Sermon 7/18/04
Before I start the Morning Prayer, I wanted to share a little something that happened after last week’s service. A few of us were talking about the candles and the trouble that we have been having the last two weeks, when the question came up about what the thing is called that we light the candles with. No one was quite sure, so I went home and did a lot of research, looking for the 1 name that this instrument would have. I exhausted all my research material and went on the Internet to search further.
Well, I found out what it’s called. Are you ready? If anyone needs, I will spell it for you. It’s called a candle lighter. Now, we have the fancy one that is called a candle lighter / snuffer.
But actually, I was sitting up here last week thinking about the trouble that Art Frey had the previous week getting the candles lit. And then the trouble Paula had last week getting the candles to stay lit. I watched as the one candle that was lit, slowly went out before the service got very far.
I asked around to a number of pastors, priests and other people about what the candles represented. I got back some interesting answers. One was that the lighting of the candles was a continuation of old Jewish tradition. Some say the candles represent the sacrifices that the early Jews would offer up to God (often burnt sacrifices). There are a number of different reasons for candles based on different denominations. But, like the fancy name for the thing we use to light the candles, the first, basic reason for lighting candles in the church was for light.
One of the explanations I heard was that the lighting of the candles for United Methodist was the sending of the first prayer in preparation for worship and a symbol for carrying all subsequent prayers to the Lord. I liked this one.
I had always heard that the candles represent the presence of the Holy Spirit and signify our time to worship God. One week we have trouble getting them lit, the next week we can’t keep them lit. I asked God why. I wondered what was going on. Are we chasing the Holy Spirit out of this church, or are we forgetting how and when to pray? I hope not. As a church, are we in pain? I would think so. Is there something or someone trying to keep prayer and the Holy Spirit at arms length? I don’t know.
As we pray this morning, I am going to pause as usual for silent prayer. I am going to ask each and every one of you to include a prayer for this church in your silent prayer. Pray that the Holy Spirit comes alive in this church. Pray that we continue to pray and ask God for guidance. Then pray that we will listen for His words. Pray that we will all welcome the Holy Spirit with open arms and open hearts. Pray with me.
This morning, dear Lord, we will lift our voices and hearts up to You with a single purpose, united in love to ask for the power of Your Holy Spirit and the power of prayer to flame up again in this church. We ask for your blessing as we open our hearts to hear your message and strive to live a life that is pleasing to you. When you sent Your Son here to teach and show us the way, He promised to leave behind a helper, to lead and strengthen us when we were in need. That helper is the Holy Spirit. We are in need. Hear us as we lift up our prayers as a single body in silence to you O Lord . . . . . And for ourselves, dear God, please hear us as we pray the prayer that you have taught us . . . Our Father . . ..
This is a Bible. It is not a history book. It is not a collection of short stories. It is the Word of God. It is one of the ways the Lord uses to communicate with us. God inspired what was written thousands of years ago and He intended it to be used today to study and learn. These are truly lessons for today. This is our Instruction Book.
Our Old Testament Scripture for this morning is:
Amos 8:1-12 (NLT)
Then the Sovereign LORD showed me another vision. In it I saw a basket filled with ripe fruit. 2"What do you see, Amos?" he asked.
I replied, "A basket full of ripe fruit."
Then the LORD said, "This fruit represents my people of Israel—ripe for punishment! I will not delay their punishment again. 3In that day the riotous sounds of singing in the Temple will turn to wailing. Dead bodies will be scattered everywhere. They will be carried out of the city in silence. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"
4Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample the needy! 5You can't wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out your grain in false measures and weigh it out on dishonest scales. 6And you mix the wheat you sell with chaff swept from the floor! Then you enslave poor people for a debt of one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.
7Now the LORD has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel: "I will never forget the wicked things you have done! 8The earth will tremble for your deeds, and everyone will mourn. The land will rise up like the Nile River at floodtime, toss about, and sink again. 9At that time," says the Sovereign LORD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth while it is still day. 10I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning, and your songs of joy will be turned to weeping. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads as signs of sorrow, as if your only son had died. How very bitter that day will be! 11"The time is surely coming," says the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the LORD.
