christianity

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.

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.

Please LIKE and SHARE!

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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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*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.™

The Danger of ‘No’

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The Danger of “No”

August 24, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

Jeremiah 1:4-10                     Luke 13:10-17                       Hebrews 12:18-29

How familiar are you with the word… ‘No?’

I mean, certainly we all know it and use it. Some of us are better at using it while others of us say ‘yes’ more often than we should. But other than that, there are different kinds, or different levels of saying no. The repeated refrain that we hear in public, and that we teach our young people, is that “No means no.” That healthy and respectful relationships require both parties to consent. The concept of “No means no” applies not only to romantic relationships, but also to group dynamics such that peer pressure should not unduly compel individual members of a group to do things that they are not comfortable doing.

In these situations, saying no, and hearing and accepting no, are important. But there are other situations where no is not as meaningful, and where saying no can cause problems. If your boss gives you an assignment, saying no may not mean anything at all. Your boss may simply ignore your refusal and assume that the task will be done regardless and, if it is not, then you can expect that there will be consequences. In the military, there are obvious situations where ‘no’ is simply not an acceptable answer. In my own career, in which the bishop appoints itinerant pastors to move where and when they say, the unwritten rule of thumb is that you can say no… once… in your career, and even then, saying no to the bishop may have significant career implications.

But what happens when we say no to God?

Sometimes, it may not seem as if there are any consequences at all. We say no to God and stay home from worship, we don’t read scripture, we live in ways in which we know God would not approve, and we do our best to ignore the call that he has on our lives to do his work in our community and in the people around us. But the operative word here is “sometimes.” Scripture is filled with warnings about the potential consequences of ignoring God or saying ‘no’ too often. Some of those warnings tell us that God will withhold his blessings, others that God may punish you, but often it is that God will simply allow you to suffer the natural consequences of your actions, or in today’s language, God will allow what goes around, to come around.

In any case, today we will look at three case studies from scripture and we will begin in Jeremiah 1:4-10, where we hear God call Jeremiah, possibly only twelve years old, to speak for him as his prophet, we hear Jeremiah attempt to say ‘no,’ and finally we hear God command Jeremiah’s obedience anyway. Jeremiah begins by saying:

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born, I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

God tells Jeremiah that even before he was born, God had a purpose and mission for his life. Despite that, Jeremiah makes excuses, saying that he is too young to do anything useful for God, but God isn’t buying it. Rather than even consider Jeremiah’s objections, God simply reaches out and equips Jeremiah with the things that he needs to get the job done.

And then in Luke 13:10-17, we hear the synagogue leaders say ‘no’ to Jesus because, in their mind, Jesus isn’t following the rules correctly.

10 On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

Just to be clear, Jesus was teaching, on a sabbath day, in church, and paused to heal a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years. Rather than be excited that they had witnessed a miracle, or simply happy that the woman had received healing after a lifetime of pain, the synagogue leaders get upset because, somewhere along the line, someone decided that healing is work. As such, since faithful people were taught to refrain from working on the sabbath, Jesus should have waited until the following day, and made this woman wait yet another day, before healing her.  But Jesus isn’t buying it. Jesus reminds them that even his accusers feed and water their animals on the sabbath because, clearly, decency and kindness shouldn’t be restrained by deciding that they are work. The leaders of the synagogue said ‘no’ to God and defended their refusal in language that sounded both religious and traditional.

Our final case study is found in the book of Hebrews, current scholarship believes that this was written by Barnabus or Apollos, and reminds the people of the church that we have good reason not to say no. We hear these words in Hebrews 12:18-29:

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

First, we are reminded that we do not live in the time of Moses when God lived on the top of a mountain and everyone was terrified of his presence. Instead, because we have chosen to follow Jesus, instead of coming to the foot of a scary mountain, we present ourselves to God in the new heavenly city of Jerusalem. There, we come to God where Jesus stands as our mediator and speaks on our behalf. Because of that, we should not refuse the commands of God and say ‘no.’ The writer then reminds us of how it often did not end well for those persons in scripture who had said no to God. And so, since we are receiving the kingdom of God, we should be thankful and worship him with reverence and awe because our God consumes those who refuse him, but we are consumed with passion for his kingdom.

