GRACE: GOD INVITES US ONTO THE PORCH by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    Way, way back in the old days, when a young man wanted to initiate a relationship with a woman, (and back then those were the only types of relationships we talked about), it was called courting. From the beginning of time, there have been rules of mating, as you know, some formal and some informal. But back in the old days, a man would come calling and often the couple would sit on the front porch. It was a way to talk and get to know one another, in a public place under the watchful eye of the family. It was a way to keep things at a certain superficial level when things were early in the relationship.

    We are just sitting on the front porch, having some lemonade, enjoying some pleasant conversation. We are not serious yet. We are just getting to know one another. If we want to take this to the next level we will come into the house for a family dinner and go through the grilling from the parents. We will sit on the couch and try to steal a kiss after the parents to go bed. Eventually after we go in the house, we might start planning a life together, and make a real commitment. But out here on the porch, it’s still casual. We can still make a run for it, if we decide we don’t want to be here with this person.

    John Wesley, the father of the Methodist movement, used a house as a metaphor to talk about the stages of our relationship with God. Grace is the church word we use for God’s love and God’s powerful force for good in our lives. John Wesley said that there were three stages of grace.  Stage One, is the porch.
 

    Imagine that you are walking by this house. This house is God’s love. It represents the relationship that God wants to have with us. God wants us to have a home with God.   God is trying to get our attention with the porch.

    It’s pretty nice, huh? But you know what we do. We keep walking by. Or more accurately, we drive by, fast, without even noticing. We are too busy. We know God will always be there. So we wait until we have a crisis. Then we think to ourselves, now where was that beautiful house, with the pretty porch?

    God spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year trying to get our attention to say: ‘I want to be in a relationship with you. I want to love you. I want to lavish you with attention.  And I want you to love me.’

    God is like a potential life partner who is wooing us, but we don’t even pay her the time of day because we are too busy with school or work or something else.
It’s like this story from the Old Testament that we heard today. Yeah, I know it’s a story about shepherds and none of herd sheep for a living. But this is how the story goes (Ezekiel 34:11-16 from the Message translation for those following along on the web):
11-16 "'God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I'm going looking for them. As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I'm going after my sheep. I'll rescue them from all the places they've been scattered to in the storms. I'll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries, and bring them back to their home country. I'll feed them on the mountains of Israel, along the streams, among their own people. I'll lead them into lush pasture so they can roam the mountain pastures of Israel, graze at leisure, feed in the rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I'll go after the lost, I'll collect the strays, I'll doctor the injured, I'll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they're not exploited.
That means God is not even staying in the house or sitting on the porch waiting for us. God is all over the place – trying to find us. Wherever we are, feeling discouraged, or lost, or weak or exploited, God is coming to us – wooing us into a relationship.

   You see here is the thing. We all have a connection to God because God is our creator. Even people who claim to be atheists, are connected to God, because God made them, and us. And so even when we don’t believe in God, God believes in us.

   And even when we go for years without praying, or coming to Sunday worship, God is paying attention to what is going on in our lives, because we are God’s children.  Every one of us is God’s beloved child.  EVERY ONE.

   Do you think when a grown child does not call her mother for 25 years, that the mother forgets her child? She might say she does, but I don’t believe it. Not a chance. A mother never forgets her child. She never stops caring. And God never forgets us.   That is grace.

   That is grace at work in our lives, even when we are not paying one bit of attention to God. God still loves us.
    You see, sometimes we claim that we are blessed because we pray. We have a connection to God because we love God and serve God. And of course, I think we have a much better life for us when we choose to have an on-going connection to God. Our lives will have more meaning; and we’ll be more prepared when those really hard challenges of life come along. We are blessed when we pray because we experience connection to God.

   But I also believe that when we forget God, we will still experience blessing – because God wants to get our attention. Think about it. Think about how much someone wants to get your attention, when they have a crush on you, and you have not given them then time of day. Then imagine how much more God, our creator, must want our attention. Because every one of us it God’s own child. God loves us so much more than someone who has a passing crush on us.

   So, when you take a drive this week, or better yet, a walk, and you see a beautiful porch, I hope you will stop and consider this. God is on that porch, calling to you – asking you to come on the porch and recommit yourself to be in a deep relationship with God. We’ll talk a little more about that deeper state of grace next week.

