2011-09-25 BE the Church: Be the Feet

****The following is a draft of the message for Sunrise UMC on 09/25/2011****

This morning, we wrap up our study of what it means to BE the Church. Next Sunday, we put it into action! Over the last couple of weeks, we have thought about and discussed with each other what it means to BE the Mouth and to BE the Hands of Jesus. Today, we finish up with what it means to BE the Feet of Jesus.

You would think that a bunch of preacher’s would know what it mean to be the Feet of Jesus, wouldn’t you? I mean, to step out and do something that needs to be done, right? Well, you would think so, but it doesn’t always happen. Take for instance, last week I went to one of our district clergy meetings. Do any of you ever have to go to some mandatory meeting? Do you like those? Well, ours aren’t very different. Yes, you get some good information and you are usually glad you went afterwards, but beforehand, sometimes you just want to wake up sick so you can have a legitimate excuse for not going. Anyway, our meeting was going along pretty good, until the presenter did something that caused a collective gasp and eyes to slowly shut. No, he didn’t invoke a prayer, instead, he asked for volunteers. How dare he! He was wanting to have a bit of interaction and he asked for volunteers. Well, can you guess what happened? No one spoke up! So, he said, “Come on, I need somebody from this side of the room and somebody from this side.” Silence. “Alright, it’s not that bad. Anybody?...Well, who would you like to see volunteer?” With that, my hand shot up and…pointed to my buddy, David, who was sitting next to me. The presenter then pointed to David and said, “Thank you sir, for being volunteered!” With that, David eyes go wide as he knew he had been chosen.

So, why didn’t I volunteer? I don’t know…I didn’t know what was expected of me, I wasn’t sure I could do what was expected of me, I may have to go to the bathroom and couldn’t devote the time needed of me, I woke up that morning with a bone in my leg…Oh, I could come up with an excuse. Excuses 101 was a course I aced in high school.

Do you know the definition of “excuse”? I have come up with what I feel is a pretty apt definition:

Excuse – anything that one can use to alleviate responsibility

It seems to me that I am not alone in finding excuses; I was surrounded by about fifty other preachers who were somehow trying to conceive some excuse why they couldn’t or shouldn’t volunteer. Though I felt a bit smug at my cleverness and volunteered David, I soon began to feel the pang of remorse because I found myself guilty of doing exactly what I advocate against. Stop looking for excuses.

The final words spoken by Jesus were some to combat excuses. You have heard these words before, but let consider the again for a moment, okay?

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Let’s look particularly at verse 19, for just a moment.

Matthew 28:19

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,

There is one small word that could seem rather innocuous, but really is the crux of the whole passage. Do you know which one I am referring to?

[Allow response]

Right. “Go”.

As we read it, “go” seems to imply something that we should do in the future – either immediate future or at some later time future. In grammatical terms, we tend to see it as an imperative. But as we do a little word study, in the original language of Greek and in this framework, the better way of viewing this word is as a present participle. So, a better translation would be this:

Therefore, as you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

You see, what Jesus is saying here is that he doesn’t want you to be his mouth, hands, and feet at just some special time of the week, month, year, or of your life. No, what he is saying is as you live out your daily life, interacting with your family and friends, working and going to school, shopping and engaging in leisure recreation, BE the Mouth, BE the Hands, BE the Feet of Jesus.

That’s why the Gospel of John puts it this way. Jesus knew that Peter was struggling a bit with making the connection with his head-knowledge of who Jesus is and his heart-knowledge of who Jesus is. Jesus knew that Peter had to put this knowledge into action before it could be manifested into real, authentic love for Jesus. So he said to him, picking up halfway into verse 15

John 21:15b-17

15b "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.

What Jesus is saying is, “If you really love me, love those that I love.”

Now next week, we are doing this. We are expressing our love for Jesus by showing others we love them too. Our projects have a broad range, so you can enter into whatever comfort level you are willing to expand.

[At this time, go over some of the service projects already know, ask for any others, and let the people divide into those groups to discuss the specifics]

This whole campaign, BE the Church, is just to reopen our eyes to the opportunities that God has laid out before us, each and every day.

