Woodlawn CC

Woodlawn CC

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

One God For All! - A Tale of Peter and Cornelius


This past Sunday (April 24th) I preached over the text found in the 11th Chapter of Acts, verses 1-18.  This was a two parts in one sermon really in that the first half was given from a manuscript and the second half was done in my more usual informal style.  I've included the video of the sermon below for those that may choose to take a listen.

In these verses, we find the beginnings of the Early Church reaching out to the gentiles.  Now the earliest recruits to come into the Church from the gentile ranks were almost entirely from those gentiles who were already 'God-Fearers', those who were practicing the ways of the Jewish people but who had not yet made the final step into becoming fully Jewish.  For many of these potential converts, the stumbling block was the act of circumcision.  The inclusion of these gentiles within the 'Jewish Christian' or 'Jesus Movement' was a sticking spot for the Apostles and even more so for the other Jewish sects of their time.  This continued recruitment of gentile God-Fearers who did not completely convert to Judaism, played no small part in the ultimate fracturing of the 'Jesus sect' from its parent Judaism.

I won't belabor this point any further, but I do talk about it more in the sermon.

We are all too often guilty of excluding others from our realm of potential recruits into Christianity because we have some form of bias or another.  They don't look like we do, they don't talk like we do, or I don't like him/her so I'm not going to talk to them about my Christian faith.  All of these are sins of omission, we've purposefully and for our own personal comfort or angst discounted an individual or individuals from our duty to take the word of Christ to all the people.



Peter in these verses retells how he too went through a change of heart from exclusion to inclusion.  Of course, as I mention in the sermon, even Peter was not immune to backsliding as we learn in the letter called Galatians.  There Paul relays how under pressure from men sent by James that Peter reverted to discriminating towards the gentile converts.  We too are all too prone to bowing to social pressure in our perception of others.

Let us strive to remember that our God is a God for all, and not just for those whom we feel are worthy of God's love...

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His constant grace & love,
Roy

Acts 11: 1-18 NRSV
1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, 3 saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” 4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. 6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. 11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; 14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ 15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”


Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all.

Amen.


Monday, April 18, 2016

Sermon over the 23rd Psalm


This past Sunday, I chose from the Lectionary offerings to preach over the 23rd Psalm.  Now, one should never come lightly to preaching over what is likely the most well-known piece of Biblical Scripture.  Nearly everyone who has attended more than one Christian funeral will have heard the 23rd Psalm recited. In the Midwest (where I admit to having spent my entire life thus far and where I fully intend to spend the remainder) it would be the exception among adults to find one who couldn't join in reciting the 23rd Psalm once they had heard "The Lord is my Shepherd", such is the scale of this piece of scripture in the Christian mind and soul.

I have attached the video of the sermon which you will find below, I have also included below the entire manuscript for the sermon.  This week, I decided to preach from a manuscript which is something I have not done for many months.  I think I may go to using a manuscript every third or so week, or maybe just when I feel like it... you never know about me after all.

You'll find that I hit upon each and every verse below, but let me just touch a little bit on verse 5 here.  I think this may well be the least understood and most 'glossed' over verse in the Psalm.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Here we are inclined to think that the Lord is glorifying us, or even taunting our enemies by setting a banquet in our honor.  But, I don't think we could be any more wrong to think this way. I elaborate upon this more in the sermon but, let me just say that this is another example of table fellowship in scripture, here we are invited to sit at a meal with our enemies.  My firm belief is that the overwhelming nature of God is reconciliation, and this is a meal where we dine with our enemies and our differences are worked out and forgotten.

Let us work to reconcile with those whom we have offended or wronged, as well as those who have offended or wronged us in life.  God prepares a meal for us to sit with our enemies and be blessed by His grace.

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His Love & Grace,
Roy


Sermon given 4/17/2016
Woodlawn Christian Church 
Pastor Roy Karlen

Psalm 23 King James Version (KJV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.


The 23rd Psalm is almost certainly the most widely known of all the Psalms and very likely the most well know piece of Biblical Scripture.  If you start off with “The Lord is my Shepherd....” nearly everyone can chime in and recite the verses as they are found in the King James Version of the Bible.

Today, we're going to reflect on this Psalm but we're going to go through it verse by verse as it is found in the New Revised Standard Version.  If you go to your Pew Bibles you'll find it on page 435, let's all look it and pay attention to the slight differences that we see from the King James Version.  Page 435, please.

Psalm 23 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.

