Sunday Pastoral Prayer (Oct. 27) Athens First UMC

[The photo above was taken during the memorial service for Dr. Sam Henderson which was held on October 26 at the OU Inn. This is one of Sam’s children offering the eulogy. Sam was a faithful and long-time member of Athens First UMC. He was a wonderful example of someone who loved and served his church by offering his gifts. It is fitting that the sermon the following day for Sunday worship was on the topic of serving. Next Sunday, Sam’s name will be read along with other members of our church who have passed away over this past year as we observe All Saints’ Sunday.]

Holy God, our prayer today is so simple but powerful. Move us, move us to do thy will.

 

Move us to pray without ceasing. Move us to read your Word often. Move us to worship you every Sunday morning. Move us to share our faith with others throughout the week. Move us to be generous givers in support of Christ and his church. Move us to serve you with our hands and our hearts. Move us to do thy will, O God.

 

Thank you for these past seven weeks of our Faith Builders series, where we have been given the opportunity to reflect on our commitments for each of these vital areas of our faith. Thank you for how the church helps us to live out our commitments and for giving us each other where we can build up our faith and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world. Thank you for giving us a church where there are so many exciting things happening that we don’t have enough volunteers to keep pace. Thank you for that good problem. Thank you for constantly stretching us to be the church you are calling us to be.

 

On this Reformation Sunday, move us to always be reforming in what it means to be your people. Thank you for reforming us especially when we get too set in our ways. Thank you for not just saving us, but also enlisting us to do your will. Thank you for giving each one of us a job to do in offering our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness in the building up of your kingdom here on earth.

 

Move us to do thy will, O God. Move us from the pew to our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces in sharing your love with others. Move us from complacency to commitment. Move us into the abundant life that you have in mind for us. 

 

Move us to do thy will even as we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to say together…

 

“Our Father, who art in heaven…”

Sermon (Oct. 27) by Rev. Robert McDowell

 

    During a work day at the church, a church member came up to me and with a smile on his face said, “Let me see your hands. I want to see some blisters.” 

     Blisters are a sign that we are getting some work done and that we’re doing something that we normally might not do. I don’t like blisters. They hurt. But over time, those blisters toughen up our skin allowing us to get more accomplished.

     I would imagine the disciples had really rough hands. I don’t even want to think about what they’re hands looked like compared to my soft hands. No comparison. 

    That’s what I like about the disciples. Many of them were tough fisherman who left everything to follow Jesus. Instead of pulling in nets full of fish every day, they were now using those same hands to offer God’s healing love to the people around them. I’m sure they continued to fish from time to time, but Jesus had taught them to use their hands to also build up God’s kingdom here on earth.

     Do me a favor and look at your hands. Does anyone have any blisters? If so, raise your hand so we can see them!

     Of course, I’m referring to blisters on our hands as a metaphor to emphasize the need for all of us to be involved in serving as Jesus’ followers. Maybe you have developed a few spiritual blisters as a result of serving Christ and his church. Hopefully, those blisters were only temporary and now that you have been serving over a period of time, those blisters have been replaced with an inner joy of knowing that you are making an eternal difference in people’s lives.

     In our I Corinthians scripture reading, the Apostle Paul tells us that the church is made up of many different people who have many different ways of serving. This is how God designed the church to function.

     Like parts of the body, each person has God given abilities that contribute to a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. And, like a human body, when one part suffers, the rest of the church body suffers with it and must devote its energies to making the body whole again.

     Vernal E. Simms served as the Senior Pastor of Morris Brown A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia. In the book, From One Brother to Another, he shares how he grew up in a rough Boston housing project called Columbia Point in a family of nine children. Although he was a hard working student, paying for college seemed impossible.

     But his mother used to say, “Pray, and the Lord will make a way somehow.” He remembered his mother’s advice and began to pray about being able to go to college. He also felt called by God to enter the pastoral ministry which would mean attaining a Master of Divinity degree as well. Stepping out in faith, this young man packed for college and went to orientation but he still didn’t have enough money to enroll. He was about to pack up and make the 100 mile trip back home.

     And then something amazing happened. An heir to a corporate fortune heard about his plight and paid for his college education. After he graduated, he went to his benefactor’s office to thank him for all he had done and asked him what he could to repay him.

     Imagine him saying to this multimillionaire, “What can I do to repay you?” And the man responded with, “Help somebody.”

     Vernal Simms went on to spend the next twenty years pastoring churches in the drug-ridden, crime-infested inner city as well as in well-manicured suburbs. He followed the advice of his benefactor by applying those two simple words, “help somebody.”

     Help somebody. This is what it means to be committed to Jesus Christ. Each one of us has been given at least one gift to use in ministry. We are all called to get some spiritual blisters for Jesus. 

     Our church is awesome at helping each of us to get some holy blisters through our discipleship strategy of having a loving faith, a learning faith, and a living faith. 

     Think of these three areas as a three legged stool to help each person in the church to fulfill our church’s mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of our community and world. 

     Let’s take a little time to look at each of these areas where we can be involved in serving:

     On the screen, you can see all of our Loving Faith ministries. A loving faith is what helps us to love God and one another.

     Loving Faith ministries include Sunday worship, Small Groups which meet to discuss the previous Sunday’s worship theme, Stephen Ministry which offers one to one peer support, Music Ministry, United Methodist Women, and our Prayer Ministry which meets every Tuesday morning to lift up the many prayer requests from the previous Sunday.

