GOD IS LOVE / JESUS IS LORD

“GOD IS LOVE / JESUS IS LORD”

June 2, 2013

©Thomas B. Cundiff

 

 

 

PSALM 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
²   Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing.

³ Know that the Lord is God.
   It is he that made us, and we are his;^*
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise.
   Give thanks to him, bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.

 

JOHN 3: 16-18 

 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

 

I.

 

God is love!  Jesus is Lord!   And is there any doubt that we are here because God loves us?  And through Jesus Christ, his life and death and resurrection, we know in heart and mind this love?  Is there any doubt that we are here to worship God in the context of the faith, hope and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?  

 

This is not to say we don’t struggle with these affirmations.  We live our lives longing to understand Jesus’ Lordship and God’s love.  We long for a deeper understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus.  We struggle with what it means to be a church that believes we are the “living and vibrant body of Christ” in the context of this world in which we live!    

 

So basically three themes come together to compliment each other:

 

(1)  God is Love…

(2)  Jesus is Lord….

        (3)  In the church we learn that these things are true!

 

It is my guess most of us know these scriptural affirmations that support these three themes: 

 

John 3: 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  

Matthew 21: 37-40  that asks  “…. which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replies: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I Corinthians 12:27   “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it”.

 

 

II.

 

In entering into some conversation this past week with a friend this question is asked:  What makes us unique as Christ’s church?   The answer?  We are not a social agency.   We are not a club.  We are church.  This is not my church. This is not your church!  We are Christ’s church.  

   

What makes us different?  Unique?  Special?  The obvious answer is God’s love s known through Jesus.  We are a church because we believe in Jesus and all he teaches and all he represents.  And as Christians and as the church we want to learn more about and how we reflect this love.  There is no doubt in my mind that others who worship or visit this church experience the love of God known through Jesus Christ. 

 

We are a people of God – the church, gathered, proclaiming, worshiping, adoring, praising, listening, obeying, serving, following, Jesus Christ who motivates and challenges and unites us together….for we truly believe we are the “ONE, UNITED, FAITHFUL, LIVING AND VIBRANT BODY OF CHRIST!”    We are also a church God sends into the world to make disciples of others….in the name if the Father and son and Holy Spirit.  Another scriptural reference: 

 

Matthew 28:19    “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”

 

III.

 

To speak personally for a few minutes.  A lot of you, members of this church, have influenced me as your pastor.  One of those persons who embraced God’s love and Jesus’ Lordship was the late Vernestine Jones.  She passed from this life to be with our / her Lord in July 2008.  Vernestine was active in the church.  She served on several committees including the search committee that called me to be your pastor back in 1985.  She is missed!  

 

In thinking about Vernestine, along with others who have gone to be with God, is this thought:  The personality of this church is made up of those who are the members of this the “body of Christ” – the church.  The personality of this church is made up of those in whom the foundation of this church was built.  Vernestine is one of those persons.

One of my vivid memories with Vernestine was a particular meeting of the Mission team.  I am sure if I went back through my notes I could find the actual date of that meeting.  I can still see in my mind where she was sitting at the table in the John Knox Room—immediately to my left.  While I don’t remember the specifics of what we were talking about, I think we were talking about SUMMER MAGIC.  I remember Vernestine made a passionate, heart-felt plea for us to not abandon our children in our mission programming.   We need to always be a church that finds ways to be intentional in sharing God’s love with all the little children who enter this place.

 

Vernestine, as a Christian and educator, lived her life sharing God’s love with children.  I am pleased to report that this church continues to have as a core mission objective:  Sharing God’s love in a variety of ways with the children in this community.

 

I also remember inviting Vernestine to lead us in worship back in 2006 with this as our theme:  LOVE.  On that day she preached and played the piano and sang Jesus Loves Me, this I know!  This worship service was one of my all-time most memorable worship experiences.    

 

In all truth, I experience this same LOVE, moving in and through this church on a regular basis:      

 

When you enter into the building and start greeting one another each and every week…..

