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Sermons of St. Paul UCC The last four sermons will be posted. Please check back weekly for updates.
=============================================================== "Who
are THEY?" Introduction Who says, “Nothing exciting ever happens in church”? A couple of weeks ago down in Sidney the local and county police were called to quell a disturbance in one of our local churches. The disturbance was not a cell phone that was not turned off, nor was it the cry of a young child, nor the snore of an elderly member. The disturbance resulted from a number of church folks who did not like the preacher. According to the newspaper article the preacher was not doing what some of the folks of the church felt he should be doing. So when the preacher started his sermon the chancel area, pulpit area, was filled by disgruntled church members who carried on so much that the preacher could not preach. Someone called the sheriff’s department, which was no farther away than a quarter of a mile, for help. Before order was restored the city police department had become involved. No arrests were made. I have a Hospice patient who attends that church. I can hardly wait to hear her side of the story. A church I served in Cincinnati had an exciting event take place one Sunday. The choir in that church was located in a balcony behind the chancel area. The choir was made up of students from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music who were paid for their services, plus volunteer choir members who were not paid. It was getting toward the end of the semester in college and evidently some of the paid choir members were doing their home-work while the church service was going on. Since the choir was above and behind me I was not distracted by the students’ lack of attention, but one of the members of the congregation was. I was just about ready to give the benediction when this member stood up and asked permission to speak. It was granted, of course. She asked if some of the student choir members were paid for their services. I informed her that they were. She knew this, but she wanted to make it clear to others in the congregation who might not have known it. She then pointed out what she had observed taking place during the worship service. All the while her husband who was sitting beside her kept pulling on her skirt trying to get her to sit down and be quiet. She slapped his hand away and did not sit down until she was finished with what she had to say. She then sat down. In just a little bit she stood again. She apologized for speaking out and sat back down. By this time her poor husband had just about slid out of his seat and was hiding behind the pew in front of him. Before I could give the benediction this lady stood once again and said, “I am not sorry for what I said, I take back my apology”. She sat back down and said no more. The benediction was finally given and the service came to a close. The congregation departed to their homes or favorite eating places. Who says, “Nothing exciting ever takes place in church?” Something exciting happened in the synagogue of Capernaum that Sabbath day so very long ago. Jesus and his four new found friends went to the Synagogue for worship, as most self-respecting Jews did every Sabbath. The service was pretty much routine. A portion of Scripture was read from the Torah in Hebrew. It was then translated into Aramaic, the current language of the people. After that a member of the congregation would make comments on the scripture. Jesus asked permission of the local Rabbi to speak. Permission was granted. Mark does not record what Jesus said. All he records is that Jesus made quite an impression upon the congregation. They wondered how he learned so much as young as he was and he spoke with such authority, not so like the local scribes or Rabbi. “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Was this man a visitor, or was he a regular attendee, or was he a “set up”? Traveling evangelists and “faith healers” have been known to have individuals pretend they have different physical problems and when they are healed by the “faith healers” the free will offerings increase. I am not suggesting that this person whom Jesus healed was a fake. I don’t know if he was a one-time visitor who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He might easily have been a regular member of the synagogue that the people had grown used to and never really paid him much attention. Every congregation has members with various physical, emotional, or mental problems and after a while they just learn to accept their problems and struggle on through life as best they can; but Jesus came that humanity might have a full and abundant life. A connection was made that day so long ago, as at times happens even in our own day. The man cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, cane out of him.” She was a woman in her early 40’s. She worked as a sales clerk in the local department store. At the time she was divorced, much to her mother’s displeasure. Her mother did not believe in divorce under any circumstance. I learned later that this woman’s former husband was an abuser, an emotional and physical abuser. He treated her terribly until he broke her spirit. One day at work she was sorting and putting away various items when a male customer approached her. Her station was in a corner of the department store. The customer startled her. She flipped out. She started screaming, “Get away from me”. Soon other