Sermon + No They're Yours

 This is my sermon outline, video from my February 7 sermon on Exodus 32, the story of when both God and Moses wanted to disavow the people of Israel for making the Golden Calf. It addressed some issues the Covenant Lutheran OKC Churches are dealing with. 

Pastor Brian's Church at Home sermon

Grace, peace, & mercy to you from our God, our Creator, our Christ, & our Counselor. AMEN.

 

·  I try to plan ahead, and add little flourishes here and there in what I do.

o  I hoped this sermon series on the Exodus, on the people of Israel moving from slavery to the Promised Land illuminates our work of becoming One Church Together.

o  As a part of that, I changed the banner in the Clicks from “We Are One Church Together” to ask the question, “Are We One Church Together?”

§  I meant that as a challenge, Are We One Church Together?

§  But now I seriously ask the question, Can We Be One Church Together?

·  At annual meetings, you were asked questions about coming together to join in worship.

o  The good news is the answers you gave were aligned together.

§  You want to start as soon as possible. You want to have a blended service, one that highlights and features different aspects and musical traditions of each church.

§  There was disagreement as to where to have services, but given only one church is currently having services, I understand the results.

o  There are some, some leaders of the churches, who want the consolidation or blending process to move along very quickly and to be done by the end of the year.

§  If not, some aren’t willing to continue, either working on becoming one church together or to be a part of any of the churches.

§  I’ve been told that this work dragged on, and has been going on for seven years.

·  That is not true. You began discussing WORKING together for seven years.

o  Bishop Mike suggested the 3 churches work together to be able to call a pastor seven years ago.

o  Discussions on actually combining began in the Summer of 2019. Our work is less than 2 years old. I’m sure about that, because I raised the subject.

§  At the same time, some members are still processing the possibility of their church building being sold or changed.

·  They think events are moving too quickly. They feel threatened and rushed.

o  They feel they may need to leave their church because it isn’t their’s anymore.

o  It reminds me of the depictions of the Exodus from movies like “The Ten Commandments.”

§  We are a caravan, moving through the wilderness.

·  Some at the front are upset that we are not moving faster.

·  Some who are at the back of the line are struggling to keep up with the progress.

·  Both are upset at the speed or lack of progress and will to quit if they don’t get their way.

o  I realized my last two messages fell on deaf ears.

§  Some of you have a death grip on the musty, moldy, maggoty manna of your church because it is yours. And while clinging onto that, you call other churches inflexible.

§  Some of you have taken the image of the bird from the idea of Sankofa and believe you need to keep your face turned from the future to protect your past.

§  I’ve been told people feel members from other churches hate them.

·  As I’ve been praying about what I can do, then parables of Luke 15 came to me.

o  Jesus described the shepherd and the woman going out to seek out the lost.

§  But as for the rebellious, prodigal son, who left on his own, the father waited to see if he would come back, and welcomed him when he did.

·  My initial plan for this lesson was to focus on how both Moses and God wanted to disavow Israel for making the Golden Calf, to disavow them like the self-destructing tape from Mission Impossible. But there is a more important lesson we all need to hear.

o  The challenge of what we are trying to do, bringing the people, the history, the heritage and the mission of Ascension, Redeemer and St. Mark to be One Church Together is daunting. Many attempts to merge and consolidate churches do not succeed.

§  That we are trying to do it in the midst of a health crisis, an economic crisis, and a political crisis is even more daunting.

§  This has been exhausting for everyone.

·  We are all physically, emotionally, and mentally drained.

·  Peoples nerves are on the edge.

§  The line of people in our caravan moving forward is moving at different speeds.

·  We need to keep our group together.

·  Those at the end need to be brought along.

·  Those at the front who want to speed on need must let others catch up.

o  How can we be One Church Together if we can’t be and work Together?

§  I am concerned our efforts may break apart because becoming One Church Together is not happening on the time schedule, fast or slow, that people want it to happen.

§  What if it happens, not on your schedule, or your schedule, or my schedule,

but in God’s own time?

o  I am afraid our caravan of the Covenant churches is in danger of breaking.

§  I hope and pray I am wrong.

§  And I think I am.

 

·  And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people. [a]

o  When Adam and Eve disobeyed the ONE rule they had in the Garden of Eden, God didn’t destroy them or kill them, but sent them from the Garden with a new set of clothes.

o  When God’s chosen progenitor, Abraham, continued to disobey and disregard the promises God had made, God continued to keep up God’s end of the promise.

o  But when the people of Israel disobey one of the first commandments they are given, they are on the verge of learning what it means that our God is a jealous God.

§  But now, God changed God’s mind.

§  God realized and remembered that human beings aren’t going to act the way God wants from us, and so God shows us love, grace, forgiveness and mercy.

·  Is it too much to ask that we also realize and remember that other human beings aren’t going to act the way we want them to, and so we should show them the love, grace, forgiveness and mercy that God gives to us?

§  If God can show restraint when God’s wrath burns hot, can we be understanding that not everyone is on the same page that you are in this process?

§  Is it possible that we can show the forgiveness and grace God showed to Israel to ourselves and others?

§  Is it possible that we can embody the CHURCH to one another, so we can work at coming Together?

·  In God’s name, I pray that it will be so.

·  I hope that the people will say, AMEN.

 

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[a] Exodus 32.14.

 

Hebrew Bible Text +  Exodus 32:1, 7-14