Month: August 2019

Sermon
August 18th, 2019
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost:
Year C

First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2,8-18
Second Reading: Hebrews 11:29-12-2
Gospel: Luke 12:49-56

Your Faith and Hope are in God (1 Peter 1:21)

Our lessons today are about, judgement, suffering, faith and salvation. 

Our Gospel reading today reminded me about my childhood and listening to preachers that preached fire and brimstone. They left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I always felt that, the same people who showed up for church on Sunday, we were never good enough, no matter what we did, we had to fear God, or else.

(Luke: 12:49)

“Bringing fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.”

Jesus said, “I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?

This verse is about judgement and our salvation. When Jesus says, I wish it were already kindled, it sounds like Jesus wants it to be over. He is going to be baptized and it represents both judgement and purification. So, he is saying let’s get on with it.

Jesus knows by his coming, teaching, death and his resurrection, there will be conflict and division among all people, family against family and friends against friends.

He is explaining, that they can predict the weather and all kinds of weather, from every direction and something that will happen tomorrow! But they can’t see what’s in front of their faces. He has been healing and teaching and after returning back to them, he brings peace. And yet they still have not realized, that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God represents a new order. 

Our scriptures today are difficult to hear, we want to hear the warm fuzzy scriptures that fill us with hope and joy and make us feel good. But we need to hear the other side of the story, the other side of the Gospel, because in today’s world there is still division among families, friends and people across the world.

Religion and your belief are on the attack.

• Christians and Jews are still being persecuted every day in other parts of the world. Also, India, China and parts of Africa, continue to face oppositions.
• We see where churches are being burned in the south. Jewish synagogues and Mosques being bombed.
• People everyday protest, when we send out our thoughts and prayers for victims of violence.
• Certain groups of people want free standing crosses removed or taken down, because it is not what they believe or want to see.
• The Ten Commandments, In God we Trust, the pledge, One Nation under God, all being challenged.

We know following Christ will not always be easy or painless, but reminding us of hope and salvation and not losing sight of the world that is to come. The Apostle Paul reminds us of our Faith when he writes to the Hebrews.

“Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not apart from us, be made perfect.”

“Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfected of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Conclusion:

“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life“ (John 8:12)

Have you had some challenges that were unpleasant and for whatever reason, you just wish it was all over? Have you ever had to defend God and your faith? What would you say or do, if you were asked not to wear your cross?

Good News:

God loves us all and we don’t have to fear God. God does not take pleasure in our suffering; this is why he sent Jesus to be the light to our world. And when there is darkness, he wants our faith to grow stronger.

“Blessed are those who turn to me in their trouble, for I am a God of mercy and compassion.”

Our faith and hope are in God, keeping our eye on the Kingdom of God and our salvation. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

August 4, 2019
Eight Sunday after Pentecost
Year C

First Reading: Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9,43
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-11
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
“Eat, Drink and be Merry”

I “said” What? 

This is in the Bible? As a matter of fact, something similar appears in several places in the Bible.

Story:

My parents, like many of you probably had similar situation, they were born during the depression years and grew up with fear and anxiety.

Family’s had to work hard to provide for their children, everyone worked on the farm and all had a hand in storing up food. 

It makes perfect sense that in the spring and summer you plant and grow and harvest and store your goods for the winter and to make sure it last until you can plant and harvest again. 

God wanted them to do this, he provided for them and He is the creation of all that we have, it was something handed down for 100’s of generations, from the immigrants to the Americans and big farms to little family farms grew. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Huge silos towered the farms and they still do today, not so much to feed just their families, but today…. to feed the world.

I still remember how mom loved her gardens, she always started a garden wherever they lived and dad would ignore her AND her garden for the first week, then he would go out and see what she had done. 

Of course, he could do it better and would tell her…that…. is not how you do it!! 

…and before long, it was his garden.

So, sweet mom would let him take over and then when it came to the harvest it was a sight to behold. 

She worked hard at canning and storing all the vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, okra, all kinds of squash, green beans and so on. 

Like a proud artist admiring her paintings, she would stand back and show off the shelves of beautiful colors of jarred vegetables.

Today’s scriptures:

In prior verses, Jesus has been teaching the disciples about fear and anxiety.

Chapter 12 begins! with warnings and encouragements. 

And out of know where (Luke: 12:13), Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

Jesus doesn’t want any part of this…he doesn’t want to get between two brothers, he does take the opportunity to tell a Parable of the Rich Fool!

“The land of a rich man who produced abundantly and he thinks to himself, what should I do? I have so much and not a place to store my crops.”

I will pull down the barns I have and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; so, eat, drink, and be merry.’

But…God, calls him a fool!

This rich man, that Jesus gives an example to his disciples, says the I and My words 5 or 6 times.

What should I do? for I have no place to sore my crops? I will do this, I will pull down my barns, I will store all my grain and all my goods, I will say to my soul…you have plenty, eat drink and be merry!

Not once! did the farmer give thanks to God for his abundance, he didn’t think of anyone else… but himself. And this my friends are the warnings that God is telling people about.  In the book of Hosea The key concepts are:

1. Loving God and being compassionate and merciful to those around you, they are the values most desired by God.

2. Injustice.

3. The key theme in the book regarding the prophet’s concerns, whether the people will respond to God’s warnings and instructions?

The rich fool, has more than enough to meet his needs and even more than he needs to live a good life.

We all have moved from one place to another and when we start packing, we realized how much stuff we have, crammed into every corner, drawer, closet and shelf. 

As you move you vow, never again! But you do!

How does a loving God see us and the world?

In this last month we had a week of celebrating the 50 anniversary of going to the moon, a successful walking on the moon and more importantly making it back to earth.

We saw images of earth from the moon… the images the astronauts had. 

I looked at the pictures of earth and all continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

“Is this how God see’s the earth?”

“That” we are all together as one people, with the mountains and blue oceans. 

You could not distinguish between people from that distance!

(Galatians 3:28) there is neither Jew or Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It was beautiful to see, when you imagine the creation that God has given to us.

God wants us to treasure His Creation…according to Jesus “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”.

Here is what is important to God, that the Christian has a “Worldview” Think of the earth in the pictures from the Lunar Space Mission. Picture it as your “Worldview”. We need to understand the world around us in accordance with Gods mission and our Christian faith.

The Bible has told us that while this life on earth is important, the next life is better.

Conclusion:

1. What does God want us to treasure? His Word, His Creation, not just the earth itself, but everyone and everything and our families and friends.

1. God also wants us to have fine things and know that all that we have has been given to us, is by Him. 

1. And remember to be careful about me and I in your everyday living.

1. Give Thanks to God!

1. Our treasures here on earth should not take the place of God, he has to come first, and we should be able to walk away from it all and follow him.

I believe that Christians today “are” a very giving people. All around the world today you see where the Christians are helping those in need. From our own community to states across the American’s, Christians are giving to those in need.

You here at St. Martins in the Desert, I know would give all you have to help others and you my friend’s, are a perfect example of how God wants us to live.

Amen
Rev. Lola Culbreath