** I ve recently been having some rather scientific discussions with many different people from this congregation about quantum physics. (What, you do

Transcription

1 ** I ve recently been having some rather scientific discussions with many different people from this congregation about quantum physics. (What, you doubt me?) Particularly, we ve been sharing our individual theories of relativity. Those conversations have gone something like this: It doesn t seem possible that its been 20 years No, it doesn t. But I ll tell you what - the past four months have gone by even faster Yes, they have. Relativity! Four+ months seemed like a long time to me last February, but here we are already. And, the way I figure this, having only one service this weekend, is that I rightfully should have the equivalent of four sermon times here. Since I average about 20 minutes/ sermon, that s at least an hour. Actually, before I sat down to write this message, I was thinking that this really was going to be on the long side; you know - all those things that I have yet to say, it s my last chance, got to get it all in but when I finally came down to putting words on paper (aka, the screen ) I quickly realized that that wasn t the case. Partially because I really don t want to re-enact the events of the Apostle Paul, when he gave his farewell sermon to the Ephesian church (from Acts 20). Paul had only spent 6 years in Ephesus, but the night before he left for Jerusalem, they had a final service. Something like this one, I guess. Paul felt the Spirit upon him, and his message went a little long actually, he preached all night. And in the middle of his message, a poor fellow named Eutychus, um. well, he fell asleep. And unfortunately, as he was sitting in the windowsill of an upper story house, he fell out of the window to the ground below. And he kind of, died. [FYI, Paul went out, brought him back to life, and the sermon went on. I m not too confident of pulling that off myself, so, I think a shorter message is in order.] Page 1 of 10

2 But the more I thought about this message, the more I realized that truly, I just don t have that much more to say; and as I reflected on that, it started to make sense to me. I ve spent 20 years sharing my thoughts, my life s experiences, my readings, my hopes and dreams (for myself as well as you), my prayers, with you; I ve shared stories about my family (all good!) and three different dogs, week after week, and I have never held back anything from you that I truly believed was important. ** I like to put statements like that into a context, so try this on: My ipad counts the words in a document, and a quick tally puts my average message at about 12,500 words. (Those of you who download my sermons know that this adds up to about 7 printed pages, give or take a page.) When you look at a typical year, and subtract vacation weeks, special weekends (like Missions Weekend, Education Sunday, Youth Weekend, etc.) and the weeks that we ve had the privilege over the past 10 years of watching Pastor HeyYoung blossoming like a beautiful flower in her preaching, that leaves a minimum of 40 weekends/ per year for four messages/ weekend. That adds up to a lot of words! 2 million, to be exact, in about 1,100 pages. (Many of which are still posted in our Web archives.) Add to that the countless additional words that have been shared in our experiences together - from formal counseling sessions in my office, in chance encounters in hallways and parking lots, at hospital bedsides, in homes, in funeral homes and nursing homes, in Bible Studies, Wednesday night classes, in meetings (three or four, anyway!), in walking around town with people, on hiking and backpacking trips, over a cold beverage, in coffee shops - Panera's, Starbucks, Cubby Hole, Ebeneezers, the White House, Perkins, Dennys and then the s by the hundreds (thousands) well you get the point. Page 2 of 10

3 There have been a lot of words. Not only from me, but from you - I ve listened to you as best as I could over these 20 years. I ve heard so many of your words: Words of encouragement, questioning words, complaints, criticisms cries of joy and despair. We have laughed together until it hurt, and we have cried together because it already hurt. And that s not even trying to account for those non-verbal communications through music, and silence beyond words. There have been so many words and yet, apparently, from what I ve been hearing from so many over the past few months, they ve all been important. It s obvious why: In these words, in our experiences together, we have bonded. We have learned to love each other. We have experienced community. We have been traveling companions - some of you for a shorter time, and others for all 20 of my years here. And this journey has changed us all. I am profoundly grateful for all of that. So, I ve shared probably enough words nevertheless, I do have just a couple more words to add to the total this morning. Actually, two thoughts that both come from our Old Testament reading. Deuteronomy 34. ** But before I get into that, I d like to share just a brief word regarding our moving. Call this the FUMC Snopes report - you might know, that SNOPEs.com is an internet site where you can check out rumors. They do their research, and they ll let you know whether or not certain stories that make the internet rounds are true. So, in that regard (although of course, this is not on SNOPES), I ve heard from at least two different people, who claim to have heard from other people this tale that I am leaving here because the Conference, the Bishop, the District Superintendent (fill in the blank) were forcing me out. And the reason for that, so I hear, is to make room for an appointment for a Superintendent coming off a District. Page 3 of 10

