Calvary United Methodist Church September 11, AYE Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks

Transcription

1 Calvary United Methodist Church September 11, 2016 AYE Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks Children s Sermon: Acts 8 With joy and celebration, the people of God have gathered, of every age and station in life. We welcome the youngest among us to the front of this worship space to give thanks for what God has granted to us. Good morning, everybody! What? (I m four.) You re four? Get out! I m 34! Why are you shaking your head? Speaking of four, and ages, I wanted to share something with you about Fender growing up. Fender is now 2 years and 4 months and over the summertime, as I ve mentioned before, Fender got into the habit of going to the doggie dune section of Dewey Beach, which is the big stretch of beach where there are all kinds of dogs that he met. So over the course of the summer, when he was there, he had a chance to make all sorts of new friends,

2 Dogs of every size and shape. But he noticed that some dogs did something that he didn t do at that time. Have you ever seen dogs chase objects into the waves? Somebody will throw a tennis ball or they will throw a stick or some sort of a toy and the dog would go running in fearless of waves and of current. And grab that stick and come on out.

3 Fender never did any of that. And he watched say after day as these dogs would do that and he would stand right at the edge of the water. Why do you think Fender didn t want to get in? (Because it was too cold.) Because it was too cold! (He doesn t like water.) He doesn t like water. Well, that may be true, it may be too cold for him and he may not have liked it but the real thing, I think, was Fender was afraid. He was afraid because he didn t know about the water. He didn t know what temperature it was because he never got in it and he didn t know if he liked it or not because he had never experienced it. He didn t know about or understand the water. (Because it was either too hot or too cold.) It was too hot. It was too cold. He didn t know. And not knowing something, there s a kind of a fun word for that. Do you know what it means to not know? What s the word that we associate with that state? Ignorance. Exactly right! Ignorance. You see, ignorance isn t a bad thing. Everybody is ignorant about lots of stuff. Fender was ignorant about water. He needed an education. You know what an education is? Education is what you are getting in school these days. Education in its original language means to bring up, to raise up and to lead out.

4 Fender needed a teacher. And who do you think Fender s best teacher ought to be. I thought so too. I m the teacher. And he was the student. Now there are a lot of things we need to know about being a teacher, right, and you can probably check these things off when you think about the teachers that you have. A teacher is one who knows, not everything, but knows the thing that they are teaching. So what I knew that Fender didn t know was that there was nothing to be afraid of right there where the waves come up. Now, you go way out into the ocean, yeah, there are things to be concerned about, but right there where he was, nothing to be afraid of and I knew that. A teacher is one who shows, just doesn t talk, but actually shows us certain things and how to do them. This is something that I showed Fender can be fun. I showed him that because I knew it myself.

5 A teacher is one who cares, to take the time to share things with other people, to teach them is a caring act. I wanted Fender, and teachers want you, to have a big life, a life that s not limited by ignorance and not knowing; a life that knows as much as you can possibly know. And a teacher not only cares, but a teacher is one who shares. I want to enjoy that big life with Fender. I want to get in the water with him. And your teachers, they want you to know what they know so that they can share that joy and that truth with you. And a teacher is one who dares. A teacher is never one to just say, Well, I know enough. Oh, no, teaching means you want your students and you want you not only to know it, but to make it bigger and to learn new stuff. Over the summer, Fender

6 Got Schooled! He went in and he went in because I went in with him. So now, for Fender, the beach is not only meeting other dogs on the sane. It s running into the wave with other dogs and trying to steal their toys. Isn t that a great lesson to learn? Yeah! Because we are all students, we all have things to learn and we re all teachers, we all care; we all have things to share. We all want each other to dare, because we know God s love and we want to show God s love. There s a story in Acts 8 of a person who was a student who became a teacher in the blink of an eye and his name was Philip. Philip was walking on the road. A chariot approached carrying a foreign government official. It was actually the treasurer for the queen of Ethiopia and her name was Candice. Philip could see that the man inside the chariot was reading a scroll. As he walked along beside the chariot, Philip listened as the man read aloud. And he was reading from the prophet Isaiah, from that scroll of that Old Testament book. And these were the words that the man was reading: Like a sheep, he said nothing. He was mocked. He was treated unfairly. But we all now know him as brother. Who do you think Isaiah was talking about? Who do we all now know as our brother? Now, remember, this is a rule that we have been taught Sunday after Sunday: if I ask you a question and it usually means there is a name that comes up, whose name do we say number one right out of the gate? (God) God, and second? (Jesus)

