I saw something recently which reminded me of three of the most important aspects of being a faithful church. “Find a place to belong, grow and serve…” What a home run of an invitation to give to others to come to church and experience. What a home run of what it should be at its best!

First of all, church is a place where we feel a sense of belonging. There is a need within all of us to belong and to feel a part of something. We all need to know others care about us, to be accepted and we all need to help others feel that same sense of belonging. The church at its best is one place where we give each other a place to belong based on the love of God. We are all charged with helping create a place where people can feel they belong. Belonging is an important aspect of what we all need, seek and experience in church. Are you here to belong and to help others belong?

Secondly, church is a place where we seek to grow. We all need to be growing constantly. The Good News is not about staying the same, it about changing. Our faith is about change and growth. If we aren’t growing we aren’t really being faithful. We seek to grow in a spiritual sense by learning more about the Lord, more about what His call means in our life and opening ourselves up to the Holy Spirit. Are you growing spiritually?

Third, church is a place where we serve. Too often this third aspect of church is left out of the equation. We can’t talk about being faithful disciples or being a faithful church without serving others, especially a world in need and one with plenty of hurt to be healed. All Disciples of Christ are called to serve, to give, to reach out to others and to bring the good news to others. Too many disciples just want to be served and not serve. Are you here to serve or be served?

These three critical aspects of church are the foundation for a faithful church and are important elements for every one of us to help be true and truer and even more true every day in our own church. Will you join the small but faithful band of disciples at our church?

Dr. Robert Chance

1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” [Then the LORD said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever."

Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." He said, "Here I am." Eli said, "What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you." So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, "It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him."

As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD.]

Introduction…
Of all the wonderful passages and all the great stories in the Bible this one is one of my favorites. I have always loved it. The story and its message to us are compelling.

Eli’s and Samuel’s story reminds me of a friend of Mary’s. Ann is a counselor at Wheaton High School who is in her 80’s, almost 90. She is still working. She is still seeing students and helping them with sorting out issues in their lives, planning for courses to either go to college or purse a career. She is active and involved long after most of her contemporizes have stopped working with kids. She is one of my heroes. She is a rare human being.

Can you imagine someone like Ann who still works every day, still finds meaning in her original call to a career, still gets up every day, showers, dresses and goes off to do the work that gives meaning to her life?

I. First, the story in the Bible…
Eli was an old and faithful priest who served in the temple in ancient Israel.

His step was slow.
His body was tired.
His eyes were becoming weak.
But his mind was still sharp.
His service was still faithful.
He still loved the Lord and felt a deep and passionate call to serve the Lord faithfully.
Long after most of his friends and fellow priests had “retired” Eli remained in the temple and pressed on.

One night Eli was lying down in his usual place in the temple. The oil in the lamp still burned. Eli was falling asleep but not yet fully asleep.

In those days the old priests had young assistants to help them with their work. A boy named Samuel was Eli’s helper. Samuel heard what he thought was Eli’s voice calling to him. He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli had not called Samuel. He told young Samuel to go back to sleep.

Samuel went back to his bed and lay back down. After a short time he heard Eli call him again. So he got up and went to the old priest. “Here I am, you called?” Eli, probably a bit miffed at being awoken again told Samuel “I didn’t call you, go back and go to sleep”.

Samuel, having no idea that it was God who was calling him, went back to go to sleep.

But soon, young Samuel heard the voice again and again he went to Eli. “Here I am, what is it you want” This time Eli realized that it was the Lord who was calling Samuel. He told Samuel “Go back and lie down, and if he calls you again, say “speak Lord, for your servant is listening”. So Samuel went back and laid down, again.

Suddenly, Samuel heard the voice again but this time he realized it was the LORD who was calling him so he answered as Eli had told him. “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening”.

What a wonderful story.
What a powerful message for each of us in our own lives.
What a challenge to us in our lives to listen for the voice of the LORD as he speaks to us and calls us to serve him and for us to know how to respond faithfully.
“Speak LORD, for your servant is listening.

II. There aren’t so many people listening for God’s voice and God’s direction today.

It seems as if there are lots of people pretending to listen for God’s voice, but if they hear the voice of the Lord you wouldn’t know it from their lives and if they hear God’s voice at all they don’t seem to respond by following his will.

It gets harder and harder in nearly every church in the country to find people who will do the things that every church needs to have done in order to support living, vibrant communities of faith.

It gets harder and harder to find disciples who listen for God, who seek His will in their lives and who then follow His way.

Every church lives by the old 80-20 rule. I’m sure all of you have heard it. “20 % of the people do 80% of the work”. It’s invariably true. I find it true in every church I’m in and I can definitely tell you its true here.

How odd it is that we listen to lots of other voices in our lives while ignoring the voice of the Lord.
• We listen to sports stars who are very often the last people we should be listening to.
• We listen to celebrities who may or may not be good people to listen to.
• We listen to others who whisper in our ear, who shout at us, who gripe to us, who mislead us, who give us bad advice; all the while ignoring the one voice we ought to be paying attention to – the voice of the Lord.

Why do so many not listen for God’s voice in their lives today?
• Some people don’t listen for the Lord’s voice because there is so much “white noise” in our lives that they get used to being distracted and don’t really listen for the Lord.
• Some people don’t listen for the Lord’s voice because they are afraid that if they really listened for God’s voice they might have to make changes, they might have to change directions, they might have to do something different in their lives; and they just aren’t interested in changing.
• Some people don’t listen for the Lord’s voice because there are so many imposters posing as the Lord that they find it impossible to separate the voices of the imposters from the real voice of the LORD.

• Yes, there are lots of reasons why people aren’t listening for God and the cost both in their own lives, their own lost opportunities, their own missed chances, their own short changed life but places like the church which depend on people listening for the LORD to do their good work are suffering immensely.

The most important question to ponder for you today is not whether others are listening for God’s voice and why they don’t listen and whether they are following the Lord but
• Whether you are listening…
• Whether you are faithful…
• Whether you are responding “speak Lord, your servant is listening”.

III. God is still speaking; God is still calling to people to hear Him and to follow him. God still wants us to respond with faithfulness and to be among those who do hear Him and obey Him.

You don’t think…
• You don’t think God stopped speaking in Samuel’s day do you?
• You don’t think God stopped calling people like Samuel to be His servants and to do His will do you?
• You don’t think God stopped looking for people who would get up and come to Him and respond to Him with “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening” do you?

You don’t think…
• You don’t think God still needs people to be faithful to Him do you?
• You don’t think there isn’t a need for you to be faithful in your own life do you?
• You don’t think the other 20% of the people in this church should be doing 80% of the ministry do you?

