Jesus transformed the way society functions and in Jesus there are not cliques. Jesus calls you a friend because of who he is not who you are. Being called “friend” by Jesus charges us to love one another with a sacrificial love. The type of love that seeks justice, peace, and unity.
This sermon was delivered at the 8 am service, no audio file is available.
We all know that pain and discomfort are part of life. So, too, is joy and comfort. We are confronted with that reality in the Gospel of John. The 15th chapter begins with a word of pain and discomfort “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes… .”
Prelude to Prayer By: David Justice Performed by: The FFC Chancel Bells
Trouble! By: Sally K. Albrecht Performed by: The FFC Chancel Choir with the Illini Bluffs High School Chamber Singers
In Remembrance*By:Eleanor Daley Performed by: The Illini Bluffs High School Chamber Singers
* “Our ensemble has recognized the void of the innocent lives that this world has lost. In Remembrance is our small, but hopefully meaningful contribution to wishing condolences to the family members of those lost, both in the recent present and past. Through music, there is an opportunity to make the world a better place by how moving and beautiful it is and can be. Using the love we have for arts, we can be the people who will make a positive impact to other generations in hopes that things change for the better.”
If you walk the Appalachian Trail where hikers cross from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, you will see The Presbyterian Church of the Mountain, a small country church seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Through this ministry to the hikers of the Appalachian Trail, a once dying church experienced a resurrection. In 1976 they had 15 worshipers. Facing death they experienced Resurrection. They could have done one of two things; they could have circled the wagons and looked inward, or throw caution to the wind and take “a flyer”. The chose the latter course. They chose, in the words of Jesus, too willing lay their lives down for God’s sheep that lay outside of their fold. They knew that God has planted them there and sustained them through the years to be a blessing and an outpost of the world and their community. They asked themselves how they could live out their “call”, their baptism. How could they show God’s love to the world?
The truth of the two estate sales of life, one that is fleeting and the other that is eternal is that a life dedicated to stewardship in the Lord is a life of joy, peace, hope, and celebration.
Let us all commit today to choose to receive the Holy Spirit and live our lives in His power. In so doing we will be living as new creations with the peace of Christ. We will also be living examples for those who have been baptized into the body, fulfilling the vow we made at their baptisms.
The story of Easter ends with us, with each one of us. It calls upon us to be foolish enough to take Jesus seriously. We do not know what the Future holds but we do know this, no matter what the Future holds it is the Resurrected Lord in Whose Hands it is held. Christ beckons us into the Future. We may never know where we will see Him, but we will see Him often in unexpected places and at unexpected times. We cannot escape either Him or His claim upon our lives.
In love, God has chosen to partner with us to become the vehicles by which the Good News of Jesus Christ is carried into the city, the city of Peoria, even though God does not need us.
