Author: PastorPartridge

Released From Fear

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , ,

“Released From Fear”

June 19, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 8:26-39             Galatians 3:23-29                1 Kings 19:1-15a

 

Have you ever been afraid?

I’m not talking about scary movies where you might be afraid, but a part of you always knows that it isn’t real.  I mean the kind of fear that comes from real life.  You might have been afraid of a bully, or your boss, or cancer, or a number of other things.  If you’ve been in church for a while, you have probably heard some of the things that the Bible says about fear and how we should trust God.  But in the end, even those with the strongest of faith will sometimes be afraid.  We begin this morning once again in 1 Kings 19:1-15a, only days after Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal.

19:1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”

3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

If you remember, last week we head about how corrupt Ahab and Jezebel were and how they thought nothing of framing an innocent man just so that they could take away his little piece of land for themselves.  They were both completely unscrupulous and utterly evil.  And so, only days (maybe less) after Elijah witnessed fire from heaven consume God’s sacrifice, and the altar, and the water, and the dirt under it, Jezebel threatens that she intends to kill Elijah next, just as he had done to the prophets of Baal.  And even though Elijah was the most powerful prophet in the entire history of Israel, and even though Elijah had just witnessed God’s amazing power in answer to his own simple prayer, Elijah was afraid and he ran for his life.

And then in Luke 8:26-39, we hear the story about Jesus healing a demon-possessed man that everyone was afraid of because of his great strength and unpredictable nature.

26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.

38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

At first, the people are afraid of the man who is possessed by demons.  They were so afraid of him and what he could do, that the people put chains around his hands and feet and hired armed guards to watch over him.  But he broke the chains, and drove off the armed guards, because of the strength of the demons within him.  Perhaps this was something similar to the great strength that is sometimes seen when people are under the influence of PCP or other drugs, but however it happened, this scared the daylights out of everyone.  And then the man made his home in a place of death, in the tombs outside of town, so that people would leave him alone.  But Jesus isn’t afraid.  Jesus commands the demons to leave the man and they obey.  And when the people in town heard what Jesus had done, they were afraid of Jesus because they understood that Jesus had great power and it was a power that they didn’t understand.

And then in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, he writes these words (Galatians 3:23-29):

23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Now, I know that I left you hanging on some of these stories, so let’s connect the dots.

Elijah is afraid, despite his intimate relationship with God and despite being a witness to God’s incredible power only days before, and he runs away and hides.  And in the end, God quietly listens to his fears… and tells Elijah to get back to work.

The people who heard what Jesus had done for the demon possessed man were so afraid of Jesus’ power that they asked him to go away. Their fear caused them to push away the one man who could help them.  Their fear caused them to push away the one man who could rescue them from death.  The man who had been healed wanted to leave with Jesus, perhaps because he wanted to help Jesus’ ministry in return for what Jesus had done for him, or perhaps he was afraid of beginning a new life where people were still afraid of him.  But instead of inviting him into the boat, Jesus transforms this man one more time by making him one of God’s first missionaries to the Gentiles.

In answer to his fear, Jesus tells him to get to work.

And Paul’s short summary tells us that before the coming of Jesus, human beings were prisoners to the law.  In other words, they lived in fear of the law.  Do what the law says, or die without God.  But Jesus changed all that.  With the coming of Jesus it doesn’t matter what other gods we might have once worshipped.  It doesn’t matter that we are from a foreign country and we aren’t Jewish.  It doesn’t matter if we are rich or poor, or anything else.  Paul’s message is a message of belonging.

It’s okay to be afraid.  It’s normal.  Even Elijah, the most powerful prophet in all of scripture, was sometimes afraid.

But don’t let your fear control you.

Don’t let your fear push you away from Jesus.

Take your fear to God.  Tell God how you feel.  Tell God about your fear and trust him with it.

Because of God, we have nothing to fear.

Because of Jesus, we all belong.

We all belong to the same kingdom and we all work for the ultimate good of God’s kingdom.

But the message that God speaks into our fear is the same as it always was.

God quietly and patiently listens to our fears…

…and tells us to get back to work.

 

 

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

The Use of Power

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“The Use of Power”

June 12, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 7:36 – 8:3                  Galatians 2:15-21                   1 Kings 21:1-21a

 

Have you ever seen your boss, or your mayor, any anyone with a little bit of power, use that power in inappropriate or even illegal ways?  On the other hand, have you ever seen people with power, use that power in ways that made you want to cheer?  Think about these examples:

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Sue Ellen Wooldridge bought a $980,000 vacation home with two other people, Deputy U.S. Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles, and Don R. Duncan.  Mr. Duncan was, at that time, a lobbyist for oil giant ConocoPhillips.  Nine months after buying this million dollar vacation home together, and just before stepping down from her position as Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Wooldridge approved consent decrees which gave ConocoPhillips three additional years to pay millions of dollars in fines for a Superfund toxic waste cleanup and install pollution controls (which are estimated to cost US$525 million) at nine of its refineries.”

Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline provides research funding to doctors who write favorable opinions of depression drugs for children.  Presumably, they do so, so that doctors will prescribe depression drugs for children and GlaxoSmithKline will make money.  Unfortunately, scientific evidence from clinical trials on these medicines shows that when these medications are used on children, they can cause anger and even suicide.

Of course, we get steamed when our Congress, which has done less real work than any congress in the history of our nation, votes to give themselves a raise.  These things might be technically legal, but clearly can be seen as abuses of power.

On the other hand, this past Thursday (June 9, 2016), two armed robbers entered a McDonalds in Besancon, France intending to rob the restaurant.  Unknown to them however, 11 of the 40 patrons in the restaurant belonged to the French Special Forces that had been formed as an anti-terrorism unit and who were simply there to grab lunch and take a break.  The professionals allowed the robbery to continue so that no one would accidentally be hurt by weapons fire in a crowded restaurant, but when the robbers attempted to leave, one was quickly subdued and the other shot when he resisted arrest.  Both will stand trial.

As I have often noted, over thousands of years of recorded history, people have not changed very much.  And so, as we read through the Bible, we find examples, good and bad, that are very similar.  We begin this morning in 1 Kings 21:1-21a where we find King Ahab, who has been, for good reason, described as one of Israel’s worst kings.

21:1 Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”

3 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.”

4 So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat.

5 His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?”

6 He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”

7 Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. 9 In those letters she wrote:

“Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”

11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13 Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.”16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.

17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!”

“I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 21 He says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you.

Ahab and Jezebel are so corrupt, that neither of them thinks anything of framing an innocent man, Naboth, and having him executed, just so that they can buy a little piece of dirt that had been in his family for generations.  But, the message for us is not just that government officials and other human beings can be corrupt and abuse their power, and even abuse the legal system, everyone already knows that.  The message for us is that God was so angered by this sort of abuse, that he not only removed Ahab and Jezebel from power and gave the throne of Israel to someone else, but that in their deaths, they would meet the same fate that Naboth did.

And then, in a much more subtle form of abuse we meet a Pharisee in Luke 7:36 – 8:3, who has invited Jesus to dinner.

36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping; she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

8:1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

There are several things that I want to point out.  First, as a person with power, the Pharisee has no problem classifying the woman as a lower class of people so that he can discriminate against her.  But Jesus points out that because of her background, in fact because of the very thing that made the Pharisee think that she should be criticized, God’s forgiveness had become an even greater gift.  Secondly, Jesus uses his understanding to recast the entire discussion so that everyone present can better see the woman’s point of view, as well as understand God’s system of justice.

