John

Pastor’s Report 2024

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Pastor’s Report 2024

by Pastor John Partridge

Note: Every year, I am asked to present a report of the year for our annual Charge Conference. It’s really sort of a “what I did last summer” kind of report that asks, “What did your church do for the last year?” Long ago I decided that my answers should not be seen as any kind of a secret, and so I publish them here, and in our church newsletter. I’m excited about the future of Christ Church and its people and I hope that by talking more about it, others might learn about it, join us, and grow with us as we care for the people around us the way that Jesus cares for us. So, what follows is this year’s report:

As Christ Church entered 2024, we committed to keeping our mission statement in the front of our awareness and thus keeping our focus on our mission to reach out to our community and to use our gifts to do whatever we can to meet the needs of the people around us. Each church committee was challenged to regularly consider how the goals set out in our mission statement might be met in the context of the work being done by that group. As a result, some changes were made. Some of those changes were subtle and others were more visible, but even the subtle ones are having an impact.

One of our goals was to offer training to our members and leaders to better prepare and equip us to do the work of Jesus in our community. Toward this end we hosted a Bridges Out of Poverty training course which was open to anyone and advertised to East Ohio Conference churches as well as to our local Chamber of Commerce and local schools. While we might have hoped for more, attendance at this training event was good and was attended by both members of Christ Church as well as others from our community. Christ Church continued in our pursuit of developing a more active presence and ministry on the campus of the University of Mount Union (UMU) and, toward that end, several of our campus ministry team attended monthly training webinars hosted by the Coalition for Christian Outreach (CCO).  For several years, we had been hoping to partner with CCO in placing a campus ministry intern at UMU, but CCO has been challenged to find sufficient volunteers and, as of now, Christ Church has begun pursuing other options to establish and grow our presence on campus.

This year Christ Church continued to have a presence at the summer concerts at the caboose downtown where we gave out popcorn, water, and ice cream in exchange for donations to Habitat for Humanity. We also continued our collections in support of the Alliance Community Food Pantry, the Salvation Army, and the Alliance of Churches. In addition, with the growing number of children present in our worship services, we relaunched a monthly “Noisy Can” offering which has nearly tripled our regular giving to the Alliance of Churches bread ministry and the Salvation Army food pantry. Similarly, our increased focus on finding solutions for the needs of our community inspired our United Women of Faith to make a substantial $30,000 donation from the Martha Goldrick endowment fund toward the YWCA project which will provide temporary housing to women and children in crisis situations.  $15,000 was donated to the YWCA for immediate needs and $15,000 was invested with the Greater Alliance Foundation in establishing the YWCA Transitional Housing Fund to encourage wider community support of future needs.

As noted, we continue to see an increase in the number of children each Sunday and have now launched a second class so that we can better provide age-appropriate instruction. At the same time, our youth ministry through scouting remains strong and is reaching many young people and their families through our Cub Scout pack and two scout troops.

For some time, our members have been encouraged to be more invitational, and that message has begun to bear fruit as we have seen an increase in the number of visitors as well as several new members and regular attenders coming from those who first came as invited guests. Thankfully, we have only lost one current member to death or transfer and have therefore seen an increase in our membership for the first time in several years. We have also scheduled a new member class (and we anticipate that another may be needed after that) and so we hope that we will soon add even more to our congregation.

Overall, we are seeing positive changes throughout the life of our congregation, and it is our hope that we will continue to encourage those changes and the growth that they have inspired. I am encouraged by the things that we have seen in 2024, and I am optimistic that we will continue to build on the growth that we have seen. In sum, I believe that there is a bright future for Christ Church, its mission to the people of our community, and our place in the work of Jesus Christ.

Blessings,

Pastor John Partridge

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Innocence, Guilt, and the Judgement of God

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Innocence, Guilt, and the Judgement of God

October 13, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Job 23:1-9, 16-17                   Mark 10:17-31                       Hebrews 4:12-16

Everyone has different habits when they watch television, and we all have our favorite things to watch. At our house, we watch a lot of police shows like NCIS, FBI, Castle, and Bones. In one of the shows that we watched this week, there was a woman who was convicted for a long sentence because she refused to accept a plea bargain. And, she had refused to accept a plea bargain, because she never stopped insisting that she was innocent of the crime. I didn’t see how that episode ended, but when I started looking at the scriptures for this week’s message, it got me thinking that this was exactly like the situation in which Job had found himself.

You will remember from last week that Job had done absolutely nothing wrong. But as we read the rest of the story, Job is the only person who believes that. Job’s wife urges him to curse God and die. Job’s friends come to sit with him, but each of them tells him that it would be best if he just accepted a plea bargain from God. They advise him that his situation, having lost his children, his wealth, and his physical health, makes it clear that he is guilty. Admittedly, the evidence against Job is all circumstantial, but to Job’s friends, and everyone else, the circumstantial evidence seems to be overwhelming. And so, their advice is to simply confess his guilt before God, whether he did it or not, and maybe God would be merciful.

