In-Bodied Denial; Sermon for Sunday August 26th, 2018 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

“Fools rush in where wise men never go.” Is the postmodern church essentially a “missional Frankenstein?” Are we living more or less into a disjointed reality of being a “zombie church,” where Christ is no longer really the head, but our own interests, our own laws, and our own agendas are instead? It was funny how the Holy Spirit worked this week in thinking about these seemingly disconnected texts we have this Sunday... I immediately saw Hasbro’s Operation game board. I never owned one when I was younger, but I remember the TV commercials for it strangely enough. If any of you have had that game, it was the one that would make a sound when you tried to remove the different little parts of the cartoon figures body, out carefully. Surgery is though, kind of what we do as disciples daily in battling between the sides of our Saint/sinner selves.

The old metaphor of the church being a spiritual hospital fits that it would need to not only do internal surgery upon itself but address issues beyond itself as well.  The first church as I have preached before, is the Gospel’s most important starting place and that’s the heart.  The heart is the tabernacle to the Holy Spirit where all things of the Old Nature and sin are surgically removed and transformed into building the foundation of the New Nature within you.  Faith is the New Nature and gathering together as church is supposed to help in transforming the heart to come and follow Christ.  This requires building and commitment to a relationship with a loving and Gracious God that is an over-flowing fountain of healing Grace upon us daily.  All of today’s scriptures do have something in common and that is focusing on where our priorities are at “being and doing” church in the world.

The metaphor of marriage this week with Paul's letter is really an interesting one. We're not only hearing a snippet of the past patriarchal culture that he was addressing within, but there's something more important that he's talking about that you may miss when you first hear that lesson. What you may miss is the importance of that “give and take,” the importance of unity and mission together in a loving relationship with a loving and Gracious God. The church is the quote “bride of Christ.” We are supposed to be joined together as a team and we are supposed to be trusting in one another to be living towards that promise of changing the world together through our lives’ journeys. Faith can move mountains even the one you’ve built up yourself! I really like what saint Paul says in speaking of making one Holy by cleansing, washing with the water of the word.

The message version of today's psalm says a very important note about our thoughts that God knows and sees our denial and rebellion. He sees this in our lives and how destructive we can be not only to each other but to the efforts of His church in the world. Many people don't find refuge in God's Word… yet alone take the time to see what it's trying to reveal to them. We are anchored or in bondage, weighed down by the world, more than we are opened to the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we are in a world of fools, but not all of the fools are bereft of Hope. There are some “fools” who are for Christ, and I'm one of them. I know that many of you are, as well, to one degree or another. Welcome to the Christian Journey. Why do we gather if we don't hold enough hope in that one thing, that brings us all together? That one thing that brings us all together, that set us free is Jesus Christ. The drops of blood that He shed could fill the ocean, and even more so, than we could ever understand. His sacrifice was to help us become “free,” but I think we're kind of in denial about that. What do I mean by that?  We are in denial of being set free in Grace to fully live into our faith.

The Gospel passage this morning is a perfect example of the human institution of religion versus the law and Gospel of God--faith. What we must be careful of here is to distinguish between religion and faith because they are different.  Religion is a culture that is developed around belief but is not faith.  Faith is a gift from Grace and it is a personal relationship with a loving and Gracious God… The Pharisees propagated a religion around the law, period. With today’s Gospel, the Pharisees just couldn't stand that Jesus disciples didn't do the one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi hand wash before they sat down to eat. Sort of sounds like silly nonsense, that this is what they would raise a major stink about, but to them, they made the law their religion. The law took primacy over the spiritual that they really needed to do within themselves, within their hearts to reflect God's will. Jesus was right to call them hypocrites for they didn't understand what the mission and purpose God needed them to accomplish. What they saw as a priority was their own agendas as much more important. Those are the problems as well that are still ongoing in the modern Church, today.