And finally, at the end of the story, we meet a group of women who are something more than the followers of Jesus.  From this short passage we realize that these women, Mary, Joanna, Suzanna, and several others, actually many others, are not just fans or “groupies” that follow Jesus from place to place, and not just helpers who have come along to do the “women’s work” of cooking and cleaning, but these women are, in fact, the benefactors, the sponsors, that are funding the day to day expenses of Jesus’ ministry.  Think about that, because of their wealth and political access, these women have both monetary and political power but they have chosen to use it to fund the ministry of Jesus rather than to expand their own influence.

And then in Galatians 2:15-21, Paul says this:

15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

We are not justified by the works of the law.  That means that we cannot earn our way to God no matter what we do.  Regardless of how powerful we are, and regardless of how rich we are, we are incapable of being good enough, or paying God enough money to earn our way, or buy our way, to heaven.  In the end, all of us, the rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful, all find life at the feet of Jesus because of his mercy and grace.  We are only righteous in the eyes of God because Jesus has made us righteous.

If we can get our minds around it, the implications are absolutely enormous.

What this means, is that every argument that we are having in the public square, and within the church, needs to be completely reframed.  What this means is that we cannot look down on the poor because they are every bit as dependent on Jesus as we are.  We cannot think less of people from another political party, or people who differ in their opinions on some key political argument, because they are just as much a child of God as we are.  We cannot think of ourselves as superior in arguments about sexuality, or abortion, or rape, because, in the eyes of God, we are every bit as sinful and in need of Jesus as they are.

That doesn’t mean that we should ever compromise our values, but it does mean that when we disagree, and whenever we confront people who are different from us, we must see them first and foremost as children of God so that, regardless of any disagreements we might have, we treat them with respect, mercy, and grace.

If more of us can do that, it will not only change our use of power, but it will completely change the way that we see the world and the way that we do almost everything.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Why Does God do Miracles?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , ,

“Are You Raised, Transformed, or Redirected?”

(Why Does God do Miracles?)

June 05, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 7:11-17            Galatians 1:11-24         1 Kings 17:8-24

 George Herbert Leigh Mallory was born on June 18th, 1886 and was an extraordinary mountain climber who was attempting to be the first to reach the peak of Mount Everest.  He made climbs of nearly every well known mountain and in the 1920’s made three attempts, in 1921, 1922, and again in 1924, to reach the summit of Everest.  On March 18, 1923 a reporter from The New York Times asked Mallory, “Why did you want to climb Mount Everest?” This question was asked particularly in light of his plans to go again in 1924, and Mallory responded with what has been described as the most famous quote in mountaineering, “Because it’s there.”

During Mallory’s third attempt, on either 8 or 9 June 1924, Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine both disappeared on the North-East ridge when they were only about 800 vertical feet from the summit.  Mallory’s body was lost for 75 years and only discovered in 1999.  Irvine’s body, and the camera that he carried (which might provide evidence of whether or not they reached the summit before Sir Edmund Hillary), remain missing even today.

And that brings us to the question for today because last week we talked a lot about the great power of God and the amazing miracles recorded in scripture that displayed God’s power.  But in the end, we often ask the same question that the New York Times asked George Mallory… “Why?”  Why does God perform miracles?  Why does God choose to display his unlimited and unmeasurable power?  And in order to arrive at an answer we will, once again, take a look at some of the miracles that God has performed.  We begin again with the stories of Israel’s greatest prophet, Elijah, during a drought and famine that caused hardship all over the region. (1 Kings 17:8-24)

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there [Zarephath was to the north of Israel, beyond Galilee, in what was then a part of the Assyrian empire and what is now the nation of Lebanon]. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

God does some amazing things in this story, but this is what I want you to remember: At the end of the story we hear the widow say, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

And then Luke 7:11-17, we hear about a miracle of Jesus that echoes the story of Elijah…

11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

16 “They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.”

In this story, Jesus is in the town of Nain which, while it isn’t as far north as Elijah was, is still in the region of Galilee and far enough north to remind everyone of Elijah’s story.  Here, Jesus meets a funeral procession on its way to the cemetery.  The funeral is already over, the time of mourning in the home is over, and the mourners are now carrying the body to be buried.  Jesus stops and touches the bier, or platform, on which the body rests and the pall bearers stop with him.  Jesus simply commands the dead man to get up, and he does.

And once again I want you to remember the last two verses from that story: “They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.”

And finally we come to the story of Paul’s conversion that we discussed last week. This time found in Galatians 1:11-24.

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.

18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.

Paul is even farther north than Elijah and Jesus as he travels in Syria and Cilicia (which is in modern Turkey).  Paul’s entire life is changed.  He doesn’t physically come back from the dead, but he is restored to life eternal by his recognition of Jesus as the Messiah.  Paul’s entire life is transformed and given a new direction.  And what is the result?  Paul says: “They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.  And they praised God because of me.”

And so today we have heard three stories about the power of God and each time we heard words that sound very similar.

  • Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

 

  • “They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.”

 

  • They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”  And they praised God because of me.

Each time, the “why,” the reason that God performed a miracle, was so that God could be made known to humanity.

I have had people ask me why we don’t see miracles as often as we used to, or why we don’t see miracles in North America when others in places like Africa, parts of Asia and Cuba, do occasionally see them.  And at least a part of the answer is in these three scriptures.  If God performs miracles so that he can be made known, what need is there to perform them in places where there are already an abundance of believers who have already been called to do that very thing?

But more important than that is the understanding that God never performed miracles just so that he could be famous.  God doesn’t just want to be made known so that everyone knows him.  God wants to be known so that he can use us.  For reasons that we don’t understand, God wants us to join his family and to live with him.  But before we can do that, he needs to make us perfect.  Few, if any, of us will come anywhere close to perfect in this life, but God intends to move us in that direction whenever possible.  God is at work every day moving us toward perfection… if we will let him.  And in the process, God will do three things: First, he will rescue us from death and raise us to a new life.  Not just a new life after this one ends, but a new life that begins now, a new and radical life that is dedicated to serving him.  Second, God will be at work transforming our lives so that we, more and more, resemble him.  Every day, little by little, we should increasingly reflect God’s values, love, compassion, justice, mercy, forgiveness, and every other aspect of his personality.  At some point in that process, others will likely begin to notice that we are different than we used to be and, if we are doing it right, they will want to know what happened to us so that they can have whatever we have found.  And third, God is at work redirecting us so that instead of dedicating our lives in the pursuit of pleasure, money, power, or something else, the direction of our lives becomes a reflection of his will and his mission so that we truly become the hand and feet of Jesus.

In reality, answering the question of “Why” God does miracles is the easy part.

God does it for us.

God performs miracles to make himself known to humanity. But what follows is harder.  What follows is a journey of faith that begins with our resurrection to life eternal, continues with transformation into a new creation as we become the people that God intends for us to be, and finally begins a pursuit to become a reflection of his will and mission so that we do the work of the Kingdom of God and truly become the hands and feet of Jesus.

The hard questions are these: Are you raised, transformed, and redirected?

How far have we come?

Are we moving forward, or are we stuck?

What must I do to become the person that God created me to be?

How is God calling me to become the hands and feet of Jesus?

