11/28/2021 = Jeremiah 33:14-16 = Making Room … for Hope

(Click HERE for the FB video of this service, starts at 5:50, sermon starts at 18:50)

(Click HERE to donate to LPC’s mission and ministries)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

Jeremiah 33:14-16                                                                                                  First Sunday of Advent, 11/28/2021

 “Making Room … for Hope!”                                                                                   Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

MP3 – Hope Waits Accompaniment

Welcome everyone! Happy Advent!

We all know how the pandemic of 2020-’21 has laid bare, and widened, economic disparity locally and globally. As we enter the Advent season, how can our church become a house where the Holy will be born anew–offering respite, sustenance and care, opening the doors ever wider to those seeking shelter from the onslaught of life? No one church can do it all, but each can do something. As we study the biblical prophets that call us to care for our neighbors and “make room in the inn”, the lonely and frightened spaces within us are filled with the light of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 1

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Advent Song of Hope

Hope waits for us at Advent   Hope waits for us to trust.

    Hope waits for our commitment          to a land that’s kind and just.

In this time of preparation    for the work of co-creation,

      for the birthing of a world          that heals the ones in pain. Hope is born in us again!

Lighting the Advent Candle of Hope  . . . . . . Gerri  & Scott Lockwood

Scott: Today we offer the Light of Hope to illumine the Door of Welcome.

Gerri: May this light shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our church.

Scott: May Hope awaken us to possibilities and lead us to greater hospitality.

Gerri: There IS room in this Inn, a House for the Holy.

Scott lights the Advent Candle of HOPE

MP3 – Hope Waits Verse 1

4-5  

Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … maintaining a sense of HOPE by:

“Wearing your mask   while inside the building.”

We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Using the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:1-4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Hope of Christ be with you – and also with you!”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #482 – My Hope Is in the Lord – led by Lilly Haeger!!Please join her and sing these words proclaiming our hope together.

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We pray with the Psalmist in Psalm 25:4-5:

Make Your ways known to us, Lord; teach us Your paths.

Lead us in Your truth – teach it to us – because You are the God who saves us.

We put our hope in You all day long.  Amen.

In this Advent Season of discovering the Inn where the Holy Family was staying, of hearing that we are welcomed into the Inn that welcomed Mary and Joseph, and then of becoming the Inn where “God with us” enters into our lives and where God now dwells, and where we, in the image of God, welcome others into God’s presence with us… let’s imagine, with appropriate biblical references, Old Testament promises and prophecies and New Testament proclamations and professions, what that place looked like, what it sounded like, what it smelled like, how it felt, what it means … for us … today.

Today, from the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah we hear recollection and that call, from Jeremiah 33:14-16 —-

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33 ¹⁴ The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land.

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¹⁶ In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

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Jon Berquist, Old Testament professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, in an interview about this theme, reminds his hearers that In Old Testament thought, in Hebrew Bible thought, everything gets chased back to the Law [the Ten Commandments, and more], and the Law is seen as a gift from God for the building of a strong community. It’s a gift that God takes so much time to explain to us how we should be living together. Because living together is not easy …. We will step on each other’s toes and get in each other’s way, and be a pain in each other’s backside … a lot, whether that’s family or church or society.

And so we really need instruction on how to live together, how to be good neighbors, how to take care of each other effectively.” Berquist says, “Those things that we think should be second nature, well, they’re built into us as our first nature, but that still doesn’t make them obvious until we take the time to think through.”

“So the prophets build on that tradition that everything God gives us in creation and in Scripture is a way for us to treat each other better. For us to be a more caring and compassionate community for God’s people, for God‘s creation.  The prophets are the loud voices in their societies who see what’s happening and stand up and say, ‘Some of what we’re doing is wrong, some of what we’re doing is exclusive.’

“There are practices around us that are hurting people and not helping them. We have always lived in a world where some people hoard, and some go without, and where some build barns to hold an infinite and growing number of possessions and other people don’t have houses. And prophets are always calling us to make the changes to share more equitably these riches of community that are given freely.”

In this Advent Season, even with our chocolate Advent calendars and our Jesse Trees, we build expectation and anticipation for the amazing event that we know is coming, but the Church also recognizes it as a penitential season, as a time to look forward and outward, but also a time to look inward and at how we are doing inside ourselves.

And we do this at a time of year where every day gets shorter and darker.