employees arrived and attempted to calm her down. The poor customer said he did nothing to her. Her friends understood. Her manager suggested she take the rest of the day off. Shortly thereafter she was hospitalized at the Cambridge State Hospital, in Cambridge, Ohio. As her pastor I visited her. The nurse escorted us to a small table by a window in the all purpose room of the hospital. I sat on one side of the table she sat across from me. I asked the standard questions: how are you doing?, how is the food? When will you be coming home? All the while she kept wringing a white handkerchief in her hands. Her restlessness got on my nerves so I reached across the table and took hold of her hands. She looked up with a startled look on her face and said, “Aren’t you afraid of getting dirty?” Conclusion “And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching – with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!” Throughout this brief portion of scripture the impersonal plural pronoun “they” is used repeatedly. Who are the “they”? At the beginning the “they” are Jesus and his four Disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John. In verse 22 the “they” could either be the Disciples, or members of the congregation of the synagogue, or even the leaders of the synagogue, the scribes and Rabbi. In verse 27 “they” appears again. Who were amazed, the people, the Disciples, or the leaders of the synagogue, or the unclean spirits? Isn’t it interesting that the Unclean Spirits recognize who Jesus is before his disciples, or the Religious Leaders of the day or the members of the synagogue do? I conclude
with a question for us all to ponder: Do we believe that Jesus is who
the demon, the unclean spirit said he is? If so, what do we do about it? Rev. Joe F. Pumphrey, Interim Senior Pastor St. Paul United Church of Christ Wapakoneta, Ohio =============================================================== "Helpers" INTRODUCTION “Me do!” Do you remember those days? Those days when your children were very young and were just starting to do things for themselves? You were in a hurry and did not want to take the time to help them. They did not want your help; they wanted to do it all by themselves. They would look up at you and say, “Me do!” What did you do? Those early, learning days produced frustration, disappointments, many mistakes, but most of all they learned, and so did you. Your first born taught you a lot and made it easier on you and your second born, providing you had a second born. From now until Thanksgiving the Gospel of Mark is the main lectionary scripture reading. Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. It is also the first of the four Gospels recorded. If you haven’t read the Gospel of Mark all the way through now is a good time to do it. To see the whole picture is much better than looking at small individual pieces. Mark’s gospel begins with the preaching of John the Baptist. John tells the people, “Prepare for the coming of the Lord”. Jesus arrives and John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River. From that point on the Divine spot light is focused upon Jesus. Jesus takes center stage and John leaves the stage by way of a side wing. Following Jesus baptism, according to Matthew and Luke, Jesus immediately goes into the wilderness, there to be tempted by the Devil for some 40 days. Mark says nothing about Jesus’ temptation. Jesus’ first act, according to the Gospel of Mark, is to choose men who will become his HELPERS in establishing the Kingdom of God upon earth. That is where we pick up the story this morning: the calling of the first four disciples of Jesus, who will later by designated Apostles. By definition a disciple is a student or a learner; an Apostle is “one sent with a commission”. One must learn before he or she can teach. Jesus is ready to start his spiritual campaign. He has spent 40 days in deep spiritual contemplation as to how and what he should do. He quickly comes to the realization that the job is too big for just one man, even if that man is the Son of God. If his mission is to be an ongoing success he is going to need HELPERS. It is interesting to notice where Jesus did not go to find his helpers. He did not go to the temple to select the most promising priests in training. Neither did he go to the local college or university to find the most promising scribes or young Pharisees. Where did he go?, to the sea side. Not the vacation sea side, the working sea side. We live in a day and time where management puts a higher value upon those whose learning has come from books rather than everyday experience. Manufacturing leadership gives the impression that a four year education in theory is of greater value than the employee with 15 years of practical experience. As Jesus walked along the shore line of the Sea of Galilee his eye caught two fishermen casting their fishing nets into the sea. He watched them for a while and took note of their skill in what they were doing. He also noticed how well they worked together; they were like poetry in motion. He stopped and called out to them, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” They ceased casting their nets, got out of their boat, waded to shore and followed Jesus. Just a little farther down the beach Jesus saw two other men who were in their boat mending their nets. Jesus called them, perhaps he said the same thing to them as he did to Peter and Andrew, “Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men.” Whatever he said to them, they