Read: Ecclesiastes 3
Your son or daughter has gone to college, joined the military, or just moved out of the house into their own apartment. You find yourself in a new place in life. Others have walked this path before; they have named it the “Empty Nest.” All you know is that your gut is tied in knots and you weep, at the drop of a hat, like you have lost your best friend.
The empty nest is real. As we care for and love our children, we also send them off and grieve the distance we experience in this new season in our relationship. What does God have to say about this particular place in life? I am looking to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes which speaks of relationships and seasons. I find that what is good in one season may not be so good in the next. What is appropriate in one season many times lacks any function in a new season. And so it goes that we must reconsider our lives in the midst of a new day. Any change of children in the home places us into a new and sometimes emotionally difficult season.
This sermon is designed particularly for one entering this season of change. I expect a powerful service with deeply felt emotions and feelings. This is a wonderful time to invite a friend or neighbor who may be experiencing some type or change or new season in their life.
Worship Next Week
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Sermon Title: “The Empty Nest”
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Notes for Sunday September 21, 2008
Read: Isaiah 43 Tool Time: Witness
Your witness gathers all your gifts into one place. In witness you make known that which is your passion. Through witness you share your goals and dreams for yourself and others around you. Everyone shares a witness. Good or bad everyone shares a witness with the world.
Think of a great big tool box. Every good work you will ever want to accomplish will have a tool, ready for you, stored in the tool box. As we reach to open the drawers, we will find tools to accomplish amazing tasks. There are always more tools than there is energy for the day. These tools allow us to accomplish our work with integrity and precision.
The prophet Isaiah shares the power of God to renew and restore all things. This God is the creator, the master builder, the keeper of the tool box. God has called us and named us. God breaks the bonds which hold us captive. We are a witness to this amazing power. We see, and then share. We experience, and then proclaim. We receive a witness, and then share a witness.
The power of witness is the power of the Spirit in at work in the world. Our witness is a tool chest brimming with potential. Let’s go to work.
Worship Next Week
Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-12
Sermon Title: “The Tool Box”
Your witness gathers all your gifts into one place. In witness you make known that which is your passion. Through witness you share your goals and dreams for yourself and others around you. Everyone shares a witness. Good or bad everyone shares a witness with the world.
Think of a great big tool box. Every good work you will ever want to accomplish will have a tool, ready for you, stored in the tool box. As we reach to open the drawers, we will find tools to accomplish amazing tasks. There are always more tools than there is energy for the day. These tools allow us to accomplish our work with integrity and precision.
The prophet Isaiah shares the power of God to renew and restore all things. This God is the creator, the master builder, the keeper of the tool box. God has called us and named us. God breaks the bonds which hold us captive. We are a witness to this amazing power. We see, and then share. We experience, and then proclaim. We receive a witness, and then share a witness.
The power of witness is the power of the Spirit in at work in the world. Our witness is a tool chest brimming with potential. Let’s go to work.
Worship Next Week
Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-12
Sermon Title: “The Tool Box”
Thursday, September 04, 2008
A Word on Service
To serve is to put love into action. Serving others offers a means of grace.
Serving may be the final lesson learned in the life of a disciple. As we serve others we become selfless and mirror the actions of our Savior. Seems to me all others actions of a disciple, like giving or praying, can be confused with a building of the self. Serving empties the self, focusing on the need of the other. Sacrificial service is the action of a mature, or at least attempting to mature, disciple.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, "...the greatest of these is love." The word here in greek is "Agape," which means a love which serves the other. Paul knew that "to love/to serve" is the greatest gift of the disciple.
What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’s; “You got to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you got to serve somebody.”
Serving may be the final lesson learned in the life of a disciple. As we serve others we become selfless and mirror the actions of our Savior. Seems to me all others actions of a disciple, like giving or praying, can be confused with a building of the self. Serving empties the self, focusing on the need of the other. Sacrificial service is the action of a mature, or at least attempting to mature, disciple.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, "...the greatest of these is love." The word here in greek is "Agape," which means a love which serves the other. Paul knew that "to love/to serve" is the greatest gift of the disciple.
What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’s; “You got to serve somebody. It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you got to serve somebody.”
Notes for Sunday September 14, 2008
Read: Ephesians 5:1-20 Tool Time: Service
Your service to others is a light to the world. By serving, we offer grace which shows the love of God in action. To serve is to love. To serve the stranger is to love even the unlovable. When we do not choose who we are serving we offer the non-judgment of Christ Jesus.
Serving may be the last lesson learned in the life of a disciple. We can gather and have it be about us, our relationship, and our need being met. We can grow and still it is our maturity, our focus toward life which changes. However, when we sacrificially serve, without reservation, our focus becomes the good of the whole, the life of the body. It is no longer we who live and work, but Christ who lives in us. Service, more than any other of the tools of discipleship, may offer maturity in Christ.
