Gracious Gain; Sermon for Sunday June 25th, 2017 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Did you know that there are some 18,000 plus species of butterflies stretched across the globe?  This juicy little bit of trivia came out of the Holy Spirit placing that image in my first church, the heart, of a butterfly, to be in association with the growing and transforming human spirit. The time of the butterflies’ maturity begins in the chrysalis or “safe place” cocoon before the mature adult breaks through as a completely changed creature. Remembering our faithful calling to live into our Baptism, has that same effect. Here is probably one of the greatest used metaphors for the call of disciples to strive, be “obedient” or accountable to nurture or better said reap, that New Nature, Christ has given us through Grace.

Doing the “Do’s” of the Gospel is both the Christian journey, as well as encompasses, the cost of discipleship…  Our mile long reading from Romans this morning is a key text that can’t just be nibbled on but you must hear the full “monty” of the theology behind St. Paul’s treatise to the Romans to change/ transform, with the Gospel, or die.  This sounds extreme, but he is talking about spiritual formation, transforming your life to God’s will and purposes for you…  And truth be told, the cost of being a disciple of Jesus, there will be some of that unpopular word, we all must face in some form or fashion—“suffering.”

I was surprised to see that Psalm 69 is one of the Psalm choices for this Sunday especially since it truly is a continual rant of suffering from the Psalmist to God, a plea in some senses, expressing a true hope in action and redemption from God.  Any of you who gets an email from me see at the very bottom of my email, that there is a quote from Psalm 69.  It is only verse 32, but it truly expresses that fearlessness and hope that Jesus is trying to teach His disciples in this week’s “discipleship school lecture.”  “Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.”  How do we hear this?  I would take this verse and place it right next to the very last two verses from today’s Gospel, where Jesus says: “³⁸…whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Now let’s hear the Psalmist’s verse with the Gospel: “³²Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.”  “³⁸…whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” There’s several things being taught here, however the greatest message to hear, is that Christ’s call to us, has given us a purpose to not only change ourselves for the better but to change the world towards the Kingdom of God!  Sounds pretty prophetic, doesn’t it?  Prophecy and the postmodern world sounds a lot like oil and water, however, if you ask me. More often than not, the power and efficacy of being “prophetic” has been distorted and diminished by politics.  Who’s to say, however, that our lives witness to the Gospel and its mission couldn’t be or become truly prophetic?  Remember the world is much greater, past the east side of Vegas!

St. Paul, in efforts once again to assist the Romans in coming to understand incorporating, living into Grace through faith has to remind them about our daily battle against sin.  Probably the most prophetic verse in this whole passage from Romans is verse 23: “²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This pinpoints our daily battle between willfulness and willingness.  When we are willful, the world of the self and it’s “unholy trinity” of I, Me, Mine are fully engaged.  The world of the self and its agendas, we must remember, really don’t see the relevance of God intervening yet alone the purpose and calling to love and serve the needs of our neighbors.  If we are truly a “welcoming” church; are we welcoming most importantly, to God to work in our hearts, in our lives—CHANGING us for the better?

Today’s overarching message is a very spiritual one.  It is one that we can’t and shouldn’t ignore…  Sometimes, however and truly said, it takes looking into your soul and your past like that butterfly breaking free and leaving that chrysalis behind.  Earlier this week I traveled back to Chicago for a brief time with family and working out some remaining details of church business.  Driving down those same streets, the flood of memories, times, places etcetera blurred together to paint a wonderful new image coming from the Holy Spirit to encourage my heart to know God’s will for my life! This would be serving you as your pastor!  I began to see these same, familiar places, faces, etcetera, as those Chrysalis shells of each and every moment of my past, growing towards serving God and neighbor.

Seeing the past as a transformation into New Life is realizing the amazing Grace of God actively shaping your heart towards a real freedom, a genuine faith.  In order to, truly live into this amazing freedom, develop this amazing faith, we have to come to terms with leaving that chrysalis, the past, behind. The other Psalm assigned for today is Psalm 91, which last Sunday’s prelude musically reflected—“On Eagles’ Wings.” This Psalm in contrast to Psalm 69, focuses on God as our spiritual refuge and strength in all of our challenges and choices.  Would it be fair to say that our seemingly back and forth struggle with where we were and who we are now, as a people of God, is “suffering” for a greater, gracious gain?  St. Paul said it earlier in Romans chapter 5: “… suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Yes, being hope-filled and encouraged in seeing God’s work active in your life, incorporated into your heart as a true mission and purpose for your life… Is that butterfly of your New Nature taking flight! You can’t change the past but are challenged by the Gospel, to grow from it.  If we are to be a progressive, prophetic voice for the Gospel in this one solitary earthly life… We need to realize, that “progress,” first, within our very selves, our very hearts!  That’s why Jesus’ words seem so strong and hard for us to hear in the right way…  For what life are we really saving, if Jesus isn’t at the center of it all?  Realizing Christ at the center of your transforming heart is a character-building journey.  Further realizing our role as the children of Grace and promise spiritually aligns our sense of commitment to naturally being accountable to the Grace of God—This is our freedom from the power and lure of sin, death and evil.

