THE GONTAOION OF ATTRACTIVE RELIGION"

Transcription

1 11 THE GONTAOON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON" "But Ruth said to Naomi,- 'Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go will go, and where you lodge will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God My God". (Ruth 1: 16) NTRODUCTON The question that inunediately comes to mind is why did Ruth choose Naomi's God? 11Your God" she said, "shall be my God1 11 We have here a bit of Old Testament lore worth pondering by every person who would be a witness for his faith. This Book of Ruth is real~ a story of a soul's conversion - a lovely young woman making a life decision, standing at the crossroads, making up her mind about lifeo Let me fill in the background. The story of Ruth was cast against the background of a very intense and bitter nationalism in which even religion was a matter of geography. 'For instance, if you lived in Moab, you worshipped one kind of God. f you lived in Egypt, you had another or several others. Even the Jews who believed in one God, nevertheless thought his jurisdiction was restricted to a certain geographical area, namely their own. Every country had its own god, and if you changed your country, you changed your god. HOW T HAPPENED Here 1 s how it happened. There was a famine in Judah. The sheep were dying in the hills around Bethlehem and the corn was withering in the fields. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two boys looked out across the fieldso ooacross the Jordan valley to the neighboring lush plains of Moab. t'wasn't far, thirty miles or so, but a long distance then when distance was measured not in miles, but in culture, in mind, in rel~gion. You were as far away from God as you were from His land! Elimelech and his, wife Naomi, and the two sons emigrated to Moab, but it wasn't a good move for them. The boys married heathen girls and worshipped Chemosh, s.corned by the Jews as an unworthy, immoral God. The family had a hard time of it - ten years of adversity, bereavement, sorrow. Elimelech and the sons died. Finally, one day Naomi - brokenhearted - looked wistfully back across the Jordan valley to the hills of Bethlehem, to where her roots were. She felt she must return to her own soil, her own land, her own people. Her two widowed daughters-in-law walked down to the Jordan River to say farewell. They walked with her some distance and then when it came time for the final farewell, Ruth j.ust couldn't bring herself to say the ~ords. t was this reply, charming zna.ny generations since that day that came to her lips: "Entreat me.not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whmther thou goest, will go; and where thou lodgest, will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and your God, my God r"!' WHY DD RUTH RESPOND THS WAY Why did Ruth do it? Why did she choose Naomi's God? The answer is not difficult for us to find. believe she accepted Naomi's God mostly because of her deep affection and her high regard for Naomi. t reminds us of the emotional content of all of our choices. t points up a fact that we don't always care to admit and that is that we make our choices

2 far more with our hearts that we do with our heads. All of our decisions and conclusions are deeply influenced by emotion, by sentiment - our likes and our dislikes, our fears, our prejudices. We cannot easily separate our thinking from our feeling, our minds from the rest of us. For instance, stop and ask yourself - why are you a Methodist? Or a Baptist? Or a Democrat? Or a Republican? Or whatever you are? There are many emotional factors that entered into those decisions. Perhaps, like Ruth, you were pulled to your decision by your affections and feelings, more than by your thinking and your reasoning. And we might add: there's nothing to be ashamed of in that. This is how we're made. We are both emotion and intellect. We're made in one piece, and not in compartments, and all of us enters into the voting process in ~ decision. Jesus recognized the emotional side of our nature, and this is why He went straight for the heart. Out of the heart, He knew, are the issues of life. He was concerned about motives, knowing that if men wanted the right things they would follow their wants to the right choices. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". Seek - that's a "heart" word. Want first the kingdom of God. The old preachers use to say, "Get your heart right. Your mind will follow". THE CONTAGON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON contagion of attractive religion. And so we come to the main point of this sermon. Call it, if you will, the! L.. ";~ll go along with youoeo 11 This is what Ruth meant. "Your God will be my God". would venture to say that this is where reli@.on begins for most of us, not in any argument, but in a want - the contagion of some life we have come to admire, some life we believe in. And if we were to press the question: how were you influenced into the faith? -most of us would probably speak some person's name - a father's, a mother's, a teacher's, a friend's - some life in whom we saw the love and life of Christ reflected in a good way. Let's put this down to the credit of Naomi. She lived out her faith so winsomely in Moab that she made it easy for other people to believe in her Godo Coming with patience through all that sickness, taking heathen daughters into her home, accepting them there, and yet praying to her God and keeping to her Hebrew ways without giving offense to these girls that her sons had chosen as wives - that was not easyo Day after day she exemplified before them a finer type of womanhood than they had ever seen before - a grace of manner, of thoughtfulness, of giving, a richness of faith and understanding far in advance of the crude religions of Moab, until the "nobility" in her called aut the best in Ruth and made conversion to the God who was the source of it all the most natural thing in the world. And this is witnessing at its simple best - making our faith, our religion so attractive - that it travels well that it is contagious. PRNCPLE RUNS DEEP AND REACHES FAR This principle goes deep and it reaches far, and especially in a shrinking world where everybody lives right next door to everybody else. Here we are - all lumped together - the barriers down, no fences separating us. And what a tremendous time this is for a witness to be made for Christ - a witness that can touch many lives in many places. i ' ) '! ',. ' ~. t! f 1,, r! ' ' '

