MAGGIE

Sermon Summary from May 22: “Maggie” (Read Mark 1:40-42; 10:46-52)

I don’t know about you, but I find myself overwhelmed by the challenges of the world and the inadequacies of our response.  We can put our finger anywhere on the globe: 66 dead in the Mediterranean, 5 million refugees in the Middle East.  And we can place our finger in the center of Africa and find untold problems.  Do you know that in the area of the Congo, Burundi and Rwanda from 1993 to 2005 over 5.4 million people were killed in civil war?  More people that in any other conflict since WWII.  I didn’t know.  Maybe we as Americans don’t care what happens there.  But I’m glad that I belong to the body of Christ where people do care.

This sermon falls into the category of “See where God is working in the world and join in.”  We may be overwhelmed.  We may not know what to do, but we can look to see where God is working and join in. What you are about to see is the story about Margarete Barankitse, “Maggie.”  If you don’t catch it, she was a secretary in a church.  It’s amazing who God uses.  I caught this story two weeks ago when she was given the first annual “Aurora Award for Awakening Humanity.” 

The video you’ll see was from 2008.  You remember the genocide in 1993?  Maggie happens to be Tutsi, working in a church where the priests and the nuns were Hutu.  They did not survive.  Just a church secretary, but a Christian who has changed the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxz9yE0O-Sk&index=31&list=PL9B8D927E64BAF702

That was 2008.  Since then the hospital is finished, the biggest hospital in Burundi.  Want to know how the hospital was built?  Asked how she was going to fund it, she said, “God is rich.  He will help.”  The next year she was given the World Award for Children by the Queen of Sweden.  She built the hospital.

And homes.  She decided she didn’t want an orphanage, she wanted homes so she found houses and trained foster parents.  The says the kids have a future because when they leave school they say, “We go home now.”  Her program is called Maison Shalom, “House of peace.”  Peace, not the absence of conflict but a place of harmony.  And she believes in the dignity of people.  She equips them for life and tells them to “Stand up.”  “We want people to help themselves in order to change their lives.”  “Dignity is love.  Humiliation is evil.” 

See where God is working and join in.  I would like you to think about this: Who would Margarete Barankitse be without the church?  Who would have taught her that the “Vocation of Christians is to love”?  Without the church, who would have taught her about the dignity of human life?  She and the church are not just saving children, but giving them dignity.  Equipping them by giving them a home, educating them to stand up, providing microloans for economic development, providing medical care to sustain them and bring new generations into the world.  Such a program is also being done by Keith Jaspers, United Methodist lay person with Rainbow Network.

We cannot all be Maggie Barankitses or Keith Jaspers, maybe none of us.  Yet at one point a single Christian came alongside each one of them and through the faith they passed on, tens of thousands of children have been helped.  When we see someone like them making a difference in the name of Christ, it is our turn to come along aside and join in.  May it be so with all of us.  Amen.

PENTECOST

Sermon Summary from May 15 (Pentecost): “Holy Spirit, Truth Divine” (Read John 14:15-17; Acts 2:1-4)

We didn’t talk about the Holy Spirit did we?  When we grew up it was the Holy Ghost, ghost.  My understanding of ghost was best shaped by Casper.  For the next generation it may have been “Ghost Busters.” (The trailer talks of events of “Biblical Proportions.”)  I’m not sure I had an inkling what the Holy Ghost was about.

Maybe if I had paid a little attention to Charles Wesley’s hymns, e.g. “Come ,Holy Ghost, Our Hearts Inspire.” In the second verse we find how the Holy Ghost spoke in the Old Testament: “for by Thee the prophets wrote and spoke.”  God was selective in his Spirit and in his choice of prophets and times, but then when I look at the wonder of Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel, I can see the presence of the Holy Ghost.  Later the prophet Joel would tell us “Then...I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.”  That’s what happened at Pentecost.  God poured out his Spirit on all flesh.  That’s all of us!  All of us who make ourselves aware of the prompting and say “Yes” receive the Spirit!

In the story in Acts, the Spirit gave the ability to tell the Good News in many languages, but it was much more than just about communications.  John tells us that this Advocate (a helper who comes along side) will abide in us and be in us. In John 16 he tells us he will teach us all truth.  That is the Holy Spirit I want to talk about.