In my own life’s witness to the Gospel’s hard work upon me, 40 plus years living into the life of an artist, evolved through conversion and a willingness to grow, had my art transform into a lifestyle that realized God’s grace utilizing my whole self for His will and purposes, for the better, now as ministry. Beginning to know and live into the true purposes of God’s calling to each and every one of us, is the glorious and joyful New Natured fruit of being, fully living as a disciple of Christ! This is the real “meat-n-potatoes” of progress, in a hurting and broken world. 

Perhaps this very familiar Irish blessing poem has something to teach us about the “art” of life and being fearlessly hope-filled with the Gospel:

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you: May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings.

May you know nothing but happiness

From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home

And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on, may blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you, may true be the hearts that love you. AMEN

Let us Pray,

Gracious God,

Continue to help us realize that New and Gracious being within us

Help our lives to take flight with the Gospel for Your sake and to love and serve our neighbors

May we aspire to be, become bold witnesses in this one, solitary life

To change, not only ourselves, but the world for the better.

May we never not be grateful for all You have given us

We pray this in Your most precious Name—AMEN.

June 25^th, 2017; Third Sunday After Pentecost; Year A

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 91:1-16; Psalm 69:7, 10-18; Jeremiah 20:7-13; Romans 6:1-23; Matthew 10:5a, 21-39

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church, 9:30am:

https://youtu.be/tK-NU0_9-hs 

Where We Stand; Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, June 18th, 2017 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

It’s hard to imagine but it took something like 500 years for the Roman Catholic church to come to realize an ecumenical accord with the Protestant movement upon the very concept of justification by Grace through faith.  Four simple enough sounding words, but how do we understand that today?  Where do we stand as Christians in the 21^st century, within this post-modern, dare we say, “post-Christian” world? The past two Sundays we have been introduced to thinking about Jesus’ commission to us and how we should take heed to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives for the Gospel.  This week has us define the difference and the path between naturally responding to God through a gracious faith and that ugly misunderstanding of response being, “works righteousness.”

Today’s extended snippet from Paul’s amazing letter to the Romans clearly helps us to see, what he even mentions two chapters earlier, to keep us in perspective: “There is no distinction… we all at one time or another, have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God…”  This not only helps us to see that we are called by God to live faithfully into His Grace, but we are called to live into that aspect of promise as God’s gracious children.  The Israelites in today’s reading from Exodus are not only witness to God’s covenant with them to be His “chosen” elect people, but they are called to be obedient to this covenant as well.

How we are called into discipleship today, is living into being, becoming a freely responsible servant to Christ as a constant spiritual, life-long process of reflection, confession, repentance and renewal.  What is this?  If you think about the Words of Jesus you just heard from today’s Gospel, it is an ordering or discipline of responding graciously through faith, naturally.  It sounds like Jesus is giving the disciples a “how-to guide” on evangelism but it is much more than that.  It is a way of life—not only in loving service and sharing of the Gospel but while this continues, it does renew the giver and those who receive:  Blessed to be a Blessing to others, out of love for God and neighbor—Amen!

This past week it was delightful to talk with several people about outreach ministries in various settings. This was in attending an Ultreya this past Sunday for the Light in the Desert Via De Cristo Cursillo Community, and the other was in attending my first meeting of the Clark County Ministerial Association. One of the ministries I have come to hear often of, was your former food pantry.  It wasn’t just something my pastoral heart heard in the fond recollections of those I talked to, but this connected with what Jesus says about seeking the lost sheep of His pasture…

Weekly the church office phone gets calls not only from other churches asking about our former pantry but far too many calls from desperate individuals sobbing and pleading for help. Many of these people are suffering from addiction issues, financial woes and often both an actual, and spiritual hunger… I have spent some time talking with these individuals, being that prayerful ear, in order to help them to find peace. For what the Grace of God has freed my heart to ‘feel’ for my neighbor…  I cannot help but share!  This is the Holy Spirit—right there at work within me!  Creating a response from my first church (the heart) to reflect, confess Jesus is my Lord and savior, and repent or grow from my mistakes on my faith journey to be prayerfully, naturally motivated to inner peace, renewal in my soul to serve.