   For today, I want to invite us to respond to this message by remembering some of those times when God got our attention. And we’re going to have a brief time of sharing.

   Can you think of a time in your life when you were not really living in God’s house? You might be there now: a time when you were resisting God, or just not paying much attention to God. But God, in God’s grace was trying to get your attention.

   God was on that porch waving to you, trying to call to you to come on over and have a cup of coffee and chat awhile. Maybe God sought you out for a blessing at a time when you were not expecting it, and you can only explain it by pointing to God’s grace.  Have you experienced a moment of this? Think hard, God can be subtle and use some unusual things and people to reach us.

   If you need a place to look for that nice house with the porch, we’re here.  We’ve got comfy seats, we’ve got lemonade, no porch swing, but that’s a little old school anyway.  Come join us Sundays @ 10:30 at the corner of Conant Street & The Anthony Wayne Trail in Maumee.

SACRED MEAL by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

  Today is a great day in the life of The Village Church. We are starting our first Confirmation Class. Six middle school students will be spending the next 3 months meeting with me and Kathy Keller and Katie Wineland learning about Jesus and about what is means to be a disciple. I want to ask you all to pray for them. So for the next few weeks  I’m going to preach for the next few weeks on some of the basics of our Christian faith. I don’t think is will hurt any of us to get a refresher course. Today we are starting with Holy Communion.

    I want to start by telling you a story,the year is 1987.   I am 24 years old and a student at Candler School of Theology. I have just taken a new job as the Children and Youth Pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church located right in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It’s Sunday. I have just finished leading the youth Sunday School class.

    It’s all high school boys. Some of them are white kids who ride in from the suburbs with their parents who come to the church. And some of them are African American kids who get to the church somehow, on their own, because since they were little, one of the women in the church started bringing them there. This is their home. They come from poor families. They come alone.

    We are in worship and I am sitting alone that day. When it comes time for communion in this church they don’t have ushers that guide you up, you just go up when you are ready and kneel at this long curved altar rail at the front of this huge old sanctuary. There are only about 90 of us in a sanctuary that could probably seat 800.

    When it’s time for Communion at Trinity, The preacher makes the invitation: “These are the gifts of God for the people of God.” And I make my way up to receive. I kneel. And then I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see Tony, age 15, smiling at me anxiously. He says, “Is there room for me here?” “Of course,” I say, and he joins me; and we are served that sacred meal together.  It’s a sacred moment.

    That day, I understood what it means to come to the table, and commune with God. You see, I felt alone that day, in that big old church, with no family there, and I wonder if Tony felt alone too. But he trusted me and together, we did not have to feel alone. At God’s table, we came together.

    Everyone was welcome at that table. That church, Trinity in Atlanta, is a wonderfully diverse church, like this one. In fact, it became my vision of church through seminary. There were times I was not so sure, really, that I could conform enough to be a United Methodist pastor. But Trinity was a church on the edge and I decided that if Trinity could be a United Methodist Church, then I could be a United Methodist pastor. It was kind of an unusual church.

    Trinity UMC is a church where EVERYONE is welcome.  Trinity had a homeless shelter in the basement and a soup kitchen where about 400 members of Atlanta’s homeless population were fed every Sunday afternoon. I learned about an open table where everyone is welcome at Trinity United Methodist Church. I shared many sacred meals both in that sanctuary and in the basement at the shelter. There were really no lines between the two ministries; the lines were blurred, as they should be.

    The lines were blurred a bit like we blur the lines when we welcome anyone who comes into our doors here, and we share some food before and after worship, and we share a sacred communion meal during our service on many Sundays. There is a reason why the words communion and community come from the same root. They are both about connecting: connecting us to God and to one another.

    We know that there is something special about food, right?  When we want to celebrate and connect with friends and family, do we ever do it without food?  We share a meal. When we are trying to help ease tensions between two people or groups of people who are in conflict, we know that getting them to sit down for a meal together can begin to ease the tension and create space for reconciliation.

       The sacred meal we know as Holy Communion takes all of this a few steps deeper. That’s why Jesus gave us this meal.

