Exodus 34.1-10, Psalm 103, Ephesians 4.25-32, John 8.1-11

They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. I remember a scene in a movie that I watched sometime ago. In the movie, one of the character said: “If you cannot say anything good about anybody, you just come right over here and sit next to me.” Do you know what a lot of people do when it comes to someone else’s sins? The way it works is actually very simple. I know of something wrong that you have done in the past, even in the very distant past. Now, whenever I look at you, I will see you through the lens of that particular mistake. I will forever hold you in your sin, because your sin is now the filter through I will forever relate to you. You are the young lady who once had an abortion when you were sixteen years of age, although you may be thirty years of age, however, that is what I will always remember you by. You are the man who was caught cheating on your examinations some forty years ago; you are the man who was caught cheating on your wife some three years ago. You are the person who once had a drinking problem. I just cannot let go of your past, your sin, your indiscretion, or your weakness. As a result of not forgetting your past, your sin, your indiscretion or your weakness I will hold you in your sin forever. Many people in public office do not always declare everything that has ever happened to them, this is not because they are trying to be dishonest. They simply know that what some people in this world or society of ours will do with some things. Even though debts may have already been paid in full. Even though mistakes have already been corrected a long time ago, to some people, it does not matter. What really matters to them is that once some people know something of your past mistakes, they will never let go of it. We often had to keep our sins hidden because we know that if they are not well hidden they will be held against us. We keep our sins well hidden because we know that if they are not well hidden they will be used against us someday or other. Skeletons are often kept in the closet because we know that some people will hang them up on the porch for us. People who hold public office don't always declare everything that has ever happened to them not necessarily because they are trying to be dishonest. They simply know what some people will do with some things. Even debts that have been paid. Even mistakes that have been corrected. It doesn't matter. What matters is that once some people know something about you they will never let go of it. We hide our sins because we know that if they are not hidden they will be held. Skeletons are kept in the closet because we know that some people will hang them on the porch. Then the only access to who we are will be through the dead bones of our mistakes. It is why many people move away from where they are known. People who do not know them cannot hold them in their sins. Negative gossip. It is hard to resist. "I heard that Jack once . . ." "Apparently, Marg used to . . ." It passes the time. It is flattering to the ego. At least you're better than that pathetic mess you've just put under the microscope of public scrutiny. Holding people in sin is the perfect accompaniment to lunch. Until it is you who are held. I'm not sure why the story contained in John 8.1-11 is not proscribed even once in the three year Lectionary cycle. I do know it is a mistake not to include it; for it is a story about all of us and a story for all of us. It is a portrait of Jesus at his best, the teacher with a difference, the man who puts words and actions together in a way that encounters people and invites them to change. It is also a highly symbolic, literary invention with layer upon layer of meaning. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand before all of them . . . The scribes and Pharisees are doing what they do best: catching, surrounding, staring at, holding - the special gift of the self-righteous; and they are good at it. Sin sticks. Ask anybody who has been made to stand there. However, there are some people who hold people in their sin for a living. They think of nothing else; and they are single-minded about it. "How can I use this about her in order to get something on him. " Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? They said this to test him. They have nothing on Jesus; but they are after something so that they can hold it against him. Jesus says nothing about Moses and the law. Instead, he performs a symbolic act. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them. "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. It is not important what he wrote. What is important is that he wrote with his finger, that he wrote it on the earth and that he wrote twice. In the book of Exodus we are told that the ten commandments were written on stone tablets with the finger of God (Exodus 31.18) and that when Moses found the Israelites committing infidelity (adultery) with another god, he threw the stone tablets at them in fierce judgment. So God had to write the commandments a second time and told Moses to hide himself in a rock while he passed by so that Moses would see something he had missed the first time (34.6). "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children's children, to the third and fourth generation." It is this revelation the scribes and Pharisees have forgotten: that God's glory is steadfast love and endless forgiveness. There is no judgment in God. There are no sinless ones, and, therefore, no one who can cast the first stone. Holding others in their sin while holding yourself innocent is delusionary and only perpetuates the cycle of sin for everyone. There is an alternative to the holding stare of the self-righteous and Jesus is trying to demonstrate it. He bends down and stands up, then bends down again. He does not stare. He refuses to hold the Pharisees in their sin. He is inviting them into a new way of being: the land of mercy. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders . . . "Heard" does not mean Jesus spoke loud enough. It means they got it. Jesus' answer was so well-aimed that they had nothing left to say. The revelation to Moses was an invitation which they had forgotten - an invitation to be as God is: merciful and gracious. But they refused it and walked away, beginning with the oldest. How hard it is see yourself in a way that contradicts that well-polished image! How hard it is to let go of someone you have enjoyed holding in their sin! The longer we live in the land of judgment, the harder it gets to embrace the alternative. . . . and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And so the one who was caught-brought and made-to-stand-there is left only with one who honours her by calling her "Woman". The one who refuses to hold people in their sins reminds her of her dignity and life-giving power. Although this woman, known as "the woman caught in adultery" has only one line in the story, it is an important one. The circle of accusers has left; and it is to be hoped her "no one" includes herself. Judgment is nowhere to be found. Only mercy. "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again." In this season of spirit, we would do well to ask ourselves: what does it mean to live in Jesus' spirit? When we have his spirit what do we do that is distinctively him? In one of the Easter texts, Jesus tells us when he says to his disciples, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you hold people's sins, then they are held. If you let let them go, then they are released." (John 20.23) This is not a formula for ecclesiastical power. This is the condition that characterizes our communal life. We can hold each other in our mistakes or we can let each other go. We can be a prison to one another or a source of release. Any bets on which option Jesus prefers? The next time you come upon someone's failure and are tempted to bend over and pick up a stone, remember that you also have the power to let them go. And when you come upon someone else's failure and are again tempted to bend over and pick up another stone, remember that you also have the power to release them. And when you come upon someone else's failure . . . and feel like picking up another stone . . . Living in the land of mercy is not easy, is it? We gravitate easily to holding in sin. We have to work at letting go. Joining the human race is not as easy as it looks. Most of us do it only under duress. Thank God for the memory of the man who bent down and wrote twice.

