our response, according to Peter?

1. Rejoice!

Be glad for what God has done

And what God is doing for you.

Break out the sunshine.

Bring the joy of the Lord

To every room you enter,

To everyone you meet.

As you depart every room

Leave everyone with the aspiration that

“I want what he/she has.”

2. Be humble!

In due time, you will exalt,

You will crow like a pre-dawn rooster,

You will proclaim the glory of the Lord

Far and wide

To all who will listen.

Humility implies submission;

Submission to our higher power,

A willingness to place God’s will before our own.

3. Be calm.

Cast away anxiety.

Turn your life over completely to the care of God.

Calm awaits the faithful

Who are able to place trust completely

in God’s will, direction, and power.

Surrender entirely to the will of God.

Abandon completely

my will for Thy will.

4. Be disciplined.

Set a spiritual routine and stick to it.

Pray. Meditate. Listen. Learn.

Watch and listen for the essential truth of God

to speak to you through the reading of scripture.

Worship.

Service work. Mission work.

Love. God and neighbor.

A disciplined life is a predictable, routine life.

The good thing about a rut is when you’re in it you know where you are going.

Get in the rut of a disciplined life.

What are the dangers we face?

1. Keep alert because the devil is like a ravenous, roaring lion.

Hungry,

Ready to gorge and devour

The moment our attention wanes.

Hungry is the destroyer,

Who’s appetite can never be satisfied.

To roar is to intimidate, to communicate, to initiate.

Stand firm.

Denounce evil and speak truth without exception.

Parry the thrusts of evil slings and arrows

Remaining confident in the strength of the Lord,

And the strength the Lord has already given you.

2. Check evil with good.

Destroy darkness with light.

God wins, all the time.

Know it.

Live it.

Roaring is a call for reinforcements,

An acknowledgement of inadequacy.

When the devil roars in your life,

Consider it a pitiful cry for help,

Not an effort to induce terror.

Roaring is the herald that initiates kinetic warfare between evil and good.

Claws come out.

The lion makes ready the pounce,

Ready the assault.

The signs align to tip the hand,

That gives good the winning advantage.

The Godly read the signs and adjust accordingly.

3. Strengthen faith.

Train hard.

Learn, practice, repeat the spiritual disciplines,

The practice of the faithful.

Do not grow weary, but grow powerful.

Build and win the heart and mind of our neighbors.

Build and win the heart and mind of our creator, redeemer, savior.

4. Resist.

Resist evil, as if your life depends on it.

Because it does.  

Resist evil, as was promised at your baptismal waters.

Resist the fear of the devil’s roar.

The devil’s roar is

As shallow as a discounted grave,

As phony as a circus sideshow or a politician’s promise,

As powerful as a snail being salted.

…

The promise, Peter emphasizes,

Is in a post-suffering world:

That Christ himself will

Restore you,

Support you,

Strengthen you, and

Establish you.

The tears left on your pillow this morning,

Due to the fiery ordeal of pain, grief, and suffering

Are replaced by God’s grace,

God’s gift

Of the Holy Spirit,

Of God’s love,

Of God’s promise.

Beloved,

Claim this gift for your own

And know the joy of the Lord,

Now and evermore.

Thank you, Lord,

For the gift of the Apostle Peter,

His words and encouragement these Sundays in Easter.

May his correspondence with the first century Church

Remain an inspiration to us today.

Amen.

1 Peter 3:13-22

May 14, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.

And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

| Centering Prayer |

“Better to suffer

for doing good,” the Apostle Peter

Teaches his peeps.

Most of us know firsthand suffering for being bad.

My father taught me suffering for bad behavior

In the pre- anti corporal punishment days. 

Um. Yeah. His belt was useful

for more than

keeping his pants up.

(Dad’s; don’t. Just don’t.

Not unless you want to go back to

Living without indoor plumbing, or

Listening to RCA radio hour Sunday evenings.

Learn and practice

better alternatives

to corporal punishment.)

Be better.

“Better to suffer for doing good,” the Apostle Peter teaches.

This is a

Lesson that stands the test of time.

An Irondequoit Town judge taught me to suffer a $250 fine

For speeding on the Bay Bridge a number of years ago.

At least

the district attorney appeared sympathetic

To my pitiful, less-than-fully-forthcoming defense

citing the newness of my new

Subaru’s adaptive cruise control.

The judge; not so much.

I’m confident my insurance company never got the memo, either.

