preached by Rev. Jeri Katherine Warden Sipes at Wesley Memorial UMC, Columbia, SC on February 5, 2011

Remember two weeks ago we said that God’s Word we are called to share with the world is compelling enough to draw people to God and God’s church. Do you remember that lesson from the Gospel of Mark? Well, I don’t know a much better or more compelling way to share the Good News with people than with these words of Isaiah 40. If you don’t know where to begin sharing your faith with others this is a good place to start. This is the message I wish everyone throughout the whole world would hear and understand. How can you not want to worship God or get to know this God after hearing this scripture lesson?! These are Words of hope that give life meaning, purpose and gets us through those hard and hopeless times. These words of Isaiah are testimony of God’s presence with us in the here and now. And at such a time as these when the economy is down, when people are losing their jobs and finding it hard to pay their bills and put food on their tables, when the divorce rate is higher than it has ever been, when politics are anything but civil, when we see and read about violence in almost every part of the world, including our own very neighborhoods, when we are so busy and tired trying to keep up with chaotic schedules and demands, when so often we ask in hopelessness, doubt and exasperation “where are you God?!”—at such a time as these today, these verses from Isaiah 40 is the Good News we and our neighbors and our world are desperate to hear.

At such a time as this, we need to be reminded of God’s greatness and power—just like the people during Isaiah’s time needed to be reminded of the powerful and unchanging truth of God. You see, our days of turmoil, insecurity, violence and doubt can be compared in some ways to the days of Isaiah in 550-515BC. These verses in Isaiah were written at a time when the Jewish people had been violently exiled from their land, their temple destroyed and they are living in captivity under the Babylonians who worshiped all sorts of gods and goddesses.[1] There was violence, insecurity, chaos and doubt; the Jewish people were hopeless; they looked at their world and their present circumstance and in exasperation they asked, “Where are you God!?”

They needed reminding of God’s immeasurable greatness, and throughout the Bible we read about God’s people constantly in need of reminders of God’s immeasurable greatness, and throughout history the great cloud of witnesses including the likes of St. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and we could go on and on, needed reminding of the immeasurable greatness of God. I need reminding of God’s immeasurable greatness, and I would venture to say that you who are sitting in the pews this morning and many of your friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances need reminding of God’s immeasurable greatness, unconditional love and promises that God is truly Emmanuel; God with us.

I want you to close your eyes and listen again to this Good News in Isaiah. Think about what is going on in your life. What is pulling you this way and that? What are you worries, your anxieties, your sorrows, your fears? Where do you doubt, feel insecure, weak, tired and sad? What parts of your life do you need to turn over to God? This time I’ll be reading these words of hope for our lives from The Message Bible. Listen:

Have you not been paying attention?
Have you not been listening?
Haven’t you heard these stories all your life?
Don’t you understand the foundation of all things?
God sits high above the earth.

So—who is like me?
Look at the night skies:
Who do you think made all this?
Who marches this army of stars out each night,
counts them off, calls each by name
—so magnificent! so powerful!—
and never overlooks a single one?

Why would you ever complain, O my people,
or, whine, my children, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God is everlasting.
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
they walk and don’t lag behind.

I don’t know about you, but fresh strength, renewal and being able to run and not get tired sound pretty good to me! However, when things get hard in our lives these things of God seem impossible to believe, but in a moment, as the writer of Isaiah 40 says, we notice the stars or something in nature, or someone reminds us of God’s greatness—in these moments we are reminded that the presence and power of God are utterly impossible to deny.[2] This is the kind of tension we live in as humans or as mere grasshoppers as Isaiah 40 calls us. Sometimes we feel so small and insignificant and hopeless that we can’t imagine or we don’t believe that the Creator of the whole world—the Creator of you and me who knit each one of us together in our mother’s womb, who knows our name and every hair on our head—actually cares about the intimate happenings of our lives. But this Creator God whom we worship calls all the stars by name we are told in these verses. How much more, then, does God care about what happens to you and me and all the other grasshoppers? God is great and God is big, but God is also in and cares about the tiny, most intimate parts of each of our lives.[3]

Who is the God you came to worship today? Who is the God you worship every day? If you look at God through your circumstances, God will look small, removed, distant and uninvolved, but if you look at your circumstances through the eyes of your faith in God then the perspective of your circumstances change, suddenly your present circumstances seem smaller and easily handled if we put our circumstances in the hands of God as Isaiah 40 encourages us to do.

The powerful truth and promise of these verses today is that throughout the up and down changes in our lives, throughout the good and the bad, throughout the unpredictability of life there is one constant and that constant is the everlasting God and his love for us. God is present and in control even when things in our lives and world seem out of control.[4] God has promised time and time again to take care of each one of us, but time and time again we limit God; we take power from God and try to do everything ourselves. We live in a hurry up and wait world where waiting upon the Lord seems so difficult. But hear the Good News those of you who are tired, worn out, hopeless, weak, full of doubt, worry and insecurity—God invites each one of us to exchange our weakness, our fatigue, our worries, our troubles, and our sorrows for God’s power.

It is so easy to read about God’s greatness—his power, love and mercy—week after week, but throughout the Bible, God tells us to do more than speak and read the Word of God. God tells us to write the Word of God upon our hearts. The truth and promise of God’s greatness spoken in Isaiah 40 does not describe the past, but the promises we read today is a living truth and a living promise spoken to our lives in the present and meant to be lived in faithful trust.