Ezekiel 2:1-7; Psalm 48; II Corinthians 12:1-10; and Mark 6:1-6

Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the thoughts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your life into us that we may live in the manner you have appointed unto us and better love and serve you and one another. Amen The story of Jesus's rejection in his own town is a classic one - it is a story that most of us can identify with because it is a story that has happened to most of us: Often our families, our childhood companions, our husbands, or our wives, fail to listen to the wisdom and accept the words of grace and love and encouragement we offer - because they are too familiar with us. The people of our home town know us too well, and therefore they simply can not accept, at times anyway - that the boy who used to leave his dirty socks sitting on the dinner table - or the girl who used to skip school and go hanging around the mall can be for them God's appointed instrument, the agent of God's healing and saving grace for them. It is partly for this reason that the royal family of England strives very hard to prevent too much detail about the private lives of the royals from becoming public. They fear that the more that is known about them, the less effective they will be able to be as the representatives of the nations of the Commonwealth. Her Majesty calls the royal quest for privacy "not letting too much sunlight into the magic". Consider the grumbling of the people in Jesus' home town when he spoke to them "what is this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And the scriptures go on to say that they took offense at him, and that as result Jesus was not able to do any miracles there, expect lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. Yes, Jesus was rejected by his own and all because his own thought that they knew him, and it is often for the same reason that we are rejected - too much sunlight has been let into the magic. But there is more to this story of rejection, for the story of Jesus' rejection by his villagers, is also a story about how we ignore and reject God. It is a story about our unwillingness to be helped by God, or by anybody else; an unwillingness which comes out of our own certainties, our own knowledge, our own strength. For the people who lived in Jesus' home town, their knowledge of him as a youth prevented them from seeing God's power in him as an adult. But for most others the grace of God is shut out, not because they know Christ so well, but because they think they know what is best for themselves, and because they refuse to accept that perhaps they need help, that perhaps their understanding, and their own strength is getting in their way. The road to spiritual wholeness is not travelled by exercising our own human powers, but rather by acknowledging our human weaknesses, and then, in that weakness, allowing God to exercise his power in us. Members of Alcoholics Anonymous probably understand the Gospel better than most theologians - and indeed than most regular church goers. They will tell you that the key to turning their lives around was admitting their weakness, admitting that they were, are, and always will be powerless, powerless over alcohol. Listen to the first three of the twelve steps of the AA program. -1 We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable. -2 We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity, -3 We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. What we have here is ONE - A acknowledgement of weakness, of need. TWO - A belief that God, and only God, can help and THREE - the willingness to turn the whole matter, indeed ones's whole life, over to God and let God take control of the problem. As it is with Alcohol, so it is with all the rest of life. Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can't find the help we need. I went to seminary with a student by the name of Richard. Richard had great ability, but he could not get along with other people. Richard always wanted to control our discussions in class. He always was ready with an answer to the questions asked by the teachers and the rest of us. When there was silence - he felt he had to fill it. When there was confusion - he tried to bring order, and not just any order, but the order that he thought was best. He never showed any hesitation or weakness to us. He never shared his personal problems. And rarely left room for us to share ours in, and so as a result we hard a hard time liking him. One day Richard was confronted with this behaviour by a group of students who, with a professor, were supposed to give Richard his final marks for the school year. They asked Richard why he behaved like he did. He went away and a week later returned with a paper that explained it all: he claimed his father had never accepted him, that he had come from a broken home, that other people refused to look deeper into him, and that, yes, he was a little careless about sharing time with others and listening to them, but that he could get a grip on it if they gave him a chance. The group of students recognized the sincerity of his paper but they refused to accept it and they rejected his answers, calling them inadequate and self-deceiving. At first he was dumbfounded - he thought he had done a good piece of work - that he had come up with the reasons why he behaved like he did, and then, when he saw that the group wasn't buying it, he grew frantic and began to break down in front of them - he began to cry and to say "I don't know what to do..I'm scared! I'm confused! What do you want? What can I do? Please help me. I feel so out of control." At that point one of the students listening to him got up and went over to him and hugged him and said -- "Its OK - just cry. There is nothing wrong with being out of control - as a matter of fact it is good - for now there is room for God to control you - room for God to help you - and room for us to show you that we love you too." After that time a change came over Richard. He did not become perfect. But he did become a little more sensitive to the needs of others. He didn't try to run every situation, and you could see him actually listening to the viewpoints being expressed by others. We in turn began to come to know him as a feeling and caring human being, as a person like us - with joys and with pain, with hopes and with fears. Richard's confession of weakness became the occasion where God's grace, God's strength, finally could get a grip on his life. The Apostle Paul, like us all, knew weakness. He had what he called a thorn in the flesh - some believe that he had severe migraine headaches, and three times, as he tells us, he prayed that this weakness, this affliction might be removed, that he might be cured. On the third occasion when Paul prayed God answered him and said, "My grace is sufficient for you - for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul's response to this statement is a most beautiful one. He said "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses that Christ's power may rest on me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." WHEN I AM WEAK - THEN I AM STRONG To the world this is nonsense. Power and strength are worshipped by most people, and weakness is despised above all things. The world teaches us to conceal our vulnerability, lest we be hurt, and it teaches us to hide our weakness, lest we be taken advantage of, The world teaches us to camouflage our inadequacies with self-confidence, self reliance and self assurance, so that we can build a heaven for ourselves here on earth. The world teaches us that we can help ourselves, that we can do what we need to do on our own, and that all the answers we need we can find in ourselves. This my friends is simply not true. It is the wisdom of the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, it is not the wisdom of God. Every alcoholic still hitting the bottle tells us he can quit, and every dysfunctional person caught behaving in a way that is offensive to others tells us that they know better and that they are on the way to licking the situation. My friends - our weaknesses, our hardships, and our tribulations are not of themselves a blessing, they are real problems for us, and they can create problems for how we get along with others - BUT - when we acknowledge our weaknesses and our needs, and turn to God and ask for his help, instead of relying on our own skill and wisdom and strength to save us, then something profound happens - we discover that God's grace is sufficient for us, and that his power is made perfect in our weakness, and almost always in ways we do not expect. When I am weak, then I am strong. If the truth be known, we are weak in many many ways, ways that all too often we are afraid to admit, because we fear that we will be scorned, rejected, or taken advantage of somehow. But that is not what need happen, nor normally is it what happens. Rather what happens is that God's power comes to us and helps us in the way that we need help. Our weakness may remain, as Paul's thorn remained, but God's power inhabits it and turns it to strength for us; strength for us to do what we as human beings and as followers of Christ are meant to do and in fact need to do, if we are to inherit the joy, the love, and indeed the very life, that God wants to bestow upon us. The story is told about how one day a small boy was trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us, or because we think that other things are more important? A part of our strength, the greater part, comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. But first we realize our need for him, and then we must ask him to take control. Doing our best as Christians always includes asking God to help us do what we are striving to do. God makes his power perfect in weakness, for it is there that he is able to do for us what we, in our strength, do not let him do. I would like to conclude with a poem that sums up what I have being trying to say - it was written over a hundred years ago by a soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I do might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed.

Matthew 13:44-52

The car was too small! - John needed a bigger car for a growing family. Beth, their latest addition to the family was newly born. Their five-seater was inadequate; they needed six seats and a bit! John realised the limitations. John had just broken his arm - ice-skating at Taikooshing! His wife Helen had to take over, driving him around the place and they were scrunched up all together in the car. They need something bigger. They almost found one. It was a van - perfect for their needs and wants. They bargained with the dealer, but the deal fell through. It would be some time, later in the future, before they can find something similar that would meet their needs and wants. It's like the fish that got away! Just when you think you've got it in the net, it snaps away. That's how John felt about the car. It's probably how we feel about many things in life. We wish we had a better car - for a good price, of course. Or a better apartment. Perhaps we wish to be well regarded by many. Maybe it's wanting a boat. Holiday home at the beach. The world's wealth is what we wish all the time to be at our doorstep. But then we find the hard way that wealth, or popularity, or having everything go our way is not necessarily the good life! We build our Kingdoms on earth where, Jesus warns, things rust, or robbers steal, where flowers fade and moths eat through. No, seek Ye first the Kingdom of God - and God's Goodness - God's Right Way..... and then the good life, the truly good life, will come your way. And it's not a life of having things go our way all the time. But having things going the right way. God's way. That's a hard lesson to learn. I want things to go perfectly - don't you? John was depressed about losing the sale, and people noticed it. They tried to cheer him up with goodly advice. One friend said: John, If it didn't happen, it just wasn't meant to be! Another said, Be patient, John, something better will come along. Another said, Now you know exactly what you want for the next time. Another said: Don't worry. Be happy. But what is happiness? Sometimes, I want to put my happiness in possessions. Perhaps you do, too. But happiness, true joy, is found in what cannot be possessed but only received. And that joy is what comes from above. The Kingdom of Heaven, said Jesus, is like a man who came across a treasure hidden in a field. He was so happy that he went and sold everything he had and bought that field. The field came at enormous cost, but the man knew what was beyond. Jesus told a story about a pearl buyer who found a special pearl. So he sold all his other pearls and bought the one perfect gem. Was that a good business proposition? I suppose not. But the man wanted what was the best - everything else paled in significance. Another parable about the Kingdom, Jesus told. The fishing boat went out on the lake. And all sorts of fish were caught; everything was pulled in. Both the good and the bad. They did the sorting out. And they kept the best. Here the issue seems to be about collecting valuable things. But some of the fish weren't valuable yet. They were too small. Or they were the wrong kind of fish. Perhaps at a later time, perhaps in another season, those fish returned to the sea would be valuable to catch again. Some things in life we want now! How often do you hear that term? - NOW. And it is appropriate for some things. But not everything. Older people, more so than us younger people, understand better what it means to have patience and wait. In due season. Let us remember the advice of St. Paul: All things come together for good for them that trust God. You probably don't come across treasures in fields, or collect pearls, or go out on a trawler fishing. Jesus' hearers were, perhaps, in better position to understand them. But the parables are simple truths about God and His Kingdom, about Christ and His Love. Perhaps in order to understand them we can hear this modern-day one: The Kingdom of heaven is like a boy who went fishing. He caught several nice fish and thought he had a good catch. Then he caught one big fish. So he threw all the small fish back in the lake and ran home to show everyone the one big fish. It's a good story with a good outcome. But don't forget that it started by saying "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE ..." That story is like our being in the Kingdom of Heaven, because we, like the boy with the several small fish, have many nice things happen to us. We often complain and gripe about what we don't have. We forget what we've got. And we fail to appreciate our blessings. This small fish may be like the good car you've got already. Call it a blessing. This one is for your home. This one's for your family. This one's for your friends. This is your club or sporting interest. This is your well-earned holiday. This is your hobby. Perhaps you can think of many other good things that have happened to you. All of those good things make us happy. We like to talk about them. But something much greater has happened to us. God has sent His Son to be our Saviour. He's the big fish! God loves us so much that He asked Jesus to live with us and show us a new way to live. He makes it possible for us to live a new way by giving us His Holy Spirit - the power of God that comes with the new life. It is because Jesus is our Saviour, we can enjoy our life on earth. Even when we have pain and sorrow, we know He is with us. Even when things does not always go our way. We can forgive others because we are forgiven. We can help others because He has helped us. Even when we die, we know He will raise us from the dead and we will live with Him forever. Our faith in Jesus is like this one big fish. It makes us forget the other blessings in life. Or at least it lets us put them into their proper perspective. Knowing Jesus becomes the most important part of our life. We want to tell others about Him. We want to tell what He has done for us. Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is like this one big fish. And it's the fish that doesn't get away! All other things in life pale in significance when measured up to Jesus. And this is true joy! This is true living! This is the Kingdom! Well, the van finally showed up. It was even better than the one that was snatched up by another buyer in the car yard. As it turned out, there was a young couple who wanted to start a young family. They wanted the station wagon … wanted their van. Some cash was exchanged, but John cut out the middleman. They got what they wanted and John got the van! Isn't it marvellous how things can turn out better, once you put your worries and fears behind you and simply trust in the Lord? 'Seek Ye First the Kingdom' the words of Jesus ring truth in my ears time and time again 'Seek Ye First the Kingdom'! What is the chief end of man? The Shorter Catechism asked. Our chief end - isn't it simply this - To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever? When we learn this simple lesson of faith - this simple truth for life - it reduces the anxieties that we have, or the pains and ills that we experience. The other gifts in our life are good gifts, too. Let us not discount them. Because they also come from God. Whether it be that new car, or new flat, holiday or friend. But remember, the gift of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of all. Knowing Him as our Saviour is the gift that will last forever! And that for me, is what the Kingdom is on about! That for me, is true living. That for me, is true joy!