I'm sure Many of us are probably still troubled and disgusted by the continual denial of the Roman Catholic Church to do something about the sexual abuse problems that they have with their priests. What they have made a religiosity, celibacy, is unnatural and has now torn apart their church in continual conflict.  What's really interesting and I'm sure very few people really know as a fact, but celibacy was an invention in the Medieval era to not spend money on paying priests with families’ salaries. It's not only not biblical but it's not even historically accurate to what the actual early church examples. The early church had not only women priests, yes, that is true. There was evidence of that in the ancient Christian catacombs as well as evidence that priests were definitely married.

Yet like many other church denominations, there's something they're being very self-righteous about and dogmatic about in regard to their rules and regulations of being and doing Church in the world. The struggling band of women who are still trying to even be afforded a conversation with the current Roman pontiff, are going forward and serving in a Roman Catholic sect now, of their own making. They simply call themselves ‘Roman Catholic Women Priests.’ They began a church renewal movement in Germany with the ordination of seven women on the Danube River in 2002.  From that time forward, they have grown and are now currently numbering 145 Roman Catholic women. According to their history page on their website, they are in continual efforts to reclaim their ancient spiritual heritage and are actively reshaping a more inclusive Christ-centered church for the 21st century.  I think this is wonderful that they are making this effort, for they definitely have faced a lot of adversity for it. The Roman Church is vehemently against the idea of ordaining women beyond consecrating nuns. What little scripture they have used to cherry-pick justify and inform their dogma against women serving is just one example of “religiosity” versus faith.

All people should be allowed to serve, period. If you have a genuine heart that has been washed with God's Word and consecrated by a changing of heart and mind to see and find your true purpose, then you most definitely should never be denied being a part of the priesthood of all believers. That's my opinion or truly my belief or confession that I proclaim, and I found it through God's Word in my own journey in relationship to Him. My own “rebel with a cause” Journey began by being ordained in an LCMS Church that of course does not allow women to be ordained… but I had an acquaintance who let me "quietly" have it there. God bless that person's openness and realization of faith, beyond “rules and regulations” that are man-made.  They recognized what God is calling each and every one of us to do in welcoming people and truly serving one another.

If Christ is truly the head of the church, why have we removed ourselves from being truly in unity and fidelity to one another in service? There's a great C.S. Lewis classic called ‘The Great Divorce,’ and it's another wonderful allegorical tale of a group of lost souls on a bus ride from hell to Heaven.  The problem is that the gates of hell are locked from the inside...  What C.S. Lewis is doing here is profound. This is truly a meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment. I've read the ‘Screwtape letters,’ but I have not read over ‘The Great Divorce,’ in some years. ‘The Screwtape letters’ we're basically a conversation between Satan and his protege on influencing and changing someone's mind. Both books challenge your perception of the spiritual battle you face daily between good and evil.

From what I recall about ‘The Great Divorce,’ it almost seems like he is painting a picture similar to the 1960’s film classic, ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ where Dustin Hoffman's character and Jon Voight's character travel upon their broken, disconnected dreams seeking in hopes to find themselves in the “promise” of America. With C.S. Lewis' bus ride the journey from hell to Heaven, you can just think of their struggles to not only trust in God but being hopeful enough to survive those valleys and realizing the mountain tops.  As a member of the Body of Christ, a disciple of Jesus, gathering together as Church; Do we wander off in our own journeys through our own form of hell, not really unified as a family, yet alone as a faithful people? You can probably just imagine that bus ride and maybe even see yourself stepping out of that relationship of being faithful to the mission of being church together, much like a divorce.

I've been counseling someone who is in the process of a very ugly divorce right now. It has been very sad for me to see, not only the controlling emotional abuse the soon-to-be ex-spouse is dumping upon their former partner, but the family's emotional blackmail of not allowing this individual to see their grandchildren. That’s really awful. The children here are truly joining their grandparent, as the victims. They are being used as a tool against the two sides who are fighting and losing control over a relationship that cannot be “bandaged up” anymore. Their love for each other died years ago not only through mental and verbal abuse, but by issues of infidelity and control.

