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SERMON | John 4:1-42 | "See Her" by Lauren Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana
SERMON | John 20:19-23 | PENTECOST - "He Breathed On Them" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana
This is the arrival of the Holy Spirit in John.
At first hearing we might think, “Well, that’s boring.”
“No sound? No fire? No speaking in foreign languages? No Peter giving a testimony that leads to 3,000 people believing in the risen Savior?”
Why bother, right?
Jesus breathed on them.
—a very different effect in our post-COVID world!
Remember, this is the first time that all of the disciples who aren’t Mary have seen Jesus alive and breathing once more.
What had they been thinking about since Jesus was arrested and killed?
How they had run?
How they had denied?
How they had not stood up for him?
How some of the Jewish council were searching for them?
How they ached to not have Jesus with them?
How much it hurt to not hear his voice?
How guilty they felt?
How they had no idea what to do next since the one they were following were no
longer there to lead them?
How they hoped those locked doors would protect them?
And then Jesus is there…seemingly out of nowhere.
In the moment they first see him, he offers them peace: “Peace be with you.”
— if they had been true Methodists, they would have responded, “And also with you.”
Then he shows them his hands and side so they might come to believe.
They do and suddenly their fear dissipates AND joy overcomes them.
Jesus said again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
Here is the key to what it all means.
One way we can understand this is to think back to the book which the author we call John put firmly into our frame of mind with the opening words of the Gospel account.
Genesis.
“In the beginning…” and now, “He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”
The very first human beings received breath from God—the breath of life.
breath/spirit/wind are all the same word in both Hebrew and Greek.
Where the first humans received divine breath, so now the disciples do.
Where the presence of God came to walk among the first humans in the evening, they heard the sound of the evening breeze.
The presence of God coupled with their choice to serve themselves as gods in idolatry led them to be in great fear and go into hiding…just like the disciples are in this scene.
Where sin, the symptom of the deeper problem of idolatry, had held the world captive from the life which God had envisioned for all people from all places…NOW Jesus breathes new life into the disciples after having dealt with the power of sin and death on the cross.
New Creation had burst forth from that garden tomb — John says once again, “…the first day of the week” we are reminded that a new week and new creation had begun.
This new life and creative power is then given to the disciples through Jesus’ breath of life.
Then he tells them what it means: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
God is bringing forgiveness and new life to the whole world.
It was ALWAYS meant and described as coming through Israel from God to the world.
They were God’s elected people to be the vessel through which the great promise was fulfilled…and it had happened in this moment!
Now the disciples, filled with the new divine breath of the new creation where forgiveness becomes truly possible, will go out into the world so that God can work THROUGH them…to bring PEACE.
Peace is right relationship…
wholeness…
completeness…
shalom.
Jesus’ resurrection brings true peace into the world.
We can all receive this new peace, this new wholeness, this contentment in our souls.
But…we receive this SO THAT we can go and announce that peace to the whole world—to share this peace and wholeness found through forgiveness.
SERMON | 1 Peter 3:13-22 | A LIVING HOPE - 5. "Always Be Ready" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana
Daily we should be remembering that Christ IS Risen
That the world is in conflict while evil is uprooted and removed
That we are a part of this process in our daily living
Maybe we aren’t facing authorities who are punishing us for our faith, but that
day could come:
Don’t think that conflict CANNOT come in that form.
Even if authorities aren’t the source of conflict, our peers are.
Dare I say, even our fellow Christian peers.
It’s extremely rare that I encounter a non-Christian who is slanderous, rude, or causing conflict in some way toward me or the church for our faith.
Most often it’s a sibling of Christ who is pointing fingers, slandering, and trying to cause turmoil and conflict.
Most often these actions are caused by pain they are carrying.
We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
We’ve lost hope and placed the burden of conflict upon our own shoulders, right?
We’ve experienced disappointment and responded with judgment and self-righteousness, yes?
We ALL have.
So…we should all understand when we see it in our Christian sibling.
and we should all be readying ourselves NOT to respond in kind.