3 - 3 - Our world is one big neighborhood whether we like it or not and whether it 1 s in Africa or the downtown Church in the heart of a city like this, here is the key to the human heart: a touch of God in the human life that makes it radiant, that makes it come alive, attractive, appealing until others want what the Christian has found. 0 We can all be witnesses to our faith. n the Protestant tradition, we are all priests under God - not just the man who has been ordained and who wears the robe and collar. And there are so llal13' ways in which it can be expressed. Think of the number of lives you touch in the course of the week. Multip~ that number by the number present here today. Remember, this is the way it all began back there two thousand years ago - the personal witness. The dai~ contact. The sharing with others - through word, through deed.,, ' ARE WE DONG T Now all of this would be meaningless if we didn't bring it to a head and find a challenge in it. Are we doing this for others: making our religion so compelling, so attractive, so irresistible that others are being drawn to it because they hade chosen us and believe in God because they believe in us. think we have plenty of Ruths in the world - people standing at points of decision, making up their minds about life. What we're short on is the Naomis - attractive witnesses, good samples of the product, speaking quietly to others through their deeds. We can get so preoccupied with the intellectual approach and sometimes forget that every victory of Christ in the world has come - not through intellectual argument - important as it is - but through the quiet witness of the comp~ssionate, Christ-like heart.! i f CLOSNG STORY want to leave a story with you that came across some time ago. Gordon Torgerson, a Baptist minister in Worcester, Massachusetts gets the credit for it and he calls it, "The Man With Two Umbz:ellas", and it illustrates what 've tried to touch on here this morning. One Summer not too long ago, as he was crossing the Atlantic, he noticed a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading the Bible. He got up his courage one afternoon and sat down next to him and led into a conversation' with these thoughts, "Forgive me for my curiosity, but 'm a Baptist preacher.. 've noticed now for several days that you come out here and s~en~ time reading the Bible. assume you're a Christian and 1 m interested to know how it happened" 11Yes 11 said this dark-skinned man, putting his Bible down by his deckchair. "'m glad to talk about that. 'm from the Philippines. was born in a good Catholic home in the Philippines-and some years ago came to the United States to one of your fine universities to stuqy law. MY first night on the campus, felt very much alone and a student came to see me. His visit helped. He said,..' ''ve come to welcome you to the campus, and to see if there's anything can do to help you get settled to make your stay here a pleasant one. Call on me if can help you in anyway'. Then he happened to ask me where went to Church. told him was Catholic. He said, 'Well,.can tell you where the Catholic Church is, but it's not easy to find. t's some distance from the campus. Let me make a map for you'? And so he did this. He made an outline of the way to the church and then left. f ~! l. ~ 't

4 - 4 - "When awakened on Sunday morning, it was ra~m.ng. thought to myself, ''ll just not go to church this morning. t's raining hard. The Church is far away. t's my first Sunday on the campus. 'll go back to sleep. The Lord will certainly forgive me'" There was a knock on the door and when opened it there stood the student who had called on me earlier in the week. His raincoat was dripping wet, and on one arm, he had two umbrellas. He said, 1 thought you might have a hard time finding your way to your church'in all of this rain, so came over and thought i'd walk along with you and show you where it is'. ' r ' l As got dressed to go, thought to myself, 'what kind of a man is this? And as we walked along in the rain under the two umbrellas, said to myself 'if this man is so concerned about my religion, ought to know something about his. And so asked, 'where do you go to church?' h 11 he said, 11 My church is just around the corner". said to him, "Suppose we go to your church today and we 1 11 go to my church next Sunday". went to his church and never did go back to my own. After four years, felt it was not law, but the ministry for me. went to Drew Seminary in New Jersey and was ordained a minister and received an appointment in a Methodist Church in the Philippines. My name is Valencius. am Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines." SUMMARY The Man With the Two Umbrellas - a modern story, if you will, of the most important man in the world not the Bishop, though he is important, but rather the man with the two umbrellas. You go back to the beginning of achristian history and you'll find him quietly at work. He's back of every concert, back of every Christian enterprise and movement in history - that unnamed man with two umbrellas, the man who makes his religion so winsom, so useful, so strong and compelling that others are drawn to it easily and naturally and end up saying to him as Ruth said to Naomi, "' 11 go along with you. Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God". PRAYER God, our Father, do thy work in our hearts by thy spirit to make us more winsome samples and products of our faith. Lights we are, and witnesses to the faith within our hearts. May thy light shine in us, so that those who have drifted away from thee will feel a great longing to make the journey back. n the name and spirit of Christ, we prayo o

5 LA.Y READER: Grace Natividad DATE: June 30, BEFORE "The Scripture Reading for today is taken from the OLD TESTAMENT. THE BOOK OF RUTH. CHAPTER 1. VERSES "t is found on page 231 in the Bible that is 1n the pews." AFTER "Thus endeth the reading taken from the Holy' Scripture. May God add His Blessing to the reading of His Word and to our understanding of it. Thanks be to Godl Amen! 11 NSTRUCTONS 1. The minister will give you a nod when to come forward. He will make sure the Bible is open to the proper page for you. 2. After announcing the passage to be read 1 PAUSE for about 15 second to-give people the opportunity to locate the reading in the Bible in the pews. 3. Read slowly. Don't rush it. Keep your voice "up" smile a a bit if you can remember to. Be sure to project your voice out the person on the last rov has t9 be able to hear you. 4. Careful walking up careful walking back down. Go slowly'.

