ONE GOD FOR ALL
Psalm 26: 1-8
Galatians 3: 23-29
OCTOBER 6, 2024 – WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
After that amazing moment in time when all of those folks in the room were wearing their red caps with white P’s on them Peter and the other eleven apostles faced a jeering and critical crowd of onlookers. No, we are not talking about last night at Citizen’s Bank Park … rather we are back in Jerusalem not long after Jesus ascended into heaven. Peter looked at the critics telling them to listen carefully and then he raised his voice quoting the prophet Joel and declared for the history books and for God, “Know this, in the last days, God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophecy. Your young will see visions and your elders will dream dreams! Even upon my servants, men and women I will pour out my Spirit in those days! And, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved!”
Now as someone who has a myriad of bizarre dreams; I have often thought about this prophesy from the prophet Joel wondering if my collection of dreams that almost seem like the sandman has a tv controller flicking from one channel to the next as I sleep I wonder if this is due to my qualifications as an older person. What does it mean when Ricky Rosenfeld, a friend from my early school days shows up in a dream with fellow classmates at a Christian youth weekend retreat where my dog, Tyler, is searching for food but I am calling him Pugsley? And, that was just one dream from a night of dreams this week.
And as a person who accepts Jesus as being God’s Son and part of the Holy Trinity, I often reconsider and value that Day of Pentecost when people from all backgrounds representing all nations suddenly discovered that God wants everyone EVERYONE to be connected in love with each other not disconnected by reason of culture, language or who they were as people and definitely not separated from God due to following and adhering to the words of those who jeer and smear with innuendo’s and attacks. A moment in time led by Peter that I believe was meant to set an example for each of us.
Today has been designated as World Communion Sunday and I will always treasure that year when friends of mine from Puerto Rico, Uganda, and Russia delivered the Sunday message to this beautiful church family. Some of you may remember that day … Maria, Richard and Sergei spoke first in Spanish, Swahili, and Russian before they share their love of the Lord and their disregard for labeling because God has declared … God has declared repeatedly and forcefully through the prophets, through the writing of the faithful that has become our Bible, and through the words of Jesus Christ that God expects … God requires … a disregard of the differences amongst us and has set the tone for us to love all and as Peter yelled out on that Pentecost Day … God pours out God’s Spirit for everyone men, women, children, rich and poor but most importantly friends, EVERYONE WHO CALLS on the NAME of the LORD will be saved.
Calling on God … reaching out to God pretty much describes having a relationship with God. God offers all of us salvation just as God offers to restore our souls and provides a peace that goes beyond human understanding. Paul is pretty clear as he shakes the dust off those conflicted by the idea that only one type of person can receive salvation when he writes to the church in Galatia that “You are ALL God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. ALL of you who were baptized in Christ Jesus have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female. FOR YOU ARE ALL ONE in Christ Jesus. And, if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s descendants heirs according to God’s promise.”
Yet sadly in today’s world there are all too many who attempt to divide and differentiate and claim they have the power and ability to speak for God … to speak on Jesus’ behalf and to insinuate that they control heaven’s gates and can deny those human beings who are not their exact mirror images. There are those who say your politics decides whether you can qualify for God … your nationality … your very essence unless it meets the criteria of the modern-day religious Pharisee, the biased critic. But, friends God’s message is much clearer … EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved! It’s a love thing … from God!
Now, there are some who allege that all they have to do is raise their hand to be saved but to call on the name of the Lord means much more than that because the Lord God requires change and application of God’s teaching while rejecting much of the world. The psalmist understood that …”establish justice for me Lord … purify my mind and my heart. Your faithful love is right in front of me… I walk in your truth.”
Faith represents change … faith friends I think can be perceived by those who view the faithful and hear the words the faithful use in everyday conversation. James writes, “You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father is this, to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us. Faith is dead when it does not result in faithful activity.”
Earlier this week my friend Sinead contacted me. Sinead is a faithful woman and she wanted to know whether this church … St. Paul’s United Methodist Church … is supporting the relief work in the hills of North Carolina and Georgia where Helene has created such incredible pain and devastation. She knew that this church … St. Paul’s United Methodist Church refuses to rest on our laurels … she knows about all of you and trusts our church to care for those who are hurting in the world. She’s Roman Catholic and lives in another part of this nation but she was asking me.
I told her about UMCOR. The United Methodist Committee on Relief. UMCOR is amongst the first organizations on the ground when disaster strikes and amongst the last to leave. UMCOR exists because of people like you and me. Actually, as I discovered when Super Storm Sandy hit … UMCOR is you and me! United Methodist Churches selflessly providing money, supplies and work teams to help strangers recover from unimaginable disasters. 16 year old Colleen from a New Jersey United Methodist Church counselling a Gulf Coast senior citizen who could not imagine what a storm named Katrina would do to her life. A guy named Max from Moorestown New Jersey mucking out an Ocean City family’s house while showing love for the strangers who owned the house but too shocked to do anything more than stand and pour out tears that almost equaled the back bay waters that had destroyed their things but not their memories.
This morning the Washington Post has a front-page story of those living near Asheville North Carolina and of a Baptist church in Swannonoa whose members are trying to care for their neighbors. When storms hit … when your home is destroyed … when pain is beyond excruciating … do differences really matter?
As people of faith … as people who up until this moment in time have never sensed the buildings we call home at risk of disaster … as people able to get up and make a decision about life … isn’t it about time for each of us to consider where our priorities should be while fully understanding that God is one God for all?
Thich Nhat Hanh in his book, [1]‘Peace is Every Step,’ writes “We often ask, “What’s wrong?” Doing so, we invite painful seeds of sorrow to come up and manifest. We feel suffering, anger, and depressions, and produce more such seeds. We would be much happier if we tried to stay in touch with the healthy, joyful seeds inside of us and around us. We should learn to ask, “What’s not wrong? And be in touch with that.”
Isn’t that what the psalmist is asking for … “Purify my mind and my heart Lord. I love the beauty of your house, Lord; I love the place where your glory resides.”
A few years ago I received this t-shirt. Some of you may have seen it in the publicity for an event that I am one of the keynote speakers for at the end of this month. To me it is a clear reminder … GOD SPEAKS ALL LANGUAGES and GOD DECLARES LOVE in EVERY LANGUAGE not just ours … Amor de Dios … L’amour de DIEU … Upendo wa Mungu … Gottes Liebe … the LOVE of GOD … it’s universal it’s always … do you have a dream that all children will be loved by all people no matter who the children are … no matter who their parents are regardless of where they live … are you ready to share your love first with God and then with all of your neighbors? That’s what we are called to do! That’s how we can make the best dreams come true … are you ready to support this church so we can support ministries like UMCOR and HOPE CENTERS … and more?
That is our challenge today as we come to the Table of the Lord … are we willing or even interested in living for God and Christ while verifying that we truly are the faithful in our words and deeds rather than in title only.
God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and your daughters will prophecy. Your young will see visions and your elders dream dreams! Even upon my servants, men and women I will pour out my Spirit in those days! And, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved!”
AMEN