THE FRUIT OF GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT WEEK 6:
KINDNESS: BEARING THE BURDEN OF LOVE
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
August 28, 2022
TEXT: Galatians 6: 1-10
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way
you will fulfill the law of Christ.
My brothers and sisters, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. 4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. 5 For all must carry their own loads. 6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.
7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh, but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.
Today we are thinking about yet another fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. In many places throughout his letters to the earliest churches, St. Paul lists these important fruit that Christians are to nurture. We’ve already talked about Love, joy, peace and patience in previous messaages and today we will examine kindness. The key verse from today’s scripture is “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
When I looked up the word “burden” in the dictionary I found three results. First, in ancient times, a “burden” was the refrain or chorus of a song. Second, in nautical terminology, a burden is a ship’s carrying capacity. Like “the schooner Wyoming is about 6,000 tons burden.” Finally, the word burden as we’ll be thinking about it today is “a load, typically a heavy one.”
What are “heavy loads”? The dictionary offers many “heavy loads”: things like responsibility, duty, obligation, trouble, worry, anxiety, tribulation, affliction, trial, difficulty, misfortune, strain, stress.
Where do we begin with this simple injunction to bear one another’s burdens? Perhaps it is the epitome of being kind to one another.
Every one of us probably can think up a personal example of someone being kind to us or us being kind to someone else. “Bearing another’s burdens” however lifts the bar higher.
Here are the kinds of things I think burdens are about. Instances where it “costs” us. Where we give of ourselves along with our assistance. Perhaps a grandmother is bearing a burden by helping out a teenaged mother with her baby so her daughter can finish high school. Perhaps a group of friends bears a burden by caring for a person in physical or mental need for whom they need to bear the burden of his transportation;his medical appointments. Maybe another type of burden you are bearing for someone is a financial one–housing or medical or educational. You may be giving generously to your college to help with scholarships; or you may be giving to a fund for Alzheimer’s or Cancer research
For the people of faith, St. Paul reminds us that the special kind of burden bearing he lifts up is about following the law of Christ. That is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Just as we each bear our own personal burdens in life, we are to look beyond ourselves to other burdens we can bear.
So very often, I see that kind of burden bearing right here in our own congregation. You may have been caring for an older person with no family. And you have helped her bear her burdens day after day. And you have been her 24/7 family out of your generosity of time and love.
I’ve seen you care so deeply for the burdens of the homeless that you have taken your time and your resources to feed and clothe and yes, even be friends and share your home with those who have so very little.
There is a business man in our town who immediately steps up when a family cannot afford a funeral. This business man bears the financial burden out of his own pocket to ensure a respectful and financial worry free burial for their family member.
The kind of bearing the burden that St. Paul talks about most often involves us interacting with persons who have done nothing to earn or deserve our help. These are actions chosen out of freewill and performed with love and caring. They are not forced nor are they expected by the person being helped. We people of faith have many opportunities to exhibit the kindness that bears one another’s burden’s with love. And something else that bears upon this is that we do not “count the cost” for these actions of love. Some of our actions cost us very deeply.
Just this week on Facebook one of the West Essex Squad members shared these words: “...The universe can be divided into two kinds of people: 1) I had to go through it, so you should too. 2) I had to go through it, so I’ll work to make sure you don’t.”
As we are all aware, this past week a bill was signed to reduce Student Loan Debt. A pastor friend of mine put a meme up on social media that said: “If you’re Christian and you’re big mad about the possibility of student loan debt being cancelled, let me remind you that the entirety of your faith is built upon a debt you couldn’t pay that someone stepped in and paid for you.” So I reposted it on my Facebook because I realized he was asking in his posting about the connection between our faith and the actions of our government. I baited my Facebook post and went fishing.
Here are some responses to this fishing. Although people of faith come at this hot topic from many differing viewpoints, we recognize that to be “burden bearers’ for someone else is a basic tenant of the Christian faith. Every single person who weighed in on this controversial topic this week may very well be right. Listen carefully. Here we go:
- “Financial debt and religious debt are two different animals.”
