Springwood Presbyterian Church Sermons
Web Site: Springwood Presbyterian Church
Total Sermons: 16
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Disregard the Evidence
Do we see the beauty, mystery, and mercy with which God surrounds us—or only the problems in our lives? A folk proverb says, “90% of what a person sees lies behind the eyes.” It’s hard to see the big picture when our immediate problems consume us. And, even if we can’t change things, we want to understand them. Why do the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer? Why does a young mother get cancer? Why are people starving in some parts of the world, while others of us suffer the effects of overeating? Are some more deserving of life than others? Why? Why?
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Gather to Me My Saints, My Faithful Ones
Someone has commented that for Catholics a saint is someone who has performed 7 verifiable miracles--but for Presbyterians, a saint is someone who’s brief! Researchers James Patterson and Peter Kim learned that 70% of Americans believed that America has no living heroes. About the same number say that our children have no meaningful role models. Ninety-six% say that they, and nobody else, determine what is and what isn’t moral in their lives; instead, they base their decisions on their own experience—even on their daily whims. Those numbers baffle me, since they must include a lot of folks who call themselves Christians! We Christians need good role models for our children - and for ourselves. It’s time we reclaim the notion of sainthood—drag it out from the bottom of the box up in the attic—dust it off—and make it part of our lives. Saints aren’t folks who’ve been dead hundreds of years, and sainthood didn’t go out with the Protestant Reformation. Sainthood, like faith, is contagious. We catch it from those around us. You demonstrate your faith-in-action as God’s own when you make an offering, when you write a note of sympathy or congratulations, when you call to encourage someone, when you teach Sunday School or serve on a committee, when you make a dish for a bereavement meal. You also become a model of faith when you present a cheerful face to your family or co-workers, when you practice patience with people who irritate you (even if they live in the same house with you), when you observe someone in trouble and offer compassion rather than judgment, when you face adversity with the trust that God will help you through it.
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Ebenezer
As we continue to pray and to study God’s word, becoming more and more attuned to God’s will, we will be more and more re-shaped, re-formed into the image of God in which we were made. If we want to see the new creation God promises, let us begin with ourselves. As we are reformed, so will be our institutions. Think about this: healthy things grow. Growing things change. Change challenges us. Challenges cause us to trust God. Trust leads to obedience. Obedience makes us healthy. And healthy things grow.
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‘Tis the Gift, To Be Free
Like nuclear power, money can do much good, if we handle it well. Unfortunately, most of us don’t. We get contaminated by its power; and we contaminate others by using it carelessly—wanting it too desperately—manipulating people with it—believing in it too fiercely—defending it too strongly. His first disciples were not wealthy—yet they gave up nets, boats, family to follow him--not because it was a requirement for following Jesus, but because it was a consequence. He called—they followed—and stuff got left behind. The stuff wasn’t bad--it was just in the way. So, what holds you back? What things, what ideology, what hatred, what passion, what love? What is so dear to you—in what do you trust so strongly that you can’t follow Christ with your whole heart? If Jesus stood here today and asked you to give up that thing, could you do it—or would you be shocked, and go away grieving?
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Welcoming Jesus
God calls each of us to nurture and protect those God entrusts to our care for as long as they are in our care—and even those we never meet, such as the abandoned children of Haiti or the war victims about whom Nuhad Tomeh told us Thursday when he visited us. God fills each of us with talents and skills for welcoming those who need us. We can wipe a tear--bandage a scraped knee--comfort a scraped heart--tutor a struggling student—encourage a struggling adult--hold a hand—offer a hand-up--give a smile--pray for God’s children everywhere. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.
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Praying Twice
From time to time, when it’s a slow news day, one of the TV stations may interview people trying to get tickets for some popular concert at the Greensboro coliseum. Not long ago, with people camping out for several nights to get good seats for some concert, a woman who was being interviewed burbled that she was glad to spend two nights on the ground to be first in line for tickets. It made me wonder: has anyone ever camped out on a Friday night … to be sure to get good seats at church on a Sunday morning? Why?.......
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A Happy Life
Our rootedness begins with our awareness of God’s presence in our lives and then a habit of prayer: talking to God and listening for God. Prayer opens us to God’s will and enables a closer relationship with our Lord. Whether we are praying for ourselves or others--praying aloud or in silence--praying in church with the congregation or alone in the car, prayer is our affirmation that God is part of our lives. It’s our “yes!” to God’s presence. By bringing our lives into alignment with God’s will, prayer waters our spirits and makes them fertile ground for the seeds of God’s word in scripture. Corporate worship is another way we sink our roots deep into God. Although we can worship God anywhere, anytime, all by ourselves, scripture teaches us that God does not call us individually, but as a part of the whole. Together as a church, we are Christ’s body in the world.
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Wanted: Firefighters
Did your mother or grandmother ever say to you, “Use the common sense God gave you!”? That’s an aspect of wisdom. We come to be wise by paying attention to people wiser than we—learning from our experiences, and listening to God in scripture and in our innate common sense. Wisdom is the path we take to live in harmony with God’s will for the world. Wisdom literature in scripture takes note of God’s plan for the world and the order that God’s way of living establishes. It affirms that a wise person discerns that order and then lives accordingly. Most of the biblical wisdom literature is in the Old Testament: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Daniel, some of the Psalms. James is the primary example in the New Testament. The apostle James warns us that we can do great harm by what we say and how we say it. Let us confess our sin as we pray together: Jesus, who came to call sinners to repentance, forgives our sins and directs us on a new path of faithfulness. Let us give thanks to God for this mercy!
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Who Gets the "Leftovers"?
Jesus reaches out, beyond the nation of Jews, beyond the religious, beyond the law-abiding, beyond the proper, and preaches love your neighbor as yourself. He extends “loving neighbor” to include love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt. 5:44)—to include tax collectors and even the despised Samaritans—to include us, no matter our sins or our failings. No one is a leftover in God’s eyes. Everyone is loved. Everyone is special. We’re all chosen people. Jesus carries forward the promise God made again and again: to take care of the needy, no matter who they are or what their need is, for all are children of God, and Jesus does love all of us. Jesus' humanity gives us hope that our own humanity can rise to the level of his—that we can learn God’s will and grow in understanding and in the ability to surrender to God’s will—that what we are today is only a beginning for what we can become. In these ways, God’s realm will keep expanding, through us, just as God’s mercy keeps extending out and out and out, so that none are left out or left-over, except those who choose not to come in. “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy” for us all. Thanks be to God!
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