“Go easy on Todd,” I was willing the judge with all my telepathic powers.

“He is an honest guy. Really, he is,” I thought, while forcing a smile.

“He is a preacher. You know, trying to make the world better.”

“He doesn’t have money for a big fine.”

“He’s not like those people, over there.”

“Please, Lord. Let me off with a warning and I’ll never speed again.”

Lying to myself and to my God

Becomes quick the habit and

The downfall of humankind.

“Suck it up and own it, Todd,” my better conscience appealed.

Deep within

is a tendency to

Make every effort to wiggle out from responsibility,

Imagine unsurmountable difficulties,

A reluctance to face my own flaws with absolute honesty,

And an unwillingness to seek God’s strength, guidance, and assistance …

Until no other avenue is left available.

When no other options are on the table

Then, and only then, do I plead as a last resort,

“Lord, Jesus Christ,

Son of God,

Have mercy on me,

A sinner.”

(See Jesus Prayer, or The Prayer, at Wikipedia dot com)

“Better to suffer for doing good,” Peter teaches,

“than to be caught lying like a dirt bag,” I would add,

“because of the

shame

that dishonesty brings

To Jesus,

Our faith, and

Our call.”

The short of Peter’s message is

“do good!”

This is Peter’s answer to the question posed by many

Former Jewish,

Newly minted Christians,

Deployed to modern day Turkey in the first hundred years following the ascension of Jesus,

With a mission to witness to his resurrection

And an invitation to become his disciples.

Jesus.

Witness.

Invite.

“How are we to live?”

Step One: do good.

To do

Is to be active,

Not passive.

Take the initiative.

Don’t wait for others to step up, speak up, or act out.

Lead the way or get out of the way.

And, for goodness sake,

Don’t criticize people who do

Good.

With Jesus

It is active faith

Or, it is dead.

It is a relationship with Jesus

Or, it isn’t.

It is bearing fruit

Or, it is being pruned, cut, cast out, and burned with unquenchable fire.

Do,

Don’t just be,

Hoping to slide in under the radar of God’s judgment.

Failure to do good

Is just as bad as doing wrong, Peter implies.

Sitting on a fold-out picnic chair,

popping an umbrella, and

pouring yourself a beverage

For a front row seat to watch the world burn

Is not where any disciple of Jesus

Wants to be found.

Refuse to fail.

Resolve to fight for Christ,

Not with arms,

But with grace and love.

Fight for Christ until the bitter end;

Either the consummation of time

– Thy kingdom come, on earth as it in heaven –

Or, until Jesus returns in glory,

Just as he promised.

Do good.

Peter outlines the necessary characteristics

For Christians to do good.

Doing good begins with: make Jesus Christ your Lord,

The Apostle Peter writes. (3:15)

Everything else in heaven and earth

Is subjugated to our allegiance and fidelity to Jesus.

Everything else wins second place,

Gets a nice ribbon for runner up,

Becomes eligible for a participation award,

And a second to last page photograph in the

Mendon Honeoye Falls Lima Sentinel.

Christ alone

do we sanctify

as Lord and Savior.

Do good.

Do

this awesome, divine goodness

Without fear or intimidation (3:14)

With transparency and a willingness for audit (3:15)

With gentleness and reverence, and

With a clear conscience. (3:16)

The suffering we face doing good

Is the same suffering Christ experienced in dying

For the sole and solitary purpose

Of bringing you and me to God. (3:18)

That whole Noah and the ark story?

Yeah, it saved eight persons.

Whoop-de-(frikken)-do.

(No, I’m not going to say that from the pulpit)

You can almost imagine Peter counting the survivors of Noah and the flood on his fingers.

At best, Noah and the ark

Amounted to triple A ball,

With a complementary rainbow desert.

Jesus, however, is a completely different story, a horse of a different color.

God ascends to the top of the major leagues.

He suffers, dies, and is resurrected from the dead

For all humankind,

To bring every individual to God,

To forgive, wash clean,

And to save, eternal life

To all who will claim it.

Jesus,

Redemption and salvation,

Is dressed in pinstripes,

In 7^th game of the world series,

Bottom of the nineth inning,

Two outs,

Game tied,

Kind of at-bat. 

Jesus was, and is,

The pivoting chapter in salvation history

When God stepped into the batter’s box

And made a Louisville Slugger statement for the ages.

Do the right thing,

Regardless of outcome or consequences.

