Sermon (February 1) “Count Your Blessings” by Rev. Robert McDowell

 February 1, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

    There will be a football game next Sunday...The winning team will receive the Vince Lombardi trophy which is created by Tiffany's of New York. The Super Bowl was watched by an estimated 128 million people last year.

 

     It is a contest of superlatives: the fastest, the strongest, the most powerful, the most determined. Besides the game there will be enticing  commercials which are usually unique and fun to watch.  The commercials are quite a display of all the things in the world that are said to bring us happiness:  cars, beverages, Doritos...

 

     It’s ironic that the designated Gospel reading for today is from Matthew 5 and is commonly called the Beatitudes, which mean blessing or happiness. What does bring us happiness?

 

     The disciples and others had gathered around Jesus to hear his message.  In Jesus' day as in ours, the marks of success were usually one's position in society, one's wealth, one's family, one's achievements.

 

     Happy are those who have, and especially those who have the most! These are the folks who are considered blessed, who are in the spotlight.

 

     Jesus however looks at his listeners and speaks of them being favored by God and he doesn't mention any of the usual terms of success. His list goes in a different direction because it deals with the heart and one's relationship with God and with others. 

    

     Words jump out at us: poor, meek, thirsty, grieving, persecuted, merciful, peace seeking, pure.

 

     Jesus is describing those who are part of his kingdom, those who are trying to follow him. This is their reality. This is our reality. He shares that God is with us whether our lives are empty or full. Even in brokenness, there can be blessing!

          

     Let's look at each of these 8 sayings: what is it like to participate in God's kingdom? What is in store for those who look to God for everything?

 

     A friend of mine shared an article about manor houses in England. (Think of Downton Abby) One house stood out among those featured. On the corridor walls were hung portraits of those who had been part of the estate.

 

     In this house, the portraits were of their servants. Through the years, generation to generation, the ones chosen to be honored were the ones who had served: the butlers, the maids, the gardeners.  The Beatitudes are the hall of fame for God's kingdom, portraits of those who serve God.

 

     As we look at the Beatitudes, are there ones that reflect your life?

 

-Honored  are the poor in spirit: There is good news for those who see the emptiness of their lives, and their need for grace. The people who know how frail they are and so they put their whole trust in God. They will not be disappointed.

 

-Honored are those who mourn: there is good news for those whose hearts are broken by their own loss and the tragedies of the world. In their vulnerability, they know their need for God and will in turn,  receive  strength, and deeper empathy for others.

 

-Favored are the meek: there is good news for those who realize who they are in God's eyes, who are unassuming and have humility that gives them power.

 

     Henri Nouwen, an author and professor taught at Yale and Harvard. He left teaching and went to be a part of the Daybreak Community near Toronto, Canada. The Community is made up of folks with mental and physical handicaps along with those folks who care for them. 

 

     Nouwen said that he experienced an identity crisis because people at Daybreak had not read his books, did not know his reputation or that he was famous. This forced him “to recognize his true identity.”  His accomplishments didn’t matter. What was important is that he could give and receive love as a child of God. 

 

-Honored are those who hunger for righteousness to prevail. There is good news for the one who yearns for suffering to end, and justice to come.

 

-Favored is the one who is merciful. There is good news for the one who sees what others see and feels what they feel and responds with mercy. You will find others will show mercy to you.

 

-Honored are those who are pure in heart. There is good news for those who are earnestly seeking to know God and to know themselves, who do the right things for the right reasons.

 

-Honored are those who are the peacemakers. There is good news for those who restore relationships between people. They are reuniting God's family.

 

-Favored are those who are persecuted: there is good news for those who are treated badly for doing good. Their dreams will come true.

 

     For the 1964 World's Fair in New York, an artist, Sister Mary Corita produced a banner which was 40 feet long and featured the Beatitudes. Amid all the advances of technology at the Fair including some of the first computers which were on display) her banner highlighted the joys of God's kingdom.

