"Fishing for Something New"

Rev. Debbie Cato

Jonah 3:1-5 and Mark 1:14-20

Peace Presbyterian Church

January 25, 2015 (Annual Meeting)

“Fishing for Something New”

This morning, we have two different Scripture passages that have the same theme but they are from two different perspectives. In both these passages, God breaks into an ordinary day and forever changes the course of these individual lives. In both these passages we see that God calls ordinary people to serve him who are not that different from you or me.

If you know the story of Jonah, you know that Jonah wasn't real excited when God first called him. In fact, Jonah resisted. He rebelled against God's call to go to Nineveh. But God didn't give up. God had a plan and Jonah was going to be a part of it. So, God did the only thing he could. He got Jonah's attention. Only then, did Jonah – still reluctantly mind you – complete his mission. Jonah went to Nineveh and announced that in forty days their city would be overthrown.

It's important for us to understand that even though Jonah resisted; even though he rebelled; even though he did everything he could to not follow God's call; God's mission was a success! “The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.” God's purposes could not be thwarted by a reluctant messenger. Jonah's message from God to the Ninevites saved them from destruction.

In our Gospel passage this morning, we find God calling four more unsuspecting, ordinary men. Jesus arrives in Galilee after spending 40 days in the wilderness and as he is walking along the Sea of Galilee, he sees Simon and Andrew who are brothers. They are fishing. It's their family business.

Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” When Jesus calls Simon and Andrew, they respond differently than Jonah did. They don't resist. They don't rebel. Mark tells us that “immediately Simon and Andres left their nets and followed Jesus.” These two brothers, busy fishing for the family business, just drop their nets and follow Jesus. James and John do the same thing when Jesus calls them while they are fishing with their father. They too immediately follow Jesus.

Now, you have to wonder a little bit what these men thought they were saying yes to. There is no indication that they knew who Jesus was. There isn't even an indication that they were religious. And what in the world does “fish for people” mean anyway? But each of them says yes, they drop what they are doing, and they follow Jesus.

Instant decisions for Christ. Simon, Andrew, James, and John drop everything and become disciples, just like that; “immediately.” But this is not the end of the story. This is just the beginning of “the beginning.” Ahead for them, there is much to learn. There is much stumbling, much misunderstanding, and much backsliding. The decision to follow Christ takes both a moment and a lifetime.¹   You see, the initial decision to follow Christ is relatively easy compared to the discipleship journey.

How did you respond to God's call; to the call to believe and follow Him? Were you like Jonah – reluctant and rebellious, not really wanting to follow Him? Or, were you more like those four fishermen, responding immediately?

Honestly, it really doesn't matter how you come to follow Christ. Jonah fought against the call and God still used him to save a town. Simon and Andrew, James and John responded immediately, but their quick decision still needed to be reaffirmed and even corrected, time and again. And yet, they began a movement that has lasted over 2,000 years.

We all – no matter how quickly or how long ago we answered God's call, stumble,

misunderstand, and backslide. Jesus' call is a long-standing commitment.

Christianity is for now and for the long haul. The call is both a moment and a 

lifetime. It is a journey full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and unexpected detours. You see, when you say “yes” to Jesus, you say yes to His mission; to priorities; to His way. You say yes to setting aside your own plan and saying, “Yes. I will go where you call me. I will do what you call me to do.” Saying yes is life-changing. It is transforming.

When Jesus called those four fishermen, Jesus did not just ask them to add one more task to their busy lives. He called them to a new way of being. He says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” Jesus gives them a new way to be; a new vocation that promises a whole new life. You see, there is a difference between discipleship as a task and disciples as an identity.

When Jesus called those four fishermen in Galilee, he basically said, “I know you are fishermen. But now, instead of fishing for fish the way you always have, I'm going to give you something new to fish for.

I believe that God is saying the same thing to us. The way we have always been is no longer the way we can continue to be. God is calling us to new life. Life that exists outside our sanctuary and outside our fellowship hall. It's a little scary – change always is. But God is with us; he has gone before us; and he loves us.

