Sermon – Luke 4: 21-30

Have you ever had a time in your life were you felt like you didn’t belong in a group?   These groups can include people going to watch a sporting event, a group out to see a movie, being included in a church group or just going out for dinner.  This has happen many times in my life and I’m sure each of you can come up with an example where this has occurred to you.  You have either been not invited or left out of something important.  You feel pushed away and not wanted.  You think to yourself “What did I do to be excluded?”

Now think of a time when you were the one that excluded others. It might be harder to come up with an example, because many times we are not aware of what we do to others especially when we can’t always see how they react.  But in reality we are probably included and excluded equally.

I remember many times when my group of friends was planning to hang out and do something together.  We had to decide who was going to be invited. There are so many things to think about. Who gets along? Do we really want that person there? Many times I remember people saying, including myself, “they really aren’t in our group”.   Too many times, you go along with the majority, and decided that the people excluded wouldn’t have much fun with the rest of us anyway.  Looking back, I feel bad because I know how it feels to be on the other end of these situations.  I have been left out of groups or events, and really never knew the basis for this exclusion. 

So will I think about including everyone in future events?  Yes of course I’ll think about not excluding friends.  But the answer can also be No because there will be peer pressure, the potential for more people than desired or you don’t allows think about what is right.

Jesus states in the Gospel “truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.”  He goes on to compare himself to Elijah.  Elijah helped a widow when there were many that could be helped. In addition, Elijah cleansed Naaman the Syrian, but not the lepers in Israel.

We heard that Jesus dismisses the idea of performing his miracles in the place were he grew up. It was not necessarily because he did not want to but he felt the need that it was not mandatory. He refers to Elijah and how Elijah saved individuals outside his hometown that weren’t the “chosen” people, Israelites. Elijah didn’t help the people that were in the inner circle. He helped those in need on the outer circle and even people that were not in a circle at all.

Jesus was just like Elijah and we can see it in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus knows that the people in the synagogue are well off. They don’t see in themselves in dire need of salvation. This leads to Jesus’ refusal of being what they want him to be. The crowd becomes raged. They want to throw him off the cliff. They hated the idea of Jesus helping the outsiders and not helping Israelites.

At Ewalu we learned a lesson that provides a visual for this Gospel. Everyone except one person got in a circle and linked arms. The one person on the outside was considered the outsider. They were given one task. Their goal was to get inside the circle and become part of it. I was a person on the circle and with human nature we all tried to keep the outsider out and not in. We worked as a team to push that person out. The outsider wanted to give up but had to keep going. Once they got inside the circle we talked about what it felt like to be outside and have everyone gang up on you. The outsider said it was awful and they hated having to keep trying to push their way in. After we talked a bit we found out that the circle didn’t have the instruction to keep the outsider out. Remember the one goal was for the outside to get inside the circle.  It was our choice to push them out. It could have been as simple as unlocking out arms and letting them in. So a chose was made to keep the individual outside the circle and/or group.

So are we in rage when not included in events or in a group? Do we want to drive these people off a cliff? Honestly sometimes it might feel like you want to. Never do it though. We have to remember that they are only human. People exclude others without thinking about their feelings and how it might affect them. To be honest some people are very oblivious to others feelings and this can be hard. We have to also remember that we exclude people too. It’s our human nature. We exclude and then ask for forgiveness. Jesus usually didn’t exclude people but I’m sure he excluded the Israelites in the synagogue on purpose.  He wanted to show that God loves and accepts all people, especially outsiders.

But I’m pretty happy Jesus helped people. Jesus came down to earth to help everyone. Jesus helped everyone in need. He felt it was his duty to be part of the whole earth. If Jesus only saved those on the inside, most of us today would not have our sins forgiven. He chose to save us all and that means we all have eternal life after death. Thank you Jesus. Amen

Sermon – Nervous

I wrote the whole sermon on Saturday right before the church service. Honestly I wish I didn’t do this but I had too much going on before. I spent about three hours writing it. Once I was pretty much done I had my dad read it and help word it so it sounded more like a sermon then a blog. I’m not good at writing at all means so most writings all sound the same. Once I was don’t with the sermon I changed clothes and laid in bed for five minutes before having to leave. I prayed that God would help me through this even if I were nervous and not wanting to get up and talk. Once I got to church I helped greet and got my microphone hooked up. I was getting more and more nervous every minute it got closer. Once the service hit the point of the Gospel I was shaking so badly. Once I walked up for the sermon I took a deep breath and even though I was shaking I preached and kept going when I made a little mistake. After it was over I walked back to my dad and he said I did really well. I didn’t realize how right after it I wasn’t nervous much at all. Everyone liked it and that made me feel really good. I knew right then that God was standing right with me during the whole thing making sure that everything went fine.

