followers of Jesus

Changed: Fearless to Tearless

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“Changed: Fearless to Tearless”

April 17, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture:

John 10:22-30                               

Acts 9:36-43                          

Revelation 7:9-17      

 

From time to time I find myself visiting sites on the internet that are storehouses of famous (and not so famous) quotes.  Usually I go there looking for something in particular but often end up reading longer than I intended simply because they are fun and inspiring to read.  This week, as I prepared today’s message, I was propelled into exactly this sort of adventure.  I began by looking for several quotes that I vaguely recalled and found several more that were quite good as well.  I can’t use them all today, but we begin with a quote that many of us have heard before.

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

But even though we begin that journey, it is important to know where we are going.  In his recent book, publisher, author, and blogger, Michael Hyatt said, “People at any stage will profit by taking the wheel and getting pointed in the right direction.”

If we want to reach a particular destination, we must not only begin taking steps to get there, we must take those steps with our destination in mind.  C. S. Lewis put it this way:

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” –

In our journey to follow Jesus, nearly all of us, at one time or another, have found ourselves headed in the wrong direction.  Whenever that happens, the wisest course of action is to cut our losses, make a course correction, and get going once again on the right road.

The reason that this is important to our Christian journey is as important as repentance itself.  John the Baptist’s entire ministry was focused on repentance, and Jesus often mentions it as well, but what does it mean?  The Greek word, metanoia, which we normally translate as repentance, literally translated, means a change of mind, but there is more to it than that.  Because throughout ancient Greek literature, whenever the word metanoia appears, it describes a change of mind that is so compelling that it changes the actions of those who experience it.  It isn’t just an acknowledgement of new information; it is a change of heart that changes what people do and how they act.

But, humorist Will Rogers reminds us of something else.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers

Following Jesus begins with an act of repentance, a moment when we realize that we have been going the wrong direction and choose to follow Jesus instead.  It is at that moment when we change directions and adjust our course to follow the path that Jesus reveals to us in scripture.  But following the path of Jesus involves more than just sitting still, it is a journey of a thousand miles, a constant struggle against desires that pull us in the wrong direction, but it is never a life of sitting still.  “Following” is an action verb and by definition it implies action and motion.  A life following Jesus is rarely a life that stands still; it is filled with movements that lead us closer to the life that God intended for us.

That life of motion began with Jesus, and it is Jesus that gives us the confidence that we need to take risks as we follow him.  In John 10:22-30, we hear this:

22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

This is one of the many passages that give us the courage and confidence to follow Jesus even when we know that we are so prone to making mistakes and wandering off in the wrong direction.  Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Jesus also tells us that “I and the Father are one.”  Together we understand that Jesus wields the full power and authority of God, the creator of all that is, and he intends to use his power so that no matter how much, how badly, or how often we mess up, we cannot accidentally, unintentionally, or against our will, be taken away from God.  Because of this we have the courage to struggle and to launch out in new directions when God calls.  Because of this, we have the confidence to follow Jesus even when he leads us in unfamiliar and frightening directions.

In Acts 9:36-43, we hear a story that reminds us how our journey begins as we follow Jesus.

36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

40 Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. 41 He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

There are two changes here and the first is obvious.  Tabitha was dead and prepared for burial, but when Peter commanded her to get up, she did.  Although our first step was less obvious, our journey to follow Jesus also began with resurrection.  At the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we became alive and gained eternal life.  But this story also shows us something else that is just as important, but easily overlooked.  Peter was a devout Jew.  Peter had to be told by God three times that it was acceptable for him to eat food that the Old Testament taught was unclean.  Even as a devoted follower of Jesus, Peter regularly did everything that he could to live a life of purity and follow the Law of Moses.  But at the end of this story, we find Peter staying in the house of Simon the tanner.

And that is a big deal.

Much like shepherds, only more so, tanners were people who lived on the outside edges of Jewish life because their daily living involved handling dead animals.  Because of what they did, they lived their lives in an almost constant state of unclean-ness and as such, if they were Jewish at all, they often couldn’t go to the temple or even associate with other Jews.  A good, observant Jew like Peter wouldn’t even set foot in a tanner’s home because to do so would make him unclean.  But what Peter’s experienced, while following Jesus, changed him.  Peter’s life has been transformed and by the time we encounter him in this story, he is not the man that he once was.  The Peter that we meet in this story not only enters the house, but shares food, and lives in the house of Simon the tanner.  This Peter is unafraid to strike out in new directions and to do new, previously impossible things, as he follows Jesus in unfamiliar and frightening directions.

Meeting Jesus and believing his promise of eternal life caused Peter’s life to be entirely transformed.

Where before Peter was often afraid of trying new things, afraid of what others thought about him and, quite naturally, afraid for his own safety, now, Peter was fearless.

This is the path of transformation on which God desires to lead us… all of us.  God intends to completely transform our lives… if we will let him.

But the transformation from fearful to fearless is only one of the first transformations that God has in mind.  There is another, greater, transformation that awaits us.

In Revelation 7:9-17, we hear these words from the Apostle John:

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

In his vision, John is shown the very throne room of God and in it he sees a multitude of people from every tribe and nation, from every language and every corner of the world worshipping God and praising his name.  But while he is watching, one of the elders asks John if he knows who these people are.  John does not, but he knows that the elder who asked the question must know the answer. John is told that these are people who have endured great trials and great suffering but are also people who have been purified by the blood of Jesus Christ so that they may now come into God’s presence, worship him, praise him and serve in this throne room.  They serve, not because of who they are, and not because of what they have done, but because they have been purified by the sacrifice of Jesus.

But more than that, these are people who have been transformed.  They have been transformed by purification, but also because they live under the protection of God.  Never again will they experience hunger, or thirst, or suffering. And, I think most important of all, as people who have experienced great trials, and who have suffered greatly, God himself has tenderly calmed their fears and wiped away their tears.

Following Jesus is a process of transformation.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we are transformed and purified in the eyes of God.

As we continue to follow him, we are transformed so that we become fearless in our faith and obedience so that we are willing to answer his call no matter where it may lead us.

And we look forward to the day when, regardless of the difficulties, trials, pain, and suffering that we endure during this life, God will comfort us, in person, and wipe away our tears.

 

 

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

Sight, Vision, or Understanding?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“Sight, Vision, or Understanding?”

April 10, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 21:1-14                      Acts 9:1-20                            

 

Have you ever sent your kids, or your spouse, to get something for you, or gone to look for your car keys and even though everyone might have looked, more than once, they didn’t see it.  Somehow, after looking three or four times, in exactly the same place, you find it.  Being able to see doesn’t always mean that you can perceive and understand what is there.  At the same time, sometimes what we see is deceptive and even though we thought we saw something, what we saw isn’t what we thought that we saw.  Are you confused yet?

Here’s an example: During World War Two, during the preparations for the invasion at Normandy, the Allied forces did their very best to convince the German military that they intended to land at Calais and not at Normandy.  Toward that end, soldiers were allowed to be captured, so that fake invasion plans could accidently, on purpose, fall into enemy hands.  In addition, in the south of England, directly across the English Channel from Calais, a gigantic invasion force was assembled so that planes from the German Luftwaffe flying overhead would report on their numbers and activity.  The problem was, almost none of it was real.  The Allied armies had constructed hundred of tanks, trucks and other vehicles out of lumber and others that were inflatable rubber balloons.  Only a handful of real vehicles were in that place, with just a dozen or so troops who drove the real vehicles, and towed the fake ones from place to place so that it appeared as if there were massive troop movements.  The German pilots that flew overhead gave consistent, firsthand, eyewitness testimony that they had seen an active invasion force, but what they had seen, was not really what they saw.