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Faith, Fire, and Truth

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“Faith, Fire, and Truth”

May 29, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 7:1-10                  Galatians 1:1-12                           1 Kings 18:20-39

About a dozen of our Trinity folk have been working their way through our short-term Bible study with Lee Strobel’s “A Case for Christ.”  In that study, there is a question that has been presented several times. “If Jesus really is who he says that he is, what does it mean?”  And as we’ve gone through the study, what we come back to is an understanding that if Jesus is who he says that he is, and indeed, if God is who the Bible says that he is, then that has serious implications for how we live our lives.  It’s one thing to ignore Jesus or to pick and choose which of his teachings we like or don’t like, if he was only a good teacher of human nature and morality.  But if Jesus really was the Son of the living God, the creator of all that is, and the judge of all humanity, then how we deal with his teaching, and how we live our lives, is changed dramatically.  And so, this morning, although this message has no other connection to our Bible study, I want to consider the reality and power of God as well as what that means to how we live out our lives.

We begin this morning in Luke 7:1-10 where Jesus performs a miracle without ever meeting the recipient of that miracle, or the person who asked for it.

7:1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

In this story, Jesus performs a miracle that stands outside of the ordinary for several reasons.  First, Jesus is asked to heal the servant of a Roman centurion, which is unusual because, for the most part, the Jews were not on good terms with the Roman occupation.  Second, this centurion must have been on good terms with the leaders of the Jewish Temple because the people that he asks to seek out Jesus for him are elders in their religious community and, as you might recall, these leaders themselves often had a difficult relationship with Jesus.  As it turns out, this centurion must have been one of those responsible for the building of the Temple and must have had a regular, daily, working relationship with many of the Jews.  Third, the centurion sees no need for Jesus to trouble himself with actually coming into his house because he understands that if Jesus has real power, and real authority, then he can simply do what needs done without actually being there… and he does.

In the end, Jesus heals the servant of the centurion without ever entering the house, without ever meeting the centurion, and without ever seeing the servant that was healed.  The power that Jesus had went far beyond magic tricks and parlor games.  There were no magic words or incantations, there was no laying on of hands, and you might notice that there wasn’t even a prayer that God would bring healing.  Jesus doesn’t even make some sort of official pronouncement that the servant would be healed, but instead comments on the great faith of the Roman centurion and that the faith of this enemy occupier was greater than any that Jesus had seen in all of Israel.

And the men who had come to Jesus returned to the house and found the servant well.

Next, we read what one of my very favorite Bible stories if not my most favorite of all.  The king and queen of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel, were worshippers of Baal and had, systematically, persecuted, driven out, converted, or killed almost all of God’s prophets and priests until Elijah believed that he was the only one left.  At that moment, God comes to Elijah and Elijah challenges Ahab to a duel in front of the entire nation.  He invites Ahab to bring all of the prophets of Baal, from all over the country, and they would meet him on Mount Carmel to see which god was real.  (1 Kings 18:20-39)

20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down.31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs [about 24 pounds] of seed.33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”

The prophets of Baal pray, and sing, and cry out, and cut themselves, and do all sorts of things to get the attention of their god, and at the end of the day, after they literally drown his sacrifice with water, Elijah prays a simple prayer that God would let it be known in Israel that he… is… God.

And fire comes down from heaven.

And the fire burns up the sacrifice… and the wood… and the water in the trench… and the stones that make up the altar… and the dirt underneath of it.

God answers the prayer of Elijah and leaves absolutely, positively, no doubts in the minds of anyone present that what they had witnessed was something supernatural.  There was no possibility that anyone there harbored any suspicions that what they had witnessed was either an accident or some kind of natural phenomenon.

And, perhaps after a moment of shock and terror, the people fall on their faces and proclaim, “The Lord, he is God.  The Lord, he is God.”

And then we come to the Apostle Paul who writes these words to the churches in Galatia (Galatians 1:1-12) where people from the churches, who had previously put their faith in Jesus Christ, were turning away from God and instead following other gods.

1:1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,

To the churches in Galatia:

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Paul was astonished that human nature hadn’t changed a bit since the time of Elijah.  People who had heard the good news of Jesus Christ were turning to follow other gospels and being confused by other preachers. And, in his own way, Paul uses the same logic that Elijah did by reminding the people that the message that he carries is not something that was created or invented by human beings.  Paul, like the other disciples, was a witness to the risen Jesus.  Paul was a Pharisee and had been a fervent supporter of the Jewish faith to the extent that he had pursued the followers of Jesus, persecuted them, arrested them, and dragged them back to Jerusalem for trial.  But as he travelled on the road to Damascus, something changed.  Saul met the risen son of God, became a follower and missionary of Jesus, and took on a new name, Paul.  And so, as he writes to the church in Galatia, Paul reminds them that it is this truth that he serves.  Much like the phrase that we hear today, “Follow the money.” Paul says, “If I were trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”  If Paul was trying to get rich, following Jesus wasn’t the way to do it.  If Paul wanted a comfortable life with a beautiful wife, a nice house, and plenty of servants, following Jesus was not the way to do it.  But instead of getting rich or having a comfortable life, Paul is compelled to follow the truth and that truth, Paul says, did not come from human beings but was given to him by the resurrected, and very much alive, Jesus Christ.

In all three stories, the question for each of us remains the same.  If God is real, if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then we have some very important decisions to make.  If God isn’t real then it doesn’t matter if you worship Baal or any other god, but if the God of Israel is real then it matters a great deal.  If Jesus wasn’t the Son of God and didn’t rise from the dead, then we are free to live our lives any way that we choose.  But if Jesus was, who he said that he was, then doing the things that he said we should do, and living our lives the way that he said we should live them, suddenly become extraordinarily important.

You may not have seen fire fall from the sky and consume God’s sacrifice, but you have heard the truth.

What will you decide?

What will you do?

How will you live?

Your choices matter.

 

 

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

What *IS* Trinity?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“What is Trinity?”

May 22, 2016

(Trinity Sunday)

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 16:12-15            Romans 5:1-5              Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

 

How many of you know anything at all about cars?

Most of us know a little, and most of us know that a gasoline engine has cylinders that burn the gasoline, and go up and down, which makes the driveshaft spin, which makes the car go.

So what would you say if we were standing next to a car and asked where the engine was?  You would point to the front of the car where the engine does its thing.  But if I reached under the hood and pulled out a cylinder, is that the engine?  What about the engine block?  And the answer to each question is both yes… and no.  Each is a part of the engine and the engine can’t do what it does without the contribution of all of them.  If you want to be even more confused, think about the thing that pulls a train down the railroad tracks.  We call that thing a locomotive or an engine, but inside of that engine are several engines.  All of them work together to make up one engine, but each one is, by itself, also an engine.

Confused yet?

And that brings us to today because today is Trinity Sunday.  That means that today is the day when your pastor makes a valiant attempt to explain the unexplainable, makes your head hurt, and usually ends up leaving you more confused than you started.

Toward that end, this morning we are going to learn (I hope) a little more about the Trinity than we knew before we came.

As you probably know, the Trinity is our understanding of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God in three persons.  This is not one person with three divided personalities, and this is not three gods who like to hang out together.  The followers of Jesus Christ have attempted many ways to describe the Trinity and while many of these are helpful, each of them falls short in some way.  I admit it is a little confusing.