When we do the right thing,

Always and everywhere,

We are freed from the suffocating house of cards

Known as dishonesty, lies, and bald-faced lies,

Expending unnecessary energy to maintain the untenable,

To keep every plate spinning,

In spite of the knowledge that

Eventually every plate falls.

Every lie shatters.

Every house of cards comes tumbling down

Under its own weight.

Do the right thing,

Regardless of outcome.

Be blessed,

Or be cursed.

Rest secure in knowing

You’ve done your best

To do the right thing.

Then, gather up

all your will, and

leave the rest up to God.

Amen.

1 Peter 2:2-10

May 7, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

1 Peter 2:2-10

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

| Centering Prayer |

This command has always been

personally spiritually inspiring:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Taste.

See.

Two of the vital five senses

Are requested to enter the realm of divine discernment.

I can get a sense of seeing that the Lord is good.

It comes from an observation of God’s encounters with humankind.

Every serious evaluation

Demands a personal commitment

To a process,

Gathering information and data,

study and analysis,

Before any consideration about the goodness of the Lord can be made.

Given a lifetime of both academic and devotional study of the scriptures,

I am able to see with my own eyes

The trajectory of God’s goodness

Over salvation history.

God’s goodness is always increasing,

Never ending,

An essential characteristic of grace.

But taste?

How does one taste the Lord?

As Peter implies.

Today,

Peter writes to spiritual infants,

Newly minted Christ followers,

Crucifixion proclaimers,

Resurrection witnesses,

Gob-smacked observers

of an ascending, flying Jesus up into the clouds above.

“Holy cow, Johnny! Did you see that up there?”

“Jesus just went up way in the middle of the air.”

“Yeah, I know,” Billy, “I saw it, too.”

“And he told us he’s going to return,

So we’d better be ready.”

“We gotta go tell the world!”

…

Spiritual development is similar to personality development.

As an infant changes into toddler,

Then from toddler to child,

From child to teen,

Teen to young, middle, and older adulthood,

From adulthood to senior,

And senior to elderly;

The brain changes.

New synaptic connections are woven into a network

That becomes increasingly capable of

understanding, communicating, discerning.

Life experiences … teach.

Education … expands a person’s world view.

Travel … transforms the way we view and think about the world.

Experience … informs how complex, delicate, and necessary relationships are to maintain health and wellbeing.

Linguistic competence … opens our aperture of understanding.

In a similar way is the spiritual.

Invitation becomes acceptance.

Bible study, Christian education, and preaching creates a familiarity with scripture.

Service follows example, leads by example, becomes the foundation for humility.

Mission becomes the hands and heart of Jesus,

loving God and loving our neighbors in need.

Evangelism is the release of contagious enthusiasm for Jesus,

Living by his example,

Making the invitation for others to claim

what we have already been given

which is free for the taking.

Spiritual development takes time.

It cannot, will not be rushed.

There is no easy way around it,

No shortcuts,

No privilege or legacy.

It may lag,

But only surges

By the Spirit’s will.

Refreshing is the Christian

Who eagerly seeks

To fulfill completely

God’s present expectations

And anticipates with whetted appetite for

tomorrow’s spiritual growth.

…

The only means of communication for an infant

Is to cry out.

Whaaaa!

Interruption isn’t distraction.

Interruption is the point!

The intensity, volume, and frequency gives a sense of need.

Complete dependence makes for

A needy, crying baby.

So, too, with the new Christian.

When the cry is the only tool in the toolbox,

Often is it used.

To gain attention.

To be cleaned.

To be fed.

To be warmed.

To be loved.

To be saved.

‘Cry to the heavenly Father,’

Peter encourages new Christians,

Deployed to foreign lands,

Facing the stiff winds of resistance, persecution, and martyrdom.

Cry with longing

to be spiritually fed,

To be nourished for a lifelong journey

That results into the divine gift of transformative grace;

Sins washed clean,

Mortality replaced with immortality,

Death, crying, mourning, and pain no more,

Drinking from the life giving

fountain of the water of life. 

…

“Come” Peter invites,

At the same time promoting the invitation.

“Come to him,” the subject,

Not identified, yet known.

“Come to Jesus, a living stone,” Peter casts a new metaphor.

The good shepherd,

The gate,

The vine,

The way, truth, and life

Is fleshed out in greater detail

With the image of a living stone.

A living stone.

“What are we to believe?” the new apostles stammered.

Believe Jesus, Peter writes.

