After a bit of a hiatus, Eastminster Toledo Sermons has moved to our church website. Here's the new URL: https://www.toledoeastminster.org/index.php/sermons/
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eastminster toledo sermons
Sermons and musings from Eastminster United Presbyterian Church in Toledo, Ohio
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
The spirit in the church (Acts 2.1-21, 41-47)
The Spirit in the church (Acts 2.1-21, 41-47)
Eastminster United Presbyterian Church, Pentecost C, June
9, 2019
Tom James
Some people call today “the birthday of the church,” and they
celebrate it with banners and balloons. I don’t think that’s quite accurate,
because the church has existed wherever and whenever the faithful have gathered.
But there is a sense in which the day of Pentecost marks an incredible new
beginning. All the hopes for what the church could be are given voice in these
verses. The second chapter of the book of Acts is a celebration of the way that
the spirit of the risen Christ enters the hearts of people. I don’t know if you
can see it from where you’re sitting, but we put up a new sign in the hallway
to your right saying “set our hearts on fire.” It’s from a popular church song,
and a line from the song struck me this week as a Pentecost prayer. “Blaze,
spirit, blaze: set our hearts on fire.”
For the group of disciples gathered in Jerusalem for the
feast of Pentecost on that day, fifty days after the Passover, the blaze of the
Spirit was a spectacular, and momentary, ability to communicate across the
language barrier. This was significant, for a couple of reasons. First, people
were gathered in Jerusalem from across much of the known world. They shared a
faith but they spoke a wide variety of languages, and we can imagine that they
had a lot of different cultural habits as well. These people were in the same
place, but they were divided. And, as divided people, they were not very
powerful but were under the control of an empire that forced its own language
on them and its own culture.
There is a very interesting parallel in this story with the
story of the tower of Babel. Perhaps you remember: in Genesis 11, people were
scattered in small, nomadic tribes, but tried to unite together and engage in a
massive building project that would allow them to scale to the heavens. But God
sees the danger of pride in their collective power and scatters them by making
them speak separate languages so that they can no longer understand each other.
It was as if the dangers of empire, of being unified by a central power, of
having a life that revolves around meeting the needs of a small ruling center, of
conforming your opinions and your view of the world to the one approved by
kings and emperors, were being warded off in advance, by a curse. But here, the
curse of different languages is momentarily lifted. As if to say, now that we
are already in a situation of empire, the worst has already happened, and, now,
the only hope is to come together, to understand each other and to unite our
thoughts and our prayers and our power. In the power of the spirit, maybe this
world of darkness and violence can be turned upside down, and God’s dream can
be fulfilled.
But, in some ways, the language issue isn’t the most
important, or the most divisive. Acts Two is very up-to-date, for then and also
for now, in recognizing that the main division in society that has to be
overcome in order to realize God’s dream for humanity has to do not with
language but with property. If we skip to the end of the chapter, after Peter
has preached his remarkable sermon and many people (some three thousand, we are
told) become followers of Jesus, we get a glimpse of what happens in a Spirit-filled
church. They broke bread together, as we will do in a few moments. They devoted
themselves to the apostles’ teaching, which was not some centuries-old dogma to
be preserved but a fresh and new vision of God setting the world on fire,
bringing the dead to life and setting prisoners free. They rejoiced in each
other’s company. They were charismatic in the sense that people around them
noticed them, and they found favor with their neighbors. And, most importantly,
they gave up the false god that enslaves people in every age: the god of wealth,
the god of owning things, the god of property lines, because they realized that,
in Christ, they were free to share in God’s abundance without regard to anyone’s
merit or worth. The work of the Spirit was to unravel all the fixations with
wealth by dissolving the anxiety that makes people feel like they always need a
little more than the other person. In Christ, we have enough, not because we
learn how to make do with less, but because we can rely on each other. In
Christ, there is abundance. In Christ, divisions are healed, and we become
invested in each other so that your need becomes my need, and your pain becomes
my pain, and your joy becomes my joy.
