Let us pray.
Loving God, there are so many people in our church this week who got sick or injured. Some are doing better, but others are still recovering, so this morning we want to lift up all those people who are still in pain and feeling weak. We pray for their families as well. We ask for your healing to rest on them, Lord. And we give you thanks too; thanks for the fact that even as you continue your divine work, you still take the time to come into our lives, to speak to us, and to hear us. In the same way, help us to do the same. Help us to be your faithful children, to set aside worldly thoughts, desires, worries, and plans, embracing the guidance of your Holy Spirit as we hear the Word you bring into our lives this morning. In the name of Christ Jesus our Lord we pray, Amen. Ok. Wow. This has been a really unexpected week! I think many of us, or at least me, expected that this was going to be a tough week. Today is the last Sunday of the Christian year, and we have the AGM (that is, the Annual General Meeting) after the worship as well. We’re going to be hearing and voting on proposals from the council about our budget for 2024, and plans for the pastoral ministry here at KUC. Not only that, but just getting ready for today’s AGM has involved a good amount of preparation too; there have been council meetings, times of prayer and discernment. Documents have been printed, slides have been prepared, and all the numbers have been crunched! After all, good preparation usually helps things to go better, right? Of course, as many of us know, there are times in life when no amount of preparation can make things go smoothly, especially in cases when unexpected illnesses pop up. Many people in our KUC community got sick or injured this week, and when I say “many” I really mean it; I actually did the math! So far as I know, seventeen people in the KUC community got sick or were injured just this past week, and I’m certain that there are more cases that I’m not aware of. Can you believe that? And that’s not even counting people in our community who have been battling with chronic sickness or injury for a long while. My own family is on that list too, by the way; we had an unexpected medical situation come up this week ourselves. On Monday morning, when Don and I had just left the house, we got a call from the school telling us that one of our kids had developed a medical situation that needed immediate attention, and we needed to get over there right away. Now I don’t want you to worry; all of our kids are doing just fine now! But in that moment, I have to admit that we were very, very worried and scared. We ran to the school, and as we were running I was praying “Dear God, take my life if you have to, just save my kid. Please save my kid!” Fortunately, it turned out that it was one of those things which seemed scary, but in the end was not life threatening, though we didn’t know that at the time. All we knew was that fear, that terrifying sense of urgency that comes when you hear that someone you love is in danger but don’t know anything more than that. You start thinking about every bad thing that might happen, and you start trying to pray against anything and everything that could go wrong next, because since you don’t know anything else, all you can do is to pray. So we ran. And we prayed. And thank God, by the time we made it to the school the situation was already improving, and we all rode to the hospital together where we received timely and effective treatment. Before too long, we were all back home and things were quickly getting back to normal. And if that was the only thing that happened, though, that would already be a lot for any one week, especially a week with all the meetings, preparation, prayer, and document printing that comes in the week leading up to an AGM, but, of course, there was more. Almost as soon as we had gotten home from the hospital, I came down with bronchitis. And I know I’m not the only one who got bronchitis this week; I heard from a few other people here at KUC that they got it this week too. See, just like I said at the beginning, it really has been quite a week! Since bronchitis takes a lot out of you, and usually takes a little time for you to recover from too, I have spent most of this week feeling both physically and spiritually weak. Even though, while I was running to the school, I had found it very easy to pray. Once I had fallen ill myself though, I found it very, very hard to pray with any kind of consistency. As the days went on, I felt weighed down not only with my own sickness, but with the regular news coming in from people in our community as they told me that they or their family members had fallen sick, or gotten injured. The coughing, and the heaviness in my chest, and the exhaustion from being sick…it really didn’t help. It was a struggle to pray. I wanted to pray. I needed to pray, to pray without ceasing, but it was hard. And as I reflected over the events of this past week, I found myself thinking about the disciples in the garden, on the night that Jesus was arrested. That night, Jesus took them up to the mountain with him. Knowing what was coming for him, knowing that he was going to have to die, Jesus was feeling very weak. He asked the disciples to pray for him, and then went off on his own to pray alone, one-on-one with God. But even though these disciples were his closest friends, his most devoted followers, when Jesus came back, he found them not praying, but sleeping instead. (Matthew 26:36-45) In that moment, what Jesus said really hits home for me: “the Spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) “The Spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” I really felt that way this week! But even in the weakness of my flesh, God is still good. God helped me to find enough strength to pray, to lift up those who were struggling right along with me through