Our King is Coming!

Sermon Matthew 21:1-11 April 5, 2020 Palm Sunday year A  

  Worship during covid19 

Our King is Coming!

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. He’s certain where he’s going. He knows what’s ahead of him. He has no doubt of who he is or how his story will end.

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. We’re certain where he’s going. We know what’s ahead of him. We have no doubt how his story will end.

We are the people in the crowd.

We have decided he is the one who will save us.

We are the woman in need of food on the table for her five children. We know that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem to turn over the tables of injustice and make sure there is always food for the poor.

We are the people in the crowd. We have decided that our government is corrupt and Jesus is coming to be the new King and will remove the Romans, the dishonest, cruel politicians from the nation.

We are the crowd. We have decided Jesus has come to save us. We are the crippled, the blind, the homeless, the jobless, the disenfranchised and Jesus is coming to create a world of equality.

Our King is coming!

He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem.

We are among the very crowds that sing Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

and betray him the very next day.

We know Jesus is coming for us in our way and only our way. If he doesn’t do what we want, how we want it, when we want it, and where we want it, we’ll quit. We’ll walk away. We’ll say he was never for us anyway.

They needed, wanted a savior. They needed the promised messiah to come.

The followers of Jesus on the way to Jerusalem expected a Savior to end the madness of Roman occupation. They were going crazy with rules always changing and never knowing if they were doing the right thing. They could not trust that life would ever have any normalcy because of the fickle changes of leadership from one season to the next. Governors and Jewish leaders were thrown in prison or relieved of duty frequently. The Jews had a tyrant for a king. The people were fearful. They were anxious. The crowds saw no end in sight.

Today, we need a savior too. We need a Savior, a rescuer like any other person in any other time of deepest darkest difficulty.

We are facing a war of the worst kind. It is an invisible beast, insidious, destroying nations, communities and families. It has no sympathy for any race, economy, or person. What’s worse is there is no end in sight. Ten more weeks the Virginia governor tells us. We’ve barely endured the last three weeks. How will we get through this isolation? We really want to be in a crowd. We want and need our ability to worship in this sanctuary.

We want our chance to be filled with joy

bursting from our seams

as we watch the little children

carry banners and wave palms.

We want and we need to laugh with one another

as we rejoice and rub shoulders with each other.

We love Palm Sunday!

It is the fun church holiday.

It is the one Sunday where everything, absolutely everything is all about happiness.

And this year we have to make the happiness happen in our homes.

Three years ago we couldn’t celebrate in this sanctuary because for six months it was being cleaned from smoke damage. Then we asked, ‘How are we going to do this?’ And here we are this year asking the same question.  We think-We really need someone to rescue us from this insanity.

The followers of Jesus had been through a lot.

The followers of Jesus continue to go through a lot.

Jesus was the one they trusted.

The ones who had followed him through the years.

They witnessed his miracles.

They experienced his touch.

They were nourished.

Their bursting hearts rang out in boisterous sounds of praise!

They could not be contained.

It seemed as if all those years of following him built up the anticipation and expectation of who he needed to be for them in that moment.

Hosanna-save us.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Be our rescuer now!

It’s time the climax of the movie is here and we need you more than ever.

Division and fear is everywhere and the people are clinging to the newness of Jesus. They are hanging on to his words of love and his listening ears and compassionate ways.

We are going through a great deal of anxiety now with no end in sight.

Our emotions are running high.

Instead of following distancing rules we are now acting in avoidance of one another.

We used to say hi to everyone.

Now we look at each other in suspicion.

We can safe distance and still maintain social etiquette.

We do not have to fear one another.

We need each other.

We don’t need to shame each other, or judge, or condescend, or ignore.

More than ever we need to practice hospitality.

We need to greet, to engage, to raise a hand and wave a palm, high and low, raise our voices in confidence and support.

We can imagine why people were flocking to Jesus. He gave them stability, comfort and hope in a world that had none of that for them then.

Perhaps, that’s why we are still seeking a savior.

We still seem to be lost in hope when we face tragedy, turmoil, and disaster.

The moment we feel we have grip on the world

and the way life is around us-we shout for joy

and we sing hosanna-we got this.

And then in the next breath we are

blindsided by a circumstance that betrays

our very feelings and knocks us on our tushies.

We come this year and every year to be reminded that we are always the people in the crowd crying out to Jesus Hosanna-save us!

