Jesus Christ

Eulogy and Obituary for James A. Hedrick

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Eulogy for James Hedrick

April 8, 2016

by Rev. John Partridge

So who was he?

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

So who was James Hedrick?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

A Letter to My Dad

April 8, 2016

by Elizabeth Hedrick

 

To my Dad,

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

Your beloved daughter,

Elizabeth

 

Obituary

James Hedrick

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

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

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

Doors Flung Open

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“Doors Flung Open”

April 24, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

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

 

If I told you that I was going to attend a holiday celebration that included brass bands, John Phillip Sousa marches, parades, and fireworks, which holiday might you immediately think of?

I’m pretty sure that most of you guessed that was thinking about our nation’s July 4th Independence Day celebration.

If I talked about a day where we celebrated by gathering together, throwing a giant feast, and eating enormous quantities of turkey and ham, you would likely think of Thanksgiving.  And if I described a day when we exchanged gifts with our families and filled stockings by the fireplace, we would, of course, think of Christmas.

These days are days of remembrance like the Jewish feast of Passover and Pearl Harbor Day on December 7th. We remember the Alamo on February 23rd, VE Day on May 8th, and VJ Day on September 2nd, and September 11th. These are all days on which we remember specific events.  Some of these days we have deliberately set aside on our national calendars for that specific purpose.

To remember.

We set aside time every year to tell the same old stories and to pass them on to a new generation.  We do it every year so that we will not forget and so that our children and grandchildren will commit the stories to memory as well.

We want to remember, and we want future generations to remember, so that as families, as churches, as nations, and as we understand ourselves to belong to particular groups of people, we will never forget the stories that brought us to where we are and the stories that shaped us into becoming who we have become.

Although we do not have a particular date on the calendar to which we can point, our scriptures this morning describe a time that was, for us, just as momentous and just as transformational for us as a people as almost any of these other days.

We begin with the earliest of our scriptures.  It is a moment in which Jesus still lives but also one in which Jesus knows that his time is short.  In this moment, Jesus gives his disciples one of his final commands.  And, in this moment, Jesus intends to shape the character of his people for all time. (John 13:31-35)

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

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

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

The one thing by which Jesus wants his followers to be known… is the love that they have for one another.

The hallmark of the Christian experience is supposed to be love.  If unbelievers know even one thing about the followers of Jesus, it’s supposed to be how loving we are.

This really is huge and it has incredible implications for all of us.  Every decision that we make, both internally and externally, should be measured by asking ourselves, “Is this loving?”

Wow!

That’s just not how the world works.  And so this one thing, if we can do it, sets the followers of Jesus apart from the world, and that is exactly what Jesus intended.

Next, we read this story in Acts 11:1-18 (you might recall that I made reference to this story just last week).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peter had preached to people who were not Jews and he had shared meals with, and slept in the home of, Simon the tanner.  And then he had done the same thing in the home of Cornelius the centurion, a man who was not even remotely Jewish.  When Peter returned to Jerusalem, the other believers, most likely including several of the disciples, criticized Peter for stooping so low as to defile himself by associating with “those people.”  Everyone knew that God loved the Jews and hated the Gentiles.  What was the point of wasting time with them?  But Peter tells them his story.  Peter tells them how God had spoken to him and sent him there to tell the Gentiles about Jesus.  Peter tells the believers in Jerusalem that not only did he preach to the Gentiles, but that the Holy Spirit, in the presence of Peter and six other Jewish witnesses, had come upon the Gentiles and they began to praise God and speak in tongues just as the believers had on the day of Pentecost.  And suddenly everyone began to understand that a gigantic, cosmic shift had occurred.  Suddenly, they understood that the world had changed, that God was doing something new, and that God really did accept people from every nation if they would follow him and do what was right.

This was a day that changed the world.