- “We need to resolve why college costs far exceed what they were when I and my children attended. I paid all of my debt as well as my children’s but there is something wrong today, and we need to examine it. I fully support granting this token of help to others. Understand a 4 year college degree in a state college exceeds 100K. That should not be.”
- “It’s true Jesus paid a debt for all our sins. This move by the administration is illegal…If someone can’t pay back a loan who already makes 125 K, it is because they are irresponsible in many ways. It wouldn’t surprise me some of these people are still living at home with parents rent free. I have seen so many struggling seniors who worked hard all their lives and paid their “financial” debts, who live in poverty.”
- When I went to college many years ago, my parents were not financially able to support me, so I took out loans that I gradually repaid over the years. I didn't mind doing that nor regreted the cost of my education.
- Now I'm reading about how many people are upset over the college debt elimination or debt reduction. I tell you I never made a decision in my career that someone didn't disagree, even when I felt justified by the decision. Case in point now: because some aren't getting a reduction or elimination in their college loans they are upset. It doesn't matter that someone who is more financially hard off is. It's about "me." Well, I'm sure it isn't financially feasbile to do a complete elimination of all loans. Wow, the cost of that! I'm just happy that some will get some relief.
- “No one paid for my college but me. I went to a county college because I couldn’t afford the ‘better’ schools. I was ridiculed because I went to county college…I got a job and worked my but off to pay off my debt.”
There’s much to read about every aspect of Student Loan Debt Reduction. Someone wisely wrote:“The question of whether to forgive student debt isn’t simple, and doing so won’t be a silver-bullet solution to all of the institutional discrimination endemic to higher education. However, the assumption that hard work and a college degree are all that’s needed to be financially successful ignores the reality that some students will unfairly face a greater burden than others.”
Each person had important thoughts to add to the mix. Did you know we Methodists are taught to examine hot topics by using what we call the Wesleyan Quadrilateral–four aspects we address through the lenses of Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
No one of us has the “correct” response to this student loan forgiveness issue, but every one of us is called to carefully evaluate, set aside partisan politics, and ask if this qualifies as a faithful response to sharing the burden of others? And how in our past experience have we ourselves benefitted by others who have helped us bear our own burdens? Have your grandparents or parents passed wealth down to you, helped pay for your education, gave you the downpayment for a car or a home? Many persons have not had that privilege. Including many of us, who worked hard for what we have.
Finally, the Wesleyan Quadrilateral asks how scripture informs us in the maelstroms of all hot topic issues like LBGTQ+, like Women’s Reproductive Health Care, war, capital punishment, student loan debt forgiveness, and the list goes on. There are no easy answers. Each of us is called upon to prayerfully and with kindness respond as we deem fit. I will end with two scripture touchstones for today’s reading that we would all do well to obey:
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ…. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all and especially for those of the family of faith.
Let us pray: Gracious God, how easy it is to forget how often you have helped us with our heavy burdens. How almost without our awareness, doors were opened, grey skies were filled with rainbows, unbearable situations were made bearable as you walked with us, your rod and your staff comforting us. Let us be your beloved children as we willingly and joyfully bear burdens for others to help the family of faith. Amen.
WEEK FIVE: THE FRUIT OF GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT:
Patience, Endurance in Love
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
Sunday, August 21, 2022
TEXT: James 5: 7-11
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9 Brothers and sisters, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Indeed, we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about, for the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
The fruit of God’s Holy Spirit that we will be examining today is patience, a marvelous blessing we would do well to hold out both of our hands and open our hearts to receive. Someone has written "Patience among the virtues is like the pearl among the gems. By its quiet radiance it brightens every human grace and adorns every Christian excellence."
In Jesus the fruit of perfection reached it’s finest manifestation! Although he had many trials and tribulations to endure because he lead a life right in the center of human day to day life, He was Emmanuel, God With Us. He understood and loved all even those who were persecuting him and denying him.
It is amazing how perfect his patience was despite, as scripture relays, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Jesus was God’s gift of love to all–but many rejected this gift. But Jesus never failed in his loving patience no matter what. Even as he was being executed on a cross, he was patient with those who were torturing and killing him. “Father, forgive them.” Always blessing others with his patient love, not once did he refuse to be patient, with those who may not have fully understood that the Son of God was in their midst.