Now, let’s add another layer to your confusion and that involves vision.  Sometimes we see things that aren’t there, but what we see is very real.  Sometimes this is a vision sent by God, but more often it is a gift that comes from the skills, abilities, and intelligence that God gives to us.  And once again, I can explain this best with an example.  I once read of a real estate agent that made a lot of money selling vacant land for development when other realtors were having difficulty selling parcels in the same area.  Later, in an interview, he was asked how he had done it and the solution was both brilliant and simple.  In all of the developments where he was selling land, the parcels were brand new.  Although the land had been cleared, streets paved, utilities installed and grass planted, there was nothing else there.  When people came to see the land, all they saw was a vacant lot.  But once he got a listing, this particular realtor would go out, plant a few trees and a little shrubbery, and then, when he was showing the land he would point to them and say, “Can’t you see it?  Here by this shrubbery is the front deck, and here by these others is the garage and the back door, and over here, in a few years when they grow, you can put the kids’ swing set under these trees for shade.”  For a hundred dollars in shrubbery and a couple scrawny saplings, he pulled in thousands of dollars in commission. The key to his sales was that he stopped selling people what they could see, and started selling a vision for the future.

And finally, one more word must consider this morning is “understanding.”  Just because we see something, doesn’t mean that we understand what we see.  And a great example for this comes from our space program.  How many of you remember watching the very first Space Shuttle, the Enterprise, fly atop NASA’s 747 carrier and then be released in the first glide test?  After the successful completion of the glide test and a few other important tests that were conducted on the Enterprise, she was retired and the production of the fleet of Shuttles that would launch into space was begun.  But many people, including me, wondered why the Enterprise never flew.  Especially after the Challenger disaster, when a replacement orbiter had to be constructed, we wondered again why the Enterprise wasn’t pressed into service.  After all, we had all seen the Enterprise.  She looked like all the other shuttles, so why didn’t they just use it?  But the reality is that sometimes there are huge differences between seeing and understanding.  In this case, the Enterprise was so incredibly different from the other orbiters, both inside and out, that it was cheaper and faster to build a new Space Shuttle from scratch than to try to refit the Enterprise and make it flightworthy.  The difference between what we all thought we saw and the truth is knowledge and understanding.

In our scripture lessons this morning we see all three of these elements, and what we see, and how we see it, as well as how we understand it, make all the difference.  We begin with John 21:1-14, where Jesus appears to the disciples.

21:1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

And so, Jesus appears to his disciples, they see him but they have no understanding.  I would bet that when, after fishing all night long and catching nothing, they were more than reluctant to do something silly and obvious like fishing from the other side of the boat.  But I would also bet that, when they suddenly found their nets filled to bursting with fish that something within them began to wonder who the man on shore might have been.  And then, after they dragged their catch to shore, they find that a fire is already prepared and a fish dinner already cooked.  It was then that seeing began to drift toward understanding.

In Acts 9:1-20, we hear a different, yet similar, story.

9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. 9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

As Paul travels to Damascus on a mission to find, arrest, and imprison the followers of Jesus Christ, he is blinded on the road by a light from heaven and hears a voice asking “Why do you persecute me?”  In this story Paul sees the light, but no one else does even though they can hear the voice.  And then Ananias hears God in a vision.  I admit, that sounds a little strange because we usually think of visions being something that you see and not something that you hear, but we don’t know if Ananias saw anything or just heard it.  Either way, Ananias met God and knew what God wanted him to do, because of the vision that God gave to him.

And Paul, even though he was blinded, was also given two types of vision.  First, he was given his sight but now Paul also understands that Jesus is the Son of God.  Paul not only sees the truth, he begins to understand what it means.

These are all gifts from God.

The first gift is seeing what is there. This is the gift of seeing people instead of numbers and hearts instead of money, politics or clothing.

Second is the gift of seeing what your eyes cannot.  This is the gift of seeing not only what is, but what might be, seeing what the future holds, and seeing what God wants us to do, and who God wants us to become.

And third, is the gift of understanding which is the gift of knowing, not just what the Bible says but what it means and how God intends to change us.  Understanding is the gift of not only knowing that Jesus was a real person, but that Jesus really rose from the dead, that he is, the creator of all that is, the Lamb of God, and the savior and rescuer of all humanity.

My prayer is that God would bless every one of us with all three of these: sight, vision and understanding.

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

Real: Past, Present, Future

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , ,

“Real: Past, Present, Future”

April 03, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 20:19-31                    Acts 5:27-32                           Revelation 1:4-8

Have you ever been selected to serve on a jury, or had to testify in court, watched a courtroom drama, or even watched a trial that was on television like the O.J. Simpson mess?

At one point or another, whether it was on television or in real life, most of us have heard these words: Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

A courtroom, in fact, our entire justice system depends upon people who tell the truth, and that, in turn, depends upon those people being courageous enough to stand up in public and speak out.

But, at the same time, there are, and there always have been, people in society and in the judicial system, that do their best to suppress the truth in one way or another because the truth doesn’t benefit them personally.

Defense attorneys know that when they are defending clients that are obviously guilty, it is not in their best interests for everyone to know the truth.  And as sad as it is, often people with power and money attempt to manipulate the system, and manipulate the truth, in order to accumulate even more power and money.

Knowing that, and knowing that human beings have changed very little since the beginning of time, it comes as no surprise to discover that exactly the same thing was happening in the time of Jesus.  In Acts 5:27-32, the disciples of Jesus are hauled into court because they insist on telling the truth.

27 The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

The Sanhedrin, which was the ruling council of Israel, the highest authority under Jewish law and second only to the authority of the Roman government, was a cross between our state legislature and the Supreme Court.  They not only decided court cases, but passed legislation and rules under which the people of Israel lived.  These were some of the most powerful men in the nation and they had specifically instructed the disciples of Jesus that they should not preach and teach about Jesus.  Although they were in a position to know that the disciples had not stolen Jesus’ body, and they had probably heard testimony from one or more of the Roman soldiers who had guarded Jesus’ tomb, and although they themselves had manipulated the events that led to the release of Barabbas and the crucifixion of Jesus, they didn’t like it when the disciples preached that Jesus was alive and that the Sanhedrin had done, exactly what they had done.  In other words, the truth made them look bad, they didn’t like it, and they wanted the disciples to stop telling the truth.

But the disciples were prepared to take a stand.

Despite being ordered to stop, they continued to preach and teach about Jesus and, as eyewitnesses, they continued to tell the truth about what they had seen and heard.  These were the men who were courageous enough to stand up in public and speak out and their best argument was that God had called them to speak the truth about what they had seen and what they had heard.

Jesus was real.

It wasn’t just that Jesus had been real in the past, but then had been crucified and died, it was more than that.  And because it was more than that, it was much more important than that.

