http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons The weekly sermons and announcements from the Bear Creek United Methodist Church. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:57:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 © webmaster@bcumc.org () webmaster@bcumc.org() 1440 The weekly sermons and announcements from the Bear Creek United Methodist Church. webmaster@bcumc.org No no http://www.bcumc.org/Photos/RSSart.jpg http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons 144 144 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/07/chickens-or-pigs/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/07/chickens-or-pigs/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:57:12 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1625 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/07/chickens-or-pigs/feed/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/announcements/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/announcements/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:29:11 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1623 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/announcements/feed/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/pastors-message-2/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/pastors-message-2/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:27:03 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1622 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/03/pastors-message-2/feed/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/when-down-is-up/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/when-down-is-up/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:31:31 +0000 johnl http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1619 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/when-down-is-up/feed/ 00:01:01 David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Luke 14:1, 7-14nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 29, 2010 As usual, Jesus is counter intuitive.nbsp; Common wisdom says that if you want to get ahead then try ... David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Luke 14:1, 7-14nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 29, 2010 As usual, Jesus is counter intuitive.nbsp; Common wisdom says that if you want to get ahead then try your best to move up to the head table where you will be noticed by the right people.nbsp; But Jesus says go to a lower table, someplace humble, and serve him (Jesus) from there.nbsp; Jesus makes no sense on how we are taught to advance ourselves. In Jesus day much of social behavior was regulated by a set of honor codes.nbsp; The codes around dining were particularly clear. Where one sat determined ones status and future.nbsp; Those who sat near the host at the head of the table were the most honored.nbsp; Those at the foot of the table were the least honored.nbsp; The most honored dined first and ate best; the least honored dined last and had leftovers.nbsp; Even the conversation was ordered by the honor code.nbsp; The most honored guests chose the topic and their opinion was the most important. For Jesus to be invited to dinner with a leader of the Pharisees and his esteemed guests of lawyers meant Jesus was being honored.nbsp; And that Jesus was seated with the host and in the course of the meal led the discussion with his story/parable was even a greater honor.nbsp;nbsp; That he challenged their choosing the privileged seating was rude and highly offensive. We have strong remnants of this honor code in our own culture.nbsp; For great, formal dinners, dinners with distinguished guests, great care is given to who will sit where and with whom.nbsp; It is a privilege to be seated at the head table with the keynote speaker.nbsp; Those who are seated to the edges, to the back of the room and by the kitchen door have been clearly told their place in the pecking order. Even in our casual dinner parties some care is given to who is invited and who will sit where.nbsp; By the seat assigned we know our place.nbsp; When we find ourselves at the low end of the table it is human to want to move up.nbsp; And so thoughts of how we might find our way near to the head table naturally occur.nbsp; The advice we are most often given, if we desire to be upwardly mobile, is to network with others, particularly others who might help us move up.nbsp; These connections are meant to advance our careers and our contacts.nbsp; It is advice I have given to those seeking jobs.nbsp; It is not Jesus' advice. Not only have I given advice contrary to Jesus' way, I have lived contrary to Jesus' way.nbsp; Fortunately, and sometimes harshly, God has a way of returning me to the path.nbsp; When I started ministry I was in three very small congregations.nbsp; By making contacts and pleasing the right people I moved up to a larger single congregation and then a quite large congregation.nbsp; By hard work and pleasing the right people I moved from committee membership to committee chair.nbsp; I was feeling pretty important because now I sometimes sat at the head table with Bishops. Then through a series of events it came crashing down.nbsp; A self inflated ego led me down a way that departed from Jesus and instead of being humble to accept the help offered (and needed), I, with pride, said I could handle it myself.nbsp; I couldn't and ended up at odds with a co-pastor, two of three District Superintendents and the Bishop.nbsp; Not only was my appointment in jeopardy, but those above me wanted me gone.nbsp; I was being booted from the head table. As is my custom when confronted by something, and this felt very big, I went on a silence retreat under spiritual direction; and I prayed, studied and consulted my closest soul friends.nbsp; In my prayers I was confronted by the last line of today's scripture, "For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."nbsp; And instead of thinking it was about those with whom I had crossed, I understood it was about me.nbsp; God also gave me Psa... Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/sermon-august-22-2010/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/sermon-august-22-2010/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:27:47 +0000 johnl http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1618 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/09/01/sermon-august-22-2010/feed/ 00:01:01 Sermon August 22, 2010 The weekly sermons and announcements from the Bear Creek United Methodist Church. Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/16/it-is-god%e2%80%99s-good-pleasure-to-give-us-the-kingdom/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/16/it-is-god%e2%80%99s-good-pleasure-to-give-us-the-kingdom/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:22:35 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1607 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/16/it-is-god%e2%80%99s-good-pleasure-to-give-us-the-kingdom/feed/ 00:01:01 David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp; Luke 12:32-34nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 15, 2010 Today's scripture is obviously about divine pleasure, human fear and our possessions (or what we assume is ours). I ... David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp; Luke 12:32-34nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 15, 2010 Today's scripture is obviously about divine pleasure, human fear and our possessions (or what we assume is ours). I think the most striking content of the first verse is that it is Abba's pleasure to give us the kingdom. Abba does not give the kingdom to us begrudgingly. Nor does Abba give the kingdom to us because we have earned it. Abba gives the kingdom to us because to do so gives Abba good pleasure. This should alleviate our fears before God and life. But sadly, even the best of us sometimes fears, and in our fear we turn from Abba to stuff, forgetting that it is Abba who gives and sustains our lives and not us, and certainly not our stuff. Last week I talked about God, us and our possessions as well. And no, we are not in the midst of a stewardship campaign, though we are in need of a fusion of funds through the long, financially dry summer. I am preaching on our stuff again for three reasons: I am a lectionary preacher and this scripture is the one assigned for today by the international and interdenominational committee; More importantly, because Jesus preached about how the love of stuff is the most serious impediment to a healthy trust of God and is a serious threat to the quality of our relationships, and is the thief of true joy. And I am preaching about God and stuff because I am committed to preaching even from the words I wish Jesus hadn't said. What good is it to seek meaning in God's word only when it's comfortable? Jesus obviously thought confronting the false god named stuff was important. Misuse of wealth is one of the few things for which Jesus has no tolerance and which even makes him angry. Good stewardship, the right attitude and the right use of God's creation, is at the very center of Jesus' teachings. When I first began to work on this sermon I had nothing to say. I prayed my usual prayer and waited for a day or two before optimistically writing, "Dear God, give me words to comfort the weary." Usually, after having studied and meditated on the scripture for a week, an outline flows. But by the Wednesday when I should have been done with a draft and on to polishing, there was no outline, no idea, nothing but silence. So after sitting in the silence and fearing I would have no sermon, I prayed again. God, for 30 years you have told me what to say and helped me say it. What would you have me tell your children? What would you say to me? I held my pencil over my writing tablet, waiting. Then I simply wrote the words that came. Here they are, unedited: Tell them this: I am everything they need. I am the fruit of the earth. I am breathing in and breathing out. I am love itself. All other things are false gods that will destroy. Only my love can save. And in my love I give myself freely. You can have it all. All means all. What you truly need is yours, all of it. You need bread for your table? I give it to you. You need love for your heart? I give it to you. You need health? I give it to you, even in and beyond death. I am your greatest treasure. Though everything is Abba's, Abba chooses to freely give us the kingdom. We don't have to be afraid. We can be generous. We can make the treasure of our hearts the love of God and not the stuff from God. In the fear of life we have been trained to think our salvation and the kingdom lie in the stuff of life, the things and status that make us rich and respected. But this treasure is false and leads us to hell. Oddly, Jesus has the sociologists on his side. In 1956 a survey was done which measured two things; how much stuff we had and how happy we were. Forty years later, in 1996, the same survey was repeated. And though we had twice as much stuff, we were half as happy-twice as much stuff and half as happy. Other research by the Pew Memorial Trust reveals these startling statistics. Ninety percent of divorcees say there were battles over mon... Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/02/pastors-message-for-sunday-august-1/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/02/pastors-message-for-sunday-august-1/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:42:11 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1599 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/08/02/pastors-message-for-sunday-august-1/feed/ 00:01:01 David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp; Luke 12:13-21nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 1, 2010 When my children were small, they played together well most of the time. But sometimes Vickie or I would ... David Orendorffnbsp;nbsp; Luke 12:13-21nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; August 1, 2010 When my children were small, they played together well most of the time. But sometimes Vickie or I would hear a yell and one of the children would come running to us and say, "Daddy, make her give it to me." Sound familiar? It is the early form of being covetous, desiring for yourself what another has. I can't play innocent about being covetous. The cry of my children has been my cry. I had two brothers and a sister who were all within a year or two of each other in age. My brothers and I sometimes fought over a toy. In frustration and anger, in a sense of being terribly wronged, we would yell at my parents, "Make him give it to me." They say girls mature faster than boys. My sister had a more sophisticated system for gaining what she wanted. Instead of fighting with us, she simply told us a favorite TV show was on. She would say, "Hop-a-Long Cassidy is on," and we would head for the TV and she would have what she wanted. And by family rules she could keep it. Such desire to get what another has and what we want is what the brother asks of Jesus. He is saying, "Jesus, make my brother give it to me." Do we outgrow this? Sadly, covetous desires haunt us as adults. We want our fair share of stuff. And often, the more we have the more we want. I once buried a woman whose family was an extreme case of "I want it." The family was two sisters and a brother. One of the sisters died. The two remaining children, in their seventies, began to fight over who would get what, each desiring to have what the other wanted. Finally, the sister gave some stuff up but carefully kept her resentment and anger. When her brother was ready to leave for the long trip home to Florida, she helped him pack. In her anger she packed a bunch of homemade garlic sausage into his suitcase, then took a fork and punched holes in the packaging so that the garlic and grease saturated everything in the suitcase. At heart we can still be children fighting for ours. The coming of death makes us face the truth about ourselves. The farmer whose abundant harvest led him to build more barns is confronted by his life when it is time to die. In the face of death, when he really can't take it with him, what is his life now worth? How did he serve God with the gifts of God? What about the children of the village who are hungry? He could have fed them. What about the families who are without shelter? Maybe he could have built a home instead of a new barn. He could have known the true and eternal joy of a generous heart, but he kept his to himself. He built more barns and stored the grain. The threat of death, whether it is today or 50 years from now, causes us to question how we are spending our lives. Has my living meant anything good? Henri Nouwen, in writing of his mother's dying, says this: Mother had told me not just once, but often, that she was afraid to die. Many people will say the same, but mother meant something very concrete, very specific, very unambiguous. Three weeks before her death she said to me, "I am afraid to die, not to go to the hospital, not to undergo surgery, not to suffer pain. I am afraid to appear before God and show him my life."[1] When we consider our lives in the face of meeting God, we naturally consider how we have spent the gifts God has so generously gifted to us. I pray it is not because we believe God might punish us, but because God has so generously loved us. If we have but the smallest modicum of self awareness, we are ashamed, perhaps even afraid, that we cannot explain how we could have had so much and lived so poorly. Like the rich man, we have all this stuff. So much stuff we have to get larger garages, build yard sheds and rent storage units. God has made us rich so that we might do great good and, instead, we have a tendency to build new barns. We have the chance to live like Jesus, generous in all things, and we... Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/31/youth-calendar/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/31/youth-calendar/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:27:09 +0000 Bonnie http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1598 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/31/youth-calendar/feed/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/1593/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/1593/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:55:03 +0000 johnl http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1593 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/1593/feed/ 00:01:01 Message by Terri Stewartnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sunday, July 25, 2010 Message by Terri Stewartnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sunday, July 25, 2010 Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/the-shadow-knows/ http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/the-shadow-knows/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:51:57 +0000 johnl http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/?p=1591 http://www.bcumc.org/Sermons/2010/07/30/the-shadow-knows/feed/ 00:01:01 Message by Terri Stewartnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sunday, July 18, 2010 Message by Terri Stewartnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Sunday, July 18, 2010 Sermons webmaster@bcumc.org no No