Let’s begin this morning by reading Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31.  This passage doesn’t speak about the Trinity because it is from the Jewish scriptures, what we call the Old Testament.  The Jews didn’t, and don’t, think about God as a trinity, and in fact, the name “Trinity” is never found in the New Testament.  What we do find however, is an idea that becomes so apparent… that it needed a name.

8:1 Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O people, I call out;
I raise my voice to all mankind.


22 “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth,
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30     Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.

The obvious thing to say about this passage is that it is not about the trinity at all but is all about wisdom.  That is absolutely true, but this Old Testament understanding of wisdom helps us to understand how the followers of God in the New Testament came to understand God as a trinity.

In this passage, wisdom is described, metaphorically, as a living being that God “brought forth” into existence before the beginning of creation.  And so while there are some big differences between the trinity and wisdom, this metaphorical description of wisdom, which every Jewish believer would have known and understood, eventually allowed, and even assisted, those same believers to understand the relationship between God and Jesus Christ.  In the world of the Disciples, and in the early church, Jesus was described with this same language.  Jesus was said to have been “brought forth” by God, not as a created being, but as a person who had always existed and who was made from the same stuff that God was made and was co-equal, and co-eternal, with God.

In Romans 5:1-5 we find one of several passages in the New Testament where all three members of the Trinity are discussed together.

5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

In this passage we hear that we have peace with God, through Jesus, and also that God’s love has been poured out through the Holy Spirit.

Another passage where this sort of thing happens is in John 16:12-15 where we hear Jesus say…

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.  He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

And so John is telling us about a conversation where Jesus was speaking about the Spirit of God, and about God the Father as if they were not exactly the same person but, at the same time, neither of those persons were the same person as Jesus.

Does your head hurt yet?

Mine does.

Honestly, if you don’t completely understand how the Trinity works, that’s okay.  I know that I don’t.  I know that bishops and people with PhD’s argue about it.  And I know that this is often described as one of the “mysteries” of the church, not because it is unknown, but simply that this is one of the places where the nature of God is not completely understood.  The way that I have described it is that this is one of those places where finite, created, mortal creatures with a finite and limited capacity to think and understand, are attempting to describe and understand something that was not created, and is infinite, immortal, and unlimited in its understanding.  It is inevitable that we fall short when we try to get our minds around it.

But instead of focusing on the things that we do not understand, let us instead focus on the things that we do understand.

We understand that the three members of the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are co-equal, co-eternal, uncreated, and made of the same substance.

We understand that through faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ and that through Jesus we gain access to grace.

We understand that it is through our hope in God that we bring glory to God and that God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We understand that the Spirit of God was a gift to us, from God the Father, through Jesus Christ and that the Spirit of God is the agent that leads us to the truth in all things.

We understand that the Spirit of God brings glory to Jesus Christ because Jesus sent him, and because that same spirit allows us to hear the voice of God and to understand the words of Jesus Christ.

And finally, we understand that everything in all of creation belongs to God the Father and everything that belongs to God also belongs to Jesus.

My suspicion is that, just as I predicted at the beginning, you just might be more confused that when we started.  But I hope that you will remember that it’s okay not to completely understand the Trinity.

There are a lot of things that we may not understand completely and yet are able to understand what is important to us.  We may not completely understand how televisions or cell phones work, but we do understand that they carry information from one place to another.  We may not completely understand how the internal components of an automobile engine work, but we understand that because they do, we can travel from one place to another.

And so, remember this: We may not completely understand how the Trinity works, but we know enough to understand that God loves us so much that he gave his own life to save ours and that he has come down from heaven to take up residence inside each believer to lead us, to guide us, and to point us to a better of understanding of Jesus Christ.

It might make our heads hurt.

And we might not completely understand it.

But the parts that we do understand are absolutely, incredibly, wonderful.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

The Gift of Excalibur

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , ,

“The Gift of Excalibur”

May 15, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 14:8-17, 25-27                  Acts 2:1-21                             Romans 8:14-17

 

How many of you have heard of King Arthur, the one of whom so many stories, movies and plays have been written?

Now, how many of you actually know the story of King Arthur beyond the one that we heard from Walt Disney’s “The Sword and the Stone” or the Hollywood musical “Camelot” with Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave?

Of course, some of you are young enough that you have no idea who Richard Harris was.  You should go home and look this up on Netflix.  There have been countless other adaptations of this story and each of them is a little different.  But honestly, if once you start looking, the variations started hundreds of years ago and even the oldest sources for the legend of Arthur can be very different from one another.

In any case, the basic story goes something like this: King Uther Pendragon fancied another man’s wife, Lady Igraine, so much that he intended to steal her by force.  To that end, he took an army to attack the castle in Cornwall belonging to her husband, the Duke of Tintagel.  During the battle, the Duke was killed, and Merlin used magic to change Uther Pendragon into the shape of the Duke so that he could sleep with Lady Igraine without her knowing.  By that deception, Arthur was conceived but Merlin didn’t work his magic for free, and in the deal that Uther had made to sleep with Lady Igraine, when Arthur was born, he was given to Merlin and Merlin, in turn, gave him to someone else as a foster parent.

Much later, Arthur, not knowing that he is the rightful heir of King Uther Pendragon, pulls a sword out of a stone and anvil.  According to the legend, that sword was well known in England and it was said that only the true and right king of all England would be able to draw it out.

Later still, Arthur complained to Merlin that he didn’t have a really good sword that he could call his own, and so Merlin took him to a lake where he met Nimue, the Lady of the Lake.  Nimue had a fantastic sword that belonged to her and her only, but she would loan it to Arthur and told him that it would serve him well.  The sword was encased by a beautiful scabbard made of gold and inlaid with precious gems but it was more than that.  The scabbard also had the power to protect Arthur from all harm on the battlefield.  Another part of the story says that the sword, through the light that reflected from it, and the magic that it held within it, had the power to bedazzle his enemies so that he could overcome them even if he were vastly outnumbered.

There are tons of books that can tell you more about the legend of the great King Arthur, but this much of the story is important to our message today.  There are three important reasons that I shared these parts of the legend of King Arthur… but I’m not going to tell you what they are until later.

We begin our scripture lesson this morning in John 14:8-17, 25-27 where we hear this:

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Jesus promised the disciples that after he leaves them, God will send his Spirit to live with us forever and that spirit will come to lead us, guide us, and to help us do the will of God.

That promise is fulfilled after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension in to heaven and we hear that story in Acts 2:1-21.

2:1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

People who witnessed the coming of the Spirit of God were amazed and wondered what it meant and Peter is more than happy to explain it to them.  The coming of the Spirit of God was prophesied by the prophet Joel as well as Jesus.  Those prophecies tell us that the coming of the Spirit would give the followers of God the power to prophecy, dream dreams, see visions, and otherwise hear the voice of God as well as to do the will of God so that all of humanity might call on the name of the Lord and be saved.

The Spirit of God gave the disciples the ability to preach in languages that they didn’t know so that the crowds of people, who had come to Jerusalem from all over the world, could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Finally today, we read from Romans 8:14-17, where we hear Paul explain what it means for us to receive the gift of the Spirit of God.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

And that brings us back to the story of King Arthur because there are three important parallels between King Arthur and each of us who are gathered here.

First, Arthur was the true heir of the King and so are you.  Because Arthur was the true son of the King, despite the fact that he had no knowledge of his real parentage, he was able to draw the sword out of the anvil and stone.  Because you are a child of the King of kings, adopted into sonship, co-heirs with Jesus, regardless of your human parentage, you too are able to receive a great gift.  In your case, what you can receive is not a sword, but the power of the living Spirit of God.

