Worship Nov 29, 2020 Advent 1

Worship for Nov 8, 2020 Trinity United Church Shediac N. B

Worship for July 26 2020

Worship July 19 2020

Worship July 12 2020

Worship and Communion July 5 2020

Emmanuel Methodist Church Southampton Bermuda

Worship June 14, 2020

Worship June 7, 2020

Worship May 31, 2020

"Exhibiting Resurrection After Easter:"

Christ's first appearance after the resurrection is to a small group of the disciples just as the angle had predicted but Thomas is not there. On his second appearance in the upper room, the doubter is there. Thomas finally has his eyes opened to the fact that Jesus has accomplished the final act of his mission on earth. Jesus himself seals this fact with these three words just before his death, It Is Finished. The resurrected Christ then appears to two more of the disciples on the road to Emanues. They do not recognize who this person is until he brakes bread with them in their home, it is then that they feel the presence of Jesus' divine spirit being with them. As strangely as he appeared on the road that day, Christ then seemingly vanishes from their sight. But, they remember when their hearts burned with passion and their spirits were lifted as He walked and talked with them on the road that day.

In the reading from Act 2 today, we find all the believers gathered together in one place. Suddenly a great wind fills the house, and tongues of fire appear above the head of and every person assembled. The promised gift has arrived and everyone there is filled with the Holy Spirit. They can see and feel that something amazing is happening to them, but onlookers accuse them of being drunk. In today's reading, Peter stands up and speaks into the excitement and confusion of that moment. He proclaims the core of our faith, as followers of Christ, saying that Jesus crucified, is in fact, the risen Christ, the Messiah, the annotated one. Christ is the entity that was with God from very the beginning of creation itself. I want you to read it for yourselves, it is in the very first chapter of Genesis, you will find it in verse 26. The Gospel of John confirms this truth for us in his fist chapter starting at verses 1 we read: In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and was the same as God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind and The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

Peter in Acts 2 today highlights for us some of the reasons for Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus is a disrupter. Especially to those who want to maintain the status quo, to those who resist change he is a troublemaker. He was a threat to people who were more interested in personal power rather than in God’s kingdom and He was crucified because of it, a threat to both Church and state. It can be very easy for us to reflect upon those ancient rulers and their need for power and how it led them to crucify Jesus, but shouldn't we as Christians begin to examine our own reluctance to give ourselves over to Christ. Our resistance to turn from our worldly ways and to forgive those who have trespassed against us leads us to withhold parts of our own lives from Christ? We must begin to realize this truth. Whatever I withhold from Jesus, I also withhold from my own Resurrection. Why would I say that? Because we know from scripture that if I withhold forgiveness from anyone, even my worth enemy, I will be withholding from myself. This is scriptural my friends.

According to Peter and the other Apostles, to accept Jesus crucified is to welcome disruption in all parts of our lives, to let our own need for control to be crucified with him, so that we can make room for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and live as people who exhibit resurrection. To accept Jesus crucified is to grapple with The Christ who was crucified with Him, but it is the Christ who defeats death, only to rises again, and sends the Holy Spirit to be with us. I say this because I believe that Jesus' true divinity was not present in His human form, but was within his resurrected spirit “The Christ” as Paul and the Apostles now claim him to be. Lord help me not to shy away from you. Show me how to die to anything that holds me back from you and make real to me the resurrection that comes from giving my life to you. Amen

Sunday Worship at Emmanuel Methodist Southampton Bermuda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbvBRw4h5Y0

Turn you eyes upon Jesus

"A Word from Coronavirus"

