Sermon (May 26/Trinity Sunday) “Children of the Triune God” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 26 (Pentecost), 2024

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     Every year for Memorial Day Weekend, I can’t help but to think about my hometown’s community softball tournament. Our church always had a team in this tournament led by a church member who was our coach and pitcher. He also was the only one who had a bunch of bats and balls for us to use. 

     The tournament would begin on Friday evening and last through Monday afternoon of that long holiday weekend. There were about twenty adult teams who participated.  Our team consisted mostly of teenagers but also had some really old guys and by old, I mean guys in their 40s! To us younger players, that was really old.

     For a team that was pretty young and inexperienced, we did really well, even winning the tournament a couple of times. The church member who was our coach did a really good job of helping us to play as a team. The only broken bone I have ever had came from playing in one of those softball tournaments. 

     Since this was a community and not a church softball tournament, we were the only church team and the only team that prayed before each game. Theologically, I don’t think that our prayers had anything to do with our winning or losing, but it did remind us that we were representing our church when we took the field. It also taught us a lot about teamwork and giving our best.

     In our Romans scripture reading for today, the Apostle Paul is reminding me a little of our softball coach. Like a good coach, Paul is reminding the church in Rome that they are children of God. They are teammates. 

     He uses this phrase, “children of God” three times in this one passage of scripture. We are children of God. We are teammates who represent Christ and his church. Win or lose, we belong to God. “We are joint heirs with Christ,” Paul says. 

     I love this image of the church being like a team where we are connected with each other and with God who has made us his children. Which brings me to the Trinity Sunday part of this scripture passage.    

     Paul refers to all three persons of the Trinity in this very short passage. He says that when we cry, “Abba, Father,” it is that very Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are teammates, we are children of God. 

     And then Paul says, that as God’s children we are all heirs with Christ. There you have it. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It only takes Paul two verses to include all three members of the Trinity and he does so in the context that we are children of God. 

     This is what is beautiful about being part of the church. We all have this in common where God’s Spirit keeps us from falling back in fear by reminding us that we are heirs with Christ. We are reminded of this every time that we offer our prayers to the Father. 

     This scripture reading is at the very middle of Romans, chapter eight, probably one of the most hope-filled chapters in all of the Bible. It concludes with this incredible exclamation point of who we are because of this God who is known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

     After giving us this long list of things that might separate us from God and each other; things like rulers, worry about the future, powers, height, depth, and even death itself, Paul concludes this chapter by saying, “None of these things will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

     We remind each other of this hope that we have together in a variety of ways. Through our weekly worship, through bible studies, through the sharing of testimonies, and through prayer requests that we receive each week.

     Those prayer requests always remind me that we are children of God. Every church that I have served has had some type of prayer chain like we do here at the Upper Richland Charge.

     In my previous church, I’ll never forget this particular prayer request that was shared by a member of the church who has been fighting cancer the past eight years. 

     He updated our prayer chain to let us know how our prayers for him over all these years have helped him to beat the odds of this disease and that he is truly blessed. He says “I am a winner in so many ways! Let’s celebrate!”

     That was one of our teammates sharing this with his church family. That was a member of our team letting the church know that our prayers had been a lifeline to him, especially during the many months of being separated because of the COVID19 precautions. 

     As children of the Triune God, Paul wants us to be reminded again and again that we have much to celebrate. We are joint heirs of Christ and nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have the Spirit who Paul says will not allow us to fall back into fear but always keeps us moving forward in hope.

     Heirs of Christ, children of God, Paul says. I like that. Children of the Triune God.

     In reflecting on this passage, gifted speaker and author, Heather Murray Elkins says that “Trinity relationships are ties that bind and loosen at the same time. We are family because we’ve been adopted by the triune One whose nature and name is Love. We are heirs of God, not by right, not by ancestry, but by grace.” 

     This is what binds us together in the church, God’s grace, God’s unconditional, inclusive, and all-embracing grace. And it’s because of this grace, that the Triune God loosens us from our fears and doubts. We are freed from all that would enslave us and keep us from being the people that God has called us to be. 

