(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 11/20/11)
"Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, for God’s steadfast love endures forever. Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all God’s praise?" (Psalm 106:1-2)
It has been suggested that there is an infectious disease that is permeating our land. It is the disease of ingratitude. We live in an age where many people have forgotten how to say “thank you.” Ingratitude has overtaken us.
If you know like I know, there is a certain irony that can be found here, in that we are more blessed than we have ever been in the history of civilization. We are blessed with technological advances, and material things that our foreparents could have only dreamt about.
Many of us are blessed to have finer homes, and larger cars, and more expensive clothing than ever thought we should or could possess. Many of us are blessed to be more educated and to have better jobs, and some of us even have a few more dollars in the bank. We’re blessed.
But still many people today are infected with this disease of ingratitude. For some reason many people are ungrateful, and seem not to know how to say “thank you.”
I remember growing up, and being taught as one of the first lessons of life how to say “please” and “thank you.” It was engrained into our very being as young people that if you wanted somebody to do something for you… you’d first say “please.” And once somebody was kind enough to do something for you, however small or large it was, the appropriate response was to say “thank you.”
Now it seems that many people think that it is their right that somebody would do something for them. They have the audacity – the nerve – the unmitigated gall – to ask without saying “please,” and to receive without saying “thank you.” Ingratitude is in our midst.
In Psalm 106, we find the psalmist reminding those who would hear with these words, “O give thanks to the Lord for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever.
This is a word of reminder to the faithful. In order that their faith might be well-founded and properly grounded, in order that their hope and perspective might be sustained, the psalmist sent them a lesson in thanksgiving. In order to improve their aptitude for praise, and enhance their attitude of gratitude, the psalmist here offers words of instruction as to the conditions in which the believers of this day were to render their appreciation, and say “thank you” to the Lord.
In similar words of encouragement, the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and said, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18)
What Paul was saying to the congregation is that the zenith of Christian conduct is to be able to say “thank you.” In everything give thanks, Paul says.
Here, in Thessalonians we find that the apostle Paul was en-route to Rome with a layover in Corinth when he wrote his first letter to the young church at Thessalonica. Paul was aware that the church there would have its ups and downs, its risings and fallings. It is apparent above all else, that the people in the midst of whatever they were going through, had forgotten how to say “Thank You” to the Lord.
And so Paul says that we are to give thanks in all things. Herein lays the real challenge of faith and life. If we are to follow Paul’s instruction, we will develop the capacity to give thanks for the good and the bad of life. We will be able to give thanks in ups as well as in downs, in the sunshine and the rain, in life and in death, in triumph and in trial.
The psalmist encourages us to give thanks - in other words, to say "Thank You!" If we affirm what the psalmist wrote, we can affirm that God is good. This speaks to the very nature of who God is. The Lord is good. This is the acknowledgement of the omni-benevolence of that Lord, that the Lord is God in all God’s ways.
• From the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same, God is good.
• In ups and downs, God is good.
• In joy and even in sadness, the Lord is good.
• In times of prosperity and even in times of need, the Lord is good.
O, give thanks to the Lord, for God is good. God’s steadfast love endures forever. Oh that people of faith will find a reason to be grateful in the days that are before us.
When I think of the goodness of Jesus
And all that he’s done for me
My soul cries out, Hallelujah,
I thank God for blessing me!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Teaching our Children
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." (Frederick Douglass) Let us coninue to pray and advocate for the proper education of our children.
Monday, November 14, 2011
The Continuing Need for Societal Change
"White America is seeking to keep the walls of segregation substantially intact while the evolution of society and the Negro's desperation is causing them to crumble. The white majority, unprepared and unwilling to accept radical structural change, is resisting and producing chaos while complaining that if there were no chaos orderly change would come."
