Peace

Text: Micah 5:2-5a

Focus: Peace

Function: To understand our commitment to peace making.

Form: GOK

Intro: Thanks to our Advent readings, we were able to focus on the great and gentle Shepherd last week.

One of my favorites from Handel's Messiah is his rendition of Isaiah 40:11 “He Shall feed his flock like a shepherd...”

The melody of that song expresses today's focus, peace.

Last week we remembered that inter-personal peace is the peace we feel emotionally. I should add that it is a result of our trust in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit continually renews that sense and calling inside of us.

When people have that inner peace, they become preachers of outer-peace.

Intra-personal peace is the peace that is experienced between nations, cities, families, friends and with Christ Jesus' help, even our enemies.

He came to break down the wall of division between everyone.

Listen to what 2 Corinthians 2:17-21 from The Message says:

^17b-20...anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

²¹How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

This leads to an obvious question: Why are so many wars fought in the name of religion, even Christianity?

Does this mean that the only walls broken down are the walls broken down specifically because both sides of the wall have embraced Jesus?

I don't think so. I mean, if that were true, then Islam would not have grown out of Christianity.

One very simple, and hopefully not racist history could be that because of the Jewish Heritage inherent in the New Testament, Arab Christians, led my Muhammad, evolved Christianity into the new religion, Islam.

One could say that it had its roots in the same racism that has existed for Millennium in the Mid East.

But nothing is that simple and I realize that the idea that Islam was born out of Christianity as a rejection of Christianities Jewish roots paints a picture of Muslims as merely racist.

And a fair appraisal will take into account that Boko Haram is a conservative Islamic group that has attacked most of their Islamic brothers and sisters because they were willing to work with us Christians.

That same fair appraisal will not judge their religion based on the actions of a few, but instead will judge the religion based on what I actually have known and seen.

And I have seen Brethren Leaders, Jewish Leaders and Islamic Leaders in Grand Rapids, Detroit, Lansing Michigan and Dayton Ohio working, serving and praying together.

So, do the only walls broken down have to do with those broken down specifically by and through the Church?

It does not say that. I love the prophet Jeremiah's command to the Israelites when they were being sent into captivity in Babylon, the city of the enemy.

God told them to seek the peace and prosperity of the places that God has sent them because when all prosper, from the rich to the poor, then everyone prospers.

When God comes to a village, the peace of Christ comes in.

And when believers come into a town, a city, a nation, or a home, Christ's peace comes as well.

Let is pray for peace:

I will lead prayer and when you hear me say, “Lord God,” please respond with:

“For your peace, we pray.”

For our elderly and weakening loved ones whose bodies make them weary, Lord God...

For our young and hopeful, reconcile them to their own growing bodies and spirits as they go through awkward times, Lord God...

For our strong and active parents whose lives are filled with provision, schedules, moments upon moments and lives quickly filling with stuff, Lord God...

For our students whose lives are filled with wonder, challenge, friends and just enough conflict to help them develop, Lord God...

For our politicians who have learned that politics are about setting one side over the other to the point where little is accomplished, help them to remember why they decided to serve, Lord God...

For those charged with protecting us, doctors, aides, caregivers, peace officers, medics, nurses, fire and military personal, protect them Lord God...

For those who pray, serve, give, aid, help, bless, encourage, shepherd, nurture, teachers, clergy, counselors, advisors and others called to serve, help them see you in every client, Lord God...

For the weak, the dispossessed, the hurting, the marginalized, the victims, the oppressed, groups that are not the dominant culture who struggle to survive, Lord God...

Even for our enemies, Lord God...

And finally, for all your Children everywhere, Lord God...

Joy

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

Focus: Joy

Function: To help people take the time to rejoice.

Form: Story telling

Intro: Over the next several years, at times, I may refer to two of my High School Friends, Dave and Steve. One is a self-proclaimed agnostic or atheist and the other is Roman Catholic, or sort of, I think. 
 

At least, he was agnostic until he heard a little bit about the Church of the Brethren and its implicit emphasis that we are called to love God by loving others and we take to heart the promises in the beatitudes, especially the one “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.”

