A New Name, A New Purpose

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A New Name, A New Purpose

January 19, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 62:1-5 John 2:1-11                1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Names mean something.

Most of us can name several large American corporations that have changed their names to better reflect their business. The National Cash Register Corporation long ago stopped manufacturing cash registers and is now known as NCR, “Brad’s Drink” became Pepsi-Cola, “Pete’s Super Submarines” became Subway, “Kibble” became Netflix, Kentucky Fried Chicken is now officially just KFC so that there isn’t so much emphasis on the word “fried” in a culture that is more health conscious, International Business Machines sells software and other services as well as computers, and so their legal name is now just IBM.

But people do the same thing. Women, and sometimes men, change their names when they get married, I know a number of people who legally changed their names because the names that their parents had given them didn’t match their personality, and we all know a few people who have chosen to go by their middle names, or nicknames, instead of the first name on their birth certificate. Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he changed religions and so have many others. Thousands of immigrants have changed their names to fit into the culture of their new homeland and to let everyone know that they belonged here and had left their past behind. And, of course, none of that counts the people who are in the witness protection program or who have changed their names so that they can run away from their past or to hide from abusive spouses.

Whether it is a corporation or a person, changing your name is a statement to the world that something different is happening. Either your original name didn’t match your personality, or it doesn’t match your present reality, or you want your name to better reflect your goals, purpose, and future mission. In ancient times, and in the world of magic and mysticism, names were often seen as the heart of a person’s power and an insight into their soul. And all those ideas are at play as we read Isaiah’s message to the nation of Israel in Isaiah 62:1-5 when God says:

62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
3 You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah, [Hephzibah means my delight is in her]


    and your land Beulah; [Beulah means married]
for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married.
5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

God says that he will not keep silent until Jerusalem is vindicated, and the world sees the truth of God’s blessing and the glory that he has given to Israel. When that happens, God says, Israel will be given a new name from God to reflect its goals, purpose, mission, and connection to God. Once, Jerusalem was called deserted and desolate, but on that day, it will be known as the delight and the bride of God himself because God rejoices over her in the same way that a groom rejoices over his beloved.

With that in mind, we move to John 2:1-11, where we see Jesus beginning for the first time, to move and to live into the purpose for which he had been born and to the mission to which God had called him and sent him into the world.

2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Woman [Greek usage here denotes no disrespect], why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so, they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Even though Jesus tells his mother that the time of his ministry has not yet come, Mary knows that God has sent him for a purpose. Did Mary know that Jesus could perform a miracle? I don’t think so. Did she know that Jesus could do… something? I think yes, but I doubt that she had any idea what that something would be. In any case, Mary, who must have been well known and respected in the household and by the household servants, simply instructs the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. And so, Jesus changes 120 to 180 gallons of water into wine. That’s a lot. It must have been a big party, but still, that’s a lot. Think about that in terms of containers that are more familiar to us. That’s between two and a half to three and a half 55-gallon drums full of wine. Or, more than two hundred refrigerator wine boxes, or nine hundred standard size wine bottles. Again, that’s a lot.

But more to the point of today’s message, this moment, as the Apostle John notes, is the first time that Jesus performs a sign that reveals who he really is. And this is a suitable time for a quick refresher about the meaning of Jesus’ name. In Hebrew, Jesus’ name is Yeshua, which is the same Hebrew name that we translate as Joshua. But, in Hebrew, Yeshua means “Yahweh saves,” or “God saves.” And so, at this moment, Jesus not only reveals who he is and begins his earthly ministry, but he begins to live into the meaning of his name.

Remember that I said, names mean things.

And that brings us to the present day and to our relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. What does all this naming, and calling, and purpose stuff mean for us? And much of this is explained by Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth as he explains some of the gifts that God gives to those who love him. Reading from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, we hear this:

12:1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of languages, and to still another the interpretation of languages. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Paul says that the gifts that God gives are not all the same. Each of us was made differently by God and as such we have each been given different gifts that suit our lives, our personalities, and the mission and calling that God has put upon our lives. Some of us have been given gifts of wisdom, some knowledge, and some faith, others are given discernment, or gifts of languages but all the gifts come from God. But Paul is clear that the reason that we have been given gifts is not simply to satisfy our curiosity, or to provide an income, or to make us rich, or famous, or powerful, or influential. The reason that we have been given gifts by the Spirit of God is for the common good. Just as Jesus was called by God to rescue others, and to save the world, we are called to use our gifts for the common good and to make the world a better place.

If you think about it, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for a company to have a name like the National Cash Register Corporation if they didn’t make cash registers any longer. Having a name that matches your mission makes much more sense. It is the same reason that many people change their names. They want their names to match their personalities, to let the world know that they have a new life as a married person, or that they’ve changed their religion. And we should include ourselves among that last one even if our name has stayed the same. When we chose to follow Jesus, then we identified our lives with Jesus, with his mission, and with his purpose. If you want to think of it that way, at the moment we chose to follow Jesus our name changed. Where it once was John Doe or Jane Doe, it became John Doe Christ Follower or Jane Doe Christ Follower.

And with our new name, we received gifts from the Spirit of God, a new mission, and a new purpose. We are called to use the gifts that we have been given for the common good, to help the people around us, to make life better for everyone in our community, and to make the world a better place. We have been called to change the world.

Let us live into our purpose and live into our new name. As John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can”.