sickness and injury, because through my own struggles God reminded me of what was truly important: LOVE. When someone you love is suffering, what is it that you really wish for? All of a sudden, all those extra things just fall right off your radar, don’t they? Everything unnecessary just falls away, and all you’re left with are the things that are truly important. You don’t care whether your kid has good grades or not when an ambulance is on the way. You don’t care if your spouse did all the chores you asked them to do when they’re injured. Everything unimportant disappears when suffering is on the table, because all you really want is for them to not to be suffering anymore, not to be hurting any more. All you really want is for them to be made well, because every fear, every hurt, every doubt, every angry little detail means nothing next to the love you have for them. Love becomes the most important thing. I was blessed to experience an immense love this week, even as I was lying sick in bed, isolated so that I wouldn’t get my family sick too. My husband took care of our kids all day, every day this week. But every once in a while, they would come knock on the door, and stick their heads in to tell me that they were praying for me. One of my kids gave me a couple of origami stars that they made, because they wanted to tell me that I am their superstar! There was so much love from my family, but I was blessed even further because I also have all of you as my family too! When one person in our community heard I had fallen ill, they came over with a bag of fruit. Some prayed for me, and kept checking in with me, to make sure I was doing ok. Others prayed with me, helped me to pray for all the sick and injured in our church community, since I felt too weak to pray alone. Still others helped me with my church workload, sharing in all the preparations that we needed to make for today. So much love! That love was how I regained my strength, how I found the strength to pray. Love. It’s really that simple, because in the love of my family and our church family, I was able to experience that divine love that Paul describes in 1 Corinthians; the love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Sickness, injury, and that often-long road to recovery carries with it a risk; a risk of preventing us from experiencing the love of God for ourselves. When you’re sick or injured, when you’re feeling weak in body and in spirit, it can be hard to bear all things, to believe all things, to hope or endure all things. When you’re feeling that kind of weakness, it’s easy to dwell on our fears about the future, wondering why things went wrong, or what will happen next. When it’s a loved one suffering, it can be hard to look past their suffering, easy to get stuck wondering what could happen if they don’t get better, easy to dwell on our fears and anxieties about how life might change if this suffering continues. It’s hard not to get lost in worst-case scenarios. With each fear we embrace, our thoughts drift farther and farther away from the love God promises us. The more we give in to fear, the harder it becomes to bear all things, believe all things, to hope and endure all things. It feels impossible to do all that; to bear, believe, hope, and endure all things. And I would say, yes it is impossible to do all that, if we separate ourselves from the love of God. In those times of sickness, injury, and all those times when we’re staring down an unbelievably long, trying road ahead which we hope points to recovery, growth, and change, we have to pause, remember, and ask ourselves: Do all these things we think we cannot bear separate us from the love of Christ? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? (Romans 8:35) No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39) Nothing, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us from the love that bears, believes, hopes and endures all things. Since we’re having our AGM today, I had started this week with a very different scripture in mind, and a very different sermon. I had planned to talk about how the Bible defines what a church is, what its purpose is, and who it’s for. I had hoped to bring a word that might give us a sense of direction, prayed for the message that we most need to hear as we consider what is in store for us in the next year of our life together as a church. I even had a nice title for that sermon, “God is Bigger than Our Plans.” Well, clearly that was true, because God is bigger than what I had planned for today’s message! Despite my plans, despite everything I had prepared, God’s guidance was greater than that, God’s message was bigger than that. When your family member falls ill, when you get sick, when the people you love get sick or injured, when challenge after challenge comes your way and to people you love, it becomes crystal clear that there is one thing that is bigger than any of that. It becomes crystal clear that there is one thing that will always be greater than the best plans that anyone could ever come up with. It is the love of our Almighty God. Because there is nothing bigger than the love of God through Christ Jesus. My dear KUC friends, today is not a day for complex theology, in-depth discussion, or intense planning or preparation. Today is a day for listening to the ways in which the Holy Spirit is whispering in and among us, through the sickness and injury in our community this week. God’s love is what’s most important. We make plans, we prepare, we put our best efforts into the paths we have chosen, but unexpected things still happen. Things don’t go as we expect, and we find that we can’t keep going the same way we were going. We can’t keep preparing a sermon about direction and preparation when the Holy Spirit is teaching us about love. No matter what might happen in our own lives, and in the lives of our church community, what is truly important