The Protestant Reformation found the words of St. Paul’s treatise on justification explosive to freeing the Gospel from empty accolades of service being righteousness fulfilled by a willful agenda to elevate the self to God.  Being and truly living into this freedom of Grace through faith refocuses us on what justice really means.  Restorative Justice is something not implemented much in this current culture, for it is not “cost-effective” for the parameters of the world, to choose to do…  What’s really sad about that though, is that implementing anything else, doesn’t truly and fully look at how we should love neighbor… in fact, more often than not, the neighbor falls between the cracks of our greed and indifference.

It bears to share here that greed and indifference are the ultimate substructure to what we have come to understand as creating “sin” active in the world, we share. In the many writings of St. Paul we could say that the Old Nature or our human instinctual, “ego-bound selves” gravitate naturally to some form or another of greediness.  Indifference is the consequence of the world revolving around the self and its justification over and above that of God’s.  Going back to that Biblical Old Testament covenant with God, made through Moses for the people of Israel, God, our loving parent is seeking for us to turn our hearts and lives, to His will, not ours.  That call to selflessness or compassion for the other is still really hard stuff.  It is especially hard in a “post-modern” world where perhaps the boundaries between individual autonomy and idolatry have become blurred. Just who are the real wolves and who are the real sheep?

Being a 21^st century Christian needs us to daily go back to that source of New Life—Christ.  It was through Christ, we were restored to God…  This restoration is what we need to stay encouraged by and live into this hopefulness.  I can say that every time I answer the church’s phone or respond to messages and inquiries from people online seeking counseling or other aid—I am even more encouraged for our work together on behalf of God and neighbor!  I am truly encouraged by the Holy Spirit’s vision bubbling forth the motivation to realize the potential possibilities for a new space in the coming year and to revive our once active ministries, such as our food pantry.

I am seeing the Holy Spirit lay that foundation of not only where we stand but where we individually stand as disciples of Christ—those children of Grace and Promise. We were “elected” but definitely, not in an exclusionary sense of the word at all.  We have been chosen, commissioned and sent forth to live into a much greater purpose, mission for our lives. This may take shape and transform over the years.  Some things may be lost, while others will be found!  Some things will be planted, while others may be seemingly uprooted…  Every day is a new beginning.  It’s ending should burgeon hope, as Christ is our hope and our reason above it all!

I’d like to leave you with the story of a missionary pastor who not only revived an existing congregation but incorporated into it, a mission start community.  The church he would come to revive is another “First Congregation.”  This church is where I would do my multi-cultural field education at when I was in seminary, First and Santa Cruz Lutheran Church.  The pastor there was formerly a long-time pastor serving in a really, rough urban area on the west side of Chicago.  You could say that he was basically situated within the “frontier” of lost sheep.  What was amazing and impressive for me to learn from him was that he realized he had to adapt to the area being that he took on learning Spanish fluently. This would be, in order to, reach out to those around his church at a much greater level.  After about 20 years of service there, he decided he wanted to take on “mission-start” church planting and help struggling churches.  So, he was sent to plant Santa Cruz in Joliet, Illinois and eventually brought that ministry into First Lutheran church.

Some 13 years later, this congregation is thriving because of its outreach.  Their food pantry, the Blessing Bench, previously secured federal funding to operate as a recognized significant ministry to the downtown Joliet area.  One of the joys I had, in serving in study there, was volunteering at that pantry.  They would get so busy that now they have two police officers regularly assisting on helping the crowds remain orderly while they wait to be served by the pantry.  The volume of people they would serve would be well over 200, each and every Wednesday…  That, I think is amazing.  They are by no means a large church, but their efforts into what they do are fueled by faith and truly bring God’s love into the world!

The bigger picture, that I hope this message is painting in for you today, is that in realizing where we stand as a people of faith, individually and corporately, ministry is the “work” of the Gospel together, as God’s children of Grace and Promise.  It is going to have its challenges, but through Christ we are called to overcome them.  We are called to live beyond ourselves and live into the promise of loving God and neighbor.  We couldn't even fathom that, if Christ hadn’t saved us… 

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

It is on your account, we have been freed

We have been freed by a Grace that calls us

To faithfully respond

A faith that continues to encourage us to live into the Truth

A truth that continues to shape us by Your Word, Mission and Will

For our lives, now and always—

AMEN

June 18^th, 2017; 2^nd Sunday of Pentecost; Year A; Proper 6

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 100; Exodus 19:2-8; Romans 5:1-15 & Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-20)

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church, 9:30am:

https://youtu.be/cJyswE_77Wg