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Get your own, Free HomepageDecember 1, 2002
What a beautiful reading from the New Testament we have for today! Again I am delighted to lead us as we walk through the Word of God today. I think I will take just a couple more minutes than the 10 minutes that Rev Charlie took last week … wasn’t he a blessing to us? He’s wonderful. Please pray with me as we begin.
Okay, let’s start by listening again to what verse 3
says: “my prayer is that God our Parent and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind
to you and will bless you with peace.”
How do you pray? You do pray,
don’t you? I am hoping that we all
spend time in God’s presence every day.
So given that, who do you pray for?
Do you pray for yourself? Do you
make your requests and thanks made known to God daily? That is wonderful. However God asks a little more of us as we pray for each
other. Imagine hearing the words in
verse 1 said to you “… I pray that God will be kind to you and bless you with
peace.” If God is kind to you and you
have peace, you are set for life. Let
us pray that for each other.
On to verse 4: “I never stop thanking my God for
being kind enough to give you Christ Jesus …”
Praise God for that because as you know, and as we need to remember more
often than just at Easter time, Christ’s coming to earth bridged the gap
between us and God. It was the
atonement for our sins. It allowed us
to have a living relationship with God and created a way for the Holy Spirit to
come. Imagine life without Christ,
without a relationship with God. What
emptiness there would be … but that is not the case with us, thank God.
Verse 5 goes on to add that we were not only given
Christ, it is Christ “who helps us speak and understand so well.” So my sisters and brothers, when you hear
yourself say something especially smart or funny, remember to give credit to
Christ. When you share something – a
prayer, an observation, a kind word or any thing like that seems to help
someone – Christ is the one who helps you do that. And any understanding we have – be it at work, as you listen to
friends, your children – any understanding we have, comes from Christ.
The next verses say “you are not missing out on any
blessings, as you wait for Him to return.
And until the day Christ does return, He will keep you completely
innocent.” This letter was written to
the Corinthians. However as with much
of the scripture, if not all of it, I believe there is something God wants to
say to us today. MCCGSL is not missing
out on any blessings as we wait for Christ’s return.
How closely do you read the News and Notes section
of the bulletin? Have you looked at the
attendance and giving numbers over the last 6 months? We have been down. Our
attendance for both services has been about 270 total, while our giving has
hovered around $5,000. Now I know 270
people is exactly 269 more than one person, and that is a good thing. And $5,000 is exactly $4,999 more than one
dollar, and that is a big blessing. And
of course we remember the story of the five loaves and two fish. God can and does take what little we offer
and can use it in a big, big way.
What I am hearing God say in verse 7 is that MCCGSL
is not missing out on any blessings.
Right now, our current attendance and giving is what God means for it to
be. But I also know that God can bless
us in a mightier way. God has before
and God will do it again. How will this
happen? We will need to stay in God’s
will. Each of us is touched by this
church and blessed by the worship services, fellowship, ministries and
staff. Something here keeps us coming
back each Sunday for worship and during the week for other ministries. It is only natural to care for the church,
and want to turn around and bless it too – by telling others about it and
giving of yourself and what you have been given.
Verse 8 says “Until the day Christ returns He will
keep you completely innocent.” As far
as I know all you who listening to my voice right now are human … therefore it
is not possible to be completely innocent after the age of 2 years. What I believe this verse means is that as
we present our lives to God and if we truly seek to say in God’s will, God will
keep us innocent – that is, our hearts pure – in Him and will work through
us. Us who? “Us,” as individuals and “Us,” as the church. How do we know this? Because of the awesome statement in the
first part of verse 9.
“God can be trusted …” Okay. End of the message
for today. I don’t need to say any
more. Really. God can be trusted.
God can be trusted for us as individuals, and for us as the church. How are we, MCCGSL? If someone asked you right now how the Church
was, what would you say? Fine? Fair?
Why? Put attendance and giving
aside for a minute … just a minute though because those numbers do tell us one
part of how the church is doing.
How is MCCGSL doing spiritually? What is your answer? “I am afraid we are falling apart.” “I am a little scared about what I see.” “We are doing well and growing.” “We are facing challenges – both physical
and spiritual.” What is your answer? Are we trusting God for our spiritual
health? God can be trusted. And guess what? If you will plan on coming to the all-church forum next weekend,
you will hear the result of how we all think the church is doing, what
our strengths and weaknesses are, and talk about our future. That was just a little advertisement on
behalf of the Pastoral Search Team.