is the love of God shown to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. No matter what else might divide or separate us, that love is our common denominator. That love is what unites us, what strengthens, what gives us our hopes, our dreams, and our vision of a new life as a people united in Christ. “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. “ (Ephesians 2:3-5) This is the real power of God’s love, a love which has the power to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things (1 Corinthians 13:7) Nothing is greater than God’s love! Nothing! So today, let us hold on to God’s love, reminding each other that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) Let our church be founded not on the plans and visions of some, the hopes and dreams of others, or the fears we share about what might come, but on that great and powerful love of God. Let us be rooted and grounded in that love as we learn to love one another as God loved us. God’s plans are far bigger than anything we could ever plan, but nothing is bigger than God's love. And a church based on God’s love cannot be shaken, no matter what comes our way. Let us pray, Lord, there is nothing we can say but “thank you.” Thank you for showing us a love that is greater than anything else. Help us to share that love, and to share that love with one another. Through that love, help us to become a church which bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, without excluding anyone. Let your love define us in our words and actions, so we might become a true and loving family of God. Amen.
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“I Thank God for Every Remembrance of You” Philippians 1:3-5 Rev. Claudia Genung November 19, 202311/19/2023 Greg Anderson, in Living Life on Purpose, tells a story about a man named John whose wife had left him. John was very depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God he found no joy in living. One rainy morning John went to a small neighborhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. John sat, hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon.
In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just beenserved their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don't we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" She turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads." Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen." That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began talking with one another. The waitress commented, "We should do that every morning." "All of a sudden," said John, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and I started to be grateful.” This Thanksgiving Sunday we can look as we do each year on what we can be grateful for and give thanks to God. As this is my last Sunday to preach as your pastor, I am grateful for the time I have spent with you. Many families have a tradition of people sharing what they are thankful for at the Thanksgiving meal. In looking at today’s scripture, what would Paul say he was thankful for? A common element in Paul’s letters in the New Testament is a prayer of thanksgiving for the people receiving his letters. When Paul gives thanks in his letters, it is less about things and more about people. I want to follow Paul’s lead and give thanks for the people in my life. I am grateful for the many friendships made, and give thanks for the many people whom I have met. I also give thanks for this special day and the 20 new members! Praise God! (clap hands) Sometime next year, maybe in January, there will be up to five more new members joining – people who want to become members but couldn’t come today - so, praise God again! Therefore, it’s with joy in my heart that I leave knowing KUC is receiving new members who will contribute to KUC with their gifts. My sermon title is taken from today’s scripture, “I Thank God for Every Remembrance of You.” I can relate to what Paul is saying and feeling in these verses as he writes to the Philippians. He held a special place in his heart for the church in Philippi, and I too will carry a special place in my heart for my time in Kobe and at KUC. Like Paul’s time in Philippi, I have been in Kobe also a relatively short time, a little over 12 years. I arrived in August 2011, my husband was already here in Kansai as a professor of Christianity at Kwansei Gakuin University and chaplain. (He later became the Dean of Chaplains.) Our family moved to Sumiyoshi Yamate when our son started 7th grade at CA. Our oldest son was already in California in university. I was assigned as a missionary to a Japanese Kyodan (UCCJ) church in Kagawa Center in the Sannomiya area and helped with the Kagawa Center’s Tengokuya Café ministry. In addition to this commitment, I came to KUC whenever I could. Worship services at Kobe Yesudan Kyokai in the Kagawa Center started at 10:45 am and services at KUC started at 9:30am, so if I planned it right I could go from KUC to Kagawa Center by car and make it to both services. Unless of course I was preaching, then I would just stay at the church where I was preaching. Most of the time I had to leave KUC services a bit early in order to make it to the Japanese church on time. (Kyokai no hashigo - ☺ ) I remember meeting many of you in the early days – Liew, Takayo, Mary Zhau, Martell Miki, Dorothy Miura, and Masami Morikawa whom I already knew from Hawaii where we both lived back in 1999. Masami and I met at a YMCA pregnant mommies class, our sons were born around the same time. Of course, I also met Kikuko when I arrived in Kobe, she has been a pillar of this church in many ways. I knew the KUC pastor before we moved to Kobe, Rev. Bruce Bradburn (2010 -2017) but only slightly. We had talked several times over the phone. We got to know each other well after I moved to Kobe. I occasionally preached at KUC when Pastor Bruce was away. I