      Speaking of our Stephen Ministry, we have a couple of people who are interested in being trained to be Stephen Ministers, but we need a minimum of six people to offer the training. Let us know if you have an interest in this. Stephen Ministry is our one to one peer support ministry for people who are in need of a listening ear. 

     The next area in helping us to get some holy blisters our Learning Faith ministries. On the screen, you can see these. Learning Faith ministries help us to learn and grow in our understanding of God and our faith.

     Our Learning Faith ministries include Sunday School classes, Pastor’s bible studies, Children’s Ministries including our Growing Tree Pre-school, & Youth Ministries.

     We are excited about a change we have made with our children’s Sunday School which has now moved to the 10:30 service. The children’s moments during the 10:30 worship service provide the teaching theme for Sunday School that day and then the children go down to room 3 in our Lower Level to continue their Sunday School time and finish by 11:30. We don’t have children’s Sunday School on the first Sunday of each month when we celebrate Holy Communion because we want families to be together for the entire service on that Sunday.

     We have seen an increase in our children’s Sunday School attendance with this recent change in the schedule, but we are in need of more adult leaders. Our goal is to have three teams of children’s leaders with each team taking just one Sunday a month. We have a sign-up sheet in the back of the sanctuary if you feel called by God to serve on one of those teams.This is one of our more immediate needs which is why I’m singling out this particular ministry.

         Learning Faith ministries for all ages are such an important part of the healthy and vitality of our church.

     For the past several weeks, I have been thinking about key ministries in our church like our revamped children’s Sunday School that’s in need of more volunteers. Kathy Mangen and I along with our Sunday School teachers have been constantly brainstorming how we can encourage more people to serve.

     In my mind, it’s been a problem in need of a solution. But this past Friday morning during my prayer time, it hit me that it’s actually a good problem for our church to have. I’d rather be a pastor of a church that is trying to keep up with God, than be the pastor of a church that does just enough to get by.

     So we’re going to keep trying to catch up with what God wants to do in and through us. God is way ahead of us and we’ll need to step it up. I’m thankful for this good problem!

     So far, we’ve looked at our Loving Faith and our Learning Faith ministries.

     Now we turn to our Living Faith ministries which are the 3^rd part of the 3 legged stool to help us get holy blisters in serving through the church. On the screen, you can see our many Living Faith ministries:

     These include our monthly Athens First Saturday ministry that happens on the 1^st Saturday morning of each month here at our church and includes several mission projects to bless our community. One of the reasons we started Athens First Saturday was to make it as easy as possible to provide a consistent time for people of all ages in our congregation to actively live out their faith in practical ways.

     Monday Lunch is another great way to be part in having a Living Faith.

     Going on a mission trip like we do each year to Honduras is an opportunity to live out our faith.

     Our annual water bottle give away for college students during move-in week in August and our hot chocolate and water give away during OU’s October homecoming parade that goes by our church are other great hands on living faith ministry opportunities.

     Throughout the year, we ask for donations to support Pathways to a Healthy Pregnancy, the Athens County Food Pantry, our Christmas angel tree ministry to help families of those who have loved ones serving time in prison. 

     Our church is blessed to offer so many Living Faith ministries to help us bless our community and world.

     We have a ministry involvement form where you can let us know of which loving faith, learning faith, and living faith ministries you would like to serve. These include over fifty ministry possibilities. They are located in the literature rack located in our front Welcome Center space.

     For now, Jeff is going to play some music as we take a few moments to reflect on how God is calling each one of us to get some holy blisters by serving through our Loving Faith, our Learning Faith, and our Living Faith ministries of the church.

[PAUSE]

     I want to end with this thought about building up our faith through the six different areas that we have been looking at during our Fall Faith Builder’s series.

     Over these last six Sundays, we have focused on building up our faith through praying, reading, worshiping, sharing, giving, and serving. None of these areas will build up our faith without us making a personal commitment to make all of these areas a priority in our lives.

     It really comes down to that “C” word, “commitment” which was our focus we began this series seven weeks ago.

     Today is Reformation Sunday on the church calendar which is always observed on the last Sunday of October. This is the Sunday that we remember when back in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle church in Germany.

    This document was protesting several abuses in the church during his day. That action of posting this document sparked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. 

     Knowing that he would be labeled as a heretic for doing this, Martin Luther’s commitment to reform led to needed reforms in the church of his day.

     Today, we are invited to make a commitment in the reformation of our own faith. We are invited to in a sense, post our own commitments on the door of our hearts as we offer ourselves to God in this coming year.

     What does the posting on the door of your heart look like based on our Faith Builder’s series?

     Does it include a commitment to praying, reading, worshiping, sharing, giving, and today’s focus on serving?

     May God bless all of our commitments in these vital areas of our faith as we prepare for a new year of ministry. And in the words of hymn writer, Richard Alan Henderson, may our prayer to God always be, “Move me, move me; move me to do thy will.”

Faith Builders: Serving

Sermon Discussion Questions

I Corinthians 12:12-20

October 27, 2019

In I Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul lists several spiritual gifts and the importance of using the gifts God has given us to be a blessing to others by serving. Our strength is in the diversity of our gifts! Paul doesn’t list all of the spiritual gifts in this one passage but the complete list includes apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, shepherding, hospitality, serving, exhortation, giving, craftsmanship, compassion, healing, working miracles, tongues, interpretation of tongues, wisdom, knowledge, faith, discernment, helps, administration, teaching, leadership, intercession/prayer, music, missionary.

