Category: News

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.