Sermon for May 26 from Matthew 7:24-29

So…

How are your construction skills?

I have zip, zero, nada! I have no zero skills and zero patience for building things and or repairing things.

There is a great historical story here at the church of me in my early years trying to prove that I could make a difference. In a lot of situations I did I think, but in one I failed miserably.

Way back when the women’s bathroom was where the hall is now to our Christian Education building, there was a problem in one of the two stalls because the toilet paper roller had fallen off the wall.

It needed to be put back on ASAP, and I decided being all big and bad that I was the person for the job. Not noticing that I had no skills for the job, I immediately ascertained that in the left hand stall the left wall was plasterboard, so instead of hanging the roller by screwing it into the plywood divider, I decided to get a recessed fixture that would then maximize space in the small stall.

I got the fixture and installed it not noticing that sitting on the porcelain throne, you could not possibly reach said fixture. At the next session meeting I was demoted from fixer-in-chief and my tool box confiscated.

Build your hose upon the rock, Jesus says.

Churches do a lot of stuff. Some of it we do really, really, well, and other stuff not so much.

Some of what we do is really effective and helps us reach our mission goals, fulfills our vision for our congregation and community, and fits well with our values.

And some things we do, well… poorly. We do it because we have always done it.

It’s hard because much of what we do we like doing. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. In some cases, it is easy to do, or hard, but we know how to do it so we keep doing it.

The fact that it doesn’t help us be the church we want to be, the church of the future eludes us.

Every year when the Session and Deacons meet together, I ask them what we as a church should stop doing.

That’s so we can take that energy and time and resources and use them someplace else in church life that is more in keeping with what we say we know we need to be doing.

Last year there were no suggestions. None. Really?

In today’s scripture lesson Jesus invites us to build our house on a solid foundation. He also makes clear that foundation is his teachings.

The wise man builds his house on the rock.

We are to listen, hear, and heed. We are to put it all into practice, which is exactly what we are doing…

Except, when we get busy doing things that don’t connect with the foundation, Jesus teachings, with the people Jesus says we are to be reaching out to with his bold love!

It would be like buying a house that is so expensive you can’t put furniture in it, or getting a wonderful house that has four bedrooms and no bathrooms, or a pool, but no one who knows how to swim, wants to swim, or is going to clean and maintain that silly pool.

Of course, churches don’t do that!

We would never forget that our worship space, worship style, worship leadership, worship design, even worship colors schemes are not about us, but about connecting people to the foundation: Jesus!

We are told to build our house, God’s house, on a solid foundation, Jesus teachings, but are also told to use the house to reach those who not yet connected with Jesus!

Remember what Jesus told his disciples just before he left them at the ascension. “Now go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

It is our calling, an imperative, a shall, to always be looking for ways in which to invite others to come and follow Jesus with us, and at the same time remove every single barrier to those who want to meet the Lord.

We’ve done really well! We have reason to celebrate!

But there is more to do! Because not everyone who could come and worship Jesus is here yet! Because we get it.

We are called to Make a difference, in Jesus Name!

Amen.

Sermon for May 19 from Matthew 7:13-23

So…

What is your favorite fruit?

Apples, pears, kiwi, grapes, wine…

Hops is not a fruit, just saying. But apple cider…

One of the neat things about the Deacon’s 5K and the whole celebration around it is the hot sandwiches our Kafe folks make and the fresh fruit the Deacons and the Kafe prepare for the runners and walkers.

And I love fruit this time of year!

Berries are coming, raspberries red and black, blackberries, and blueberries. All fruit is a bit of a challenge because it is high in sugar, so needs to be eaten in moderation, but none-the-less, yum!

So, back to the question of the day, what is your favorite fruit?

And then the tougher question, what kind of fruit are you?

I have said in the past that some think of the Otisville – Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church population as a big bowl of granola, fruit, flakes and nuts. So, which are you?

And then, taking it a step farther, what kind of fruit are you producing?

We are not talking about farming here!

Jesus is really asking about what your life is producing. What the results are of you being in this world working for God’s kingdom?

How are you using the energy, intelligence, imagination, and love that God has given you to bring Kingdom values into this world?

Today, in our 5K we have raised some funds to be sent along to the Ronald MacDonald House Charities, who housed not only Briana and Steve and family while Liliana was in Albany Medical Center and then Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital, but also housed the Sudarto Family for a year way back when Steve’s older brother Gerald was being treated for a brain tumor.