7 Exactly right. He was talking about Jesus. And the man didn t know that, so Philip leaned in and asked: Do you understand what you re reading? Do you get the big picture? In other words, do you understand what God has done in the biggest way imaginable? The man said: How can I? I have no one to teach me? So Philip got right in the chariot, just hopped right in like it was his chariot. And Philip shared all that he knew about Jesus. The man learned about God s big new thing, something that never had happened before in history. Jesus is the word of God made flesh. He believed his life could be new and big too. Now, they came to a stream shortly thereafter. And the man said to Philip: Can I be baptized into this big life? And he was, right there on the spot. Philip said: Sure, let s do it. And Philip took him and baptized him.

8 Philip was for that man a teacher Who knew the big new thing that God did. He wasn t afraid to celebrate it. Philip as a teacher because He showed him how God had changed him By living a new and bigger life. Philip was also a teacher because He cared for others in order that their lives May be made new in God s big love. Philip was a teacher because

9 He shared the joy of being one in Christ And he welcomed him into fellowship by baptizing. Finally Philip was a teacher because He dared his students to Give away all that he was given. After the man was baptized he went back home and he told everybody he met about the big new thing God was doing. In this place we recognize that we re all students. We ve all got tons to learn and we re all teachers, we all have tons to share. And this place is a church, but it s also a school. And at this time we want to celebrate those who beginning today will start our Christian Education program anew on a Sunday morning, our church school staff. Mrs. Price is going to read their names and they are going to come up and we re going to celebrate with them God s love. (Introduction of teachers) Now, one of the things we want to do on this day is to celebrate with these people their commitment to be teachers and helpers here in this place. There is a liturgy found in the bulletin. We invite you to turn to that at this time to celebrate the gifts God has granted to us in our church school staff. (Liturgy) A Ritual for the Installation of Teachers and Aides The Spirit grants us special gifts, among them the desire and dedication to assume the teaching ministries of the church. Those who stand before us this morning have been blessed with the will to in-

10 struct, by word and example, those who hunger for the knowledge of God in our church family. It is our joy and privilege to affirm their gifts and celebrate their commitment. To the Church School Staff: One: Sisters and brothers, Calvary rejoices in your willingness to instruct and inspire those entrusted to your leadership. Will you commit to the continual development of your gifts for teaching and leading? STAFF: We will. One: Will you be faithful to the tasks and students you have accepted, taking seriously the commitment of your time and talent? STAFF: We will. One: Will you dedicate yourself to the challenge of being a disciple as well as an example, praying that God may guide you in His ways? STAFF: We will. One: Will you give faithful witness to Christ in the world that God s love may be known in all that you do and say? STAFF: We will. One: Will you ask God to help you trust in His grace in this great adventure of faith? STAFF: We will. To the Congregation: One: These brothers and sisters have committed their time and talents to the task of Christian education. God will grant them the resources and blessings to share the Message with our congregation. Will you pray for them, encourage them, celebrate them, and cherish their willingness to give themselves to this ministry? ALL: We will. One: Let us pray. ALL: Gracious and most merciful Lord, we thank you for providing faithful teachers, helpers and staff to Calvary in order that your holy gospel may be proclaimed among us. Grant your blessing upon our church family, that by the labor of these leaders, your lambs may be fed and your people strengthened and sustained in the saving faith; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

11 Now, a lot of times, when you guys come up, I give you something to remind you of what it means to be a part of the church family. Today, however, I m going to give you something and then have you give it away. So grab a couple of these and I want you to take these compasses, which are really kind of cool, and give one to each person. Can you do that? Just turn right around and hand them out so that everybody gets one. This is a reminder of how it is that the Love of Christ guides us, because as we know, compasses always point in what direction? North. People of faith always point toward Christ as the example and light of life. So, go ahead and give one to everybody, if you would do that. Can you do it quick? Can you do it quicker? Who doesn t have one? Raise your hand? There is a lady right there that doesn t have one. Everybody have one? Ok. Is that it? Excellent. You can put the rest back in here and we want our church school staff and teachers to turn and face the congregation, if they would. Let us celebrate with them their commitment to teaching us. (Applause). You guys can have a seat. You folks may be seated. Thank you. Now, there is usually something else we do on this day. It is to give a different kind of a compass to the kids who are in third grade or entering third grade in our Sunday School. So, we have three people that we knew were going to be here at 8:30 and there may be some others, so Sam and Gaby and Torree, if you guys would stand up. I m going to give this to the right person, and Torree and Sam. Now this is what s the name of that book? (The Bible.) It is the Bible. It is not a doorstop. It is not a paperweight. It s not something that goes on the shelf. It is for us the story of one taught us how to know and show God s will through caring and sharing and daring to love other people.

