Pastor’s Report 2025

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Pastor’s Report 2025

Each year during our Charge Conference, we report on the activities and accomplishments of the year to the East Ohio Annual Conference. What follows is what I reported. As is often the case, I am proud of what the people of Christ Church have accomplished, and I continue to be optimistic for our future.

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In 2025, Christ Church continues to be committed to keeping our mission statement in front of our awareness and keeping our focus on reaching out to our community by using our gifts to do what we can to meet the needs of the people around us. Our committees are challenging themselves to find ways that we can be a visible presence in our community rather than just “hiding out” inside the four walls of the church.

This year, after forty years of participation in the Alliance Carnation Days in the Park with our burger booth, Christ Church made the decision to pass the baton and hand off the booth, and the accompanying income stream, to our youth ministry through Scout Troop 2050. Troop 50, aided by some of the veterans of Christ Church’s previous experience, did extremely well and was able to raise funds that are greater than their anticipated operating costs for the year. Their hope is that with this additional funding will give them additional opportunities for growth, training, previously unaffordable excursions, and even, in future years, the possibility of high adventure camps out of state.

We continued our goal to offer training to members and leaders that will equip us to do the work of Jesus in our community. Toward that end, we held an afternoon seminar, led by Rev. Dr. Chris Martin, on usher and greeter training and began what we hope will be a continuing conversation, involving all our church committees, about hospitality. We hope that this conversation will create an environment that is welcoming to visitors and encourages them to choose Christ Church as their spiritual home. Further, next month Christ Church will host a training event in the use of Automatic Electronic Defibrillators (AED) led by one of our city firefighters. This training has been announced and has invited our scout leaders as well as the members of the Alliance Chamber of Commerce.

Christ Church also is continuing to pursue the development of a more active presence and ministry on the campus of the University of Mount Union UMU). After failing to develop a productive relationship with the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO) due to a shortage of staffing on their part, we have now partnered with Rev. Tim Morrison, the UMU Chaplain, in his successful application for grants, and the development of three Resident Spiritual Life Assistants (RSLA) who now live in the freshmen dormitories. Partnered with each of these RSLA’s are married partners from Christ Church who will serve as Community Mentors. These mentors will attend bible studies on campus, at least monthly, offer fresh baked treats, and build relationships and friendship with students.

Once again, Christ Church had a presence at the summer concerts in downtown Alliance where we gave out popcorn, water, and ice cream in exchange for donations to Habitat for Humanity. This allowed us to increase our gifts and sponsorship of this year’s Apostle Build house that is funded, in large part, by many churches in and around Alliance. We also continue our collections in support of the Alliance Community Food Pantry, the Salvation Army, and the Alliance of Churches as well as our monthly children’s “noisy can” offering which is directed to the Alliance of Churches bread ministry and the Salvation Army food pantry. Christ Church also continues its ministry of offering Thanksgiving dinners, in partnership with the First Christian Church and others, to deliver over 1400 meals on Thanksgiving morning to members of our community.

We continue to have two Sunday school classes for children and have now begun offering a small youth group meeting for our middle school students. Likewise, our youth ministry through scouting which connects us to nearly one hundred local families between our Scout troop and Cub Scout pack.

Though we experienced a substantial summer drop in attendance, our membership remains stable. Though we lost three members, (two to death and one to transfer), we also added two new members. We are hopeful that our increased emphasis on hospitality will aid us in attracting more new members in the year ahead. Additionally, while our endowment income has insulated us somewhat, we have seen a decrease in giving over the last two years, likely due to the death of longtime members and as a result, we have decreased our budget for next year to compensate. Even so, I remain optimistic that we are laying the groundwork for future growth, and I believe that there is much life left in this community of faith, its mission to the people of our community, and our part in the work of Jesus Christ in this place.

Blessings,

Pastor John Partridge

Resisting the Urge to Withdraw

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Resisting the Urge to Withdraw

by John Partridge

There are times in our lives when we simply want to give up and quit.

In those moments, we feel as if God, or life, or the universe has stacked the deck against us, that everything is going wrong, or just that we’ve taken such a hit to the life that we once had that we just want to take our ball and go home. It happens when our lives make major, often unexpected, and unpleasant, changes. Whenever we experience job loss, relationship breakups, divorce, the death of a loved one or spouse, or even watching your church grow older and shrink in membership.

In those times, we often feel crushed and powerless, and it is common for us to retreat into our safe spaces and hide out. We make a cup of tea, sit on the couch, pull a warm blanket over us, and hide from the world. But as comfortable as it might feel in the moment, that is often quite the opposite of what we ought to be doing. When we are in pain and suffering from loss, one of the keys to healing, moving forward, accomplishing our goals, and rediscovering joy, is not to retreat from the world (although we may very well need some time to do that) but to reconnect with out friends, our family, and get back into the world.

As human beings, as well as members of the family of Jesus Christ, we are social creatures at our core. We long for human connection. While they may often limit their interactions with others, even those who tend to be bookish introverts will feel isolated if they stay away from everyone for too long. We might not want to be in a crowd, or even in any kind of large group, but we still long for friendship, connection, and community. But more than that, it is when we share our burdens with others that we feel our burdens get lighter. Carrying on, moving forward, or even just standing up after life has dumped tough times on us can seem impossible. But when we open our hearts and share our souls, and our burdens, with others, we are encouraged and find the strength to move onward together.

Just as it does with a block of ice, insulating ourselves from the world only makes the chill last longer. The way to melt the chill, find joy again, and start growing again is to open ourselves to the world again, to seek out new opportunities, do new things, and reconnect with our friends and community. I’ve seen these things happen in the lives of both people and churches. While it might be comforting at first, retreating for too long and insulating ourselves from the world only prolongs our suffering. The path to growth and rediscovering joy will not be found under a warm blanket on the sofa surrounded by comfort food. The path to joy and growth can only be found in community.

As members of the family of Jesus Christ, the key is that we already have the greatest family ever.

We just need to get out of our safe spaces, get off our sofas, and invite others to join the family that we already found.

