Christmas Eve - Jesus Christ is Coming to Town

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” ¹⁵When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; ¹⁸and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

To you us born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord!  So begins the telling of the story of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  The first people to go and welcome him into the world are shepherds and their flock.  Not kings and princes, not the wealthy and powerful, but simple shepherds.  Why?  Because God came to us for all of us, because the light of God is to be spread far and wide and the warmth of that light is to be felt by the lowest of the low first. 

            God comes to us to upset the balances of the world, to raise up the lowly and to cast down the high and mighty, as Mary’s song of thanksgiving to God, the Magnificat, shows us.  But God also comes because God desires to be with His children and desires to bless them all.  And So God comes to us as a mortal, born in a manger, born in the least honorable position possible, so that none would be beneath him, none would have to be afraid of being unworthy of God, because God made it so that all could come and be with him, no matter their social status and no matter their history.  That is the blessing of God for us, that God desires to be with us and cares for us so much, that He is willing to lower himself in order to be made accessible.

            So we give thanks this day, we give thanks to our loving God for coming down to us and for giving us His Word and for showing us the greatest compassion possible.  We give Him thanks and we sing God’s glory alongside the angels and we pray for that peace to come to us.  It is our natural reaction when we see and understand God’s mercy and compassion.  The shepherds returned to their homes and fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.  Do you think that they also returned to their lives exactly as they had before seeing the Christ child, or do you think that they were changed in some way?  I would think that one has to be changed when they look upon the face of God and hear the sounds of angels. 

            I imagine them going into town and telling all their friends about the wondrous things that they had seen and heard and experienced.  They could not help but let people know that God’s Son had been born and that there would be big changes happening.  Up until this point, God had a very set location for the Israelites – God lived in the Temple.  He didn’t go out and about, but instead lived where only the chief priests could go and he showed his favor from there.  But now they saw God not in the temple, hidden away, but as a small, innocent, vulnerable child laying in a manger with his parents.  God had left his abode in Jerusalem and had come out to Bethlehem.  From then on, God would not be bound to a building but would be present throughout the region and world. 

            This may seem weird to us, as we have lived in the understanding that God is present everywhere for our entire lives and for centuries, but to these shepherds it was news of great importance.  They had been living lives on the outskirts of society, unable to properly got to the temple and give great offerings as their faith required, but now God had come to them to show them His love.  Imagine if the President starting showing up at people’s doors just to tell them that he cared for them and would help them, or if Oscar the grouch one day left his can in order to go be with the people instead of making them come to Him.  We would be completely confused by their actions, but God was doing much the same thing.

            And now God is still not bound to one building or one location, or even to a series of buildings.  God does not live inside these walls, but rather is present in all of our world, suffering alongside His children, all of us, each and every day.  The Christ child is born not in the safety of a hospital or the comfort of a home, but is born among animals in a barn, because God willed to be accessible to all people, not just to those who could afford it.  And for this, we glorify and praise God, because He is accessible to us and desires to be alongside us. 

            We rejoice, because we have a God who comes to town not just once a year, but who comes to us each and every day of our lives, loving us and forgiving us for all of the things that we have done.  He doesn’t have a list that he checks twice, making sure who is naughty and who is nice, but rather rips up that list and looks upon his beloved Son and says “For your sake, all of them are saved and forgiven.”  Each of us are eternally given another chance, the chance to turn from being Scrooge and start being Bob Cratchit, to turn form Mr. Potter into George Bailey.  Because of the love shown to us by our Lord and Savior, we are eternally given these chances and eternally loved, no matter what.

            And it is because of this love that we are fully able to cry as well.  There is no “you better not cry, you better not pout” here, as if God judges us for being sad or for not understanding the world and God’s will at times.  Instead, we have a God who has experienced our lives in the person of Jesus Christ, who was born in the stable surrounded by animals, crying aloud as all babies do.  Crying out, because of the experience of childbirth, and who would weep at Lazarus’ tomb in years to come.  We worship a God who suffers alongside us and who cares for us, just as Mary and Joseph do for their newborn child.

            This Christmas we rejoice in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, who comes to us in the humblest of manners, in order that God may be present among us and join us, all out of love for us and for all the children of God.  So let us sing out and rejoice alongside the angels, for Jesus Christ is coming to Town!   

12-18-11 - Is this 16 and Pregnant or the Bible?

Magnificat

            And Mary said “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.  Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name.  His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendents forever.”