    In the church, we have actually raised this meal to a level we call a Sacrament – a sacred event. In the protestant church, that is in our branch of Christianity, where The Village stands with the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, there are only two sacraments: baptism and holy communion. There are other rituals and practices that are important to us, like confirmation, marriage and ordination of clergy. But there are only two that we call them sacraments. We separate these two out is because of what a powerful place they play in Jesus’ life.

    The common definition of a sacrament is an experience when we have an outward sign that points to an inward grace. That means we have some tangible, physical sign of to remind us that we are being touched by God’s grace. In baptism the physical sign is the water. We will talk about baptism another day.

    In Holy Communion the physical sign is the bread and the wine (or grape juice which is what we use). When we eat the bread and drink from the cup we believe that we are changed by God’s grace in a sacred and mysterious way. It’s a powerful experience. Some days it may feel more powerful than others. But we participate in this sacred meal week after week, because we want to open ourselves up to God’s power to come into our lives, our whole lives, body, mind and spirit, and change us.

    So today we walked through a few of the traditions of the service of Holy Communion as we do it, as a teaching moment.  The first thing we want to remind everyone that everyone is welcome to the table at the Village. 

·    The service includes confession. Every Sunday when we gather we want to acknowledge that we are not perfect and we need God.  But we take it further and it’s in our Village Statement we read each week.

·    From the United Methodist Book of Worship: “All who intend to lead a Christian life, together with their children, are invited to receive the bread and cup. We have no tradition of refusing any who present themselves desiring to receive.”

·    Some churches have a formal passing of the peace during the service. We tend to do this informally in the way we provide a place of welcome and reconciliation. Sometimes we do it at the end of the service too.

·    The bread because it is one loaf, and the wine, because we share from one cup, symbolize that we are all part of one body, the body of Christ, the church. We are Jesus’ hands and his heart living in the world.  And while the formal ceremony talks about wine but we know we have people in recovery in our midst so to honor them we use grape juice.  We then dip our bread into the cup, in a process called intinction.  We also remember that by breaking the bread that Jesus gave all for us, not taking an easy way out, but sacrificing all to show us a way to live and to give us eternal life.

·    The invitation is given to come to the table. We include a prayer of thanksgiving. The pastor gives thanks appropriate to the occasion, remembering God’s acts of salvation and the institution of the Lord’s supper, where Jesus gave us this meal,  and invokes the present work of the Holy Spirit and concludes with praise to the Trinity.

    Today, we used a quote from our scripture (I Corinthians 11: 23-26 from the Message translation for those following along from afar):

 “The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,
   This is my body, broken for you.
   Do this to remember me.
    After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:
   This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
   Each time you drink this cup, remember me.What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again”

    Do you have a community where you can share a meal like this?  Where can share who you are and let others share with you?  If not consider The Village Church, we are at the Maumee Indoor Theater, at the corner of Conant Street & The Anthony Wayne Trail in Maumee Sundays at 10:30 AM and out in the world sharing what we have the rest of the week. 

Covenant: Let’s Work Together by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    When we talk about God and God’s people, it does not get much more basic than the word “covenant.” This ancient theological word used to describe our connection to God goes all the way back to the first book of the bible, all the way back to Genesis and it just keeps popping up over and over again.

    The Hebrew Testament is filled with covenants between God and God’s people. You probably remember the difference between a contract and a covenant, but in case you did not grow up in Sunday School, here is the difference: Contract – between two people, and either person can break it if they can’t get the other person to do their part.   Covenant is between God and us- and even if we break it, God does not break it.

    And so in our Psalm for this week, Psalm 105:1-15, 43-45 (from The Message) for those following along on the web, we have some praise for God and we have the psalmist giving thanks for this covenant relationship with God.

Our God, is
      in charge of the whole earth.
   And remembers the Covenant—
      for a thousand generations God has been as good as God’s word.
   It's the Covenant God made with Abraham,
      the same oath sworn to Isaac,
   The very statute established with Jacob,
      the eternal Covenant with Israel,
   Namely, "I give you the land.
      Canaan is your hill-country inheritance."
And then later:

 43-45 Remember this! God led the people out singing for joy;
      God’s chosen people marched, singing their hearts out!
  God made them a gift of the country they entered,. . .
Hallelujah!