(Dr. Martin Luuher King, Jr. in a September 1967 speech to the American Psychological Association, entitled "A Challenge to Social Scientists")
(Dr. Martin Luuher King, Jr. in a September 1967 speech to the American Psychological Association, entitled "A Challenge to Social Scientists")
Saturday, November 12, 2011
LESSONS IN A LAD'S LUNCH
(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 11/6/11)
John 6:1-13
Over the ages, a large part of the human predicament has seemed to relate to economy, and whether we as humans have all that we need to survive. The perennial concern here is really whether or not God will provide for our needs. Note here, that this matter of economy relates not simply to the things that we want, but the things that we need.
History shows that God is a God of provision. God is in the business of providing for our needs. Some have declared that God is an on-time God. Others have framed it with words of affirmation that God will make ways out of no way. Others have declared time and again that God is good all the time. And still others have spoken of the great faithfulness of the Lord – the song-writer declared, “All I have needed, thy hand has provided.” Indeed God specializes in providing for our needs.
The challenge comes in the fact that many people are apt to forget about all the ways that God provides. Many fail to acknowledge that God is actually in the business of providing for all our needs – whether spiritual, physical or social. This forgetfulness – this form of spiritual amnesia - is often couched in doubt about the presence and power of God, or in complaining about the things that we don’t have, the ways that have not yet been made for us, and the things that we have not yet achieved.
Instead of looking with eyes of faith, trust and appreciation at the many blessings that are already present in our lives, many are like the Israelites who despite how God blesses, will complain and fuss – even about the things that God has blessed us with.
And we should be concerned not only with our own provision, but with the needs of our sisters and brothers. In Africa today, famine and malnutrition threaten the lives of over 11 million people from Kenya to Somalia. Many people in cities like Baltimore and Washington, DC – mostly women and children – will go to bed tonight without adequate nutrition, housing and healthcare. In the “Occupy” movement that has spread from Wall Street to cities across our nation, our awareness has been raised to the fact that 1% of our nation’s population holds about 50% of the nation’s accumulated wealth. That leaves 99% of us to make due on the other 50% of our collective resources. Indeed, the rich seem to be getting richer among us.
And in the event that we need more evidence of how God blesses us, and what we can learn within the context of our blessing, we can turn again to Scripture. In the Gospel of John, we find lessons for how to recognize and appreciate our blessings. Here, we find Jesus trying to get some rest having been busy ministering to the masses. But everywhere Jesus went, large crowds of people followed him. And so, Jesus and his disciples decided to get in a boat to get away from the crowds, but when the boat docked, Jesus found that people had rushed to the other side of the river and were waiting there for him.
The Lord knew that the people who had followed him had needs and wanted to be blessed. He knew that they were in need of physical and spiritual healing, in need of being taught about the ways of God, and also in need of physical nourishment (they were hungry). And so Jesus decided not only to heal and teach the people, but he knew that needed to feed those who had come, as well.
In this story of the feeding of 5000, Jesus took the lunch of a boy in the crowd - 5 loaves and 2 fish - and lifted them up toward heaven and asked God to bless the lad’s lunch. The Lord then began breaking the fish and bread into pieces and the disciples passed it out to all the people who had gathered.
The word says that everyone had all they wanted to eat, and everybody was satisfied. When they had finished eating the disciples picked up the leftover food. They collected 12 baskets of leftovers.
There are several lessons that we can glean from this story.
First, we have evidence again that God will provide for all of our needs. Even when things look the most dire and desperate– even when it seems that we are in the most need, even when our money resources seem the scarcest - God is about the business of working on behalf of God’s people, and providing for our needs. The word says that all of the people were satisfied after having eaten the meal provided for them.
Second, we find that our blessings will often come to us in unexpected ways, through unexpected people. Of all the people in the crowd (5000 men, plus women and children), it was a lad who had the blessing in his hands. So often we look for our blessings in what seem to be the obvious places, among the people who we think are most able and likely to be a blessing to us. But God used a lad and his lunch to bless the people. Maybe God is trying to tell us to look around us and see God’s blessings in all the people around us.