We need to be a church that sees discipleship as an identity. That means this Christian thing is not just something we do on Sunday's for an hour. It means that everything we do; everything we say; everything that we are emulates Jesus

Christ. It means that we don't exist for ourselves and what makes us comfortable but rather we exist for the world that doesn't yet know Christ. It means that we spend more time “out there” than we do in here. It means that we are willing to be uncomfortable because we are following Jesus.

God called you to Christ for the same reason he called those original 12 disciples: because you make an excellent object lesson on the depths of God's grace and the scope of God's power:

• You, with your rebellious heart.
• You, with your secret struggles.
• You, with your lack of faith and your long list of faults.
• You, who knows deeps down that you are unworthy to tie God's shoes let alone be called God's child.

God called us together as His Church in this place at this time. His Spirit is alive and well within us and among us. We are not in this alone! But just maybe, like those 4 fishermen so many years ago, we too are being called to something new. To something bigger than we are now.

God chose you so that the world might look at you and see that God is indescribably merciful and incredibly powerful. And God planted us right here at Peace Presbyterian – in this particular body of Christ. God didn't have to choose us, but He did. God doesn't have to use us, but God uses us anyway. He chooses us and uses us both individually and as a church. And the end result is not just blessings for us and those God calls us to serve. The end result is glory for God's name.² What will that look like for this church in the coming year? Amen.

1Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. 2. Brown, Elton W. (Pastoral View) pg 286.

2“Jesus Chooses His Disciples – And They're Not Genuises.” Homiletics. January/February 2015, Volume 27, Number 1. pg 42.  

Tough Love

Rev. Debbie Cato

Lev. 19:15-18 and Matthew 5:43-48

Peace Presbyterian Church 1/18/2015

“Tough Love”

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ most significant teachings. If you want to know what Jesus is about – chapters 5 and 6 in Matthew are a good place to go. The Sermon on the Mount speaks volumes about who Jesus the Christ is. It gives us a good picture of what the Kingdom of God looks like. These teachings speak clearly about who we are to be if we call ourselves followers of Christ, and what we should be focused on doing. It’s good stuff. But it’s hard teaching.

Right at the outset of his ministry, Jesus lays it on the line. To follow Jesus demands a totally different way of life. A new age has dawned and the Sermon shows what human life must be like after we repent and commit ourselves to Christ. In His Sermon, we see a sharp contrast between the standards of Jesus and the standards of the world. We find a distinctive lifestyle, with radically different values and ambitions. Jesus challenges His followers to do the opposite of what seems normal and reasonable.

Beginning with the Beatitudes we discover that the characteristics valued in the Kingdom of God are upside down from that of the world. The powerless are lifted up and the powerful are pushed down. We learn that our reward is in heaven, not here on earth. This is radical, radical teaching.

But Jesus is just getting warmed up. He teaches us that anger toward someone is as great a sin as murder. That’s a little hard to swallow. I’m no less of a sinner than a murderer? That's hard teaching.

He teaches us that anyone who lusts after another person has committed adultery. Wow! Who of us hasn’t taken some pleasure, some delight in dreaming about what it would be like to be with some attractive man or woman? His challenging teaching continues as Jesus talks about divorce, swearing oaths and retaliation. Turn the other cheek? Seriously, Jesus?

And then he ends this part of his teaching – this half of the Sermon on the Mount with a little lesson on love.

Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ BUT I TELL YOU: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

Love is the central theme of all Jesus’ teachings – the central theme of his life and ministry. Love is the very core of who Jesus is. So it should be no surprise that Jesus challenges us to love in radical ways. He demands unlimited love; unconditional love. Love the just and the unjust he says; love the good and the evil; love those who love us back, and those who are our enemies. Jesus demands that his followers have undiscriminating and undifferentiating love toward everyone. That is a tall order! But that is the mark of our Master and so it must be the mark of His disciples. We are called to love as God loves.