Moving from Tears to Victory

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Moving from Tears to Victory

November 16, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 65:17-25                      Luke 21:5-19              2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Today, I want you to think about what the word “Childhood” means. Our ideal hope is that it refers to a time of innocence, playfulness, learning, development, and growth. But we all know that not all childhoods are created equally. Some of us had a childhood that leaned toward the ideal, but we all know of others whose childhood was less than ideal, or that ended much earlier than it should have because of a crisis, trauma, or death in the family. I have heard psychologists say that the childhood of an entire generation was shifted in important ways because of the national trauma that we all experienced on September 11th, 2001. But as much as we all would like everyone to have an idyllic childhood, our reality is that because we are imperfect humans that live in an imperfect world, even when we are doing well, most childhood fall far short of our ideals.

As parents, no matter how hard we try we cannot protect our children forever. The best that we can do is to give them the best start that we can because, sooner or later, in childhood or early adulthood, our children are going to experience loss, trauma, suffering, and other unpleasantness. If we’re honest, we can admit that experiencing those things, and learning to overcome them, or at least to survive them, contributes strongly to our maturity as adults. But even so, sometimes the tears, sorrow, suffering, trauma, and loss are hard to move past and we not only struggle with what we have experienced, but our path to maturity gets stuck, and we drag these negative experiences along with us as unwanted emotional and spiritual baggage.

And so, it’s fair for us to ask how we can move past our trauma, and to unload the baggage that we carry. And this is one of the questions for which we might find some answers as we read and think about our scriptures this morning. We begin this morning by reading the words of God from the prophet Isaiah. In these words, Isaiah writes to the people of Judah, both warning them that they will be conquered by the nation of Babylon, and that they will be carried off into captivity, but also that God would not forget them, and that they would one day return home. Reading from Isaiah 65:17-25, we hear these words:

17 “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
    will be heard in it no more.

20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reacha hundred
    will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
    so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain,
    nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
    they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer;
    while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
    and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

God tells the people of Judah that his creation is not done and that there will come a time when he will once again resume his work after his original seven days of creation. God promises that after all of the destruction, sorrow, suffering, and death that his people would witness, that he was one day going to start over and create a new heaven and a new earth and in that new place, the pain and grief of the our former world would fade and be forgotten. In these words, God promises a future filled with hope where weeping and crying would no longer be heard among his people and where life’s greatest sorrows and traumas would never happen again. Instead, God says that in that place everyone would be able to keep the things for which they had worked, fear of the natural world would be no more, and everyone, as well as their descendants, would be blessed.

But we all know that years of pain and suffering separated the people of Judah from the time of Isaiah’s words until the time of their return from captivity in Babylon. There was a separation between the time of the promise and the time of God’s restoration. Likewise, Jesus warns us that following him is not a magic bullet. By choosing to follow Jesus, our lives are not miraculously transformed into joy without pain. Instead, Jesus warns his disciples that while we are promised victory against our enemies, we must still endure hardship, pain, and suffering before that day comes. In Luke 21:5-19, we hear this Jesus describing the destruction of Jerusalem that would come forty years in the future in 70 CE, but Jesus also describes God’s promise of victory:

5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

As Jesus and his disciples walk the streets of Jerusalem, and they marvel at a city that was filled with the magnificent architecture built by King Herod’s engineers as well as the most powerful kings and empires of the previous several hundred years. But Jesus warns them that many of them will live to see the day that, as marvelous as it was, it would all be destroyed and left in ruins. Further, Jesus says, they would see deceivers and imposters that would claim to be sent by Jesus, or even to be Jesus, they would hear of wars and uprisings, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, natural disasters, ominous portents, and signs, as well as personal suffering and persecution. Jesus says that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong, but no matter what happened, God would protect them if they would stand firm in their faith. The disciples understood that Jesus was saying that even if their suffering resulted in imprisonment, torture, and death, God would still greet them as they entered his kingdom as victors and conquerors and not as victims or the conquered. God’s promise is that because the war with the enemy has already been won, no matter what pain we might experience during our lives, we will stand as victors in life if we will only stand firm in our faith.

But as much as we might appreciate Jesus’ warning of future struggle and the hope of ultimate victory, we are still left with trying to figure out how to navigate through the life that we have been given in the world and the culture in which we live. And for that, we look once again to the Apostle Paul who gives life advice to the church in Thessalonica as he writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13, saying:

6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teachingyou received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

Paul tells the church that it is important how you choose your friends. While we are called to reach out to the lost people around us and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone that we can, it remains vitally important that we protect ourselves. And one key tool that we have to do that is to surround ourselves with hardworking people of strong and solid faith who live lives of integrity and follow the teachings that have been handed down to us. Paul points out that even when he had every right to ask for some assistance from the church when he and his team were with them, he chose not to exercise his rights and instead they all worked secular jobs as well as preaching and teaching so that they would set a good example for the people of the church to model and imitate. Instead, Paul says, each of us who is able should work hard to contribute in every way that we can and not be tempted into idleness or disrupting the work that others are doing.

Taken together, what have we learned today?

First, that God promises a future filled with hope where weeping and crying would no longer be heard among his people and where life’s greatest sorrows and traumas would never happen again. But also, when we choose to follow Jesus, our lives are not miraculously transformed into joy without pain. Instead, Jesus warns his disciples that while we are promised victory against our enemies, we must still endure hardship, pain, and suffering before that day comes. We will live to see deceivers and imposters that claim to be sent by Jesus, we will hear of wars and uprisings, earthquakes, famines, pestilence, natural disasters, omens, and signs, and endure personal suffering and persecution. Jesus says that everything that can go wrong, could go wrong, but no matter what happens, God will protect us if we stand firm in our faith.

But to do that, it is important how we choose our friends. While we are called to reach out to lost people and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone that we can, it remains vitally important that we protect ourselves. And to do that we must surround ourselves with hardworking people of strong and solid faith who live lives of integrity and follow the teachings that have been handed down to us. We must work hard to contribute in every way that we can and not be tempted into idleness or disrupting the work that others are doing.

Like Paul and his missionary team in Thessalonica, a part of our calling is to live our lives as a model for others to follow. We are called to live lives that are filled with hope because we know that although none of us will pass through this life without experiencing pain, heartbreak, suffering, grief, and loss, we keep hold of God’s promise of a new creation where there will no longer be tears, sorrow, or death. But between here and there, we must stand firm in our faith in Jesus, surround ourselves with strong, hardworking people of faith, and…

…never stop doing good.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

A Future Without Fear

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A Future Without Fear

November 09, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Haggai 1:15b-2:9                   Luke 20:27-38                        2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

What do you do when your reality falls far, far short of your dreams and expectations, or your life reeks of disappointment? Or when your philosophical and theological adversaries show up to make fun of you in the public square and point out how your beliefs don’t make sense? Or when the church across town is preaching stuff about Jesus that isn’t true, everyone is talking about it, and even the people in your church are starting to believe it?  

