Sermon - February 3, 2013
For some people these words are something that are a reminder. Something that they long for and should strive for. They are words that stop them from saying something that they shouldn’t. They are words that stop them from doing something that they shouldn’t. For us, love is something that we hope will cover all things within your life. Yet love is a feeling. It is something that is not rational. With love being our motive, we do things that do not make sense.
When we are a child, we reason like a child. Those of you with children can attest to the many questions that a child will ask. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why can’t I have chocolate cake before I eat my carrots? While a parent may be racking their brain with the scientific answer, an answer that would be far complex for a child to understand. That the light from the sun shines through the atmosphere. Contained within that light is a full spectrum of color and yet through the molecules that comprise our atmosphere, the light that is shown within our eyes appears to be blue. Along with that, the same spectrum of light that is shining from the sun is absorbed by the grass and the only color that is reflected back is green. And as for the chocolate cake, well that’s to make sure you actually eat the things that are healthy for you as opposed to the sweets that don’t have much nutritional value. Yet most children, just want to know: “That’s the way it is.”
However, as we grow up, the child like answers that were enough at that time do not fulfill our desire to know more. We want to know the answers of how, when, and even why. The questions that we raise seemed to be side stepped. We ask the question but do not get a clear or straight answer. We want to know the complexity of the world that we are apart of from the creator of it all. God heard the question of the people. God knew that words alone would not satisify them, God tried that with the Ten Commandments. For through the Ten Commandments, we know what it is that is expected of us. Though following those is a challenge that many of us struggle with. Even the very first one. We long to be in control and we do not like it when things are out of our own power.
Having tried words to reach us, God went further and sent his only Son. Through God’s only Son, we hear of the love and bear witness to the love in action. We see that God is patient, allowing people to hear the message and even follow in the Word that God has given to them. Though could come though power and anger, God is kind and enters into our world as a child. There are many accounts of Jesus teaching the Word and people not able to follow: a man who wants to be a disciple but wants to bury his father before doing so, a person who claims to follow the Ten Commandments but is not willing to give up the riches of this world, or there is Peter, the one upon our own church is founded upon but denied Jesus three times. Truly Jesus does not insist upon his own way. Jesus spent hours with people whom the world thought to be undesireable. For Jesus did not celebrate in their wrong doing, but rejoiced that the people knew that they needed God.
Jesus showed the people gathered there and throughout the world that he believed in us. Jesus hoped that we would realize where we were and know him, listen to his teaching and know that there is hope. For Jesus brought to them, the way in which they could actually receive it. For truly the love that bears all things is not the love that we have for ourselves but the love that God has for us. Through this love that God gives to us, we are able to gather to know the love that is shared among one another. We are able to realize that the love that unites us will help us all see the day in which we will see Jesus again. All of us who gather together, remind one another of the love that endures and bears all things. For we gather in the name of Jesus Christ, to give thanks and praise for all that God has given to us.
Go into the world helping others because God loves you.
When we are a child, we reason like a child. Those of you with children can attest to the many questions that a child will ask. Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green? Why can’t I have chocolate cake before I eat my carrots? While a parent may be racking their brain with the scientific answer, an answer that would be far complex for a child to understand. That the light from the sun shines through the atmosphere. Contained within that light is a full spectrum of color and yet through the molecules that comprise our atmosphere, the light that is shown within our eyes appears to be blue. Along with that, the same spectrum of light that is shining from the sun is absorbed by the grass and the only color that is reflected back is green. And as for the chocolate cake, well that’s to make sure you actually eat the things that are healthy for you as opposed to the sweets that don’t have much nutritional value. Yet most children, just want to know: “That’s the way it is.”
However, as we grow up, the child like answers that were enough at that time do not fulfill our desire to know more. We want to know the answers of how, when, and even why. The questions that we raise seemed to be side stepped. We ask the question but do not get a clear or straight answer. We want to know the complexity of the world that we are apart of from the creator of it all. God heard the question of the people. God knew that words alone would not satisify them, God tried that with the Ten Commandments. For through the Ten Commandments, we know what it is that is expected of us. Though following those is a challenge that many of us struggle with. Even the very first one. We long to be in control and we do not like it when things are out of our own power.
Having tried words to reach us, God went further and sent his only Son. Through God’s only Son, we hear of the love and bear witness to the love in action. We see that God is patient, allowing people to hear the message and even follow in the Word that God has given to them. Though could come though power and anger, God is kind and enters into our world as a child. There are many accounts of Jesus teaching the Word and people not able to follow: a man who wants to be a disciple but wants to bury his father before doing so, a person who claims to follow the Ten Commandments but is not willing to give up the riches of this world, or there is Peter, the one upon our own church is founded upon but denied Jesus three times. Truly Jesus does not insist upon his own way. Jesus spent hours with people whom the world thought to be undesireable. For Jesus did not celebrate in their wrong doing, but rejoiced that the people knew that they needed God.
Jesus showed the people gathered there and throughout the world that he believed in us. Jesus hoped that we would realize where we were and know him, listen to his teaching and know that there is hope. For Jesus brought to them, the way in which they could actually receive it. For truly the love that bears all things is not the love that we have for ourselves but the love that God has for us. Through this love that God gives to us, we are able to gather to know the love that is shared among one another. We are able to realize that the love that unites us will help us all see the day in which we will see Jesus again. All of us who gather together, remind one another of the love that endures and bears all things. For we gather in the name of Jesus Christ, to give thanks and praise for all that God has given to us.
Go into the world helping others because God loves you.
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