Calvary United Methodist Church February 25, 2018 SERMON SERIES: THE MARKS OF A METHODIST Heart Lifted Up Rev. Dr. S. Ronald Parks Children s Sermon: James 1:2-8 May the rest of the children join our Children s Choir up front as we celebrate the gifts that God has intended for all of us, regardless of our age and station in life. Good morning. So, last couple of weeks we ve been talking about the Winter Olympics and they end tonight. Now, this is a question that, yeah they do, honest, they do. Trust me. (Yay!) Yay! Now, here s a question that kind of is an interesting thing to ask nowadays. When I was your age there was no question about how you watched them because you only had one option and that option was the TV. No computers, no laptops, no internet, no Ipods, no Smartphones. Just a TV. So, which screens do you guys use the most? Computer, TV, Ipods or Smartphones? (Ipad.) You use your Ipad? (Cell phone.) Cell phone? (TV) TV, yeah right! There are all sorts of things. Do you know that the average kid your age spends 6.5 hours a day watching a screen, whether it is a phone, an Ipod, a computer or a TV? 6.5 hours a day. That s a quarter of a day. And if you spend that much time looking at a screen, you are going to see all sorts of things. Here s just some of the things that you might see. I m thinking back now to when I was a kid.
Some things that you see on TV are fun, like this: You guys have no idea who Looney Tunes are because they ve been banned from most TV. Why? Because they raised people like me. So they are no longer available. Some things educate and I remember when my kids were your age, this is what they watched to get educated: All sorts of things educate now. Then there are those things that are sort of inspiring, stuff that kind of lit us up with all sorts of neat thoughts or maybe caused us to want to go do something. The Olympics might be something like that because you see people who have dedicated their lives at getting really good at something. And then there are other things that don t have that kind of a positive influence.
There are some things that we see that make us cover our faces. And we call those things terrible things. And here s why the word terrible is so important: terrible is part of a list of words that comes from one particular idea. There is terrible, there is terror, there is terrifying and terrorist. The root word from which all those words come is an old word out of French, Terreur and it means to fill up with fear. It is as though your mind was a big blast and someone was able to pour fear into your mind. Some terrible things, some frightening things, go away. For example, one of the things that I used to be really afraid of when I was very little was a thunderstorm, but thunderstorms come and they go, right? They only last so long and they go away. But there are some terrible things that never go away. They are here to stay. And I thought maybe this would be a good time to talk about what happens when we see terrible things. There is this little book I found called A Terrible Thing Happened and I wanted to share the story with us. You guys check out the screens to see the pictures in the book and I ll read the text.
Sherman Smith saw the most terrible thing. He was very upset. It really scared Sherman to see such a terrible thing. Sherman did not like feeling so afraid. He did not want to remember what happened. So Sherman decided not to think about the terrible thing he saw. Sherman thought that would make him feel better. At first the plan seemed to work. Sherman woke up every morning. He brushed his teeth and he went to school. Sherman played with his friends. He teased his sister and he walked his dog. Everything seemed all right for a while. But something inside of Sherman was starting to bother him. Sherman had to play more, run faster, and sing louder in order to forget the terrible thing he saw. Other things started happening to Sherman, too. Sometimes he did not feel hungry.
Sometimes his stomach hurt or his head hurt. Sometimes he felt sad, but he did not know why. Sometimes he was nervous for no reason at all. Sometimes he did not sleep very well. Sometimes when he did sleep he had very bad dreams. The bad dreams scared Sherman. All of these things made Sherman angry. It seemed like Sherman was angry all the time. Sherman started getting into trouble at school. Sometimes he felt so angry that he did mean things.
Getting into trouble so often made Sherman feel bad. Sherman did not understand all of his bad feelings. He felt confused. Sometimes parents help children figure out their feelings. Sometimes teachers or other grown-ups help. That is how Sherman met Ms. Maple. Ms. Maple helped Sherman think about his feelings. She listened while Sherman talked to her. They played while they talked. Sherman did not feel as mixed up when he talked to Ms. Maple. Once when Sherman and Ms. Maple were coloring, she told him to draw a picture of how he felt when he was angry. This seemed like a strange thing to draw, but Sherman did it. After that, Sherman drew lots of pictures. Pictures of the pain in his stomach. Pictures of the bad dreams he had. Pictures of the fear he felt. And at last, pictures of the terrible thing he saw. Sherman and Ms. Maple talked about the pictures. He asked if the terrible thing he saw was his fault. Sherman said he worried a lot about that. No, Ms. Maple told Sherman, it was not your fault.