Second, Arthur was given a great gift, Excalibur, which enabled him to do far more than he could have done through his own effort, strength and power.  And so have you.  Because, when you came to faith in Jesus Christ and put your trust in him, the Spirit of God came to live within you.  And because the Spirit of God lives within you, you are able to do far more through the power of that Spirit, than you ever could through your own effort, strength and power.

And finally, The Lady of the Lake gave Arthur the sword Excalibur because he was worthy, but in the end, Arthur was mortally wounded in battle because of a moral failure.  Similarly, Jesus said that if we love him, we must keep his commands.  Our ability to be channels of the power of the Spirit of God is limited, or even lost, when we fail to be obedient to the commands of God.

And so, as we remember and celebrate Pentecost, I want each of you to remember that you are like King Arthur.  It is as if you have been given the gift of Excalibur.  You have been declared to be a true heir of the King of kings.  You have been given a great gift.  It is a gift of indescribable power and it can help you to do the work of God’s Kingdom in ways that go far beyond your own effort, strength, courage, wisdom, and understanding.  But to wield that power effectively, you must stay close to God and do your very best to be obedient to his commands.

You are heirs of the King of kings and are servants, warriors, and knights in his service.

You have been given a gift that is more powerful than the mythical sword Excalibur, and you have been called by God to use that gift in the service of his kingdom.

How will you answer brave knight?

 

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

The Use of Power

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , ,

“The Use of Power”

May 08, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 17:20-26                                Acts 16:16-34                         Revelation 22:12-21

 

How many of you are planning to do something today that has something to do with Mother’s Day?  By that I mean, are you taking your Mom out to eat, gathering together as a family to be with your mom or, you are the mom and your family is doing something for you?  More than likely, most of us are.

But why do we do that?

Just asking that question, “Why?” is bound to get a reaction of surprise, shock, and “Well, duh, because she’s my mom!”  And, again, for most of us, we want to honor our mothers because of what they have done for us.  They nurtured us, fed us, cared for us, bandaged our boo boo’s, took us to the doctor’s office, sat through all of our band concerts even when we were just learning and half the band was playing the wrong notes, gratefully and joyously received our third grade art project as a gift on Mothers’ Day, and then she told us how wonderful and talented we were.

But not every mother was like that.

All we have to do is to open the newspaper or turn on the evening news and we hear stories about mothers who abandoned or abused their children.  Just this month we’ve been following the story about a mother (and grandmother) who is now being prosecuted for the murder of her son because she bought him heroin as a 16th birthday present.

Every parent is given an enormous responsibility, to raise a child, to care for them, to nurture them, and to teach them to be a mature and responsible adult.  Today, on Mothers’ Day, we honor those mothers, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, who used what they had been given to do the best that they could in raising us.  But not every mother handles that responsibility well.  All of us have friends who dislike Mothers’ Day and who struggle every year when the rest of us celebrate.  And their struggles grow out of how their mother’s misused their parental responsibility.  Parents who misuse their authority can cause lifelong damage to their children.

And while that isn’t a pleasant thought when we are trying to celebrate those mothers who did a great job, it does tell us something about how other people, in other positions of responsibility (particularly in an election year) use the power and responsibility that have been given to them.  Let’s begin this morning with an example from scripture.  We begin in Acts 16:16-34, as Paul and Silas are arrested for preaching the gospel in Philippi.

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

In the first paragraph we read how Paul, through the power of Jesus Christ, commands a demon to come out of a female slave.  But immediately, this display of power frightens the leaders of the city and they demonstrate their own power by having Paul and Silas arrested, stripped, beaten and thrown in jail.  But Paul and Silas are not intimidated by political power.  As they sit, chained, in the depths of the prison, they sing about God.  And as they do, an earthquake threatens to tear the prison apart.  All the doors are opened and chains on the prisoners are loosened.

The jailer, seeing that the doors of the prison have been opened, draws his word and prepares to take his own life because, he understands Roman justice.  In the Roman world, the penalty for allowing a prisoner to escape is death.  And, for anyone who has ever heard the story of Easter, it isn’t difficult to imagine that the penalty for allowing a prison full of captives to escape would be unpleasant in the extreme.  And so, the jailer is prepared to kill himself rather than face the torture that the Roman army would exact upon him.  But as he does, Paul hears him unsheathe his sword and calls out that no one has escaped and that everyone is where they should be.

In this we see that God, once again, demonstrates his power over both humanity and nature, but also that the proper application of that power is not to crush his enemies underfoot, but to show them mercy.  The jailer recognizes mercy when he sees it, asks what he can do to be saved by such a god, and that very night, he and his entire household are baptized and become followers of Jesus Christ.

And in an era filled with broken families, broken government, ugly elections, and even broken churches, the message of Jesus recorded by the Apostle John resonates more than ever.  Jesus prays that God would use his indescribable power to do what some people would otherwise describe as completely and utterly impossible. (John 17:20-26)

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus prays for two things, first, that God’s glory would be revealed by calling the lost to believe and second, that all of God’s people would stop fighting amongst themselves and come to a place of unity with one another and with God.  In a world where everyone seems to be constantly offended by everything, and where everyone seems to be fighting against everyone else, it is often helpful to remember that Jesus himself is praying that we could all get along and do the real work of saving the world.

And finally, in the Revelation of the Apostle John, we are warned about what is to come. (Revelation 22:12-21)

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you [“you” is plural] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

Jesus says that on the day of his return, he will bring rewards to everyone who has believed according to what they have done for him.  But more than that, Jesus, the creator of all that is and the judge of all humanity, stands alongside his bride, the church, and uses all of his incredible power… to invite everyone to accept the free gift of eternal life.

And so the answer to the question of why we honor our mothers comes down to this, we honor our mothers because not every mother could do what they did.  Just as many politicians have abused their power and we honor those who used their power responsibly, not every mother has been able to handle the responsibility of raising mature responsible adults.  And so we honor those that did.  We honor the women on our lives that lived the way that Jesus showed us, and who used their authority to show us forgiveness, rescue, unity, grace and mercy.

All of us are called to do the same with the power and authority that we have been given.  Whether we have little, or whether we have much, the church has been called to use our authority to move toward unity, to invite others into God’s kingdom, to tell the world about the good news of Jesus Christ, and to show everyone around us mercy and grace.

 

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* You have been reading a message presented at Trinity United Methodist Church on the date noted on the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Trinity of Perry Heights in Massillon, Ohio.  Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you.  Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, Ohio 44646.  These messages are available to anyone regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@trinityperryheights.org.  To subscribe to the electronic version sign up at http://eepurl.com/vAlYn.   These messages can also be found online athttps://pastorpartridge.wordpress.com/. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

Remembering Gina P. Calvaruso

PastorPartridge Eulogy ,

Eulogy for Gina P. Calvaruso

April 08, 2016

The eulogy for Gina Calvaruso was given by her friends and family.  Many came to the front or stood where they were and shared their memories of Gina.  In this space I can only share a few that were written and given to me.

 

From Gina’s brother, Joseph Calvaruso

Even at a young age, Gina was adventurous. Being 3 years younger than her brother Joey, she was obviously not allowed to go everywhere he could. For example, as a 4 year old she was not allowed to leave the block where Joey being 7 could go much further. Inevitably – even after being told to stay close to home – she would be seen following and would show up wherever Joey and his older friends were. Of course a parent would eventually come and retrieve her.