His patience was also an organizing principle for teaching and relating to his own disciples. Patience he was called to draw upon time after time. When they asked questions like: “How can this be?” “Where will we get enough food to feed this crowd?” “No, we don’t know where you are going.” “Can I sit on your right hand when we get to heaven?” “If you came when I called, my brother wouldn’t have died.” “Which one of us is the best of all?” The patience of our Lord was sorely tried throughout his entire life even by his dearest friends.
We also witness Jesus’ patience as he dealt with the persons who followed him. Asking him all sorts of questions: “How can we be born again?” “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Don’t even the dogs lick the crumbs under the master’s table, can’t we Samaritans have your love too?” To all their questions he responded with thoughtfulness, truth, and love.” He gave of his infinite patience to each. As Holocaust survivor and writer, Eli Weisel said: “Everything becomes possible by the mere presence of someone who knows how to listen, to love and to give of themselves.”
Jesus’ patience with his followers made things happen that changed hearts and lives. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit that we all need. When we moved here to north Jersey one of the first things I noticed was how prevalent impatience was. It was especially noticeable while driving. Wait one millisecond after a light turns green and horns begin to blow. Anywhere there is even the slightest wait, there are eruptions of anger and meanness. Soon after coming here I was driving up the parking garage ramp at the John Theurer Cancer Center. The car in front of me was going very slowly looking for a spot to park. Well, the car behind me wasn’t too happy with that and began angrily blowing their horn. The worst part was the car in front thought it was me and gave me the one finger salute.
When I think about our struggles with patience, I believe that hurriedness may just very well be the prime enemy of patience. Hurriedness is the weed that chokes out the growth of the fruit of patience in our hearts and lives. We are all in such a hurry. We don’t want to wait–for our turn at the store; to wait for the light to change; to wait patiently at the slowness of someone we are caring for; to wait to hear out a disagreeable family member or friend; to wait for our own kind words to share when angry ones pop out faster.
Patience can’t be hurried. It requires that we slow down, and pay attention all around us. That we truly listen to others, pay attention, gently navigate situations that might not always go as we had hoped, that we constantly give others the benefit of the doubt, and that we stop equating busyness with importance.
Jesus was patient with everyone, and we are called to imitate Him. If we are impatient with anyone or in any situation, we miss the chance to be the goodness of God to that person or in that situation because our actions and our loving words, can turn a bad situation into an avenue of hope and kindness.
Finally, we especially need the fruit of patience when dealing with trials in our own lives. To be able to bear with illness, to bear with with difficult people, to bear with turns of events or difficulties patiently, to know that God is with us, that God is watching over us, to know as the hymn goes “tho’ the wrong is oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” We need this fruit of God’s Holy Spirit to meet the trials of life.
The take away today is to weed out hurriedness from your life and replace it by growing patience. I’ll repeat the quote I shared earlier as I close: "Patience among the virtues is like the pearl among the gems. By its quiet radiance it brightens every human grace and adorns every Christian excellence."
Let us pray:
Gracious God, How difficult it is to slow down our lives so that we might patiently approach life with intention and caring. Please help us become the bearers of the Holy Spirit’s fruit of patience and harvest it daily in our lives. Amen.
LOVE EVERYONE, ALWAYS
Rev. Vivian Rodeffer
July 3, 2022
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8a
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
Today we continue the sermon series Growing the Fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. The fruit we are looking at today is “love.” Scripture has a lot to say about the priority of this holy fruit. St.Paul wrote in this morning’s scripture passage “the greatest [of all the fruit] is love.” When Paul lists the fruits elsewhere, love is at the top of the list, the most important! When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, he answered LOVE. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Gospel writer John lends a warning: if you say you love God and don’t love your neighbor, you are a liar.
OK. So where do we begin? How do we prepare ourselves to grow love? What inner weeds get in the way? What seeds must we sow? We use that word “love” all the time. I love ice cream. I love my family. I love to travel. So on and so forth. This is not the kind of love we are talking about today. This is a different, deeper rooted in our very own souls, kind of fruit.
Scripture reminds us first and foremost that we are created in God’s image. Every one of us. But it is not about being king of the universe, or powerful, or ruing over or judging others. To be made in the image of God is to be the beloved children of our heavenly parent. To be partners with God who loves all people without exception.
