SERMON | Psalm 100 | "Joyful Noise" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

God’s steadfast love endures forever

and God’s faithfulness to all generations.

Steadfast refers to covenant: God’s covenant love endures forever

• God’s promise to love God’s people will NEVER cease
• God can be trusted by anyone who calls upon God’s name and devotes themselves to God’s Reign.

All generations:

People hundreds of years ago belong to God just as much as we do…

The Silent Generation…

Baby-boomers…

Generation X…

Millennials…

Gen Z…

Gen Alpha…

Gen Beta…

God is faithful to us all.

God’s promise will never cease.

THIS IS THE GOODNESS OF GOD

God will bring order, goodness, and flourishing to and through those who devote themselves to God’s Reign.

We may feel like these days are difficult or heavy or dark…

We may feel like things are getting worse…

But friends, we have nothing to fear.

Through Jesus all is already accomplished to assure God’s promise coming to fruition.

THIS IS THE GOODNESS OF GOD

Do we believe this?

Do we remember this?

Look at this picture. You can almost hear their joyful screaming.

Each one of them lives in different homes with different kinds of parents.

Each one will get hungry…

Each one will get mad about something they find to be unfair…

Each one of them has bumps, bruises, and scrapes on their little bodies…

But they don’t forget how to look past all of it and simply embrace joy.

When we know we are loved and will have someone to journey through life with us…

we can always find joy.

Yes, evil still excels and gains momentum in many ways…

Hatred and division continue to see their flames fanned by some on this earth…

War and violence rage on and find new venues…

Arrogance, ego, and narcissism are still making a lot of noise every single day…

But we mustn’t lose our hope.

Because God’s promise of renewal for all things is still assured

God’s love for all of creation still endures…

God’s devotion to us endures…

God still reigns…

God still reigns…

God still reigns…

Let us live our lives fully devoted to God’s way of grace, mercy, and love.

Let us live our whole lives seeking out goodness, order, and flourishing.

Let us live our lives to reflect the good ness of God to those who don’t know.

In a world full of all sorts of noise and chaos…

Let God’s people make an even louder noise of order…

Let us make a joyful noise that comes from hearts fully devoted to our good God’s way with full trust that the God to whom we belong is our God…and NOTHING will stop God’s reign from having its way upon this earth.

SERMON | Genesis 18.1-15, 21.1-7 | "A Miracle Called Laughter" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

When you experience a miracle, it changes everything.

When you witness a miracle, there is no going back.

So how do you receive miracles today?

Are they possible?

If you witnessed one, would you allow yourself to recognize it as such?

If you’re like me you are not sure what to do with the idea that miraculously good things can happen in my life knowing of the horrific things that are happening in the lives of others.

I struggle to make sense of people who pray for and credit miracles in their lives while at the same time supporting some of the heinous activities occurring right here in our own community:

• some families being discounted by our leaders,
• some genders being deemed less-worthy of God’s approval and calling by entire denominations,
• people who look or talk different being treated like they are less-than.

It helps for me to remember that Abraham and Sarah did go on to be the ancestors of a great family whose story stretches across our scripture—a family who didn’t always get it right…they had to learn and grow…they had to fall and get back up…

So many times this family who was commissioned to be the very source of God’s blessing to ALL FAMILIES across the earth, at times, became so fixated on their own well-being and dominance and greatness that they became persecutors of other people-groups.

Time and again this beautiful family failed.

Time and again they grew skeptical and laughed in the face of God.

And…time and time again they wrote down those shortcomings and failures in scripture!!

They never tried to hide their humanity or fragility—for that I am in true awe, amen?

But still, their story is of a miracle.

God worked through people—a family—who found a way to look beyond themselves and their own people and their own well-being to create a scenario where we, on the other side of the world, now have the hope and blessing of God in Jesus Christ.

We share in the same Holy Spirit and commission to serve and love our community of humanity seeing everyone as family.

Is this a miracle?

How could it not be?

Today…right now…is a gift.

Our faith is a gift.

Our doubt is a gift.

What will we do with it?

I hope we begin with laughter; not the laughter of skepticism, but of joy and awe.

I hope we make a habit of remembering what a miracle it is to have faith and hope.

Faith that God is always with us.

Faith that God is still at work in our lives in the most unexpected ways.

Faith that God will accomplish all that is promised—the healing of all creation.

Hope that we get to experience that healing in our own lives.

Hope that we can work together for healing in our community.

Hope that we are not alone in our calling to be a part of God’s great restoration…to make all things new.

I hope we start each day remembering a simple miracle:

This church…

this group of people around you called Grace UMC…

We are a group of people who come from different families, backgrounds, & histories AND YET…are committed to caring together and growing together each and every day—to treat each other as family and, as a family, serving and loving our community.

I hope we allow that remembrance to change everything.

