In college, I was a self-help book devotee. It was a time when the answers to all of life’s dilemmas could be found on the shelves at Barnes and Noble or in the college library. At some point, all the rhetorical claims of those books authored by self-anointed prophets started to sound remarkably similar and utterly simplistic. I admit, I can barely recall the various platitudes and metaphors that dominated the self-help genre. I do remember, however, the idea that one should live as if their goal had already been achieved. This is a form of self-actualization. As Christians, that is exactly what we are called to do in word and in action. We are to live as if the fullness of God’s Kingdom has arrived: a joining of heaven and earth that is born of grace and fueled by love. That was exactly the work, ministry, and mission of Jesus Christ: to reveal to the world what God’s Kingdom looks like. It is a place of compassion, love, justice, reconciliation, and healing. If we are truly made in God’s image, even with our human attributes, we can each reveal God’s Kingdom. Now, that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 Peter 4: 7-11 (NIV) The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
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I am by no stretch of the imagination a You Tube influencer. I do know a thing or two about image. That persona we all try to project to the world. Sadly, the persona we strive to project rarely speaks to who we truly are on the inside. So, what about being made in the image of God, Imago Dei? Do we reflect God’s image in ways that are truthful? Or do we hide behind a collection of platitudes, metaphors, and easy answers? Reflecting God’s image implies that we use our uniquely human attributes to witness God’s grace to the world. Our reason, our creative ability, our freedom are all instruments through which the God of Resurrection is revealed. The very idea of God’s image being reflected in a human person is difficult to fully understand or accept. However, it is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Genesis 1: 26-28 (MSG) God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” God invited us into life. Those are penetrating and evocative words. Perhaps those words seem almost unimaginable to the human mind. The author of our very existence is a God of grace inspired invitation. There are many descriptors for the life that we are all invited to enter. New birth, regeneration, forgiveness and unmerited mercy are all apt views of new life in and through Jesus Christ. Arguably, there is another definition of a God breathed life. The life we are invited to enter is God’s Kingdom in creation. The Kingdom that was proclaimed on that day of Resurrection. The Kingdom that was revealed in Jesus Christ, the very incarnation of grace. As amazing as that sounds, our new life in Christ is about building God’s Kingdom by reflecting God’s grace. Not just at selected times but always and everywhere. By faith we accept that invitation. And, then we need to get out of God’s way. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Romans 5:21 (MSG) All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. Pastors talk a lot about eternal life. That blissful state of life without suffering, doubt, anxiety about tomorrow, and every other exigency of life this side of heaven. Walking through death into new life is the goal of very believer in Jesus Christ. But, what about today, right now, right here? Scripture offers an intriguing perspective on eternal life. Eternal life by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the reality of the Christian life. Now of new birth, life becomes eternal, abundant, and the transformation of the heart begins. When life is not eternal it becomes highly circumstantial. We are happy and content when the world reflects our personal desires. We are encouraged when our health and our family’s health is fine. We never speak of death, loss, or pain until we face all those inevitable events in every human life. When life is abundant and eternal, we have a certain hope not born of circumstance, and a strength not derived from our own capacity. In times of prosperity and in times of grief, we live to reveal God’s love and provision. The breath of our lives comes not through circumstance, but through Jesus Christ. Now, that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 John 5:10-11 Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God[a] have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. This month marks the 178th birthday of Salem Church. 178 years is a long time. Our community, our nation, and our world are much different today than they were in 1844. From the founding of Salem Church through today America has elected 36 Presidents, endured a great Civil War, suffered through the Spanish Flu, and COVID-19. The nation has mourned the assassination of four Presidents, fought two World Wars, and put a man on the Moon. Automobiles and airplanes have replaced the horse and buggy as primary means of transportation. Electric lights, radios, cell phones, and television sets are no longer considered improbable ideas. Computers can now be worn our wrists, and cars that need no driver are appearing on roadways. Diseases that in 1844 carried a sentence of certain death are effectively cured with antibiotics today. Yes, a lot has changed, but one thing has not: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On Christmas Eve 1844, the first Salem congregation gathered to proclaim Christ our Savior is born. And on Christmas Eve 2022, the people of Salem Church will gather to say those same words. Easter Sunday, 1864, the first Methodist Episcopal Church Pastor at Salem Church read the story of an empty tomb and a risen Savior. The same story of victory over sin and death was read as the fire of new life burned brightly in front of Salem Church at Easter sunrise, 2022. It is an amazing truth. The only thing that has not changed in 178 years, is the Gospel. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Why are you a United Methodist? I must admit the question caught me off guard. I was raised in the United Methodist Church. My grandparents and parents attended a Methodist Church founded by a circuit rider. Being a United Methodist is part of my cultural, social, and religious heritage. Now, I am a United Methodist pastor. During this time when our denomination is confronting tough questions, it is necessary that we all stop and truly consider why we are United Methodists. And, why we will stay United Methodists. Of course, every Confirmation student can recite the core United Methodist beliefs. We serve a God of grace. It is God’s grace that invites us into a relationship with the Divine. It is God’s grace that offers new birth through justification, and it is God’s grace that enables us to grow in the image and likeness of Christ through sanctification. People in many denominations could echo those same or remarkably similar confessional statements. The United Methodist distinctive is that we believe in faith on the fault line. In other words, we see our task and our mission as actualizing faith in the world through acts of compassion, service, and justice. Our founder, John Wesley believed in holiness of heart and mind. To engage in both pious actions such as worship, prayer, Bible study, and in acts of mercy in the world. That is our call today. And that is why we are and will be United Methodists. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 John 4: 7-10 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is hard to believe that 21 years have passed since that fateful morning of September 11, 2001. During those 21 years the march of history has radically changed our nation and our world. Tragically, the horror of that day has been culturally tempered. Images that once captured the very psyche of our nation have been curated to become part of the fabric of history. However, the true messages of that day can never be stilled by the passage of time or the coming of age of a generation that had yet to be born on that September day. Without question, 9-11 laid bare the capacity for evil that resides within the human psyche. Yet, the day also brought about an amazing revelation. As people were under attack, the socially constructed barriers that separate us ceased to exist. First responders, and common citizens alike never decided who should be led to safety based on race, age, gender, religion, or ethnicity. Everyone joined in true human community. In the face of tragedy, the things that divide us became markedly irrelevant. As Christians we affirm that God is not the author of evil. It was God’s hand that led us to discard our divisions to join hands in acts of compassion, mercy, and hope. In truth, we can all have differing views. Differences celebrate the beautiful mosaic of human community. Divisiveness and division are choices that remain contrary to the very message of the Gospel. Now, that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 Corinthians 12: 12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. The evidence is unassailable. People , in growing numbers, are becoming unchurched. Despite substantive research by social scientists, seminary professors, and anxiety ridden clergy, no clear set of causal factors for this phenomenon has been conclusively identified. However, one thing is certain. People, in this age of rampant consumerism, seem to be searching for the “ perfect” church. That gathering place on Sunday mornings that exudes hospitality and generosity of spirit. That sacred space that features flawless musical performances, state of the art audio-visual technology, and programs for every age category. Not to mention, brilliant sermons that inspire, and comfort but rarely challenge. Unfortunately, there is no perfect church. Churches are human institutions. All the foibles, idiosyncrasies, personal and collective baggage that are part of the human community rise to the surface in those institutions we call churches. We need as new mind set. What if we understood church as a place where people in need of grace came to worship a perfect God. There is no perfect church. But there is a perfect God, revealed in Jesus Christ, and brought into each of our lives and into each of our churches by the power and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom 1 Corinthians 3: 9-11 You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. With those storied words, author Eric Segal began his best-selling novel, Love Story. In striking yet poetic phrases, Segal unveiled the tragic tale of a love story interrupted by the exigencies of life and the mystery of death. Real love stories are not the emotionally charged, dynamic affairs we see in the movies or on the pages of novels. Authentic love stories are penned by God’s hand. Two people coming together to love, nurture, and sustain one another amid the tumult, uncertainty, and unpredictability of life. In the coming days, our Salem family will celebrate love stories that found life through the touch of God’s hand. Nest week we will recall with great joy and gratitude the over seven decade love story of Emma and Jess, Grandma and Grandpa. This Sunday we will all witness Sharon Anderson and Dwight Boyd enter into covenant with one another and God to live as husband and wife. These are love stories that will never make the best sellers list, win an Oscar, and be memorialized in popular culture. No, these love stories have and will reveal God’s grace as lived out and witnessed in very human yet very blessed lives. Now that is genuinely Good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom John 2: 1-11 Three days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother told him, “They’re just about out of wine.” Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.” She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim. “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did. When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!” This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him. We talk a lot about being disciples of Jesus Christ. Every pastor has a ready inventory of sermons exhorting the faithful to follow the pathway of discipleship. Sadly, we forget one essential element. Discipleship is built upon faith. That may sound overly simplistic. However absent a true faith, discipleship becomes little more than mere volunteerism. Make no mistake, the voluntary sector of our economy is essential to the work of building a strong, prosperous and compassionate nation. Discipleship is much more than that; it is faith turned into concrete action, and action, turned into carrying the presence of Christ to the world, It is a sacred servant hood that can transform the world. Now, that is genuinely good News. Blessings, Pastor Tom Matthew 14:24-33 Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o’clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared to death. “A ghost!” they said, crying out in terror. But Jesus was quick to comfort them. “Courage, it’s me. Don’t be afraid.” Peter, suddenly bold, said, “Master, if it’s really you, call me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come ahead.” Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!” Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you?” The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, “This is it! You are God’s Son for sure!” |
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