started the tradition of World Communion Sunday at KUC and wearing clothing of other countries for this occasion. I also started the Pentecost celebrations here and encouraged people to wear red, orange, yellow, and blue (fire-colors) to represent the flames of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In addition to attending services and preaching on occasion, I coordinated the KUC homeless ministry with Chuo Catholic Church. I became involved with KUC’s Global Missions Ministry, a ministry near and dear to my heart. I like missions and outreach! I had the privilege to serve with various Global Missions Ministry Leaders during my time here - Shane Taber, then later with Yoko Sawada, and most recently with Chisato Shingu. Our whole family has been involved at KUC. Back in 2011, our son Koh joined Young Life and went on many mission trips to places like Cambodia and the Philippines. Also one year the Young Life youth went to ARI (Asian Rural Institute). Young Life helped to form Koh’s faith and Koh had a call to go to seminary. Koh has been back to KUC to do scripture readings and has led some Sunday School lessons for the young adults and Zoom Saturday Bible classes. Some of you may remember that my husband Toshi even preached once at KUC sharing his testimony of how he became a Christian. I remember these words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “For everything that happens in life—there is a season, a right time for everything under heaven.” It is the right time and the right season for me to follow the Holy Spirit leading me to a new adventure and ministry as the pastor of Yokohama Union Church. YUC has been without a permanent pastor for almost five years. It is through much prayer that Toshi and I are led to make this transition to a new location and community. Although we will be in Yokohama, we will still be connected to KUC as a fellow union church and also as part of the body of Christ. Paul wrote thirteen letters, not all to churches. In all of the letters to churches, except for the church in Galatia, he begins with an opening section where he gives thanks for them. In 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Paul gave thanks for the Corinthians in spite of the fact that their church had a number of some difficulties and even messy situations. Paul expresses thanksgiving for the church in Philippi (Philippians 1:3-11) even though Euodia and Syntche were having some conflict that likely was affecting the church (Philippians 4:2). Not only do we see Paul giving thanks for those in churches that he spent some time (Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica), but we also see him give thanks for the Christians in Rome and Colossae – places he had never even visited (Romans 1:8; Colossians 1:3-8). Do we give thanks for fellow believers in other churches and in other places? Are we thankful that we are connected to people whom we will never meet? As Paul reflects upon his relationship with the Philippians, he begins by expressing to them how grateful to God he is for them. In verse 3, note his thankful heart. He says, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you.” I give thanks for all of you. We have shared our journey of faith together these past years and so many memories - joys, sorrows, losses (through the passing away of members and members who have moved away), struggles and challenges (especially through the pandemic), deep friendships, and countless blessings. KUC will always be a part of me. As we enter into the next few remaining weeks in our ministry together, I am excited and hopeful for the ministries and new people who have been coming to KUC. I pray for the pastoral leadership at KUC, the Council, the staff, and for all of you – the members and friends of KUC. I do hope you can visit us in Yokohama and we stay connected. I also hope our churches will continue to be connected and share resources as we are both part of the Union Church Network. Another important point about Paul is that he not only shows us who/what to give thanks for, he shows us how to give thanks. His thankful heart leads him to offer prayers of thanksgiving. These prayers are not only for the things that we usually pray for people – that they would be healthy and things would work out for them - but Paul gives thanks for the people and then prays they would know God more! He shares these words. That they “may be filled with the knowledge of his will….to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work” (Colossians 1:9-10). That they may “abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-10). That God would give to them “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him, having the eyes of [their] hearts enlightened, that [they] may know what is the hope to which [God] has called” them (Ephesians 1:17-18). We also see Paul praying that he will have the opportunity to meet Christians he has never met so that they can encourage each other (Romans 1:9-11). I hope you will pray for Yokohama Union Church. And, of course, pray for people all over the world. A spirit of thankfulness does not stop when we say “thank you” but continues in desiring what is best for them. We often give gifts to show our gratitude, but the best gift we can give people is to pray for them that they may know the greatest gift there is — the love of God in the Gospel and the gift of Jesus Christ! Christian friends at KUC, please spend time in God’s Word and in prayer. We need to not only give thanks for people, but should gift them with prayers for their growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a community of faith, KUC worships together and serves together and prays together. Give thanks for one another! We will not only come to love God more, but we also become increasingly mindful of God’s great love for us - and that awareness inspires us and energizes us. Let us love one another and give thanks for God’s presence in our lives. May Apostle Paul’s example be reflected by us as we gather around our tables to give thanks. Finally, brothers and sisters, I close with two scriptures. “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) “Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:11, 14) Let us pray. Loving God, we pray for the blessing of the Holy Spirit on this community of Kobe Union Church. Let us give thanks for one another and encourage each other. Guide KUC as it navigates into the future. Help us to give thanks daily for the glimpses of grace in our lives. May we live in gratitude for what God has done for us and always give thanks with a grateful heart. Amen. Greetings from ARI to everyone.