But Job isn’t done. Like the woman on television, Job continues to protest his innocence, and he wants to make his appeal directly to God. But for Job, God seems to have gone missing. He feels as if his prayers are unheard. And in Job 23:1-9, 16-17 we hear this:

23:1 Then Job replied:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
    his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
    if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
    and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?
    No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
    and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
    if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
    when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

16 God has made my heart faint;
    the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
    by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job is in search of God so that he can protest his innocence, but he is afraid of what he will find. Job knows the power and majesty of God and is terrified of what it might be like to be in God’s presence, but nonetheless, Job is not silenced by his fear and presses on to declare his innocence anyway.

The situation of Job is reversed in the story of Jesus that we read in Mark 10:17-31. Here, we find a man who claims to be guiltless… but when Jesus challenges him, we discover that he is not.

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it isto enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Jesus tells the man that he lacks only one thing, and I have to say, we aren’t sure what one thing that Jesus had in mind because it isn’t hard to start naming things that he is missing. Certainly he lacked in humility, and it seems likely that he is lacking in generosity but, since the focus was on the commandments of Moses, the two most likely commandments that he is missing are two that Jesus didn’t mention, “You shall not covet,” and “You shall have no other gods before me.” If this wealthy man is innocent of wanting what others have, then he remains guilty of loving his money a little too much. When facing a choice between following Jesus and gaining eternal life, or holding tightly to his money, the man chooses money. For him, money had become more important than God.

But in the world that the disciples had grown up in, much like we often hear today, many people, even many of the teachers of scripture, taught that the rich had been given their wealth by God and that their wealth was a symbol of God’s blessing. And so, when Jesus says that it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God, the disciples absolutely freak out. They instantly ask Jesus how this is possible. If the rich are blessed by God and they can’t get into heaven, then how can anyone else get in? Even worse, if no one can get in, then what about the twelve of them who left everything to follow Jesus? And what Jesus tells them is that God’s math is different than human math. God’s system of accounting is different than the one that humans usually use. For God, it isn’t the rich that are blessed, it’s the people who have been faithful to God and who have done the things that God has called them to do. The people who have left home to follow Jesus, or who have given up family or wealth, or have endured persecution for the sake of the gospel will be rewarded even if they were poor. Despite what the teachers of Israel were saying two thousand years ago, and despite what you may hear from many modern televangelists, it isn’t about prosperity, it’s about obedience.

But we are not like Job. We are not certain that we have done nothing wrong. We understand that we get things wrong with some regularity. And, like the disciples of Jesus, we worry that we might not be good enough, that we might not have enough faith, and that God might judge us too harshly. And in Hebrews 4:12-16 the Apostle Paul offers us this encouragement:

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Paul says that when we read God’s word, we can feel it penetrate us and convict us of our wrongdoing as if it were a sword. Our sin and our guilt are laid bare for us to see where we have fallen short. But our God, our Jesus, understands how we feel and what we experience. Jesus set aside the glory of heaven, came down to earth, became one of us, lived among us, and felt the things that we feel. And so, God understands our weaknesses, our failures, and our temptations and knowing how badly we have failed, still offers us mercy, grace, and forgiveness in abundance.

Even when things go terribly wrong, even when life is hard, even when we worry about not being good enough, God never leaves. God watches over us and his eyes never leave us. No matter how badly we screw up, God never abandons us. Instead, God understands us. God understands what it is like to be human and offers us mercy, grace, healing, forgiveness…

…and hope.

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

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Life is Hard. God has Standards.

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A tsunami warning sign that says "Life is Hard"

Life is Hard. God has Standards.

October 06, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Job 1:1; 2:1-10                       Mark 10:2-16            

I heard an interesting question this week and, that question boils down to, what did the people of North Carolina, Florida, and all the places in between do to make God angry enough to bring destruction upon them through such a violent hurricane?

Of course, the correct answer… is nothing.

However, this has now become known as the Pat Robertson Syndrome, which is named after, obviously, the televangelist Pat Robertson, who once said that God’s wrath would bring destruction upon this place or that place because the people there had sinned in some spectacular way. More recently, the Pat Robertson Syndrome is being applied to the media’s haste to label every single weather event as being caused by global warming. Sure, global warming is real, but sometimes weather is just weather.

The answer is… none of the people who have been harmed did anything to bring destruction and devastation upon themselves. Sometimes, life is just hard. But even when we acknowledge that life is hard, we must also remember that even though he loves us and is filled with love and grace, God has standards. And what we wrestle with is that sometimes God’s standards do nothing to make a hard life easier.

We begin this morning with a snippet of the story of Job. If you aren’t familiar with his story, Job was an honest man of devout faith in God whom God himself declared to be both righteous and blameless. But because Job was doing so well, Satan asked God for permission to torment Job in order to prove that Job’s love of God was only the result of God giving him good things. God allowed this to happen, and Satan took away all of Job’s wealth, and killed all his children. And still Job honored God. And that is where we join the story in Job chapter 2… (Job 1:1; 2:1-10)

1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

2:1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Job lost his wealth, he lost his children, and he lost his health. He was covered in painful sores and could only sit and suffer. Even his wife told him to give up on God, but Job, who had done nothing wrong, held on to his faith in God. Remember that Job knew nothing about Satan’s requests to prove that Job’s faith was only a payment for the blessings that God had given him. Job only knew that he had done nothing wrong but lost everything anyway.