What weeds do we need to pull to grow a love that honors God’s intention for us as made in God’s image? Old Testament Scholar Dr. Walter Bruegemann warns that we need to pull up the weeds of worshipping ourselves. Because when we ut ourselves in the center of our universe, people around us become objects to be used, or labeled, or treated as less than.
This wrong love is all about our personal comfort and plans. There is little concern how this affects the others around us. I’ll give you an example from my lfe. One of am ashamed of until this very day. Many years ago before I became a minister, the non-profit agency I worked for sent me to Syracuse to a seminar about how to better serve the handicapped in our agency programs. It just so happened that another participant who lived in Philadelphia and did not drive needed a ride and contacted me. From our phone conversation I learned that she was other abled most likely with cerebral palsy.
But rather than offer to pick her up because I wasn’t feeling like taking the time from my busy schedule and with no real thought of how this would impact her…I told her that she needed to meet me at the Trenton train station and I would drive from there.
The day arrived and I went to the train station to pick her up At this station you still had to step down from the train onto the platform. The door opened, many people got off and then I saw her. A conductor and another person were helping her slowly down the steps. Another person carried her suitcase. She was perhaps the most disabled person I had ever seen traveling by herself. And I had told her to take the train. I was too busy to pick her up in front of her apartment building. I had subjected her to this ordeal of who knew how long it took her and how early she had to leave to take the train, and how uncomfortable and worrisome it could have been for her. I was stricken with shame. I had only loved me and my comfort. I had totally ignored the love for my neighbor.
God created us to be the reflection of God’s heart here on earth. We cannot love self first as I had done and share that glorious light. To plant and grow the fruit of love is learning to see and to respond to everyone around us…no matter who they are or how they act. You cannot love self first.
Some other gardening advice for growing the fruit of love is practicing and knowing in advance how you will respond to anyone no matter how they act. No matter how they treat you. I’m going to repeat this–respond to everyone, without exception, from the heart that God has placed in you. Because when we respond in this manner–sometimes very difficult to do–it is a recognition that we see in them this very same image of God that we carry within ourselves.
William Sloane Coffin, retired pastor, NYC’s famed Riverside Church, Chaplain at Yale’s Divinity School, WW II infantryman liaison with French and Russian armies has some great advice in his book The Courage to Love. He instructs about love using The Lord’s Prayer. You’ll notice, he writess, it is OUR Father not MY Father. And why is that? He says: “Because ‘our’ includes that horrible divorced husband, that wayward chid, it includes muggers, rapists, [wartime enemies], all the people who jam thorns into our flesh.” [The Courage to Love, W.S.Coffin, p.25]
Growing the fruit of love isn’t easy but it is what we are called to do. I encourage you to work on this during the week to come, to practice seeing in everyone you come in contact with, everyone, the image of the divine, and most of all become a person who responds always in love and not a person who reacts to others out of an emotionality of offence, dislike, anger or fear. That’s your assignment! Let me know how it goes.
Let’s close in prayer.
Gracious and Loving God, thank you for creating us in your image, for calling upon us to share your love with others and in doing so remind them and us that you are God and it is our partnership with You that determines our holy place on this earth. Help us with the task of growing this kind of awesome love. Amen.
Week 1: GROWING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
READY TO GROW
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
Sunday, June 26, 2022
Colossians 3: 1-15
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Today’s message begins a series of messages for summer on how we can grow the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives and in the church so that we might restore growth and vitalness in our faith community. Having been a gardener for many years, I’ve been taught and learned many lessons from other gardeners which I’d lie to share with you. Here are some things to get our gardens and our hearts ready to plant.
First of all you need inspiration. My personal inspiration for my love of gardening was my grandfather Owen Freeman. It is his hoe that you see in the altar display this morning. He gave me that nearly fifty years ago. As a child, I loved to walk through his garden patch and see the loving care he bestowed upon everything. Every summer evening after dinner he weeded and harvested veggies under the setting sun and the twinkling lightning bugs. His fresh tomatoes and corn were like food for the gods.