I will never forget the feeling I had when my oldest daughter was born and I held her for the first time. My heart swelled with love. I was completely overwhelmed with the intensity of my emotions. These were feelings I had never experienced before in my life. In fact, the only other time I experienced this intensity of emotion, was when I held my second daughter moments after she was born 2 years later. Perhaps you know what I’m talking about? I am still overcome with emotion when I remember those first moments with those precious babies. The feeling of love I felt for my beautiful babies completely and irrevocably swallowed me up and from that moment on, I would do absolutely anything to protect them. I still would.

But you know what I really find amazing? This is only a small taste of how much God loves us! You see, God loves us more than we can possibly love one another – even our children, because his love is truly unconditional. It’s not conditioned on how cute we are or how well we behave or anything about us. He loves us because we belong to Him. It’s hard for me to imagine that anyone could love my daughters more than I do. But God does.

You see, the love that Jesus describes is an intentional act - even for those we really dislike. Jesus commands us to “choose” to love; to decide that we will love our enemies; to “will ourselves” to love those we hate. It is not an emotion. It is a decision that we will love because God loves us. Christ’s disciples are commanded to reflect the generosity of God, who sends blessings upon both the righteous and the unrighteous. Jesus says, “God shines his sun on evil people and on good people. He sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Why should we be different – we who call ourselves Christians? That’s radical love. That’s tough love.

Tomorrow we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. We remember the horrendous prejudice that he and others fought without violence. Theirs was a movement against hate that was non-violent. We remember the damage that hate can and will do. Tomorrow we remember the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his book, “Strength to Love,” King writes about this passage from the gospel:

“Probably no admonition of Jesus has been more difficult to follows than the command to “love your enemies.” Some men have sincerely felt that its actual practice is not possible. It is easy, they say, to love those who love you, but how can one love those who openly and insidiously seek to defeat you?

In spite of these insistent questions and persistent objections, Jesus’

command of Jesus’ challenges us with new urgency. Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern man is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction and damnation. …

Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world….

I am certain that Jesus understood the difficulty inherent in the act of loving one’s enemy. He never joined the ranks of those who talk glibly about the easiness of the moral life. He realized that every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God. So when Jesus said “Love your enemy,” he was not unmindful of its stringent qualities. Yet he meant every word of it. Our responsibility as Christians is to discover the meaning of this command and seek passionately to live it out in our daily lives.”

King knew what upheaval was like. He was hated just because of the color of his skin. He knew that hate leads to destruction. But he chose to lead a movement in love; non-violent – even when they were met with violence. King knew that love builds up and that his greatest enemies were human beings that God loved.

How can we possibly do this? How can I possibly love this person that has been so cruel to me? That has hurt me? Not on my own, that’s for sure! We are able to be gracious and forgiving and hospitable and generous, and yes, even loving because we are children of the God who showers us with His abundant grace and mercy and love – grace, mercy, and love that we don’t deserve either, just like our enemy. Those who know God’s love, can love their enemies; those who experience God’s forgiveness; can forgive those who persecute them; those who claim God’s gift of generosity, can give back to those who have little or nothing.

Can you say you have never sinned? Can we as a Church say that we have always exemplified the life of Christ? Can we say we have never hated? Never held onto

anger? Never retaliated?

Every time we sin; every time we fall short of the glory of God; every time we oppose God, we become his adversary. And isn’t an adversary the same thing as an enemy? Yet unbelievably, God continues to love us. Jesus commands us to be no different.

If we call ourselves Christian, we must choose to love… will ourselves to love, as

God loves us. God loves us with a perfect love that knows no boundaries. A love that doesn’t discriminate. A love that is more than an emotion based on the behavior of another. In this teaching, Jesus shows us that our loveless attitude toward our enemies is identical with that of the very people we despise. This is tough love. But just because it’s hard – just because it seems impossible doesn’t make it less of a truth.

If we really listen to this passage and take it to heart, we realize what a radical thing Jesus is asking us to do. It is easy to love our children, our spouses, our parents, our friends – at least during the good times. We all do. But, even those “unlovable” people in our lives are somebody’s daughter, son, mother, father, or friend and love or are loved by friends and family. I believe it is how God created us. After all, He created everyone in His image.