When I was a child we used to sing a song that went like this: “My God is so great/so strong and so mighty/there’s nothing my God cannot do; the mountains are his/the valleys are his/the stars are his handiwork too; my God is so great/so strong and so mighty/there’s nothing my God cannot do.” As children many of us grew up singing these kinds of songs and hearing stories of God’s greatness, but as we grow older and become adults we forget; we doubt, or we, ourselves, try to embody God’s greatness—where only God can be great.

But today is a new day, and every day is a new day and each moment is a new moment and a gift from God. We all need reminders from time to time. We have heard the promises of God spoken in Isaiah 40, but even these verses cannot capture the depth of God. Isaiah’s verses are words of hope, but they are also an invitation to start living life a different way, to start living by faith, trusting God and allowing your heart and life to be open to discovering our God who is without limits—and yet even in God’s omnipresence, omnipotence, in all those omni- words that describe God—even in God’s greatness, he meets us where we are. You have once again heard this good news; you have been reminded of the God we worship and live for—so, now, how will you live your life knowing the kind of God who loves you and calls you by name? Amen.

Realistically to financially sustain our church building and a full-time pastor we need to grow in number, but before we can welcome new members in to our church, we have to be willing to grow deeper spiritually so that we are a healthy, though perhaps small in number, church. In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner hears, “If you build it, he will come.” I believe that if we build ourselves up spiritually and we faithfully and whole-heartily do what God has called all churches to do then people will come; people will be drawn to our church–drawn to the living and intimate relationship we share with one another and God, drawn to our service-oriented hearts. Unlike Costner’s character in Field of Dreams, we do not have to do any literally building. We have great and much underused facilities already, but where we need building is in our individual and communal spiritual lives of the people we call church.

One of the things I have challenged Wesley Memorial to do since coming in July of 2010 is to engage our surrounding community. Last year we supported and volunteered at 12 different local ministries, non-profits or charities. At the end of 2011 I wanted to challenge my church to deeper outreach. I challenged them to do a windshield observation of our neighborhood, to take note of an unmet need in our surrounding community. Several moms approached me soon after that challenge. They said they noticed many middle school students roamed the neighborhood streets after school–especially on early release days. They thought we should start some kind of free after school program for the middle school that sits just two blocks from our church. I took that idea and quickly ran with it. I visited the principal at the middle school, brainstormed and then before I knew it we had 12 middle school students at our church from 1:00pm-5:30pm. We had 5 dedicated volunteers from our church give up their afternoon to entertain, tutor and feed these 12 students. Wonderful ministry moments happened during those 4 hours of outreach. 12 kids lives were touched. 12 kids had a safe place to go while mom and dad worked. We learned that many of the 12 students came from single parent families. Some lived with grandparents or siblings. Some never knew their parents. Some kids were not guaranteed supper when they got home. Some came to us hungry. Some had more education than their parents. As all of the students were leaving they said they could not wait to come back to church again. And the parents and guardians were so thankful that a church would be so thoughtful to provide a warm and welcoming, safe place for local students–especially for free. Many said that their minds were at ease knowing their child was safe with church people.

The lives of those from Wesley Memorial who volunteered that day were touched. They told me they want to do more to help the kids of our neighborhood. So often it is in giving that we receive. The eyes of some of our volunteers were opened. How could there be unfed children in our neighborhood? What parents in our neighborhood don’t find safe places for their kids to play? How can parents just let their kids roam the streets alone? There were a lot of whys and hows and what can we dos.

The same day we provided our first after school outreach, the state newspaper had an op-ed about investing in our youth. Their reasons were economic, but I believe investing in the youth in our community is our call as Christian people. We are called to care for the “lease of these,” and who else is more vulnerable in communities everywhere than children–especially children during those middle school years when they aren’t quite considered little kids, but not yet the “big” kids and definitely not adults. I think Wesley Memorial may have found its calling in our immediate neighborhood. I pray it is a calling that we can live into and will grow.

Op-Ed 1/29/12: Investing in Kids

preached by Rev. Jeri Katherine Sipes on January 22, 2012 at Wesley Memorial UMC, Columbia, SC

Opening Video:

The sad truth we learn at the very beginning of Mark’s gospel is that there used to be a time when Jesus simply announced the Good News—when Jesus simply said, “Now is the time! God’s kingdom is near! Change your hearts and lives and believe this good news!” and people dropped what they were doing…they dropped their nets as we see Simon, Andrew, James and John do and immediately follow him. So often today in many of our churches we talk about the “good ol’ days” when our sanctuaries were filled and our Sunday school classrooms were abuzz with life and eager learners and happy fellowship. But the real “good ol’ days” are captured here in Mark 1.

Mark is very different from Matthew, Luke and John. The other Gospels give you time to warm up to the idea of following Jesus, but not so in Mark.[1] In Mark you jump right in! Unlike Matthew, Luke and John, in Mark there is no birth story, no long list of Jesus’ genealogy, and no theological explanation of Jesus’ identity. We are only in the first chapter and only fourteen verses into Mark and already Jesus is gathering disciples, already Jesus is saying, “Follow Me.” And people are dropping their nets and following Jesus. It takes Matthew and Luke four chapters to get to this point. The closest to Mark is the Gospel of John. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus does call his first disciples, but it is after John has said much, much more than simply, “The Kingdom of God is near! Change your hearts and lives and believe this good news! And follow me.” There is no build up in Mark as there is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  In just sixteen chapters Mark uses “immediately” or “straightaway” forty times.[2] That seems to be the theme of Mark’s Gospel. Everything is urgent and everyone seems to respond to Jesus immediately.