12 You are students of that, just as we all are, but you also have the ability to be teachers as well, because in this place, we are all students and teachers Here in this church/school. Congratulations on reaching this milestone of third grade. Yes, you ll be driving before you know it! Take those home, read them cover to cover. There will be a quiz next week. Thanks for sharing in our time this morning. Thank you guys as well. Message: Luke 8:22 Did you learn anything in that little video? Or did you know all that stuff? About everything the church has done over time, about the purpose, the nature, the vision called the church? See, when you walk into this place, if you ve been here before how many of you have been in this building before this morning? Yeah. I would ask those who haven t been in this building before to raise their hand, but that would be rude. They don t know how we do stuff. They may think that if they raise their hand, somebody is going to show up later today with a box of offering envelopes. You see, this is called hospitality. Making the assumption that you know everything you need to know in order to teach somebody else what it means to be the church here in this time and place. And there are other people who, as they walk into this building, don t really know all that stuff. So even if you found that there were things in that video that you didn t know, you still know more than people who are visiting us for the first time, or maybe you have been here for a couple of Sundays this summer. You still know more about what it means to be the church than many people sitting here in this room. Hospitality is simply the willingness to share what you know in a welcoming spirit. And that became really evident to me over the past three weeks as I was welcomed into a world that I had no knowledge of, didn t know the procedures, didn t know the language, didn t know anything about what was going on.

13 And, as many of you know, the study leave that I took in August was aboard the Kalmar Nickel, the tall ship of Delaware, built in 1995 through 1997, launched in It is a replica of a ship that sailed back and forth between Europe and America four times between 1638 and And so in stepping aboard that ship, I stepped into as strange a world as people step into when they come into this place for the very first time, a world with rituals and procedures and hierarchy and language and concepts that were totally foreign to me. And what it did is increased my sensitivity to what it means to be church and to welcome people. So, on August 12 at 5:00 o clock, I showed up as I was asked to And walked up the gangway. And met Captain Lauren Morgens, who has been the captain of this vessel for the last nine years. And she stuck out her hand and she introduced herself and she said, Your name. and I said my name is Ron Parks and she said loud enough for everyone to hear: Ron Parks, reporting for duty. And the rest of the crew, the other 4 people who are the permanent residents of the ship repeated: Ron Parks, aye. And then they applauded. Now, here s what we are going to do next Sunday (Laughter).

14 And everybody in the class who had already arrived said together, Welcome aboard. And I joined that group and welcomed the three or four people who came after me. And in the course of the next three weeks, that tiny little word Aye became something so fascinating and interesting to me that I just wanted to share it with you. You see, Aye is not Okay, Ron Parks, okay. Or Who cares? Ron Parks, who cares? No, Aye is huge in the world of a vessel. Aye is confirmation. That s a picture of me holding the whip staff, which on a ship from the 1600s was the way that the ship is steered. There is no wheel that Johnny Depp stands beside and twirls when he wants to make an impressive show of changing course. It is just a stick. And when you say Aye you are confirming, Yes, I heard you. So the captain says, Touch right Which means I want the ship to turn right just a little bit. So I yell back, Touch right, aye. I heard you. I got it. And then I moved the stick a little bit to the right. So aye is confirmation. But aye is also consent. When Captain Morgens stands up on the quarter deck, the back part of the ship with an elevated platform and she s looking out over the sea, I consent to her authority to order me to move that stick. Aye is consent. I accept your authority. So I move the stick. Yes, I heard her and, yes, aye means I got you. But when I say aye to her, it means you know where we re going and I accept that.

