Monday, June 20th, 7:00 ... Pastoral Committee in Parsonage
Tuesday, June 21st, noon,... Prayer in the Parlor
7:00 PM ... Bible Study, Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, June 22nd, 7:00 ... Consistory in Fellowship Hall
Thursday, June 23rd, 7:00 PM ... Choir
Sunday, June 26th ALL DAY...STUFF THE TRUCK
9:15 ... Sunday School Opening
9:30 ... Sunday School
10:30... Worship Service
BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Sunday, June 19th ... Gary Gibby & Gene Edwards
Tuesday, June 22nd ... Peggy Black & Abigail Fulton
Wednesday, June 23rd ... Carlin Truell & Elizabeth Reynolds
THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINTSelf-criticism goes just so far. Although it is good to take a look at what you have accomplished and try to judge whether it is good or bad, whether it does or says what you want or mean to say, it is frequently better left to another to judge us. If we have just one failing (actually we have many, but let’s be upbeat) it is usually the inability to judge ourselves.
One thing I learned long ago was, that no matter how well I thought I wrote a piece, there was an editor who made it better. Oh, to be sure there were those few times when I disagreed with some corrections, but basically, I’m glad other eyes were the final judge.
Even after I write a Viewpoint, I have to read it several times, often out loud, before I find all the errors and still there are those that elude me. It takes other eyes (perhaps yours) to discover the flaws I’ve overlooked.
One of the problems we probably all share, however, is a general dislike of someone else pointing out our flaws. “Okay, I’m not perfect, but I don’t need you to tell me so” we may respond to a critic.
Think then, about the courage of the psalmist David when he wrote (prayed) these words in Psalm 139:23-24a (NLT). “
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you.” How challenging would that be for a writer, an artist, an actor, a politician, or a Christian?
Indeed, how courageous would those words be for any of us, no matter how good or righteous we believe ourselves to be! “Point out anything that offends you, God” Sometimes we may even ask that of God in our prayers, sometimes, but, even so, I suspect we come to our “Amen” before we’ve spent much time listening for God’s reply.
I imagine that God’s response to us might be something like, “Well, if you’re really interested in knowing what bugs me about you, if you really mean it, then put aside all of next week and we’ll go over it together.”
Most of us would never put aside that much time for plain correction, not even from God, but perhaps it might truly benefit us, and God as well, if we did set aside a few minutes every day for having our hearts tested and our behavior graded.
You think?
Sermon For, June 19, 2011
Trinity Sunday & Father’s Day Fathers DayGODLY FATHERSSermon text: Romans 8:14 –17
I love it when Father’s Day falls on the Sunday designated as Trinity Sunday and our Epistle for the day contains these wonderful words from St. Paul: “
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."What better good news can we have than that? We are children of God. Let’s face it though, the concept of the Trinity may be a little abstract for us--God as Father, God as Son, God as Holy Spirit. That may all be a little murky.
Author Liz Curtis Higgs writes about a conversation she had with her young daughter Lillian on the subject of religion. Liz first asked, “Who rules the universe?”
Without hesitation, Lillian replied, “God does.”
Next, Liz asked about Jesus, and Lillian answered, “They work together.”
Time for the big one. “What about the Holy Spirit?” Liz asked.
And Lillian replied, “He works on weekends.”
Obviously Lillian didn’t have a very clear concept of the Trinity. But who does? If we could reduce all God is into a pat formula, God would not be God. But most of us can understand quite readily what it means to call God, Abba! Or Daddy! We know what it means to say we are children of God. And, as we honor Christian fathers on this special day, we can gain a better understanding of what God means for Christian fathers to be.
Now, it’s not easy being a good father --- any more than it is to be a good mother or a good son or a good daughter. Always in the home we have tensions.
Two explorers in central Africa were comparing their stories.
“I am a man of action,” said the first. “Modern life was too stuffy and predictable for me. I wanted to experience new horizons, danger, adventure. I wanted to see nature in the raw. That’s why I came out here……..What about you?”
“I came,” said the second man, “because my son is taking bagpipe lessons.”
Family life always has its tensions. Even in the best of families. Still, as I read this text I see quite clearly three things that Christian fathers ought to be.
First of all, Christian fathers ought to love as God loves. The word is one of intimacy: “Abba,” “Daddy.” The feeling that Jesus gave us about God…is not that God is somewhere far removed from us. God does not seal Himself away from us, unavailable, unyielding, uncaring. Rather God is a God who sees every sparrow fall from the sky, who counts every hair of our head. Think about that for a moment. It is really a radical view of God. It is one of closeness and deep caring.
In our society the whole idea of fatherhood has been at least partially disconnected from manhood. Maybe somewhere in many men’s subconscious it somehow feels unmanly to show their children affection. Maybe that was how they were raised. Maybe they had no model of outward displays of affection.
“Our heroes have never been daddies,” wrote Hugh O’Neill in a piece for MOTHERING magazine, adapted from his book, DADDY COOL:
“Consider the pantheon of manliness -- the granite-jawed Randolph Scott, Clint Eastwood, the Duke, Alan Ladd as Shane, the outlaws Bogart and Cagney, the denim cool James Dean, not to mention Springsteen. All the legends have one thing in common: they are entirely undomesticated.
