Author: Mark Mong

²⁶ “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.^[a] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Matthew 10:26-31

I think most, if not all, of us have a fear of something.  A simple search on Google can result in the fear of open, crowded spaces or a fear of confined elevators.  Some can have a fear of dogs, snakes, the dark, or even needles.  I cannot count the number of types of fears listed on Google or in a Psychiatric Journal.  But, I can conclude that we all have a fear of something.

When Jesus was preparing his disciples to be sent out in the Gospel of Matthew, he wanted them to have no fear of them.  The “them” are those in the Synagogues that would expel or do worse to them or those kings among the Gentiles that would not tolerate them.  These are the ones Jesus wants the disciples to not be afraid of.  Who is our “them”?  Do we have religious leaders in our city that we are afraid of, like some are afraid of heights?  Do we have government leaders in our city that we are anxious about, like some are anxious about clowns?  What if we have a simple fear of our neighbors?  Are they drug dealers, are they gang members, are they Democrats or Republicans?  Perhaps this fear is what keeps us from going out at all, fear that “they” will harm us and so we choose safety over obedience.

However, Jesus wants the disciples, which includes us, to proclaim what he says in public: the light and the rooftops.  The whole point of sending out the disciples was the mission to complete: the sick, the poor, the oppressed.  How could they complete that mission, if in fear, they stay home?  How can we continue Jesus’ work if we are afraid of the neighborhood and the strangers, not neighbors in them?  The sick will never find health, the poor will never find satisfaction, the oppressed will never find freedom, if we are afraid of someone or something in the neighborhood.

The simple but impossible task is that we are afraid of being harmed by the neighbors we are trying to help instead of being afraid of disobedience to God; do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  We are simply afraid that the neighbor will hurt me, in all the many various ways our imaginations imagine that can happen instead of being afraid that we might disappoint Christ.  Fear of dentists keeps us away from the dentist office, fear of neighbors keeps us away from neighbors and we have disobeyed a direct command from Christ.  We fear the neighbor more than we fear or adore or respect Christ. 

Yet, Christ reminds the disciples that God cares and protects for all of Creation: the sparrows are protected and our hairs are counted.  If God can micro-manage the least of creation and the number of our hairs, how much more will God micro-manage the big things like our bodies and souls when we go out?  We should trust our ears that remind us of our God’s Providential care for us instead of trusting our suspicious eyes that maybe, just maybe if I go out “they” might get me. 

Perhaps the greatest assurance Jesus gives to the disciples is the reminder that in the eyes and estimation of God, we are worth more than sparrows.  Not only should this calm our fears but also inspire our mission.  God cares for “me” but also for “them”.  My friends we exist solely to continue the work Jesus saw as his mission, to heal, to baptize, to teach.  That can only happen in Ashtabula, if we go, instead of hiding because we are afraid of Ashtabula and the strangers therein.  Who is one neighbor you could reach to?  Who is one neighbor that you could connect with?  What is one step that stretches your soul to be faithful?  Reach, connect and step despite the fear, and that just might be courage.  Amen. 

¹⁰ And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. ¹¹ And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; ¹² so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” ¹³ And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴ The Sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. ¹⁶ And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away ¹⁸ And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, ¹⁹ but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰ But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”  Mark 4:10-20

Now that Memorial Day has passed us, we find ourselves fully consumed with planting and working in gardens and flower beds.  After raking the leaves, pulling the weeds and laying the mulch, we can plant the vegetable starters or the seeds of our favorite annuals.  Whether you have one flower bed or twenty, now is the planting season if we want crops or flowers come August or September.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is planting God’s garden and in the parable of the Sower, Jesus is planting God’s Word into human hearts.  From the beginning of the Gospel, Jesus begins His work of implanting God’s Gospel in the hearts of the disciples and the crowds.  We find ourselves in this chapter with Jesus speaking a message that most, including the disciples, fail to understand and even requires Jesus to interpret that message privately to the disciples, hence the “let those who can hear, hear.”  So, it also is with us.  For six weeks now, Jesus has been cultivating us His new garden of people, hard at work to prepare the soil of our hearts to produce not lettuce or beans, but love and covenant faithfulness.