Faith is exactly the same. We need someone or something that inspires us, breathes into us– as the word inspire suggests–breathse into us a desire to follow, to find out more, to fall in love with the faith. If we were to go around the congregation this morning I bet that everyone of you can tell me who inspired your faith as a child. Who instilled in you that prayers and service and generosity were inspirations for your young ears. Every community of faith had those men and women who were discussed years after their passing. She would give you the coat off her back. He was there at every event to help, to clean up, to carry heavy things. She taught Sunday School her entire life. He was the song leader. She was the women’s circle president. They gave all the bibles to the children. And so on and so forth.
Miss Annie Orr was that woman in the church I grew up in. She had been dead and gone at least twenty years before I was even born but tales of Miss Annie Orr helped her live on for generations. She had been the emotional and spiritual center of her church and her community. All were touched by her life. When she died, as they dug her grave, they came upon the stone foundations of the very first Presbyterian meeting house from the 1600’s. Proof to all of us that she too was a foundation of our church. Inspiration. It’s a must!
Not only does preparing for growth involve inspiration, it involves teaching as well. The person who taught me the hard knocks school of gardening was Jim Todd. He was the caretaker of the gentleman’s farm Robb and I lived on shortly after we were married. Jim gave me a quarter acre to make my own garden. Needless to say, my gardening ambitions were far beyond my gardening knowledge. I remember toward the end of that summer there were so many weeds that I mowed between the rows to get to the plants. That was an important lesson for me. I loved how Jim taught me, he allowed me to experiment and make mistakes and to learn from that! That’s a good teacher.
Jesus was precisely that kind of teacher too! He would ask people questions. Do you want to be healed? Do you? Do you want to leave all behind and follow me? Do you you really want to drink the cup that I drink? Who do you say I am? Do you believe? Why are you so afraid?
We have each had Sunday School teachers, Vacation Bible School Teachers, Youth Group Leaders, Choir Directors, Pastors, Confirmation Sponsors. Women and men who took their pledge seriously to “do all in your power to increase [our] faith, confirm [our] hope, and perfect [us] in love” from the baptism vows. As we prepare and get ready to plant the seeds of God’s Spirit, we must have teachers. People who have gone ahead of us preparing the way for God’s seed to be planted in our hearts.
A final “getting ready” this morning involves choosing a location and committing to a garden or flower bed in that spot. Every parsonage we are sent to, I search for the spots–be they large or small–where I can locate a garden. If I’m lucky someone has previously found the perfect spot and has left it for me to find as well.
For us here at our church we are in the process of beginning a new, a post pandemic, a very different garden than what we had traditionally in the past. We will be looking for a new gardening plot, a new inspiration as we search how we can be a vital part of the communities surrounding the church. How our own younger families living in a very different culture that the one we grew up in can grow with us. I can guarantee that we will fail at some efforts. What used to work may not work at all any more for our location and circumstances but we need not be upset by that. And we will be needing to ask a lot of questions that may not have easy or apparent answers. But that’s OK.
And we may even be asking various conference resource teachers and coaches to help us out as we learn some new ways to become a vital congregation once again with children, youth and young families in our outreach and hopefully eventually in our midst as well.
This year as we begin getting ready, preparing to grow our fellowship once more, I invite you to join with me, bring your spiritual hoes, shovels, rakes and watering cans as we prepare the soil of our church for growing the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. Let’s explore this further these coming weeks.
Let us pray:
Gracious God, Inch by inch, row by row, gonna see this garden grow. And it will grow by the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Lord, send us people to inspire, to teach, to help us plant the seeds of faith that will grow here in our church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
A Tribute to Fathers
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
June 19, 2022
TEXT: Matthew 7: 8-11
8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? 10 Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? 11 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
On this Father’s Day we’ll take the opportunity to think about fathers and about the ways our earthly fathers interact with us and can teach us many important and vital lessons. And as we do so we’ll see how those very same lessons are echoes of our Heavenly Father’s nature as well.
Today’s lessons are the result of online searching about some agreed upon top fatherly characteristics. As we examine them, every one of the important characteristics of a good father has a faith lesson tucked in there as well. As we proceed through the list, I invite you to think about fathers you know, your own father, and also if you happen to be a father or grandfather, how you compare with this list of godly traits. As we proceed feel free to fill in the “complete the blanks” a the bottom of your bulletin.