The New Testament moves from the OT “thou shalt nots” which seem easy to understand (but maybe difficult to obey), to open ended commands of Jesus.  In John we are told to “keep the commandments,” to love one another, to believe (and not just to mentally believe, but to take it to heart and act on that belief)  These are difficult things to know, let alone do.  Who am I to love?  How am I to love?  What am I to do?  (These are the Jiminy Cricket questions of the James series: “But how will I know?)”  If we are listening to the Spirit, if we are to live by the Spirit, we will be guided by the Spirit.  That’s how.

The New Testament even gives us a checklist, an examination of where we have been each day.  For example, we ask, “Because of what I’ve done today, is there more love in the world than yesterday?”  Or joy, or peace, or patience, or kindness, or goodness, or faithfulness or gentleness, or self-control?  We call these the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).  We seek to be faithful to the commands of Jesus, we listen to the Spirit to see how we are to do that, we review our lives in terms of the Fruit of the Spirit we produce.  A powerful helper indeed!  Amen.

MOTHER'S FORGIVENESS

Sermon Summary from May 8: “Mother’s Forgiveness” (Mt 6:14; Col 3:12-15)

Happy Mother’s Day! One of our recently requested sermons was on forgiveness, and since I believe that mothers are the most forgiving creatures in the world, I thought this would be a great day for that sermon.  Of course mothers are incredibly forgiving of their own, but they are also protective of their own. It’s in their DNA.  And when that protective instinct is challenged, forgiveness can be difficult.

When that protective instinct is challenged, feelings of anger, retribution, contempt or judgment arise.  Without forgiveness it can harm us, harm our relationships, harm others.  Hear this: Jesus does not want you harmed! He has given us a pathway to forgiveness (“as we forgive those…), and he says we must!  (“You must forgive.”)

A Story: Scarlett Lewis prepared her six year old son, Jesse, for school, followed him out to his ex’s car, took a picture of him before he drove off.  It would be her final picture, because Jesse was being dropped off at Sandy Hook elementary.  Here’s the question, will Scarlett allow herself to be consumed, destroyed by bitterness or will she find a pathway to forgiveness?

Before answering, another story.  A pastor and his wife lose a son to a crackhead murderer.  The husband, Walt, cannot get over it, pushes his wife away, is transferred to another congregation, his life in shambles.  Eventually, he attends the killers sentencing and a month later writes him, then later visits him in prison.  Four years later he testifies at Michael’s parole hearing and five years after that he marries he and his bride.  Forgiveness was reluctant, slow, but Michael has become a productive member of society, Walt a productive pastor once again.

I wish I could say that Walt’s wife Izzy’s life had been restored, but it was not.  Sometimes when we harm others, the harm cannot be undone.

That’s why God insists we forgive.  He gives us no choice.  Forgiveness is a choice, our choice, but we can’t do it alone.  We need grace present with us, nudging us, prodding us.  The most difficult part of loving our neighbor is forgiving them.  But we need to say “Yes.” 

Scarlett Lewis says that without forgiveness it was like she was tethered to Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer.  Forgiving him set her free.  Eventually, through stops and starts she learned to have compassion for him and for his mother who enabled him.  For her forgiveness was choice girded by grace, and it saved her. So may it be with us.  Amen.

JIMMY'S WAR OF WORDS

Sermon Summary from May 1: “Jimmy’s War of Words” (Read James Chapter 3:1-10; 4:11-12)

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of name calling.  Words can be off-putting; or words can inspire you.  Can’t we have more of the latter.  Can’t we hear Churchill inspiring a nation to fight on and win, “We will never surrender.”  Can’t we hear Kennedy leading a nation to “put on man on the moon in this decade and return him safely to earth”? 

Unfortunately, words can harm.  James (Jimmy as I call him) warns us that the tongue is a fire that can set a whole forest ablaze (James 3:5-6).  A tongue can do harm.

John Wesley admonished us to  “First, do no harm.”  We can do harm with our words and once spoken can never be recalled.  I think that’s why Paul told us in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths , but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that words give grace to those that hear.”  Let that be a reminder that even when we need to critique another, we need to use words gracefully or they will not be heard.

James concludes, “with [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made n the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  By brothers and sisters this ought not be so.”