            Mary’s Song is hardly the same tone as the message given to the shepherds and of all the Christmas carols and sentimentalism that we have.  Instead of having peace, we have a Savior who comes to save us, but at the same time brings into chaos and reverses all that is the status quo.  The powerful are toppled, the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are filled and the rich are sent away empty. 

            This massive overhaul of the world sounds great for those who are lowly, but it is also frightening for those who are wealthy and powerful.  But God consistently acts in this manner, serving the poor and bringing down the powerful and wealthy.  Think about this woman who God chooses to be the mother of God.  She is a peasant girl, not a queen or a princess or the daughter of a wealthy family.  And instead of acting through a married couple, he works through one whose pregnancy will be a great scandal.  Think about it, our Lord and Savior is an illegitimate child, born to an unwed, teenage girl.  There is a great amount of shame that society places on this girl.  Mary was not kidding when she said that God looked with favor on the lowliness of His servant.  There wasn’t much lower that God could have gone in society’s eyes than an unwed, teenage girl.  Instead of coming down in glory from the sky and forcing everyone’s eyes upon Him and for the kings of the earth to bow down, he comes the child of this insignificant, scandalous girl. 

            How Mary even finds the strength to sing in joy of God when given this message is beyond me.  She had to either be really naïve or really faithful.  Her life is now being turned upside down, with the birth of this child.  While I don’t have children, I know how much it changes a person’s life.  It is far different than being an uncle, where I am able to enjoy being with my niece and nephew while they are happy and fun, while being able to hand them off when they are being grouchy.  And I know that my mother has not had a sleep-filled night since she had my brother and I, since mother’s worry about their children.  And I know that my brother is now prone to going to sleep around 10 instead of staying up all hours of the night, since he is exhausted by his very active children.  Life changes drastically with the birth of a child, and here is poor Mary, barely more than a child herself, being told that she is going to be entering adulthood and going to have to completely live for someone else, as parents do, without any say and without taking the actions necessary to do so herself.  And yet she sings in joy and in thanksgiving to God.  Her strength and trust is astounding to me.

            But she has seen the amazing power of God, for He has taken her, who physically could not possibly bear a child, and causes her to become pregnant.  And she has seen the favor that God has for the poor, the partiality that God carries for the poor and the outcast.  By being the child of on unwed mother, He has put himself in infamy and in that shame that she would have felt at that time as well.  Christ is born not in victory, or even in mediocrity, but in shame in a reeking stable to an underage, poor, unwed mother.  And he does so by choice and design, not by random chance.  And so Mary rejoices, for she knows that God is with her and with all people who are under the burden of oppressive cultures and practices.    Mary has hope and joy, because God has shown her the many wonders that He can do.  He can make the high and powerful falter and fall and uplifts those who are weak and oppressed.  He shows great mercy to His children and fills the hungry with good things.

            And so we sing “Joy to the World” as well, for we have seen the glory of God and the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord.  For we know that with the coming of the Lord, there will be no more sin and sorrow, the earth will be restored, and that truth and grace, not riches and ego, will rule the world.  We celebrate because God will drastically change our lives, not in the way that we might imagine the perfect world, with us getting every last thing that we want, but will change it so that God’s will is truly done and our hearts and minds will be more in tune with God’s.  Right now our hearts and minds are like listening to a radio station form too far away.  Sure, we can hear what is going on for the most part, but the static makes it hard to listen to and focus upon and we miss words and tones at times.  We can’t make it out completely clearly and it is tiresome, but we do it.  Other channels may seem clearer, but they all play messages of self-importance, hate, and all those things that are against God’s will.  So we struggle to listen to God’s word and seek to live out his calling for us, knowing that we are getting closer to Him and the signal is coming in clearer and clearer and our joy expands exponentially.

              This Savior that Mary expects is not the sweet baby Jesus that makes adorable baby noises and whose diaper she will have to change.  It is not the sweet innocence of the child that she waits for and the preciousness of a child that makes the heart grow warm.  No, instead she awaits the man that this child will grow to become.  She awaits the one who will change the world, who will go and suffer on the cross so that all people may be saved from their Sin and that all people may see the true price of love and the true will of God, which is that people will serve one another instead of serving themselves each moment of every day.  She awaits the one who turns the mountains into valleys and who humbles the hearts of all the rich and powerful.  Just as we wait, we wait for the day when He shall return and God’s kingdom shall reign and all of His creation will be freed from the bonds of Sin and suffering and death.