I think that is where he is at. I think. They know what I believe and for what I stand. So, I am assuming that if I asked him, it would feel like my friendship with him is based on my desire to convert him instead of genuine love and concern for him. And, I really love these two friends and would never violate their own sincere journey with my opinions.

I love these guys and I mention them to start this sermon about joy to state that both ethically and morally, they are really good people.

As a matter of fact, the one that describes himself as an atheist is one of the best and moral people that I know.

Now, I need to qualify his statement “atheist.”

He would probably feel better if I said Agnostic.

An agnostic is a person who says that they just don't know, there are to many competing ideas and thoughts out there for them to be absolutely convinced.

I can tell that he wants to believe in the kind of of New Testament Christianity that the Church of the Brethren represents. He is just not ready to commit and he doesn't worry to much about it since he was baptized as a Lutheran.

I think a lot about him at Christmas time because the tradition I was in was decidedly not an “High Church” with liturgy, robes, vestments, banners and etc. Consequently, I never practiced Advent, or Lent until well into my pastoral ministry in the Church of the Brethren and people started asking me, at least 4 years into my pastorate when we were going to celebrate these things and I, honestly, was not aware of the lectionary, a global commitment by the Church, to be faithful to all of the scriptures instead of the ones that make up our particular denominational feel.

So, I think of my High Church friend a lot during Christmas because on several occasions, I attended an 11:00 PM Christmas Eve Worship at his Lutheran Church.

Now, there was no incense, no one in a robe speaking Latin, or some of the other High Church things, but in spite of that part being missing, I found the worship service to be beautiful, full of joy, full of hope, full of love, and very peaceful. The music was incredible and the way that people gathered into that beautiful building and collectively, mainly inspired by the congregation and not the pastor, worshipped God.

It was an whole different world to me. The fact was, Christians exist in different forms than the one in which I was raised.

While talking with my friend on our vacation in October at Portland, Oregon, I got the feeling in some way, that he hoped, for my sake, that it was all true.

We did talk a lot about faith that week. He realized that I too, have the same doubts and questions that he has and yet, the one thing that I cannot overcome, is this deep abiding sense of mystery inside of me.

I believe that this sense of mystery is actually the presence of the Holy Spirit in my heart.

There is this longing for peace inside of us.

And, I see a direct link in this longing to two of our candles, or emphasis, during Advent. They are the two we are looking at this week and next.

Today: Joy. Next week: Peace

Joy is an emotion. Peace is an emotion as well as a state of being. That state of being can be interpersonal -between ourselves and our relatives, our neighbors, our city, our state and between nation states. However, it is also intrapersonal. Intrapersonal peace is peace we feel within ourselves. And unlike interpersonal peace, intrapersonal peace is also an emotion.

It can best be described in the sentence: “I am at peace with myself.”

But, I am getting into next weeks sermon.

So, let us look at the relationship between joy and peace. I believe that joy in many ways is the expression of interpersonal, or inner, peace.

Someone may be able to point out the fallacy of this statement, but no one has yet, and it seems to make sense to me: Joy is peace dancing and peace is joy at rest.

Next week, we will focus on intra-personal peace, the peace that Christ brings between enemies and people of different sorts. The peace that I experience with my agnostic/atheistic friend.

Joy.

Joy is the emotion and acting out of the hope realized when Jesus came.

Let me re read this morning scripture. Zephaniah 3:14-20

This is a prophecy, a declaration of God that was designed by God to encourage God's people during a time of hardship.

And I love the command in there, right at the beginning: Rejoice.

I think the joy of Christmas is the best emotion I feel.

I know, Christmas eve, after we share communion and while we are lighting the candles and we are singing “Silent Night,” we will indeed experience the emotion, the interpersonal component of peace.

It is like we obey God by being joyful and in that process, God brings us to peace.

And, the converse is true, when we let the peace of Christ rule our hearts, at times, joy just sort of bubbles out.

But there is a command to rejoice.

I think at times it is the mental decision to obey God by rejoicing that is a spiritual catalyst for peace.

