September 15, 2013 The Story: The Beginning of Life...As We Know It

Good (morning/evening)! Welcome to Sunrise United Methodist Church! I am Tim Roberts the pastor here and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being here to worship Jesus Christ with us today. We believe that is no accident that you are here with us this (morning/evening), but that God prepared you for this experience and so I pray God will greatly enrich you lives for being here.

Please pray with me.

[Prayer]

Today we are beginning, not one, but two major events in the life of Sunrise. First, we are beginning a third worship service, Genesis Kardia, in which we are intentionally reaching out to persons with special needs and their families to help them experience love and grace of Jesus. We are so excited about this new endeavor as we unequivocally believe that this service is one for which God has been preparing us for years, even though we did not know it until recently.

Over the last few weeks, I have been pleased with how so many people have asked how they could help with this new service and maybe some of you are wondering the same. To be truthful, I don't know yet. There are many things we have for which we've prepared, but it has become apparent to me, in recent days, that starting this new service in much akin to having a baby. There are some things you know you need before birth, but many of the real needs do not come to surface until afterwards. That's where we are right now. After this evening and probably next week, we will have a much better idea of how you will be able to serve as the service grows and takes on it own life. But the one thing we do need is your prayers and enthusiasm as we follow our God-given mission to Share the love of Jesus so all become his followers.

The second is that we are launching today a new church-wide event, known as The Story. During these weeks, we will be joining together to read and study the Bible, from beginning to end, as one continuous story of God's love for us. Each week, we will be reading a chapter out of this book, The Story, which is the New International Version of the Bible, yet written similar to a novel and in chronological order, to help us get a good feel for it. My Sunday messages will be structured to compliment our reading and we also have opportunities for small group study throughout the week. So, with that, let's begin.

One of humanity's great questions is one that transcends time, ethnicity, nationality, religion or age.

It is this, "What is the meaning of life?"

Of course, we could go to the dictionary to find a definition for it. This week, I was a bit curious about how it might be defined and so here is how the Oxford Dictionary defines life:

the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death

Well, yeah, that is a definition what life is, in a cold and clinical way. Yet, as I look at that definition...it seems to be woefully lacking, doesn't it? It just doesn't seem to capture the real essence of life. So, where can we turn to gain some understanding about what life is and its meaning?

Over the years, I have found that if you really want to get to know something well, you first need to go to its source. So, if we really want to begin to understand the origin and meaning of life, I believe the place to look is at its source. Take a look with me at four words that brings all of this in perspective

In the beginning, God...

For people of faith, God is the source, the Creator of all that exists, including life itself.

That is why I am so happy that you are joining me on this journey to look deeper into our faith, our lives, and our story as we begin today with: "The Beginning of Life...As We Know It."

Let me ask you something, have you ever seen a portion of a picture that is distorted, like this one, for example?

It seems fuzzy, or in this case, highly pixelated. It seems to be either ugly or unappealing. It is not something that you would want hanging in your house or to make a special trip to see, or is it? The problem that we sometimes have is that we often turn our focus on the fine details. We see the imperfections and the rough edges, which gives us the impression that it's just sloppy and makes no sense. But, if we were to expand our view

and take in the big picture? It is then we begin to see that all of these flaws and defects, even they have their place...in a masterpiece.

This (morning/evening), we are going to begin looking at the story of the beginning of life, with all of the awesome details of creation and the ugly elements of lies, murder, and deception. But we aren't going to keep a constant focus on those details. Instead, we are going to expand our view and our understanding of this amazing story of God's love.

The Story and every other translation of the Bible, begins with these words, or some similar ones,

Genesis 1 (NIV)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

From there, the history of creation is recorded in detail of what happened each day and the order and methodology. I love the phrase that is used to describe God's feelings about each milestone...

"God saw that it was good"

Right off the bat, we see that God is very much in the details of life. But you know, I bet that if we somehow were able to have witnessed that creative process, we probably would not always thought it to be so good. There must have been some terrifying moments with the earth trembling as mountains and land rose from the tumultuous seas and wind and storms battered the infant planet as it began to spin and revolve around its sun. Yet, in the midst of all that chaos, God saw that it was good.

God did not stop there. After the universe and the world were formed, God began speaking life into existence. God spoke and fish began to swim in the rivers and oceans, birds streaked through the air and animals began to roam the valleys.

And God saw that it was good.