So what are we to do?  We can’t stop talking.  The antidote come from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  “Blessed are the pure in heart…” With a pure heart we see the world in a positive light.  We treat others with respect.  And before we speak, we listen to our conscience.  Stephen Covey teaches that between any stimulus that might make us respond inappropriately, is a space, a moment in which we can choose.  We can choose to respond gracefully.  We can choose to respond with respect.  We can choose to respond civility.  It may required sacrifice on our part, but we can choose.

One of my favorite authors is Stephen Carter, Yale law professor and  lay person.  In Civility he writes, “Civility is the sum of all the sacrifices we make for the sake of living together...The rules of civility are also the rules of morality.  It is morally proper to treat others with respect, and it is morally improper not to.”

Morally proper: First, (choose to) do no harm.  Next, “Do unto others as you would have then do unto you.”  Build others up with your words.  Show them grace.  Amen.

JIMINY JUDGMENT

Sermon Summary from April 17: “Jiminy Judgment” (Read James Chapter 2:1-13)

The Letter of James, “The Gospel According to Jimmy,” is a letter of grace, of prevenient grace, a book of conscience, nudging us to do what Jesus says to do.  When we respond to that nudging we have the opportunity to change.  We Methodists call that nudging grace.  Some would call it conscience.  At Easter we talked of God loving us just as we are.  God loves us just as we are, but doesn’t leave us as we are.  He nudges, uses conscience.  We respond, we change.  Last week we said that the Letter of James was a side-kick to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and we introduced another side-kick, Jiminy, conscience too, as he did for Pinocchio, show us right from wrong.

So we jump in.  “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God.. is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction..”  Widows and orphans are at the bottom of the totem pole in biblical times.  God favors them even when we do not.  James calls us our for our favoritism, favoring the rich and well dressed over the poor and shabby.  We dishonor the poor!  We are partial.  We are judgmental!  (Read again James 2:1-13)

You had to be there for the story about Wilkes Blvd UMC, but let it be said, we are partial even in the present day!  James, Jimmy, says “If you show partiality, you are guilty of transgressing the whole law!”  Jesus says (and you know this one even if you’ve never opened the Bible) “Judge not, lest you be judged.”  “Why do you see the speck of sawdust in your neighbor’s eye but do not even notice the plank in your own eye?... You hypocrite.” How many specks of sawdust in a plank? A trillion?  Before we judge we must remember our own condition is a trillion times worse!

Important distinction between discernment and judging.  With discernment we compare things, right and wrong, an essence part of conscience.  We must discern.  With judgment we compare others and diminish them.  Judge not!  Unfortunately, there is a little judgmental Pharisee in each of us.  When we find ourselves beginning to be partial or judgmental, we must listen to the promptings of Jiminy, of conscience.  Judging, whether economic, social or racial, is evil.  Even the Church is in trouble because we are perceived (and rightly so) as judgmental.  We as the Church are witnesses to Jesus Christ and must do so by following his footsteps, doing as he would do—Judging not.  So may it be with all of us.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JIMMY

Sermon Summary from April 10: “Gospel According to Jimmy” (Read James Chapter 1)

I’ve often wondered what it would have been like growing up in the same house with Jesus.  Precocious, right?  Do you suppose he tried out his ideas on James whether James liked it or not?  Pretty obvious Jesus didn’t convince his brother Jimmy who it sounds like came with his mother one time to “take him away.”  But, but, Paul tells us that the Risen Christ appeared to James and changed his life.  He was the leader of the mother church in Jerusalem from 36 ad until he was martyred in 62 ad.  Another who gave his life for the sake of the Resurrection.

James is a very practical book, a companion or sidekick to the Sermon on the Mount in many cases telling how we are to live out Jesus words.  Jesus talks about the “pure in heart.”  Jimmy tells us “religion that is pure and undefiled…” Jesus says, “Whoever hears these words of mine and does them. “  Jimmy says “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”  It’s almost as if James places the role of conscience.

Another sidekick you may remember that played the role of conscience was not Jimmy but “Jiminy,” Jiminy Cricket.  “I’ll tell ya’ what conscience is, Pinocchio, it’s that still small voice that nobody listens to.  That’s the problem with the world today.”  Now we have “The Gospel According to Jiminy.”