6 \ NTRODUCTON Let us enter into a time of silent meditation a time in which we prepare ourselves expectant~ tha~ the Spirit of t.he Living.God may be made real to us in this hour of worship. n silence, let each now pray as the heart may prompt. MEDTATON "For as the heavens are high above the earth; so grea~ is His steadfast love toward those who: fear Himo As far as the East is from the \-lest, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.. " "n the na.'lle of Jesus Christ, share with you the Go 1d News: we are forgiven1" _.... "\ lai t on the Lord~ BE'! of good courage and' He shall strengthen thine heart." "Ask and it will be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it will be opened to you". "And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. And as many as touched Him were made whole." PRAYERS LORD'S PRAYER 0 Thou, who hearest prayer, hear our prayers for others. o.as wel1 as for curse: lves. Touch with healing, 0 God and Father of us all, those whe:m we mention in our prayers this hour: 1. John Risley 2. Ellen Nicholson Heal us at the point of our deepest need~ Comfort the bereaved and the broken-hearted in our mids-t~. us all as a healing benediction. Abide among For we ask all of this in the name and spirit of Jesv.s who taught a~ to say when we pray: "Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgit1e those who trespass againnt: us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdo;n, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen."

7 lstoral PRAYER: June 30, THOU, who art the LGHT of the minds that know Thee, the JOY of the hearts that love Thee, the STRENGTH of the wills that serve Thee, HEAR OUR THOUGHTS as we enter once again into the quiet time of prayer. Far from us Thou never art, but by the busyness of our lives and the insensitiveness of our hearts we shut Thee out. We keep Thee distant. GREAT S THY power. NFNTE THE love. THY CONCERN is for all mankind. FOR THE warmth and the beauty of a Summer Day for the opportunity to assemble in worship and to share in fellowship with friends within these hallowed walls, we lift our:hearts iri praise. FOR THE guidance and for the eare that have brought us safely through the work of another week to this place where we may find faith and draw strength, we would give YOU our thanks. NOW HELP US never to trifle with the sacred purposes of this hour, never to fritter away its meaning with wanderings of mind, and bring to each worshipper present a sense of undergirding, a sense of forgiveness, and feeling of renewed purpose and deep meaning. AS WE NOW UNTE together in the pastoral concerns of life, we ask that YOUR blessing might rest upon - All who are engaged in healing the wick. All who are helping to rescue the fallen. All who are entrusted with responsibility for leadership in high places. All who are working diligently and faithfully for peace among the people of our troubled world. REMND US, LORD, that we cannot fellowship with Thee, if in our hearts we neglect, or reject our brother or sister who is in need. MAY THE NFLUENCE of this Lord's DaT be strong in our land. And may those who call upon hee in prayer be given the strength to bear their burdens and the willingness to help bear the burdens of others. ALL THS we now ask in the name and the spirit of Him who long ago came among us and of whom people said, "ndeed, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life". For, n Him we see life's deepest meaning as well as its highest hope!

8 -~ -~~ DATE NAME: Mike Hajek BEFORE "THE SCRPTURE READNG FOR TODAY S TAKEN FROM THE Book of John. Chapter 4. Verses T S FOUND ON PAGE 925 N THE BBLE THAT S N THE PEWS" AFTER ANNOUNCNG THE PAGE NUMBER PAUSE FOR ABOUT 10 to 15 SECONDS ALLOWNG PEOPLE TME TO LOCATE THE SCRPTURE N THE BBLE. PEOPLE DO LKE TO FOLLOW ALONG WTH THE READER. AFTER READNG THE SCRPTURE "THUS ENDETH THE READNG TAKEN FROM THE HOLY SCRPTURE. MAY GOD ADD HS BLESSNG TO THE READNG OF HS WORD AND TO OUR UNDERSTANNG OF T. THANKS BE TO GOD! AMEN. REMEMBER TO: 1. GO SLOWLY DON'T RUSH T. REMEMBER T'S THE WORD OF GOD. DON'T READ T CASUALLY, AND 2. KEEP YOUR VOCE UP SMLE AND REMEr,1BER THAT ADA KNNEY HAS TO HEAR YOU 'WAY N THE BACK OF THE CHURCH.

9 Words for the solo: 11 ch Will Dir Mein Herze Schenken" "Lord, to Thee my heart is given: sink therein, dwell thou in me. So will in Thee find haven. Though t= Thee this world be small. Thou shalt be my all in all. More than earth and heaven be."

10 PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH 106 East 86th Street New York, N.Y.l0028 AT CHURCH DRECTORY Rev. Philip A. C. Clarke Minister Mr. Lyndon Woodside Organist-Choir Director Mr. Jack Schmidt Business Manager Ms. Kathleen Harrison Secretary Mrs. Judith Keisman Day School D irector Mr. Carlos Bernal Custodian GENERAL OFFCERS Lay Members, Annual Conference Mr. Edward J. Brown Mrs. Joyce Gartrell President, Board of Trustees Miss Lynn Bruhn Chairman, Administrative Council Mr. Leroy Coffman Chairman, Education Committee... Mr. William Bell Chairman, Fellowship Committee Miss Helen Wilkinson Chairman, Finance Committee..... Mr. Edward]. Brown Chairman, Church Property Committee.. Mr. Doug Heimbigner Co-Chairmen, Membership Committee... Mr. Frank High Miss Pam Hubby Chairman, Outreach Committee... Miss Elizabeth Berg Chairman, Worship Committee Miss Lynn Bruhn Co-Chairmen, Day School... Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Hughes Chaim1an, Ushers Mr. Larry Morales Superintendent, Sunday School... Miss Anne Davenport PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH

