TAKE A STEP FORWARD
AMOS 7: 7-15
EPHESIANS 1: 3-14
JULY 14, 2024
It is early morning … Wednesday morning to be precise and I can hear the clatter of ice pouring into workers’ thermos bottles. Chairs are being pulled in and out scraping the floor as voices start to become coherent. I see shapes of bodies passing by as I start typing this sermon … are they the Ohioans? The South Carolinians? The Georgians? Or members of our team? Scott has a pot of soup at the end of the table … Cheri is sipping her hot cup … “Good mornings” are in the air and the sun is rising over the mountains.
It is a RED BIRD kind of morning and each of us is ready to take a step forward … a step forward towards breakfast … a step forward on another day in mission … heading to Miss Hazel’s to finish off the porch … going to the Outreach Center to take of Red Bird work challenges. One church group is roofing this week … another building a ramp… St. Paul’s team is out at Hazel’s. All ages at breakfast from youngsters under 10, our AUBREE is 13, to folks in their eighties. Men and women from petite sizes to those in triple X shirts … nothing holding them back. Choosing … choosing in faith … to give a week of their time in mission… choosing to come with their families and strangers … a small sacrifice to help the poor… to help the stranger… to love one’s neighbors … people whom the week’s mission workers; volunteers who made the choice to come … will never ever forget.
The average American gets to experience 4070 weeks of life … I wonder how many of our weeks are unforgettable ones because we have used our time, OUR time, to help strangers … to help the poor. I know this week’s smiling faces … those teenagers and seniors who were at Red Bird with us these past several days will never ever forget this week nor will the folks they helped like Miss Hazel and Miss Cordi ever forget their Red Bird workers.
On Thursday night, as I watched strangers pair off in twos at our closing service of Holy Communion, I was a witness to a remarkable moment of Christian love … each pair deciding on a prayer request together and then approaching the chalk board to write down their prayers … I had to take a photo … tears in my eyes and in many of theirs.
Church do you ever consider how much the world needs us to be the answer to prayers? To boldly take action … following the Gospel lessons of love from Christ. The lessons written down in the Torah? About neighbors … always ALWAYS showing love for all not just some … about the responsibilities of faith … about taking a step forward with God?
One by one the pairings wrote down prayers on that board: for safe travels home, for the homeowners, for a homeowner’s rat problem, for EVERYONE’s health, for more trust and LOVE, for answers to mental health and drug addiction, cure for cancer, safety for the families, Griffin’s grandmother, school and sports, Jim’s treatment program and family, for FAMILY, for Erica, Cyrus, and Ezeriel, for Rebecca’s grandmother with bone marrow cancer, for AJ’s camp friend and AJ’s witness to him, for the Red Bird Mission, and that everyone returns next year. THAT ALL THOSE at RED BIRD COME BACK … love.
I was asked online who or what I pray for … well there is a literal laundry list remembering Paul’s acclamation to the church in Thessalonica, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in ALL circumstances for this is the will of God” and friends PRAYER is all about taking a step forward with God … in faith … to be a better and loving neighbor. It is a challenge we all face so how are you going about doing it?
RED BIRD 25 starts on Sunday July 6th in 2025… are you coming? Are you ready to take a step forward in your faith walk or faith run or faith sprint to be the answer to someone’s prayers? Are you excitedly planning on bringing your family and friends in mission to Red Bird with you … to help the poor … strangers in the hills? Create an unforgettable week in your life? You say that your friends don’t have to have a church nor faith … our dear friend Scott is Jewish and he’s come these past few years to help our team be part of our team … his faith does not exclude him and he’s a key part of our St. Paul’s team.
It was right after those words that I had to pause last Wednesday morning, in mid-thought, as I started to write this message, because it was time for devotions and sixteen-year-old Kelly from New Providence Church in Georgia had moved to the front of the dining hall and was about to nervously lead our morning worship.
Sixteen years old …. She came with a bunch of older folks along with her 14-year-old brother, Prince. Their dad is a single dad who couldn’t come to Red Bird … a new family in the church but that dad KNEW his kids would receive a life lasting experience helping strangers living in poverty by showing love not judgment with people from their church ALL doing the Lord’s work … these teenagers traveling hundreds of miles with older folks. Dad couldn’t afford the cost so their church established “scholarships” paying the way so that Kelly and Prince could travel to Red Bird on a mission for the Lord … the older folks said they’d care for these teens, show love, and step up!
Little did Kelly and Prince’s dad ever imagine that his beautiful typically shy daughter Kelly would be standing up on a Wednesday morning before church volunteers from four different states and Red Bird staff members inspiring us as she nervously gave us insight into her faith while sharing two Scriptures: Psalm 46:1 – “GOD is our refuge and strength, a help ALWAYS!” and Philippians 4:13 – “I can ENDURE all things through the power of the ONE who gives me strength!”And, she received that Holy Spirit kind of strength … shyly giggling her devotion and touching our hearts.
