This is a very personal sermon for Trinity United Methodist Church
Romans
5: 3-5 (NRSV)
3
And
not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that
suffering produces endurance, 4
and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5
and
hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
The
Word of God for the People of God...... and The Word of God is HOPE.
My
title for today is “Two Steps Forward,” You know the rest of that
phrase - “one step back.” It comes from an anecdote about a frog
who fell into a deep well. He could look up and see the sky, but it
seemed far away. He thought, “What can I do? I can jump!” So he
jumped as high as he could, and his sticky feet caught on a little
ledge of rock. “Good.” he thought, and he jumped again. Again he
got a little foothold. “I'm making progress,” he said to himself,
but then he began sliding backwards, back down to the little ledge.
“Oh, no!” he cried. After resting a little while, he looked up to
the small spot of sky and decided to try again. One jump, two jumps,
then sliding backwards. Would he ever make it out of the deep well?
Life
is like that, isn't it? We seldom make steady progress forward and
set-backs, both large and small are part of life. The longer we live,
the more we can see the pattern of peaks and valleys in our lives. In
our life together in the church, we experience these peaks and
valleys as well. In recent months, we may feel like we've taken, not
one, but ten steps back. We have suffered over the fate of our
church. We have mourned the loss of fellowship among our members. We
may wonder if we will ever move forward, upward again.
But
God has promised that our suffering need not be in vain; that from
suffering can come hope. Let's look at the history of God's people.
It has not been one of steady progress, and the back-sliding started
right in the Garden of Eden. What a major step back to thrown out of
the garden, into the world to fend for themselves. But in that step
back, Adam and Eve became fully human, exercising their God-given
ability to make choices, even bad ones. They experienced suffering
and from their suffering, the human race was born. Noah's world was
flooded and he lost everything he had known, but from that
devastation, the world was remade. Abraham and Sarah suffered,
childless, but they endured and God kept his promise to make of them
a great nation. Joseph was sold into slavery, but became the savior
of his people. Moses, when he came down from Mount Sinia with the
tablets of God's laws was angry and heartbroken that the people had
made a bad choice, turning away from God to the worship of idols. Yet
God made of them a mighty nation with many ups and downs. Later that
nation was destroyed along with the magnificent temple built by
Solomon and the people we taken away to captivity in Babylon. They
suffered and endured and grew in character. Eventually, 400 years
later, they were set free to return to their homeland. Rev. Madigan
reminded us last week, God kept his promises and keeps his promises.
As
we see throughout the Old Testament, God works in his own time. God
waits. God intervenes reluctantly in history. There were a few
dramatic miracles: the burning bush, the plagues on the Egyptians,
Elijah calling down fire to defeat the prophets of Baal. Hundreds of
years may have passed between these events. Years in which people
suffered, endured, waited with hope, but God did not miraculously
intervene. God waited for right partner to work his miracles. He
waited until the people were ready to receive him. God moves with
agonizing slowness according to our human time frame. We want God to
come down and fix things NOW, to smite our enemies with fire, or at
least make them go away.
God's
last big supernatural intervention that I know of was of a different
nature. Last time, he sent His Son Jesus, to live among us and teach
us how to be children of his own heart. What a different plan! No
flood and fire, no war and destruction, but His Son, just living and
breathing and teaching about God's kingdom, about Love. Can you
imagine how the disciples must have felt when Jesus was arrested and
crucified? It must have seemed that their world had ended; that what
they hoped for was lost. Talk about stepping back! But, miraculously,
Jesus returned and gave them hope. He walked with them, still
teaching, for 40 more days, before leaving again. Jesus departure
must have seemed like a another step backwards, but it was necessary
to open the way for Pentecost. Jesus had to leave to make way for the
Holy Spirit, our guide and comforter still today.
Through
Jesus, God made a New Covenant with his people, a covenant of love,
available to all, not just a chosen few. Jesus taught us that God
desires, has always desired, a relationship – to love and be loved.
He taught us that the Kingdom of God will advance, not through power
and might, but through grace and love; not through our own efforts,
but by allowing His Holy Spirit to work in and through us.
God's
Holy Spirit doesn't come at us with shouting and ranting, but with
whispers. God's Holy Spirit brings peace, not turmoil. God's Holy
Spirit is available to all, requiring only that we receive it.