The first phrase is a matter of conscience: James, slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ…  Our relationships dictate our behavior and our response to one another.  What if we took our relationship “as slave” to Jesus Christ personally?  What if?

James talks of trials leading to maturity.  Jesus of becoming perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.  We become spiritually mature by listening to the proddings of grace, of conscience.  James says to ask for wisdom instead of leaning on our own understanding.  A practical guide.

He talks of temptation.  We need conscience, Jiminy, to help us distinguish between right and wrong.  Interestingly, James tells us that generosity is the counterpoint to temptation.  When we succumb, it is out of self-interest.  Generosity leads us in another direction.

Most of all he tells us to be “Doers of the word and not hearers only.”  Wesley taught us to “First, do no harm; the do all the good you can.”  We need conscience to do both.  We need to listen, be hearers, yes; and we need to ask, “What good can I do today?”  Then be doers.

EASTER: BRIGHT HOPE FOR TOMORROW

Bright Hope For Tomorrow (John 20:1-18; , Ro 5:1-8; Lam 3:22-24) (3/27/16)

INTRO

He is Risen!  (He is Risen indeed!)  What an awesome greeting!  What a greeting of hope for us, the Easter people!  But it wasn’t always like that was it?  Even in our reading today, Mary Magdalene and the disciples began the morning without hope.  They didn’t start the day with hope.  They didn’t go to the tomb with hope.  And in John’s Gospel, seeing the empty tomb by itself did not give them hope.

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb..”  Mary went to the tomb without hope.  In Mark and Luke she goes to the tomb with the other women and they had spices to anoint the body.  Their expectation was that they were going to find the body of the crucified Jesus and they wanted to prepare it for burial.  They were without hope.

And our passage today says that Peter and John after seeing the empty tomb “returned to their homes.” They were without hope.  

That happens to us, too, doesn’t it?  We face our Fridays and it seems like Sunday never comes.  We are without hope.  I’ve told you before that Rosemary and I lost our son Jeff when he was 18.  It took a long time for Easter to come, years in fact.  It wasn’t until an encounter, not as dramatic as Mary’s in the garden, but an encounter none the less, that hope was restored, that Easter was a part of my life.  It was almost as if someone came running to me like Mary to the disciples and said, “I have seen the Lord,” that I can say that I became one of the Easter people. 

Hope, that’s what Easter people possess that the world is missing.  Hope!  And why?  We have received the message, “I have seen the Lord!” and we believe it.  Some of us have encountered the Risen Savior as surely as Paul did on the Road to Damascus.

So here’s the line for the kids.  The reason we gather here today on Easter is not eggs but because we are people of hope.  Regardless of how bad things might have been on Friday, skinned knees and hurt feelings, it's Sunday, it's Easter and Jesus is alive, and we have hope.  It gives us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.  We gather on Easter because we are people of hope.

HOPE

This week I read an autobiography of a man named Brennan Manning.  A man who pretty much grew up without hope.  His mother had been raised in an orphanage without love and was incapable of showing love to Brennan as a child.  His father was an alcoholic and about all he could show him was his belt.  He as raised in the Catholic Church and went to Catholic schools. Even though his family was dysfunctional, his parents had to maintain appearances in their Irish Catholic neighborhood after all. 

By the time he was 16, he started drinking, and pretty heavily.  He had been a fairly good student.  The only hope he had was that if he kept up his grades, he could avoid the belt.  Not much hope, right?  He started college but dropped out when one of his drinking buddies suggested they enlist in the Marines.  They did so and served in Korea.

When he got out, the GI Bill would allow him to go to college just about anywhere he wanted to go.  His only dream had been to be a sports writer and he decided he’d go to Mizzou where even in the 50’s it had the reputation of being a great journalism school.

So he did.  Did I tell you that Brennan had no hope?  During his first semester, Brennan had a dream.  He dreamt that through his writing he had achieved everything, a wife, a family, a house, even the Nobel Prize for Literature.  But he was still empty.  He woke up saying, “There’s just got to be more.  More.”

As a result of that dream, this 21 year old sought out a spiritual director.  Maybe they had them back then, but I don’t know where you’d find a spiritual director today at Mizzou.  Nor do I know that many young men today that would look one up, but he did.  The spiritual director  posed a question to him.  “What if that ‘more’ was God?”

