Sermon: The Power of Love -- Smith Memorial at 115

The Power of Love: Smith Memorial at 115

Cynthia O’Brien

Micah 6:6-8 and Luke 4:14-30

January 29, 2006

Micah 6:6-8

^{MIC 6:6} With what shall I come before the LORD

and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

^{MIC 6:7} Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

^{MIC 6:8} He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Luke 4:14-30

^{LK 4:14} Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. ^{LK 4:16} He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷ The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

^{LK 4:18} "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

^{LK 4:19} to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

^{LK 4:20} Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹ and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

^{LK 4:22} All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.

^{LK 4:23} Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: `Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' "

^{LK 4:24} "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."

^{LK 4:28} All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Good news to the poor. Freedom for prisoners. Recovery of sight to the blind. Release the oppressed. It was Jesus’ mission statement more than 2,000 years ago. But could it be a mission statement for today as well?

Imagine, women, that your husband has been arrested and imprisoned. You and your family are confused and frightened. No one knows where he is and whether he is even still alive. The government won’t tell you anything.

Many families are in that position today. They had no one to help them, until Anita and Beth came along and offered to help them find their loved ones. Anita and Beth are part of a team that is helping hundreds of families.

Anita David hails from Lakeview Presbyterian Church in Chicago. Beth Pyles is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Fairmont, WV

Beth and Anita work with the international Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) from an apartment in Baghdad. Anita has been there since October 13. Beth arrived in Baghdad three weeks ago. They are working to help the families of Iraqi detainees find their family members who have been imprisoned. They call attention to prisoner abuse and try to reunite families.

You would think everyone would agree that this is charitable work. You would think that even Iraqi militants would give the peace team room to work.

But on November 26, unidentified militants abducted four members of the CPT: Jim Loney, Norman Kember, Tom Fox and Harmeet Sooden. The four men had come to the Christian Peacemaker Team from Canada, Britain and the United States. The kidnappers threatened to kill them unless Iraqi prisoners were realsed from jails.

Since the kidnapping, the Baghdad team has limited its travel in the city and focused solely on the hostages. Then last week, a videotape was released which shows the four men alive, which the team says is an answer to their prayers.

Now the CPT is resuming its work of helping the families of Iraqi detainees find imprisoned family members. In a statement issued Thursday, the CPT said: "Today, 26 January 2006, marks two months since our brothers - Jim Loney, Norman Kember, Tom Fox and Harmeet Sooden - were pulled away from their work in Iraq. Although we cannot have them with us right now, we choose to continue the work they are doing."

Anita was scheduled to return to the United States this month, but has chosen to stay. She told the Presbyterian News Service, "There's work to do. "We've decided to get back to work again."

Last week Anita accompanied an Iraqi human-rights worker to a military compound to seek the release of two female detainees, both of whom were later freed. She is also helping a family with a child who needs medical treatment not available in Iraq.

She said, "People are contacting us, and we're accompanying them," she said. But she hasn’t forgotten her abducted colleagues. "We're still on high alert. We want our friends back." Anita and her team members light candles during worship each morning for the missing men.

In yesterday's release, the team said: "Those of us in CPT and the families of Jim, Norman, Tom and Harmeet continue to feel their absence acutely. We worry about their physical and emotional wellbeing and long to see them, speak to them and be with them again. We know that thousands of Iraqi families share our grief and yearning as they wait for loved ones caught in a prison system over which they have no control.”

In this sanctuary today there is a wide diversity of opinions on the U.S. occupation of Iraq, but you cannot doubt the courage and calling of these Christian women and their fellow team members. For them, “good news to the poor” and “freedom for the prisoners” are not just a Biblical foundation for the ministry of Jesus long ago. It drives them to work in one of the most dangerous places on earth. Along with journalists and other charity workers, they are putting their lives on the line to try to ease the suffering of the native people there.

Good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed. None of us is working in a war-torn country, but we are following Christ. Consider how Jesus’ mission is being carried out right here at Smith Memorial :

1. Good news to the poor. We give hope for people around the world by praying and giving. The general mission money that we give to the Presbyterian Church each year and the One Great Hour of Sharing offering is being used to help victims of natural disasters and war. We supported the Christian radio ministry in Pakistan again last year. Right here at home, we help the needy. When you bring mittens for elementary school kids and food for SnowCap, you are bringing good news to the poor. I recently learned that for every dollar you would spend on groceries, Snow Cap can buy $10 worth of groceries, so I sent them $50 so they could buy $500 worth of food. I thought that was a pretty good investment.