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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.™

Photo by Henkster on Freeimages.com

Redeemed, Summoned, Empowered

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Redeemed, Summoned, Empowered

January 12, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 43:1-7 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22              Acts 8:14-17

In 1775, Robert Morris was elected to the Pennsylvania state assembly and served in that capacity alongside Benjamin Franklin. He then served as a member of the Committee of Safety, which was responsible for arming the state militia, building forts, and purchasing ammunition. In November of 1775, Morris was elected by the Pennsylvania legislature to be a delegate to the Continental Congress where he, once again, served on the Secret Committee which was responsible for arming the new Continental Army. Morris resigned that position in 1789 but then was appointed and served as the superintendent of finance for the Continental Congress from 1781 to 1784 and was thus in control of the finances of the American colonies as well as being responsible for funding George Washinton’s army. Morris’ activities in this capacity created what we now think of as the Department of the Treasury.

It was Morris who established a national bank, which was then chartered by the Continental Congress and began printing a single currency for the American colonies rather than thirteen different state currencies. As such, Morris was also the first to call for the creation of a national mint. But in 1792, Morris began speculating on the development of land, in which he would borrow money and buy millions of acres of land, in hopes of then selling the land for a profit as the new American nation grew westward. Unfortunately, his speculation was unsuccessful, he was convicted for his debts and thrown into debtor’s prison where George Washington and other wealthy and powerful friends often visited him.

Many of you are unfamiliar with the concept of debtor’s prison because such a thing no longer exists in our nation. Laws about bankruptcy were passed in 1800 that did away with debtor’s prison, and it is suspected that it was because of the many influential people who were friends with Robert Morris. In any case, the idea of debtor’s prison was that persons who were unable to pay their debts would be put into prison where the money they earned from their labor would be used to repay the debts that they had incurred. For a variety of reasons, the entire concept of debtor’s prison never really accomplished its purpose and instead created other problems.

In any case, with all that in mind, I want you to imagine for a moment that something like debtor’s prison still existed in the modern day. Next, imagine that you made a bad business deal and suddenly owe tens of millions of dollars to your partners for your mistake. Being unable to make payments on the debt that has been assigned to you, you are convicted and sentenced to debtor’s prison.  In prison, you work every day to make license plates for twelve dollars per hour and your income seized to make pitifully small incremental payments towards the millions that you owe. You have no hope of ever being released from prison in your lifetime. But one day, you are summoned to the prison warden’s office and informed that a wealthy billionaire has paid your entire debt, redeemed you from prison, and you are now free to go. The person that paid your debt has given you something that you had no hope of ever paying for yourself. And that is the story that we hear in today’s scriptures as we begin reading in Isaiah 43:1-7 where it says:

43:1 But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
    and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
    nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
    I will bring your children from the east
    and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
    and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.”

Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells his people that he has redeemed them from their conviction for sin, summon us by name, and claimed us as his own. But God doesn’t stop there. Not only has God redeemed us, but he also promises to walk with us when we pass through challenging times and trials and will protect us from being swept away by our problems. God declares that we need not ever be afraid because he will always stand by us, and with us. But in the time of Isaiah, God’s people still knew that all these promises had not yet been fulfilled. They knew that God had not yet gathered his people together and returned all those who had been carried off into captivity or had fled Israel in times of war and persecution. And for that reason, God’s people still looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, and that is exactly what we hear in the story of Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:15-17, 21-22:

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you withwater. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you withthe Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

It is important to remember that, in the time of Jesus, the emotions of the Jewish people were quite similar to what they were in Isaiah’s time. Although Israel was not facing destruction at the hands of the Babylonian army, it had already been conquered by a new Roman superpower. Rather than being slaughtered and taken into captivity as it had eight centuries earlier, at this time, Israel had been subjugated, occupied, and paid exorbitant taxes to Rome and to their occupying government. And so, Luke tells us that when they went out into the wilderness to hear John preach, they waited expectantly, hoping beyond hope that they would find God’s promised messiah and wondering if John might be him. The good news that they hear is that while John is not the messiah, he is there to introduce him. And moments later we see all three persons of the trinity in two sentences. As Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, and the voice of the father came from heaven.  

We have all heard that story before. But God’s promise that we heard from Isaiah was not just a promise of the Messiah, but a promise that God would go with us, that we would belong to him, and that he would one day gather his people together. And so, while the coming of the messiah is a key part of that, it is not all that there is. In Luke we saw that the Holy Spirit came down from heaven like a dove at Jesus’ baptism, but Luke also tells us that the gift of the spirit wasn’t just a gift that God gave to Jesus. In Acts 8:14-17, Luke says:

14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

I want to think about this and break it down because this is important for a couple of reasons. First, Luke tells us that the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had heard the gospel message and accepted the word of God and so they sent Peter and John to Samaria. There are two important things that we can take away from this. One of these is that we should remember the Samaritan woman at the well that had a conversation with Jesus. After their conversation, she ran into town telling everyone that she had met a man that had told her everything that she had ever done, and she brought everyone out to the well to meet Jesus and to hear him teach. That seed, planted by Jesus and that first Samaritan missionary woman, had now grown, and the people of Samaria had heard the gospel and had chosen to follow Jesus. The other important thing that we should note, is that while the disciples had been not at all happy that Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman, and that Jesus would defile himself by spending time in a Samaritan village, they had now set aside their ingrained prejudice and racism and now accepted the Samaritan believers as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

The second reason that this is important, is that we see that the gift of God’s spirit was not exclusive to Jesus at the time of his baptism. The new believers in Samaria had been baptized in the name of Jesus and now, when Peter and John prayed for them, they also received the Holy Spirit. This is further evidence, beyond the story of Pentecost, that the gift of the spirit is given to every believer in Jesus Christ.