     In two weeks, hundreds and hundreds of clergy and lay delegates, representing the 900 United Methodist churches from all over our South Carolina Conference will be meeting together in Greenville. Even though I am still a clergy member of the West Ohio Conference, I will be participating in some of the meetings here in this conference. 

     The purpose of Annual Conference is to receive new clergy into the conference, recognize pastors who are retiring, adopting a conference budget, voting on various legislation issues, and sharing in worship together. 

     By far, my favorite part of attending Annual Conference is to worship with over a thousand other United Methodists in the same place. It’s very inspirational.

     One of the hymns that many annual conferences sing when we gather is the Charles Wesley hymn, “And Are We Yet Alive.” It’s a powerful hymn to sing when we’re all together because it’s a hymn that reminds us to celebrate these opportunities when we can gather as children of the Triune God.

     The first verse says, “And are we yet alive, and see each other’s face? Glory and thanks to Jesus give for this almighty grace.” The 3^rd verse says, “What troubles have we seen, what mighty conflicts past, fightings without, and fears within, since we assembled last.”

     This leads to verse four, “Yet out of all the Lord hath brought us by his love; and still he doth his help afford and hides our life above.”

     These verses build upon each other in describing what it means to be children of God together. We are a family. We are “heirs of God” as Heather Murray Elkins says so beautifully. We are heirs of God, not by right, not by ancestry, but by grace. 

     This is what makes us children or teammates of the Triune God.

     Speaking of hymns, in one of the churches I served, the church building prior to the current church building had burnt down back in 1955. And in the historical archive room of that church, they had a glass encased hymnal that had been salvaged from the fire. It was partially burnt. 

      And if you look closely at it, the hymn that is at the top of that burnt hymnal is the hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” It was our opening hymn for today’s worship service. It’s a hymn that celebrates the Triune God. “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.” 

     It would be three years later in 1958 when the congregation would be able to worship for the first time in what is now their current building. I can’t even imagine what it must have felt like for the congregation to worship for the first time there. 

     They say they even needed forty ushers that first Sunday to accommodate the crowd. On that Sunday, February 9, 1958 they truly were children of the Triune God, teammates, brothers and sisters who together by God’s grace were able to start anew.

     I’m sure that this church has been through many challenges over its long history. Like the Apostle Paul at the end of this eighth chapter, maybe the people from our church’s treasured history have asked this same question when faced with all kinds of challenges that have come our way, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or peril, or a leaking roof, or a global pandemic, or a shortage of funds, or denominational strife?”

     And the good news of our faith is that we can answer that question with confidence. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Why? 

    The Apostle Paul reminds us: Because we are children and teammates of the Triune God!

Sunday (May 26/Trinity Sunday) Pastoral Prayer

May 26, 2024

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are grateful to be able to share our prayer needs with you this day. We know you hear our prayers to you during the week, but there’s just something very special about being able to pray together here in church.

 

Whenever we are together in this place, we are reminded that we are your children and we’re all on the same team. There is no we and they. It’s only us. Thank you that we are teammates always growing in what it means to be your faithful disciples.

 

And so, as your children, hear our prayers on behalf of those who are on our church’s prayer list. Grant to them your healing, your guidance, your grace, and most importantly your love in whatever they may be facing.

 

On this Memorial Day weekend, we also pause to remember and give thanks for those who have served in the armed forces and who are no longer with us. May their sacrifice for the sake of freedom and justice throughout the world not be forgotten. This weekend reminds us to pray even more fervently for there to be peace on earth.

 

And today, we also give thanks that you are one God, known in three persons. May these words from hymn writer and poet, Carl Daw Jr., be our prayer today and throughout this week: “Triune God, mysterious being, undivided and diverse, deeper than our minds can fathom, greater than our creeds rehearse; help us in our varied callings your full image to proclaim, that our ministries uniting may give glory to your name.”