Sherman told Ms. Maple a lot of things. He told her about the bad dreams. He told her how scared he felt. It was all very hard to do. Ms. Maple was proud that Sherman was trying to talk about such hard things. Sherman found that it felt good to let his feelings out. Feeling good helped Sherman feel stronger. When Sherman felt stronger, he did not feel so angry. Nothing can change the terrible thing that Sherman saw, but now he does not feel so mean. He is not so scared or worried. His stomach does not hurt as much. And the bad dreams hardly ever happen. Sherman Smith is feeling much better now. He just thought you would want to know. Have you ever seen a terrible thing; something that made you afraid? You see, everybody sitting here sooner or later, no matter how few years we ve lived or how many years we ve lived, are going to see some things that scare us. And together as people who believe in God, we sort of have to think to ourselves: Well, what is it that we are supposed to do when we see terrible things happening or when something terrible happens to us? Well, it just so happens that there is a lot of places in the Bible where God helps us to understand what it is that we are supposed to do when terrible things happen.
From James 1, these words are shared: First of all, let s all agree: Terrible things happen, right? Yeah, they do. And when they happen, when they do, we pray. God helps us to be strong. He gives us patience. He leads us back to gratitude and joy. Yes, it does take time. Sometimes it takes minutes, sometimes weeks, sometimes years, to let the thing that is terrible in our lives find a place that allows us to still be grateful and joyous. Yes, our faith is tested, but the challenge teaches us about God an about ourselves. We learn really important lessons when we are afraid. We grow in new and different ways when things go wrong or when terrible things happen. So we should be praying all the time. Why? Because you never know when something terrible is going to happen. You are always ready if you are thinking about God and praying all the time. We are going to trust that our prayer is heard and that God s blessings are already on the way, even when something terrible is happening. If you spend all day doubting and second-guessing God, if you spend all day being afraid, thinking about what might happen, You ll miss every gift that God sends to you. So, what do we do when terrible things happen? Well, if you go to the Bible and you put your finger right in the middle of it and you open it up, do you know what book you are likely to open it up to? Go ahead. (Psalms.) Psalms! Exactly right. The book of Psalms is the hymnal of the Old Testament. It is 150 hymns that were written to be sung in worship. So, I kind of thought maybe since we know that if we can t think of any place else to go in the Bible we can start right in the middle and I thought, well, how can you remember what we re supposed to do when terrible things happen. So, think of the word Psalms and think of this: Number 1: Pray to God. Right out of the gate. Can you guys say that? Pray to God. So the P is to pray.
It s the first thing we should do. We should do it the fastest. It s automatic, almost. OMG! That s what that means! Oh my God! Now, I know not everybody uses it as a prayer, but to me, it s one of the best prayers you ll ever say! Oh my God! Because in the face of terrible stuff, sometimes that s all you can get out! Oh my God! Pray to God all the timed. Number 2: The S: share your feelings, right. So first we pray, then we share. Sharing takes courage because you have to admit that you are afraid and a lot of times we think that people who are afraid are weak. That s not true. It just means that they have had something terrible happen. And it takes faith for us to share with each other some of the things that happen in our lives. So we are going to pray and we are going to share. Then we are going to do what Sherman did: We are going to ask for help. It s not a bad thing to ask for help, because we need to be reminded time and time again that nothing terrible that ever happens you are going to have to deal with by yourself.
You re not alone. And the people around you, whether they are teachers or Sunday school teachers or pastors or parents or neighbors or people in this place, you are loved. And it s the love of God that draws us together. So, not only are you not alone, you are cared for by the people around you. So, we are going to pray, we are going to share, we are going to ask and the L, which is to learn. When bad things happen there is always an opportunity to learn. We are going to learn that life sometimes has bad stuff. Can I get an Amen from the old people? (Amen!) Yeah, life is tough, there is some bad stuff that happens in life, but here s the truth: God is good, so even in the bad stuff; we can learn the lesson of God s goodness and grace. So, we are going to first pray, then we are going to share, then the A stands for? Ask, and then the L stands for? Learn and then the M. We are not going to stay in fear; we are going to move through it. We are going to pray, (Ask.), we are going to (Pray, share, ask, learn, move through it.) You see, everybody knows fear and everybody know where to find it, right? If you want to be afraid, there is a ton of things you can choose to be afraid of.
