Sermon (May 25) “A Purple Heart” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 25, 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

      I read a story about the first woman to receive the Purple Heart award, and it seems appropriate to share with you on this Memorial Day Weekend. Her name was Army Lieutenant Annie G. Fox.

     She received this prestigious military award in 1942. She was recognized for her heroic actions that were taken during the December 7 Pearl Harbor attack a year earlier.

     During the Japanese attack, she remained calm and successfully directed the hospital staff under her care to tend to the wounded who were brought in from the harbor.

     More specifically, “she administered anesthesia to patients during the heaviest part of the bombardment, assisted in dressing the wounded, taught civilian volunteer nurses to make dressings, and worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency, and her fine example of calmness, courage and leadership was of great benefit to the morale of all with whom she came in contact…”

     The color of this award is purple because it’s a color that is traditionally associated with courage, bravery, and sacrifice.

     I know it’s not the same thing, but in today’s Acts scripture reading, we read about another woman who demonstrated courage and sacrifice. Her name was Lydia.

     We are told that she was a business woman who made and sold very valuable purple cloth to people in the greater Greco/Roman world. We are also told from our reading that she was someone who had an open heart. And because of this, I like to think of Lydia as being someone who had a Purple Heart.

     Here’s why. Lydia became the very first person on the continent of Europe to become a follower of Jesus. The very first one!

     And after she and her household were baptized into the Christian faith, she immediately offered her home and her resources to the Apostle Paul so that he would be able to have a base of operations in sharing the good news of Jesus. Without Lydia’s open heart, Paul would not have been able to continue in his missionary journey.

     Lydia’s sacrificial spirit is what Paul desperately needed especially since just before this story, we read how Paul had been turned away again and again from continuing to share the good news of Jesus to the wider world.

     This story reminds us that even though we will face obstacles and challenges in living out our faith, God has a way of putting the right people along our path who will help us to continue to move forward.

     What makes this story even more amazing is that Lydia wasn’t even Jewish. She was a Gentile who had a curiosity about the Jewish faith which is why she and some other women had gathered by the river on the Sabbath. They had gathered to pray. Our scripture reading even refers to that area by the river as a place of prayer.

     Think about all that Lydia was risking in becoming a follower of Jesus. By all indications, she was well off because she was a dealer in the much sought after purple cloths. In that time period, only the wealthy including Roman senators would have been able to purchase this very expensive cloth.

     There would have been absolutely no social advantage for this successful business woman to be associated with this new and strange movement called Christianity, not to mention her curiosity with the Jewish faith, since both were considered to be fringe movements in the Roman Empire during that time.

     And yet, when Paul shared the good news of Jesus with her, she was willing to not only be baptized and become a Christian, but to go all in by offering her home and her livelihood in any way she could.

     Lydia truly had a Purple Heart!  

     I’m sure you can think of some key people in your life, who like Lydia, were people of Purple Hearts, people who just when you were thinking all hope was lost, and you were facing yet another dead end, enabled you to keep moving forward.

     Yesterday marked the 287th anniversary of John Wesley’s heart-warming experience in London, England. Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement of which we are heirs today, said on that day during a prayer meeting that he was attending, “I felt my heart strangely warmed.” He said this because he knew in that moment without a doubt that his sins were forgiven, and he belonged to Christ.

     This is why Methodists are known as people of warm hearts, because of this wonderful gift of assurance that Wesley had been missing in his life and was now just receiving. Even though he had preached about the good news of Christ many times, he had never experienced this assurance of faith himself.

     But what is sometimes forgotten about Wesley’s famous quote are the events that led up to that heart-warming experience.

     For the past several years, Wesley was feeling spiritually empty inside. Even though he had been busy preaching and organizing class meetings to help reform the Church of England, he was struggling with his own relationship with God.

 

     In 1735, three years before his heart-warming experience, Wesley led a missionary group to Georgia here in the new world with the goal of converting the Native Americans to the Christian faith. Wesley and his group failed to convert anyone during that trip.

