Who Do You Follow?

Who Do You Follow?
If someone were to walk through the streets of Sheridan/Norway this afternoon, calling to people as he walked through, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” What would your reaction be? Honestly—what would your reaction be? (wait for responses)…Can you think about what Simon Peter, Andrew, James, & John must have been thinking while Jesus was walking along the shore? Let’s set the scene a little bit more…
We start with Jesus learning of John the Baptist’s arrest…This is the same man who baptized Jesus, who was Jesus’ cousin…The man who was preaching the coming of the Messiah was now in jail…He was arrested because the message that he was preaching was not one that was favorable with the authorities…He was preaching of the coming of the Messiah, this king…so you can understand why the king wouldn’t want someone questioning his authority…Especially someone like John—who was someone who was dressed in camel’s hair and ate locusts and honey and lived in the wilderness…This was the kind of thing that could incite a revolution and that just wasn’t something that the king wanted to deal with at all…So, John was arrested…We know in the story that John never made it out of prison, John was beheaded in prison…The cost of John preaching his beliefs was ultimately his death…
At this point in the story though, John is alive…Just in prison…The news of John’s arrest wouldn’t have been contained to just a few people…John was pretty influential where he was and was preaching a powerful message and word got around…Plus it would have been in the interests of the political powers to let everyone know that the rabble-rouser was in prison and that speech like his would not be tolerated…
So, word of John’s arrest was probably spreading and here comes Jesus in the city of Galilee…In some ways picking up where John had left off, preaching “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” But also sharing more to the message…And as word of Jesus would have been starting to circulate around town, he encounters Simon Peter & Andrew working…fishing…And Jesus calls to them and tells them, “Come and follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
That’s a bold statement and a bold request…And can be a little confusing as well…What does it mean to fish for people? What is involved in this following? If Simon Peter & Andrew had those questions, Matthew doesn’t record them…Instead what Matthew records is that they immediately dropped their nets and followed…Immediately they dropped their nets and followed…And so I ask again… If someone were to walk through the streets of Sheridan/Norway this afternoon, calling to people as he walked through, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” What would your reaction be?
The truth is…That call is made more than we really realize…And it’s not just Jesus who makes that call…We are called to follow something from the very moment we get out of bed…Who are you going to follow today?
Are you going to follow your wants and hit the snooze button a couple of times when the alarm goes off…Are you going to follow what the TV tells you about the weather and dress accordingly or watch traffic patterns and take different routes…Are you going to listen to what researchers say and eat something for breakfast—something healthy and nutritious or something sugary and sweet? Are you going to follow what your boss tells you to do? Are you going to follow what your friends tell you to do? Whew…That’s a lot of questions and we have hardly gotten out of the house! Did you realize how many times a day that we hear that “Come and follow me?” And how many times a day that we respond? And in those responses…How many times do we question or hesitate? Maybe some…
Now, let’s be really honest…Jesus’ call to follow is not really the same as “What am I going to eat for breakfast?” While there can be debates on health issues and how breakfast can affect you for the day or your life…Answering Jesus’ call takes more than a casual thought…
Answering Jesus’ call takes dedication and faith…By following Jesus, it’s not a one way ticket to easy street…As we saw in John’s life—it can lead to some serious things—arrest or death…
These are all questions that Jesus didn’t answer when he called to Simon Peter & Andrew & James & John…They weren’t even asked then…Instead, Simon Peter & Andrew & James & John immediately left their nets and followed Jesus…
Jesus’ call to Simon Peter & Andrew & James & John weren’t just asked to believe in who Jesus was…They were asked to follow…That’s the same call that Jesus makes to us…We aren’t just called to believe in Jesus, although that’s part of it…We’re asked to follow Jesus…Although, some could argue that believing takes a lot of hard work, following Jesus takes a lot of hard work…It takes dedication and faith…It takes sacrifice and self-denial…Even though Jesus didn’t mention that in his call to the disciples…It was implicit in his statement…Follow Me.
Follow me and I will make you fishers of people…Follow me and you will join with me in this work…Follow me and we will spread the Good News of God with all people…Follow me…
Although it may be difficult to do at times, it’s not impossible…Jesus doesn’t say, join with me and I’m going to leave you alone for awhile…No, Jesus says “Follow me.” When you follow someone, that usually means that they are with you in some way, shape or form…Jesus calls, “Follow me.”
How are we going to answer that call? There are some ways that we, as individuals have answered that call…There are ways that we have immediately left our nets to follow Jesus…And there are ways that we are still hesitating to leave our nets…But Jesus calls to us…Follow me and I will make you fishers of people…There are ways that we as a church have answered that call…That we have immediately left our nets to follow Jesus…And there are ways that we are still hesitating to leave our nets…But Jesus calls to us…Follow me and I will make you fishers of people…
So now, it’s not just “someone” who is wandering around the streets of Sheridan/Norway calling to people as he walked through, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” But it’s Jesus who calls to us still…It’s not a random stranger, but someone who cares for us and loves us…Who wants us to join with on the journey…Who wants to lead us…Who wants us to love him…Who wants us to immediately leave our nets and follow…