            Loving the baby Jesus is easy.  After all, He’s a baby, pure and innocent, adorable and full of life.  Loving our Savior Jesus Christ is much harder.  Because showing our love for Him requires the sacrifice of ourselves and reminds us each day that we are NOT God and that we need to be humble and to be the tools of God, working His mission and calling for us, not our own desires.  We don’t like handling the messiness, it is far easier to deal with the baby that we get to view from afar than it is to deal with the reality of the child, the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, and temper tantrums.  Life is easier when we get to ignore the complications caused by having to live for others.  But yet our lives are also emptier when they are easier.  This is not to say that babies fix all the problems one has with themselves and their loved ones, but it is to say that without God’s ever-present mercy and forgiveness, and without serving others instead of ourselves, we are a shell of who we are supposed to be.  The hole inside of us that only God can fill is left open, and there is nothing else that can fill it.  Listening to God and living out his calling for us does come with sacrifice and it is not easy, but it does allows us to see purpose in the world and a meaning to our lives that exceeds our mortal limitations. 

            The world as well has an emptiness to it without the presence of God.  Without God, we live in a world that is filled with corruption, hate, and oppression and without any real hope for restoration or for its betterment.  We look around and see that half of the US population lives in poverty, an even greater amount live without clean water and food to eat in other nations, while the rich keep on getting richer.  We live in a world in which war is a constant, not the exception.  Yet we still have hope and we still sing “Joy to the World” and join with Mary in her jubilation, for we know that God is the Lord of All, because God comes to us in the place of a small child and grows to be our Savior, willingly dying on the cross to save us from our Sin and who reminds us that as long as there is God, there is hope, for God will never betray us or fail us or turn his back on us.  We are the children of God, the God who is partial to those who have nothing and who tells us that we are to serve as He has served us.  The God who loves us unconditionally and who gives us our lives, our purpose, and our forgiveness, all for free.

Amen. 

               

           

12-11-2011 - Who are you? aka, the invasion of the Muppets.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” ²¹And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” ²²Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said. ²⁴Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” ²⁶John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, ²⁷the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.” ²⁸This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

            “Who are you?”  That is a very powerful question, right up there with “What is the meaning of life?”  It asks us to define ourselves, whether it be with a name or a long narrative or even by saying who we are not.  That is the tactic John uses, He defines himself by who he isn’t.  He makes it clear that he is not Elijah or the Messiah.  In fact, he reminds me of the priest in Rudy, who says “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I'm not Him.”

            It is not the easiest thing to say that one is not the center of the universe.  Afterall, our personal world is defined by all that we see and do and experience.  I find it impossible to imagine the world through another person’s eyes, and growing up I had a hard time even getting to the point of recognizing that other people did have their own lives and feelings, since they were so unknown to me.  And do not we enjoy being on top and watching other people suffer?  Why else would we have reality TV shows that focus on dysfunctional families and the rounds of terrible auditioners on talent competitions.  Each of these shows allowing us to feel better about ourselves and see ourselves as better than the other people out there in the world.

            Yet here we have John not saying “Here how awesome I am” but rather “here is what I am not, I am not as amazing as everyone seems to think I am.”  He had a very clear understanding of who he was and who he wasn’t.  He was honest with himself and the people around him about what gifts he had and what gifts he lacked.   This knowledge freed John, it freed him to do the best ministry that he could, instead of idling by with ministries that were not true to who he was and he would have been ill-suited to do. 

            Likewise, we are called to understand our gifts, who we are and who we are not.  Who are we, both as a congregation and individually?  What are the gifts that we have, that we can excel at, that are different from other congregations in the community and what are gifts that we can do together with our brothers and sisters in the community.

            Much like the Muppets, there are needs for the various gifts out there in order for the whole to function.  If every Muppet was Animal, there would be a great drum section, but also complete chaos and very few words said that were understandable or sensible.  If they were all Piggy, there would be too much karate chopping and not enough teamwork.  If only Bunson Honeydews, there would be no Beakers to experiment on.  Each of them need each other, Kermit to introduce, Fozzie to tell bad jokes, Gonzo to fly through the air and be weird, for the whole of the show to work.  Likewise, each of our congregations and individuals have their own gifts that help form the whole of the Body of Christ and allow for the whole body to function and to show the love and grace of God. 