I Samuel 17:32-49; Psalm 9; Mark 4:35-41

Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the thoughts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your life into us that we may live in the manner you have appointed unto us and better love and serve you and one another. Amen One of my favourite movies is The Karate Kid. It is about a teenager who feels alone and unprotected in the hostile environment of his school and community. He is scared - unable to defend himself against the hoodlums of his neighbourhood. He is afraid. It happens that the lad - whose name is Daniel - meets an old man, Mr. Me-ogi, who has a black belt in Karate - and the old man agrees that he will teach him what he knows so that he can protect himself. On the first day of his lessons the old man asks Daniel to wax and polish several old cars that he owns - wax on - wax off. All day the lad labours to follow these instructions - Wax on - Wax off. On the second day the old man asks the boy to paint his fence -- paint up - paint down. Again it takes all day. On the third day the old man asks him to sand the wooden floor of his verandah - in a circular fashion - and again it takes all day. At the end of the third day the boy is very angry - I've done all this work for you, he says, and you still haven't taught me anything. At this point the master tells Daniel to stand in front of him and do the motion for wax on - wax off - and lo - as he does this - the master makes to hit him - and his blows are deflected by the boys arms. The boy's work for Mr. Me-ogi - his obedience - has made him ready for his first lesson in how to face danger, it has prepared him for the lessons, and the dangers, to follow. In the course of our lives there are many things that arise that cause us to fear. There are giants who are hostile to us and all that we hold dear. There are storms that threaten to overwhelm us. For each of us the dangers are different, the things we fear - vary from person to person, and the intensity of our fear likewise varies. I know people who are afraid to drive in city traffic, others who dread speaking in public, and still others who are terrified by the thought that they might get cancer. Some people fear being alone - others worry and fret about becoming unemployed, or having to face an abusive spouse, still others must fight against the giants of addiction or face the huge machines of governmental indifference and corporate cruelty. There are many dangers out in the world - and we do right to fear these dangers. Fear is a natural reaction - a God given reaction - to those things that threaten us. But fear - while natural - can - if it is listened to too much - if it is indulged - lead to paralysis - Fear can prevent us from dealing with what threatens us; and it can - in the end - permit the thing we fear to destroy us; not just our bodies, which will pass away in any case - but our hearts, and our minds, and even our very souls. That is what was happening at the time when the Philistines came to make war on Israel during the reign of King Saul. The Philistines came with a champion - Goliath of Gath - and he was huge - over nine feet tall, and he was well armed and well armoured - and he challenged the Israelites to send a man against him - and whoever won the battle - his side would win the war. Each day, for forty days he issued this challenge - and each day - the Israelites fled at the sight of him. All were afraid - none would go forth to do battle - except for David - the youngest child of his family - the one who had been relegated to tending his father's sheep while his older and bigger brothers conducted business and served in the army of King Saul. On the 40th day David - while carrying provisions to his brothers where they are camped with the army of King Saul - sees Goliath, hears his challenge - and is shocked by the fact that no one will oppose him - and volunteers to go forth to vanquish him. As we heard - David has a hard time convincing Saul to allow him to do this - Saul is sure that the boy is too small - too inexperienced - but David tells him that he can prevail - that he has killed Lions and Bears who have threatened his father's sheep - and that he can, with God's help, defeat Goliath. And David does - he defeats Goliath - and he does so not with the weapons of war that Saul sought to equip him with - a sword, a helmet, and a coat of mail - but with the instrument that he used as a shepherd - a sling - and with the name of God. When we practice the ways of God - when we obey his commands and trust in his name we can overcome our enemies; we can overcome our natural fear and do what must be done. The trick - if it can be called that, is to gain a perspective on the danger we are in; to understand that God is able to help us - and that he will help us, that he has power over the wind and the waves, that he can still the storm and calm the troubled waters, that he can triumph in the face of overwhelming odds because he is the Lord of Hosts - the God who is over all. It is that way with all our fears - with all the dangers we encounter. We have to look to the solution instead of only looking at the problem if we are to overcome the odds that are so much against us, if we are to overcome the fears that prevent us from acting. In AA - Alcoholics Anonymous, and in all the dependency groups based on the AA Model, there is a slogan - which says "Let Go - and Let God" It is a marvellously liberating thing to let go - and to let God, to trust God to make things come out right instead of worrying about how we are going to make it happen. To decide to act in His will instead of worrying about how to do what we want to do, instead of trying to fix everything on our own. I think what most of us really fear is being out of control - of meeting forces that are greater than we are and not being able to do anything about them. That was the situation in Israel at the time of David and Goliath, and it was certainly the case in the boat in the middle of the storm in the Sea of Galilee. The Israelites when they saw Goliath and the disciples when they saw the wind and the waves felt powerless - they felt overwhelmed and unable to help themselves - unable to overcome the danger around them. We fear what we do not know. We fear what we cannot control. And that is - when you really think about it - passing strange - for the truth of life is this - we cannot control what will happen from one minute to the next. Indeed all is grace - or its opposite. I find that to be a liberating truth - a truth that is worth embracing - because that truth leads me back to God - to the source of my life - and because of his love - the source of my hope - the source of my strength and what courage I possess. David knew from where his strength came - he knew who was in charge - who could help him: Yea - thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. And again The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When you grow afraid, when you doubt that you will be able to take another step, when you feel you will surely perish, remember God is fully able to help you - that as he helped David slay Goliath, despite the overwhelming odds, and as he calmed the storm that threatened to overcome the small boat in which the disciples sought to cross the Sea of Galilee, so he is present with you to overcome that which would overcome you. Remember our overwhelming God can overcome overwhelming odds, and practice what God seeks to teach you through Jesus Christ, and through his Spirit as you obey his will day by day. Wax on - wax off -- Paint up - paint down. Pray - Read - Meditate and worship, for these things help prepare us for the day of trial, they centre us in the living heart of our living God providing for us an anchor which keeps the soul steadfast and sure and a rock which cannot move. "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you." Blessed be our God, day by day. Amen.

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 Psalm 20 or Psalm 92 (UMH 811) 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13), 14-17 Mark 4:26-34

Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the thoughts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your life into us that we may live in the manner you have appointed unto us and better love and serve you and one another. Amen Today I want to speak to them and to all of us, about what I feel is important to hold on to as they begin another leg of their faith journey. FIRST MOST OF THE IMPORTANT THINGS OF LIFE ARE INVISIBLE; BUT THEY ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE THINGS WE CAN SEE - this starts with the Spirit of God, - the spirit that gives life - HEBREW - RUAH - MEANS WIND OR BREATH - without air - you cannot live - and extends to every facet of life. - love cannot be touched - mercy cannot be touched - self respect cannot be touched - but while they cannot be touched they have an impact - the breath of life is seen in the rising and falling of the chest - the love of God is seen in the kindness of strangers, the acceptance of family members, the food on our tables - mercy is seen in every act of compassion - and self respect is seen when you treat yourself as an important person - too important to destroy with fast cars, overeating, or feelings that "I am no good" ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT - AND MOST INVISIBLE THING IN LIFE IS TRUST - without trust a person cannot function, a person cannot become close to another, a person cannot escape fear - the most important thing we can do is TRUST GOD, - trust god that he will be our refuge and strength in times of trouble - trust god that he will be present with us and help us accomplish all that he asks of us - trust god that he will give us the power we need, the people we need, the joy we need. Trust in the promises Trust is spoken of in today's gospel reading. You plant a seed, and it grows - whether we are awake or asleep, it puts forth first a shoot, then a head, then the full kernel in the head. By some means or other - life comes out of the seed that is planted. SO TOO OUT OF TRUST PLANTED IN OUR HEARTS COMES LIFE. SECOND - THE MOST SUCCESSFUL LIVES AND THE GREATEST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD ITSELF, IS AND ARE BASED ON AND ARISE OUT OF THE SMALLEST AND LEAST SIGNIFICANT THINGS. This too is spoken of in the gospel today - by asking you to consider the mustard seed great bush, birds can shelter in it, but it is small at first. Jesus said the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed; and his life shows that this is true. - the kingdom of God works, God works, with the little things. We are wired on big, on grand, on flashy - big cars, big houses, big buildings, huge stages and tremendous sound systems, we are impressed by big money, big fame, big status. God choses what is little to work with - from Jesus - a carpenter born to a peasant girl, to the 12 disciples - simple fisherman - to you and I. The bible says over and over again that God loves the little ones, the humble ones, the people that others despise and reject. The BIBLE SAYS THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS ARE THE LITTLE THINGS AND THAT IN THE END THEY WILL OVERTURN THE BIG THINGS, THAT THEY WILL BRING DOWN KINGS AND SHOW THE EMPTINESS OF WEALTH AND POWER. The signs of God's kingdom are not big churches, big congregations, or gold and silver and fantastic wealth - but bread and wine - stuff that can be found at the supermarkets and in most people's refrigerators - ORDINARY THINGS for ordinary people. God's work is done by some flashy people - Billy Graham and Florence Nightingales, and Bishop Tutus - but most often it is done - and done well by you and I, - whenever we give a begger a dollar - or we help a person whose car is stuck in the ditch, - or help a person across the street, - or give a few bucks and a can of beans to the food bank - or volunteer for a reading program for the deaf - or pick up old candy wrappers and pop cans lying in the woods - all these little things - all these acts of care - are God's work. OUT OF THEM GROWS THE KINGDOM OF GOD. WITHOUT THEM - THERE IS NOTHING. God's kingdom is found in the bread and the wine we share here together, in the meals we share at home, in the fellowship we have with others that sees in them another human being in need of love and who is loved by God. THIRD- LIVING FAITH MEANS FOCUSSING ON GOOD - NOT EVIL IT MEANS BELIEVING GOOD, NOT EVIL I am sure you all remember the story of Chicken Little - he thought the sky was going to fall in, and ran around warning everybody, he fretted and fumed and worried. Many people are like Chicken Little, they look all the time at the darkness and evil in our world. Unemployment, drug addiction, crime, pollution and war haunt their waking hours. Fear is fostered in their hearts - fear of failure, fear of losing what they value, fear of being alone, fear of death. They rob themselves by focussing on what is bad, and the more they look at it the bigger it gets. Other people are like the centipede in the old german tale about a centipede and a fly. The fly says to the centipede, I have six legs and I know how to walk. You have 100 legs; how can you walk? The centipede starts to think about it, and he thinks and he thinks, and he becomes paralyzed. OUR FOCUS IS ON GOD - AND ON HIS GOODNESS. THEN WE WILL RADIATE, WE WILL BRING LIGHT TO OTHERS AS WELL AS DISCOVER LIGHT IN OURSELVES LOOK AT THE SIMPLE AND ORDINARY MIRACLES - In the last few days I have been looking at trees around the area where I live. I think it is absolutely remarkable how trees grow. Someone showed me some trees that they had planted only 15 years ago. When they were put in they were only 4 feet high. They now are close to 40 feet tall. How they do it? Corn too is remarkable stuff. You put a little seed in the ground in May - and with the right conditions - by September you have a plant that is over six feet high and which contains literally thousands of kernels of corn. How do they do it? Growth is a remarkable thing - and growth is what our scripture lesson today is about, growth from a tiny seed to the largest plants, growth - which seems to occur as if by magic...you plant a seed, you provide some water and nutrition, perhaps you even cultivate the ground, but in the end what happens is beyond human control, it is virtually beyond our imagining - it is a miracle - the miracle of God, the miracle of life. LOOK AT THE DAILY GOODNESS OF LIFE - loving families, happy marriages, people working together, playing together - think of all the good things - not the bad - and it will be for you GOD'S SEED GROWING IN YOUR HEARTS. WE BELIEVE IN THE GOOD - IN GOD - AND THAT IS ALL WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO AND TO DO. FOURTH AND FINAL - God is the author of all good stuff - it is God who sows the seed and provides for its growth into the kingdom of God ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE GOD'S FIELD - OPEN YOURSELF TO HIM AND HIS WORD - BY READING IT - THINKING ABOUT IT - ACTING ON IT. THIS IS BEST DONE WITH OTHERS WHO ALSO WANT TO BE GOD'S FIELD, THE PLACE WHERE HIS KINGDOM GROWS. REMEMBER THE BEST STUFF IS INVISIBLE - THE MOST IMPORTANT STUFF SEEMS INSIGNIFICANT AT THE BEGINNING - LIVE FAITH BY LOOKING AT THE GOOD AND OPENING YOURSELF TO GOD AND GOD WILL DO THE REST - GOD WILL BE YOUR PROTECTOR AND YOUR SHIELD. HE WILL BRING YOU INTO THE FULLNESS OF HIS KINGDOM, AND PEACE, JOY, WILL BE YOURS BOTH HERE IN THE MIDST OF WOES AND AT THE END IN THE ETERNAL REALMS OF GOD So we preach, and so you believed - says the Apostle Paul say it be so, both now and forevermore. Amen

Genesis 3:8=15, II Corinthians 4:13 - 5:1 and Mark 3:20-35

Let us Pray - O God, light of the minds that know you, life of the souls that love you, and strength of the thoughts that seek you - bless the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your life into us that we may live in the manner you have appointed unto us and better love and serve you and one another. Amen We have the story of the garden of Eden - where we see Adam and Eve trying to hide from God - trying to hide their sin and their shame behind the trees and bushes - hoping that God will not notice them. And then we have the story of Jesus - being accused by some scribes from Jerusalem of being possessed by the Devil - by Beelzebub because he is casting demons out of people and healing others, and forgiving sins, and telling still others that is lawful to heal on the Sabbath and perform other good works. And we have Paul - dear Paul - who in his letter to the Corinthians acknowledges the afflictions of this life - how our outer nature - our flesh - our mortal body - wastes away - and who then asserts in the midst of this that those who believe in Christ do not lose heart because their inner nature is renewed day by day. We do not lose heart, he writes, for this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. A lot of people do not believe in the story of the garden of Eden - they do not believe what it teaches about the power of evil, nor what it has to say about pain and suffering being the result of sin. Pity them. Pity them - not because they are somehow less than those who do believe in this story, but because they risk missing the opportunity for their own redemption. Pity them because they have eyes, but do not see, and ears - but do not hear. The suffering of this world - at least the vast majority of it - is quiet clearly caused by human beings. War, poverty, oppression, mass starvation, terrorism, murder - all these things are within human control and yet we have no control over them. Millions starve while tons of grain rots in warehouses. Tens of thousands are killed while the nations all round talk peace. Uncounted numbers suffer - though they have done no wrong. We meet good people - people who really try to do right by their families and friends, and we discover pain and suffering in their lives - children who do not show respect towards them, relatives who cheat them, spouses who betray them. We see bad people apparently prosper - we see them grow rich on the labours of others, and party on with steak and caviar while their neighbours struggle to simply put bread on the table. The bible teaches us that there is a power in the world that causes this, the power of evil, and that this power takes a personal form, a real form against which we have no power of our own . The bible teaches us that we, are under the control of sin and death, and that we cannot change this fact on our own - that we need help. Some time ago a friend of mine was talking about his father: he spoke of how, for many years, his father binged out, how his father was a drunkard - a man who when sober was kind and gentle - and when drunk - well he was something else again. He had no control over himself. And this kind and gentle man brought pain and suffering upon others, or at least the force within him did so - the family had to move - to change homes and communities - almost every year - landlords were cheated, employers disappointed, children neglected, friends - abandoned - or embarrassed or even betrayed. And this continued on - until one day - after taking his children to Sunday School for a period of time, after witnessing the faith of others and what it did for them, he accepted Jesus into his life - he asked God to take control and to guide his actions and save him from his sins - and from the power of sin. And then things changed - debts still had to be paid, amends still had to be made, mistakes still occurred - but the inner man - the man that God made - was set free to grow and mature.. No more booze, a lot more prayer. And the love and kindness of the man that could be glimpsed before - in the moments of sobriety - became apparent to all - for days, weeks, and finally years on end. The children who were still living at home stopped fearing what would happen next - they began to look forward to being with their father - they began to develop their own faith in God - a faith that still guides them to this day. This man, this father, this husband, experience a change in control - he went from being in the control of the devil to being in the control of God, and the result was the renewal of his inner nature, and in the end, when his earthly tent was destroyed, the result was a building from God - a house not made with hands - eternal in the heavens.. There is a power in the world - a power that our sinfulness as individuals, and as a human race, has set loose upon the world. The Bible calls this power Satan - or evil - and it is dedicated to deception, and to destruction, and to death. But there is another power also loose in the world, the power of God, and it is a greater power than the power of Satan, indeed it vanquishes Satan and all his minions, and in the end, as the Revelation of John teaches us, and as Christ himself teaches, it vanquishes death itself. That is what today's Gospel lesson is about when Jesus turns to those who accuse him of casting out demons by the Prince of Demons and says to them How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.... truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.. Someone I know loves birds and spends a few moments in his backyard here on Lantau Island every morning feeding them. He says that certain birds eat more than other birds and because they have such voracious appetites that kind of bird will soon eat right out of your hand. One morning he decided to play a little game with a particular bird that had been a regular for several months. He held out his hand with seed in it and when the dove approached and was just about to peck out a few seeds, he closed his hand, hiding the seed. The bird stopped, cocked his head in disbelief, and then retreated a few feet. He then reopened his hand and the bird boldly approached a second time. Again the hand clamped shut just before the bird could reach the food. The bird again retreated. Several more times my friend repeated the little ritual and the bird reacted in the same disappointed way. Finally, after about the sixth or seventh time, the bird flew off. My friend never saw that particular bird again; it never returned. We can chase the Spirit of God away. We can deny it access to our lives. We can refuse to believe, to hope, and to obey. We can please ourselves - rather than seeking to please God, much as my friend sought to satisfy his curiosity - rather than the bird that trusted him. When we do - when we refuse to trust and believe. When we refuse to see what is around us or to acknowledge the forces that underlay all human affairs, we remain in the control of the evil one, we remain under the control of sin and death, and our inner nature - with our outer nature - decays - we remain unforgiven - despite the cross - despite the resurrection.. This week we celebrate the 68th Anniversary of the D-Day Landing in Normandy. Rather - we remember it. This event would not have had to occur if people had looked more carefully at the world around them - if they had understood earlier the evil that was, and is, in the world. Back in 1938 after Austria had been taken over by the Germans, after Czechoslovakia had been invaded, after Crystal Naught - the night of broken glass, Prime Minister Chamberlain of England proclaimed that Hitler was a rather pleasant person, a person who really wanted peace - one that the allies could bargain with in good faith. It simply wasn't so - nor is so all the assertion that psychologists and teachers and counsellors make about how the problems of this world will be cured when all people are fed and clothed and educated properly. The German people in 1918 - and again in 1939 - were among the best fed, the best clothed, and the best educated in the world - and look at what happened.. Sometimes you got to hear the bad news if you are to really understand the good news. The bad news is this - we as human beings are sinful, and not only are we sinful - our wills are not completely our own, we are under the influence of an evil that is greater than we are as individuals, an evil which is greater than that of ignorance and of poverty, indeed we in thrall to an evil that is so strong that it even thrives in the midst of education and in the midst of wealth. The good news is this - that God seeks us - that God wants us - and that we can place ourselves under the control of God and enter into the kind of world and help build the kind of world that God planned for us from the very beginning. We do it by faith - by trust - by belief - and by walking in the ways of God, the way revealed to us by Christ Jesus our Lord.. The experience of Paul - which he writes of in today's epistle reading is that when we come to faith, when we come to believe in Jesus Christ and in his message a great and wonderful thing happens - we are made new creatures - day by day, bit by bit, and we begin to share in the victory of Christ over sin and death, over the evil one, until at last we inherit an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all measure, as did my friend's father; as do millions of others each and every day. Look not simply at the things that seen, but look at the things which are unseen - the things that are eternal - and open your hands - and leave them open - so that the Holy Spirit may land upon you, and remain with you, and give you life in this world and in the next. So we preach, and so you believed - says the Apostle Paul May it be so, both now and forevermore. Amen