This is her translation which was written on the banner:

 

Happy are those who feel their spiritual need for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Happy are the gentle for the whole world belongs to them, Happy are those who hunger and thirst for what is right for they will be satisfied. Happy are those who show mercy for mercy will be shown to them. Happy are those who know what sorrow means for they will be given courage and comfort. Happy are the single-hearted for they will  see God. Happy are those who make peace for they will be known as the sons of God. Happy are those who have suffered persecution for the causes of goodness for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

 

     All of us have been invited to a party, not necessarily a Super Bowl party, but a party with all who have responded to Jesus’ call to come and follow him. The Beatitudes show us who said yes to the invitation. I hope that we find ourselves in that company of famous and unknowns, of timid and brave hearts.

 

     Barbara Lemmel is a United Methodist pastor and she tells of driving her son Micah who was 3 years old to day-care on day. Micah was studying his reflection in the mirror on the sun visor.

 

     She decided to play a game with him and asked, “Who’s in the mirror? “Is it Daddy?  Uncle John ? An elephant? Is it Jesus? You know whenever you look in a mirror you see Jesus a little bit. Jesus is always in you a little bit.”   

 

     Micah was silent as he pondered that. And then he said,“I need Jesus to be in me a lot.”

 

     I would join Micah in his evaluation of our human condition. Micah also captured the essence of each of the Beatitudes: when we have compassion, when we are humble, when we are merciful, when we are peacemaking, when we are grieving, when we are ridiculed, when we are desperate to know God in every facet of our lives - then we are reflections of Christ! Living the Beatitudes helps us see our true identity.

 

       I would also join Micah from our Old Testament reading this morning where the prophet sounds a lot like Jesus when he says, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

 

    Yes, there is a big football game next Sunday. If you do watch the Super Bowl, I hope you have some of your favorite snacks and that you enjoy the game. When the cheering is over, the pizza is gone, and the confetti falls on the winning team, remember that you can also count your blessings.

 

     These are the blessings that lead to the greatest honors and the deepest joys in this life, a life that is centered on being part of God’s kingdom here on earth.

 

     Blessed are you.

Sunday (February 1) Pastoral Prayer

February 1, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

Gracious God, thank you for including us in your family. We are blessed to be your children and to know that we belong to you.

Whenever we are feeling down and discouraged, remind us that this is when we can be filled the most with your grace and your love. Thank you for having a special place in your heart for the least, the last, and the lost. With you, we have everything we need.

 

We especially pray this morning for those who are in need of your healing, your comfort, your guidance, your mercy, and your peace. Bless those who are on our prayer list as well as others who are on our hearts and minds.

 

And thank you for the many blessings in our lives, many of which we often take for granted like being able to be here in worship this morning. We truly do have more blessings from you than we often realize.

 

And maybe this is why you gave us The Lord’s Prayer to say because it reminds us of the many gifts you offer to us, our daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from all that would keep us from being the people you have called us to be.

 

With grateful hearts, we now pray this prayer that Jesus taught us to say.

 

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 (January 25) “United with a Common Purpose” by Rev. Robert McDowell

January 25, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

   In one of the churches I pastored, they had a wall dedicated to the many pastors who served in that church over their 200 plus year history. And since I love history, I would often take time to look at those framed pictures of pastors over the years.

     One of the things I discovered about professional photography was that it wasn’t until the 1950s that people started to smile for pictures. In the late 1800s, there was a preacher who looked really mean. I would take the confirmation class to look at that picture and then ask them, “how would you have liked this guy for your pastor?”

     One of the pastors of that church that people liked to point out was the father of Norman Vincent Peal who became known for writing the book, The Power of Positive Thinking. Sometimes church members would point out to me their favorite pastor on that wall. I wonder what people might be saying about my picture. Or maybe not.

     I served a church where people inside the church as well as outside the church said how much they loved a pastor who was there in the 1970s. People mentioned him during church meetings, when I visited shut-ins, and in casual conversations.