2 Freedom for the prisoners. One of the ways Smith Memorial cares for prisoners is buying presents for their children. We find out what their kids would like for Christmas, we go buy it, then we put a tag on it that says, Merry Christmas, Love, Dad (or Mom if the mom is incarcerated). We also offer to send those kids to Christian summer camp. We are doing what we can for the prisoners.

Whether in a physical prison or captive to illness, addicted to drugs, if drinking is the way you cope with life, if you are in an intimate relationship with someone other than your spouse, if you can’t seem to stop stealing things or lying, God has freedom for you. You can tell someone in this church about it. We don’t care about maintaining the appearance of everything being OK if it’s not. We want you to be free. You can tell.

3. Sight for the blind. There are some who are physically blind who have been miraculously healed. Many with eye problems have been healed by divine intervention and surgery. But blindness also refers to spiritual blindness, to the person who lives in darkness and doesn’t see God. God will give new sight to understand God’s perspective. In our church, education is a top priority, and not just for children. We offer an introduction to Christianity called “Alpha” which will begin just after Easter on Sunday nights. There are Bible studies on Sundays and Wednesdays and all kinds of home groups. If you are looking for meaning and insight, that’s where you want to be.

Here in our church, we have been carrying out the ministry of Jesus Christ for 115 years.

Over these 115 years, we have had good times and hard times. Right now is a good time.

When you read our Annual Report, you will probably find out something that you didn’t know before about the many good things that our church is involved in. Our members are hauling bread from the supermarket to Snow Cap, cooking lunch for a hundred homeless or needy people, delivering meals on wheels, and doing yardwork for a disabled person. They are serving on citizen’s advisory committees, looking out for their neighbors. They are thinking of ways to provide everything an elementary school student needs to start the school year if his family doesn’t have the money for things like school supplies.

.There is a lot of creative ministry going on here, and you can thank your leaders for that. I talked the last few weeks about our elders and deacons, who work very hard for you on a volunteer basis. Where you put actual dollars is into your staff members, and they are terrific. Donna has been here for about 25 years, Marcia and Marti 15 years each, and I’m in my tenth year. Our bookkeeper, Ann, has just been here a year but she was already known as one of the best church bookkeepers in the Presbytery. Bette Carroll came to us with 17 years experience in youth ministry; she has taken our youth to new depths of spirituality and new heights of ministry in just a few years. You see the growth of the music program, and as for Marilyn Robinson’s years of musical experience, well, she didn’t know Bach personally but she and Mozart were like this, and you’ll have to read her report to understand the full range of work she’s doing, building the choirs and developing musicians of all ages.

You have invested in your church staff, and we are continually grateful for the confidence you place in us. We love the work that we do and we love who we’re doing it with. There may not be a lot of dollars to do it with, but that’s where our creativity comes in, until giving can pick up again.

We all understand that the time we are in now is an economic lean time, as most of our members have modest incomes and several of our families are really struggling.

But this isn’t the first time our church has weathered financial difficulty. There have been several. You know of the crash of 1929. It was shortly after that that the Methodist Episcopal Church, just down the street from us, decided to close, and we might have been the same, except that there was a hopeful spirit here. The new minister, Charles Fleming, was one of those especially optimistic people. His attitude was, “Why worry about physical wealth? We shall make our riches spiritual.” It was in that economic lean time that the Sunday School grew so much they had to partition the sanctuary with curtains to keep the large classes from spilling into each other. By the church’s 50^th anniversary, the fireside room was added, and everyone was amazed at the church’s growth during the Depression.

Life inside the church today may have the same vital spirit, but Rev. Fleming wouldn’t recognize the community outside. It’s a new world out there.

So we are seeking God’s guidance for creative ways that we can carry out Jesus’ mission statement of preaching good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, release of the oppressed. That’s the leaders’ ministry to you, the congregation. It is also our congregation’s ministry to the people outside our church.

I have a twofold goal for this year. The first is to strengthen the foundation of this church as a platform that you can rest your life on. As a member of this church, you have a place to worship God, to be loved, to have friends, to learn and to grow. There’s a lot to take advantage of, and it’s your choice how you become involved. I want you to be strengthened when you walk out of this building, whether it’s from a service where we sang your favorite hymn or a tough session meeting where you had to be reconciled with someone you disagreed with. You should be a stronger, better person because you are a member of Smith Memorial. The sermons in February and March are designed to build up the individual person, and that’s why I’m recommending them as a good time to bring a friend to church.