There’s a myth that these verses in Acts 2 were quickly
dismissed by the growing church. In fact, the spirit of this vision continued
as the church exploded across Europe and beyond in its first few centuries. It
was only when the church became a recognized and supported religion in the
empire that it became invested in the empire and therefore began to accept its gods of materialism and militarism. It was then that the church began to
own stuff, compiling great wealth in land and buildings and cash that made a
mockery, perhaps, of this earliest, Spirit-filled moment. And so it has
continued from there.
A real question for us, after this long history, is whether
the spirit of Acts 2 still breathes fire into our souls today. Are we as free
as those disciples who gathered to await the Spirit at the feast of Pentecost? Do
we trust God’s provision enough to let go of our anxieties and our need to
possess? If you are like me, you have trouble with it. We don’t come to our faith
on our own, but in the context of a long history during which Christianity
betrayed its faith, exchanging it for the security of a prominent place in
society. And, so, probably, you and I have some worries left over, even after
faith takes hold of us. We wonder if the Spirit is enough.
But let us receive this vision of the Spirit in the church on
Pentecost not as a word of condemnation nor as a reminder that we don’t quite
measure up. Let’s hear it as a call to freedom. Let us open ourselves to
Pentecost once again, praying for the Spirit to come. Set our hearts on fire! Because
the Spirit of Christ is still here, and still calls to us to freedom and to
joy. Amen.
EASTMINSTER UNITED
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
June 9, 2019 – 10:00-A.M.
Reverend Thomas James
Pentecost
As we join together today to offer worship to
God, we welcome all who share this worship with us. If you are here for the first time we invite
you to return again. Please take a moment to fill out a welcome
card that may be found in the cardholder at the back of the pew.
CONCERNS OF THE CONGREGATION
If you have concerns, prayer requests, or need
to convey information to the Session or Deacons please use welcome card in the
pew.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
Now, let us greet each other saying: “The Peace of the Lord be with you” and
Response: “And also with you.”
PRELUDE
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: How amazing are your works, O God!
People: In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is
full of
your creatures.
Leader: You send forth your spirit,
and they are created;
People: and so you renew the face of the earth.
Leader: I will
sing to God as long as I live;
People: I will praise my God while I have breath.
*HYMN…………..…….”Come
Sing, O Church in Joy!”…….….…………..……305
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Without
your power, O God, we are lost. We have done the things we would avoid, and
what you desire, we have not done. By your purifying fire transform our lives;
guide us into honesty and compassion so that, filled with your peace, our
dreams and visions may be one with yours; through Jesus Christ, who came to
make us alive. AMEN.
*ASSURANCE OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS
*GLORIA PATRI (#581)
NEW TESTAMENT (Pg. 948).....…..………………………….…..Acts
2:1-21, 41-47 Response: “Thanks be to God”
SERMON. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . . . . “The
Spirit in the church”
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
*HYMN.……..…..................”Breathe on Me, Breath of God”…...……........…286
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
OFFERTORY
*DOXOLOGY (#606)
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
COMMUNION
*HYMN……….…....……..……”Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness”……….…..….....……291
*PASTORAL BENEDICTION
*CONGREGATIONAL
BENEDICTION. . . . .
. . . “Tune of Edelweiss”
May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and Keep you Forever,
Grant you Peace, Perfect Peace, Perfect in Every Endeavor.
Lift up Your Eyes and See His Face, And His Grace Forever.
May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and Keep you Forever.
UPCOMING
DATES AND INFORMATION:
|
||||
June 9
– June 16
|
||||
Sunday June 9 ………………………………………………….………….Worship
@ 10am
Communion
Wednesday June 12……………………………………………..PW
Luncheon @ noon
Program………………………….……………………………….Anne Jenkins
on Quilting
Sunday June 16……………………………………………………………Worship
@ 10am
Thursday June
20………………..………….Strategic Planning Meeting @ 6pm
____________________________________________________________
A special Thank You to the
congregation for their donations to
“You and
Me” camp!
|
||||
SAVE THE DATE
Eastminster’s 125th Anniversary Homecoming on Sunday, September 29, 2019. More details will
be forthcoming.
|
||||
Counters for May/June
|
||||
THIS WEEK – June 9
Holzhauer Team
|
|
NEXT WEEK – June 16
VanGorder Team
|
||
|
HEAD GREETER FOR JUNE
CRAIG GALE
|
|||
CHURCH FAMILY PRAYER
CHAIN
|
||||
Looking
for a church family?