Those same words are what we struggle with as simply being human: infidelity (unfaithfulness) and control (catering to the Unholy trinity of I, Me and Mine). It's always a tug-of-war of one side or the other. It is always a struggle of who has control and what the real goals are. In regard to discipleship, what is the real goal? What is the real mission? When we fight with one another in efforts of “doing and being” Church, is when we are being the unfaithful bride to Christ. We are being unfaithful in our relationship, which is covenanting to serve one another, to care for one another and to go out into the world to be a true witness to the Gospel, proclaiming the Gospel out of faith for the sake of our loving and Gracious God.

“It takes two to tango.” It takes an open heart and an open mind to put things into balance again. The Prophet Isaiah is not only echoed in the Gospel with Jesus rebuking the Pharisees, but he makes some very important points. When we merely pay “lip service” to God and our hearts are far away. We’re not walking the talk as they say. We are merely catering to the world of the self which we have justified and prioritized over God... We are those fools. we are those fools living on empty promises with a foolish wisdom that does not bear fruit for the kingdom of God but bears fruit for the ruler of the world... and his "paradise," hell. This is what C.S. Lewis means in saying the gates of hell are locked from within.

We are called to come back home to God. We are to turn back to Him with our hearts in our hands, knowing that His is a healing mercy that will wash away our sins through His Word. I can see this human journey of turning back to God, just like those two lost characters in Midnight Cowboy. One is a naive hustler and the other one is simply a naive man both of them are lost in the mean streets of the city riding on a bus to somewhere they're not sure of but have a little hope, enough hope in something new.  It’s a really sad movie on many levels but says a lot about our brokenness and what we must do.

Our everyday lives are traveling. This includes traveling beyond the obvious, as a physical thing… but with today's scriptures, we need to think of it as a spiritual thing. Every church has a story to tell. Every church has been through its valleys and its mountain tops. This church is no exception. You've seen your fair share of good times and bad times and times in general dealing with evil. It is fair to say for all of humanity, we're not only creators of our own form of hell, but we can be victims to it as well. These are the things that can tear us apart.  We are called, however, to divorce ourselves from evil and choose to unite with what is true righteousness, Jesus Christ. We have a hard time following this spiritual challenge however. We divorce ourselves or divide ourselves from God more often.  

What God is calling us to DO and BE here, in this new little church home needs us to be faithful, covenanted not only to one another for a greater goal and purpose… but covenanted to your pastor who is to be leading this flock under Christ.  Christ is our ultimate head, He is our “boss” and our spiritually united efforts are to marry and become that gathering place for all, beyond these doors. Where are your priorities in faith? To whom do you really feel called to be faithful to?  It’s up to you.

Let us Pray,

Gracious and Loving Lord Jesus,

We thank you for the gift of Grace

The Blood of Your cross has released for us

Help us to be faithfully united, covenanted to one another

Help us to do “spiritual surgery” on our brokenness inside and outside of the church.

May we take refuge in Your loving and restorative Word

May we be cleansed by Your Word

And live faithfully into its promises.

AMEN

August 26th, 2018; Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 16; Year B; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 14; Isaiah 29:11-19; Ephesians 5:22-33; Mark 7:1-13

 The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 10am:

https://youtu.be/G9OG3oxviLU

'Living On Borrowed Time;' Sermon for August 19th, 2018 by: Rev. Nicole A. M. Collins

Now here's a thought: “You're a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton, made from stardust, riding a rock hurtling through space –fear nothing!” What a profound thought this is! There's a little bit of humor to it, and definitely a lot of real irony… Perhaps we could say that this is the perfect metaphor for our daily lives? We are spirit and flesh. The spirit is willing at many times, but the flesh is weak… The Holy Spirit had me reflect on this, from of all things, of course, a social media post, the next thing the Holy Spirit puts in there, or plugged into these thoughts was the concept of living on borrowed time.

Let's really try to dig into that thought. What does that really mean, living on borrowed time? Who are we borrowing time from and how do we understand time? We are finite creatures but God, as well as His sense of time, is infinite. Infinite…  we still most likely and most naturally see that in a box, don’t we?  Just like thinking of outer space, we draw the edges of that space with a finite boundary… We're probably, you could say, just as confused as Jesus poor disciples this morning in this beautiful elaborate Gospel “hiccup” of Jesus preaching about being the bread of life. I say hiccup because we heard Mark’s version of this, the last time. It was really weird to have that old John Lennon song pop in my head right after I pondered the humorous statement or ironic statement of being a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton, made from stardust riding a rock hurtling through space, also telling us to fear nothing. There's a lot of promise there isn't there?  It’s almost pushing the envelope into the deep end of promise!