Everybody knowing fear doesn t know that anybody should have to live it. So don t give it a home in your heart. We are going to (Pray, share, ask, learn, move out of fear.) And when we do that, we are going to show other people how to do that too. We are going to be the light that lights the way in the night of their fear. We are going to be the light to end the night. So, we are going to (Pray, share, ask, learn, move, share.) Hey, that s like the YMCA song. No, let s not do that. So, what do you do when terrible things happen? You are going to open the Bible right in the middle and you are going to see the Psalms. And when you see that, you are going to think these six words: (Pray, share, ask, learn, move, and show.)
And as time passes, this will become more and more automatic, Because it is not a onetime thing, it s something that we repeat every single moment as we think about God in our lives, we are going to (Pray and share and ask and learn and move and show.) We can t stop terrible things from happening. It s not in our power and as human beings we know that bad stuff happens. But we can give each other a hand in the middle of that tough stuff. And the hand that we give one another is the hand of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. Thanks for sharing in our time this morning. Message: Psalm 139:1-6 (VIDEO) The Islamic Center in Victoria, TX was set on fire on Saturday a month and a year ago. Later that day the person who set the fire was caught and interrogated.
And, yes, the confessed to setting the first and they had a one word explanation for why that seemed like the appropriate thing to do. Although the word didn t exactly occur to the person as they were being questioned. The word is hate. You and I have seen, those of us who have been around for a while, have seen the charred walls of this building and as disturbing and unsettling and depressing as that was, imagine that it wasn t an accident caused by a construction oversight. Imagine that this was somebody in our community who said to us, You are less than me. You are not worthy of the space that your worship center occupies. So, the next day, on Sunday, January 29, as the video reminds us, most of the churches in Victoria, TX as well as the Synagogue, They cancelled some portion of their morning schedule in order that everyone could come together and attend a prayer service. And the prayer services were not just limited to the next day; they went on for days after that. This is a picture of the high school in town. They dismissed their students for a half a day so that the students could hold their own prayer vigils.
And these vigils brought together not only people from the various worship communities; they drew people from the communities around. From within 100 miles people came to express their solidarity with the Muslims who had been burned out of their worship center. And the whole idea that all of us together have some stake in the lives and in the peace and in the sanctity and the respect that is due to all of us is something that you and I take for granted. We just take for granted the idea that every human being is a bearer of the breath of the Holy Spirit. But it really is helpful to hear someone from another religious tradition expressing in a different set of words. As a believer you give thanks in happy times and in hard times you pray for patience in hard times. That s the only way you are going to survive. Ten days ago in Parkland, FL a terrible thing happened. You probably found out about it when you flipped on the news or looked at your news feed on one of the various platforms and screens that we use. It was a terrible thing again. One in a string of terrible things. Three of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States have happened in the last six month. These are terrible things.
And usually what happens right after this, right after the grief counselors show up, right after the police take away whoever it is that s responsible, what invariably happens is what you see here: People of faith coming together to pray. They are praying in a variety of ways, some of them in their own religious traditions, some of them together in a staged or an organized worship setting. But their prayer is all the same: No more. No more terrible thing like this. Yes, there are always terrible things, but enough of this. Enough of this. So let me ask you: when you see those images on TV, when you open the news almost on a daily basis and you see these terrible things that go on around us, some of which we have no control over, some of which are products of human hatred and indifference and ignorance, what are you praying for? And why would you pray in the first place? Over the last four weeks we have been thinking about the marks that make us particularly Methodist in the Christian community. Three weeks ago we began the series by talking about a Methodist is an individual who loves God and they love God with a life of: Worship: wonder and obedience; renewal and seeking; humility, integrity and praise.