Human beings die.  None of us get out of this life alive.  Sooner or later, all of us will die, but these men had seen and heard Jesus, they sat down and shared meals with Jesus, they walked with and talked to Jesus long after they watched him die on the cross.  In John 20:19-31, we hear this:

19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Because of these things, and others that John didn’t take the time to record, the disciples knew that Jesus was not just a person from the past, but was indeed a real, flesh and blood, living person in the present as well.

But still, there was more to it than that.  When Jesus left the disciples, he didn’t simply join a caravan to Timbuktu and disappear into the sunset.  When Jesus left, these men watched as he climbed to the top of a mountain and then ascended into the air until he was obscured from view by the clouds in the sky.  And as he left, Jesus told the disciples what they were to do until he returned to earth.  This means that the disciples were also clear that Jesus didn’t just live in the past and in the present, but would continue to live in the future as well.

And then, for good measure, the Apostle John saw this in a vision that we call the book of Revelation 1:4-8.

4 John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

John recalls that in Matthew 23, Jesus had told them that he would be coming in the clouds. And then he hears God himself say that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, who was, who is, and who is to come.  And so this passage declares that Jesus will come in a time which is in our future, but, at the same time, he says that everyone will see him, including those who where there on the day that he died, which is in the past.

In writing this to the church in Asia, and to future generations, John is proclaiming that Jesus was real in the past, is real in the present, and will continue to be real in the future and until the end of time itself.

But there is one more point that must be noted from God’s revelation to John and that is the part that has the greatest impact on each one of us.  John describes Jesus as “the firstborn from the dead” and that means that although Jesus rose from the dead, he will not be the last.  What it means is that more resurrections are expected and those resurrections belong to those that are followers of Jesus.  Each one of us have been freed from our sins by the blood of Jesus, and in doing so Jesus has called us to, collectively, be members of God’s kingdom and, individually, and be priests that serve God both now and forever.

The apostles had the courage to stand up in public and speak the truth about Jesus even when powerful people tried to stop them.  They knew that Jesus is real in the past, in the present, and in the future and so do we.  And because Jesus is real, we must answer his call to continue the work that the disciples began.  We must speak the truth about Jesus in the world that we live in and we must answer his call as children of God, members of his kingdom, and as priests that minister and witness to the world.

 

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

Seven Spiritual Lessons from My Morning Run

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Sometimes I run.running-in-the-morning

Not because something is chasing me, but simply because I am trying to lose a little weight and stay healthy.  I am not always successful.  I was recently sidelined for several months because of a knee injury.  And there have been several occasions when I just got lazy and didn’t do it for a year or two.  But there are several lessons that I have learned from running and exercising that can teach us something about the life of the church.

Routine is your friend – it helps our motivation if we have a routine.  I try to run on Tuesday and Thursday with a long run on Saturday.  Sometimes the weather changes my plans, but it’s just a little easier to make myself get out of bed and get my gear on when I know that today is my scheduled day.

If you want to grow in your spiritual life, routine is your friend.  This was the plan of John Wesley and the other early Methodists.  Growth doesn’t happen by accident or by occasional learning.  Growth happens when we commit to a routine of reading and study.  Likewise, the routine of offering the opportunity for study and for people to use their Spiritual gifts provides a door for people to learn and grow.

Goals are important – Ships won’t reach port and arrows won’t find the target if there isn’t a goal.  Your exercise goal might be to lose weight, to run a race, or something else, but almost everything you do depends on what your goals are.  Your exercise routine will be very different if your goal is to run a 3 mile race or a marathon.

Obviously, this is hard to do spiritually on a personal level because it’s hard to say, “This year I want to be more spiritual,” but you can decide to attend a Bible study or to go on a mission trip, read a new book, or read scripture for fifteen minutes each day.

This is much more apparent as a church body.  Without goals, churches often just spin their wheels and do the same things that they always did, even if those things stopped working a long time ago.  Having goals can push us to do new things, go in new directions, and have the courage to try.

You need a plan – Once you have a goal, then it’s easier to make a plan, but while the goal tells you where you want to be six months or a year from now, it’s the plan that tells you what you need to do this week.

Once you decide that you are going to go to Bible study, you need to decide which one or, if you decided to go on a mission trip, then decide what else you need to do to get you there.  You might need a passport, or vaccinations, or you might need to start fundraising.  No matter what it is, a plan can help you get from where you are, to where to want to be.

I’ve been in a lot of churches that set goals every year at Charge Conference because the bishop said we had to.  But once Charge Conference is over, everyone forgets what the goals were and nothing ever really gets done.  If you are going to make progress toward your goals, you need to break them into manageable pieces and make a plan that you can work on weekly or monthly.

You need to push – Doctors tell us that for any kind of exercise to be effective, you have to elevate your heart rate by a certain amount over your normal resting pulse.  The same is true for weightlifting.  You won’t lift heavier weights if you keep lifting the same weight over and over.  For your heart, lungs or other muscles to grow, you need to push yourself.

I’m convinced that people, and churches, are just like our muscles.  If we only do the things we’ve always done, our muscles get soft and we begin to lose muscle tone.  After a while, we discover that we can’t even manage to do the things that once were easy.  The only way to move forward is to push, to strain, to stretch ourselves and do things that are hard.  When we continually do things that are hard, we eventually discover that the hard things begin to get easier and the impossible things begin to be possible.

You can’t coast – This is related to the last one, but it’s scarier.  There have been many times when I got too busy, or the weather was cold, or I had some kind of injury, and I stopped running.  What I quickly remembered is that you can’t coast.  Staying put or standing pat doesn’t work.  If you aren’t pushing and getting better, you start going backward.  If I stop running for six weeks, when I start back up, I not only have lost six weeks of training, but it will take me almost six weeks just to get back to where I was when I stopped.

While I admit that church and our spiritual lives aren’t exactly like that, there are some very real parallels.  We occasionally get a little burnt out, but the reality is that when we drop out, when we stop pushing forward, a lot of things start sliding backward.  It’s a reminder that we should constantly be trying to get better, personally, as well as collectively.  Whenever we think we’re “good enough” we’ve probably already started losing ground somewhere.

It’s easier with a friend – Whether you run, diet, or lift weights, it’s easier to do with a friend.  There will always be days when you just don’t feel like getting out of bed, going to the gym, or putting on your running shoes, but knowing that your friend is waiting for you can give you the extra push you need to get going.

Your spiritual goals are the same.  If you join a Bible study with a friend, you know they are there and are expecting you.  Afterward, there is someone to talk to and you can help each other to understand the hard parts or, it might be a little less scary to go together to ask the pastor what it means.  If you are planning to go on a mission trip, you can compare notes on your progress and remind one another about your goals and deadlines.

At first, this sounds like something that wouldn’t apply to churches, but it does.  For many projects and goals, especially in a connectional church like ours, churches can work together toward their goals.  Finding enough people to form a mission team might take more than one church or, as we have found with the Perry Helping Perry food pantry, the needs in your community might be bigger than one, two, or even three, churches can handle alone.  Working together might still be the push that we need.

Sometimes you fail – We can fail for a lot of different reasons but everyone that failed did more than the people that stayed on the couch.  You might not go as fast as you wanted to, lift as much weight as you wanted to, or finished slower than you wanted to, but I guarantee that you achieved more than you would have if you hadn’t tried.  What’s more, your failure probably taught you something that will help you succeed the next time.