Coronavirus Letter To Humanity  Author Unknown:
The earth whispered but you did not hear. The earth spoke but you did not listen. The earth screamed but you turned her off.  And so I was born... I was not born to punish you..  I was born to awaken you. The earth cried out for help...Massive flooding. But you didn't listen. Burning fires. But you didn't listen. Strong hurricanes. But you didn't listen. Terrifying Tornadoes. But you didn't listen.  You still don't listen to the earth when. Ocean animals are dying due to pollutants in the waters. Glaciers melting at an alarming rate. Severe drought. You didn't listen to how much negativity the earth is receiving. Non-stop wars. Non-stop greed. You just kept going on with your life. No matter how much hate there was. No matter how many killings daily. It was more important to get that latest iPhone than worry about what the earth was trying to tell you.  But now I am here.  And I've made the world stop on its tracks. I've made YOU finally listen.  I've made you take refuge. I've made you stop thinking about materialistic things.  Now you are like the earth.  You are only worried about YOUR survival.  How does that feel?  I give you fever-- as the fires burn on earth.   I give you respiratory issues.--has pollution fill the earth air.  I give you weakness as the earth weakens every day.  I took away your comforts.  Your outings. The things you would use to forget about the planet and its pain.   And I made the world stop.
 
 And now--China has better air quality--Skys are clear blue because factories are not spewing pollution unto the earth's air. The water in Venice is clean and dolphins are being seen see. Because the gondola boats that pollute the water are not being used.  YOU are having to take time to reflect on what is important in your life.  Again I am not here to punish you.  I am here to Awaken you.  When all this is over and I am gone... Please remember these moments. Listen to the earth.  Listen to your soul.  Stop Polluting the earth. Stop Fighting among each other.  Stop caring about materialistic things.   And start loving your neighbors.  Start caring about the earth and all its creatures.   Start believing in a Creator.  Because next time I may come back even stronger....

Signed,   Coronavirus

"We Are Not Alone"

Message for Today:

It was refreshing to see on the late CTV National News on March 31^st a Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Bishop offering prayer for our world.  We have but almost completely eliminated God and Prayer from public gatherings, places of public education, and governments.  A question that comes to mind for me is:   How can we hope, that the will of that which created the universe and our planet be accomplished if we have taken on the mission of callously and carelessly setting God aside.  Was it man that programed that huge Elem Tree within that tiny seed?  Was it man that programed human life to emerge from an egg and sperm so small that the eye cannot see it?

Have we become so blinded by the wisdom of governments, corporations, and the financial world that all it takes is a tiny virus, that which the eye cannot see to bring us to our knees and put the whole world in isolation.  Have we truly not learned that money and materialism or human wisdom on its own will never offer us security nor save us from nature’s rebellion?   

Prophetic voices have been telling us from the very beginning of time, turn away from your foolish idols and the fear of death, for nothing that God created is sustainable by human effort alone. 

Psalm 27:1 Tells us:  May I be so boldly to paraphrase like this:    The LORD is my light and my salvation of whom or what shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evil advance against me to devour my flesh, when the enemy and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.  We are not alone, God is with us.  Thanks be to God.  

Sunday message for March 29, 2020

Where Is Your Hope Found?

Question:  Anyone here want to take a guess at what perceptual distortion means?  I understand it to be when things look a lot bigger than they really are. 

How many here are personally experienced a circumstance recently that looked a lot bigger than it really was?  Is anyone will to share a little of your experience?

April 2 2017 readings:  Romans 8: 6-11 Psalm 130 John 11: 1-45

There is and always has been a tension between the hope of resurrection and the finality of death, and it seems to especially come to mind in this season of lent where intense personal communal reflection is taking place, or at least it should be taking place.   Amidst the kayos of our modern world and the social realities of our time, we should yearn for transformation and an unbinding that releases us to dream beyond our circumstances, to experience a spiritual rebirth, yes to be born again.    Our imaginations should reach out to a world in which wholeness, well-being, health and prosperity are normal expressions of our human existence.  I have been challenging you to partner with Jesus during the Lenten season in making that dream a reality in your own life.  Change folks, is inevitable, as is the presence of God in our lives.  It is the fifth Sunday of lent and so let us consider the possibility of transformation, a resurrection in this life, not from physical death as in the case of Lazarus but a resurrection from emotional and spiritual death to a new beginning to live out the rest of our days with the Master.