 

When we gather and sing and prepare our hearts to hear God’s Word.

 

When some of you step forward to speak – as Virginia Lyons did a few weeks back – sharing some of her praise in faith….

 

Whenever you share your joys and concerns….or share some of your favorite “faith stories” publicly or in private conversations.

 

When I hear of ways you have shared God’s love with others through phone calls and visits and the writing of notes…..

 

When I hear about your helping out a friend with a ride to church

When I learn of many things that are being done in caring for this church building…..

 

And in our continuing to make sure this church is opening its doors for children through the Mark Neumeier Youth Center, Women of Colors and the Kappa Leadership League joining with us in worship today…..

 

THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND, WHEN YOU ENTER THIS CHURCH ON SUNDAYS, WE ARE All GROUNDED IN GOD’S LOVE THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST…..LOVE WE ARE COMMITTED TO SHARE AS A CHURCH WITH ALL GOD’S CHILDREN.      

 

For nearly a century and a half we have been gathering to worship as the Warren Avenue Presbyterian Church !  One century and a half!  148 years to be exact!  Surrounded in God’s Love and in the name of our Lord Jesus our Lord. 

 

GOD only knows the challenges and changes we have addressed throughout these 148+ years.    

 

GOD only knows the issues and challenges we have had to face in our personal lives. 

 

GOD only knows the broken hearts, the tears of pain that have been shed within these walls.

 

GOD only knows the baptisms and weddings ---  and funerals – the joy and the grief we have experienced in the context of knowing we are always going to be the living Body of Christ….eternally always part of the living Body of Christ.  In other words, those who have gone before us are still with us! 

IV.

 

To quote a recent article by an editor of Christianity Today, Mark Galli, “…Christ calls us to a life of love.  And a life of love for the most part means attending to the tedious details of other’s lives, and serving them in sacrificial ways that most days feels, well, not exciting at all.  Rather than sweeping the kitchen, cleaning the toilet, listening to the talkative and boring neighbor, slopping eggs onto a plate at the homeless shelter, or crunching numbers for another eight hours at the office—surely life is meant for more than this.”   Galli then goes on to put all of these life-experiences under one umbrella in quoting the Apostle Paul who says:

 

I Corinthians 13: 7  “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

 

V.

 

So much from our lives we bring into this sanctuary each and every week to share with God!  And two things never change:

 

GOD LOVES US and JESUS IS LORD!

 

In sharing with you again, as I have for many years, my own personal definition of love:  “Love is that which binds us together and builds us up.”

 

May God continue to be the glue, the adhesive that binds us together as friends and neighbors – past and present – as a congregation. And as Christ’s church.  May God continue to lift, us and inspire us and build us up…..through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

In God’s love through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord – and in remembering all those who have gone before us – may we continue to find ways to share God’s binding and uplifting love with others.

 

AMEN

 

The Voice of the Spirit

“The Voice of the Spirit”

PENTECOST

May 19, 2013

©Thomas B. Cundiff

 

PSALM 104: 24-34, 35b

 

24        O LORD, how manifold are your works!

            In wisdom you have made them all;

            the earth is full of your creatures.

25        Yonder is the sea, great and wide,

            creeping things innumerable are there,

            living things both small and great.

26        There go the ships,

            and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

27        These all look to you

            to give them their food in due season;

28        when you give to them, they gather it up;

            when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

29        When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

            when you take away their breath, they die

            and return to their dust.

30        When you send forth your spirit,£ they are created;

            and you renew the face of the ground.

31        May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

            may the LORD rejoice in his works—

32        who looks on the earth and it trembles,

            who touches the mountains and they smoke.

33        I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;

            I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34        May my meditation be pleasing to him,

            for I rejoice in the LORD.

35b     .............Bless the LORD, O my soul.  Praise the LORD!

 

ACTS 2: 1-4

1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

ROMANS 8: 14-17

 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption (derived from the Greek word “son” depicting a family relationship). When we (as children) cry, “Abba! Father!” 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I.