Paul shares we should walk as children of the light. We are to expose the darkness by shedding light, the goodness of God upon the world. He says this like we are asleep and then wake up to a new day of new possibilities. Christ will be our light; we need not worry or be confused.
Serving acts as a light. Serving illumines the path toward the kingdom of God. Why work in the dark, stubbing our toes, stumbling on the uneven ground, when all we need is a little light for the journey. What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’; “You got to serve somebody.” You know light when you see it, so does the world. Why not let your light shine?
Your service to others is a light to the world. By serving, we offer grace which shows the love of God in action. To serve is to love. To serve the stranger is to love even the unlovable. When we do not choose who we are serving we offer the non-judgment of Christ Jesus.
Serving may be the last lesson learned in the life of a disciple. We can gather and have it be about us, our relationship, and our need being met. We can grow and still it is our maturity, our focus toward life which changes. However, when we sacrificially serve, without reservation, our focus becomes the good of the whole, the life of the body. It is no longer we who live and work, but Christ who lives in us. Service, more than any other of the tools of discipleship, may offer maturity in Christ.
Paul shares we should walk as children of the light. We are to expose the darkness by shedding light, the goodness of God upon the world. He says this like we are asleep and then wake up to a new day of new possibilities. Christ will be our light; we need not worry or be confused.
Serving acts as a light. Serving illumines the path toward the kingdom of God. Why work in the dark, stubbing our toes, stumbling on the uneven ground, when all we need is a little light for the journey. What did Bob Dillon sing about in the 60’; “You got to serve somebody.” You know light when you see it, so does the world. Why not let your light shine?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
For Sunday September 07
Read: Luke 20 & 21 Tool Time: Gifts
Our gifts are tools we can use in building the Kingdom of God. Gifting can offer the oomph needed to move forward in grace. Gifting can give us a safe place to stand and see the future. Your gifts can mean a meal for the hungry or a bed for the homeless. It is true that by offering gifts we become the gift. Even stranger is that the one most blest by our giving is ourselves. Giving changes and cleans our hearts. Nothing else has the same capacity for transformation of the soul like giving. My experience is that givers never complain, and complainers never give. The selfish person says, “I do not need to give. They have enough, I need more for myself.”
We are confronted with the widow who gives all she has to live on as a gift in the temple. She is following the wealthy who have made quite a show of their giving, making sure the coins clink and clang for all to hear their respect for the ways of God. Jesus simply turns to the disciples and offers the obvious. The woman has given more than her wealthy neighbors. Be careful with the working in this passage. She did not give everything she had, but rather, all she had to live on. There is a difference. She was willing to put her trust in God for her daily needs. Would I be so bold, so willing? It seems Jesus is offering the idea that giving is about the need of the giver to trust God and give, not the needs of the temple to receive. If the church had all the money it needed to meet the budget, would you still give? Would you sacrificially give like the widow?
Giving acts like a level. Giving puts us on a good and level place in the kingdom of God. We can fight uphill our whole lives, wondering why God has not seen fit to give us an easier path. When all we really need is to learn to give and the then path levels out. The path never really changes, however our perception of the path changes and that makes all the difference.
Worship This Week
Scripture: Luke 20:45 – 21:19
Sermon Title: “On the Level”
Next Week: Tool Time: Service
Our gifts are tools we can use in building the Kingdom of God. Gifting can offer the oomph needed to move forward in grace. Gifting can give us a safe place to stand and see the future. Your gifts can mean a meal for the hungry or a bed for the homeless. It is true that by offering gifts we become the gift. Even stranger is that the one most blest by our giving is ourselves. Giving changes and cleans our hearts. Nothing else has the same capacity for transformation of the soul like giving. My experience is that givers never complain, and complainers never give. The selfish person says, “I do not need to give. They have enough, I need more for myself.”
We are confronted with the widow who gives all she has to live on as a gift in the temple. She is following the wealthy who have made quite a show of their giving, making sure the coins clink and clang for all to hear their respect for the ways of God. Jesus simply turns to the disciples and offers the obvious. The woman has given more than her wealthy neighbors. Be careful with the working in this passage. She did not give everything she had, but rather, all she had to live on. There is a difference. She was willing to put her trust in God for her daily needs. Would I be so bold, so willing? It seems Jesus is offering the idea that giving is about the need of the giver to trust God and give, not the needs of the temple to receive. If the church had all the money it needed to meet the budget, would you still give? Would you sacrificially give like the widow?
Giving acts like a level. Giving puts us on a good and level place in the kingdom of God. We can fight uphill our whole lives, wondering why God has not seen fit to give us an easier path. When all we really need is to learn to give and the then path levels out. The path never really changes, however our perception of the path changes and that makes all the difference.
Worship This Week
Scripture: Luke 20:45 – 21:19
Sermon Title: “On the Level”
Next Week: Tool Time: Service
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