And then, finally, in the Revelation of the Apostle, John heard Jesus say that he was making all things new. (Revelation 21:1-6)

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

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

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

Far too often, people ignore the book of Revelation because they think that everything in it happens in the future and that makes it irrelevant to the people of the present age.  But listen carefully to the tense of the verbs in this passage.  John says “I saw” past tense, and a voice from the throne said, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people” – present tense, “He will wipe away every tear” – future tense, and finally, “I am making everything new” – which is a little harder, but, this is the Present-Continuous tense, which means that it is now happening, and it continues to happen in the future.

And so, yes, some of what we read in Revelation is prophecy for the future, but much of it is vitally important to us in the here and now.  What this short passage tells us is that the future will be vastly different than the present, but also that God is, at this very moment, in the process of transforming the entire world.  God no longer lives far away, but even now, makes his home among human beings in the hearts of his followers.  It is no accident that these ideas are presented at the same time.  The presence of God, in the hearts of the followers of Jesus Christ, is intended to be an engine of transformation.  God intends of us to be a part of his plan to dramatically change the world that we live in.

And so, even though you won’t find a day on the calendar for it, these moments are times that we try to regularly remember because these were moments in which the entire world was changed, and these are moments that help us to define who we are, where we come from, and where we are going.

We must always remember that the followers of Jesus Christ, if they are known by anything at all, are to be remembered by how much they love.  Every decision that we make, both within the church and outside of it, should be measured by asking ourselves, “Is this loving?”

We must always remember that there was a time when we were the outsiders.  We were once the people that everybody hated.  We were once the people who everyone was sure would never amount to anything in the eyes of God.  All the good church people were absolutely certain that God hated us and that we were eternally unredeemable.

But God invited us in.

God’s plan was to throw open the gates of the city, and to fling open the doors of his temple so that people from every race, every tribe, every nation, and every language would be welcome.

And more than that, we must always remember that changing the world isn’t something that God intends to do some time in the distant future.  God is changing the world, one life at a time, at this very moment.  God has come down to earth and taken up residence in the hearts of those who love him and God intends for us to be a part of his plan to change to world.

God intends, not only to transform us, but to work through us, so that we become engines of transformation, working together, loving together, to change the world…

…One life at a time.

 

 

 

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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.

Changed: Fearless to Tearless

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“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.

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.

The Yul Brynner Rule

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“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.

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“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?

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“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.

Less Than Perfect

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“Less Than Perfect?”

March 06, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Joshua 5:9-12                    2 Corinthians 5:16-21                       Luke 15:1-32

 

Do you pay any attention to the models that they use in catalogs for practically everything?

Men, women, cars, it doesn’t matter; most of them look beautiful and perfect.

Hollywood and Madison Avenue have created an ideal for us that we cannot hope to live up to.

We can never be handsome or pretty enough, we can never be thin enough, and our skin can never be clear or smooth enough.  During our entire lives, we are constantly confronted by people who are better than we are and told that they should be models for us.  While this can, in one sense, be motivational, if it is done poorly, especially during times in our lives when other people are already making fun of our shortcomings, it can cause us to doubt ourselves and think that we can never be good enough.

That is exactly the kind of feeling that the people of Israel had as they escaped from slavery in Egypt.  For hundreds of years they were told that they were “just slaves,” that they were too stupid, too slow, too inferior to be true Egyptians.  But then God did something special and brought them safely out of Egypt, and then guided them through the wilderness for forty years and into the Promised Land.  As he did so, God said this to their leader Joshua: (Joshua 5:9-12)

9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal [Gilgal sounds like the Hebrew word for “roll.”] to this day.

10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.

God gave Israel amazing gifts, but he only gave them what they needed, when they needed it.  As they arrive in the Promised Land and begin to work, to harvest, and eat the food that the land had produced, God’s provision stops.  But even as the gift of free food stops, a new gift comes.  God gives Israel a new land where they can support themselves and be proud, a land where they can be independent and productive., a land where they can put away the ridicule of other nations and stop doubting that they are good enough.

