Little Children Welcome

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Dinah Rogers
5 years ago
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1 Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, UCC Little Children Welcome Prelude People were bringing little children to him Mark 10:13 Our worship this morning signals the beginning of our stewardship season in the life of Plymouth. This is a focused, concentrated time for us to consider the church and its ministry, and how we intend to support the ministry with offerings of time, talent, and treasure. We regularly solicit support for the church; every week we include an offering time in the liturgy of worship; we invite direct investment and participation in gospel work; we seek to incite generosity becoming of a Christian whose life is not their own. We understand: giving is engrained in our living, it is a constitutional part of our spiritual make up. We seek not to exploit life in order to gain what finally we cannot keep on our own. Our daily endeavor, our hope and prayer, is to be a charitable people. To be a charitable people. That has a somewhat strange sound to it. Christians indelibly linked with charitability? In our day we have a lot of images floating around that get affixed to the Christian - anxious, apocalyptic, angry, judgmental these are four terms that quickly come to my mind. Thoughtful, charitable, these are two that come later. E.O. Wilson, Harvard biologist, who made a living

2 studying ants, and who has made a reputation as a conservationist, a voice in the wilderness crying out biodiversity is essential for life (what he really has said is that Biodiversity is both a practical necessity and a spiritual underpinning of human existence. ) - E.O. Wilson once said: Page 2 I m very much a Christian in ideals and ethics, especially in terms of belief in fairness, a deep set obligation to others, and the virtues of charity, tolerance and generosity that we associate with traditional Christian teaching. I share the quote, for I fear such traditional teaching has been lost in the riptides of our culture, lost in a sea of concern for winning, counter-balanced by a fear of losing. A stewardship season may not be enough to regain an understanding of obligation, to reclaim the virtues of charity, tolerance, and generosity. But these we pray to practice in Plymouth Church. And be not mistaken, the traditional teaching noted by Professor Wilson, is our aspiration. ***** ***** ***** What distinguishes stewardship season is the intentional effort we put forth, wanting members and friends to be aware of what we are doing and what resources are needed to sustain the budget that governs how our resources are employed. Call this season a stewardship intensive. We devote weeks to this, ending with our commitment Sunday (November 8), when we hope all members will signal their giving intentions with a pledge for calendar year 2016.

3 During these weeks we will be singing the hymn, Hear the Voice of God, So Tender. Page 3 Hear the voice of God, so tender, gathering us in righteousness, giving, as our sure defender, steadfast love and faithfulness. I hope we get to like this hymn, that we benefit from its teaching, that we are taken to where it would lead us, awareness of new life brought about by the Spirit of God. We have witnessing stewards scheduled who will speak of the impact Plymouth Church has upon their lives. Posted around church, printed on bulletin front cover, we have a logo designed by Lettie Eagar, a fish, finned with happy hands, with theme: the Love of God for the good of all. The theme is an extracted thought from Paul s letter to the church in Galatia (Galatians 6:7-9). Now there is a lot going on in the letter to the Galatians. I recall many years ago, Samuel Dewitt Proctor made reference to Galatians as a crown jewel of the New Testament, for within its contents resides evidence of a huge debate that was waged in the church in its nativity. The love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ is it to be bound by culture, or does it break out, spill over, and transcend the scandal of its particularity. This is our witness: the Word of God, the Wisdom of God, was incarnate, embodied in Jesus of Nazareth, a man and a Jew, crucified and risen. Is this wondrous love of God restricted and culturally confined by those conditions and its antecedents?

4 Page 4 Heavy hitters went to bat over articles the love of God in Jesus Christ, was this extravagance for all people to become like a people, or, for a people to be a blessing for all people? On one side we have James, Peter, and John leading off the batting order; on another side we have Paul in the clean up spot, inserted in the lineup after the lightning strike on the Damascus Road, Paul being blinded that he might see Jesus and grasp a vision of God s love at work in a willing people anywhere in the world. Well, all this gets worked out in Galatians, where Paul who came along late by way of adoption defends a gospel of grace, a glorious liberty attained when people are guided by the Spirit, the Spirit that transformed lives in a Gentile world, just as the Spirit transformed lives in a Jewish world. And Paul encourages: don t grow weary in doing what is right; we will reap what we sow if we don t give up; so whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all (the all is not confined to the church; it is inclusive and overarching); work for the good of all, and especially for those of the household of faith (which is the church). Paul had no interest in the church being an exclusive club; he had every interest in the church being the body of Christ transforming the world. So this is what we will work with during our our stewardship season: the love of God for the good of all. ***** ***** ***** *****