I eschew the materialism of Christmas and how our economy is based on this religions holiday and the success of sales.

Greed has always entered religious faiths and that is sad.

But the real joy, the real peace, the real purpose of Christmas is not lost on us.

I think for me, seeing the Christmas lights is one of the better expressions of joy that we have.

At night, I look across the field at the parsonage, or while driving and it is as if the whole world stops during the month of December to rejoice at the love that God brought down to earth during that first Christmas.

For Kathy, those same Christmas lights bring about a sense of peace, because her fondest family bonding memories of her childhood are when they would get in the car and go looking for Christmas light displays.

Let joy fill your heart.

Because God became a man in Christ Jesus, God sees our pain and to our weaknesses, God is no stranger.

That, to me is a cause for joy.

Love

Text: Luke 1: 68-79

Focus: Love

Function: Advent

Form: Story-telling

Intro:

It IS advent and I am choosing to refuse to let hope die even though this has been another horrific week.

I have often subscribed to the notion that our entire nation with its new/politics/religious voices and cycles has been manipulated by crisis after crisis.

I remember brother Paul Grout, at a men's retreat in Southern Ohio ask the question this way: “what are we supposed to be afraid of this week?”

I want there to be a Hope Church of the Brethren throughout the 21^st Century, so, my apologies to those who are not engaged in the new Internet age of communication.

Many times, I envy the simplicity. I wonder how much more peace I could get if I just turned off the Internet.

But, the fact is, we get more and more community out of Social media than we used to.

Kathy and the kids are constantly sending videos and pictures back and forth in a way we never imagined when we were young.

My mom's best friend, a few doors from her in the Nursing home gets to see her daughter, who is working on the front lines in the Congo to stop human sex trafficking via the wonder of the Internet.

But, as small as it has made, it has also become a tool of great division. I have seen terribly doctored videos claiming all kinds of crazy stories. Through it, young Dylon Wolf was radicalized as a Christian Terrorist and murdered 9 people at Mother Emmanuel Church. The week before, another man was radicalized into terrorism because of videos he vies by a group claiming to represent Christ released highly edited and misleading videos about what goes on at Planned Parenthood. Last week, a young man was radicalized into terrorism by ISIS and began the first ISIS inspired act of terror.

Most of those extremes would not have come and would not have been created so quickly if it wasn't for the way the Internet has changed our culture, for better or worse.

And it has created new groups of friends, and new sets of enemies.

A distant friend of a friend of mine on Facebook, a person I can't figure out how I even know them from posted a rather disturbing comment about the perpetrators in California with a challenge to unfriend her if I didn't like it. Which, for those who are not FB users, means that I would no longer see the cute pictures and comments she makes about her life.

So, I typed in OK and waited a half a day and clicked the unfriend button.

And, a casual acquaintance like that is part of social media.

But there are a few people who truly don't like my position on gun violence, war, civil rights for every marginalized group because it is commanded by God for us to love everyone, even our enemy and other classic Christian values that have defined what is, or should have been the Church from the beginning.

I read a quote by Herman Goring during the Nuremberg trials: “All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works in every country.”

I want to remind Christians that just because we are crying out Love Your Enemies, it doesn't mean that we are not patriots.

And some family members take exception to it.

It goes back to what can be talked about at Thanksgiving dinner.

There are people who have strong disagreements with my theology and Christian World view who I am not willing to defriend in my life or in my family or in my church.

I think it was Scot who said “Sin could be defined as breaking community.”

I have two atheist friends who get quite upset with things posted by my twin brother.

Now, for years, his Facebook Profile Picture, for those who don't use it, it is the snapshot that one uses to define themselves, was him standing at the rock where the other Political Party was started.

He is a true believer and as sincere as I am in every regard.

And my other friends are constantly asking me if Jesus actually said, or implied some of this stuff.

It is a very difficult relationship to maintain.

Yesterday I was with the District Ministry Commission. Our District Executive was there. And I know that many people here know, love and respect him.

And yet, there is no one like him. He is caught in the middle between extremes in our denomination and we were talking about some future work within the district and he was reminding folks that they have to love and care for both sides of the church.