Promise is a word that we don't like too much. The Old Nature cannot have enough faith to trust a word like that. I’m sure every time we hear someone say: “I promise to do something…” we automatically think of failure, and we think of deception. We never or rarely accept the promise someone says to us. The honest planet doesn’t exist, though we hope for it to… Jesus disciples, as well as the Jews in today's Gospel were either not understanding the metaphor and taking it too literally or just didn’t want to understand it. In fact, the Roman persecution waves upon the early church were because of completely misunderstanding Holy Communion.  They thought the early Christians were cannibals! What Jesus was trying to pound into them in today’s Gospel, is about feeding faith and leading through faith. Faith is “consuming.” Faith is what sustains us. In the metaphor He uses of the bread of life, Christ is what gives us faith. The time we are borrowing, is a life well-lived, worthy of the Gospel. We are finite creatures in one sense, and in the other sense, we live on as spirit. The spirit joins the kingdom of God with a whole tapestry of life with its valleys and its mountain tops. We just have to be careful not to fall into the abyss of despair and lack of light, clarity.

In hospital terms, strangely enough, the phrase— “living on borrowed time,” is when science makes a breakthrough and extends the life of someone, who is terminally ill. What was very ironic with the Holy Spirit singing that song as soon as I was reflecting upon that statement I had mentioned earlier, was that the entire album of 'Milk & Honey' was shelved and basically released after John Lennon's murder in 1980. The land of "Milk and Honey" strangely enough, as well, is a biblical history nugget. This is what the Israelites thought of their promised land and their chosen status with God. The land of milk and honey was to them, complete restoration, a new Eden. We don't think in terms of restoration anymore, really… yet alone in terms of Resurrection. Stretching these thoughts even further, we don't think of the transcending call from God for us to change.  We justify ourselves and rule our world, more or less lacking clarity and true connection with God.

The words in that song, ‘Living On Borrowed Time,’ were almost like John Lennon's epiphany of settling down to a normal life and celebrating the fact that he found a deep foundation and essentially began to establish his new self. Let’s hear ourselves in his shoes:

“When we were younger, we did live through moments of confusion and deep despair.

When we were younger, we did live often within the illusion of freedom and power.

When we were younger, we were full of ideas and felt our share of broken dreams.

When we were younger, everything seemed simple but was not so clear.

We are all living on borrowed time without much thought for tomorrow.

Now that we are older, we need to realize that the more we think we "see," the less we truly know.

The future is brighter and now is the hour...”

He was no longer rebelling against the world without much cause but being a rebel in the world with a greater cause and that was finding himself.  John Lennon like many people in our current culture struggled with being agnostic.  I was agnostic before I found Christ truly in my life.  Agnosticism simply means that one is questioning the reality of God and purpose, period. We don't think about that, or we want to avoid thinking about what it means to find ourselves through Christ, as His disciples. Christ is to become that cornerstone within each and every one of us.  We are to feed upon Him spiritually, in order to grow and transform the world. This is basically saying, that we need to bear the cross and allow Christ to work through us by the Holy Spirit.

Being motivated in our faith to accept the promises of a brighter future puts a lot of stress on us. Making today matter, we more or less put on the back burner of our hearts and minds, for just “living for today.” Reality however says, after today there are perpetual tomorrows… What are we really doing to be effective in the world, as well as affect others with Christ Jesus’ Gospel? This past week we lost a Motown icon. We lost Aretha Franklin to pancreatic cancer on August 16^th, the same day of all strange coincidences, we lost Elvis Presley some 41 years earlier. I think it's wonderful that through singing Gospel music, inspired in worship, Aretha Franklin went on to become a creative legend in her own right and found herself there, using the gift of her voice. Gospel music is quite powerful. I can say that because when I first started Seminary, I was in a Gospel choir. Those hymns are quite amazing and do shake you and challenge you with your faith. Several weeks back we looked at Martin Luther King Jr. and I incorporated a variety of hymns, that were Spirituals. I don't know how many people noticed that, but I looked out to see your expressions. Singing those words, those people's thoughts, charged you to respond—I saw it in your faces.

