On Fire: New Mission

When was the last time you shared the good news of Jesus Christ with someone?

When was the last time you went out of your way to make a difference in someone else’s life and when presented with the opportunity to say why you did what you have done, have said, it’s because of God’s love shown to me in Jesus?

One of the great things about gathering for worship or bible study or in a ministry team or to hand out food to some folks who really need a hand, is the time we spend checking in with each other and telling the stories of what God is doing in our lives.

So, here’s my story of praise!

Some of you know I had quadruple bypass surgery last October. I had been struggling to walk a long distance with out feel short of breath and felt some tightness in my chest that immediately stopped when I stopped exercising.

So, I took a stress/echo test at Crystal Run and failed it. Then had a heart catheterization at ORMC, now Garnet Healthcare, and failed and ended up at Einstein Hospital/Montefiore Medical Center, where I had the bypass surgery.

Then in February I started cardiac rehab at Garnet, which ended quickly because of COVID, as all local hospitals stopped doing admissions and outpatient care.

Then, in August came the call we could start again. So now with my 3 fellow heart patients we are rehabbing. Got on EKG leads and walk around packs, masks, hand sanitizer, blood pressure cuffs, and we are exercising under supervision.

Thursday, I started on the recumbent bike, and then the seated stepper, and then the folks in charge put me on the treadmill and boosted me to 2 miles an hour and 5 on the incline. And my heart stepped up.

So, then the Director asked, “Jeff, do you want to do the wall pulley (cable weights) or…

How about, dum, dum, dum, dum… the elliptical?

One guy in my class had one stent put in. Another guy had two stents, is younger and fitter. The third guy had one bypass. I had four, and I am the first guy in the class invited to step up to the elliptical.

And I rocked it!

Well, actually, I went slow and had to move my hands from the moving arms part to the handles because my heart rate got too high, but I was there.

They told another guy maybe, maybe next time he could use the elliptical.

Praise God.

Not so much for the silly competition. But for the peace of mind. I can do the treadmill. I can do the elliptical. My heart is beating right and good. And I can thank God, my wife, my family, and my church for their help and hope and support.

And I said, “I can’t wait to tell the folks at church about this!”

When two or three of us gather in Jesus Name, he is in our midst. And when we gather, we tell the wonder of God’s grace!

But what about when we are separated? When we are worshiping at home? Is God still with us, still powerful for us, still hearing us as we pray?

Yes, indeed, although the physical closeness of a gathered worship service has some great reinforcing qualities as we see each other’s face, as well as tell each other stories about God working in us and through us, as we remind each other to keep the faith in these trying times.

As I will share tonight, there is a place and a time when the church can’t meet together. It has happened again and again in church history. All kinds of impediments have made it impossibly for the church to meet the way it would like, not only pandemics like the Black Plague, but natural disasters, war, and even just too much physical distance. Imagine homesteading in the Great Plains!

Remember, part of the reason this church building was built was because traveling to the First Presbyterian Church of Mount Hope was no small walk in a snow storm.

Still there is power when God’s people gather, in small groups and house churches, as well as large worship gatherings like in this sanctuary on a normal Sunday, and in that upper room where the disciples met, 120 of them.

And while there, doing as we do, sharing the amazing works of God in each other’s lives and in the lives in the community, the questions about what to do about Judas came up.

Matthew’s gospel tells us that Judas hung himself after realizing that his betrayal of Jesus had not resulted in what some speculate was Judas’ ultimate mission, to get Jesus to become King. He threw the 30 gold coins back at the Jewish leaders and then committed suicide.

Luke tells a different story about Judas’ death, that he fell headlong into a field he had bought and all his insides spilled out. It is possible that both are true, that Judas’ body after death by hanging, rotted in a field.

But the way he died didn’t matter to the disciples nearly as much as the fact that he was gone, and now they felt a replacement was needed. Someone who saw it all. Someone who could testify to it all.

From the point of the view of the Apostles what mattered was witness!

It still does.

What God is looking for in us, what the Holy Spirit is empowering in us is witness; the willingness, the desire, the courage, the tenacity to be living, breathing witnesses to the power of God in Jesus Christ and in our own lives.

We can do this, here in this cute little sanctuary, or out there wherever we are, and wherever we find ourselves. You and I can be a witness. We can make a difference. We can be apostles, sent ones! All that is needed is our open hearts and our willingness to serve the King of Kings and Lord or Lords.

Are you willing?

Then go! And be sure to tell us all about your adventures being a witness to the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.

And all God’s people said, Amen!