Aug 21, 2016 Sermon: "God is _____."

Stephen Baldwin

OT: Deut. 4.24

NT: John 4.24, 1 John 1 .5, 1 John 4.5

God is _____. 

            Today we’re going to think about God’s character and characteristics. 

If I asked you take out a pew pencil and draw a picture of God on the bulletin, what would you draw?  Would you draw a person?  A spirit?  A nature scene?  The stars? 

            If I asked you to finish the sentence: God is              , what would you say?  God is all powerful, all knowing, all present?  God is large and in charge?  God is gracious and loving and kind? 

            If I asked you what makes God…God…what would you say?  

            Let me tell you a story that speaks to God’s character.  This week I attended the groundbreaking ceremony in Rainelle for the first of 50 new homes being built in the coming months and years.  The main group behind the project is Appalachian Service Project.  They do exactly what our workcamp program does…but on steroids.  They have tens of thousands of volunteers from across the country who will come to help rebuild. 

            The first house will be finished within six weeks.  And the folks who will live there are retired teachers who have been residents of Rainelle more than 30 years.  The husband spoke at the groundbreaking, and I thought he would talk about the flood or the community or the new house…but all he wanted to talk about…was God. 

            He started off by saying that God had been working on him for years.  His wife always wanted to go to church, but he never would.  She would say this or that was a blessing from God, but he didn’t believe in that.  Then came the flood, and their entire first floor was flooded.  People from all over came to help them.  He asked them why, and they said God sent them.  For the first time in his life, he believed it.  For the first time in his life, he said he got to know God, and it changed his life. 

            That got me thinking about God’s character.  What is God like?  What makes God…God?  That’s a tough question.  What makes God…God? 

            My grandpa would say the Bible answers that question.  There are four “God is…” statements in the Bible.  And those “God is” statements tell us what makes God…God. 

            Let’s hear them one more time.  John 4.24 says, “God is spirit.”  That means God is like the wind, God is like a breath of fresh air from heaven.  All around.  We may not always see God, but we always feel God.  After all, do you remember what gave life to the world according to Genesis?  A mighty wind blew over the face of the deep, creating all that we now see. 

Deuteronomy 4.24 says, “God is a devouring fire.”  That sounds sort of dire and depressing, doesn’t it?  Not if you think about it.  Because fire purifies.  We talked in Bible Study about how forestry workers do controlled burns.  Why?  Because hurtful plants get mixed in with the native, helpful plants…and the only way to purify the forest is to start over.  The native helpful plants come back and get a fresh new start at life.  That’s what happened to the man in Rainelle.  His life was turned upside down, but he has a new chance at a new life.  He tried to stay away from God for years, but he was consumed by God’s love.  

            Which brings us to 1 John 4.8, which says, “God is love.”  That’s a nice one, isn’t it?  We can get behind that.  But what does it mean?  When we say we love Ben Ellen donuts is that the same kind of love that God has for us?  Those donuts can’t be beat, but we’re talking about different kinds of love, aren’t we?  Human love is conditional, selective, on again off again.  Divine love is unconditional, all inclusive, and constant. 

            Finally, 1 John 1.5 says, “God is light.”  I am no scientist, but I do remember my junior high school teacher telling our class that the speed of light is constant.  Unlike sound, which travels over time, for example, from the pulpit to the back of the church, light travels constantly.  It is not delayed by anything.  Such is the character of God; God is immediately everywhere.  With those here recovering from devastation, with those in Louisana undergoing the same, and with little children in Syria who live in a warzone every day. 

            What is God’s character?  God is spirit, God is a devouring fire, God is love, and God is light.  Put it all together like your grandma’s favorite recipe, and what do you get?  A God that can never be separated from you.  You may relish in that assurance each morning when you wake up.  You may never give it a second thought.  You may, like the man in Rainelle, run from God as often as possible.  But if we can at least sketch a portrait of God’s character from the Bible’s clearest images, then we know that God always finds us.   Like the wind, God is always there.  Like a devouring fire, nothing can stop God.  Like a parent, God loves us completely.  Like light, God is always there. 

            Whether you’ve been coming to church your whole life or you’ve just started back, take time this week to think about God’s character.  What makes God…God…and savor it.  Savor every bit of it, because the more time you spend together, the deeper your relationship.  The deeper your relationship, the stronger your bond.  The stronger your bond, the more meaningful your life will be.  Amen.      