This covenant is good stuff. This is powerful. This is DEEP relationship that keeps us going through HARD times. We need some of that in times like these.

    So, in the church, we also use language of covenant to talk about our relationships with one another as a covenant body. In the church, that is as individual churches bound together in larger denominations and ultimately all together into one big Christian church. There is, after all, only one church. That is the church of Jesus Christ. One of the things I really like about the United Church of Christ is that we are founded on that premise. The UCC is called a united and a uniting church.  It was founded back in 1957.  We are a denomination, founded with a union of two denominations, who were each previously formed by the union of two earlier traditions. It’s all about coming together and focusing on our unity in Jesus.  Each individual congregation has autonomy to have their own by-laws but we are also connected through a convenant relationship.

    As you know here at The Village, we are connected to two denominations, both the UCC and the United Methodist Church. The UMC uses the language of connectionalism to talk about the covenant. We talk about the connectional church when we show that every local church is connected to the ministry of other churches in a geographical districts and conferences. We believe that in these covenant relationships, when we come together in Holy Conferencing the body of Christ grows stronger. There is a sense of spiritual accountability. We can also do more to affect positive change in the world when we pool our resources together.

    Remember that airplane we told you about last week?  If not, Gaston Ntambo operates a ministry in Africa that flies supplies to the people of Africa and shuttles the sick to places of relief and care.  However, his current plane uses fuel unavailable in his country.  So, from time to time he has to fly to another country to get fuel, with scary individual gas cans turning his plane into a flying bomb from time to time.  But we want to get him a plane that will last longer and run on the fuel in his country. 

    Our goal was $500,000 from the West Ohio Conference. We raised  $986,754.00 in cash, plus $37, 500 in pledges at Annual Conference for a total of $1,024,254.   It was an amazing moment when we did this. 

    Gaston Ntambo writes: We will honor all your sacrifices by using this airplane effectively as a tool in North Katanga, Tanganyika and Tanzania Annual Conferences, to reach out and spread the good news and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

    Now we have a perfect tool that we can use to reduce malaria victims.  A child does not have to die every 60 seconds from malaria.  We are happy and encouraged to partner with the program Imagine No Malaria all because of your support and because we now have the necessary equipment.

    In conclusion, you touched and changed my life with your mission work when you sent me my very first pair of shoes at 9 years of age, Today you are sending me home with a perfect  airplane to go and make a difference for our people. Thank you for believing in us and for saving North Katanga Wings of the Morning flight ministry.

    I am proud of my United Methodist Church and our God is an awesome God and he is on the throne because I never thought in all my life that I could ever say that I am going shopping for an airplane, but here we go!
Gaston Ntambo  Wings of the Morning Pilot

We at the Village got to be a part of that.  It was a small part of it, we are a small, young church.  But we played a part in that. 

    I want to tell you what this idea of covenant and connection has meant for The Village.  Both of these denominations have also been funding us since 2008.
Grants from UMC and UCC
2008    $30,000   
2009    $91,500   
2010    $86,666   
2011    $73,332   
2012    $37,832   
2013    $6,667   
TOTAL    $325,997   
You are hearing this because of their investment into the Village. 

    Now I just spent most of the past week at denominational conferences of the UMC and the UCC. Part of the time was spent hearing about how these two denominations, like every other mainline denomination out there, are struggling right now. Both are trying to restructure because our huge organizational systems are not working. The reports from the United Methodist General Conference in Tampa a few weeks back were dismal and the work at re-structuring were terribly discouraging. Countless hours and dollars were spent and we came out of the meeting with no plan for a new structure. At the UCC Ohio Conference yesterday we heard some fairly concerned reports about deficit spending.  If we don’t figure out a way to do it differently, we would be out of money in a year or two.

    However, in the midst of this both of these entities have set aside money for missions and for planting new churches, like The Village.  Our church, and others like us, are a sign of new life. WE ARE A BEACON OF HOPE.  Sometimes I get discouraged about our progress at times.  But we are a place of hope for these denominations.  Because, in times like these, we are growing and doing risky things. 