God still speaks…
• God speaks through the voices of others who have accepted His call and who have demonstrated faithfulness and obedience in their own lives and who speak to us opening our hearts, showing us the way to hear His voice ourselves and what obedience in our own life would look like.
• God still speaks, sometimes in the quiet still of the night as we lie awake in silence, with all of the noise and all of the distractions around us gone.
• God still speaks, sometimes in the noise and din of daily life and out of all the noise and din He somehow speaks to us and calls us to Service.

God is calling you…
• God is calling you to have an active and personal role in the life of this church.
• God is calling you to listen for Him and to change your life and follow His will.
• God is calling you to stand up and speak for justice and fairness in the lives of others, especially the poor.
• God is calling you to turn your life over to Him, one day at a time and to become a constantly different person.
• God is calling you to find the unique and special ways that your gifts, your personality, your sense of call can all blend into your service to Him, to His church and to your fellow man.

There are still some people…
• Listening for God’s voice in their lives.
• Making a difference with whom they are and where they live.
• Changing the world around them to make it a better place.
• Responding to God’s call with faithfulness.

Closing…
There is so much to do.
There is so much you can do.
There are so many hungry people hungry for the good news, the life changing story of the Lord and the life changing message in their own lives.
There are so many people waiting to be loved, waiting to be forgiven, and waiting to find the unique and personal purpose of their own life.

We don’t live to work although work is an important part of our life.
We don’t live to have fun although fun is something we all need at some level.
We don’t live to just make money or create babies or plow the ground or toil the soil or go to parties.

We live for deeper purposes.
We live for deeper meaning.
We live to make a difference for our having been here.

God is calling you.
He is calling you to love more, forgive more, and do more with your life.
He is calling you to join the 20% who choose to respond, who choose to listen, who choose to get up off the couch and make a difference in their church.
He is calling you to make a difference with your life.
He is calling you to serve others.

Are you listening?
Are you paying attention?
Are you interested in what God has to say in your life?

The other night a group of your fellow members who are among the 20% sat and discussed all the ways we need help in order for us a church to respond faithfully to God’s voice and do all the many great ministries we do.
• One person noted how frustrated he feels that so few have to do so many things because so many ignore the call.
• Another person shared how someone comes every Saturday and picks up the trash on the church grounds because that is how she has heard God’s call and something she can do.
• Another person asked, “How do we get people to feel the joy of the call of the Lord in their lives and get up off the couch and make a difference”?

I hope you hear the call.
I hope you feel the pulse of God’s call flow through your veins.
I hope you want to make a difference, not any difference but the difference God wants you make with your life.

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

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Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you! Isaiah 64:1

Introduction…

Isaiah 64:1-7
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to[b] our sins.

So…

What kind of God are you waiting for?

What kind of birth is you are preparing to celebrate?

What is it you are expecting?

What does your faith look like and how does all that influence the role of your faith in life, your whole approach to life and what faith means to you?

These are the questions the scriptures pose to us today.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and we begin the process of anticipation. We plan for and look forward to celebrating the coming celebration of the birth of God’s son.

It is no small thing, no not a small thing at all.

I. We, like the people of Isaiah’s day, wait for God’s return.

The people of Isaiah’s world were longing for God to come and be among them again. They missed Him.

The earnest prayers and hopes of the people were for a day when God would rule again.

Their hopes become almost a lament as they long the day of the Lord’s return.

The great prophet grieves over the deepening sin of his people. He cries over the loss of the holy sanctuary and the absence of all evidence of God being among the people.

Isaiah’s words of longing and hoping for the Lord’s return is from that part of the Book of Isaiah (Third Isaiah, Chapters 56 to 66) that reflects the dark days in Jerusalem, around 500 B.C., after the return from exile in Babylon. The bright hopes of the new creation and the new exodus that make Second Isaiah (Chapters 40 to 55) the high point of the Hebrew Bible had not turned out so well. The prophet expresses frustration at the poor state of the Jewish community in its worship, morale, basic morality and religious observance.

Does this sound familiar? Nevertheless, the prophet’s hope in God is stronger than his frustration, and he utters the classic statement of biblical hope, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Christians believe that this cry of hope has been fulfilled literally (and beyond the prophet’s dreams) in the person of Jesus.

The words of Isaiah present a profound mystery and paradox. Israel is responsible and accountable to God for her conduct and the source of their sins goes back to a sense that He does not dwell among them. The effect of sin is more sin, callousness, and irreligion. The people know that something is wrong, something is profoundly wrong and their cry turns toward returning to God and restoring their fortunes because God walks among them again.

The paradox is, of course, our paradox. It is not God who fails to walk among the people it is the people who fail to walk with God. It is not God who is absent; it is the people who have gone away from God. It is not God who has abandoned the nation; it is the nation which has abandoned God.

The cry of Isaiah and the cry of his people from which it sprang is a cry for an Advent of God. Would that the mountains would shake and causing water boil would signify something powerful, something life changing, something transformative was happening.

This should all sound amazingly familiar to you. It should reflect something of the pangs which we ourselves recognize and feel in our own society. It should resonate as we too have become a society that has turned away from God, has demeaned religion and made faith a hollow and too often shallow expression of what the true presence of God in our midst means.

We too long for the Advent of God.

We too long for the return of God.

We too have sinned and fallen away from God and long for a sense of His presence in our midst.

Hence, we can’t wait for Christmas.

Hence, we can’t wait to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, the son of God, the savior of man who will redeem us, who will show us what God looks like and who will call us back to walking in our daily lives with Him.

Isn’t that ironic?

Isn’t that amazing?

2600 years after Isaiah spoke and wrote of his people yearning for the return of a sense of God in their lives we now yearn for a sense of being transformed by the miraculous presence of the Lord in our midst.

Now is the time, let us pause. As we wait, may we hear the voice of God. Now is the time, let us watch. In our homes,
      at our work,
            even while waiting in line–
                  may we see the face of Christ.

Now is the moment, let us prepare our hearts,
      in our words,
            in our hearts,
                   in all we say and do–may God’s extravagant love shine through.

We wait for God.

We seek his presence.

We have a deep and profound hunger that will not go away, will not be satisfied by the high fat content of the world’s offerings and which can only be satisfied by a sense of walking with God ourselves.

II. Too often we wait for the wrong kind of God. Too often we hunger for the wrong kind of food, too often we settle for a too small sense of satisfaction which the world is totally unable and unprepared to offer us.

Maurice Maeterlinck wrote a play in 1894 called The Blind. It was about a group of blind people who are stranded in the woods on an island outing when their guide, a priest, dies suddenly. For a while, no one knows that the priest has died or that his body is only several feet away from. They all sit and wait for his return. When his body is discovered, the people become panicky and argumentative and fearful about how they will ever return to their hospital. With the death of ‘the father’ the play can also be read as a fable of a society lost without a God to guide them and care for them.

What kind of God is you long for?