Follow the Leader

Follow the Leader
Follow the leader can be a pretty fun game, as we saw with the kids this morning…There are many different ways to play the game just as there are many different ways to be a leader…In our passage for this morning from the Gospel of John, we have two different leaders…
The first leader that we encounter is John the Baptist…John had quite a following…There were people who came from all around to listen to him preach, to be baptized by him, and to be his disciples…John was very charismatic and had a very powerful message to share with the people of conversion and of faith…But throughout his ministry, John made it very clear that he was not the one that they were expecting…He was very honest that he knew that he was not the Messiah, but that he knew who was…
In order for John to understand that, he had a strong connection to his faith…He knew who he was as a child of God and who he was as a servant of God…John didn’t preach in a vacuum, he spent time with God to understand his relationship with God and to know what it was that he was there to preach about…Ultimately, it was not about John…It was about God…John made it clear to his disciples that he was not the Messiah…That it was not about him…The leadership that John showed was of one who was connected to God, connected to his faith, that he knew who he was as God’s servant and was able to share that with everyone…
That’s a kind of leadership that we can model…To know that it’s not about us at all…When we share our faith or tell others about Jesus, it’s not about us…it’s about God…It’s about what God has done for us, not what we have done for God…That whatever we do, it goes back to God…
Can you imagine if instead of focusing on God, John had focused on himself…Things would have been surely different…I would guess that had John not preached on God and the Messiah and instead preached on himself, we wouldn’t be reading or hearing about him…
It’s so counter-cultural to think that or to practice that…Our culture tells us that it’s all about us, that it’s about what we want, that’s about all the glory that we can get for ourselves…But that’s not what we are supposed to practice as Christians…We’re supposed to focus on God, not on ourselves…It’s not about the glory that we can amass for ourselves, it’s about what we can do for God…
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Holocaust Museum…The information that’s shared through pictures and words is heartbreaking and emotional…And there will be time to share more of that story sometime, but towards the end of the museum there were pictures and stories of those who had helped the victims of the Nazi regime…In one case there was a village who had hid and helped save many hundreds or thousands of people and got them to safety…When one villager was given praise and congratulated for all the work that they had done, the villager responded that they didn’t deserve any credit, they just did what was right…
It’s not about us…It’s about God…It’s not about what we want…It’s about what God wants…It’s not about the glory that we can get for ourselves, but it’s about what we do to build up the kingdom of God…
Paul Russebagina is an African man from Rwanda…Some may have heard his story through the movie Hotel Rwanda…In Rwanda, as the genocide was taking place, Paul held thousands of people in the hotel and kept them safe through bribery, words, gifts, and courage…I had the privilege to hear Paul speak a couple of years ago and during the question and answer period, someone said to Paul, “How can you celebrate what you did? You didn’t do much; millions of people were still murdered…” Paul was silent for a few seconds and then he said, “You’re right…I didn’t do much…I wish that I could have done more.” Paul was not out sharing his story for glory and riches; he was sharing his story so that people would know about what had happened…It wasn’t about him…
As John is talking with his disciples, he sees Jesus walk by and proclaims Jesus as the Lamb of God…In doing that, several of John’s followers left to follow Jesus…John didn’t stop them, but knew that it was about Jesus…It was about what Jesus had to do…
Jesus’ leadership is certainly one to model as well…There are countless stories of Jesus fighting for justice, sharing Truth, and honoring God…
Had Jesus been like the leader I tried to be in the game with the kids, where would we be? If Jesus had been negative about God… “Yeah, this God thing…It’s dumb…Nobody’s going to listen…It’s ridiculous…This faith thing is just not working for what I want and I certainly don’t want people to listen and follow…Let alone build churches…” What if Jesus had shared the message of God that way? Would we be sharing Jesus’ story? Jesus didn’t share his message that way…He was tough at times and spoke harshly at times…There are times when his words sting not only those Jesus was speaking to at the time, but sting to us here and now…Jesus’ message is not one about easy roads or easy answers, but about difficult questions and what it truly means to follow God…
While there are other images of leadership throughout the Bible, we have these two images of leadership this morning…And they speak strongly to who we are…How many times in our own lives have we not followed the leadership examples…Have we preached ourselves rather than preached about God? Have we shared about how awful worshipping God is or how terrible it is follow Jesus…Maybe not in so many words, but in our actions? It’s not about us, it’s about God…
What can we do to join with God and work with God? God is calling us to join in the work with God…God is calling us to reach out to all people…God is calling us to embrace children…God is calling us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the community, with the world at large…God is calling us to worship…God is calling us to be children of God…God is calling us to be servants of God…God is calling us…How are we going to respond to the call? There have been ways that we have already responded to the call both as individuals, and also as a church and there are ways that we are still responding to the call…There are ways that the call will evolve and change as we follow…God will be with us as we go forward…Let’s follow that leader…The leadership of God…