Life is hard.

And, as we read the gospel story of Mark, we find that following God, and obeying God, doesn’t always make life easier. In Mark 10:2-16, the Pharisees test Jesus with a question about divorce. You see, different factions within the religious leadership and the elites of Israel regularly argued about what conditions were needed to allow a married couple to divorce. Some said that infidelity would be required, while others said that nearly any minor offense was enough for a husband to divorce and abandon his wife. In general, everyone followed the guidance of Roman law, but this was a regular argument among the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and others. And so, they ask Jesus to weigh in on their ongoing debate in order to see on whose side he will be lend his support.

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied.

4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Jesus deconstructs the entire argument about divorce by saying that it is God that created men and women, it is God that puts married couples together, and it is only the hardness of human hearts that makes divorce necessary. If human beings weren’t broken and unfaithful to God, divorce would not be necessary. By that measure, Jesus says, anyone who divorces and remarries commits the sin of adultery. This is harsh. By the standards and measures of our modern culture, this is hard to swallow. But even in the first century, this was stricter than what any of Israel’s teachers, priests, and religious leaders were teaching.

But I want to be clear about something. I don’t think that Jesus is teaching that people who divorce and remarry are condemned by God. Instead, Jesus is pointing out that the human weakness in all of us often causes us to fall short of God’s standards and fall into sin. But this strictness on the part of Jesus is immediately contrasted by the compassion that he shows for the children. The disciples try to run the kids, and their parents, off, but Jesus invites them to come to him and explains that all of us should aspire to have the pure and honest faith that children have.

So, what have we heard today?

First, God did not send destruction upon the people of the American south.

No one did anything for which God has chosen to “smite” them or punish them.

But if we learn anything from Job, one of those things should be that even though we didn’t do anything wrong, sometimes life is hard. Bad things, sometimes horrible things happen, and we may not ever know why it happened or why God allowed it to happen. And when (not if) that happens, we should aspire to be like Job. Feel free to mourn and sit in a pile of ashes and pray. Feel free to sit and commiserate with your friends. Feel free to argue with God and protest your innocence.

But don’t give up on God.

Accept that life is hard and is sometimes flat out horrible. But through it all, God will never leave you even when it might feel like he has.

Second, we must remember that God’s standards are not our standards. Sometimes what God requires of us is harder and stricter than the rules that our culture expects. And sometimes God’s expectations are so strict that our culture cries out that God is unjust. Even so, we must do our best to rise and meet God’s standards as best we can.

The good news, as always, is that as the followers of Jesus Christ, we are covered by God’s grace.

When life is hard, God is with us.

When terrible things happen, God sustains us.

When we fall short of God’s expectations for us, God loves us and forgives us.

And we should aspire to be as faithful to God as God is to us. We aspire to have the pure and honest faith of children and rest in the arms, and in the love, of God…

…even when life is hard.

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

Church is a Team Sport

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Church is a Team Sport

September 29, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22               Mark 9:38-50             James 5:13-20

What makes you think less of yourself as an individual, and more as a part of something larger than yourself? When we join scouting, we sometimes think of what is good for the troop rather than what is best for our individual gain, but sometimes we think beyond the local troop and think of scouting nationally, or even internationally as the scouting movement. If we join the military, we are taught to think in terms of what is good for the squad, platoon, company, and the mission beyond what is good for me personally. During World War Two, troops were reminded that “Loose Lips Sink Ships” and that the actions of individuals could have consequences beyond their own lives. At home, civilians were reminded to “Buy War Bonds,” to plant Victory Gardens, to reduce consumption, and to recycle to aid the war effort. On a national scale, our friends in the United Kingdom were reminded to sacrifice “For King and Country” and Americans to do our duty to “Make the world safe for democracy.”

And, as we read scripture, we are reminded that none of these ideas are new. England, as a nation, is obviously much older than the United States. But the idea of patriotism and sacrificing the needs of the individual for the needs of the king, or of the nation, is far older still. We begin by reading from the story of Esther, in which we find the queen preparing a banquet where she will reveal a plot in which King Xerxes’ closest advisor, Haman, has secretly and covertly had the king sign an edict that would allow all the people of the kingdom, which spanned most of the known world, to kill their Jewish neighbors and take any and all wealth, property, and belongings for themselves. With that in mind, we join Esther’s story in Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 where we hear this:

7:1 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits [75 ft, or 6 stories, almost certainly an exaggeration]stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”

The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

9:20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, 21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

This has always been a powerful story but this week it is also a reminder that it is useful to read the footnotes. In the footnote for verse four, which says, “I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king” has an alternate version that has appeared in some ancient manuscripts. That alternate version offers us some additional understanding of the intent of Esther’s statement. In English that alternate version says that this action would cost the king money, or specifically, “I would have kept quiet, but the compensation our adversary offers cannot be compared with the loss the king would suffer.”

What Esther is saying means that Haman is acting in his own selfish interests, and not acting in the best interests of the king. I think that helps us to understand why King Xerxes is so quickly angered. Not only are the lives of all the Jews threatened, and not only is Xerxes’ queen among them, but in sum, this action would cost the king money. Haman’s crime, therefore, is in plotting to steal wealth from the king, to put his personal interests ahead of the interests of the nation and of the king, and of simply not being a team player.