Being spiritually charged to respond. What creates that spiritual charge may sound obvious, it is Jesus. We don't, however, tap into Him or truly partake of Him, enough. The floating temporal junk food of the world fills us, not only with empty promises, but a lack of motivation. I thought it was interesting reading some Ministry coaching commentary that looked at how we have been losing touch with “exercising” our creativity. They're not teaching cursive in schools anymore and that doesn't mean cuss words. They have invented intellectual coloring books for adults to get people to open up and free their minds to “spiritually exercise”… but what more have they been doing beyond this? Apparently not much. Early in September, the Clark County Ministerial Association that I've been doing some volunteering for, will be having a formation retreat to whether or not they should keep this group for pastors, open. The center we will be having this meeting at, has a Christian labyrinth in the back. You don't see those too often anymore. There are very few places that have them. When you probably think of mazes, I’m sure some of you think of the one from the movie, ‘The Shining,’ That’s the one that comes to my memory first… A Christian Labyrinth is supposed to open up your spirit while you walk.

I know we have to create something more practical for our backyard here, to have youth events and weddings and so forth but I am hoping that we do not rule out doing more spiritual activities together. I am hoping as well that this will be beyond what we do when we gather here Sunday mornings. A couple of years back, I loved when I was allowed to lead the once-a-month Saturday renewal services at St. Philip's Church. We would do Centering prayer and Lectio Divina, sing Taize songs…. We would pray upon one another and we would make our own little Labyrinth of walking into the back area behind the sanctuary building that was a beautiful landscape just under the Metra track lines.  Some renewal services would include a rubric I invented which would be to write a personal prayer to God on a piece of paper, burn it and use the ashes to anoint the people to reflect. It would also be there, in that back-garden sanctuary that we would host a sunrise Easter morning service. This would be somewhat at the crack of dawn at 8 a.m. It's little things that make today matter for tomorrow. It's the little things we could do every day that jar our spirit and help us to realize our faith. Our faith is one that is fed by Christ, the resurrection alone is proof of the indestructibility of the claims of Christ. 

The claims and the strength of Christ Gospel is living into that spirit. This spirit that yes, is in temporal flesh, riding on a floating rock in space, hurtling to know who knows where… and it is while fearing nothing! Fear, mistrust, anxiety— all the garbage of the world is what weighs upon us and makes things seem futile. People who are depressed. People who are fighting to keep their bearings are lost in this wilderness. It is a wilderness of not trusting in the promise, not having enough faith to be motivated to respond. All God ever seeks of us is to respond in Grace, as we are His children. We may not be in the land of “milk and honey,” as the biting statement of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo hits home. He says that “America was never that great....” but living on borrowed time means that we must fight to make things change. We must fight to make not only today matter, but tomorrow as well. We must build up that foundation within ourselves with Christ at the center. We must see that light even when the darkness seems to be overpowering, to move forward.

In speaking of fearing nothing and moving forward at the end of our Gospel this morning, just when Jesus is really pointing out their lack of faith, Simon Peter says Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. He finishes this thought by saying: “… we have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” This is the beginning of Peter’s Journey. This is the new journey, that of course we'd hear much more about in the Book of Acts. In the Book of Acts, Peter almost becomes the Marvel superhero alongside the efforts of St. Paul. Hallelujah, Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life, hallelujah, hallelujah. That verse is beautifully sung in some traditions before the Gospel is read. Having written and researched a paper all summer long on worship, I think it's wonderful that this is sung as the ultimate statement of believing and being fed by God's Word. Lord to whom shall we go? Do we say this enough in our daily prayers: Lord, where do you need me to go, what do you need me to Do? Do we trust His promise enough to feel that we can realize the kingdom of God, here and now or do we just lack faith?