What sort of understanding of Jesus’ return is it you anticipate?

When someone talks to me of Jesus’ return and they speak of a time when all hell will break loose and the sin and degradation of our society will come home to roost I simply avoid the discussion. I know what the Bible says. I know what TV and radio evangelists like to preach about and build their empires on. I’ve seen the movies of people like Hal Lindsey and “The Late Great Planet Earth” in which an angry and vengeful God comes to fry people in endless seas of burning agony and sure and certain devastation. I understand all that.

But that is not the God I long for today.

That is not the sort of birth of the Savior I anticipate and sing about and pray for.

That is not the “celebration” I look forward to when we gather on Christmas Eve to light candles, to share in the Holy Communion and proudly proclaim “Joy to the World, the Lord is come”.

If you believe in and follow a God of anger and hatred you long for the wrong kind of God.

If you long for a God who will strike the sinners dead and fry them with a hot, lashing, angry whip you will not be on the same page from which I sing these next four weeks.

III. I long for, and anticipate, and wait for a God who is a God of love, a God of redemption, a God of hope who will claim us and redeem us and bring us back into what it means to be a people deeply in touch with His presence and deeply committed to loving others as we have been loved, forgiving others as we have been forgiven and sharing life with others as we found life with God.

Oh, that God would rend the heavens and come down to make his name known.

Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has any God besides Him who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

While it is true we are all sinners, while is it true we have all forgotten our way, while it is true we all forget to walk with God in our midst.

I believe in a God who knows me for who I am and loves me anyway.

I believe in a God who accepts me as I am but who calls me to be so much more than I am.

I believe in a God who loves me and forgives me and embraces me in order that I may experience and learn to love others, forgive others and embrace others as He has me.

It is a loving God I open the anticipation of Advent for. As we light the first candle of the Advent wreath today we light the way for a God who will find us and bring us out of the darkness in which we live.

It is a forgiving God I sing about when I sing “Away in the manger”. As we begin the Nativity scene in which a new and special character is placed into the scene each week it is a God who invites all of us, all of His children to come and join the joy of the nativity.

It is a God who comes in the form of a newborn baby, born in a humble stable that both shows me how I am to care for and love the poorest among us but also realize the heights that God calls all of us, irrespective of our station in life to reach.

The God I long to know and sense his presense in my life again is a God who redeems me from my own indifference and sensitivity and calls me to live as fully as if He walked among us today as did in Jesus’ day.

The God I long to show us how to live is a God who is the potter who makes me, the clay in his hands to become a shaper of lives, a potter of sorts myself.

The God I anticipate knowing anew this Advent season is the God who does not remember my sins forever but who calls me beyond my sins.

We are His people…
      Not by virtue of position or place or circumstance of our birth
           But by virtue of knowing Him,
                walking with Him,
                      living out His ways and knowing He is in our midst.

What kind of God is it you long for and anticipate coming to be in our midst? Do you wait for a God who is angry and vengeful and hateful or a God who is loving, forgiving and inviting into new life?

Closing…
Oh, that He would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before Him and does awesome things that we did not expect” Join me in hoping and praying for a new day, a day of redemption, of day of salvation, a day of life transforming awareness on our part of what it means to know God is among us and to walk with Him daily.

We, like the people of Isaiah’s day need transforming.

We have forgotten the poor.

We have ignored the downtrodden.

There is something amiss in Camelot but it’s not the first time, it certainly won’t be the last time and like ancient Israel all we have to do is look around to see it.

We have focused too often on the wrong things and waited for the wrong things.

God is coming again. Well, to be more accurate He is already here but He is making us aware anew of His presence in our midst, again and again until we finally get it.

He is showing us the love and forgiveness he wants us to live within our daily lives, again and again until we finally get it.

He is redeeming us, even as He redeems all things and all people, again and again until we finally get it.

It is no small thing that like Isaiah we long for the return of a new sense of God’s presence among us, a sense of transforming presence so that we can see and be and do what he would have us see and be and do.

It is the Jesus who gives life, who heals, who teaches, who walks with us and shows us the way that I sing of today, that I long for every day and that I commit myself anew to.

As we begin yet another Advent season, yet another time of waiting and hoping and anticipating the joy of celebrating the birth of the Savior may we focus on the things that truly matter, the things that God would have us see and may we do the thing the things that God would have us do as we yearn for a renewed sense of his presence in our midst.

Sounds like a promising period of anticipation doesn’t it? We don’t have to wait for God, He is already here, all we have to do is live like we know it.

Closing Prayer… Now is the time, let us pause. As we wait, may we hear the voice of God. Now is the time, let us watch. In our homes, at our work, even while waiting in line–may we see the face of Christ. Now is the moment, let us prepare our hearts. In our words, in our hearts, in all we say and do–may God’s extravagant love shine through.

Theme… This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful to have a God who sees me for who I am, weak and lost and who still cares about me so much that He will go out and find me, and bring me back safely in His care.

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

Introduction…

I love the Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving Painting called “Freedom from Want”. It’s also known as “Thanksgiving Dinner. In the picture we see a large family gathered around their table for a feast. We presume its Thanksgiving because of the huge turkey being served. Both the good china and the good sliver are on the table. Children and grandchildren, talking happily with other are seated all around the table. Grandpa is at the head of the table and has his carving tools ready to slice and serve the mouth watering bird. Grandma is placing the turkey in its place. She is still her cooking apron just in case some succulent juices spill over and ruin her dress. The turkey is cooked to perfection. The table extends past the bottom the canvas, giving the perception that we are sitting right at the table with this wonderful family. The man in the lower right corner of the painting seems to be inviting us to join the feast.

There is something fundamental in its simplicity. There is something warm and inviting and totally happy in its presentation. We feel like we’re sitting right them with this wonderful, happy, joyful family. It’s time to sit down and eat. But there is something even more important in the picture; I can’t say why but it is reverent, it is spiritual. It’s not just time to sit down and eat but it’s time to be thankful for God’s abundance.

Maybe, no…almost certainly that same warm and special scene will take place with all the cultural changes and differences present in our world today again this Thanksgiving. Reflecting on the beauty of sharing our bounty with one another as a part of family is what matters on Thanksgiving. For me and I hope many of you tonight’s dinner is a reflection of gathering to celebrate the feast of our church family with one another. We are all privileged to share in a unique and special family here in our church.

As I read the scripture for today something new, something beautiful, something important came to mind for this Thanksgiving. It is a beautiful picture too, only it is painted in words, not canvas. The great prophet Ezekiel tells of a God who says he will

     Search for his, and seek them out. God will rescue us from all the places to which we have been scattered in our lives. God will bring us out and gather us no matter how high up or far out we have become lost and will bring to safety and a place of security. Ezekiel tells us that God will heal our hurts, soothe our wounds and protect us from the wolves that would otherwise ravage us. He will especially go to the ends of the earth to bring back those who have been beaten on and hurt and shattered by the fat and the strong. God will gather us all, but especially the weakest and most hurt among us. Then, with an air of finality and a promise you can count on God ends his promise with “And thus I have spoken”!