I hope we embrace that although life brings plenty of hardship, struggle, and fragility,…we can also always have laughter.

I hope we are able laugh more and more with the wonder of a people who are in awe of God at work in, through, and for us.

I hope we learn to laugh in such a way that others witness the joy we have found in our faith and hope.

SERMON | Genesis 1:1-2 & Matthew 28:16-20 | "Trinity Sunday" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

This faith, while it is personal, it MUST be social.

A heart and soul devoted to Jesus necessitates a mind and body devoted, too.

A changed heart is a changed life—we will live differently.

We MUST live differently…because we are called—we are charged—we are commissioned—because we follow Jesus empowered by the Spirit so that we can become God’s humanity for the flourishing of our world and everyone and everything in it.

Our goal today, friends, is not to be the finished perfected products of God at work in our shared life.

Our goal today is simply to take that next step.

Maybe you are very early on in the journey of faith and you’re still just trying to figure out why I called Genesis 1 a poem…or you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.

—that’s okay.

Your next step will look different than some people around you.

Some are further “along” the path and others aren’t as far “along” as you.

Trust them to take their next step and offer yourself to help them.

You can help them by what you DO and what you SAY in our shared life together.

Encourage them.

If they believe things you don’t, you don’t need to correct them.

If they still have a great deal of their life wrapped up in things that don’t reflect a life in God’s Reign yet…love them, serve them, and celebrate every step they take in that direction.

If they falter or struggle, love them and serve them and treat them like the precious creation they are.

We are in this together.

And Jesus is God with us every step of the way.

- Jesus is fulfilling what was spoken at his birth: that we would be Immanuel

On that note:

Jesus said, “I am with you always until the end of the age.”

For his disciples, the destruction of the Temple in 70CE was the absolute end of an age.

Jesus reminded them when he was with them (and the presence of the Holy Spirit continued to remind them) that Jesus is still with them no matter what they face.

May we, as disciples…as human beings recovering from our former lives serving ourselves, remember that even hard days, bleak days, long days, dark days, and unbelievably incomprehensible days are no reason for us to despair.

God is with us.

The Creator continues to create…

The Word continues to reveal…

The Breath continues to empower us.

SERMON | Acts 2:1-21 | "When God Tears Down Walls" by Rev. Ceciliah Igweta-Keega at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

Pentecost Sunday

SERMON | Acts 1:6-14 | "Why Are You Looking Up?" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

Jesus is about to leave.

The work of God through Jesus is complete and now it’s the disciples’ turn.

They understand that God is restoring the family of Abraham when Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit.

Long ago the people called Israel had seen the Temple destroyed and rebuilt, but they had always felt that God’s presence had not fully returned to them in some way which is why they were holing out hope for their restoration.

Jesus claimed he was that restoration—his crucifixion and resurrection would prove it.

He must depart so that the Spirit within him might be shared beyond his body and into the collective family of the new Kingdom which the disciples had become and were to grow upon the earth.

They were to go into the world and BE the ones through whom God would work.

They were to shoulder the work which Jesus had been doing.

They were to travel around, identify where they could work, and then offer themselves to do the work.

But notice…

Jesus tells them they will be empowered to do this work…but first they are to stay put in Jerusalem.

They will wait together and be constantly devoting themselves to prayer together.

They need to be patient and in conversation.

They need to discern and work as one.

They need to know what is to be done before they can just do it.

So…what do you see in your world that could be done for the purpose of faith, hope, and love?

Where is there struggle in your sphere of influence?

Where is there a need for reconciliation?

Where is there a need for hope?

Where is there a need for loving presence?

Where is there a need for forgiveness?

Where could things be better?

God has gifted each of us to see in unique ways.

So…look around, friends.

Then, pray together and allow your hearts to help you see how God might work through you.

Then, go and do—trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.

One of my favorite theologians says, “Pray like it’s all up to God. Live like it’s all up to you.”

May we pray. May we do. May we continue becoming more like Jesus—here and now.

SERMON | John 14:15-21 | "The Indwelling Presence" by Rev. Ceciliah Igweta-Keega at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

SERMON | 1 Peter 2:1-10 | "A Spiritual House" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

A Temple is where God is present on the earth.

That’s what a Temple is—the place where God’s reality overlaps with our reality.

WE are that place—as a community of people WE are the place where God’s presence abides and is experienced on earth.

We call this abiding presence “The Holy Spirit”

Any questions?

We are then called to be a royal priesthood—great, right?!

Who doesn’t want to be a priest, amen?

But…what is a priesthood?

Priests do two things:

1. They represent humanity to God
2. They represent God to humanity.

Priests traverse space both inside and outside of the Temple.

They enter and leave—when the old dead-stone version of the Temple existed.

They would prepare themselves…purify themselves…to enter into God’s presence.

They would offer sacrifices to God on behalf of the entire people they represented.

They would then leave the temple and come before the people as God’s representatives.