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4; Romans 1:16-23; Matthew 28:16-20

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen. Remember to say Amen today whenever you hear the doxological phrase - Blessed be God. That will help move us along - and keep your blood flowing this wonderful spring morning. There is an old story about God that goes like this: God had worked for some time at a fiddly job but finally succeeded - and separated light from dark. One of the heavenly host saw all this and commented, "Say, God, that is really neat. What are you going to do now?" God answered: "Oh, I think I'll call it a day." To dissect something is to kill it. We know that is true about jokes and it is true about many other things as well. Some things you just have to understand where you live - in your heart and in your guts - rather than in your head and on the cold hard table of philosophical analysis. And this is probably no more true than when it is applied to the doctrine of the Trinity; that doctrine which tells us: "Hear O Israel, the Lord Thy God, the Lord is One" and which also tell us "Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - One God, forever and ever." Blessed be the Father who made it all! Amen Blessed be the Son who saved it all! Amen And Blessed be The Spirit which gives life to it all.! Amen The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most important of all the teachings of the church; so important that each year the Sunday after Pentecost is set aside to teach about, so important in fact, that at one time the whole season that stretches from now till Advent was called Trinity. And so I want to talk to you about it today. It is an important reminder to those who have heard it all before - much as the words "I love you", even when said for the hundredth time, is important to the beloved, And for those who haven't heard it all before - it may bring new understanding and appreciation for what the church has proclaimed since the day Jesus told us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The doctrine of the Trinity asserts that we know God - and God reveals himself - in three persons. Three persons - one God. As I have already said, how that works is one of those things, one of those mysteries, that defies dissection. But it is a functional mystery and a glorious mystery, one that describes the nature of God and which describes the nature of the wonderful relationship God has with us and with all creation. The mystery begins, of course, before creation itself begins. It begins with God living in community with himself before time - before matter - before energy itself It begins before every marvel that we see about us came to exist, and before every wonder that our science has discovered and is yet to discover came into being. And the mystery continued when God decided to take nothing and make something of it! And so the story of creation unfolds as Frank read it to us this morning. The first day when light was created - and then the second - the third - and the fourth days, those days the scriptures tell us can be as a thousand years (even as a thousand years can be as one day) and then there was a fifth day and after it, the sixth. The sixth day was a really busy day - so busy one can hardly blame God for taking a rest after it was done. The sixth day was the day in which God made all the living creatures that live on the earth (he had done the creatures of the sea and of the air the day before) - and having done them and seeing that they were good - God made us. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day. You know - it's not like something Science would say. Words like "good" and "very good" are not used in the academic world. But they resonate with all who have eyes to see the wonders of the universe and ears to hear the song of the cosmos - and to know that it is all a marvel and a mystery - the marvel and mystery of a love that is wildly free and abundantly creative and generous beyond measure! Thanks be to God - our Father - our Maker for that love. Amen. The creation is good. And our God is good. So good, in fact, that God gives goodness it's name. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! That Psalm, Psalm Eight, is a song of praise that grows out of the awareness of God's greatness in creation and of our strange and awesome place in that creation, our strange and awesome place as co-creators with God and as trustees of what God has made on this marvellous sphere. It was the first biblical text to reach the Moon. It was read on the Apollo 11 Mission and then left on the Moon on a disc along with 73 messages from various nations on the face of the earth. It was a good choice, for it speaks so well of the cosmic sovereignty of God and of the exalted status of human beings; of we who have used our God - given abilities to explore and reach up even to the moon. It is all so marvellous! Yet despite the marvel, despite the awesome nature of what God has done and whom God has made us to be, we forget God the Creator - we forget God the Father. We have been forgetting since we were first made: since Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil since they first decided it might be better to be like God without God being involved, since they first decided to do things their way rather than taking the high way, the way God had set before them. That is what Paul's message in today's reading from the Letter to the Romans is referring to when he writes about how "since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen - being understood from what has been made" yet humanity, although we knew God, "neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him" but rather exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man or woman and birds and animals and reptiles. Idolatry is nothing more - nor less - than forgetting God - and turning from him to the creation and seeking goodness from the creation - and within ourselves - rather from where it first comes. We all fall away and worship the gods of success and of wealth and of power and we do seek divine protection and divine comfort from things that are mortal and perishable rather than seeking them from the one who makes all things. And that cuts us off from the community of God and from the communion we are each meant to have with God and with one another. It is kind of hard, after all, to embrace someone you are angry at. It is kind of hard to bless someone that doesn't want your blessing. It is kind of hard to love someone that blames you for the problems they are having or to love the one that has caused you harm. But while God, like a loving parent, is angry and disappointed about what we have done, about the choices we have made that have caused sin and death to rule in our world, has chosen not to be angry forever. Rather God has chosen to bless us even though we have not sought his blessing - he has chosen to forgive us even though we have blamed him for all our faults - he has chosen to love us with a love that will change us - and save us from ourselves even though we have not loved him and even though we need a lot of saving. God decided he would rescue us from ourselves by becoming one of us, and by revealing the fullness of himself in Christ Jesus and - being in human form - by taking upon himself the burdens we lay upon ourselves and our world by our forgetting. The Father made us - the Son saves us - and so Paul declares: I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last..." Jesus, the second person of the Trinity reveals God to us - the God who creates and who is the Father of all living things - the God who watches over his people and calls them to a closer walk with him - the God who is just and loving - and forgiving and tender - the God who can calm any storm and feed any crowd and heal any who are sick - the God who seeks out the lost and who desires that all living things might live closer to him. Jesus reveals God to us because he and the Father are one, because he is the eternal Son of God - the Word which became flesh and dwelt among us . Praise be to God - to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit! Amen! Praise be to the Spirit who hovered over creation and who gives breath to all that lives - the Spirit who is poured out on all who choose the second life by making the Son their Lord and believing in all that he said and what he did. Praise be to the Spirit who is given so that we might proclaim to the ends of the earth what God has done and what God is doing and what God will yet do. Praise be to the Spirit - the Spirit who speaks in our hearts and who reveals to us the power of God and the word of God and the love of God. Praise be to the Spirit - because it is the Spirit of God - the Spirit of Christ that moves us and touches us and speaks to us and the creation round about us. Praise be to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Amen! Which leads us to Gospel for the day - and to some final words about the Trinity and how important it is to us and to our understanding of what our faith is.. The passage that you heard read from the Gospel According To Matthew has a special name. It is called the Great Commissioning. It is called that because it speaks of the great job we have been given to do and if the warrant or commission - or authority that we have been given to do it. The commissioning that God gives to us through Christ is a simple one. Jesus tells his disciples after his resurrection - and before his ascension to be at the right hand of the Father: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore 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. Make disciples - there is a deep and abiding need for that in every generation; Teach them to obey what I have commanded you - most surely that is needed if we are not to end up going off on our own again and, by worshipping the creation instead of the creator, find ourselves without life or hope. Make disciples of all people, teaching them to obey all Christ has commanded us, and immerse them in the fullness of God, Jesus tell us: immerse them in the waters of creation and pray down the Holy Spirit upon them in the name of the one - the only one who has created and is creating - the one, the only one, who has come in Jesus to reconcile and make new - the one, the only one, who works in us and other by the Spirit. That is the commission that God gives to us - that Christ gives to us - that the Spirit gives to us. In Christ, with Christ, and through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit we are made one with God the Father. This insight - this truth - this revelation - is a great mystery - one that makes us different from all other people - all other religions - all other ways. We proclaim the God who made all things has reached out to those he made through a Son - his Son - the Word of God - the Power of God - made flesh - and that all who turn to him and who obey him are filled with his Power - his Spirit - and made new both in this life - and in the next! The Trinity is a doctrine - and a mystery - but it is a doctrine that points to a living reality that is full of truth: to a truth - and a power - and a way - like no other truth or power or way. And Christ calls us - the Spirit calls us - the Father calls us - to share it! To share it by speaking of it. And to share it by living it. What a universe this is! What a wonder life is! How awesome that all this - and all of you - should be! Spread the word about our Glorious God. Let his light shine in the darkness and his song of love be heard throughout the whole world. Blessed be God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, One. Amen! Blessed be God The One - the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sustainer. Amen!

