Grace and peace as we return from a full week at Annual Conference. You were well represented by 4 clergy delegates- Pastor Shirley, Pastor Jim, Pastor Kevin, and myself as well as three lay delegates – Susan Paisley, Mike Chalmers, and our new Caring Ministries Deaconess Yvette Diaz. Indeed, God is moving among us as we worshipped, celebrated ordination, retirements, memorials, were encouraged and challenged with teachings as well did the business of the Annual Conference. And let me share this:
God is still in the business of doing great wonders. These great wonders are not only for the purpose of healing and wholeness, as incredible as that is. They are also for the purpose of sharing, so that they may be shared with others. When we share the good news, tell the stories, testify to the ways in which we have seen and known God working in our lives we extend the power and reach of God’s witness. At baptism, at membership, we promise and covenant to be a part of the body of Christ with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. DO TELL GREAT WONDERS. GOD has done great things.
Part of gathering as an Annual Conference is hearing of the Great Things that God is doing in small parts of our Annual Conference and around the world. Our brothers and sister take seriously the call to do tell the great wonders that God is working among us. After Hurricane Maria in September 2017, a group of district Superintendents and clergy went to Puerto Rico to asses to the needs of the devastated island. They returned with the knowledge that this was a long-term project with many facets. UMCOR, United Methodist Committee on Relief, has the capacity to cover well the majority of the needs for people, home, and utilities.
However, there was one need needing more attention. Ninety percent of UMCOR’s funding focuses on the personal and residential. The remaining ten percent is available as grant for intuitions, potentially the church. The worshipping centers are as devastated and destroyed as the rest of the area. West Grove took an offering last month to support this vital cause of rebuilding the churches in Puerto Rico. At Conference, we were encouraged to take a second offering during Hispanic Heritage Month in September. Through the generosity of God’s people, churches are being rebuilt to heal and rekindle faith, as well as rebuild and spark new faith of the God who has done great things.
We hear these stories of God doing great things, and sometimes we forget. We think if we are not orchestrating it, God must not be doing great wonders. Our gospel lesson finds Jesus and disciples in the boat from shore to shore. And as they were traveling, the storm came up. The gales beat against the sides of the boat as fear rose within the disciples. Winds pick up quickly on the open sea. You can go from a quiet moment to absolute disaster in moments. While not all of the disciples were experienced sailors, some were fishermen and were familiar enough to have weathered storms of days gone by.
Waves crashed into the boat and began to swamp the boat. Levels of panic and true terror accelerated. With fear and trembling, you want nothing more than the calm, non-anxious presence of your leader and friend. Can you imagine the indignation when they discovered Jesus asleep at the stern! How could he sleep through the noise and the chaos? How did this not wake him? How could be leave us when we need him the most? The disciples thought they could depend on him and he had let them down.
Jesus awoke. He was not shaken or stirred. Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves.
Peace. Be still.
They were calm. And the storm was done. Even the wind and the waves listen to him, some of the children’s Bibles recount this story. Are you telling the Great Wonders that even the great wonders that even the wind and the waves listen to Jesus?
We find ourselves in places in our own lives where we have known so much fear that we have been caught and even paralyzed by that fear. How, we wonder, will we take the next step? Will there ever be great wonders for us to share? Is God really still in the business of doing that kind of incredible work here and now? Is that really can be how we think when fear and anxiety take over our thinking?
When Peter and John went up to the Temple to pray, they could have said, please do not get in our way, we have more important things to do. We are going to Temple, because it is time to pray. Instead, a man who was lame from birth was being held by his beloved community, friends, and family who cared for him. They carried him to and fro, so that he could care for himself by asking for alms. When he asked Peter, Peter did not fill his collection with more coins, instead in the name of the Jesus, he offered healing and wholeness. Do tell Great Wonders! As Peter took him by the right hand, on the legs that had previously not held him, he leapt and his ankles were made strong! The community praised God.
Our South district has been participating as a vital part of the Congo Mission Project for the last 4 years. The Annual Conference received a beautiful report on the team’s trip in February to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our newly retired missionaries Rev. Jonathan Baker and Nurse Donna Baker shared story after story of God’s wonders of lives touched and transformed medical clinic, solar power, water, access, education, and the list goes on. Part of the team was our District Superintendent, Dawn Taylor- Storm. In radical hospitality, the great people of the Congo gifted her family with Congolese dress. The closing prayer for our Congo partners and continuing work came from her daughter, Rebecca.
Friends, we teach one another to tell great wonders. Witnessing is a gift we give to other another. Our witness membership vows can not be overstated. However, we need examples to teach us how to live it out. On this Father’s Day, we think of all those fathers and men in the faith who have led by example, implicit and explicit.
For each and every man of faith whose fish stories have given us the moxie to tell our own stories, we give thanks to God.
For each and every man of faith who has led quietly by example, we give thanks to God.
For each and every man of faith who has taught Sunday School or confirmation, wrangled youth group, corralled Nursery, led Children’s Worship, we give thanks to God.
For each and every man of faith who has stopped a running toilet, climbed on scaffolding, pulled weeds, changed light bulbs, hung pictures, or set up wifi, we give thanks to God.
For each and every man of faith who has led with conviction, told groaner dad jokes, worked on budgets and strategic plans and evacuation models, we give thanks to God.
For each and every man of faith who has worked out his own faith with fear and trembling, we give thanks to God.
Indeed for each of us, we find ourselves sometimes in the stern of the boat were we fear Jesus might be asleep or that our friends have carried our crippled bodies to the gate of the Temple called Beautiful Gate, so that we might seek alms. We find ourselves in a place at the precipice of possibility. What great wonders will God next and when? That is for God.
But for us, is our commitment: Let us tell all of the great wonders that God has done!
This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thanks be to God, Amen.
New Testament Lesson: Acts 3:1-10
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Gospel Lesson: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, June 17 ~ Saturday, June 23
Sunday: “And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’” Acts 3:2-6. Often God provides a different ending to the story than we originally imagined. Where do you need to change your thinking, so that you can hear and open yourself to God’s preferred better ending?
Monday: “And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.” Acts 3:7-8 Where is God giving you the instructions for your miracles if only you would listen?
Tuesday: “All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” Acts 3:9-10. Pray for those who seek God. May all who seek, find.
Wednesday: “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. “ Mark 4:35-36. Where is Jesus calling you to get away for a little while?
Thursday: “A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’” Mark 4:37-38. Jesus is always with us, even when we feel swamped. Look for the helpers among us.
Friday: “He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’” Mark 4:39-40. Pray for all, including yourself, when you feel dread and fear. May we all know hope.
Saturday: “And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’” Mark 4:41. Today, consider the majesty of God that the wind and the waves obey him.