Third, we learn that God will not only provide what we need, but God is in the business of providing more than enough. The word says that Jesus took the lad’s two fish and five loaves of bread and he fed all of the people there. But it’s good that the story doesn’t stop there. It says that there was more than enough - there were leftovers. God not only provides for our needs, but God offers us blessings in abundance.
The good news is that God provides for all of our needs, and God provides more than enough!
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord God our father…
Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning
New mercies I see.
All I have needed
Thy hand has provided
Great I they faithfulness
Lord unto me.
John 6:1-13
Over the ages, a large part of the human predicament has seemed to relate to economy, and whether we as humans have all that we need to survive. The perennial concern here is really whether or not God will provide for our needs. Note here, that this matter of economy relates not simply to the things that we want, but the things that we need.
History shows that God is a God of provision. God is in the business of providing for our needs. Some have declared that God is an on-time God. Others have framed it with words of affirmation that God will make ways out of no way. Others have declared time and again that God is good all the time. And still others have spoken of the great faithfulness of the Lord – the song-writer declared, “All I have needed, thy hand has provided.” Indeed God specializes in providing for our needs.
The challenge comes in the fact that many people are apt to forget about all the ways that God provides. Many fail to acknowledge that God is actually in the business of providing for all our needs – whether spiritual, physical or social. This forgetfulness – this form of spiritual amnesia - is often couched in doubt about the presence and power of God, or in complaining about the things that we don’t have, the ways that have not yet been made for us, and the things that we have not yet achieved.
Instead of looking with eyes of faith, trust and appreciation at the many blessings that are already present in our lives, many are like the Israelites who despite how God blesses, will complain and fuss – even about the things that God has blessed us with.
And we should be concerned not only with our own provision, but with the needs of our sisters and brothers. In Africa today, famine and malnutrition threaten the lives of over 11 million people from Kenya to Somalia. Many people in cities like Baltimore and Washington, DC – mostly women and children – will go to bed tonight without adequate nutrition, housing and healthcare. In the “Occupy” movement that has spread from Wall Street to cities across our nation, our awareness has been raised to the fact that 1% of our nation’s population holds about 50% of the nation’s accumulated wealth. That leaves 99% of us to make due on the other 50% of our collective resources. Indeed, the rich seem to be getting richer among us.
And in the event that we need more evidence of how God blesses us, and what we can learn within the context of our blessing, we can turn again to Scripture. In the Gospel of John, we find lessons for how to recognize and appreciate our blessings. Here, we find Jesus trying to get some rest having been busy ministering to the masses. But everywhere Jesus went, large crowds of people followed him. And so, Jesus and his disciples decided to get in a boat to get away from the crowds, but when the boat docked, Jesus found that people had rushed to the other side of the river and were waiting there for him.
The Lord knew that the people who had followed him had needs and wanted to be blessed. He knew that they were in need of physical and spiritual healing, in need of being taught about the ways of God, and also in need of physical nourishment (they were hungry). And so Jesus decided not only to heal and teach the people, but he knew that needed to feed those who had come, as well.
In this story of the feeding of 5000, Jesus took the lunch of a boy in the crowd - 5 loaves and 2 fish - and lifted them up toward heaven and asked God to bless the lad’s lunch. The Lord then began breaking the fish and bread into pieces and the disciples passed it out to all the people who had gathered.
The word says that everyone had all they wanted to eat, and everybody was satisfied. When they had finished eating the disciples picked up the leftover food. They collected 12 baskets of leftovers.
There are several lessons that we can glean from this story.
First, we have evidence again that God will provide for all of our needs. Even when things look the most dire and desperate– even when it seems that we are in the most need, even when our money resources seem the scarcest - God is about the business of working on behalf of God’s people, and providing for our needs. The word says that all of the people were satisfied after having eaten the meal provided for them.