Which of the spiritual gifts above interest you? Which need more explanation? Do you know which of these spiritual gifts that God has given you? Our church provides a spiritual gift inventory to help you identify your spiritual gifts and how you might use your gifts to help build up the church. Let our church know if you want more information about spiritual gifts.

Pastor Robert shared the story of a student who received a grant to help him pay for his schooling in becoming a pastor. When he asked the generous donor how he could repay him, the man responded by saying, “Just help somebody.”

How has someone used their spiritual gifts in helping you to have a stronger faith? What gift(s) did they share with you?

Once we know what our spiritual gifts are, we are better able to serve in ministries that match our spiritual gifts. Our church has approximately 50 ministry opportunities that help to build up the church and each other. They help us to be Faith Builders, the title of this sermon series! Our church has a list of these several ministries. Copies are available in the literature rack of our church’s Welcome Center entrance.

What ministries of the church match up best with your spiritual gifts?

During our Faith Builders series, we have looked at the importance of making a commitment in the following six areas to help us prepare for a new year in ministry. These include commitments in praying, reading, worshiping, sharing, giving, and serving.

Which of these six areas has God been calling you to give more focus and attention? Share some specific ways that you can build up your faith in each of these areas.

Sunday Pastoral Prayer (Oct. 20) Athens First UMC

[We welcomed six new members and celebrated two baptisms on Sunday! From left to right is Josh Verity and Sara Folk holding their daughter, Ella Jane; Cathy Baker; Jeff & Ann Frymier; and Mark Slagle. The highlight of our morning was the baptisms of 7 month old, Ella Jane and her father, Josh. After the baptisms, Josh carried his daughter up and down the aisles as the congregation sang these words of blessing to them, “God claims you, God helps you, protects you, and loves you too. We your family love you so, we vow to help your faith to grow.” It’s special moments like this that remind us what a privilege it is to surrender all by offering our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness to Christ and his church. For the sermon, click here.]

Salvation, abundant life, forgiveness, mercy, guidance, wisdom, hope,  blessings, thank you for all these gifts that you so freely give to us on a daily basis, O God. What expression of gratitude can we possibly give to you in response to your great love for us in Jesus Christ?

 

We can begin by following the example of the nameless woman who placed who few remaining coins in the Temple treasury. Like her, may we surrender all and trust you to use our gifts so that others may know of your healing and transforming power for our community and world.

 

As many of us will be reflecting this week on what dollar amount we will be giving to the church, lead us to decide on a level of giving that will best express our love for you and the degree to which we believe that you will once again use your church to bring hope and healing to our community and world. What a joy it is to be part of a church family like this that is seeing so many signs of your kingdom being made visible in beautiful and surprising ways.

 

Thank you for your church which makes it possible to support missionaries throughout the world. Thank you for your church which provides a safe environment for preschool children to learn and grow. Thank you for your church which offers a nutritious hot meal every week for the people of our community. Thank you for your church which serves as a home away from home for so many of our college students. Thank you for your church which helps to form life-long friendships that would never have been formed without small groups and times of fellowship and worship. Thank you for your church in which we will host a concert of uplifting music tomorrow night. These concerts always remind us that you planted us in this location for a purpose.

 

And so yes, Lord, we surrender all to you because you have surrendered all on our behalf. Bless the financial commitments that many of us will be making this week as we prepare for another exciting year of ministry.

 

For you so loved the world that you GAVE your only Son, who taught us to pray together…

 

“Our Father, who art in heaven…”

[Baptism of Josh Verity with his wife, Sara, and their daughter, Ella Jane.]

Sermon (Oct. 20) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     Praying, reading, worshiping, and sharing have been the first four spiritual disciplines to help us build up our faith.  We have two more to disciplines in our Faith Builders series. Today, we focus on giving.

     For this, we turn our attention to a person who often goes unnoticed, who flies under the radar, whose name no one seems to remember, and who often gets lost in the crowd. And yet this same person is the one who Jesus lifts up in our Gospel reading as a shining example of financial generosity. 

     Jesus and the disciples were people watching one day. They weren’t sitting on a bench at a shopping mall, but they were watching the hustle and bustle of a large crowd of people making their donations to the Temple treasury. 

     There were some big time donations being made by some pretty impressive and well known people. They were dropping in some serious coinage as a display of their power and wealth. 

     These are the names that you see in the first pages of the annual financial report under the heading, President’s Club. It’s the annual gift that could buy a new car. It’s such a large gift that you just might get a call and be invited to serve on the board of directors.

     As they watch this impressive display of financial giving, Jesus points out the obvious that it’s so easy to focus on the people who are making the big donations. That’s the easy part. There’s a reason why most people know who you mean when you say Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. They’re rich. They have a ton of money. And they donate more money to causes than we can ever imagine.

     And I like it that Jesus doesn’t trivialize the giving of those impressive donors. Everyone is called to offer their financial resources to be a blessing to others. That’s something that we are all called to do.

     But Jesus doesn’t want the disciples and he doesn’t want us to only focus on the dollar amount of the financial gifts. Jesus wants us to focus on something much more important. Jesus wants us to focus on the spirit in which we offer our gifts.

     And for this, he points out a poor nameless widow who drops in her two coins into the Temple Treasury. Those two coins will not get her name printed in the top donor category. She won’t even get listed under that last category called, “Other Contributions.” She will largely go unnoticed. She will remain nameless.