11 FFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST June 30, 1985 ORDER OF WORSHP 11 A. M. ORGAN "Von Gott Will ch Nicht Lassen" Bach "Prelude in G Major" CALL TO WORSHP HYMN NO. 26 "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" PRAYER OF CONFESSON (seated) Help us, 0 Lord, who claim to be Christians. Teach us our responsibilities to You and to others in this world. Save us from loving religion instead of You. Take fire and burn away our hypocrisy. Take water and wash away the blood that we cause to be shed. Take sunlight and dry the tears of those we have hurt. Take love and plant it in our hearts, that peace and joy may be made real for all people everywhere. For we ask these things in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. SLENT MEDTATON - WORDS OF ASSURANCE - LORD'S PRAYER *** PSALTER "Peace Be Within You" No. 596 GLORA PATRA No. 792 AFFRMATON OF FATH No. 740 *** SOLO "ch Will Dir Mein Herze Schenken" Bach SCRPTURE Ruth 1: 1-18 PASTORAL PRAYER PARSH CONCERNS SOLO "Alleluia" Mozart PRESENTATON OF THE OFFERNG WTH THE DOXOLOGY HYMN NO. 63 "God s Love; His Mercy Brightens" SERMON "The Contagion of Attractive Religion" HYMN NO. 165 "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing" BENEDCTON ORGAN "Fugue in G Major" Bach ***nterval for Ushering LAY READER We welcome Grace G. Natividad to the Lectern today. A native of the Philippines, Grace is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital having come to the United States two. years ago. Here in the Church she serves on the coffee hour and is a member of the Adult Fellowship. ALTAR FLOWERS The flowers on the altar today are given in memory of Joan Lubin Smucker by Dr. and Mrs. John Lombardo. TODAY'S MUSC We welcome Mr. Paul F. Mueller to the organ console this morning in the absence of Lyndon woodside. We also welcome Sharon Steinberg as soloist for the service. USHERS The ushers today are Helen Wilkinson, Lynn Anderson, George Crawford, Florence Long and Roxanne Snover. AN NVTATON Coffee and tea will be served in the Russell Room following the service. These moments are made possible by Marjorie Benton, Charles Wire, Karen Miller, Robert Miller, Kim Olivadoti and Lucy Dinnes. CHURCH SCHOOL AND NURSERY CARE Sessions of Church School for younger children are offered Sunday morning during the Summer months. Nursery care for infants and toddlers continues to be available. THE JULY SSUE Pass your contributions on to Lucy Dinnes for the July issue of our monthly parish news sheet.

12 PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH 106 East 86th Street New York, N.Y AT CHURCH DRECTORY Rev. Philip A. C. Clarke Minister Mr. Lyndon Woodside Organist-Choir Director Mr. Jack Schmidt Business Manager Ms. Kathleen Harrison Secretary Mrs. Judith Keisman Day School Director Mr. Carlos Bernal Custodian GENERAL OFFCERS Lay Members, Annual Conference... Mr. Edward J. Brown Mrs. Joyce Gartrell President, Board of Trustees Miss Lynn Bruhn Chairman, Administrative Council Mr. Leroy Coffman Chairman, Education Committee... Mr. William Bell Chairman, Fellowship Committee Miss Helen Wilkinson Chairman, Finance Committee Mr. Edward J. Brown Chairman, Church Property Committee.. Mr. Doug Heimbigner Co-Chairmen, Membership Committee Mr. Frank High Miss Pam Hubby Chairman, Outreach Committee Miss Elizabeth Berg Chairman, Worship Committee Miss Lynn Bruhn Co-Chairmen, Day School... Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Hughes Chairman, Ushers Mr. Larry Morales Superintendent, Sunday School M i s Anne Davenport PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH

13 FFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST June 30, 1985 ORDER OF WORSHP 11 A. M. ORGAN "Von Gott Will ch Nicht Lassen" Bach "Prelude in G Major" CALL TO WORSHP HYMN NO. 26 "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" PRAYER OF CONFESSON (seated) Help us, 0 Lord, who claim to be Christians. Teach us our responsibilities to You and to others in this world. Save us from loving religion instead of You. Take fire and burn away our hypocrisy. Take water and wash away the blood that we cause to be shed. Take sunlight and dry the tears of those we have hurt. Take love and plant it in our hearts, that peace and joy may be made real for all people everywhere. For we ask these things in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. SLENT MEDTATON - WORDS OF ASSURANCE - LORD'S PRAYER *** PSALTER "Peace Be Within You" No. 596 GLORA PATRA No. 792 AFFRMATON OF FATH No. 740 *** SOLO "ch Will Dir Mein Herze Schenken" Bach SCRPTURE Ruth 1: 1-18 PASTORAL PRAYER PARSH CONCERNS SOLO "Alleluia" Mozart PRESENTATON OF THE OFFERNG WTH THE DOXOLOGY HYMN NO. 63 "God s Love; His Mercy Brightens" SERMON "The Contagion of Attractive Religion" HYMN NO. 165 "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing" BENEDCTON ORGAN "Fugue in G Major" Bach ***nterval for Ushering LAY READER We welcome Grace G. Natividad to the Lectern today. A native of the Philippines, Grace is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital having come to the United States two years ago. Here in the Church she serves on the coffee hour and is a member of the Adult Fellowship. ALTAR FLOWERS The flowers on the altar today are given in memory of Joan Lubin Smucker by Dr~ and Mrs. John Lombardo. TODAY'S MUSC We welcome Mr. Paul F. Mueller to the organ console this morning in the absence of Lyndon Woodside. We also welcome Sharon Steinberg as soloist for the service. USHERS The ushers today are Helen Wilkinson, Lynn Anderson, George Crawford, Florence Long and Roxanne Snover. AN NVTATON Coffee and tea will be served in the Russell Room following the service. These moments are made possible by Marjorie Benton, Charles Wire, Karen Miller, Robert Miller, Kim Olivadoti and Lucy Dinnes. CHURCH SCHOOL AND NURSERY CARE Sessions of Church School for younger children are offered Sunday morning during the Summer months. Nursery care for infants and toddlers continues to be available. THE JULY SSUE Pass your contributions on to Lucy Dinnes for the July issue of our monthly parish news sheet.