Still, God was not finished. There had to be one more act of creation, the crowning jewel of this creative process. So, God knelt down and scooped up a handful of fresh mud and began to knead it in his fingers, slowly rolling it and carefully shaping until it became a human form. Then, this God who had brought forth light, sky, water, land, plants and every living animal with just a spoken word, took this muddy form and breathed into it...God's very own breath of life...and that lump of clay became a living human being.

God then stepped back and surveyed all that was created. But the story does not go on to say that God saw that it was good. Instead, it proclaims this,

"God saw that it was very good"

At this point, we are introduced to this first man, whom we come to know as Adam. For those of us who are parents, it is also here that we are able to identify a bit with God. God has brought into this world, a son, if you will. As any parent would do, God begins to delight in just being with this child. He brings to him all the different animals to see what he would call them and the names stuck.

I am reminded of when my oldest daughter, Katie, was just learning to talk, we would always say to her, "I love you!" As she began to form words herself, she wasn't the most eloquent, so her way of repeating "I love you" back to us was by saying "Soshu." Even here today, over twenty years later, we still say to each other, "Soshu," as a term of endearment.

It is amazing how a child changes your whole perspective of life. The way you think, talk, act and react gets flipped around. I believe God felt that way. As we read the story, we get the idea of how God loved being around Adam, wanting to spend with him, walking through the garden of Eden with him, just delighting to be with him.

Yet, at some point, God recognized that this man was lonely and somehow incomplete. So, he caused him to go into a deep sleep and from him, he took a rib and fashioned it into another human being, a woman this time.

We could spend hours, or even the rest of our lives, trying to figure out exactly how this happened, how did a rib become a woman or any of the other details. But to do so is to really miss the point or the big picture. I believe what can really be learned from this is that God wanted the best for Adam and at that time, it was a companion.

I sometimes imagine the first encounter Adam had with this woman, who we come to know as Eve. I sometimes think that Adam woke up and began playing with his best friend, the dog. He was still wide-eyed with astonishment of the all animals yet, professing his enduring faithfulness to old Spot, saying something like "Yeah Spot, it's me and you forever! We'll always be best buds." But then, Eve walks by and gives him that little wink and smile that only a woman can. Yep, old Spot was probably wondering "What the heck just happened?" as Adam left him sitting there all alone.

Things seemed ideal for Adam and Eve. All they needed was there for them. They could do about anything they wanted except for one thing - God told them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That's it. One rule. Life was perfect. But as we know, it doesn't stay that way.

Eve and Adam were tempted. Again, we could get bogged down in the details, but to do so may keep us from seeing the big picture. They were tempted to become eat the fruit of this one tree which would make them wise. What's wrong with that? Wisdom, knowledge, that's a good thing, right? After all, we spend tens of thousands of dollars or more to acquire quality education. How could that be bad?

Several years ago, a young girl was tempted about having a physical relationship with her boyfriend. She knew of others who had engaged in such activity, seen it portrayed on television and the movies as something to be desired. She saw that it looked to be good. So, at the age of fourteen, she found herself pregnant. She tried to hide the result of her actions for a while, but as you can imagine and always happens, the truth eventually reveals itself. She could no longer go back to being at the place in life where her parents and friends weren't disappointed in her. Her life was forever changed from that one moment of indiscretion.

If we were to focus only on the details of this story of Adam and Eve eating the fruit, we may get caught up in trying to figure out how knowledge is bad. Once again, that would be missing out on seeing the whole, big picture. The problem is that they broke a sacred trust and that trust could never be restored. That perfect bond they enjoyed with God was forever shattered and there would be no way in which they could return it to its previous state.

But once again, the story does not end here. Though Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden and could no longer enjoy the intimacy of strolling through it alongside of God, there's more to the story. We are told that God loved them still and made clothes for them to wear. Through grace and mercy, God covered up their wrongs and allowed them to live just outside of the garden.

You and I live similar lives to Adam and Eve each day. Though God gives us what we need, we constantly look for more. We desire to acquire more. We want to be independent and self-sufficient, but all the while, it causes a rift in our relationship with God...and we suffer the consequences.

At various times in our lives, we will experience moments where the pain of our sin and wrongdoings will overwhelm us. We will feel like there is no hope and no future. But my dear friends, just because we may have messed up and maybe even abandoned God, God has not and will not abandon us. Just as God still loved Adam and Eve enough to clothe them with animal skins, God loves you and me enough to clothe us with grace - that unmerited love of which we cannot earn and do not deserve.