We
would love to have you here at Eastminster. Please call our Secretary Jenny,
and she will be happy to help. 419-691-4867.
|
Are You
in Need of prayer? Please call our Secretary Jenny, and she will see your
“Prayer Requests” are answered. 419-691-4867
|
|||
Rev. James has started a blog with sermons and other
information from the church. You can check out the
information at https://eastminstertoledosermons.blogspot.com
|
||||
If you need to contact Rev. James you
can do so by either e-mail (tomjames811@gmail.com) or his cell 1-248-990-3041.
|
Monday, June 3, 2019
No time for paitence? (Revelation 22.12-21)
No Time for Patience? (Revelation 22.12-21)
Eastminster United Presbyterian Church, Easter 7C/May 8,
2016
Tom James
About ten years ago, there was a video clip that went viral.
It was of a woman who had come out of her house, I believe because of a fire.
In the course of her telling about her experience, she said a line that would
become internet-famous. She said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” I can’t
remember much about the original context, but the expression caught fire
because there are so, so many contexts in which those words are perfect,
especially for kids. Homework? “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” Chores? Ain’t
nobody got time for that!
The sage of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes famously writes
that there are times and seasons for every kind of thing. You may remember the
words from Ecclesiastes, or you may remember them from the Byrds’ song, “Turn
Turn Turn,” from 1965. The song was actually written by Pete Seeger in the late
1950’s. To quote Seeger and the Byrds,
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones.
A time to gather stones together.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.
To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones.
A time to gather stones together.
But this rather accepting and tolerant view of time, and of
life under the rule of time, sometimes gives way to something else. Sometimes, we
find that we cannot accept the wheel of time that puts everything in its place
as it “turns, turns, turns,” and we cannot accept the so-called wisdom of
waiting for the wheel to turn, bringing perhaps more favorable circumstances. A
situation can become intolerable and even unsurvivable—a fire in your home, to
take an obvious example—and patient waiting is not the order of the day. And
then we don’t hum the Byrds—instead, we say something very much like, “Ain’t
nobody got time for that!”
I think it can be uncomfortable for those of us with some
measure of means and creature comforts to admit that things have reached that
pitch. Patience, for us, is often the easier course, because for the most part
things are not really that bad. So when we hear words like those from the book
of Revelation, they strike us as a note from another world altogether. It is
interesting that the church-approved reading for today actually skips over some
of the more evocative verses in our passage—the ones about the “sorcerers” and
“idolators” and “murderers” and even “dogs” on the outside, for example. The
ramped-up rhetoric seems perhaps too divisive, too intolerant, too angry, for
our mainline, moderate, well-to-do, polite sensibilities.
But these verses that would rather not have to deal with are
actually crucial to the meaning of the text because their context has to do
with a desperate struggle for survival in the face of a cruel and oppressive
empire. The promise of Jesus to come quickly, and the cries of the faithful for
the Lord to come, and the angry condemnations of the pagan world empire, are
words that come out of a situation of intense persecution and deeply felt
fragility. They come from an experience of having no more time for patience.
Suffering can reach a pitch where waiting doesn’t teach us patience, but only
fuels the fire for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “fierce urgency of now.”
Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” was written to
fellow clergy members who were counseling patience in the struggle for civil
rights in the South. Many of these who were calling for patience were
progressively minded white clergy. They agreed with Dr. King’s message about
equality, for the most part. They were preachers and teachers of the gospel who
heard in the words of Jesus and read in the New Testament a message of hope for
the marginalized, and who, with Dr. King, longed for a world of racial
reconciliation. But we have to be patient, they said, and allow the culture to
evolve slowly and without too much acrimony or discord. We have to let our
politicians and our courts do their jobs, bringing the best of our American
democratic traditions to bear on the legacy of segregation and Jim Crow.