The House provides a room and meals for the family and asks for no compensation. That is amazing! And we, delightedly are supporting their work today by provide funds to further their mission of caring for families needing short stay.

So, together we are “making a difference”!

But are you, as a child of God, a member of the Kingdom, one of God’s sent people actually “making a difference” all on your own?

It’s an essential question Jesus says, because “by their fruit you will know them”, which is the traditional reading of Matthew 7:20, which the CEV translates “You can tell who the false prophets are by their deeds.”

It also, I’m afraid, applies to us. Your faith, your giftedness, your value to the Kingdom of God is all measured and made known by what you are making of your opportunity to “make a difference” in this world.

According to Jesus, you can tell how you are doing by the fruit you are growing.

So…

What is your favorite fruit? And what kind of fruit are you growing?

Resurrection power and a life changed by God’s grace means that what we are doing, how we are acting, what we value, and who we care for are all transformed by God’s amazing love!

The result should be good fruit, which the Apostle Paul reminds us is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

If those are happening, you are on the right track! If not, we should talk.

Making a difference, in Jesus Name!

Amen.

Sermon for May 12 Mother's Day from Matthew 7:7-12

What is your best memory of mom?

I realize all of us have an assortment of memories, some good, some bad, some joyful, and others sad.

But what is your best and most treasured memory of mom, or the person who most exemplified a mother figure for you?

And be wise about this, because if she is sitting next to you a good poke in the ribs might be ahead, depending on how fresh you are!

I certainly have lots of memories of my mom.

One of the craziest is her weaving baskets in the swimming pool. She was struggling to be bent over with the basket reeds in a bucket because her back was so painful, so she just took all of it in the pool and made the baskets standing up, semi weightless with the reeds floating all around her.

I remember her making 7up salad with a mound of cream cheese frosting on top. And she made the most tasty potato salad.

I remember her going back to work when I was in sixth grade. I was 12, Sue was 10, Nancy was just 3 or 4. It was a big deal, scary, and also changed the family finances dramatically, and positively.

I remember her walking us to the grocery store 8 blocks away, getting groceries, and then leaving them in the basket for my father to pick up on his way home from work because there was only one car.

And I remember her taking us on the city bus downtown in Buffalo to a specialist, because my sister Sue had amblyopia, what was commonly known as a lazy eye, so that she could get treatment.

And I remember the first time I found a picture of her in a two-piece bathing suit on the beach in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada, just over the Peace Bridge from where she grew up on the Westside of Buffalo.

She looked pretty amazing, a very disconcerting feeling, a reminder that my mom was not always a mom.

And I remember her profound lostness when my father died when he was just 57 years old.

For many of us, what we treasure most is how mom loved us, cared for us, even sacrificed for us, in spite of what were often crazy circumstances! She treated us with love and respect even when we were as my Grandmother used to call us, “little tartars”!

She saw herself as the person, especially when my dad was off at work all day, as the primary provider of a blessed childhood, and did all she could to teach us to respect her and each other. She gave it her all!

She, it seems to me, both believed and practiced what Jesus says right here in Matthew 7:7-12, “Treat others as you would want them to treat you.”

Of course, Jesus goes even a step further!

He doesn’t just suggest this as an optional activity to his disciples, followers, the Pharisees and the Scribes who are gathered around him during this teaching called the Sermon on the Mount.

No, he says, “This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about!”

Now this may seem to you to be all warm and fuzzy, just like mom! Or it might seem like a strategy for getting people to like you and work with you.

But that is not what Jesus is saying here. He is making clear that if you want to be a God person, then you are obligated to treat others as you would want them to treat you, as in “you shall”!

In the Presbyterian Church we have a book called the Book of Order that describes how Presbyterian Churches are to function, and every once in a while, it says, “you shall”. And our Stated Clerk of the Presbytery reminds us that the word “shall” mean “must”!

As in, “you shall treat others as you want them to treat you”! not optional, commanded.

Jesus elsewhere in response to a question about the law, reminds us that we are to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. And in the Lord’s prayer he reminds us to pray that God forgive our debts, sins and transgressions in the same way as we forgive those of others.