We may not be in a physical crowd but we are in a virtual one. We are all flocking to the computer screens looking for the worship service that gives us Jesus the savior to speak to our needs. And if the preacher isn’t selling the Jesus we want, we’ll switch the channel, we’ll walk away. We’ll quit.

That’s what happens the day after the parade.

Holy Week we call it now.

The week we are entering as we enter with Jesus into Jerusalem.

We make this journey every year because we need Jesus.

We need to follow his ways and as the years roll by we begin to recognize the power of Jesus within us.

We sense his presence stronger.

We feel our bodies bursting with joy as we go.

And this year more than ever we’ll raise our palms and banners together.

We’ll march together in the parade there in our living rooms excited about the Savior. Excited about our love for him who taught love for each other.

We believe!

We will raise our voices, we will work together.

We will show that distance does not change our ability to be in mission. Distance is what strengthens our resolve to reach out further than ever. We raise our palms and we shout through the roof that our Savior is with us. We will not walk away. We are connected by the power of the Holy Spirit that makes us the body of Christ. We can praise today and we can sing!

Our King is coming! He’s riding on a donkey and heading to Jerusalem. He’s certain where he’s going. He knows what’s ahead of him. He has no doubt of who he is or how his story will end. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Amen.

Resources: Feasting on the Word Year A

Bulletin March 29, 2020 5th Sunday in Lent Revised for COVID19 suspension of in-person worship

Bulletin for Revised for COVID19 suspension of in-person worship

March 29, 2020 NMPC & FMPC 5^th Sunday in Lent  Worship via Facebook Live

Prelude

We gather in God’s name! Keep pressing on toward the goal: the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ!

Welcome to the broadcast of worship for Naomi Makemie and Francis Makemie Presbyterian Churches located in Onancock and Accomac Virgnia. I’m Monica Gould pastor here to serve the Lord and you, God’s people. Let’s open our hearts, and let us worship God!

Choral Opening   Wisdom of God

Call to worship  

Leader: We look to a TV. We look to a phone. We look to equipment we never thought would bring us an opportunity of worship and praise. And yet, here we are today once again, and for weeks to come, discovering the power of God’s presence beyond the walls of this sanctuary. A sanctuary is there in your living room. A sanctuary is there in your kitchen. As we gather without seeing you, we love you. Without touching you, we embrace. Without knowing what lies ahead, we believe. Let us pray;

Opening Prayer

Lord, we are fully in your presence. We believe the truth. Yes, even though we are not together, the power of your Spirit unites us across every hill, and every valley, every river and every ocean of the world. We trust your promise that as we worship you today we are all connected. We are here with you in this powerful place of worship. Thanks be to God for the wonder of the Word, the joy of music and the miracle of presence. We offer to you our worship now and forever. Amen!

Opening Hymn #2206 Without Seeing You v.1,3,4

Young disciples

Call to confession

Another week of life only connected by computer screens. God hears our cries of frustration. God knows our troubled thoughts. God sees our broken hearts. God recognizes our emptiness. We are not alone. God is here. God is with us Let us confess our sufferings, our losses, our pain, and our sins. Join me, as we pray together, saying,

Prayer of confession

Lord, we come to you today with our aching hearts and bodies. We have run a marathon. And looking forward all we see are hurdles and more miles than we have ever run in our life. How long O Lord, how Long?  How many more meetings by computer? How many more phone calls until we are face to face? We don’t understand being apart. We don’t understand the pain we have when the ones we love so much are gone. How can you show us your love when we cannot see you? It makes us not believe. Yet, you come to us with a strong voice. You call the stones of despair to roll away. You open up our dying faith and bring us back to life. Help us to believe. Forgive our unbelief. Remind us again and again of the joy of life with you. In Jesus name. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Jesus did a remarkable thing. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He gave him life. And all around believed. There is abundance in Christ. There is enough love and life for all.  Friends, believe the good news of the gospel, in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen!

Gloria Patri Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be; world without end, amen. Amen.

Affirmation of Faith  Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

Readings: Psalm 130 Cantor & Choir

John 11

Sermon: Its Not a Dream

Choral Anthem               Hosea

Announcements We thank you for worshiping with us. We appreciate your support. Please send offerings to us in the mail. For Naomi Makemie P.O. Box 397 23417 For Francis Makemie P.O. Box 680 Accomac 23301

Call to Prayer  #535RH   Hear Our Prayer O God

Prayer of the People & the Lord’s Prayer Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen

Closing Hymn  #338 RH  He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought

Benediction

May the God of hope fill you with all joy in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit remain with you always. Amen.