Several weeks ago, I witnessed someone recognizing the need to react and then seizing the opportunity to do so. While I was pulling into a parking lot at a store, I saw a lady who must have been carrying a lot to her car. Like many would, she place one of her packages on top of the car while she unlocked the door and put her other packages in. What I witnessed was a young man who sprinted after her car as she was leaving the parking lot because she forgot the package she placed on top of it. He leapt and grabbed it just before the package…her baby…it hit the ground. He saw the need; he reacted.

Each day, God declares to you and me, just as God did with Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:8

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Amen.

2011-09-18 BE the Church: BE the Hands

***The following is a draft of the message spoken at Sunrise UMC on September 18, 2011***
This morning, we begin with the second part of this series: BE the Church. I know that it sounds a bit strange to be standing in a church while exclaiming the church needs to be the church. But sometimes, we need to be reminded of who we are and what we are called to be.

We have to be reminded because there is something innate within humans that leads them to presume that just having knowledge of the truth and going to church occasionally is enough to make them righteous. But as the great preacher of the early 20^th century is known to say,” Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”

Herein, brothers and sister, is the problem that pastors all over the world face. A mentor of mine, Michael Slaughter often uses this diagram of concentric circles to illustrate the different levels of faith and discipleship:

- The outer ring are those who stand far back from interacting with their faith. They are curious about what faith means but are so caught up with themselves and the drama around them, their faith means little to them.

- The middle ring represents those that are convinced that there is something real about their faith and Jesus, but they can’t quite grasp the essence of it. They try to make their faith fit into their understanding of the world rather than to be shaped by their faith.

- The inner core circle is that of the committed. They realize that their faith is the essence of their life is meant for God’s glory and purpose.

It is the role of pastors to continually try to move people from the outer fringes to the center.

Recently, I was thumbing through some of my father’s sermon notes and stopped as I saw where he scribbled as a side note, “ The greatest distance is between the head and the heart.” I thought about that for a bit and the more I thought about it, the more I said, “Yeah…that’s pretty profound.” But then I asked myself, “How do you know when someone has made that journey, from just knowing about Jesus, to being a real follower?”

Well, the epistle writer known as James gives us some insight into that inquiry. Let’s take a look at what he says in the second chapter of his letter, verses 12-14

James 2:14-18

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

[PRAYER]

James is known to be a straight shooter in his theological assertions and this passage is a prime example of that. The problem though is that is seems to contradict what Paul is known to proclaim – that

Ephesians 2:8

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

They just seem to contradict each other, don’t they?

Well, the great reformer, Martin Luther believed it to be that way and since Luther regarded Paul as a true apostle, he demoted James. He regarded James’s teaching as inferior to any of Paul’s. The problem was magnified as time moved on because Luther had enormous influence on New Testament scholarship, so many sided with Luther in his marginalization of James.

Today, most scholars fall either into two camps, those who continue to agree with Luther’s premise or that Paul and James aren’t at odds with each other after all. Let’s take a moment to consider this.

In Paul’s writings to the church in Ephesus and to the Romans, he is addressing Jewish converts who are still caught up with their Jewish traditions and rituals. Thus, they seem to be falling into that middle circle that we were referring to a few moments ago. They are convinced that there is something real about their faith and Jesus, but they can’t quite grasp the essence of it. They try to make their faith fit into their understanding of the world rather than to be shaped by their faith. Up until now, they believed they believed all they had to do was continue to follow the rules and their salvation would be secured. But Paul is saying, “No, doing all this stuff is going to save you at all!”

Now as we come back to James, we realize that he is saying something different than Paul. He is talking to a group of people with a very different mindset. Let’s look again at what he said:

James 2:14-18

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

These folk were claiming to have faith, but there was no proof of it.

The Greek word for faith is pistis, which suggests here an intellectual affirmation of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, they had the head knowledge of Jesus.

James knew that just having knowledge was not enough. Knowledge isn’t faith, it’s just belief – and what does he say about that? In verse 19b

James 19b

Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.

Ouch! So, there is no doubt that James believes that belief must be accompanied by action if it is going to be considered authentic, living faith.

We get his defense of the reason just a few verses later as he says:

24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

There’s another word we need to look into a bit - Justify, in Greek it's dikaioo, which means to vindicate, to prove or demonstrate something to be true or just.