This is exactly the same for people, and for the church, as we strive to follow Jesus.  If you want to go to Bible study every week, but only manage to get there half the time, you still did something that moved you forward from the place that you once were.  Likewise, a church that doesn’t reach its goals, or doesn’t reach them as quickly as they had hoped, has still moved forward compared to the church that did nothing.

So whether you are walking, running, or growing in Christ, just remember that it’s important to keep moving forward.

 

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The Yul Brynner Rule

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“The Yul Brynner Rule”

March 25, 2016

(Good Friday)

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Isaiah 53:2-12                    John 18:1 – 19:42                   Hebrews 10:16-25

 

How many of you traveled in an airplane prior to September 11, 2001?  The time before 9-11 was a more innocent age, I guess, but it used to be that as we boarded our airplanes, we could often catch glimpses of the pilots preparing for our journey by going through their “preflight checklist.”  Occasionally, the pilots might even leave the cabin doors open and, if you were lucky enough to be near the front, you could watch them during take-off and occasionally sneak peeks through the cockpit window.  In any case, we all know that the pilots have an extensive list of things to do before takeoff and every one of them can be vitally important.  Forgetting even one of them, in the wrong circumstances, can mean the difference between life and death and so the pilot and co-pilot have pre-written checklists that they work through, together, so that nothing gets forgotten.

With that image in your head, now imagine a checklist with more authority behind it than the airplane manufacturer, or even more than the Federal Aviation Administration.  Imagine a checklist from the President of the United States or a soldier receiving a checklist with orders from his commanding general.  For those of you who are old enough to remember, or who have seen it on Netflix, think about the Ten Commandments movie that starred Charlton Heston.  As I read the stories of Good Friday in Isaiah 53 and John 18 and 19, I couldn’t help but recall several scenes from the Ten Commandments where the Pharaoh, played by the unforgettable Yul Brynner, issued a decree and immediately proclaimed, “So let it be written, so let it be done.”

This is the story that we see unfold on Good Friday and it is a dialog, a checklist, that goes back and forth between eight hundred years of history from Isaiah to John.  All through Isaiah, it is as if we hear God saying the words that we heard from Yul Brynner, “So let it be written, so let it be done.”

We don’t have the time to read through all of these stories tonight, but I hope that in your quiet time this week, or next, that you might read them for yourselves.  But tonight we can still have a taste, a sampling, of that interchange.

We already know that throughout his life, Jesus was constantly fulfilling ancient prophecies about the messiah.  From the moment of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, to the arrival of the wise men, to his ministry and his miracles, the events of Jesus’ life could often be seen as the fulfillment of the prophecies of many written by the Old Testament prophets.  But during Easter week, and especially from Good Friday onward, those moments begin to more and more frequent.

Isaiah 53:3-6 says this:

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

We are told that the messiah would be despised and rejected by mankind, and what else can we see as the entire community calls out for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus?  What else can we see as Peter and Jesus’ closest friends abandon him?

Isaiah tells us that the messiah would be a man of suffering, and we see that almost immediately in the torment and torture that Jesus endures at the hands of the Roman soldiers.

The messiah was considered to be accursed, despised, and punished by God.  And none of us can doubt that being hung, naked, on a cross, the very symbol of humiliation, accomplishes all of these things.

Throughout these passages, the same thing happens verse after verse.

Isaiah says,

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

And we hear in John,

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” (John 19:8-10)

Isaiah says,

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?

And then John tells us of the corrupt officials that convict Jesus in a kangaroo court.

Isaiah says,

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

And John tells us how Jesus was crucified alongside criminals and buried in a rich man’s borrowed tomb.

Isaiah tells of how the messiah will pour “out his life unto death” and that he would be “numbered with the transgressors” and again we recall how John describes Jesus’ humiliating death on a cross so that everyone would assume that he was just another common criminal.

Over and over again we can read Isaiah and many other prophets as they prepare a checklist for Jesus, and as we read John’s story of the trial, crucifixion and death of Jesus we can almost hear God saying, “So let it be written, so let it be done.”

But why?

Isaiah told us that God said these things had to happen and John tells us, one event after another, everything unfolded exactly the way that God said that it would.

But why?

Why did Jesus have to be arrested?  Why was he tried on trumped up charges in a kangaroo court?  Why did everyone abandon him in his hour of need?  Why did he have to suffer such indescribable suffering and torment?  Why did Jesus have to die?

And we find the answer in the book of Hebrews (10:16-25) where we remember a few other words recorded by the ancient prophets:

16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”

17 Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”

18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

And suddenly everything begins to come into focus.

God didn’t just proclaim that the messiah should suffer and die so that prophecy could be fulfilled or because God is some kind of horrible sadist that engineered the horror of Good Friday for his own amusement.  After all, we remember that it is “Good” Friday so there must be some good purpose. And that purpose in found in those words written in the book of Hebrews.

Jesus suffered and died so that God could make a new covenant with his people.

Jesus endured the events of Good Friday so that our sins could be forgotten.

Jesus shed his blood so that the curtain could be opened, a new path could be created, and access could be given to each and every one of us to enter the Holy Place and meet God face to face.

We may not completely understand why God needed to do things the way that he did them, but the writer of Hebrews wanted to be sure that we all understand that everything comes down to a single purpose.

Jesus suffered and died because of his love for God but suffering and death were not the purpose.  The purpose of Jesus’ suffering was so that we could be saved but also…

…so that we could love others.

So that we could love others.

And again, while some of us might imagine it in Yul Brynner’s voice we can hear the voice of God echoing through the ages saying…

(pause)

“So let it be written, so let it be done.”

 

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

Easter Means All

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“Easter Means All”

March 27, 2016

(Easter Sunday)

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: John 20:1-18               Acts 10:34-43              1 Corinthians 15:19-26

 

 

For the last couple weeks I have occasionally heard some of my agnostic and atheist friends post online, stories about how Easter was originally a pagan holiday.  And the answer is never quite so simple that it can be strictly a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’  Without getting off the track and into a detailed rebuttal, it simply serves us all well to remember that Christianity wasn’t always a majority religion and has, in various times and in various places, been a persecuted minority.  So, over the centuries, Christians made a few concessions to “fit in” to their culture and save themselves from trouble.  But there have also been times when, as a majority religion, that pagans have converted to Christianity and have brought with them favorite elements of their old religious practices which were then “redeemed” by giving them new, Christian, meanings.  That is how we got Easter eggs and Christmas trees, and a lot of other symbols that now have a thoroughly Christian meaning.  Despite what you may occasionally hear on the Internet, just because you have an Easter egg hunt this afternoon, does not mean that you are in any way participating in pagan worship.

But, since we’re having that discussion, what is it that Easter really means?

In this case, I don’t mean how Easter is translated, or where the terminology came from, but instead I mean, what difference does it make?  What difference does Easter make to me, to my family, my community, and to my heart?

To answer that question, naturally, we are going to go back to the original story of that first Easter morning so long ago.  (John 20:1-18)

 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

In these few verses we see a group of people who have lost their friend, their leader, the focus of their lives, and all their plans for the future.  They are so paralyzed with grief that now, days after his death, they haven’t yet figured out what they would do next and so they are still staying together, pretty much where they were three days earlier, trying to put their lives back together.  On Sunday morning however, Mary Magdalene and some of the other women, return to the tomb where Jesus was buried so that they can complete the burial rituals that had to be skipped in order to complete the burial before the Sabbath began.