She was an expert at finding where her Christmas gifts were hidden – unwrapping and playing with them – and wrapping them again and acting surprised on Christmas morning. She finally figured out she could also play with Joey’s gifts also, thereby doubling her pre-Christmas enjoyment.

She was very active in the high school band and was selected to be one of the bandleaders. Her friends from band were always at our home. She took piano and guitar lessons at a young age and played a few different instruments.

 

From her friend Sharon Capporelli

Just recently, Gina received a small settlement for an injury to her leg.  She had a thoughtful debate about her need to give 10 percent to the church, or could she give it anywhere of her choice?  In the end, she chose to give it to the poor.  She thought that the poor don’t have help to feed their animals (pets). And so she spent her 10 percent on cat and dog food and made it available to those in need.

Gina always wanted to talk about you.  It was difficult to turn the tables and get her to talk about herself.

When she would give you a gift, it was like she listened to every word that you said.  She knew exactly what to give that would be the most meaningful.  It was an uncanny ability.

She was a very non-judgmental person.  She had strong opinions but you could have yours if they differed.  Until you talked about her Hillary Clinton.

Gina was engaged in her friendships.  She always went the extra mile to keep you on your feet.  She would leave an empty Coke container in your mailbox or in your bushes.  I would find knick-knacks turned upside down or pictures facing backwards, or her straw paper floating in my drink.

She would go to many movies then she would rate them.  Tell her friends which ones to see.  She referred to herself as the “activities coordinator.”

Gina was a unique character.  She was ever present.  Willing to participate, seeking to be a part of the world as she understood it.

She experienced a lot of hardships and I watcher her change to the tune of each one.

She so wanted to be loved.  Like us all.

 

Obituary

Gina P. Calvaruso

March 12, 1957 – March 22, 2016

Gina P. Calvaruso, 59, passed away March 22, 2016. She was born Akron, Ohio to the late Irene T. and Joseph A. Calvaruso. She was a graduate of Garfield High School (1975) and the University of Akron.

Gina is survived by her brother, Joe (Gail) Calvaruso; nieces, Niki (Joey), Laura, Aly and dear friend, Sharon Caporali.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, April 8, 2016 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way E, Massillon, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to a charity of your choice.

Ruth L. Miller – A Celebration of Life

PastorPartridge Eulogy , , , ,

Eulogy for Ruth L. Miller

April 30, 2016

by Rev. John Partridge

Every life has a story.  And when I stand in the front of a group of people at the end of someone’s life, I try to tell their story.  To be honest, there are times when it’s easier than others but telling the story of Ruth Lovina Miller is only difficult in the sense that I have more stories than I can use, and even if I tell a few of them, you might accuse me of making Ruth sound like a superhero.  It is not without reason that Tom Brokaw referred to our parents as our “greatest generation.”  In recent years we have watched people like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray do so many things at once that it makes us tired just watching them.  But the truth is that people like Ruth Miller make Martha Stewart look a little lazy.  And if you had ever asked Ruth about it, she probably wouldn’t have found anything in her life to be particularly remarkable.

Ruth Allen was born into a Mennonite family in 1922 and was eventually one of seven children.  As such, each of the children had responsibilities in the life of the family and one of Ruth’s was to do the dishes.  That doesn’t immediately jump out as anything extraordinary except that one day each week was her mother’s baking day.  On that day, Ruth’s mother would bake… all day long.  She would bake bread, or sweets, or anything that they might need for the entire week.  She baked one thing after another all day long.  Few if any of the dishes were used more than once, and none of them had been rinsed and so all of them had hard crusts of one sort or another forming on them.  And when Ruth came home from school, it was her job to do all of the dishes that had piled up.

Ruth’s father was a bricklayer, but with the coming of the Great Depression, like many others he had a hard time finding work, and so to feed his family, they sold their home and bought a farm in Perry.  Ruth was always smart.  When she attended Louisville High School she earned a college scholarship but decided that instead of pursuing her dream of going to college, she would stay at home and help to care for her father who was losing his battle to terminal cancer.  Ruth also wanted to do something nice for her siblings, and so she would occasionally make brownies for them.  But to be sure that her mother didn’t give them to someone else, after Ruth made the brownies, she would wash all the dishes, divide up the brownies, wrap them, and hide them in the dressers of her brothers’ and sisters’ bedrooms.

Ruth always felt very strongly about family.  In fact, her mother started the Allen Family reunion and later caring for that reunion, and making sure that it happened every year on the 3rd Saturday of July became Ruth’s responsibility.  There were some years when they were afraid that the whole thing might wither away, but it always happened.  Of course, in recent months Ruth was worried that the reunion might not survive her passing, but her children and grandchildren are already at work making sure that it continues.  In fact, the pavilion at Baylor Beach has already been reserved, and paid for, for the next two years.

In addition to the summer reunion, Ruth and her siblings took turns hosting a Christmas dinner celebration.  In this way the entire Allen family got together two times every year until the year 2000.  For Ruth, family was always an important priority.

Not long after her high school graduation, Ruth married Joseph D. Miller (who was always called Joe).  Joe had been raised Amish and was a long distance truck driver.  At first, the Mennonite preacher at Ruth’s church refused to marry them.  Not because Joe was Amish, but because he smoked.  But Ruth wasn’t so easily put off.  If her pastor wouldn’t marry her, she would ask his boss.  And so Ruth and Joe were married in her home church but what we would describe in our church as the District Superintendent

Ruth and Joe started attending Trinity Church in 1947 while the church was still worshiping at the Genoa schoolhouse.  They chose Trinity because, at the time, the church had a class for young married couples, and they were looking for something like that.  Eventually, they would raise all of three of their children, Jim, Kathleen, and Ken, here at Trinity church.

They bought a basement house together, lived there, and started their family there for six years before they were able to take out a loan and build a house on top of the basement.  Ruth was a stay at home mom until the kids were all old enough for school, and then, to help make ends meet, she began to clean houses in Canton while the kids were in school.  Now, at first, this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but remember that Ruth didn’t drive.  And so, every day, Ruth would get the kids off to school, walk two miles to Lincolnway where she could get a bus into Canton, then typically several more busses to the houses where she cleaned, then back to Perry, and walk two miles home, all before the kids got home from school.  Every day.

Finally, about the time that her son Jim was almost old enough to drive, Ruth decided that there was no way she would let him drive before she did.  And so she got her driver’s license first.  But even before that, when Kathleen was only five years old, and while she was working days cleaning houses, Ruth started back to school.  She started in a special night school that was a wartime program to train teachers because so many school teachers and so many young men who might have become school teachers, were all being drafted into the military and going off to war.  Night school turned into summer school and, after two years, Ruth got a “cadet certificate” that allowed her to teach for four years before it had to be renewed.  But just like she did when Jim was ready to drive, Ruth made a decision.  She told everyone that before her certificate expired, she would earn her degree and her teaching certificate.  And she did.  She graduated from Kent State in 1964… the same year that Jim did and she taught until 1985 with a Master’s Degree from Akron University thrown in along the way.  We aren’t exactly sure of the math since she started teaching before she graduated, but that means that Ruth taught for somewhere between 23 and 25 years.

