Calvary United Methodist Church February 22, ,000,000,001 Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks. Children s Sermon: Acts 17:19-29

Transcription

1 Calvary United Methodist Church February 22, ,000,000,001 Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks Children s Sermon: Acts 17:19-29 Believe it or not, there are kids in the room. Thanks be to God. The children are welcome forward at this time to celebrate God s good news and to share in the children s sermon. Good morning, Guys! Alright! Look at this horde of kids! That s great! Fender met a brand new friend this week and I m going to ask her to come forward at this time. This is Jhan, or, her proper name, Jhanderys Dotel. Now, it took me about 16 tries to even get it that close. Jhan is the better way to refer to this young lady because it is easy for us who don t normally speak Spanish or names in another language and that s her nickname anyway, like my nickname is Ron, this is Jhan. Ron. Jhan. Easy to remember. And she s the one who noticed that she and Fender have the exact same hairdo, am I right? Ok. Jhan comes from a place called the Dominican Republic, in particular a city called Santo Domingo, which is the capital. And if you don t know where the Dominican Republic is, you see the tip of Florida sticking down? It is in the islands of the Caribbean. From Harrisburg it is exactly 1561 miles to her home. That s a long way to go, isn t it?

2 And, you are asking yourself probably, how is it that Jhan came to be with us here at Calvary. Well, in 2007, after a hurricane went through the Dominican Republic and caused a lot of damage, you all sent Pastor Jeff down there with some supplies and while he was there he happened to meet some people who were part of a particular congregation of the Dominican Evangelical Church. It happened to be Jhan s congregation. This is a picture of her with her minister. This is a picture of her with our minister, right? You recognize those faces? Now they both look a little bit younger because that picture is six years old, but they are still as handsome and attractive as ever. Now, the reason that they stayed friends over the years is because they noticed that they share a kindred or a family spirit. It is an interest in doing things to show people that God is love. And that s something that we all share because all of us who call ourselves Christians share that same kindred spirit. That s what makes us a family of faith. But we all serve in different ways and Pastor Jeff and Jhan noticed that they liked

3 doing similar things. For example, this is a series of pictures of Jhan doing all sorts of mission trips outside of her country and all sorts of things inside the church fellowship. For example, there are pictures of her with youth, there are pictures of her teaching school, there are pictures of her painting and repairing buildings, cleaning beaches, doing all sorts of things. That is her heart and her passion. It is the spirit of God s love as it comes out through the work that she does. And because the kind of work she likes to do is very similar to the kind of work Pastor Jeff likes to do, they have stayed friends over the years. And she is here through the middle of May to do all sorts of internships at social justice ministries that have their offices and location in our area. So some weeks she ll be here, some weeks she ll be other places, but if you see her, she is here to do something to not only forward her education, she is in seminary, but also to get a different feel for all the different ways that people can serve, because we all share that same spirit of God s love, but we all serve in many different ways.

4 God is love, it says in 1 John 4 and we know that. And love can use every person whether you be young or older, whether you be from this country or from another country, God can use every person to serve. God can use every type of ability. Anything you can do, God can use that to share the gift of His love with other people. And, love can use every language with which to speak, and in a few minutes I m going to show you how cool it is to have someone with us who can speak Spanish in a way which those of us who have studied Spanish just drop our jaws at. Love is bigger than all the differences that make us who we are and bigger than what it means to serve in only one way. Paul shared that with a group of people in a place called Athens and this is the story as it is found in Act 17:19-29: Paul shared the message of one God and Father in Athens. Now, there were a lot of people who thought that there were lots of gods that lived in Greece and Athens, but Paul shared the message of one God and he told them of that one God s son, Jesus. Some people thought he was crazy. You know it s not unusual for people to think that ministers are crazy. I know you don t think that that s unusual. Others, they didn t think he was crazy, but they wanted to hear more, they didn t quite understand. So Paul gave a lecture at a place called the Ariocarpus. You worship many different gods, he said, however, I even saw a shrine built with this on it: to the God nobody knows. Well, let me introduce you to that God. That God made everything and everyone. We re put together by His design. He s not far away. He s right here. He s also not in buildings. He is in each of us. We live in Him and He lives in us. And that s what it means to say that God is love, because love uses every person to

