March 6, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Fourth Sunday of Lent
“The Way Home”
Adapted Sermon
Series
by Marcia McPhee
“The Way”
All Scripture is
from the AMP Bible
Luke 15:1-24
Psalm 100
“There’s No Place Like Home…”
Prayer for the
Spirit’s leading…
A
reading from the Gospel of Luke chapter 15…verses 11-24…listen to the Word’s of
Life from God to you and me, pilgrims on a journey…
There
is no place like home… When I think of this phrase I think of Dorothy in the
“Wizard of Oz”. She had run away from home but then decided she would go back
home, worried about her family. Then she ended up in the Land of Oz and all she
wanted to do was to find her way home…
There is such a good feeling to be at home.
While I was in the Holy Land it was amazing but believe it or not, after a
time, I started getting a little home sick. I was with a great group of people
and made new friends. It was wonderful to walk where Jesus walked but there was
still that feeling of wanting to be home…
There
truly no place like home. But there are some who have lost their way and they
think they can’t come home. They have done too much in their lives to be
forgiven and allowed back into the home they love. They think there is no place
for them at the table.
It
can be that way in our spiritual life. We don’t do what we used to do. We don’t
feel God’s presence anymore or hear His voice. We feel we have wandered too far
and have done too many bad things in our life that God would never accept us
back. Oh how wrong we are. There is always a “way home…”no matter what we have
done.
We
are continuing our Lenten pilgrimage to the cross. During this journey we will
bring Marcia McPhee with us as we look at her sermon series “The Way”. We are
going to be looking at the different “ways” or paths that we take in life. My
prayer is that as we journey together we will help each other and those in our
lives find “the way”.
We
began this pilgrimage on Ash Wednesday as we talked about “the way back”… taking a u-turn so to speak…back towards God…back
to the relationship that God intended from the very beginning. We have talked
about “the wandering way” when we
walk through that maze trying to find the way to the right path instead of
hitting those walls of a wrong turn. We talked about “the way around” when Erica told us that we need to follow God’s
plan in our life. We also talked about “the
high way” and realized we have a higher calling and that we are to think on
a “higher ground”, so to speak, and not the lower ground of the world. But when
we wander off to do our own thing is there a
way home”…is there still a place at the table?
The
way home…example…have you ever walked in a labyrinth? It is sort of like a maze
but as you follow it there is no wrong way but only one way to go…toward the
center. When walking it you contemplate God and how He has worked in your
life…bring you to praise Him for all He has done. It is a very calming and life
centering time alone with God and yourself.
When
you reach the middle…when you finally get to the “home…the center” there is
usually a bench to sit on. In the center…in the God center…you give praise and
prayers to Him. Then you work your way out by the same way you came. It is as
if God is sending you forth renewed and feed, ready to be His witness in the
world.
But…there
are so many that think they can’t “enter the center” because of the life they
have lead or the things they have done…heck some of their family members think
they are too far gone to be helped. Beloved…I am here to tell you that there is
no one or no-thing that God cannot redeem…let
me say it again…there is no one or no-thing or no situation that God cannot
redeem…! There is a way home for all who are looking…Knock and the door will be opened seek and ye shall find, ask and it
will be given…Matthew 7:7…
The
scripture I read about the prodigal son this morning is all about that…coming
home. Now the son thought that he had done so much wrong have done too much wrong and won’t be accepted by our heavenly Father.
But what happened? The father saw him from a distance…he was probably watching the horizon every day, hoping to catch a
glimpse of his son’s shadow…wanting to find his way back home…and when he
saw his son’s figure on the horizon he was overjoyed at the sight…his son who
was lost came home...he ran to him and embraced him. Now the son was trying to
tell him how unworthy he was but the father didn’t hear the words…it is more like he ignored them…he
celebrated because his lost son…his son who spent all his money on wild
living…had son HOME!
Now
I want to stop for a minute and talk about the fathers reaction to seeing his
son on the horizon…he hadn’t even got to the front door yet, may be not even on
the father’s property and he saw him and was overjoyed.
This
reaction is much like…ok the same…reaction we hear about in the two parables
that come right before the one of the prodigal son. Listen to the reaction …read the lost sheep and lost coin parables…
I
think that Jesus was trying to tell the people then and to people now. You are
never too lost…you are never too far…you can never do too much wrong to be
welcomed to God. You don’t have to clean yourself up…you don’t have to wear the
right cloths and say the right words…all you have to do is come. As a matter of
fact…we are seen on the horizon and Jesus runs to us, throws His arms around
us…and welcomes us home.
It
is in and through Jesus we are welcomed home to a place that is more beautiful
than any other place. We are invited into the heart of God through Jesus. Jesus
has been with us from the beginning and to then end…and everywhere in between.
Our
Tuesday night bible study group watched this You-Tube video. The woman who
played the wife in “War Room” goes around and gives these talks about Jesus.
Did you know that if you look in the bible…God’s word…we can see Jesus in
action from Genesis all the way to Revelation? He is pictured or prophesied in
all 66 books of the bible. Always there trying to show us “the way home”. So of course, knowing who I am, I had to look this
up. I would like to end my sermon with what I found… read Jesus through the bible…
Jesus wants to show you
the way home…the way to the heart of God… Are you ready to come home?
Amen
March 7, 2016
a way home
March 7, 2016
at home in our
Savior
March 6, 2016
Stetson
Memorial UMC
Fourth
Sunday of Lent
“The
Way”
Adapted
Sermon Series
by Marcia McPhee
“The
Wandering Way”
adapted
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Psalm
100
Luke
15:11-24 and
sermon,
“There’s No Place Like Home”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
-
$1 dollar bill
-
Message – “In God We Trust”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
Fourth
Sunday in Lent
March
6, 2016
&
February
28, 2016
Stetson
Memorial UMC
Third
Sunday of Lent
“The
Way”
Adapted
Sermon Series
by Marcia McPhee
“The
Wandering Way”
adapted
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Psalm 139:1-18
Isaiah
55:1-9
Acts
10:9-16
sermon,
“A Higher Calling”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
3rd
Sunday in Lent
February
28, 2016
&
February
21, 2016
Stetson
Memorial UMC
Second
Sunday of Lent
“The
Way”
Adapted
Sermon Series
by Marcia McPhee
“The
Wandering Way”
adapted
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Psalm 8:1-4
Mark 1:16-20
sermon,
“The Way Around”
text:
video:
by Erica Berberena
Children’s Message from empty Mystery Box
by Raymond A. Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
2nd
Sunday in Lent
February
21, 2016
&
February
14, 2016
Stetson
Memorial UMC
First
Sunday of Lent
“The
Way”
Adapted
Sermon Series
by Marcia McPhee
“The
Wandering Way”
All
Scripture is from the AMP Bible
Luke
1:46-49
Luke
4:1-2
Luke
15:11-32
sermon,
“I Am A-Maze-D…”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
1st
Sunday in Lent
February
14, 2016
&
Ash Wednesday service
Joel
2:12-17a
Matthew
6:1-6, 16-21
centering song,
“Surely the Presence”
Opening Words
Greeting
Lenten Prayer
Hymn, “In the
Garden”
Prayer of
Confession
Words of Assurance
Invitation to
Communion
Prayer after
Communion
Invitation to
receive ashes
Distribution of
Ashes
Lenten poem:
”Journeying to Jerusalem”
sermon,
“The Math of Lent 2.0”
text:
video:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
and
closing hymn,
“It
Is Well with My Soul”
Closing
Prayer
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
Ash
Wednesday
February
10, 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 41,160+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