5 The question I m asking this morning is there room here for such gospel in our heads, in our hearts the love of God for the good of all? And if so, what does it look like? Page 5 To help formulate a response, I want to quickly revisit the scripture lesson this morning. There are four significant turns in the text. (1) People were bringing little children to Jesus; so we have little people, and their advocates, wanting to be included in the company of Jesus. (2) The disciples resent and resist the increased company, which they appear to see as an encroachment upon their place/space; the adult advocates for the little children are seen to be trespassing, and they are rebuked; they were judged unwelcome, and they spoke sternly. They were, we might say, without charity. (3) Jesus heard this and he got angry; indignant; he was not happy; he corrected the disciples with a teaching suffer the children (KJV) and let them come; include them; learn from them. (4) Jesus blessed the children. I don t want us to miss this. It was important to Mark. Maybe not for Matthew and Luke, but for Mark it was of vital importance. Jesus blessed the children. Now three thoughts about this lesson and our theme: the love of God for the good of all and what that might look like for us. there will be room for children all kinds of children. A number of years ago, Erma Bombeck ( ) wrote: All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with white carpet is one of them. Jesus made room for children. Suffer the little children (KJV) may have been one of

6 Page 6 his more radicalized moments. And he didn t ask about their abilities or their pedigree, if they were one of us or not. He made room and changed the seating charts, indicating the older and stronger have something to learn from the younger and weaker, as well as those who fend for them. ***** ***** ***** ***** The love of God for the good of all what might that look like here, in our midst? In our lesson Jesus shows us there are some situations where serious displeasure is absolutely appropriate. Some situations are so at odds, interfering with the manifestation of God s love, that anger is an obligation (Nikos Kasantsakas). I pause fearing a misunderstanding here. We have too much anger so misdirected, channeled in ways so cruel and destructive. Yet children and others whose lives have been brutally twisted by poverty, war, violence, are left to languish and there swells from deep within righteous indignation. In the aftermath of the most recent campus ambush in Oregon, I came across a report that defined mass shooting a shooting in which four or more people are killed or wounded. There have been 294 mass shootings this year, and we are 276 days into the year. During the second term of President Obama, a week has not gone by, not one week, where a mass shooting hasn t occurred somewhere (Washington Post, via the Chicago Tribune). There needs to be room in the church for serious displeasure over such lunacy. There needs to be room for what Richard Hofstadter called a tincture of rage, which is said was necessary for first-rate creativity. And here is the more challenging observation. The epicenter of the debates needs to happen right here in NE Indiana where we have leaders willing to shut down the federal government

7 over the funding of Planned Parenthood, while refusing to do anything to calm the fears that exist on every campus in every church in this land. Our thoughts and prayers (Obama) are not enough. Our inability to advance first rate creativity makes a mockery of our thoughts and prayers. Page 7 We can do better. And if we do better here in the land where Molech is lord, and the NRA picks our representatives, the whole nation will be better off. ***** ***** ***** ***** So we see Jesus possess a tincture of rage when faced with disciples who didn t have sense to not interfere with his love. But he was NOT consumed by his rage. He got over it and got to work. And the work was in blessing the children. And this is where I hope we strive to be in our ministry. Whatever our work, wherever our work, are we serving as a people who bless others? When we spend money or send money, or invite people to be engaged in church work and mission, is it blessing work? Does it reflect the love of God for the good of all? Let us understand this term, bless. It has roots in both Hebrew and Greek. In the Hebrew (barak) there is derivation from a term that meant to bend to bend the knee, to kneel we might say, as a liege to the Lord, to humble or subject oneself to sovereign. When we seek and find such favor, we are blessed. In the Greek (eulogoe) to bless indicated the speaking of a good word; the Greek (makarios) also conveyed an understanding of good fortune, which get translated into English as happiness.

8 God blesses us and bids us to be a blessing to others in need. We don t restrict our blessings, we want our blessings to be lavish, to reach far, touch wide. We want our blessings to be charitable, life enriching, for others, indeed, the love of God for the good of all. Page 8 And it all begins here. At a Table. With bread blessed, broken, and shared. And where it ends well, God knows. We simply trust the blessings will ripple and wave their way where needed for goodness and mercies of God to save a much-loved people. Amen. (Sermons are typically composed in haste, for the demands of the day are many; so be charitable as you read; and remember: the contents of this sermon have not been edited and may or may not have been a part of its public presentation)

Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, UCC. April 15, Resurrection Wonders

Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne, UCC April 15, 2018 Resurrection Wonders April 15, 2018 1 P a g e Prelude: While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, Jesus said to them,