left their father in the boat with the hired servants and followed Jesus. These four men Peter and Andrew, brothers, and James and John, also brothers, became the inner four of the 12 disciples of Jesus. These four men were professional fishermen. Their livelihood came from fishing. Fishing was not a Hobby, it was their life. From all evidence they were already well established in the fishing business, established enough to be able to hire on extra help in the business. The gospel of Luke records “They left everything and followed him.” “They left everything and followed him”. What was wrong with these guys? Why in the world would they give up a profitable business to follow a man who had nothing to offer them except some kind of a ‘pipe-dream’? Did they even know anything about Jesus? We have presently five men who would be president of these, not really, United States of America. We learn more and more about them every day. Very likely we are learning more than we would like to know about them, their past, their families, their connections. And if we think it is bad now, just wait until there are only two running for the office! What did these four fishermen know about Jesus? We don’t know. Perhaps they were willing to leave everything and follow him because of John the Baptist’s recommendation. John certainly knew Jesus better than they did; at least John and Jesus were cousins. How many of the present day followers of Jesus, we call ourselves Christ-ones, have left all to follow him? James’ and John’s dad, Zebedee, perhaps was looking forward to retirement. With the boys gone off fighting windmills what was he to do? I had a young college girl in a former church who told her folks she was going to join the Peace Corps. Her dad was a leader in the community and in the church. He was extremely displeased with his daughter’s decision. He told her, “If you want to throw your life away why don’t you become a missionary?” I wonder what Zebedee said to his sons. For some three years more or less these four men traveled with Jesus, listened to him teach, watched him heal the blind, the crippled, the leprous, even restore the dead to life. After Jesus was arrested in the Garden the disciples fled. Peter denied even knowing Jesus. From all accounts only John was present when Jesus died upon the cross. According to the Gospel of John, following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, Peter announced he was going fishing. He planned to return to his former profession. Six other disciples said, “We’re with you”. Over half of the original twelve were ready to give up “fishing for men”. Just about par for the average congregation of modern day America when push comes to shove. There are, and have been down through the ages enough faithful HELPERS to keep the message alive. There have been enough who have not given up the fight, who have been willing to give up some of the pleasures of life in order for the work of the Church to continue. Conclusion Even though the times have changed the dynamics remain much the same. Men, women and young people are busy doing their thing, pretty much minding their own business. Sometimes suddenly and without warning they hear a call “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men”, and they answer the call and follow. An old Daily Vacation Bible School Song said it very clearly: “Follow, I will follow thee my Lord. Follow every passing day. My tomorrows are all known to thee. I’ll go with thee all the way.” Prayer – Commissioning of local missionaries: Elaine and Allan Mikesell and Dusty Hoelscher Rev. Joe F. Pumphrey, Interim Senior Pastor St. Paul United Church of Christ Wapakoneta, Ohio =============================================================== "His
Baptism and Ours" Introduction
Between last week’s scripture lesson and today’s lesson nearly thirty years have transpired. Do you feel thirty years older? Last week Jesus the infant was presented in the temple by his parents. Today’s lesson presents Jesus and his cousin John the Baptizer as grown men; John at the high point in his public ministry, Jesus at the very beginning of his. We have but two scriptural references of any event between the two points in time. The first when the Holy family fled to Egypt to escape the slaughter of the young boys by Herod. The second event is the recording of Jesus as a boy of perhaps 12 when his parents brought him to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of the Passover. Other than these two events we know nothing about the actions or circumstances of Jesus and his family. It is assumed by most Bible Scholars that it was sometime after the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was around 12 that his earthly father died, leaving Jesus as the main bread winner of a widowed mother and at least two younger siblings. There are some writings about Jesus telling of his miraculous activities as a very young boy. The authorized scriptures simply record that “Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God and man.” The Gospel of Mark has no birth narrative or early childhood of Jesus at all. The Gospel of Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist and quickly moves on to the opening of Jesus’ public ministry. So let us begin today where Mark began. It is worthy of note to mention that the Gospel of Mark was the first of the four gospels recorded. Perhaps the authors of Matthew and Luke felt it would be of interest to inform their readers what took place before John the Baptist and Jesus