Did you notice any differences?  Well, there are a few and we'll talk about some of them as we go through this timeless Psalm verse by verse.



Verse 1:
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

The Lord is my shepherd.  Let's stop there for now and take a look around.  Now in Biblical times, most people could relate to shepherds better than the average person could today.  Tradition has assigned the authorship of this Psalm to King David.  David of course, was as a boy a shepherd, for him assigning God the role of shepherd over humanity made sense, and it was something he could readily identify with.  King David understood all too well the role of a shepherd.

I've told the story before of how my Grandfather used to own a Grocery Store on the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota, and how he traded that business for a herd of sheep.  My father as a young boy had been managing the grocery store for my grandfather.  Suddenly, Dad found himself in the role of a shepherd.  To his dying day, my father hated sheep.  As some of us here know, sheep aren't the brightest animals alive and they seem quite adept at getting themselves into trouble of one kind and then another.

For the Psalmist to cast himself in the role of a sheep is saying that he... we... can't be trusted to be on our own.  Left to our own devices, we'll just find endless ways of getting lost, injured or even killed.  We all need a shepherd, someone who is out there watching over us and guiding us in life.  Unfortunately, just like the sheep, we don't always listen to the shepherds voice and we end up in harms way all too often.

Of course, the New Testament is filled with references to sheep and sheep herders, one need look no further than our 2nd scripture reading for today that I read just a few moments ago.



I shall not want; this part of the verse can also be translated as “I lack nothing” or “I have no need”.  With the Lord as my guide, I shall have no further need.  We are reminded of the entire bread of life concept that we celebrate as Disciples each and every week, as well as the woman at the well in the 4th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

John 4: 10:14
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”

We also cannot help but be reminded of the words in Matthew's Gospel:

Matthew 6:25-34New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things, and indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.



Again with God as our shepherd we truly lack for nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters.  These green pastures and still waters are not only idyllic, they are also provisions.  Here we have an obvious and certain tie with the previous verse, I have no want, for I live in His abundance.  This world is our Lord's and He uses it to care for us.

In the very next Psalm we read these lines:

Psalm 24:1-2  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
2 for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.

The earth is the Lord's, we are the Lord's.  If we have faith in Him he shall provide and care for us.

He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.  Here, where it says “restores my soul”, well that could be better translated as “He keeps me alive”, this is the literal translation for this verse.  Did you remember to thank God for letting you open your eyes this morning?  If we do the Lord's work he will lead us down the right paths, but sadly... we all tend to follow our own paths, for our own benefit and pleasure rather than pursuing that which God wishes us to do.  If we just turn to Him and follow His bidding, we'll be on the right paths.



Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.  Now here we see perhaps the biggest difference from the translation in the King James Version, which reads as we all know so very well:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  The King James Version is the one we cling to during so very many funeral services: yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but the New Revised Standard Version is a more literal translation for this verse.  It's not that we walk through a valley where death surrounds us, but that we walk through darkness of all kinds in this earthly journey.

The Lord's metaphoric rod and staff comfort us for these are a shepherd's weapons to use to protect his or her charge.  In Biblical times, sheep had many enemies waiting in the dark to try and attack or devour them.  The shepherd's staff was a formidable weapon, but with its traditional hooked end, it could also be used to reach a sheep that had gotten itself in trouble on a ledge.  Or the staff could pull a wayward sheep back into line and into its place within the herd.

Of course, the rod and staff have a dual meaning here, the represent the rod or staff held by a King ruling over his court.  We are here in God's Kingdom, where he truly is Lord.



You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  This line “you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies”, has always struck me as peculiar, what is the Psalmist trying to say?  Is this a case of mocking one's enemies?  Is God setting a banquet before you to say to your enemies, “I love this guy, the rest of you not so much”?

Personally, I don't think so... and here's why...

We all know how very, very important table fellowship was in Jesus' ministry.  Jesus ate with tax collectors, sinners, and the unclean.  Jesus invited himself to a meal with Zacchaeus, he didn't just eat with the fallen when they invited him in... he summoned them to him to eat a meal together.  A meal where all that has divided is forgotten and wrongs and hard feelings are healed.

Remember just a few weeks ago when we looked over the parable of the Prodigal Son, well remember that the two parables leading up to that parable... parables that literally set the stage for the story of the prodigal son are the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin.  These two parables portray a God that pursues us when we are lost, this is a God that doesn't wish for any two members of His Creation to be at odds.