That is as beautiful and as important an image of Thanksgiving as we can have.

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful to have a God who sees me for who I am, weak and lost and who still cares about me so much that He will go out and find me, and bring me back safely in His care.
There are three great truths we need to hear in this today.

1. We can be thankful to have a shepherd to search for us and to look over us no matter how far we have strayed or lost we have become.
2. Once God finds us and brings us back he heals us, protects us and looks over us so that we are always safely in the folds of his arms.
3. If we are to be God’s people, the love of his life, the apple of His eye we are called to care for and to seek and to bring back and to heal the lost and the poor and the weak and the downtrodden as He does.

Think with me for a few moments about these great truths.

1. We are thankful to have a Shepherd who seeks us out, who comes after us, who finds us no matter how far we have wandered or how lost we have become.
God looks for the lost sheep.
God hunts for those who have wandered.
God seeks those who struggle to believe.
God comes for those who don’t know him.

God rescues us all from the places to which we are scattered by the storms of life.
• We become scattered and sometimes lost through the pains and hurts and sorrows we all have to endure.
• We become lost because of the challenges of finding meaning and purpose in our lives when the world is always moving too fast and its values are too shallow for us to find our real meaning and purpose in being alive.
• We become scattered to the world’s values where greed and self interest and care of the physical but no care for the soul are standard.
• We become scattered and too often lost to the dreams and hopes and meanings that truly are meaningful as we are driven by the dreams and hopes of a world lost in the material things that can too easily swallow up our souls.
• We become lost all too often to the temptation and confront us daily and none of us are above the tempting, the seductions, the sirens of the “angels” of this world call out to us even as the sirens of the sea beckoned to Odysseus to his sure and certain death should he heed their call.
• We become scattered and too often lost to ourselves mostly.

But God seeks us.
• He will not let us wander too far and become so lost we are irredeemable.
• He will not leave us to the fates of a hostile and evil world.
• No matter where we go God will seek us and He will find us.

He gathers us together –
Unto each other and more importantly
Unto himself.
He tends to us in green pastures.
He leads us by still waters.
He brings us to the safety and richness of His presence.

The God that Ezekiel knows and I know and I hope you know is a God …
• who seeks me out,
• who brings me back,
• who finds me no matter how lost I am or how angry I am or how lonely I am or how far astray I have gone.

2. We are thankful to have a Shepherd who is especially committed to the weak, the lost and the hurt among us all.

The God who seeks us is a God who finds the most lost among us and us when we are the most lost.
The God who brings us back is the God who binds the most injured and hurt among us and us when we are most hurt and weak.

The God who seeks us out, no matter how far we have wandered is the very same God who heals the most hurt among us and us when we are most hurt.

The God who loves the poor and the disenfranchised and the very people whom the world calls its outcasts is the same God who destroys the sleek and the strong and the ones who are too smart for their own good and who also shatters our own illusions of being too smart, too sleek, too strong to ever be among the lost and hurting.

Our God is a God who loves the poor, the lost, the weak, and will bring them back from the wilderness and who loves us and will seek us and bring us back when are poor and lost and weak.
The Shepherd of Ezekiel and of Matthew and John and all the other men and women of the Bible is the Shepherd who has a special place in his heart for the poor, the lost, the lonely, the alienated and the very people the world is often too busy to even notice let alone care about.

God has a special place for those whom the world deems not worth the time and energy to go and seek, let alone save.

God judges between the wealthy and the poor and his standards, his judgments, his love and his grace are exactly opposite of the world judges between the wealthy and the poor.

God sees how the wealthy and the strong shove with their flanks and push with their shoulders butting the weak until they are driven away and forgotten. But God does not forget what he sees and in his own time and His own way and His own place God will go out and will find the weak and the poor and bring them back to justice and place to call their own.

God loves us all but He is especially drawn to the weak, the infirm, the old, the poor and he has a special place in His heart for them and He will find them, He will tend to them and He will look after them with a special love and affection all His own.

3. Finally, the scriptures today remind us of a God who calls as His people to love and care for the poor and the lost with the same kind of affection and love and dedication He has shown.

If we are to be His people we must have his values.
If we are to be His people we must have his heart.
If we are to be His people we must seek the lost and the hurt and the lonely even as He has.

God called David to be His one shepherd to tend to His sheep and He calls us to tend to His sheep and look after them as well.

God called David to know him and to follow him, as His King and His Shepherd and He calls you and me in exactly the same way and with the same passion.

God is calling us to be His people
To know His voice, and to follow him.

God is calling us to go out and find the lost, seek the hurting, look for the ones who have never known the Lord or wandered far away from Him and to bring them back to a family that loves them, that embraces them and welcomes them to the safety and security and love that comes from being among His people.

IF we are to be God’s people we must go out and seek the lost, the weak and bring them back.
IF we are to be God’s people we must have a special place in our hearts for the very ones the world has wrapped up in tissue paper and thrown away.
No one is beyond being found.
No one is beyond redemption.
No one is beyond hope.
As God’s people we are go and find the very sheep that have wandered far away and bring them back to God’s loving arms.

Closing…

Be thankful to have a shepherd to search for us and to look over us no matter how far we have strayed or lost we have become.

Be thankful to have a God who finds you and brings you back; who heals you, protects you and looks over you so that you are always safely in the folds of his arms.

Be thankful to be God’s people who love and care for and to seek the weak and the downtrodden as He does.

As we sit around the table this Thanksgiving and enjoy the bounty of Thanksgiving may we be ever grateful for a God who will not forget us, who will not us be lost, who will bring us back no matter how far we have gone astray.

This is the picture I will take into Thanksgiving Day with me this year!

It was All Saint’s Day, Tuesday, November 1 and I was in a meeting with the Regional Church. There were some five or six of us in the room. We started the meeting with a question. “Who has had a positive influence in your life?” We were asked to keep it short and not get into too many details in order that we could get on with the meeting.

It was a good question. The room grew quiet as people began to share ever so briefly the names of those “saints” by any other name who had had a positive influence in their lives we all had the feeling we were walking on sacred ground.
- The first person shared the name of his father.
- Another person shared the name of a grandmother who had played an especially important role in her life.
- Someone else shared the name of a minister that had played an especially important role in his life.
- All the while I was thinking. Who would I name? Who would occupy that special place in my own life that came to my mind?
- Someone shared how his mother had played the largest positive influence in his life.
- Only two people remained to share. The other person in the room who had not spoken shared that the name of a young adult who was essentially a peer and how that person had played a positive role in influencing their life.
- It was my turn to speak. In my mind I had moved from sharing the name of Ewell Arrasmith, an Elder who was a dear and early friend in the first church I served to several other people and finally as my turn to speak arrived I said it was my wife. I shared that although I hadn’t thought of her first, it was obvious to me that sometimes the most obvious is the last person we think of. I call it the “Ultimate Compliment Syndrome”. To be so present, so positive, so important, so giving in our role in someone else’s life that we get taken for granted is the ultimate compliment when you think about it.