Nate can do it because he is family to both sides.

And I am not talking about his genetic connection between so many people. Nate is a brother to all of us.

We could disagree with him, but we can't let him go. Somehow we will be an incomplete body without him.

A bird needs both its right and left wings to fly.

Otherwise, if it can fly at all, it is simply going to go around in circles and not get anywhere.

I mentioned that it seems as if our government is only working in crisis mode and the media is really happy with it because it gives them a reason to sell us news and keep us in fear over the future.

Last week and the week before that indeed had terrible, awful news, and it is so bad that the news is being common. I can't imagine.

But we. BUT WE. BUT WE live in faith, not fear. And we are not willing to let go of love and its power to reconcile.

Fear is one of the biggest sources of prejudice and evil. It is the opposite of faith and the harbinger of violence.

There are people at that dinner table that we have to be there with and because of the bond of love that goes beyond our ideologies, we will extend to them the bond of love regardless of how they treat us.

And we are not going to do this because we are better people. Fear is common, we just won't give in to it.

We aren't going to do this, this facing of our fears and knocking down hatred with love, because we somehow are smarter, richer, more influenced, more evolved, more enlightened or better at anything.

We will do this because God's Holy Spirit is in us and we will prove that love conquers a multitude of sins. AMEN?

Hope

Text: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Focus: Hope

Function: To prepare for Advent

Form: Study

Intro: Many of us,especially those who were raised in the home of a preacher began to cut our theological teeth on the writings of C.S. Lewis.

One of my Niece's is the wife of an Eastern Orthodox Church. Her husband made a funny to me at the dinner after my cousin's funeral as the current topic was the fact that there is no war on Christmas. My Nephew said: “The problem with the Star-bucks cup is not that it doesn't have any holiday words, but that the color is red instead of purple... ...every one knows that Christmas celebrates the Royalty of Jesus and the proper color is Purple!”

But my Niece's favorite line, when she speaks of God's mercy is this: “Remember, Aslan is not a tame lion.” Aslan is a metaphor for Jesus in Lewis' heptalogy, The Chronicles of Narnia.

But, C.S. Lewis was a great writer for the Church during the age of Modernity.

I think one of my favorite principles from him comes from The Screwtape Letters where Wormwood, a character from the Dark Side, says that one of the best ways to distract Christians from their Christian Duty is to rile up patriotic fervor so much that all their passion is devoted to the Kingdoms of men instead of the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And the go-to book, especially for the educated person who was new to the faith, was his book: Mere Christianity.

But we are now in a Post-Modern era and although the good news has not changed, the way that it is understood in our culture is much different than it was in the heyday of the Church, the 1950's.

Mega-Churches spring up, and run their cycle and close down. But the Church will never stop to exist. Jesus promises that to us in Matthew 28:20.

There is a sort of replacement for C.S. Lewis in the age of Post-Modernity. And instead Mere Christianity as a way to help introduce people to Christ, I use the book by N.T. Wright: Simply Christian.

There are are 4 themes for the 4 Sunday's before Christmas, and in this book, there are 4 great longings inside the Human Heart that Jesus addresses.

The 4 Advent Themes are Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.

Wright states that in humanity, there are 4 longings, or hungers. They are a longing for Justice (1) and our hunger for Spirituality (2), Relationship (3), and Beauty. (4).

I wish there was a very direct correlation between the 4 themes in both so that I could do one a Sunday, but I can't, but I want to stay with his theme as we go through the themes of Advent.

People long for Justice. I love Matthew 5:6: God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. (NLT)

Don't we long for justice? When we see, or hear of injustices, especially those done in the name of God, any God, our hearts breaks with sorrow and we refuse to ignore the pain because we now share our hearts with the Divine, God the Holy Spirit and She longs for Her children and every one of those who children who might consider us to be their enemies are children that She, the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Christ Jesus, The Spirit of God longs for also.

(Lift up eyes in prayer) O God. Grant us hearts with the care and compassion that you have for all of the world. Amen.