The message of Christ has not changed. The message is still “The kingdom of God is near.” But unlike the disciples in Mark who did not know Jesus’ future, we know the full story of Christ; we hear a more complete Good News that Jesus died and was resurrected for us. So, in a way I would argue that the message we hear is more compelling than what Simon, Andrew, James and John heard. And yet, while most of us admire what these disciples do, and while most of us really love this story and love the catchy phrase “fishers of people,” few of us would actually consider following these disciples “drop-everything” example, few of us would do what they did.[3] So what would make you drop everything and begin an entirely new life? “What would prompt you to leave everything you know for something entirely different?”[4]

I may be “preaching to the choir” as they say. After all y’all are here in church and so many people don’t even bother to go to church any more. It is a well-known fact that churches everywhere are dying. We spend a lot of time these days talking about church growth and church revitalization and what is the latest method for bringing in people. Perhaps fishing for people is just a lot different today than it was when Mark wrote his Gospel. Like the video at the beginning of the sermon, it seems that fish today want to be entertained and won over and lured. The radical message of God’s good news is no longer compelling enough perhaps. That is very sad, and I do not believe that is the truth.

We spend so much of our time, effort and resources looking at what is wrong with people today, and we spend a lot of time asking, “What would bring more people to church?” We look at demographic reports of our surrounding neighborhood and we have conversations about how we can make God’s church more attractive, how we can provide programs to reach people in our area to draw them into our church, and how we can make God’s church more compelling. Jesus didn’t say, “I’ll make your life easy,” or “I’ll give you a bigger salary,” or “I’ll make you famous,” or “Come, to my awesome show.” Jesus simply said, “The Kingdom of God is near. Follow me.” Yes, Jesus’ message is the same and his call for us to follow him and be made into fishers of people is still the calling of all of Jesus’ followers, but I think it is obvious that we haven’t been the best fishers. Perhaps instead of focusing on what is wrong with everyone else, what is wrong with our church and why aren’t people coming to church…or instead of asking how can we make church more compelling maybe we need to just get back to the basics.

Maybe we need to take a hint from these four fishermen in Mark and drop everything ourselves and follow Jesus. How can we be fishers of people when our lives don’t reflect the beliefs we profess? How can we be fishers for Christ when we aren’t willing or ready to drop everything and follow him? How can we be fishers of people when church is secondary, when church is no more than another obligation or activity in our already busy schedules? Who wants to be part of more busyness? When we begin to live as though God’s church is life-transforming and a good, meaningful and relevant way of life—not a part of life—but a way of living, then and only then will people be drawn to who and what we have come to love so much.

There is no secret to church growth or to bringing more people into God’s kingdom. Jesus lived it for us. The message of Christ is more than compelling enough. But to be bearers of this good news we have to do more than speak it; we have to live it; we have to embody it in all we do and wherever we go. We have to walk like Christ—not only on Sundays, not only ten-percent of the time, not only when it is convenient, not only when the future is certain, not when we feel one-hundred-percent ready but always and everywhere we have been called by Jesus. You know that is what the New Testament Greek word for church means. Church or ecclesia means “called-out,” so we need to actually live as though we have indeed been called out for a purpose.

There is much we can learn from these four fishermen in Mark.[5] Their story can help us begin to be better fisher of people in our world today. I am not a fisher woman. I have grown up fishing from time to time, but I do not know too much about the fishing world beyond the basics. But I would consider myself an athlete or a woman of many hobbies, and I think there are certain marks, or traits, or characteristics, or qualities of anyone who is taken up with a sport or a hobby or a job they love to do. First, and I already hinted at it, you have to love what you do.[6] Do you love the church? Do you love being a disciple of Jesus with your whole life? Does your life reflect your love for Jesus? If you do love Jesus and your life reflects your love then you are a natural; you will be a good fisher of people.

Love or natural talent carries people a long way, but any profession athlete, musician, artist, or whatever will tell you that to be really good takes a lot of practice; it takes dedication.[7] You have to be willing to fully immerse yourself into the teachings of Jesus and the life of the church. The church is much more than a social club; it is a place we come together to worship, study, pray, fellowship and experience God as God’s people. Part of the good news we share with the world is that we are not alone. But unless you fully and without restraint invest yourself in the life of a church and unless you practice growing in your own faith daily, how will you ever be able to draw more people into God’s church?

To be a good fisher man or woman you also have to “know the fish.”[8] This is what Paul called being “in the world but not of the world.” It is not our job to pass judgment on people, but to meet people where they are, to build relationships with people as we see Jesus do throughout the Gospels. How are you connecting with your neighbors? How are you listening to their needs, their pains, their sorrows? Building the church begins with building relationships outside of the church. You have to remember that you may be the only witness of Christ that someone ever sees or meets. How are you getting to know all the different kinds of fish around you? And how or are you sharing the good news?