Brennan bit.  He left Mizzou after the first semester and enrolled in seminary.  That lasted a week.  Remember I told you he was a man without hope.  Hopeless people don’t have much direction and they don't take much direction.

He went to the Dean’s office at the end of the first week at noon to tell him he was dropping out.  The Dean wasn’t available right away so he wandered into the Chapel and walked around the walls of the room going through the Stations of the Cross.  He doesn’t recall much about stations one through eleven, but at station twelve he kneeled before the icon and something special happened as he read these words: “Station 12, Jesus Dies on the Cross.  Behold Jesus crucified!  Behold his wounds, received for love of you!  His whole appearance betokens love: His head is bent to kiss you; His arms are extended to embrace you; His heart is open to receive you.  O superabundance of love, Jesus, Son of God, dies upon the cross, that man may live and be delivered from everlasting death!”

It was a little afternoon when he kneeled before the icon.  It was 3:00 when he stood!  He had experienced the “more.”  He had experienced the unconditional love of God in Jesus Christ, wave after wave of unconditional love.  Jesus had called him by name.  He had encountered the Risen Lord and he would never be the same.  He had experienced grace and Brennan Manning had become a person of hope.  What he had found in that hope was that Jesus loved him, not only that, Jesus liked him, just as he was.

He became a man of hope, he completed seminary, became a priest, became a sought after evangelist and that was his message to people without hope: God loves you, not only loves you but likes you, just as you are.

By the way, the title of his autobiography was “All is grace: The memoirs of a ragamuffin.” 

Brennan Manning had encountered the Risen Christ, the Christ of Easter.  Not the Christ of Station 12 but the Christ of Easter morning and he became a man of hope.

GOD

Hope.  My favorite scripture about hope was written by another man who had encountered the Risen Lord, the Christ of Easter.  He was a writer too, of letters, and his name was Paul.  He writes in Romans 5 about grace and hope:
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.  ⁶ While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man—though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. ⁸ But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

“We rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”  Brennan was in demand as a speaker, writer, evangelist most of his life, “rejoicing in sharing the glory of God.”  But unfortunately, he suffered all of life with relapses of his alcoholism.  He suffered. 

And what does Paul tell us, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us.” Hope.  Even through our sufferings.  Today might feel like Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.  Hope.

Why? because God’s love has been poured into us.  Brennan would write that Christianity is not some moral code.  It is a love affair, that God loves us.  And showed that love, that unlimited, unconditional love by dying on the cross for us.  “Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”

Paul tells us that just at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.  Then to note that he loves us just as we are, he notes, “Why one would hardly die for a righteous person—though perhaps one for a good person one might dare even to die.  But God showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus loves, even likes us, and showed that love for us by dying for us just as we are. 

And God through the resurrection, through Easter, gives us hope.

And here’s my part for the kids.  It is the resurrection of Jesus that gives us hope.  We can squeeze our purse and can see just as the tomb could not hold Jesus on Easter morning, that our purse cannot hold the cross, the symbol of Jesus.  And that is a reminder of the hope we have on Sunday morning.

My friends, you are Easter People.  You are resurrection people.  You have encountered the living Lord in one way or another as surely as Mary in the Garden, or Brennan in his golden three hours.  And your life is different than people without hope.  Someone has come running to you saying, “I have seen the Lord.” The question becomes, what are you going to do with your hope? Paul put it this way, “And we rejoice in the hope of sharing the glory of God.”

We are blessed with hope.  A blessing is the promise of a future.  The promise of a future that too is hope. 

How will you use your hope to be a blessing to others?  Do you know that this is hope? (hold up glass of water)  One out of every ten people on our planet are without safe drinking water.  Eighty percent of the illness, 50 percent of the hospitalizations around the world are due to lack of safe water.  You can give a family hope, hope, safe drinking water for 10 years for only $10.  Did I wet your appetite?  (Pun intended).  More information in the entry way, or talk to me after the service.

How else might you be a blessing?  Give others hope?  I attended a meeting two weeks ago called the Haiti Summit.  It gathered people from around Missouri who were interested in providing hope for the people of Haiti who are still suffering from the 2010 earthquake. 