14 PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH 106 East 86th Street New York, N.Y AT CHURCH DRECTORY Rev. Philip A. C. Clarke Minister Mr. Lyndon Woodside Organist-Choir Director Mr. Jack Schmidt Business Manager Ms. Kathleen Harrison... Secretary Mrs. Judith Keisman... Day School Director Mr. Carlos Bernal Custodian GENERAL OFFCERS Lay Members, Annual Conference... Mr. Edward]. Brown Mrs. Joyce Gartrell President, Board of Trustees Miss Lynn Bruhn Chairman, Administrative Council... Mr. Leroy Coffman Chairman, Education Committee Mr. William Bell Chairman, Fellowship Committee Miss Helen Wilkinson Chairman, Finance Committee.... Mr. Edward]. Brown Chairman, Church Property Committee.. Mr. Doug Heimbigner Co-Chairmen, Membership Committee Mr. Frank High Miss Pam Hubby Chairman, Outreach Committee Miss Elizabeth Berg Chairman, Worship Committee... Miss Lynn Bruhn Co-Chairmen, Day School... Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Hughes Chairman, Ushers Mr. Larry Morales Superintendent, Sunday School... Miss Anne Davenport PARK AVENUE UNTED METHODST CHURCH

15 FFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST June 30, 1985 ORDER OF WORSHP 11 A. M. ORGAN "Von Gott Will ch Nicht Lassen" Bach "Prelude in G Major" CALL TO WORSHP HYMN NO. 26 "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" PRAYER OF CONFESSON (seated) Help us, 0 Lord, who claim to be Christians. Teach us our responsibilities to You and to others in this world. Save us from loving religion instead of You. Take fire and burn away our hypocrisy. Take water and wash away the blood that we cause to be shed. Take sunlight and dry the tears of those we have hurt. Take love and plant it in our hearts, that peace and joy may be made real for all people everywhere. For we ask these things in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. SLENT MEDTATON -WORDS OF ASSURANCE - LORD'S PRAYER *** PSALTER GLORA PATRA AFFRMATON OF FATH *** "Peace Be Within You" SOLO SCRPTURE Ruth 1: 1-18 PASTORAL PRAYER PARSH CONCERNS "ch Will Dir Mein Herze Schenken" No. 596 No. 792 No. 740 Bach SOLO "Alleluia" Mozart PRESENTATON OF THE OFFERNG WTH THE DOXOLOGY HYMN NO. 63 "God s Love; His Mercy Brightens" SERMON "The Contagion of Attractive Religion" HYMN NO. 165 "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing" BENEDCTON ORGAN "Fugue in G Major" Bach ***nterval for Ushering LAY READER We welcome Grace G. Natividad to the Lectern today. A native of the Philippines, Grace is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital having come to the United.States two. years ago. Here in the Church she serves on the coffee hour and is a member of the Adult Fellowship. ALTAR FLOWERS The flowers on the altar today are given in memory of Joan Lubin Smucker by Dr. and Mrs. John Lombardo. TODAY'S MUSC We welcome Mr. Paul F. Mueller to the organ console this morning in the absence of Lyndon woodside. We also welcome Sharon Steinberg as soloist for the service. USHERS The ushers today are Helen Wilkinson, Lynn Anderson, George Crawford, Florence Long and Roxanne Snover. AN NVTATON Coffee and tea will be served in the Russell Room following the service. These moments are made possible by Marjorie Benton, Charles Wire, Karen Miller, Robert Miller, Kim Olivadoti and Lucy Dinnes. CHURCH SCHOOL AND NURSERY CARE Sessions of Church School for younger children are offered Sunday morning during the Summer months. Nurser y care for infants and toddlers continues to be available. THE JULY SSUE Pass your contributions on to Lucy Dinnes for the July issue of our monthly parish news sheet.