It is good for us to have this balance of penitence and expectations, to recognize that we need to change inside as the world is changing outside.

Jon Berquist says, “The Jeremiah passage always seems stuck to me between a couple of other things. There’s this talk of, ‘I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line,’ that echoes back to Isaiah’s prophecy, which often gets picked up in Advent. Isaiah talks about a shoot that springs forth, but it springs forth from the stump of Jesse, David’s father. And that speaks to me,” he says, “so compellingly about what happens when we can’t find that hope, when we feel like a tree that has been cut off at the stump without a possibility for life. And in this Christmas season, so many of us who’ve had troubling relationships with families have that sense of being a stump that’s cut off from the rest of what gave us life.”

During COVID, there’s this pandemic that’s gone viral, but there’s also the pandemic of loneliness and separation leaving so many feeling cut off in this economy, where so many people are cut out and left out and discarded in a time when perhaps our church is wondering if there is growth left ahead or if we are reaching an end. Right? Is this true?

Who here can relate to the idea that some days we feel like stumps? Right? But Berquist reminds us that it is precisely from the stump that the shoot and the branch can grow forth, and learning to see not just the injuries and the lack in the world, but to see the potential that exists in those stumps.

Jeremiah announces God’s gracious promise …  that … I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. …  And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

This is where the theme of Hope comes to play: Our righteousness is not a duty. Our righteousness is what it means to come alive again.

We so often see Righteousness paired with justice, God will do what is just and right in the land. This has nothing to do with a feeling that we’re better than someone else or that we are justified in what we do. Rather, it is the process of lifting others up. It is the process of finding where people’s needs are and addressing our energies fill to those places of need. Rather than trying to make people fit into the boxes that we think people should fit into, we welcome them where they are, bringing help and growth right there. We bring the light of the Gospel, the Hope of life in Jesus.

And it’s not that God lifts us up and gets us out of the muck, and keeps us clean. It’s that we, together with God, like God did in that basement stable at the Inn in Bethlehem, we get down on our hands and knees and the dirt and we plant things that will grow like a righteous branch.

And that branch someday becomes big enough that it can provide housing.

And someday becomes big enough to provide shelter.

Someday it becomes big enough to be the welcoming Inn.

But on the day we plant it … we don’t see it.

Catch this hope: in this passage from Jeremiah, where the prophet is going with this. Because it’s in the next chapter that Jeremiah says that God will set a new covenant. And will place that new covenant in a new heart that God will place within us, Immanuel!

So, as we talk about housing the holy, the idea that God is fashioning a new heart to go inside us, we see the incarnation that this season leads to.

For Jeremiah, he’s just a chapter away from talking about that. And the righteousness leads so quickly to a new heart for everyone of us.

On this first Sunday of Advent 2021 we re-discover the hope of faithful connection with the God of righteousness, and our connections to our fellow neighbors.

As we are welcomed into God’s presence, may we be such an invitingly warm welcome of righteousness to everyone around us.

There’s real Hope in that! Amen. 

13   Preparing Our Hearts in Prayer,   

MP3 – Make My Heart a Stable – Advent 1

Make of my heart a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for hope to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our hearts to honesty before God

about what we’ve done and left undone that created less hope in a hurting world.

Let us breathe out this regret… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the life-giving, forgiving Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

14    Make of my life a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for hope to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of our lives to the call of the Holy Spirit,

inviting us to become more than we can ask or imagine.

Let us breathe out our fear… [pause to breathe out]

  and breathe in the courage of the Spirit of God… [pause to breathe in]

and out again, with the Peace of Christ… [another breath out].

15    Make of our church a stable, a house for the holy, a warm and sturdy place for hope to live and grow.

In this moment we open the doors of this church,

filling it with the compassion of Christ for all those who are struggling.

We remember and pray for…

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We pray this day for … [call out a name or a situation]  

… those who are suffering economic hardship, and insecurity in basic needs;

may abundance be shared.

… those who are suffering mentally, finding it difficult to cope;

may paths open and hope return.

… those who are suffering illness or injury;

may healing abound.

…. those who are suffering loneliness and isolation;

may companionship and solace arrive.

… those who are suffering discrimination, fear and violence;

may they know respect, respite, and safety.