And that brings us back to where we began. Although debtor’s prisons are a thing of the past, we, like Robert Morris, owe a debt that is far beyond what we can ever pay. Our sins against God and man are a debt that we could never afford to pay and our eventual conviction for those debts was certain. But as we heard in Isaiah, God has summoned us, redeemed us, through his son, God has forgiven our debt, and through his spirit, God has filled us and empowered us with his strength and power so that we can be his agents and ambassadors is this world, and do the work that he has called us to do. We have been called, redeemed, and empowered to be Jesus to the people around us, and to share the good news with everyone who needs to hear it. We are never alone, and we need never rely upon our own strength, because God goes with us everywhere we go, and is with us through everything we experience.

May we, filled with God’s spirit and power, go out from this place, and do the work that we have been redeemed, summoned, and empowered to do.

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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.™

Making Your World Bigger: A Challenge

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Making Your World Bigger

January 2025

by John Partridge


Several times this past year, I was reminded of one of my favorite quotes. In his book, The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain once said,

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Despite not traveling anywhere notable this year, I was reminded of this on several occasions when I heard, or read, people self-righteously offering opinions about people they had never met or places that they had never visited. But whenever that happens, I remember a trip that I took to Honduras, courtesy of the United States Army. At the time, I was in my early twenties and still in college, or maybe just barely out of college. And, while we didn’t interact much with the local population, that trip forever changed my views on poverty, the third world, and world missions.

Reading about the poor is one thing. But watching a family of five being fed on one soldier’s uneaten lunch is a different experience entirely. It was common for children to approach us and beg for handouts, but the order of their requests was almost always the same. First, they would beg for food, second for candy, and third for pencils. The first two made sense, but we were puzzled by the third until we asked the civil affairs guys that arrived shortly before our departure. They explained that the government schools provided teachers but not school supplies. And as such, many children could not go to school because their families could not afford luxuries… like pencils.

Again, while I didn’t do any traveling, I felt similar emotions this year when I heard some of the opinions expressed about immigrants and immigration, the poor, the homeless, and others about whom political commentators, and internet bloggers like to pontificate. Of course, it’s okay for people to disagree, but often in these sorts of things, while the speakers and writers have lots of opinions, few of them have any actual experience with the people they are talking about.

And so, with these things in mind, I want to offer a challenge for the new year. I’ve never really liked the concept of making resolutions and since so few people keep their resolutions, please don’t think that this is what I am suggesting. Instead, in the spirit of Mark Twain, I encourage you to make your world bigger. I want you to challenge your opinions and preconceived notions about the people around you.

Instead of simply assuming things about the people around you, I encourage you to commit time (do not just resolve) weekly or monthly, to meeting, interacting, and helping those people. Rather than assuming that the poor and the homeless are in that situation because they are lazy, I encourage you to volunteer at a food pantry, at our bread ministry, Tuesday dinner, at the Clothed in Righteousness ministry outreach on Main Street, or someplace similar. Again, don’t just show up once for an hour to make yourself feel good, but commit to being there often enough to build relationships with the people there, learn about them, and hear their stories.

Instead of believing some of the nonsense that is spewed on television and the internet about immigrants and immigration, commit to volunteering weekly, or monthly, with ministries or agencies that work with immigrants. Again, spend enough time there to build relationships, make friends, and know them as people rather than as the caricatures that are often depicted in the media.

Of course, my invitation isn’t exclusive to these few examples. It could apply to any number of other groups of people from Scouting America (formerly the Boy Scouts) to university students and many others. You could take the time to visit our friends at Red Bird mission in the Kentucky mountains and meet some of our friends there, or travel with a group from our East Ohio Conference to Liberia, or Mexico, or any one of our other overseas missions.

While Mark Twain’s quote about travel is one of my favorites, I think that a part of it is wrong.  Yes, I believe that travel can be fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, but not by itself. I know too many people who are prejudiced, bigoted, and narrow minded despite having traveled extensively. The key is not just the act of traveling; it is in having conversations and building relationships during your travels. The change inside of yourself occurs when you can no longer refer to Africans, or the poor, the homeless, immigrants, or any other group of people without thinking about the names and faces of the friends that you have made.   

And that is why my challenge for 2025 is to get out of your comfort zone and commit to spending an hour a week, or even just an hour a month, volunteering and being present with people that you might have previously thought of only as a group. This is a challenge to confront your biases, or just to get out of the house and expand your horizons. Because whenever you spend enough time with people to build relationships…

…that is when your world gets bigger.

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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.™

How Are You Growing?

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How Are You Growing?

December 29, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26             Luke 2:41-52              Colossians 3:12-17,

If you have ever been in my office, it’s a mess. I know that my mother would not approve. If the police were ever called, they would say that “there appears to have been a struggle.” But you also might notice that I have plants. Oddly, houseplants don’t do well at our house and the only ones that we keep alive are in the cactus family. Since I began my career in engineering, if I want plants to live, I take them to my office. Some time ago, I did a children’s message with three plants that I brought home from my mother’s funeral and all three of them continue to do well, two of them are growing and flower regularly, and the third is holding its own.