Rather, we should respond in our hope with grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness.
We should not hold things against our sibling in faith due to their reactions.
We all make mistakes and we all are impulsive…because we all have moments
when we have not been prepared to maintain our hope amid pain.
If we cannot regard our sibling in Christ with an unconquerable hope, how can we ever be prepared for the world around us when it brings the conflict?
We need to pray, friends, for hope.
We need to start with our own hope so that we are ready to live it out…especially in moments of conflict.
Once we get a good handle on maintaining our own hope, THEN we can work on building up the hope in each other.
THEN we can know we are ready for the world around us.
The day of the Lord has begun…and it will be completed, Amen?
Christ IS Risen!
Then let us live into the Easter reality
Let our lives reflect A LIVING HOPE
Let us prepare for whatever comes our way.
ALWAYS BE READY to serve a Risen Christ IN WHOM WE FIND OUR HOPE in any given moment so that:
SERMON | 1 Peter 2:2-10 | A LIVING HOPE - 4. "Like Living Stones" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.
There is a freedom available to you through our resurrected Lord.
When you remember, and spend time remembering regularly, that you are a living stone being built into a spiritual house alongside Jesus Christ and every person who seeks to follow him as Lord, you are awakened to freedom.
We don’t have to be right when we are free.
We don’t have to make sure everyone else thinks like we do when we are free.
We don’t have to make sure and balance the scales of justice for ourselves.
Where do you see life lived in such a way that you desire for yourself?
Who do you know who has the freedom of Christ in a way that appeals to you?
Because someone who doesn’t play by the rules of being right, being controlling, and being self-righteous in their judgment is absolutely perplexing to those who are still living life in the dirt.
When you come across someone who doesn’t play the game of the world, it stands out.
People have no idea what to do with them, do they?
Except…except…those who are desiring to live life beyond the dirt.
When you’re pining for something more out of life, you notice it when you find it.
I wonder, are we living the type of life that stands out in such a way for others?
Are we living a free life as a living stone in such a way that people can see it in us?
Are we living it out loud?
Are we living it in every way we can all the time we can?
As Peter said, if we have tasted the goodness of God through our Lord, then we desire more…because that is how it works.
He is risen!!
Jesus Christ was resurrected that Easter morning…
and Jesus Christ has been resurrecting us ever since…
Jesus Christ is freeing us from the dirt of our old life and into something entirely different
So…go and live the resurrected life.
Leave the old life behind you to remain in the dirt.
Live as a living stone…a flesh and blood temple…so that we may experience the presence and work of God in and through each other in the way we love and show mercy.
Be an entirely different group of people—a kingdom of priests for God—to the world around you that others may come to know of the freedom and truth you have found.
The sermon material comes from umcdiscipleship.org
SERMON | 1 Peter 1:17-23 | A LIVING HOPE - 2. "Loosening the Bonds" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.
Do you know you are loved?
Our full display of LOVE is God coming to us in Jesus Christ…
to tell our story in a new way…
to bring healing to our very hearts, minds, souls, and bodies…
to face and embody our rejection…
to suffer at the hands of our sinful pride and need to judge and control…
and to not condemn us.
to not respond with resentment.
to not respond in kind.
But to pray for us…
to forgive us…
to call out to us…
to wash our feet and kick in those prison doors anyway…
to dust us off and restore us to our original beauty…
to offer us LIFE…
to LOVE us.
Because that’s what God did through Jesus Christ.
That’s our trust and hope—in resurrection.
And, as people freed, we are to go and LOVE in response.
Not because we are supposed to, but because that’s all we know to do when we have arrived at the place of trusting and hoping in God alone.
___________________________________________________________________
Friends, Jesus Christ has freed us and continues to lead us into that freedom.
Embrace the full reality of freedom, leave your cell, and walk the path of discovering how valuable and loved you truly are.
Live in such a way that reflects this truth…that others in prisons around you may know of the fullness of joy that lies beyond the walls of their prisons.
Let us live, as freed people, committed to dismantling the prisons all around us so that everyone may live and walk as free as anyone and everyone else.