You see, deeds of loving service are not a substitute for, but rather a verification of our faith in Christ. That’s why James demands, “Show me.” It is a natural demand for evidence

Who here knows the nickname for the State of Missouri? Right – it’s the Show Me state. Do you know how it got that name? One report is of one of their congressmen, Willard Vandiver, who once made a speech that include this: "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."

I think this passage from James would fit right in with what Congressman Vandiver avows – it takes more than just words to make what you say real.

Perhaps then, what James is providing in this passage is the prerequisite to any "relevant" evangelism. If we are truly going to BE the Church, our words must be buttressed with our action.

Friends, people are not interested in shallow promises, false claims, and pious platitudes. What they covet is example; they want the real thing. Such as with Mother Teresa. She is not so much remembered for her words of theology, but the world was awe-struck by her lived-out theology.

For many years now, I have admired the tenacious audacity of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Shortly before he was exterminated in a Nazi concentration camp, he said, “[The Church] must not underestimate the importance of human example; it is not an abstract argument, but example, that gives its word emphasis and power.”

So, in a couple of weeks, we will celebrate our love for Jesus as we go and BE the Hands of a loving and merciful God. To BE the Church is sustain the presence of Jesus in the world.

Let’s BE the Hands…Let’s BE the Church!

Amen.

2011-09-11 BE the Church - Be the Mouth

***The following is a draft of the message given at Sunrise UMC on September 11, 2011***

This morning, we begin a new series called, BE the Church. Over the next three weeks, we are going to be looking at three tenets that I see as the crux of what it means to be the church. But before we get started, maybe we need to determine exactly what the church is.

The first time this term, church, is found in the Bible is in Matthew 16 when Peter makes his confession about who Jesus is. Jesus asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replies, “You are the Christ [anointed one].” Then Jesus says to Peter, “You are Peter [which loosely means Rock] and on this Rock I will build my Church. Now the Greek word which we get the word church from is ekklesia which means gathering.

In our United Methodist Hymnal, there is a hymn that succinctly states what the church is and isn’t. We Are the Church puts it this way:

The church is not a building,
the church is not a steeple,
the church is not a resting place,
the church is a people.

I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!

All who follow Jesus,

all around the world!
Yes, we’re the church together!

Though it reeks of 1970’s campy church song style, the words do attest to the fact that ekklesia, the church is the gathering of God’s people.

A couple of years ago, our denomination, The United Methodist Church launched an advertising campaign that took this a step further by posing this question, “What if church were a verb?” That changes the perspective quite a bit, doesn’t it. That would imply that it not something that you go to, but rather something you do. I think that’s part of it too. But all in all, it has to be more than just a place and a function, it’s what we are. It’s not just doing – it’s being.

That’s what I believe God wants – for us to BE the Church. Not just go to church or do the church thing, but to completely BE the Church.

So, this morning, we kick off this study about Being the Church with this concept: BE the Mouth.

Be the mouth. Does that mean that we need to eat the right things, keep our teeth cleaned and polished so that we can flash those sanctified smiles. No, in this sense, the mouth is the personification of being the Voice for the Church, thus being the voice of the Body of Christ.

For many of us, this scares us considerably, because what it is implying is that we have to be spokesmen(women) for Christ and we don’t like talking about our faith much, if we like talking at all. Some will want to shy away from this aspect of being the church, saying that is not their role in church. I can understand that sentiment, but if you will, please allow me a few moments to help us see this in a different light.

The text is for today comes from Paul’s Letter to Titus, who has been charged with overseeing the churches on the island of Crete. It can be found in the second chapter, verses 11-15

Titus 2:11-15

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

This passage is one that is normally assigned as a lectionary reading for either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. With that being so, why in the world would I use it for this Sunday in September? Now to be truthful, I do not know why I chose it. I have no recollection of how it came to me and I tried to change it multiple times this week. But it came back each time. Haunting me to dig further into it and see how it relates to Being the Mouth.

After wrestling with it for much more time than I would have chosen for myself, I came to understand something about this text. The people that we are called to BE the Church to aren’t that different from the Cretans that Titus was called to.

Take this for example. Who remembers this song from Hee-Haw?

Gloom, Despair, and Agony

Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Deep, dark depression, excessive misery

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all

Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Friends, it does not matter where you are or when you live, you are going to be around people who feel like they have no hope. This song could be their theme song! But, it is not always the people we expect.