In addition, I have a rubber tree, or something, I don’t have a scientific name for it, but it’s quite large.  It has grown so tall that it did not have the strength to stand on its own so, some time ago, I added stakes to help it. And then, a few months ago I decided to trim off the growing ends so that it would be able to use its energy to grow thicker and stronger instead. When I did that, I took two of the longest pruned branches and, as an experiment, I dropped them into my fish tank. Once there, both branches rooted the baby guppies hide among their roots. Soon, I should plant them in pots of their own, but I really don’t need two more plants.

In any case, as I read today’s scripture lessons, it made me think about how we, as humans, and as the followers of Jesus Christ, have much in common with those plants. Keep that in mind as we begin this morning by reading from 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 where it says:

18 But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home.

26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.

This continues the story about Hannah and her son Samuel. If you remember, Hannah was tormented by her husband’s second wife because she was childless and when God finally gave her a child, she returned him to God for service to the house of the Lord at Shiloh as soon as he was old enough to be weaned. But here we learn that Hannah loved him and mothered him as much as she could from a distance. Each year their family would return to Shiloh to offer a sacrifice to God and each year Hannah would make Samuel a robe that she could give to him as a gift.

From this story we can understand that Hannah, Elkanah, and their family were faithful in their worship of God, faithful to one another, and we see that they were, despite the distance separating them, faithful to Samuel. And each year, Eli, the high priest, would bless Elkanah and Hannah for their faithfulness and for their son Samuel. And, we are told, each year they witnessed that Samuel had grown in size, as is natural, but also in favor with God, and with people. Samuel was well liked by the people around him but was also growing closer to God and was receiving God’s favor.

And as we read the story of Jesus in the gospel of Luke, we find that Luke’s description of Jesus, as a child, is a mirror of the description that heard about Samuel. As we read from Luke 2:41-52 we hear this:

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Like Elkanah and Hannah, Mary and Joseph were faithful to God and made the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Passover despite their relative poverty. And as it was in the story of Samuel, we find also in the story of Jesus, the faithfulness of the parents is reflected in the faithfulness of their son. The part of the story that we always talk about is that Mary and Joseph were a day’s journey from Jerusalem before they realized that Jesus was not among their friends and family in the caravan. But when they returned to Jerusalem and found Jesus, he simply said, “Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” Jesus is where is needs to be because he has learned faithfulness from his parents and now must be faithful to God in his own way. And again, as it was in the story of Samuel, when Jesus returned to Nazareth, he was obedient, and grew is wisdom, stature, and in favor with God and with people. Put another way, Jesus was growing in mind, in body, and in spirit.

And that takes us back to the plants in my office. With care, my plants stay alive. But the ones that get enough light, food, and water will grow and flower. But scripture tells us that the same is true of human beings and the followers of God. If we are properly cared for, have food and water and all the things that we need, and live lives of faithfulness to God, we will grow in mind, in body, and in spirit, and produce fruit for God.

And so, as we come to the end of one year and the beginning of the next, it is an appropriate time for us to think about these things, take a hard look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, “How am I growing?” Are you growing in faithfulness, in mind, in body, and in spirit? Are you growing closer to God?

As we begin the new year, let us ask ourselves, “Are we producing fruit?”

Today’s benediction comes from the words of Paul in his letter to the church in Colossae. In Colossians 3:12-17 Paul speaks this blessing over the church, and I want to pray it over all of you for the new year:

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Happy New Year everyone.

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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.™

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A Promise Kept. But Why?

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A Promise Kept. But Why?

(Christmas Eve)

December 24, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 2:11-14              Luke 2:1-14, (15-20)

We’ve had a great evening of celebration, and we all know that Christmas is a time of joy, wonder, gratitude, and thanksgiving. We give thanks for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, who was and is the rescuer of the world. In the scriptures that were read this evening we heard God’s promise through the prophet Isaiah that the Messiah would bring light to the darkness, freedom to the captives, and peace to the world. When we turn on the news and we hear messages of missiles, bombs, bullets, and warfare around the world, and as our nation spends trillions of dollars to maintain the largest military ever seen on the face of the earth, hearing God’s promise that every warrior’s boot, and every blood-stained garment will be thrown into the fire is a powerful message. It is for us, just as hopeful, and just a powerful as it must have been for the people of Israel so many years ago. But God’s promise didn’t stop there. Isaiah continues by saying that the coming Messiah would take over the government, that he would govern in greatness, that the peace under his rule would never end, and that he would establish, and uphold, justice and righteousness forever. That sounds just as fantastic, impossible, and hopeful in the twenty first century as it must have sounded in in the time of Isaiah eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus.

But Luke tells the story about God keeping the promise that Isaiah had proclaimed. A story of how the savior, Israel’s messiah, had been born, how an angels had announced his arrival to lowly shepherds on a hillside rather than in the halls of the palace, and how an entire choir, a host of angels, had praised and given glory to God, and how, having heard the message, and seen for themselves, the shepherds became the first preachers, heralds, and missionaries and spread the word about the messiah’s arrival.

But why?

Why did these things happen? Why did God promise, and why did God keep his promise? Why did God go to all that effort? Why did God send his own son to earth? Why did God care?