4 Honestly, I can t even begin to imagine how such a story could be concocted or believed. And I ve been a little saddened that people have felt the need to share this rumor without ever checking it out with me. You know I would have told you the truth. But again, here s the truth, dear friends around last October, I had a phone conversation with Bishop Schol about a Congregational Development Committee matter. At the end of that call, he asked me if there was anything else on my mind. I hadn t planned this, but I found myself sharing with him that I had been having the sense, the feeling, for a couple of months that my work here might be finished. I clearly told him that I was not demanding or even requesting a move, but I told him that If something opened up that looked like a good fit, and if there was someone that we both felt comfortable in coming here after me I d be willing to talk. He understood perfectly. I had a similar conversation with our DS in November. So, around February, I got a call. Would you like to interview at Ocean City? Dianna and I took some time to pray about it, and we said, OK. The rest is history. What I want you to understand, is that at any time in this process, I could have simply said, You know what? I ve changed my mind They would have been fine with that. That actually, would have made the Cabinet s job easier. The point is that I felt the Spirit tugging my heart and saying, Steve, it s time. Twenty years is enough you don t want to coast it s simply time. So, I want to own that, and be clear - I have not been forced out. So, if you want to blame someone, I guess it s me! But, I think for the most part you do understand this. Ok?. onward ** I was a bit hesitant to use this Deuteronomy passage for this message, because I m going to be making a kind of comparison between the experience of the ancient Hebrews and us here today - and I didn t want you to think that the point is that I Page 4 of 10

5 consider myself like some second Moses! Actually, the point I want to try to make is that if what I m going to share with you about Moses is true, this great man who was the leader of the Hebrew nation, one of the greatest figures in all of Scripture - then how much more so is would it be true for those much, much lesser lights in the world of leadership like me but, see what you think You may have noticed that this is the last chapter in the book of Deuteronomy. The three or four chapters leading up to this one are Moses farewell address to the people of Israel. He rehashes the history that brought them to this place, warning them that the disobedience that caused the 40 year wilderness wondering was still going to be a problem, but strongly encouraging them to be faithful to their God. He blesses each of the 12 tribes, one by one, and then we have chapter 34. ** Here God takes Moses up to the Summit of Mt. Nebo in the land of Moab. From this high vantage point he looks into the Promised Land, from north to south, he could see it all. This, remember, was the intended destination for the people of Israel when they left Egypt - this was where they were heading. And it should have been a rather brief trip, like a month or so. But things went wrong because of their grumbling, and their sin, and they end up wandering through the desert for 40 years (the length of a generation). Now, they re on the verge of entering the Land of Promise, camped on the River Jordan, and yet Moses - who was the lawgiver - was going to suffer the consequences of living by that very law. He broke it, too, because of his failure to do exactly what God told him to do. And the result was that he would not be allowed to enter the land. This is hard for us to understand, because really, what Moses did was pretty insignificant. He simply got frustrated over the thickheadedness of his people! And he smacked a rock with his staff to get water, instead of speaking to it. Not a big deal, Page 5 of 10

6 and it was just one thing besides! But as we live in the age of Grace, we so easily forget what a great gift we have in the constant forgiveness of our God. Moses, I believe, ultimately found that grace too, but on this earth he was bound by the Law. He represented life under the Law. And the Law said, You pay the price for your sins. You will not enter the land. But I want to look at this scene today from a different point of view. I want to look at it as a tale of leadership. And in that vein, we see something very interesting. Take a mental step back and look at the bigger picture with me. God says to Moses - I m going to let you see the promised land, but, as you know, you cannot enter. But I want you to know that I m still going to keep my promise to my people. ** vs. 4: This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, I will give it to your descendants. God is reminding Moses that he has not reneged on his promise. The people of Israel will enter the land. They will. Moses, their journey is not finished. But yours is. Moses is arguably the greatest figure in the History of Israel. Who else was there who talked to God face to face? Moses received the Law - twice. It was Moses who went toe to toe with one of the Great Pharaohs. He performed miracles. He wrote the first five books of the Bible! But he came to this point on Mt Nebo: Moses, it s over. Someone else will take it from here. My plan will continue, but someone else will lead my people from here on. Is that sinking in? Moses was a big deal, folks! They don t come any bigger. He made an incredible impact - one that has lasted to this very day - yet his time of leadership Page 6 of 10