 

And now as teammates and children of the Triune God, let us pray the words that Jesus taught us to say together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (May 19/Pentecost) “The Searcher of Hearts” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 24, 2024

Pentecost

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC 

    There are so many names for God throughout the scriptures. It’s striking to me that we so often focus on only a couple of these names especially in the way we address God when we pray. “God” is probably the most common name we use when we pray to or speak about God. And on this Pentecost Sunday, we are reminded of another name for God, “Spirit.”

     And of course, we have other standard names for God like, “Lord” and “Heavenly Father.” These names for God usually get top billing.

     I’m amazed at how many times I continue to uncover new names for God, at least new to me. In today’s New Testament reading from Romans, the Apostle Paul slips in another beautiful name for God. “Searcher of Hearts.”

     We find this name for God in our Romans passage. The New Revised Standard Version which is what we commonly use for scripture readings during our worship services and bible studies makes this name sound more like a description than a name, which is why I like how one New Testament scholar translates this verse.

     His translation of Romans 8:27 based on his understanding of the Greek language which Paul is using here says, “And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s people according to God’s will.” “The Searcher of Hearts.” What a great name for God!

     This name, “Searcher of Hearts” reminds us that God is active. I like that. God is a searching God. This name reminds us that God is always on the move.

     One of my favorite chapters in the four Gospels is found in the 15^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. This one chapter contains three parables where Jesus is describing God as a searching God. It begins with the parable of the Lost Sheep. “Which one of you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and goes after the one that is lost until he finds it?”

     The second parable is the parable of the Lost Coin. “What woman having ten silver coins if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?” 

     And the third parable is the parable of the Son Son, the Prodigal Son. That parable concludes with the father saying to the elder son after the younger son had returned home, “We had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”

     These parables all point to a God who is always searching for what is lost. And at the conclusion of each of those parables is a time of rejoicing because what was lost is now found.

     In our Romans scripture reading, Paul writes “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” And the Spirit does this because God is a searcher of hearts.”

     In theological language, this is what we refer to as God’s prevenient grace. “Prevenient” means to go before, to go ahead of us, to prepare the way which means that God is always the primary actor. God is the one who is initiating a relationship with us and who first reaches out to us before we even think about reaching out to God.

     Or let me describe prevenient grace in this way. There is never a moment, there is never a second, and there is never a time in our lives, when God is NOT searching for us and reaching out to us. When we take a moment to let that sink in, it really gives us this powerful picture of a God who is the one who always makes the first move toward us. That’s prevenient grace.

     The word that Apostle Paul is using here for “search” is a Greek word that was often used in reference to the lighting of a torch in order to search for something in the dark.  And when Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness which he defines as those times when we don’t know how to pray, this becomes an even more powerful image for us. 

     I love this thought of the Searcher of Hearts lighting a torch in the depths of our soul to help us communicate what is so deep down in us that we can’t even find the words to tell God what we are feeling.

     If you ever find it too difficult to pray because what you are feeling is so raw and inexpressible in that moment, then this scripture reading offers us a powerful word of hope. The Searcher of Hearts is lighting the way in our troubled souls.

     Maybe that darkness is related to a grief that you are experiencing. It might even be a grief that you didn’t even know you had until the Searcher of Hearts revealed it to you.

     A few years ago on a late afternoon, I was driving down the road and listening to the radio. I wasn’t able to concentrate that whole day and I knew that something had been troubling my soul, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

     Something was telling me to turn off the radio, so I turned it off and there was this eerie silence as I continued down the road. But that’s when I finally realized why I was so down and distracted that whole day. It was like a light revealed what was troubling my soul. 

     All of the sudden, it came to me. It was my dad’s death anniversary. And that time of silence in the car is what helped God’s spirit to connect with my spirit and then led me to be able to name what was troubling me so that I could receive God’s healing and comforting grace. 

     Whether it’s grief or past wounds or a regret or feelings of disappointment, this Searcher of Hearts is helping us in our weakness. This Searcher of Hearts is shining the light of love and grace in whatever brokenness we may be experiencing.