And this evening we heard the answer from God in the words of Titus. It is because of God’s grace that he sent the Messiah. It was and is grace that offers rescue to the people of the world. It is grace that teaches us to say “no” to ungodliness and the passions of the world. It is grace that teaches us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while the world spirals into selfishness, lust, greed, and depravity. And it is grace that empowers us as we wait for the fulfillment of our hope in the coming of Jesus Christ because it was Jesus who gave us the gift of himself to redeem us from wickedness, to rescue us from sin and death, and to purify us so that we could become his people. It was Jesus who gave himself so that we could become a people who were eager to do what is good.

The story is just as amazing, fantastic, impossible, hopeful, and wonderful as it has always been. And our mission is the same as that of the shepherds who heard the story from a host of angels on a hillside two thousand years ago. Let us go out from this place glorifying and praising God for all that we have heard and seen and tell the world the good news of our rescue, of God’s grace, and of Jesus’ gift.

Jesus is the greatest gift of all.

It isn’t a story that we could keep to ourselves, nor is it a story that we were ever intended to keep for ourselves. As the angels said, it is good news, of great joy…

…for all the people.

Merry Christmas.

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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.™

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The Promise of Hope, Peace, and Love

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The Promise of Hope, Peace, and Love

December 22, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Micah 5:2-5                Luke 1:39-45              Hebrews 10:5-10

We have often spoken about the grand themes of scripture and, not surprisingly, each week we have focused on one of those themes during the season of Advent, and this week is no different. While we have already, in the first week, mentioned the theme of hope, we visit that theme again as we consider this week’s theme, and look forward to a season of peace both as a nation and as individuals. But one of the consistent messages of scripture that brings hope to the people of God, is God’s reliable character and integrity, and the love that he has demonstrated to us by keeping his promises.

And so, we begin this morning by reading a part of God’s message that was spoken through his prophet Micah. Micah is yet another lesser-known messenger who warned Israel of its coming destruction at the hands of the nation of Babylon seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Micah lived and preached before the time of Jeremiah and at the same time as the prophet Isaiah. Much as we heard in the message of Zephaniah last week, Micah wrote a book with messages of God’s judgement but included among them were messages of restoration, peace, and hope for the future. And that message is what we hear this morning as we read Micah 5:2-5 where God says:

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clansof Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”

3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
    until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
    to join the Israelites.

4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
    will reach to the ends of the earth.

5 And he will be our peace.

Through his prophet Micah, God declares that the small town of Bethlehem will one day produce a son who is already ancient, a ruler whose origins are from ancient times. And although God speaks of how the nation of Israel will be abandoned, he also promises a time when the people will return. And it is in that day, God says, that this future ruler will rise up, lead his people in the strength and the majesty of God himself, and under his leadership the people will live in security and peace.

And that is the picture and the promise of God that we should have in mind as we remember the story of Mary, already pregnant and carrying Jesus, as she arrives to visit her relative Elizabeth who will soon give birth to John the Baptist. We hear this story in the words of Luke 1:39-45:

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

I am certain that those who are skeptical of the claims of the Bible will remind us that it is common for third trimester babies to move about in their mother’s womb. Some move about so often, and so forcefully, that their poor mothers are left a bit battered, bruised, and exhausted. But in Luke’s story, Elizabeth’s baby didn’t just move about, he chose the exact moment of Mary’s arrival and greeting to do so. Elizabeth understands that this is a sign from God that Mary is carrying the savior that was promised by God through the words of Micah and many other of his prophets. And clearly Luke accepts this interpretation and so he includes this story as proof that God keeps his promises, that Jesus is the promised savior, and that God has given us hope for the future.

But aside from hope, what did the coming of Jesus bring to the people of God? What did God hope to accomplish? What were God’s goals? And not only that, what does all of that have to do with us, what does God expect from us, and how is any of that supposed to bring us peace? In Hebrews 10:5-10 Paul explains it this way:

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”

8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

In this, Paul reminds us of Jesus’ own words, that although the laws of Moses required offerings and sacrifices, those were not the things that God desired. Instead, what God wanted was obedience. And so, Jesus said that the reason that he had come was not to make sacrifices on the altar of the temple in Jerusalem, and not to make a lot of money so that he could give offerings to God, but instead the reason that he had come was to do the will of God. Israel’s God was not like the gods of the Greeks and the Romans that needed the gifts and sacrifices of the people to make them powerful.

Instead, Paul explains, that no matter how rich or abundant they might have been, God was not pleased with offerings and sacrifices. Instead, Jesus came to set aside sacrifices so that he could establish a people who would love him enough to be obedient and do the things that God had called them to do. Moreover, Paul says, it is through the will of God, that we have been made holy because it was through the obedience of Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice, that we were made holy, were adopted into Jesus’ family, and invited into God’s kingdom.

And so, as we pass through the season of Advent and prepare ourselves for the arrival of God’s messiah, let us consider just a few of the ways in which God has demonstrated his love for us.

  1. We know that we worship a God who always keeps his promises.
  2. We worship a loving God who always cares about the needs of his people.
  3. God’s messiah is described as a loving shepherd who leads his people in strength and majesty to a place of security, safety, and peace.
  4. God does not desire an abundance of sacrifices or expensive gifts and offerings.
  5. God sent his son so that we could be made holy, become members of his family, and enter his kingdom.
  6. Because what God wants is our obedience, he places no priority of rich over poor, or royalty over common peasants. Before God, we are all equal. He only asks that we do what he has taught us and calls us to do.