As an aside, the celebration of the Jew’s rescue that we just read about, is now known as the Jewish holiday of Purim.

We see something similar in Mark 9:38-50 where John complains that there are people acting in the name of Jesus who are not the disciples that we read about in the gospel stories.

38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck, and they were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where

“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
    and the fire is not quenched.’

49 Everyone will be salted with fire.

50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

At the beginning of this passage, we find John complaining to Jesus that there are others, who are not among the twelve disciples or other close followers of Jesus, who are driving out demons in the name of Jesus. For John, this broke the rules. In his mind, clearly, ‘Team Jesus’ was limited to the twelve and to those others that were likewise sort of joined at the hip with Jesus. But Jesus tells John to let them keep on doing what they were doing. For Jesus, anyone who was not working against them was on their team and, by extension, anyone who was doing good in the name of Jesus must certainly be a member of ‘Team Jesus.’

But just to be sure that everyone understands, Jesus expands on his explanation saying that if you give someone a cup of water because you follow Jesus, then you will be rewarded as a team member. Likewise, anyone who chases believers away from Jesus will be cursed and brought to account on the day of judgement. When Jesus says that it is better to cut of your hand if it will cause you to stumble, what he is saying is that nothing in our lives can be allowed to make us lose our place on the team. Spiritually, we must care for ourselves, but we must also care for one another, and care for everyone on ‘Team Jesus.’

Jesus says, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” And then talks about salt and saltiness. For us in the modern world that’s a little confusing and I want to unpack that a little. Salt, in the ancient world, was used for a couple different things. One, to flavor our food, we still understand. But the second common use of salt was as the floor of an oven, much like modern pizza ovens use a piece of hearthstone. But, after enduring the heat of the oven for some length of time, the salt would lose the qualities that had originally made it work. At that point, it was no longer good for use in the oven and stopped tasting salty. It was at that point that it would just be used to fill potholes or be used as gravel or something. And so, what Jesus is saying is that everyone will be tested for usefulness. When Jesus says, “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another” what he is saying is that we should be found useful in our church and in our community.

And finally, after hearing James, in our scriptures last week, say that our prayers were not answered because our motives were wrong, this week we hear him tell us what things are appropriate for which to pray. In James 5:13-20 he says:

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The message that we should hear is that we should not pray for things that would satisfy our selfish pleasures, but for those things that help to accomplish the goals of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ. Pray in times of trouble. Pray to give thanks. Pray for the healing of the sick. Pray for the forgiveness of sin. James calls us to confess our sins to one another, and then to pray for one another for healing. James reminds us that Elijah prayed that it would not rain because the lack of rain was a way in which God would be revealed. The goal, James says, is to advance the mission of God’s Team and ‘Team Jesus.’ If someone wanders away from the team, do what you can to bring them back on the team.

The story of Esther reminds us that all those who serve the king must look out for the interests of their king and their country, and not try to use the king’s resources to serve their selfish desires.

The story of the John and the disciples that we read in the gospel of Mark reminded us that our team is bigger than just the people that you see in church on Sunday morning. We do not serve ‘Team Church,’ or ‘Team Denomination.’ Rather, we serve ‘Team Jesus’ and are called to care for ourselves, as well as all those, children, and adults, regardless of church or denomination, who worship him. We are called to care for others, and to be useful to our church and to our community.

The goal isn’t to enrich ourselves personally, or to satisfy our selfish desires. The goal is to serve the team and to help the team to accomplish the goals of the king of creation. But to do these things, we need each other, and we need to care for one another. We are called to be the church. We are called to be Jesus to the people around us.

But what we have learned from all of our scriptures today is that being the church…

…is a team sport.

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

Photo by redvisualg on Freeimages.com

Culture Wars and Christianity

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Christianity: Rooted in Culture Wars

September 2024

by John Partridge

While you might not have the time to read the paper that I wrote last semester (and what is likely to become a part of a book next spring), what follows is an important excerpt. Working through several chapters of Matthew, I detail how our knowledge of modern archaeology and history adds to our understanding and gives depth to scripture. Below, I discuss how Christianity, from its birth, has been no stranger to culture wars and what we should learn from that.

When we read Jesus’ caution that “No one can serve two masters,” in Matthew 6:24, we find that our study of history expands our understanding beyond the surface meaning. Many of us have tried to please two bosses or have otherwise been pulled between our loyalties to work, family, and faith, but Roman Palestine, and Galilee in particular, felt many of these pressures, each demanding that they choose them as their master. At the time of Jesus, the rule of King Herod and Rome was less than 70 years old.  But there were institutions, buildings, and cultural memories of the earlier Hasmonean dynasty under which Israel was free and independent.

