Monday, November 14, 2016

sermon, "A Whole New World...", by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, ME, November 13, 2016



November 13, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
After Trump Election
Psalm 29
Luke 21:5-19
Isaiah 65:17-25
Malachi 4:1-2


“A Whole New World…”

Prayer for God’s illumination and for His word to be heard through me or in-spite of me…

Please stand, as you are able, for the reading of the Gospel Reading. I am reading from the Gospel of Luke Chapter 21, verses 5-19. Listen to the word of God…the comfort of and from God…for you and me, His people…the sheep of His keeping…

v In Wellsville, New York, a baseball dugout was vandalized with a swastika and the words “Make America White Again.”
v Nazi graffiti was also found painted on a building in South Philadelphia along with the words “Sieg Heil” and “Trump” with the T-replaced by a swastika.
v In Rochester, New York, two rainbow flags were burned.

We live in a world that has truly gotten out of control. It seems as if everything is just blowing up all at once.

v At San Diego State University, a female student wearing a hijab was robbed the day after the election by two men “who made comments about President-Elect Trump and the Muslim community,”
v At San Jose State University, a female student was attacked from behind by an assailant who grabbed her hijab, choking her and causing her to fall, police said.

There have been over 200 hate crimes since the United States elected Donald Trump as our next president on Tuesday evening.

v A woman wearing a hijab near the University of Michigan was forced to remove her headscarf Friday night after a man approached her and threatened to set her on fire, according to the university’s crime report.
v these incidents of harassment and intimidation have been most prevalent at K-12 schools, according to the SPLC findings. Middle school students in a suburb of Detroit were caught on camera chanting “build the wall” during lunchtime the day after the election. At a high school in Maple Grove, Minnesota, a bathroom stall door was found defaced with the words “White America,” “Whites only” and other racial slurs

Our future…our next generation has joined in on the depravity of humanity…We are talking about young girls and boys re hating each other. Hate is a learned behavior…who are they learning it from…? These incidents come amid massive protests against Trump and divisive rhetoric protesters say was espoused by his campaign.

The Christian community claims we are in the last days. What do you think? The Luke scripture I just read speaks of “a time such as this.” There are times when all seems lost and anarchy seems to be the temperament of the world in which we live. It is a fearful time for many and for others…who are caught up in the chaos…it is a time that they have longed for. A time that everything gets set back to how it was in the “good old days”. It is a fearful time because we know what happened last time there was such hate in the world and we don’t want to see it happen again. History truly does repeat itself…especially when we didn’t learn the first time…They are claiming that the hate crimes are worse than the time of 911…

v A pupil at Shasta High School in Redding, California, handed out ‘deportation letters’ to non-white students, just one day after Trump was announced president-elect.
v ‘Black lives don’t matter and neither does your vote’, reads the graffiti scrawled on two walls in Durham, North Carolina.
v Pupils at one high school were reportedly shouting ‘Sieg Heil’ and doing Nazi salutes, as well as calling black children ‘cotton pickers’ – among a slew of other racist attacks.
When I write sermon’s, I like to bring what is going on in the world to the forefront… How would you feel if this was slipped under the door of your home…?
v ‘Attention!!!!’ the flyer, which is written in all caps, begins. ‘All n*****s and sp*cs have one week to vacate this building!!! ‘This is now a Trump friendly building! The people of America have spoken. The time has come for good decent white people to take back our streets from thugs and illegals!
‘We know who you are and where you live. If you are not out in one week, we will put you out! Immigration will now begin doing their job! Police will have the power to reclaim our violent streets from black thugs. ‘You have been warned! Proud American voter! Trump 2016’
How much deeper are we going to sink? Didn’t even have the guts to sign with their own name…only the description of what he had done…vote

Perhaps, we as Christ followers…you know Christians…should be even more serious about the Great Commission. OK…what is the commission? Give time to answer… And what does it mean to and for you and I? Again, time to answer… The signs of the times are right there in front of us. What are you and I going to do?

‘This is now a Trump friendly building! The people of America have spoken. The time has come for good decent white people to take back our streets from thugs and illegals! ‘We know who you are and where you live. If you are not out in one week, we will put you out! Immigration will now begin doing their job! Police will have the power to reclaim our violent streets from black thugs.

Maybe if we believed in the promises of God we would be more emboldened. We know the time and we will have difficulties as we stand up for what Jesus did and would do…
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

So, what are the promises? What is the next chapter? What do we have to look forward too? Let me read a couple of my favorite descriptions of what it will be like when the old era (human time) is ushered out and the new era has come (God time).
Isaiah 65:17-25New International Version (NIV)

New Heavens and a New Earth
17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them.
24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Everything will be made new…made how God created it to be in the beginning…it all started in a garden and it will end in a garden. God truly is the master gardener… And
Malachi 4:1-2New International Version (NIV)

Judgment and Covenant Renewal
4 “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.

We are going to frolic…
We should be shouting for joy from the roof tops…we are going to dance and frolic for joy and for the love we feel or our God. All this evil will be gone… But in the meantime, …we have a job to do and it is not going to be easy. But that doesn’t negate the commission. Perhaps if we would begin to get excited about the fact our God will have the last word. Perhaps if we truly believe His promises to us. Maybe, just maybe, we would be too busy doing God’s work to fear. Perhaps if we believed and rejoiced others would be attracted to our joyful life and want it for themselves. Heaven is not full yet and we need to make it our job…no our choice to fill it with our neighbors, our friends our family…heck the stranger on the street. God doesn’t want anyone to perish. How would you feel if someone perished because of your complacency…because of my complacency…because of our inactivity? The time is set…we are here, you and I, for a time such as this. We know the end of the story…we know who is going to win… Now how about sharing that with others…because on that day…we will sing as Isaiah did in chapter 12:
Isaiah 12New International Version (NIV)

Songs of Praise
12 In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, Lord.
    Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
    and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense[a];
    he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you will draw water
    from the wells of salvation.

4 In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done,
    and proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
    let this be known to all the world.
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
    for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

AMEN









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November 14, 2016



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November 13, 2016
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
After Trump Election
Psalm 29
Luke 21:5-19
Isaiah 65:17-29
Malachi 4:1-2
Matthew 28:18-20
(The Great Commission)
sermon, “A Whole New World”
text:
video:

by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
and Children’s Message

by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
November 13, 2016

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 42,270+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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