Today I am coming to you from Tochigi. You might be looking at me right now and thinking really? Tochigi? That is if you know where Tochigi is. I didn’t start my life in Tochigi, no I was born and raised in the United States but ARI is in Tochigi, the reason I say I am from Tochigi. As many of you know The Asian Rural Institute does a 9 month leadership training program for women and men who are working in rural villages and towns primarily in Africa and Asia every year from April through December. Along with these students, we invite volunteers, mission and work teams, school and church groups and individual people or families to come and support the international staff in both the training program, logistics and administration of the program and the farm. I say farm because our focus is on self sufficiency, 90% of the food the people living on campus eat comes from our farm. We take turns cooking the food that we have harvested and celebrate the life together in our dining hall which also becomes are hall to celebrate the beginning and end of the training, a harvest celebration, karaoke nights and Christmas parties and so much more. ARI is more than just a school or place to learn organic farming or live with international people speaking English together, actually it is a dream, it is an experiment and it is a challenge. I saw challenge! The fact that ARI has continued for 50 years is the reality that God has provided our needs to overcome so many challenges. I personally have been there for the past 14 years and can attest to the fact that there is always what seems to be an insurmountable challenge in front of us. Disasters, Pandemics, Financial issues, not enough hands, finding the best people to come and learn, food shortages or surpluses, human relationships, and on and on. But actually as I am saying this I think it is not only places like ARI that faces these issues. Maybe at times KUC faces some of these issues? Maybe your work place? Maybe even you and your family? I think that challenges are a reality of life. I am doing my morning devotions in Job right now and when I read Job I always think about how God allows Job to be challenged by the Accuser in the very beginning of the book. It makes me and maybe you ask why? Why all the challenges? I mean I have no problem with God fencing me in from dangers and difficulties. The devil is the one who complains that God is too good, I don’t want to every complain like that. I am glad God is good! But challenges do exist. And it seems though that God has a bigger plan in those challenges. Today’s scripture shows us that I believe. IN fact these words are probably a challenge even for the best of us. John 15:12-13 12 Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. 13The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. Wow. The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. These are some of the last words of Jesus, Words that go on to prophesy his actions that very week. Jesus does not only bring a challenge to his friends but he lives it out and the way he speaks of love is as if he really means it not only for himself but for all of us who would dare follow him and call ourselves Christians. Almost 2.5 billion people do call themselves that. But as we have seen all too often in history and even in the current conflicts of the world, it is easy to say love your enemies and give your life in love for your friends, but so hard to live that out. Jesus’ way of living is a challenge especially if we would try to follow Him. Jesus is the example of not only love but by ARI of what we call a servant leader. A servant leader is a type of leader that we seek to mimic at ARI but which is so hard to see lived out in the world. Instead, so many leaders in the world around us seem to live for themselves and become leaders for the purpose of controlling their own time and of course, others. So many leaders line their pockets, often at the expense of others. Too many political, educational, business and community and even church leaders often become corrupt in the process because their focus, their drive it that they only care about becoming the best, the top, the one with the power. But today in Jesus, we see a very different type of leader. A leader who did not take power for himself, but died so that others could be empowered. This is a type of leadership that believes a leader’s job is to help everyone around them live to their fullest potential. It believes love is not shown through kind words, a physical relationship, chocolate or gifts, but through giving up my place so that you can go ahead and become the best you. But our question is are we willing to learn? Can we learn this from Jesus? I would say yes, because he has already shown us how it is done, in fact he did it for us. He not only said those words that love is when you die for a friend, but he died for his friends, in place of them. The Bible says he died so that his friends could be forgiven for their evil and selfish ways that only think about their own dreams and their own career and futures and end up hurting others. Who are his friends? Not just those 12 men who sat in a room eating