What is it that sets us apart from other faiths and denominations and congregations?  Part of what sets us apart is our Lutheran heritage.  We see God and God’s activity a little bit differently than anyone else and this is something that we need to embrace.  We may not be completely right all the time, since our mortal minds can never fully see the mind of God, but we see God in a way that is full of grace and mercy, we see the Bible in a way that defies the loudest voices in Christendom, and we strive for education in a way that exceeds many others.  All of this we have inherited from our ancestors, but it is formed and shown in distinct ways through the gifts that we have been given.  It is easy to say that the people are the gift of Jerusalem, but it is also true, for without each of us Jerusalem would be a far different place.  It is through each of us that the gifts of Jerusalem are known. 

How well known are our gifts?  Are we just the congregation over the tracks that people seem to know exist, but that’s it?  Or are we something more, are we a people united and filled with the Spirit of God, sealed as the Children of God, ready to shine the light of Christ throughout the community and the world?  I have only begun to see the richness of the Spirit moving here, since I am still new and learning, but yet I know that we are a people that are truly blessed and empowered, capable of marvelous things.  We are more than a building and land, we are the children of God.  Throughout this next year, and throughout our lifetimes, I hope and pray that we may diligently seek out the questions “Who am I” and “Who are we,” so that God’s presence may be more clearly seen in our lives.

One of the most active gifts I have seen here is the gift of ecumenism, of desiring to be with people of other traditions in order to serve the mission of God.  This is a congregation birthed out of a partnership with the Brethren.  Even when I was interviewing here, I could see this desire, as it was hoped that I would be a part of the ministerium in the community, meeting with my fellow pastors of other denominations.  Our council has decided that we will be a part of the pulpit swap in January, where I will go to another Columbiana congregation to preach and their pastor will come here and preach.  We welcome people of all denominations into the ministries of Jerusalem and this coming year we will be working not only with St. Jude’s for Vacation Bible School, but also with First United Methodist.  One of our gifts is that we serve as a bridge between the congregations in the area, as a willing participant in the ministry of God.

This is only the beginning of our gifts and our identity though, and I look forward to us working together to see all that we are capable of as a congregation and individually.  We will also learn who we are not.  John made it clear, that He was not the Messiah or Elijah, because claiming those would be false to himself and would muddy the message.  There are gifts that are lacking here at Jerusalem, and there is absolutely no shame in that.  It is merely reality, since none of us and no congregation can be everything to everyone.  So instead of desiring to be so, and instead of wasting our time and talents on those areas that we lack the gifts to do well, we support those who do those works and have those gifts, uplifting the body of Christ in its many forms.  I will not stand here and claim to know what gifts we lack yet, but that is something which we will have to learn together.

Each of these gifts serve to point us to our greatest gift though, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Christ showed us the never-ending mercy and love of our God, and John was sent in order to testify to that reality, to testify to the Word of God who lived among us and who saves us from our Sin and from ourselves.  It was John who pointed us towards the gift and need for Baptism.  Baptism was not new to the Jewish people, it was a centuries old practice of bathing to remove the uncleanliness caused by a host of actions and sins.  John used water as well to ritually cleanse the people in preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, so that they could be free from the filth of their lives and open to the revelation of God.  But as John said, he baptized merely with water, Jesus comes and baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.  After Christ, the waters of Baptism became more than mere water, but became the vehicle for the Spirit to enter into us, it became the way in which we died to our Sin and are daily cleansed of that Sin.  No longer did we have to ritually bathe ourselves every day in order to make ourselves clean before God.  Instead we are baptized once, freely by God, to make us clean for all time, for we are united with Christ through the activity of the Spirit in the Water.  It is the same spirit that empowers us and fills us with the gifts necessary to do the will of God and to find our identity as Chrstians, followers of our God.

Much like John, we know that there is a God and that we are not Him.  But we also know that we are God’s children, we are the agents of God in this world, called to testify to the light of God and to prepare the way for God into the lives of those around us.  So may we hear that calling and may we live out our lives in hope and preparation.

Amen.

Nov. 11, 2011 - Christ is King!

11-20-2011

Jerusalem

Matthew 25.31-46

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

            Christ is King!  So declares our church calendar, as well as our reading from Matthew.  Christ is King, but what kind of king is he?  There have been many kings throughout history, some good, some not so good, so what kind of king is he?  Luther saw Him as the tyrant raging, while sitting on a rainbow.  Here in Matthew, he is described as sitting on a throne, separating the goats from the sheep.  Whether the throne is out in the field with the sheep and goats or the sheep and goats are brought into the throne-room is unknown, and unimportant, but nonetheless, this is what Christ does as king.