Jesus says in John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” But to love those who rub us the wrong way and those who we find un-loveable is a challenge. To love those who actually disagree with us, who believe differently than we do – is difficult. To love people we don’t even know, perhaps have never heard of, is even more complicated, for they almost don’t exist. But to love our enemies – batterers, serial killers, suicide bombers, terrorists – now that is another matter altogether. To love as God loves “unlovable us” is what we are called to do every moment of every day.

In Christ, we are called to a radically different way of being in this world; one that

is often difficult and hard to swallow. God’s love for the world trumps our wish for vengeance and our need to be self-righteous before others. God’s love is for all of His creation and that happens to include those who do not love us and who wish to destroy us.

What would happen if we took Jesus’ teaching to heart? What would it be like if we truly loved as Christ commanded us to love? What would happen if we loved so radically that it drew people to Christ? Christ’s love is transforming – after all, it has transformed each of us, so why couldn’t it transform the world?

Let us pray: Loving God: You love people whom we do not love, You read the hearts of others, whom we do not understand, You know the inmost suffering of those whom we ignore. Open our eyes and our hearts. Enlarge our heart that it may be big enough to receive the greatness of your love. Stretch our heart that it may take into it all those who with us around the world believe in Jesus Christ. Stretch it that it may take into it all those who do not know Him, but because we know Him, are our responsibility. Stretch our hearts that it may take in all those who are not lovely in our eyes, whose hands we do not want to touch; but whom you love unconditionally in the same way that you love us. Teach us to love with your perfect love. Through Jesus Christ, our Savior. AMEN.

Symbol of New Life

Rev. Debbie Cato

Genesis 17:1-16 and Matthew 3:13 – 4:1

Peace Presbyterian Church

January 11, 2015

Symbol of New Life

Today we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. This is Jesus first appearance as an adult. It seems rather strange really. Just 2 weeks ago we celebrated the birth of the Christ child; the baby in the manger. We know a lot about his birth. Even non-believers can tell the story of Jesus' birth. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when Jesus was 12, he stayed behind in Jerusalem to talk with the rabbis in the synagogue. He scared his parents to death. But, other than that, we don’t know anything about Jesus' growing up years. All those years are a void. But now, we meet him again. Thirty years has passed. 30 years. It probably went fast for Mary too!

As a 30 year old adult, Jesus shows up at the Jordan River where John the Baptist is baptizing people. John is baptizing in preparation for the “one who is coming who is greater than he.” Remember when the angel told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth – too old to bear children, was in her sixth month? John the Baptist is her son. John and Jesus are cousins. What a coincidence, huh?! It is here, at the Jordan River, that John baptizes Jesus.

Now let’s take a moment to really look at John the Baptist. He was a bit of a strange fellow. John lived in the wilderness of the desert. Scripture tells us that his clothes were made of camel’s hair; that he wore a leather belt around his waist; his food was locusts and wild honey. We get the idea that John is not so neat; not so clean. It’s not hard to imagine that John has a bit of a wild appearance about him. We can imagine that 40-50 years ago we would have called him a hippie – someone who might have traveled around the country in a Volkswagen bus and attended Woodstock. Or, we might imagine him as a homeless man standing on a corner; someone we cross the street to avoid.  Today, John would find himself as one who’s standing on the outside looking in, not welcome to be among us. A mis-fit. Too odd for our company.

God not only includes John in his story, but John does something wonderful; some-thing incredibly important! God picks this wild-looking, weird sort-of guy to baptize his Son, Jesus Christ; the Messiah. What a gift to the onlookers, the sinners looking on! I can imagine them saying, “Hey, He’s one of us and look at what he’s doing ... maybe there is hope for us.” Or we could think, “Mmmm. If God used someone as strange as John the Baptist to baptize His own Son, maybe God will use me too.”