     But Jesus noticed. And Jesus lifted up this poor widow as an example of what it means to be fully committed to God. She gave her financial gift out of her poverty and gave all that she had. Jesus wants us to see that giving is not just about the dollar amount. It’s about the heart.  It’s about the spirit in which we offer our gifts.

     We might even say that Jesus doesn’t just notice the size of our financial gifts. He also notices what’s in our checking and saving accounts. Jesus sees the big picture. He can see what’s important to us. He can see where we place our priorities.

     Someone said to me one day that when he reviewed his spending over the past several weeks, he was shocked with how much money he spent on entertainment. It can be shocking when we do the math and think about how we are spending our money vs. what we say is important in our lives.

     Sometimes what we say is important doesn’t translate into our practical everyday lives.   We need to do a better job of going from the theoretical to the practical.

     Maybe you heard about the preacher who visited a farmer one day and asked him, “Joe, If you had $200, would you give $100 to the Lord?”  And the farmer said, “Sure, I would!”

     And then the preacher asked him, “Joe, if you had two cows, would you give one cow to the Lord?” And the farmer said, “Well, yeah, if I had two cows, I’d give one of the those cows to the Lord.”

     And the preacher asked him, “Joe, let me ask you one more question. What if you owned two pigs? Would you give one of your two pigs to the Lord?”

     This time the farmer got angry and said, “Now, that’s not fair preacher, because you know that I actually own two pigs!”

     Sometimes what sounds great in theory doesn’t always translate into real life generosity.

     This is why the bible talks about the principle of tithing our financial resources. Tithing is the biblical model of giving 10% of our financial blessings to the work of Christ and his church. Some have said that the biblical principle of tithing acts as a great equalizer because if a poor person puts $15 into the offering plate one Sunday morning and a very wealthy person puts in $1,500 that same day, and both gifts represent 10% of that’s week’s income, then their gifts are equal according to Jesus’ math. The call is for equal sacrifice, not equal gifts.

     The widow in our Gospel reading has much to teach all of us about love, trust, and the nature of God. She didn’t have much, but she gave all she had because she loved others beyond herself. She gave because she believed those coins could be multiplied by God for God’s work. She knew that God could be trusted to be faithful beyond any bank or possession.

     A friend of mine shared his faith journey with me. Early in his marriage he would attend church on occasion but not very often. A buddy of his invited him to attend a spiritual weekend retreat which he did and during that retreat, he experienced God’s love in a way that he had never before experienced. That weekend became a major turning point in his life.

     When he got home after the retreat, he told his wife all about it. He told her about how he had experienced God’s love and grace in such a real and powerful way and how he made a commitment to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ during that weekend.  And so he asked her, “How much do we give to the church each week?” He had never asked her what they give each week.

     She told him the amount and he said, “Oh, my. That’s nowhere near what we should be giving. We need to at least triple that amount.”

     Not only did that weekend retreat change him inwardly, it also had a huge impact on his commitments in the key areas we have been focusing on these past several weeks. He began praying and reading his bible on a daily basis. He started attending worship with his wife and family every single week. He became intentional in sharing his new found faith with the people at work. And he began to tithe his income to the work of Christ and the church.

     If you would do the math, even before this man’s spiritual renewal weekend, he was giving a whole lot more money in the offering than the poor widow in our Gospel reading.  But it wasn’t until after that spiritual weekend that he realized that his gift was so small in comparison to her great sacrifice. He was now wanting to make up for lost time. He realized what the poor widow already knew, that our giving is a response to God’s gracious love in our lives.

     To help us with this fifth commitment of giving as part of our Faith Builder’s series, up on the screen are some choices for us to consider. I’m going to give us time to think about these choices and which one we would like to be our commitment in this area of giving to Christ and his church.

     I invite us to look up at the screen on some giving options for us to consider. Like previous Sundays, you can see the various options that are listed. I’m going to read these possible responses.

• No, I am not ready to commit at this time.

• Yes, I am ready to commit as follows:

    You’ll see that it says, “General Budget” which supports over fifty vital ministries through our church.  It then says that from this coming January 1 to December 31 of 2020, that I will give so much money every week or month or quarter or year for an annual total amount of so many dollars.

     And then at the bottom, you’ll notice an option where you can indicate if this will represent a tithe or 10% of your income to the work of Christ and the church. If it’s not a tithe, you can put down whatever % of your income that represents. This is between you and God. 

     And finally, you also have the option of checking the last line that says that in the years ahead with God’s help, I will step up toward tithing. This might mean that instead of giving 2% of your income to Christ and the church, that you set a goal to give a higher percentage the following year until you reach the biblical principle of tithing.

     I think the last paragraph is very important with this Sunday’s commitment on financial giving. It says that giving will be the greatest joy in my life. I will make my contribution to Christ and the church the top priority in my personal budget.   

     This week, many of us will be receiving a mailing that will include a 2020 Financial Estimate of Giving card to support the work of Christ and the church. Look for that mailing this week and prayerfully consider your commitment in this area of giving as we prepare for a new year of ministry here at Athens First, and return the card at your earliest convenience. 

      As Wendy plays some music, we’re invited to think about what God is calling you and me to give in this coming year. 

[PAUSE]

     I’ll close with this thought. Many of us are familiar with the Bible verse, John 3:16. It’s probably one of the most recognizable scripture references in all the Bible.