What kind of soil are you?  Perhaps your heart is like the rocky soil of the parable, too hard for God to dig into, too stubborn to change, or even too lifeless to grow anything.  Jesus would explain these hearts as so hard that Satan can steal God’s Word before it can do anything.  Still today, the human heart can be and often is hard to what God wants to do.  We can be inflexible, mired in comfortable familiarity, and pulling against the inertia of the ways we have always done things.  But the only result of the hard heart is that God’s Kingdom is stolen from us, perhaps because in our stubbornness we never really wanted it and instead wanted a different kingdom, our own.

What about the heart that is choked with care and desire?  These are also too common in the Church today.  More concerned with having enough resources to pay the bills, the church’s and our own, we focus solely on the institutional needs and worries instead of people and God’s concerns.  Endowments are used to maintain bureaucracy instead of nurturing wholeness in people.  We care more about coffee and toilet paper than mission and evangelism, and these things choke out what God is trying to grow.  We are hearts filled with weeds instead of hearts filled with love and God’s Word is choked out.

What about the heart that is shallow?  These are the people that are committed and devoted when it profits them but disappear or leave when the difficult tasks of being in this different community become risky or costly.  They are here for Easter Sunrise Service but not to feed or tend the homeless.  They are here for Christmas Eve candles but missing when discerning issues of justice or social witness.  They are here for the community dinner but missing when tough decisions and sacrifices need to be made.  We are shallow hearts when we can procure the greatest goods and services from God, but when devotion or commitment or sacrifice is needed on our part, absence instead is our contribution and God’s Word is burned up.

What about the heart that is faithful?  You see the soil merely is the receptacle for the seed, the seed provides and creates everything.  The soil is merely a pliable and open vessel for the Creator’s work.  When we listen to the Scriptures and allow the Spirit to shape our worldviews, our principles, our priorities and our practices then we become the soil that God can grow anything in.  But the key word is “allow.”  Do we allow God to do what God chooses to do in us, or do we seek control over the entire enterprise?  In the next weeks and seasons ahead of us, what kind of heart will we as a community be and what will Jesus find: stones, weeds, shallowness or faith?  What will we grow in the next 6 weeks, 6 months and God willing 6 years, as Jesus’ garden to the glory of God?  Jesus is still planting what will we allow him to grow?  Amen. 

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
² O give thanks to the God of gods,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
³ O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁴ to him who alone does great wonders,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever;   Psalm 136:1-4

Throughout the course of our lives, we have received gifts from family and friends.  Whether at Christmastime or our birthday or a special occasion, we found treasures lying on our desks, under evergreen trees or next to the birthday cake.  But while we as a community love to dote on our associates, we also place an emphasis on the “Thank You” given back.  How many thank you cards have been written by a newly married couple for every wedding gift?  How many thank you hugs were given to those who surprised you during a party at work?  How many appreciative notes were given to loved ones for the flowers or candy on Valentine’s Day?  We give and do things for those we love and we give back gratitude for the gifts given.

The Psalmist also knows the gifts that have been given and chooses to sing the “Thank You,” O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.  To be good in English implies a state of passiveness, being good, but in Hebrew it means to make good.  The Psalmist ever in a state of stress or crisis crying out for rescues or well-being has been met by God and God’s goodness has rescued and restored as a gift from God and the Psalmist sings back gratitude.  Having been given to, the Psalmist chooses to give back a gift of song in gratitude and thanksgiving for what God has done.  Giving to results in giving back.

As I sit here at my desk almost exactly four years from when I started as the Installed Teaching Elder at East Side, I reflect on all that God has done and God has given to me and to us.  From the tentative steps in yoking together and having two services, to the suggestion to try a summer worshiping together bouncing around sanctuaries.  From meshing a couple of committees together to dinners and picnics.  From the decision to merge to the process of discerning which building best suits our needs.  From the revising of the by-laws and Manual of Operations to the closing and opening services.  From our beginning to our time now, God has been very good to us.  God has renewed and restored us giving us a new energy and excitement over these last few years.

Maybe now is the time for us to give back to God our “Thank You.”  We have had the gifts and the mighty wonders of God, now is the time for us to give thanks the LORD.  With gratitude and thanksgiving, we gather to sing God’s praises not just for what God did at the Red Sea or on Calvary, but what God has done here among us.  The very story of God’s love and faithfulness has become incarnate in our time and in our history.  God has and is loving and faithful to us and we have seen and experienced it.  This is and will be our motivation for our worship and work.  We now have something to sing about in gratitude, and we now have a blessing to bless others with.  God has been good to us, now let us come sing the LORD.