If you have read the first chapter of The Story, (which basically covers Genesis 1-9), you will note that there is a great deal more that I did not include. So, I invite you to go back and read it again, but this time, don't just focus on the details, but see how you can expand your understanding of God's love as it relayed in these pages. You cannot always see it if you look at just the small details, but it is ever so evident as we expand our gaze to take in the whole picture of God's story of love for you and for me.

September 1, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Value - Ba a Community of God

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Good morning! I am Tim Roberts the pastor here at Sunrise Church and let me take the time to welcome you and thank you for being here to worship Jesus Christ with us this morning. While I am sure that there were plenty of other things that you could have been doing this morning as we celebrate this Labor Day weekend, you chose to be here and I pray that you receive a blessing from God. Please pray with me.

[Prayer]

Folks, before we get started, I have got to say this, I don't know if I want to tell you how much I love you or how much you're killing me! I've been working more in the last few weeks than any other time in my eighteen years of ministry. In all honesty, I do love you and I want to thank you for you response to all that's going on and about to start here at Sunrise. So, please don't lighten up on it. We're following the vision that God has put out before us and we are being blessed for it.

As far as I have been able to gather information, this year is the first time in the history of Sunrise that our average weekly attendance has not gone down during the summer months. Normally we lose about 10-20% during the summer, but this year, we haven't gone down at all. We have maintained our average since the start of the year. I believe that it's because we are experiencing the excitement and momentum of following God's vision. I can't wait to see what God's going to do next. Amen?!

This morning, we are finishing this series we been going through since the beginning of summer, Our Heart and Soul in which we are looking in finer detail at out Mission, Vision, and Value Statements. As we have for several weeks, we are looking in depth at our Values, which we consider as those non-negotiable principles of which without, Sunrise would not be who we are or the church that God longs for us to be. The value that we are taking to heart this morning is: Be a Community of God.

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes a community?  Here's how Dictionary.com defines it:

1. A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

2. A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

This past week, I discovered that I have become fully integrated as a part of Sunrise. As people join the church, it often takes a while to become fully assimilated and know that you are part. Even for pastors, it sometimes takes a while. But it was this past Wednesday for me that this realization became clear to me as I was getting ready for work. Most of you probably received word by Phone Tree that Leigh Anne Shore's grandmother passed away and the funeral was held Wednesday.  So, I was getting ready to go to it and I started panicking. I was already up early to try and get here to help out with the Drive-Thru Breakfast, but I was having trouble getting dressed. After a few minutes of having a slight melt-down, I woke my soundly sleeping wife up to help me. Why was I panicked? Because I Have Become On of You - and I Could Not Find a Tie! So, for the first time in my life, I wore a suit without a necktie. That's how I figured I must really be part of this community now.

It's a good feeling knowing that you are really part of something. It gives us the sensation of being whole and complete. I believe that is why God has implanted within each of us the innate need to be in community.

While most communities help to fulfill that desire, their are times that it comes with a horrific price. In these instances, communities aren't just about including people, but also excluding some.

History is filled with examples of how certain communities have rallied together for the sole purpose of excluding people, just because they are different. Differences, even subtle differences have been used as justification to separate "us" from "them."

Last Wednesday marked the fiftieth anniversary of when one man publicly proclaimed that such practices are immoral.

You recognized that clip being that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his immortal, "I Have a Dream" speech. Here, fifty years later, it seems almost foreign to many of us that there was a time in our history, recent at that, where people were treated differently because of the color of their skin. 

Yet, on any given day, we are inundated with news stories of people who are still harassed and oppressed because of their ethnicity, gender, social status, wealth, sexual orientation, political alliance, heritage,...the list is as long as anyone can think of how another is "different."

In the recent couple of weeks, my heart has been broken for the Canadian family who received a letter from someone in their community - a hate letter - because their son is autistic.

Here are excerpts from that letter:

- "You have a kid that is mentally handicapped and you consciously decided that it would be a good idea to live in close proximity neighborhood like this????"        

- "He is a hindrance to everyone and will always be that way."

- "Do the right thing and move or euthanize him!!! Either way, we are ALL better off!!!"