May the Advent of Compassion be born in us,

reside within us,

move outward from us,

to meet the needs of the world,

making a house for the Holy that is each and every child of God.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray:

19   [The Lord’s Prayer]

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The Bible doesn’t actually mention an Innkeeper in the story of Jesus’ birth. But this popular notion is alive in our imaginations. Sometimes the Innkeeper gets a bad rap, as if providing substandard accommodations for a family about to have a baby.

But what if we saw the innkeeper as someone who, with a full house, thought literally “outside the box” to solve a problem?

What if we endeavored to do the same to provide ministry, to “house the Holy” in ways we have not yet imagined?

This Advent season may our tithes and offerings stoke the possibilities for our own hospitality.

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

Expedition Song  – O Little Town of Bethlehem   #155 –!  – Mark!  Each week of this series we will “expedite” with a Christmas Carol. Yes, Advent is not yet the birth of Christ. However, as we prepare our homes and this house for the Holy, we live in the “already and not yet”. We already know “the rest of the story” AND YET we have not seen the fulfillment of a time when suffering ends. Today we sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” a carol written by Phillips Brooks in 1865 after a horseback ride between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.

An original verse not included in our hymnals is especially poignant for our theme – pay special attention to verse 4 today:

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Let us remember that it was in a little and unassuming town where the Holy was housed. We too can offer light and hope and a place where “faith holds wide the door,” even and especially in our little town.

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We continue with this benediction:     May God’s Door of Welcome
swing open in our hearts and in our lives.
 
May Christ’s humble first dwelling
remind us of the plenty we already know.
 
And may the Holy Spirit lead us into
more possibility and hospitality
than we can imagine,
making room in The Inn for all.
 
May it be so for you. May it be so for us.
May it be so for this church. Amen.

26-27   Announcements      

Resources: 

McFee, Marcia; “The Inn”; Worship design Studio; 2021. (Interviews with Jon Berquist and Grace Imathiu.)

11/21/2021 = Matthew 24:11-14 = Talking the Walk: Fake News vs Good News

(Click HERE to find the FBLive video feed of this service, starts at 8:30, sermon starts at 23:00, Congregational Budget Meeting is from 51:30-65:00)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Church’s mission and ministries. Thank you for your faithfulness.)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

Matthew 24:11-14                                                                                                  

Christ the King Sunday, 11/21/2021

 “Talking the Walk … Good News in a World of Fake News!                                

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

1    

Welcome everyone!

Did you all hear that Gov Inslee cancelled Thanksgiving this year – not just the big group gatherings – he said we are not allowed to give thanks for anything in 2021!!?

Wait! That is FAKE NEWS! Of course Gov Inslee did not outlaw Thanksgiving! I mean, he could have, because what IS there to be thankful for?

Wait – Kathy, takes notes for our prayer-time – what are you Thankful for? [Shout out your thanksgivings!]

Those answers all represent GOOD NEWS, don’t they?!

Good news CAN be fake news – right? Who here has ever believed that maybe you really were the winner of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes? Right/ $7,000/week for life would be good news – but almost always, it’s not really going to be us. Or a Nigerian Prince wanting to give you several million dollars… Or a rich uncle dying and you’re the only relative….

But today we talk about THE Good News vs the Fake News!

2-3  

Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for …

“Wearing your mask   while inside the building.”

We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Using the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:1-4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Lord be with you – and also with you!”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Join in our Call to Worship from several passages from the several Bible verses  led by … Pastor Kathy

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Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #92 – Crown Him with Many Crowns – led by Donna & Ken Stone!!Please join them and sing with words proclaim your faith together.

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Through the Written Word,

And the spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word,

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Fall we have been in a series of sermons from God’s Word.

This series has not been about how we Walk the Walk of Faith, but rather how we TALK the Walk of Faith. How do we speak about God’s righteousness and grace, justice and mercy, truth and love when we live in a world that does not believe, maybe even that tries to shame us when we do believe.

Today, from the Gospel According to Matthew we listen to Jesus Himself, we hear the Word of God, from Matthew 24:11-14 —- (But I will start at the beginning of the chapter):

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24 ¹ Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. ² But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”

³ As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. ⁵ For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake. ¹⁰ Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another. 

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¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray. ¹² Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

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Christ the King Sunday, or some churches call it The Reign of Christ Sunday, culminates the liturgical calendar. The Church Year ends today, recognizing the truth we have known all year – that Christ is King of all kings and Lord of all lords – to the exclusion of every competitor.  Amen?