Two weeks ago a Methodist rejoices in the gifts of God s grace. It is a gift to receive the Good News of Christ. It is a gift to be able to share it with one another. It is a gift to be made new by it in our own lives. Jesus; others; you that s the source of our joy. Last week, a Methodist gives thanks for every gift and for the giver. And we talked about the debt snowball that all of us are building because gratitude is a celebration of the indebtedness that we have to our Creator and the value of all the gifts that God has poured out for us, through us and around us. So, today the fourth part of a Methodist is simply the fact that we are constantly praying, we are constantly sharing, As we are constantly aware of God in our lives as we lift our heart to the Lord. We see, for Wesley, that s the definition of prayer. Prayer is not some structured thing that everybody memorizes and repeats at a specific time in the week in a very special place. Prayer is not something that you have to have a degree to do. It s not something that ordination promotes. Prayer is simply the desire to lift up your heart to God. What does that mean? Well, in his words this is what Wesley says: Our hearts are always lifted up to God, at all times and in all places. Our hearts are ever with the Lord.
Whether we lie down or rise up; we walk with God continually, having the eye of our mind fixed upon him And, by faith, seeing his invisible hand and heart at work in everything. Even the terrible things, so that the person with the eyes of faith can somehow see in the burning mosque, in the burning sanctuary, in the bullet-riddled rooms of a high school, even there, the eyes of faith can somehow discern the invisible hand and heart. Not that God is lighting fires and pulling triggers, but that God is making available to us yet an opportunity to lift our heart to the Lord, to allow God to supply, to allow God to provide, to allow God to sustain. And in the living of our lives, we lift our heart to the Lord when we Recognize the one who is always beside us, who is walking with us, our companion, our Savior. Christ is always with us, even when we are standing in front of something horrific that has happened. Christ is always with us. And when we recognize Christ around us and within us, then we are able to lift our heart to God and say: God help guide me here, help pick me up, put your hand on my shoulder; help me take the next step. Because as we recognize the presence of Christ with us, we can lift our heart to God as we reaffirm our commitment to Him. It s not enough to say that Christ is here, I m going to do what I want. Our commitment is that we are going to become Christ to each other, that we are not only going to sense his presence, we are going to be his presence. We are going to embody his promise. So, we lift our heart to God as day after day, moment after moment, minute after minute, we affirm the fact that we are God s and that we are the body of Christ.
And so when we lift our heart to God, when we understand not only his presence with us, but his power to move through us, we lift our heart as we realize, as we make real, the commandment to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. There is nothing conditional about the word neighbor here. There is nothing that excludes anyone, even the person who may be responsible for some terrible thing. That does not exempt that individual from the power and promise of Christ to take a hold of a life, to change that life, to redeem and restore that life. That s God s promise; that s God s work, not ours. But when we realize that commandment to love, we become the redemptive presence in the lives of those around us and as that happens, as that thing comes more and more real to us and through us, we lift our hearts to the Lord As we repeat his commission: Go and make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and I will be with you all the way to the end of your life and to the end of all life. I will be there. These words are not words that come to us because Wesley gave them to us. This is what it means to be in constant prayer; to constantly be lifting our heart up to God, according to the Psalmist who wrote in 139: Examine my life, O God. Take a look all the way in. Don t take my word for it, because as you know I am liable not to be all that honest when it comes to what s in my heart. So, get the facts firsthand. Open me up like a book and look at everything that is within me. I am an open book to you. And even from a distance, you know what I am thinking. You know where I am going; you know where I ve been. I am never out of your sight. And even before I begin to pray, you know everything I m going to say. Stop and think about that for a second: even before I begin to utter a prayer, everything that I m going to say is already known to God. Well then the question is: why pray? Well, Soren Kierkegaard, a Christian theologian in the 18 th century said this about prayer: Prayer doesn t change God. Prayer changes the one who prays. So, even though God knows everything I am going to say, what happens when I say it is that I now understand its power. I speak and I see what I have done. I turn around and you re right behind me. I look up around the bend and you re up there waiting for me. You ve got me going and coming. You re too wonder-full for me.