Second, we find that our blessings will often come to us in unexpected ways, through unexpected people. Of all the people in the crowd (5000 men, plus women and children), it was a lad who had the blessing in his hands. So often we look for our blessings in what seem to be the obvious places, among the people who we think are most able and likely to be a blessing to us. But God used a lad and his lunch to bless the people. Maybe God is trying to tell us to look around us and see God’s blessings in all the people around us.
Third, we learn that God will not only provide what we need, but God is in the business of providing more than enough. The word says that Jesus took the lad’s two fish and five loaves of bread and he fed all of the people there. But it’s good that the story doesn’t stop there. It says that there was more than enough - there were leftovers. God not only provides for our needs, but God offers us blessings in abundance.
The good news is that God provides for all of our needs, and God provides more than enough!
Great is thy faithfulness,
Lord God our father…
Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness,
Morning by morning
New mercies I see.
All I have needed
Thy hand has provided
Great I they faithfulness
Lord unto me.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The Faith Factor
(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 10/9/11)
"(Jesus) replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”" (Matthew 17:19-21)
It is clear that the primary purpose of the life and ministry of Jesus was to help people see and know the face of God, and to help people come to belief in God. The nature of faith is belief in God – belief that God is the creator of all that is – the belief that God is at work in Christ seeking to save humanity from sinfulness and brokenness, and the belief that the Holy Spirit continues to be at work bringing forth transformation through the work of the church today.
The matter of faith was centermost in the mind of Jesus here in Matthew 17. It’s clear that the problem for Jesus here was the “smallness” of the faith of the people of his day. Maybe the people of the Lord’s day were a lot like many people today - even many religious people – people in the church. It seems that one of the critical dilemmas facing us today is the paucity of faith among people, even among many people of faith.
Jesus begins by reminding those who had gathered they had “so little faith.” The context of the Lord’s comment here is questioning among the disciples as to why they were unable to perform miracles, as Jesus had done, and as Jesus said they would be able to do. And Jesus explicitly attributes the inability of his disciples to perform miracles to the “smallness” – the “littleness” – the “pettiness” - of their faith. And he points out that even a mustard seed's worth of faith would be sufficient to not only cast out demons, but to move mountains.
Jesus speaks of the mustard seed within the context of faith and moving mountains. His encouragement for those who would hear was to understand the power of faith in their lives. And what are we really talking about when we talk about faith?
Too many people in the Lord’s day, and today, seem to have put their faith in too many things that are not God, and too many which are not of God. We tend to put our faith in the stock market and stock portfolios, politicians, celebrities, athletes, and even our jobs.
In Baltimore over the past few years, there has been a preponderance of signs that simply say “Believe.” We see the word “Believe” across the city in virtually every neighborhood on school buildings, on billboards, on buses, and at bus stops. But the signs often beg the question for me, “Believe what”, and “Believe in what?”
As Christians, we are called not simply to believe, but we are called to believe in God. We are called to have faith that God in Christ can change our lives and make a difference in our life and in the world. And what Jesus was pointing those of his day is that with a mustard seed’s worth of faith, they could (we can) move mountains.
What mountains was the Lord talking about? Certainly, we will all encounter the proverbial mountains of life. Situations will confront all of us that will seem insurmountable. Circumstances will enter into our lives to challenge our faith. Mountains in life – sickness and death, disappointments and discouragement, trials and tribulations will show up in our lives. Mountains in life – trouble in our homes, trouble on our jobs, trouble in our communities, even trouble in the church from time-to-time. And the question is ultimately, how do we deal with the mountains that confront us?
The point that the Lord was trying to make was that it took just a modicum of faith for God to begin to move in their lives. It took just a little faith, a mustard seed’s worth of faith, for the Lord to begin to manifest himself in their lives and begin to work on their behalf. And not only that – with a modicum of faith – a mustard seed’s worth of faith – we can move mountains. This is the “faith factor.”