The Hasmonean dynasty had emphasized, and even required, an adherence to a more traditional Jewish culture and religion, but with the fall of the Hasmoneans, the rise of Herod the Great, and Israel’s subjugation by the Roman Empire, things were changing. There were changes in clothing style, architecture, language, art, and language, and all these changes were often seen as an incredible culture war between the traditional Jewish culture, and the newer Greco-Roman culture, known as Hellenism. Hellenism, of course, was not entirely new. It had begun generations earlier with the conquest of Pompey and the Greeks (in 63 BCE), even before the Hasmoneans rose to power, but was now, under Herod and the Romans, an increasingly strong influence.

While upper Galilee retained a traditional Jewish culture, lower Galilee, with the presence of the Greco-Roman cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias, as well as its proximity to Hippos on the opposite shore of the lake, was seen as having made a greater degree of accommodation to Hellenism. Israel’s elites, including the chief priests and much of Jerusalem with them, adopted Roman culture to fit in, to get ahead, and to win favor. This influence of Hellenism triggered strong emotions, and this is the tension that we see in passages such as Matthew 6:20.

Further, when we remember that ninety percent of Roman Palestine lived at a subsistence level or below, we see Jesus’ instruction in a different light when he says, “’So, do not worry, saying what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt 6:31-33). With this in mind, we not only understand that Jesus is teaching his listeners that they should make God’s kingdom a priority in their lives, but to people who were so poor that they often struggled to eat, or to drink, or wear, much of anything at all, Jesus was offering hope.

The people from rural villages in Galilee were insulated from Greco-Roman influence but they saw wealthy landowners, priests and other elites who were trying to fit into Roman culture, and they saw how that caused them to match what the Romans were eating, drinking, and wearing. But Jesus’ message was that conforming to Roman culture was not important and that it was not a curse to be so poor that they could not afford those things. His message was that God remembered them, knew what they needed, and would provide for them if they remained faithful and pursued righteousness instead of chasing after wealth and culture.

This was more than offering empty hope. The message of Jesus was that people should follow the law and live lives of moral integrity but also that they should be filled with compassion for one another. Rather than just watching out for themselves, or for their immediate and extended family, which was often the norm, Jesus and his disciples teach, and model, a life in which they all care for one another. Moreover, Jesus says that God sees them and cares for them in real life and not only on a spiritual level. God’s love for his children is not as a distant and disinterested observer, but as a father who cares for his children in tangible and physical ways saying, “ask and it will be given to you” (Matt 7:7) and “your Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11)

That’s just a sample from my paper, but the takeaway for all of us is that Christianity was born in the middle of an enormous culture war. What we see today is not new. But the message of scripture is still the same. No man can serve two masters, the people of the church should care for one another rather than only looking out for themselves, and God still loves us, not just spiritually or metaphysically, but deeply, tangibly, and physically.

Much has changed in two thousand years and times will continue to change with each generation.

But God’s love for us never changes.

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Is Your Religion a Spuddle?

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Is Your Religion a Spuddle?
or, Whose Religion Counts?

September 01, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

Song of Solomon 2:8-13        Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23                  James 1:17-27

Okay, this morning we’re going to do something different. We’re going to begin today’s message with a vocabulary quiz.

I’m serious. Sort of. Go ahead and get a pencil or a pen or get your phone to a place where you can take a quick note or two. It’s okay if you can’t, I only have three questions. If you can, write down the definition of the following words:

Fudgel.

Spuddle.

And the last one, which is likely to be more familiar… Boondoggle.

Did you get that? Let me repeat it. Fudgel, Spuddle, and Boondoggle.

The secret here, is that the meaning of these three words is almost the same.

Fudgel is an 18th century English word that means “to pretend to be busy while actually doing nothing.”

Spuddle is a 17th century word that means ‘to work ineffectively’ or to be extremely busy whilst achieving absolutely nothing.

And finally, Boondoggle is a modern word that describes doing work of little or no practical value for the purpose of simply keeping or looking busy.

How did you do?

All these words attempt to describe work that doesn’t matter or work that isn’t work at all. The use of these words is not to be confused with a great word like ‘putter’ or ‘puttering’ because when you putter, you might be doing several small things, but any or all of them might be needed and necessary.

Why is any of that important? Because as we read our scriptures for today, we will discover that, if we aren’t careful, our religion might be described as a fudgel, a spuddle, or a boondoggle. We begin in the Song of Solomon, in which the bride describes her beloved and, it might be supposed, that this is also an allegory that describes God’s love for us. Reading from Song of Solomon 2:8-13, we hear this:

8 Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
    Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
    peering through the lattice.
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.

If, in these words, we hear a description of God’s relationship with us, then when we hear, “Arise, my darling,my beautiful one, come with me.” We hear God calling us to be with him. The winter is past, the rains are over, flowers appear on the earth, the season of singing has come. The darkness, the cold, and the gray ugliness is over and hope returns.

The coming of God, or the following of God, is described as the arrival of hope.

Keep that in mind as we listen to Jesus describe the religion of the Pharisees, men who had dedicated their lives to doing everything the way that God wanted them to do it. Hear what Jesus says in Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23.