Matthew tells us that Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. After doing some convincing – you see John knew that Jesus was greater than he, John baptizes Jesus. And, just as Jesus is coming up out of the water, he sees the heavens torn apart and the Holy Spirit descends on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven says, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

Why was Jesus so insistent that he be baptized? After all, He is the Son of God! He was without sin! Have you ever wondered about it? Why was Jesus baptized? Well, I have. See, I think that Jesus was fully human and needed to experience everything that humans experience. This was God's announcement that Jesus is God’s Son, His Beloved. This was Jesus' introduction to the world. The time had come for Jesus' ministry to begin. So, He's baptized.

Think about it. What is the result of Jesus' baptism for us? We are filled to over-flowing with a feeling of joy that God has revealed his Son; that He has announced his love and proclaimed just how pleased he is with Jesus. Joy that Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved. Jesus is now, for us, the Word of God in human form - the Way, the Truth and the Life - God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. After witnessing his baptism, we don’t have to wonder any longer about who Jesus is. We know his true identity. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” Jesus is the Christ.

The very same is true for us, as we remember our own baptism. In this sacrament, our identity becomes clear. We are children of God. No less loved; no less accepted than Jesus Christ himself. We are no longer Debbie, the sinner who falls short over and over again. We are no longer Debbie who disappoints. We are no longer Debbie who struggles to belong. You are a beloved child of God within a community of other beloved children of God. In this sacrament, we are connected to the whole Body of Christ; to the universal community of Christians, a community that is nothing less than the flesh-and-blood, physical presence of Jesus in the world today.

Baptism enables us to die and rise with Jesus. It makes us dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11). It gives us new and everlasting life and a freshly minted identity as children of a loving Lord. It’s an experience that shapes our memory forever.

When we are baptized, we receive three gifts. First, is the gift of the forgiveness of our sins. In our baptism, we are given the full assurance of salvation, carrying with it all the effects of renewed and confident Christian living. In baptism, we have union with Christ in His resurrection as well as with His death. In baptism, we are washed and purged of our sin for our whole life. Through baptism, we are assured that our condemnation has been removed and that we are indeed saved. The baptismal water symbolizes a washing away of our sins; a new birth. A fresh beginning.

Baptism symbolizes the gift of the Holy Spirit – the very presence of God that lives in us. The same Holy Spirit that ascended on Christ at his baptism is given to us. Like Jesus, the Holy Spirit fills us with the strength and the power and the glory for our walk as a disciple of Christ.

And just as God’s voice came down at Jesus’ baptism and announced Jesus’ anointing as the Messiah; just as God publicly announced Jesus’ ministry and mission to the world; just as God said to Jesus for all the world to hear, “This is my beloved;” the kind, loving voice of God the Father says to us at our baptism; “This is my beloved child. S/He is adopted into my family now. I love him. I love her.”

When we are baptized, we are baptized into a body; into a community. This is a sign of God’s covenant with us through Jesus Christ and is similar in nature to God’s covenant with Abraham, sealed by circumcision. When we are baptized, we receive rights but we also gain responsibilities. We must no longer live for ourselves; we must live for Christ. We must live as disciples of Jesus; seeking a world that he sought; loving those he loves.

Baptism is a three-way covenant. It involves the person being baptized, God, and the Church. This is why baptisms are always public – a part of our worship service. As the Church, we have responsibilities toward all who are baptized. We are reminded that we vow to nurture and raise the baptized child of God in the Church and all that embodies. It is also a reminder of our own baptism into the community of believers.

Today, the day we celebrate the baptism of our Lord, is the time to recall our own baptismal vows. Today is the day to remember our baptism promises and reaffirm the decision to live a baptized life as a follower of Christ; whether you made those promises yourself or like me, they were made for you as an infant. Listen to the baptismal vows that either your parents made on your behalf when you were an infant or young child, or, you made yourself if you were baptized as an adult.

“Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the
ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?” (pause)

“Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and
Savior, trusting in his grace and love?” (pause)

“Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing
his love?” (pause)

More than anything else, baptism marks our birth as Christians. It involves a process that is every bit as wet and messy as the physical birth that brought us into this world. But it is also every bit as permanent. Through baptism, we are identified as children of God who are both loved and lovable, chosen by the Lord to be his people in the world.

“The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now,” wrote the Dutch priest Henri Nouwen, “is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace.”

The baptismal font is filled with water today. I've also added some water from the Jordan River, the river where John baptized our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Maybe you would like to reach in and feel the water and remind yourself that your sins have been washed away. Maybe you would like to touch the baptismal water and remind yourself that you are a beloved child of God. You have value and worth and you are loved more than you can imagine. I invite you to take time before you leave this morning to come up to the font and feel the water.

Perhaps you have not yet been baptized but, you have questions and are feeling a fire burn inside of you. Maybe you hear God calling you. Maybe you want to be baptized but you haven’t known how to go about it. Talk with me. You can be baptized.

Jesus begins his ministry in a river among sinners and ends his ministry on a cross between thieves. And he does it all for us – for you and for me. He changes us in ways that seem impossible. His love is incomprehensible. Let’s live remembering whose we are.

YOU are a chosen child of God.

YOU are Precious. YOU are Beloved.

YOU are Safe in His everlasting embrace.

This is YOUR true identity.

Make this your memory of baptism. Amen

Saying Thanks

Rev. Debra Cato

Peace Presbyterian Church

Jeremiah 31:7-14 and Ephesians 1:3-14
January 4, 2015 – 2^nd Sunday of Christmas

“Saying Thanks”

I love to open presents. I’ve never outgrown the excitement of Christmas and packages under the tree. I would rather open 4 small gifts than one large gift. I think it’s the surprise element, the “what will this be” feeling that I love.

When I was probably 13 or 14, I got so excited that one night when my parents were gone, I opened up all my presents, tried the clothes on, and then re-wrapped everything. I honestly don’t think my parents had any idea I did that. On Christmas morning, I reopened every-thing, knowing what each gift was, if it fit or not and, if I liked it or not. It wasn’t any fun. I had spoiled the exact thing that I loved about Christmas – the element of surprise. I didn’t feel thankful for any of my gifts because for me – they weren’t new. I thought I was pulling something off on my parents but it backfired.

I never did that again. I was never even tempted. I learned my lesson.

My daughters and I had a wonderful Christmas and I feel very blessed. Our tradition is that we open gifts one at a time, taking turns at being first. That way, we can all share in the surprise and enjoy each other’s gifts. I love to see how excited they are – even as young women, like me, they love to open presents.

All my thank you notes have been written and mailed and my hope is that I was able to convey to each person, how much their gift means to me; how thankful I am that they remembered me; that they chose to bless me with a gift to open. I like to send thank you notes right away because I’m afraid I will forget.

Is it ever too late to send a thank you note? In this age when handwritten thank you notes are becoming passé, the Second Sunday of Christmas presents us with an overflowing page of thanks. Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians not by thanking them, but by raising a sweeping note of thanksgiving to God.¹ “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

Three times in one sentence, Paul uses a form of the word “bless.” It’s as if Paul is saying, “The Blessed One blesses us with blessings.” Whatever else Paul is going to say in his letter to the church in Ephesus; whatever his purpose for writing them, Paul begins with a doxology; he begins by saying, “Thank you.”

Most of us were taught as young children to say thank you. Thank you when someone does something for you. Thank you when someone gives you something. And so as adults, we continue this habit. We write thank you notes. We are good for giving thanks for things. Thanks for gifts and favors; for dinner and an evening together. Thanks for doing a favor; for helping out; for being there.

If we give thanks for earthly gifts – for stuff, then all the more urgent is the need to give thanks for heavenly gifts. God has provided every spiritual blessing. The riches of grace have been lavished upon us. Therefore, our return of thanks ought to be as lavish as words will allow.²

Paul lifts up thanks for all blessings – not only personal blessings, not only blessings to the church. Paul’s thanks reach to embrace God’s overarching plan for all creation. He praises God from whom all blessings flow. All blessings.