And finally, to be a good fisher of people you have to be patient. Sometimes we meet Simons, Andrews, Jameses and Johns who immediately respond to the message of Christ, but then sometimes you meet people who are not so immediate in their response or who might even be hostile to God’s message. But God called us to fish and part of fishing, as any fisherman will tell you, is patience. Van, my brother-in-law, once said to me after we were out fishing with the family for nearly 3 hours with only two catches, “There’s a reason they call it fishing and not catching.” Jesus has called us to fish, but the good news for us is that we can leave the catching up to God. Having patience means not giving up, and that is a very important part of being a fisher of people for Christ.

Love what you do, practice, know the fish and be patient—these are all marks of good fisher men and women.

There is hope for God’s church, and the hope is you. That is the message of Mark 1:14-20. The hope of God’s kingdom in this world relies on a partnership with all those people who call themselves followers of Jesus. We have all been called fisher of men and women. What are you waiting for? Don’t you think it is about time we go fishing? Amen.

preached by Rev. Jeri Katherine Sipes on January 15, 2012 at Wesley Memorial UMC, Columbia, SC

If you hang out with our vintage folks, as we have come to call our older or chronologically gifted folks, here at church and around the community long enough, you’ll soon accumulate many, many jokes because for whatever reason, I have observed, that when you hit a certain age, you start to talk in the language of jokes—especially vintage men. This is not a judgment or a condemnation, but merely an observation that I think can help my sermons, or at least loosen us up to be ready to hear what God has to say to us today.

For example, I recently heard a joke that goes very well with our scripture lesson from 1 Samuel 3. There was once a preacher who titled his sermon, “The Danger of Falling Asleep in Church.” For several weeks in a row there was one particular man who fell asleep during church every single Sunday, so the preacher thought he would make an example out of him for the rest of the church. Just as the preacher stood up to preach, he noticed the man was already comfortably asleep in his pew.  So, the preacher asked his congregants to please stand if you want to go to heaven. Everyone stood except the sleeping man. There were snickers and a few gasps, and the man kept on sleeping. The preacher had everyone sit back down, and then with a bang of his fist on the pulpit and with a loud voice the preacher said, “Stand up if you want to go to hell!” That loud commotion from the pulpit roused the sleeping man; he stood, and he looked around and said, “Preacher, I don’t know what we’re voting on, but it looks like it is just you and me are the only ones for it.”[1]

There are dangers sleeping in the church, but as one pastor pointed out there is just as much danger or many unexpected surprises by simply being in the church or being the church.[2] Just read Samuel’s story and you will understand. Even before Samuel was born the life of his family was centered at the temple or the church of their time. Samuel’s parents were Elkanah and Hannah. And Hannah like her ancestors Sarah and Rachel was barren; she could not have children and yet her prayer every time she was in the house of the Lord was for a child of her own. And every prayer of her husband, Elkanah, was for a child for Hannah. Like Sarah and Rachel, Hannah was beyond child-bearing age when the priest Eli told her God would give her a child. Hannah was so filled with joy at this great miracle and gift that she promised God her child would grow up in the temple with the priests to be trained as a minister of the Lord.

If we fast forward 12 or so years from Samuel’s conception and then birth, we meet the child Samuel asleep in the temple in our verses for today. Samuel is not like the man from the joke; he is not bored with church and sermons and songs and prayers and probably all the activities of a church. Back in Samuel’s day when children were promised for the service of the Lord, as Hannah had promised Samuel before he was born, when the children were weaned from their mothers they went to live at the temple with the ministers who would train them to be ministers. Obviously when children are baptized or dedicated in churches today we do not do that. Some of you parents might be thinking, “Hmmmm…sounds like a tradition we should revive.” No. Sorry. I will have to ask you to stop that thought there. Wesley Memorial’s minister and more importantly her husband are not willing participants in reviving this tradition. I will be more than happy to be involved in the life of your child in your home or in Sunday School and VBS, but we are not currently taking Samuel applicants at this time. The good thing for you is that you are United Methodist so give it a couple of years and you’ll have a new pastor to try to convince to revive that tradition.

But getting back to the point—the danger of being in the church is that soon you will hear God calling you. It doesn’t matter if you initially came here because your family came or comes, or you came with a friend, or you came because you wanted your children to be raised in the church because you were raised in the church, or you came for the awesome potlucks, or because that’s what families just do at 11:00 on Sundays in the south. Whatever reason or reasons you started coming to church, if you spend enough time here and with the church people you will begin to hear God calling your name as God called Samuel.

God is always calling out to each one of us all the time—no matter if we’re in church or not. God calls and that is a fact, but sometimes I think our days are very much like the days of Samuel when the “Word of the Lord was rare and visions were not widespread.” Just to make it clear for you…that is not a good thing. There are several places in the Bible that when the word of the Lord is not heard and visions stop bad things follow. Proverbs 29:18 puts it plainly, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The Word of the Lord certainly does seem to be rare and visions do not seem to be widespread today. And I think it is safe to say that our world is spiritually unhealthy and in desperate need of God’s Good News, but I don’t think this is because God has ceased to speak, or to call or to reach out to us. I think it is because we have become spiritually hard-of-hearing.[3] We are not attuned to the ways of the Lord because we have become more in tuned with the ways of the world. We busy ourselves with calls and expectations of others that we do not make room to hear God, or even sadder we do not even expect God to speak or call to us like we read so often in scripture. Like Samuel, we don’t even consider God calling an option.[4] We are so readily available when people—our friends and family—call us, but not so available or willing to acknowledge when it is God who is really calling us.[5]

Perhaps we are spiritually hard-of-hearing because we are so busy and we fill our lives with so much, but perhaps it is also because God’s call can come at very inconvenient times and God’s call on our lives might not be what we want to do or it might not match up with our lives’ plan. Samuel was called in the middle of the night. Personally I can’t think of a much more inconvenient time. I like my sleep. I don’t like to be disturbed when I am warmly tucked in my bed with my feather blanket all tucked around me and I’m in the middle of a deep sleep, but sometimes God’s call comes when we are most comfortable and don’t want to be disturbed, and well sometimes that can just be so inconvenient, can’t it!? So we don’t even listen.  We brush God off like we don’t even hear him.