Does that sound a little farfetched? It isn’t. Because all these things happen in our scripture lessons for today, and in each case, the people involved are given cause to worry about their place in the world, their place in God’s kingdom, and about their future in general. Likewise, in each case, their fears are put to rest, or at least comforted, and they are given words of instruction to help them to continue moving forward.

We begin by reading the words of the prophet Haggai who had returned to Israel with 50,000 of the people who had lived in exile in Babylon. The problem, however, was that while they had much initial success in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem and had almost immediately built the foundations of a new temple on the temple mount. But as soon as they had done so, their neighbors, the Samaritans, and a few others, became particularly unhappy with the idea of a vibrant and active Jewish state returning to the neighborhood. And so, their complaints and disruptions, along with a lack of backbone and willpower on the part of the people of Israel, caused the work on the temple, and on the city walls, to grind to a halt… for eighteen years. It is in this environment that Haggai brings the words of God to his people saying in Haggai 1:15b-2:9:

1:15 In the second year of King Darius, 2:1 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 2 “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, 3 ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place, I will grant peace,’ declares the  Lord Almighty.”

Haggai is one of the people present who remembers what Jerusalem looked like when Babylon conquered them. He and many others remembered the temple that Solomon had built, and so he understood the hopelessness and depression and the weight of the memory that sat on their chests when they thought about it. He asks them because what stood in front of them was just a beginning, a foundation of a new temple that had sat unfinished for eighteen years. But God encourages them to be strong and to do the work that was needed to restart their building program and to finish the construction of a new temple and new city walls. God says that if they will do the work, he will shake the world and make Israel a place that is sought after by people everywhere because the new temple will become even greater than the temple of Solomon that they remembered. God tells his people that despite the losses that they had witnessed, and despite the sadness of the unfinished building that was in front of them, the future is bright if they will only be strong, be persistent, and do the work.

But what do we do when the people around us mock us for our beliefs? Can their ridicule shake our faith? This very thing happens to Jesus in Luke 20:27-38, and what we learn is that we should learn and understand our own beliefs well enough to have confidence both in what we believe, and what our beliefs mean for our hope in the future. Luke says,

27 Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30 The second 31 and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32 Finally, the woman died too. 33 Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

34 Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

The Sadducees ask Jesus the same or similar question that I have seen thrown around as criticism of Christian beliefs in various forums online in the present day. It would seem to be an issue if you thought about the problem in the way that the Sadducees presented it. If one woman were, as required by the scriptures, married to seven men, whose wife would she be in the afterlife after the resurrection? But Jesus avoids answering the question by saying that the question itself misunderstands the very nature of the resurrection because it assumes that the life that comes after our death on this world would be the same as the life that we know. Instead, Jesus says, the rules that govern our lives after the resurrection will be different. In the life to come, marriage doesn’t exist just as death will no longer exist.

Unfortunately, Jesus doesn’t elaborate on that at all so we don’t know anything about what relationships between men and women would look like, other than to know that they will be different. In any case, Jesus goes on to say that while our relationships will be different, that despite the Sadducees disbelief in an afterlife, there will be life after death because God is the God of the living, both those living before death, and those living after death. The two things we should take away from this passage this morning are these: First, that, like Jesus, we should seek to understand our faith well enough to know that sometimes the difficult questions with which we are presented are unanswerable, not because our faith is wrong, but because they are asking the wrong questions entirely. And second, our future is bright because we can be confident that there is life after the resurrection despite the death that we witness in the world in which we currently live.

But we return to the question of how we should live in our present day with the time that we each have before our own death and eventual resurrection. How should we live our lives, and how can we find the strength to make it through the trials that we face every day? What do we do when we hear preaching that we know is wrong and contrary to scripture, and when people around us, even people in the church, begin to believe things that are wrong? And at least a part of the answer to our question can be found in the words of comfort that the Apostle Paul sent in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17 where he says:

2:1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessnessis revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things?

13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Paul says that whether wrong teaching comes from pastors, prophets, letters, or books, we should not be alarmed or unsettled. But we should expect that the enemy of our souls will be at work spreading false prophecies, fake news, and misinformation so that he can set himself up as God, even in God’s churches. And these are just one type of trial that we face as we navigate our way through this life. But as we find our way, we should stand firm, hold fast, and stay true to the truth that has been taught to us and continue to share what we have learned with others. Paul’s prayer, and ours, is that Jesus Christ would continue to encourage us and give us hope so that our hearts will be strengthened and enable us to continue doing good and sharing the word of God with the people around us.

And so let us look at the words of advice that we have received: Despite the pain that we have endured, despite the trials that we have faced, despite the losses that we have witnessed, we should not be tempted to fall into hopelessness because God promises that our future is bright and full of hope. Rather than giving in to fear and doubt, we must remain strong and do the work to which God has called us. We should seek to understand our faith well enough to know that sometimes the difficult questions with which we are presented are unanswerable, not because our faith is wrong, but because they are asking the wrong questions entirely. We should be confident that there is life after the resurrection despite the death that we witness in the world around us. We should stand firm, keep doing good, and keep telling others about the good news of Jesus Christ because, despite the trials that surround us, because we follow the God of creation, resurrection, repentance, and restoration, the future, as it has always been, continues to be bright and full of hope.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Focus Determines Destination

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Focus Determines Destination

October 26, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Joel 2:23-32                Luke 18:9-14              2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

All of us drive. Most of us drive automobiles, but some of the younger people in the room ride bicycles. For my illustration this morning, either works. Imagine that there is no traffic and you are going down the road as fast as you can. Now imagine closing your eyes.

Even the idea can be terrifying.

If you were forced to drive without being able to see, you wouldn’t go far.