The truth is, the English language does not provide words that are lavish enough to really express our thankfulness for all the blessings God pours on us each and every day. Words cannot describe the wonder and glory and thanksgiving for God just being God. But Paul gives it a heck of a try!

Ephesians 1:3-14 is a one-sentence eulogy that invites the community to do three things:

1. It invites us to praise God for God’s grace and blessings in Christ for Jews and Gentiles;
2. It invites us to praise God’s gracious, sovereign, and free decision to incorporate and honor Gentiles believers in Christ; and
3. It invites us to praise God’s inclusive grace and redemption for Jews and Gentiles, planned and accomplished in and through Jesus Christ.

The letter to the Ephesians is a declaration that proclaims full membership, equal status, and an honorable place for Gentile Christians – for us, in the people of God. ³ Do you ever think about that? Think about how you have been fully and completely adopted into the people of God. You have equal status with everyone else. You have this because of God’s free gift of grace to you – a sinner. When is the last time you praised God for this reason alone? When is the last time that you said thank you to God? Thank you for loving me unconditionally; in spite of my sin. Thank you Lord for your sacrifice so that I can be free from sin. Thank you Lord, for calling me your beloved child. The exact grace that has been poured over us can and will enable us to love our enemies, for we know they will not be our enemies forever.

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul calls us to live into the unity and equality we all have in the love of Jesus Christ. The encompassing grace of God stands as a judgment and a promise that helps all Christians. This knowledge must help us to explore the inclusive love of God and how we are called to live like Jesus Christ in our own context; our own place and time and culture. It begs the questions, “Where and how can we be more inclusive, more gracious and righteous, more loving and merciful than we have in the past? How can we be inclusively hospitable in our worship and in our ministries? How can we witness reconciliation, hospitality, and peace with justice in words and deeds in the community where God has planted us?

It’s a new year. A fresh start for each one of us. A fresh start for us as a body here at Peace Presbyterian Church. We can choose to be grateful people in 2015. We can choose to be people of praise. We can choose to be a grateful church, fully aware and grateful for our

“Blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.”

We can choose to be intentional about sharing God’s inclusive love with everyone we meet – even people that are not like us; people that we may initially feel “don’t fit in.” We can decide that we are going to be a church that is all about reconciliation and hospitality and peace with justice in our community – outside the doors of this building. We can commit to being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in 2015. Looking for ways that we can bring the love of Christ that is ours, to others. We can decide that we are going to be a church that recognizes and praises and celebrates the blessing of worshipping the God of all creation. We can be a blessing people.

At a time of year when everyone seems to be making resolutions, what if our resolution is to just plain live more fully as the people of God? Full of joy and thanksgiving in the midst of our fear and doubt. To love radically and welcome everyone in new and maybe even risky ways.

As the pastor of this church, I want to ask you to sincerely pray about this. I want to encourage you to be people of praise and gratitude and see how that shift in attitude might change the life of our church. I’m going to use this jar to capture the ways I see God blessing me in the new year. I'm going to keep it on my kitchen counter where I will see it every day. I'm going to watch it fill up with God's blessings. And on New Years Eve, I'm going to read every note that I put in this jar this year. And you know what? I know that just reading through them will be yet another blessing from God. Would you join me? Would you consider having a blessing jar of your own? I think it will help us be people of gratitude in the coming year.

Now, we are going to do something different. In a minute I’m going to have the ushers pass out pieces of paper for you. Take a moment or two and think about what you are most grateful to God for in 2014. What do you need to praise God for blessing you that perhaps you have not contributed to God? In a couple of minutes we will collect our praises. No one will read them. No one will see them. We will leave them on the communion table for a couple of weeks and I will pray over them – collectively blessing God for every spiritual blessing. Let’s practice being grateful people.

1 James W. McTyre. Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 1. Pastoral Perspective. P 182

2 Ibid. p 184.

3 Luis R. Rivera.. Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 1. Theological Perspective. P 184.