When we think of hopelessness, we tend to cast our thoughts on the poor, the sick, the homeless. Sometimes we are right on track about that, but sometimes we are wrong. The hopeless also live in the suburbs, live in gated communities, on farms, drive BMW’s and classic Mustangs. They may work in the factories or they may be CEO’s. The hopeless are that way because they have not found the peace offered in Jesus Christ.

That is the point that our text for today is making. We are living in the in between advents of Jesus. We live in between the epiphany of God’s grace and the epiphany of God’s glory. And this text has the audacity to proclaim hope – salvation for all.

You see friends, our faith is one of the memory of what God has done and what God promises to do.

A professor and friend of mine, Samuel Dansokho, of Hood Theological Seminary is from Senegal. He has told me that one of the cherished images of his country is this

The sankofa depicts a bird running forward while looking behind. It loosely means this, “it is not wrong to go back and get what you forgot.” Brothers and sisters, that’s us! We are a people who are running forward to the future while looking to our past, remembering where we have been.

A preacher at Oxford once remarked that it is the modern temper to cry in despair, “Look at what the world has become!” while the early Christians shouted for joy, “See what has come to the world!”

God has revealed his loving purpose – salvation for everyone. We read Paul saying this same thing in his letter to the Romans

Romans 10:13-14

13 "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

But listen to this next verse…

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Now before someone, stops me and says to me, “Tim, this is about you…you’re the preacher!” let me give a little insight into that word preach we see there. In the original Greek, the word that we translate as preach is kerusso which simply means “to proclaim.” Friends, that’s not just the roll of clergy – it’s every person who professes their faith in the LORD Jesus Christ.

You see, when we speak of the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the hope we share is not dependent on the human feelings of hopelessness, but on the one in whom hope is invested.

You still may be asking, “But why speak? Why can’t we just do good things and let that show our faith?” Simply put, any good person can do good things, but only a person who loves Jesus will speak of his love.

Back when I was a child, I thought I was the #1 fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I think it was Super Bowl XIII, back in 1979, that I had just about every Cowboy paraphernalia that at thirteen year-old boy could have. I had the coat, the toboggan, the gloves, the bookbag, the notebooks, and I even paid someone $2 for a Cowboy pencil when they got it out of the vending machine for 10 cents. I thought that was what made a real fan. But then, something happened…people started asking me questions, like the stats. I didn’t know. They asked me about the players, but I only knew Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett, but I didn’t know what positions they played. I was a fraud and I knew it. And so did everybody else.

That isn’t how it should be with our faith. Our faith isn’t really proclaimed by us putting ICTHUS (little fishies) on the back of our cars. It is proclaimed though by our actions AND our words. These are grounded in our knowledge of God and in our experience of what God has done in our lives. That has to be genuine. It’s your story.

A few years ago, a friend of mine, a pastor who is now retired, had the opportunity to mesh both his words and actions. Here’s his story:

Don, could have just passed this house by, after all, it was a crack house, who cares about the people who lives there. He could have helped clean it up without ever saying anything about Jesus, after all, they were drug dealers, who cares if they hear of Jesus?. But instead, words and actions came together, because Jesus cares, even for the druggies.

I want to close out this time by reading our text once more, this time though, as it is told by Eugene Peterson’s, The Message

Titus 2:11-14

11 God's readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation's available for everyone! 12 We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, 13 and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. 14 He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness. 15 Tell them all this.

Friends, that’s the Good News, Go and Be the Mouth…BE the Church!

2011-09-04 Living Into Your Calling (from series: SEX, LIES, MURDER and Other Stories from Genesis)

Genesis 37:1-11

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." 8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

[Prayer]

This morning we end this series that we begin back in June: SEX, LIES, MURDER and Other Stories from Genesis. In this series, we have seen that although this book was written about people who are very different from us, separated by thousands of miles and thousands of years, the problems they faced are still some of the same problems we face today. That’s because the basic problems all people face are problems with the human condition – sin and relationships. Those problems are timeless.