So
what's our problem, people? We know that we desire peace and
wholeness. We want our church to be a community of loving fellowship.
We want to spread the good news to our neighbors and have them join
our fellowship. What's stopping us? We are asking the same question
that the crowd asked Peter on that first Pentecost day, “Brothers
and Sisters, what do we do now?”
Let
me remind you of another familiar story, the Myth of Sisyphus.
Because of his arogance, thinking that he bettermore than the gods,
Sisyphus was condemned to spend every day pushing a huge boulder up a
hill. At night, the boulder would roll down to the bottom and
Sisyphus would have to repeat the same task the next day. He wasn't
like the little frog, who at least made some progress to the top. He
was doomed to never reach the top of the hill. Doing the same thing
over and over didn't produce any results, just frustration.
Five
years ago I stood before you on a June Sunday, in a time of
transition. My topic that day was “After and Before,” after one
phase of life ends and before another one begins. We find ourselves
in a similar place today. This time, what do we need to do
differently so that we are like the little frog, who made progress,
instead of like Sisyphus, who kept repeating the same fruitless
cycle. In the last five years, I have grown as a Christian, not in
spite of our suffering, but because of it. Maybe God has allowed us
to suffer the consequences of our choices, to fall down to the bottom
of the well, so that we will look up to Him for help.
I
don't know what the church needs to do differently. But I know what I
need to do. God has made a provision for me, for us, through His Holy
Spirit. I need to receive Him. I need to make room in my heart for
God. Maybe I've been filled with negative emotions. Maybe I've
hardened my heart. (Move to demo-Large glass container, pitcher of
water, big rocks) Some of us (me) have allowed hard spots to form and
grow in our hearts, like stones - stones of anger, resentment,
bitterness, jealousy, mistrust. ( Put stones in jar)
We
are miserable, so, we pray for God to bring us peace and healing.
BUT, you know God, I'm right. Billy Joe Tom Bob Mary Sue Ellen did
wrong and hasn't confessed. They hurt my feelings, and worse yet,
said something hurtful about my child. They lied, betrayed my trust.
You know, God, these things happened, and I want you to fix them and
send your Holy Spirit so that I may have peace. God hears and wants
to help and heal
(Pour
water)
But
look, the stones are still there, occupying my heart, and there is
not much room left for God. Maybe I need to ask God to remove these
stones. Maybe I need to empty myselfs in order to be filled.
(Remove
stones, one by one) Anger, bitterness, resentment, jealousy, mistrust
– It is these stones that are dragging us back. When we let go of
these stones, allow God to remove them, look how much more room there
is now for God. (Pour more water).
We
are, I pray, on the path toward healing, two steps forward. We have
been broken. We are hurting. We are ready to heal. Even so, sometimes
we wonder if we will just keep repeating a fruitless cycle, like
Sisyphus. Or will we begin moving forward.
So
let us boast in our suffering. From our suffering we are growing in
strength and endurance. As we do we build Christian character. We
become mature Christians who place our hope in God's promises. He has
promised us love and redemption. He is faithful and just. He is
forgiving. He is loving. He keeps His promises.
It
really depends on what we choose. Can we let go of those stones that
are blocking our progress? Can we make room for God? We are a great
people and a great church. With God's help and with His Holy Spirit,
we can dissolve those stones, we can take a step forward, two steps
forward. In fact, we have already begun.
When
the Israelites were taken into captivity in Babylon, the prophet
Jeremiah was called speak for God. That was a during a time of a
tremendous set-back for God's people, and they must have thought that
God had abandoned them. Jeremiah didn't mince words in telling the
people about their shortcomings. However, in Chapter 29, verse 11,
Jeremiah has these words from God: “I
know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the LORD; they are
plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with
hope.”
I
don't know exactly what the future will look like for Trinity United
Methodist Church. We may have to do some more of letting go of old
habits in order be who God would have us be. But I have faith that
God is not through with us...we have a future filled with hope and
important work yet to do for Him in Lenoir City.
In
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are our
Hope.
Benediction:
Philippians 4:4-7
supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
to God.
will guard
your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
In Whose Holy
name we pray. Amen.
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