Aug 14, 2016 Sermon: "Finish the Race"

Stephen Baldwin

OT: Isaiah 5.1-7

NT: Hebrews 11.29-12.2

Finish the Race 

Have you been watching the Olympics this week?  What has been your favorite sport to watch? 

No matter if you like table tennis or swimming or basketball, boy oh boy it’s fun to watch, isn’t it?  Those athletes have such visible gifts from God, and it’s a thrill to see them do what they do so well.  Makes all us mere mortals feel pretty lame, but it’s still a joy to watch. 

It reminded me of the story of John Stephen Akhwari.  John was a long distance runner from the African nation of Tanzania in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.  He didn’t win a gold medal.  In fact, he didn’t even medal.  He came in last place, but his legend lives on.  Let me tell you his story. 

Halfway through the marathon, he was doing well, running in the middle of the pack.  Mexico City was at a much higher altitude than his village in Africa, so he started cramping.   Runners were jockeying for position, trying to get in front of one another and be in the proper position.  In the midst of a cramp, John’s foot got tangled up with someone else’s, and he fell.  He dislocated his knee and also fell directly on his shoulder.  Halfway through a marathon.  In the Olympics.  At that point, I would have called for the golf cart and gone home.  Happy to have made it that far.  How many of you are with me? 

But John got up and started running again.  He still had 13 miles to go.  When he finally made it to the stadium, night had almost fallen.  Only a few people were still in the stands.  The winner had finished well over an hour before.  But John refused to quit, and he kept running his race.  He crossed the finish line, and a reporter asked him why he kept going.  He said, “My country didn’t send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.” 

Hebrews teaches us the value of finishing the race.  None of us are perfect.  We’d all like to be in better shape.  Over the years, we’ve lost a step.  We replay in our minds certain parts of the race over and over, wishing we had done things differently.  But Hebrews reminds us that we have to run our race now. 

The whole idea hinges on what Hebrews means when it talks about two seemingly small but important words—faith and perfect. 

In Hebrews, faith does not mean belief in God or blind allegiance or hoping we get what we want.  Rather, faith means trusting in God’s promises.  Commit that to memory.  That’s important.  Faith means trusting in God’s promises. 

Now to our other important concept—perfection.  In Hebrews, perfect does not mean sinless or just right or wonderful.  God doesn’t expect us to be that kind of perfect.  If we forget that, watching the Olympics every four years reminds us.  Rather, perfect means complete.  Comes to an ending point.  Complete. 

So let’s put those two ideas together.  For Hebrews, running the race of life is about being faithful—trusting in God’s promises—until we’ve finished the race. 

Everybody here is running a race.  The people sitting to your right and your left are fighting battles you wouldn’t believe if they told you.  And because none of us are Olympic athletes, we get tired.  We yearn for God’s promises. We need to know that we won’t be left alone or abandoned.  We need to know that God is saving a place for us.  We need to know that we are loved and supported by God no matter how fast or how slow, how up or how down, how good or how bad, how difficult to how easy, how rocky or how smooth our race is. 

Running the race of life is about being faithful, trusting in God’s promises, until we’ve come to the finish line.  Amen.  

August 7, 2016 Sermon: "Making Room for God"

Stephen Baldwin

OT: Genesis 15.1-6

NT: Luke 12.32-41

Making Room for God 

            Kerry and I have begun putting the nursery together for little Harrison.  As we started rearranging things, I wondered how long has it been since there was a nursery in this manse?  A while, for sure.  We’ve got a dresser, a bookshelf for books and toys and such, a chair, and Kerry has this great plan for artwork from family members. 

We only lack one big thing.  Kerry showed me pictures of 4 or 5 different cribs and asked me which one I liked.  I said, “Any of them.”  Apparently, that wasn’t the right answer. 

Making room for the nursery means making room.  That room had been an extra guest room, but it was mostly filled with things that just didn’t fit anywhere else or weren’t desired anymore.  Do you have any rooms like that in your home? 