5 serve, love uses every kind of ability to help and love can use every language to speak the good news of God s care for us. And love is bigger than anything that makes us different. We are starting today a series of sermons on the Lord s Prayer. And, Jhan is going to help us to say the Lord s Prayer in Spanish, which is her native tongue. It is not yours. And it is not mine. However, give it a shot. She will say a phrase and you will say it back and we re going to let her go at her speed. So, tell us what we are going to do Jhan. Jhan: Ok, I m going to say a phrase and you are going to repeat it. We are going to do it slowly and you are going to see it on the screen. El Padre Nuestro (The Lord s Prayer) Padre Nuestro (Our Father) Que estas en los cielos (Who art in heaven) Santificado sea tu nombre; (Hallowed be thy name) Venga a nosotros tu reino; (Thy kingdom come) Hagase tu voluntad en la tierra como en el cielo. (Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven) El pan nuestro de cada dia danos hoy (Give us this day our daily bread) Y perdona nuestras ofensas, (and forgive us our trespasses) Asi como nosotros perdonamos a los que nos ofenden; (as we forgive those who trespass against us) No nos dejes caer en tentacion, (and lead us not into temptation) Y libranos de todo mal. (but deliver us from evil) Porque tuyo es el reino, (For thine is the kingdom) El poder y la Gloria (and the power and the glory) Por todos los siglos de los siglos. (forever and ever) Amen. (Amen) Jhan: Great job! She was standing right next to me and as I was trying to say

6 it, I m sure I threw her off. Like Ah, geez, I wish this guy would be quiet! God is love and do you think God has any difficulty understanding the Lord s Prayer in Spanish? No. Does he have any trouble understanding it in English? Of all the thousands of says ways that human beings have figured out how to talk to each other, do you think God has any trouble at all understanding us when we speak? No! Of course not! Why? Because love is bigger than all of our differences and one of the ways that we show that love is serving one another. Serving is giving. For the last couple of weeks we did the Superbowl of Caring which was something that we did to generate funds to help feed people. And, as you know, for the last couple of weeks we had the big pot and it was held out back by kids and the two weeks that we did it we had a total of $ This is the time of year, however, when we are getting ready to send kids to camp. We have a number of camps in our conference that a lot of our kids and youth go to. They are in four locations. They are at Camp Penn. They are at Mt. Asbury. They are Green Hills, Wesley Forest, and this is a map of where those locations are around the conference. And there are Calvary kids that go there every year, they have a great time and they learn the language of God s love. Sometimes that language comes in seeing the glory of the creation that God has made. Sometimes it comes in new friendships and in being able to help people in different situation.

7 So, what is going to happen for the next six weeks, during the season of Lent, we are going to invite you to make a donation to the Calvary Campership program. These are camp scholarships that we give to people to help them defray the cost of camp. Sometimes families have more than one kid that want to go to camp and that can be a lot of money. So, Calvary pays for 50% of the cost of camp for kids who are 18 and under and if you go to camp for the very first time, Calvary will pay for 75% of your camp stay. And new this year, something we have never done before, Calvary is also going to pay 25% of the cost for adult campers, because they are all sorts of camp opportunities for people who are older than the age of 18. So, we would like to raise about $3000 in the next six weeks to cover all of the anticipated camperships that we are going to need. And as I was thinking about how we could raise that sort of money, it occurred to me that this thing that we have been using over time, this pot idea, yeah, ok, it s alright and sure we could put some kind of a sign on it to let people know that this is where you can drop your money, but I began to think, well, this doesn t really say much about camping and we just used the pot, so I thought, now, what is it that you use in camping that s kind of like this pot right here?

8 And I did a little more research on line and it turns out that there is a camping variety of a pot. Now, here s what s going to happen: this is the camping variety of a pot. So, on a little table in the back of the sanctuary is going to be this and this. Right? And there will be a bag and all you have to do, just like you did with the Superbowl of Caring, all you have to do is when you walk by, take the spare bills, no metal, just paper, this is a request from our business manager, Nancy Flint, please no metal, just paper, and you re going to drop it in there as you go out of the sanctuary, it will be on that little table in the back of the room. And the reason that we do that is because we want our kids to go to camp, to experience in a new way and in a special setting, in fact, that God is love. And that love has to do with serving and giving and this is an opportunity for us to show God s love. But also as you exit the sanctuary this morning, after you drop your spare bills in the bucket, there are two displays which talk about some of the local missions that Calvary is involved with and there will be some people standing there who can help describe what happens in those various mission opportunities and you ll be invited, if you have an interest, to get more information or to sign up so that we can keep you informed with our work in these places as it unfolds. The purpose of all acts of love is to serve God and to serve one another and you can t serve without giving, because as we know, God is love.