Prayers and confessions written by Monica Gould

Moving in Suffering

Sermon Luke 22:39-46 February 25, 2018 Lent 2

Moving in Suffering

When there is suffering in the world and/or in our lives we often wonder how this can happen. We spend little time questioning how we can live and Move in Suffering or how we can keep going in the midst of it.

Mostly we are consumed with the why of such things. 

I find this a reasonable question.

Children are the first to approach us with the why of things. They ask us why about the color of the sky, where the sun goes at night, the reason we need water to live, and why do people hurt and die.

Most often our responses to those questions are explained through the wonders and magical words of science. Or if these fabulous explanations escape us, we respond to the why questions with, “Because God…”

When we seek to answer our curious children about why are there mean people in the world…or why people hurt and die,

we like our children are lost in responses that truly answer the why of it all.

We don’t even fully understand the why of our Savior who died on the cross.

I honestly believe when we are caught up in the why-

when we allow ourselves to digress to the stories of the fall,

or the ages of cruelty and pain of one person to another,

or as the prophets of the Old Testament preach the sins of the people,

or the lack of prayer,

or the lack of love of God,

or worse the lack of obedience to the commandments,

especially the love of neighbor;

we lose out becoming actively involved in the suffering and

we deny the opportunity of receiving what we need in the moments of hurting and grief and pain.

The why often seeks to fix without investment.

The why often is someone else’s doing.

The why often results in lack of ownership for the cause of things.

The why often keeps us stuck.

In A.A. Milne’s story Eeyore Loses a Tail, Pooh comes across Eeyore who is out of sorts. Pooh discovers Eeyore has lost his tail. Eeyore, made aware of the absence of his tail, responds, “That accounts for a good deal.” Followed with a long silence,

Pooh not knowing what he could say that would be helpful,

offered to do something helpful instead.

I believe this prayer of Jesus in his suffering prior to his arrest is

an offering of something helpful to us in times of trial and temptation.

I believe this prayer is a response for the

‘how, we can move and live in suffering’ and keep going in the midst of.

The opening words of the choir anthem Compassion are: There is an everlasting kindness you lavished on us. God has offered us love, kindness, and peace as we live this life here and now.

Let’s look at this prayer and these verses. There are seven points that are important to note for our own well-being.

In this prayer we enter into the humanity of Jesus. Luke, the evangelist, points out several things as he writes this account for the benefit of the future church. (One of which happens to that Jesus prays at the Mount of Olives and not in a garden or at Gethsemane.)

The first note about Jesus was he went to pray, as was his custom. Prayer throughout the gospel of Luke is central to who Jesus is. Jesus stops to pray at all the key moments in his ministry. For Jesus, prayer is an essential piece of how he moves through his life, even unto his death.

Jesus has a routine for prayer.

We, too, can begin to examine how we can incorporate prayer into our life. Perhaps, it is as simple as the petition five finger prayer that I shared with the children in the our chat together.

Perhaps, it is a three-times a day prayer of beginning the day with the Lord’s Prayer, praying the Beatitudes at noon, and going to bed with the 23^rd Psalm.

Perhaps, it is setting the timer on our phones to just pause and pray.

Jesus got through his ministry with prayer as his custom. Perhaps, this season we can begin a custom of prayer.

Second, he prayed through all circumstances. Henri Nouwen wrote, ‘It can be discouraging to discover how quickly we lose our inner peace.

People enter our lives and we suddenly have a restlessness and an anxiety that appears. We thought we were at peace and centered with God and a situation or a person cause us to feel insecure.

He suggests we befriend our emotions and then little by little, in all circumstances we can come to sense the closeness to God that we need and desire.

Jesus, chose to experience all the emotions within him and trusting God to work through them with him. We, like Jesus, have the opportunity to offer our prayers to God in all circumstances. And through this sense the ever presence of the God who loves us.

Third, he kept those he loved close. Notice the verse says, they were a stone’s throw away. Jesus, did not go off alone, as much as he surrounded himself with those he trusted and those he loved. He was there praying to the Father for guidance and direction, keeping his friends at his side. One thing we can learn from this is our need to be at home with the people of our faith.

Years ago, the Catholic church in America realized it was losing its members at the same rate as the major protestant denominations. They started an initiative called, “Catholics come home.” It was rather successful as people who had been brought up in the church were stirred with a sense of renewal and chose to return to being active in the church.