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On this last Sunday in this sermon series on Talking our Walk of Faith, we hear Jesus, and Paul, and Jude (who calls himself the brother of James, whom the very early Church Fathers thought was James the brother of Jesus – therefore Jude also a brother of Jesus), we listen to these describe an important aspect of worshiping Jesus as Christ the King!

In this nearly closing chapter of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells us to reject false teachers and to keep proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom to all nations – King of all peoples, Lord of all nations!

Jesus is not the only one to tell us this. Every single book of the New Testament warns the Church about false teachers – about Fake News! All four Gospels, the history book of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul’s every Epistle, the other letters at the end of the New Testament, and the prophecy book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. They all warn us to be aware of and to reject the Fake News.

Listen to these excerpts from Paul’s Epistle to the Christian Community in Ephesus:

Ephesians  4:¹⁵ …  speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ,

¹⁷ This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸ being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ²⁰ But you didn’t learn Christ that way, ²¹ if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

²⁵ Therefore putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, and don’t sin.” (Psalm 4:4) Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ and don’t give place to the devil. ²⁸ Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰ Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5: ³ But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; ⁴ nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore don’t be partakers with them. ⁸ For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ⁹ for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, ¹⁰ proving what is well pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them. ¹² For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word ( from the Greek “ῥῆμα” [rhema], which means “spoken word”) of God … ¹⁹ on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

What are these “false teachers” and “corrupt … empty worded … inappropriate  … children of darkness” teaching? What is the “Fake News” Jesus and Paul are warning us about?

• Some teach that sharing our faith, or speaking the truth of the Gospel, is an “Arminian” sin.
• Some that what we wear makes us holy or un-holy.
• Some that life style choices and free sexual mores make no difference.
• Some teach that we earn our salvation by good works – that we have to be good enough to deserve heaven.
• Some that God’s grace means that obeying the Ten Commandments, or any other biblical command , is not necessary – God will forgive us anyway, so go ahead and cheat, steal, gossip, commit adultery.
• This list goes on and on. We see it in all kinds of religions around us – from ancient eastern religions to much more recent American-born religions like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter Day Saints and Prosperity Gospel televangelism and Progressive Social Gospel “anything goes” and Right-wing science-ignoring extremism. Fake News because it denies the Good News!

Jude, the brother of James (and Jesus) urges us to “contend for the faith that once delivered to the saints”. To “contend” means to agonize intensely in both work and word!

1. Reject the Fake News! How do we know what News is Fake and what News is Good?
   1. Read the Good News! Know what the Bible says! Learn what God says, what God’s Good News sounds like – and reject anything that sounds different! Test what we hear, and hold it against the light of the Gospel!
   1. Harry York, president of Reformed Theological Seminary, in Pittsburgh, PA, says, “The Church must turn to and uphold its confession of faith.”
      1. “Jesus is Lord” is the earliest confession of faith. (I Corinthians 12:3, Romans 10:9, Philippians 2:11)
      1. Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
   1. York goes on to warn us that Facebook friends and family will call us arrogant, mean-spirited, narrow-minded – but Jesus promises Immanuel – God with us. Know God’s Word and reject Fake News.
2. All of these passages talk about “moral truth” as well as “theological Good News”. Moral truth means that how we live, what we accept as acceptable matters. “Detest what is immoral”.
   1. But we must base “morals” on God’s Word – not simply on what our culture has taught us, or our personal preferences. How we dress, the music we listen to, the people we “hook up with” – what does God’s Word tell us?
   1. And with humility and gentleness, listen to God’s Word carefully. I Peter, remember from last week, tells us to speak the truth not to condemn but to offer God’s love – gently and respectfully.

If Jesus really is Lord – then what Jesus says is important! Listen to Him and discern Good News from Fake News.

Friend – God loves you – so that He gave His only Son for you, that if you believe him and receive Him your life shall not simply perish but you will have eternal life with Him!

          Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again!

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Awake my soul and sing of Him Who died for thee

And hail Him as thy Matchless King    through all eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of Life   Who triumphed o’er the grave

And rose victorious in the strife   for those He came to save

All hail, Redeemer, hail!       For Thou has died for me;

Thy praise shall never, never fail    throughout eternity.

15-17    Pastor Kathy, please come and lead us in prayer,    We pray this day for … [call out a name or a situation]  

18   [The Lord’s Prayer]

19 

We receive Tithes and Offerings as a way to put our words of faith into action. Truly, God blesses us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly.