The age of Modernity, the age of Science and Reason alone, had no place for God, or the idea of Divine love, or the idea of Divine Wisdom, everything is what nature has made of it.

And for us, 9/11 happened and all of a sudden humanity came to realize that there needs to be some sort of Spiritual connection, or something beyond pure chance to help give us a sense of a moral framework.

It works better for me to believe that there is a perfectly loving Supreme judge who in His/Her love can heal the entire planet.

Humanity started looking toward faith or spirituality again and Post-Modernity became the way that people experience and discover God.

A longing for Spirituality re-awakened. To me, it is an exciting time for the Church.

Relationship/community is something that everyone hungers for also. I know that when Kathy and I are apart, my heart aches for her. There is something about her smile that gives my life more meaning. (thank you)

The Church is community. I think I noticed the change from Modernity to Post-Modernity in my preaching when all of a sudden, when I was preaching my own Grandmother's funeral, instead of inviting people to get ready for heaven themselves, I invited people into the world's biggest family.

And beauty. When I think of the candle we light for peace, I also think of beauty. Beauty is peace, joy, love and hope wrapped into some sort of mystical image that calls from the spirit of the artist into the spirit of the admirer. Whether that is the beauty that God creates in nature, or the artwork in prose, poetry, music, painting, photography, dance, sculpture, drama, comedy, or any thing that inspires us inside here (point to heart).

And none of these things happen without hope.

Keep hope alive is a phrase that I remind myself of often. And when my hope feels weak, I get into some sort of beauty, whether it is nature, a babbling brook, the surf, the sun, rain, whatever, music even puzzles, all of these longings, these legitimate, healthy longings that inspire us and keep us praying and praising our God come from Hope.

Treating Refugees as well as Native Americans Treated us

Text: Rev 22:1-6, 17

Focus: Resurrection

Function: Mercy

Form: Story Telling

Welcome!

I love Thanksgiving and not just because I like to eat and watch football. It is the best time for Pumpkin pie and sweet potato cassarole man.

And, my tastes have changed over the years. Yes, I have evolved from light meat to dark meat, it seems to be much juicier.

I know that our version of history is constantly updated, but I love the idea of that first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims, refugees who were escaping death and persecution because their brand of Christianity was perceived as a threat to the religious authorities.

They came here because like you and I, and every refugee, they were willing to give up their homes and their land because they believed that it was the only way to keep their families safe. Certainly today, we can identify with how difficult it must be to leave home.

I don't think it was an adventure, it was a hardship.

That first Thanksgiving was the second winter they endured. Their first winter took way to many lives.

And although they knew that during the winter their resources would be limited again, in worship to God, they shared with the Native Americans, as an act of faith and trust, the blessings they received.

And the Natives, although they were not Christians, reciprocated with the same degree of welcome.

Revelation 22:17 is one of my favorite passages of scripture, because it includes this incredible call from Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and, the Church -referred to as “the Bride” to come and feast!

It seems to me that the generosity that both sides exhibited is a great example of what it means to be a Christian.

I was a Jesus freak in my youth. I remember the opposition to that new fangled music that Christians were singing and because I was young and full of passion about change, I embraced those songs.

My favorite was the Chorus: “They will know that we are Christians by the way we love one another.”

In many ways, my own Christian journey has been a fleshing out of that statement by Jesus when Jesus said this is how you will be known, by the way you demonstrate love.

The Spirit and the Bride are still calling out for us to Come. Come back. Come for the first time, Come again and again, keep on coming to Christ. And that invitation is for everyone, everyone who is thirsty.

I was an idealistic youth. My father had a heart attack when I was 10, and for about 8 years, his health kept him from his first career love, which was pastoring a Church.

We attended an inner city Church a few miles from our home. It was soon after the civil rights acts/marches which were led by great Christian leaders who risked their lives to ensure that everyone, not just a few, were welcome to come and drink freely from the well of salvation.

In and through that Church. I met Jesus. At 4, during a children's event at a district meeting, I asked Jesus to come into my heart.