As Protestants, we too have sought a variety of initiatives to not only invite those who grew up in the church to ‘come home’,

but to invite those who have never been at home in the church to find a place to belong and call home, perhaps for the first time.

In all of life we have a need to be surrounded by friends who lift us up and grant us grace, and offer us friendship.

When we come home to the church,

we come home to God,

and receive the faithful promise of God to love.

Home is where we are safe.

Let us keep church as that safe, sacred, space that Jesus had when he prayed this prayer.

Fourth, Jesus, allowed the angels to give him strength.

There are those angels unawares all around us who provide for us in ways we could never have imagined for ourselves.

Without going into a completely long tangent about angels, suffice it to say, they exist in the spiritual realm as the Bible teaches us,

and they exist in the realm of our living through those inspired to offer kindness and hospitality.

Fifth, ‘in his anguish, he prayed more earnestly’;

Jesus, stayed the course in his prayer even through the pain of it all.

When the pain and the temptation of the trial ahead of him became too great, Jesus, remained in prayer.

He chose to be more vigilant in his relationship with God.

He stayed with his pain in the very place where healing could take place.

Jesus dared to stay with his pain, and his anguish of what was about to occur. Dare to stay with your pain!

He didn’t sugar coat anything about his feelings or his circumstances.

When we can stay with our pain and acknowledge it,

when we can own it for what it truly is

then we can be in full communion with our God.

In that giving of ourselves we are able to receive the healing and the comfort we so need.

We have a tendency to seek out others or create fantasy worlds where we can have things disappear or have others deal with it for us.

Yet, our reality is here with Jesus as we witness him owning his own temptations to have what is before him removed. In his ownership of the temptation he received the strength to give it up to God. We too have the capacity to own our temptations and then give them to God to give us strength to do what we must do.

Sixth, grief is exhausting. We witness the disciples going to sleep. Luke is the only gospel writer to be gentle with the disciples when they fall asleep while Jesus is praying. Luke says they were filled with grief.

Anxiety, sorrow, deep sadness, are all energy drainers.

In times of uncertainty our emotions come out of synch.

The cross we bear daily can be overwhelming and it can render us powerless.

These disciples were following Jesus into the unknown.

Perhaps, we too, need an evangelist like Luke to soften the story of our life a little. Perhaps, we too, need an understanding that sometimes grief takes hold and all we can do is sleep in that moment.

Sometimes, in the midst of it all, a nap is a good thing.

God is gentle and kind and offers us a place of rest and a place healing. Be kind to yourself as God is kind to you.

Seventh, and final Jesus says to the disciples, ‘Get up, and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.’

The instruction Jesus gives the disciples at the start of this story he gives to them again. Getting up is as important as staying vigilant in prayer.

Jesus, uses the term, ‘get up’, rise, throughout his ministry of healing.

When we get up and stand and face those with whom we travel this journey of faith, we have the opportunity to speak and share, laugh and rejoice, be comforted and renewed. When we get up we are able to give and to receive.

When we get up we can see the community in which we dwell.

We can act from our center and we can live out the commandment of love one another as I have loved you.

How can we live and Move in Suffering in our times of temptation and trial?

We follow Jesus and live into his example given to us today. Amen.

Resources: NIB Luke, Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne; The Inner Voice of Love, Henri J. M. Nouwen

Moving in Love

Sermon John 10:11-18 February 18, 2018 Lent 1

Moving in Love

Our theme this year in Lent is-‘Moving Toward the Cross’. Each week we will explore a Scripture that will support the various statements on the ways in which we move toward the cross. This week our movement toward the cross is in love, other weeks we move toward it in peace, in strength, in suffering, in faith. 

As we approach Scripture with these pre-set themes it sheds new light on how we explore and examine the Word of God before us. Everything we read, hear, touch, taste, and participate in is colored by the lenses of our experience, often our most recent experience. 

And it is also colored by the thoughts and ideas we might project upon it.

As we cross over into this movement of Lent on this first Sunday in Lent, perhaps what might be important for us, is to know a few things about Christ with whom we journey and a few things about ourselves.

Our reading this morning begins with the declaration from Jesus that he is the Good Shepherd. This entire chapter 10 is heralded as the Shepherd discourse. 

In John’s gospel this evangelist writes in a manner that puts us front and center in time with Jesus. 

As he declares to his disciples, “I am the Good Shepherd”, he declares it to us. We have no doubt about the identity of Jesus in these few words. He not only declares his love but also declares his purpose and his utter commitment to his purpose no matter what the cost, even the cost of his life.