For these reasons, and many others, we have hope for the future, hope for a day when all nations can live in peace with one another, and find peace within ourselves in the present. But most of all, we can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God loves us, cares for us, watches over us, and wants what is best for 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.™

An Invitation to the Familiar and Unchanging

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An Invitation to the Familiar and Unchanging

Pastor’s Christmas Letter 2024
by John Partridge

It is not what I expected. Patti and I are busy. Our “to do” lists for Christmas, for the end of the year, and just in general are long. We always have things to do. I expected that once our children were all out of the house and on their own that we would have a bit more time to relax. And, I suppose, some of the time that is true. We no longer have holiday band concerts and a dozen Christmas parties to attend for all the school groups and scout groups and other things with which our children were involved, but in many cases, other things seem to have stepped into their place to occupy our time.

This year Noah had purchased tickets to see his Pittsburgh Steelers play on Christmas day so there was a question of when he might make an appearance at our house (but he decided to sell them for a profit instead). And we might not see Jonah at all as he prepares to move from Texas to his next duty station in Georgia. But we know that we will spend time with Lina, Daniel, and watch as little baby Quinn celebrates his first Christmas with us.

But as much as our lives change, the more I sometimes lean into the comfortable traditions of the church. Our children grow, move out, and their lives go on. Our activities and traditions at home adapt, change, and evolve into something new. But the cycle of Advent and Christmas as church continues much as it has for generations. Minor changes and additions are made with each new generation but much of the old and the familiar remain. Pastor Chris reminded me this morning that the Christmon ornaments that decorate the tree in our sanctuary were once new, but the creators of those “new” ornaments attended worship at Christ Church more than 40 years ago. I suspect that if members who attended here or more years ago could somehow walk through our doors this Christmas season, they would notice the things that have changed but would still find much that was familiar and comforting.

But isn’t that just an architectural reflection of our relationship with Jesus Christ? From the time that we are born until the time that our life on earth comes to an end, our lives are constantly changing. Our families change, the people close to us change, we grow, we change jobs, change careers, have children, watch those same children grow up and move out, then watch the cycle repeat with grandchildren. In my lifetime, not counting school dormitories or military barracks, I have lived in thirteen homes. And, as a married couple, Patti and I have lived in six of those homes. But throughout that time, we have always celebrated Advent and Christmas. The Christmases that we celebrated at church with our grandparents, our parents, and our children were not much changed despite the passing years. While we may have worshiped in different churches in various places, we still worshiped the same God and remembered and celebrated the birth of the same savior.

I hope that all of you will join us this year for our seasonal celebrations during the Advent and Christmas season. The building will feel comfortably familiar, many of the people will be the same as when you attended last year, or even ten years ago, the decorations will likely be the same as those in your memory, and of course, we will worship with the God who never changes, and celebrate the birth of Jesus who is, and was, and always will be.

As much as your life today might be different than it was a year ago, or ten years ago, or even a lifetime ago, I invite you to join us in those things that are familiar and unchanging. May we, together draw closer to one another, and closer to God.

Blessings,

Pastor John

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*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.™

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Rejoice: God’s Promise or Restoration and Joy

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Rome, Religion, Remove, Rejoice

December 15, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Zephaniah 3:14-20                Luke 3:7-18                Philippians 4:4-7

For much of Israel’s history, including today, things were not perfect. While there were lengthy periods of peace, those periods of peace were often under the rule of foreign empires or less than ideal kings. And, if we’re honest, the same thing can be said about much of the world and about much of history. Although we often speak fondly of American history, we also admit that those periods struggled with slavery, discrimination, and the mistreatment of women, minorities, and anyone who failed to fit the mold that society had declared to be normal, as well as denying opportunity and accessibility for persons with disabilities. Whenever we become wistful for “the good old days,” it is always worth considering for whom those days were good.

But all that is simply to say, that throughout history, we nearly always find ourselves looking forward to something better. No matter how good or how peaceful a time each generation finds itself in, there is almost always something that needs to be improved upon and some segment of that society that has been left out of whatever peace and prosperity everyone admires. But in looking forward to something better, we are reminded of the promises that God made to the nation of Israel, to the world, and to us.

We begin this morning reading one such promise recorded about seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, by the prophet Zephaniah, a fourth-generation descendant of Israel’s King Hezekiah and likely a member of Israel’s royalty and frequent visitor to the halls of political power and the king’s court. But the message that Zephaniah delivers is not good news. It is, instead, an announcement of God’s judgement against Israel and the destruction that would come at the hands of the Babylonian empire. And yet, included alongside harsh and explicit descriptions of the suffering that Israel would endure, Zephaniah also proclaims God’s promises of mercy and restoration. And we find these as we read from Zephaniah 3:14-20:

14 Sing, Daughter Zion;
    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm.
16 On that day
    they will say to Jerusalem,
“Do not fear, Zion;
    do not let your hands hang limp.
17 The Lord your God is with you,
    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
    but will rejoice over you with singing.”

18 “I will remove from you
    all who mourn over the loss of your appointed festivals,
    which is a burden and reproach for you.
19 At that time I will deal
    with all who oppressed you.
I will rescue the lame;
    I will gather the exiles.
I will give them praise and honor
    in every land where they have suffered shame.
20 At that time I will gather you;
    at that time I will bring you home.
I will give you honor and praise
    among all the peoples of the earth
when I restore your fortunes
    before your very eyes,”
says the Lord.