Sermon – The Calling

This weekend my youth group lead church service for both Saturday and Sunday. We had someone assisting the pastor, ushering, greeting, musical offering, bell ringer, communion serving and sermon.  I volunteered to greet and communion serve. My pastor asked if any of us would like to do the sermon. Last time we did the service we performed a skit, which honestly I didn’t like because it wasn’t really clear what was going on.

Suddenly I said that I would do it this week. I don’t know why I did say it. I just had that feeling inside me saying to go for it and so I did. I feel now that this was God’s doing. It was Him calling me to stand up in front of my congregation and preach about the Gospel. I was called by God to do this. I don’t really remember how many times I actually have had that feeling of just suddenly jumping on an idea that previously I was not even thinking about it. Thank you God for calling me to share you word with others.

Jesus - Games

Card games are like food to my family. Whenever we are with either side of the family we play games constantly. The routine is wake up, eat, games, eat, games, eat, and then more games before bed. There are many different games that we play but its just what our family loves to do.

Some of my favorites include Canasta and Ten to One. Canasta is played in teams but has to be played with an even number of players so it’s sometimes hard to play. Ten to One is a pretty quick game that involves guessing how many tricks you will get. There are so many games that we always have to remind my people how to play now and again.

Since I was brought up in a family with card games its just kind of natural for me to play. It’s just relaxing and is a great way to spend time with family. I would rather play a game then watch TV. Sometimes resting in front of the TV is fine but I love the feeling of being a family around a table playing card.

I always wondered when these games were invented. They were probably not invented during Jesus’ time, but I always thought about what He did with his family when He was a boy. Did he play and run around with friends. These questions will never be totally answered because there weren’t too many records about Jesus outside of the Bible and I know that the Bible doesn’t expand at all on his childhood. So did Jesus play games with His family and have that relaxing time that I have when I play cards with my family?

College Stress

Even though I am only a junior in college there are lots of times already that I have stressed about college. Big questions like what do I really want to be? Where should I go to college? Do I really want to go out of state? These questions pick at my brain and have started to bug me.

I have pretty much decided that I would like to be an Occupational Therapist (OT) because I really would like to help people be able to be independent and do every day tasks. I realized that it’s not really the title that I like but the concept of helping people with every day tasks that many wouldn’t even think of being a struggle. Preferably I like the pediatric side because it involves helping children from the very start but I could also see myself as just a general OT.

While looking for potential colleges I have focused on places in the Midwest that have an OT program plus ones that have smaller student enrollments. I have visited two schools already, St. Ambrose University and Concordia University Wisconsin. I loved both of them so much that it is hard to have to choose between them. There are parts that I like and don’t like about each. At the moment I am planning on looking at other colleges in the Midwest that I can go visit and get the feel of.

On big part of college that I value is the interaction that the school has with the rest of the community and the world through service. At both of these places they view community service very high and I really like that. God is also another big part. Even though St. Ambrose is Catholic they have many views that I value. Concordia is Lutheran, which is what I am. I feel like having either of these would be fine, because it shows that a majority of the community at the school have similar Christian beliefs and want the same thing out of their college experience. Attending a college where there is a presence of God and other students with similar beliefs will help me keep believing and stay connected with God.

Choosing a college is something that I stress about a lot but I know that God is right there with me though these times of struggles and when I leave my home and start something new.

Footprints

Have you thought about how the Lord interacts with you and how looking back at your life and the connection with the Lord, can mean so much?  Here is the story of the footprint and my thoughts and views about it.

“One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.”

Ohhh, I totally wish I could do this and maybe someday I will. When I think about walking on the beach I think about how peaceful it would be and how nothing would harm the situation because I would be by the Lord.

“Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.”

I think the sight of two sets of footprints throughout scenes from life is also really cool because you get to go through your whole life and see how the impact is from seeing that there are footprints but after that scene is gone there are new footprints meaning that you moved on from that situation or you just continued with it.

“When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints.”

Being able to view all those footprints in the sand is something you don’t get to see often. If you have ever walked on the beach the water ruins the perfect footprints in the sand. And if you’re not by the water then they aren’t really perfect footprints and they don’t look like anything more then just a tiny crater in the sand.

“He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. ‘Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.’”

Honestly when I first read this I was confused because I was always told that the Lord is always with us but even more in times of need. Many people would say that their times of sadness and trouble were because the Lord wasn’t there. So this story can be viewed in many different ways.

“The Lord replied, ‘My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I Carried You.’”

This is truly amazing. It doesn’t just say that the Lord is with us in needed times but he is carrying us. I think about the single set of footprints in the way that He carried us out of that hard time and into something good, this would be when he sets us back down into the sand to walk beside Him. He is always with us even in those hard times but He is there for us in a different way. Normally he is like a friend, someone to talk to and guide us on our way. When we need Him most, however, He is carrying us and caring for us like a parent. Remember to walk alongside the Lord because when something goes wrong He is already right there to pick you up.