In 1969, only a few years after Ruth graduated from college, Ruth lost Joe, the love of her life.  But with the kids all older, and now armed with her degree and teaching certificate, Ruth was equipped to survive on her own.  And she did a lot better than just survive.  Since Jim earned a commission in the military upon his graduation from Kent State, he travelled the world at his various duty assignments.  And each time he moved, Ruth went to visit.  And that, in turn, got her started travelling everywhere.  Ruth travelled all over the United States, Canada and Europe often using Jim’s house as a base of operations while she traveled. On top of that, Ruth became the lay delegate from Trinity Church to our Annual Conference at Lakeside, Ohio for many years.  While she was doing all of those other things, she was also active in everything at church.  She was in the women’s group, and the sewing group, and she was also active with her support of the Canton Symphony, the Perry History Club, and the monthly meetings of the Perry Book Club even up to just a few months ago.  On top of all that, since 1985 Ruth has been going to her water aerobics class every week despite the fact that she has always been a non-swimmer who was afraid of the water.  She had a friend that picked her up every week and she only stopped going last year because after thirty years the Myers Lake YMCA stopped having that class.

And somehow, as if all of that wasn’t enough, Ruth also supported all of her kids.  Ruth made almost all of the clothes that Kathleen wore, and when she got too old for that, Ruth made clothes for her grandchildren.  Kathleen said that even though she might not have had as many dolls as some of the other kids, she, and later her kids, was the only one who had doll clothes that matched her own outfits.  Ruth made everything.  Ruth even made the wedding dresses for many of her family by mixing and matching parts from different patters that the brides would pick our at the pattern store.  Some of the in-laws were worried that a homemade wedding dress would be too simple or too plain, but they were all blown away by Ruth’s handiwork.  One dress in particular was covered in cloth roses, and each rose was lovingly cut, petal by petal, sewn together, placed on the dress, and decorated with beads.

There are so many stories that I just don’t have time to tell you.  There’s the story of how Kathleen forgot the ivory rose, necklace, and earrings that she wanted to wear for her wedding.  Joe, being the good father, went home to get them, but all Ruth could do was worry that he would get stuck on the other side of the railroad tracks by a train and be late for the wedding.  Or how Ruth taught everyone to clean, by regular inspections, and re-cleaning until the job met her exacting standards.  Or how she taught her family to save money by making their own cleaning supplies instead of buying all the expensive stuff that the commercials try to convince you to buy.  Or the story of how she managed to leave a homemade banana bread on the piano bench for our organist, Janet, every Christmas without ever being seen doing it.  Or the punchbowl story, and so many more.

When Kathleen and her family were driven out of their home by carbon monoxide, they lived with Ruth for a while and then, more than ever, she became like an extra parent.  Ruth was very conservative but always available to help whoever needed it.  She freely gave of herself, of her time, her money, and whatever else was needed.  She was definitely a student from the “old school” and she was never afraid to speak her mind and tell you exactly what she thought.  Sometimes that was refreshingly honest but sometimes it scared people a little bit.  At school she was known as “Killer Miller” but she was also the one who was always available for almost anything at church.  She supported her grandchildren in whatever ways that she could and sometimes made them little loans when they needed it.

Even toward the end she was, as she always was, her own woman.  Ruth was the one who decided, on her own, that she would quit driving and give her car to someone in her family.  She had always been a good storyteller and a collector a dolls from all over the world, and when she decided that it was time to give away her stuff, each doll, and each keepsake, came with a story about where it came from and what it meant so that they would stay with the family.  And she was the one, at the Brookdale nursing home, who helped to establish an institutional recycling program, and encouraged them to start serving water in the afternoon.

We could literally stay here and tell stories about Ruth Miller all afternoon.  But, in the end, they all seem to boil down to just a few themes that have changed us all and will have an impact on all of our lives.  First, for Ruth, life was always about family.  Just listening to all of the things that she did to make a home for her family is enough to make you tired. But she did it because family is just that important.  Second, a big part of her life was about church.  Church was a place to feel at home, to have a second family, and a place where she could help others who needed it.  Third, life was about doing the things that you loved.  Ruth did a lot of things but she didn’t waster her time doing things that she didn’t like unless she was doing it for someone that she loved.

Ruth Miller was always her own woman but her passion for her family, her love of Jesus, and her passion for life had an impact on everyone around her.  I know that all of Ruth’s children became who they are today because of what Ruth taught them and because of the life that she modeled for them.  Michelle decided to become a teacher, largely because of Ruth’s influence.  In know that everyone here at Trinity has been changed because of Ruth’s influence and I know that all of you who have gathered here today have done so because of what Ruth’s life has meant to each of you.

Compared to Ruth Miller, Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray don’t look all that impressive. I’m sure that Ruth wouldn’t want anyone to describe her as a superhero and she probably never thought of what she did as anything particularly remarkable, but then again, in a lot of ways that “greatest generation” label doesn’t really go far enough either.  If any of us can manage to do half as good, or do half as much, as Ruth did, we would be pretty proud of ourselves.

There is an old saying that absolutely rings true of our relationship with Ruth:

“We stand on the shoulders of giants.”

 

Obituary

Ruth L. Miller

November 11, 1922 – April 26, 2016

Ruth MillerRuth Lovina Miller, age 93, long time resident of Perry Heights went to be with the Lord on 4-26-16.

She was born in Canton, Ohio on 11-11-22 to William J. and Mary Ann Allan. She graduated from Louisville High School and was married to Joseph D. Miller on 10-19-41 at the First Mennonite Church in Canton.

She was preceded in death by her husband Joseph D. Miller and siblings: Euphemia Miller, Elizabeth Wood, William Allan, Paul Allan and James Allan.

She is survived by her sister Lois Hamilton and her children James Miller, Kathleen Casey and Kenneth Miller. Grandchildren: Todd, Patrick, Joe and Kate Miller; Michelle Rose, Angela Thompson, Brenda Boomhower and Luke Miller. Her great grandchildren Jody and Reid Miller; Zoe, Bija and Josephine Miller;
Ruby and Otis Terrell; Patrick, James, Sara and Alex Thompson; Tyler, Brittany and Thomas Rose.

She graduated from Kent State in 1964 with a Bachelor’s in Education with her son Jim. It was a double proud day for her. She completed her Master’s at Akron University in Middle School Curriculum.

She retired from Perry Local Schools in 1985, where she spent most of her teaching career.

She has been an active, contributing member of Trinity United Methodist Church since its inception in 1947.

She loved to travel and visited many countries in Europe and many locations in the US and Canada. She especially loved to travel to new locations to visit her grandchildren. She also loved music (especially the organ) and a was a lifelong supporter of the Canton Symphony Orchestra.

After her retirement in 1985 she remained very active.  She attended a weekly water aerobics class until she was in her 90’s. She was an Ombudsman, who advocated for residents in nursing facilities. She was an active member of the College Club of Canton and many book clubs.

Ruth could be described in many ways: adventurer, world traveler, a fair landlord, a knitter and seamstress, teacher of many and the matriarch of our family. She created and sewed the wedding dresses for many family members.  She was a strong advocate of the importance of family and was always there to provide support. She was active in the Perry Historical Society and was a supporter of the efforts to restore the one room school house next to the Genoa Elementary School.

There will be a Celebration of her Life on Sat. 4-30-16 at Trinity United Methodist Church at 3757 Lincoln Way E., Massillon, OH 44646 at 3 PM. The services will be from 3-4 PM with a reception immediately following the services at the church, 4- 6 PM.