I began thinking that the question “Who has had a positive influence in your life” would be the perfect question for today.

I. So…Who have been the people who have had a positive influence in your life?
• Think of them for a minute.
• See them in your mind.
• Feel their presence once again in your heart.
• Name them to yourself.
This is sacred ground.
• Can you feel what I mean by “this is sacred ground”?
• Can you remember what it was the people you thought of gave to you that was so important, so life giving, so life changing, so important that they thought of you.
• In remembering their names you honor them, and their memory.
Who did you think of?
• Some of you thought of a family member.
o A father or a mother or a favorite grandparent or an aunt or an uncle.
• Some of you thought of a friend who has wasn’t family by birth but has been a brother or a sister to you by choice and by their presence in your life.
• I’d like to think that one or two of you thought of a minister who has played an important presence or role in your life.
• Who did you think of…?
By thinking of the people who have had a positive influence in your life you honor them, whether they are gone or are still with you.

II. Turn this question around and think about it from the other side of the coin.
Whose life have you had a positive influence in?
• Who may have thought of you?
• Who have you gone over and above to give more, love more, forgive more, share more?
• Is it possible that someone would name you? Or, do you have to be dead and gone before someone will think of you and realize how much of a positive influence you have had in their lives?

It’s a humbling thought to think that we might just have had or can have or better yet do have a positive and significant influence in the lives of others.
• All of us have the opportunity to have a positive influence in each other’s lives.
• All of us have the opportunity to make a difference – with our lives.
• All of us have the opportunity to have a positive influence in someone’s life.
• It’s our choice – to a life that matters or not.

III. How do we make a difference with our lives? How do we have a positive influence in someone’s life?
We can make a difference with our lives too.
• We make a difference by caring.
• We make a difference by answering God’s call in all the forms it comes.
• We make a difference by reaching out to others.
• We make a difference by just being ourselves and letting God use us to have a positive influence in the lives of those we come in touch with every day, in all the places we live and go and all the daily interactions we have with people.
We can have a positive contribution by loving others as we have been loved by God.
• We can have a positive contribution by giving back more than we take out from the world.
• We can have a positive influence by being with people through the good times and the bad ones.
• We can have a positive influence by helping others feel they are important, they make a difference, they matter.

Closing…Each of the people we honor today have had a positive and substantial influence in someone’s life.
• Each of the people we honor today lived a life that mattered.
• When we name them as “Saints” it’s not in the usual or often assumed meaning of the word, as in Saint Teresa, or Saint Paul or Saint Elizabeth Seton.
• It’s not to imply they were perfect, far from it, just ordinary people who made a difference with their life, ordinary people who had a positive influence in the lives of their family, their children, their friends, their neighbors, their church, their work, their neighborhood.
• Today we remember them, may we never forget them or lose sight of the difference they made with their lives.
• They are no longer with us – at least in one sense but they are very much with us in another sense.
o They are in our hearts.
o They are in our memories.
o They will always be with us, for as long as we alive, they are alive in a sense.
o They had a positive, loving, important influence in our lives.

The people we remember and honor today are the saints who made a positive influence in our lives.

They are not models of perfection just ordinary people who opened themselves to the ways that

God sought to work in and through their particular lives and gifts.

In remembering them we draw encouragement as we seek to let God do the same thing in our lives.

So where are you finding inspiration these days?

Who provides encouragement on your path?

All of us have the opportunity to have a positive influence in the lives of others – whether we will or not is a decision we get to make!

What’s your decision?

Will you be a positive influence in the lives of others?

Will you make a difference with your own life?

“Remember your leaders, who spoke God’s message to you; reflect on the outcome of their lives and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13:7

Introduction…
All right now, I’ve got a treat for you today. It’s Bluegrass Time! If you want sit and clap along and even sing go ahead – let the spirit move you – course if you want to sit and sulk because you don’t like my music – do that too – whatever makes you happy!

Have you ever heard Vince Gill and the Del McCoury band at the Grand Ol Opry singing Holy unto the Lord – “no” – well, let me take care of that as an intro into the message today.
(Show Video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNVRruoiS4&feature=related

Who wee…it doesn’t get much better. Well, actually I like the Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs version a lot better but I don’t think too many of you could handle that one.

Moses and the Glory of the LORD / Exodus 33:12-23
12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” New International Version (NIV)

Wow! Now that’s quite a story. This bantering back and forth between Moses and the Lord is amazing. I love it.

I’d love to see a Saturday Night Live spoof on the story of Moses speaking with THE LORD like this. Even better, how about a spoof from Mr. Diety.Com? That would be too much.

I’ve spoken with the Lord a few times, maybe you have too, I sure hope you have. When most of us “speak” with the Lord it takes on an altogether different tone. We’re probably humble and even mush mouthed – we wouldn’t think of bantering back and forth with the Lord or giving Him what my mother called “back talk” or “smart mouth”. I’ve spoken with the Lord a lot (or at least think I have) but I go easy on the “Listen here Bud, this is the way I feel” tone. I might give you all the straight talk but I don’t think I’m up to giving it up to the Lord like Moses did.

Good Lord, I wouldn’t even have dared to talk to my old man with the “breeze” and sense of comfortableness Moses talked with the Lord. The old man would have knocked me to my feet had I complained to him like Moses complained to the Lord.

As they say down on the street, were I talking to Moses today I’d say “You go boy”!

But, as soon as I read the scriptures for this week I knew immediately I had to follow up on the story of Moses talking with the Lord in this context this week. I’m impressed. There are some lessons for all of us here. Let get on with it!

1. Lesson # 1: It all begins with Moses “speaking to the Lord”. That’s a good thing. We should all speak to the Lord.
The Bible says “Moses said to the Lord”. – Exodus 33:12.

Good deal! We should all talk with God – and on a regular basis. Especially is this true for those who would be leaders of God’s people.

We should all be on a “speaking basis” with the Lord.

