Let us pray:
Most gracious God, bless the thoughts of our hearts and the words my lips. Help us to grow in faith and in love - that our every thought and action may be pleasing to you and a blessing to ourselves and to others - we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
They shared what they knew - each from their own perspective - each as God gave to them. It was mid summer with the wind blowing east, John - the prophet with his following disciples sitting discussing details of ministry. When Jesus happened to walk by- catching a glimpse of him, John pointed to Jesus and told his disciple, "behold the Lamb of God - who takes away the sin of the world."
Andrew - the fisherman turned to Jesus and listened to him, he understood immediately that Jesus was a teacher, someone with much good to share, and went and told his brother about him, saying to him - "We have found the Messiah." They shared what they knew - what they believed - what they hoped. And we should thank God today for them, and for those like them today.
We should thank God today for John - a man not afraid to decrease so that Jesus might increase. We should thank God for his witness and for how it spoke to his friend Andrew. And we should thank God for how Andrew, though he was untutored in the faith and had just met Jesus briefly - was eager to speak to his own brother about him and how he was the promised one - the Messiah.
Without them and their willingness to proclaim, and to point out, and to teach and to share Jesus with others, we would not be here today - we would not know the blessing of faith - we would not know what was to be a member of the family of God - we would not know our ultimate destiny - we would not be able to hope for the world to come.
John the Baptist and Andrew, and later Simon Peter, Philip, Nathaniel, John, Luke, Paul, and all the rest, found something, discovered something, knew something, something important to them, and they told others about it. They told the people around them - and some of them – they traveled so that they could tell people they had never met before - so that they could tell them about Jesus. Who brought you into the faith? Who shared with you the fact that Jesus takes away the sin of the world?
Who, by words and actions, encouraged you to first pray? Who, by example, and by teaching, brought you to the point of giving your life to Christ? Thank God for them. I thank God for the people that taught and nurtured me in faith that Jesus came to this world so that we may have forgiveness of sin and a rich and abundant life.
I thank God for common folks like Maria Forum Jensen, Don Vaale, Elizabeth Tennenson, Suster Petersen & Kirstin Styker just to name few - whose conversation was filled with references to God, who believed that it made more sense to talk about what a Spiritual life is - and how it can be led - than it did to talk about what was the latest best seller - or any other kind of "godless talk".
I thank God for a pastor by the name of Gerald Gettis, who urged me to ask God what God wanted me to do with my life - and who spoke unceasingly of God's love and power and how it exists – either tapped or untapped, all around us. I thank God for a woman by the name of Maria Heuberger who reminded me that Jesus still is and that with him all adversity is but a passing thing - that his love is forever - and that it overcomes and makes worthwhile all the tribulation we may encounter.
I thank God for them and for many others who shared with me what they knew and understood and believed to be true about Jesus and about his special role in God's kingdom and his special power here - in the lives of those who believe I him.
I thank God for them because they have helped me to discover what I needed to discover. They helped me to form my relationship with Christ - and thereby they have given me a life which I would not trade for some other.
Who do you thank God for? Who has ministered to you in the name of Christ - who boldly told you that there is one who can help you live your life day by day with joy and with peace and with assurance deep in your mind and your heart?
Who sent you to him/her - who gave you a bible to read - who showed you how to pray - who told you that there is someone important that you should meet and talk to and follow – who ever they are. You should thank God for them.
And having thanked God for those who drew you to the faith – the next question is who gives thanks to God for your witness? To whom do you go? Who do you see? And what do you speak of when you are with them? Who do you show to the people you meet each day? What do you witness to while working at the office or the mill or when you gather with your friends for a game of cards or a simple cup of coffee? Jesus is warm and inviting, he invites us, as he invited Andrew and the other disciples, to come and see where he is staying. He invites us into his home, into his presence, into his life and then he shares his life with us. But first we must hear about him - first we must be introduced.
But first people who are in need have to hear about Jesus. They have to be introduced to him. My friends, I believe the only qualifications we need to be a witness to Christ, is our conviction that everyone needs God and that God has come for everyone in Christ Jesus. That conviction, that hope, is the key to our witness as individual and as a Congregation.
What I am trying to say here is that when we have something we want to say - we almost always find a way to say it. In the same way a new grandparent, or a new father or mother has no problem in speaking about their special child, so we as believers in the Christ should have no problem in speaking of the wonder that he brings into our lives.
We don't need a course in how to testify about God's love and how to give our witness to Christ. We don't need a Bible Degree or a certificate in theology to share the good news. We just got to want to... we just got to want to share what we know - what we value about our faith.
Dominic an old crusty monk who loves to bake bread, said.. “that there is spirituality to even mundane tasks, he said. Bread making is a metaphor for spiritual growth. Various types of bread represent different types of Christians, he said. A rye-bread Christian is distinctive and preserves in the faith, while garlic-bread Christian is instantly recognized by others he said. His favorite is banana-nut bread, he said, because the bananas are old and useless but can be made to produce a delicious loaf.
So it is with God’s grace, God takes the most foulest sinner and makes him/her clean as a whistle, because of his marvelous grace. Even though forgiven and loved by God, negative thoughts and feeling about still lingers. But God has answer for them.
There are forces out there and: We are made to feel that when we know Jesus we really don't know anything of practical use. We are made to feel that Prayer is OK - but only if you do so in connection with other gods. We are made to feel that bible study is acceptable - but only if you treat the book as ancient history, or any other book.
And, most of all in our society, we are made to feel that telling others about the God of the Bible is wrong. We are made to feel that what we know, what we believe, is unwelcome news and that no-one wants to hear about it uninvited.
No need to listen to that, my friends. We must listen to our heart. Listen to the hope that is in us -the hope we have in Christ. Listen to his voice and start to share what you believe - what you hope - what you know - where you are at. I have met the one who takes away the sin of the world.
So what is the task of the Christian Community? Or the real question is, "Why don't we do something about our faith?" We have received the power to make a difference in this life. We've been given the power to turn frogs into princes, to turn discord into harmony, to turn despair into hope, to turn sorrow into joy, to turn hate into love. It begins with each and every one of us. But how do we get this gift? It begins in God, in tangible means of grace such as Water baptism, God called us with this very purpose, God has no body but ours, has hands but ours, has feet, has no voice but ours, to bring compassion and peace to our little world.
As we celebrate the Eucharist, Jesus invites each and every one of us to empty ourselves of worries, stress, and what have you, thus he might fill us with himself. God invites us to come, thus to be transformed, strengthened for his service. God invites us to receive the gift of forgiveness, to enable us to forgive those who have wronged us. God invites us to come just as we are without one plea.
Let us continue on our journey as we give ourselves to that
One who is the Way, the Truth, and the life.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your
heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
January 16, 2005