The message today stems out of the story of Joseph, which actually comprises about one-fourth of the whole book of Genesis. Joseph’s story is one that we talk about from time-to-time, but rarely will you hear a preacher preach on any of these chapters. I have to admit, I struggled with the text simply because there is so much of it – thirteen chapters deal directly with Joseph. Now, don’t start looking at your watches, because we are not going to be reading all that this morning.

Now, it just so happens that if you would like to experience the story later on, the West Side Civic Theatre is performing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tonight and next weekend at Shallowford Square. I believe you will love this musical and you be able to see with your own eyes, the story of Joseph played out. I find it fascinating that it is filled with just about all the elements we have been talking about over the summer. It has Murder (okay – they thought about it), Lies (deception abounds in it), and of course, Sex (Joseph’s encounter with the first “cougar” in recorded history, Potiphar’s wife).

But what we will be gleaning from the text today is living into our calling. As we heard in the reading of the text earlier, Joseph was the favored son, the “Golden Child” of his brothers and sisters. It was no secret that Jacob loved Joseph the most. To demonstrate his affection, Jacob gave him a ornate coat, some versions of the Bible say it was multi-colored and others will say it had long sleeves, but to suffice it to say, it was an extravagant gift. It was a coat that was worn only by people of authority, not people who engaged in physical labor. So, of course, his brothers were not happy at all with this display of favoritism.

Almost as if he were rubbing salt in a wound, Joseph then tells his brothers of the dreams he had, each suggesting that his brothers would be bowing before him some day – plus Jacob and Rachel. Again, this did not set well with the brothers. Joseph wasn’t wrong in his understanding of his lofty dreams, which you can read about in the subsequent chapters, but he did ere in how he began to live into this calling.

I find it to be almost providential that this final message not only coincided with the musical being performed here in town, but also on this Sunday that we celebrate Labor Day. For many of us, we tend to see our profession as our calling. But is it?

Let me ask you the same question? What did you dream of being when you a child?

Many of us are doing what we dreamed about when we were little and many are not. Often, we get sidetracked on living out our dreams. Likewise, many people get sidetracked on living out their calling.

Now before we go on, let me state that our professions and our calling may not always be the same.

Who feels like you are living into your calling?

As I stated earlier, it may or may not be linked to your profession. You may be gifted and talented in performing your vocation, but your calling is that unique and special passion deep inside that may or may not be tied in with your profession. If it is, great! You are living your dream. If it’s not, well don’t despair, it may be something you do outside of your job or it may be something yet to come.

I believe this is something Joseph had to learn. He knew that his father favored him, but even more, he learned over time that he was also favored by God. But, it probably did not always feel like it.

- When he was thrown in the well by his brothers, who then contemplated how to be rid of him, he probably didn’t feel so favored

- When he was sold to the Ishmaelites, then to the Egyptians as a slave, he probably didn’t feel so favored

- When he was accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife, he probably didn’t feel so favored

- As he spent two years in prison, after asking the cupbearer to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf, he probably didn’t feel so favored.

No, it took time for Joseph to live into his calling and it took enduring many unjust acts as he waited.

Maybe by now, you are wondering, what was Joseph’s calling. It is not the clearest to see at first, but as you read and meditate on the text, it becomes pretty clear. It is identified in Genesis 41:30

but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land.

But in order to understand it, we have to go back to the covenant God made with Joseph’s great-granddaddy and granddaddy, Abraham and Isaac. Do you remember it? Paraphrased, it basically says “Blessed to be a blessing.” Or as it is stated back in Genesis 22:18,

and through your offspring [herein – Joseph] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.

It was Joseph, through God’s favor and guidance, who not only saved the people of Egypt, but all the surrounding nations (including his own), from starvation because he was in the right place at the right time to have plenty of saved up for the time of famine. It was Joseph, who went from being a tattletale and an obnoxious pain in his brothers’ side, to being the savior of his people.

God doesn’t call each person to be the one who will save a country from starvation. But that does not diminish the call that God issues to each and every one of us. To each of us, God calls us to:

- Love our neighbor

- Forgive as we are forgiven

- Help those who are hurting

- Bring justice for the oppressed

- Be a beacon of hope for the lost

- Speak the Good News to those who have never heard it

Yes, friends, we are called. We are called by a loving and merciful God who yearns to bless us, so that others may be blessed.

And let all of God’s blessed people, here at Sunrise United Methodist Church, say, Amen.