Although Zephaniah proclaims God’s judgement and Israel’s future destruction, he also tells of a time when God will take away their punishment, turn back their enemies, and once again brings peace to his people. Zephaniah says that a day will come when God will deal with all those who oppress the people of Israel, a day when God will rescue the lame, return the exiles from the four corners of the earth, restore their fortunes, and give them praise and honor among the nations of the world.

And God’s people remembered the words of Zephaniah as they waited for the fall of Babylon, and then again during the rule of the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the Romans, and then a dozen other empires throughout history. But clearly, as Luke describes the ministry of Jesus, it is Rome that the people would have had in mind. And in that time, we hear these words in Luke 3:7-18:

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you withwater. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you withthe Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

Calling the people a brood of vipers is a harsh way of beginning a conversation, but I suspect that although John had been preaching and baptizing for some time, the moment that Luke records for us here is one in which it had become… shall we say… “popular” for people to say that they had seen John. If that is the case, then this is the moment when the politicians, religious leaders, and others who didn’t really care that much about repentance or renewal came to hear John. They hadn’t left their comfortable offices because they were particularly interested in John’s message but had done so because everybody was talking about him, their curiosity was aroused, and because they didn’t want to feel left out of the conversation because they were the only ones who hadn’t seen him.

And so, John sees those who were merely curious mixed in with those who were honestly seeking and he asks then, “Who warned you about the judgement and destruction that is coming?” John tells them that the thing to do is not to wander out into the desert to hear him preach, but to produce the real fruit of real repentance instead of resting on your family history because family history and faithful ancestors is not a plan that’s going to work. John says that God is already moving to cut down the family tree in which you live unless he finds that tree producing fruit.

In answer to several specific questions about what producing fruit looks like, John says that it looks like sharing what you have, not padding your billing, not stealing from others or using your power to extort money from others but to be content with what you are paid honestly. But John goes on to say that the long-awaited messiah is already on the way, and it is he that will bring in God’s harvest and burn up the chaff. And this is important. Everyone there had some idea of who the chaff would have been as God sorted through the people of Israel. They probably assumed that the chaff would be the military that occupied their nation, the politicians that constantly divided the people, and the religious leaders who divided into factions and confused the people about what God taught. But John’s message continued and in it he encouraged the people to repent and change their lives, to follow God, to produce fruit, and proclaimed the good news of God’s rescue.

And while we need to take all of John’s message to heart, today, as we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent, we particularly take note of that last bit about the good news of God’s rescue. It is this good news that the angel spoke of when appearing to shepherds saying, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”

And Paul expands upon that in his letter to the church in Philippi and gives all of us some advice on how we are to live as the followers of Jesus Christ. In Philippians 4:4-7 Paul says:

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Rejoice. Doesn’t that fit with the theme of joy that we remember on this third Sunday of Advent? Rejoice! Rejoice that we have heard the good news of Jesus Christ. Rejoice that we have been rescued from sin and death. Rejoice that we have been forgiven. Rejoice that we have an intimate relationship with the creator of the universe. Rejoice that we can lift our thoughts and our voices in prayer. Rejoice that we are not, and will never be, alone. Rejoice that we have been adopted as the sons and daughters of the king of the universe. Rejoice that we are God’s people and the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. We have ample reason to rejoice.

But, as God’s people, as a people who are called to rejoice and to live lives that are filled with joy, what does that look like? And to that, Paul says, be gentle. Be so gentle that it will be evident and obvious to everyone around you. Live your life so that the world will know that God is near to you. Do not be anxious, don’t let your life be filled with worry, but always take your concerns to God in prayer, always give thanks to God for what he has given to you, and always feel free to ask God for the things that you need. Be filled with God’s peace and guard your hearts and your minds so that you never allow yourself to turn away from Jesus, or from the path and the calling to which he has called you.

Rejoice. Be filled with joy. And live a life that honors God, produces fruit, and reflects your relationship with Jesus Christ so that through you, and through your actions, the people around you can see Jesus…

…and feel his love.

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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.™

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Of Messages and Messengers

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Of Messages and Messengers

December 08, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Malachi 3:1-4             Luke 3:1-6                  Philippians 1:3-11

This week I realized that it would be necessary, at the beginning of today’s message, to explain what a messenger does. To me, it seems obvious, but technology, cell phones, and phone and computer applications, or “apps,” have borrowed and popularized their own use of the language that the meaning that was once assumed might easily be misunderstood today. And so, as we read today’s scriptures, I want to be sure that everyone understands that a messenger is a person and not a piece of software or a cell phone application. Once upon a time, messages were carried, and delivered, by people much like the United States Postal Service still does.

If you were in a hurry, you could send a telegram through a company like Western Union. Telegrams were pioneered by the railroads in the 1850’s and originally employed the transmission of Morse Code, transcription on the receiving end, and then delivery by a human being. Western Union delivered many of the death notices for the United States military during the second world war, sold off the telegram business in 2006, and now exists only as a financial services company. Today, if we say that we sent something via messenger, many people will assume that we used text, email, or some kind of messaging app. on your phone. Electronic delivery is so common today that if you intend to hire a human being to carry your message, then you wouldn’t search online for a messenger, but for a “private courier,” or even for a “personal courier.” In any case, as obvious as it may seem, as we read scripture today, the word “messenger” should be understood as a human or angelic being and not simply a type of message.