The title of this sermon, as you may have read, is “God’s calling, are you listening,” but I think before we can even listen, we have to pick up the phone. I envision God to be that Verizon wireless guy who keeps asking, “Can you hear me now,” as he moves closer and closer and closer to the person. Just like that God moves closer and closer to us, and he asks, “Can you hear me now?” God is hoping that one day we will pick up the phone and say, “Yes, yes. I hear you. What do you want, God?” First, before we can even begin to listen to God, we have to acknowledge that God speaks to each of us. God calls each of us. God speaks to our world, to our church and to people today through scripture, prayer, song, sermons (we hope!), worship, fellowship, church and the ways God speaks to us cannot be limited. God speaks. God calls. Before we can ask, “Are you listening,” we have to ask ourselves and each other, “Are you even ready to listen?”

Just as there is a danger in coming to church because you might hear God calling you, there is a danger in opening ourselves up to listening to God. We didn’t read the rest of 1 Samuel 3, but if you know the story, or if you have time to go back to read it, you will see that God called Samuel to a very difficult task and what would be for years a very difficult life. God does not always call us to an easy way of life, and because of that we don’t always want to listen. Sometimes like Samuel that might mean to challenge your leaders, or change something about yourself—which is never easy.

But this is where trust in the Lord comes in. We have to trust that God has plans to bring about good. We have to trust and know that we have all been called to be ministers for God—ordained clergy are not the only ones who are called to serve the church and share the good news of Christ. We are all called to witness God’s presence in our world with the variety of gifts God has given us. We have to trust that like Samuel God has great plans to use each of us in mighty and transforming ways.

Are you ready to listen? Are you listening? If you are, and you respond “Here I am, Lord” as Samuel did then the next question we must ask ourselves is, “How am I surrounding myself with people who will help me discern the will of God for my life?” Who are you are the people surrounding you who will help you live into God’s calling for you? Samuel had Eli and the whole community at the temple. He also had faithful parents—Elkanah and Hannah—who helped him grow into his calling. Having people around us who can help us discern God’s call for our lives is very important. People keep us accountable, challenge and encourage us, and they don’t let us forget the ways in which God is calling. If we surround ourselves with other people who are seeking God’s will, if we surround ourselves with others who are listening to God then we will move from merely answering God’s call to actively living God’s call for our lives. Without the support of such people like a church family or a healthy community of faith, we cannot fully live into God’s call.

Each of us as the body of Christ has been called in different ways. Each of us has been made by God’s own hands with different gifts. When one doesn’t answer God’s call, the body is not complete, the body of Christ does not work properly. We need each other to live into our call. Samuel’s story teaches us that.

So, this week as you go throughout your week and you read and pray and fellowship ask yourself: Am I ready to listen to God? Am I listening to God? Who in my life can I go to help me discern God’s call for my life? And finally find some space and time where you can be quiet and truly listen for the voice of God. We do not have to be a time and place where the Word of the Lord is rare and visions are not widespread. Our future is not fixed; rather God is calling to us today and every day, calling us to turn and return to him so that he can do mighty things through his people. How will you respond? Amen.

preached by Rev. Jeri Katherine Sipes on January 8 at Wesley Memorial UMC in Columbia, SC

Let’s take a quick hand poll. How many of you have been baptized? Don’t worry, I’m not taking names. I don’t have a pencil in hand. I’m not going to aggressively confront you after church and pressure you into being baptized. I understand. The decision to be baptized takes time. I went through three confirmation classes one before baptism and two afterwards just to make sure, so believe me I really understand that such a decision as baptism can be a lengthy process—all in God’s timing, right?

Most of your hands went up. Good, but now, another hand poll—how many of you remember your baptism?  I do. I was 10 when I was baptized, and my dad baptized me—the Baptist-way according to many of my fellow United Methodists. I was immersed, dunked, submerged, or plunged—which ever you prefer to call it; I was baptized by more than I couple drops or sprinkles of water. I distinctly remember the way the cool water completely washed over me as my dad lowered me into the water. I came up out of the water literally feeling renewed, washed cleaned and made new. It was a powerful feeling; it was a transformational experience that changed my life. I felt God’s presence all around me, embracing me fully and it has been a feeling I haven’t been able to forget.