I understand Ed preached about rooms like that last week.  Encouraging us not to build barns to store our stuff, but instead to find freedom in having less.  Anybody go home this week and try to clean out your stuff?  It’s a wonderful idea.  The mental image of an empty garage or an empty guest room is mighty powerful…but then you go to the garage or the guest room…and you start doing the work.  You quickly learn that it’s not as easy as it sounds, right?  I’ve been talking about having a yard sale for two years now.  Talking.  Haven’t had a yard sale yet. 

This week’s Bible reading builds upon last week’s.  Last week, Jesus told a parable urging his followers not to build barns to store their stuff.  This week, he tells them what they should do instead. 

            “Sell your possessions, and give alms.”  When we hear these words from Jesus, we assume he means he wants us to sell our houses, sell our cars, sell our clothes, and give it all to the poor.  And we say with Peter, “You’re just talking generally, right Jesus?  You’re not talking literally to me specifically, right Jesus?” 

            Of course he was talking to them.  Peter was trying to understand how Jesus’ teachings fit into their Jewish teachings on giving. 

            In Judaism, believers were expected to share their resources in a couple of important ways.  They were expected to give regular tithes to the temple, which was AT LEAST ten percent of what you had.  Not just what you made that year, but what you had.  That could include crops, money, precious oils, or even livestock.  If you think tithing is tough, think about giving 10% of everything you have to others each year. 

            Why did Jews have such a strict system of giving?  Because people needed the help.  Poverty was the rule then, not the exception.  Because having to give away 10% of your stuff each year made it easier to get in that routine than accumulate for a decade and then talk about having a yard sale for another couple years.  And finally, because when you help someone, you end up being the one who benefits.  You feel good about being able to help and live out God’s generosity in some small way.  Don’t you find that to be true? 

For example, this past week we had a workcamp come from Iowa.  They drove over 800 miles one way just to get here and do flood relief.  It was the first workcamp their church had ever taken.  During our closing service on Friday, they said, “We came expecting to change other people’s lives, but our lives were changed.”   In serving others, have you ever come to that realization?  Serving others is the reward in and of itself.  It is the way of our Lord.     

In researching almsgiving this week, I found something fascinating.  In several writings from Old Testament times, including the book of Tobit, believers were taught to help “all who practice righteousness.”  In other words, they qualified who deserved help. 

In Luke, Jesus puts no limitations on giving.  He doesn’t say only help those who help themselves.  He doesn’t say only help those who remember to say thank you.  He doesn’t say only help those who will in turn help others.  No limitations.  Why is that?  For Jesus, the reward is in giving.  You get much more out of helping someone, no matter the circumstance, than they get from you. 

In that spirit, I need you to come over to the manse and help me get rid of all our extra stuff!  You’ll get much more out of it than I will!  Just kidding.  We will be making room for Harrison in the coming months.  And as hard as it is, it’s also a tremendous blessing.  We’re making room for a blessing from God.  And that is exactly what Jesus teaches us all in today’s Bible story.  Those who share what they have to spare make room in their lives for a tremendous blessing from God, because the reward is in giving. 

Amen.  

July 24, 2016 Sermon: "Why do you pray?"

Stephen Baldwin

OT: Genesis 18.20-32

NT: Luke 11.1-13

Why do you pray?

                We’ve all been doing a lot of praying lately.  Today’s scriptures are about people praying as well.  This is not a regular sermon; I want to invite you for the next five minutes or so to think thoughtfully and truthfully about prayer.  Let’s begin with a question. 

Why do you pray?  Think about it for a minute.  Why do you pray?  What are your expectations of God when you pray?  Do you want a response?  Do you expect action?  Do you intend to persuade God?  Do you presume that you have information God doesn’t? 

                Truth be told, most of the time we pray we want something.  Not just something silly or frivolous.  Usually we want something good.  We want our loved ones to be well.  We want our family to be safe.  We want our jobs to be meaningful.   So we pray about it.  Right?  We ask God to protect those dear to us, to grant us peace, to provide mercy. 

                There’s an idea in our world: It doesn’t hurt to ask.  All they can do is say no.  Might as well ask for what you want.  Ask for a bigger budget.  Ask for a raise.   Ask for more.  You might not get as much as you want, but if you ask you’re more likely to get what you need.  Ask, because you know better, and you won’t get anything unless you ask.  Right?  Makes sense…in the world.  But not with God. 