12People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the LORD, running here and going there, but they will not find it.
This ends the reading of the Old Testament Scripture for this morning. May God add His blessing on the Word.
Typically, I like to talk more on the New Testament Scriptures, but in preparing for this morning, I kept coming back to this passage. I started to wonder how ripe we are. Last week we talked about how patient God is, but that He would not hold back punishment forever. He warned the people to straighten out or to receive what they had coming to them. Is our time for punishment here?
Amos tells us that instead of standing here singing songs of joy that we will be crying. Crying to God to help us and not punish us, but it will be too late. He talks of those that rob from the poor.
Do we ever rob from the poor? Of course not! Who would do such a thing? And do we ever cheat the helpless? No way!
Or do we? Who are the poor and who are the helpless? There are many of us sitting here this morning who feel poor and who feel helpless. Today, we will generally treat each other with some kindness and understanding, but, like Amos says, we cannot wait until today is over and we can get back to being our real selves. We can’t wait until tomorrow when we can sneak our thumb on the scale in order to get a little more of what we want.
For some of us, that little more of what we want may be money. We slip our thumb on the scale in order to get a little more money for the things we sell or the services we give. We can usually justify why we need the extra money. We can come up with reasons to cheat just a little.
For some of us, that little more of what we want may be power. We put our thumb on the scales in order to tip them a little more to our way of thinking. We exert a little pressure so that things will go our way. And we can truly justify the reason for tipping the scale. After all our way is surely the right way.
For some of us, that little more of what we want may be prestige and recognition. By pressing just a little with our thumb on the measuring scale, we can exaggerate or embellish our reputations just a little, just enough to give us that extra little bit of recognition that we truly deserve.
And, if we are really honest with ourselves, we would be able to find many other areas where we slip our thumbs on the scale. We would be able to find other areas where we cheat just a little. Oh, we may not be cheating to the extent that Amos was talking about, but cheating is cheating. A little, white lie is a lie. A little sin is a sin.
And God said that He would never forget the evil we do. Now for Israel that meant a great devastation and even death. But God winds up by saying that after all this destruction; there will come a time when there will be a famine. And this famine will not be of bread and water, but will be a famine of hearing the words and the voice of the Lord.
And this is why I got hung up on the Old Testament Scripture. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord. . . . And, then the Scripture continued in verse 12 saying, People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the LORD, running here and going there, but they will not find it.
This was the part God wanted us to hear this morning. No matter what our motives and no matter how well we justify things, if we cheat, even a little, we must be aware of what God is telling us.
Everyone sitting here looks forward to the time when our earthly life is done and we get to join our Lord in Heaven. We get to go to that land where there is an ultimate peace, where there are no more poor and no more helpless; a place where there is nothing but love and fellowship and where there is no hurt, no pain, no longing and no loneliness; the land of milk and honey. We long for that day.
But God tells us to be careful. He will not withhold punishment forever. If we cheat once, it becomes a little easier to cheat the second and third time and before we know it, we are cheating all the time. Listen again to what God says could happen to us in verse 12 . . . You will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the Lord, running here and going there, but you will not find it.
You see God is not talking about the end times when judgment day comes. He is talking about now, today when we could be punished here on earth, for all the things we do. That day may be today, or tomorrow, or next week or next year. And we do not know what that punishment will be. It will be different for all of us who continue to cheat. But that day does not have to come. If we acknowledge that we cheat and go the Son of God and confess our cheating and ask for help to stop cheating, that day will not come when we search for the Lord, but will not be able to find Him.
Imagine God, sitting up there watching us day after day. Don’t you think there are days when God weeps at what we do? Don’t you think there are days when God bleeds for what we say? How long do you think God will wait?
I came across this song while trying to put together what to say this morning. It is called God Weeps. The words go like this:
"God weeps at love withheld;
at strength misused,
at children's innocence abused,
and till we change the way we love,
God weeps."