This is the kind of God that sets a banquet and calls two adversaries to sit down to a fellowship meal and reconcile.  This is the kind of God who sets a table like this one (pointing to communion table)... where the fallen are returned to a right relationship.



In the book “If Grace is True” by James Mulholland and Philip Gulley the authors paint a picture of what Heaven is like.  Drawing on the Lord's repeated and preferred use of table fellowship they portray Heaven as a magnificent banquet in an endless fellowship hall.  Here at this fellowship meal to end all fellowship meals, we find ourselves seated between two particular individuals.  On our right, we have the person who in life has injured us the most severely, and on our left we find the person who in life we have harmed the most.  Do you know already who you're seated between... if so maybe you should work on this seating arrangement while we're still in this world.

Here in the 23rd Psalm, we may just be seeing a scene very much like that which Gulley & Mulholland put forth in their vision of Heaven.  Heaven a place where all are reconciled, where the wrongs are not only forgiven but forgotten.  The table is placed between you and your enemies and you are all called to the table of reconciliation.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.  The word translated here as follow is really more like pursue.  Surely God's goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.  Remember those parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, here we have a shepherd, our God who does not forget about us... no matter what... He pursues us and never gives up on us.  A God who leaves the 99 to find that one lost sheep.



And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.  Here we have another variance from the King James Version, which of course reads; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  The translation in the New Revised Standard Version is the more literal translation, the Hebrew doesn't speak of eternity per se, but I believe it speaks to spiritual life as well as earthly life.  We as Christians believe that spiritual life is eternal, so, therefore, it is of course, forever.

Surely, we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  Praise God!

Let us pray...



Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Fishermen or Fishers for men... no backsliding now fellows...


The Scripture that the Lectionary guided me to preach over this last Sunday (April 10th) is found in the 21st Chapter of the Gospel of John.  It just so happens that I had selected these same verses for a sermon last summer, as a result initially I was reluctant to revisit this bit of scripture.  But, in praying and pondering, I found another 'hook' or message in these verses.

Here so shortly after all the excitement and revelations of the last few weeks, we see the disciples going back to what they understand... fishing.  Jesus approaches them and calling out in a greeting that can either be translated as 'children' or 'fellows', asking the rhetorical question of 'you have no fish do you'.  He then tells them to try the other side of the boat, where they are rewarded with an abundance.

Often the preacher will hit on this hook and say that the message here is obedience, they listened to Jesus and they had a miraculous catch of fish, that's not the message I went after in these verses. Rather, I looked to what it was that the disciples were doing, they had gone back to normal life.  Jesus is no longer with them day-by-day and they have fallen back into their old ways.  They are fishing, and they're failing at it as well... Jesus calls to them "Hey guys, what are you doing?  Didn't I teach you to fish for men and not for fish?"  To drive this home when the disciples fish from the 'other side' of the boat, they catch 153 fish.  Now this seems like such a strange arbitrary number, but it's not... in Jesus' day the ancients believed there were only 153 species of fish.  That's all they'd identified, this number represents all that there is in the world, (as far as fish go) it's symbolizing all of creation.

In my view, the story is reminding the disciples that they have been called to take Christ's message to the entire world.  All that there is in all of God's Creation, to all 153 varieties of human cultures/races/nations (if you will rather than fish).  In our lives we need to worry that so soon after Easter, that we ourselves have already slipped back into our normal routines.  The miracle, the message and the commission of the risen Christ is already a distant memory.  This last Chapter of John (which looks to be an after-thought by the author) reminds us among other things to keep fishing for men, to keep spreading the love and the message or our Lord.

The one point that I ended up having to edit out of the sermon due to time, (we had several unexpected announcements that ate up time early in the service) had to do with when Jesus asks Peter, "do you love me more than these".  Our natural instinct is to think that Jesus is comparing Peter's love to the love of the other disciples, but that's not where he's driving.  What Jesus is saying is "Peter, do you love me more than your boat, your fishing nets, the life of a fisherman... do you love me more than your old way of life".

Do we love Christ more than our old way of life?  Or have we slipped back to our boats and tending our nets?

I encourage you to watch the video (it's a short sermon) and take a listen.

It's a busy week and I need to run, but do watch the video.

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His Grace,
Roy

John 21: 1-19  New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples
21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.