The second goal is to see you become a renewed force for good in East Multnomah County. I’ll be explaining more about it in the April and May sermons, but I’m already working on ways to help our church become more connected in our community, through other community organizations and meeting with city leaders.

Now, more than ever, people need to hear the good words of Jesus – good news to the poor, release to the captives – that this is the year of the Lord’s favor. May it be a favorable year for us all.

Sermon: I Am Coming to Your House

The Power of Love: A Call to the Elders
Cynthia O’Brien

Luke 19
January 22, 2006

Kids’ song:

Zaccheus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in the sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.

And as the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree

And He said, “Zaccheus, you come down!

For I’m going to your house today.”

The song makes you think that Zaccheus was a wee little man. But remember that’s only talking about his height. This was a tax collector. Not a cubicle dweller deep in the Internal Revenue service. This was a powerful man. This was a person people hated and were afraid of. Think organized crime in your neighborhood. Think about someone who coerced you into paying more than your share of taxes, so the collector could line his own pockets.

The way that tax collectors made their living was to collect their percentage over and above what Rome required. But many collectors went far beyond that. It was such a huge problem that in Luke Chapter 3, Luke records John the Baptist telling tax collectors not to collect more than they are supposed to.

If you were to ask any Jew of the day, “Who is a person who cannot be saved,” tax collectors would be high on the list. And if the tax collector is a sinner, then Zaccheus, as a Chief tax collector, would be the chief of sinners.

Just because of his job, Zaccheus is in a very serious spiritual condition. Worse than being paralyzed or blind.

Remember when the young man wouldn’t follow Jesus because Jesus told him to leave his wealth behind? In Luke 18:24,

²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

If this is it, then the story of Zaccheus will go nowhere. But remember, Jesus says, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." I think the angel Gabriel said something like that, too.

This is going to be a story of spiritual healing. It will be a miracle.

Jesus is passing by, and Zaccheus has climbed up in a tree, an absurd position for someone of his status. And perhaps it’s because of this one act of interest – we won’t call it faith, maybe not more than curiosity – that Jesus steps toward him and says “Today I must go to your house.”

I’m going to put myself in Jesus’ shoes for a moment. If I am in a public place where people know me to be a minister, maybe I’m the speaker for an event or something, and someone seems interested in meeting me, I might shake his hand, but I am certainly not going to say, “I’m going to your house today.” But this was Jesus’ mission. “I MUST go. It was his divine mission to do it. It was urgent and it was exactly what Jesus planned to do.

Before long, Zaccheus has changed his life and joyfully planned to show the inward change by an outward action. In compliance with Jewish law, he planned to give back what he had wrongly taken, plus more. The law required restitution plus 20 percent for extortion (Leviticus 5:16 and Numbers 5:7) or a fourfold return for stealing sheep (Exodus 22:1)

The story ends happily, all on the same day, when Jesus says, “Today, salvation has come to this house.” It all happened in one day. Zaccheus showed some interest, Jesus invited himself over, Zaccheus changed his life and Jesus pronounced him saved. It’s a miracle.

There is a message in here for the elders, which we’ve talked about some already at Session, but it’s good for all of us to hear, because all of us in some way can apply these principles to our own lives.

How many of you are or have ever been elders?

Let me speak to the elders, as I spoke to the deacons last week. I want to elaborate some on your ordination vows.

As an elder, you are a Christian first, so many of the ordination vows were not hard for you to accept. You already try to do these things: trust in Jesus Christ, believe in God, accept the Scriptures, abide by the church’s rules, be a friend to those you are working with, to further the peace, unity and purity of the church..

When you became an elder, you reaffirmed all those things, in addition to accepting a job description that boils down to this: to watch over the people, provide for the people to worship, to see that they are nurtured in their faith, and to give them opportunities for service. You do this well.

I hope everyone is aware that we have a very fine Session, and the reason this church is so well run is not only because of our great staff but because of our thoughtful and hardworking Session. They understand their job in the church very well. They work with the staff to provide for your worship, nurture and service, and we are all continually working to improve on our service to you in those areas.