     That’s always been interesting to me because it’s a verse about giving. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.” He gave his only son.

     You’d think that the most familiar verse wouldn’t be about giving but about something else like our happiness or feeling peaceful. Instead, this well known verse is about giving.

     We notice sacrificial giving, like a poor widow giving all that she had to bless others. Like the God of creation giving us his only Son to die on the cross.

     Deep down, we know that God has created each one of us to be generous givers. It’s at the heart of who God is. And it’s at the heart of who we are called to be.

Faith Builders: Giving

Sermon Discussion Questions

Luke 21:1-4

October 20, 2019

Our Faith Builders sermon series is focusing on six key areas which include praying, reading, worshiping, sharing, and we have two more to go. This week’s focus is on giving. For this area, we turn to a nameless widow who teaches us what it means to give generously bless God and God’s kingdom from our heart. This story is found in Luke 21:1-4. She gave all that she had into the Temple treasury and Jesus noticed her sacrificial giving.

Why do you think that of all the examples of generous givers in the Bible, probably the most generous of all isn’t even given a name? What does this say about where our focus should be when we offer our gifts to Christ and the church?

In the sermon, a true story was told about a man who gave what he thought was a generous amount to support the work of his local church. But when he attended a life-changing spiritual retreat, he realized that his financial contribution did not truly match his newfound gratitude for God’s many blessings in his life. After this spiritual awakening, he and his wife reconsidered and increased their giving to match what they were feeling in their heart. Pastor Robert defined financial giving to Christ and his church as “my response to God’s gracious love in my life.”

Share a time when you became more aware of “God’s gracious love in your life.” How did this new awareness have an impact on your life?

For each Sunday of our Faith Builders series, we have been given time during worship to consider making a commitment in these vital areas of our faith. For this week on giving, we contemplated these possible commitments:

• No, I am not ready to commit in financially supporting Christ and his church at this time.
• Yes, I am ready to commit in the following way...

(Because this is such a personal decision, our church will be soon sending a mailing out to the congregation inviting us to consider our estimate of giving to the church in 2020.)

As we continue to reflect this week on our financial support of Christ and his church, use this prayer from Sunday’s worship service:

Gracious God, you have blessed us with many gifts. We are here today because you have led us to this place. You have given us your Son, Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior. You have given us this church to help us grow closer to you so that we might be a blessing to our community and world. You have given us so much. Help us to offer our very best gifts to you so that we might be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Forgive us for when we take your gifts for granted and for when we neglect to share your gifts for the sake of your kingdom. Give each one of us generous hearts. In your name, we pray. Amen. 

  

Sermon (Oct. 13) by Dr. Dave Bayless

Unfortunately, we have all probably experienced times when people who claim to be Christian, but who do not act very Christ-like when they are out in public.

A waitress at a Cracker Barrel said that her least favorite day to work was Sunday because of the “church people” who came in.  She found that they could be demanding, critical of her service and did not  leave very good tips.  She knew that they were church people because they often were carrying their Bibles and were talking about church activities.  As a believer in Christ herself, she was embarrassed! 

A common theme in the New Testament is that we are to be Jesus' witnesses in the world. For better or for worse, we are the models of what it means to live as a follower of Jesus.  How do we gracefully share our faith in Christ?

Perhaps you have been confronted about your faith by a well-meaning believer.  Someone has witnessed in such a way that you feel that you are doomed unless you believe as they do.  I don't like those encounters. I don't want to be judged or manipulated.  We want to be witnesses who encourage others to know God, and to explore the wonders of God's love.

How can we prepare to be a witness?   We don't have to memorize a script, or even give out leaflets. It is helpful if we are just aware of God's presence, and aware of people. Think about how God has been real to you! What you share from your experience and faith is valuable and needed by others. No canned speeches are necessary.

In the prior weeks, we have talked about being faith builders through praying, reading, and worshiping. Making a commitment in each of these practices are foundational to our having a strong faith. Today, we focus on the faith building discipline of sharing.

Every day we encounter other people. How do we share our faith with them?    

A woman told that years ago she was struggling in her life. She   had just finished working  her second job when she ran into a convenience store to pick up some items.  She was physically tired and worn down by her circumstances.  As she was leaving the store an older man walked past her, opened the door and held it for her.  She was so encouraged by this simple act  that made her feel that she had some worth!  It is still a sweet memory for her years later.   Our witness can indeed be a simple gesture of kindness.

It is a valid witness to smile at the cashier, to tell someone that they have done a good job, to hold the door open for someone else.

It was near Christmas, Bill had gone to get the  oil changed in his car. He overheard the attendant saying that he was hungry but he didn't have quite enough money for some food. When Bill was leaving, he gave him a $5.00 bill and said “Merry Christmas.”  The guy  asked “Why would you do something like this?” Bill told him that  Christmas was all about Jesus’ love and that it is always a gift.

I think of Jesus as noticing people around him .He drew them out, engaged their minds and hearts.  As disciples, we are called be attentive to the people around us, to listen to their stories, and if we can, share our own.

We all like someone to listen to us, to ask us how we are. If someone “really” wants to hear your story, how great is that!

A woman was getting a facial at a spa.  She asked the spa employee “How are you doing?” The employee answered:  “ I shouldn't be sharing about my sad life.”  She told her that sometimes it helps to talk about your problems.  The young woman shared that she was separated, her job was not the best, and she felt the spiritual was missing in her life.  The woman did a lot of listening during that one hour appointment.  When she left, she put the tip in an envelope, and also wrote a note encouraging the woman to call out to God, to seek and she would find, because God did care for her.

