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Sermon
Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – January 27, 2019
Centenary United Methodist Church Psalm
19; I Corinthians 12:12-27 This morning we are going to consider the metaphor that the
Apostle Paul used to teach his readers about how essential everyone is
to our Creator. Accepting
everyone on the same level of compassion has to be one of the
most challenging lessons for us to learn.
Once we learn this, we are reflecting the same spirit of God.
(Matthew 5:45) Paul used the metaphor of the human body to stress
the importance of every physical part of us as being essential to the
successful functioning of our bodies. (I Corinthians 12:25) Our bodies
are one of the most miraculous
biological machines in the world. As a number of you may recall, while I was standing
near the top of an eight-foot ladder on Christmas Day, I leaned to my
right sinking the legs on that side of the ladder deeper into the soil
beneath. The entire ladder
went over sending me crashing to the ground.
I laid there for about ten to fifteen minutes without moving.
I had no idea what damage the fall had done to my body.
After giving myself a
primary survey, I determined that nothing was damaged to the point
that might have prevented me from trying to stand up. As the drama continued to unfold during the days
that followed, my body knew precisely what it had to do with healing the
soft-tissue damage. The
swelling, bruising, and tenderness gradually subsided.
It has been quite a journey to observe my body as it continued to
repair itself. When I was a little boy, I remember my mother
telling me that her final examination for graduation from nurses'
training was to describe what happens in the body while digesting a ham
and cheese sandwich. She had to describe in some detail the role of the
liver, the gallbladder, stomach, kidneys, the small and large
intestines, the circulatory, and endocrine systems while the body used
its own memory. Our
consciousness has nothing to do with the digestive process. We seldom think about these things because many of us are far
more concerned with wrinkles, graying hair, belly fat, the widening of
our hips, our blood pressure, water retention, the gradual loss of our
sexy, good looks, and our forgetfulness of people's names.
The gradual loss of bodily functions is a process
designed to tell us that our bodies are preparing us for the final
healing when we graduate from our physical forms.
Again, we are not the
commander of our bodies. Our bodies are functioning perfectly for
what they were designed to do. What was the point that the Apostle Paul was making
with his illustration? As
in every generation, life in the church has often been challenging.
There can be conflicts among
the body of believers. In
Paul's generation there were a number of tensions between the Jews and
the Gentiles, different preferences between men and women, divisions
over the kinds of food that were designated as
clean and
unclean, and clashes in
beliefs that could become violent. (Acts 17:2-8)
Paul was teaching that the issue was not with other people's behavior
but rather with people's judgments.
Some people clearly understood themselves as being
superior to others with their ideas of how life should be lived by
everyone. People always
find it very difficult to remain at peace when the thinking and
attitudes of others become controlling. We want freedom in the way that
we define it. Often
that is the recipe for resentment and bitterness that sets the stage for
wars. Since we still live in a world filled with widely
differing opinions, what is the solution?
Paul arrived at a point of view that is most difficult for us to
accept emotionally. He wrote, "Since all of us cannot be at our best in
a manner that everyone appears to need, set your hearts on the more
important gifts of spirit."
(I Corinthians 12:31) In short,
the only control that we have is over our own life.
The world is filled with
God's children.
They will continue to fight and kill each other over
the optics of what is
happening in their individual worlds, all of which are temporary.
Absolutely nothing
matters in the grand scheme of things.
However, many issues of life do
concern us because we have convinced ourselves that they do matter.
No one forces us to surrender our peace.
We are the ones who verbally or physically attack our brothers
and sisters when we disagree with them. The prophet Jeremiah had a better idea:
God said that we are to love our families, plant our gardens,
help those in need that are in our path, and pray for those who hold us
prisoner because of the way they govern. (Jeremiah 29:5-9) The world
will go on as one century blends into the next. There does not appear to
be anything that people can do to bring humanity under the same umbrella
of understanding.
Humanity's violent nature continues to reveal itself in every
generation. When terrorists flew aircraft into the World Trade
towers in Manhattan, the experience was immediately transforming.
The people of New York City were polite.
Rudeness ended.
Anger was set aside and people were helping each other in a way that few
had ever experienced. As
the months faded into the past, it did not take long before the hostile
attitudes between people began once again.
The possibility of living peacefully had gained the
attention of everyone. Peace was a superior attitude and behavior but it
was temporary. Human beings
do not enjoy being the invisible
leaven for the batch of dough.