There is more to the call, though, if we examine several others of the ordination vows. Elders, think back to those vows you took, some of you just two weeks ago. You promised to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, love your neighbors and work for the reconciliation of the world. You promised to try to show the love and justice of Jesus Christ. Your service as an elder goes beyond these walls.

The Jesus that you promised to follow is a very bold person. He spotted an interested person, Zaccheus, and he said, “Today I am coming to your house.”

Last week a friend invited me to attend the Gresham Chamber of Commerce after hours event. She knew I like to swing dance and they were having it over at Dy’s Diner where there’s live music. We went and had a really great time – this is much better than Rotary. The Chamber director invited me to come to the business meeting the next morning, Friday being my alleged day off, but I went at 7:30 to Old Chicago Pizza where there were 101 business leaders and a table full of breakfast pizzas and coffee.

More than one person said to me, “Today I am coming to your house.” Not exactly in those words. The man from the air and water purifying company gave me his card and told me that he wanted to come to the church and tell me about how he can purify the air in our nursery so no child will ever get sick. Then a chiropractor, after finding out I go to a different chiropractor, gave me her card and told me what a gentle technique she uses.

I’m not used to being around so many forceful salespeople, but I must have caught the spirit of the meeting, because I met a young man who has started a child care business in his home. When he mentioned his fiance, I asked him, “Do you know where you are going to get married?” He didn’t. I pulled out my business card and said, “Our church is right up the street, maybe we can do something for you.” He was concerned about the cost. I looked him right in the eye, and I said “You’d be surprised what we could do for you, very affordably. We help a lot of young couples.”

Jesus said, Today I must come to your house.

Two thousand years later, Christians are doing the same thing. I’ve had this book, “Presbyterians: A Spiritual Journey” for a couple of years, but I just read it this week, and I was inspired by the stories of people around our country who are stepping out in faith.

Story of Lori, a homemaker, and Louie, a heroin addict. (from the book Presbyterians: A Spiritual Journey)

Elders, you have a calling. To love your neighbors and work for the reconciliation of the world. God will give you opportunities. Watch for the man in the tree, because today might be the day of his salvation.

Sermon: The Sinner Who Loved

The Power of Love: A Call to the Deacons
Cynthia O’Brien

Luke 7
January 15, 2006

I love my deacon.

She calls me once a month to see how I’m doing, she gives me lots of encouragement, she prays for me, and she sent me a lovely birthday card. Dougie Bright is my deacon and I think she’s just great.

But Sonja Flener was my deacon once, and she was great, too. She called me and prayed for me, and made me pumpkin butter.

Marie Squires was wonderful when she was my deacon. She called me and prayed for me, and she even gave me a ride to the airport.

But Lillie Parno has to get the prize. Not because she’s necessarily a better person than my other deacons. But it was on Lillie’s watch, when she was my deacon, that Michael had that freak accident and shattered his knee. It was a traumatic experience for our family.

During Michael’s recovery at home, I had to go away for a week, as I was inescapably committed to lead the Presbytery Junior High Camp. I knew he could take care of himself if I took Rachel with me, but I was nervous about him going upstairs to take a shower every day. I asked Lillie, our deacon, if she would do us a huge favor: come over every morning and be there, just in case he fell, really just to make me feel better.

So while Rachel and I were gone, every morning, Lillie came over and cooked breakfast for Michael while he went upstairs and came down again. I was so grateful to her.

As for Michael, I don’t think he missed us too much, as it was World War II week on The Discovery Channel and Civil War week on the History Channel and American Revolution week on A&E.

I not only love my deacons for what they do for me and my family personally, but for what they do for me as a pastor. They extend my love to the whole congregation. They call everybody once a month. They visit, care, listen, and when there’s a problem, they ask me to pray for you. They watch over every family in our congregation.

I am giving an encouragement to the deacons today. How many of you are or have ever been deacons in the church? (hands) The rest of us also have people to care for, so we can all draw something from today’s message and apply it to our own lives.

My call to the Deacons today is first to keep doing what you are doing. You are so good at calling and keeping in touch. True, some people don’t really want to talk to their deacon. They don’t want to tell you their troubles and they don’t want to make friends with you. That’s OK. But many people are blessed by your contacts. When you call, follow up, pray, get to know people, send cards, visit people in their homes, you are sharing God’s love and you are making a difference in the lives of people in our congregation we love very much.