Believe Jesus,

Precious, yet solid;

Rejected, yet the head, the top, the one in charge;

Light, who calls us out of darkness;

Mercy, an island in an unmerciful world.

Stones; inert, inanimate, lifeless,

Whose value is apparently limited to building materials;

Footers, foundations, and the like.

Stones; the balance of gravitational and vector forces.

Stones; bigger is better,

Chemically bonded rigidness,

an unmoving, unshakeable, indestructible foundation.

Jesus;

Life.

Breath.

Unshakable.

Eternal.

Jesus, the elemental first stone to be laid,

Upon which all other stones find stability and strength.

Jesus, a living cornerstone,

Upon which

We can build our spiritual house,

Develop holiness,

A fidelity to God,

Scripture, and truth.

Upon Christ we can build

A faithful life,

Chosen as God’s own royalty.

Christ, our cornerstone

Is a firm foundation to launch us

On a mission to the world

to proclaim Christ,

an invitation,

persuasion and attraction,

both-and,

to believe Christ:

Crucified, resurrected, ascended to heaven, and vowed to return.

Christ.

Cornerstone.

Proclaimed.

Invited and accepted.

Belief.

…

Pride and shame

Is so baked into our neurons,

Hardwired to involuntary respond when threatened.

“Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Peter promises.

What others think

means nothing

to the faithful.

The only concern is

what God thinks of you, of me.

Do we pass muster when it comes to God’s judgment?

“You will not be put to shame.”

Temptation and failure

Is as old as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel.

“Lead us not into temptation,” Jesus teaches us to pray,

Jesus teaches his disciples to petition our heavenly Father.

No intermediary.

Go straight to the top.

Take Jesus with you.

Christ, always by our side,

Leads us away from the risk of stumbling, failure, or fall.
It is my own stubborn free-will

That objects to Christ’s directives,

The Spirit’s gentle nudge.

Christ is no trip hazard.

Jesus is our strong foundation,

Upon which

The Church is built,

One disciple.

One disciple at a time.

Beginning with you.

…

What are we to believe?

Peter delivers in spades.

Believe the fact that …

You are a work in progress.

Your spiritual life has grown, but be humble.

You still have a long way to grow.

Be patient.

Believe the fact that …

Christ is your cornerstone.

Build your spiritual house on him.

Be persistent.

Believe the fact that …

Accountability begins and ends with God.

Stand firm.

Make no apologies.

Believe the fact that …

Life in Christ is a life absent of fear.

Stand tall.

Place your confidence in Christ.

In Christ

We are chosen.

In Christ

We live in his light.

In Christ

We are immersed in an ocean of mercy.

Amen.

1 Peter 2:19-25

April 30, 2023

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

1 Peter 2:19-25

For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval.

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

| Prayer |

“What are we to believe?” and

“How are we to live?” are

Two questions addressed last Sunday

That naturally surface in Peter’s first letter

Addressed and delivered to the small, immigrant communities of transplanted Christians

Newly relocated from Jerusalem to Turkey.

Our God,

Heavenly Creator,

Father, both our Father and the Father of Jesus,

Has a plan for us,

To liberate us from death and

To impartially pass judgment on us and our behavior.

Have we lived in reverent fear of our loving God?

Have we turned from the futile ways of our ancestors and

embraced Jesus, his blood, his salvation?

Have we placed our trust

wholly and completely in God?

Living obedient to God’s truth?

These are the criteria by which

Our loving, heavenly Father will hold us accountable.

…

Today, Peter addresses the issue of

Enduring pain as a result of unjust suffering.

It is one thing to suffer justly,

To serve a deserved sentence,

To pay the penalty for a convicted sin,

But it is another thing to suffer unjustly.

If punished for doing wrong, what credit is that? Peter asks.

But if you endure punishment for doing right,

You have God’s approval. (2:20)

It is important to state unequivocally:

Peter is not granting permission to harm your spouse or others,

As has been inappropriately interpreted and taught.

The old line “Jesus took it, and so should you,”

Is justification for evil that Peter never envisioned,

And diverts the focus from his true intention.

I asked my wife, Cynthia, this past Monday about suffering,

And she told me I had better start with a definition.

Merriam-Webster defines suffering as “the conscious endurance of pain or distress.” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/suffering)

Suffering can be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual.

Suffering is common to the human condition,

No one is exempt,

All have or will at some point in life

Experience the pain of suffering.

Life is mortal.

To live is to suffer.