Being kind is not an option for the followers of Jesus! Being caring is not an option for Christians! Being forgiving is not an option for those who would take up a cross and follow him. We must!

And when we do, we fulfill the Law and the Prophets Jesus says!

We are giving of ourselves just as mom do everyday. And even more importantly, just as God does and did in the sending of his son on our behalf.

God gave boldly! Just like we are too! Just like mom’s do!

It is sacrificial. It is giving of the highest order. It is not for the faint-hearted. It is only something we can do scared. But when we do…wow!

Giving up your life for others is the greatest of sacrifices.

We’ve been reminded of it recently, not only in the Easter story, but in the story of some young people who rushed gunmen, at a synagogue in California and a school in Colorado, stopping attacks that could have destroyed many more lives.

That kind of bold giving, taking up a cross and following him, is exactly what we are called to do.

Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish?

Then be prepared to give in the same way God does.

And moms, thanks not only for housing us little aliens inside your amazing bodies for nine plus months, but thanks for giving us yourselves!

Amen.

Sermon for May 5 from Matthew 7:1-6

So…

Turn to the person in the pew nearby and say “I’m glad you are here!”

Pretty friendly bunch we have, eh?

But you know, in houses of worship all over the world, there are people who are not there.

Once again, we have seen the destruction of others by a self-appointed judge, jury, and executioner in a synagogue in California. Following the mandate in their head that Jews are bad, or in other cases, Muslims are bad, or Christians are bad, or Sikhs are bad (not realizing they are not Muslims), these terrorists choose to murder others, justified, they believe, by theologies or political manifestos or a personal sets of grievances that set them apart as the one to do what needs to be done.

They decide, on their own, and are for the moment, their own God.

Sometimes they have help. Sometimes there is a community of aggrieved fellow followers who wish them well, but in all cases what they do is maim and destroy God’s beloved children.

One of the challenges of following Jesus, for those of us who have chosen to do so, is this crazy idea that we are to think less of ourselves and more of others. That thinking stands directly in the way of taking other people’s lives.

We are now in a series of sermons that invite us to Love Boldly.

Filled with God’s love revealed to us in Jesus’ resurrection, we now live resurrection every day. And because of it, we love others with the kind of love Jesus did. Not just our friends and family and folks that all look like us, but we are actively engaged in loving others who don’t look at all like us!

Thinking less of ourselves and more of others is a natural consequence of being empowered by the Spirit, because God has invited us to care for and love all of God’s children.

We can and do live in a way that evidences our sure knowledge that death has been defeated in the empty tomb, and that God is working through us to change the world, to invite other to come follow him, and that together we can “make a difference”.

But… it does run counter to what is basic in human nature, the need, the desire to put ourselves first!

And one of the ways we do that is by judging others.

We judge their behavior, their look, their lifestyle, their worship, where they grew up, how much money they have, even sometimes whether Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, or if they are really blue collar, maybe Tim Horton's. Just saying!

And judgmental-ism, to be clear, is a disease of the spirit! It is a clear indicator that something is deeply wrong with our understand of Jesus love and acceptance.

It happens when we assume a superiority that allows us to assess the failures, the mistakes, the inability of others!

I am right; therefore, you must be wrong. I am smart; therefore, you must be dumb. I am rich; therefore, you are poor. I am beloved by God; therefore, you cannot be unless you become more like me!

And it is only when we understand and apply the amazing mercy of God shown to us in relationship to our own lives - that God in his infinite mercy has loved us in spite of the fact that we are complete screw-ups - that we can let go of our desire to judge others and start caring boldly.

We are not better or more acceptable to God than our brothers and sisters, no matter how lost or confused or crazy they are.

I just spent time with my two crazy sisters last weekend. They are crazy! But I know that not only did Mom & Dad love them, and that I love them, but I know with absolute certainty that God’s loves them too.

The reality is we are not fit to judge others, we are incapable, unqualified, and not given that responsibility or even that option. What we are to do is care boldly!

We are to be discerning for sure.

We are not to join others in places and activities we know we should not as the followers of Christ, but remember, Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners and was accused of being their (gasp) friends.

We should be found everywhere, bringing joy and love and the presence of God all over the place, a God who loved the world so much, that he sent his only son, so that everyone who puts their faith in him can and will have eternal life and never really die.

Judge not, lest you be judged. Just saying!

Amen.