I want to go a little deeper this morning in my call to you. It comes out of some of the things I’ve been thinking about, and a challenge from this book I read, Reggie McNeal’s The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church.

The story about the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet is a story driven by strong characters. As we go through the story, see which character do you identify with.

The sinful woman -- Simon the Pharisee -- Or Jesus.

Open your Bibles and we will walk through the text.

Luke 7:36-50

^{LK 7:36} Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸ and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

^{LK 7:39} When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."

Let’s stop there a moment. Can you identify with the woman?

She knows that she is desperately in need of God’s forgiveness, and she knows that she will be forgiven. What else could make her love him so extravagantly? Is this your kind of love for God? Perhaps someone looks down on you because you are so in love with God that you appear to be a little nuts.

Or maybe you can identify with the woman because you really don’t have your act together at all, and you’re just holding on. You have made some bad choices and you may even have a bad reputation. Someone has put you down. You are the sinner, and you are used to being judged and marginalized.

Jesus knew what the man was thinking.

^{LK 7:40} Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, teacher," he said.

^{LK 7:41} "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴² Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

^{LK 7:43} Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

^{LK 7:44} Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman?

Simon, a Pharisee, was by definition a religious and righteous type person. But this story casts him as the one who ultimately doesn’t get it. Jesus said “do you see this woman” but Simon couldn’t see her – truly – He couldn’t see the good in this very sinful person. He judged her rather than having compassion on her.

The way the Pharisee is judging this woman is wrong. Jesus makes sure we understand that in the story of the two debtors, leaving no doubt that he’s identifying the Pharisee as one who doesn’t love as much because he doesn’t believe he needs forgiveness as much. Then Jesus drives it home by identifying Simon’s sin of inhospitality:

I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. ⁴⁷ Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

Have you ever badly overestimated your ability in some area? Maybe you asked someone to play tennis or one on one basketball and you got blown off the court. Or you volunteered to perform with a musical group and found out the music was far beyond your abilities. It’s humbling and enlightening. Simon had a similar experience. He badly overestimated his own righteousness. He looked at the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with her perfume and her tears as someone of less value, morally inferior.

When you see someone caught in some kind of notorious sin, how do you respond: “thank God I’m not like that” or “Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner?” Life Application Bible Commentary

^{LK 7:48} Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

^{LK 7:49} The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

^{LK 7:50} Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

I asked, which character do you identify with? You don’t want to be the host who unfairly judges a person coming to faith. You may feel more like the sinful woman, in need of forgiveness and loving God for accepting and forgiving you.

Maybe in a way, we can see ourselves in the position of Jesus. Not as divine, certainly, but as a person who recognizes a sinner in need and accepts her.

Jesus said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” Can you be like Jesus and see that person, not what he or she looks like on the outside, or their traumatic past, or their drug addiction, or their past behavior, but see a person that God loves, a person that might be able to turn their life around if only they received a little understanding, a little mercy, a little breathing room, someone to love them.

And you never know who that might be. As Deacons, you will mostly be ministering to nice people who have some struggles in their lives and who appreciate your prayers. You will enjoy becoming their friend and keeping in touch with them. But there are two special people on your list you should be concerned about.

There’s the person, maybe a little like the Pharisee, who really has his act together. Strong, successful, has a good life, may or may not be a Christian, but doesn’t seem to need you. You might say, “There’s nothing I can do for him.” You’re not even sure you want to tell him about Jesus, because he just looks like he doesn’t need anything.

You might be tempted not to call on him. You might just leave a message. But don’t abandon him. Don’t assume everything is all right with him. He may have troubles you’ll never know about. He may be so successful that he doesn’t trust in God even though he is in church every Sunday. He needs your love and your prayers, even if he acts like everything’s perfect.

Then there’s a second kind of person, perhaps like the sinful woman, the one who seems hopelessly damaged and lost. Everything is wrong, nothing can be fixed, she is in terrible need. If you offer advice or help, it never seems to make it better. You feel like whatever you do, your help is going into a black hole. Nothing gets better. She may even blame you for not doing enough.

She needs you, too. There is a limit to the help you can provide, but you must do what you can. Start with what Jesus offered – compassion and acceptance – and help as it is within your power. Then you must face the fact that only God can change her life. You can’t fix it, but you can introduce her to God, who loves her and knows what she needs.