(Matthew 13:33) For God,
offering guidance must be like trying to herd cats. At this stage of our evolution, there may be nothing that we can do here on earth but to do the best we can to take care of our square inch of earth while loving those in our sphere of influence. That's it. History is destined to repeat itself until humanity grows up. Perhaps this idea was at the root of Paul's
illustration.
Making judgments is our destiny
until we mature in spirit that leads us to an awareness where
such decisions about others are no longer necessary. We must learn
that the power of loving energy will assist us in conquering all
barriers most of which are within us. Critics can say, "How pessimistic!
Paul's view lacks hope for humanity."
However, Paul was correct.
What quality of people are necessary to spread the message that
Jesus was teaching? Can
anyone reveal the spirit of Jesus while wielding a weapon, by using
scathing language to define others with whom they disagree or by
withholding love? A brief review
of history provides the answer for us.
Jesus was alone, hanging
on a cross still displaying what it looks like to live in this world
that, because of the passion of the moment, no one else could see. We have to remember that God is extremely patient.
God would not expect
Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon
humanoids to have the skills of
angels. Perhaps
humanity is only experiencing a
warlike phase that will continue for thousands of years into the
future until we learn to live otherwise.
All of us know what needs
to be done.
The truth is found in the
words of the song that we just sang, "Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me."
This is a state-of-mind that we must strive to sustain within
ourselves. There will be no peace for us until we do.
If our deaths and destruction truly meant anything to God, God would not
have designed our bodies to be
temporary vehicles
in order for us
spirit-beings
to have a physical experience.
Just because many of us cannot
wake up from being mesmerized by the delusions and illusions of our
world does not place blame on the possibility that
God's
design is flawed.
Our cars are not flawed.
What is flawed is the one driving them.
Each of us is getting a heavy dose of exactly what we came here to
experience.
Only when we graduate from our experiences will we become fully informed
about what we took so seriously while living here.
Very little is different today from the moments when ancient man
dealt with large reptiles, had tribal battles over territory, and
engaged in human sacrifices. Our minds tell us that we are far removed
from such people. Really?
We can pray and ask God to save us.
Since we are already
infinite-beings having a physical experience what is it exactly that
we have in mind? What do we want
God to do? We are in charge of the quality of our feelings,
thoughts, and the spirits by which we live.
If God chose to answer our prayer-request, God would do so with
just two words -- You change!
Our problem is that we have personalized what the world presents to us.
Jesus spent his ministry teaching people how to personalize the
world he came here to demonstrate.
We believe in the world
that Jesus said was possible, however, few of us really take his
reality seriously as something we can display while living here.
Our agenda here is far
more important! Really? Remember, "Let there be peace on earth and let
it begin with me." Are we listening and following through with a
spirit that has finally awakened with understanding, or are we choosing
to remain part of the problem?
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER
Loving and always
faithful God, we know that the story of faith has never been
revealed by people who placed their trust in the security of dogma.
Joseph was sold into slavery.
Moses had to overcome his insecurities.
Jesus had to wrestle with refining his identity.
Saul was challenged by a different truth.
Martin Luther could no
longer live with what his Church had become.
Mother Teresa left teaching to become a savior to the starving
people of India. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream of humanity living
in community. Help us to
see ourselves, O God, as people standing in the same swift currents of
change as those who lived before us.
Inspire us to greet change as
a friend.
Amen.
THE
PASTORAL PRAYER
Loving God,
once again we come into our church wanting to calm our minds and allow
our emotions to become reflective. You have created the perfect
world for us to accomplish what our spirits came here to experience.
As we evolve in our understanding, help us to remain faithful to the
guidance which you constantly provide. By keeping our minds open
to new ways of thinking and feeling, we grow our skills of flexibility
and resilience.
When our
relationships challenge us, help us to realize that we are being taught
the freedom of how to love in the midst of differences. When we
learn that the world’s vast populations have values different from our
own, help us to realize that we are being taught how to live peacefully
in diverse communities. When we sense that we are struggling with
overwhelming life-issues, help us to understand that these are teachable
moments that help us to persevere because we rely on you for the outcome
of all things.
We ask for
your comforting spirit to rest upon those of us who are experiencing
fragile moments. There are those who cannot move beyond their hurt
feelings. There are people who are working through losses and
unanticipated change. There are people who cannot move beyond what
their fears are telling them.
Thank you for loving us just as we are and for allowing your
spirit to guide us as soon as we are willing to be led. We pray these
thoughts through the loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us
to say when we pray . . , |