"God bleeds at anger's fist,
at trust betrayed,
at women battered and afraid,
and till we change the way we win,
God bleeds."
"God cries at hungry mouths,
at running sores,
at creatures dying without cause,
and till we change the way we care,
God cries."
"God waits for stones to melt,
for peace to seed,
for hearts to hold each other's need,
and till we understand the Christ,
God waits."
No one in a lifetime has been so spurned, so misunderstood, so much hated without cause, as God is every moment of every day by millions of people, each of whom he loves more than we could conceive. No one is touched as deeply by humanity’s anguish as its Creator. No one is as aware of suffering humanity as God is, and no one loves with the intensity that God loves. And your pain intensifies his pain.
He is a patient God. Throughout the thousands of years covered in the Old Testament, He has waited. He continues to wait today. But He has been forced to deal out punishments along the way. He is a loving God, for why else would He wait? He is a forgiving God, for why else would He have sent His Son to die for us?
But, we must make the move. We must strive to follow the example of the Son. Remember, while cheating begets more cheating, doing good, begets more good. It is our choice. He will wait, but not forever.
So, when you think of that land of milk and honey, that place where we all want to meet, think about how you would feel if God turned His back on you and you were not able to find Him again, no matter where you searched, no matter how far you traveled.
=== Pause
Now, I know we all want to be more like Jesus and we all really do try. And I know how hard it is. Been there, done that, do it even today. We are all torn between sitting at the feet of Jesus and providing for our families or searching for happiness or trying to set aside a little nest egg for retirement or making sure our kids have what they need or taking care of the grandchildren or so many other, worthwhile things.
Remember when I began today, I said that the Bible gives us lessons that pertain to today? This following Scripture is the one that I wanted to preach on today, but God had other plans. There is a point I want to make about it that struck me as I was working through Amos. The passage is from:
Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. 39Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. 40But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me."
41But the Lord said to her, "My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! 42There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it—and I won't take it away from her."
There have been many, many explanations and theories about this story of Martha and Mary. We know that every church needs the Martha’s of the world as well as the Mary’s. But, when I looked at this passage this week, there was something new that jumped out at me. I realized that each one of us has a little of Martha and a little of Mary inside us.
As we sit here today, worshiping the Lord, we are like Mary. We are here to listen to whatever the Lord lays on our hearts. We are here to learn what God has in store for us. We are here sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Something I discovered when doing research for today’s lesson was that if we take the original Greek words and translate them carefully, we find that Martha was torn between serving the worldly needs of Christ and His disciples and sitting at His feet also, to bask in His love and learn from the ultimate teacher. In subsequent stories of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, we know that Jesus loved them all. He did not hold Mary above Martha. He did not chastise Martha for serving his worldly needs. He simply pointed out that Mary was worshiping at that moment and that He did not want to stop her.
All through the week we are Martha. We are torn everyday between doing worldly things and doing Godly things. We need to work in order to eat and provide a place to live and survive. So we feel we have to balance out the earthly and the Godly and hope we choose the right mix. After all, we cannot all give up working and wander the world teaching about Christ everyday of our lives, can we? If nothing else, someone would have to farm in order for there to be food to eat, right?
What we lose sight of here is the fact that we can do both, we can do those worldly things through the love of Christ. We can teach and share the love of Christ with every one we encounter in our work place, in our community, in our organizations and in our families. And we can do it every day. While Martha was not sitting at the feet of Christ, she was tending His needs. We can tend His needs also by sharing His love with all we encounter and through all that we do.
Funny thing; if you let Christ live in you, you never have to say a word. You do not have to stand on the street corner and preach. You will never have to corner a fellow human being and read the Bible to them or extol them to listen to the word of God. If you let Christ live in you, everyone you pass will see God shine through you. Your actions will show how much you love God and that witness will mean more than any words you or I could say.
Amen.
Benediction:
Please bow your head and open your ears to this
Four-fold Franciscan Blessing
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done
And the blessing of God our Creator, Jesus Christ who is our brother and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.
AMEN.