Jesus concludes his teaching on faith here with a declaration that nothing will be impossible for you. Nothing is impossible. This is the faith factor.
The Lord says," nothing is impossible." What a bold declaration, that if we have faith – even as small as a mustard seed - we can move the proverbial mountains in our lives. If we have faith the even as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for us.
The good news is that with faith in God, nothing is really impossible for us. The faith factor in our lives means that through our belief in God, through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the mountains can (and will) be removed from our lives, and nothing is impossible for us.
We’ve come this far by faith
Leaning on the Lord
Trusting in his holy word
He’s never failed me yet.
Oh, Oh, Oh, can’t turn around
We’ve come this far by faith.
"(Jesus) replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”" (Matthew 17:19-21)
It is clear that the primary purpose of the life and ministry of Jesus was to help people see and know the face of God, and to help people come to belief in God. The nature of faith is belief in God – belief that God is the creator of all that is – the belief that God is at work in Christ seeking to save humanity from sinfulness and brokenness, and the belief that the Holy Spirit continues to be at work bringing forth transformation through the work of the church today.
The matter of faith was centermost in the mind of Jesus here in Matthew 17. It’s clear that the problem for Jesus here was the “smallness” of the faith of the people of his day. Maybe the people of the Lord’s day were a lot like many people today - even many religious people – people in the church. It seems that one of the critical dilemmas facing us today is the paucity of faith among people, even among many people of faith.
Jesus begins by reminding those who had gathered they had “so little faith.” The context of the Lord’s comment here is questioning among the disciples as to why they were unable to perform miracles, as Jesus had done, and as Jesus said they would be able to do. And Jesus explicitly attributes the inability of his disciples to perform miracles to the “smallness” – the “littleness” – the “pettiness” - of their faith. And he points out that even a mustard seed's worth of faith would be sufficient to not only cast out demons, but to move mountains.
Jesus speaks of the mustard seed within the context of faith and moving mountains. His encouragement for those who would hear was to understand the power of faith in their lives. And what are we really talking about when we talk about faith?
Too many people in the Lord’s day, and today, seem to have put their faith in too many things that are not God, and too many which are not of God. We tend to put our faith in the stock market and stock portfolios, politicians, celebrities, athletes, and even our jobs.
In Baltimore over the past few years, there has been a preponderance of signs that simply say “Believe.” We see the word “Believe” across the city in virtually every neighborhood on school buildings, on billboards, on buses, and at bus stops. But the signs often beg the question for me, “Believe what”, and “Believe in what?”
As Christians, we are called not simply to believe, but we are called to believe in God. We are called to have faith that God in Christ can change our lives and make a difference in our life and in the world. And what Jesus was pointing those of his day is that with a mustard seed’s worth of faith, they could (we can) move mountains.
What mountains was the Lord talking about? Certainly, we will all encounter the proverbial mountains of life. Situations will confront all of us that will seem insurmountable. Circumstances will enter into our lives to challenge our faith. Mountains in life – sickness and death, disappointments and discouragement, trials and tribulations will show up in our lives. Mountains in life – trouble in our homes, trouble on our jobs, trouble in our communities, even trouble in the church from time-to-time. And the question is ultimately, how do we deal with the mountains that confront us?
The point that the Lord was trying to make was that it took just a modicum of faith for God to begin to move in their lives. It took just a little faith, a mustard seed’s worth of faith, for the Lord to begin to manifest himself in their lives and begin to work on their behalf. And not only that – with a modicum of faith – a mustard seed’s worth of faith – we can move mountains. This is the “faith factor.”
Jesus concludes his teaching on faith here with a declaration that nothing will be impossible for you. Nothing is impossible. This is the faith factor.
The Lord says," nothing is impossible." What a bold declaration, that if we have faith – even as small as a mustard seed - we can move the proverbial mountains in our lives. If we have faith the even as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for us.