You Are Mine

You Are Mine
It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve all been together…A few weeks since we celebrated the birth of Jesus…And last week marked the official end of the Christmas season…It was also the first Sunday of the New Year which we began with prayer to listen to what God had to say to us as individuals and as a church…I am interested to hear what God has spoken to you as I am hopeful to share with you where I heard and still hear God speaking…If you would like to share with me, let’s set up a time to share with one another, or there will be much time to share together as we continue on through the year and prepare for our Lenten series, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. It will be an exciting time to share in conversation, prayer, and leaning on God’s grace.
As we continue on in sharing our story and following Jesus’ story, we come this morning to the story of Jesus’ baptism. It may seem a little odd that we come from celebrating Jesus’ birth just a few weeks ago to seeing Jesus as an adult coming to be baptized by his cousin John…Well, we have very little information about Jesus’ childhood found in the 4 Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John…Jesus’ childhood seems not to be as important to share as Jesus’ teachings and preachings. Most of the Gospels have a story of Jesus’ baptism in them and usually pretty close to the beginning of the Gospel…The story of Jesus’ baptism for this morning comes from the gospel of Matthew.
It seems like there isn’t much to the passage…It’s four verses, but in those four verses, there is a lot happening! We start the passage with Jesus and & John talking…Can you imagine what John must be thinking? Here comes Jesus, his cousin…Whom he knows is the Messiah…He knows that Jesus is greater than him and he’s been preaching that. And yet, here Jesus is in front of him…And he tried to not do it…He didn’t feel worthy enough…John tells Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you!” It’s an understandable reaction to have…I mean he is Jesus…Maybe some of us have felt some of the same reaction—that we’re not worthy of Jesus…But, it’s not true, because in that passage where John tells Jesus that he’s not worthy, Jesus argues with him and tells him that it’s okay. And John baptizes Jesus…
There are three signs when Jesus is baptized…The heavens opened up, the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove, and God spoke…And we have this amazing story of Jesus and baptism…Full of richness and grace and beauty…So, what? What does it mean for us?
Well, we celebrate the sacrament of baptism…What does baptism actually mean for us? There have been countless conversations over the last hundreds of years about what baptism actually means…Some of the conversations still remain, but the overall idea of baptism is pretty constant…In the United Methodist Church, the General Conference, which is the only body that can speak for the United Methodist Church, approved the document, By Water and the Spirit which is the United Methodist understanding of baptism as a sacrament of the church. A Sacrament is a physical action or response to a spiritual promise or response. In the United Methodist Church, there are two sacraments that are recognized—communion and baptism. These are significant to individuals, but also to the Church as they are sacred moments that have been passed through the ages of the Church.
In baptism, it must also be recognized that there is a confession of faith and a covenant to continue along in that faith journey. Infants are baptized and incorporated into the life of the church and are raised until they are given the opportunity to confirm the vows taken on their behalf at their baptism. There are creeds recited and vows spoken that are gifts from the early Christian church, but are still important today. In addition to the confession of faith either by the candidate for baptism or by the sponsors, there is also an expectation of incorporation into the community. This is also a time for the Church to remember their baptismal vows and engage in renewing their covenant to the Christian community.
Every time there is a baptism, it is not only for the one who is being baptized, but for the entire community to renew their baptismal vows. We as a community of believers take on the responsibility of growing with the newly baptized…To encourage them in their faith, to take responsibility for their journey…And to welcome them into the community…The community of believers, or the Church. When we are baptized, we are welcomed into Christ’s Church. How amazing is that?? That we are welcomed to work with Christ in the world!
In our baptism, we are incorporated into the community of believers, we are initiated into the Christian Church, we are commissioned into ministry, and we are born anew…Born of water and the Spirit…In the waters of baptism, we are reminded of many different waters, as our liturgy reminds us…The water of a womb, the waters of the flood, the waters of the parting of the water…Water was used for many different cleansing rituals throughout the Old Testament…In the United Methodist Church, it doesn’t matter how much water is used…Immersion which is being fully under water and coming up which reminds us of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, sprinkling which is the most common method in the United Methodist Church and also invokes images of cleansing from the Old Testament, Pouring which is the pouring of water on the head of the person and evokes images of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit…Each mode of water has rich imagery and symbolism, but it doesn’t matter how much water is used…What matters is that we are born of water and the Spirit…
So much happens in baptism…It’s so amazing to see how God works and how much God invites us to do with God! This morning we’ll have the opportunity to remember our baptism…Now we may have been baptized as infants and don’t necessarily remember the exact moment, but we remember that we have accepted God’s grace…That we have been born of water and the Spirit…That we have been initiated into Christ’s church, that we are incorporated into the community of believers, and we are commissioned into ministry...That we join with God…That have been declared worthy…That we have been declared individuals of sacred worth…That God has claimed us…That God has said, “you are mine and I am well pleased with you.”