To die is to suffer.

…

She had led a good life.

90 plus years.

Raised a family.

Farmed the land.

She was an expert quilter and teacher of quilting.

She was a spiritual leader among many.

She was admired by all.

Her balance disturbed,

She fell backwards,

Her head impacting the cement stairs that led to her kitchen door.

Light faded to black.

Consciousness ran thin,

Then was totally drained.  

There she laid for time unknown.

A long day,

long ago,

I sat by her side,

Held her hand as the doctor nodded his consent.

“Will I die today,” she wrote on paper with a pencil,

Her endotracheal tube prevented her from speaking.

“Yes,” I replied.

The ventilator was turned off and the tube was removed.

“Will I suffer?” she wrote.

“No,” I said, as I shook my head and we cried.

Debate the validity or purpose of suffering.

Truth is, a sheep of my flock

suffered and died.

What was the point? I asked.

Why did she suffer and die?

…

For the first century, newly minted Christians

Attempting to evangelize the population of Turkey,

Suffering took the form of

Treatment as immigrants, migrants, and slaves,

Rejection of their message and mission, and

Martyrdom, even, for their efforts.

They wanted to know if there was a point to their suffering.

Was there a reason for their mistreatment?

For the injustice they endured?

Was preaching Christ crucified and risen from the dead

Worth the pain, suffering, and cruelty they were enduring?

Peter writes

“If you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” (2:20-21)

Called.

Live by Christ’s example.

Do right.

Suffer, yet endure.

Whether suffering from a broken arm, a broken mind, or a broken heart

To suffer is to be on the receiving end of God’s call for your life.

To suffer is to be divinely called.

“Whom shall I send?” the prophet Isaiah asked.

“Send me.”

To suffer is to be called to

Share with God

Your anger, your pain, your trials and temptations.

Share with God

Your lament, your regrets, your repentance.

Opening to God

The pain of heart and soul

Is to be drawn into God’s embrace and love.

To suffer is to answer God’s call.

…

Following in the footsteps of Jesus

Means suffering.

Christ suffered,

And so will you.

Living by his example

Means dying on a cross,

The culmination of denial, betrayal, pain, and suffering.

Suffering is the purest form of authenticity.

Yet, this is what we so desperately want to hide.

We want others to think

We have the perfect life,

We have it all together,

We have no problems,

We mask our pain,

We cover our sin.

The result, Rick Warren, observes,

“Is that we are labeled hypocrites and phonies.

Everyone already knows

we don’t have it all together.”

… “We think people are impressed by our prosperity.

But actually, they’re more impressed

with how we handle adversity.

It’s not our success

but how we handle suffering

that gives our witness credibility.”

(Plough, Pain & Passion, Spring 2023, pg.82)

The greatest witness of God’s love was the crucifixion of Jesus.

Your greatest witness of God’s love is the suffering you endure.

It’s one thing to tell others how you were saved.

It’s quite another thing …

It’s much more powerful

to share how you endured.

Suffering advanced Parkinson’s disease,

Pope John Paul II found it important

To liken his suffering to that of Jesus on the cross,

To bear witness to Christ

And God’s amazing love for humankind.

Nearly twenty years later,

I have not forgotten

His witness.

…

Common as life,

As birth,

As baptism,

Our common suffering is an invitation for fellowship

To reach out, invite in, and engage the world in Christian ministry.

If I suffer from depression or addiction,

So much better can I empathize with those

In the throes of similar suffering.

If I endure severe anxiety and panic due to trauma or abuse,

So much better can I relate with those

Fighting such demons.

If my marriage ended in divorce, or struggled and survived,

So much better can I relate with those

Struggling to save their own marriage.

If the pain of death and grief encompass my life

So much better can I

Show up and

Share in another’s anguish.

Personal pain, if allowed and carefully shared

Can increase sensitivity and deepen empathy with others

Allowing for a common connection

That leads to acceptance, inclusion, and healing.

Jesus lived life on life’s terms.

He experienced loneliness, misunderstanding, rejection, and withering criticism.

Hebrews reads

 “Even though Jesus was God’s son,

He learned obedience from the things he suffered.”

“Suffering made Jesus perfect.” (5:8-9)

So, too, do we learn obedience the same way.

So, too, can we expect to be perfected by our suffering.

Every actual occurrence of suffering

is an opportunity for us to grow more Christlike

To draw us closer to God.