            So, what makes one a sheep or a goat?  What is the difference between the two in Christ’s eyes?  Sheep are those who fulfill the mission that God has set before them, while goats are those who deny that mission.  I had a professor who said it like this, we are called to take Jesus to Jesus to do Jesus.  Taking Jesus to Jesus to do Jesus.  I know, it can sound confusing, so let’s break it down.

            Taking Jesus means to bring the gospel and remembering that Jesus is always with us, as he promised in the Great Commission, where we are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded and remember that He is with us always, to the end of the age.  Today we fulfill part of that command, as we celebrate the baptism of Ella, and her family promises to raise her within the community of faith and to teach and instruct her with Christian teachings and the to live a Christian life.  And we as a community welcome her, knowing that we are also responsible for instructing her as well and to aid her as a community and family. 

            But in that command we are not called to only be with those within the congregation and those that we know through our families and friends.  We are also called to all nations, to go forth into the world, with Christ with us.  So as we go to be of aid to the poor and the hungry and the thirsty and the imprisoned, we are not alone but we are always joined by Christ, the almighty King of the World.  So what have we to fear when we go out into the world to bring aid and comfort, when we know that the King of all Creation, who will never separate Himself from us is with us?  Nothing, so we go, taking Christ with us.

            And to whom are we bringing Jesus?  We are bringing Jesus to Jesus, for He regularly aligns himself and shows partiality towards the poor and the needy.  As he says in today’s lesson, when we give food to the hungry and clothing to the naked, we are doing these things to Christ himself.  Often we can fall into the trap of assuming that we are always God bringing to others, to the great unwashed.  But the reality is that God is already present in all situations, already suffering with those who suffer.  All we do is bring light to this reality.  But that light needs to be shone, in order that Christ may be seen as active in people’s lives and that God may receive the glory.

            Due to Jesus’ connection to the poor, we are also called to focus on the poor, the abused, and the outcast.  Jesus’ kingdom is not one of gold and fulfilled dreams, instead it is in the outskirts of so-called civilized society, it is where people rely upon Christ alone instead of themselves and on the idols that we create, it is where compassion and mercy are shown.  Jesus reigns when God’s will, which is true worship, is done, which is when we act like sheep, serving and sacrificing for others.  This is the calling to do Jesus, to act out Christ’s teachings and own actions. We live out the gospel when we show people the great mercy and love of God, when we go down into the trenches of society to help people climb out of the pits and the cycles that they have fallen into and cannot escape.  It is not saying “people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and instead realizing that some people lack boots completely, let alone bootstraps.  As Jesus’ loyal subjects, we look beyond the idea of the “self-made man” and instead see all the people who are required in helping to form the opportunities for people to grow and we are called to help create those opportunities, that people may see how important they are in the eyes of God, since we are all God’s children, and that all may see the gifts and the power that they have been given by the Holy Spirit, and the forgiveness that they have been give through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

            When we begin to fully embrace that power and forgiveness, we are capable of changing lives and the world around us.  Our God truly is an awesome God, and we are the hands of God, so we can do some really awesome things.   There is a reason that there are so many Christian Hospitals, such as St. Elizabeth’s and no hospitals based around secularism and atheism.  And there is a reason that the faith of those outcast and persecuted under the Romans still stands, while we name our pets over Roman emperors.  It is because God is the true King of the World, not Leo, or money, or nations, or mere humans, but Jesus Christ.  And we are a part of his great kingdom, we are the hands that bring about that kingdom in the lives of people.

            Not only do we go out into the world, but we also instruct and aid one another.  We are called to be a community of faith, not a set of individuals.  We are called to be part of a kingdom, not our own separate groups.  We are called to be united, to show one another the strength that God has given us and to use that strength together to make a difference in Columbiana and the surrounding area.  But we cannot do it divided, we cannot be God’s hands if we fight amongst and against one another.  So we gather together on Sundays, in order that we may be strengthened by our connections with one another, so we may learn and be recharged together, and we may come up with new ideas together on how to be God’s hands.  We learn to serve together as a community, we learn our history together as a community, and everything becomes a bit clearer together as a community.

Christ’s kingdom is here and now, in this room and in this world.  Christ is the King, so let us follow and obey him, so that His will may be done and when that final day comes we may be united, all of us fit to be called sheep by our King. 

Amen.