NOTICE TO ON-DEMAND WORSHIPPERS
In order to expedite posting the worship services here on our website, we are reducing the transcript to just the scriptures used and the message. Union Grove UMC in partnership with Southland Books & Cafe, began holding Second Sunday Community Church in January 2023. Second Sunday Community Church takes place at 3 p.m. ET the second Sunday of every month, meets in-person at The Bird & The Book, and is also live-streamed on Facebook. Holy Communion is offered at every Second Sunday service. If you are worshipping on Second Sundays online whether during the live-cast or through on-demand viewing, you are encouraged to have bread and juice or wine available as you watch the service and to participate in communion just as if you are present with us.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
God, open us to hear and receive your scriptures today as you would have us hear them, understand them as you would have us understand them, and to act upon them as you would have us act upon them.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
*Scriptures this morning are from the NRSV.
The scriptures for today are embedded in the message.
Message – Fullness of Joy*
Rev. Val
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer, and may you see fit to use me as a vessel from which you pour out your Divine Word.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
The Author of Acts in 2:14a, 22-32 wrote, “But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them,:
“You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law.
But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne.
Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.’
This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”
In that passage, having encountered the risen Christ, Peter speaks of hope to all within hearing. In 1 Peter 1:3-9, Peter speaks again of hope … a living hope … hope that even those who have not seen can hold:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith–being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”
In the “Preaching Notes” for today on Discipleship Ministries, Rev. Dr. Derek Weber wrote, “First Peter is not a letter we read all that often. It’s just tucked away back there toward the end of the New Testament as though it was embarrassed to be included. “I’ll just sit back here, out of the way, so as not to bother anyone,” it says. “Call me if you need me. But I hope you won’t. Really.” And why so shy? Besides the fact that Peter had been through the wringer and was probably a little skittish.
Well, this letter isn’t really for us. I mean it is, of course, all of scripture is God-breathed and useful for building up. This letter was written when the church was under constant threat; when the benediction was spoken in a whisper because everyone knew when they gathered again someone likely would be missing, caught up in the cleansing, deportations, and imprisonment. They were afraid of their neighbors. They were afraid people might discover that they practiced a minority religion, a suspect faith. They worried that neighbors might turn them in to the increasingly vigilant authorities who were out to make the nation safe. They were looked at with suspicion as they passed their neighbors on the street. They didn’t feel safe in their own hometowns, their own places of work. They were, in fact, model citizens. They did jobs no one else would do. Christians were often the only ones who cared for the dead, who would treat the body as though it was something precious and give it a decent burial. They believed that life was bigger than what we could see with our eyes. But others thought that was just odd. And icky. And scary.
Questions began to be raised in the communities of faith. Should we go underground? Should we hide? Blend in, act like them? Would it be safer to pretend we aren’t saved by grace through faith? Should we act as though we weren’t asked to pray for our enemies and pray for those who persecute us because it’s risky and darned hard? The question was, “Should our faith move inside: inside our heads, inside our hearts”” Should it be a personal faith that keeps us safe and warm where it really matters in the imaginations of our inner life?
This was the question Peter set out to answer in this letter. OK, let’s be aware that there are some who don’t think this letter was actually written by Peter. “The timing is wrong,” they say; “the vocabulary doesn’t sound like a Galilean fisherman. Besides, his name was Simon, not Peter.” OK, I get that. And they’re probably right. But doesn’t it sound like something Peter would do? If he didn’t write it, then maybe he said it, and later someone wrote it down and put his name on it. If he did write it, I’m sure he did it without a sense of irony.”
Questions today may not be all that different from those Dr. Weber raises, especially for those in marginalized communities who believe in God, in Jesus, but are feeling themselves rejected by the very vocal group declaring itself to be “Christian,” … the group that much of the rest of the church labels, “American Christianity.”
As if channeling the Temple leaders of old, this very vocal group is reverting to the legalism of the Old Testament to justify policies that are removing entire groups of God’s children from curriculum at all levels, are legalizing the ability of healthcare providers and civil servants to discriminate based on their personal ideologies, and are doing their best to criminalize everything from being homeless to being LGBTQ or Trans or even the parent of someone who is Trans while empowering themselves to kidnap children, defund public libraries, and restrict not only the rights of women to have autonomy over their own bodies but to travel freely here in the US.
Like the early Christians felt the need to hide and even flee from the persecution of Rome, these harmful actions by that very vocal group are literally creating domestic refugees who have to flee a growing number of states to get someplace safe where they can legally exist.
In God In Search of a Man, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, ““It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion–its message becomes meaningless.”
And religion is declining. More and more people are looking at what is presented as “American Christianity” today, and marching toward the nearest exit.
And, frankly, rightfully so. The trinity of “American Christianity” doesn’t seem to include God, Christ, and the Spirit … at least not God, Christ, and the Spirit as I know them and, I hope, as you’ve come to know them through me.
Sadly, if you’re paying attention, that very vocal group that has a seemingly vice-like grip on the microphone and that has skillfully, cagily, and stealthily inserted the Temple it deems itself into our school and library boards, city councils, county commissions, and state and federal governments never justifies the harmful actions it takes in the name of Christ. They never mention Jesus or if they do, they twist Jesus out of context to suit their agenda of power and control to such a degree Jesus is becoming hard to recognize or worse, are beginning to suggest a substitute Jesus in the form of a man who is the opposite of everything that Jesus was and is.
So what do we do? Do we wait to see if, at some point we too become one of the groups they cast out by declaring us heretics because we reject their unholy trinity? Will we too find ourselves domestic refugees, fleeing to safer places?