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

20   Congregational 2022 Budget Meeting

21   2022 Budget Page 1

22   2022 Budget Page 2

23   2022 Budget Pie Chart

Expedition Song  – King of Kings and Lord of Lords   #110 –!  – Mark!

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As followers of Jesus, , may we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ,be filled with the power of Holy Spirit Life, ,  and give glory to God today and every day!  Amen. 

26   Announcements 

Resources: 

York, Barry J.; “Contending Discourse”; TableTalk; August 2020; Pp. 34-35.

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/call-to-worship-for-christ-the-kingreign-of-christ-sunday

11/14/2021 = I Peter 3:13-16 = Talk the Walk: Words of Good News

(Click HERE to view this service on Facebook Live, starts at 10:00, sermon begins at 24:30)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood church’s mission and ministries – THANK YOU)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

I Peter 3:13-16                                                                                        

11/14/2021

 “Talking the Walk … Words of Good News!                                                         

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

1    

Welcome everyone!

Who’s ready for a pop quiz?  (Last Sunday I gave you one with no warning, and, of course, y’all got a 100%! Last Sunday I needed you to complete this sentence cultural pop wisdom: Actions speak louder than _____ —  what? [WORDS – exactly]

Today’s pop quiz asks: Faith without works is _____ —  what? [DEAD – exactly]  James 2:14-17: ¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

So last Sunday we talked about how our words and our actions need to go hand-in-hand, side-by-side. One elaborates on the other – at the same time.

Actions, we all agree, are important! But words also are important. That was our emphasis last week. Today we see a little more clearly how they function together.

2-3  

Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for …

“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”

We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Using the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:1-4

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Lord be with you – and also with you!”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Join in our Call to Worship from Matthew’s Gospel led by … Linda Tufto

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Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #514 – Blessed Assurance – led by Chan & Sherry Park and Deanna & Gene Peden!!Please join them and sing with words proclaim your story of faith together.

6-8  

9  

Through the Written Word,

And the spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word,

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Fall we are in a series of sermons from God’s Word to take us through next weekend.

This series is not about how we Walk the Walk of Faith, but rather how we TALK the Walk of Faith. How do we speak about God’s righteousness and grace, justice and mercy, truth and love when we live in a world that does not believe, maybe even that tries to shame us when we do believe.

Today, from the New Testament letter written by one of Jesus’ most vocal apostles, we hear the Word of God, from I Peter 3:13-16 —-

9  

¹³ “Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing what is good?  [“doing good” is actions!] ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Never be afraid of their threats, and never get upset.

 ¹⁵ Instead, exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have. ¹⁶ But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in Christ [“your good conduct” is more actions!] will be ashamed of slandering you.” 

—9—  

When we follow Christ through difficult times, through hardship, people take notice. When we follow Christ even when persecuted, the whole world takes notice! On a large scale, when that Amish community was attacked in 2006, they forgave their attacker, and the news media was in shock. In 2015, when Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina was shot up, they prayed for their shooter, and the whole world saw God’s grace. When Rev. Craig Goodwin, Millwood Presbyterian Church’s pastor a few years back, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the nurses and caregivers wondered at his peace.

The non-believing world around us sees the hope of the Gospel, and they will ask where that hope comes from!

That hope and peace is found in a saving relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. If your faith is real, your hope and peace is just as real as theirs. We expect and count on an eternal Victory because Christ has promised “salvation”. 

Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a fore-taste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

          This is my story, this is my song

          Praising my Savior all the day long!

This experience of suffering and endurance, of faith and hope, this is what lies behind this passage in I Peter we read this morning.

Thor Madsen, New Testament professor and dean of Doctoral Studies at Midwestern Theological Seminary in KC, MO, says, “In verse 13 the Apostle presents a general rule: good behavior invites peace, not suffering. If we do not ask for trouble, we tend not to get it; however verses 14-15, Peter resumes a darker theme introduced in his first chapter. God has called us to suffer and then to explain what keeps us going through bad times.”

The truth is, the world around us will ask what keeps us going, why we still have hope and peace, and we need to be ready to answer. “Exalt Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.”

Most of us are a little hesitant, nervous, scared-to-death, to even allow our neighbors or our children or our parents or our siblings, our colleagues, our nurses and caregivers, the social media, the world around us, to even allow them to ask questions of our faith. Most of us are afraid for one of two reasons: 1) what if they’re right and my faith doesn’t have what t takes to answer their questions?; 2) what if my faith really does have the answers, but I don’t know what they are?