We begin this morning by reading God’s words to the nation of Israel delivered by the prophet Malachi, whose name, literally translated, means, “my messenger.” We begin reading in Malachi 3:1-4 and hear this:

3:1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

Malachi says that the job of God’s messenger will not only be to deliver a message, but to go ahead of God and prepare the people for God’s arrival. This preparation is necessary, we are told, because God’s arrival will be sudden and when he appears, he will refine his people with fire and heat just as silver and gold are purified.

Several hundred years later, Luke uses similar language to describe the arrival, and the mission, of John the Baptist and Luke describes John by quoting from the prophet Isaiah. As we read Luke 3:1-6 we hear this:

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.
5 Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.
6 And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

Luke describes John’s mission as a preparation for Jesus’ arrival. It was common for kings to plan their journeys and before their arrival, roads would be repaired and improved, potholes filled, trash picked up, buildings cleaned, grass mowed, brass polished, etcetera. And that is what Luke says that John’s words were intended to do, to prepare the people, the hearts of the people, and to prepare the nation itself for the arrival of the Messiah so that “all people will see God’s salvation.”

Malachi warned that the messiah would come.

John warned that the messiah had already arrived.

And then, in Philippians 1:3-11, Paul writes to tell the church what they should do about it now that Jesus had risen from the dead and returned to his father’s house in heaven. Paul says…

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

There are several important things for us to note in this short passage. First. Paul is always filled with joy as he remembers the people in the church in Philippi because of the partnership that they had built and the work that they had done together. Because of all that they had done as partners, Paul was fully confident that God was not done with them and would continue to work in them and through them until the work that God intended to do had been completed. Next, Paul prays that the love of the church would be abundant and that their love would grow in knowledge, wisdom, and insight so that they would be discerning and choose a path forward that would bring about the best result possible and allow the people of the church to stand before Jesus on the day of judgement as people who were pure, blameless, and filled with righteousness because of their relationship with Jesus Christ.

Malachi told God’s people of the Messiah that was to come.

John told God’s people that the Messiah had already arrived.

And Paul tells us that the mission of the church, today, is to tell the world that the Messiah has come, to pray that we would grow in love, knowledge, wisdom, and insight so that we will be prepared to stand before Jesus Christ on the day of judgement.

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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.™

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Contentment or Envy?

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Contentment or Envy?

by John Partridge

December 2024

By the time you read this, Thanksgiving will be over. Already our church is decorated for Advent, and we will celebrate Christmas in just a few weeks. But, this past Sunday, I was reminded of a meme that said something like:

“Only in America can we fight over a discount just one day after giving thanks for what we already have.”

And that got me to thinking about both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Whether we sat down alone or with family and friends at Thanksgiving, most of us at least briefly considered just how blessed we are. We live in a nation that guarantees us many freedoms that other people in the world do not have. We have food, clothing, shelter, and family and friends that love and care about us. We could spend considerable time making a list of all the things for which we have to be grateful and principle among these is a loving God who cares for us and watches over us.

But with Christmas on the horizon, most of us are already shopping for gifts for family, friends and, if we’re honest, for ourselves. But since we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving, we should consider how grateful we appear to be if an outsider were to witness our Christmas shopping.

In Hebrews 13:5 the Apostle Paul offers this advice:

“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.””

As we give thanks to God, and as we shop for gifts, it is that middle part where Paul instructs the church to “be content with what you have” that should give us pause.

It not only causes us to pause, but it is also both concerning and troublesome for those of us who live in a culture that constantly preaches a message of unbridled consumerism.

The meme I mentioned earlier is meant as a joke but, at the same time, it pulls back the curtain and reveals a little of our culture’s dark underbelly. Only the day after we gather to give thanks for what we have, we set out in the wee hours of the morning to fight through crowds of others like-minded individuals to buy even more, consume more, and not because we do not already have enough, but only because we have been sold on the idea that no matter how much we have, we should want even more. We have been convinced that just because it’s new, just because someone else already had one, or just because it can be owned, that we should want one, or perhaps that we should feel that we need one (or several).

And unfortunately, that desire for more has a name (or two).

Wanting more than we really need, and wanting things just because other people have them, or simply because they exist, is either envy, or greed, or both.

This desire for more is the opposite of contentment.

Maybe this doesn’t happen in your home, but we are all familiar with family and friends that spend so much on gifts at Christmastime, that they live in fear of the credit card bills that will arrive in January. We all know people who drive themselves into debt, sometimes deeply, spending money that cannot really afford to spend, just so that they can give gifts that “measure up” to what our culture has convinced us is normal, or to what our friends, coworkers, and classmates will show off when we return to work or school.

Paul could not have envisioned the consumerism of our twenty-first century, but his world was familiar with greed and envy. There were many “haves” but far more “have-nots” that dreamed of more, and many of those dreamed of simply having enough to feed their families. And it was to these folks that Paul cautioned to “be content with what you have.”

And so, as we prepare for Advent and Christmas, let us pause, as we did at thanksgiving, and consider why we are shopping for Christmas, what sorts of gifts we are buying, and how much we are choosing to spend.

Let us consider Paul’s words and ask ourselves…

…Does our Christmas shopping show contentment?…

…Or envy?

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*You have been reading a message presented in the Christ United Methodist Church newsletter 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.™