I was telling my dad what I did and when I was telling him I realized something. I still picture it, I was looking at my mom, and when I moved my head to tell my dad what happened, I could feel Jesus inside of me. And I almost got in trouble for taking the name of the Lord in vain. My mom said: “who did you invite into your heart today?”

And again, as I turned my head, I felt Him inside me, and with a sort of a shock I shouted out “Jesus.” He was here.

In the Anabaptist tradition, I wasn't allowed to be baptized until I was 12 and of an age of consent. I remember giving a testimony about it and telling everyone that I didn't know what had happened to me but the only way I could describe it was that a ton of happiness fell on me.

I was invited to come to the water, and in that water, again, I met the Lord.

So, you can imagine my internal struggle for some reason or other, as the neighborhood the church was located in began to be integrated and the congregation wanted to move to the suburbs because they didn't think they could worship with people of a different race.

The Spirit and the Bride say: “Come!”

That undermined the entire concept to me of what “welcome,” and “They will know we follow Jesus by the way we love others.”

If others weren't welcome, how could this be love?

They were and still are good people. And God's love is patient as God delivers people from their fears and prejudices into faith.

We are not born into God's Kingdom as complete and mature disciples. And once we begin that journey of faith, God continues to work within us to deliver us from prejudice and fear. And, I would submit that most prejudice is based on fear. And, we know this: God's Spirit is not inside of us to cause us to fear, but to give us power and love and clear reasoning. Amen?

I still know many of those people and most are as embarrassed about their prejudicial fear as I was offended by their disingenuous reasoning.

And that brings me to the first first 2 verses of Revelation 22: ¹The angel also showed me the river of the water of life, sparkling like crystal, and coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²and flowing down the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, which bears fruit twelve times a year, once each month; and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

I oftentimes avoid preaching out of Revelation because there are a myriad ways of interpreting it and I don't want to offend, God brings out many different and unique ways of interpreting any scripture based on the time and the season.

But, I will risk this interpretation of John's vision. Much of Revelation is about future events, but some of it is about current events, in John's time.

The 7 letters appear to be about current events. And 7 bowls, 7 judgments, 7 seals, not unlike the 7 miracles and 7 parables in the Gospel of John indicate that John -and God- have this thing with the number 7. The gospel of John does not follow the chronological order of the other 3 gospels because John -and the Holy Spirit- see value in the repetition of 7 events since 7 seems to be a divine number symbolizing God's glory and power.

All of that is to say that I wonder if at this point in time of the vision that John is describing in the book of Revelations is not specifically about future events, but about what was currently happening in heaven.

And I say that because this can't be about the future heaven and earth once the old one is done away with as described in the 20 chapter when even time ceases to be since sin the tree of life is still producing leaves whose purpose is to heal the nations. Since healing is still occurring, it appears not be about a perfect future, but it is about the present power and work of God in the current world to be the agent to heal and restore the nations.

The Spirit and the Bride say: “welcome!”

And heaven is pictured as a place that is growing a tree that comes from the river of life and that tree is still healing the world.

At 4, I asked Jesus into my heart, and He came in. I believe in the power of what we call: “The sinners prayer.”

But when Jesus told the disciples to go everywhere and preach the good news, He never said to go and tell them to pray to ask Jesus into their hearts so that when they die they could go to this heaven.

I believe in that prayer. But the good news, according to Jesus is this: “The kingdom of God is here, already, right now!”

And John sees this in the vision. The Kingdom of heaven with the river of life flowing through it, with a tree that is still there, healing ALL the nations.

What a great image! (AMEN?)

So, there is another chorus from today's contemporary Christian music that resonates with me as much as “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.”

It comes from the Passion worship Conferences. And I confess, it confused me. I thought the song was done by Robin Mark, a Scottish Christian musician.

But, this one song starts out with some haunting words that might be an indictment on our own culture. The song is titled “Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?”

The leader, before the song starts asks a simple question. And, I think that given the first Thanksgiving Worship celebration/feast, is appropriate for this year.

The song leader simply asks this question, three: “Could this be the land of the free?”

Is this still the land that says “welcome?” Is this still the land that says: “Let everyone who is thirsty come.”