     This is a dimension of Pentecost that I never really gave that much focus until I noticed this new name for God buried in this passage of Romans. “The Searcher of Hearts.” God’s grace and love are always going before us. This Searcher of Hearts has already been lighting up the darkness of our souls to help lead us to healing and wholeness.

     This Friday, May 24^th, marks the anniversary of when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism had his heart-warming experience in London, England after suffering through a very long time of spiritual dryness. 

     It’s kind of interesting that it was when Wesley was hearing someone read from this letter of Romans that led him to stand up and tell everyone at that prayer meeting that he felt his heart strangely warmed.

     Strangely warmed. The Searcher of Hearts had been lighting a torch in Wesley’s despondent soul leading him to be awakened to God’s joy, hope, and mercy. Wesley went on to share his heart-warming faith with others who like him were in need of God’s reassuring love.

     Methodists are known for our wonderful casseroles and our love of committee meetings, but we are most known for being a people of warm hearts. We are known for our warm hearts because the Seeker of Hearts is always lighting the darkness of our souls. 

     God’s prevenient grace is always going before us, preparing us, inviting us, wooing us, beckoning us, and reaching out to us with a love that fills our hearts. This God who is known as The Searcher of Hearts.

     Several years ago, I served as a Christian camp counselor at one of our United Methodist camps. I was sitting with four or five other camp counselors around a blazing campfire. Our hearts had been warmed by the testimonies of several of the campers who just shared how they had experienced God’s love in a very real way because of that week of camp.

      Some of the young campers had shared how they had received Jesus in their heart for the first time because of our week together. Others shared that they experienced God’s love in a new way, and they were now ready to make a recommitment in being Jesus’ followers.

      And as I sat there with the other camp counselors around that campfire, one of them questioned why these same spiritual experiences weren’t happening in our local churches. There was some silence as we thought about that questions. 

     And then I said, “Well, maybe tonight wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the local church that sponsored them to come, that shared God’s love with them through Sunday School, youth group, and worship. Maybe God was already at work before we even arrived here this week for camp.”  

     This Searcher of Hearts is always going before us lighting the way and preparing us to have hearts that are strangely warmed. 

     On that first Pentecost, we are told that a tongue of fire rested on each of the disciples and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit. 

     Spirit, Searcher of Hearts, so many names for this God who is always on the move, always lighting the way before us and who is always helping us in our weakness.

Sunday (May 19/Pentecost) Pastoral Prayer

May 19, 2024

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

O Searcher of Hearts, O Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on each one of us.

 

May the light of your torch shine upon the depths of our souls, especially when we are feeling lost, or weighed down by grief, or anxious about the future. Thank you that you are the searcher of our hearts and that you always know how to find us because of your prevenient grace, your grace that is always reaching out to us in any given moment. And whenever we are feeling lost and experiencing darkness in our lives, remind us to just pull over and take a moment to allow your light to shine upon our troubled souls.

 

May the light of your torch shine upon those who are on our church’s prayer list. We pray that your healing and guiding presence would be with them so that they would be restored to health and wholeness.

 

May the light of your torch shine upon all who are in need of your light this day, especially those who are unable to care for their needs, who feel alone, and who are in need of a new beginning.

 

May the light of your torch shine upon those who are graduating from High School and College. Lead them to pursue a career path that will enable them to use their gifts and abilities to help make this world a better place.

 

And may the light of your torch shine upon our community and world through the ministries of our church. Lead us to continue to be a beacon of hope through the offering of our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and our witness.

 

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us, as we pray the words that Jesus taught us to say together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (May 12/Ascension Sunday) “Power!” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 12, 2024 (Ascension Sunday)

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Rev. Robert McDowell

     When I was growing up with my older brother, I can remember standing in the middle of our garden, and I was wearing tbright red boots, blue pajamas, and a red cape.  

     Our white-haired dog at the time also had a red cape tucked underneath his collar and there we were standing together ready to save our hometown from imminent danger.  