Trait Number One: a good father is a disciplinarian. A good father loves his children but doesn’t let them misbehave. He strongly disapproves of his children’s misdeeds and uses the power of well chosen words to correct his children not harm them. St. Paul warns: “Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” [Ephesians 5:4]
Throughout the Bible we see God calling his people to obedience and holding them accountable for their actions and deeds or lack thereof. All of the prophets reminded the people of God of their shortcomings and the resultant removal of divine favor that would occur as a result of poor choices and disobedience.
None of the Israelites who escaped from Egypt with Moses were permitted to enter the promised land because of their many acts of disobedience on the journey. Only those born during the forty year sojourn in the wilderness were allowed to enter. Even Moses himself could not enter the promised land but only gaze at it from a distance. A good father is a disciplinarian. We learn from our fathers that our actions have consequences.
Trait two: a good father understands that his children will make some mistakes because that is part of growing up but allows them necessary freedom. Young people often are found wasting money on frivolous things; partying; getting into minor car accidents; dating folks their parents don’t approve of; you name it. A good father makes it clear that irresponsibility won’t be tolerated. He wants his children to be the best they can be so they grow up into responsible adults. However, that does mean giving them some liberty to resolve situations on their own or with some help from him.
Central to our faith as Christians is realizing that even after we give our lives to Christ, we still have the freedom to make our own decisions. And there will be many times in our lives when we wish a decision would be easier to make or that God might tell us exactly what to do. It is not always so clear cut but we have guidelines to base those decisions upon. A good father allows and knows his children will make some mistakes. When we repent of our mistakes, God is forgiving and removes our sin from us as far as east is from west.
Trait Three: a good father exhibits open-mindedness. A good father knows that times are different today than when he was a child. Many things have changed. He recognizes that his children live in this day and age. One of the most remarkable things I’ve discovered is that the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ are truly timeless. The admonition to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself holds up as well in 100 AD as in 2022 AD. As always, Jesus calls us to apply the touchstones of our faith to any modern situation we encounter–is it loving, does it respect people, does it model a lifestyle that points to God, does it bear witness to God’s love for the world, does it promote justice for all people? If you can answer “yes” to these questions, you have embraced the changes that come with our modern world.
Trait Four: a good father teaches his children to appreciate things. To not take anything for granted! The meals on the table, education, clean water to drink, a place to live, an education. A good father is not a human ATM. He teaches his children the value of money and the value of earning it themselves.
A basic tenant of our faith is that everything we have is a gift, a blessing from God and we are merely stewards or keepers of what we have in trust for God. If you are a generous adult, most likely you had generous parents! God our father is the most generous giver of all. “For God so loved the world he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.” [John 3: 16]
Trait Five: a good father spends quality time with his children. He takes time to go to their school activities and sports, he makes time to help with their homework, he is always available to listen. Likewise, our Heavenly Father never slumbers or sleeps but watches over us 24/7. We can fly to the farthest country, descend into the ocean depths, walk on the surface of the moon, and never be beyond God’s love and care. God is always nearby and involved in the daily events of our lives no matter where we are or what we are doing. God cares about us.
Trait Six: a good father leads by example. He lives out the values he wishes is children to follow. Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself and gave up all his heavenly rights as the son of God to come to be with us, to live among us, to suffer and die on the cross and finally to rise again from the dead so that we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. He showed us how to live in a self-sacrificial way as servant leaders, willing even to kneel and wash the feet of his friends as he did at the last supper.
Trait Seven: a good father challenges his children.
The challenge around the house could be helping with a task like taking out the trash, caring for a pet or mowing the lawn. Our challenge as Christians is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in Christ’s name.” Pretty clear marching orders! A wonderful challenge for Christians for the past two thousand years. A father challenges his children. Our Heavenly Father challenges us to deeper discipleship.
The final trait, Number Eight: a good father shows unconditional love. A good father loves his children no matter what even if they have not attained what he has wished for them or have disappointed him in some other way. There is a special word for God’s unfailing, steadfast love for us throughout the Bible.. That word is hesed or steadfastness. It is an unconditional love that never lets us go; it is a love that surrounds us from cradle to grave and beyond; it is a love that restores us to the image in which we were created as children of God. We love because God first loved us.