At 10 years old I thought, “This is my new beginning. This is my new life.” And at 10 years old I naively, or with the innocence of a child, thought that somehow baptism would prevent me from sinning—that baptism would actually make it hard to sin. Go on laugh. I know, it is a bit ridiculous. After more life experience than just a mere 10 years I know that is not quite how baptism works. I have fallen or backslidded as John Wesley would say many times—more times than I am probably willing to admit. I am far from perfect as I have admitted many a time from this pulpit. But I like to think that part of that little 10 year old girl is still a part of me today. I want so desperately that 10 year-old girl who expected Christ to make her whole, new and perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect to still be part of me. It is easy as adults to forget our baptism in the busyness and daily demands of work and family; or to live as nothing ever happened; or to remember our baptism and feel a sense of guilt or failure that we have let God and our church down because we have backslid or strayed far, far away from those promises we made at our baptism. Can I take another hand poll? How many of us have been there? I have many times.

But Mark has good news for all of us backsliders today. We didn’t read verse 1 of our chapter today, but Mark begins his gospel this way, “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God.” Unlike the other Gospels, Mark does not begin with Jesus’ birth story. There is no genealogy list, no angels, no shepherds, no Mary and Joseph, and no manger. Mark’s gospel begins in the river—a dramatic beginning of Jesus’ ministry that begins with Jesus’ baptism. “Old John the Baptist with eyes wild and penetrating, hair and beard shaggy and unkempt, dressed in a long, coarse camel-hair shirt, probably dusty and sun-burned, eating wild honey and locusts, and who preached hell fire and brimstone out in the middle of the desert was at the Jordan river baptizing a crowd of people when Jesus walked into the waters.”[1] Of course Jesus was sinless, blameless, already perfect as his Father in heaven, so he didn’t need to be baptized. But when Jesus came into the river among all the other sinners, he—God incarnate, God who is fully divine and yet fully human—identified with them, identified with the sinners, identifies with us today. We have been baptized by the same waters and by the same Spirit that baptized Christ.

The world is a different place because of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, and that was made clear at Jesus’ baptism. When Jesus waded into the waters of the river Jordan that day, the heavens tore apart—the heavens did not merely open up as a door or window opens, but the heavens were torn apart.[2] When we open something like a door, a window, or a jar we expect that we can easily close it again. But when something is torn, it cannot be so easily repaired, fixed, mended or sewn perfectly back together again. Are you with me? Something that is opened is meant to be closed. We all learned this when we learned our opposites as little children, but something that is torn is not necessarily meant to be put back together. When Jesus was baptized that day the heavens were torn apart because God never planned to close the heavens back up. Nothing would ever be the same again. God was among us in human form, walking, talking, eating, and being baptized, and God never planned to leave us. The world not only was a different place because of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, but every time we celebrate a baptism, or remember our own baptism we remember that the world is a different place because of Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel, God with us.

We are different people after being baptized by the same waters and Spirit that baptized Christ. At least that is what baptism calls us into—a new life, a new people, a new identity. Jesus’ baptism inaugurated his earthly ministry among us. It is very fitting that the story of Jesus’ baptism comes at the beginning of every New Year when everyone is making resolutions and trying to better themselves in the New Year. As Methodists we only believe in being baptized once, but yearly, monthly and even daily we can remember and renew our covenant we made with God at our baptism. That day when the heavens tore apart, God’s Spirit descended and God’s voice said, “You are my son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased”—on that day God was making a new people; God was partnering with humanity unlike God had ever done in the past. God was making a new people for himself, but this time the people, you and I, have to choose to be people of God. The world is a different place because of Jesus, but through our baptism we have been called to live this difference for our world.[3]

One of my least favorite quotes I have read in any book—I can’t remember which book now, but just a two-word phrase that terrifies me, and that is: “tame commitment.” Tame commitment is the same as passive participation which isn’t really participation at all when you think about it. Tame commitment means watered down, lukewarm, docile, subdued, and even disinterested, and we all know what the Bible says about being lukewarm. God says, “Because you are lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I will spit you from my mouth.”[4] This scene at the Jordan River in Mark 1 is anything but tame and as we read throughout Mark and the other Gospels and even the whole Bible the people of God have anything but tame commitment, anything but tame faith—we are often told that God’s people are people of bold faith. The folks we read about in the Bible are probably there because of their untame-ness. This scene of Jesus’ baptism is just the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, but it begins in a very dramatic way, only foreshadowing the kind of uninhibited, untamed, and unbounded life Jesus lived while he walked among us.

I doubt Jesus ever worried about what other people thought. He knew from the beginning that he had been called God’s child. Likewise, I am definitely sure John the Baptist didn’t care what others thought. A man who eats locusts, wears camel hair, never cuts his hair and tells people to repent is not the kind of man who cares what others think. John knew he had been called by God for a purpose, that he too was a beloved child of God. Sometimes I think we live too cautiously; we worry too much about what others think of us; we live tamed lives of faith that do not reflect the fact that Jesus’ life and especially Jesus’ life in ours continues to make a difference in our world.

God is a radical, passionate, and dramatic kind of God who wants to shake things up in our world. But the God who freely gives his gracious gift of his son wants us to decide fully to be part of God’s grand plan. The heavens have been torn apart, God’s Spirit is still among us, and God is still telling us all today that we are his children, his beloved, with whom he is well pleased. The calling of our baptism cannot be contained to an hour on Sunday morning, or a few hours during the week. God wants all of us. He wants to use us in mighty ways where people least expect it, but we must make the decision to be untamed disciples who show radical love, hospitality and forgiveness, who make known God’s presence among us today.