9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”


Funeral for Patricia "Jolene" Mapel


Order of Service – Funeral for Jolene Mapel

Prelude:

Entrance: “How Great Thou Art” - Austin Casper (pre-recorded)

Call to Worship:
Gathered in Christ's name, let us praise God
who is our certain hope in all life's varied circumstances.
In the face of death believe the good news the scriptures proclaim:
As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.
(Isaiah 66:13)

Greeting:
We have come together within the strengthening fellowship of friends and family:
to praise God for the life of Patricia Jolene Mapel;
to share our grief with God and with one another;
to reaffirm our faith in God's unfailing goodness;
to hear again God's promise of resurrection;
and to commend Jolene to God's everlasting care.

Opening Hymn: In The Garden   No. 227    

Opening Prayer:
Gracious God, your love endures forever.  Your faithfulness is unfailing and all your promises are true.  The movement of your Spirit is evident even in our darkest moments.  Attend to us now in our grief as we trust you will.  
Speak words of comfort to our hearts.  Open us up to receive your hope.
O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our sister Jolene.
We thank you for giving her to us, her family and friends,
to know and to love as a companion on our earthly pilgrimage.
In your boundless compassion, console us who mourn.
Give us faith to see death as the gate of eternal life,
so that in quiet confidence we may continue our course on earth,
until by your call, we are reunited with those who have gone before;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hymn:   “I Can Only Imagine” by Mercy Me

The Gospel Reading:
Hear these words from Jesus:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places.
If it were not so,
Would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself,
So that where I am, there you may be also.
And you know the way to the place where I am going.
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
But you will see me;
Because I live, you also will live.
I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
Whom the Father will send in my name,
Will teach you everything,
And remind you of all that I have said to you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  
(John 14:1 – 4, 18 – 19, 25 – 27)

Hymn:        When They Ring Those Golden Bells     (insert)


Message:  Pastor Roy Karlen – Woodlawn Christian Church
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:9
We do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Patricia Jolene Mapel was born on June 24, 1933 at McCrary Hospital in Lake City to John and Blanche Sharkey.  On September 1, 1952 Jolene was married to J.R. Mapel here at Woodlawn Christian Church.  Jolene passed from this world and into the world promised to us by our Lord at 1:00 am on Monday, April 4, 2016 at Shady Oaks Care Center here in Lake City.

The life of a single individual is a maze of complex and complicated relationships with loved ones, friends and acquaintances.  Often at these types of services we listen to the words and we wonder where is the person that we knew in our lives... for you see, each of us had a different relationship with Jolene.  Each of us saw a different side or aspect of her in our encounters with her life.  Even siblings will often say, that's not the 'Mom' I knew... such was the case with Jolene.  The new mother to the oldest child simply isn't the mother that the youngest child encounters.  For better or worse, the relationships are different and distinct.  Each of us here finds ourselves mourning the loss of a slightly different Jolene.

Since last November when Jolene was placed into Hospice care, I've gone out to Shady Oaks from 3 to 4 times a week to visit with her.  Her condition was a series of ups and downs, and at times I was certain Jolene would outlive us all.  I found Jolene to be a very intelligent and engaging woman and I must honestly say that I will miss greatly our conversations, I truly enjoyed them all.  She was a very gifted conversationalist and seemed to me to just very much enjoy visiting.  I grew to be very fond of Jolene, she was a wonderful woman.

Jolene didn't live a perfect life, but none of us here has either, nor will anyone else ever do so.  In every life we have some shortcomings, difficulties and disappointments... some of us handle these burdens better or worse than others.  But, in life we all encounter these bumps in the road.  I'm told of the sadness that Jolene endured during her life and how she battled depression for so long.  We all have a purpose in life, and we all struggle at times to understand what it might be... for many of us I'm afraid to say we'll never know what exactly our purpose was to be.  I've often said that for all I know my sole purpose in life... the only reason I was ever born... the only reason I've endured the pain and suffering of a lifetime, was for me to maybe say that one thing... that one word... to a young child that impacts their life and they go on to become a great minister, or a researcher who discovers something vastly important to humanity, a lawyer, a politician, or maybe that child grows up to be a mother who teaches her children to love God; a word spoken in a youth group, or a service, or maybe in line at Wal-Mart.  Sometimes, it seems impossible for me to know... why am I here...

Near the end of a life, perhaps it's easier to see just what your purpose in life was.  

When I would pray with Jolene, I always thanked God for all that Jolene meant to her family and friends.  I thanked God for the impact that Jolene had in these lives, all the things she taught to them, all the people she touched with her life.  I thanked God... for Jolene...