started their ministries. John the Baptist was not a member of the Baptist Church. The Baptist Churches take their name because of what John did. John baptized people by immersion. Now I have seen Bible picture story Books that depict John baptizing people in the River Jordan by pouring water over their heads with a sea shell. That was not the form of baptism practiced by the Jewish people prior to John, nor was it his practice. The form of baptism that John practiced was baptism by immersion, dunking if you please. A natural question would be, “Why did he do it in the first place?” fare question. The Jewish church practiced baptism as a rite of initiation into the Jewish faith for Gentiles. Children born of Jewish parents were automatically members of the faith. Non Jews, Gentiles, were baptized when they wished to join the Jewish faith. It was a symbolic act signifying death, burial and resurrection. In the early Christian Church those who were not a part of the body of believers were likewise baptized, signifying the death of the old life, the pagan life, and the rebirth into the Life of Jesus. John took this ancient practice and baptized those of the Jewish faith. John was a religious reformer like some of the Jewish prophets who lived before him. John believed there were those of the Jewish faith who were not being faithful to the faith. In other words they were more Gentile than they were Jewish. They needed to repent of their sins and confess their sins as did the Gentiles. And then as an act of rededication and reconsecration they were baptized just as a Gentile would be. According to the recording of Mark people from the surrounding area flocked out to hear what John had to say and many submitted to baptism. Of those many, one was none other than John’s younger cousin, Jesus. In so many words, but not spoken, Jesus wanted his cousin to know that he agreed with him. He agreed that a Jewish revival was needed. Jesus wanted to support his cousin in what he was attempting to bring about. Jesus had no intention of creating a new religion. He hoped that the Jewish religion would bring to the world what God intended it to bring when Father Abraham was called to follow the way of the Lord Jehovah. Christianity resulted because of an unfaithful Jewish religion. The various Christian religions which exist in our day are a result of the very same dynamics that brought Christianity into being nearly 2,000 years ago. The Church, any church needs a revival from time to time if it is to remain relevant to its day and time. But there are those who will ask, “Why was Jesus baptized, he was sinless?” Sometime after the first century sin and baptism were linked together. It was not so in the beginning. Someone in the very early church concluded that baptism was to wash away the original sin of Adam and Eve. That notion is called the Adamic Sin or Original Sin. Those who believe in Original Sin believe if one dies and has not been baptized they will go to hell. With this idea infant baptism became a necessity to some. Parents who are not necessarily deeply religious feel it is very important for their children, babies, to be baptized. The influence of family members put a guilt trip on them if they don’t get their babies baptized. So, many do. The Church has taught from earliest days that Jesus was sinless; that Jesus never committed sin. The Immaculate Conception was a means to free Jesus from the contamination of Original Sin. Jesus baptism was not to wash away his sin. It was an outward sign of an inward feeling. When Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my son, the Beloved.; with you I am well pleased.” Conclusion Christian baptism is an extremely personal thing. It is uniquely different for everyone. Different churches have different traditions when it comes to the sacraments. Some of those traditions are man-made with man-made theological explanations. Three of our grandchildren were baptized in the Serbian Orthodox tradition. The Orthodox Church like the Roman Church practices infant baptism. But the Serbs take it one step further. The infant is brought to the church by his/her parents. The infant is then stripped naked and presented to the Priest. The baptismal fount is quite large holding perhaps as much as thirty gallons of water. The infant is then immersed three times, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The first time Elaine witnessed the baptism of our first grandson she gasped out loud. Boy babies are then wrapped in a towel and the Priest takes him behind the chancel area into the Holy of Holies and brings him back out into the sanctuary and gives him back to the parents. The girl babies are not taken into the Holy of Holies. The Serbian Church is very chauvinistic. That is their tradition. We have ours. Does that make them better or lesser Christians than we? I think not. His Baptism
and Ours; Jesus was Baptized as a sign, as a sign that he was dedicating
his Life to the work and Kingdom of God. At that point in his life he
did not know where that dedication would take him. The one thing he did
know was that God would be with him, so long as he was faithful to his
God. Because he was faithful he made it possible for you and me to share
in the Kingdom he came to establish and the Kingdom that is yet to come
in its fullness. Rev. Joe F. Pumphrey, Interim Senior Pastor St. Paul United Church of Christ Wapakoneta, Ohio =============================================================== |
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