My friends, I know we are not yet finished, not that we ever will be finished, we do have some material things to work out.  But while we have reached the end of one stage in our journey together, we cannot let this be the end of our engagement or commitment.  We can pause and reflect but not end our worship and work.  We can rejoice and give thanks but not cease our discernment and forward movement.  We can take a rest and sabbath, (I know I need to), but we know that another stage of our Exodus begins ahead of us.  Let us give thanks for the LORD is good but also realize that goodness presses us forward.  Let us send God our “Thank You” for all that God has done to get us here and let us press forward to what God has next.  Amen. 

¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3:12-14

I am sure by now that you have either watched the Olympics or read/heard a report about the Olympics.  But nonetheless the Winter Olympics are in full force and most of our community is drawn to pay attention however that looks like.  I admire the tenacity of the athletes who have spent so much time and energy investing into just qualifying for the games themselves.  How much was spent on diet, exercise and training to become the best they could be at their events?  But making the Olympics is just half the goal, they must then apply themselves more so to competing against the best in the world.  They must commit, excel and strain to achieve a medal.  Attaining the Olympic games is not the goal, but to win gold.

Paul may have never competed in the curling competition, and neither could I, but he did know about the games because in his letter to the Philippians he uses the image of running the race.  He understands himself as the athlete competing in the race and all that it takes to attain and reach the finish line.  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own.  Paul describes how far he has come into the work of his Apostleship, but he has not attained the resurrection of the dead.  He might have made the games, but he has not won the gold medal, he must press on to make it his own.  He must invest more of himself even to the point of being crucified with Christ to achieve the finish line, the gold medal, the resurrection of the dead.

Look at how far we have come in our calling to merge.  We are almost four years in this process and that time has passed quickly.  Think of the decisions we have made, the bonds that we have nurtured, and the lessons we have learned.  We have come far.  But the goal is not just to make the merger complete, the goal lies further on and we must press on.  The goal is not just to make the games, but to win gold, the goal is not just to merge, but the goal lies further on.  We have invested ourselves in the work set before us, but we must continue the work even after the merger is finished.  We must press on to gold.

We would be remiss though if we forget that the only reason we make this our own mission and goal is because Christ has made us his own.  Think of how Christ pressed on to find and rescue us, even at the cost of his life in the worst of possible deaths.  If this is how he acts towards those he loves and cares for, then how far will you go to press on and make it yours?  Think of the sacrifices in spending our time with and for others.  Contemplate the offerings of your resources for those in our community in need.  Ponder the gifts of your abilities and skills that you could share and put to work for those in want.  If Jesus has made this his own mission and purpose, then we can also make this our own.  We can go for gold.

What are you pressing forward and straining towards?  Do your goals align with Christ’s?  The work of this Lenten season may just be that we align our goals increasingly with Christ’s.  To strain ahead instead of resting in the glories of the past, to press forward into the unknown future of what Unity is called to be.  But make no mistake that these forty days are about not just being grateful for how far we come but also realizing that we have not yet reached the finish line.  We must press on; we must strain for the finish line, no matter what the cost to ourselves.  This is how Jesus lives and through the work of His Spirit it can become how we live.  Let us press on, let us reach for gold, let us reach for Christ and make Him our own.  Amen. 

12 I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

My Brothers and Sister in Christ,

As I sit in my office on a cold, late January morning with the temperature being 3 degrees with a windchill of -8, I long for warmer days and sunshine.  I noticed in my newsfeed that Spring Training begins in a few weeks, and I am hopeful that soon the Polar Plunge will be over and we can return to heat and humidity.  No play in baseball gives more excitement to the fans and hope to those stuck in frigid temperatures than the squeeze play.  The batter bunts the baseball, sacrificing an out, while the runner on third steals home.  Will the runner score, will the batter connect with the ball and make it to first?  I would much rather worry about these things than will the furnace keep working or what will the gas bill look like!