9 Thanks for sharing in our time this morning. Welcome to Jhan. We know that you will be welcoming her following the end of the worship service. Message: Matthew 6:5-9 It should finish up soon, George Hanley muttered to his friend and colleague, Chuck McHose. The two men trotted down the sloping, narrow mountain path that wound from the picturesque monastery to the valley floor below. As the sun dropped below the horizon, the stars were already visible overhead in the clear Tibetan air. Yeah. I calculated the finish time and set an alarm on my phone, Chuck replied. Don t you think the whole thing is absurd? Of course! It s the most ridiculous thing I ve ever heard. But they believe it, remarked George as he pointed back over his shoulder to the monastery as it receded in the distance. I m just glad we re finally out of here. George and Chuck were anxious to get back to the states. As computer technicians employed by a prestigious hardware engineering firm out of Madison, New Jersey, they were surprised to be called into the office of the owner of the company. There they met Vindi Lama, supervisor of a small monastic order. He had traveled halfway around the world to hire some technicians to assist with an unusual request; install and maintain an obsolete automatic sequencing computer and printer. The purpose of the equipment was not discussed. An invoice was generated and the priest paid for the project on the spot in cash. That was five months ago.

10 Six weeks later, George and Chuck arrived at the monastery with a truckload of equipment and supplies. In the three months since the project began, the pair had few encounters with the monks who populated the facility. The technicians sole responsibility was the maintenance of the equipment and the ensuring that the ink supply in the printer was not exhausted. Every three hours, one of them was expected to service was hardware. Without fail, every visit to the library (their term for the computer s work space) saw a continuous scroll of paper running through the simple printing device. Row upon row of words were being generated, but the symbols or letters were unfamiliar to the Americans. Each combination was different, but every single grouping had nine symbols or letters. As the scroll poured out of the printer, a team of monks cut the paper into pages and arranged them in colorful, ornate bindings. These books were then placed on wooden shelves, hence the nickname the library. Two days ago, while George was replacing one of the ink wells in the modified printer, he discovered, quite by accident, that one of the faithful laborers spoke English. After a bit of small talk, the technician ventured to ask, Could you please tell me what you re printing? Certainly, came the satisfied response. This is a project our community has been working for the last three centuries. In fact, it s the reason the order was founded. We ve been compiling a list which will contain all the possible names of God using a special alphabet we have devised. The job would take 15,000 years to do by hand. Your machine, however, is a Godsend. The job will be done in 42 hours and 17 minutes. But why are you writing out all the possible names of God? All the many names of the Supreme Being Zeus, Jehovah, Allah, and so on are

11 only man-made labels. None of them are, therefore, the actual name of God. We believe that if and when someone has written all the possible names of God there are about nine billion possibilities God s purpose for humanity will be achieved. History will end. When George shared his discover with Chuck, the two men quickly reached agreement on their plan. They wanted to be beyond the reach of the monastery s residents by the time the last combination of letters rolled out of the printer. Shouldering the blame for a failed experiment and generations of wasted lives was not part of the job. Packing their gear, they quietly left the grounds unnoticed and walked briskly down the path leading to the valley. Any minute now. Chuck looked up from his watch. The colors of dusk had given way to the hazy veil of the Milky Way as it arched from zenith to the horizon. Millions of points of light blazed against the black shroud of night. As they paused to gaze at the cosmic spectacle, a soft chiming sound arose from the cell phone in George s pocket. Well, that s it, he said softly. I feel sorry for those guys back there. I wonder what they ll with the rest of their lives after they realize what fools they ve been? Chuck didn t respond. Turning sideways to look at his colleague, George followed his gaze upward into the night sky. Overhead, without any fuss, the stars, one by one, were silently blinking out.

12 Arthur C. Clark was perhaps one of the most inventive and scientifically minded writers of the 20 th century. He is among the big three of science fiction writers and I first read the story of The Nine-billion Names of God of which that was a condensation of when I was fourteen years old, in ninth grade. I had thought about going into the ministry, I had sensed some kind of a call. Theology intrigued me. There were aspects of faith that really interested me and when I read the The Ninebillion Names of God about a group of Monks who made it their mission in life to try to name God, to try to put together a series of letters that would actually speak God s name. I was fascinated by the idea that God doesn t really have a name. What we know of God is the way that God relates to us, so all the names that you see on the screen, Perfecter, Purifier, Provider, Healer, Author, Defender, these are not names, they are functions. They are the way in which we relate to God. They are the way in which we try to reach out and wrap our arms around that which is bigger than anything we could possibly know. Even Moses who got as close to God as anybody gets, said to the people What if the people ask me for your name, what shall I tell them? and Moses said to the people What if I tell them, what shall I tell them when you send me? and God replied I am who I am. Tell them the Lord, the God of ancestors has sent me. Tell them I Am has sent me. I Am, singular first person of the verb to be. I Am. I exist. Don t try to name me; don t try to wrap your head around me. This is my name for all generations. I Am. The name of God is unknown to us. There is no way to call out to God by name. The word god is not a name, it is a descriptive noun. God: that of which there can be nothing big-