7 came to a close. And not only did someone else take over, but under the leadership of Joshua (who was next in line) the people prospered. They achieved something that they didn t do (and couldn t) do under Moses. They entered the Promised Land. ** I m a big J. R. R. Tolkien fan. I ve read The Lord of the Rings at least four times. Loved the movies too (which surprised me!) Tolkien, you probably know, was a Christian, a good friend of C. S. Lewis, and there s a lot of Christian symbolism in his books. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is a classic tale of good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, and how faithfulness, purity, and courage ultimately wins the day. These values are our most important possessions. ** If you ve read the books in the series you might remember a scene called The Breaking of the Fellowship. A group - a team - of the most powerful people in Middle Earth (plus four Hobbits) had set out on a quest to destroy the powerful One Ring before the evil wizard Sauron could capture it for himself. With it s incredible power in Sauron s hands all hope for good would be lost from the earth. The only place where the Ring could be destroyed was where it was made - at Mt. Doom in Mordor, the heart of Sauron s power. This mighty group took on the task of destroying the Ring. But as the journey unfolds, plans go awry. There are other urgent needs for the land that call for a different strategy, and partially because of decisions made and circumstances (Boromir is killed, two of the Hobbits are kidnapped and some other things go wrong) the group is forced to split up. When you re reading this book you think: This is bad! How could this happen? The most important part of the quest is now left to two insignificant Hobbits - these bumbling half sized barefoot buffoons are carrying the most powerful talisman that there is! They ll never make it! I remember thinking all that when I first read the books. But I was surprised when I checked this week to see that the Breaking of the Page 7 of 10

8 Fellowship is an event that occurs at the end of Book One of the Trilogy! Book one! There are two more 800 page books to go! There s a lot more work to do! There are more battles to fight! Friends to meet. Songs to sing! Challenges to face! But the thing that really struck me as I considered this analogy is that at the end of the books - when the Quest is complete, the Ring is destroyed, Sauron is dethroned it turns out that every person in that Fellowship had a part (and an important part) to play in the bigger picture. In fact, if any one of them had failed, the bigger mission would have been in jeopardy. There were lots of different stories being written, but in the end, they were all part of the same Quest, the same Task, the same Mission, all along. Whether they knew it or not. ** Dear Friends we ve always had a bigger mission than simply trying to make First UMC of Moorestown a good church, or, a comfortable place for ourselves. Our task has always been to share the Love of Jesus Christ with a hurting world - and we don t do that alone, we do this in union with Christians in Churches of every denomination, every nationality, every age - all those who call on the name of the Lord. This mission, this task, is bigger than this church, it is certainly bigger than me - like God s plan for Israel was bigger than Moses! Leaders change but the Mission does not. We all have a part to play in it. 2. One more thing that follows from this: look at what we read next in our text: ** And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He [i.e., God] buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. Page 8 of 10

9 ** I don t want to be maudlin, (that s not my style) and I ve shared this many times with you - as far as I know - I am not dying, I am simply moving on. Those words But to this day no one knows where his grave is are very important. Why do you think that God buried Moses? I think it s obvious - otherwise the people (being human) would have hung on to his remains, built shrines. they would have carried Moses with him - literally - and very possibly would have ended up stuck in the past. So, God thwarted that! And the result is that the work that Moses did, the things he accomplished with the nation of Israel continued but they were separated from Moses the man. I think is a very healthy thing. Because of your openness to the Word, and to me over these years, there have been a lot of spiritual seeds planted. Some are already bearing fruit. The things you have learned, will not be unlearned. The strengths of this congregation - which, to me, clearly are the abundance of lay leaders that we have here, and your heart for ministry and mission. I m not taking that with me (except as a standard that I will hold my next charge to.) As in the Breaking of the Fellowship in the Lord of the Rings, we re going different ways, but we re still all working together. And you - all of you - have an important, even critical, part to play in the fulfilling of our common mission. I ve done my best for 20 years to prepare you for this day. Now, it s time for you to step up, use your gifts, break through your previous comfort zone limits. So a time will come soon and you ll be sitting in church here, Pastor Nichols will be preaching and you just might say to yourself Well, he s not Pastor Steve, but this is good. God is still here. And if, by chance, you feel a little twinge of conflict - as if Page 9 of 10

10 liking Pastor Richard means you're being disloyal to me, or my memory just remember Deuteronomy 34: 6 ** to this day no one knows where his grave is Don t carry my bones around! I officially give you permission to love Pastor Richard, just as you loved me. I give you a charge to faithfully carry on the ministry that God himself has been building among us here. I charge you to bring joy to my heart when I go to Annual Conference and hear about the expansion of your outreach, about the Spirit of love, sacrifice and service that is not only continuing, but growing here. I challenge you to band together in true unity and find a way in the power of the Holy Spirit, to enter a new Promised Land under your new leadership. Pray for your staff every day, support them, step up in faith, because I know that God will then continue to pour out his blessings upon you all. The peace of the Lord be with you always Page 10 of 10