January Newsletter

Dear Friends,
As the Christmas season is starting to settle and the trees are being taken down and presents are being put away (or returned!), life seems to start to settle back into a routine. There’s a question that John Wesley asked of those “Methodists” who were in small groups. “How is it with your soul?” It’s a question that bears a lot to us daily. “How is it with your soul?”
I usually open my devotions with that question in the morning, but for some time I’ve avoided answering it. To be truthful, my soul is tired and weary. As you read this, I will be working to fix that. I will be on vacation from December 29-January 7th and this is the first real vacation that I have had in several years. I say the first real vacation because it is the first time that I am taking a vacation because I need it and not for another reason like my car being fixed, a convenient time around a meeting, or doing other work for the church. Taking this vacation is a good way to prepare for the coming year and to refresh my soul.
On January 6th, the worship service will be an opportunity for the Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Churches to begin to prepare as well. In the first Sunday of the year, the service will be a prayer service. There will be different opportunities to pray together as the church, a gathered body of believers. This time of prayer will be for many reasons. It will remind us to be in conversation with God, to be listening to God, and to be open to what God is calling us as Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Churches to do and to be.
Over the next year we will have many conversations on what our vision and mission from God is and how we will live into that. Sometimes that means that there will be changes, sometimes things will be done in ways that are not completely comfortable, sometimes there will be people that we had not expected. In the midst of that, we will be faithful to God as God is faithful to us.
Another way to explore our vision and mission will be during the sermon series & study during Lent. We will be working through Pat Nixon’s book I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. This book has been recommended by the Northern Illinois Conference and many pastors across the Dekalb district have already met with the DS to discuss it. Now, as Sheridan & Norway congregations, we will have the opportunity to share and discuss. Please look at the information on this book, class, and opportunity for discussion in this newsletter.
I am looking forward to these conversations and how we can be faithful as God’s servants.
Blessings,
Pastor Melissa

Christmas Time is Here!