As God leads us, we can be generous with our resources and our time.

You can be a witness  through your relationships with people you see often at work, at school, in the neighborhood, at the gym.

 You can  help a neighbor rake leaves and then listen as he shares about his loneliness since his wife died. 

You can offer to pray for your co-worker who is facing an illness and cannot get the words out. 

You can invite a friend for coffee and as you catch up with each other, share how God's grace touched you through the funny antics of your grandchild. 

You can invite someone to worship or another activity. You can help connect them to our family of faith and here they may discover God's love. 

Maybe offer to pick them up and then sit together in worship. They may not be interested in Sunday morning, but are intrigued by serving others through our Athens First Saturday ministry which we hold each month.  Your personal  recommendation means a great deal. You are the best publicity for our church.

A new mom named Sarah wrote about coming back to church with her husband and new baby. “We weren't drawn in by any slick brochure or fancy website.  It was community that got us to the altar... and community that has kept us coming back week after week. It was the community of young parents like us- friends we knew from preschool that kept inviting us to church again and again. It was that community of intelligent and thoughtful people who welcomed my doubts...It was the community of loving and compassionate hearts who made room at the table...”

Along the way, as you share about spiritual issues, you may be asked some hard questions such as  “With the world in such a mess, how can you have hope?”  “Why did this have to happen to me?”  “After what I have done in my life, can I ever find forgiveness?”  (That is when you say “I don’t know” and tell them to call Pastor Robert…)

Actually, that's when you ask God to give you the right words for the situation, and you share the best that you can. We are called to listen and learn from others. We don't have to have all the answers. 

Your story with all its faults can still help change someone else's story.  Know that you are just a part of all the ways that God is working in their lives.

Logan Waldie was one of several people who attended our church-wide Faith Builders training event this past August. Part of that training time that we had together was to get in touch with our personal journeys of faith so that we will be more likely to share our faith with others. He/she is now going to briefly share his/her faith journey with us to show how simple this can be…

Thank you, Logan for sharing your faith story with us.

You have your own story of faith to share.  You have people to notice, and  to share about the important things in life. Jesus has invited us to let others know about the hope and salvation that he offers. You can do this!  Each morning we ask the question: what opportunities might come my way where I can encourage somebody by sharing my faith with them? To help us think about this day, we have an opportunity this morning to make a commitment in sharing our faith.

Let's look at those options on the screen. I am going to read the various responses that you can choose from:

        

1.       I cannot make a commitment today.

2.       I will look for ways that God is real in my life each  

           day.

3.       I will be attentive and listen to other people and their 

            stories

4.       I will pray for other people and for opportunities to share 

          God's love.

5.       I will invite someone to come  to worship with me.

6.       I will invite someone to join me in an Athens First   

          activity: Athens First Saturday serving, a small group, a 

          concert, or other special event.

7.       In conversation with others, I will share how God's love 

          has made a difference in my life.               

8.       To love others and show God's kindness will become a 

           priority so that...

I will intentionally notice people around me (family, friends, neighbors, strangers) and listen to what they have to share. I will look at others as God's children. I will not be arrogant but attempt to be honest about  the ups and downs of my  life as a follower of Jesus. I will pray that we all will grow in our understanding and  in our faith and  love of God. I will take the responsibility of reaching out to others and inviting them to be a part of our church family. I will go out of my way to make a guest here feel at home,  Each day I will offer to God my efforts of caring for his children and then depend upon  the wonderful sufficiency of God's grace for each of us.

     Jeff will play some music for the next minute or so as we silently make our commitment to God.

     May God bless all of our commitments as we share our faith with others.

Faith Builders: Sharing

Sermon Discussion Questions

Colossians 4:5-6 & Matthew 28:19-20

October 13, 2019

We are in the middle of a seven week sermon series on the theme, “Faith Builders.” We have focused on building up our faith through praying, reading, worshiping, and for this week we focus on sharing and specifically, sharing our faith with others.

What is your initial reaction to the thought of sharing your faith with someone? Which of these responses do you most relate? 1) I can’t wait! I love sharing my faith! 2) I’m not sure about this. 3) I’d rather have a root canal. 4) I’m willing to share my faith, but would appreciate some thoughts on how to go about doing this.

Contrary to popular belief, sharing our faith isn’t about handing out religious tracks or trying to convince somebody that God is real. Sharing our faith is simply about sharing how God is at work in our everyday lives. We call these “Thin Place Moments” where we experience heaven and earth overlapping and forming a “thin place” where we can sense God’s presence. These are often not very dramatic but simple moments where God’s presence is experienced.

Have you experienced a “Thin Place Moment” recently? What was it? Share your thin place moment with someone.

The New Testament emphasizes the importance of us in being “witnesses” by sharing our faith with others. Here are some thoughts on how we might share our faith with others. Reflect on each of these possible commitments that God is inviting you to consider in sharing your faith with others.

1.       I cannot make a commitment today.

2.       I will look for ways that God is real in my life each  

           day.

3.       I will be attentive and listen to other people and their 

          stories

4.       I will pray for other people and for opportunities to share 

          God's love.

5.       I will invite someone to come  to worship with me.

6.       I will invite someone to join me in an Athens First   

          activity: Athens First Saturday serving, a small group, a 

          concert, or other special event.