                Abraham was concerned that God was going to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah while there were still good people there.  So he prays.  “Please don’t destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  There are still good people there.”

                And what does God say?  I would never destroy a city if there is even one good person there.  Abraham never had to ask.  It’s not as if his prayer was the key to saving Sodom and Gomorrah.  God already wanted to do that. 

                When you pray for a family member who is sick, asking God to grant them peace and healing, God wants exactly the same thing.  When you pray for a neighbor to get back on their feet, God wants exactly the same thing. 

                So if the point of prayer isn’t to change God’s mind, then whose mind does prayer change?  Ours.  When we pray as Jesus taught us in today’s scripture—first giving thanks to God, then for our own needs, then for our neighbors, and finally for forgiveness, prayer shapes us into the kind of people God intends for us to be.  It makes us humble enough to know our place in the world, and it also makes us humble enough to know that we can help be part of God’s plans.  We can make the kingdom come one prayer at a time, one small action at a time.    

                Why do you pray?  To praise God?  Sure.  To ask for what you need?  Sure.  To ask for what your loved ones need?  Sure.  To ask for forgiveness?  Sure.  But you don’t get it because you ask; you get it because God wants to give it to you, and your prayers make sure you are ready to receive the mercy God has already intended for you. 

                If a child asks for a fish, will he be given a snake?  Of course not.  If ten good people remain in Sodom & Gomorrah, will God wipe it off the map?  Absolutely not. 

                Don’t get it twisted about why you pray.  It’s not to change God’s mind.  It’s to shape our mind.  So say your prayers tonight.  Say your prayers tomorrow morning.  Say your prayers tomorrow afternoon.  Allow yourself to be shaped by God through your prayers.  Amen.  

July 17, 2016 Sermon; "Just Be"

Stephen Baldwin

NT: Luke 10-38-42

"Just Be" 

                My niece and nephew in Florida really wanted to ride some new-fangled thing at the mall.  An animal ride or something.  But their parents said no.  “Too expensive.  Just like every other ride.  Not today.” 

That weekend they were staying with their grandparents, who didn’t know about the new ride at the mall and asked them, “What do you want to do today?”

                “Let’ go to the mall and ride the new animal!”  Which they did. 

                Grandparents took them home and parents asked, “What’d you do today?”

                “They took us to the mall, and we rode the new ride!” (kid’s laughter). 

                We all know that lesson.  If you don’t get the answer you want from one person, go to another.  Children have perfected this over many generations between parents and grandparents.  But we also do it with our co-workers and bosses and even with Bible stories.  Don’t like what one passage tells you?  Just find another with advice that’s easier to swallow. 

                For example, last week we read the Good Samaritan.  Lesson: Do everything you possibly can to help someone even if they’re your sworn enemy. 

                Immediately following that story comes the one we just ready today.  Lesson: Stop doing so much and relax a little. 

                Which is it?  Do everything you possibly can to help your neighbor…or sit back and relax?  Was Jesus that indecisive?  No, answer lies in verse 42. 

                In every situation, there’s an important thing about which we should be concerned, and it changes based on the situation.  When a man is dying on the road in front of you, the important thing is helping him survive.  Do everything you can.  Spare no expense or effort.  Help him! 

                Like today’s story, when you’ve had a long day…or week…or three weeks…and evening arrives, the important thing is to take a break and spend time together.  Stop worrying and running around and doing things.  Just be. 

                We don’t know exactly what’s going on that night.  Jesus is there with Mary and Martha, presumably with other disciples.  Perhaps they’re gathering for a meal, or just resting for the night, or preparing for worship.  All those options are good possibilities.  And Martha runs around like crazy making sure everything that needs to be done is done.  Most of us identify with her.  Because we’ve all dealt with people like Mary who just sit around when then the work needs to be done! 

                After the story of the Good Samaritan, you would expect Jesus to affirm Martha for leaving no stone unturned and working hard to be neighborly…especially while Mary just sits there.  Why doesn’t he?  Because sometimes the important thing is taking it easy. 

                Even though I am the preacher, many of you have been preaching that message to me the past few weeks!  Take it easy.  You can’t do it all at once.  You can’t take care of anyone if you don’t take care of yourself.  I finally got it Friday night.  The workcamp from Ohio gathered for their closing devotional, and they asked Kelsey and I to join them. 