Perhaps, this is what we need from Jesus as we begin our journey along this path of Lent. 

We need Jesus to be strong for us. 

We need Jesus to be certain and not wishy washy about who he is. 

We need Jesus to lead us as a leader who is firm in the knowledge of himself, not only as we travel through Lent but as we travel through life. 

An identified Shepherd leader is one who needs his sheep to do his job and I like that and find it quite refreshing. 

Jesus and the sheep cannot be separated from one another. 

We are his sheep. 

We are his beloved. 

We follow him and he guides us through thick brush, 

into the valley of death, 

and up to the river of life. 

Just as Jesus describes his relationship with the Father, 

he bring us into relationship with him.

However, for some, these 40 days can be daunting, as one of my friends said to me, “Lent is depressing. I stop going to church and don’t come back until Easter when its happy again.” 

Perhaps it is difficult to hear about the wilderness and chaos that confronted Jesus. And perhaps it is too challenging to witness him walking among those who suffered, and those who were in despair. Maybe what we find most distasteful is his own frailty and his own suffering and loss of life.

Yet, I find that is where our lives with Christ most often intersect. 

As we began our journey on Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we began with the smudge of love, the smudge of God’s eternal love that claims us and calls us by name. 

Yes, we are finite creatures, but creatures who have a Good Shepherd who lies down at the gate of our lives, protecting defending, holding, and even giving up for us. There is no one else who would defend us to the end as he does. 

Jesus proclaims he is the one sent by God and will fulfill the promises of God in order to protect the flock. Jesus is the one who draws the sheep and the Father together. As God’s sheep we are God’s most loved treasure. Not just those sheep who call Jesus by name but all sheep, the ones who don’t even know God’s name, everyone of them are God’s most loved treasure.

 Perhaps, in the wake of the murders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida this week, you are angry to even hear these words about God. 

Senseless loss challenges our faith statements about the love of God. 

It throws our faith into turmoil and locks us into asking questions that have ambiguous answers. We get lost as ministers try to validate their faith in God with bad theology-such as God’s plan, and God’s purpose. We hear strange proclamations about God’s love for some and not others…As ministers we often fail those who most need to hear about God’s love in times of greatest need.

Our theology, our understanding of God might still be skewed. We aim for the bull's-eye of the target and continue to miss the mark. We seek to do well, we yearn to do well. So what do we know in times like these? 

These things we know -God too lost a child. 

God too, lost a most beloved Son. God too watched and witnessed a world that would seek to destroy love by destroying and maligning that Son. 

We know-God was there in the midst of that suffering and God is there in the midst of all of our suffering. God’s presence (no matter how it shows up) brings comfort.

One most poignant photo from the scene of the school tragedy was that of a mother embracing another mother. 

Upon her forehead she bore the cross from Ash Wednesday service. 

An author (Valerie Shultz) writes this: We receive our ashes as a sign of repentance, of our yearning for God’s forgiveness, of our intent to live our faith more truly in the face of our mortality. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return,” says the priest or lay minister, blessing us with a blackened thumb. The ashes that mark our foreheads only last for a day, but the mark this makes on our hearts is meant to endure for the entire 40 days of Lent. And so, how sadly, tragically, wretchedly fitting is the front-page photo from this Ash Wednesday. We will carry these stories with us. Again, again. 

AP photo credit Jerry Auerbach

We, as God’s sheep, have the privilege of carrying along with this mother the burdens, the barriers, the wounds, the wonderings, the fears and the failings, of our sisters and brothers throughout the community.  (Susan McGhee) That photo reminds us that we are not alone. It reminds us that we are a community that holds and acts together for the love of God through and in all circumstances. 

God’s fellowship of love with Jesus is so beautifully woven into these words of John’s gospel. It is an intimate fellowship that intertwines every movement Jesus makes and grants him assurance as he goes. This expression, this knowledge of God and Christ offers us the mystical communion with the Shepherd who knows us by name and calls us to follow. We have the knowledge of God and ourselves as we enter this season. 

Let us go together through Lent with the watchfulness and tenderness of Jesus. In our ears we hear God whisper a blessing to us as we go-“You are my beloved”. Amen.

Resources: NIB; Word Biblical Commentary; Carolyn C Brown-Preaching to Kids Too; AmericanMagazine.org "Spiritual Lessons from a School Shooting"; Rev. Susan McGhee Holy Days and Holidays-Ash Wednesday