7.       In conversation with others, I will share how God's love 

          has made a difference in my life.               

8.       To love others and show God's kindness will become a 

           priority so that...

I will intentionally notice people around me (family, friends, neighbors, strangers) and listen to what they have to share. I will look at others as God's children. I will not be arrogant but attempt to be honest about the ups and downs of my life as a follower of Jesus. I will pray that we all will grow in our understanding and in our faith and love of God. I will take the responsibility of reaching out to others and inviting them to be a part of our church family. I will go out of my way to make a guest here feel at home. Each day I will offer to God my efforts of caring for his children and then depend upon the wonderful sufficiency of God's grace for each of us.

Which of the commitments above appeal to you the most? Why? Which ones are more intimidating? Why? What do you find rewarding or challenging in seeking to live out the paragraph above?

Sunday Pastoral Prayer (Oct. 6) Athens First UMC

[Next Sunday, October 13, Logan Waldie, one of our church members who serves on our Leadership Board, will be sharing his testimony at both worship services. It’s a Sunday you won’t want to miss which is the theme of this week’s focus on the importance of weekly worship. Click here for the sermon.]

O God, like the Psalmist said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”

 

We are glad to be in your house today, O God, especially on this World Communion Sunday in which we are mindful of the common bond that we share with churches all around the world in our worship of you. And we are especially grateful for our neighboring churches, their pastors, their congregations and the work they do to bring about your kingdom here on earth. Thank you for their ministries and service to our community.

 

We are glad to be here today, O God. We are glad to worship you, to hear your Word, to experience your beauty through music, to reconnect with brothers and sisters in Christ, to offer our prayers for one another and for the needs of our community and world, to draw closer to you, and to receive a blessing at the end of the service reminding us that we are each a beloved child of God, created in your image.

 

Hear our prayers, O God as we lift up to you the concerns of our community…

 

Hear our prayers, O God as we lift up to you the concerns of our nation and our world…

 

O God, forgive us for where we fail to be your church, and for those times when we have made the church more about us than about you. May everything that we do and say be in gratitude of your saving, transforming, and redeeming love made know to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To him be all honor, glory, power, and authority, now and forevermore.

 

It is in his name that we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us to say together, “Our Father, who art in heaven…”

Sermon (Oct. 6) by Rev. Robert McDowell

     We have been spending these past few weeks focusing on some very basic components of what it means to build up our faith. During this time we are looking at six key spiritual disciplines and we’ve already looked at the importance of praying and reading.

     Today, we focus on the very important topic of worshiping. The title of this sermon says it all. There’s just something very special about gathering every week as the people of God to offer our worship and praise.

     It doesn’t matter if you worship in a small rural church with 15 or so people or if you worship in a great big cathedral with lots of high church rituals or if you worship in a multi-purpose auditorium that has loud guitars and high end technology or if you worship in a university church like we have. What matters is that we make communal worship one of the very top priorities in our commitment to Jesus Christ.

     Dr. Elaine Robinson, Academic Dean and Associate Pastor of St. Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University tells how she often visits local churches. And one of the questions she likes to ask church members at each of the churches she visits is, “Why do you go to church.”

     And she said that people usually give her these types of answers… “I come to church to see my friends” or “It’s how I get spiritually fed,” or “I love to hear our choir and the great music.”

     And Dr. Robinson said that while all of those are nice answers, rarely does she hear someone say what should be the most important reason to attend church. The reason we should be attending church is to worship God! Somehow, we have made going to church about us and we forget that it’s really all about God and offering our worship to God. 

     Even if the sermon is below average or our friends are out of town, or the music is so-so, the most important thing about being in this place every week is that we have the incredible opportunity to worship the one who is our Creator and our Redeemer.

     Jesus himself made worship a top priority in his life and ministry.  Jesus followed the Jewish Shema which says to worship the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Jesus was known to worship regularly in the local synagogue and he traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem on feast days throughout the year. Worship was very important to Jesus.

     In fact, one of the rare times that we read about Jesus being angry was around this topic of worship. This was from our scripture reading this morning when Jesus entered the Temple and drove out the money changers. Jesus was upset that God’s own people were trivializing worship. Instead of God being at the center of worship, they were making other things more important.

     I’d like to offer three reasons why weekly worship is one of the things we can do to help us be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. There’s a reason why it makes it in the top six things along with prayer and reading the bible.

    The first reason why weekly worship should be a top priority is because it provides us with a sense of community. 

     Worship in church reminds us that God did not create us to follow Jesus on our own. God created us to be in relationship with one another, and it’s important to gather as a community to focus our minds and hearts on God. 

     As crucial as the individual devotional practices are, they are no substitute for worshiping as a community. Just as worship is enhanced by our individual devotional practices, those practices are enhanced by our corporate worship.

     Sometimes people will point out to me that they can grow in their faith without going to worship. And they say how they pray and read their bible on their own. And that’s all important to do those things privately, but then I ask, “But what do you make of the scripture that we read this morning from the Book of Hebrews?”  

     You’re home alone reading through your bible and then you read a scripture like this which says, “Do not neglect to meet together as is the habit of some, but encourage one another.”  The bible itself talks about the importance of worshiping with others, about meeting together, about encouraging one another.  How do we do that? We worship together.

     Each week, we gather together, we worship, and then we are sent out with a benediction, a blessing to be the people of God out in the community and in our world.  Worship is a drawing in and a sending out. It is what forms us into a community of faith, a family of God.

