Yesterday was a great day.We had a fairly good representation of Fair Haven folks out yesterday doing what for the last several years our mission, outreach, leadership team has called “Faith Works.”This is a time when as many as choose to come, and who are able to be in attendance, go to various places in the area for the sole purpose of being of service.Yesterday teams went out a variety of places and a couple of teams stayed back here and did some good work as well.We had a few go to SEARCH, a homeless ministry where we made meals that will be distributed today to people in our immediate area.Another group, primarily a younger group, went to a local care facility and passed out ice cream to the residents.A good time was had by all.These are just a couple of examples.There is one project which remains, building a ramp at Sheltering Arms so accessibility will be easier for those who come.
I am very proud of this church for taking on such projects as well as for other areas in which we are active.The small, but thriving Spanish language ministry here is on site because of the generosity and vision of many.Of course when we are thought of in the city our food pantry generally comes to the top of the list.We are generous in many ways.One of these days I am going to sit down and make a list.To make it complete I’ll need to take time to do a survey and see where Fair Haven members and friends are involved as volunteers.Most volunteers go and do for a variety of reasons.One in particular stands out.We all find ourselves as volunteers because it is part of what we are.There is an old cliché which, as you know, goes; “it is better to give than to receive.”I suppose I agree to some extent.Giving is a great thing, but when we give we also receive.We don’t give in a vacuum.It has long been my opinion that everybody has something to offer for the good of the whole.
My thought was very recently affirmed on an episode of Texas Country Reporter.The last story, which Bob Phillips always reserves the most moving and potent one of the show, spoke of a woman by the name of Lola.Lola, according to her web site, grew up in Lake Charles but by a chance of fate she found herself in Austin and liked it so much on a pass through trip she decided to make it her home.Lola is referred to as the “Nubian Queen.”I had to look that one up.Nubia is the region overlapping Sudan and Egypt.It is the seat of a very active and ancient culture. Nubian’s were known for their sturdy nature.Their culture dates back several thousand years before the time of Christ.I looked on the Google and found a particularly interesting article on Nubian wrestling and the way in which the fighters were particularly brave and fearless.
Lola would fit such a category.She came from a homeless situation into being quite a well known local celebrity.With determination, a little savings, and supportive friends she built a small but thriving business she calls “Nubian Queen” or more officially “Lola’s Cajun Soul Food Restaurant.”What actually got me going on her success today wasn’t so much the food, nor her history so much as her philosophy.She has based her living on Luke 6:38; “Give and it will be given to you.”She finds her greatest happiness in helping others to find joy in their lives as well as offering her unique talent to enhance the lives of those with a particular need.
You see, Lola is open six days a week.Her web site shows her hours as 9:00 to 9:00 Monday to Saturday.It also declares she is closed on Sunday in order to, and this is an exact quote; “Closed on Sunday to Feed the Homeless.”She spends her one day off offering her self to her neighbors.As I recall from the Texas Country Reporter expose not only does she do this on Sunday, but she has a thriving back door business, giving a meal to whoever needs a meal.Basically she is happy when someone else is satisfied and blessed.
Through the years I have heard this from countless people in a variety of situations, settings, and communities.Every community in which I have lived has some structured program to assist those in need.Even more every situation, setting, and community has in it people who are based in giving, and who find their joy and happiness in seeing the joy and happiness in the lives of others.There is something to the thought “I’m happy, when you’re happy.”Or perhaps better put, there are those who cannot rest in peace until they are sure everything has been done that can be done in order to make the world around them better for the neighbor in need.
But this isn’t at all a new concept.When we get down to it the part of us which is created in the image of God is structured in a charitable, giving, and sacrificial way.When a definition of church is presented such a definition is at least part of the thought.To my way of thinking a church is a group of like minded people who are focused on sharing the Gospel in every way possible including through sharing love in tangible ways.Charity, self giving expressions of love, are marks of the family of faith.
Yesterday when we were preparing to head out to service I had the opportunity to share a few very brief thoughts.What was going through my mind was a very simple truth.What we Christians are called to do is not only to go into the world to share the Gospel but also to do so as we follow the way of Jesus.When we look at the life of Jesus, and when we live lives which are loyal to Christ, we see how Jesus touched those around him.He offered them, and offers us, not only forgiveness and love, but also helps us be our best, our happiest, and joy filled.There were those to whom Jesus offered sight.There were others who were able for the first time in a long time to “rise up and walk.”Jesus saw around him those who were hungry and thirsty not only for the things of the Word of God, but also for the things that help life to be comfortable and the body to be filled as well as the soul.Remember for example when Jesus fed the five thousand.The Gospel account tells us he looked upon them and “loved them.”In that particular case “loving them,” involved feed them.This Jesus did, not just on his own, but because he was sharing the love of God.
It is interesting how loving God is not something we do for God’s benefit but for our own.When we join each October and access our giving for a new year we do so with the theme, not of giving to a budget, but to giving because it is what we do in response to the love of God.Basically, we respond in love because we are loved.We do what pleases God in the same way a child who knows the love of a parent does what he or she chooses to do in order to say thank you through actions of love.
I remember a nice little story about a fellow who had a daughter.At the time the child was very young.Dad was out cutting the grass, or some other heat related venture.He glanced up and coming across the yard in his direction was the little one carrying in her hands a glass of cold water.He took the water and downed it thankfully and promptly. He mused later how great the water was.He said it was personalized, full of little tidbits which came from the little hands that prepared it.He didn’t know for sure what was floating around there, but did know it came with the best love she was able to give and chose to give.It was her response in love to one who loved her more than she would ever know.