Acts 2:1-21; I Corinthians 12:1-13

Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen. I heard a story the other day, an amusing story, about a boy who was wandering around the narthex of a cathedral church in Central one Sunday morning and stopped and examined a large bronze plaque that was hung on the wall. "What are all those names up there?" he asked one of the ushers. "Those are the names of people who died in the service." the usher replied. Curious, the boy asked the usher - "which service, the 9:00 service or the 11:45 service?" I am happy to report today that we are about, what we are celebrating, is a birth - not a death - the birth of the church - the birth of Christ in you and me - and in all who call on his name. It is a significant day - the day on which the first believers came alive in their faith, the day when the Rock upon which Christ planted his church began to support and uphold an incredible new life - a life that has existed since the world began, but which was poured out in a special fashion and took on flesh in you and me much as it took life in Jesus, the son of Mary, the son of God so long ago. Pentecost is an event that the world has long been promised and which the people of God have long awaited. Pentecost is the reversal of what occurred at the Tower of Babel when, because of our sinfulness, we became unable to understand one another. It is the gifting of God to make us one - and to make us one in the way he is one. Pentecost is our becoming Christ in the world. It is God taking on flesh - not only in the least of those to whom we give water to drink or clothes to wear; but taking on flesh in us. Praise be to God. God keeps all his promises. Pentecost gives us the eyes to see and the ears to hear. The eyes to see that God is in the details, that God is in the flesh - as well as in the Spirit. And the ears to hear him speaking in our hearts and upon the lips of others - in the rush of the wind. The eyes to see and the ears to hear - as one - and as unique persons valued and treasured so much by God that God comes to us as we are and makes us even more truly who we are when we are His. The story of the birth of the church, of that day some fifty days after the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus that Jews and Christians call Pentecost - tells us that this what God has done - and is yet doing. The followers of Jesus are given the ability to speak the languages of all those who are assembled in the city and beyond. God grants that we might understand one another and that we might understand the good news - in just the way we need to hear it. Much as God communicates to each one of us here today. We hear the gospel in our own language, in our images, with our own metaphors, with our own ears. Some today will be encouraged to spend more time in praise and wonder to thank God for blessings, others will hear that the power that they need for tomorrow's trials and tribulations will come, still others will take heart - knowing that God is present to them at all times. Whatever it is - it will be filled with God - and uniquely yours. Pentecost is the birth of the Church. It is God amongst us in power making us not simply a group of believers but Christ in the world , unafraid, empowered, bearing the cross out of love, and being raised from the Grave in glory. I began with a story - I would like to end with another. One that I pray that God will use in your life as you meditate upon it from time to time. It is a very simple, but true story about a man called Yates, but who could be you and me - and this congregation - or any of a thousand and one other congregations, a thousand and one other persons. The story is told of a man called Yates who, during the Great Depression, owned a sheep ranch in Texas. He did not have enough money to continue paying on the mortgage - in fact he was forced like many others to live on government subsidies. Each day as he tended his sheep he worried about how he was going to pay his bills. Sometime later a seismographic crew arrived on his land and said that their might be oil on his land and could they test drill. After a lease was signed they went ahead. At 1115 feet a huge oil reserve was struck - subsequent wells revealed even more oil than the first well revealed. Mr Yates owned it all. He had the oil and mineral rights. He had been living on relief - yet he was a millionaire. Think of it - he owned all of that oil with its tremendous potential, yet for many years he did not realize it. How often are we like Mr. Yate's? Considering ourselves poor and helpless all the while unaware of the extraordinary power that we have available to us - that which is lying just below the surface in our minds and our hearts. We here today are a Pentecost People. The Spirit has been and is being poured out upon us. The gift of God is just below the surface in our minds and hearts, and to the right and to the left of us - above us and below us, to the front and to the rear. Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be the church which his victory has won. Amen

Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68; 1 Peter 4:12-14,5:6-11; John 17:1-11