with him, but even us today. We too can be his friend, if we would only accept his love. And isn’t that all we need, All we need is love? Well, Love is what ARI believes can bring the world together. But this love is not some type of physical thing or candy or presents but a way of living that puts the needs of the community, the church ahead of my own personal desires. It’s not forced by a rule or by the culture but something that must be freely given. It is the only way I believe that the world will change. The Motto of ARI is “That We May Live Together.” It comes from the experiences of war, wishing and working for a world where war would only be a historical story. How much more do we need that today. I want to end by telling you about one person that is currently studying at ARI and who I believe is really willing to incarnate this very command. Although we see the wars in the news about Ukraine and Russia and Palestine and Israel now, I want to finish by telling you about my friend whose community has been in a civil war for the past 5 years. Cameroon, a country in west Africa. There is an ongoing war between the English speaking states in the West and the French speaking majority in the Eastern states. There of course is history behind that which I will not get into today but if you have time, please do study about the country of Cameroon. Anyway, my friend who is with us at ARI speaks both languages and has lived in both parts of the country. He has a high level of education and has done many things. He has studied at ARI for the past year because of his desire not just to have a wealthy life himself, but because of his desire to serve the rural people. Now, he is preparing to return home to the village where he was born and raised in Western Cameroon. In the North West region where he is going, there is daily war, kidnappings, schools are closed, and food is not enough. But he says to me he came here not to escape but to get new ideas, a new vision and that now he must get home as soon as he can. Why? All that he has experienced and learned at ARI he believes will help the people of his village. Not only the organic farming, but he believes he can even help the young men there who believe the only answer to their problems is war, killing, raping, pillaging, and taking from others what they so strongly feel has been taken from them. I asked him, aren’t you scared, are you sure this is the best thing you can do? He said what else can I do. I love these people and I want to see their lives changed. I want to be in my community and work for a future where there is no more war and where we will live together. Jesus told his friends, now I tell you to love one another, as I have loved you. I think that message is for us as well. If we want to see a world where war and conflict, pressure, and stress are not all we seem to hear about, we must learn how to live this way, and knowing Jesus is the beginning of that. On a final note, if you are interested in learning more about ARI and how you could visit us, snap a photo of the QR code after class or take a flyer. Thank you. Let us pray. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for being with us this past week. There is a lot going on in our
world and in our lives but Lord, this morning, help us to make room in our minds to think of your ways, and to make room in our hearts to trust that your Word is a living Word; a Word which can always deliver us. May the words of my mouth be no longer my words, but only yours. May you guide our hearts, bringing us together before you this morning. May the reflections of our hearts be pleasing in your sight O Lord. You are our rock and our redeemer. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Today, I want to talk about “Stress.” And let me confess to you, even the word, “stress” makes me stressed out?! Is there anyone who feels the same way? I hope I am not the only one! We say things like, “I am so stressed out!” “This is so stressful!” Or “They stress me out!” all the time, but do we even know what stress is, anyways? The WHO (World Health Organization) defines stress as “a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.” (retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/questions- and- answers/item/stress#:~:text=Stress%20can%20be%20defined%20as,experiences%20stress% 20to%20some%20degree, on 11/04/2023) So… stress is caused by things that stress us out. Stress is a response to stressful situations, a response to things that are just….difficult. But what kind of situations are difficult enough to cause stress and produce distressed responses such as pain, sadness or anger? In the 1960s, psychiatrists developed a scale for measuring the amount of stress that comes from major life events, and what they came up with is called the “Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory.” It lists 43 major life events each with different point values, with the ones at the bottom of the list only scoring 10 or 11 points, while the top one - death of a spouse - rates 100 points. Many of these items on the list make total sense to us; death of family members, divorce, job loss, taking a loan, family members getting sick, all these things are definitely stressful, and I don’t think anyone could object to that! But some of the other items on this list might not even seem stressful at all when you first think about it. Retirement, vacations, major holidays, welcoming a new family member; these things don’t sound stressful, they sound delightful, don’t they?! But one of the more shocking items I found this in the list was “a change in church activity.” If you think about it though, that one…really makes sense. During COVID, for example, we had no choice but to change all our church activities and, to be honest, that was really stressful for me, and I think it was of all of you too! What we can learn from this inventory is