We are more alive,

More concerned,

More sensitive,

More reverent,

More human,

More passionate,

More responsible,

More pure of heart.

(ibid. pg. 80)

Using pain to help others

Is the heart of redemption.

It may not be a ministry or calling to which is aspired,

But it is a pain that becomes an opportunity to be embraced,

Less the pain be wasted and lost.

…

There is so much more

To explore on the topic of suffering.

This letter from Peter, Paul’s letter to Rome, and James

Speak of the endurance that suffering builds,

As if capacity is a grand and noble thing.

Suffering as the divine consequence of God’s gift of free will

Can be debated in seminary classrooms,

In parish pews, and

Among family and friends around a campfire all evening long,

But to what end?

I think of my friend Ray,

A few years older than me,

Developmentally disabled,

Raised in the NYS institutional system,

Now aging and infirmed,

Sent to rehabilitate miles away from family, friends, church supports.

It feels like everyone but Ray knows this is how it ends.

And his suffering is for what?  

Yes.

I am bitter.

I find comfort in the fourth chapter of Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth.

He writes,

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.”

“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”

(4:8-11, 16-18)

Amen.

1 Peter 1:17-23

April 23, 2023 – Third Sunday of Easter

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

1 Peter 1:17-23 (NRSV)

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 

He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 

You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

| Prayer |

Beloved,

Last Sunday I began an

Easter sermon series from the New Testament Book of

1 Peter.

Has anyone taken the opportunity this past week

To read 1 Peter through, start to finish,

As I suggested?

Like my physical therapist says,

“You gotta put in the work if you are going to see results.”

The pastor / preacher can only take you so far.

How hard are you willing to work for your faith?

….

In the first years after

The passion, death, resurrection, and ascension

Of Jesus Christ,

Thousands of eyewitnesses fanned out to the four corners of the known world.

Some traveled overland routes East

To Asia, south Asia, and India.

Others traveled South

To Egypt, Ethiopia, and throughout Africa.

Due to Roman Empire trade routes

Many eyewitnesses of

Christ’s resurrection and ascension were dispersed

West throughout the Mediterranean basin;

To Spain, Italy, the North coast of Africa, Greece, and Turkey.

First Peter is a short, five-chapter letter,

the first of two,

Attributed to the Apostle Peter

Addressed to five small communities of former Jews.

These were newly minted and baptized Christians,

Doing as they were instructed,

Taking the Gospel to the world.

Yet, they often found themselves received as

Strangers in a strange land.

The locals were not very receptive of the “good news” they delivered.

Not only were these new Christians

strangers in a strange land

The “good news” they shared

Was still “new news” to them.

They may have witnessed the resurrection and ascension of Jesus

But they had not had sufficient time to reflect upon its meaning.

The successful completion of any mission

is much more difficult

If you don’t fully understand

why you are doing what you are asked to do.

With letter in hand,

Silvanus, a brother in Christ with Peter (5:12)

Delivers this letter to Christian exiles

In modern-day Turkey,

The regions of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Members of these new faith communities were doing their best

To hope in a world that was not their own.

They worked to adapt their former Jewish beliefs

– Abraham and God’s covenant –

– Moses and God’s Law –

Into a new, Jesus-centric faith,

Based on love as expressed through

– God’s grace and forgiveness of sins –

– God’s gift of salvation –

All the while, attempting to fulfill Christ’s Great Commandment

As recorded in Matthew (28:19-20),

“Go therefore and

make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, 

and teaching them to obey

everything that I have commanded you.

And remember,

I am with you always,

to the end of the age.”

For many,

The door was shut before they could introduce themselves.

For some,

raising the topic of religion, faith,

Let alone Jesus raised from the dead,

Was a treasonous act

In defiance of the divine emperor,

That could,

and did,

lead to a martyr’s execution.

The four questions …

“What are we to believe?”

“How are we to live?”

“Why are we being persecuted and allowed to suffer?”

“What does the future hold for us?”

… Are essential questions

to understand the concerns of the early Church

To whom Peter is writing.

These are the same questions

I hear being asked by you,

The members and friends of the Rush United Methodist Church.

Thus, our deep dive into First Peter.

The first two questions,

“What are we to believe” and

“How are we to live?”

Are addressed today.

(Recognition and thanks is given to Rev. Richard Carlson, Pastor First Lutheran Church, Kearney, Nebraska, for his commentary on this lectionary text, as found at working preacher dot com)

….