But even here there is a curious hint.  As Jesus meets Mary he sends her to tell the good news, not to his friends, and not to his disciples, but to everyone that he calls his “brothers.”  This is curious because as we read through the Gospels, sometimes Jesus uses the term “brothers” or “brothers and sisters” to mean his friends and his followers.  But at other times, when Jesus referred to “brothers and sisters” such as in Matthew 25:39-40 where he said…

“When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

And in those cases, it was clear that Jesus was describing a group of people that included… everyone.

This becomes even more apparent as the disciples begin to reflect and to understand exactly what happened until, in Acts 10:34-43 we hear Peter explain the events of Easter this way:

34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

So if we read Peter’s speech while we are thinking about the meaning of Easter and how Jesus asked Mary to tell all of his brothers and sisters that he was alive, what things rise to the surface?  For me it was these things: God does not show favoritism, God accepts followers from every nation, and the prophets testify about Jesus to everyone who believes.

Once we begin to see that the message of Jesus was intended for people other than his friends, it becomes unavoidable to understand that the message of Easter was not just for his friends, not just for Israel, not just for the Jews, but for everyone, everywhere and every-when.

And Peter wasn’t the only one who believed this.  In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he also writes about the resurrection of Jesus where he says (1 Corinthians 15:19-26):

 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

Paul reminds us that Easter is about more than just the here and now.  Easter is about more than living one good life and then being buried.  Paul says that if Easter is only about living one good life then we are to be pitied more than anyone else alive.  Instead, Jesus rose from the dead.  Jesus rose from the dead because Adam’s sin infects all of us and so Jesus endured the cross, died, and rose again so that all of us could be made alive again.  Jesus rose from the dead so that at the end of time, all of the kings, all of the nations, all of the politicians, all authority, all power, and all the people will bow down to worship God.  Jesus rose from the dead so that one day, all of his enemies would be defeated.

The real meaning of Easter doesn’t come from ancient pagan holidays; the real meaning of Easter comes from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The real meaning of Easter isn’t about God playing favorites, but instead it’s about God inviting everyone into his kingdom.  Easter isn’t about Jesus inventing a new kind of boy’s club, and it’s not about bringing “good news of great joy” to Israel or to the Jews, but is about God breaking out into the world that we live in and inviting everyone, everywhere, to become a member of his family, and to live in his house… forever.

Easter is about God announcing the good news of peace that come through Jesus to all the people of the world.

Easter means “all.”

On that first Easter morning Jesus told Mary Magdalene to go and tell everyone that Jesus was alive.

The news (and the meaning) of the resurrection of Jesus is still so good, that we should do the same.

 

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

What Happened? You Happened.

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“What Happened?  You Happened.”

March 27, 2016

(Easter Sunrise)

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Luke 24:1-12                     Romans 6:3-11

Pastor: He is Risen!

People: He is Risen indeed.

_________

How are you feeling right at this very moment?

Most of us are doing okay, but among all of us that are here, there is likely to be quite a range of emotions.

And if I were to ask you all what emotions that you felt during the past week, I am confident that we would amass a list that would cover almost the entire spectrum of human feelings.

And that is exactly what happened to the followers of Jesus during the week that began with the triumphal entry (what we remembered at Palm Sunday) and ended with the resurrection of Jesus and beyond.

They were filled with wonder one moment, then joyous, then afraid, then panicked, then terrified, then shocked, then angry, then mournful, and everything in between.  It was like body blows that landed upon them one, after another, after another.  And then we read this in Luke 24:1-12.

24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Peter was just like us and every other human being that ever walked the earth.  What was happening was totally unexpected and that’s why, to the ears of the disciples, the women sounded like they were babbling total nonsense.  What was happening was clearly not normal.

So what happened?

Even when Peter begins to understand that Jesus rose from the dead, and even after Jesus ascends into heaven and Peter’s entire life is totally transformed, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if some part of him was still just a little confused.  Some part of him, and a part of us, continued to ask… what happened?

And in his letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle Paul answers many of our questions. (Romans 6:3-11)

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul explains that our baptism is a symbol of Jesus’ death.  Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish beneath the water for three days, and just as Jesus was in the grave for three days, our baptism is a symbol.  The water is a symbol so that as we are covered in the water, we join Jesus in death and rise with him to a new life.  Paul says that through our baptism, by joining Jesus symbolically in death, we are united with him and united in his resurrection.  Just as Jesus was crucified, our old selves were crucified so that sin would no longer control us and we would no longer be slaves to sin.

Paul says that the death that Jesus died was for everyone, everywhere, forever and the life that he now lives is dedicated to God.  In the same way because, through baptism, we have died with Jesus and were set free from sin and death, we also now live forever and our lives are dedicated to God.

It wasn’t surprising that Peter and the other followers of Jesus wondered what happened.  But Paul wants us to know that what happened didn’t just happen to Jesus, and it didn’t just happen to the disciples, it happened to you too.

Pastor: He is Risen!

People: He is Risen indeed.

And so have you.

 

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

Vision: Fantasy or Reality?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , , , , ,

“Vision: Fantasy or Reality?”

March 20, 2016

(Palm Sunday)

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture:

Luke 19:28-40                  

John 12:12-16

 

Do you remember the games that you played when you were a little kid?

In particular, do you remember playing “pretend?”

When we played pretend, reality didn’t matter.  We could be anything we wanted.  Even though we were only six years old, we could be doctors, or firefighters, or superheroes, or anything else.  But we always knew that we were just playing a game and that we weren’t really superheroes.

As adults, we know that there are people whose brains sometimes don’t work the way that they should and they get their “pretend” or their fantasy world mixed up with the real world.  When this happens there are several mental illnesses that might be involved including paranoia, delusional behavior, psychotic behavior and others.  But, at the same time, most all of us play a lesser version of these same delusions and in doing so we appear to be perfectly normal.

What happens to most people occurs when they deal with what is called “cognitive dissonance.”  Cognitive dissonance can be a good thing because it is one of the principle mechanisms through which we learn.  Cognitive dissonance happens whenever we learn something new that disagrees with what we thought that we knew.  For example, if we thought that the Earth’s moon was just a short distance, say a few thousand miles, from the International Space Station, and then we learn that it is, in fact, more than three hundred thousand miles away, so far that all of the planets in the solar system would fit between the earth and the moon, our brain becomes remarkably uncomfortable.  That discomfort, which is caused my hearing new information, is called cognitive dissonance. The brain, like the rest of us, dislikes being uncomfortable and must do something to ease its discomfort.  The only two choices that the brain has are to ignore the new facts and “pretend” that the old idea is correct or, to reject the old information and establish new neural pathways to remember that the new facts are true.

This is how we learn.

This is also how we sift through new information to sort out truth from fables, fantasies, and wild Internet gossip.  We reject what we believe to be false and remember what we believe to be true.

But as adults, we often find that new information, even if it’s true, to be so uncomfortable that we choose instead to continue to believe false information even though we have been shown genuine facts that prove otherwise.

Otherwise sane adults do it all the time.