7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

The intention of the Pharisees was to reform Judaism. They believed that for Israel to be blessed by God, that they must follow the law to the best of their ability. But with those good intentions, what they did was not to just teach the law so that everyone knew where God’s had drawn the lines around their behavior, but to draw boundaries and write rules that would prevent them from ever coming close to those boundaries. Two weeks ago, I said that rather than just avoiding sin, we should avoid the offramps that lead us to sin. And while that is good advice, and that might have been the original intention of the Pharisees, what they did instead was, over time, establish rules and traditions that went much farther than that, and applied those rules to everyone regardless of whether they had a problem with a particular sin. And then, after more time had passed, those rules, as well-intentioned as they might have been, became even more important than the original commandments of God. As a result, Jesus calls them hypocrites that honor God with their lips but whose hearts are far away. In other words, their religion had become a spuddle. It kept everyone extraordinarily busy but failed to achieve the intended goal.

Jesus’ brother James offers similar advice to the Jewish Christians who were spread across the Roman Empire and the known world in James 1:17-27.

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James reminds the church that God does not change like shifting shadows. But we were created to be God’s firstfruits, a gift from creation itself to God, and a gift that represents our hope for the future harvest. Like a gift of firstfruits, we are not the whole gift, but a gift at the beginning of the harvest that represents our hope in the abundance of the full harvest that is yet to come. But what does that look like? James says that our gift of hope does not look like anger, immorality, and evil but instead looks like the words of Jesus Christ that have been planted within us.

James says that anyone who listens, but does not do what they are taught, is fudgelling. They’re busy, but they are uselessly busy like someone forgets what they looked like in the mirror. Real religion, real faith, is looking at the law and the words of Jesus Christ and then… doing something about it. The religion that God accepts isn’t the religion of studying, listening and learning, it is the religion of caring for widows and orphans, keeping ourselves pure, being careful about what comes out of our mouths and careful to avoid thoughts of immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.

Real religion isn’t a boondoggle that keeps us busy without producing anything of value.

Solomon said that the arrival of God, and the following of God, produces hope.

Real religion, the religion that God accepts as pure and faultless, does that. It is not an academic exercise. It is not something that keeps us busy listening and learning. It is a religion that looks after orphans and widows, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, houses the homeless, speaks for the voiceless, protects the vulnerable, and otherwise does the things that Jesus taught.

Real religion is not just a religion of hearing, but a religion of doing, so that we become agents of hope.

Anything else is just a spuddle.

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

Pentecost and the Politics of Pain

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Pentecost and the Politics of Pain

(Pentecost)

May 19, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 15:26-16:15                   Acts 2:1-21                 Romans 8:22-27

If you have any empathy at all and have watched the news at any time in the last several years, you just might despair for the state of our planet and its people. The United States is struggling with issues of race more than 150 years after the Civil War. South Africa continues to grapple with their racial issues thirty years after the end of Apartheid.  Russia remains intent upon regaining control of Ukraine and other nations over which it once held sway during the years of the Soviet Union. Israel and Hamas continue to fight one another with far reaching calamity in an enormous city filled with civilians. Genocidal acts continue to be perpetrated against Christians and their churches in Nigeria. China continues to persecute ethnic minorities, Christians, and anyone else that might be perceived as a thread to the communist party. Venezuela’s political conflict has so utterly crashed its economy that people are said to be eating rats, pigeons, and dogs to survive. And, unfortunately, that’s just the beginning. The more we read about what is going on, the more we weep over the state of our planet.

But surely it will get better, right? Or maybe we’re just in a bad place at this present moment and it goes in some kind of cycle. And, while that might seem to be true locally, I don’t know that such a thing has ever been true when we look at the world as a whole unless, of course, we simply go back to a time when there weren’t many people at all, but even then life, and survival, was often simply brutal.

That’s a harsh assessment, but is there any good news?

Of course there is. But before we get to the good news, let’s look at the promise that Jesus made to his disciples after the resurrection but before his ascension into heaven. For that, let’s begin with Jesus’ own words carried to us by the Apostle John in John 15:26-16:15, where Jesus says:

26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

16:1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Jesus foretells of his return to heaven but promises that when he goes, he will send the Spirit of God, the Advocate, to earth in his place. The Advocate, Jesus says, will prove to the world that they were wrong about sin and righteousness, and wrong about judgement. The Spirit will also guide the followers of Jesus toward the truth. That doesn’t mean that Christians will have any sort of monopoly on truth, but that, over time, as we follow him, we will move away from falsehood and closer to the truth.

These are important promises, not only because our world seems to be broken and we need to have some good news, but because both individually and collectively we find that its far too easy to wander into half-truths, falsehood, fake news, propaganda, and delusion and we need help to stay focused and guided toward the truth. But as important as Jesus’ promise was, perhaps even more important is the fulfillment of that promise on the day of Pentecost that we see in Acts 2:1-21, which says:

2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesas the Spirit enabled them.

5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Jesus returns to his home in heaven and, in fulfillment of his promise, sends the Spirit of God to earth and in a visible and unmistakable way, the Spirit arrives and enters into the disciples and other followers of Jesus Christ that were waiting for its arrival. Jews from all over the known world had gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate a Jewish holy day, and all of them heard the disciples preaching in their own unique languages and dialects.

This begins the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus made, but it is not the complete fulfillment. An undeniable miracle happens in full view of hundreds of unbelievers and the world sees that the power of God lives in the message of Jesus and the disciples. But has this proven the wrong of sin to the entire world? No. And has it guided them to the truth? Not everyone.