1. “What are we to believe?”

a. God is our heavenly Father;

The Creator of all things,

The Alpha and Omega,

Who is all powerful,

All knowing,

Always present,

And always approachable.

Call upon God in prayer.

God is present and ready to listen.

Speak plain language.

Be forthright in your requests, confessions, and thanks.

Listen, with the expectation that God

Answers every prayer.

b. God is the Father of Jesus Christ.

Jesus and humanity share a common heavenly Father.

We also share a common Baptism.

Baptism is a claim made

by the Father

upon our life,

That should never be ignored,

That should be faithfully accepted,

That is, and will remain, eternal.

c. God created Jesus as a part of a divine plan.

God’s plan

Destined Jesus

To ransom us from both

The futile ways inherited from our ancestors, and,

from the agnostic, atheist, non-believing world in which we live.

The Greek word for ransom is “lytroō”

Which could well be “liberated”

because this verb is used regularly

(in the Septuagint)

to depict God’s act of liberating Israel

from both its bondage in Egypt

(Exodus 6:6; 15:13; Deuteronomy 7:8; 9:26; 15:15; 21:8) and

its exile in Babylon

(Isaiah 44:22-23; 45:13; 51:11; 52:3).

d. Peter observes

Divine liberation is

accomplished through Christ’s death.

The redemptive, liberating nature of Christ’s death

Breaks the former historical cycle of prosperity, sin, redemption, and restoration.

No more slavery or exile.

God moved on.

By God’s grace and the blood of Christ,

That is, his death on the cross,

We are liberated and saved

from the temptations and sins of the world.  

e. God, our heavenly Father, is our judge.

He is an impartial judge of our deeds.

No side is taken.

Influence cannot be bought.

A fair, unbiased, fully transparent judge of our deeds.

No consideration is made for the consequences of our final outcome.

Many would deny God the status of judge, jury, and executioner.

Do not be naive or easily fooled.

God created us, such that,

It is entirely by God’s designs that

God is the judge of our deeds.

….

2. “How are we to live?”

a. We are to live in “reverent fear”

of our impartial judge and heavenly Father. (1:17)

Reverent fear can better be understood as

awe and reverence.

Posture yourself in the awe of God.

Address God with reverence,

Worthy of the Creator, the author of life,

The Father of the Savior, the Redeemer,

The giver of the Holy Spirit, our guide, strength, and guardian.

Reverently fear God.

Be in awe.

Bow in respect.

b. To live is to learn;

and to learn is to grow.

Ignorance is no excuse.

Know this, Peter proclaims:

the immortal, precious blood of Christ

Has ransomed us

From the futile ways inherited from your ancestors. (1:18)

Jesus paid the price for our liberation.

Jesus breaks the cycle that ensured repeat offenses,

(as demonstrated in Egypt and Babylon),

Granting to all who will claim it,

Healing and eternal salvation.

c. To live is to learn;

to learn to place our complete “trust in God,

who raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory,

so that your faith and hope are set on God.” (1:21)

Trust between two individuals is hard

To create

To build

To grow

To become comfortable and contented.

It begins fragile and is easily destroyed.

Trusting in God

Requires more on our part

Because the reciprocal is less obvious or appreciated.

Trusting God

Becomes easier with a growing awareness

Of God’s enormous love

Of God’s amazing grace.

Trusting God

Deepens our faith in God’s next response,

Develops our hope for the next moment in our existence,

Builds confidence to live beyond the self,

To live as God’s servant hands and heart,

Meeting the needs of the world,

Expanding God’s kingdom.

d. Live obedient to the truth,

Peter implores.

He writes,

“You have purified your souls by your

obedience to the truth

so that you have genuine mutual love,

love one another deeply from the heart.” (1:22)

Stick to that which is true, pure, simple, and holy.

That keeps the soul pure.

That keeps the community of faith

In genuine,

Mutual

Love.

Straying from the Truth

Is the way of fools,

Soils the reputation,

Brings destruction if not corrected.

Truth and love

Are two sides of the same coin,

Between one another, and

In our relationship with God.

….

Today, Peter answers the questions,

“What are we to believe?” and

“How are we to live?”

Looking ahead

First Peter will address

The final two questions:

“Why are we being persecuted and allowed to suffer?”

“What does the future hold for us?”

Oh. Yes.

Do your homework.

Read ahead.

Reflect on what you’ve read.

Pray God to reveal to you God’s will.

Ask for the strength to be faithful.

And get to work.

Amen.