Let us continue to leave our prisons of judgment and condemnation behind us so that we may live into the true freedom of LOVE as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Live in such a way that reveals to people the truth you have come to know…
that we all are beautiful, priceless, and LOVED works of art formed in the image of God.
Christ IS Risen!
SERMON | 1 Peter 1:3-9 | A LIVING HOPE - 1. "Fullness of Joy" by Rev. Dr. Gary Schaar at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.
Yes, of course, rejoice. And there are times when I can rejoice. Times when things are going well, and I can contemplate the fullness of the promise of eternity. Then, yes, I can look inward and rejoice; feel good about what has been given, content. Satisfied. “Uh, no,” says Peter, grinning in his beard. “You rejoice, even if now for a little while you suffer.” Wait, what? Rejoice while suffering? That doesn’t compute. “I know, right?” says Peter. “But yeah, it really does. Here’s the thing, you’re alive.” I know, and I’d like to stay that way. “No, alive. Not just living. You’re alive, which means that anything that happens is just a moment in eternity. Just a blip on the screen. So, all those things that terrify you don’t mean anything. They can’t diminish you; they can’t break you. You’re alive. I didn’t get that then. I get it now. All there is is love.”
Peter laughs at his own thoughts. “Sounds like a pop song, doesn’t it? But it’s the truth. The deep truth. Love that starts with him, the one I turned my back on, but who never turned his back on me. Love of him who loves so deeply it shakes you to the core. Love so profound we are remade. Made alive. Call it salvation; that’s the only word that fits. We are being saved by his love; saved to love as he loves. Saved to live as he lived. Does that sound like a party or what?”
His teeth gleam through that tangle of a beard, weathered face wrinkling around his eyes as he reaches out with those big fisherman hands to slap you on the back. “Welcome to the party,” he shouts a little too loudly. “Rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” Amen, Peter, amen.
SERMON | John 20:1-18 | IN AWE OF GRACE - Easter Sunday "The End That Wasn't" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana.
SERMON | John 13:1-17, 31b-35 | IN AWE OF GRACE - Maundy Thursday "Commanded to Love" by Rev. Joseph Sanford at Sellersburg United Methodist Church in Sellersburg, Indiana
Jesus seized the opportunity to love his disciples…his friends…
because why wouldn’t he?
THIS is God glorified.
to give of God’s self for God’s children.
The foot-washing is just a small example of what Jesus was about to do the next day.
Is there any greater love than to lay down your life for your friends on the cross?
Is there any nobler act than to wash the feet and die for those who betray you and fasten you to the instrument that will kill you
Yet…that’s what Jesus did.
He washed their feet that night and he would die for them the next day.
And none of them understood.
Most would abandon him.
One would deny him.
Another would betray.
And yet…here he is this night…washing their feet and preparing to die tomorrow.
As I have loved you, love one another.
We will take of Holy Communion tonight to REMEMBER how Jesus loved us.
Not just to take and eat and ritualize it to a once a year or once a month thing.
Let’s see the foot-washing and Holy Communion for what they really were:
an invitation into an entirely new way to live a life of LOVE.
Jesus shows us LOVE
and then invites us to live into this love for others…
not one night a year, but in every opportunity we can find to break from the routine and norm and SERVE each other out of love.
What would our communities look like if every Christian decided to start loving like Jesus?
EVERYONE would experience a love they wouldn’t understand either.
Some would overreact one way to such an experience.
Others would overreact in another way.
There would be confusion…
there would be betrayal…
there would be denial…
But what if our LOVE, the love we’ve come to know from Jesus, outlasted all reactions?
What if the church became ONLY a place where people love each other in ways that we were constantly lowering ourselves to one another…because…
why shouldn’t we?
why wouldn’t we?
We are commanded to love
As we take of the elements…and as we serve each other…
Let us remember what Jesus did during the supper for each disciple…
and let us remember what Jesus did the next day for everyone across time and space.
Let us REMEMBER…and let our remembrance lead us into the new life to which we are called.
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