When I finished these prayers I could always see a look in her eyes, and she would softly smile and say thank you.  I think at the end of her life, perhaps she understood why she had endured all the difficulties.  She survived them for all of you, and for me... her destiny was to impact all the lives in this room... to impact them all for the better.  The strength that I've seen in her children's faces as I've gotten to meet and know them... that strength came from Jolene... all her strengths... and all of her frailties, have strengthened you.

In just a little bit, you'll hear a few stories about Jolene's life, and then during our lunch here together, you'll hear perhaps even more stories.  Stories about a woman who really did so much, but perhaps felt she could have done so much more; a woman who was a driving force, perhaps the sole reason that it actually came to fruition... in a movement in modern agriculture.  I'll let family tell the story, but Jolene and her bright and able mind was the key to the story.  A woman that as she told me probably married too young, but who went on to create a wonderful family, in spite of not knowing at first how to be a wife and mother.  All in all she did the best she could, and who knows perhaps that was the best way for it to be.

She was a woman who always seemed so put together as her family said, but a woman who always hid her human frailties.  Jolene was a woman who professed to me that she had absolute faith in God; but, a woman whose eyes betrayed her and told me that she had her doubts.  For one day after praying with Jolene I told her “God Loves you”, and with a hopeful sadness in her eyes she said “I hope so”.  I told Jolene that there are very few things in this world that I profess to know with absolute certainty... but that I was certain beyond all doubt, that our loving and all gracious God loved her.  Our God loves Jolene, and He loves all of you as well.

This past Monday morning at the very early hour of 1 AM... holding the hand of her son Mark, Patricia Jolene Mapel walked up to the gates of Heaven, and only turning back long enough for one final hug... she turned again and stepped through that gate... and onto those streets of gold.  “God loves you Jolene”.


Eulogies and Reflections:

Closing Prayer:
Following the interment at Lake City Cemetery, the family invites you all to join them in further celebration of Jolene's life and a time of shared remembrances and closure, by gathering with them for lunch in the Church's fellowship hall. For those who do not wish to attend the graveside service, please feel free to remain behind and wait here at the Church.

Let us pray:
O God, our Strength and our Redeemer, Giver of life, and Conqueror of death, we open our hearts to you just as we are.  We celebrate your gift of life freely given, but are grieved by a sense of loss in the face of death.  The love which binds us to one another leaves us aching as ties are broken.  Accept our tears as emblems of devotion, and transform them into waters of life to nourish us in the days ahead.
We trust you.  We love you.  We know in Christ that your love is everlasting.  Nothing can separate any of us from your abiding care.  With you is eternal life.
With confidence, we now entrust Jolene to your unfailing love and overflowing goodness.  Through the power that raised Christ from the dead to live eternally with you, lift up this, your servant, to life fulfilled beyond our imagining.  We give you but your own, enfold her in your everlasting arms, hold her for she is your child.
Now strengthen us, through the gift of your Spirit, to face into the future with confidence that you stand with us.  Grant that the changes of life may leave us stronger as we journey through life.
Reassured of your abiding presence, help us to knit more firmly the ties that bind us one to another.  Renewed by your love, help us to love in ever larger circles so as to embrace your people everywhere till at last we are all united eternally through Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Benediction:

Postlude:  (How Great Thou Art)


Monday, April 4, 2016

Aren't we all 'Doubters' from time to time....


This past Sunday, the Lectionary found us still in the Gospel of John but now at verses 19-31 in the 20th Chapter:

John 20:19-31New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus and Thomas
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.



Jesus suddenly appears among the Disciples and does so without having entered by the doorway into the locked room.  It would seem that Jesus' resurrected body is something quite different than a normal human body, but that's part of another sermon for another day, so let's keep moving forward.  Jesus appears and offers up the standard greeting "Peace be with you".  The scripture here says that they rejoiced when they saw him, I've always been amazed at this statement.  Rejoiced say you... heck, I'm pretty sure that you'd be picking me up off the floor.

Now, yes Mary Magdalene has already seen Jesus after the crucifixion,  but still I'm pretty sure I'd have been in good old Thomas' wheelhouse about all of this.  I'd have thought that poor old Mary just really wanted to see Jesus and her mind was playing tricks on her.  It's rather like when my sister in law thought she saw her father standing in the window of the house when she pulled up after his funeral.  He obviously wasn't there, her mind was just so used to seeing him standing there at that spot that a shadow or any object really would be all that was needed for her mind to paint a picture of him there.  One that would seem very real for the brief few seconds that she felt she saw him.