This morning I am throwing three facts to you; three facts to calm those fears and to offer confidence:

1. Paul assures us that everybody, non-believers and believers alike, understands that God exists. Even the most ardent atheist and most querisome agnostic believes that God exists, that God created every one of us, and that we owe our lives to this God. What’s the old Veterans’ saying? “There’s no atheists in a foxhole.”

It’s true that our dearest atheist friends will deny this as a fact, but Paul says in Romans 1:28 that even the most science-minded atheist stands in wonder of a night-sky of stars, the majesty of mountain peaks, the beauty of birds and butterflies. That wonder, majesty and beauty point them to the Creator!

• No other religion or world philosophy can compete with Christianity’s logistics, because Christianity addresses all of life’s big questions:
• Where does the universe come from?
• What makes the universe act in predictable ways that science can measure? 
• Can we trust our minds and our senses to inform us about the world around us and about the principles of reason and value?
• Do objective values really exist?

We will not argue someone into belief, but the answers to these questions add to the defense of the Gospel – they offer us reasons to explain the hope we have.

These are the kinds of questions that C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel asked when they tried to prove the fallacy of Christian understanding – and their research led them to fully believe the truth claims the Church makes.

I am not saying that every researcher reaches the same conclusion – but that for those whom God calls to His Glory the truth of New Testament claims become irrefutable.

• And this third one may be the most important to recognize: No belief system will answer every question we might bring to it – including Christianity. Some mysteries will remain mysterious. God is bigger than our brilliance can understand. What’s the saying? “A god we can explain is too small to be the God we need.”
• How is God a Trinity – Three-in-One?
• How is the second Person of the Trinity both fully human and fully divine?

The mysteries of Christian faith boldly state “Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again”

We bear witness to the Resurrection when we still believe, when we hope beyond hope, even in the midst of struggle and turmoil.

But also – when we are asked questions – whether they are honest questions asked by sincere seekers, or sarcastic questions asked to trip us in our own mysteries – that’s OK. It is OK to say, “That’s a great question that I do not have an answer for … yet.” Just admit that we don’t have a credible answer.  That’s OK.  Remember that Peter tells us to be ready with a reason for the hope we have, with gentleness and humble respect!

It is vital to remember that it is not, ultimately, up to you or me to save sinners – only God can do that. It is just such a privilege that God invites you and me to participate with Him.

Our job, one might say, is to be ready to invite people, as Philip does to Nathanael in John 1:46, to “Come and see.” St. Augustine, Bishop of the young Roman Catholic Church in the city of Hippo Regius in modern day Algeria, found faith in the challenge to “take up and read” the Scriptures – a late 4^th Century way of saying “Come and see”.

We Talk the Walk of Faith by being ready with reasons for the hope we carry! And our answers to skeptics’ questions, gentle and respectful, must always keep our neighbors’ hearts and souls at the center of our Talk.

We love, because God first loved us. Those are the Words of the Good News that give us hope – always. 

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Perfect submission, all is at rest – I in my Savior and happy and blest; watching and waiting, looking above, filled with His goodness, lost in His love – THIS is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

I love to tell the story of unseen things above, Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.

            I love to tell the story because I know ’tis true; It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.

11-13    We pray this day for … [call out a name or a situation]  

14   [The Lord’s Prayer]

15 

We receive Tithes and Offerings as a way to put our words of faith into action. Truly, God blesses us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly.

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

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¹⁶ Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. II Corinthians 4:16-18

Expedition Song  – I Love to Tell the Story   #498 –!  – Lilly Haeger!

17-22

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As followers of Jesus, , may we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ,be filled with the power of Holy Spirit Life, ,  and give glory to God today and every day!  Amen. 

24   Announcements

25   November Birthdays!   8 – Del deLeon             14 – Jennie Bernet     30 – Louise Anderson

This is your Birthday song – it isn’t very long…..   Happy Birthday!

Resources: 

Madsen, Thor; “Apologetic Discourse”; TableTalk; August 2020; Pp. 33-34.

II Cor 4:16-18

¹⁶ Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

11/07/2021 = James 1:19-27 = Talk the Walk: The Reach of Our Speech

(Click HERE to watch the FBLive video of this service – starts at 7:45, sermon at 22:15)

(Click HERE to donate to Lidgerwood Presbyterian)

1                                                                                      

 Mark Wheeler

James 1:19-27                                                                     

11/07/2021

 “Talking the Walk … The Reach of Speech!                                                         

Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church 

1     

Welcome everyone!