In Lieu of flowers please send a donation in her name to Trinity United Methodist Church, 3757 Lincoln Way East, Massillon, Ohio, 44646 or the Perry History Club Inc., PO Box # 80575, Canton, OH, 44708-0575 to restore the one room school house next to the Genoa Elementary School.

Eulogy and Obituary for James A. Hedrick

PastorPartridge Eulogy , , , ,

Eulogy for James Hedrick

April 8, 2016

by Rev. John Partridge

So who was he?

That’s the question that we all have when we hear that someone died isn’t it?  Either we didn’t know them at all, or we knew who they were in general, but, if we weren’t really good friends we are often left wondering who a person really was.

So who was James Hedrick?

I knew James (who went by “Jimmy” far more often than he went by James) from his time at church and from our visits at home and at the nursing home after his cancer made him too sick to come anymore.  But then last week I sat down with a room full of family and friends and they told me all sorts of stories about Jimmy that he never would have told me himself.

James Hedrick was born in Canton, Ohio in 1960 to Garland and Martha Hedrick but he lost his Mom in 1968 when he was only eight years old.  James had one older brother and two younger sisters but his father remarried and so he really had more than that.  There never was any emphasis on remembering who was a “step” sibling, they were all just brothers and sisters, but the younger ones were quick to remember that James was “like a father” to them.  James was often the babysitter for his younger siblings and, when it was cold out, James used to button Cindy inside his coat and carry her around that way.

James’ dad said that he was a good kid that didn’t get into trouble, but his brother Kevin told me that being a good kid didn’t mean that he didn’t do things that occasionally got his dad so mad that he would throw things at him. But Jimmy was so long-legged that he would run away from his dad and leap over fences as he went.  And sometimes when his dad sent him in the house to get a tool they needed, James would go in the house and go to bed instead.

When James was born, he had a cleft lip and palate and had surgery to correct it.  He was always self-conscious about the scar that it left behind, and for many years he grew a mustache and a beard to cover it up (Annette’s parents said that he looked like Jesus).  But the funny thing is, no one else seemed to notice.  I don’t think that anyone at church ever noticed that he had a scar at all, and among his family and friends, if anyone noticed, absolutely no one cared.

In 1984 Jimmy met Annette at the Massillon Community Hospital (which is now Affinity Hospital).  He was 23 years old and she was a 15 year old candy striper.  They dated for a year and a half before Annette’s parents found out how old he was and made them stop seeing one another.  That worked for a while, but when she turned 18, Annette moved in with James and, not surprisingly, her parents were not happy.  But they were together for 30 years so it’s obvious that, even if its beginning was a little unconventional, something about their relationship must have worked.

Together, James and Annette had two kids, but raised a lot more than that.  Elizabeth and Adam were theirs by birth, but over the years, there were a lot more who needed a home, or parents that cared, and they found both with James and Annette.  This family that they built, some related by blood and others by invitation, was a big part of what held everything together.  Kevin and Jim were best friends as well as brothers and talked on the phone almost every day.  Kevin helped James to fix his cars and they did almost everything together.  Elizabeth could share anything and everything with Jim, and the last few years Adam could as well.  Since James was a night owl, he often stayed up late to play Dungeons and Dragons, or video games, or tell jokes, or just talk with Adam, or Steven, or Toad, or Shorty, Goldie, or whoever wanted to hang around.  And, this might be a good time to point out that James gave all of the kids that came to his house nicknames… like Toad, and Shorty.  When Adam got the game Resident Evil for his game system, it scared him so much that he couldn’t play it himself and so instead of playing, he had James play the game while he watched.  When Annette’s Grandma Fannie had dementia and was in the psych unit in the hospital and got upset, they asked James to calm her down.  Somehow he did, and then he sat for hours and played cards with her.

We don’t have the time to tell you all of the stories that James’ family shared with me last week, but every one of them was about being connected, being a friend, sharing hearts, and being a family.  James was one of those people who opened their family, and opened their heart to become a friend to people who needed a friend, a father who needed a father, and gave a family to people who needed a family.

And that’s why I want to share with you my part of James’s story.

Last fall, although Annette had been coming to church for quite a while, James started to come with her.  He listened intently but usually didn’t have much to say.  But then one day Annette asked if I could come over to their house because James wanted to know more about whom Jesus was and why he was important to what we were talking about at church.  And so I did.  We talked for a while about how Jesus came to be perfect for all of us who could never be perfect on our own so that he could invite us to be a part of his family, to be adopted by his father, and to live in his house forever.  This all seemed to make sense to James and so he wanted to know how to be a part of that.  Before I left that afternoon, James decided that being a part of Jesus’ family sounded like a good idea and he asked God to make that happen.

And all of that reminded me of a story that Jesus told.  It’s called the parable of the vineyard owner found in Matthew 20 and it goes like this.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.  Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Moments before Jesus told this story, Jesus’ disciples were talking about how much they had given up to follow him and so we know that Jesus intended this to be a story about the people who will come to follow him long after the disciples did.  Jesus tells us that there are those people who joined his family, joined the church, and worked for him all day long.  Some of us have been a part of the church for nearly all of our lives.  But others wouldn’t get there until the day was almost over.  Even so, God chooses to be generous and give everyone the same reward.  And so, whenever I meet people like James, who discover Jesus at the end of their lives, I think of this parable.

And now that I had the chance to learn more about James Hedrick and discover a little more about who he really was, I think that James and Jesus understand each other.  In fact, I think James and Jesus have a lot in common because they share a love for other people and offer a home to the homeless, become a father to the fatherless, and a family to people who need one.

And so whenever someone asks, “Who was James Hedrick?”  Knowing that he was even a little bit like Jesus is a good thing.

 

A Letter to My Dad

April 8, 2016

by Elizabeth Hedrick

 

To my Dad,

This is really hard to write because you were the only one who could help me figure out how to explain how I’m feeling.  But what I do feel, I do feel scared because I didn’t just lose a dad, I lost a best friend who I could talk to for hours.  I remember how my friends, and my brother’s friends, used to sit and talk to him for hours.  I also remember all of us in my kitchen just goofing off with him.  He was always really good at making us all lugh ans sometimes it wasn’t on purpose.  That’s what made him so great.  He was a big kid at heart.  He will be deeply missed by all of his friends and family.

Your beloved daughter,

Elizabeth

 

Obituary

James Hedrick

Jim Hedrick-cropped James A. Hedrick 1960 – 2016 age 55, of Massillon, passed away in his residence on Wednesday, March 30, 2016, following a long illness. He was born in Canton, Ohio, on June 26, 1960, to Garland and Martha (Barnes) Hedrick. James was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Martha Hedrick; step-mother, Therese (Reihle) Hedrick; sisters, Linda Baus, Cynthia Pamer, and Dawn Alexander; and nephew, Joey Hedrick. James is survived by his wife of thirty years, Annette (Sturgill) Hedrick; children, Elizabeth Hedrick and Adam Hedrick; grandson, Aiden Bowman; and siblings, Bill (Kelly) Hedrick, Michelle McCauley, Gary Alexander, and Kevin (Patti) Hedrick.

A service will be held at a later date at Trinity United Methodist Church, Perry Township, with Pastor John Partridge officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to Akron General Hospital, Genetics Department for the BRCA1 Cancer Gene Research.