I’ve got some folks I’m not really on a “speaking basis” with – I’ll bet you do too. It’s OK; we can’t be on a speaking basis with everyone can we?
• I don’t need or want to talk with some people – they just make me too frustrated or angry or sad or whatever to take the energy to speak with them – and certainly not on a regular basis.
• I’ve “unfriended” a couple of people lately on Facebook – which goes against my grain and is a hard thing for me to do. In these cases I just got tired of them always putting their political or theological rants on the “News Feed”. I don’t mind any of us “preaching” and ranting and raving about our particular version of “truth” once in a while but some people are always forcing their politics down the throats of their “friends”. I don’t need it – at least not on a steady basis. Once in a while – OK – it’s like trading spit – probably good for building up immunity – but all the time – naw, I don’t need it and just don’t want to “talk” with those folks anymore. I unfriended two “friends” this past week because the talk was a one way monologue – not a talk.

That’s the first point: Moses talked with the Lord on a regular basis, a faithful basis, a straight basis and being on a speaking basis with the Lord is something we all can do and ought to do.

Knowing God well enough to talk with Him – freely and honestly is a good thing. He can handle you – don’t worry about and don’t hold back – God can handle it.

It’s the wishy washy and the phony and the superficial talking with the Lord that most people get into and that’s just a waste of time – yours and His.

Speak with the Lord – Frequently, Faithfully, Honestly.
It’s a good thing.
It’s an important thing.
It’s something you take on as a regular and faithful part of your day and throughout your life.

Trouble is – truthfully – most of us don’t take the time or the make the effort to talk with the Lord on a regular basis – and well we should.

Don’t just talk with him when things are bad. Heck, we all do that – “there are no atheist in fox holes”.
But talk with him when things are good.

Talk with him when you are seeking his blessings.

Talk to him when you need his guidance.

Talk to him when you are standing in the need of forgiveness.

The first lesson is simple: Being on a speaking basis with the Lord is a good and necessary thing, not just for Moses but for all of us.

Lesson # 2: The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you and I will you rest.” Exodus 33:14
That’s it.

God’s presence always is with us. It always goes with us. Where you go, there is the Lord’s presence with you – always.

Knowing that is enough.
Enough to get you through the hard times.
Enough to guide you out of the deep dark forest when you are lost and the path is lost.
Enough to give you the strength when you are weak.
You get the point, don’t you? Knowing the Lord is always with you is all you need to know when it comes down to it. Anything this old world throws you way, any bad thing the devil mails to your address, any problem or failure or heart ache or loss you experience can be managed as long as you know the Lord is with you.

The Bible says “if the Lord is with who can be against us?”

That’s exactly what the Lord wanted Moses to know.

Moses was up against it. He was tired. He was weary. Leading God’s people is no easy deal you know. They gripe, they complain, they whine, they argue, someone’s always testing you, someone’s always challenging you. Moses was worn out with leading the people – and he still had a long way to go.

So, being worn out Moses asked God to teach him His ways.
He reminded God that the people were His people implying maybe the Lord should worry about them a little more.
He wanted God’s reassurances on the law. He needed more rules to keep himself and the people straight. God didn’t’ take the bait. He wanted nothing of it. He simply reminded Moses that all he needed to know was that His presence was with him.

That’s it.
No more law.
No more rules.
No more easy lessons.
I’m with you – that’s all you need to know.

Relax.
It’s not about “us”.
It’s not about “rules”
It’s not about getting all the words and meanings of the Bible right.
It’s not about “who you know”, or “what” you know, or “walking in the high places”.

It’s about walking with the Lord.
It’s about knowing that the Lord’s presence is always with us; day and night, through thick and thin.
He is with you – that’s all you need to know.

The second lesson is pretty straight forward too. The Lord is always with you and that’s enough; certainly enough to get you through – this world – not to mention the next.

Lesson #3. Well, time’s getting on and let me make the third lesson short and sweet.

We never really see God directly, but as he passes by us throughout our lives we’ll always know He’s there and we can always be reassured in His being with us.

Throughout the Bible it seems to me the norm is that people can never look at God eye to eye. It would be like staring at the sun a thousand times over – it would blind us.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t see God.

It doesn’t mean we can’t look on God.

It doesn’t mean we can’t know God.

We see God in the moon rising over a wheat field as the wind blows across the land.

We see God in the faces of children as they smile and as they leap and jump for the pure joy of life.

We see God when we come and sit quietly in church and gather with other pilgrims as we all seek to be with Him and with each other and experience the joy of His presence together.

We see God alone, and we see God when with others.

We see God in the work that His children do – reaching out, loving, serving others, and doing for others.

We see God when we reach out and do for the least of His children.

We see God a 1000 different ways – we may not look upon directly but we see him in countless ways every day, everywhere, for He is everywhere we go and in everything we do.

Have you ever worried you haven’t really seen God?

Have you ever worried you haven’t really heard the voice of God, literally in your ear?

Sometimes I do. Sometimes we all do. Don’t worry about – the Bible says we can’t look at God face to face, we can’t hear God’s voice booming in our ears – but we can see him and hear him when we stand on the rock where he places us and we feel his presence as he brushes near us.

The third lesson: short and sweet – we can see and hear God in our lives daily – if we place ourselves in awareness of His presence and if we stand on the rock where he puts us.

Closing…
That’s what I mean by “Standing on the Rock Where Moses Stood”.

I put on our church Facebook Page this past week – “come to church Sunday and see what “Standing on the Rock Where Moses Stood” means.

I hope someone came to see and hear and feel.

We can stand on the rock where Moses stood.

• We can talk with the Lord and well we should. There is no reason to be a stranger to the Lord.

• We can know God’s presence goes with us everywhere, anywhere, all the time.

• We can see God.

That’s why we’re all here actually.

Crying holy unto my lord
Crying holy unto my lord
Oh, if i could i surely would
Stand on the rock where Moses stood

Sinners run and hide your face
Sinners run and hide your face
Go and run into the rocks and hide your face
‘Cause i ain’t no stranger now

(Repeat chorus)

Lord, I ani’t no stranger now
Lord, I ani’t no stranger now
I’ve been introduced to the Father and the Son
And, I ain’t no stranger now

Amen!

D. Robert Chance, October 13, 2011

It is the year 1763 and Thomas Campbell is born. Thomas will grow up to become a minister in the Old Lite Anti Burgher Seceder Presbyterian Church, first in his native Scotland then in his new country of America.

It is the year 1772, Barton W. Stone is born. Barton W. will grow up to become a minister in the same branch of the Presbyterian Church. He will be licensed to preach in 1796 and called to the Cane Ridge church as the pastor in 1798. He will take part in what will come to be known as the Great Cane Ridge Revivals of 1801.

It is the year 1788 Alexander Campbell is born and he too will grow up to become a minister in the Old Lite Anti Burgher Seceder Presbyterian church of his father, Thomas. Thomas will depart Scotland and arrive in Philadelphia on May 13 of 1807 as a distinguished minister in the Presbyterian Church where he will receive his first assignment in America. Two years later, his son Alexander will arrive in America and also receive his first preaching assignment in his new country.