Now imagine that you can, and must drive, but while you can see, your vision is significantly impaired. If you need glasses to drive, imagine what it would be like if your glasses were broken and you had to drive anyway. The worse our vision, the slower we are likely to drive, and we would certainly avoid some of the main highways in favor of less traveled back roads for an additional safety measure even if it slowed our travel even more. But the worse our vision gets, the more likely it is that we wouldn’t even arrive at our chosen destination at all. At some point, we would choose a place of safety at the home of a friend, or even the parking lot of a random business, where we would stop and phone a friend or family member for help.

When we think in terms of driving, or even walking, when we can’t see well, it seems obvious how important our focus is to reach our destination. But our journey through life, whether that is our family life, our career life, or our spiritual life, depends upon our focus just as much. It has been said, regarding our careers or education, that if you don’t know where you want to go, you will go somewhere, but not necessarily where you want. It’s silly, but it makes a point. Similarly, the Cheshire Cat in “Alice in Wonderland” said, “If you don’t much care where you are going, then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” Regardless of whether it is our career, family life, or our spiritual life, if we have a destination in mind, then we must resolutely keep our focus on our goal.

After the people of Israel and Judah had been devastated by a series of locust swarms, they were, not surprisingly, filled with despair and worried about their future. They wondered what had become of their dreams, aspirations, and goals but as they worried, God sent a message through the prophet Joel that had much to do with how they chose to focus their lives. As we read this message in Joel 2:23-32, we will find that we can read it in two parts. The first is a promise to the people of the ancient nation of Israel, and the second is a promise both to them, and to all of us who have come afterward. God said:

23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful.
He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain;
    the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.

25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
    the great locust and the young locust,
    the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you.
26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God,
    and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.

28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams,
    your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance,
    as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

In the first half of our reading, God tells his people that there is hope for a brighter future, that what was lost will one day be restored to them despite the famine, starvation, and death that they had witnessed. And in the second half, God tells his people, and all who follow, that after he has restored his people to their nation, God is going to do something new. Rather than sending his spirit occasionally to selected prophets or people in dreams and visions, God will send his spirit into all his people so that everyone will be given gifts of the spirit. While there will still be wonders and disasters to be seen in the world, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be delivered.

But still, even though God will send his spirit to live in all his people, there are still ways that we can take the wrong path and find ourselves off the road and stuck deep in the weeds. In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus tells a parable that illustrates how and where we must keep our focus.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Because there were people in the room who were full of themselves and overconfident in their own abilities, religiosity, and righteousness, Jesus goes out of his way to point out that overconfidence and arrogance is a trap that causes us to lose focus and wander from the truth. In Jesus’ parable, the first man was full of himself and prayed to God focused entirely on himself, saying ‘I’ four times. Never once did this man ask for forgiveness, or for aid, or to say thank you for what he had been given, or anything. His entire prayer was filled with bragging about what he had done. But the second man was entirely different. His prayer focused entirely on God. He recognized his shortcomings, failure, and sin, and simply asked God for mercy. Jesus then goes on to say that only the second man was justified before God while the first man was on a path that would surely see him humbled before God.

In contrast, before Paul’s death, we hear his summary of his life and ministry as he writes to his spiritual son, Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18. Paul says:

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Paul knows that the end is near and that he will soon die. He says that his life is being emptied as his life is being poured out like a pitcher of water or wine. But as he faces the end of his life, he knows that he has done the best that he could. He fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept true to his faith in God. For that, Paul knows, that he will be awarded with righteousness on the day of judgement. Paul also says that even when he stood alone, and was abandoned by friends, family, coworkers in the church, and everyone else, he continued to do his best to share the message of Jesus Christ with the people around him even though they didn’t even believe in the same God. Paul knew that until God called him home, that same God would rescue him from every sort of evil because Paul had kept the faith and had done his best to accomplish the mission on which God had sent him.

Paul never lost his focus on what was important even when everything, and everyone, stood against him. And because Paul had kept his focus on the path to which he had been called, he knew that he would safely arrive at his destination and be rewarded by God when he got there.

While every follower of Jesus receives the gift of God’s spirit, if we want to arrive at the destination to which we are called, we must keep our focus on the path ahead with humility and persistence. Because, just like driving on the highway, if we lose our focus, we can take the wrong path and find ourselves off the road and stuck in deep weeds.

Because, in the end, our focus will determine our destination.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

The Truth Lies Deeper

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The Truth Lies Deeper

October 12, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7                 Luke 17:11-19                        2 Timothy 2:8-15

This morning, I would like for us to consider the meaning of two simple words, shallow’ and ‘deep.’ Shallow, of course, means the opposite of deep. We can stand in shallow water and can see the bottom if the water isn’t too cloudy. But deep water is different. In deep water we can be fully immersed and swim. We cannot see the bottom even if the water is clear, and some people are intimidated because you have no idea what lies below you. I know people who are good swimmers and who have no fear of swimming in deep water swimming pools, but who absolutely refuse to swim in Lake Erie, even alongside a dock with lifeguards, simply because they can’t see the bottom or know what swims beneath them.

But like the water, people are also described as shallow and deep. We say that shallow people have a narrow viewpoint. They think about themselves, and only their own interests and desires while refusing to even try to understand the needs of others or the needs of our society at large. Those people that we describe as deep, however, often read about the world around them, people and places that are far away, cultures that they do not know or understand, and are people who tend to listen and think more than they speak, but speak words that tend to be both thoughtful, wise, and considered when they do. Like water, the people that we think of as being deep have more things going on below the surface than can be seen by looking at the surface.

But we should also think of scripture as being deep. Although we read bible stories to children the way that we read them nursery rhymes, there is always more to the story than what appears in the simplified stories that we read to beginners. Many of those same stories can be, and are, taught in adult classes, and graduate schools, and academic papers are written about them that discuss what we can learn from their theology. Like deep water and deep people, scripture has endured for two millennia because there are many things going on below the surface and one reason that we come to church on Sunday morning and study scripture both here and at home is because understanding what is below the surface requires more effort than a quick glance. Real understanding requires that we read, study, and think more deeply about what we have read.