They would be living examples of God’s goodness in such a way that people could see it and experience it for themselves.

WE are a priesthood in the world today.

We commune with God, but no longer in a stone building—not even this one.

We commune together with the people of God, the Kingdom, the living stones of the spiritual house…

We align our lives to the direction of The Cornerstone so that we are assembled in a way that brings grace, love, joy, truth, etc. to our shared life together WHILE ALSO bringing these things into the wider world so that ALL kingdoms and ALL people might come to understand the goodness of God through how we live.

Simple!!

This is our purpose

This is our identity

We are a spiritual house of living stones who are growing and learning while also allowing the presence of God to be experienced in the world today.

This is God’s plan for the world, friends!! We are a part of it!!

One last little part: purifying and preparing ourselves to be a priesthood and spiritual house.

The priests of old would use blood of sacrificed animals to cover themselves with life.

Blood = life

If you took the blood out of a living thing, it ceased to live.

There were hundreds of rules on how to handle and deal with blood because it was regarded as so incredibly sacred because it was life itself.

Priests would cover their imperfect selves with the blood from a perfect sacrifice.

This entire symbol is what “the blood of Christ” and “purifying ourselves by the blood” comes from.

Except…no more sacrifices need to be made for us to be purified.

Purity and life no longer come through being covered in blood.

Instead, we drink of the cup as a representation of our purification and cleansing—forgiveness, healing, reconciliation of Christ’s body (the church)…

We all share of the one cup and bread to represent that Christ’s death was the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

We ingest the body just like people from the early temple days would ingest part of the sacrificed animal.

We drink of the blood to participate in the receiving of Christ’s sacrifice to end all sacrifices. The blood is the symbol for our purification and cleansing…we remember that we don’t walk around impure and unclean. We are a forgiven people.

All of this so that we can continue to grow in our understanding…

To mature in our faith…

To be built together into a spiritual house so that wherever we go and whatever we do we represent God to the world around us.

We are now the place where God’s healing occurs for all of Creation.

We remember all that’s been done at the Communion table

We remember that every person who follows Jesus gathers at the table with us no matter where they are, who they are, or within what denomination or branch of our faith they belong

We remember what the bread and cup mean—all that’s been done and all that is before us to do as we carry on as the spiritual house.

SERMON | John 10:1-10 | "The Voice Worth Following" by Rev. Ceciliah Igweta-Keega at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

SERMON | Luke 24:13-35 | "Walking the Wrong Way With Jesus" by Rev. Ceciliah Igweta-Keega at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

SERMON | John 20:19-31 | "Being Is Believing" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Grace United Methodist Church in Franklin, Indiana

We should invest ourselves in BEING disciples:

loving, serving, and being an example for others.

Let our lived experience being disciples also be a vessel through which we can grow in our faith.

Let living like Jesus teach you more about Jesus and his way.

Chances are very strong that we are not going to see Jesus like Thomas and the disciples did, but remember:

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Maybe we’ve put way too much stock into seeing.

Maybe we spend far too much of ourselves and our precious time looking for what we expect to see and placing our hope of full-faith too much into our certainties.

Maybe Jesus was instructing us in divine wisdom when he gives the commandments to:

1. Serve others as he served us—be in the posture of a servant toward others
1. how can you view others as sacred?
2. How can you work to NEVER look down on anyone else
3. Remind yourself to take the extra step
1. If there’s a task or chore to be done, be the one to volunteer to do it
2. Leave the better parking spot for someone who may need it more
3. Clean up the dishes after a meal
4. Pay attention to who is around you and could use a friend—be that friend
   
2. Love each other as I have loved you—give of yourself for others
1. Be wildly curious before you rush to judgment—ask questions when someone says or does something you don’t understand or with which you don’t agree
2. Treat everyone around you the same as you treat those you love most
3. Be quick to say others, “You go first”
   
3. Go into the world as I have come to you—bringing peace and forgiveness.
1. Be known for being the first to say “I’m sorry”
2. See beyond the anger and a hatred of someone to find the fear-stricken soul underneath who relies on that rough exterior to protect them
3. Forgive people…and forgive yourself, so that you can better learn to forgive others

BEING a disciple allows Jesus to LEAD us into full-belief.

We come to KNOW God by trusting Jesus to be THE WAY.

We come to fully see the truth when we live it.

So, no matter what is happening in your life,

No matter what is happening in the world

No matter how right or wrong things seem

No matter who you are, what you’ve done, or what you believe…

BE a disciple of Jesus:

• Love—give of yourself for others
• Serve—place yourself below others in healthy ways
• Nurture Peace—be a source of reconciliation, forgiveness, and mercy

Continue, as a community of faith, to read scripture, learn tradition, make sense of our time together in this world, and BE disciples together to allow our experiences to continue to shape us into the people we are meant to be—blessed, whole, and alive.