     You see, my dear brother was in a Superman craze, and he had convinced me that I could become superman and fly.  That is, as long as I wore those red boots and that red cape.  I could be as powerful as Superman!

     He actually said to me, “Little brother, if you concentrate really hard and say over and over again to yourself that you can fly, you will be able to fly like Superman.  But you have to really want to fly.”  Keep in mind that this was before we had adequate laws against child endangerment.

     And so, with my shiny red boots and long red cape, I can remember walking into the middle of our garden behind the barn, and saying over and over to myself, “David said I can fly.  If I can just think hard enough, I’ll be able to fly.”  

     But no matter how many times I would jump into the air, gravity would always pull me back down.  It was exhausting in trying to be Superman. And you know, now that I reflect back on that experience, it’s a really good thing that I didn’t try this from some higher elevation! 

     But we all know that you don’t have to have to be Superman to possess power. All you need to have is that look that your mom used to give when you were in trouble. Do you know what “look” I mean? That “mom look.”

     Someone once told me about a time when they and their three siblings were in school. She said how their mom would line all four of them along the wall every year on the first day of school from oldest to youngest.  And she would say to them as she wagged her finger back and forth,

      “I expect each one of you to behave in school because if you get into trouble, it will be twice as worse when you get home!” “Twice as worse.”

     So, I asked the question that you probably would have asked this person – “So, did each of you behave?” And they told me, “Are you kidding, me? Of course we behaved! And that’s why all four of us did so well in school!”

     Oh, the power of a mother!

     Many of us are familiar with the name, Susanna Wesley. She was the mother of John Wesley, the founder of what is today, the United Methodist Church. The Wesley family, which included John and eighteen other children, grew up in England during the 1700s. Half of them died when they were still in their infancy.

     At one point, Susanna’s husband, Samuel, who was an Anglican Priest, was sent to debtor’s prison. Here’s what Susanna wrote to her husband while he was in prison. This will give us a little glimpse of this remarkable and powerful woman of faith. She wrote: 

     I am a woman, but I am also the mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the souls contained in it lies upon you, yet in your long absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my charge as a talent committed to me under a trust. I am not a man nor a minister, yet as a mother and a mistress I felt I ought to do more than I had yet done. 

     I resolved to begin with my own children; in which I observe the following method: I take such a proportion of time as I can spare every night to discourse with each child apart. On Monday I talk with Molly, on Tuesday with Hetty, Wednesday with Nancy, Thursday with Jacky, Friday with Patty, Saturday with Charles.”

     When it was becoming apparent that her children were spending too much time playing and not enough time studying, she resolved to have them focus more on their education. 

     The children were not permitted to have any formal lessons until they had reached their fifth year, but the day after their fifth birthday is when Susanna taught them more formally in their home. She had them learn the alphabet on that first day. And they would be taught for six hours every day after that. 

     The children got a wonderful education, thanks to their mother. Daughters included, they all learned Latin and Greek and were well tutored in the classical studies of that time period. This was one powerful woman!

     But that’s not all! While Susanna’s husband was in debtor’s prison, a substitute priest led the worship services in his absence. Since he was not a very effective priest, Susanna resolved to have her own Sunday worship services for her family.

     When the locals heard that she was very good at leading these family worship services, they began attending these services in her home instead of the ones at the church. Over 200 people came to these services which were held in her kitchen, while the church would only have a handful of people on Sunday mornings.

     I think that there are many mothers out there who know a thing or two about power and what it means to use that power for good. Susanna Wesley certainly did!

     This is what the Apostle Paul wants each one of us to know from our Ephesians scripture reading this morning. We have been given God’s power and we are called to use this power to bless the people around us.

      The Apostle Paul wants us to know that through Christ, we have received the riches of his glorious inheritance! He wants us to know that through Christ, we have been given the immeasurable greatness of his power!

     When this letter was first read to the various churches located in the greater Ephesus area around the middle of the first century, it must have been mind boggling for these congregations to hear these words.  