Every time I read this letter, or any like that, I become incensed at the stupidity and lack of love and compassion that is evidenced by some people. I hope that you join me in my indignant reaction of insisting that "Something must be done! This has got to change!"

But how? How can we change a world that seems to be bent on becoming more divisive each day?

The day after the terrorist attack on New York City and the Pentagon, I sat in my Christian History class at Duke Divinity School. I was still in shock and still reeling in disbelief of the sheer horror that we had witnessed. I sat and wondered, just like you did...Why? It made no sense. Now I cannot tell you what we learned in class that day, but I can still tell you, almost verbatim, the prayer with which Dr. Wainwright opened class, because he included a phrase from an old and well-known hymn: This is my Father's world, O let me ne'er forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet."

Here today, we are still asking that same question, "Why?" But, this time, we are reminded, that if we are going to begin working through this problem, we first start with...God. So, let's take a look at how God has worked through a similar event before as we look at Paul's letter to the Church at Galatia, chapter 3.

Galatians 3.28 (CEB)

There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

This passage can serve as a guide for us today because the problem that Paul was addressing in it was that there were certain people in the church, the Jewish Christians, who were demand that if the Church was going to insist on including the Greeks, they being Gentiles or those who are not Jewish, then they had to also become Jews, in addition to believing in Jesus. For the men, that had to include circumcision. In essence, they were focusing on what made them different rather than what had the ability to unite.

But notice the way Paul puts it. He does not say that are both Jew and Greek; he says there is neither Jew nor Greek. In other words, he is proclaiming that the age-old distinctions must give way to a greater unity in Jesus.

So, what can we take away form this? I believe what we can learn is that our conformity is found not in our worldly identity, not in our race, gender, politics, occupation,...you name it. Our concordance is found in Christ alone, who gives us a new identity as children of God.

Of course, we all know that even if and when we break down our self-constructed barriers of isolation, we will still be of different mindsets. So what can we do about that?

There is a quote that is often attributed to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, but most Wesleyan scholars now agree, that it did not originate with him.

 “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity.” 

While John may not have said these words, they still capture the essence of our Wesleyan theology. We can come together on those non-negotiable principles that have been given to us by God. We can agree to disagree. We can love and respect others, even those with whom we disagree.

That is why Sunrise has adopted The Value to be a community of God. Please read it with me:

We are committed to be a Community of God - everyone, of all ages, gender, and races, are valued and accepted.

Being a Community of God means that we come together as a people broken by different thoughts, ideologies, preferences, skills, hopes, dreams, social status, wealth, race, gender, orientation, ethnicities. We come together, united by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who calls us each by name, to live in the fullness of the Community of God.

August 25, 2013 Our Heart & Soul: The Value - Our Relational Covenant

Good morning! I am Tim Roberts, the pastor here at Sunrise Church and I would like to join in with the whole church and welcome you to Sunrise. I pray that as you are with us this morning, you will feel right at home and also receive a special blessing from God for being with us. Please pray with me.

[Prayer]

This morning, we are continuing with this series, Our Heart and Soul, in which we are looking in finer detail at out Mission, Vision, and Value Statements. As we have for several weeks, we are looking in depth at our Values, which we consider as those non-negotiable principles of which without, Sunrise would not be who we are or the church that God longs for us to be.

The value that we are taking to heart this morning is: Our Relational Covenant. Please read it with me:

We live by our Relational Covenant - where respect and safety for all is the norm.

You may remember this story, or you may remember one like it, because it has happened many times over in many different places.  Several years ago, the ministers of a major city were gathered at a prominent church for their annual Christmas party.  Sometime during the evening, one of the custodians of the church found a tiny boy standing in the hallway crying.  A quick investigation revealed that the lad belonged to no one in the building.  Parking lots and properties near the church were checked with no avail.  The police were called and within minutes they sent bulletins to radio and television stations throughout the community.

Late that evening, there were reports that an out-of-state car had stopped at a service station north of the city.  Someone in the car asked if a little boy had been found at a downtown church; then the car disappeared into the night.  To my knowledge, the parents were never found.  The boy has since been placed in a splendid home where he has been raised with love and care.

What makes this story memorable though is what happened the morning after the little boy was found.  A newsman began his coverage of the story with these striking words: “Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through.”

Countless times throughout history, people have trusted the church and the church has come through as a safe place.  Unfortunately though, we also know that there have been times when people looked to the church as a safe place and it has been anything but.  What makes the difference – why is the church sometimes seen as a place of refuge and sometimes is a place of anguish?