Christmastime is Here!
Well, here we are…All of the waiting and all of the preparation have lead us up to this! We are on the verge of the day where we celebrate the birth of Jesus! It hardly seems like it’s really that time…Even with the decorations up and the cold wind, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas to me…Or at least it didn’t until I watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas a few nights ago.
How many are familiar with Charlie Brown’s Christmas? I forgot just how much I love that movie! There are many movies out that portray the birth of Jesus, but I have to admit that I think that Charlie Brown’s Christmas portrays the message of Christmas better than most movies that I’ve seen! Now, this movie doesn’t depict Jesus’ birth like some other Christmas movies do, but they are preparing for their Christmas play which seems to have some of the characters that we know with the Nativity scene…Shepherds, Animals, and even a Christmas Queen! Charlie Brown just isn’t feeling everything though…He’s honored to be asked to be the director of the Christmas play, but is still struggling with what Christmas really is...
He meets Snoopy decorating his house for the “reason for the season”…MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! And Charlie Brown just doesn’t think that’s the reason for the season…Then he meets with his little sister, Sally and helps her with her letter to Santa…As she asks for her gifts and includes lots of money, Charlie Brown gets fed up again and wonders still what is the reason for the season…What is Christmas really about?? Just when Charlie Brown thinks that he has it figured out, he’s chosen to be the one to get the Christmas Tree for the pageant…He picks the scrawniest tree because he feels sorry for it and thinks that no one else will choose it, and wouldn’t that just be awful for this tree to be on it’s own for Christmas…When he brings the tree to the rest of the cast, they call him names and make fun of him for picking such an awful tree! They just knew that a blockhead like Charlie Brown couldn’t do anything right!
I’ve felt like Charlie Brown this year…On just about every talk show, commercial, signs, or advertisements, something is broadcast as the “reason for the season.” I’ve heard that giving is the true reason of the season…I’ve heard that spending time with family is the true reason of the season…I’ve heard that buying and spending money is the true reason of the season…So much, that I can understand why Charlie Brown and others just don’t know what the “true reason for the season.” Really is…It seems like our culture doesn’t know what the true reason is…
The true reason isn’t about ribbons and bows…The true reason isn’t about trees and family dinners…The true reason isn’t about giving or receiving…Those things happen because we celebrate the true reason…What is the true reason? Maybe Charlie Brown and Linus can help us with that question again. (Clip)
The true reason for the season is that this is the celebration of Jesus’ birth….It isn’t bows, ribbons, trees, family or friends…It’s about Jesus…Now, as we celebrate we have all those things, bows ribbons, trees, family and friends, but we celebrate because of this baby.
Now this is more than just any baby…This baby is God with us…Emmanuel…This baby is hope to all people…This baby is the light in the darkness…This baby is a miracle!
Maybe it’s because it’s hard to put into words what this baby means for us today…Sure we may know the story and have heard it many different ways through many different sounds…But hearing it and knowing it are different…We’ve heard that this baby was to be the Prince of Peace, but have we experienced Jesus as the Prince of Peace in our lives? We know that this baby was born to save the world, but have we experienced Jesus as our Savior?
Jesus is the sign of the ultimate hope…The ultimate joy…This baby; this Jesus is the reason that there is a Christmas!
This story that we have of Jesus’ birth reaches so many people…There’s Mary & Joseph who have traveled far to follow the orders of Caesar…And who have been planning for this baby to come for 9 months! They’ve been through everything that new parents go through in addition to ridicule, death threats, and major embarrassment… There were the angels who were trusted with sharing this news to the world…What big news that they had to share! If they were late or didn’t give the message, what would we have then? And they told the message so beautifully and full of joy and happiness! There are the shepherds, who were minding their own business watching their sheep and they were awoken to an angel telling them about the Messiah that was born….It’s very important to know that the shepherds were there when Jesus was born…Jesus, who was God in flesh, Jesus who was the new King…Jesus wasn’t in a large palace with jewels and crowns, he wasn’t sleeping in an elaborate crib…He was laying in a manger, a feed trough…And dignitaries and celebrities weren’t all around him, but these shepherds who probably smelled from being in the fields with their sheep, who were nowhere near the richest people and were not even celebrities, but some of the lowest classes of people in that society…Jesus was surrounded by these shepherds!
This baby, Emmanuel, God made flesh is for all people…even the shepherds in the fields…Even the wise men traveling from the east…Even all the people of the land…Even you and me…Jesus came to bring hope to all the world…
In that attitude of hope, we celebrate…We rejoice not because we got the best present or we give the best present, but we celebrate because of this baby…This Jesus that was born. The baby that contained all of the joy and hope that we could ever know…Now that’s something to celebrate!