     At the time they first heard this letter, they were living in or near a city which was a very powerful city, a city which was home to powerful Roman leaders, and a powerful pagan religion which used powerful displays of magic to impress its followers.

     This was the kind of city that would give a new religious movement like Christianity, an inferiority complex.  What power could this new religion possibly have?  Certainly not anything that can rival the glamour and prestige of a progressive major city that is adopting Roman culture and customs at a fast and furious pace.  

     In writing his letter for the churches located in or near the city of Ephesus, the Apostle Paul, is reminding these congregations that what they have been given in Jesus Christ puts them head and shoulders above anything their surrounding culture can ever hope to offer.

     Paul doesn’t want them to ever forget what they have received through Christ.  It’s an impressive list:  Wisdom, hope, a glorious inheritance, and power.

     Power.  Paul uses this word four times in this short passage of scripture.  Obviously, he wants the church to not only know about this power, but to live out this power through their ministry.

     Several years ago, I had lunch with a member of a rapidly growing church in Ohio. He told me the fascinating story of his church. He told me at that time that about five years ago, the church was going to close its doors because it had dwindled down to just a few members.

     Located in a strategic and growing area, over the past several years, this church had lost its vision and passion in reaching the people of its community. Just when they were about to close the church, a denominational official decided to give this church one more shot. 

     Over the past five years, this church has grown to over 500 people.  So, I asked this church member over lunch, “What’s the main reason why your church has turned things around in a short amount of time?”

     His eyes lit up and without even thinking about it, he said, “It’s because we pour ourselves out and share the love of Jesus in our community.”  

     And for the next sixty minutes he proceeded to tell me several ways that their church was pouring themselves out.  One of the ways they were pouring themselves out is by partnering with the local school district to help children and families in need. 

     After our lunch and on my way back to the church, I couldn’t get that phrase out of my mind.  “Poured out.”  I thought to myself, “That’s a great image for what the church is meant to be.”  We are to be poured out for the sake of the world.

     Out of curiosity, I did a google search to find this church’s website.  I clicked on their mission statement, and sure enough, here’s what it says:  “We are committed to building a church that is real, transformed, connected, and POURED OUT.” Poured out.

     No wonder he used that phrase over and over again.

     Ascension Sunday, it’s a Sunday in which the church remembers when Jesus ascended to be seated at the right hand of God forty days following his resurrection.  

     Ascension Sunday reminds us that when Jesus ascended, he literally ascended to his throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. This is kingly language that is being used here.

     The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus’ ascension in our Ephesians scripture passage this morning when he writes that God’s power was at work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

     But let’s remember the events which preceded this King’s ascension.  This King gave it all.  This King gave his life.  This King was “poured out” for the sake of the world.

     So, when we hear scriptures like this one from Ephesians which talk about power, we’re not just talking about any power.

    On this day, we are invited to remember what real power is.  

     Think about Jesus, the Son of God, being placed in a manger.  That’s power.  

     Think about Jesus telling the disciples to love their enemies and to do good to them.  That’s power.

     Think about Jesus hanging on a cross to take upon himself the sin and pain of the world.  That’s power.

     Think about the resurrected and ascended Jesus, now seated at the right hand of God, victorious over sin and death.  That’s power.

     Whenever the church pours itself out in the name of Christ for the sake of others, that’s a church that knows what real power is.

     Happy Ascension Sunday!

Sunday (May 12) Pastoral Prayer

May 12, 2024

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Loving God, as our hymn says, we offer to you our endless prayer so that your kingdom may be spread from shore to shore. We especially pray for our community and world where there is so much brokenness, pain and suffering. Thank you for pouring out your love through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

 

May the same power that enabled Jesus to ascend to your heavenly throne also empower our church to be poured out in sacrificial and loving ways.

 

Pour us out by loving others unconditionally. Pour us out by welcoming those who feel excluded. Pour us out by offering words of encouragement. Pour us out by helping us to be good listeners so that people feel heard and valued. Pour us out as we live out our membership vows in offering our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Pour us out by caring for the needy, visiting the lonely, and feeding the hungry.