Both of the Campbells and Stone will experience the same harsh denominationalism of their day and will have significant experiences that will lead them to question the very meaning of denominations. All three, along with other great men of conscience like Sir Walter Scott and Raccoon John Smith will come face to face with the evils of sectarianism and denominationalism and will seek to find a new ground of church where people will be welcomed and accepted into the church based on their faith in Jesus Christ, not the particular creed they subscribe to or don’t subscribe to.

It will be a long and arduous journey of faith for Stone, the Campbells and men like Scott and Smith but in the end they will ignite a movement that spreads like wildfire across frontier America and eventually the whole world where faith is Christ is the standard of membership, not creed and where all people of the Christian faith may come to worship, be baptized, share in the Lord’s Supper and be the church without the impediments of denominationalism or sectarianism. “No creed but Christ, no book but the Bible” will become the rally cry of these brave adventurers in faith as the Christian Church is born.

We have celebrated the Lord’s Supper today as it most likely would have been celebrated long ago, in the early days of our church. In order to better appreciate who we are today and where we have come from we remember and lift up where we began and where we have come from.

It’s a complex journey. It’s not without failure, failure to live up to what we dreamed, failure to be the people we claim to be, and failure to achieve our vision. But the dream was right, the hope was grand and the vision was worthy. Think with me for a few minutes today about the Lord’s Supper, about why it’s so important to us as Disciples of Christ and why we will put such importance on today, World Communion Sunday while other churches will for the most part give it lip service and perhaps mention it but not much more.

First we have to understand that communion is important to us. It is the heart and soul of our worship. There was a time when we failed to appreciate the importance of the Word, even while we had some of the greatest preachers and finest expositors of the faith in our pulpits. We have a rich heritage of great preaching yet while we failed to appreciate the importance and role of preaching we never failed or wandered away from our recognition of and commitment to the Lord’s Supper as the heart of worship.

The Lord’s Supper would not have been known by our ancestors in the church as “Holy Communion” or the “Eucharist” or any of the other terms we might use today; no, no, no. It would have only been called as the Lord’s Supper. Terms like Holy Communion were deemed too “Catholic” and would have been frowned upon by the stout men and women of the Disciples of Christ. It was a simple feast. It was a simple title. It was taken, at least our fathers and mothers believed with all their heart and soul right from the only book that mattered – the New Testament.

There were no books of creed. There were no books of common belief. We proudly proclaimed “no book but the Bible”. And our ancestors knew the Bible well. They were sometimes too rigid in their interpretations and became too sectarian in their own way but they fervently believed in and practiced what they perceived to be the simple, common and unalterable principles of the New Testament. They recognized the Old Testament but they were a New Testament people and always pointed to what the New Testament said, not what the Old Testament observed.

They were a “restoration movement”, believing deeply in calling the church and believers in Christ back to the church was in the beginning, to what it should be, without pomp, without ceremony, without pretension of titles and robes and paraments and in the beginning, for some of them without instrumental music. They were part of a movement that called people back to the church of the New Testament and followed to the best of their understanding what the New Testament observed and practiced. Alexander Campbell would come to speak and write of the “Restoration of the Ancient Order of Things”. No less a national figure than

Another part of the dream was the vision of bringing all Christians back to a unity of spirit and practice based on what the Bible said, not what man said or wrote or added to the pages of the New Testament but what the Bible said. The vision of Christian unity was the polar star that guided them by day and night. They were born to die, to merge into a larger and more biblical gathering of people who would be known by “Christian” only and not Baptist, or Presbyterian or Methodist or Lutheran or Episcopalian. They were in the forefront of the ecumenical movement, always passionately so, even if naively, calling Christians to Christian unity based on faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and never on the right words, or the right creeds or the right behaviors.

A Bit of History…Shortly after arriving at his first preaching assignment Alexander Campbell was charged before the Presbyterian Synod in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with allowing other Presbyterians than the Old Lite Anti Burgher Seceder Presbyterians to come and share at the Lord’s Table. He hadn’t invited Methodists or Baptists or Lutherans but Presbyterians other than the members of the particular order to which he was ordained. He was turned in by his fellow clergy. The whole affair was an embarrassment to the church but rules were rules and he had indeed broken the rules of the Book of Order by opening up the Lord’s Supper to other Presbyterians than the Old Lite, Anti Burgher, Seceder Presbyterians. He was found guilty of violating the Book of Order and given an ecclesiastical slap on the wrist and told to never commit that heinous crime again. He accepted the punishment but began a journey that would lead him away from the evils of denominationalism and toward the restoration of the early days of the New Testament church when people came to worship Christ, not creeds and when the only book that really mattered was THE BOOK, the Bible.

So you see why the Lord’s Supper is such a big deal to us. We began our church rooted in it. We created a church where the Lord’s Supper was open to all believer’s in Christ, not just those who come to our church, or believe as we believe, just long as they believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Let’s look at some particulars in today’s look back to the old way we would have celebrated the Lord’s Supper and how it different today and why. In looking at our past we can appreciate our present and insure our future a whole lot better.

1. The first thing you will notice is that no women will be deacons or elders in the Service today. No, that would not have been permitted in our beginnings. Reading the New Testament with a literalism that sometimes became suffocating our ancestors held tightly to the belief that only men could serve as elders or deacons. When I first came to a Disciples of Christ congregation in the early 1960’s there were no women elders or deacons. When I went to Bethel to serve my first parish in the late 60’s there were no women deacons or elders. To their shame I later heard stories of how they went out and asked non members to serve at the Table rather than permit a woman to serve as a deacon, let alone an elder. When I first came here in 1973 there were no women deacons or elders. It took a fight to change it. You don’t see them but I have my share of battle scars where change came hard and not without controversy but one of the right changes, one of the good changes, one of the necessary changes that have taken place in our church today is a broader understanding of the spiritual requirements for being an elder or a deacon. Today, we have both men and women who serve at the Lord’s Table and we are more spiritual for it, and more truly biblically based. The bible says in Christ there is neither male nor female and we ask people today to serve as an elder or a deacon based on their character and their faithfulness not their gender.

2. Another thing you will notice is that the Lord’s Supper is at the end of the Service, just before we go out to serve the world rather than before the Sermon. While there was no universal pattern in which the Lord’s Supper ALWAYS appeared at the end of the Service, I believe there was a general pattern where it did so. The Lord’s Supper was believed to be the highlight of the Worship Service, the center of the worship experience and so people celebrated the Lord’s Supper at the end of the Service to both highlight its importance and to equip them to go back out into the world and serve God’s in the world.

Sometimes in Methodist seminaries today young ministers to be are taught that the Lord’s Supper (of course they call it HOLY COMMUNION) HAS to be at the end of the Service or they haven’t been faithful to the RIGHT concepts of worship. I disagree. Whether it’s in the middle of the Service or at the end of the Service doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we observe it faithfully, spiritually and genuinely as a moment when we gather as fellow believers in Christ to receive his gifts of life and to remember that he loves us and forgives us and with us – this day and every day.