As we end this morning, think about the traits that good earthly fathers embody: discipline, understanding, open-mindedness, appreciation of all things, spending quality time with their children, challenging them, loving them unconditionally! And while our earthly fathers may not measure upor fail or fall way short of these traits, our Heavenly Father is perfect and never lets us down.
This is the good news of today’s message. Even when our earthly fathers are wonderful, God who is perfect is even more wonderful. God has in store for every one of us a future with purpose and meaning, and forgiveness and healing for the times we have fallen short of our Heavenly Parent’s teachings. Let us pray.
Our Father, who art in heaven,we love and adore you. We thank you that every father here this morning can come to you for guidance and strength as he parents his own children and grandchildren. Lord, strengthen and guide fathers in your ways, make them wise and understanding, challenging, comforting, and loving throughout their lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
STANDING IN GOD’S GRACE
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
June 12, 2022
TEXT: Romans 5: 1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Today’s scripture is one of St. Paul’s most beautiful passages because it speaks to all the possibilities of standing in God’s grace. One comentator wrote: “[Paul] almost sings the intimate joy of his confidence in God.” [The Gospel of John, William Barclay, p. 84] When we think about this passage, truly stop and consider the promises therein, our hearts will be moved.
If you’ve ever found yourself standing on the wrong thing, you know how dangerous that can be. Standing on a dining room chair to change a light bulb instead of getting out the stepladder. Standing on a wet rock over looking crashing waves at Thunder Hole in Acadia in order to take a good selfie. Standing on an icy surface trying to get up your driveway. You know what I mean.
Today’s scripture promises that the only thing worth standing on is God’s grace. St. Paul hits the nail on the head when he highlights the benefits that “standing in God’s grace” makes possible. First of which is that we can “boast” of our afflictions because they lead to endurance. “Afflictions” can cover a multitude of things in our lives. Difficult situations, sad times, being unpopular, bullied, lonely or even persecuted.
This past Wednesday Caldwell held a ceremony dedicating the Pride Flag that the town now flies. A flag that signifies our town is open and welcoming to LGBTQ+ persons. Rabbi Ari Lucas and I both spoke. Another speaker at the ceremony was a young woman who grew up and attended school here as a child. She shared how she and fellow gay students were prevented from having a club for themselves and their allies. No amount of persuasion and visits to the school board could bring about a welcoming club for them at their school. In fact, they were ridiculed and laughed at.
We now know that this very type of nonacceptance by parents and other adults or by other students bullying actions result in the fact that LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to consider, plan and attempt suicide versus their peers. One LGBTQ+ youth attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the United States. [www.thetrevorproject.org] How thankful we can be that our congregation accepts persons of all genders and backgrounds for all are beloved children of God.
Another thing St. Paul would have us remember is that our afflictions can produce endurance. This endurance or fortitude is “the spirit that can overcome the world” and that “overcomes the trials and tribulations of life.” [The Gospel of John, William Barclay, p. 86]
And then Paul takes it further, this endurance can produce character. The Greek word for character here is dokine and it describes a metal that has been passed through a fire and all impurities melted out.
Afflictions can produce endurance and endurance produces character and finally Paul says that character produces hope! A chain reaction made in heaven! How do we obtain this hope? Paul writes that it is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. On this Trinity Sunday it is important to note that in these five short verses, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all three, the Trinity, figure prominently.
The take away today quite simply is to be careful where you stand. Your accomplishments, your successes, your privileges mean nothing unless you are standing in God’s grace, maturing and developing as a child of God through every episode of your life from nursery school, through high school, through middle age and beyond.
When we stand in God’s grace we have firm footing and God supports us and accompanies us no matter where our paths may lead us. We need never be afraid or anxious because our hope is based in the grace of God. Let us pray.
Gracious God, how good You are. How loving our Lord Jesus is. How our hearts have been filled with Your glory by the Holy Spirit. Some things are too marvelous for our minds to wrap around. But help us keep our spiritual balance as we stand in Your grace! Amen.