16 .t'.l.t''l'h ::>UNUAY A.t''l'J::;K.1:-'.J::;N'l'.t;CU:::i'l' June 30, 1985 ORDER OF WORSHP 11 A. M. ORGAN "Von Gott Will ch Nicht Lassen" Bach "Prelude in G Major" CALL TO WORSHP HYMN NO. 26 "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty" PRAYER OF CONFESSON (seated) Help us, 0 Lord, who claim to be Christians. Teach us our responsibilities to You and to others in this world. Save us from loving religion instead of You. Take fire and burn away our hypocrisy. Take water and wash away the blood that we cause to be shed. Take sunlight and dry the tears of those we have hurt. Take love and plant it in our hearts, that peace and joy may be made real for all people everywhere. For we ask these things in the name and spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. SLENT MEDTATON - WORDS OF ASSURANCE - LORD'S PRAYER *** PSALTER GLORA PATRA AFFRMATON OF FATH *** "Peace Be Within You" SOLO SCRPTURE Ruth 1: 1-18 PASTORAL PRAYER PARSH CONCERNS "ch Will Dir Mein Herze Schenken" No. 596 No. 792 No. 740 Bach SOLO "Alleluia" Mozart PRESENTATON OF THE OFFERNG WTH THE DOXOLOGY HYMN NO. 63 "God s Love; His Mercy Brightens" SERMON "The Contagion of Attractive Religion" HYMN NO. 165 "Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing" BENEDCTON ORGAN "Fugue in G Major" Bach ***nterval for Ushering We welcome Grace G. Natividad to the Lectern today. A native of the Philippines, Grace is a nurse at Mt. Sinai Hospital having come to the United. States two. years ago. Here in the Church she serves on the coffee hour and is a member of the Adult Fellowship. ALTAR FLOWERS The flowers on the altar today are given in memory of Joan Lubin Smucker by Dr. and Mrs. John Lombardo. TODAY'S MUSC We welcome Mr. Paul F. Mueller to the organ console this morning in the absence of Lyndon Woodside. We also welcome Sharon Steinberg as soloist for the service. USHERS The ushers today are Helen Wilkinson, Lynn Anderson, George Crawford, Florence Long and Roxanne Snover. AN NVTATON Coffee and tea will be served in the Russell Room following the service. These moments are made possible by Marjorie Benton, Charles Wire, Karen Miller, Robert Miller, Kim Olivadoti and Lucy Dinnes. CHURCH SCHOOL AND NURSERY CARE Sessions of Church School for younger children are offered Sunday morning during the Summer months. Nursery care for infants and toddlers continues to be available. THE JULY SSUE Pass your contributions on to Lucy Dinnes for the July issue of our monthly parish news sheet.

17 11 THE CONTAGON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON" "But Ruth said to Naomi, 'Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go will go, and where you lodge will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God My God" (Ruth 1: 16) NTRODUCTON The question that immediately comes to mind is why did Ruth choose Naomi's God? "Your God" she said, "shall be my Godl" We have here a bit of Old Testament lore worth pondering by every person who would be a witness for his faith. This Book of Ruth is really a story of a soul's conversion -a lovely young woman making a life decision, standing at the crossroads, making up her mind about life. Let me fill in the background. The story of Ruth was cast against the background of a very intense and bitter nationalism in which even religion was a matter of geography. For instance, if you lived in Moab, you worshipped one kind of God. f you lived in Egypt, you had another or several others. Even the Jews who believed in one God, nevertheless thought his jurisdiction was restricted to a certain geographical area, namely their own. Every country had its o ~ god, and if you changed your country, you changed your god. HOW T HAPPENED Here's how it happened. There was a famine in Judah. The sheep were dying in the hills around Bethlehem and the corn was withering in the fields. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two boys looked out across the fields across the Jordan valley to the neighboring lush plains of Moab. t 1 wasn't far, thirty miles or so, but a long distance then when distance was measured not in miles, but in culture, in mind, in religion. You were as far away from God as you were from His 1and1 Elimelech and his, wife Naomi, and the two sons emigrated to Moab, but it wasn't a good move for them. The boys married heathen girls and worshipped Chemosh, scorned by the Jews as an unworthy, immoral God. The family had a hard time of it - ten years of adversity, bereavement, sorrow. Elimelech and the sons died. Finally, one day Naomi - brokenhearted - looked wistfully back across the Jordan valley to the hills of Bethlehem, to where her roots were. She felt she must return to her own soil, her own land, her own people. Her two widowed daughters-in-law walked down to the Jordan River to say farewell. They walked with her some distance and then when it came time for the final farewell, Ruth j.ust couldn't bring herself to say the words. t was this reply, charming many generations since that day that came to her lips: "Entreat me.not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whmther thou goest, will go; and where thou lodgest, will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and your God, my God'" WHY DD RUTH RESPOND THS WAY Why did Ruth do it? Why did she choose Naomi's God? The answer is not difficult for us to find. believe she accepted Naomi's God mostly because of her deep affection and her high regard for Naomi. t reminds us of the emotional content of all of our choices. t points up a fact that we don't always care to admit and that is that we make our choices

18 - 2 - far more with our hearts that we do with our heads. All of our decisions and conclusions are deeply influenced by emotion, by sentiment - our likes and our dislikes, our fears, our prejudices. \rj'e cannot easily separate our thinking from our feeling, our minds from the rest of us. For instance, stop and ask yourself - why are you a Methodist? Or a Baptist? Or a Democrat? Or a Republican? Or whatever you are? There are many emotional factors that entered into those decisions. Perhaps, like Ruth, you were pulled to your decision by your affections and feelings, more than by your thinking and your reasoning. And we might add: there 1 s nothing to be ashamed of in that. This is how we're made. We are both emotion and intellect. lrje're made in one piece, and not in compartments, and all of us enters into the voting process in any decision. Jesus recognized the emotional side of our nature, and this is why He went straight for the heart. Out of the heart, He knew, are the issues of life. He was concerned about motives, knowing that if men wanted the right things they would follow their wants to the right choices. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". Seek - that 1 s a "heart" word. lrjant first the kingdom of God. The old preachers use to say, "Get your heart right. Your mind will follow". THE CONTAGON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON contagion of attractive religion. And so we come to the main point of this sermon. Call it, if you lvill, the "[~ll go along with you. '' This is what Ruth meant. 11 Your God will be my God". would venture to say that this is where reli@.on begins for most of us, not in any argument, but in a want - the contagion of some life we have come to admire, some life we believe in. And if we were to press the question: how were you influenced into the faith? -most of us would probably speak some person's name - a father's, a mother's, a teacher's, a friend's - some life in whom we saw the love and life of Christ reflected in a good way. Let 1 s put this down to the credit of Naomi. She lived out her faith so winsomely in Moab that she made it easy for other people to believe in her God. Coming with patience through all that sickness, taking heathen daughters into her home, accepting them there, and yet praying to her God and keeping to her Hebrew ways without giving offense to these girls that her sons had chosen as wives - that was not easy. D~ after day she exemplified before them a finer type of womanhood than they had ever seen before - a grace of manner, of thoughtfulness, of giving, a richness of faith and understanding far in advance of the crude religions of Moab, until the "nobility" in her called out the best in Ruth and made conversion to the God who was the source of it all the most natural thing in the world. And this is witnessing at its simple best - making our faith, our religion so attractive - that it travels well that it is contagious. PRNCPLE RUNS DEEP AND REACHES FAR This principle goes deep and it reaches far, and especially in a shrinking world where everybody lives right next door to everybody else. Here we are - all lumped together - the barriers down, no fences separating us. And what a tremendous time this is for a witness to be made for Christ - a witness that can touch many lives in many places.