      Often times, when I send a personal welcome note to first time worship guests, I’ll write, “Thank you for helping us to worship God together this past Sunday.” There’s something very special when God’s people make a commitment to gather each week to worship God. 

     One of the best things that cold ever happen to a church happened last Sunday. We ran out of bulletins! That’s a good problem!

     Have you seen that popular sign message that you often see in front of church buildings. It will have the letters, “CH” at one end and “CH” at the other end. And then it has the question, “What’s missing in church?”

     UR!  

     I read about a tavern near a college campus. It was a favorite hangout for many of the students. As Parents’ Weekend approached, they posted a sign that said, “Bring your parents to lunch. We’ll pretend we don’t you know.”

     One of the local churches just across the street from this tavern countered with a signboard that read, “Bring your parents to church. We’ll pretend we do know you.”

     The good news is that we don’t need to pretend that we know each other because whenever we gather in this place for worship, we know who we are. We know that we are a community, called to be the people of God.

     Today is World Communion Sunday. It’s a Sunday each year when churches all around the world celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion as a way to remind us that we are part of a much larger community of people who are seeking to be followers of Jesus Christ.  Regardless of our country or language, together, we form the church of Jesus Christ.

     Weekly worship reminds us that we are a community of God’s people.

     The second reason why weekly worship is to be a top priority is because it is about celebration. We gather in worship to lift up and celebrate all that God is doing in the life of our congregation. God is at work in our church and weekly worship provides us that time each week to celebrate what God is doing in and through us.

     We sing opening hymns and songs of praise. We offer our prayers of joy and thankfulness for what God has done and is doing.  Worshiping together helps us to celebrate.

     And thirdly, weekly worship helps us to connect.  Whenever we gather for worship, we connect with God. We remind ourselves that God truly is the Lord of us all. Just as we need one another, we need God’s active presence in our lives, and whenever we gather, we remember that Jesus is the One who has brought us together. Worship helps us to connect with Christ in a very real way.

     Weekly worship helps us to be a community. It helps us to celebrate. And it helps us to connect with Christ.

     To help us with this fourth commitment in worshiping as part of our Faith Builder’s series, up on the screen are some choices for us to consider. I’m going to give us time to think about these choices and which one we would like to be our commitment in this area of Sunday worship.

• Today, I’m not ready to make a commitment.

• I will attend worship three to six times a year.

• I will attend worship once a month.

• I will attend worship twice a month.

• I will attend worship three times a month.

• I will attend worship four times a month.

• As my health permits, I will never miss worship.

• Worship will be a priority in my life, growing to include the following:

     I will be passionate about worship as a true priority of my life. Bad weather, sports, or holidays will not keep me from attending worship. I will prepare the day before, so that I can arrive at worship without last-minute rushing. I will warmly greet those who sit around me. I will surround my friends and family with worship. Through worship I will seek to find strength, power, and direction to face the week.

     I’ve asked Jeff to play some music for the next minute or so as we silently make our commitment to God. [PAUSE]

     One of my favorite moments as a pastor is when we receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion together during worship which we will be doing today.

     Whenever we receive Holy Communion in worship, I have the privilege of standing up here in the middle as you all come forward to receive the Sacrament at one of our stations. 

     Often times, we make eye contact as you come forward and this always reminds me that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s such a personal moment for me that’s hard to describe. It’s one of those special privileges in being a pastor, seeing all of you come to share in this holy meal. 

     So, when it gets right down to it, worshiping together reminds me that we are a family. We come together with all of joys, sorrows, hopes, and brokenness to received God’s mercies anew through the sharing of the bread and the cup.

     And there’s only one phrase that comes to mind when I think of moments like that as your pastor. This one phrase keeps going through my mind again and again.

     It’s a privilege to be here.

Faith Builders: Worshiping

Sermon Discussion Questions

Hebrews 10:19-25 & Luke 19:45-48

October 6, 2019

Dr. Elaine Robinson, Academic Dean and Associate Pastor of St. Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University tells how she often visits local churches. And one of the questions she likes to ask church members at each of the churches she visits is, “Why do you go to church.”

Why do you like to go to church?

During our Faith Builders sermon series, we are focusing on six key areas for us to have a vital and growing faith. This week’s area is worshiping. Worship is one of the most important things we do as a church on a weekly basis. Pastor Robert shared three reasons why worshiping every week is so important and they all begin with the letter, “c.”

COMMUNITY: Worship provides us with a sense of community. How does worship give you a sense of community?

CELEBRATION: Worship provides us with a spirit of celebration. How does worship help you to celebrate?

CONNECTION: Worship provides us a way to connect with God. How does worship help you to connect with God?

We are invited to make a commitment in worshiping God. Read over the options below and reflect on which commitments you’d like to make and why.

• Today, I’m not ready to make a commitment.
• I will attend worship three to six times a year.
• I will attend worship once a month.
• I will attend worship twice a month.
• I will attend worship three times a month.
• I will attend worship four times a month.
• As my health permits, I will never miss worship.
• Worship will be a priority in my life, growing to include the following:

     I will be passionate about worship as a true priority of my life. Bad weather, sports, or holidays will not keep me from attending worship. I will prepare the day before, so that I can arrive at worship without last-minute rushing. I will warmly greet those who sit around me. I will surround my friends and family with worship. Through worship I will seek to find strength, power, and direction to face the week.