The good news is that with faith in God, nothing is really impossible for us. The faith factor in our lives means that through our belief in God, through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the mountains can (and will) be removed from our lives, and nothing is impossible for us.
We’ve come this far by faith
Leaning on the Lord
Trusting in his holy word
He’s never failed me yet.
Oh, Oh, Oh, can’t turn around
We’ve come this far by faith.
Fred Shuttlesworth
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) issued the following statement on the death of civil rights leader Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth who passed on October 6, 2011.
“America lost one of its most courageous and tenacious civil rights leaders in the passing of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. As a pastor, civil rights organizer and one of the four founding ministers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Shuttlesworth was a unifying force who brought together his own congregation and others from across the South to stand against segregation and Jim Crow laws that oppressed an entire people.
“In spite of countless arrests, beatings and threats to his life, the Rev. Shuttlesworth never abandoned his fight for civil rights and social justice. Nothing intimidated him. On Christmas night 1956, six sticks of dynamite exploded outside his bedroom as he slept and he did not give in to fear. Instead, he moved forward with determination to put an end to what was then the status quo of separate but inherently unequal. When a court injunction shut down the Alabama chapter of the NAACP, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth led the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to carry on the work of the shuttered chapter.
“He worked closely with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to win passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These hallmark civil rights laws are Rev. Shuttlesworth’s legacy to a nation forever indebted to him. The United States still has a long way to go in realizing its goals of equal rights for all, but I am pleased that Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was able to live to see so many positive changes, especially the election of President Barack Obama.”
“America lost one of its most courageous and tenacious civil rights leaders in the passing of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. As a pastor, civil rights organizer and one of the four founding ministers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rev. Shuttlesworth was a unifying force who brought together his own congregation and others from across the South to stand against segregation and Jim Crow laws that oppressed an entire people.
“In spite of countless arrests, beatings and threats to his life, the Rev. Shuttlesworth never abandoned his fight for civil rights and social justice. Nothing intimidated him. On Christmas night 1956, six sticks of dynamite exploded outside his bedroom as he slept and he did not give in to fear. Instead, he moved forward with determination to put an end to what was then the status quo of separate but inherently unequal. When a court injunction shut down the Alabama chapter of the NAACP, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth led the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to carry on the work of the shuttered chapter.
“He worked closely with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to win passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These hallmark civil rights laws are Rev. Shuttlesworth’s legacy to a nation forever indebted to him. The United States still has a long way to go in realizing its goals of equal rights for all, but I am pleased that Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was able to live to see so many positive changes, especially the election of President Barack Obama.”
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Commissioned to Go!
(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Blatimore on 10/2/11 on the occasion of World Communion Sunday, and our "Change the World Mission Commissioning Day)
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations (teaching all nations), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
I believe that most – if not all of us – can affirm that Christian ministry is not easy in this contemporary age. Churches face many challenges to minister prophetically and holistically to a world that - in many ways - seems to be at odds with what the church is all about. Still it is our collective task – our shared commitment and calling - to faithfully offer Christ to the world.
Ours often seems to be a mission impossible – and yet we are called to faithfully persevere and share the love of Christ with those among us who are in need of hope and healing in their lives… hope and healing that only the church can offer.. the least, the lost and the left out among us.
When thinking on the task of the church and its leaders, I’m reminded of the 1960’s and 70’s television show – Mission Impossible. Some of us might be old enough to remember the show where – at the beginning of every episode - a secret agent was given a mission that seemed to be impossible and insurmountable. So difficult and complex (and often dangerous) was the mission that the secret agent was given – that he was offered the choice of whether or not to accept the mission.
If he chose to accept the mission, he would somehow find a way to overcome great odds and obstacles, and find a way to accomplish what seemed to be the impossible task he had been given.
Well, the mission that Christ has given us seems to be impossible at times. It often seems that God has given the church and its people more than we can bear. Too often now it seems that we face the task of making ways out of no way. In these fast-changing, often apathetic times, it seems that ours is often a mission impossible.