     One of the leading members in the community who wasn’t a member of the church said to me at a community event how much he loved this pastor because he had officiated at their wedding when he was here. It almost became comical how many times people would say to me how much they liked him. The other funny thing about this is that he’s a good friend of mine and while I was the pastor there, he was always very supportive of my ministry.

     But I did run into one long-time church member who didn’t like him, and she wasn’t shy in telling me why she didn’t like him whenever his name was mentioned. But still. A 99.9% favorable rating is pretty good!

     There is nothing wrong with being drawn to a particular pastor or leader in the church. The problem is when we forget to keep our main focus on Jesus Christ and the shared mission of the church which is that we are all called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

     Which brings me to our appointed I Corinthians scripture reading today. The Apostle Paul wrote this first letter to the Church in Corinth because they were so caught up with their favorite Apostle and Christian leader that they weren’t focused on their common mission which was to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

    When a church keeps their focus on that mission, there is not only unity, but there is also vitality.  

     I remember talking to a church staff member who was telling me about a live nativity that they hosted on their church grounds a week before Christmas.  I said, “How did it go?”  And he said, “Oh, it was great.  We had over 400 people from our community come to see it.”  And then he said something that was very telling of so many of our churches. 

     He said, “I’ve been on staff here for over fifteen years and this is the first time in my fifteen years that this church has really come together to share the love of Jesus Christ with our community.  We’ve always had one group do this, and another group do this ministry, but we’ve always looked at each other with suspicion.  It was a great feeling to see the people of the church come together for a common purpose.”

     It doesn’t sound like the Church in Corinth could have pulled off what my friend was describing to me. In today’s reading from I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul addresses their cliques which were preventing them from having a common purpose.  

     There are a lot of reasons that there are cliques in the church. Some are because of long-time members not wanting to hear the concerns and ideas of newer members. Others are related to theological differences within the church. Some can be related to strong political views. And then there’s First Corinthian Church that had cliques based on their favorite Apostles and preachers.

     In today’s scripture reading, Paul ends up giving us a list of celebrity preachers that had some connection with the Corinthian Church.  The problem was that the people started to break off into cliques based on which Apostle baptized them, or which preacher helped them to grow in their faith.

     Paul himself was one of those celebrity preachers.  Paul was an Apostle which is a title that is only given to someone who had seen Jesus in his resurrected body which he did when he was on his way to persecute Christians. This led him to become a believer in Jesus which then led him to go on missionary journeys to establish churches all across the Roman Empire including the Church in Corinth.

     And so, we have the Apostle Paul who had a connection with the Corinthians. And we also have the Apostle Peter.  I mean, think of the celebrity status of Peter. It was Peter, who was given the name “rock” by Jesus.  And he was also the one who walked on water.  How incredible it would be to slip that into a conversation, not that he did, but people would have known this about him.

     The third name that Paul mentions is Apollos.  We learn more about Apollos in Acts 18.  We are told that he was eloquent and well versed in the scriptures.  In his modern paraphrase, Eugene Peterson says that Apollos was a terrific speaker.

     We are drawn to terrific keynote speakers. I can see why Apollos was put on a pedestal. Speaking of eloquent preachers, one of the early church Fathers during the 4th century was John Chrysostom. The people of his time said that he was such a great preacher, that people gave him the nickname, “Golden Tongue.” He is one of the most celebrated preachers in all of church history. What a great nickname for a preacher! Golden Tongue!

     Here’s a story about one of my favorite preachers. When I was in college, I listened to a cassette tape of a sermon that had been given by Dr. Myron Augsburger and that sermon literally led me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.  If I wouldn’t have listened to that tape, I probably wouldn’t be here today. 

     I must have listened to that tape about 30 times.  At one point in that sermon, he talked about the social issue of nuclear proliferation, a big topic in the 70s and 80s. 