                As we sat down, my mind raced with all the things I needed to do.  Like Martha.  But I just sat there, like Mary, and somewhere between the sitting and the listening and the Holy Spirit, I finally realized how important it is to stop doing things and just be. 

                In the social services world, it’s called self care.  Taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others.  It can mean something as simple as making quiet time, exercising, eating right, saying your prayers, or sleeping well.  Those of us who are Marthas aren’t very good at it.  Amen? 

                Today’s world is built on speed and activity and business.  We go go go, as if our life depends on it.  But Jesus reminds us that sometimes our life depends on slowing down. 

                Today is an important time to learn from the Marys of the world and just be.  Listen for God’s still small voice.  Allow the Spirit to recharge you.  Sit at Jesus’ feet.  Ride the new thing at the mall, or its adult equivalent, that is always on your mind.  There are lots if important things in the world.  There’s always plenty of work to do.  But this might just be time the most important thing for us to do is just be.  Amen.  

July 10, 2016 Sermon: "The $11 Letter"

Stephen Baldwin

NT: Luke 10.25-37

The $11 Letter

            Parables are meant to shock.  To challenge.  To make you say hmmmm.  Which makes it hard when we’ve heard them all our lives, a hundred times.  Everybody knows the story of the good Samaritan.  And everybody knows what it means, right?  Be kind even to people you don’t know. 

            It’s even become part of our everyday language.  We talk about good Samaritans who found our wallet or helped us change a tire.  We love a good good Samaritan story, don’t we?  They make us feel good.  Deep down inside. 

            But parables…are meant to shock.  To disturb.  To push the boundaries.  What was so shocking about this parable was who did the good deed.  Jews hated Samaritans.  Samaritans hated Jews.  They viewed one another as less than human.  So Jesus tells a room full of Jews a story about a Samaritan who does a good thing.  Not only does he help the man dying on the road when the people you would expect to do that—the priest and the Levite refuse to—but he pays for the man to have shelter…and he goes even further saying he will pay any other bills the man incurs while he recovers.  And then there’s the real kicker.  Jesus asks the Jewish lawyer who wants to know who his neighbor is, “Who showed mercy?” 

            “The Samaritan.” 

            Jesus affirms that reply.  “Yes, be like him.”  Sometimes we’ve heard the story so many times the shock is lost on us.  Until we are in need of mercy, as we have been the last two-plus weeks.  And then we are reminded.    

You all could probably tell a few good Samaritan stories, couldn’t you?  People who you’d never seen before to help clean your house.  Old friends from days gone by who sent supplies or donations to help people.  Did you know we had a workcamp from NC that already comes twice a year but they came a third time on a day’s notice to do flood relief? I’ve got one more story for you. Some of you may have already heard it, but some things bear repeating. 

            One day this week I opened the mail and found a letter from a nine year old boy from Morgantown.  His name is Daishon Kelly.  I’ve never met him before.  His mom read some of my online updates on the flooding, shared them with him, and he decided to write me a letter.  (Pictured below.)  

            Now, I don’t cry often, because I’m the ugliest crier you’ve ever seen.  But that letter made me cry like a baby.  He included his $11 allowance, which he said was all he had.  It turns out that his life is full of challenges of his own.  His father died when he was very young.  He has a type of juvenile arthritis that sometimes makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning.  But when he saw pictures of flooding here in Greenbrier County, he took out his wallet, picked up his $11 allowance, and sent it to our church to help people who are hurting. 

            Is that a good Samaritan story?  You better believe it is.  But not for the reason you might think.  Did the boy show kindness and selflessness to people he didn’t know?  You bet he did.  But the real reason it’s a good Samaritan story is because he is the last person you would expect to send everything he had to help put this community back together.  He’s a nine year old child with $11 to his name, and I hear Jesus asking us, “Who showed mercy?”

            Daishon did. 

            “Yes, go and be like him.”  Parables are meant to shock.  To challenge.  To make you say hmmm.  The parable of the good Samaritan reminds us that what makes us good is what we are willing to do for those who can do nothing for us in return.  It teaches us that mercy is given.  It shows us that when someone inspires that kind of goodness, it grows…exponentially.  And a simple letter with $11 inside from a child we don’t even know becomes the cornerstone of rebuilding an entire community.  Amen?  Amen.  

