January 27,
2013
Third Sunday
after Epiphany
Worship Theme: The People of God Unite
Call to Worship: Psalm 27:1, 4-5 &13-14 NIV Bible
Nehemiah 8:1-3 CEB
1 Corinthians 12:21-31a CEB
Luke 4:14-21 CEB
“Like a Hand in a Glove”
A
reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verses 14-21; listen to the word of
God for you and me, the people of God.
This past Friday we
watched the Chronicles of Narnia for
our Final Friday Movie Night. It is one of my favorite movies because of how it
reminds me of the story of Jesus and how He came to save humanity and that in ordered
to do so; He died so that humanity could live. One of the characters in the
movie is called Edmund. Now Edmund was the third born of the children that went
to Narnia. He seemed to be the kind of kid that was kind of stuck in the
middle. He wasn’t the oldest like his brother Peter and he wasn’t the youngest
as his sister Lucy was. He always seemed to make the wrong choices. He seemed
to want to be recognized as “a vital person” but he seemed to go about it in
the wrong way. In the end Edmund did get it right though.
I have seen this attitude
played out in society today. . . everyone on wants to stand out, to shine
brighter than the rest. Unfortunately humanity is praised when they do stand
out and are kind of “put on the back burner” when they don’t. It seems as if
people are more important when they “stand out in a crowd” and those who may
actually do more work “behind the scenes” are put aside as being not as
important. Even within the church this same attitude is played out. Pastor’s
that think the church can’t run without them, people thinking that their gifts
from God are more important than others gifts, the list just goes on. I’ll tell you one thing, if it weren’t for
the laity within this church, the church wouldn’t run. It is the laity that
makes a church run smoothly, not the pastor. . . they are indispensable, but
don’t tell anyone I said that. . .
There are many scriptures
within the bible that tell us that this type of attitude, this type of pride or
“puffed-upness” has no place within the church. As a matter of fact we as
Christians shouldn’t be following society’s example of “top dog” at all in our
lives. We, as Christ’s Church. . . as Christians, should be living a life of
unity. . . of oneness with each other. We should fit together, go together,
like a hand in a glove. Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. The
scriptures from this morning tell us. . . gives us a glimpse of. . . how
Disciples of Christ should act.
The Nehemiah scripture
tells us that they were gathered together. Now it didn’t say that all the men
got together and had a men’s group meeting and had a guest speaker, it didn’t
say all the women got together and had sewing circle and listened to a speaker,
it didn’t even say that only those who could read and write got together. . . it
tells us that the assembly was made up of everyone, men, women, teens, children.
. . everyone and anyone who could understand what they heard. Now I am sure that many did understand
because they heard the stories of their people’s faith from family members. The
Law. . . or Torah as they call it. . . was handed down from generation to
generation as a story. Within the society of God, all are equal. There is
none better than the other. We have all
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. . .
The Luke passage was the
first talk of inclusiveness within the church. Jesus came to preach the good
news to the poor. . . now we are not just
talking monetarily, the down trodden, the marginalized. . . Jesus came to release
the prisoners, give sight to the blind, free the oppressed. Now that was
something that was totally radical. God want even the “Gentiles” to be included
in His Kingdom. Jesus didn’t come for those in the temple but came for people
like you and me, the outcasts that are now friends and family. We are covered,
like a hand in a glove, by the amazing grace of God. . . grafted in and
included in the family of God. Amazing
grace how sweet the sound. . . I once was lost but no I’m found was blind but
now I see. . . Thank you Jesus!
Then we have the 1st
Corinthians from this morning. I love
that letter of Paul. . . it would make a great Summer Sermon Series. . . spoiler
alert. . . This scripture says it
all. We are all different but are so vital to each other. Without each other
there would be no church. . . there would be no body of Christ. If we were
called the Eye of Christ we would just be seeing the world but would have no
feet to go out into the world. . . how
beautiful the feet that bring the good news of Christ. God has put the body
of Christ together for a reason. Even though it may seem dysfunctional at
times, in the end. . . at the core of it. . . it fits like a hand in a glove.
Everyone. . . all of creation has Sacred Worth. . . all has a right to be a
vital part of the Kingdom of God through the blood of Christ Jesus. How can
Christ’s church say otherwise?
Perhaps we as the Body of
Christ need to rethink our own roles in the church. Maybe we need to take
inventory of our own thoughts and feelings. There just may be a place where we
can tweak our attitudes just a little bit. Maybe. . . just maybe we can get back
to where we should be, being the hands and feet of Christ gloved and shod by
the covering of grace.
Amen
====
January
27, 2013
Luke 4:14-21 (Common English Bible)
Nehemiah
8:1-3 (Common English Bible)
1 Corinthians 12:21-31a (Common English Bible)
Psalm 27
Worship
Theme: The People of God Unite
Call
to Worship (Psalm 27:1, 4-5, & 13-14 NIV Bible)
Unison
Prayer
Prayer of
Dedication (GBOD © 2013 Psalm 27)
and
sermon – “Like a Hand in a Glove”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
A Handmaiden of the Lord
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
January
27, 2013
Third
Sunday after Epiphany
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See all 21,990+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