In baseball, the hitter can sacrifice themselves to move a runner over or even to score a run, but for the Church in Rome divided between Gentile and Jewish Christians, sacrificing themselves for the other group was a tremendous challenge.  Paul writes many words and ideas to this Church in his letter and in the later parts of the letter he writes by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.  For the Jewish Christians keeping the Jewish law, sacrificing their way of life for the Gentile Christians not keeping the Jewish law, this was a tremendous sacrifice they were struggling to make.  Paul encourages them that what is important is not the Sabbaths and the Kosher meals but mutual faith working out in mutual love.

In our upcoming months, we at Unity will have to make many decisions on many things and some have the potential to create conflict and division among us, like the Churches in Rome and Corinth.  But, we also have the Spirit of Jesus Christ which can create mutual faith and mutual love.  But, it requires sacrifices.  Will we sacrifice our preferences for sake of others?  Will we bunt to move someone over or to be a blessing to another part of Christ’s body?  Or will we be concerned only to get what “I” want and in the way and style that I want it?  This is why Paul tells the church in Rome, and us that we need not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  The fallen world selfishly only wants what it feels entitled to have, while the renewed world only wants what is good for others, in other words, the renewed world makes the sacrifice, like Jesus sacrifices. 

My friends, we find ourselves not only longing for physically warmer seasons, but also spiritually warmer seasons when the work of merging is over.  But we can only be a warmer community of mutual faith and mutual love, when we realize that we need each other and others need us.  That can only happen if we sacrifice and yield our wills to Christ, who sacrifices himself and yields to the will of God.  But we all must sacrifice our preferences and desires over the next year to the preference and desire of Christ, which is that we love God and our Neighbor.  That will take you (and me) sacrificing our wants to what God wants.  We must learn to bunt so that others may be blessed and score.  Amen.

In Christ, Rev. Mark

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

I may not be a great baker or cook, but I do enjoy making the attempt.  One of my favorite recipes is confetti cake.  You take a package of sprinkles and put some of the package in the batter and you withhold the remainder of the sprinkles until the cake is baked and iced and then sprinkle the remainder of the candy on top of the icing. The result is confetti on top and confetti inside the cake.  Great for birthdays and serves 8-10 people.

But while you want to withhold some of the candy to put on the top of the cake, you don’t want to withhold anything to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  The context of this verse is Paul’s great chapter on resurrection and how the resurrection of Christ gives victory to those called into Christ.  Since the body of Christ is loved and gifted by Christ and Christ withholds nothing from the Church, the Church can learn to love and give without withholding anything from God and from each other.

Do we as the Body of Christ in Ashtabula, Ohio give ourselves fully though?  You keep some of the candy to put on later, do we withhold something from our community and from God for ourselves or do we fully give away ourselves?  The most obvious concern is always our financial resources, which were important for the Corinthians to contribute to the collection for Jerusalem.  But, what about our time and our spiritual gifts also?  Do we withhold our time, doing what we will, or do we give our time, doing what Christ wills?  What about our energy and intelligence, do we contribute them or withhold them for personal agendas and plans?  I have no doubt that we give something, but do we truly give fully though?

Give yourselves to the work of the Lord.  We can give ourselves fully to some things but what about the work of the Lord: fully to mission work, or fully to people work, or even fully to the work of merging together.  I can rake the leaves, I can winterize the house and put all of myself into those chores, but can I give myself fully to the work of discernment that God is calling Unity into?  The difficult and challenging work of study and correction, growth and transformation?  Building relationships with strangers, struggling with new bylaws, policies and budgets?  Or do we withhold our time and energy for other tasks and ignore and avoid these tasks commanded by Christ? 

Perhaps the real struggle is that we are unsure that if we invest fully in this merging process that we will have real results worth the effort and hardship of growth.  But if we give ourselves to this work of the Lord, we are reminded that we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.  In vain means empty or without result.  Perhaps the reason we withhold from God now, is because we want to know that our investment will have a payoff.  But the nature of faith is not knowing the result before action but an action of entrusting oneself to God and allow God to bring forth the result. 