We listen for God.  We search scripture for what God says to us about the Holy Spirit.  We pray to God.  We then listen for the voice of God.  We await God’s Spirit.   

What we have discovered, down through the ages, the voice of God may not always be a voice at all.  God often speaks to us through the blowing of the spirit winds through feelings, emotions, simply knowing:  God’s Sacred Presence in and between us.

This DAY OF PENTECOST let us open minds and hearts for the spirit of God we hear about through the voice of experience and scripture. 

II.

To repeat a few verses from Psalm 104: 

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

May You Endure forever;

may we REJOICE in YOUR works–

I will sing to YOU as long as I live;

I will sing praise to YOU while I have being.

May my meditation be pleasing to YOU, for I rejoice in the Lord.

Within this Psalm is our longing to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit through blessings received.   This spirit of thanksgiving inspires us to give glory to God for all the good things God does with us and in us and through us.  God’s spirit motivates us to come together to give glory to God through worship.

In searching for the voice of God’s Spirit consider this—something to think about:   Perhaps the voice of God’s Spirit is our voice  joined with the voices of others around as we give glory to God for gifts received.  Perhaps this voice of God’s Spirit is our voice joined with the voices of women and men of the past—some of whom are GOLDEN & DIAMOND MEMBERS who have made this church what it is today.    Perhaps our voice becomes the voice of those who have given their lives to this church and to God for literally, combined thousand plus years.   

III.

Scripture from the Book of Acts gives us a brief glimpse into the birthing of the church.    The “Voice of the Spirit” talks to us personally – but also collectively as the living Body of Christ.  Early, first century believers were together, in one place, when they experienced the voice of God’s spirit that was blowing thousands of years ago—the same spirit blowing a short 148 years ago for this congregation when women and men began dreaming about building a church in East Saginaw. 

Perhaps, through everything we do in worship, we are exposed to God’s Spirit present  in our midst….through the light shining through the stained glass windows, in the smiles and hugs shared in passing the peace of Christ, in the singing of hymns, in the anticipation of communion. 

And I ask:   Do you feel God’s Spirit in this place?   

 

IV.

Scripture from the book of Romans, a bit more challenging, reminds us that God’s Spirit is “Family”….and families, together, go through a lot of ups and downs.  During our sharing of joys and concerns, you share with your friends and members of this church family your concerns….and there is a lot of news we embrace as a congregation each Sunday.  We share because there is a deep level of trust among us.   We know the care and compassion we share is sincere. 

Romans says from various translations—we are….    

….children of God and  then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Another translation (Eugene Peterson) makes this a bit easier to understand:

….God’s spirit touches our spirit and confirms who we are – we are children of God.  We belong to God.  What we go through in life God goes through also.  Our pain and suffering becomes God’s pain and suffering.  Our laughter becomes God’s laugher. 

This is God’s Spirit working in us and through us as a church family – and our joys and concerns becomes God’s joys and concerns.  Your sharing your thoughts is in fact an act of prayer!

V.

So to bring closure to these PENTECOST thoughts…..

Combining all of our scriptural texts together we discover God speaks to us personally and as a church—EXPERIENTIALLY.  At a deeper level, God’s spirit connects us making us one…..different people yet the same spirit that unites us….making us FAMILY…..so that we can truly identify with each other’s experiences as Christians….members of the living Body of Christ.

So my prayer, as we continue our worship and break bread together, let’s listen for the voice of God -- knowing we are all searching for that same voice that connects us together with God as a church. 

May God bless us and surround us with winds of the spirit.  May God continue to speak to us as Christ’s Church.  May we all continue to search for and find the spirit of God working in our midst.

Amen

Grateful Hearts!

“Grateful Hearts”

Rev. Thomas B. Cundiff

                                                         May 12, 2013

                                                                   

 

 

                                                              TEXTS:

                                                     Philippians 3: 1-11

                                          Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

 

I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.  I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.  It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace  with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.  For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight  to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless,  having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

 

                                                          I Peter 2: 20

 

For to this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

 

                                                                   

 

I.  A Grateful Heart

 

A popular book among clergy, released just a few months ago, is titled “Resilient Ministry”[1].   This topic of resilience is a “hot button theme” among ministers.  It seems that everywhere I turn this subject is coming up.