Someone holler out and tell me – Actions speak louder than _____ —  what? [WORDS – exactly]

Everybody knows that when our words and our actions don’t match – it’s always the actions that are believed!

But that does not mean that words are not important.

Maybe you’ve heard the old, old illustration of the couple that’s been married for 20 years, and the wife one day asked the husband if he still loved her. Through her tears she cried , “I haven’t heard you tell me you love me in such a long time….”

And the husband answered, “I told you I loved you 20 years ago when we were standing at that altar – I’ll tell you when that changes…”

Right/ the actions, obviously are important – but so are our words!

Last Sunday, as I was reminding our worship community that …

… to that end, having obeyed the rules, debated the vaccines, washed our hands, kept our distance, and we are still wearing masks! And we are still listening with hope-filled ears for the day when we can “go back to the way things used to be”. (Something that will never happen – both for better and for worse.)

For now, we are still holding on to some COVID caution … with this … current policy regarding masks and seating:

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While we have removed the pew-separators for folks who are fully vaccinated – please politely ask before sitting near someone to make sure everyone is as comfortable as we can all be with seating arrangements!

But, for now we are again asking people to listen to the newest CDC guidelines, which recommend that we:

“Wear a mask while inside the building.”

And then, last Sunday, I said that

No one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Using the Philippians 2:4 passage:

“If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.”  Philippians 2:1-4

Those are all important words – words which our Elders and I believe are true – words if not communicated would go un-heard and un-heeded; but those words were then followed by me picking on one of our own who was un-masked, whom I fear I made feel judged and unsafe. My actions may have denied my words – and I apologize for that. But, please, still, with the action of wearing a mask, tell us you love and respect the people around you…..

We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.

CAMERA   

Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Lord be with you – and also with you!”

Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.

Join in our Call to Worship from several passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs led by … Pastor Kathy

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Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #60 – Great Is Thy Faithfulness – led by Lilly Haeger and Sharon Ramm!!Please join them and sing with words that matter.

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10  

Through the Written Word,

And the spoken word,

May we know Your Living Word,

Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

This Fall we are in a series of sermons from God’s Word to take us through Thanksgiving weekend.

This series is not about how we Walk the Walk of Faith, but rather how we TALK the Walk of Faith. How do we speak about God’s righteousness and grace, justice and mercy, truth and love when we live in a world that does not believe, maybe even that tries to shame us when we do believe.

Today, from the New Testament letter written by the younger brother of Jesus, we hear the Word of God, from James 1:19-27 —-

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¹⁹ So, then, my beloved brothers, let every one be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of humans doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. 

²¹ Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word,

which is able to save your souls. 

²² But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

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²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at your natural face in a mirror; 

²⁴ for he sees himself, and goes away,

and immediately forgets

what kind of person he was. 

²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

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²⁶ If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this one’s religion is worthless. 

²⁷ Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction,

and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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During the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, small clicks could be heard across the French countryside as tracer bullets light up the night sky behind the German lines. The paratroopers of the 82^nd Airborne were responsible for the clicking noise. By pressing the edges of the golden rectangular box which had been nicknamed the “cricket,” the paratroopers sent out a click-click sound across the countryside every time they heard a twig break or noticed a shadowy figure in the distance. If the nearby person was an American paratrooper, he would respond with a click-click-click-click. Using the little cricket, the American paratroopers were able to locate each other and the move on to capture the bridges and other important locations that would prevent the Nazis from rushing tanks to the French coast and would guarantee the success of the famed D-Day invasion.

Peter Witkowski, in his cleverly named blog , the Witkowski Blog, says, “Today, Christians find themselves living in a dark world behind enemy lines. Yes, Jesus has come and died and been raised again. Yes the kingdom of God is marching forward. But Satan still sits on the throne of this world. Darkness still touches every corner of the globe.

“Within this context, believers struggle trying to find true faith. Yes, the ‘click’ of the gospel has gone forth. But what does the response to the gospel sound like? What does true faith sound like? What is the ‘click-click-click-click’ sound of the Christian faith? How do I know if I am a believer? How do I know if my children, friends, Sunday School teacher, and even my pastor loves the Lord? What is the difference between someone who pretends to be godly and someone who is godly?”