 

We also lift up to you the people on our church’s prayer list and those prayers needs that are on our hearts and minds this day.

 

Thank you for the people in our lives who have poured out your love and have blessed us. On this Mothers’ Day, we give you thanks for our mothers who have given us life and love.

 

We pray for mothers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope.

 

We pray for women, though without children of their own, who like mothers have nurtured and cared for us.

 

We pray for mothers, who have been unable to be a source of strength, who have not responded to their children and have not sustained their families.

 

Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you watch over each and every one of us.

 

On this Ascension Sunday, we offer our eternal prayer that your kingdom will continue to be spread from shore to shore and that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray this in the name of our Ascended Lord who taught us to pray together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Sermon (May 5) “The Mexican Wave” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 5, 2024 Sermon

Rev. Robert McDowell

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

    Happy Cinco De Mayo! That’s about the extent of my Spanish speaking abilities. It means, “the 5^th of May” because on this day in 1862, Mexico defeated the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla which eventually led to the expulsion of French control. 

 

    In the United States, we tend to commemorate this day by celebrating Mexican culture especially in cities that have high Mexican American populations. Today is a good day to enjoy some Mexican food, hit a piñata and enjoy a nice siesta. 

 

    Knowing that today would be Cinco De Mayo, I ran across an interesting story about how “the Wave” got started. 

 

     The Wave is where a section of fans in one area of a sporting event stand up together while putting their arms in the air and then they sit down, which hopefully leads to the next section of fans doing the same until the wave makes it all around the stadium. And this can go on for several times around the stadium until it finally dies out. 

 

     The Wave phenomenon actually started at a sporting event in Mexico. It was first done in 1986 at the World Cup which Mexico was hosting.  The US didn’t qualify for that World Cup that year so there wasn’t as much media coverage. But it was at that World Cup in Mexico, where The Wave began. 

    

       We’ve all probably done the Wave at some point. And you have probably wondered why we don’t do it in church. Since today is Cinco De Mayo, let’s do the Mexican Wave this morning! 

 

     Excellent! Make sure you tell your friends that we’re a church that likes to have fun!

 

    I think the reason for the popularity of The Wave is that everyone gets to participate. Nobody is left out. It’s kind of like when fans sing together during the 7^th inning stretch. It’s a way of including everyone.

     Like The Wave at sporting events, the Bible is filled with stories of God calling on people to start The Wave in including more people in God’s all-embracing love.

    This morning’s Acts scripture reading is the tail end of a long story of God calling upon Peter to start The Wave by sharing the good news of Jesus with a man named Cornelius and his household. They were Gentiles who were considered to be outside of God’s covenant but were now invited to be included in God’s family through faith in Jesus. 

     God sent Peter a heavenly vision. And in this revelation, Peter saw heaven opened up and a large sheet came down in which there were several ritually unclean animals. He also heard a voice that said, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

     But Peter, reacting out of his understanding of what foods are clean and what foods are unclean, protested. At first, this vision made no sense to him because it would be a violation of his religious code of conduct. Everyone knows that certain foods are considered ritually unclean.

     But this voice from heaven persisted and offered him important new information to factor into his thinking. And this voice said, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

     And I think it’s important to note in this story that the voice said this to Peter three times. His old way of thinking was so embedded in him that God needed to repeat himself for Peter to be open to a new understanding of his faith. 

     Even with the repetitions, we are told that Peter was still greatly puzzled by the vision. Greatly puzzled. Sometimes, when we are greatly puzzled, that just might be an indication that we are getting closer and closer to a breakthrough in our faith.

     As Peter is greatly puzzled, we are told that some travelers had arrived at Peter’s house asking for Peter to come with them. They had been sent by Cornelius, a Gentile who lived in the non-Jewish city of Caesarea, the “unclean” city of Caesarea. And his vision was to have his men go to Joppa to bring Peter to see him. 