Cool is the open road to wherever it leads; Daddy is … is the station wagon to the swap meet.
O’Neill continued, “The fact is that any fool can be cool if he is well rested, and well-groomed when he makes the decisions about his life. But it takes real sand to be cool when you haven’t slept since June, when your son only plays “Red River Valley” on his harmonica and is threatening to drive you mad, when you have just been awakened with a GoBot to the head.”
Many fathers have had no models for showing affection to their children, affirming their children, encouraging their children. Society doesn’t provide them with models. And perhaps their own fathers were distant, remote.
Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton had this to say about her father, “My father would come home and say, ‘You did well, but could you do better? It’s hard out there.’ I would come home from school with a good grade, and my father would say, ‘Must have been an easy assignment . . . ’”
Now you might say that her father’s conditional expressions of love probably helped make Hillary Clinton the over-achiever she is today, but don’t you think that it also exacted an emotional price?
Lee Strobel is an immensely gifted man who has had at least three successful careers: as an award-winning journalist for the Chicago Tribune, as a pastor at one of the largest churches in the country, and as a best-selling Christian author. Through the years, Lee secretly wished that his father would affirm him more. How much he longed for those words, “Son, I’m proud of you.” But he never heard them.
In 1979, Lee’s father died. At the funeral, dozens of his father’s friends and business associates came up to shake Lee’s hand and all told him the same thing: how proud his father was of him. According to these men, Lee’s father had bragged about him all the time.
What a bittersweet moment it was for Lee to hear those precious words from his father -- after the man’s death. What a difference it would have made if his father had said them while he was alive.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, past governor of California, tough guy star of macho movies like Robocop, and as we know, unfortunately not the perfect husband, but, here is what Schwarzenegger had to say about fathering:
“The little things make you a hero to your children. When you’re there to help them pick out the perfect clothes for school and the perfect shoes. If you comb out their hair in the morning and if you help them with their breakfast--those are the kind of things, the little things that make you a hero.”
Most Dads do not have exciting jobs like being a movie star or a pastor but Dads can still do the little things that make them heroes to their children. A Christian father ought to reflect God’s love. And a Christian father ought to reflect God’s character.
An Internet poll asked respondents to answer the question, “Which one family member is best identified as your role model?” The father was listed as the top role model in most families, with mother coming in a close second.
Whether you like it or not, Dad, you are a role model to your children. However, what if Dad himself hasn’t really grown up? What if Dad indulges in irresponsible behavior? The damage can be considerable.
When General Norman Schwartzkopf was interviewed by Barbara Walters, some time ago, she asked him for his definition of leadership. He reflected for a moment and said, "It's competence. More important, it's character. It's taking action. It's doing the right, the ethical, thing. These four qualities are also critical for success in the business world.”
Later Barbara asked him what he wanted on his tombstone. For a moment he grew very quiet. Then, with just the hint of a tear in his eye, he said, "I want it to say, 'He loved his family and he loved his troops- and they loved him.'"
Steve Goodier in his book, One Minute Can Change a Life, tells about another man of character, tennis great Arthur Ashe. Ashe once related a defining incident that occurred when he was 17 years old. He was playing in a tournament in West Virginia. As was often the case, he was the only contestant of color in the tournament.
One night, some of the kids trashed a cabin. They absolutely destroyed it … then decided to say that Arthur was responsible. The incident was reported in the newspapers; Arthur denied his involvement, but the boys would not change their story. The worst part for Arthur was worrying about what his father would say and do.
He eventually made the dreaded phone call. As he surmised, his father had already learned of the vandalism. His father's tone was grim. He asked Arthur only one question. "Arthur Junior," he asked, "all I want to know is . . . were you mixed up in that mess?"
Arthur answered, "No, Daddy, I wasn't."
His father never asked about it again. Arthur learned that day why he had always been encouraged to tell the truth. Because there would come a time when he had to be believed. Because he had already earned his trust and respect, he knew his father believed him. From that day on he was determined, above all else, to live a life of integrity.
Arthur Ashe learned about character from his father -- the way most children learn from their parents about character. Christian fathers reflect God’s love and God’s character.
A Christian father reflects God’s gentleness and at the same time God’s strength. Obviously we’re not talking about physical strength, but emotional strength, spiritual strength. The kind of strength that takes fathers through difficult periods of sickness or just hard economic times. These are the times when families fall apart when parents fight and fathers storm out of the house. It is the time when the most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.
Real Dads have emotional strength, spiritual strength. They are gentle, yet strong, in the same way that Christ was gentle, yet strong.
My guess is that there could be some people in this room who grew up somewhat afraid of their Dad.
Perhaps your Dad embodied a style of parenting that confused strength with stoicism. Perhaps your Dad was relatively absent except when discipline needed to be meted out --- and then it was with an iron hand.
For some of you, this awkward relationship with your Dad may have affected your relationship with God. You see God as a harsh, remote God.
If that is your experience, listen again to the words of our scripture lesson: “
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, (Daddy) Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
That is the God we worship and that is the God we should reflect as fathers, as parents, loving as God loves. People of character reflecting God’s character, people of gentleness and strength.
Amen