     In his journal about his frustrating experience in America, Wesley writes, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but who shall convert me?”

     While on a ship back to England, the Atlantic storms frightened him. And during those storms he noticed this strange group of people who were known as Moravian Christians who didn’t seem afraid at all.

     During those storms, they sang hymns and prayed; men, women, and children, they all were undaunted by those storms. They seemed to have full confidence in God and were not fearful of death because they knew that they belonged to Christ as the scriptures remind us.

     That voyage on the way back to England helped Wesley to see what was missing in his life. An assurance of God’s love. An assurance of God’s forgiveness. An assurance of God’s peace.

     Like Lydia in our scripture reading today, those Moravians had Purple Hearts, hearts that were open to God, hearts that by their example would lead this troubled Anglican Priest to have his own heart-warming experience, not too long after arriving back to England.

     We are a people of warm hearts but we are also a people of Purple Hearts.

     I don’t know that Lydia knew at the time that she was being courageous and sacrificial when she offered her home and her resources to help Paul continue his missionary journey.

 

     I think she was so overwhelmed with her own newfound faith in Christ, that she was willing to do whatever was needed so that others might come to know Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and offers us salvation, peace, joy, hope, and new life.

     Maybe you have noticed some Lydias along the way, people whose hearts are open toward others and who share whatever resources they have in sowing seeds of faith along the way.

     Several years ago, I was attending a school event when I noticed a woman who was cleaning up the leftover trash from the students who had just left the school cafeteria.

     And as she was spraying the tables and wiping them down, she said to me, "Pastor, I'm a Christian. And I know that I'm not supposed to force my faith on any of these students. That's why I simply try to sow some seeds of my faith here and there with these kids. They call me 'grandma' around here because of my age and I think they feel that they can talk to me if they're having a problem."

     "God bless you," I said to her as I was leaving the cafeteria. And as I drove home from the school, I thanked God for the people he places throughout our schools and communities who like that woman at the school sow seeds of faith in loving and caring ways.

     There are Purple Hearts all around us who are sowing seeds of faith and hope. You might not realize it, but I’m here to remind you that the seeds that you are sowing for God’s kingdom really do make a difference.

     Offering encouragement to a neighbor. Sending a get-well card just to let that person know that they have been in your prayers. Placing an offering in the plate on Sunday morning. Putting up another creative message on our church’s front sign. Visiting that person you haven’t seen in a while.

     Like Lydia, who opened her heart and offered her resources so that the mission of the church would be able to continue, may each one of us have open hearts in the offering our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.

     May we each have a Purple Heart faith.

Sunday (May 25/Memorial Day Weekend) Pastoral Prayer

Sunday, May 25, 2025 (Memorial Day Weekend)

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Gracious God, like Lydia from our scripture reading today, help us to have open hearts in which we faithfully offer our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness to strengthen the ministries of the church.

 

Like John Wesley, help us to have warm hearts because we have a full assurance that our sins are forgiven and that nothing can ever separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

And like Army Lieutenant Annie G. Fox, help us to have Purple Hearts where we help to make our nation and world a better place.  

 

On this Memorial Day weekend, we give you thanks for all of those who have served in the armed forces. We thank you for their sacrifice, their willingness to serve, their bravery, and their pursuit of freedom throughout the world.

 

Today, we also lift up to you people who are on our hearts and minds. May your guiding, comforting, healing, and gracious presence be with each of these persons this day.

 

Thank you for people along our faith journey who like Lydia, have helped us to grow in a closer relationship with you. Without their encouragement, wisdom, patience, sacrifice, and love, we would not be where we are today. We are so blessed because of them.

 

And just as our prayer hymn says, we offer our promise to serve thee to the end. May the offering of our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness be a blessing to others.