July 3, 2016 Sermon: "A Tenacity to Live"

Stephen Baldwin

NT: Galatians 5

A Tenacity to Live

I dare say this has been the most difficult 10-day stretch in Greenbrier County in mane generations.  I know this has been the most difficult 10-day stretch of ministry in my life.  Hundreds of homes destroyed, thousands damaged, families who had $70 in their bank account before the flood left trying to put their lives back together in three feet of mud, funerals of the deceased, stories about people hanging onto (or perching in) trees for hours to escape rushing and rising water.  Parts of our county look like war zones.  We are all tired and scarred and hurt. 

            At the same time, this has also been the most rewarding 10-day stretch of ministry of my life.  Kelsey has been here everyday doing flood relief and coordinating it for others.  We had lots of volunteers this week cleaning out homes, organizing supplies, and writing thank you notes to folks who sent us donations.  Churches from SC, VA, & NC who came here on workcamps in previous years sent donations.  Former members sent donations.  Presbyterian churches sent donations and supplies, and I want to thank Jane in particular for meeting those groups and making that happen.  The folks from Logan and Enslow Park in Huntington loaded trucks full of supplies and drove them here!  A couple who attended church here for two months during a medical rotation five years ago sent a large donation from Ohio.  Presbyterian Women of WV sent a donation.  Friends and neighbors and churches and civic groups from across the county came together like never before to help people get their lives back together.  College students came home to do cleanup.  Youth put on their boots and crawled under houses.  Elders got their hands dirty to help their fellow church members.  A workcamp from Indiana decided they would still make the journey to WV to work on flood relief!  Praise God for you.  We are so happy to have you here this week!  We ask for your patience this week.  Sometimes you will be asked to do things you don’t want to do; sometimes you will be asked to wait until we find the right project; and sometimes what you see will break your heart.  But it will be a good week, and we thank you for being here. 

            This week has been the worst of times and the best of times.  I don’t think you really understand that until you walk inside a flooded house, see the water line, trudge through the mud, smell the after-effects, and watch the heartbreak in a homeowner’s eyes.  It is gut- wrenching.  But it is also redeeming when you work with them step by step to show God’s love and clean up. 

            Some of you may have noticed the dead tree in the frontyard of the manse.  Everybody tells me how ugly it is.  Weston & Pat Guthrie stopped by this week, and poor Weston is in the throws of dementia, but even he looked at that tree and said, “Good Lord, what is wrong with that tree?  Did I plant that?” 

            The tree has been dying for years.  Last year, only part of it came back.  This year, none of it did.  It’s dead, rotten, decaying wood.  No leaves, no growth.  Anybody can look at it and see that.  But if you look closely, at the top of the trunk, a seedling has started to grow in the dead wood of the tree.  It has sprouted little leaves and lives!  Some people look at that tree and see how ugly it is on the whole.  I look at that little seedling perched atop the dead trunk and see a tenacity to live. 

            Isn’t that what our people have shown this week?  A tenacity to live!  And isn’t that how God works?  God makes a way out of no way and nurtures life in even the most unlikely places! 

            Our community looks a little bit like that dead tree right now.  On the outside, we look broken and scarred and hurt.  But like that little seedling, we have a tenacity to live!  We have a tenacity to help our neighbors!  We have a tenacity to share God’s love. 

            That’s what today’s passage from Galatians is all about. God intends for us to live together, serve one another, and love one another.  And to that end, God gives us freedom.      

When people talk about freedom, they usually talk about being able to do what they want to do.  That’s not how the Bible talks about freedom.  The Bible talks about freedom as an opportunity for either self-indulgence or service.  We choose service.  We choose love.  We choose life.  We choose God. 

I was talking to a man from Quinwood this week who told me about some folks in his community.  He said, “When you lose everything you have and you didn’t have much in the first place, then what do you have left?” 

A lot of folks have asked that question this week.  And the answer is that what you have left is hope.  If those of us who weren’t flooded can use the freedom God has given us to love, then we inspire hope in our hurting neighbors.  We serve as a reminder that God can always make a way, even when it looks like there is no way.  If you don’t believe me, take a look at the seedling sitting atop a dead tree  in my yard when you leave today.  Amen.