We find that same kind of story throughout scripture and we even find it in one of the stories that we have nearly committed to memory.  (Luke 15:1-32)

15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable:

 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

The story begins with the Pharisees looking down on Jesus, thinking that Jesus wasn’t “good enough” because he spent time with “those people.”  And then Jesus tells them a story about a prodigal son who disrespected his father, took his money, and went off to “do his own thing.”  And all of us can see ourselves in the character of both of these brothers.  The younger son was “less than perfect.”  He messed up; he made a wreck of his life.  But still his father finds value in him.  The older son looked down on his brother because he was less than perfect and didn’t do everything that everyone expected of him.

We are simultaneously both of these brothers.  We often feel as if we aren’t good enough, but, at the same time, accuse others of not being good enough.  But the powerful message of the story is that the father loved them both anyway.  In all of these parables, the thing that is lost, whether it is a coin, a sheep, or a son, is not somehow less valuable because it is lost, but is valuable simply because it belongs and is wanted.  And in each story, the thing that is lost is reconciled, returned, and reunited with the one to whom it belonged.

But how does that apply to us?

Since Jesus is the model upon whom we must try to pattern our lives, the answer to that is easy and in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Paul explains it as clearly as anyone.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You might have noticed that in one sentence, Paul used the same word no less than four times, reconciled, reconciliation, reconciling, and again, reconciliation.  When a writer does that, we rightly suspect that there is something about that word that is important and that the author intends for us to understand.  So let’s hear that again, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

This is a two-part message.  First, God reconciled us to him.  God took away our shame, took away our sin, took away our reproach, took away our slavery, and set us free.  God cleaned us up so that we never have to be ashamed or embarrassed because we think we aren’t “good enough.”  God adopted us into his family, making us sons and daughters of the creator of the universe, so that we could belong.  We are valuable, we are “good enough” because we belong and because we are wanted, and loved, by the King of Kings.

The second part of Paul’s message is that we are now committed, by God, to a message of reconciliation.  Paul says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”  Because we have been reconciled, we have now been sent out to tell the entire world the Good News of God’s love and reconciliation.  And if that is our mission, there is no way that we can look down on others and think that they aren’t pretty enough, or smart enough, or rich enough, or talented enough, or that they somehow aren’t good enough.

Hollywood and Madison Avenue have created an ideal for us that we cannot hope to live up to but we have been sent, by the King of Kings, to rescue everyone who has been told that they aren’t good enough.  We have been sent to invite them to belong.

 

 

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Click here if you would like to subscribe to these messages.

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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.

An Invitation to Something More

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“An Invitation to Something More”

February 28, 2016

By John Partridge*

 

Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-9                 1 Corinthians 10:1-13                 Luke 13:1-9

 

We are nearing spring, and have already entered the time when many of us will find special envelopes in our mailboxes.  You’ve seen this kind of mail before and you recognize it instantly.  Most of you will know what I am talking about even as I begin to describe them.  The mail we will receive is not your ordinary cheap white paper but a thicker, richer, more expensive kind of paper with visible fibers in it.  The addresses are often not just typed, but are handwritten, sometimes with rich script and calligraphy and occasionally with special raised lettering.  The enclosures are just as special.  Inside is not just a piece of paper, but a notecard printed on heavy bond cardstock, often with special embossed seals pressed into the paper and colorful printed stickers to seal the flaps.  There are also included, on another piece of cardstock, printed directions and also a stamped, pre-addressed return envelope that also includes yet another piece of embossed and printed cardstock.

Whew.  Just describing it is almost enough to make me tired.

Of course, by now most of us have clearly recognized that what has arrived in our mailboxes, often just by the weight and feel of the envelope, is an invitation to a wedding or to a graduation of some sort.  These can both be grand events, and even when they are done inexpensively, they are moments of celebration as young men and women mark important moments in life as they transition from student to working adults, or from singles to couples and families.  These moments are so important to us that we invite our family and friends to share and celebrate them with us.

And that brings us to our message from scripture today.  There are moments in scripture that are much like those embossed envelopes that we receive in the mail.  Special moments and special invitations like these are intended to get our attention and to ask for our attendance and participation.  We begin in Isaiah 55:1-9 where God invites the thirsty…

55:1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,
for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

This entire passage is an invitation from God and is not just an invitation to the thirsty.  Over and over again, God invites us to come to him, to listen to him, and to seek him.  God invites us to buy what is good without cost instead of wasting our money, time and sweat on useless things that never satisfy us.  In this invitation, God tells us that there is more to life than money and struggle and if we take the time to listen to him, we will find life.