I'm Having a What??

I’m Having a What??
Whenever I read a passage of Scripture, I read several times and each time I try and get into the character’s mind. Sometimes, I’ll read the from the same character’s point of view in different ways. This particular passage, I have read from Mary’s point of view in just about every way that I think I can. I have read her being angry, excited, nervous, sad, curious, apathetic… and each time, the meaning changes a little bit for me. Mary is such an interesting character in the Bible… We know some things about her: Her mother’s name was Anna and her cousin was Elizabeth, who was already 6 months pregnant when Mary heard from the angel… Her husband, Joseph was a carpenter from the lineage of King David… you know King David, the one who wrote most of the Psalms…She talks to angels…She prays…When the angel came to her, she was probably around 13-15, which would have been the normal time for girls in that time to get married and begin to have children…She may have had more children, including at least one other son named James, and well, there’s that other child of hers that I would hope that we know, Jesus…
For all that we think that we know about Mary, we have no idea about how she felt, which is why I often put different emotions into her sayings…
When we look at this passage in Luke, where Gabriel comes to tell Mary of this good news… It strikes me as funny that Gabriel calls it good news at first. I mean think about it… Pretend you’re Mary’s mother or Father and she comes home and tells you that she’s going to have a baby and an angel told her that it’s God’s baby… What is your reaction? Anger… Shame…Confusion…Happiness… We don’t know how Mary’s parents felt about the news. Maybe they felt all those things… They didn’t disown her…
Then there’s Joseph… If your fiancée had come to you before your wedding and told you that she was going to have a baby… But you weren’t this baby’s father, God was the father… What is your reaction? Anger…shame…confusion…happiness… You can watch just about any daytime talk show and see what other people’s reactions would be… We don’t know Joseph’s initial reaction, but we do know what he did later… He married her and raised that baby with love.
Now, both Mary and Joseph had to deal with the gossip and the rumors about her pregnancy and the confusion about their story. If you heard this story today from someone around town, would the first thing that you thought of be that this story must be true!
And, there’s one character in this story that has to deal with the entire situation from the news of the angel to telling her family and fiancée and dealing with the gossip… that’s Mary. Put yourself in her shoes for a minute… An angel comes to you and tells you that you are on earth most blessed and you are going to have a baby that is the Son of God and you will name him Jesus. What do you say? “I’m having a what?” How do you react? “That’s great news!” What on earth is going on?
Well, let’s see… we’ve got the angel Gabriel standing in front of Mary and what’s the first thing that he says to her? “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” Sounds like he’s trying to butter Mary up a little bit… Like when someone is trying to get you to do something for them and instead of asking right off, they say “You look wonderful today! You are such a nice person! That project that you did turned out just perfect!” There’s the phrase “flattery will get you everywhere”… Do you think that’s what Gabriel was trying to do? Flatter Mary a little bit and before she could do anything, hit her with the news?
Mary was a little bit wiser than that…Mary didn’t quite accept Gabriel’s words… She thought about them and they made her nervous… If he was trying to butter her up, she could see right through him! Gabriel was probably able to sense her uneasiness, so he told her don’t be afraid…. Then, he began to tell her what God had in store for her. He didn’t come right out and say it though… He told her that God had been gracious to her…. And then… then came the news…. You’re going to be pregnant and have a son, you’ll name him Jesus and, by the way… This will be God’s child… Mary did question a little bit, she wasn’t married…so, how can this be?
Gabriel’s just the messenger, so how do you think he was feeling about these questions? When you have to deliver some kind of project to somebody, but you didn’t create the project and you’re confronted with questions, how long does it take before you get fed up and walk away? Well, Gabriel was a little patient, but he had to remind Mary… God can do anything!
The last sentence that Mary says is a very interesting one, depending on how you read it… It could be happy! “I am the Lord’s Servant! May it happen to me according to your will!” It could be fearful… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will...” Sad… “I am the Lord’s servant…may it happen to me according to your will…” maybe Mary just wanted to get Gabriel out of there, so she said what she thought would make him happy… “Yeah, I’m the Lord’s servant… May it happen to me according to your will… Yeah, whatever….” Each time we can see Mary differently… So, how did she say it? Well, we really don’t know… but…