3. A third thing you will notice today is the physical arrangement. In the old days the elders presided at the Lord’s Table; not the Minister. As a testament to keeping the clergy in their place our churches often excluded the minister from presiding at the table. You will notice that I give the Meditation from the pulpit today, not from behind the table where I normally do. It was a sad reflection of our poor understanding of the proper role of the minister as the Presiding Elder of the church, the leader of the church and thank God we have come a long way from that terrible and mis-placed understanding of clergy. Today we appreciate that our ministers are our leaders. Today we understand and value the importance of the minister leading us, in all aspects of our church life including the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

There are two chairs at each side of the Table. This is the way it would have been long ago. Sometimes the chairs were behind the table and sometimes beside the table but the elders who presided sat in them and looked very stern in their roles. They most usually served the bread and the cup separately. We don’t know if they used wine or some form of grape juice but they most certainly didn’t use the little cups that we will use. The bread would always have been unleavened and most usually the feast would have been seen as a symbolic feast but whether you see it today as symbolic (as I do) or see it as a feast of “Transubstantion” or “Consubstantation” you are welcome to share at the table as we do – as long as you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

There are other details you may or may not get but it doesn’t matter.
• What matters is that you remember the importance of the Lord’s Supper in our history.
• What matters is that you know how important the vision of Christian unity was and is and will always have to be in our understanding of God’s call to the church.
• What matters is that you appreciate where we have come from but even more importantly where we are today and why we do things the way we do today.
• What really really matters is that you forget about creed, forget about “history”, forget about “tradition”, forget about all the worldly and man inspired things about what we are about to do and simply gather around Christ’s table as humble disciples of Jesus Christ and that you let the transformational power and mystery of Christ’s presence take place in your heart.

Let us now come to celebrate the Lord’s presence in our midst, receive His gifts of love and forgiveness and commit ourselves to sharing the same gifts with our neighbors and our fellow man. The Bread we eat is not the bread of the body of the bread of the soul. The cup we drink we not any juice but the blood of Christ which transforms us and calls for the Christ within us to be better people, better disciples and more loving and caring than we could ever be otherwise.

Now you know what we do and why we do it.

May the moment of Christ’s presence be more real to us and may we be transformed by it.

Amen, Amen, Amen!

“Ghosts Rockers”

As I sit in a meeting in the library at Christmount I am looking out through an open window and I see the porch on the outside of the building in which we are meeting. There is a large concrete floor with an awesome A frame wooden overhang. There are eighteen or so wooden rocking chairs on the porch but the chairs are rocking back and forth rhythmically. No one is sitting in them yet they are rocking just as if someone is sitting in them. The chairs rock in harmony. It is a strange sight. I am taken aback. I quickly figure out that it is the wind that is moving the chairs but my heart cries out, “ghosts sitting in the rocking chairs”. It is a charming thought. The ghost rockers have caught our attention.

It just so happens that at the very moment we are seeing the ghost rockers on the porch we are talking about some major changes in policy and direction that would probably have the saints of the past rolling over in their graves. I laugh but I wonder if the ghost of our beloved past leaders are trying to tell us something. As the ghost rockers move back and forth with feverish intensity I can only imagine the ghost of yesterday’s leaders are not happy with what we are considering.

There is a very real sense in which the presence of those who came before us are always with us. The memory of their spirits and the love we shared with them stays with us long after they have departed this life. We can only imagine their reactions to what we say and do in the on-going world in which we live. We have a great debt to those who came before us but we also have a great obligation to those who will follow us. We stand between the recognition and love of those who lived the faith before us and those who will inherit the future from what we do in the present. It’s a dual obligation with even more complexity as we add into the equation that we owe faithfulness to ourselves and our sense of what God would have us do as well as the past and the future.

The ghost rockers were a funny image but they got me to thinking. What about you? How do you live out what God is calling you to do and who he is calling you to be, as well as be faithful to what those who came before us understood faithfulness to be? The ghost of our “leader’s past” are always with us and always guiding us and always blessing us even as we understand God in new ways in changing times. Maybe the ghosts weren’t so unhappy, maybe they were just rocking and saying, “go ahead folks, do your best, that’s what we did”! I look forward to seeing you in church as we continue to consider how God leads us in the present and into the future.

Dr Chance

Fairy Tale or Someone Too Big For Their Own Britches?

Stephen Hawking, famed cosmologist was gravely ill in 2009.  He was later asked whether during that time he feared death.  His response caused an outcry, as well it should have.  He said “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail.  There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”  In his bestselling 1988 book “A Brief History of Time”, Hawking had written about what a great accomplishment it would be if scientists could come up with a theory of everything, “for then we should know the mind of God”.

Hawking is a smart guy alright but I found his thinking in this area is surprisingly empty, self serving and even sophomoric.  First of all the fact is he does have a religion and the name of that religion is “Science”.  There are plenty of great and even just regular scientists who have a faith in God and in eternal life.  Scientists are as varied in their thinking about religion and faith as theologians are.  It’s a matter that every one of us has to decide for ourselves.  I think Stephen Hawking may just be a little big for his britches. 

I won’t waste my time on what Hawking does or doesn’t believe, does or doesn’t find meaning in.  I can’t be responsible for that and can’t really speak to what anyone else does or doesn’t believe.  I will speak to what I believe.  I find the human being is much more than just a “brain” (lesson # 1 for Hawking and ilk).  “Man” is much more than a computer.  Human beings are more than just a machine.  We have soul.  We have something within us that is born from the creator and is from the creator and will return to the creator.  We are not just a collection of bones and flesh or neurons firing off in the brain and sending messages back and forth from one receptor to another.  One of the great episodes of the old science fiction series “Star Trek” was when Data wanted to be more than just an Android and so he tried to prove before a panel of distinguished thinkers that he was “human”.  What “human” meant was the first challenge to establish.  Human is much more than just “brain” or “intelligence” or “body”, which much is certain in my mind and should be in a great mind like Hawkings.

I believe we never find peace or real peace until we discover the divine within us and until we root ourselves in the love of God.  I believe we do in fact have life beyond this one.  I can’t say exactly how it looks or how it shapes out but I believe we live forever in some form or shape and trust that to the creator who created me in the first place.  I find comfort and meaning and direction in my life, in my faith,  in a God who created me and in whom I find place, meaning and being, not just in this world but in whatever worlds there are to come.  No, it’s a not a fairy tale at all; what is a fairy tale is Hawking’s need to elevate the brain and science in general to the status of God and religion. My faith in God will serve me a lot better than Hawking’s faith in himself and in science.  You make your own decision.