Throughout this entire passage, in many different ways, God invites us… to belong.

But belonging can come at a price and in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Paul warns the church that there is a difference between participating and following.

10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Paul reminds the church that there were a great many people that travelled with Moses through the wilderness.  They all witnessed many miracles, they ate God’s manna, they saw the Red Sea divided and walked through the middle, they ate together, drank together, learned from Moses together, and heard God’s voice together, and yet, God was not pleased with many of them because they did not do what God asked them to do.

In the movie Apollo 13, the flight director for Mission Control, Gene Franz, famously says, “Failure is not an option.”  But in this letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is saying quite the opposite.  Paul wants the people to know that failure is an option.  It is entirely possible to show up in church, to participate in church, and yet still not do the things that God wants us to do.  Even so, failure is not certain.  We each have the opportunity to choose whether or not we do the things that God commands us to do.

And finally, in Luke 13:1-9 we find two more invitations.

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Luke begins with Jesus answering a question about men who had been murdered by Pontius Pilate while they were in the Temple making sacrifices to God.  The question in many minds was what horrible things these men must have done in order to be punished so horribly by God but Jesus turns that thought in a completely different direction.  Jesus says that neither the men that were murdered by Pilate, nor the eighteen men and women who were crushed when a tower collapsed upon them were killed because of their sin.  But all the same, we will all, sooner or later, end up dead.

Well, that’s an encouraging message.

Sooner or later we will all be dead.

You wouldn’t find that on any office walls or motivational posters outside of a funeral home.

But that isn’t the end of Jesus’ message.  Jesus says that sooner or later we will all end up dead… unless we repent.  Of course our repentance will not make us immortal in this life, but this is, from the lips of Jesus, an invitation to life.  An invitation to something more, a life that is more, a life that is more than anything this mortal life has to offer.

And then Jesus tells a story about a fig tree.

In that story, a parable, a tree is growing but although it is in the garden, and although it is green and has leaves and seems otherwise healthy, it is not producing figs.  The owner of the tree is understandably upset.  He planted the tree, watered it, and cared for it with the expectation that it would produce fruit.  When it does not, he is ready to cut it up and use it for firewood so that perhaps another tree can take its place.  The gardener begs for one more year, one more year in which he will give it special care and attention but if it does not produce fruit after that, then the tree is doomed.

What Jesus is saying is that he has planted us in his garden with the expectation that we will produce fruit.  He plants us, waters us, and cares for us so that we can accomplish what we were intended to do.  Even if we do not initially do as he expects, he gives us extra time, he pours out blessings on us and fertilizes us but, after a while, he will eventually plant someone else in our place.

Jesus invites us to repent, but true repentance reveals itself in fruitfulness.

And so, Jesus invites us to produce fruit.

Life on earth is predictable.  We are born, we live, and we die.  But God wants us to know that there is more.

God invites us to come to him, to listen to him, and to seek him.

God invites us to…belong.

But there is more to belonging than just showing up.

God invites us to do more than take up space, God wants more for us than that.

God invites us to repent and live.

God wants us to have a new kind of life, a life that lasts forever.

But true repentance is more than just living in the garden, soaking up sunshine, and drinking up the water that God is pouring out.

God invites us to fruitfulness.

All of this is a journey and all of it together teaches us that there is more to life than living and dying.  There is more to life than taking up showing up and taking up space.  God wants more for our lives than that.  God wants us to follow him, to live for him, and to produce fruit for him.

Our invitation may not come in a fancy envelope or have embossed lettering, but God invites us to a life that is richer and fuller than what we had before.  God invites us to a life that continues beyond the boundary of death.  God invites us to share what we have with others so that we can produce fruit.

God invites us to… something more.

How will you answer him?

 

 

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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.