For an example of what I am talking about, you don’t have to look any further than the people you know who are talking about their favorite presidential candidate.  The same stories could be told about every single one of them.  The people that like a particular candidate, once they have chosen that person as their favorite, are likely to remember everything that makes them look good, and totally ignore genuine facts that make them look bad.  I have seen entire articles written in recent weeks that describe how people believe that real, documented events, never happened simply because their favorite candidate, or their campaign, said that it never happened.

This is the adult version of playing pretend.  Honestly, it borders on being delusional, but this is the power of cognitive dissonance.  We deliberately blind ourselves to the facts, because they make us uncomfortable.

So, as long-winded as that was, what does it have to do with Palm Sunday?

And the answer is, everything.  Let’s begin by reading Luke 19:28-40.

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

This passage begins by establishing that Jesus knows the truth.  More importantly, Jesus demonstrates that he knows things that ordinary mortals cannot, and should not, possibly know.  Jesus knew what was happening in a place far outside of his vision and he knew what would happen in the future.  Jesus knew that a colt would be in the village before they went there.  He knew that someone was likely to stop his friends from taking it, and he knew precisely what answer would satisfy them.  And so, as I said, we have begun by establishing from the beginning, that Jesus knew the truth and understood reality better than anyone on the face of the earth.

Having established that, we then meet the Pharisees who urge Jesus to compel his disciples, and the people along the road, to shut up.  The Pharisees have heard all the same stories about Jesus that the crowd has heard.  We know that the Pharisees have been personally present many times when Jesus taught and even when he performed miracles.  They personally interviewed people who had been miraculously healed.

They absolutely knew the facts…

…And then chose to completely ignore them because the truth made them uncomfortable.

Before we go on, let’s also read this same story as it was recorded by the Apostle John. (John 12:12-16)

12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!” [Hosanna means “Save Us!”]

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”

16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

In the world of the New Testament, Rome was the super power.  The Roman army kept the peace and the Pharisees and the Sadducees had a deal to share political and religious power with the Roman government.  But a big part of that deal was an understanding that the Pharisees and the Sadducees would help the Romans to keep the peace.

And now, suddenly, Jesus enters the city riding on a colt just as the prophets had promised the king of Israel one day would.  And as Jesus enters the city, crowds of people are shouting “Hosanna.”  There were crowds of people crying out for Jesus to save them, and by doing so they were essentially declaring that Jesus was their Savior, and quite possibly, their future king.

So again, remember that the Pharisees had the same information that everyone else had, and much of what they knew they had witnessed firsthand.  Based on this information, the disciples, the crowd, and the Pharisees each crafted a version of reality that made them comfortable.  The disciples, to varying degrees, as well as the people in the crowd, believed that Jesus was the conquering, messiah king who would rise up, overthrow the Roman occupation, and set his people free.  Based on exactly the same information, the Pharisees believed that Jesus was going to upset the applecart, cause a riot, anger the Roman soldiers, force them to beat down a growing insurrection by force and, at the same time, find someone other than the Pharisees and the Sadducees with whom to share power.  Based on these preconceptions, the reality crafted by the Pharisees, was that Jesus was not the Messiah, not the king, but was dangerous radical who would upset the status quo and needed to be quieted… by whatever means necessary.

All of them were wrong.

With the exception of Jesus, everyone there believed a fantasy.  They all looked at the same set of facts and each of them sees what they want to see.  Each of them created a version of reality that made them comfortable.  They were all, in varying degrees, playing pretend.  Each of them, in their own way, were completely delusional… and they didn’t even know it.

Jesus alone understood the truth.

Although John reminds us that the disciples would eventually, after the resurrection, understand the truth, Jesus alone sees reality as it truly is.

Jesus understands that he is indeed Israel’s Messiah, the creator of the universe, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.  Jesus understands that this moment, proclaimed by God and the prophets, was so important that if the crowd refused to recognize him, the rocks along the side of the road would be compelled to do it for them.  But Jesus also understood that although it was not yet time for him to come into the city as a conquering king, the time had come for him to be the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of his people.

And so today, on this Palm Sunday, as we remember the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, let us also remember how easily we can ignore the facts and create false realities for ourselves.  Sometimes as we read stories about who Jesus is, or about what Jesus did, or about the things that Jesus taught us to do, these things make us uncomfortable.  They don’t fit with our version of reality.  And so we have to choose whether or not we will accept Jesus’ reality.  We have to choose whether or not we really want to believe because, if we do, we might just have to change how we live.

Cognitive dissonance makes us uncomfortable and so we have a choice to make.

Our choice is to believe the truth, to learn from it, to change our neural pathways and therefore to change who we are, what we believe, and how we act, or, we can choose to ignore the facts, play pretend, and create our own version of reality that allows us to be comfortable… and wrong.

We have two choices.  We can choose to believe a fantasy, or we can choose to believe reality.

There are two realities that you can choose.

  • The reality of Jesus, the Son of God, the creator of the universe, Savior, redeemer, the sacrifice and forgiveness of sins, the King of kings, Lord of lords, and author of all that is?

Or

  • the reality that you create for your own comfort.

Which reality will you choose?

 

 

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

Remembering Delmar Jarvis

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Delmar Jarvis

 Obituary

Delmar L. Jarvis

July 4, 1922 – March 12, 2016
Resided in Massillon, OH

Delmar L. Jarvis, age 93 passed away on Saturday, March 12, 2016. He was born on July 04, 1922 to the late William and Jesse (Craigo) Jarvis. He married Arlene Wiandt on March 01, 1941 and they just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary.

Delmar was a Warehouse Superintendent for McLain Grocery until his retirement. He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church. He was active in Freemasonry and was active with Clinton Lodge #47, Scottish Rite-Valley of Canton, The Massillon Shrine Club, York Rite- Hiram Chapter #18, Massillon Commandery #18 and Canton Council #35. Delmar was a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award with the Scottish Rite and he was a member of the Massillon Football Boosters Club.

Delmar is survived by his wife Arlene; his sons Keith (Betty) Jarvis, Kenneth (Jeannine) Jarvis and Joel (Sandi) Jarvis; his grandchildren Keith W. Jarvis, Elizabeth (Jack) Jarvis-Whitehouse, Allison Hiser, Amy (Jeff) Tillar, Ashley Jarvis, Matt (Kelly) Jarvis, Corey (Lindsay) Jarvis, Brandon Jarvis and 11 great grandchildren; a sister Wilma Mae Levengood, as well as a host of relatives and friends. In addition to his parents, Delmar was preceded in death by his sister Frances Davidson and a brother Wayne Jarvis.

A Celebration of his life will be held on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 11a.m. at the Paquelet & Arnold-Lynch Funeral Home in Massillon. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 from 6 to 8 p.m. and 1 hour prior to the service. Masonic Service to be held on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. Donations in Delmar’s memory can made to Harbor Light Hospice. 25 S. Main Street, Suite 7, Munroe Falls, OH 44262 http://www.arnoldlynch.com.

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Memories of my Grandfather

March 16, 2016

by Matt Jarvis

Good morning. My name is Kelly Jarvis and I am reading this for my husband, one of Delmar’s grandson’s, Matt Jarvis.

My grandfather lived a life that was full of pride, joy and happiness.  He had a very successful career, was a member of the United States Navy, was very active in Freemasonry and was active with Clinton Lodge #47, was a member of the Massillon Shrine Club, was a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award with the Scottish Rite, was a member of the Massillon Football Boosters Club, and the list goes on and on and on.