 

We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Master and our friend 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 18) “One Small Step” by Rev. Robert McDowell

May 18, 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     On a very cold winter day several years ago, I was driving on Interstate 75 in northwest, Ohio when I saw a sign for a McDonalds at the Wapakoneta exit and I thought, “A nice hot cup of coffee sounds pretty good right now.”

     So, I get off at the exit and turn into the McDonald’s parking lot.  And on a wall inside this particular McDonalds’, I notice a New York Times newspaper that was dated July 21, 1969 and was proudly displayed.

     And the headline reads, “Men Walk on Moon.”  I was standing in the hometown of Neil Armstrong who was the first person to step on the moon and the one who said what has become one of the most famous quotes of all time, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” 

     Before buying my coffee, I just stood there, reading this article about this world changing event, perhaps one of the most incredible events of our modern era and just thinking how that event has shaped our thinking. 

     It’s not uncommon to hear people say, “If we can send a man to the moon, we can certainly…(and from there you can fill in the blank.)  “End world hunger.  End homelessness.  Stop crime and violence.  Make Kale taste good.” 

     OK.  Maybe some things are beyond our reach.

     I was only six years old when Neil Armstrong made history on that summer day in 1969, but whenever I look at a full moon now, I can’t help but to be in awe of that remarkable event. 

     As I left that McDonald’s restaurant on that cold and chilly day, I came away inspired by how one small step made such a big difference in our way of thinking.

     Two thousand years before Neil Armstrong made history on that mid summer day, another man is about to take a small step which will literally change the world.  We know him as the Apostle Peter from our scripture passage this morning, who earlier that day was given a vision from God to begin breaking down the barriers that had existed between people of the Jewish faith and people who were outside the Jewish faith. 

     And because Peter obeyed the vision that God had given him to go to a pagan city and to the home of a family outside of the Jewish faith, Peter’s one small step into this home, led to an entire family receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  But unlike Neil Armstrong, Peter will not come back to a hero’s welcome where he will find a plaque commemorating this historic event.

      When Peter arrives home, everyone is up in arms at First Jerusalem Church.  News had already gotten back to them that people outside of the Jewish faith were now joining the church.  They can’t help but to notice all the new faces in their most recent pictorial directory, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, except that a lot of these last names are pagan names like “McDowell,” “Frick,” and “Lever.”

     “These new people don’t know Moses from Adam.  How did they ever manage to join the church?”

     This is what Peter is facing when he arrives back following his historic mission. 

     And all Peter could tell them was that he had been given a vision from God.  And the vision was a large sheet that had been lowered from the sky containing all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds which were considered ritually unclean.  And this sheet which contained all of these creatures had landed uncomfortably close to Peter there on the ground.

     And that’s when Peter heard a voice, “Get up Peter, kill and eat.”  At first Peter refused because he had always followed the rules of his faith, but the voice kept saying, “What God has made clean, Peter, you must not call profane.”

     And after Peter heard this voice, the sheet disappeared and standing in front of him were three men who had been sent from Caesarea to find Peter and take him to the home of Cornelius and his non-Jewish family. 

     After Peter finished telling his story of how this entire family had become part of their church family through Jesus Christ, the leaders at First Jerusalem Church were speechless.  And then it began to dawn on them that because of Peter’s small step, God’s salvation through Jesus Christ was being offered to the entire world. 

     One of the biggest highlights of my life was when I had the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land and visit the area where the city of Caesarea was located during the time of Peter. It’s right along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and it was a picture perfect day with blue skies as I stood in that historic area with a friend.

     Our tour guide talked about this same story from the Book of Acts and he said that without Peter’s faithfulness to the vision that had been given him, the church would have very easily kept their faith in Jesus Christ to themselves and within their own Jewish faith.  But because of this story, people with last names like McDowell, Frick, and Lever are invited to become part of God’s covenant family.