But the theme of Dr. King’s letter is that we cannot wait.
One is tempted to say that, for these white clergy, patience may have made a
lot of sense because, for them, life wasn’t all that bad. Sure, they hated to
see what was going on in the South. It was depressing and morally offensive to
see so many of their neighbors being deprived of civil rights. But there is
perhaps a great gulf between being morally offended and being abused and pushed
to the limit by forces that you cannot control. And perhaps that gulf is
“patience.” We can afford to be patient when we are morally offended. But can
we be patient, or should we be, if we are being pushed to the limit?
The greatest saints of the early church, the legendary heroes
whose memory was treated with such reverence, were the martyrs. “Martyr” is
from a Greek word meaning “witness.” The church’s “witnesses” were those who
died confessing that Jesus’ imperial reign had come and thus that there was no
more room for Caesar. They were giving witness that God had weighed the empire
in the balance of justice and found it wanting. They were giving witness to the
face an imperial domination system that favored aristocratic elites and used
military power to crush opposition, that enforced crippling requirements for
tribute that robbed peasants and small landowners of their security and their
livelihood, could not stand. They are the ones who had no time for waiting for
the empire to crumble under its own weight, as surely it would, because it was
already crushing them, now. Ain’t nobody got time for that. In other words,
Come, Lord Jesus.
What about our “now?” Is there a “fierce urgency” to it? I
suggest that we can only experience time the way it is so often experienced in
the Bible, as an urgent call to faithfulness—we can only experience it that way
when we make ourselves neighbors and friends of those who are being crushed by the
wheel of time, those most vulnerable, who are the losers in our society. Unless
we do that, we are too complacent, too patience, to feel the urgency of the
moment. Unless we do that, we are like the well-intentioned clergy Dr. King
wrote who were putting themselves on the wrong side of the civil rights
struggle in the name of patience. Or worse, we are like those who were too
comfortable in the Empire, too awash in its prerogatives, not to fall into
Revelation’s condemnations of the “outsiders” in relation to the reign of God.
Goodness, can we be the “dogs?”
As much as I like dogs, as much as I’m a “dog person,” I
don’t believe God is consigning us to the “dogs.” Rather, I believe that God is
calling us in this moment to hear Jesus’ invitation to discipleship with new
ears and to give witness. The challenges our communities face in this moment
create a fierce urgency for many, and therefore for us who are their neighbors.
Two and half million Americans are in prison. That’s more than any other
industrialized nation by far. There are kids in our schools who cannot read and will grow up to face a job market that demands diplomas and degrees. People
are drowning in debt. Infrastructure is crumbling. Local governments are
cutting staff and services, throwing the needy upon the care of churches.
We’re small, so I don’t believe that for us giving faithful
witness means solving all these problems. But it does mean confessing Jesus,
giving witness to his reign in these circumstances. It means refusing to wait
for someone else to help or for the wheel of history to turn, but instead to
help where we are able. There are prisoners to visit. There are kids who need
tutors. There are families who need a bag or two of groceries. There are debts
to forgive. What all of these things amount to is that there are people who
need people: people to march with them, to eat with them, to pray with them, to
stand with them, to be with them.
I’ll go further. Jesus said that where two or three are
gathered together in his name, he is there. What could this mean but that it is
when we become allied with our neighbor in his or her struggle for a decent
life, our prayer for the coming of the Lord is answered? For what is reign of
God, if not the beloved community? “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And
let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let
anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.” Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
EASTMINSTER UNITED
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
June 2, 2019 – 10:00-A.M.
Reverend Thomas James
7th
Sunday of Easter
As we join together today to offer worship to
God, we welcome all who share this worship with us. If you are here for the first time we invite
you to return again. Please take a moment to fill out a welcome
card that may be found in the cardholder at the back of the pew.