This is what it is to be charitable.Caring for those for whom Christ died, those whom God loves at the depth of God’s being, is what we do to share our love and God’s love with another.It is following Jesus not just in thought and in word, but in action.It has long been a teaching of the church and of practical faith and Christianity that belief, faith, is not completed faith, or belief, unless it shows in action.The opposite is true as well.Our action is its best when it is offered in faith and in love.
I don’t know exactly how to say this without some offensiveness but I’ll try.It is so much better to give because we choose to give and to do so as a response to love, than it is to give because we have to give.Here lately we’ve been hearing about how there is so much need in the world around us, and even here in the Good Ole’ U.S.A.Much of this we understand comes from greed.Those who are greedy are centered not in goodness but in the antithesis of goodness.Unfortunately something has to be done in order for this not-so-goodness to be overcome and those who are victims of the situation to be strengthened.
The hard part for me is this; it is also my opinion we are in the place we are because the church has forgotten, or at least for a while, put aside its call.In our society often times religious leaders, even high profile religious leaders, seem to be in faith as a business.Big churches are built and huge congregations gather but out of these come very little.I pray that we Christians will put aside a modern day crusade of selfishness and secularism and focus once again on helping others, and sharing the gospel both in word and in acts of kindness and love.To be honest I’d rather give more to the church than to pay more taxes.Practically speaking we are far more effective, and even more efficient than government, or even the private sector.At least our motives are different, which cause us to be less takers and more givers.
Last time we had communion, which incidentally we will share in a few minutes, I was asked following a couple of questions concerning how United Methodists do communion.This is a good time to make a response.First, when we come to the communion table, or the line for communion as it is practiced in joy2gather, we acknowledge as United Methodists the need for all to come into a relationship with God.Nobody, even the very young, is kept away from an open table.Granted in time the youngest will need to come to understand, but in practical sense the way is open for all who do choose to seek God in a closer relationship.
When we celebrate communion we come recognizing the love God has for us all.Even love through sacrifice.We come to know the depth of God’s love and we come to know the power of God’s love.With the cross we find God doing what we are called to do.We see God being sacrificial because God has great love for us.We experience this love when we remember Jesus at the Last Supper and how the bread and the cup stand for Jesus sacrificial love.Jesus gave of himself for us because of his love not only for us, but also his love for God.
And while we are on the bread and the content of the cup, and I say that specifically, I want to say something else as well, something about us and our original historically condition.Those of you who know something about Methodism know we came out of an interesting time in the history of England, out of the first half of the Eighteenth Century.It was early in that same century, the 1700’s, the people of England were recovering from the time of the Puritans.During Puritan times the leadership through a misunderstanding of the ways of God, literally did all that could be done through intimidation and even punishment, to make sure the people of England adhered to a specific moral code.
The bottom line is this; when the era of the Puritans ended in the late Seventeenth Century, the 1600’s, the pendulum swung back nearly completely to the other side.The result was a society which had just about lost its moral core.There were abuses of all sorts including alcohol, child abuse, abuse of human rights, etc.The unfortunate thing was the church of the day didn’t do anything about it.The attitude espoused by the leadership of the Church of England at the time was something I’ve even heard in our times; “if they want us they know where we are.”Obviously this is not a giving, or loving philosophy of faithful responsive living.
John Wesley, and members of the Methodist Societies, came to the rescue of society.Not only did Methodists become leaders in what is now called the Great Awakening, our fore fathers and mothers dedicated themselves to bring Scriptural Holiness and signs of practical faith.These early Methodists, under the leadership of Mr. Wesley set out to offer what they could where they could. There was no more charitable person than Wesley himself.He would often state that he offered himself and what was his because he knew he had been forgiven by God and because he was loved.
Anyway, one of the things that is unique to our practice of communion is what I call “the cup,” or “the content of the cup.”Wesley and his followers, because of the presence of such alcohol abuse and even the alcoholic nature of many in the society of his day chose to express their love of God and for each other through the simple decision to take wine out of communion and replacing it was less potent liquid.This is why when you come to the table, or stand before the altar and receive communion you will do it in an alcohol free environment.
Even communion, which is just before us, is a sign of what the scripture tells us. We are challenged, called, dedicated to, whatever, the blessings of God’s love.As a response to God’s love we do what comes naturally, we are challenged to be generous.We are to be generous not only with our words and with our Spiritual expressions, but also through being givers and not takers.
I titled this thing today “If you’re Happy . . . I’m Happy.”My thought was actually two fold.First, we serve as a response to God’s love for us.I believe when God sees us in our generosity, in whatever form, God is happy.A second part of this comes from our concern for those around us.We are generous by nature, we give, and we care, because it is what we do, and who we are.We are at our best, and most happy, faithfully speaking, when we are challenged to follow Jesus.
Simply put there are three things I pray you will remember today, three practical applications which will make life the best possible for all and each of us.First, the scripture before us today does remind us to believe in Jesus.Second, we are challenged, called, empowered, encouraged, etc. to make love alive and practical, to respond in good works and acts of kindness as a sign of our love not only for God’s creation, but also for God himself.Third, and at least for now, the last, but never the least, remember to be an example in moral living.It’ll help us to be happier in life, and for sure will honor God, who will smile.
Let us move on to communion.During this time let us remember the good gift of God’s love expressed by Christ’s choice to go to the cross as a sign of God’s love.Let us also remember the table, and the altar.Those who choose to walk more closely with God are invited to come; no one is left behind if the desire to come is present in the heart of the seeker.Also remember, we have grape juice for a purpose and to make a statement of caring.I look forward to sharing the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper with you and also being part of a community of faith which is focused upon responding to the love of God by being proactive in loving and caring for those for whom Christ lived and dead.
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