Sermon Video: Thanking God for the faith and love of his people - Colossians 1:1-8

In the introduction to Paul's letter to the church at Colossae, we see the concern of Paul, the apostle, for a church that he himself did not found, manifested in prayers of thanksgiving from Paul (and Timothy) to God on behalf of fellow faithful brothers and sisters in Christ.  Having heard about their faith, Paul describes it as a faith combined with love that springs forth from their hope in heaven, a powerful combination of growth in the Spirit made possible by their acceptance of the "true message of the gospel".  Paul ends the introduction by crediting the founder of the church at Colossae, Epaphras, whom Paul calls "our dear fellow servant" and a "faithful minister of Christ", a reminder that Paul considers those who worked with him in the harvest field of the Lord by witnessing to the Gospel to be teammates not rivals.

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Sermon Video: Paul in the midst of a partisan feud - Acts 22:30-23:11

Following his near-death encounter with the mob at the temple, the Apostle Paul was brought before the Sanhedrin by the local Roman commander who hoped to ascertain the cause of the turmoil and thus know if Paul ought to be charged with any crime.  Standing before the Sanhedrin, Paul first declared his innocence, "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day."  The High Priest, Ananias, ordered Paul struck in the mouth for that claim.  At this point, Paul switched his strategy and instead declared himself to be on the side of the Pharisees in their long-running feud with the Sadducees regarding the resurrection of the dead.  While the Pharisees did not believe that Jesus Christ had been raised from the dead, they were perfectly willing to defend the idea of the resurrection of the dead, and while they did not believe that Paul had been given a vision from God, they were willing to defend the idea of God speaking to his people through visions and angels.  In the end, the Sanhedrin's bitter divisions not only prevented them from taking action against Paul, but convinced the Roman commander that for Paul's safety he needed to be taken back to the barracks.

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The value of friendships with fellow ministers.

As of this June I will have been ministering here in Franklin at First Baptist for 6 1/2 years.  Aside from the usual comments about how quickly the time has flown, after all Clara is now 3 and she didn't come with us from Michigan, comes an important question: What has made my time serving here effective, and what has made it enjoyable?  To be able to say that it has been both is a blessing from God, I know that many of my fellow ministers would be happy with one of the two as they toil in the field of the Lord.  Much of the credit beyond that given to God, the obvious first choice, and my congregation (both those who were here when I arrived and those who have joined us since then), lies with the fellow ministers that I have had the privilege of working with here in Franklin and Venango County.

When I arrived 6 1/2 years ago I was the new guy, and even though I was in my mid 30's, the "young" guy.  As I was working to understand what my priorities needed to be here at this church, I was approached by Pastor Jeff Little from First United Methodist, the church literally across the street (we share an intersection).  I don't remember that first interaction all that vividly, but from that point moving forward, Jeff has been my (and my wife's) best friend here in Franklin, and a partner in many a ministry endeavor.  The local ministerium, which meets at Christ UMC (half a block away) was also an opportunity to be a part of something I had never experienced before, a regular gathering of ministers.  At my previous pastorate in Palo, MI there were only two churches in town and both myself and the Methodist minister were bi-vocational; attending ministerial meetings, even if there had been any locally to join, would have been impossible.  Here in Franklin, by contrast, there were about ten ministers who met each month to not only discuss common ministry efforts (food pantry, Good Friday crosswalk, a Central Help Fund), which alone is an amazing thing to have as an asset, but also to simply spend a morning each month in each other's company.  At those monthly meetings we began to build not only trust and a cooperative spirit, but also friendships. 

Of what value is it to know that as a minister you are but one of God's workers in this field, and that the others who labor alongside you are not your rivals but your friends?  It is of immense value, beyond calculation. 

Of the group that I joined back in 2012, sadly this July I will be the last regular attendee to remain.  Mother Holly (St. John's Episcopal), who befriended my wife and thus earned much credit in my book, but who also had a tremendous heart for the poor, left a few years ago to a new opportunity in AZ.  Pastor Scott Woodlee, the intellectual of our group, and a whiz with ancient languages, left for a new opportunity near Pittsburgh.  This month Pastor Jim Leichliter (our longest serving member) is retiring from the First Church of God.  At the end of June, both Pastor David Janz (2nd longest serving member, Christ UMC, and a man I consider to have been a mentor to me here) and my friend Pastor Jeff Little are being transferred to a new charge (UMC pastors are itinerant, they are moved roughly every seven years). 

When the ministerium reconvenes after our summer hiatus in September, the faces around the table will be entirely new since I arrived.  Because the Franklin area churches have a long history of ecumenical service and worship, I fully expect our collective efforts to carry on as before, but even as I attempt to forge new friendships around that table it will be fairly stunning to have gone from being the new guy to being the old guy in under seven years. 

Of what value are the men and women to me who gather together as the Franklin ministerium?  Priceless.  To those who minister in a community without an effective ministerium, I say this: Find one, create one, do what you need to do to forge relationships with those who like you serve the Church of Jesus Christ in your community.  It may not be easy, and you'll never get everyone to participate, but it'll be worth it; over and over again, it'll be worth it.