We are part of God’s story. Through baptism we have been made one with Christ. Through our baptism we are a part of God’s kingdom; we have been washed by the same water and Spirit that Jesus was washed in. In a minute we will sing Blessed Assurance. In Christ we have our assurance, so what are we waiting for? That assurance is just assurance of eternity, but as the song says in the here and now we can have a fore taste of glory divine. Don’t you want the whole world to have such a taste of God’s radical, untamed and unconditional love? If you answered yes, then today is the day you start living your baptism without reservations or fear or inhibitions. Being baptized into the church is more than joining a bunch of committees or classes, and it is much more than a list of do’s and don’ts. Being baptized into God’s holy church is life transforming not only for the one who is being baptized, but for the whole world. But it is up to you and me to choose what kind of baptized person we want to be—a passive participant with a tame faith or an untamed disciple with bold faith. We daily get to decide who we will be, so today as we remember Jesus’ baptism who will you choose to be? Amen.

For a year and a half I have held numerous bible studies, classes and small groups at our church, but with very little consistently attending. A much wiser and seasoned pastor told me to never stop offering the opportunity for people to gather around the Word of God–despite how frustrating it may seem at times. So, despite many disappointing afternoons and evenings when not a single soul showed up, I kept plugging away–trying different times, locations, subject matter and even teachers. And now, for whatever reason, people are coming, and not only coming but actively and eagerly participating. We have a healthy-size group of eager disciples attending our New Testament bible study, and they actually look forward to coming each week. Talk about a transformation!

Our group of 8-10 people each Sunday get along very well, and our discussions are honest, stimulating and thought-provoking. It used to be hard to get people to talk enough to fill an hour of Sunday School and Bible Study, but now we find it difficult to get through the whole bible study lesson in 2 hours! It has been a joy to be a part of this small group. I do pray that many, including myself, grow and are transformed through this study of God’s Word, and I look forward to seeing what God will do in our church and community through these dedicated disciples.

Week 2 Invitation to the NT: NT Bible Study Week 2

Good News! Good News! There is a hunger to go deeper in discipleship at Wesley Memorial! As a small church we are not always consistent with out Bible Studies. Attendance numbers fluctuate from 12 one Sunday to 0 the next. It is hard to prepare for such unpredictability as the leader of these studies. But one retired pastor gave me wise advise after my initial frustration with this problem when I first came to WMUMC; he said, “Never stop offering bible studies. They will eventually come.” And eventually they did! We had 12 last night at our study which made for a very rich conversation. It was hard to squeeze our study into an hour and a half; people just wanted to keep talking—that is a blessing! We ranged in age from 27 to 87 and it was amazing for me, as the pastor, to see the connections that were made across these generational boundaries.

Our 87 year old told us the story of how her mother died at a very young age and she was sent to live with her grandmother, and then a 38 year old man in the class completely empathized with her because the same thing happened to him when he was a young boy. It was a beautiful moment that everyone in the room knew they understood one another and how such an experience shaped their adult identities. As we seek to be in a deeper relationship with God, God draws us into a deeper relationship with one another.

I look forward to meeting with this class weekly. I am convinced that when churches begin to genuinely work on spiritual formation–on the spiritual health of congregants then and only then can the church grow. I look forward to seeing what God has planned for the people of this church.

Jan. 22 Bible Study: NT Bible Study Week 1

This Sunday the sermon is on 1 Samuel 3:1-10; the title is “God’s Calling, Are You Listening.” We are trying to better connect Sunday School to Worship, and since last week we talked about God, I thought this would be a good week to follow that discussion up with where or how is this God we talked about calling us.

This SS class is based off the UMC BOD phrase: “The Ministry of All God’s People.” The Methodist church–and I hope throughout the church universal–emphasizes strong lay leadership and presence. The clergy are not responsible for EVERYTHING in the church; rather it is a partnership. As Christians we have all been called by God, and the church desperately needs everyone to fully live into their calling.

Here is our SS lesson: Jan 15 Sunday School

For the next several weeks, our Sunday School classes at Wesley Memorial will be doing some theology. I know, I know– “theology” can sound like such a big, scary word that we don’t want to touch with a 13 and a half inch pole. But, my hope, through this class, is that disciples will learn to be comfortable “doing” theology–because theology merely the study of God that enriches our life so that we can live our theology in our everyday lives. But to live our theology, we must learn and study–so we will begin in a classroom of our church with the hopes that the theology in which we are involved will not stay behind our walls and closed doors. Since theology is the study of God and all things related to God,  we will begin with God and the question of “Who is God?”.

This week several scripture passages as well as participants’ experiences will inform our discussion of God. I pray that our discussion will invite people to explore God on their own time, and ultimately ask themselves, ” Where do I see God in my life and world? How am I being a living witness of God to my friends, family, neighbors and strangers?”

The impetus for our study is to nurture disciples for Christ who will participate in God’s transformation of the world in the here and now. We want to nurture and grow thoughtful disciples of Christ, seeking to be relevant in our world. So, our Sunday School lessons have a very organized flow to move people from “nominal Christians” to “altogether Christians”–that is our prayer anyhow. Growth in Christ is a process, and Sunday School at WMUMC recognizes that process and joins disciples-wherever they may be on their spiritual journey–in providing a space to think, question, doubt, pray, discuss and learn from fellow disciples.

We invite you to join us–either physically at 2501 Heyward Street, or virtually by downloading the lesson plans for each week and posting responses on our blog. May God bless you as you seek to grow in God.