Why pray? Well, let s get down to the facts. Exactly, why pray? Why stand out there on the football field with a candle in a paper cup? Why gather around with people from other religious traditions when someone creates hatred in the midst of communion? Let s get down to it. What we pray? Because prayer is an act of faith. It is an act of someone who recognizes that you and I and the person with the weapon and the person with the blow torch and the person who is bent on doing harm to other people, none of these people is the power that governs all that is. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Because the God who has the power to give it wants you to have every good gift and prayer is simply admitting I can t stand in front of terrible things, I can t stand in front of grief and sorrow and confusion and doubt and fear. I can t make it by myself. So I pray as an act of faith, a fact of faith, because in doing so I immediately put my face to the ground and raise my hands to the one who is above. Prayer is faith. Prayer is also getting your priorities straight, an act of adoration. How many people do you adore in your life? I m not saying like, I m saying adore. Jean is not here at this service, so I can tell you that there is only one. The name starts with J and it is not her. And if any of you tell her I said that No one is deserving of your adoration and worship. There are lots of people you can love, but there is only one subject, there is only one who deserves worship and that s the Lord. Look at me! I m a marvel of creation. You can say Amen. You are a marvel of creation too. And that s why I worship and adore you, O Lord. You know me inside out. You know exactly how I was made.
You sculpted me from nothing into something. And all the stages of my life are spread out before you; the days of my life all prepared before I take my first breath. Prayer is a humble affirmation of my place in God s plan. And what a small place it is. It s a small place for a small person with little tiny gifts. And yet, God has carved out a place for me and for you and it s not by accident that we are here together this morning. The place and the plan has to do with our presence here together. So, it is an act of faith, it is an act of adoration and it s an act of confession. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That s part of what it means to pray. So when you are standing there in the football field with the candle maybe the confession is: Lord, help make me be more aware of other people and less concerned with myself, less concerned with my responsibilities, my burdens, my schedule, my calendar, my relationships. It s a confession to say that I am not the center of the universe. So confess your sins to each other. Own it. It s okay to say: look, I messed up. I m not perfect. Pray for each other so that you can live together in peace. If we can t live in peace here in this place, imagine how hard it is to go out there and try to pull that off. The prayer of one who is living right with God is an awesome power. It has the power to forgive and transform. Remember that power when I suggest you open your hands for at the beginning of the worship service? Prayer is repentance for what I ve done and it s the gift of forgiveness that God is already sending. And therefore, when I pray I am giving thanks. It is an expression, as I mentioned last week, of gratitude.
Therefore, pray diligently. Stay alert for what God is doing. Open your eyes wide with gratitude. J Pray that everything you do, that I do and say will make Christ plain as day to all. To pray is to give thanks for not only what I have, for the person that I am, for all the blessings that have been granted to me, but for what I can do. I can t do much and neither can you. But there is so much I can do in the life that I have been given and in the lives of those with whom I share it. So, no, it s highly unlikely I am going to change the world, but I m going to change this person next to me; I m going to touch their heart and as Wesley said, God is going to transform them, only God has the power to do that, but generally he does it through you and me. Prayer is giving thanks for what I can do and prayer is asking God in supplication to give me what I need to do it. Supplication is simply the word, the supplies I need. Prayer is an act of asking God for the good stuff. Don t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication; let your requests to known to God. So if you are not able to pull off some miraculous change in your life, maybe it s because you haven t been asking God to help give you what you need. Prayer is knowing and asking for what it is that you need and what I need and that means that we have to admit that we are not God. And that sometimes, brothers and sisters, is the hardest admission of all. So, why pray? I just gave you the facts. Here are the facts.
Pray out of faith; prayer is an act of faith. Pray because only God can provide. Pray in adoration, worship, a heart opened and lifted up to God is a gift of worship. Confess the imperfections, the limits, the finitude that s so much a part of who you are and who I am. Own it and own yourselves up for the gifts that God will give and be thankful in advance that God will find a way to work in and through you and me to do what needs to be done and as that is happening, invite God to come and supply your needs day after day after day. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; this is God s will. United Methodists pray all the time; we can t stop it And we don t want to. Because as we pray, we are not just repeating words or asking God for stuff that we don t expect to get. A Methodist is constantly praying As we lift our heart to the Lord. And it is an important thing that we do that because in all honesty, your heart is the only gift you have to give and it s the only thing God asks of you. And thanks be to God for the grace that gives us the power to give it.
Let us present our tithes and offerings. Benediction: And singing Methodists! Boy, you can t beat it! Not only are we constantly singing, we are constantly praying, Which means that we are here to lift our heart to the Lord. And as we go forth from this place, let us remember that our hearts lifted up is all God ever asks in return for the gift of his Son. Amen.