Sermon Video: The word that made a crowd want to kill Paul - Acts 22:17-29

At the conclusion of Paul's defense before the mob that had moments before tried to beat him to death after dragging him from the temple in Jerusalem, Paul uttered a word that once more turned the crowd into a mob howling for his blood.  The word was no insult, it was not profane or blasphemous, but it was something that hit the crowd too close to home: gentile.  Paul said, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" (Acts 22:21)  When Paul spoke of seeing the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus they did not shout "blasphemy" (as the Sanhedrin had at Stephen's testimony), but when Paul indicated that God had sent him away from his own people with a message of hope for the gentiles, they lost their composure.  Why?  The two-fold reason is simple enough, Paul going directly to the gentiles indicates a belief that the Jews/Judaism/Jerusalem are no longer needed as a conduit/gateway for gentiles to come to God.  Consequently, it also indicates a belief that the Jews and gentiles are on an equal footing before God, diminishing the privilege of being the Chosen People.  For daring to speak such taboo thoughts, the crowd declared that Paul deserved to die.  And yet, Christ came to bring the blessing of Abraham to all peoples, and after his resurrection, Jesus sent his disciples with the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  It was not what the crowd in Jerusalem wanted to hear, but it was the truth of God's love and mercy, opposing Paul wasn't going to stop it.

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Sermon Video: Paul's defense before the mob - Acts 21:37-22:16

What would it take to change a person whose heart is full of pride and hatred?  As part of his defense before the mob in Jerusalem that was trying to kill him, the Apostle Paul explains that he was once just like them: zealous for the traditions of Judaism and full of hatred for the followers of the Way (Christians).  What had changed the direction of the life of Saul of Tarsus so dramatically?  He met Jesus.  On the road to Damascus, while on his way to further persecute the disciples of Jesus, Paul experienced the grace of God when Jesus himself spoke to him from heaven.  Learning that God had vindicated Jesus, raising him to life after his crucifixion and elevating him in heaven, changed everything for Saul (soon to be called Paul), opening his eyes to the truth of God's grace which had eluded him despite his previous misguided zeal for God.

What does it take to change the direction of a life from pride and hatred to humility and love?  An encounter with Jesus.

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The moral question of Avengers: Infinity War (Spoiler Free)

There is a central moral question at work in Avengers: Infinity War between the protagonist, the villain Thanos, and the multitude of antagonists, the Avengers, Guardians, and various other Marvel heroes.  The goal of Thanos (no spoiler here as the trailers explained it months ago) is to wipe out half of the life in the universe in order to "balance" life and usher in an age of abundance and peace.  At the root of the motivation of Thanos is the fear of overpopulation (and with it environmental degradation) leading to suffering and strife over limited resources.  In other words, in order to significantly decrease suffering and increase happiness, countless sentient lives have to be snuffed out.  Thanos believes that the ends justify the means (his goal is worth killing over), conversely the various heroes reject this moral equivalence, maintaining the sanctity of all life.

Fear of overpopulation is nothing new for humanity, in 1798 the British economist Thomas Robert Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population which predicted that population would double every 25 years but agricultural increases could only be incremental, thus resulting in widespread famine and war unless significant birth control measures were to be taken.  Malthus' warnings influenced many, among them the German imperialists who contended that Germany needed Lebensraum ("living space") to accommodate its growing population, inevitably at the expense of Germany's Slavic neighbors to the east who would need to be eliminated or turned into serfs.  The unforeseen agricultural revolution that followed after Malthus' dire predictions made the billions of human beings living in the 20th century possible, although fear of overpopulation remained, typified by the sci-fi movie in 1973, Soylent Green.  With the population of the world in 2018 at 7.6 billion and rising, that fear isn't likely to go away anytime soon, thus the question remains: How much of a problem is rising population, and what is the moral response to it?

 As stated earlier, the response of Thanos to the fear of overpopulation is genocide, a willingness to kill in war, planet by planet, half of the population, and the hope that he can obtain all six of the infinity stones for his gauntlet and then finish his task across the universe with a "snap of his fingers".  The heroes in Infinity War are faced with the question of the value of life on a much smaller scale as they must contemplate self-sacrifice in order to attempt to stop Thanos.  While Thanos was willing to kill on an epic scale to achieve his goal, the heroes must be willing to risk their own lives, a question whose consequences they face multiple times in the movie.

The self-sacrifice of an individual to save many is certainly a theme embraced by Christianity, it is after all what Jesus Christ did when he accepted the task of dying upon the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.  In order to save billions, Jesus willingly carried the cross upon which he died.  Thankfully, that sacrifice was not in vain, for with his resurrection he obtained victory over both sin and death for all those who would believe in him.

It will not be known until after Avengers 4 (set to release in 2019) what the final cost of confronting and possibly defeating Thanos will be for the Marvel heroes, but the principle established by their decision to oppose him is one in which life is considered a precious thing, and while self-sacrifice may prove necessary to stop great evil, it is not a decision to be made casually precisely because life is precious.  

Sermon Video - The Danger of a Mob Mentality, Acts 21:27-36

Fueled by racial hatred and an over-inflated sense of their own importance to God, a dangerous combination, a crowd among the worshipers gathered for Pentecost in Jerusalem seize the Apostle Paul and accuse him of violating the prohibition against bringing a gentile within the inner sanctum of the temple.  That this is a false accusation does not stop the mob that quickly forms from trying to kill Paul, nor does the fact that Judaism requires multiple witness and a trial before any capital punishment (nor the fact that the "crime" in question is not one based upon Scripture).  In the end, Paul is saved, not by any follower of God, but by a gentile Roman soldier who rescues Paul from the clutches of those who claim to be doing the work of God.  Aside from the obvious warning about racism and self-assurance for us today as Christians, this passage also strongly warns us about the danger of losing self-control, of giving in to emotional outbursts, whether part of a crowd or on our own, and of being a blind follower who does not verify the truth of the matter on one's own.  As Christians, we cannot allow ourselves to fall prey to either a mob mentality nor a herd mentality.

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