And that is the message that we find in all three of our scripture readings for today. We begin with a passage by the prophet Jeremiah that was written to the leaders of Judah that had survived the siege of Jerusalem and the capture and march into captivity in Babylon. In Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 he says:

29:1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

God’s message to the leaders of Judah is that they must prepare to remain in exile in Babylon for the long-haul. God tells them that rather than rage against their captors, they should make Babylon their home and work to make it a better place and seek to bring peace and prosperity to their new home. But at the end of the passage that we just heard, God warns his people to ignore the voices that are simply saying the words that they wanted to hear. To ignore the voices that told them to fight, to ignore the voices that told them to hold on to their hate, and to ignore the voices that told them to resist. Instead, they should look deeper, to look longer, to see the big picture of what it would be like to stay in Babylon for many decades as the prophets had foretold. The shallow view was to rage against their enemies, but doing so would only work against them in the long run. Looking deeper meant that they had to change their behavior, to learn from their past mistakes, to follow God, and to plan for a long exile before they could return home.

Next, we return to a well-known story in which Jesus heals ten men who were afflicted with leprosy. We’ve all heard the story before, but once again, an important part of the story requires us to think more deeply than the shallow reading of a children’s story. Reading from Luke 17:11-19, we hear this:

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosymet him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Ten men came to Jesus asking that he take pity on them, and although we might guess that they could have been asking for food or other assistance, we assume that they were asking for a healing miracle of some kind. In any case, when Jesus tells them to show themselves to the priests, we similarly assume that they were healed by their faith in Jesus, but maybe not. Because you might notice that when the one Samaritan man returns to Jesus to say thank you, Jesus specifically notes that this particular man’s faith has made him well. I find that curious. If it were faith that healed all ten men, then why would Jesus specifically note that the Samaritan had been healed through faith? It could be that the other nine were healed because of Jesus’ power and his faith in God, or it might also be that Jesus was highlighting the notion a foreigner and a hated Samaritan had greater faith than the nine Jewish men, or it might also be that Jesus is pointing out that gratitude is a critical part of having faith.

So, we might ask which of these meanings in correct? But the answer is, we don’t know… and perhaps we aren’t meant to know. The scripture that we just read doesn’t explain itself more than what we just read. But a part of what we do know is that we aren’t meant to read these scriptures like a children’s story, grab a shallow, surface meaning that Jesus had the power to heal leprosy, and then move on to something else. There is far more meaning in these stories when we swim more deeply and often scriptures like this one leave loose ends that are meant for us to ponder, consider, and think more deeply.

And finally, we come to Paul’s second letter to Timothy, in which he demonstrates a logical process that we might use as an example of how we might think more deeply about the scriptures that we read. In 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Paul writes:

8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

11 Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.

14 Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Paul says that even though he is bound in chains in prison, the word of God cannot be chained. God’s word is a living thing that lives and breathes and changes lives wherever it travels and because of the power of God’s word. Paul tells Timothy that the reason that he endures is so that every person on earth can have the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus Christ and gain eternal life. But then Paul walks us through a trustworthy saying that demonstrates how we can go deeper as we read scripture.

If we died with Jesus, then it logically follows that we will also live with him if we endure through the trials that we will face in this life. Further, if we endure our trials, and go on to live with him in his heavenly home, then we will also reign with him there. But, if we disown Jesus, then it logically follows that he will also disown us. Sometimes following these logical paths can surprise us because if we abandon our faith in God, then God does not abandon his faith in us because God always remains faithful to himself and to his promises.

That process of thinking logically, walking through the implications of what we have been taught, and connecting them with other truths, is one way that we can go deeper in our thinking, our learning, and in our faith. Paul says that we should warn God’s people to refrain from arguing over meaningless trivia because the arguments themselves can destroy the faith of others who overhear you arguing. Each of us, Paul says, should work through our faith so that God would approve of what we do and how we live.

We have all had the experience growing up, that at some point someone looked at us said, “You are old enough to know better.” And, in a spiritual way, that is what we have found in today’s message. We are not children, and we should not read scripture in the way that children read it. Scripture has far more meaning that can be contained or understood in a shallow, surface reading of a children’s story. We are called to spend the time and effort needed to look, study, dig, and discover the meaning that lies underneath.

The truth lies deeper.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Worthwhile? Or Worthy?

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Worthwhile? Or Worthy?

October 05, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Lamentations 1:1-6               Luke 17:5-10              2 Timothy 1:1-14

How do you greet your friends at church? Or any of your other friends outside of church?

It’s common to say something like “Hi! How are you?” or “Hey. How are you?” But we all know that’s a superficial question. Occasionally, among close friends, I’ve been known to take a hard look at their facial expressions and their general demeanor, and follow that up with, “No, how are you… really?” And that is the question that brings out a bit more honesty, requires a little more thought, often takes longer to answer.

But one question that John Wesley often asked, was “How is it with your soul?” That too, is a deeper question than, “Hey. How are you?” Not only does this question probe with some of the depth of “How are you really?” but it also asks for some thought about how we are spiritually. How is it with your soul asks about your physical and emotional condition, but it also requires some thought about our faith and our relationship with God.

As we read and think about our scriptures for today, we will find that our discussion is, in some ways, similar to the discussions that we’ve had for the last two weeks. But, like “How is it with your soul?” our discussion will require us think more deeply about our faith before we’re done. We begin this week by reading a prayer of mourning from the book of Lamentations as God’s people grapple with what it means physically, emotionally, and spiritually, to have been conquered by the nation of Babylon, to have lost the city of Jerusalem, and to have witnessed, cruelty, destruction, and death on a scale that they could likely not have imagined previously. (Lamentations 1:1-6)

1:1How deserted lies the city,
    once so full of people!
How like a widow is she,
    who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces
    has now become a slave.

2 Bitterly she weeps at night,
    tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers
    there is no one to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her;
    they have become her enemies.

3 After affliction and harsh labor,
    Judah has gone into exile.
She dwells among the nations;
    she finds no resting place.
All who pursue her have overtaken her
    in the midst of her distress.

4 The roads to Zion mourn,
    for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
    her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
    and she is in bitter anguish.

5 Her foes have become her masters;
    her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief
    because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
    captive before the foe.

6 All the splendor has departed
    from Daughter Zion.
Her princes are like deer
    that find no pasture;
in weakness they have fled
    before the pursuer.

The nation of Judah mourns all that was lost but the writer, traditionally thought to be the prophet Jeremiah, also notes that all of Judah’s allies, all her false gods, and all her false hope have abandoned her. He says that the even the roads mourn because no one comes to her appointed festivals, meaning that the practice of the religion of Yahweh has ceased. But the writer admits that God has brought this tragedy upon his people because of the sins that they had committed, and the princes of Judah have fled their pursuers like deer that flee from their hunters.