13 ger than. But the face of God is known to you and me. So, it s not What s God s name? It s Who is God to me? And that s the question that God asks us: Who am I? Who am I to you? All of those functions: Provider, Protector, Purifier, Defender, Sustainer, Savior, these are the ways that we experience God. But we do know the face of God. It is known to you and me and that s why we have faith. We have faith in our ability not to totally grasp God, but to get a sense of God s presence. Matthew 9 shares the first words of the Lord s Prayer and those first words are an effort to speak in language that which cannot be spoken of. Are you ready to speak with God? Jesus asked. There is no need for drama, just find a quiet place and be simple and be honest. Focus on God s holiness, on God s place in the universe, not your assumed worthiness or ability to know God. He is not like us. He is wholly other and as you own your need, you ll begin to sense His grace. There are no secrets with God. Before you speak, He already knows what you want to say. Therefore, pray like this: Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. In those few words, Jesus has described for us all that we really need to understand about this godthing that is bigger than our imagination. He doesn t use a name. He uses a relationship: Daddy, Papa, Dad. That s a relationship: Father-Son. And he uses it in a way which includes each of us. We see in him the face of God because that face is known to you and me. We know our Father.

14 We know the one who is the source of all things because He is the unity of all that is: all the people, all the creatures, all the stars, all the planets, every place you ve ever been, every place you ll ever go is all part of that great unity of creation and God is the source of all of it. And it is ours. Jesus doesn t say my Father he says our Father. All of us together are tied into, are part of that great unity of creation. In the beginnings God creates the heavens and the earth. He creates everything that is and the earth is the Lord s. It s His, all that is in it, the world and those who live upon it. This is God s way of saying, this is Christ s way of saying, our God, this God is beyond our knowing, is found in all things, in all people, in all creatures, in all circumstances, in all times and place. Our Father, who art in heaven: the divinity of our Creator, God is not like us. God is wholly other, as Rudolph Otto, one of the greatest theologians of the 20 th century would say. God is wholly other, totally different from everything else that we know. That s why it is so difficult for us at times to get a handle on God, because God is not like anything else you know. Not like any other person, not like any other phenomenon you can even imaging. God is totally and wholly other. Do you think you can explain the mysteries of God? Can you diagram His plans and His purposes? God, as Job said, is far higher than we can imagine and God is deeper than anything we can comprehend. Our God is not only in all, but by definition, our God is above all. God is beyond us, who art in heaven, who art not only here but in places that we ll never go. That God, hallowed be the name of that God. We don t even know what the name is, but hallowed be thy name, be the name that God would call

15 Himself. Hallowed be thy name because we as creatures don t have any idea. We are humbled by our lack of awareness of a loving and caring God. We know so little, yet claim so much about the power and the promise and the presence and the purpose that is placed within us by this God who has made us all and made us all to be creatures. That s why we worship him. Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is a Holy God and we are the people of His pasture, we are the sheep of His hands. Halleluiah! Praise God in the holy house of worship! Praise Him under the open skies. Praise Him for His acts of power. Praise Him for His magnificent greatness. Let every living creature worship and praise God! Halleluiah! Our God is in all and God is above all and God is over all. God is I Am. So, we don t know what His name is. It s not Jeff or Jhan or Ron. It s not known to us, however, the face of God is known to us in the ways in which that grace becomes known to us.

16 The face of God is clear to us. Now, you might not be able to sketch it. You might not be able to take a police artist and draw the picture of God and you may not ever have the need to name the nine-billion combinations of letters that might actually identify God s name. But you know that God is in all, you know that God s power is above all and that you know that God s authority and holiness is over all. All things are within God and all things live through God. So, the only question we have to worry about is not what God s name is but who God is to us. What name will we apply to God this day? What function does God serve us? Who is God in us? Who is God for us? And more importantly, as a church, who will God be to those around us, through us? That s the only name that matters. That s the only name that you need to know. There can be nine-billion other names of God, but you re responsible for nine-billion and one. Let us praise the Lord by sharing our tithes and offerings.