There is danger in saying ‘no’ to God.

Jeremiah said ‘no’ and God equipped him for his mission and ministry and sent him out anyway.

The leaders of the synagogue said ‘no’ to God and made up a bunch of traditional and religious sounding reasons why, but Jesus called then out on their hypocrisy and explained that God doesn’t place limits on kindness, decency, and compassion.

And the writer of Hebrews reminds us that it often didn’t end well for those in scripture that said ‘no’ to God. If we don’t want to be consumed by God, we should worship him with reverence and awe, be consumed with a passion for his kingdom, and say ‘yes’ to his calling, his vision, and his mission as he sends us out into the world.

Saying ‘no’ to God is a dangerous thing.

Let us do our best to say ‘yes’ instead.

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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

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Focus

July 2025

by John Partridge

I was forgotten at Annual Conference… again.

It wasn’t the first time.

What happened was that despite a lot of talk about accessibility, our conference staff has, more than once, forgotten that wheelchairs and walkers aren’t the only disability. As a result, while significant efforts are usually made to ensure that the facilities that we use have ramps, elevators, and golf carts to shuttle delegates to and fro, the facilities that are used do not have assistive listening devices or, if they do, no one knows how to use them. The result was that I heard only a handful of words during the entirety of the half-day clergy session on Wednesday. The regular session on Thursday, likewise, did not have any assistive listening systems, but the sound system was significantly better. This was especially surprising since the Thursday venue was held in the indoor track facility at the College of Wooster. The improved sound quality, combined with my use of a voice transcription app on my cell phone, enabled me to keep up reasonably well (though still imperfectly) with the business of our conference.

I don’t mean to beat up on our conference staff. I know many of them personally, they’re great people and they aren’t mean, or particularly forgetful. I know that my exclusion wasn’t deliberate. But neither was my experience at Annual Conference unique. It happens at churches, lecture halls, and businesses everywhere. And, as I think about such things, the problem is one of focus.

It happens to all of us.

We’re busy.

And, because we’re busy, we focus on what’s in front of us. We focus on work. We focus on our families. We focus on our hobbies. We focus on the causes that we support. We focus on the things that are important to us. And all that focus causes us to miss what is going on outside of our focus. Our architecture reminds us that handicap accessibility was not in focus for previous generations. People unable to climb stairs simply could not go to church, or to the post office, or many other places. But now that we are doing better at remembering to include accessibility in our planning, we still have a way to go. It is easy to remember to include wheelchair ramps, elevators, and golf carts into our planning when, every week, we go to church alongside folks that need those things. But disabilities like hearing and vision are less noticeable and so churches with braille or large print bulletins, assistive listening systems, or sign language interpreters are far less common because they are easier to overlook.

These disabilities remain outside of our focus.

But that means something for our ministry to the world and I’m not talking about disabilities (although that’s a part of it). It is common for us to “stay in our lane,” pay attention to the things that are inside of our focus and ignore most of the things outside of it. Unintentionally and without any malice, we neglect to include people with disabilities, but the middle class finds it easy to ignore both the poor and the rich. We notice what is happening locally, but it’s easy for us to ignore hunger, violence, and natural disasters that are hundreds, or thousands, of miles away. We notice what happens to people to look like us, think like us, act like us, and vote like us, but it’s easy to ignore the people that don’t.

But that is not the call of Jesus.

The message of the gospel is to include the excluded and to invite the outsiders to come in and join our family. My experience this week was inconvenient, but it is a reminder of how easy it is to focus too narrowly on the things in front of us. If we are to do the work of the church, the work that Jesus has called us to do, we need to consciously widen our focus. We need to pay attention to the needs of the people around us, to notice the people who don’t look like us or think like us and worry about the problems of people who live far away.

Yes, there are pressing matters in front of us and focus is important, but the call of Jesus, the message of the gospel, and the work of the church requires us to step back from time to time and make sure that we haven’t narrowed our focus and forgotten the people that Jesus wants us to include, invite, and welcome.