So, you are a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton, made from stardust riding a rock hurtling through space… What are you really fearing? How are you going to live with this borrowed time, that is a gift from God in the here and now? Jesus Christ is the true bread from heaven, His Word is our meal… are you on a diet? It's in your hands, people. This space is not only a place we gather, but we're supposed to be doing things beyond it. Make today matter by being fulfilled, building upon that foundation. Create tomorrow by transcending it.

Let us pray,

Loving and Gracious God,

Help us to serve you. Help us to serve our neighbors by being filled with the spirit

Making a song in our hearts, being accountable to one another because of the Word of Christ.

Make our days on this floating rock in space matter

Make our lives matter during this borrowed time.

Let us partake in the bread of life, that You are for the world.

Amen

August 19^th, 2018; Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 15; Year B; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 34:12-22; Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 5:6-21; John 6:51-69

 The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 10am:

https://youtu.be/0gNbtj5rZbk

Putting on the New; Sermon for Sunday August 12th, 2018 by: Rev. Nicole A.M. Collins

Beginning to think about all these texts this morning took me back to that very first planning meeting that I was a witness to for the very first church I served. This meeting was in the dining room of a congregant of the pastor who I would study under for several years. It kind of reminded me a little bit of “The Last Supper,” but also reminded me of the early church in general. We hear a lot of good things or good moments in the Gospels as well as in many of Paul's letters. There's also a lot of valleys too, be concerned about though, as well.

You must wonder though, if that lack of motivation and that itching fear on the back burner of your mind is really just a matter of unbelief? The people that were gathered around that table, that day, were all a part of the former church that Pastor Eric pastored many years ago. Many of them were in different communities since then and had been on rough journeys. Here they were coming together, not necessarily with a complete plan of what to do… but in those cold days of early February wanted to see what they could DO as a renewed Body. 

What we might fail to realize often enough, is how Jesus feeds us spiritually to keep us strong for those valleys and moments of challenge, before something great is on the horizon. We still may have cold feet even when something great is right underneath our nose, right before us almost placed into our hands(!) We have a lack of faith or skepticism about it. You have come a long way and those are not idle words.

Coming here almost green behind the ears from church planting and not having served a regular style church before, has seen both mountaintops and its valleys, but I still see Christ encouraging me even when I feel challenged. Church planting is a completely different animal in some senses, but spiritually it really isn't. Did you catch that?  It spiritually really isn’t different. We keep trying to put duct tape and Band-Aids, upon the broken structure of what church is in the world today. Its as if we haven't learned our lesson yet alone listened enough to Jesus to change these old ways.  

Changing old ways that's the huge glowing in the dark theme for this morning. Christ confronts us with this in the Gospel making beautiful statements of promise and an overflowing Grace through the poetic words laid down in witness by John.  The people that gathered at that first church planting meeting at that dining room table… What a great metaphor all wishing to partake in the bread of Life to etch out a plan for the future. At that table the ego needed to lay down and the ears needed to be opened as well as their hearts needed to be flexible to absorb a Melting Pot of many ideas coming together in order to plan: “doing and being” church.

It was delightful to talk with the pastor I studied under for a number of years asking his advice and asking for his encouragement on many things this past week. Some things I still have a hard time listening to in regards to what he has tried over the years, to pound into me to do. When I do write my sermons every Friday morning I read the scriptures and then I pace and walk and talk into my tablet to record a draft. I am not, however, ready to go without a net and just freely be spontaneous as they say in front of you here this morning. We need to have our thoughts organized. It's not just a matter of practicality or mechanics, but we need to be in sync with our calling and how we hear God which is not easy at all at many times.

We all have a very hard time listening to God, yet alone feel what He's trying to teach us through His Word. We often go hungering and thirsting with such spiritual anxiety, that's we lack connection and motivation. You had your entire church turned upside down with closing your larger facility a couple of years back. Then you tried to merge with another group doing things differently, leaving people falling away and conflicted… I can't imagine the pain that that must have etched upon your hearts for several years. And here's this “green behind the ears” Pastor coming into your story wanting to be not only a comforting guide of God's love and compassion, but truly be that spiritual gardener replanting you patting down that soil and watching the growth.

