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Sermon – November 4, 2018

November 4, 2018 By Leave a Comment

“Family Ties“, by Rev. Mike Holly

The Word

Ruth 1:11-18

But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,

“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

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Week Three: June 21-27

June 3, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Genesis – Jacob becomes Israel

Ask.

  • Have you ever felt like you’ve screwed up a friendship so bad that it will never be the same?
  • Have you ever felt that you’ve messed up so bad that you are too ashamed to even pray to God?

Listen.

Eventually Abram and Sarai settled with his family in the land of Canaan. It was here that God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah and blessed them with a son named Isaac. He in turn had two sons named Esau and Jacob. They were twins, even Esau was considered the first born, and it was said that they struggled against each other as far back as anyone could remember.

Years later, an adult Jacob stood alone facing the horizon. He was afraid. In the morning, he would see his Esau for the first time in years. And there was a very real possibility that his brother would kill him on the spot. Years ago, as their father Isaac lay dying, Jacob had cheated Esau out of his inheritance because in their culture the eldest son stood to inherit the father’s wealth and Jacob wanted to make sure he wasn’t left with nothing. When Esau realized he had been tricked, he was filled with rage. Isaac was forced to flee and make a new life for himself among people who were not his family.

In their world, this was extremely difficult and dangerous. Family connections were all that one had for protection. No one person was equipped to survive alone. In his travels, Jacob found himself being cheated by those he came into contact with – even by his future father-in-law. He married and became a father but always wondered how things might have been had he not lied to Isaac and betrayed Esau. Eventually he came to need his brother to survive. Times were hard and his family would not survive on their own. He was forced to go home and ask to be taken back into his brother’s care. But even as he hoped that he’d be welcomed home, he was still fearful that his brother might kill him and finally get revenge.

The day before Jacob was to meet Esau again after all these years, he crossed a river ford by himself and camped out alone, leaving the rest of his family and servants behind him on the other side of the river. If Esau did decide to kill him, at least they would be able to get to safety. That night, he tossed and turned, worried about the next day’s meeting. As he wrestled with his worries in the early hours of that morning, he began to wrestle with another man, a stranger, whom he’d never seen before. Neither could force the other to give up and as day started to break, the strange man struck Jacob in the hip, throwing it out of socket. And still, Jacob would not let go. Finally the stranger agreed to give him a blessing but also told him that from now on he would be called Israel which means “wrestles with God.”

The next day when this newly blessed Jacob met his brother Esau, he bowed very low as a servant would to his master. This was also a very vulnerable position — with his neck down his brother could easily draw his sword and cut off his head with one blow. But instead of being killed or treated harshly, Esau lifted him up, grabbed him in a deep embrace and forgave him. All of Jacob’s worries had been for nothing. He was welcomed back into the Promised Land, into relationship with God and back into his own family. He was so overwhelmed by this love that he tried to give most of his possessions to his brother to show how sorry he was for what he had cheated him out of all those years before.

But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” Jacob said, “No, please; if I find favor with you, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God — since you have received me with such favor. Please accept my gift that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have everything I want.” (Genesis 33:9-11a)

Think.

We all wrestle with God or have conflicts with those close to us at some point. But life is almost never a zero-sum game where we get to play once and then if we lose we’re done forever. Isaac thought that cheating his brother out of what he deserved from their father or by running away from his responsibilities would keep him out of God’s grace forever. But he was so wrong.

If you think that you’ve burned a bridge in your life, maybe you are wrong too. Our God is a God of second chances for screw-ups.

Remember.

You are good enough. You may wrestle with God’s presence in your life. And he’s okay with that. A whole nation, Israel, is named for a man who struggled against God.

You are good enough. You may screw up your relationships with your friends and family. You may let them down and be embarrassed by what you’ve done. Don’t let that stop you from asking from forgiveness because you need each other.

You are good enough. You may have been let down by someone close to you. And you may have every reason in the world to hate them. Don’t hold onto that hate. Forgive them and know that when you do, they will see the face of God in you.

You are good enough.

Pray.

Nobody’s perfect. God knows this. Go to him now in prayer. Let go of your feelings of inadequacy. Let go of your past failures and regrets. Let go of your anxieties about the future. Give and seek forgiveness. And then move on.

More.

Family – A Short Film by Ransom TeeVee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvMK6OHyumU

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Sermon – February 8, 2015

February 8, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament“Dysfunctional Indeed“, by Rev. Tom Duley

Sermon Series: Dysfunctional Families of the Old Testament

To say that we human beings can get ourselves twisted into knots of violence and destruction is an understatement. In fact, it would not be overstating the case to say that we are addicted to visiting violence and destruction on one another. A cursory glance of the headlines on any given day will reveal just how deeply addicted we are. Violence and destruction fueled by jealousy and hatred is everywhere it seems.

We would like to think that that sort of thing doesn’t happen in families. We like to think of families as havens of acceptance, love, and support. But when we are honest we know that families are subject to hatred and destruction. There are times when parents favor one child over another; times when siblings grow to hate one another; times when we see other family members as our competition rather than our support. When these conditions exist they sometimes lead to the unthinkable.

We encounter a family given to violence and destruction in the Biblical text for today. Joseph antagonized his brothers so much that they grew to hate him. Theirs was a profound hatred; a hatred so deep that they wanted to kill him. However, in the end they settled for selling him into slavery. They were determined to exact violence and destruction on their own brother. Today we’ll look at why that happened. We’ll also talk about some things that we can do to insure that it doesn’t happen in our families.

~Tom Duley

The Word

Genesis 37:2-11, 20-28

This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

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