James says it’s in the words and the deeds of our lives.

Nathan Busewitz, author of a book called “Long Before Luther”, says, “It is common to ask what genuine Christianity looks like…. A less common but equally valid question is this: What does true Christianity sound like?” And then he says, “The Bible provides a wealth of instruction on the type of speech and conversation that honors God.”

Our passage in James 1 is the beginning of that discussion! The proof of our faith is found in our obedience to Christ, faith that saves our souls and our relationships and maybe even our planet. But James wants us to understand that obedience to Christ is also heard from the sounds of our lips, our words.

“If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue … this one’s religion is worthless.” What? If we don’t “control our tongue, our religion is worthless”!? We gotsta watch what we say? The sound of faith is indeed in our words!

So, while the emphasis in James deals with our actions – faith without works is dead, and all – the first “work” James talks about is watching our words!  James puts this in the negative: “those characterized by reckless and ruinous discourse may claim to be religious, but their mouths betray the malice of their hearts.” 

Jesus warns us, in Matthew 12:37, that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

James’ protection against that kind of speech is to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of humans doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.  In chapter 3 James continues this teaching with the dramatic imagery of how an “unbridled tongue” is a “blazing forest fire”, wild beasts, and brackish springs, creating devastation and destruction in their wake.

None of this was new advice, of course. Our Call to Worship this morning comes from King Solomon’s words of wisdom from nearly a thousand years before Christ. And this counsel comes from political and literary minds, as well. It was Abraham Lincoln (or maybe Ben Franklin, or perhaps Mark Twain – I always forget) who said something about how it’s better to be thought a fool, than to open our mouths and be proven one!  Slow to speak…..

James, it seems, was primarily confronting hateful and hurtful speech aimed at fellow believers, including sins such as gossip, slander, backbiting, cursing; but an “unbridled tongue” can also be characterized by lying, boasting, flattery, complaining, grumbling, … These things indicate a “worthless religion”, or a faith that is not real. We can test our own faith by listening to our own rants – and then repenting!!

The Reach of our Speech goes so much farther than we can guess – especially if  you’re in politics or entertainment. Today’s world where there are video cameras in almost every pocket, and sites like Tik-Tok® and YouTube® means my speech can possibly go viral and across the globe in an instant.

But let me be quick, before we use our words in prayer and dedication, to say that we sinners are not saved by holy speech (or any other good work). James is sure to say that we are saved by grace, though faith alone!

And when our hearts are transformed by the Good News Gospel of Jesus Christ, our lives and our lips are transformed, too. This means that, as Christians, what we say matters – and how we say it! Our lives bear the fruit of Holy Spirit – and our words will Talk that Walk with integrity.

That’s what true Christianity sounds like.

15  

16  

We receive Tithes and Offerings as a way to put our words of faith into action. Truly, God blesses us with the rich, varied, and abundant gifts of creation. From God’s abundance, let us also give abundantly.

– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE; or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)

17  

Today we come to the Lord’s Table – a Table of welcoming words – words of grace and of challenge, words of peace and of hope. We come to this Table praying for God’s Words to be in our hearts and to come from our lips.

Prayer Page – Pastor Kathy, please come lead us in prayer – I’ll try to keep up with the screen pages of our different prayer requests.  –  Note that the Lord’s Prayer will come during the Communion Meal – Donna & Ken – you can come on up any time while Pastor Kathy is praying:

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Communion Song  – Let Us Break Bread Together   #776 –!  – Donna & Ken Stone!

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25     Pastor Kathy leads the Communion Service while Mark advances the slides and breaks the bread and pours the wine

26     Therefore we praise You, joining our words with words of angels, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all the faithful of every time and place, who forever sing these words to the glory of Your name:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,             heaven and earth are           full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.         Hosanna in the highest.

27  

28     Great is the mystery of faith:     Christ has died;     Christ is risen;      Christ will come again.

29  

30     [The Lord’s Prayer]

31  

Expedition Song  – God of Our Fathers   #419 –!  – Dick McCarter & Gary Ramm!

32-33

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As followers of Jesus, , may we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ,be filled with the power of Holy Spirit Life, ,  and give glory to God today and every day!  Amen. 

35   Announcements

Resources: 

Busenitz, Nathan; “Controlled Discourse”; TableTalk; August 2020; Pp. 30-32.

What Does True Faith Sound Like?