On March 1, 1941, he married my grandmother, Arlene, and amazingly enough they just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary just over two weeks ago.  After marriage they had three sons, Keith, Ken and my father, Joel.

My grandpa’s generosity, work ethic, humility and selflessness are all qualities that I admire him for, and qualities I myself aspire to.

The oldest of three boys, I have so many memories of Grandpa Delmar that I don’t even know where to start.  But I have to start somewhere, so here we go, in no particular order:

  • One of the fondest memories and one I’ll never forget are the two summer vacations that just Grandpa and I took to Fayetteville, North Carolina and Las Vegas. I played AAU basketball in high school and we made it to consecutive National Championships. While my parents probably would’ve made it work to take me, Grandpa generously volunteered and before I knew it we were road tripping down to North Carolina one summer and flying to Sin City the next.  My entire team (the players, the players, parents and my coaches) all absolutely LOVED Grandpa.  And just like my Dad would have done, he did an amazing job of cheering me on from the stands, only Grandpa did it from the first row behind our bench, so it was very loud and clear.  Looking back, agreeing to take me on these week long excursions was not a small commitment at all, but he agreed without hesitation because he knew how important it was to me. I am fairly confident that those are trips that not only I will cherish forever but that he did as well.
  • Breakfast with Grandpa – it was one of the main reasons why I looked forward to our visits with my grandparents, whether in Massillon, in Wisconsin, or anywhere else that we happened to be vacationing with them. For a good number of years it was usually just Grandpa, my Dad and myself because my brothers, let’s just say they “valued their sleep”.  But as my brothers got older they saw the tradition in it and began to cherish the valuable time with Grandpa.  But being the oldest, I did have a few more opportunities to hang out with Grandpa in the mornings as we made our way running errands through Massillon.  After breakfast, it was always to the Masonic Lodge because Grandpa had to make coffee for everyone. After that, like clockwork, it was a stop at the post office, where he ALWAYS had something to mail.  By that time the barber shop had opened, so whether I needed it or not, I usually got a haircut.  And then, before heading home, he never, ever forgot to stop somewhere to get grandma either a blueberry muffin or bagel – showing both his love and generosity for others.
  • Gatherings for Easter with Grandma and Grandma in South Bend, Indiana are something that’ll stick with our family forever. We met there because it was about half way between Massillon and our home in Wisconsin.  We would spend the extended weekend swimming, hot tubbing, having Easter egg hunts, walking the campus of Notre Dame, playing miniature golf, and more.  And of course I can’t forget my brothers and I hitting Grandpa up for quarters to play video games after our parents had cut us off.  After a few years, he just started bringing the $10 paper rolled stacks of quarters and giving each of us one when we asked for it.  And if I forgot to say it at the time “Thank you Grandpa.”
  • My Dad ran a United Methodist Church camp in central Wisconsin for about 15 years. Grandma and Grandpa both loved coming to camp to visit.  The name of the camp was “Camp Lucerne” and they single handily helped support his camp store with all of the sweatshirts, jackets, hats, and anything else that my Dad sold that said “Camp Lucerne”.  And while they truly loved the camp, it became very clear later how much love and support they were giving to their son, and how very proud of him they were for the job he was doing.  And a memory that’ll stick with us all forever are the years that Grandpa came to the “Father-Son Camp” and we were able to have three generations represented.  And because my Dad was in charge of the camp and had many additional responsibilities, Grandpa at times had to take on roles as Father and Grandpa to us, a task that he had no problem accomplishing.

Just as most of you here could, I could go on all day with stories about my Grandpa Delmar.  He will be missed dearly.  I hope to someday become half the man that he was, because people like my Grandpa are one in a million.  Anyone who was around Grandpa Delmar knew of his generosity, work ethic, humility and selflessness.  Anyone who knew Grandpa Delmar also knew how much he love his wife of 75 years, his three boys, his 8 grandchildren, his 11 great-grandchildren, his sister and everyone else in his family.

Albert Einstein once said, “Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation.  For they are us, our bodies are only the wilted leaves on the tree of life.”

And one more final thought: “Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”  Grandma Arlene has assured us that Grandpa is now happy and looking down smiling on us, so let us celebrate his life and continue his legacy.

Thank you Grandpa.  I love you, I love you so much, and will miss you forever.

Love,

Matt

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 Eulogy for Delmar Jarvis

March 16, 2016

by Rev. John Partridge

This may sound like an unusual question, but on your way here today, how many of you saw any horse and buggies on the road?  As you crossed the railroad tracks, did you see any steam engines or Pullman passenger trains go by?  All of us would likely say that we did not.  But more than a few of us saw the First United Methodist Church in Massillon that’s been there for so long that one of its previous pastors was one of the Union soldiers that took part in the great locomotive chase during the Civil War.  Some of us have been places where some of those great old steam engines are in museums or are still running on local excursions.  The reason that I mention these things is that while some things became outdated and faded away, there are places that we can go where we can find these monuments to a different time.  There are buildings and other artifacts that remind us of another time.

And so, as we remember the life of Delmar Leroy. Jarvis, I think we are doing something that is very similar.  In his own, quiet and humble way, Delmar Jarvis was, for us, a great monument to a better time.  Not surprisingly, Delmar was a member of what has been referred to as our “Greatest Generation” and, knowing him, he fit that description in spades.  Delmar served in the United States Navy during WWII as a radio man on the destroyer, USS Kephardt in both the Atlantic and the Pacific theaters.  He was not only justifiably proud of his service, he lamented just a few years ago, after more than seventy years, that he had finally forgotten Morse code.

But the Navy wasn’t all the he was.  Delmar Jarvis did what he said that he would do.  And the things that he did, he did with extraordinary passion and commitment.  The four great loves of his life were the Church, the Masons, the Massillon Tigers, and his family.  To these four things, Delmar gave all that he had.  It wouldn’t have occurred to him to just show up to church a few times a month.  Delmar went to church every Sunday and volunteered as the church treasurer for a great many years as well.  When a renewal movement called the Walk to Emmaus grew within the United Methodist Church he and Arlene drove to Columbus to be the first in Ohio to become a pilgrim so that he could be a part of the core group that brought that movement to this area.

That same commitment was given to the Masons lodge.  Showing up once in a while wasn’t enough.  His grandsons remember that whenever they visited Delmar would take them out to breakfast, but before they could go home, they had to stop at the Masonic lodge because it was Del’s job to make the coffee.  Every. Single. Day.

Third, Delmar loved to watch the Tigers play football.  But once again, not just once in awhile.  Once in a while wasn’t how Delmar Jarvis did things.  Instead, Delmar bought season tickets and attended every single game, every single season, year after year, decade after decade, until he simply, physically, couldn’t do it anymore.

And finally, Delmar’s fourth, and biggest, passion was his family.  As I met with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren yesterday, they told me more stories than I have time to share with you today.  But those same threads of dedication, humility, loyalty, passion, and love flowed through all of them.  First of all there is Arlene the love of his life.  They met roller skating because Delmar was a regular at roller skating races.  I have no trouble imagining that Arlene was captured by Del’s infectious smile and the way that he could make everyone feel like they were the most important person in the room.  Arlene was Delmar’s constant companion and just two weeks ago they celebrated their Seventy-Fifth wedding anniversary together.  In a world where everything seems to be increasingly temporary and where the institution of marriage sometimes seems to be an endangered species, Delmar and Arlene built a monument so that the rest of us could remember that some things were meant to last.