I believe Christ had a sense of the difficulty of the mission that was before the church when he offered his disciples what has come to be known as the Great Commission. He said:
“Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations (teaching all nations), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
This indeed seems to be a tremendous, humongous, huge, impossible, audacious, incredible, insurmountable task that we have been given. The Lord says that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, and baptize everybody, and teach everybody to obey the commandments of the Lord.
But it’s good to know that the Lord did not stop there. For he says, “Remember, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.” It’s good to know that ours is not simply a mission to go, but we have received a commission to go. In other word, we don’t go alone. The Lord said, “I am with you always.” We are commissioned to go.
And as we go, we take our faith in God and the fortification of the Lord with us. We need to know that our faith in God makes us a holy people. Our faith makes us God’s people, called by God to serve God’s people. For Methodists – our faith – our holiness is expressed in both personal holiness and social holiness. John Wesley said that we are to be about the purpose of “reforming the nation and spreading scriptural holiness.”
And furthermore, we know that as we are commissioned to go, we are made strong – fortified in the in the Lord. In the Book of Acts, Jesus expressed the Great Commission another way when he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) We go to serve the present age with and in the power of God.
Thanks be to God that we are commissioned to go… to help somebody… to love somebody… to serve the world age. And as we are called to go, God goes with us.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations (teaching all nations), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
I believe that most – if not all of us – can affirm that Christian ministry is not easy in this contemporary age. Churches face many challenges to minister prophetically and holistically to a world that - in many ways - seems to be at odds with what the church is all about. Still it is our collective task – our shared commitment and calling - to faithfully offer Christ to the world.
Ours often seems to be a mission impossible – and yet we are called to faithfully persevere and share the love of Christ with those among us who are in need of hope and healing in their lives… hope and healing that only the church can offer.. the least, the lost and the left out among us.
When thinking on the task of the church and its leaders, I’m reminded of the 1960’s and 70’s television show – Mission Impossible. Some of us might be old enough to remember the show where – at the beginning of every episode - a secret agent was given a mission that seemed to be impossible and insurmountable. So difficult and complex (and often dangerous) was the mission that the secret agent was given – that he was offered the choice of whether or not to accept the mission.
If he chose to accept the mission, he would somehow find a way to overcome great odds and obstacles, and find a way to accomplish what seemed to be the impossible task he had been given.
Well, the mission that Christ has given us seems to be impossible at times. It often seems that God has given the church and its people more than we can bear. Too often now it seems that we face the task of making ways out of no way. In these fast-changing, often apathetic times, it seems that ours is often a mission impossible.
I believe Christ had a sense of the difficulty of the mission that was before the church when he offered his disciples what has come to be known as the Great Commission. He said:
“Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations (teaching all nations), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
This indeed seems to be a tremendous, humongous, huge, impossible, audacious, incredible, insurmountable task that we have been given. The Lord says that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, and baptize everybody, and teach everybody to obey the commandments of the Lord.
But it’s good to know that the Lord did not stop there. For he says, “Remember, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.” It’s good to know that ours is not simply a mission to go, but we have received a commission to go. In other word, we don’t go alone. The Lord said, “I am with you always.” We are commissioned to go.
And as we go, we take our faith in God and the fortification of the Lord with us. We need to know that our faith in God makes us a holy people. Our faith makes us God’s people, called by God to serve God’s people. For Methodists – our faith – our holiness is expressed in both personal holiness and social holiness. John Wesley said that we are to be about the purpose of “reforming the nation and spreading scriptural holiness.”
And furthermore, we know that as we are commissioned to go, we are made strong – fortified in the in the Lord. In the Book of Acts, Jesus expressed the Great Commission another way when he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) We go to serve the present age with and in the power of God.
Thanks be to God that we are commissioned to go… to help somebody… to love somebody… to serve the world age. And as we are called to go, God goes with us.
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