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen. Last words are important words... In a court of law deathbed statements, even though they are unsworn and the person no longer present to validate them, are admissible as evidence. And in the arena of our lives what we last said to someone before they leave us, and in turn what they may have said to us, are very often the occasion of much joy and encouragement - and sometimes, unfortunately, of much regret and remorse. We normally take very seriously the last words that our loved ones have uttered to us; - we turn those words over in our minds, - we consider them carefully - we store them up in our hearts and ponder them - much as Mary stored up the words of the angel and of the shepherds and of the magi in her heart after her encounters with them. If the last words of a loved one to us are uttered in the form of a declaration, if they are uttered with any seriousness - in the knowledge that soon time and space will separate us, if they ask of us anything, we are inclined to do everything in our power to both remember those words and to do that which was asked of us. Last words are important words. Knowing that - today I want to consider with you the last words of Jesus. If you ask most people what the last words of Jesus were, chances are they might tell you that his last words were: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" - or perhaps - "Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit". When most people think of the last words that Jesus spoke here on earth we tend to think of those words that he spoke upon the cross - those words he spoke just before his death - and not of the words that he spoke to his disciples, and to all of the church, after his resurrection, on the day that he ascended into heaven. The last words that Jesus uttered while still on earth in physical form while still walking about in his resurrection body were these: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." You shall receive power, you shall be my witnesses... The story is told of a man who was called to the witness stand in a local court case. The lawyer was questioning the man about the events surrounding the crime... What time was it? Who were you with? Where were you going? The questions went on and on and finally the lawyer asked... "did you see the accused enter the store...?" "No". "Did you see a man with a gun enter the store... " "No." Becoming exasperated the lawyer shouted, "Well, please tell us what you did see..." "Nothing." "Nothing?" shouted the lawyer. "No. Nothing." said the man. "When I saw the man with the gun, I was afraid and I put my hands over my eyes..." In a court of law a witness is one who has seen the event in question and can tell the story. The court is not usually interested in the character or personal attributes of a witness. All the court wants to know is what the witness has seen and heard. We use the word witness in a two-fold sense. A witness both witnesses an event and then, when that witness tells someone about the event, he or she witnesses to others about the event. "You shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." "You shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem [right at the centre], and in Judea [out among the family in the hinterland], and Samaria [the land of our distant cousins], and to the ends of the earth." The Christian Gospels themselves are early Christian preachers' attempts to witness to what they have seen and heard. The Gospel, as a literary form, was unknown before Mark invented it. And as gospels, as attempts to witness to the person and life of Jesus Christ, they are not so much history, poetry, or fact - as they are stories. In the Gospel, we aren't just getting information and data about Jesus - we are hearing a story about Jesus and how his life touched the lives of the people around him. And as with any good story we find we are drawn into it, just by listening. Our lives become caught up in his life and his in ours... "You shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Not... you may be... or you might be... "you shall be" "Look, I really like you, really like you. You make me feel feelings that few women have made me feel. Let's stop by my apartment," he said. "No, I really don't think we're ready for that. After all, we just met. We've got to spend a lot more time together before getting that close," she said. "Is there anything wrong? Have I said something wrong?" he asked. No, its just that I am not going to your apartment," she said. "Why?" "Well..." she said, without really thinking, "well, because I'm a Methodist." "What's that?" he asked. "Well, a Methodist is a kind of Christian," she said. "And what's that?" he asked. "A Christian? Well, its somebody who believes that some things are right and some things are wrong, that God has plans for each of us and we ought not violate God's plans," she said. And he, having never had anyone lately say "No", in a society in which everyone is encouraged to say "Yes"; having never met anyone with such self-possession and presence of mind; asked if he could go with her to the Methodist place called "church" sometime. And he did. Witnessing - telling others of our faith in God, need not be loud and boisterous to the point where it threatens and offends others... in fact, this is not witnessing at all - but proselytization... Witnessing is most often done through loving care and personal story telling, through the kind of thing that you do all the time... - A phone call when a friend loses a loved one... - a cup of coffee with a neighbour who is going through a difficult time... - a visit with a relative who is in a nursing home or hospital... And in the course of the visit, over that cup of coffee, you express your concern, you offer your prayers...you share the hope that you have found in God... As believers in Christ - as people baptized by water and by the Spirit we have the power, a power given to us by God above, to make a difference out there: to bring people to the knowledge and love of God through what we say and do in their presence, through the story we have to share - in love. "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." After Jesus had said this, he was taken up before there very eyes, and cloud hid them from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee", they said, "Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Why do you stand looking into the sky? That same question might just as well be put to us...Why do we stand looking up to the heavens...Why do we consider so much those things over which we have no control - the times and seasons of Christ's return, the future of the world, the economic crisis? Why do we spend so much time among those who are already a part of the family of God when there are many to need to hear the story of God's love for the world when so many need the hope and the healing that we have found in Christ, when so many need not only a kind deed, but what has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Paul Harvey, the well known radio broadcaster, once said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium." I take that to mean that we are more concerned about the Church than we are about touching the lives of other people, more concerned about preserving our "religion" than we are about helping people discover the source of wholeness, the fountain of living water that wells up to eternal life. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Again I say, as believers in Christ, as people baptized by water and by the Spirit, we have the power - a power given to us by God above - to make a difference out there - to bring people to the knowledge and love of God through what we say and do in their presence. One final story, An artist, seeking to depict on canvas the meaning of evangelism, painted a storm at sea. Black clouds filled the sky. Illuminated by a flash of lightning, a little boat could be seen disintegrating under the pounding of the ocean. People were struggling in the swirling waters, their anguished faces crying out for help. The only glimmer of hope appeared in the foreground of the painting, where a large rock protruded out of the water. There, clutching desperately with both hands, was one lone seaman. It was a moving scene. Looking at the painting, one could see in the tempest a symbol of humankind's hopeless condition. And true to the Gospel, the only hope of salvation was "the Rock of Ages", a shelter in the time of storm. But as the artist reflected upon his work, he realized that the painting did not accurately portray his subject. So he discarded the canvas, and painted another. It was very similar to the first: the black clouds, the flashing lightning, the angry waters, the little boat crushed by the pounding waves, and the crew vainly struggling in the water. In the foreground the seaman was clutching the large rock for salvation. But the artist made one change: the survivor was holding on with only one hand, and with the other hand he was reaching down to pull up a drowning friend. That is the New Testament picture of witnessing - that hand reaching down to rescue the perishing. Until that hand is extended, there is no Gospel - and there is no hope for the world. Let us ponder seriously the last words of Christ, let us store them up in our hearts and let us go forth as witnesses to the faith - let us go forth and tell our story so that others might believe. Blessed be God, day by day, Amen

Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 (UMH 818) 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17

"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen. Some children are especially blessed. They are blessed by good and loving parents - by parents whose love is like that of God - by parents who, by the power of their love are spiritually present with their children at all times - parents who, even when physically absent, leave notes in lunch boxes, signs of love on fridges and blessings upon pillows so that their children may know that they are loved deeply. I know that when I was a child I really appreciated these things. But I also know that as a child I was occasionally grounded, restricted, and cut off from the fullness of the blessings my parents sought to pour out upon me. My parents still loved me when I was grounded, they still loved me deeply, but things did not go quite as well for me as they did when I was not grounded. And this kind of experience continues on into adult life - into all our relationship of love. We find that when our love is well expressed in consideration and in respect, in holy humility and in divine giving, that blessings flow abundantly, and we know fully the love we are supposed to know, we know the secret of the universe as it were; God is as completely revealed to us as he can be this side of heaven. But when we hold back, when we do not do all that love asks us to do, something goes missing inside us - we begin to ache and pain even though the love of our lover is still all around us, still calling out to us, still seeking for us the very best. What I am saying my friends is simply this: - there are spiritual laws at work in the universe - laws that God works with and which by his mercy operate at all times. Christ speaks of one of these laws or principles in today's Gospel reading, a reading which is part of that which is often called his last will and testament because it is the final teaching he gives to his disciples before he is crucified. As part of that testament he speaks of his final and ultimate gift to all who are a part of God's family - of his family - the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells the disciples the night of his betrayal that if they love him, they will keep his commandments. And he promises them his Spirit unconditionally - a Spirit that will advocate for them, and comfort them, and lead them, and watch over them. He promises them that the Spirit of God will live in them. Jesus also tells his disciples that not everyone will receive the spirit. He tells them that those in the world, those who love only themselves, those who sneer at holy things and scorn the law of God cannot receive the receive the Spirit because they do not know the Spirit, because they do not desire it. Jesus assures his disciples on the night of his betrayal that they will see him again - that because he lives and will continue to live so will they - and that they will know that he is in the Father and that they are in him and he is in them. Then he goes on to remind them of what he had said before "They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." A promise and a reminder. The promise of his eternal and holy presence urging and supporting and comforting us no matter what. And the reminder that we will see and feel the full glory of that gift when we are in the right space - that space which is the righteous space, the loving space, God calls us to. Jesus gives us the gift of his eternal love and reminds us of how love works: of how while there is unconditional affection and care there is as well the hope that the love will be returned - so that we will know the fullness of the love we are receiving. Jesus reminds us that love needs to be returned - not just directly, in expressions of devotedness, but also indirectly, in actions whereby we pass on the love to others. Jesus makes us promises and he gives to us reminders, reminders that there are consequences to what we do, wonderful consequences and sometimes not so wonderful consequences. Reading past verse 21 of today's gospel reading we find the question asked of Jesus "Lord how is it that you will reveal yourself to us - and not to the world." Jesus answers "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." As adults we know that is what always happens when there is a deep and intimate relationship of love - people move in together, they live together and enjoy themselves together and work together and do many things together - and all of a sudden - because of this relationship there are both inlaws and outlaws to deal with. Consider the inlaws all the people around you who seek to do God's will. Consider the outlaws all those who couldn't care less about God or you. Jesus, as our lover, asks us to keep his commandments and to love all of them, both the inlaws and outlaws, as if they were him; he tells us that this is what the life he offers and shares with us is all about, he tells us that when we obey him we will truly see him and know him. The truth about life is revealed to us by the Spirit of truth that Jesus sends to us from the Father - and that truth is love - love expressed and shown to others in the way God shows love to us - a love expressed and shown according to the word sent to us by God from the beginning and incarnated in Christ Jesus our brother and our Lord. You can't go wrong by following Christ. You can only go right. The apostle Peter suggests to us in verse 15 of today's epistle reading that the secret of the spiritual life - of the life that gives life - of the life that is worth the living - is found in sanctifying in our hearts Jesus as Lord. This means pretty much the same as what Jesus meant when he said to the disciples "if you love me you will keep my commandments." To sanctify something means to make that thing holy - to make it special - to make it different - to make it wonderful - to dedicate it to the divine purpose - to dedicate it to the divine One - to allow the Spirit to transform it from one degree of glory to another. Sanctify, in your hearts, Christ as Lord. Don't just say I believe in and love Christ - show that love. Take the time each day to know him, to treat him as a friend, to talk to him and to make him special to yourselves. Treat his wishes as your deepest desire, his every suggestion and hint as your life giving law and your greatest yearning. To "Sanctify Christ in your heart as Lord" means... - it means to really hold on to him and to hold his word in your awareness, - it means to really listen and then to really do. It is all so simple a child can get it and do it, and so wonderful and so rich that it gifts all the years of our lives with awe and with power. All these things the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have told us so that we might have the fullness of God's blessings - that we may know the true glory of love and the eternal joy and strength that life in Him brings. God is with us - Christ is in us - the Spirit is all around us. Look and see - love and abide in him - be true and obey him as your Lord - and life will blossom all around you like flowers in the spring and God will be revealed in his fullness to you and to the world around you Praise be to God, now and forevermore - Amen

Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:25-31 (UMH 752) 1 John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8