And, the author picks up my theme in this song. He speaks of the streams of God's river washing away our sin and brokenness. He sings of the river of salvation flowing out from God. Much of the imagery is taken from this passage in Revelation, but then the song gives us a way to move forward in spite of the fact that there are very real fears when we talk about who we are now going to welcome.

The line is this: Dancers who dance upon injustice.

By faith, by the power of God, by the promise of the Holy Spirit, we too get to dance on fear, hatred, brokenness, prejudice, hatred, and exclusion.

The good news is this: God's kingdom is more powerful than any human Kingdom and those of us who get to be part of God's family here in earth, have real power. We have power flowing right out of heaven, the same power that is feeding the tree that produces leaves for healing the nations.

And just as those first native Americans opened their borders to us, Christians who were fleeing for our lives, God's power is there.

And just as those first pilgrims who took an huge step of faith and shared their limited resources, and they did this with a clear body memory of the terrible winter the year before, we too, have the promises of God to use us to heal a broken world, if we will just trust God, and not give in to our fear.

Amen?

Generous God

Text: Psalm 93

Focus: Thanksgiving

Function: To help people be generous to strangers.

Form: GOK

Intro: There are a few profound sermons that I have heard in my life.

I think one that has stuck with me the most was a man asking us to quote the first 9 words of John 3:16.

Say it with me: “For God so loved the world that He gave.”

So far this month, we have been looking at the idea of Generosity when it comes to our faith. We examined Generous people, generous grace, generous resurrection and today, the well spring of all that generosity is our final message, Generous God.

The nature of God is generosity.

And today we celebrate God's generosity as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

I wonder if Thanksgiving is actually our most Christian holiday.

I know Easter celebrates the Resurrection and Christmas celebrates the coming of hope, healing and restoration as we celebrate the coming of God, the Word of God made flesh: Jesus.

And although Thanksgiving is not actually a religious holiday per se, I have often wondered who or what those who claim that they do not believe in any sort of higher power or Creator are thankful to.

I suppose that there could be an honest celebration of success, hard work and good luck every year when Thanksgiving happens as it is wrapped around our harvest celebration.

Thanksgiving is a throwback to an agrarian culture.

After the Industrial revolution, modern cultures were no longer merely agrarian. Economically, we are a consumerist culture.

And that leads us to a sort of sad part of what Thanksgiving has become.

Since inevitably, at least one person from our household works in retail, our Thanksgiving celebration starts early and is cut short.

And our economic future for the next year is predicted to be good or bad based on the level of success that Holiday Shopping from the previous year.

And it is true, if Christmas sales go well, then it stimulates the entire economy and the hope for prosperity or lack of it is determined.

In an Agrarian culture, the quality of the next year was based on the harvest of the year before.

But that is the neat thing about faith.

That, to me, is the neat thing about Thanksgiving.

That is the neat thing about worshiping God in gratitude every year at Thanksgiving.

Because, people of faith have gathered together every year and have taken the time to stop and to say “Thank You” to God.

And, that attitude of thankfulness has come from believers regardless of the quality of harvest.

If the harvest was disappointing, people still stopped to celebrate and to say thanks to God because we who live by faith have learned this lesson, our Hope is in God.

And God is indeed generous.

We know that God is generous with Grace because God has chosen to forgive us and welcome us into God's family in spite of our own failures.

God is love. And God's love draws us back to God and keeps us in God's protection.

Profound scholars, and skeptics both have come to a wonderful understanding, God gives rain, sun, harvest and hope to everyone, even those who are wicked.

God is love. And God's love is generous toward everyone, especially those of the household of faith.

Even though Thanksgiving became a national holiday as a day of prayer right before the Civil war, for some reason that first celebration with the Native Americans and the Pilgrims sticks especially in my mind.

Those Pilgrims endured a bitter winter the year before and their population was cut by one third because of the hardship of that winter.

The next winter, instead of hording their labors in preparation for another hard winter, they decided to share with their new found friends.

And in a spirit of hospitality, their new friends, the native Americans, who knew how to cultivate and prepare for the harsh Northern Winter, welcomed the strangers, the Pilgrims, and shared with them.