When we read the words of Jeremiah, we imagine that if we could ask the nation of Judah, “How is it with your soul,” Jeremiah would answer by saying that Judah was cowardly, hungry, sinful, and faithless.

But the disciples of Jesus knew the history of their people. They knew that God had sometimes judged their nation because of their faithlessness, and the current occupation of their nation by Rome raised some of the same questions. Would God allow us to be free if we had more faith? Is the Roman occupation a sign that God is displeased with our faithfulness? How can we have more faith? And in that environment, we can, perhaps, understand a little better why the disciples ask Jesus, in Luke 17:5-10, how they can be more faithful, or, more correctly, the disciples ask Jesus to simply give them more faith.

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

The first thing that I thought of when I read that first verse, “Increase our faith!” is that the disciples should have known that there’s no shortcut to increasing our faith. Much as praying that God would grant us patience, often results in God leading us into places that force us to be patient, I have always believed that praying for more faith results in finding ourselves in places that demand more faith from us. And, while it is possible that the disciples understood that Jesus’ reply is still surprising. When Jesus says, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed…” he is telling his disciples that it isn’t necessary to have a lot of faith. Even a tiny amount of faith in an all-powerful creator God is so immensely powerful that we should be able to command a tree to uproot itself and grow in the ocean. And Jesus’ parable about the servant and his master tells us that being worthy of God is no more difficult than doing the things that we have been asked to do.

Paul says something similar as he writes to his protégé in 2 Timothy 1:1-14 when he says:

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dear son:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 10 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 11 And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. 12 That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Paul reminds Timothy that he not only serves God but does so with a clear conscience and remembers Timothy in his prayers.  Moreover, Paul remembers Timothy’s faith, but not just because the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother had made an impression on him, but because Paul had witnessed Timothy as he had lived out his faith in front of him. Paul then encourages Timothy to “fan into flame the gift of God” which I take to mean that he is encouraging Timothy, not just to sit back and rest in the gift of faith that he had been given, but to actively work to exercise and to increase it.

Paul then returns to his other point that he serves God with a clear conscience as he tells Timothy not to be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ or the fact of Paul’s imprisonment. He reminds Timothy, and us, that God saved us and has called us to this life because of his own purpose and grace and because of that, Paul’s suffering was no cause for shame. Paul believed in Jesus Christ and trusted him to guard his path and his future until the day we meet at the foot of God’s throne. The key, Paul says, is to remember the teaching that he has been given and the life and faith that Paul, Jesus, and everyone who has invested themselves in us have modeled and demonstrated for us in their own lives.

And so, we have several clues that will aid us in answering the question “How is it with your soul?” First, there are consequences for living a life that is sinful and faithless. Second, that there is no shortcut to increasing our faith but also that even a tiny amount of faith in an omnipotent creator God is immensely powerful. Third, if we desire to be worthy of the gifts that God has given to us, being worthy of God is no more difficult than doing the things that we have been asked to do. Fourth, although the gift of faith has been given to us, we must still actively put in the hard work necessary to exercise and to increase it. And finally, we should never be ashamed of the testimony of Jesus Christ and that we should always remember the things that we have been taught by Jesus, Paul, and all those who have modeled and demonstrated a life of faith alongside of us.

Answering the question, “How is it with your soul?” is much harder than “Hey! How are you?” but it is also far more important. It is important for each one of us to occasionally put thought into how we are doing, how we are living, and how we are growing in our faith and in our obedience to Jesus Christ.

So…

How is it with your soul?

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Finding Hope Amid Crisis

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Finding Hope Amid Crisis

September 28, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15                     Luke 16:19-31                        1 Timothy 6:6-19

There is a curse that dates to the early 19th century that says, “May you live in interesting times.” For most of us, whether we want to admit it or not, boring is good. Boring lives are predictable. Interesting times tend to be filled with tumult, unpredictability, stress, rapid change, crises, and unpleasantness. Despite being interesting, life is not as enjoyable as it might be when we spend our time worrying about war, violence, pestilence, disease, political upheaval, inflation, healthcare, financial ruin, death, and destruction. In comparison, boring predictability is much more likely to allow us to find happiness and contentment. But that wasn’t the world in which the prophet Jeremiah found himself. Jeremiah had been born into a world that was facing one of his nation’s greatest upheavals and was called by God to bring messages of warning and hope to his people. As we read our first scripture, we find the army of Babylon at the gates of Jerusalem and God’s people filled with fear and despair. But into this pit of worry, we hear God bring his people a word of hope for the future (Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15).

32:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.

3 Now Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy as you do? You say, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’

8 “Then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’

“I knew that this was the word of the Lord; 9 so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekelsof silver. 10 I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. 11 I took the deed of purchase—the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, as well as the unsealed copy— 12 and I gave this deed to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and of all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

13 “In their presence I gave Baruch these instructions: 14 ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. 15 For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

Although everyone in Jerusalem was worrying and wondering what tomorrow would bring, and whether they might even live to see the sunrise, God brings a message of hope through the simple act of selling a small plot of land. It is likely that in a city under siege, food was becoming scarce and expensive and many things that were normally valuable were becoming useless and cheap. After all, when you are hungry, you can’t eat gold or jewels. And so, in a similar way, Jeremiah’s uncle comes to him in hopes of selling him a field outside the city, that neither of them might ever see again simply because the money that he would get from Jeremiah might buy him enough food for another day or two. In such a situation, you might ordinarily expect that Jeremiah would be completely uninterested and would prefer to keep his money so that he could buy his own food. But God calls Jeremiah in advance and commands him to buy the field from his uncle as a sign to the people of Jerusalem that there is hope for the future. Through the transfer of property, and the sealing away of the documentation, God declares that there will be a time, within the lifetime of Jeremiah, that God’s people will return to Jerusalem and the houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought and sold. God’s message of hope is that despite the interesting, horrifying, and violent days ahead of them, a stable and boring life of normality will one day return.