The second part of this last verse goes on to say
this God who can be trusted “chose you to be partners with His Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.” WE are CHOSEN to be
PARTNERS with His Son our LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Chosen to be partners with the Lord in doing what? I believe lots of things. There are lots of different things that we
are chosen to do in partnership. That
is another message for another day. I
would like to talk about one thing we are chosen to do in partnership with
Christ today. Today is World AIDS
Day. We commemorate December 1st
as World AIDS Day. What does it mean to
you? What does it mean to you and I
sitting here at MCCGSL? Hold that
question for a few seconds please.
Before I suggest a couple of ways in which World
AIDS Day can mean a little more to you, I would like to tell you something that
you may not know. Did you know that
World AIDS Day was founded out of Metropolitan Community Churches? Let me share with you a part of a press
release that Big MCC sent out this week: “In 1985, frustrated with a lack of
broad community response in San Diego to the AIDS pandemic, Rev David Farrell
(then senior pastor of MCC San Diego, CA and today Big MCC web manager) set
aside a weekend to focus attention on the AIDS crisis. Under Rev. Farrell’s leadership, the San
Diego MCC congregation sponsored a 50-hour prayer vigil, conducted workshops,
and invited participation by a broad spectrum of faith communities, social workers,
medical specialists, funding organizations and community groups. The event was so successful that the
following year – in 1986 – MCCs asked Rev. Farrell to lead an international
campaign to help other MCCs sponsor AIDS Day weekend observances. Organizational kits were prepared and
posters printed and in 1986, MCCs around the world hosted World AIDS Day
events, services, workshops, and vigils.
These simple but powerful observances struck a responsive chord in communities
around the world … By 1988, the United Nations and the World Health
Organization jointly proclaimed December 1st of each year as World
AIDS Day – and the observance became an annual international event in
communities around the globe.” Isn’t it
wonderful that this event started out of MCCs?
Even given World AIDS Day, it can seem like AIDS is
not around much any more. When I first
started attending this church 12 years ago, it seemed like AIDS was very
present – deaths, services and quilts presented on a regular basis. Now, it seems almost silent. Brothers and sisters I am here to remind you
it has not gone away. The person
sitting next to you may have AIDS. Your
neighbor may have AIDS. Your co-worker,
your daughter or your son. Millions …
did you hear me … millions of children, men and women in Africa, in Russia have
AIDS today. Christ has called us to be
partners with Him. I say today our call
is to do something – one thing – about those living with AIDS. One thing is this: you could say a prayer
today. Two, if you know someone living
with AIDS, call or talk to them somehow, and show your love. Three, put some more action with your
words. For example, bring a toy – if
you have not done so already, thank you – for the toy drive we are doing for
children in families affected by AIDS.
Volunteer for half a day, a couple of hours at Food Outreach, Doorways,
St Louis Effort for AIDS, the Faith House or any other place that serves
individuals with AIDS. Remember Rev.
Charlie’s message last week: any of these babies or individuals could be Jesus
– and they certainly have a piece of Jesus in them.
So what are the take-home messages from the
wonderful scripture today?
1)
God
is kind to us, wants the best for us, and will bless us with peace. He has promised.
2)
Let
us remember to pray for each other … by name … or face … or prayer list in the
bulletin,
3)
God
gave us Jesus Christ who is ready, willing and able to help us do everything we
need or want to do.
4)
We
are not missing out on any blessings.
Hallelujah. God richly blesses
us individually and has blessed the church … and is asking us to continue to
bless God through the church.
5)
God
can be trusted. We are in God’s Will
and need to stay there in order to have the best life possible – in terms of
the church and individually. In tangible
ways – attendance, giving, productivity – and intangible ways – spiritual
growth, commitment, integrity, accountability.
6)
God
chooses us to be partners with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. God CHOOSES US. We are called work with God, each of us, in different ways. And today we focus on doing something for
and with those living with and affected by AIDS.
Thank you for your attention. Amen.
Let us pray.
Amen.
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