She may want a new start, but she may not believe it can be done. Your love may be the ray of hope that gives her a tiny bit of faith in God. When she receives God’s grace and forgiveness, she is on her way to a better life.

Wouldn’t it be great if people could just clean up their lives, then come to Christ? Wouldn’t it be nice if people would get their act together and then become part of the church? But that’s not how it works. In fact, that is the cart before the horse. God offers grace, invites people to have faith and be saved. Then the lifetime cleanup begins. God invites us into a relationship that turns us into the best that we can be.

Deacons, each of you have received a list of people in our church to care for. On Tuesday I will go over those names with you. Start praying for them now. Open your heart to them. Watch for people who need your compassion and acceptance.

You may be standing at a hospital bed and meet family members who need the Lord. You may meet people in your work, or in your mobile home park, who need you to accept them, right where they are, so they can know God loves them. This is your call.

Each of you deacons has taken ordination vows that you will show God’s love, work for peace in the world, and care for God’s people. The congregation has vowed to respect you and encourage you. I’ll be standing with you, too and I’m available anytime if you need support.

For the rest of us, we know that Deacons aren’t the only ones called to show God’s love. Let’s give some thought to this story of the sinful woman, a woman who was scorned by a right religious man, but who found forgiveness and love through Jesus.

Do you see this woman? Ask God to give you eyes to see her.

Sermon: Crossing Social Boundaries

Matthew 2
Cynthia O’Brien

“The Power of Love: Crossing Social Boundaries”
January 8, 2006

I just love to be welcomed. Last Sunday, we worshiped at a brand new church called Lumen Dei Church International, which meets Sunday afternoons in the Phonics Phactory School in Gresham. It’s just one year old. I found them on line, and they didn’t know we were coming, so when we walked in, right on time at 4:00, everyone looked at us, about 10 people our age and a handful of small children. Everyone introduced themselves and marveled at our incredibly beautiful daughters.

The worship was very different from our service here, with an hour long sermon and all that, but it was very good, and afterwards there were homemade cookies and an invitation to Nathan and Jocelyn’s home the following Tuesday.

But the young pastor, Tim, and a couple of other guys were not so attentive to us after worship – they didn’t have time to be. A disheveled looking man had come in during the service, and Tim had prayed “thanks to God for our brother, David ” –– and afterwards he and these three other men immediately focused on him. Tim was courteous to me, but he really wanted to talk to David.

The next day, Tim sent me an email – glad you visited and all that – and he explained that this David was someone who had been in terrible trouble and the church had been helping him and they were so glad that he had shown up. I wanted them to welcome me, and they did, but they were really focused on this strange person.

Strange people showed up to worship at the birth of Jesus. People with strange, rich clothing and even stranger beliefs. The Scripture calls them “Magi.” Astrologers. Wise men. We call them Kings, perhaps because of the ancient prophecies that said that the Kings of the earth would worship Jesus. We infer that there were three because there were three gifts.

An early Christian text gave them names: Melchior, Balthazar, and Caspar, or Gaspar. During the Middle Ages, people began to interpret them as representing the whole world, at least the parts that were known at the time. Artist portrayed them as being different in ethnicity and in age. Melchior was an old man, Balthasar a middle aged man, sometimes with a dark beard, and Caspar frequently as an African youth.

The early Christian church recognized that the magi were outsiders. They weren’t scandalized by that; they were delighted. Outsiders were welcomed to worship at the manger.

When I was in college I attended a nice big Presbyterian church in Glendale, my home town, next to downtown Los Angeles. I served on the college group leadership team and sang in the adult choir. But I was about to have a cross cultural experience and not even leave the building.

A friend of mine in the college group – her mother was the pastor of Hogar Cristiano, a Spanish speaking congregation that met in our church. They knew that I was studying choral music, so they asked me to build a choir for Hogar Cristiano. So I rehearsed the choir, chose the hymns, typed the bulletin and played the piano for worship every Sunday in a room upstairs in the Christian Education building with about 40 people.

It wasn’t easy. I got into trouble pretty often. My other job was as bookkeeper for Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, and the Spanish we spoke at the restaurant apparently had some bad words in it that I didn’t know were bad until I said them at choir rehearsal! Found that out the hard way. Sometimes I picked the wrong hymns for worship. One time Senora Frances, the pastor, said, “That hymn is only for funerals!” And when she preached, I could not follow what she said, no matter how hard I tried.