And what about the darkness and evil that we see throughout history and in the world in which we now live? It is obvious that pain and suffering and the politics that often perpetuate it haven’t gone away. And so, it’s fair to ask, “What role does the Spirit have in the world?” “What role does the church, and its members have?”, and “What does God expects of us?” We gain insight into these questions from the words of Paul in his letter to the church in Rome found in Romans 8:22-27 where he says:

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Paul openly admits that all of creation groans as if it were in labor and giving birth because of the pain, suffering, injustice, darkness, and evil that is in the world. In short, the world sucks. But amid that groaning of creation is the inward groaning and anticipation of our adoption, redemption, and a new life in God’s recreated and perfect world that is yet to come. Although we live in a world that is suffering and broken, we have hope in what is yet to come. And as we wait patiently in hope, the Spirit of God helps us in all our weaknesses, all our shortcomings, all our faults, and all the places that we just… aren’t enough. Even when we are so frightened, frustrated, angry, confused, irritated, broken, hurt, suffering, or otherwise unable to find words to pray, the Spirit of God intercedes for us and interprets our groans, and the feelings of our hearts, puts words to them, and carries those prayers to the throne of God.

Despite the constant barrage of unwelcome news and the politics of pain, the good news of Pentecost is that God is with us, that God loves us, cares for us, intercedes for us, and even puts words to our prayers of groaning even when we can’t find words for ourselves. In a world full of suffering and pain, the clear message of scripture is filled with hope because it tells us that…

… we… are not… alone.

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

A Tithe of Time

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A Tithe of Time

May 2024

By Pastor John Partridge


What exactly is a “tithe?” It’s a church word that we sometimes use withing the community of faith, but which rarely gets used anywhere else. Strictly speaking, a tithe means “a tenth.” In the Bible, Israel was called to give God one tenth of what they had earned and that tenth supported the temple, the full-time priesthood, and some additional funds for widows, orphans, and other charitable needs of the community. Tithes were commanded and expected, though this is one of the very few, and perhaps the only, command God gave to Israel that has no punishment for failing to comply. But it is also the only place that God challenges us to test him, saying, “Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10). Incidentally, gifts that went beyond ten percent, are what were called “offerings” to God.

But what money isn’t the only thing that we can tithe because money isn’t the only thing that God gives to us. Of course, money is one of the easiest things to quantify, that is to count, but our net worth, or our gross (not net) annual income is not the only gift that we get from God. Of course, we no longer sacrifice children, and we aren’t expected to give God our firstborn to serve the church, but what about time? God give us time and the time that we have is certainly a gift, so why don’t we think about giving our time back to God? If we dare to think about it that way, a tithe of our time is a lot. A tithe of our time would be giving one day in ten to God. Or even if we thought of it in terms of workdays, that’s one eight-hour day every two weeks. Then again, giving a tenth of our time to God wouldn’t necessarily mean working at the church for eight hours twice a month. It could look like something else.

It might look like sabbath rest. God invites us to rest from our labor once every seven days, to relax and restore us physically, mentally, and spiritually. In that way, we could give a part of our tithe to God just by showing up to church once per week, but also by not filling up the rest of our day with stuff that isn’t restful or that doesn’t honor God. It might be joining a Bible study, a Sunday school class, choir, volunteering for a committee or a work project, or something else in the life of the church.

It might look like an occasional mission trip, or volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, or in Scouting, the homeless shelter, community food pantry, the Alliance of Churches bread ministry, or other places where we can serve God by serving others whether that involves physical labor, or visiting folks in the hospital, writing cards to shut-ins, or answering phones at a suicide hotline.

You are allowed to use your imagination. But if God has given us gifts of time, talents, skills, and abilities, as well as intelligence, education, and money, how will we give back a tenth of what he has given to us?

Blessings,

Pastor John


Ownership. Relationship. Commitment.

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Ownership. Relationship. Commitment.

April 28, 2024*

By Pastor John Partridge

John 10:11-18                        Acts 4:5-12                 1 John 3:16-24

Have you ever driven a rental car? You can never be too sure about rental cars because, although they are usually new, people often drive them in ways that you would not drive your family car. I’ve heard stories about rental cars being destroyed because there are often no repercussions if you pay for the insurance in advance. Military vehicles are often in a comparable situation, although destroying them is punishable, it is not all uncommon for young soldiers to take vehicles off-road, bury them to the axles in mud, or worse, and just generally drive them… shall we say… harshly. Though in some cases, the motor sergeant is going to own you for a while.

There is a saying, “Drive it like you stole it” that might be applied to both rental cars and military vehicles. At the heart of this discussion is the issue of ownership. Ownership of the car makes a difference. If those same young soldiers spent several years working at the local fast food franchise to buy their own car, and then did a lot of their own labor to fix it up and add after-factory accessories and bling to it, the odds are good that they would drive that car in a vastly different way than a rental car or military motor pool vehicle.