15 But aye is more than just lip service. It is more than just an exchange of sound. Aye is compliance: Your will be done. Touch right. Touch right, aye. And I do it. Because if I don t do it, guess what Captain Morgens is going to yell next? Parks! Touch right! And if I don t respond, she ll yell it again. And if I don t respond, she ll come down to find out why I m not responsive. Boy, that phrase: she ll come down and find out why I m not responsive. Put the word Jesus in there somewhere. Aye is compliance: your will be done. In that place, aye is everything that the word Amen means here. And that was easy to connect. It was very obvious and very clear. Amen. Amen is confirmation. When you sing it at the end of a hymn, when you sing it at the end of the doxology, when you say it at the end of a prayer, when you say it in response to something that I have said that touches you, amen is I heard you. And more importantly, not only did I hear you, I heard the truth in that. We say Amen it means, Yes, I have now heard. But Amen goes past the passive act of listening it is consent.

16 Amen means I accept the authority of the one who is speaking. Not me, by the way. It s not me. When we share the words of hymns, when we say the Lord s Prayer together, these are not our words. They are the words that come from above. They are the words that come through us from a God who made us and who knows us and who loves us and is so interested in us that God is willing to continue to keep talking, to continue to keep guiding and directing and ordering and commanding for our sake. And amen is compliance. Thy will be done. When we say amen by showing up in worship, by filling out our offering envelope and putting it in the plate, by showing up to serve in the food pantry or going to HersheyPark, we are complying with God s call to be servants and we are saying with our lives, Thy will be done. Aye functions on a ship as Amen functions in a church. What a beautiful thing. Ship and church share a common vision and a common order of duty. That s why the earliest symbol for the church found scrawled on the walls of meeting places of Christians is this: Recognize it? It s a boat. It s a ship. And it s not because some of Jesus coolest stories took place out on the lake in a boat. No, it s because there is something very essential, very benevolent, very purposeful in thinking of us as being all in the same boat.

17 Look at that symbol. It starts with water. It s the symbol of re- Water is the symbol of our confirmation. creation. It s the celebration that we call Baptism. Water is what the vessel of life floats upon. Remember the story of creation? What does the Spirit move over? Water. But water is not all there is. There is a vessel. There is something in which you and I reside and the vessel is a symbol of our consent to be a community, a community called the church. When we share this vessel, it is a reminder that we are one together in the same boat, in the same place with the same Savior, who is always with us and who is calling us to become the church. And then there is the cross, the yardarm from which the sail hangs, the mast upon which it is fastened.

18 The cross is a symbol of our compliance, of our willingness to serve As the bowl and pitcher reminds us. It is a reminder that our faith is not about showing up and giving lip-service. Our faith goes through the gathering of the body of Christ into service. Ship and church share a common vision and a common order. There is one commander and it s not the pastor. And it s not the church council. And it s not the committee on finance. And it s not any one of us. It s not anything in particular that we do or any one person. We are commanded by Christ who gives us the reason to think of ourselves as one crew. We are many. We are diverse. We are different. But when He speaks, we all listen and we respond together. We may respond at times with a sense of difference or disagreement because our understanding is limited, but together we are a church. Can I get an Amen? (Amen.) We are one crew because there is one commander and there is one course that Christ has set for us. And it s called The Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. It s a beautiful vision, but it doesn t always work, as I found out. There are all sorts of reasons why things break down.

19 The story from Luke lifts it up beautifully: Jesus and the disciples were all in the same boat. They set sail for the other side of the lake. As Jesus slept in the stern, which of course is his prerogative to do, A storm swept across the water. The boat was swamped by waves. They woke him up, shouting,

20 Master, we re going down! Jesus stood and faced the tempest, and said: Be still. The wind ceased. The water was like glass. And Jesus turned to his disciples, Where is your faith? Where is your confirmation? Where s your consent? Where s your compliance?

21 And they said to one another, This is totally new, completely new. They had no idea how to respond to this. They were out of their element. They were all in the same boat. Even the winds and the water obey him. Where is your faith? This is the question that we are asked consistently, constantly, continuously by our lives, whether there be flat as glass water that we are sailing on or whether we are in the midst of the tempest. Have we heard and to we know His voice? And God s people said you ve heard His voice. You know that voice. Do we claim him as Lord of Life and Living? Amen! Yes, we do. Will we follow him in love to the cross? Amen!

22 Aye. Amen We are all in the same boat. Whether it is an easy sail today or whether you think you might be going down Look at this picture. One commander. One crew. One course. And God s people said: Amen! Let us present our offerings. Benediction: The ancient church saw themselves as a ship, a vessel of faith. Ship and church share a common vision and a common order as to how life should be arranged. There is one commander, one crew set with one course. And all of God s people said Amen. This is why we are here, because we re all in the same boat. Thanks be to God who set the course and is always with us.