Paul's letter Snippets this week to the Ephesians must really sound heavy-handed from him. We've been hearing these beautiful thoughts in the last previous readings of encouragement and motivation and growth and now he's really just getting down to the nitty-gritty of the unpleasant things that humanity has to deal with. It is that drum skin of the Gospel that never stops beating. It is that radical uncomfortable voice telling us that the old nature, the old ways of doing things has to die and we need to not fear, but put on the new nature, the new self. We need to clothe ourselves in the reality of Christ and His gifts in order to be that person, God needs us to be.  

That's a lifetime's journey living into trying to be the kind of person God needs you to be. We're never going to be, as that saying goes— dogs that eat glass and poop out diamonds. Life doesn't work that way. There are no digital printers for the perfect human being. This is important. The internet offers us everything under the sun. We can order everything, any flavor, color, texture, etcetera blah blah blah… It is almost decadence towards feeding the self and not really thinking about the reality and consequences of the world that we shape with our attitudes.

Shaping the world with our attitudes… are we doing a good job? Now that could be one of those glass half full, glass half empty kind of questions, depending on whether your heart is falling into faith or anxiety and unbelief. That really bad song that came out in the 80’s reminds me of what we don't do often enough but: ‘Don't worry be happy!’ Another song probably slightly better than that by Elton John says: ‘Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me.’ Don't let the Son go down on you. Let Him rise with His grace and promise in your hearts, to make you feel secure in this new building we’re in, to make you feel secure with not only me, but with one another because we have a great Mission ahead here.

We have our critics out there. We know who those people are. We don't fit their mold and they're not happy with us with how we feel ourselves to be in regards to Jesus, yet alone “being and doing” church… but this shouldn't bring us down! If anything, just like I said a couple messages back, be a rebel with a Cause, that's your new niche here. Forget all the pain of the past and put on that new cloak of Christ upon yourself. “We’ve never done it this way,” is what closes dozens of church doors and it's even more polarizing when denominations say: “do it this way or else…” they closed the hearts and minds of those motivated to serve and they hurt the Body, instead of grow the Body.

That's a good image to think about. Think about yourselves as the Body of Christ, First Congregational, as a giant beating heart. All these people, all of your stories wound together with ligaments and flowing blood and a history and you've had a lot of swords plunged into your heart, haven't you? They probably have not felt good and they've done seemingly permanent damage but then we must remember what Christ says: He has brought us eternal life. He is the bread of life. His body and blood saved us in more ways than one, and we should never forget that. We should resurrect in that promise every day of our lives, period!

I did some really fun research this past week, where I asked one of the Elvis chapels on Las Vegas Boulevard to just kind of observe what they do in regards to weddings…. Well let's just say outside of me trying not to burst out laughing with some of the silly things that they did. I did think it was interesting how people get maniacally focused on one little aspect of doing things. All these little ministers that they had running around with Elvis imitators and Marilyn Monroe look-alikes had to pound out a wedding between 5 to 7 minutes. Any longer than that, they would be behind. The one young man I talked to and followed this past week said that they do something like 45 to 60 weddings a day, especially when it's like a weird number day such as 8/ 8/ 2018.

The maniacal almost humorous pace of this little wedding chapel is somewhat surreal, but it did make an interesting statement on when you're focused on one thing, what could be done… outside of you becoming incurably OCD, more or less, that is. When you set your mind on the vocation of the Gospel as a disciple, member of this church you can make great things happen. There you should have heard that promise and felt that hope that Jesus was trying to share with His critics. These critics were picking on Him for being Mary's and Joe's kid, and how can He say He came down from Heaven? They just didn't understand his deep poetic words.