We are at a critical time in the new life of The Unity Presbyterian Church of Ashtabula, where all of us are called to discern and to work out this new life together to which we have been called.  That will only bring forth fruit to the glory of God if we all, give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.  Not to withhold for ourselves out of fear or anxiety but in faith, knowing that our work is not in vain, trusting and giving.  Whether we are working on bylaws and policies, or furniture and food, let us give all of ourselves to the work, and allow God, as the Master Baker to create, and I think we will come to find that what God creates can be great for our Birth-Day and serve all.  Amen.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

We are entering that season of year where flowers beds and gardens are being cleaned out, planted and mulched for another season of growth.  We remove last year’s leaves that have blown in and last year’s branches that have fallen off into our yards in bags that go off to the dump.  We plant this year’s annuals and spread around mulch.  Mulch, the leaves, branches and plants from previous seasons which break down and give nutrients and protection to this year’s growth.  The plants from previous seasons that give life to another season in the cycle of life.

Just as it is with mulch, so too with Jesus Christ.  Jesus understood himself as the mulch which dies to give life to others, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  His death was to be the means of God bringing God’s creation back from exile and gathering all things together to re-make them.  Mulch is fertilizer for flower beds and gardens.  Jesus is fertilizer for Creation, to bring the people back to the covenant with God, to remove their sins of falling short and to resurrect them to Glory and Life. 

With the momentous decisions made in April, we at Trinity and East Side, find ourselves in a resurrection moment.  We are becoming new thanks to the work of God.  Just as a gardener plants new plants for the season, we are the new planting of God.  We are planting a new church, a new community formed, shaped and gathered by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  The good news of the Gospel is that while God has planted us as a new church, we are “mulched” by Jesus Himself.  Fertilized with nutrients, lead by His will, we are the re-newed planting of God.  Since Jesus was resurrected, we find ourselves being resurrected now, in a new beginning. 

But with new beginnings come endings.  We might be planted and shaped into something new, but we must say goodbye to Trinity and East Side.  We are certainly prepared by God for the future, but we also must say goodbye to the past.  This is a time of loss for both congregations and therefore a time of grief.  Mulch is a fertilizer for the future but also a remainder of last year.  This time of resurrection is also a time of dying.  We must say good-bye to what was to embrace the new thing that is becoming.  To honor and grieve the closing of two faith communities to celebrate and live into the planting of a new.

We seem to be called into a season of deep, spiritual work.  While we can catch a glimpse of the new things God is doing, we must grieve and celebrate the wonderful things God has done.  Just as we did deep work to reach this point in our community’s journey, so must we continue the deep work while we can begin the next.  What must we say good-bye to?  What stories need to be shared and remembered?  What memories and learnings need to be lifted up and carried with us?  All of this is the mulch of the past which gives life to the present and future.  This is our dying work that must accompany our rising work.

My friends, we have come so far by the grace of Jesus’ Spirit.  Let us continue our Easter work of dying and rising as Jesus died and rose.  Let us engage in our deep work of dying to Trinity and East Side, that we might rise to the (Insert New Church Name Here).  So dig out the pictures to show off to the other church, write the stories to share with the new members, and remember the lessons you learned to teach to new brothers and sisters in God’s family.  But most importantly, let us begin our letting go of what was, to become and align into what is growing.  We have been mulched by Christ, time for us to die and rise.  Amen and thanks be to God.

In Christ,
Rev. Mark

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:16-21

If you live in Ashtabula County you know all about Interstate 90.  The highway bisects the county almost in the geographical middle of the county.  Depending on which way you are traveling east or west, the highway comes into or leaves the county either around Madison or the Pennsylvania State Line.  I cannot begin to imagine how many people have travelled into and out of our county over the course of a year or even a lifetime, but I personally have driven out of the county to visit loved ones for the holidays and into the county when those vacations are over.

Our journeys of discipleship are very similar to trips made on Interstate 90.  The highway comes into and leaves the county; we are on a similar journey out of the kingdom of sin and death and into the Kingdom of God.  The Greek word Exodus from which the second book of the bible takes the name in a quite literal fashion means the road out, and the word Eisodus quite literally means the road in.  Paul would describe the journey of discipleship as if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.   The old has passed away, the road out, the new has come, the road in.

To take Route 90 out of Ashtabula, or the old creation has passed away, quite simply means that our connection to sin and death has been severed and we are now free or liberated from our sins, our guilt and our connection to the evil powers of this world that cause us so much misery and apathy.  Like Israel in Egypt or Babylon, the taskmasters have been vanquished, and we are free to take the road out of slavery to sin and death and free to take a journey into new and better land.  The moments we crossed the line are forgiven, our moments of falling short of the humanity we were created to be are cancelled, our moments of missing the mark in obedience to the covenant are gone.  These are the old things which have passed away.