that stress is everywhere. Even in places that we might not expect, even in places that might seem otherwise positive, change always brings us some kind of stress. As long as we live here on this earth, we will have to face death at some point. And life brings change all the time through marriage, jobs, sickness, and injury. Not all of us are married of course, but we always build relationships with the people around us; no one is truly alone. Even witnessing the stresses of the people around us can add stress to our own lives as well. Watching family members suffer illness, watching our friends or loved ones go through divorce or other life transitions; all these things can cause stress in our own lives too. As long as we live, there will always be stressful things that happen. We cannot control them, and they will not go away. So it doesn’t make sense for us to try to reduce or eliminate life events that cause stress, because that’s totally impossible. We cannot control life and death, and we just can’t stop change from happening. No, what we have to do is find healthy ways to deal with the stress that comes our way in life. And as believers, we have to do a little more than that. We have to ask not only how we deal with stress in healthy ways, but how we should deal with stress as Christians. And for that, we need to ask ourselves what God has to say about stress, and what God’s Word - the Bible - tells us about how to deal with it. So, when we ask ourselves who, in the Bible, is stressed out, who is it that comes to mind? I mean, the Bible is full of stories of stressful situations and stressed out people. Who do we look to first? Well, let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Abraham had to relocate at the age of seventy- five, Jacob and Esau had sibling troubles, Joseph was abandoned by his family, Moses was thrust into a leadership position he wasn’t prepared for, and David faced all kinds of danger in life due to Saul’s jealousy. Esther didn’t want to confront her king, but she needed to do it in order to save her people, Tamar lost a couple of husbands, Hagar had to flee into the wilderness to save her son, and even Adam and Eve had to deal with a sudden and unexpected moving situation. There are plenty of stories of people being stressed out in the Bible, and the ones I mentioned are just from the Old Testament! Stress is normalized in the Bible. The Bible is full of stressful situations and stressed out people specifically because stress is normal; it’s normal for God’s people in the Old Testament, it’s normal for followers of Christ in the New Testament, and it’s normal for Christians here, today. Part of the reason I am bringing this up now is because we sometimes don’t realize that. Once, I actually heard someone say that they could never admit to being stressed out in church, because they knew they would be judged for it; that if they admitted to being stressed, people would just say that their faith just isn’t strong enough, and that if they strengthened their faith they wouldn’t be stressed at all. What?! Where does that come from? It certainly doesn’t come from the Bible! As I just mentioned, people called by God go through all kinds of stressful events in life, and experiencing stress doesn’t make us week or immature Christians. Even Jesus tells us that, “in the world, you face tribulation. (John 16:33) But in Christ, we do not remain in a place of stress, because even though we definitely experience all the stress of life, the Bible reminds us that we can call upon God in our times of trouble. Calling upon God in our times of stress (or, as the Bible often phrases it, distress) is something God’s people have done from the very beginning. In Genesis 35 Jacob - who years before had stolen their father’s blessing from his older brother, Esau - is about to reconcile with his brother. And as that reconciliation approaches, he is obviously nervous and stressed out because he doesn’t know if his brother will forgive him. In the midst of all that stress, this is what he says: “Let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone (Genesis 35:3).” Jacob had personal experience with God answering him when he was stressed. Of course, Jacob isn’t the only one who has met God in their time of distress! If you take advantage of modern technology and do a word search through the Bible, you can actually see how many times words like “distress” come up in the Bible. And if you do that, you’ll see, most especially in the book of Psalms, statements like, “ I call upon God in time of distress and God heard, answered and delivered me from distress.” (Psalm 18:6, Psalm 81:7, Psalm 106:44, Psalm 107:6, Psalm 118:5 etc) In times of distress, I called upon God and God answered me. Yes! Yes! Now you might be wondering just when I am going to start talking about today’s Scripture. You might be a little stressed, wondering if I’m going to preach a long sermon again! But don’t worry, I’m gonna talk about it now! Today’s reading is about Paul, as he continues to preach the Gospel, who has now moved into what is now southeastern Europe. In the previous chapter, Paul received a vision about a man asking him to go to Macedonia to help, so Paul follows that vision and goes to Macedonia. This journey has already been a pretty rough one for Paul. He and his buddy Silas were thrown in jail (Acts 16:16-39), and that right there is number 4 on that list of stressful life events I mentioned earlier! But God delivered them from prison, and they continued on their journey to Macedonia, preaching the Gospel as they went. Everywhere they went, the result was the same; some accepted the gospel and believed in Jesus Christ and others did not. But what was really hard was that they were often forced out of town because Jewish locals felt that their preaching was disturbing the peace of the community. After all, stirring up the crowds like that