Focus is important.

Where is yours?

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Made Known

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Made Known

(Seventh Sunday after Easter)

June 08, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

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

What do you do if you know something that is incredibly important, but few, if anyone else, knows about it?

Let’s use some well-used movie plots as examples. What do you do if you are an astronomer that discovers that there is an imminent alien invasion or a giant asteroid that will soon destroy much of our planet? Or a volcanologist that sees that there will soon be a major eruption of the Yellowstone super volcano? Or a scientist that discovers a cure for a new disease that is killing millions of people around the world? In the movies, these scientists are often shunned, disregarded, or otherwise ignored but what they all try to do is to tell the world what they have found, to warn people of the coming destruction, or to give them hope by telling them that a cure is available.

It seems obvious that if you have information that can save the lives of millions of people, you cannot, and should not, keep it to yourself. The struggle in the movies is that there is always some kind of reason that no one wants to believe the scientists. Either they have been discredited, have proposed and supported crazy ideas, become something of a hermit, been fired, or divorced, had a substance abuse problem, or something else, but even when no one wants to believe them, the scientists in the movies do what we would hope that they would, and keep on banging on doors and persist in finding ways to get the word out. And that is exactly what we find in our scriptures for today. The only difference in these messages is in the language that is used. Rather than saying that they want to “tell the world,” or that they want to “get the word out,” scripture uses the phrase, “Make known,” as in, “Our news is so important that we must make it known” or, “This important news must be made known.” We find this language as we hear Jesus pray for his followers, including us, and he describes to his father what he has done in John 17:20-26 where Jesus says:

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

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

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

Jesus prays that those who believe in him might be one with God just as Jesus is in God and God is in Jesus. In other words, he prays that we might have the same sort of relationship with God that he has. But the reason for Jesus’ desire to have oneness with God is so that the world might see us, see our behavior, and see our relationship with God and with one another, and by seeing these things, they might come to believe in God. Jesus says that the world will know that God has sent him and that God has loved us because of what the world sees in us. Jesus says that the whole point of being sent to earth by God was so that God would be made known to those who believed in him, and that they, in turn, would make God known to the entire world.

Luke provides an unusual and unexpected way that God was made known in Acts 16:16-34 where he tells us of a time when Paul and Silas were arrested and thrown into prison. Luke says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The owners of the slave girl charge Paul and his companions with “advocating customs” that were unlawful to Romans and, while it is technically possible to construe that to be true, that isn’t at all why they were angry. The owners of the slave girl made a lot of money from her fortunetelling, and they were really peeved that Paul had cast out the demon that had made it all possible. In any case, it was the imprisonment of Paul and Silas that made it possible for God to be made known and not the slave girl who was telling everyone within earshot.

When the jailer discovered that the prison doors were open, he knew that his life was over. Under Roman law, the penalty for allowing prisoners to escape was death and so the jailer calculated that suicide was a better option than being tortured to death. But, before he can stab himself, fall on his sword, cut his wrists, or whatever he had planned to do, Paul shouts that no one has escaped and that everyone is right where they should be. The jailer quickly realizes that something miraculous has happened. Not only has his physical life been saved, but he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is not normal for a prison with open doors to retain its prisoners. No one was missing. Not one person ran out the door, and into the streets and escaped into the countryside in the dark of night. And so, the jailer understood that the god that Paul and Silas worshipped was real, chose to follow Jesus, and he, and his entire household, were baptized. Because of the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, and because of their behavior, their actions, and their witness, God was made known.

And to emphasize the importance of making God known, and to explain one last time why we need to do so, John shares the words of Jesus in Revelation 22:12-17, 20-21 where he says:

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give youthis testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

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

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

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

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

Jesus says that he will soon return to the earth and will give gifts to those who have followed him, rewarding each person for the things that they have done. Those who have chosen to follow Jesus will be invited into God’s city. But Jesus warns that not everyone will get in and those who do not get in, will not share in God’s blessings or in the wonders of his home. But Jesus repeats his invitation to follow him and to join God’s family. Jesus says that both the Spirit and the bride, and we know that the bride is the church, call the world to come and be a part of God’s family. The Spirit of God and the church must invite all the world to come so that all who are thirsty may share the free gift of the water of life.