The people were very nice to me, even though I was an outsider. And because they loved me and welcomed me, it was a good experience.

Churches that are welcoming make me very happy. When Michael and I have interviewed for church positions, and we read the dossiers of churches, every single one says, “We are a friendly church.” Even the mean ones. Everyone says that, but it’s certainly not true of every person and it’s not true of every church. I like to think it’s true of Smith Memorial, that we welcome anyone who comes through our doors. I want to say a special thank you to the people who go out of their way to say hello to someone they don’t know and make them feel extra welcome. You know who you are. It means a great deal to all of us.

I have been so impressed with welcoming churches that this idea has been an important one in my ministry these 20 years. It makes sense to us that we should welcome and be inclusive of anyone who wants to worship with us. This is the model I have promoted: Invite your friends to church. Be welcoming of everyone. Help everyone to feel at home in this room.

That’s good, but I am beginning to see that it is not enough. Our world is changing.

People in our community are searching for truth, but very few just walk into a church. Churched people who are unhappy with their current church will walk into another church, but people who don’t know God don’t generally make the effort to come to a worship service. And if they don’t look us up in the yellow pages, call for service times, drive up the driveway, find a place to park, walk in and find the sanctuary, we have no opportunity to do the welcoming that we do so well.

You know when you fill out a questionnaire of some kind and it asks your religious preference? There’s a new category out there. Besides Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist, Agnostic and Athiest, now there’s a new category. I’ve seen it on several different forms.

“Spiritual but not religious.”

This is not necessarily what we called “New Age” in the 80’s. This is a broad category for people who want to embrace the mystical, something beyond themselves, but they are not interested in joining an institutional church. They want to experience some kind of transcendent truth, but they don’t want to do it in the confines of a sanctuary.

They want to do something meaningful, but they don’t want to be churchy. They are interested in things that visibly help people. They want to go with a mission team down to rebuild in New Orleans. They want to lobby city and state policy makers to make right decisions. They want to start community gardens and clean up their neighborhoods and talk about their lives over coffee.

Can our church help people who are “spiritual but not religious?”

The very smartest people in Christianity today say that as our society changes, the church must change its approach. Waiting for people to come in so we can love them is no longer an effective way of building the Kingdom of God. I went to hear Reggie McNeal last fall – he’s the author of this book “The Present Future,” and he challenged me on this very issue.

You see, for the last 20 years, I’ve put most of my effort into making the church a place where people can feel welcomed, find God, worship, learn, grow, love and serve. I really love church – You might say I’m very “churchy.”

But I sense that God is drawing us towards a new focus, one that includes meeting people where they are rather than waiting for them to come to church. I’m thinking a lot about it and I’m going to share my thoughts wiith you in the next three sermons. It has something to do with giving each one of you support to live out your faith in your world. It has something to do with holding classes out in the community where the people are, that address needs that they are feeling. It has something to do with being strengthened here on Sunday, so that we can be a ray of hope to the people we touch on Monday.

Today we are ordaining the new class of deacons and elders, the people who will be serving in leadership for the next three years. Let me talk to them for a moment:

You are a great group of people. You’ve been called to a ministry that you’re excited about, but you might also be nervous about your new responsibilities. Don’t worry, you’re going to do great.

One thing you have on your side is that you love the church. That will serve you well, because you are called to take care of this congregation. We teach our deacons to care for the sick and the dying, to pray with and for people, to help those in need. We teach our elders to govern and provide spiritual leadership, to set vision and manage conflict. All these things you will do to serve the people who are inside this church.

But you are also called to live daily for Jesus Christ and lead the congregation to follow him, and this congregation lives in a culture which is radically changing. Everyone in this congregation knows someone who needs God and will never set foot in a church. Your ministry can reach those people, too. Your church leadership can help people beyond this church.

How will this happen? We will seek God together. We will pray together, study together, and share our lives. We will ask, “What is God doing in and around our church? How has God gifted each of us? Who is in need in my own family, in my workplace, in my neighborhood? How can we be faithful followers of Christ?”

All of us are on a journey together, following the star and taking the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. You have a fine group of leaders here to support you.

Let us pray.

God of love, we praise you, that in the baby Jesus, you welcomed the nations to worship you. I pray for all of us, and especially for these new leaders: Place in us the light of your star, that we might be your light to the world. Amen.