19 - 3 - Our world is one big neighborhood whether we like it or not and whether it 1 s in Africa or the downtovm Church in the heart of a city like this, here is the key to the human heart: a touch of God in the human life that makes it radiant, that makes it come alive, attractive, appealing until others want what the Christian has found. 0 We can all be witnesses to our faith. n the Protestant tradition, we are all priests under God - not just the man who has been ordained and who wears the robe and collar. And there are so many ways in which it can be expressed. Think of the number of lives you touch in the course of the week. Multip~ that number by the number present here today. Remember, this is the way it all began back there two thousand years ago - the personal witness. The daily contact. The sharing with others - through word, through deed. ARE WE DONG T Now all of this would be meaningless if we didn't bring it to a head and find a challenge in it. Are we doing this for others: making our religion so compelling, so attractive, so irresistible that others are being drawn to it because they haue chosen us and believe in God because they believe in us. think we have plenty of Ruths in the world - people standing at points of decision, making up their minds about life. What we're short on is the Naomis - attractive witnesses, good samples of the product, speaking quietly to others through their deeds. \tfe can get so preoccupied with the intellectual approach and sometimes forget that every victory of Christ in the world has come - not through intellectual argument - important as it is - but through the quiet witness of the compassionate, Christ-like heart. CLOSNG STORY want to leave a story with you that came across some time ago. Gordon Torgerson, a Baptist minister in Worcester, Massachusetts gets the credit for it and he calls it, "The Man With Two Umbrellas", and it illustrates what 1 ve tried to touch on here this morning. One Summer not too long ago, as he was crossing the Atlantic, he noticed a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading the Bible. He got up his courage one afternoon and sat down next to him and led into a conversation with these thoughts, "Forgive me for my curiosity, but 'm a Baptist preacher. 've noticed now for several days that you come out here and spen~ time reading the Bible. assume you're a Christian and 'm interested to know how it happened". "Yes" said this dark-skinned man, putting his Bible down by his deckchair. "'m glad to talk about that. 'm from the Philippines. was born in a good Catholic home in the Philippines,and some years ago came to the United States to one of your fine universities to study law. My first night ori the campus, felt very much alone and a student came to see me. His visit helped. He said,..: ''ve come to welcome you to the campus, and to see if there's anything can do to help you get settled to make your stay here a pleasant one. Call on me if can help you in anyvray 1 Then he happened to ask me where werit to Church. told him was Catholic. He said, 'Well, can tell you where the Catholic Church is, but it's not easy to find. t's some distance from the campus. Let me make a map for you'? And so he did this. He made an outline of the way to the church and then left.

20 - 4- "When awakened on Sunday morning, it was ''ll just not go to church this morning. t's far away. t's my first Sunday on the campus. Lord will certainly forgive me'" ra~ntng. thought to myself, raining hard. The Church is 'll go back to sleep. The There was a knock on the door and when opened it there stood the student who had called on me earlier in the week. His raincoat was dripping wet, and on one arm, he had two umbrellas. He said, 1 thought you might have a hard time finding your way to your church in all of this rain, so came over and thought i 1 d walk along with you and show you where it is 1 As got dressed to go, thought to myself, 'what kind of a man is this? And as we walked along in the rain under the two umbrellas, said to myself 'if this man is so concerned about my religion, ought to know something about his. And so asked, 'where do you go to church?' h" he said, "MY church is just around the corner". said to him, "Suppose we go to your church today and we 1 11 go to my church next Sunday". went to his church and never did go back to my own. After four years, felt it was not law, but the ministry for me. went to Drew Seminary in New Jersey and was ordained a minister and received an appointment in a Methodist Church in the Philippines. My name is Valencius. am Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines.' SUMMARY The Man With the Two Umbrellas - a modern story, if you will, of the most important man in the world not the Bishop, though he is important, but rather the man with the two umbrellas. You go back to the beginning of achristian history and you'll find him quietly at work. He's back of every concert, back of every Christian enterprise and movement in history - that unnamed man with two umbrellas, the man who makes his religion so winsom, so useful, so strong and compelling that others are drawn to it easily and naturally and end up saying to him as Ruth said to Naomi, "' 11 go along with you. Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God". PRAYER God, our Father, do thy work in our hearts by thy spirit to make us more winsome samples and products of our faith. Lights we are, and witnesses to the faith within our hearts. May thy light shine in us, so that those who have drifted away from thee will feel a great longing to make the journey back. n the name and spirit of Christ, we pray.