 

A recent publication, Weavings, sub-titled Resilience[2] -- and I particularly enjoyed an article, “Gifts from the Holy Resilient”, written by friend and colleague Steve Doughy. Other interesting articles were “The Resilience of Vincent van Gogh”, and a Lenten / Easter poem titled, “Crop Rotation”, by Amy Houchen: 

 

 

 

In the dormancy of lent  (Easter and Spring--my words)

We can take our cue

From fallow fields, lying vacant

But not abandoned

In order to become

More fruitful.

 

In these forty days,

We can ask

To be emptied

Of our attachments

 

            To the past, which can make us brittle as Lot’s wife

            To our possessions, which can weigh us down like the rich young ruler

            To preference for head over heart, which can harden us into Pharisees

 

So we have room

For the harvest

Of Easter life.

 

Like the earth around us evolving through another spring, so is our call to be resilient not just in surviving spring storms, but, through faith, growing and maturing to be more fruitful in our lives with our families and community and in our church.

 

A retired pastor from Seattle, Earl F. Palmer has said, “resilience is defined as the ability to upright ourselves when stresses move in all directions, but what about resilience when feelings are extreme and the actions of angry or highly excited people are extreme too?”[3]

 

What about resilience in our personal lives when the world is pounding on us like a migraine headache -- crumbling in all around us like an earthquake?  What about our need to “upright ourselves”, as Palmer says, when there seems to be no hope for better days?

 

In short, resilience as a theme is about more than survival when it comes to sustaining healthy lives, productive relationships, a healthy family or church.  We want more out of life than simply surviving the obstacles and issues – the storms and pressures – the migraine headaches – that are part of life God has given us.

 

We want to be well.  We want to be happy!   And in the name of God with faith in our risen Lord, we can find the resilience we need to not only survive the storms but to thrive amidst them.

 

II.  JESUS RESILIENCE

 

While I have been thinking about this, I realized the best example of resilience is found in Jesus himself.  Look at all stresses and strains Jesus had to put up with in his life; his resilience amidst turmoil in lives of people all around him he encountered – ways he helped people move beyond their infirmities.      

 

Jesus was always engaging people who were struggling with health issues—many simply trying to survive.  Society was always working against the health and wellbeing of a large number of people who didn’t have basic core resources in which to live.  While he had a host of followers – disciples – many more outside his circle of friends were skeptics or standing against him. Jesus had to be resilient in the face of adversity.  He taught others how to be resilient in the face of adversity. He shows us how to be resilient in the face of adversity.

 

When reading our bibles, we see the resilience Jesus had in facing evil and sin and brokenness in the world?  And as a church and his name look at the evil and sin and brokenness, the poverty and crime, the apathy in lives of people around us?   Can we pick up on the strength of our lord who went to the cross and died and then rose from death so we can get through trying times?

 

The ultimate test of “resilience” for Jesus came not with his death but rather, God deciding to raise Jesus above the power of death live and be with us today as our RISEN LORD.  The ultimate test of resilience for us is in accepting Jesus into our lives so we can thrive—SO WE CAN THRIVE—as children of God……knowing that with persistence, faith, and some Christian resilience—we can get through anything!

 

The Apostle Paul would say we get our resilience from Christ himself who helps us face the powers and principalities that drag us down and threaten to defeat us.  The challenge in our lives today is recognizing that Jesus Christ continues to live in and with and around us to guide us through the various storms and stresses – sin and evil forces in life we encounter.  God has given us an Easter gift that is the foundation of resilience:  Jesus Christ who not only died on the cross but rose from death, ascended to be with God so that we can know that he, our Lord Jesus walks with us today.   