But the reality was that many of the people inside the walls of Jerusalem would not live to see a new day. The violence and destruction of Jerusalem’s siege would claim many lives and still more would not live long enough to return from their captivity in Babylon.  But aside from ancient violence, death is an everyday reality for all of us. Life is short in the best of times, and we are all painfully aware of our mortality. And in Luke 16:19-31, Jesus gives us a warning about how we should live so that we can be with him when we reach the end of this life. Jesus said:

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

First, I want to note that despite this being a parable, Jesus speaks of hell as if it is real. This is important to remember when we hear voices in our culture that say that there is no such thing. If Jesus said that hell is real, then I must believe that it is. Second, the clear message of this parable is that we each have choices to make in this life that cannot be undone in the next and we must live our lives in such a way that we end up on the right side of the chasm that separates comfort from torment. Third, even before his death and resurrection, Jesus was clear that some people will never be convinced of the truth regardless of the evidence presented.

In an odd sort of way, the message of Jesus is like that of Jeremiah. There is hope for our future, but we must seek to make good choices if we want to reach a place of comfort.

But if that is the case, then how do we do that? How do we make good choices? And what kind of choices are good? And as we often do, we find help in the guidance that Paul sent to his friend Timothy in his letter (1 Timothy 6:6-19) where he says:

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Paul says that godliness and contentment are good things to which we should aspire but that we should be content with what we have. Whenever we begin to desire more, when we aspire to become rich, we are tempted to do things that are both foolish and harmful and those things have caused the ruin and destruction of many lives. The love of money has led many people to wander from their faith and caused themselves no end of suffering. Instead, Paul says, the followers of God are called to flee from that sort of temptation and to instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Paul charges Timothy, and all of us, to keep the command to fight the good fight of faith.

It is important to note that Paul does not say that the rich are automatically doomed simply because they are rich, especially because we are citizens of one of the richest nations in the history of the world. Instead, Paul instructs the followers of Jesus Christ to command those who are rich to do what is right. Paul says that the rich should not be so arrogant that they put their hope in wealth, which can be lost so easily, but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with all that we need and with everything for our enjoyment. Rich and poor alike should do good, be rich in good deeds, be generous and willing to share. When we do these things, we store treasure for ourselves in our future home and take hold of the things that are truly life giving.

No matter what crisis we face, we are never without hope but some of the choices that we make in this life cannot be undone in the next. Some people will never be convinced of the truth regardless of the evidence presented, but each of us must spend our lives in pursuit of what is good. We must seek godliness, and be content with what we have, resist the temptation to desire wealth at the expense of everything else, and instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and gentleness. Be rich in good deeds, do good, be generous with what you have, and be willing to share with those who are in need.

If we do these things, we will increase our enjoyment in this life, draw others to the truth of Jesus Christ, and store up treasure for ourselves in the next.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Who Do You Serve?

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Who Do You Serve?

September 21, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1               Luke 16:1-13              1 Timothy 2:1-7

Have you ever gone through a time in your life when God seemed distant and far away? Or just a time when it seemed as if God didn’t care about what you were going through? If we’re honest, I think that most of us have felt like that from time to time. But in times like that, I have been reminded of a poster that I saw many years ago that simply said, “If God seems far away… who moved?” Let me say that again, “If God seems far away, who moved?” Now, I admit that summarizing the complexities of life this in way may be a little over-simplistic, but it does seem to get to the core of the issue. While scripture tells us that there have been times when God didn’t seem to listen, the far more common theme tells us of times when God has chosen to appear distant because his people turned their backs on him first. Our first scripture for today recounts an example of such an occasion that was recorded by the prophet Jeremiah as God’s people mourn over the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of God’s people in Babylon and we hear these words in Jeremiah 8:18 – 9:1:

18 You who are my Comforterin sorrow, my heart is faint within me.
19 Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
    Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
    with their worthless foreign idols?”

20 “The harvest is past,
    the summer has ended,
    and we are not saved.”

21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
    I mourn, and horror grips me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
    Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
    for the wound of my people?

9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Jeremiah reaches out to God because he is filled with sorrow and God is the one who he normally seeks out to find comfort. Jeremiah asks that God listen to the voices of his people as they weep in sorrow and asks why God is no longer in Jerusalem. But God answers that his people have angered him by worshiping images and idols instead of him and, because of God’s displeasure, the people feel disconnected, they know that God has withdrawn his saving power, and they feel crushed, horrified, and wounded. Jeremiah declares that he is so filled with sorrow that if his head were a spring of water, and his eyes were fountains, he would weep day and night over the deaths of his people.

But as sad as the story is, it is important to remember that the disconnection from God started long before the invasion of the Babylonians. God’s people turned their backs on him and worshiped foreign gods, images, and idols and refused all of God’s attempts to call them back to himself. It was only then that God turned his back, and it was only then that God allowed the Babylonians to rise in power and bring punishment to the people, and to the nation, of God.

But in Luke 16:1-13, Jesus tells a story about changing allegiances with an entirely different sort of spin while still being a story about obedience.

16:1 Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

3 “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— 4 I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

5 “So, he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

6 “‘Nine hundred gallonsof olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

7 “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushelsof wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

8 “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

In the story that Jesus told, we discover that at some point, the manager decided that his allegiance was to himself more than it was to the owner, to ethics, to morals, or the teachings of God. The manager began to siphon the owner’s money in wasteful ways that we would describe as graft, theft, and embezzlement. When the owner gives the manager a few days to show him his accounting ledgers, the manager seeks out some of his boss’s biggest clients and debtors, and allows them to settle with him for enormous discounts so that they then become indebted to him rather than to his boss and he can count on them for employment and support after he loses his job.

The point that Jesus makes is that while the manager was shrewd in his dealings, he had lost faith with his employer and shifted his loyalties to himself, to his pleasure, and to his vanity even at the expense of his continued employment. While Jesus compliments the shrewdness of the manager and encourages us to use those same kinds of street smarts to the advancement of God’s kingdom, Jesus also notes that we cannot serve two masters. If we allow our bank account, pleasure, vanity, other gods, family time, politics, or any number of other things to become our master, then God becomes secondary and no god at all. Christian radio show host Larry Burkett, in his weekly show on finance, used to be fond of saying that if he could spend five minutes with your checkbook, he could tell you what your priorities were. Your priorities, and your master, are the things that you put first.