And, so church on this Communion Sunday… are you sensing the strength of the Lord God Almighty as you take a step forward in your life? Is God YOUR REFUGE? Are your steps… your walk in life… your sprint, your jog, or your slow crawl focused on what you can do for God… are you consciously attempting to shine the light of Christ each day … does it matter to you if you are making a difference in the world by being different than most? Different than the world with their false idols and their false gods whom they bow to? Standing up for Jesus and demonstrating love for all, forgiveness, and faith?
DO YOU CARE? On your Monday’s, Tuesday’s and even your Wednesday’s? Are you ever willing to sacrifice some of YOUR TIME for God … ACTUALLY, my question today as we worship before the Lord’s Table, is, are you one of those who considers doing something for God a sacrifice or is that just your normal behavior because every single day of the year you sense God’s all-encompassing love and giving time for your faith is never a sacrifice? Is worship a necessity for living … the essential use of your time? God and you.
Would you stand up like 16-year-old Kelly stood up? Nervously and bravely making a statement of faith at 730 in the morning to a room of strangers. Would you be ready to go out to work on a poor person’s home not judging why the person is poor… never questioning why the person needs help… not even noticing what the person looks like or sounds like or whether they should have known better than to slip into poverty? Would you step up to travel in mission with strangers like Kelly and her 14-year-old brother, Prince, did. For the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY… for JESUS CHRIST… for your faith?
Are you someone who would excitedly take your kids on vacation on a mission trip … take your grandkids into the city to feed the homeless with you … make calls to those in your family and circle of friends who have children to invite them to our Vacation Bible School even offering to drive them back and forth to St. Paul’s every evening for 5 nights?
Are you ready to take a step forward into the world in Jesus’ light in direct contradiction to the world because you love Jesus Christ and have heard Jesus calling to you from Matthew’s 25th Gospel or have sensed God’s Spirit from the Book of James or from the Torah … because all of the Bible …all of our holy book is focused on living out our faith, caring for the poor, welcoming strangers, and showing love not judgment while living in a real faith relationship with God … THAT IS WHAT CHRISTIANS are called to do.
And so today we again take a step forward by reconnecting with God through the table Jesus established for us. We share in Communion remembering but not focused on Jesus’ death on the cross … His sacrifice for all of humanity … our sins erased but knowing that we are Easter people celebrating the truth that He is RISEN <<He is Risen Indeed!>>
I have been hanging out in the prophets lately. Perhaps it is because they lived challenging lives in difficult times. At times they are not easy to read. But Amos in today’s Scripture offers all of us an example intended for more than those in the construction business.
“The LORD was standing by a walk with a plumb line in His hand.” A plumb line … is a device used to make sure things are centered and in balance. I remember one of the mission trips in Uganda when the building supervisor came to examine the brick wall, I had constructed using a plumb line … I waited anxiously each time for the thumbs up indicating all was well and I could keep piling on the homemade bricks and cement. A bowed wall would eventually collapse and would not be secure.
Amos indicates that God is looking towards God’s people to see if we are in balance and able to stand up as the faithful. Whether when we take our steps forward, we are doing them with God or without God … and if we are not moving forward with God friends …if we choose to reject God out there in the world … we cannot be what Paul calls “an honor to God” can we?
Later in this particular letter of Paul’s he writes, “so be careful to live your life wisely, not foolishly.” As people of faith … people who follow Jesus … how do you feel about your walk? Your FAITH Walk? If you are like me, you probably have your days or perhaps weeks when you need to renew your faith … refocus your journey … live wisely with God and push aside the foolishness of the world.
So here we are … in a mixed-up world … in a worship service with friends, family and strangers … if we really pause to experience the still waters that God offers up for us our souls can be restored. If we focus in on what really matters, we can sense God’s love, which can change our lives. Our Scripture taught that we are “destined by the plan of God called to be an honor to God’s glory” but God gives us the free choice, the option of how we live. Today, we all will take a step forward in our lives … how we step forward, who we choose to love and help, and whether God is connected to us it’s all up to us.
As we come to the Lord’s Table I pray that each of us recommits our lives to not finding excuses … not aligning with the world but making the deliberate choice to be activists for God. A quote from Marianne Williamson recently popped up on my social media and it is a fitting close to today’s message about taking a step forward. She said, “Hate has talked so loudly for so long. Greed has talked so loudly for so long. Liars have talked so loudly for so long. Love has got to stop whispering!”
May you and I reflect God’s teaching of love with a renewed fervor. Our new Bishop said, “God never gets tired of inviting us to work with God!” STEP FORWARD! AMEN