     Which brings us to our Acts scripture reading for today in which we just get the end of this story where Peter then realizes why God had sent him the vision of the unclean animals. That vision was to prepare him to see how the distinctions between clean and unclean were giving way to God’s inclusive welcome to all people, both Jew and Gentile.

    Thanks to God’s prompting, Peter was able to start a new wave that would welcome and include more and more people in God’s loving embrace. And like Peter, God prompts us again and again to be part of that wave in which more and more people are invited to be part of God’s family.

     Visions are power things. They are even able to break the stones of our long-held beliefs in order to be open to how God is doing a new thing. 

     With Mother’s Day just a week away, I have been thinking of my mom who passed away back in 2012. She was a woman of vision, a woman who always had room for people around our kitchen table. 

     When I was growing up on a farm in south central, Pennsylvania, it was not uncommon for mom and dad to invite people who were visiting us during the later afternoon to stay for dinner.

     When I refer to people, I specifically mean people like our insurance agent, the ice cream delivery man, the tax accountant, the neighbor down the road, the relative stopping by to say hi. As dinner was nearing, mom would always invite these folks to stay for dinner.

     I honestly think that these folks strategically timed their visits as close to our dinner time as possible because they knew that mom and dad would invite them to stay by pulling up an extra chair or two to the kitchen table. When mom would invite them to eat with us, they would always politely decline because they didn’t want to be much trouble. 

     But they always ended up staying because, how could you not with the aroma of roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans being prepared as they were chatting away. 

     Mom’s vision was for the people who stopped by our house to feel welcomed and included. I still have that vision of my parents there in our kitchen being so welcoming to people.

      It was a late July afternoon back in 2009 as I was standing on my second-floor hotel balcony looking down on the city streets of San Lucas Toliman in Guatemala.  

     I was with a mission team of fourteen people from my church who had gone there to work on a water project which would provide clean water to a small community located just outside of the city.

     Our team was exhausted from a long day of digging trenches under the hot Guatemalan sun.  Someone on my team, had awaken me from my pre-dinner nap and said, “Robert, come to the balcony.  You gotta see what Rock is doing!”

     Rock was a member of my church who was also a funeral director.  From our 2^nd floor balcony, he was playing a game with about twenty Guatemalan children who had gathered below.  

     Since he couldn’t speak Spanish and they couldn’t speak English, he had them playing a game in which they had to do exactly what he was doing which were often silly motions and gestures with his face and arms.

     They loved it and were laughing the whole time.  In just a few minutes, the twenty children turned into thirty children and from my balcony I yelled down to Rock, “Now what are you going to do for all these children?”  He shouted back up to me, “I’m going to go down to the store and buy candy to hand out to them.”

     And sure enough, that’s what he did.  The only problem was, as he was distributing the candy, those thirty children turned into forty children.   Rock became their new best friend!  

     Then, Rock got another idea.  He ended up forming a parade and had the children follow him up and down the polluted streets of this impoverished city as he whistled some silly song along the way.  By the time the impromptu parade ended, there must have been at least 50 to 60 children who had been following him.

      “Rock’s parade,” as we now refer to it, became one of the highlights of our mission trip. Rock started a small wave that ended up becoming a great big wave in which God’s love was shared with the people of that community. 

      I wonder what it would be like if we all saw ourselves as part of this great big wave where we are always welcoming, always inviting, always including, and always loving the people around us. Whenever we come forward to the Sacrament of Holy Communion, it is kind of like we are doing “The Wave.”

 

     This table with the bread and the cup is open to everyone, everyone:

 

     The nows and forevers and the yet-to-bes.

     The “where you going” and “the where you’ve been.”

     The living and the dead and the unseen.

     The somebodies and the nobodies.

     The who’s who and the Gentile and the Jew.

     Everyone is invited. All are welcome. So, let’s join Peter and Rock in keeping this wave and this parade going. Don’t let it fizzle out. Share the love of Jesus wherever you go.

     Happy Cinco De Mayo!