Jesus says that the whole point of his mission on earth was to make God known.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left that work to those that followed him and we see those examples in the book of Acts and beyond in the lives of Paul, the disciples, and others. As it has been since Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the mission of the Spirit of God and of the church is to make God known to the world so that all who are thirsty can share the gift of the water of life.

When Jesus returns, only those who follow him will be rewarded and our rewards will be given according to what we have done.

May each of us go out from this place, and busy ourselves by making God known to everyone around us and inviting them to come and share the water of life.

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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 Finishing?

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How Are You Finishing?

June 2025

by John Partridge

At least twice (and probably more like ten times) in the last few weeks I have been asked about my retirement. Most notably, when I had my annual consultation with our district superintendent, Rev. Edgar Brady, we discussed my plans, whether I wanted to continue for another year at Christ Church, and my thoughts about my eventual retirement. I assured him, as I have for the last six years, that Patti and I are happy at Christ Church and, if Christ Church is happy for us to stay, then we are in no hurry to retire. After that, we spent some time discussing how long it might be until we decided to make such a change. I had a few thoughts on that subject, but no specific plans, and he noted that he was turning seventy and thought that he still had a few good years left, especially since he will begin a new pastoral appointment in July.

The second most notable instance was during my semi-annual meeting with our financial advisor. In the middle of our discussion, I mentioned something general about retirement, possibly as we discussed our search for a house in which to live. It was at that point that he looked at me and pointedly asked, “Why haven’t you retired yet?” My answer was the same as the one I gave to Edgar, “I’m not finished yet.”

But these questions got me to thinking. I’m not ready to retire because I have some things that I’d like to do first. I want to finish my doctoral thesis, we need to find a house that we like that will accommodate all the stuff we want to do at home for the next couple of decades, and I have a few more things that I’d like to accomplish at Christ Church. But those things led me down a train of thought that eventually led me to think more generally about how we are finishing. Regardless of age, when we transition from one thing to another, we finish the first thing before we can get started on the next one. We wind down our projects, we wrap up details, and we prepare for the next chapter. Our inability to do these things is one reason that being suddenly laid off or fired can be so painful, and the same is true for divorce, or the death of a family member.

And that train of thought started me thinking about how all of us are managing our transition from this life to the next. We know that it is coming, though for some of us that transition will be sooner than for others. But how are we preparing for it? If we were planning a camping trip, as our scouts are preparing for summer camp, we would have a list of things that need to be done. Food must be purchased, tents mended, fees collected, service hours recorded, wood collected, physical forms signed by family doctors and turned in, rank advancement done, clothing packed, practice swimming for the camp swim test, and so on.

But as we consider our eventual transition from this life into the next, even if that day is quite far off, we should consider how we are preparing for it. One day we will stand before the throne of God on the day of judgement, and we might imagine being asked “What have you done with my son, Jesus?” How will we answer? How have we prepared? What have we done? With what things have we filled our lives?

I have things that I want to do before I retire, and more things that I want to do afterwards. And just as our scouts are preparing for summer camp, all of us have some time to prepare for our eventual transition from this life into the next. It is my hope that when that day comes, we will be able to say, as Paul did, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Likewise, we hope that upon our arrival, we might hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! (Matthew 25:21)

But until that day comes, we should consider how we spend our time, and with what things we fill our lives.

How are you finishing?

Final Instructions: Unexpected Love

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Final Instructions: Unexpected Love

(Fifth Sunday after Easter)

May 25, 2025*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 13:31-35                        Acts 11:1-18               Revelation 21:1-6

As a child, when our family traveled together, there were six of us. And, since my brothers were five, ten and twelve years older than I am, the spread between our ages meant that we often had vastly different abilities and interests. As such, it was common for us to arrive at one of our destinations, agree to a meeting later in the day, and split up to take part in various activities at the amusement park, campground, or wherever we were visiting. Our youth groups have done the same thing, we would arrive at a place, meet in a huddle, agree to meet later, and then set out in pairs or groups to enjoy Cedar Point or some other activity.