CONCERNS OF THE CONGREGATION
If you have concerns, prayer requests, or need
to convey information to the Session or Deacons please use welcome card in the
pew.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
Now, let us greet each other saying: “The Peace of the Lord be with you” and
Response: “And also with you.”
PRELUDE
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
People: Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Leader: Let everyone who hears
say, “Come.”
People: Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Leader: Let
anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
People: Let everyone who is thirsty come.
Leader: Come to the tree of
life, the Alpha and the Omega.
People: Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
*HYMN……………….....…….”Come,
Thou Almighty King”…….….…………..……2
*PRAYER
OF CONFESSION
Gracious
Power, you call us to your everlasting springs to be drenched and reformed, but
we fail to heed you. We do not turn with love to our neighbors to ourselves, or
to you, Forgive us for our failings, shield us from our due, and guide us into
unity with all for the sake of the whole world. AMEN.
*ASSURANCE
OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS
*GLORIA PATRI (#581)
NEW TESTAMENT (Pg. 1086).....………..Revelation
22:12-14, 15-17, 20-21 Response: “Thanks be to God”
MUSICAL MESSAGE
GOSPEL (Pg. 941)……………………………...……...….....…....………..John
17: 20-26
Response:
“Thanks be to God”
SERMON. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . . . .
. . “No
time for patience”
*THE APOSTLES’ CREED (Pg. 35)
*HYMN.……..................”Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken”…...…......….81
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
OFFERTORY
*DOXOLOGY (#606)
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
*HYMN……….…....….……”Will You Come and Follow Me”………..….....……726
*PASTORAL BENEDICTION
*CONGREGATIONAL
BENEDICTION. . . . .
. . . “Tune of Edelweiss”
Lord of life, Lord of love walk forever beside us. Day by
day, show the way with your vision to guide us.
Striving to follow your will and way nothing can divide us. Lord of life, Lord of love walk
forever beside us.
UPCOMING
DATES AND INFORMATION:
|
||||
June 2
– June 9
|
||||
Sunday June 2 ………………………………………………….………….Worship
@ 10am
Session Meeting after service.
Sunday June 9………………………………………………………………Worship
@ 10am
Communion
Wednesday June 12………….………………………………PW Luncheon @ noon.
____________________________________________________________
Flowers on the Altar are in
memory of Sadie Bossler from the Holzhauer family.
|
||||
SAVE THE DATE
Eastminster’s 125th Anniversary Homecoming on Sunday, September 29, 2019. More details will
be forthcoming.
|
||||
Counters for May/June
|
||||
THIS WEEK – June 2
Sutphin Team
|
|
NEXT WEEK – June 9
Holzhauer Team
|
||
|
HEAD GREETER FOR JUNE
CRAIG GALE
|
|||
CHURCH FAMILY PRAYER
CHAIN
|
||||
Looking
for a church family?
We
would love to have you here at Eastminster. Please call our Secretary Jenny,
and she will be happy to help. 419-691-4867.
|
Are You
in Need of prayer? Please call our Secretary Jenny, and she will see your
“Prayer Requests” are answered. 419-691-4867
|
|||
Rev. James has started a blog with sermons and other
information from the church. You can check out the
information at https://eastminstertoledosermons.blogspot.com
|
||||
If you need to contact Rev. James you
can do so by either e-mail (tomjames811@gmail.com) or his cell 1-248-990-3041.
|
||||
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We've moved!
After a bit of a hiatus, Eastminster Toledo Sermons has moved to our church website. Here's the new URL: https://www.toledoeastminster...
-
After a bit of a hiatus, Eastminster Toledo Sermons has moved to our church website. Here's the new URL: https://www.toledoeastminster...
-
The Spirit in the church (Acts 2.1-21, 41-47) Eastminster United Presbyterian Church, Pentecost C, June 9, 2019 Tom James Some p...
-
No Time for Patience? (Revelation 22.12-21) Eastminster United Presbyterian Church, Easter 7C/May 8, 2016 Tom James About te...