could be a very big time in those days. So they were forced to leave Thessalonica, and Beroea next. After that, Paul came to Athens. So by this point in the story, things are already pretty stressful. He’s been to jail, he’s been forced to move from one place to another, his life has been in danger, and his preaching has been rejected by people in multiple cities. I mean, this is enough stress already, don’t you think? But Paul doesn’t seem to let these stresses get him down; he doesn’t seem intimidated at all. When he was about to be released from jail, for example, he demanded that he and his buddy Silas would be escorted out publicly, so that their innocence could be seen by everyone (Acts 16:35-39). Even stressed, Paul is truly a man of God! But even Paul has his moments. He’s still human, after all; he gets discouraged, and stressed just like anyone else. Check out Acts 17:16. “While Paul was waiting for them (Timothy and Silas) in Athens, he was deeply distressed. “ (Acts 17:16) Here it is. Now we finally see it! Paul is distressed!!!! But what is he distressed about? “He was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) It wasn’t the threats to his own life, but the threats to the spiritual life of the people of Athens which stressed Paul out. He was stressed because the people were worshiping idols, something other than God. When I think of Paul being stressed here, I feel both encouraged and relieved at the same time. I feel encouraged, because Paul is showing me just how much a faith in Christ can help us to build our resilience to stress. When we keep our focus on doing God’s work in the world, when we trust that God is with us always, we lose that natural fear that usually accompanies stress; the fear of losing our security, our reputation, our privilege, or even our lives. Paul describes this in Philippians 4:11-12, when he says, “For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty, or in want. I can do all this through Christ who gives me strength. “ Content in any and every situation. Content whether things are relaxed, or whether they are stressful. Content, no matter what. And even in the most difficult of situations, Paul doesn’t boast in his own strength or endurance, but credits everything to Christ who gives him strength. In Christ, we have the ability to be this strong, this resilient to stress, and to persevere in doing all that God asks to do. Even if we’re not quite there yet, we have the ability to get there in Christ! And while I am encouraged by this, I am also relieved because Paul isn’t Jesus; Paul is just another human like you or me. Even though he is convinced that he can do all things through Christ who gives him strength, he still finds himself feeling greatly distressed when things do not look encouraging or promising. But despite all of that, Paul keeps going. He debates with the people of Athens, preaches boldly about a God not made by human hands, and who doesn’t need humans to fulfill any of the divine needs. Paul knows God as the creator of all things, the giver of life to all that needs, knowing that, “In God, we live, move and have our being.” (Acts 17:24-28) Paul knowing his Creator this well motivates him to keep going, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to people in Corinth, Ephesus, Greece and so on. Paul’s life and ministry were filled with tribulations and stress, but we only ever really hear about his distress this one time. How could he keep running such a stressful race with such perseverance? I believe that through it all, Paul kept looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12 points out how Jesus endured all the shame and hostility directed against himself so that we might not grow weary or lose heart (Hebrews 12:3). Jesus never said, “Take care of your own stress. Deal with your stress, push it away, and make yourself look better. After that, then you can come and follow me.” No. Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.” Instead of ignoring stress, or abandoning those who are stressed, Jesus invites all stressed children of God to his side. Recall the night Jesus was betrayed. Jesus did not hide anything from the disciples. Jesus told them that one of the disciples would betray him. And when he did, the disciples were greatly distressed. Then they started to talk to Jesus one after another, asking, “Surely not I, Lord?” (Matthew 26:22) Pause for a moment and think about that. Do we ever consider the pain and stress that Jesus must have experienced on that night? He knew that Judas, someone whom he truly loved, would betray him. He knew that he needed to die not for something he had done, but for the sins of the entire world. In that moment though. the disciples were only worried about themselves. “Surely I would not betray,” they thought, “because I am a great disciple.” They even started to argue over which disciple was greater. (Luke 22:24-27) But in that moment, no one cared for for Jesus’ distress. But rather than dwelling on his distress, this is what Jesus does. Jesus invites the disciples to his table of communion. “While they were eating, Jesus took a load of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28) Jesus had a way to save people from their stress, even though his people were not at all interested in saving him from his stress, or even taking care of him at all. What amazing love Jesus has! What forgiveness! This is the love of our Lord and Saviour. The capacity of Jesus carrying our stress and burden is enormous. Jesus says to all, ALL who are weary. ‘I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) So I want to invite you all to bring your stress and burdens to Jesus. There is no such thing as something too small or too stupid, nothing too sinful for Jesus to take on. Just like our ancestors did, let us call upon God in our times of distress. |
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