Reverend Raymond Osborne, Pastor

Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Hungering for the Harvest in 2001
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26, St. Luke 2:41-52

This is New Year’s Eve Sunday. Tonight there will be parties going on everywhere! The first thing I saw on television when I got out of bed yesterday was a news story about the HUGE party that Charlotte will be throwing tonight. Some of you may be going to that party and if you do be safe and have a good time.

This evening we will be gathering in our own service of celebration here at the church beginning with a fellowship meal at 6:00 pm, and then we will come in here for some picking, grinning, praying, and to receive Holy Communion. I hope to see some of you here tonight. We won’t be staying all night until midnight but because I am an old man and getting older by the minute, we will be finished in here about 8:30 pm.

One of the traditions of New Year’s Eve is the making of resolutions. Some will make resolutions that concern physical appearance. I will never forget writing down in my Bible one year on New Year’s Eve, “At some point this year I will weigh only 180 pounds.” Yeah right! I missed the space shuttle. I mean for me to weigh only 180 pounds I would have to be in outer space where everything was weightless and like I said, “I missed the space shuttle!”

While tonight is a time to be festive and to head into the REAL millennium year of 2001, on this New Year's Eve and Day, as on all festive occasions, there is always the danger of missing the celebration's real significance. Like a man named John Cunningham did, for example, on his wedding day. The marriage ceremony had ended. John and his bride had just been pronounced "man and wife." The officiating clergyman congratulated the couple and reminded John that it was now fitting and proper for him to kiss "Mrs. Cunningham." Whereupon, John moved from his bride's side over to the front pew, and proceeded to kiss his mother.

The real significance of this day is not realized merely by fulfilling a social obligation to wish others a "Happy New Year." A man once said, "I can no longer wish people a 'Happy New Year' when I think of what it is that makes them happy." Although the statement may sound a bit too cynical, nevertheless it gives us a clue to the day's real significance: a day for serious reflection on our life-goals; a day for re-evaluating our reasons for doing the things we do, living the lives we live; a day for earnest consideration of what it is that makes us happy, and what it is we wish for others by our "Happy New Year" greetings.

Our world is becoming a world of self-gratification. Our principals are quickly being reduced to one; “If it feels good – DO IT!” And little, if any attention is given to what God says. It’s almost as if what God says is no longer important. Leonard Sweet says we are living in a non-church culture, meaning our world no longer gives importance to what God and His church has to say. If we feel a certain way about something and God says exactly the opposite, we are most likely to choose our way over God’s way. Someone once said, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!” I am reminded of the parable of the rich fool recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter 12.

“Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?'

Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." (Luke 12:16-21 NRSV)

Tonight IS about making New Year’s resolutions and setting goals for ourselves but beloved if those goals are not God’s goals for our lives, if those plans are not God’s plans for our lives, if we have spent little or no time praying and seeking what God’s will for our lives is in the year 2001, then although I am not a prophet I will almost certainly guarantee you happiness and success for only a moment that will appear as a vapor and then poof, it’s gone. You see, true happiness, true success cannot and will not be found outside of the will of Almighty God.

Look at the parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15. He had enough of his life with his father and thought he knew what was best for his life. He went to his Father, asked him for what he had coming to him and when his Father gave it to him he left. He found happiness only for a moment. While he had his Father’s money he had a good time; it made him happy. Then POOF! It was gone along with the happiness and he found himself feeding pigs and wishing he could eat what they were eating. It didn’t take him long to come back to his senses and realize that he was far happier when he was living in the house of his Father than he was living outside that relationship.

Notice in our Scripture this morning how both Samuel and Jesus were about the business of God. Of Samuel the Scripture says that he “continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and with the people.” And of Jesus we read, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” You see, true happiness is only found in and through a relationship with Our Heavenly Father.

The title of this sermon is “Hungering for the Harvest in 2001.” We need to turn our attention toward this place for a moment. Not only is this a time for personal reflection and real inward work about what God wants for our individual lives, but we must also turn our attention to THIS place. It is a good time for us to ask, “What is God’s will for this Church? What does God want us to do and become in 2001?” Gosh what an overwhelming thought! Next week we will have in this place a “Visioning and Planning Workshop” with a representative from the Hinton Rural Life Center. During this time we will rack our brains about what God wants us to be and become. We will not simply project ideas, but we are going to put on a pot of coffee, get out a couple pitchers of tea, roll up our sleeves and when we leave this place plans will be in place to make these things happen.

You see I know without a shadow of doubt that God has plans for this church and already knows how this place will be used in the year 2001 to reach a lost, dying, hurting, self-gratifying world for Jesus Christ. This place will be used to minister in and through the love of Jesus Christ to effect positive transformation in human life that will prove indestructible for all eternity.

I have spoken with many of you on the phone and in person and I feel your excitement about the future of this church and I know without a shadow of a doubt that your enthusiasm, your willingness to serve Jesus, your willingness to become His eyes, hands, feet, and voice in this community and to move forward as a community of faith sharing HIS Gospel with all we come into contact with, combined with the power of HIS Holy Spirit promises a wonderful tomorrow.

We stand at the threshold of opportunity and with God’s help and your dedication and commitment there is NO telling where we will be when the year 2001 draws to a close.

As tonight draws closer my excitement level gets higher and higher! I am soooooooooo hungery for a harvest of good things in 2001 and I truly believe with ALL my heart that God is going to bring it to fruition!

May God help us to become the individuals HE wants us to be and may God help us to become the CHURCH HE wants us to be!

Amen.

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