To take Route 90 into Ashtabula, or the new creation has come, quite simply means that we now have been baptized into Jesus Christ, and we can be born again and live life anew and afresh in God’s righteousness.  Like Israel in the land of Canaan, we are free to enter the promised land flowing with milk and honey.  But to make the trip in means to live life differently than the lives we lived in Egypt or sin.  To love instead of hate.  To be faithful to God.  To offer kindness to the least and to make things right and just.  Israel was called to be holy or different because they were in Canaan and not Egypt, we are called to be holy or different because we are in God’s creation instead of Sin’s creation. 

Friends, we are on the cusp once again of another season of Lent, a time of introspection, discipline and repentance.  If we are on the road out of sin and death, what do you need to give up this Lenten Season?  Perhaps not Brussel sprouts or chocolate, but pride or hate?   If we are on the road into the Kingdom of God, what do you need to take on this Lenten Season?  Humility, justice or love?  If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come; let us put aside the old life and through the Spirit of Jesus Christ become the new creation.  Let us take the road out of sin and the road into Christ.  Amen.

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not rely on your own insight.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes;
    fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸ It will be healing to your flesh
    and refreshment to your bones.  Proverbs 3:5-8

One of the skills I learned in the Boy Scouts growing up was how to use a compass.  During our Jamboree, where all the troops in Cleveland gathered to compete against each other in the various skills we were learning, our leaders set up a compass course.  Throughout a very large area of the forest, our leaders attached markers with a unique hole punch to trees and then gave us the bearings on how to find them with our compass.  We had to run through the forest and find the markers and punch our cards and whoever had the most correct punches received the points.  Sometimes, I remember the event being easier than others, we quickly found the markers and sometimes I remember us having to wander the woods until we found them.  But most of the time, we were able to find our way even if that way was a long and winding road through the pine trees.

In our time together as two churches, we have experienced moments of the last three years where we arrived at the destinations where God wanted us to go, but we have also experienced moments that felt like a long and winding road through the pine trees.  Perhaps we are unsure of what God is calling us to become, or perhaps we have great anxiety about what a merged congregation might look like.  While we certainly have all that, and much more, we do have a compass to point us in the faithful direction and to aid us in our discipleship.  Proverbs states, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.  Jesus, our Lord knows the path for us to take.  Jesus, our Shepherd protect us from those who prey upon us.  Jesus, our Provider, gives us every Spiritual gift needed for us to follow.  All we can do in those moments of uncertainty and anxiety is to acknowledge Him in every choice and matter, and He will compass us to the faithful end.  He will make straight the discerning choices we as a community of faith must make this year. 

What I think the Author of the Proverbs is showing us is that no matter how much we don’t understand the path or even the destination we really do not rely on our own insight.  While human insight has provided profound discoveries in energy and medicine, that insight still does not compare to the insight of Jesus Christ.  He might just have a more complete and a more faithful insight into what is best for our community.  Can we acknowledge he might just know better?  But the Author is also showing us that no matter how much an uncertain future frightens us, or how much this drastic change worries us, we can still trust in the Lord with all your heart.  I worry and I fear, but Christ is faithful until death and entrusts himself to God.  He just might be a more faithful human being than we could ever be for ourselves.  Can we acknowledge we just might need His help?

Friends, as we face a momentous time of discernment and decision, no doubt we must also face our fears and our anxieties.  But we have been promised the Son and the Spirit, our compass to a faithful life together and our energy to live into that life.  This means that as have our last town hall meetings, and our last conversations, and our last moments as two congregations, we don’t have to be confused, nor afraid.  God has promised direction for our minds and refreshment to our bones.  Faith then it seems, is about acknowledging we don’t know the path or the goal, but we know the compass.  Faith then it would seem is about confessing that we have neither the courage nor the endurance, but we have the Spirit of God.  Our calling seems to be to live these next few weeks and months in discernment, not by fear but by faith, neither by weakness but by the power of God.  Let us follow our compass and we will faithfully reach the finish line, even if we must take the long winding road through the pine trees.  Amen.