Jan 8 Sunday School

preached by Rev. Jeri Katherine Warden Sipes on January 1, 2012 at Suber-Marshall Memorial UMC for the Community of UM Churches Covenant Renewal and Healing Service

Covenanted People

What does covenant mean? Sometimes I think that during times such as this covenant service we use covenant and covenantal language without really reflecting on what it means. So, help me out. What comes to mind when you think of covenant? What are some synonyms or brief definitions of covenant? Think for a minute…

Webster’s dictionary defines covenant this way: usually a formal, solemn, and binding agreement, or a written agreement or promise. Some synonyms from Webster are contract, pact, alliance, deal, understanding, oath or pledge.

But how often do you and I, on an everyday basis, enter such a formal covenant? On November 25, I would say that my husband and I said vows to one another and entered into what Webster described as a formal, solemn and binding covenant. But to be honest I don’t think about covenanting too much—unless of course we’re at church and we are baptizing someone or doing a renewal service such as this. I guess if you’re a lawyer or in some kind of business or contracting work you may be involved with a lot of covenanting, but I bet you don’t use the covenantal language. Perhaps contract is the word most used. And do we really think that covenants are truly binding? Nothing is really binding, right?

I think for the most part we have come to believe this—that covenants are not binding or that there is no accountability in covenants, vows, promises, contracts, oaths or pledges. James Emery White wrote a book called Wrestling with God and in it he wrote, “Today if relationships become too uncomfortable, we disengage. We change jobs, move out of a neighborhood, find a new church, or leave a marriage. We minimize life as portable and disposable.”[1]

Webster’s dictionary didn’t directly say anything about covenants being relational. Yes, I believe that the understanding of the dictionary definition is that there will be people involved, but then when you mention relationships and people—that makes things a whole lot messier. O how easy it is to say “I do” or “I will” to words in a covenant, but how much more difficult and what a challenge it is to live the implications of a covenant with real, live people.

I am learning that with my new husband. When I said “I do,” I know I said I will love him, comfort him, honor and keep in sickness and in health, but nobody told or warned me about living with all of his quirks—I won’t embarrass Hiram now, but believe me it taking some getting used to sharing everything. That “I do” takes on more meaning and is a lot harder when you are trying to integrate two lives into one.

But the point is this: covenants for us as God’s people are relational; covenants involve people and they are intimate and personal—not in a private sort of way but personal as in face-to-face or shared. Covenants are more than written contracts; they are more than words from our baptismal services and more than creeds and prayers we pray. The covenant we make with God at our baptism is a covenant with not only God, but the people of God. It is a covenant of mutual responsibility and commitment rather than self-fulfillment; it is a covenant, that yes, is binding but that is rooted in God’s grace and unconditional love.

This covenant at Shechem in Joshua 24 was one of many times when the covenant between God and God’s people was renewed again and again and again. Deep commitments and covenants we make usually need to be renewed; we need to be reminded that the covenants we make with God and one another are binding. They are covenants that have the power to transform the world if we put faithfully live the vows of the covenants we make. Let me remind you of the covenant you made at your baptism. You said or if you were an infant you had someone say on your behalf that as members of God’s church you will faithfully participate in God’s ministries by your prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. These are more than just words of welcome at the time of baptism; they are covenantal words to live by.

This morning I talked about New Year’s resolutions. How many of you make New Year’s resolutions? I usually do. How many of you keep your New Year’s resolutions? Be honest? Have you ever kept a New Year’s resolution for 365 days a year? My resolutions usually don’t see the months of spring before I have abandoned my eagerness for my resolution.

Sometimes I think that is what we do with the covenant we make with God. We think—“Oh, I am too far gone, or I am too busy, or when I get my life together, or now is just not the right time, when things calm down at work and home I’ll be more faithful, or I am still trying to discern what God is calling me to do.” If we wait for all of that to happen, until we are ready, the timing is right and everything is perfect then we will be waiting a long time to get back to that covenant we made with God.

Joshua says, “Choose this day.” Don’t wait until tomorrow. Choose today to renew your covenant. Don’t wait. Joshua puts the Israelites on the spot and invites them to renew their covenant with God. Again this is not the last time the Israelites will renew their covenant and it is not the first. A covenant with God is different from any dictionary or human definition because though a covenant with God is binding, God’s covenant with us is full of grace and unconditional love that meets us where we are and draws us into repentance, forgiveness and renewal and transformation again and again and again.

The verses from James remind us that a covenant with God is not private, personal or solitary. I am sure we have all heard John Wesley’s famous quote, “There is no religion but social religion.” That is good news people of God. We are not alone. Look around you. God has given us people to walk this covenanted life with. God has given us people who will make us stronger, support us when we are weak, nurture a deeper faith within us. Yes, I think we all know that sometimes it can be very hard to be a church—after all a church is made up of people. But we have all been called children of God and in each and every one of us is the image of God.

So, today as we renew our covenants with God be mindful that we are also renewing our covenants with our churches and God’s people everywhere. Let us not see ourselves as solitary, disconnected individuals, or separate churches, but let us renew this covenant together as the people of God. And remember that we don’t enter this covenant for no reason at all, but that in covenanting with and God’s people in the here and now we are opening ourselves to God’s grace; we are partnering with God and God’s universal church in the transformation of our world.