21 "THE CONTAGON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON" "But Ruth said to Naomi, 'Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go will go, and where you lodge will lodge; your people shall be my people, and YOUR God MY God! 11 (Ruth l: 16) NTRODUCTON The question that immediately comes to mind is WHY did Ruth choose Naomi's God? "Your God" she said, "shall be my God!" We have here a bit of Biblical history worth pondering by every person who would be a witness for his faith. The Book of Ruth is really a story of a soul's conversion - a lovely young woman making a life decision, standing at the crossroads, and making up her mind about life. Let me fill in the background. The story of Ruth was cast against the background of an intense and bitter nationalism, in which even religion was:. a matter of geography. For instance, if you lived in Moab, you worshipped one kind of God. f you lived in Egypt, you had another or several others. Even the Jews who belived in one God, nevertheless thought his jurisdiction was restricted to a certain geogr~phical area, namely their own. Every country had its own god, and if you changed your country, you changed your god. You have to remember that, when you read the Old Testament. DEVELOPMENT Here's how it happened: there was a famine in Judah -the sheep were dying in the hills around Bethlehem, and the corn was withering in the fields. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two sons looked out across the fields across the Jordan valley to the neighboring, lush plains of Moab. t wasn't far, thirty miles or so, but a long distance then when distance was measured not in miles, but in culture, in mind, in religion. You were as far away from God as you were from his land. Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and the two sons emigrated to Moab, but it was not a successful move for them. The boys married heathen girls and worshipped Chemosh, scorned by the Jews as an unworthy, immoral God. The fami~ had a hard time - ten years of adversity, bereavement and sorrow. Elimelech and the two sons died. And finally one day, Naomi - brokenhearted - looked back across the Jordan valley to the hills of Bethlehem, the hills of home. She felt she must go back there, to her own soil, her own land, her own people. Her two widowed daughters-in-law walked down to the Jordan River to say farewell. They walked with her some distance and then when it came time to say good-bye, Ruth couldn't bring herself to say the words. t was this reply, charming many generations since that day, that came to her lips: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, will go; and where thou lodgest, will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and your God my God! 11 WHY DD RUTH DO THS Why did Ruth do it? Why did she choose Naomi's God? The answer is not difficult for us to find. She accepted Naomi's God mostly because of her deep affection and high regard for Naomi. The Christian witness - and all others who want to influence human behavior - must keep in mind and never be ashamed of the emotional content of all of our choices. t points up a fact that we don't always care to admit, that we make our,.

22 - 2 - choices - even our life choices - far more with our hearts than we do with our heads, that all of our decisions and conclusion are deeply influenced by emotion, by sentiment - our likes, dislikes, fears, and 'm afraid, even our prejudices. We cannot separate our thinking from our feelings, our minds from the rest of us. For instance, stop and ask yourself, why are you a Methodist? Or a Baptist? Or a Democrat? Or a Republican? Or whatever you are? think you'd be surprised how many emotional factors enter into these decisions - how much, like Ruth, you were pulled to your decision by your affections, your feelings. Perhaps more feeling, more emotion than thinking and reason. And we might add: there's nothing to be ashamed of in that. This is how we're made. We are as truly emotional as we are intellectual. We're made in one piece, thank the Lord, and not in compartments, and all of us votes - the whole being votes ~ every decision we make and every conclusion we come to. Jesus recognized the emotional side of our nature, and this is why ne went straight fo:b the heart. Ou:t of the heart, he knew, are the issues of life. He was concerned about motives, knowing that if men wanted the right things they would follow their wants to the right choices. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". Seek- it's a heart word. Want first the kingdom of God. The old preachers use to say, "Get your heart right- your mind will follow". THE CONTAGON OF ATTRACTVE RELGON And so we come to the main point of this sermon - call it, if you will, the contagion of attractive religion. "' 11 go along w i th you" this is what Ruth meant. "Your God will be my God". And would venture to say that this is where religion begins for most of us, not in any argument, but in a want - the contagion of some life we have come to believe in and admire. And if we were to press the. question: how were you influenced into the faith? - most of us would probab~ speak some person's name -a mother's, a father's, a teacher's - some person's name in whose life we saw the love of Christ reflected. Richard Swain, in his little book, What and Where s God? said that his first glimpse of God came in his mother's face, on day at church when he leaned against her as she bm-1ed her head to pray. When the prayer began, her face was tense and strained,abuthas the prayer went on it relaxed and softened into a kindly glow. A little thing, you say, but it impressed him great~ as a boy; it stayed with him as a man. And this is the place where it starts with most of us - some fleeting glimpse of God's glory shining in a face or speaking in a life. Saul of Tarsus, you may recall, saw it in the face of Stephen, and it haunted him until he finally gave in to it -the magnetism of God's spirit, shining in and through anbther life. Who was it who once observed "Christianity is caught, not taught". Carlyle, speaking of the early church, asked, "How did Christianity arise and spread among me?" "t arose in the mystid deeps of man's soul; and was spread abroad by the 'preaching of the word' and flew - like hallowed fire - from heart to heart". So let's put this down to the credit of Naomi. She lived out her faith so winsomely in Moab that she made it easy for other people to believe in her God. Coming with patience through all that sickness, taking heathen daughters into her home, accepting them there, and yet praying to her God and keeping to her Hebrew ways without giving offense to these girls that her sons had chosen as wives - that was not easy. Day after day she exemplified before them a finer type of womanhood than they had ever seen before - a grace of manner, of thoughtfulness, of giving, a richness of faith and understanding far in advance of the crude religions of Moab, until the nobility in her called out the best in Ruth and made conversion to the