With a son living in Wisconsin, despite the fact that Del had a habit of getting lost whenever he drove somewhere, they decided to meet halfway to visit one another each Easter and so, every year they would meet at a hotel in South Bend, Indiana.  Every year they would find places to go together, they would take walks on the Notre Dame University campus, and since the Amish restaurant that they liked was closed on Sunday, they would have Easter Sunday dinner together on Saturday evening. But some Easter weekends were different because when he was in college, grandson Matt was playing basketball and so on those Easter weekends, Delmar and Arlene drove all the way to Wisconsin to share Easter together and to watch Matt play ball. That too was a recurring theme.  If his children or grandchildren were in it, Delmar and Arlene did whatever they could to be there.  Whether it was working at camp, or watching basketball, or the marching band, or something else, they were there.  As you already heard today, Delmar even volunteer to travel with Matt to Las Vegas, but when he was in town, Del would drive Matt to every single baseball card shop in all of Massillon, Canton, and the surrounding area until they found what they were looking for.

If any of the family were in town, they did everything together whether it was going to the grocery story or anything else.  Delmar Jarvis had a way of making everyone smile, Kelly said that even the first time they met, he made her feel “like he’d known me forever.”  While Elizabeth was in the Massillon band, Del took her to school, every day and when she was in Elementary school near Delmar and Arlene’s house, she came “home” to their house every afternoon.  When Brandon was the last child at home, he remembers that he would travel from Wisconsin to Ohio and have his grandparents all to himself.  When a grandchild was being baptized, Delmar and Arlene travelled to Alaska to see it and to visit Jeannine’s parents.

Over and over again, the life of Delmar Jarvis revolved around his family and the people and the things that he loved.  And although he made a habit of getting lost, and mispronouncing words, his passion, commitment, his sense of humor, and his love for the people around him always showed through.

The term, “Greatest Generation” only begins to describe the life of Delmar Jarvis.  His life was a monument of genuine compassion, concern, dedication, passion, commitment, and love.  In his own, quiet and humble way, Delmar Jarvis was, for us, a great monument to a better time.  And just like those great old churches and museum steam engines, whenever we remember him, whenever we remember the monument that he built in his life, in his family, and in each of us, we can remember how he made us feel.  We can remember what lives can be like when they are truly well lived.  And we can do our best to become more like that.

Men like Delmar Jarvis don’t come around every day.  “Greatest Generation” doesn’t really go far enough, and although it would be embarrassing to Delmar’s humility, describing him as a “Super Hero” would be a lot closer to the truth.  He was indeed, a monument to a better time and testimony that we can be better than we are.

 

 

“Mission Impossible?”

PastorPartridge Sermon , ,

“Mission Impossible?”

March 13, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Isaiah 43:16-21                  Philippians 3:4b-14                      John 12:1-8

Have you ever watched Mission Impossible?

It doesn’t really matter if you’ve seen the newer movies with Tom Cruise or the original television series that ran from 1966-1973 with Peter Graves and Barbara Bain.  All of them begin with the Impossible Mission Force being offered a mission that most sane people would find to be either completely impossible or totally suicidal.  But somehow, through good planning, quick thinking, enormous talent, and more than a few cool gadgets, the IMF team always manages to get things done.  In real life however, all of us know that things don’t usually work out that way.  But imagining that the impossible might actually be possible can be encouraging, even if it is a momentary fantasy.

But our scriptures today remind us that even though Tom Cruise and the Impossible Mission Force don’t belong to our church, what seems to be impossible is not always really impossible.  We begin this morning with the words from Isaiah 43:16-21, where we hear God make two significant declarations.

16 This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
17 who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21     the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

God’s first declaration is found in the very first verse where he says that he was the one who “made a way through the sea.”  God reminds his people that he is the one who has already done the impossible.  No human being, nor any other god that has been worshipped on earth, has ever done, nor could ever do what Israel’s God has already done.

But then, just a few verses later, God says, ““Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  The desert wilderness of Israel is one rocky mountain after another and mile after mile of desert that is strewn with boulders.  Making a path through the wilderness and making rivers flow in the desert is pure, impossible fantasy.  But, God says, this is exactly what he is doing.

Israel’s God, our God, is the god that has already done the impossible, and even today, continues to do the impossible.

If we have any doubts, let us turn to John 12:1-8, where we remember these words:

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

As we continue to prepare our hearts for Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, we are reminded that even before his death on the cross, Jesus had already done the impossible.  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been buried for several days.  Not even the greatest of the ancient prophets had ever done such a thing.

But then Mary did something that was, although certainly not impossible, undoubtedly unexpected.  While Jesus was having dinner (our scripture says he was reclining because that was how people often ate at that time) Mary came and poured a year’s wages worth of perfume on Jesus’ feet.  Let’s think about that for a minute.  In order for us to see that in today’s perspective, the average annual income in the United States is $46,481.  Since Chanel No. 5 is $325 per ounce, a year’s pay would buy just a little over a gallon.  But Ralph Lauren’s perfume “Notorious” costs $1416 per ounce so a year’s pay would only buy about a quart.  And so Mary was being extraordinarily generous with her sacrifice.  And, as we imagined a gallon of Chanel No. 5 or a full quart of Notorious, we have no difficulty in understanding how the fragrance of the perfume would have “filled the whole house.”

But we also see how Judas might have been shocked at the extravagance of her sacrifice.  Despite Judas’ protests, Jesus understands that Mary’s gift was given in order to bring him honor.  Jesus understands that God’s people will be fighting a battle against poverty and attempting to help the poor from that time until the end of time.  But in the end, honoring Jesus as Mary did, while not impossible, was something that could only be done for a short time before Jesus’ death.

And then, in Philippians 3:4b-14, Paul explains that we too have been given an “impossible mission.”

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul says that he has given all that he has to God and everything that he used to have, although nearly priceless in the world and culture in which he lived, is worthless compared to the gift of Jesus.  His goal was once to follow the law and to look good to people that he thought were important, but having met Jesus, his goals changed.

Paul’s new goals in life are to know Jesus and to one day live with him.

Paul knew two things.  First, Paul understood that fully knowing Jesus is impossible.  Because Jesus is a part of the Trinity, God in human flesh, he is unknowable.  And second, Paul knew that understanding the power of Jesus’ resurrection and fully grasping our own resurrection, is utterly impossible during our mortal life here on earth.  But all the same, Paul refuses to give up his dogged pursuit of this impossible mission.  Every day of his life, he allows his past and all that he once valued, to be forgotten, to disappear into the mists of history.  And every day, he refuses to give up and relentlessly presses forward.  Every day, Paul tries to know Jesus better than the day before, and every day he tries to become more like Jesus.

This is our mission.

And although this is our “Mission Impossible,” we know that we worship a God who has done the impossible and, even today, continues to do the impossible.

There is no Tom Cruise or Peter Graves that can do it for us.  But nonetheless, we, like Paul, must press forward.  This goal is no momentary fantasy.  We must never give up.  Every day we must try.  Every day we must strain to learn more about Jesus, to better understand Jesus, and every day we must do whatever we can to become more like Jesus.

This is your mission… should you choose to accept it.

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