"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way you want us to go. Amen. Peter begins the second chapter of his first letter to God's chosen people with an exhortation: He writes: "Rid yourselves then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy, or jealousy, or insulting language. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up in your salvation." In the last verse of today's gospel reading Jesus says: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." What do you crave? What do you yearn for? What blessing do you ask God for? A couple of items for you to ponder as you think about that question. Some years ago a well-known televangelist sent green prayer cloths to thousands of his viewers. God supposedly told him that the prayer cloth would be a point of contact, between him and the audience, for releasing God's blessing - with one essential condition. His viewers needed to send lots of money with the prayer cloth, or as he put it, "Sow your very best seed." To those who returned the green cloth with some money, the televangelist promised great prosperity: "Send me your green prayer cloth as my point of contact with you!" he pleaded. "When I touch your cloth, it will be like touching you! When you touch this cloth, it will be like taking MY hand and touching me. I want the anointing that God has put upon my life for miracles of finances and prosperity to come directly from my hand to yours... You can reign in life like a king!" According to this televangelist, within months of sending in her prayer cloth, one woman received $286,000 in bonds and $65,000 in cash. Also, as a bonus, her husband was delivered from alcoholism. That's interesting. Get rich and have your family problems solved in a moment by just sending for a prayer cloth. It seems like a good deal. I heard of the following story a while back: The Rev. Patrick Leary is the rector of the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer in Las Vegas, Nevada. He says visitors to the cathedral there often make the same request. Can you guess what it is?? "Father, will you pray for me to win?" I heard that Father Leary pointing around at the beautiful church and said to the people who asked him with this request, "if it was that easy, do you think we'd still have a debt on this place? I believe in the power of prayer, but even prayer has its limits." "Even prayer has its limits." Do you believe that?? If you do - what do you do then with these words of Jesus: "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it"? Think of the possibilities - a new car, a new home, a cure for baldness. All we have to do is ask. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, a well know preacher many years ago, said that once, when he was a high school student, he had a very difficult examination. But he had discovered that verse, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do..." He believed that verse meant that all he had to do was ask and he would pass the exam. He told God he was believing God's promise, and he wanted a good grade. The next day young Weatherhead took the examination, but when the grades were in, he had failed. He was disillusioned. He rebelled and almost lost his faith. He came to the conclusion that the promises of the Bible were not good - all because God had not granted his wish for a good grade. The next year he repeated that course. He worked hard, and he passed. This time he decided that he did not need God, that he could get along by himself. I think that this is a conclusion that many of us reach - we need something, we want something, we and we pray for it - and - when we don't see the results that we want we come close to losing our faith. At the very least - we conclude as did Dr. Leslie Weatherhead that we can, or we must, get along by ourselves. Fortunately, Leslie Weatherhead changed his opinion over the years. Fortunate because his life touched hundreds of thousands of people, bringing to them the blessings of God in a way that the televangelist I mentioned earlier has not. After some years had passed, Dr Weatherhead came to understand that his own powers and abilities were in reality the power that God had given to him. He began to realize that God had already given him the power to pass the examination, but he had not used that power the first time. God never gives us more power than we need. As Dr. Charles L. Allen has said, "Until we are willing to use what God has already given us, there is no need to ask for any more." "If you ask Me anything in My name," said Jesus, "I will do it." Quite a claim. But let's examine it a little closer. Notice first of all that Jesus is talking to his disciples. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?", Jesus asks his disciples. "The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.... I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son...." Jesus is giving his disciples words of encouragement." You've seen the blind recover their sight," he is saying. "You've seen the lame made whole. Hey, You're going to do greater works than that!" Jesus was talking to the church. He was not talking about new houses or new cars or passing examinations. He was talking about the work of the Kingdom. He was saying that when his disciples decide to get into action doing the work God has called them to do, and when they enlist God's help, nothing is impossible! And that's true. Nothing is impossible for the church of Jesus Christ! What do you crave, what do you desire the most? Do you thirst for pure spiritual milk? Do you yearn to do the works that Jesus did? Do you desire that the church, that the people of God, that you yourself, might make a great witness to the world and bring glory to God's name? Dr. Robert Schuller, that legendary advocate of Possibility Thinking, says that there are two words that have killed more God-inspired dreams and hopes than anything else he can think of. The two words are "Be realistic!" If we Christians, Dr. Schuller says, were "realistic" then nothing would be accomplished. He cites the example of Tom Dempsey - a young man who was born with half a right foot and deformed right arm but a ton of faith. Dempsey wanted to be a football player - in spite of his considerable handicaps. And he did play football. He became a kicker for his high school team. But that wasn't enough. He wanted to play college ball. And again, he became the kicker on his college team. But when he graduated from college, his dream became even wilder and more fantastic. He wanted to be a professional football player! A professional football player with half a foot and a deformed right arm. Impossible! No coach would accept him. They all shook their heads. All except one, and it is ironic and more than coincidental that Dempsey became a kicker for the professional football team, The New Orleans SAINTS! The rest, as they say, is history. In 1972, Dempsey kicked the longest field goal ever - 63 yards! All because he was not realistic! All because, Schuller tells us, Tom Dempsey had faith in Jesus Christ who gave him the strength to do what he dreamed. Amazing things are accomplished in this world by people who believe and will not give up. Our text for the day says that you and I are capable of amazing things when we set out to serve Jesus Christ. Jesus was speaking to his church when he said, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." Nothing is impossible for the church of Jesus Christ. But there is something else just as important... Jesus adds a qualifier: "And whatever you ask in My name," Jesus promises, "that will I do, that the Father may be glorified..." Christ will do anything we ask if it glorifies the Father. Here is where we generally stumble. Not everything we do in the church is done to the glory of God. Isaac Asimov, familiar to many as a noted scientist and author, once told a hilarious story about a Rabbi Feldman who was having trouble with his congregation. It seemed they could agree upon nothing. The president of the congregation said, "Rabbi, this cannot be allowed to continue. Come, there must be a conference, and we must settle all areas of dispute once and for all." The rabbi agreed. At the appointed time, therefore, the rabbi, the president, and ten elders met in the conference room of the synagogue, sitting about a magnificent mahogany table. One by one the issues were dealt with and on each issue, it became more and more apparent that the rabbi was a lonely voice in the wilderness. The president of the synagogue said, "Come, Rabbi, enough of this. Let us vote and allow the majority to rule." He passed out the slips of paper and each man made his mark. The slips were collected and the president said, "You may examine them, Rabbi. It is eleven to one against you. We have the majority." Whereupon the rabbi rose to his feet in offended majesty. "So," he said, "you now think because of the vote that you are right and I am wrong. Well, that is not so. I stand here" - and he raised his arms impressively - "and call upon the Holy One of Israel to give us a sign that I am right and you are wrong." And as he said this, there came a frightful crack of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning that struck the mahogany table and cracked it in two. The room was filled with smoke and fumes, and the president and the elders were hurled to the floor. Through the carnage, the rabbi remained erect and untouched, his eyes flashing and a grim smile on his face. Slowly, the president lifted himself above what was left of the table. His hair was singed, his glasses were hanging from one ear, his clothing was in disarray. Finally he said, "All right, eleven to two. But we still have the majority." We all know that not everything that is done in the church is done to the glory of God. But wouldn't it be great if we had a dream for this church that was big enough that we would have to depend on God to accomplish it? And wouldn't it be great if we searched our hearts and souls with prayer so that our dream would match God's dream? Wouldn't it be great if we yearned for the pure spiritual milk that will helps us to grow in our salvation - and which affects the whole around us? George Barna, a church-growth specialist, asked a group of pastors how they believed Christ would rate their church if He were to return today. Fifty-three percent of those pastors said Christ would rate their church as having little or no positive impact on souls or society. How sad. How very sad. Wouldn't it be great if we could see concrete evidence that our community is a better community and our town is a better town because this church is here? Christ tells us we can see such evidence - if we dream great dreams and if those dreams are to God's glory and not our own. What do we crave? What do we yearn for? What do we desire? All prayer is answered my friends. Even the prayers that we ask strictly for ourselves and for our families. Sometimes the answer is no - I have plans - trust me in this. Sometimes it is - no, not yet, the time is not right. Other times it is yes - I thought you'd never ask, and still other times it is yes - and just wait to see what else I have in store for you. What God does for the faithful - what God allows to happen to them - how God answers their prayer - always works for the good. As that is true for each of us as individual believers is doubly true for us as the church - for us as the people who gather in God's name to worship and work together the works he calls us to work. If we dream a dream for this church and if it is truly God's dream, then great things will happen and each of us can be part of it. What is your dream? What do you desire the most? Is it pure spiritual milk that you may grow in your salvation and continue to know that God is good? Is it to do the works of God - even greater works than Christ did - that God's name may be glorified? I started this message with the first words from today's reading from the First Letter of Peter. I would like to conclude with the last words from that reading - where Peter writes: "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy; but now you have received mercy." We have a purpose - and we have the tools that we need to accomplish that purpose, so much so that we can do even greater things than did Christ - should we desire to. "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." Why not put Christ to the test? Blessed be God, day by day. Amen