One of the greatest hindrances to change is something called “perceptual distortion.”  Meaning the acceptance of illusion as reality.   Often the illusions that life presents to us keeps our attention so we begin to miss the reality of a personal relationship with our God.  Looking at life or our circumstances through this lens keeps us preoccupied with seeking to save ourselves rather than discerning positive alternatives, to change the way we live.   This is evident in today’s lesson.  The disciples have been following Jesus as teacher and companion throughout the towns, villages and mountainous regions yet they often appear more pre-occupied with their limitations than with the restorative power of a resurrected way of seeing and living life with Jesus.   Often as illustrated in scripture, they disagree with one another even arguing with Jesus at times.  Judas betrays Him and in the end they all seem to turn from Him, especially Peter as he denies knowing or being one of Jesus’ followers.  This resurrected life requires us to trust in Jesus teachings, often in situations which seem impossible.  For example those who seek to save themselves {being self-centered} loose themselves in self-centeredness. In today’s reading we find an excellent example of the blind trust that is needed.  Believing Lazarus to be now dead, the disciples cannot understand why Jesus makes the decision to make a treacherous journey over the mountains to Judea after a two-day delay.  If he wasn’t dead before, then he surely must be dead now.   Never the less Jesus insists even though it is dangerous for Him to go back, they journey on.   As Jesus and the disciples approach Mary and Martha, the air is filled with pain and confusion.  “ Why did you not come sooner” they ask.   Mary suggests that if He had come immediately when asked, there may have been a chance to heal Lazarus before he died.  The disciples would be thinking, as would we, Lazarus cannot be brought back to life now, especially after lying dead in a tomb for four days.  Here is another opportunity for the onlookers to trust in Jesus but being much like ourselves they would question the miracle of resurrection.   It wasn’t the first case of doubt, nor would it be the last for the disciples.  Remember Jesus feeding the 5000 with 5 fish and 2 pieces of bread or Jesus and Peter walking on water, the man blind from birth man who was given sight.   Jesus on the other hand insists that his disciples set aside their “perceptual distortion” to understand that with God, anything is possible folks, RIGHT!!   How many of here today know that to be true because of your own personal experience?  You may not have believed before your experience but you believe now because of your experience.  Example, people tell me that if they give something away no strings attached they always receive much more in return than they gave.

Mary and Martha both believed in the power of God, the resurrection and I’m sure looked forward to being with Lazarus once again, however they have not yet experienced anything to support this teaching; even the whiteness to this extraordinary event walk away skeptical, yet fascinated with the possibility of a new life.  As believers we watch from a distance and are intrigued by the possibility of resurrection wanting and longing to join Mary and Martha in their experience.  Now folks, here is the teaching that may be even more important to us than the miracle.  Even though Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, it is just a reprieve for him, he will die again.  Regardless whether you believe the miracle or not Jesus urged those who are there alive, which includes us, “unbind him and let him go” This unbinding call is the lesson that was also meant for our ears to folks.   It is a call for us to take off the grave cloth that bind us to our negative thinking, self-centeredness, greed, jealously, fear, anger or hatred.  Releasing individuals or communities from the clutches of this kind of death, demands something from us first.  We must unbind ourselves, so we can do the same for other.  Always remembering that you cannot do for others that which you have not yet done for yourself.  I cannot be to you that which I am not to myself.   This is why the season of lent is so important for the individual.  It is our time to examine and reflect upon oneself.   When this becomes a reality in your own life then you can truly begin to live as Jesus has taught and called us to live.  This also involves removing the grave cloths of self-doubt, social isolation, marginalization, and oppression.    Then we can stand at the tomb of suffering and pain equipped to trust in the words of Jesus.  With this trust in tack we will be able to unbind the grave cloths for those whom God delivers.   Let us Pray.