One woman, a church member from Sedalia, said that three years ago she felt a call on her life and told her pastor she thought it had to do with orphans.  It was as if someone had come running to her and said, “I have seen the Lord.”  And she felt called to use the hope that was in her to be a blessing to orphan children.

Now, I want you to listen to the geography of this.  Her pastor said OK, and sent her to Rick Warren’s church in California where a man told that he knew a Baptist minister Maine who was working with an Orphanage in Haiti.  That’s Sedalia, California, Maine, Haiti.  Lauri has been working with them, going to Haiti four times a year, raising funds, developing programs for Strong Tower Orphanage for the past three years. Listen to this: “Strong Tower is an integral part of the ministry and community of Church of the Redeemer in Caracol, Haiti.  Within the faith community, the children served by Strong Tower live in family settings and receive physical care, education, and experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Folks that’s hope.  These are things kids might be interested too.  Giving children a clean glass of water when they have none.  Kids, what if your Mom said, “We have no water.  If you want a drink today, you’ll have to get it from that mud puddle out by the road, but look out for the pollywogs.”  And wouldn’t you like to make sure this little girl at the orphanage had clean water too?  Hope.

As people of hope, I would urge each of you to determine how you can be hope, a blessing to someone else.  It might be small.  Ten dollars for a water filter.  It might be a gift that puts a disadvantaged girl from Fulton on a horse at CrossWind ranch, let’s her experience a world that she didn’t know existed and provide her hope.  It might be supporting the education system in Fulton.  It might be responding to the Shriner’s Hospital Ads on TV and truly give hope to children and their mothers and fathers that otherwise might have no hope, no promise of a future at all.  All they can envision is suffering and you can give them hope.  You are the Easter people.

Here’s one that costs you nothing. What if you have an old sewing machine around the house that hasn't been used in years. Give it to Mel West. He’ll have it refurbished and sent to a family who can start a sewing business and give them hope for generations to come.  Hope.

This is what I ask for this Easter: Find a way to intentionally giving your hope away.

CLOSE

One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament is the story of a man who had no hope.  But in the midst of his sorrow, and seen from our side of Easter, it’s almost as if Mary Magdalene in the midst of his suffering had come to him shouting down the centuries, “I have seen the Lord.”

It's a passage from Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations.  Here’s the context: Nebuchadnezzar has destroyed Jerusalem, as Jesus said, “Not one stone left upon another.”  The children of Israel have been taken into exile in Babylon and only Jeremiah and a few token vine tenders remain.  Jeremiah walks through the ruins of Jerusalem and laments.  I can picture him sitting on an ash heap in deep sorrow and suffering.

Lamentations is a dark, dark book.  It is a Good Friday book where is no hope.  Here are the topical sentences leading my passage: “I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath.”  “He has made my flesh and my skin waste away.”  “He has walled me about so that I cannot escape.”  “He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding.”  “He shot into my vitals the arrows of his quiver.”  “He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes.”  They don’t call it Lamentations for nothing.

Then it’s as if Mary comes running to him.  It’s as if he can hear the words of Paul rushing back through the centuries saying, “And we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope; and hope will never disappoint us.”  It’s as if some great preacher is saying, “It may be Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.”  This is what Jeremiah says sitting on this ash heap in the sorrow of Friday:  He says, “But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.”  (Hope! Hope!  That’s what we have as Easter People.)  He goes on: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. (And then he says as surely as Brennan talks about his love affair with Jesus.) ‘The Lord is my portion’ says my soul.  Therefore I will trust in him.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases (love, for God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.)  His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.  Great is thy faithfulness.

In 1923, Thomas Chisholm wrote a poem from this passage that became one of the great hymns of the church primarily because it became a favorite of Billy Graham’s.  The third verse could have been my passage for today’s sermon.  In fact you could say that it was:  “Pardon for sin and peace that endureth (God loves you unconditionally, just as you are) thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; (presence, the encounter each of has in our own way with the Risen Lord) Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.  Blessings all mine and ten thousand besides.” 

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. This is the promise of Easter: Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.  Blessings all mine with what? Ten thousand beside.”

We are Easter People, God’s strength, God’s hope, God’s mercies, Gods’ blessings are new every morning.

You are the Easter People, you have hope, you have blessings to give away.  Let’s rise and sing hymn number 140, this amazing hymn of hope, “Great is thy Faithfulness.”