For the next Town Hall meeting on August 11, we are asking that everyone make a recipe from a Grace Cookbook. “Don’t have one,” you say. Well, we will have them for sale for the bargain price of $5.00. See Chris and Chris at the coffee bar area on Sundays in July.
We are destined to be followers of Jesus!
Jesus said to his disciples in John 6:40, For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus prayed to the Father concerning his disciples in John 14:17-19, I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
Jesus said to Pilate John 18:37b, You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason, I was born, and for this reason, I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead changed the world forever. Jesus’ word changed everything. And it will change everything again as Christian Nationalism is straying from the truth of the gospel.
Jesus’ resurrection overturned the synagogue, as institution; the empty tomb reinstated the missional priority of the people of God. There is one mission; loving God, loving others, being a disciple, and inviting others to be disciples. A disciple is changed by Jesus’ words. The truth sets one free to be a disciple. The disciple loves God, loves others, and takes the gospel to the streets. You and I have the privilege of encountering the streets in Wichita, Kansas, the other forty-nine states, and to the ends of the earth. That’s not my definition of a disciple. It’s Jesus’.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God called a people to live the story of being a blessing and inviting others to be a part of the blessing. God called Abraham and his people to be missional. Our purpose as people of the resurrection is to love God, love others, and be a blessing to others. That is being missional.
Let’s recognize that God’s arms are tightly wrapped around his children and move out of that identity as blessed people in order to be a blessing. Love won and continues to win.
On the journey of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation with you, I remain faithfully yours,
Steve
The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh
Interim Pastor
The Refugee team is excited to prepare for this year’s refugee backpack drive to be held at First Presbyterian Church on July 27, 2024, 10 am – 2 pm. The International Rescue Committee asked us to prepare 900 backpacks (we prepared 700 last year)! Our church is one of several faith-based organizations coming together to help purchase supplies.
Grace Presbyterian Church has committed to providing the following three items for 495 backpacks:
We are requesting cash donations this year to purchase consistent supplies in bulk at lower prices and tax-free. If preparing a check, please designate ‘refugee team’ on the memo line.
We need volunteers to help set up the day before (and tear down) and assist our student ‘shoppers’ on July 27. Please sign up at the bulletin board by the coffee bar.
Grace is still responsible for 495 packs of these three items:
However, to purchase consistent supplies in bulk at cheaper prices and tax-free, we are requesting cash donations this year. If preparing a check, please designate ‘refugee team’ on the memo line.
We will need volunteers to help set up the day before (and tear down) and assist our student shoppers on the day of. Please sign up at the bulletin board by the coffee bar.
Series: “Jesus’ Message: You Are a Participant in the Dream”
“Just Say Yes to Multiethnic Faith Communities”
1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16
Mark 4:35-41
Jesus consistently challenged the disciples to put their beliefs into practice. In Mark 4:40, Jesus responds to the disciples’ plea for help in the storm. Jesus replied, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Martin Luther King, Jr, in his April 16, 1963, Letter from a Brimingham Jail, writes,
Injustice anywhere is a threat. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives in the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.[1]
I think the disciples thought it was an injustice that Jesus was sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the boat. Jesus was fine, and they were fearful of losing their lives. The disciples spoke up. Jesus moved them from belief to action.
Moving belief into action is imperative. You recall the story of David and Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:32 reads, “David said to Saul, let no one’s heart fail because of him [Goliath]; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with the marginalized. Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with diverse ethnic groupings. Such is the plight and blessing of Christians to put their belief that God is present in all things and move faith and beliefs into action with the suffering and oppressed. Our call is to engage injustice in all its forms.
The Gospel reading in Mark 4 asks us to hear Jesus’ words, “Peace! Be still!” quieting the storm. We are to put key Christian beliefs into action, thus quieting the storms in everyday life. In the storms in our lives and in the lives of those around us, we can rediscover our faith in the power of Jesus’ words to the wind and sea, “Peace! Be still!”[2]
Unjust realities confront us every day. The current discussions on race, the Juneteenth Federal Holiday, immigration, economic equity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender equality, both personally and in government, all have themes of justice and injustice woven throughout.
The storms rage, but Jesus states, “Peace! Be still!” When we put our faith, our beliefs into practice it is not faith that God will protect us, but faith and beliefs that conquer fear and secure us in God’s promise that death has been defeated and will never win. The storms outside aggravate the storms within. Each of us might want to acknowledge our fears.
Nine years ago, Wednesday, June 19th, Dylann Roof was charged with nine counts of murder and bond was set at $1,000,000. In this initial hearing, Roof faced families of some of the nine people he was accused of killing and heard words of forgiveness. At the bond hearing, Dylann Roof stood motionless while listening to the anguished words of relatives of victims he allegedly gunned down Wednesday night at a Bible study meeting at the historic Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. “I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you,” a daughter of Ethel Lance said. “And may God have mercy on your soul. …God forgives you, I forgive you.”[3] Dylann Roof received justice for his crimes. He also was offered forgiveness by his victims.
Like David, who did not demonize the Philistines, a legitimate enemy of the people of Israel and a different ethnic group, put your faith into action, personally and collectively. Engage “the other.” David did not fear “the other”, Goliath, but trusted in God. David, defeating Goliath, was a witness to the Philistines of the true nature of the Israelites’ God.
Jesus addressed the value of multi-ethnic faith communities when meeting the woman at the well, a Samaritan, and the Syrophoenician woman begging for the crumbs on the floor, and we are to do the same as his followers. Jesus wants all to be touched by and touch Jesus. Diversity in human ethnicity is ordained by God.
Ponder these key Christian beliefs. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Love God and love others. Mourn with others. Endure persecution for doing the right thing. Serve the least.
Embrace the diversity, ethnically, in humanity. Discover the contrast between hero and villain, victor and vanquished, and vulnerability and strength. Lean into the ultimate power of love to overcome the storms within and without.[4] Spiritual understanding leads to a way of being rooted in love and justice.
Like David, examine your unexamined assumptions.[5] Listen intently to your fears and speak into them.[6] Receive and act on Jesus’ words, “Peace! Be still!” Amen.
This sermon was preached the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, 23 June 2024
by the Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh in the Great Room and Sanctuary
at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas
Copyright 2024.
Steven M. Marsh
All rights reserved.
[1]Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters To A Birmingham Jail: A Response To The Words And Dreams Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 2014), 20.
[2]In the two paragraphs of textual analysis above, I have benefited from the thinking of Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, J. Scott Hudgins, Eunjoo Mary Kim, Scot McKnight, Dan R. Dick, William Greenway, and David J. Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3 (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020), 89-93, 93-95, 96-99, 100-102, 102-103, 104-106 and 106-107.
[3]Adapted from a CNN report on www.cnn.com, June 19, 2015.
[4]Adapted from William Greenway in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 105.
[5]Adapted from J. Scott Hudgins in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 95.
[6]Adapted from David J Schlafer in Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby and Carolyn J. Sharp, editors, Connections, Year B, Volume 3, 107.