     And when our guide shared this scripture with us, he had us look out at the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and he encouraged us to not keep the Christian faith to ourselves, but to share it with the entire world, just as Peter did in the city of Caesarea and just as the Apostle Paul would later do by going all the way to Rome with the Gospel.

     Have you ever noticed how bold and audacious our church’s mission statement is?  “To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  In other words, our mission as a church will not be completed until that day when the entire world will reflect the love and goodness of the God of all creation. 

     I don’t know about you, but sometimes, just the little town where I live seems monumental to me.  And then you think about the entire county, and you wonder, if we can’t even take care of our own back yard, how in heaven’s name will we be able to change the world?  Peter reminds us that God’s transforming love happens when we focus on taking the small steps.

     This morning, I’d like to think about some small steps that we can take to make a difference in our world.

     The first small step is probably the most obvious small step, but without it, we can’t really even begin to talk about the others.  The first small step is for each of us to ask ourselves, “Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”

     Peter was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus.  And not only was Peter one of Jesus’ disciples, but he was also an eyewitness of Jesus following his resurrection.  Peter saw Jesus in his resurrected body and knew that Jesus was the embodiment of God. He knew that through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus that he was the fulfillment of the covenant that God had made centuries earlier with Abraham and Sarah.

     Peter had taken that small step of being a disciple of Jesus.  Being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t mean that we’re perfect or that we are all of the sudden given a halo to wear around our head.  Remember, it was Peter who often struggled to be faithful to Christ and who had denied Jesus three times. 

     Being a disciple of Jesus doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and have doubts.  It means that we have placed our faith in the one who promises to walk with us every step that we take.

     The second small step is to begin to break down barriers that separate people.  We live in a barrier oriented world where we have Liberals and Conservatives, Methodists and Baptists, Young and Old, Public School and Home School.  We have all of these labels that it’s amazing that there’s any sense at all that we can say we have something in common.

     A couple of months ago, a local donut shop owner put a post on Facebook because he was saddened by the divisions he sees happening, not just in our country, but also in our local area. And he encouraged everyone to just be nice to each other and focus on what we have in common. And then like a donut shop owner, he ended his Facebook message by saying, “love each other and eat donuts.” I couldn’t have said it any better!

     Brian McLaren is a Christian speaker and the title of one his books is entitled, A Generous Orthodoxy.  I have never seen a longer subtitle for a book in my life.  Here’s the subtitle of this book. 

     “Why I am a missional, evangelical, post-protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed yet hopeful, emergent, and unfinished Christian.”

     How’s that for a subtitle?  Even just the title of this book covers most of the barriers that we so often find in the Christian faith.

     In order for Peter to take his small step inside a pagan home, he first needed to set aside his own agenda in order to take on God’s agenda of extending God’s gift of salvation to the larger world.

     What small step might you take this week to break down a barrier that divides people from one another?

     And here’s a third small step God may be calling you and me to make this week.  Sharing our faith with others. And by sharing our faith, I don’t mean that we go door to door handing out religious tracks. I’m talking about just sharing with others how we have experience God’s presence in our lives.

     It might be sharing about a time when God answered your prayer when you were facing a challenging time in your life. Or maybe it was when you called a friend out of the blue just to see how they are doing, and it ended up being perfect timing because that was a moment that they needed some encouragement. And after that call, you knew deep down inside, that it was more than a coincidence. It was a God moment.

     When we share our God moments with others, they are then drawn in to how God might be at work in their lives as well.

     What small step is God calling you to take in sharing your faith with others?

     As a parent, I can remember how excited Penny and I were when our kids took their very first step.  We called our families long distance to tell them the good news and we made a big deal about that one small step.

     I just want you to know that every time you or I take one small step in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or breaking down a barrier that separates people, or sharing our God moments with others, God is overjoyed, and heaven celebrates.  Who knows how your one small step will change your life or the life of another person? 

     Your small step might not get you on a plaque in a McDonald’s restaurant.  But that one small step along with my small step, eventually, just might transform the world.