 

Directly emerging from reading our scripture this morning we find two individuals, Peter and Paul, who learned from God and their faith in Christ, what it means to be resilient in the face of turmoil and stresses of life that tear at the fabric of beliefs and traditions held sacred for most if not all of us in our church and in our lives.  

 

Paul calls us to find and be resilient through prayer in holding God in our hearts knowing nothing can take away that which God has placed in our hearts—GRATEFUL HEARTS.

 

III.

 

Resilience is something we have nurtured as a church down through the years.  If the church can face adversity, so can YOU!

 

From my perspective, our resilience as a congregation is commendable.  With all the changes in this community, we have proven as a church we are interested in not just surviving—but also thriving!  It may seem we are just surviving, but I don’t believe this to be the case.  The energy expended in keeping this building and the grounds in tip-top shape is but one example.   I hope you will take note of all the tree and bush maintenance, the work that has been done in painting various rooms…..and while we still have major projects, we are slowly whittling away at a large list.  We should all accept the fact that roof leaks and various maintenance issues will always be with us in a huge building that is over 100years old! 

 

The simple decision you as a congregation have made over the years to remain in this downtown neighborhood has demonstrated your commitment to the children in this community …

 

For example, over a dozen years ago we opened our doors to the East Side Soup Kitchen….a powerful collaboration in serving the poor that we continue to support to this day.  And when the soup kitchen moved to a new home, the much needed Hunger Solution Center, a new opportunity emerged in collaboration with St. Mary’s and First Ward Community Center and others in bringing to our church what is now called the Mark Neumeyer Youth Center.   A full-time after-school program during the school year and day camp in the summer.  Fifty to sixty kids benefiting from this program.  The core decision you made as a congregation:  If we are going to have this wonderful asset of a church, it needs to be used.  And used it is!   And part of our mission is to let others use this building RENT FREE!

 

(REFER TO INSERT)

There are other groups using these facilities, Women of Color’s who are here Thursdays and Saturdays with a wonderful mentoring program for girls and boys. 

And yes, another program, meeting every Tuesdays downstairs, the Kappa Youth Leadership league sponsored by the Saginaw Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha PSI Fraternity—with the help of Sidney Diggs providing much of the leadership for this group of young men.  (And please note, Sidney and members Kappa Alpha Psi and this youth group will be with us in worship to share with us some of what they are doing on June 2^nd.)

 

Not only have we as a church figured out how to broker out use of these facilities to be used in supporting programming for children, the mission team with the help of Debbie Davis continues with the SUMMER MAGIC program that will take place Tuesdays in July.  I am sure some of you will be called and asked to help.

 

YOUR resilience in never abandoning the need to serve children in this community has been steadfast and unwavering.   MY HEART IS GRATEFUL!  

 

                                                                  IV.  

 

To move in one last direction in thinking about our scripture today and this text and words from I Peter:

 

For to this you have been called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

 

We have faced adversity as a church and found ways to be resilient – to thrive when everything in this community seems to be working against us.  We need the same resilience in our personal lives.  The church can be a model for us in living our lives.  As the church has faced obstacles, so we too can get through anything in our personal lives, through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Christ was born and lived his life giving us many gifts—the most precious gift is life itself.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins.  He died so we can move forward and thrive in the face of adversity – because Jesus gives us all we need to be resilient in the face of adversity.  Jesus rose from death promising never to abandon us.  He ascended into heaven.  And our Lord now watches down upon us as we make plans for the future walking – always -- in the steps of our Lord. 

 

I have a grateful heart for the many ways God has blessed us.  Together, may we continue to face adversity with strength and love, with grateful hearts, with compassion and resilience that comes only from God.   

 

As I guess I say almost every Sunday, may God continue to bless us in the ministries and work we have been called, together, to do….in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  With grateful hearts!

 

Amen.                               

---

[1]   Resilient Ministry, Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman and Donald Guthrie (2013)

[2]   Weavings, Resilience, The Upper Room, Volume XXVIII, Number 2

[3]   Presbyterian Outlook, February 4, 2013, pg. 13