     In that sermon, he referred to the nuclear arms race by saying, “there’s no morality in a mushroom cloud.”  What a powerful line! “There’s no morality in a mushroom cloud.” Just doesn’t have the same impact when I say it.

    Whether it’s Apollos or Myron Augusburger, I can see how it can be really easy to form a clique around a particular person who has had a positive impact on our life.

     Several year ago, I read about a United Methodist church in Wisconsin which started to experience rapid growth after a long history of decline. 

     I remember thinking to myself, that there must be a dynamic pastor behind all of this.  I asked somebody who had visited this church what he knew of the pastor who was part of all of this growth, and he said, “I heard him preach and for a church that is rapidly growing, he really isn’t that dynamic of a speaker.  In fact, when he preaches, he has an annoying twitch. It takes a while to get used to that when you listen to him.”

     This preacher might not be known as Golden Tongue, but when you read their church’s mission statement, you can see why they are growing as a church.  Their mission is,“Christ Before Us in All We Do. “Christ Before Us in All We Do.”  Not Paul, not Cephas, not Apollos.  “Christ before us in all we do.”

     Back to our Corinthians reading. After naming all of these celebrity preachers, Paul gets tough.  He says, “Each of you says, I belong to this famous person, or I belong to this person.  And then he asks these rhetorical questions to drive his point home. “Has Christ been divided?  Or was I crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in my name?”

     And then he says, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom (are you listening to this, Apollos fan club?), and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.”

     Paul isn’t against good preaching, and he’s not against baptisms, and he’s not against people who have been gifted with eloquent wisdom. He’s saying that’s not their problem. Their problem is that they are focusing more on that than the unity of the church.  And the only way to have unity in the church is to keep our 100% focus on Jesus Christ and the mission he has given us. 

     John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once said, ‘I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.”

     It’s amazing how much we can do together when we are unified under a common purpose and when we keep our total focus on Jesus Christ.

     16th century, Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther was known to emphasize the phrase, “The Priesthood of All Believers.”  We are all priests to one another and to the people of our community.  We are all priests called forth to move beyond our cliques for the sake of a much higher calling. 

     Oh, by he way. About a year after I had first listened to that tape by Dr. Myron Augsburger.  That tape that changed my life.  That tape that led me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.  I heard that he would be speaking at a nearby college about 45 minutes from my home.   And I eagerly went to hear him with the hope that I would be able to speak with him in person to let him know what a difference he made in my life.

     He ends his lecture.  I push my way through the crowd of students and faculty members of this college and I finally make it to him and I say, “Dr. Augsburger, I just want you to know that you were a big part of helping me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ.”

     I’m not sure what I wanted him to say in response, but I didn’t expect this. He looked at me, and with a gentle smile, all he said to me was, “Ok.”

    That was kind of a let down! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that was the best response he could have given me in that moment.

    Maybe it was God’s subtle way of telling me to not focus so much on this eloquent preacher, but to keep my focus on the power of the cross, as Paul says in our scripture reading. It is when our focus is on the power of the cross that we can be the unified people God is calling us to be.

     Or like that one church puts it, “Christ before us in all we do.”

Sunday (January 25) Pastoral Prayer

January 25, 2026

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

O God, thank you for the opportunity we have every week to gather and say the same prayers, sing the same hymns, hear the same scriptures, receive the same benediction, and then go out to share the same good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

 

We long for this unity especially in a culture that will often seek to divide us into competing political parties, denominations, and attach us with all kinds of labels.  Thank you that in the midst of our many differences, we can all be one in you.

 

We especially feel unified whenever we come to this time of the worship service where we offer our collective prayers to you for people on our prayer list, for people we have shared out loud, for any unspoken prayer needs, and for this world that you love so much.

 

Whenever we feel splintered or divided, remind us of our common purpose which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. May we all work together in being the people you have called us to be.

 

And now unite us as we pray this prayer that you taught your disciples and now invite 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.