More seriously, you can imagine some of the meetings that happened before the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, during which many leaders met together to discuss last minute plans and, with the technology available in 1943, they would not meet or communicate again until well after they had landed and moved inland into France. In their last minutes together, whether they were parents, youth leaders, or generals and admirals overseeing the invasion, those leaders had to communicate their final instructions and ensure that everyone in the group understood what needed to happen until the time that they could meet again. It is that sort of picture that I keep in mind whenever we read the stories of Jesus’ last encounters with his disciples before and after his crucifixion. One of these is found in our first scripture for today in John 13:31-35. Moments after Judas leaves the room on his way to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities, we hear this:

31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

As soon as Judas leaves, Jesus tells his disciples that no matter what things might look like, he is about to be glorified and because of him, God will be glorified. Next, Jesus emphasizes that he will not be with them much longer, and that they will no longer be able to follow him. And, with that in mind, Jesus wants to emphasize a final instruction, even saying that he is commanding them to do it.

What is Jesus’ vitally important final command?

To love one another.

Jesus says that just as I have loved you, so must you love each other. Just as I have been compassionate, so must you be compassionate. Just as I have shown empathy, so must you show empathy. Just as I have brought you comfort, so must you comfort one another. Just as I have been generous, so must you be generous. In every way that I have shown you love, you should pattern your lives after that example and love one another.

And the disciples, at least some of them, get it. They understand and apply what Jesus has taught them. So much so, that when Peter meets with Gentiles, eats with them, witnesses to them, tells them about Jesus, and baptizes them, the Jewish believers get in his face and criticize him for spending time with those people. We hear that story in Acts 11:1-18 where it says:

11:1 The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance, I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

11 “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. 12 The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. 14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized withwater, but you will be baptized withthe Holy Spirit.’ 17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

In the end, what was it that Peter did that the other Jewish believers had a tough time accepting? In the end, what Peter did was to take Jesus at this word, obey his command, and love the people that accepted him. Peter was given a vision from God that he should witness to the Gentiles, although he resisted, he eventually obeyed God, went to their home from Joppa, shared the story of the gospel with them, and witnessed the Holy Spirit come upon them just it had on the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

And finally, we come to a message of the future that we hear from John’s vision in Revelation 21:1-6 where he proclaims:

21:1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning, and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

Here, Jesus says that he is, already, in the process of making everything new. As of now, God has made his home among this people. The spirit of God no longer lives in the temple in Jerusalem or in the Ark of the Covenant, or up in heaven, or someplace far away. God has sent his spirit to take up residence inside of each one of his followers. We don’t have to go anywhere to have access to God because he is always right where we are. But Jesus also says that because he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end, he offers the gift of life to anyone that is thirsty. That means that there is no exclusion, that anyone who desires God, thirsts for holiness, or searches for God will be given access and welcomed into God’s family. In a world that emphasizes division between people of different races, or nationality, that draws borders with bold lines, and that makes lists of needed qualifications to be the “right kind” of people, Jesus simply says, “If you are thirsty, I will give you the water of life.”

The barriers that had divided the people were torn down.

The division between men and women in ministry and culture were being torn down.

The rich were shocked that Jesus would preach to the poor.

The Jews were shocked that Jesus included the Gentiles.

The powerful were shocked that Jesus loved the powerless.

Free people were surprised that Jesus included slaves.

But Jesus’ final instruction was not to build walls, it was to love one another in all the ways that he has loved us. The only measure by which we test anyone is whether or not they believe.

Jesus simply says, “If you are thirsty, I will give you the water of life.”

Set aside the world of the first century and its divisions between Jews and Greeks, slaves and free. Today, right now, in our present reality, imagine for a moment what that command means to the barriers that are being built between people by our culture, our governments, and our churches, and imagine with me how Jesus calls us to obey his command to love one another and how our obedience should tear down the walls that divide us.

May we, like Jesus, be so loving, that we can say to the people around us, “If you are thirsty, I will give you the water of life.”

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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.™