Let me remind you that a Christian is someone who follows the already risen Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. Not any substitutes. Simply Jesus, and that no one goes to the Father but by him. Can any “Christian” religion that does not follow the already risen Christ truly be called a “Christian religion” or “Christianity?
I don’t think it can and I pray God forgives those who have co-opted “Christianity” for something else, but I understand why more and more want to distance themselves from the “American Christianity” of these times.
But, as Chris Kratzer suggests, “Perhaps the real test of Christianity is learning to live beyond it. To love without any other reason but love itself. To refuse hate when given religious opportunity to justify it. To see the Divine where others seek to remove it. To see past words on pages and embrace Her mind within. To travel one’s own spiritual journey instead of tracing the steps of others. To see Jesus as a springboard towards the Divine instead of a savior rescuing us from Wrath. To use all that is spiritual to serve and sustain others instead of self. For Jesus never meant to be worshipped nor God adorned. Only to be lived anew.”
When Peter wrote the letter we know as 1st Peter, he was older, wiser, and I’m not sure his message to us today would be much different than it was in that letter we call 1st Peter. Dr. Weber and I seem to be on the same page as he concludes today’s preaching notes with, “If the question “should we hide” is the one being addressed, who better than Peter to answer it? Peter, who professed his loyalty to his Lord with moral conviction and then ran like a scared bunny when things got heated. Peter, who claimed his steadfastness with loud protests and then claimed to not know who they were talking about when someone asked him about this Jesus. Of course, Peter would answer this question. He’s been there. He understands the pull to save one’s own skin. He has a grasp on reality; he knows what will work and what won’t. He’s as pragmatic as they come. So, who better? What do you say, Peter? Stay safe? By no means.
We’d need to study the whole letter to get all the answer, but we can catch a glimpse of Peter’s spirit even in these opening verses. A new birth, that’s our gift. A new life not based on our merits, not earned by the sweat of our brows, but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And now that gift is ours. And nothing can diminish it. Nothing can snatch it out of our grasp. But it is ours. As sure as the air we breathe. As sure as the light we see. As sure as the hope in our hearts. It is ours, this gift of life. This way of seeing ourselves and all of creation around us. It is ours.
There is only one response to that. Only one. Rejoice. Psalm 16 tells us the same thing, that in God there is joy. That joy is found in obedience, in finding our place in the kin-dom, in following the counsel, in living into the instruction. All this is about living joy day by day, trusting in the constant presence of God and the blessings of fullness that we find in relationship with the creator. “Therefore, my heart is glad and my soul rejoices.”
Yes, of course, rejoice. And there are times when I can rejoice. Times when things are going well, and I can contemplate the fullness of the promise of eternity. Then, yes, I can look inward and rejoice; feel good about what has been given, content. Satisfied. “Uh, no,” says Peter, grinning in his beard. “You rejoice, even if now for a little while you suffer.” Wait, what? Rejoice while suffering? That doesn’t compute. “I know, right?” says Peter. “But yeah, it really does. Here’s the thing, you’re alive.” I know, and I’d like to stay that way. “No, alive. Not just living. You’re alive, which means that anything that happens is just a moment in eternity. Just a blip on the screen. So, all those things that terrify you don’t mean anything. They can’t diminish you; they can’t break you. You’re alive. I didn’t get that then. I get it now. All there is is love.”
Peter laughs at his own thoughts. “Sounds like a pop song, doesn’t it? But it’s the truth. The deep truth. Love that starts with him, the one I turned my back on, but who never turned his back on me. Love of him who loves so deeply it shakes you to the core. Love so profound we are remade. Made alive. Call it salvation; that’s the only word that fits. We are being saved by his love; saved to love as he loves. Saved to live as he lived. Does that sound like a party or what?”
His teeth gleam through that tangle of a beard, weathered face wrinkling around his eyes as he reaches out with those big fisherman hands to slap you on the back. “Welcome to the party,” he shouts a little too loudly. “Rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” Amen, Peter, amen.”
We should instinctively work to follow Jesus. We should be aware of the risks. Jesus warned us about them and we must keep our faith as pure as possible. But … if we want to follow Jesus, we must be willing to take them and to do the work required personally and collectively. In the words of Brian Zahnd, “If you sense that God is good, God is beauty, God is love, and most of all, that God is like Jesus, stick with these instincts and your theology will not go far astray from the truth.”
Let’s pray:
Risen Lord Jesus, what is it that keeps us from recognizing you? When we are so full of ourselves, it is all too easy to block you right out of our lives.
Maybe it’s the way we interpret Scripture
that obscures the signs pointing to you. Perhaps we are guilty of being slow of heart when we don’t recognize you in our neighbor, or in the guise of the poor or the dispossessed.
Our eyes and ears have become so crammed with the sights and sounds of living that we simply fail to see you or to recognize your voice.
Risen Lord Jesus, help us to empty ourselves of all that hinders our awareness of your presence with us. Fill us with the joy of knowing your continuing presence, so that, like the disciples who first encountered the Resurrected Christ, we too might hasten to share this great good news with others.
Amen.
We know that we were ransomed from futile ways …with the precious blood of Christ… and have been born anew through the living and enduring word of God.
In this we recognize God’s great love for the world revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus… who came into the world not to condemn it but to save it. Those who believe in him are not condemned.
Thanks be to God!
Credits:
- Unless listed below, all works cited within the text above.
- *Adapted in full from “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Preaching Notes, Discipleship Ministries Worship Planning Series, December 31, 2023.
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