The poster I made for this Sunday, which not only helps me to begin sketching out my sermons as well as do our weekly advertising. Believe it or not, I still need to tap into that old world of my art skills and connect images and thoughts together. The man is walking into the burnt, dry and cracked desert of no life before him, behind him as a rainbow of promise bright skies and fertile grounds growing things is developing as he walks forward into this wilderness. What you should notice that he's wearing is the cloak of the New Nature. This is what Christ has helped him to see and put on. Part of the cloak shows wings of butterflies and the top has the Cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is the ultimate reason we always gather. Our lives are shaped by the victory of the cross and we are living in that resurrected life as His children of Grace and promise. Those two drum skin words that the Gospel continues to try to pound into our thick heads.

God is always trying to get through to us. He tries to get through to us when we do look to the past and lament how things didn't go right or things we could have, should have, would have done better, if we would have listened to Christ more deeply in our hearts to keep us encouraged and feel confident in one another. The past is gone. It's frankly, in some senses, is dead. You can't relive that same day. There are no time machines. I wish there was a Star Trek transporter beam, but then that's another story. All we have is the future(!) That's very scary isn't it? We hate that. We don't want to buy crystal balls, yet alone believe in them… or look at tarot cards or read horoscopes, they don't really do any help at all. The future is today and then it'll be tomorrow, and the day afterwards, and onward and onward. Beyond decorating what are you planning to do in Ministry? 

We can't afford to have a pantry for many reasons anymore, but that shouldn't stop us from maybe serving with our neighbors who run their own Pantry or serving with the Clark County government in doing different things with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. We need to be able to put out that hand not only offering welcome but doing God's work in the world together. The young people in the world, may not necessarily have enough money to help do the rudimentary things of sustaining ministry but they are our future, and we need to put our hope in them. We need to put our hope not only in young people in the colleges, universities and abroad, but we need to really put hope in one another. It's hard to have faith isn't it? Because it's so scary… but really, is it scary or are we just making it that way?

The fiery haze of smoke that has been polluting our horizons and our sunsets from the California fires, I am sure have etched upon us fear. Would it ever come over those mountains and down into the valley? We don't like seeing the destruction of nature, and hope that things are going to change. Things like that yes, we are hoping for change. We are hoping to see that the fires get put out, that are all over California North and South. Why can't we, as well, take that same great desire of hoping to see things change, positively with one another as we go forth as the Body? Jesus Christ is our bread, our daily bread and He is continuing to feed our souls, the good things that we need to truly be His disciples. Don't turn that bread down don't look for the stale crumbs of yesterday, see the yeast rise and the loaves form for tomorrow.

I'll leave you as one last great impression of thinking about putting on the New self, the New Creation, the New Nature, the New Adam and Eve that Christ wants you to tap into and be, become. I don't know how many of you have read little weirdo scientific facts about the human body itself, but pretty much all the skin on your body and even your older hairs fall out, peels off, regenerates and renews continually. So, see you're already literally becoming new, whether you like it or not!  Whether you like it or not, those are words we used to hear when we were little children. When our parents would say: “Well, you're going to have to eat those miserable Brussel sprouts or okra other unpleasant vegetable, that you still probably hate today, to help you grow and become better.” Welcome to life. You can't just go to the happy things and hope to build or find that dog that eats glass and poops diamonds, that's not reality. You have it in you to shape the future and be the best you can be through Christ Jesus who gives us all strength every day. He gives us strength in every waking breath, every prayer that you say and every tear that baptizes your heart to grow.

The soil is patted down. This is not an old plant, that has been transferred into this fertile soil here at 2709 Horseshoe Drive, it is to be a New plant. It needs gardeners, that are renewed. We as well, need to be a team. We need to be partners lifted through the love of Christ to do great things together. Make it happen.

Let us pray,

Loving and Gracious God,

Help to give us all strength for when we feel our old ways taking over.

Help us to be encouraged and enlightened with one another

Knowing we are all human, and that we have our valleys and our mountains to move and walk through together.

May we never let the light of Your Son Jesus, go down in our hearts

Help us to shine into the future and never look back

AMEN

August 12^th, 2018; Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost; Year B; Proper 14 SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 34:1-8; 1 Kings 19:1-8; Ephesians 4:17—5:2; John 6:35-51

The link below is to this sermon's delivery at First Congregational Church at 10am:
https://youtu.be/56HSgKbO2nI