I pray that we, who then dispossessed those people who were generous to us, can be of the same mind toward everyone who comes begging us for shelter and succor. Those victims of ISIS are fleeing religious persecution much worse than the Pilgrims had when they fled to this new land.

(look up) Oh God, we pray that we will be a nation that will respond with the same generosity.

Let me read Leviticus 19:33-34: ³³“Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. ³⁴Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Unfortunately, some people have used those refugees as political pawns and are trying to reap political points by shouting out fear towards the very people trying to flee from ISIS as if they were ISIS themselves merely because they look and dress like some of them.

Imagine what that first Thanksgiving would have been like if those who had no claim to the teachings of Jesus, the teaching to love one another as yourselves, would have treated the Pilgrims like some fear-mongerers are treating Refugees?

There would be no Thanksgiving holiday.

These people want a safe and secure future just like the Pilgrims did 450 years ago.

And that passage in Leviticus haunts me about what God will think of us if we refuse the same succor and help we were given.

Don't mistreat them. That is obvious. But God gives a reason why.

God told them that since God gave them a new land, a safe place, where they were given security, and they didn't build the houses, plant the vineyards, erect the walls around their cities, pave the roads, clear the fields, all of that was a gift to them by God, the only thing that God expected in a form of gratitude was that they treat every other foreigner who came to their land with the same blessings that God gave them.

And then, 15 times in this chapter alone, God repeats this statement to them: “I am the Lord.”

Well, they knew that. The repetition is God's subtle way of reminding them that God is watching, and judging -either with blessing or hardship- as to how well they do this.

So, God says to them: This was not your land, I gave it to you by driving out the people who were living here. And since this Land is my gift to you, I have this condition for you as a way to honor my gift for you. Give the same freedom to enjoy this land to the strangers who come to you. And by the way, I am watching to see if you do it.

Now, most of us have an issue with the way the land of Canaan, what is today modern day Palestine, was given to the Jewish nation.

The entire population was killed. And because of that, we Brethren make it clear that our Creed is the New Testament because we believe, and can prove it from scripture, that the New Testament ended that kind of warfare.

Most of us have a hard time defending God's willingness to allow the Jews to wipe out the native people.

But, the defense, whether we like it or not is this: The people were cruel, especially to foreigners. It was proven by the way the angels who visited Lot were treated. And yet, even then, God was trying to win back the hearts of those people.

God told Abraham that the iniquities of those people was not yet as bad and they would have to wait 400 years until their collective evil was bad enough.

And so, they went to Egypt.

The reason for the delay is obvious when one reads the OT prophets.

God sent prophet after prophet to these people telling them to be kind, loving, and caring towards others. And it appears that after continually rejecting the prophets warnings to stop doing evil towards others, God made an example out of them.

I don't believe that God allowed the Jews to displace those people with violence because God loved the Jewish people more than others.

Nope, God loves everyone equally. The OT declares that the Jewish people were some of the most stubborn of all the peoples and God loved them and God blessed them when and if they ensured justice for everyone, even the stranger.

Now, there are a lot of other ways to look at the warfare in the OT than the one I just gave. I think I am almost alone in my understanding of that. And don't, please don't get bogged down with those points except to hear this.

The Jewish people were under a manifest destiny to possess the land. God never gave us the right of manifest destiny.

Instead, God didn't stop us when we displaced the very people who were kind enough to share with the Pilgrims. By their very actions that first Thanksgiving, the native Americans exhibited the just and loving acceptance of strangers that God commanded the Jews to demonstrate toward other strangers.

We took the land with violence and I cannot justify that action as being anything that a Christian nation would do.

But that is irrelevant to the conversation, if the Jews, who had manifest destiny, were commanded to welcome the stranger because they were also strangers to this land, then how much more does God expect us be generous with God's provision of such a rich land?

And I want to end with the idea of God's generosity.

You see, we cannot out give God.

That first Thanksgiving, resources were still limited among the Pilgrims. The pain of all those who died the winter before was fresh on their minds. But, they still trusted God enough to share. And they did that because they knew that God was generous.