Ownership makes a difference in many things. And it is that principle that we find at the core of our story this morning in John 10:11-18 when Jesus says…

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd” and not a hired hand. The difference between the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, and the hired hand who runs away and allows the flock to be scattered, is ownership. The flock belongs to Jesus, and not only does he protect it and preserve it with his life, but he has a relationship with his sheep. He knows everything about his sheep, and they know him. And because they know him, and they trust him, they listen to his voice and follow his commands. And that illustration is accurate. Before we went into ministry, Patti and I had seven acres and, at one time, two sheep. Every day I let them out of the barn in the morning and they ran out to the pasture to graze. But every evening I opened the door to their stall, and then the barn door, and as soon as I called them, they ran in. If it was anybody but Patti or I, they didn’t come because they didn’t know them.

Ownership, and relationships, make a difference.

And so, when Peter and John are detained, if not arrested, and brought before the elders to make an accounting for the lame man that they healed at the temple gate, they don’t take the credit for anything, but instead point to the good shepherd. Let’s read the story in Acts 4:5-12:

5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Peter and John knew the good shepherd and had a relationship with him. And so, as his followers, or as John Bunyan said it in Pilgrim’s Progress, as under-shepherds, they knew from where their authority and power had come and gave credit and testimony to Jesus for the healing of the lame man who had begged at the gate to the temple.

But why? And why does knowing why matter to us? And how does knowing inform us, and instruct us, about how we should live our lives today? The Apostle John understood that these are legitimate questions, and they were questions that the church was asking two thousand years ago just as we ask them today. And that’s why we find John’s answer to the first century church, and to us, in 1 John 3:16-24, when he explains that…

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

19 This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Jesus said that he was the good shepherd, because the shepherd has ownership of his sheep, and is willing to lay down his life to protect them. Jesus did just that. He laid down his life so that we could be rescued from sin and death. Building on that, John makes the point that if Jesus laid down his life for us, then we should be ready to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If the followers of Jesus Christ are blessed enough to have money, cars, houses, and other material possessions, and have no pity for brothers and sisters that are in need, then how can we believe that the love of God is in them at all? Love, John says, isn’t about the words that we say, but in the actions that we take. Love isn’t saying that we care about the poor, or giving speeches about how much we love them. Love is making sure that they have food, clothing, and a place to live.

John says that “the one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” If we love God, if the Spirit of God truly lives in us, then we will keep God’s commandments, do the things that God asks us to do, and love the people around us in the way that Jesus loved them. The abridged version is that if we truly believe, then we will use what we have, to take action and love the people around us by caring for their needs.

Jesus is the good shepherd. He has ownership and is not a hired hand, so he was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. But a good shepherd also has a relationship with their sheep. He knows them, and they know him. And because we have a relationship with Jesus, as our good shepherd, we have made a commitment to follow him, to obey him, and to love the world the way that Jesus loved.

Love is not words; love is an action.

How will you show the people of your community the love of Jesus today?

That is a question we should ask ourselves every day, and every time we see people who are struggling.

How will we show them the love of Jesus today?

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

Photo by Sarej on Freeimages.com

Considering “What’s Next?”

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Considering “What’s Next?”

Easter 2024
by John Partridge

As we approach Easter, we must all consider the question of “What’s next?” If we’re serious about our faith, Easter is all about the “what’s next” and not yesterday, today, or tradition.

What do I mean by that?

What I mean is, Easter, from the very beginning, was a transformative, and transformational event. No one who saw what happened, or who believed that it happened, was the same afterward as they were before. After the crucifixion, Peter gave up. He left Jerusalem, walked home to Galilee, and went back to work as a fisherman. And it wasn’t just Peter because the story in John 21 tells us that Thomas, Nathaniel, James, John, and two others were with him. This had to be some time after they had seen Jesus in Jerusalem because Galilee is 60 or 70 miles away and probably a three-day walk. But after they meet Jesus, again, but it is here that Jesus commands Peter to “Feed my sheep,” “Feed my lambs,” and “Follow me.”

After this moment, Peter, and all the other disciples, never make any further attempts to go back to a normal life. From this moment onward, they dedicate their lives to telling the world about what they had seen and heard, and what Jesus had done for every human being that ever lived. For the disciples, for Lazarus and his sisters, for the unnamed followers of Jesus, men and women alike, who were gathered in the upper room at Pentecost, and even for many of the Pharisees and priests that came to believe the truth about Jesus, “What’s next” was a life changing question.

Their lives would never be the same. They could never go back to whatever “normal’ they had before they had met Jesus. Knowing the truth changed the way that they looked at the world, changed the way that they saw the people around them, and changed the way that they made the choices that guided their careers, their lives, and everything that they did forever.

As we celebrate Easter, we need to put ourselves in their place. If we genuinely believe that the events of Easter really happened, and that Jesus really is who the gospel writers say that he is, then we need to ask ourselves the same question. “What’s next?”

Knowing the truth changes us.

Like the disciples, we must listen to where God is leading us, what he is calling us to do, where he is calling us to go, and how God intends to transform us. And like the disciples, those changes might be terrific, but they might be terrifying, they might be successful, but they might be sacrificial. Whatever it is that God is calling us to do, and wherever it is that God is calling us to go…

…simply returning to the old “normal” is not an option.

Blessings,

Pastor John