If we want to get our priorities right, if we want to serve the right master, and put God first, then it is worth looking at the advice that Paul has for his protégé Timothy in his letter that we find in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 where he says:

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Paul says that what God really wants from us is godliness and holiness. These are the things that we should make central to our lives and the things that we should give priority in our lives. God wants all people to come to a knowledge of truth, to know that there is one God, and one mediator between God and humanity, found in the man Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are times in our lives when it seems as if God is far away, but most often when that happens it is not because God moved, but because we did. We wandered off, we drifted, we forgot, we allowed our focus to shift to other things, we allowed other things to become our priorities and take a central place in our lives. The way to keep God close is to make God our first and most important priority. God wants us to have peaceful and quiet lives, but to do that we are called to live lives of godliness and holiness and expend ourselves in pursuit of God’s mission to save all the people of the earth and help them to find a knowledge of the truth.

Any attempt to serve more than one master causes us to abandon one of them. Dividing our loyalties causes us to give priority to one and to hate the other.

We can only serve one master.

Choose wisely.

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Click here if you would like to subscribe to Pastor John’s weekly messages.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Hospitality: Curse or Blessing?

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Hospitality: Curse or Blessing?

August 31, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 2:4-13                     Luke 14:1, 7-14                      Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

You’ve heard it plenty of times, sometimes even within these walls, when churches proudly proclaim that “We are a welcoming church!” But whenever you hear that, it always pays to look a little deeper. A year or two ago, as I walked around downtown Akron during a break from our Annual Conference, I stopped in front of a parking deck for a downtown church. The signs were strikingly specific, and while there were several of them, the clear and emphatic point was that these parking spaces were to be used only by church members. While there was one sign that noted visitor parking, two others clearly said, “No Parking Members Only,” and “Church Parking Only – Decal Required – All others will be towed at the owners expense.” Despite the sign noting that visitors were welcome, the other two would cause me to be quite reluctant and anxious to park there if I didn’t belong.

In another case, I have often heard stories about new pastors or evangelists who dressed as a homeless person and spent the night, or at least the early morning before their first Sunday at a new church, sleeping on the steps of the church. They were often shooed away, or they watched as members of the church made a wide berth around them on the way to their fellowship inside. In the story, the people were then deeply embarrassed to discover that the disheveled person that they had seen outside was their new pastor or visiting evangelistic speaker.

It is often an unfortunate truth that when churches, and many other groups, proclaim that they are welcoming, the implied message is that they are only welcoming of a certain kind of people. It was clear in my last appointment that while everyone agreed that they wanted their church to grow, some (only a few) of them were only welcoming to the people who were like them and who worshiped like them. They openly opposed everything to do with our non-traditional worship service (which was growing) and insisted that if we eliminated it, that everyone could worship together in their traditional worship service. I warned them that many of the people who attended the non-traditional service felt that service was their home and would have chosen the traditional service if they had preferred it. The message, in any case, was that “we are a welcoming congregation… as long as you look like us and like the things that we like.”

And so, the question of the day is this: What does real hospitality look like? How do we accept it when it is offered to us? And how do we offer it, openly, honestly, and without reservation? And for that, we begin once again with a message that God sent to the people of Jerusalem through his prophet Jeremiah as we read the words of Jeremiah 2:4-13:

4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

5 This is what the Lord says:

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
    and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
    the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
    following worthless idols.

9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,”
declares the Lord.
    “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
    send to Kedarand observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

God sends word to Jerusalem, Israel, and all the descendants of Jacob that he is disappointed, hurt, and angry that he has given them freedom, land, a nation, and many other gifts of his hospitality, but after he gave it to them, they abused and destroyed them. For that, God says that he is bringing charges against them in court. No other nation, God says, has ever changed its gods. They might be completely wrong about who is god, but at least they were faithful. But God’s people have exchanged their true God for a pocket full of worthless beans, or in this case, worthless idols. They exchanged gold and riches for lumps of clay. God says that his people have turned their backs on his hospitality and walked away from their God because they decided to worship themselves even though they have no power of their own.

And then in Luke 14:1, 7-14, we find Jesus people-watching at a banquet at the home of a prominent Pharisee, and after he watches for a while, Jesus comments on how we should show hospitality in a way that would please God.

14:1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Jesus says that if you use your hospitality to show off, make yourself feel important, impress the right people, or to move up in your social and business circles, then God may knock you down and teach you something about humility. But, if you use your hospitality to humble yourself, then God will exalt and lift you up. Jesus says that the right way to show hospitality is to use it to care for people who can’t afford to give anything back, to feed the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. The core value here is that God will repay you when you use your hospitality to show genuine generosity and grace.

This same sentiment is echoed by the author of Hebrews as he reflects on hospitality, marriage, and how we should choose our heroes and leaders. As we read Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, we hear this:

13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.”

6 So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?”

7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

The writer of Hebrews says that while we should continue to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, we should not forget to show hospitality to those who do not belong to our church, our fellowship, or even to our faith. It is through our hospitality, generosity, and kindness that people will see, hear, and feel the love of Jesus Christ and be drawn to faith in him. Similarly, while we should continue to love one another as brothers and sisters, we should also continue to love, and be faithful to, our spouses. But, when it comes time to choose our leaders, or to identify the people that we admire and respect, we should first consider the outcome of their faith and their way of life. Consider whether their example is worth following by looking to see how they have modeled their lives after Jesus Christ.

When we consider these things together, we understand that hospitality isn’t just about inviting people to our homes or to our churches. It’s about loving the people with whom we worship, but also about showing compassion, generosity, and love to the people around us who don’t belong to our fellowship, our church, or our faith. Hospitality is about using what we have to care for people who have less than we do. It’s about loving our spouses in a way that is exclusive, monogamous, and faithful to them and to the vows that we took before God. Hospitality is about remembering the things that God gave us, giving thanks for them, continually offering God a sacrifice of praise and worship so that we don’t turn our backs on him and exchange the richness of our God for a lump of clay.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that hospitality is just occasionally offering an invitation to your church or to your Sunday school class. Hospitality is about giving thanks for what we have been given, it about how we live our lives, how we model Christ’s example to the people around us, it’s about doing good, and it’s about sharing what we have with others.

Hospitality isn’t just one thing; it’s the whole package of how we live our lives and reveal Christ to the people around us.

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page.  Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, 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 or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601.  These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership.  You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org.  These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com .  All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™