There’s another part of Luke, the magnificat…In the magnifact, we have a song that Mary sings about God and how she is completely humbled that God has chosen her. As she shares what God has done, she also recognizes what this baby means for the world and what future generations will say about her. Whatever her emotions were in the beginning of this journey, she has accepted willingly and with joy this baby that she will have.
While we haven’t had the exact experience as Mary, where an angel tells us that we’re going to have a baby! But…we’ve still heard calls from God. Calls from God to do something…Calls from God to reach out to all people…Calls from God to create disciples…Calls from God…Those calls that we hear are a lot like Mary’s news. We may have different reactions to what God is telling us, and we have a choice of what to do…
There are times when you hear that angel or you hear God calling you and you don’t want to do whatever it is… I don’t want to move away from my family! I don’t want to change jobs! I don’t want to listen to you! I’m in control of my life… I know what’s best for me… You stay out of it! If I want to take this job, I will and there’s nothing that you can do about it! You know, the thing is, that’s true to a certain extent… We do have free will and we can tell God “no” or that we don’t want to… But, God doesn’t always take no for an answer…God isn’t always so quiet when we say that we don’t want to do something….It seems easy to be in charge and to feel important by saying that “I don’t wanna…” But, in the end we know what we should do…Even if we do say no; God’s not going to leave our side… God will still be there, and encouraging us to do what God wants and knows is best… Sometimes it takes bruises along the way, but God is there right there to pick us up and waiting for us to sing our magnificat!
Before I accepted my calling to ministry, I went my own way… I told God, “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I think I should be performing on Broadway, so that’s what I’m going to do…” and “That’s nice that you think I should be in ministry, but I’m working in retail and I’m going to take that manager’s position…” Both were perfectly legitimate careers and what I thought was right and thought that I wanted…But, God had something different in mind… It took me awhile before I could finally say, “I am your servant…Let it be with me according to your will…” And there are often times when I sit back and I say, okay, you got me here… Now what? But like Mary’s magnificat tells the stories of God’s faithfulness and the stories of God’s work in the history of the Israelites , we are reminded of God’s work still…God provides whatever it is that we need… Be it strength, be it courage, be it the right words to say, be it gentleness… Whatever… God will provide…. God provided for Mary...
Having a baby was something new for Mary…She didn’t know how to do this…It was so far out of her comfort zone. But by going out of her comfort zone, she was part of one of the most amazing stories of God…By going outside of her comfort zone, she became the mother of Jesus…The baby who’s birth we celebrate, the Messiah that we rejoice in…By stepping outside of her comfort zone, she allowed God to do wonderful and amazing things through her! What are we willing to do to step out of our comfort zones for God to do wonderful and amazing things through us? It’s not easy to step outside of our comfort zones because they are just that…Comfortable. We like to be in them because they’re what we know and what we like…But how much are we willing to trust that in getting out of our comfort zones that God will be there? That as we are uncomfortable for a bit that we remember God’s faithfulness…It’s not easy and that’s why it’s important to rely on God that much more.
How much ridicule did Mary face? She must have heard so much gossip and whispers behind her back… Joseph even considered leaving her because of it! But, God provided both of them the strength that they needed to get by…God provided the refuge that they needed that night when she had the baby…God gave them all that they needed and all it took was Mary to say “I am the Lord’s servant, let it be with me according to your will…”
It’s not easy to take that step and feel “out of control” to feel like you’re “not in charge” anymore… Who wants to feel like that? But, when you know that God is in control, things just run so much easier… When you call to God and say, “A little help here!” God answers…What do you hear God calling to you today? Have you told God, no or not right now, but that question keeps creeping up? What do you hear God calling Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church to today? Have we told God, no or not right now, but God won’t be silent? Maybe we should try this…? “I am your servant… Let it be with me according to YOUR will…. According to your will…”

Advent/Christmas invitations!

Saturday, Dec. 15th-- United Methodist Community Christmas Concert & Ham dinner-- beginning at 4:00 with dinner and concert is at 6:30pm at Sheridan UMC

Sunday, Dec. 16th--Bus trip to Brookfield Zoo-- we'll leave the church at 4:00 pm and get back by 9:00 pm

Sunday, Dec. 23--Christmas Caroling around Sheridan & Youth Christmas party to follow. Meet at the church at 6:00 and we'll be finished by 9:00. Dress warm!