Though obviously Thomas didn't have the benefit of the knowledge of fairly recent studies on vision and the brain concerning human sight.  Humans only see in real time (actually we see nothing in 'real' time, everything you're experiencing in your mind is already part of the past by the time you process it) thin slices of the landscape before them.  Our brain remembers the rest of the scene and blends it flawlessly into one large panorama.  For this reason your brain guesses at parts of what we're seeing, and to do this it uses it's incredible memory of things past along with pattern recognition.  It fills in the blanks so to speak and every once in a while (more often than you realize actually) what it fills in isn't really there at all.



Now this all explains thinking you've seen Jesus, it's another thing entirely claiming that you carried on a two-way conversation, that's considerably harder to explain away.  Now, I'm by nature a skeptic so, I'd be inclined to think Mary was just imagining or wishfully thinking she had seen and talked to Jesus.  Now all of the rest of the Disciples claiming they'd also seen and talked to Jesus... that's your run of the mill 'mass hysteria' going on, (or at least that's what I'd be thinking right along with Thomas... that's about to change for Thomas) but for now, let's get back to the scripture.

In verses 21-23 we have John's version of the great commission as well as the giving of the 'Holy Spirit', here there is no waiting for Pentecost, Jesus gives the Spirit right now and though not as specifically as in the Gospel of Matthew, he is sending the Disciples forth to spread the word of the Gospels.



Finally, we come to Thomas himself witnessing Jesus resurrected.  Now, the witness of the skeptic is a witness that we can take more faith in, he (or she) is not prone to taking things at first glance they demand proof and here Thomas is presented with the opportunity to see and touch Jesus' wounds.

In the sermon, I talk about one of the youngsters in my youth group last week asking "how do we know that God is real".  There are several answers to this question, I'll briefly go through them but if you want to hear more listen to the sermon.



First, we have the witness of the scriptures.  For whatever reason the Disciples went from being scared men who ran away in the garden to being the same men in the book of Acts who are proud to suffer for their witness of Christ and among who Stephen is the first of many martyrs.

Next, we have the historical witness.  The Jesus movement was only one of many 'messianic' movements in the beginning of the first century, but it was a movement with a couple of distinct differences.  (For those that watch the sermon this is the point that skipped my mind, makes me crazy because I was thinking of it and then poof... it was gone)  The first difference was that it was a movement where when the founder/leader was captured and killed it didn't die off, it kept going and actually became much stronger.  Next, it was different because when the leader was killed the group didn't decide that 'oh, we were wrong it wasn't Jesus that was the Messiah, it was really his brother James, or his cousin or such'.  No, here they retained the belief that Jesus was the messiah and that he had been resurrected and ascended to the throne of God.  In these regards, the Jesus movement proved to be considerably different than all the many other Messianic movements of Jesus' time.



Next, we have our personal experiences.  Here as I state in the sermon I have known forgiveness and grace when I was unrepentant and unapologetic; I have been loved when I was the poster child of unloving; and I have received kindness when I was the epitome of unkindness.  In all of these experiences I have (though I admit I failed to see it at the time, only through looking back in reflection did I recognize these instances) witnessed the very nature of God being conveyed to me (undeserving as I was) by my family, friends and fellow human beings.

And then there is science... the most unlikely of all in many peoples opinions (both atheists and believers).  But, in my opinion science demands a greater being.  First of all if you have any knowledge of quantum mechanics you must be aware of the fact that quantum mechanics requires an observer... but before the evolution of human beings there was no conscious observer to obligate this requirement... unless of course there is a universal consciousness out there.  For simplicity let's just call this consciousness God.  Next, scientist are quickly realizing that this universe of ours is really just a 'program', for there to be a program there has to be a programmer.... for simplicity sake let's just call that programmer God.



But, most of all I know there is a God because I see Him in the eyes of all of my fellow believers... I see Him in their actions... I see Him in their perseverance through hardships and disabilities.  I see Him everyday, in the eyes of the elderly, the eyes of the dying, the eyes of the child and the new born baby.  I see Him all around me in the rising and setting sun.

I know He is real for he lives within me and drives my very being.

May you find yourself richly and deeply blessed this day and every day after.

Be a blessing to someone today!

In His unfailing & undying Grace!
Roy




"All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force... We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter."
Max Planck