This dichotomy is not a recent occurrence though.  Even in Jesus day, the religious organization suffered a sort of split personality.  For the devout Jews, the temple was a place of refuge and salvation.  But for those outside of the Jewish faith, they found nothing but a turned back.  It was for such a reason that Jesus stood up on a hillside one day and began to preach what we now know as the Sermon on the Mount. 

In this sermon, Jesus uttered these words that we find in Matthew 7:12

Matthew 7.12 (CEB)

Therefore, you should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you; this is the Law and the Prophets

Of course, by now, many of you recognize these words as the Golden Rule.  What you may not know though is that this saying was not original with Jesus.  In fact, some form of this saying had been well-known throughout most of human history.  At least five centuries before Jesus, Confucius had uttered a similar platitude saying:

“Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.” 

Also, in the Talmud, which is a collection of ancient Jewish writings of which Jesus would have been very familiar with, Rabbi Hillel said,

 “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.”  

But Jesus doesn’t follow the same premise of these thoughts; instead he gives them a different slant.  Up until now, all of these philosophies have had a negative tense to them – don’t do what you wouldn’t want to happen to you…  Jesus though focuses on doing what is right for others…as an initiatory – that is it compels us to be the one who acts out of love first.

Therefore, you should treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you; this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus’ way of understanding this rule is that it summarizes what it means to live in real relationship with God and all of God’s people.  He infers that those who will be real followers of God will be the instigators of radical love and hospitality.  As Jesus carefully reworded this principle – he was denouncing an age-old adage that many had lived by for centuries, and many still do.  It's like that old saying that many of us heard growing up, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.”  In a similar twist, this saying would be more like, "Say something about someone else that you would like someone to say about you."

I once read about a man who shortly before World War II believed that a global conflict was coming.  He decided to find a place where he could be safe despite what happened.  For some time, he studied the map of the world, searching for the perfect place to ride out the conflagration without being affected or involved. He chose an island that was one of the most remote and isolated places on the globe and then he moved there.  The island turned out to be none other than Guadalcanal, the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in human history. 

Try as we might, we cannot isolate ourselves from others, even when we believe that to do so is in the best interest. 

Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.”  To do so is to truly empathize with all those you encounter.  It reminds us that every person needs to be treated as if there is something in us that is invaluable, despite our brokenness.

Friends, that is the deepest desire of every heart...to be accepted for who we are and to feel that in spite of all that we are and all we have done, that we can still be loved unconditionally.  That unconditional love can only be fully expressed in the body of Christ, the Church.  It is not just a good idea for the church; it is the unconditional mandate that was left for us by Jesus.  Indiscriminate love for all mirrors God’s love.

So, where do we start?  We start by first once again living as the people of God, the Body of Christ who are redeemed by his blood.  We start by once again recommitting ourselves to living in the same relationship with each other as we live with God.

This morning, I have up here Our Relational Covenant that we developed during our God Into Focus event that we participated in last October. Through this exercise of prayer and holy conferencing, we discerned this to be how God is calling us to live and respond to one another, as it embraces the essence of the Golden Rule.  You have seen this before, as we took the time to review it back in November and those present came forward to sign it. But for some, this may be the first time that you have seen it.

Once again this morning, we are encouraging you to covenant with one another to begin to live in harmony and recognize that that which binds us together (God) is far stronger than what seeks to divide us (our disagreements).

I invite you to read The Relational Covenant with me.

Whether or not you are affiliated with this church, this is a covenant that if you strive to live by will change the way you see others and how you will relate to them.  You will begin to see others for who they really are, fellow children of God.

Now for those all who are members of Sunrise, and for those all who, while may not be members, but call this church their home, we have another opportunity for you to make this a covenant between one another.  As the band begins to play, we ask for you to prayerfully consider making Sunrise a real sanctuary, a real safe place.  If and when you are ready, come to the front and sign your name to this covenant, if you haven't already, or come up and touch you name, if you have – as a lasting reminder that we agree that that which binds is stronger than what separates us, and that we can live and love as Christ lived and loved.

After you sign or touch your name, I would like to encourage you to take a moment to bow your head in prayer as you ask God to strengthen you to remember today – the day you covenanted to make Sunrise United Methodist Church a safe place for all.

Benediction

Romans 15:7

So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!