    Everywhere I went, people asked how we are doing and they wanted to hear stories of our ministry. Two seasoned pastors who have become regular supporters of The Village each handed me checks for $250 each.

    At the UCC meeting yesterday, the keynote speaker was encouraging folks to take some risks with worship and especially with music. He was really pushing folks to get outside their comfort zones. Kristen and I sat there smiling because most of what he was talking about are business as usual around here. We were feeling really good.  We really are making a difference and we really are becoming a model church in Ohio and others want to hear about what we are doing. They have invested time and money in us, and now we can help them learn to reach generations, and segments of the population that many of our churches have long neglected by both of our denominations.

    This is what it means to be part of the covenant community, my friends. They have invested in us. We all invest in mission work together in Africa, and right here in our own community. And together, we are changing the world. And so, we grow stronger our financial feet, we will be asked to contribute more to our two denominations. There are funds that both the UCC and the UMC have. These are called covenant funds. The UCC calls it “Our Church’s Wider Mission.” The UMC apportionment fund is broken up into several funds including “Church World Service” and a few others. We contributed a token amount to those last year, but as we grow into self sufficiency we want to move to putting a tithe of our own giving back into those covenant funds. This is part of the covenant.

    You see, we all work together because we all belong to God. God gave our ancestors the land and promised to be their God. They had a covenant. And we are the inheritors of that covenant. Our part of the covenant is to be God’s people, and to care for the land and for all the people who live on it. That’s why we buy airplanes to deliver medical supplies and to transport sick people in Africa to health clinics. And that’s why existing churches have given money to plant The Village Church. We are all connected to one another.

    There are hundreds of United Methodist and United Churches of Christ that we are connected to in covenant in Ohio, and even more across the world. All those churches are a sign of the strength of the covenant. 

    God is blessing us. God never backs out on God’s part of the covenant.  That’s the most important part of the message of today.  We may fall away. Our human institutions and systems may strain under the weight of irrelevancy. But the strength of our relationship with God is never broken because God holds on to us. We can always return to our covenant to be God’s people. This church, everyone of you, this community,  is a beautiful sign of that covenant. Thanks be to God.

It Takes A Village To Change The World: We Are Blessed by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    An accomplished academic theologian, a German named Meister Eckhart, wrote in the fields of theology, psychology and philosophy in the 14th century. His writings influence leading theologians still today in the 21st century. He was also much appreciated for his practical sermons which he preached in the common language of the day. It’s a bit hard to believe, isn’t it? I am not an expert in the teachings of Meister Eckhart by any means but I know a well known quote attributed to him which I love. He once said: ”If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice.”

    The words “Thank You” are powerful.

    Perhaps you have been praying the Psalms since I invited you to do that a few weeks ago during my message about “Opening Ourselves to God.” I can post the link again on our website, with the daily plan for praying the psalms. Just reading one Psalm each morning or one Psalm at night, it is a great way to kick start your prayer life. There are many, many psalms written with the theme of saying “thank you” to God. And I think this is why, the writers of the Psalms were people deeply connected to God, and they knew what Meister Eckhart knew: “Thank you” is a powerful prayer.

    Let’s look more closely at today’s Psalm, number 67:
           God, mark us with grace and blessing! Smile!
           The whole country will see how you work,
            all the godless nations see how you save.
  
            God! Let people thank and enjoy you. 
            The people ask God for permission to give thanks
             and to enjoy God.
             Let all people thank and enjoy you.
             Let all far-flung people become happy 
            Then they ask, can’t the people who are far flung be happy
            and give thanks?
            and shout their happiness because
            You judge them fair and square,
          you tend the far-flung peoples.  You tend the far flung people.
         That is the best part of this whole psalm. This is about US; we are
          the people living on the edges. God tends to us and we have the privilege of saying
         “thank you  ” God.
           God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
           Let all people thank and enjoy you.
           Earth, display your exuberance!
           You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.  We are blessed!
           You mark us with blessing, O God.
            Earth's four corners—honor God!

God even tends to us, the far flung people, those of us living on the edge, also known as the members of the Village Church community.

    Do you feel blessed? Do you wake up every day feeling blessed? Do you go to sleep every night counting your blessings? It seems really old fashioned to say “count your blessings.” But a few years ago some woman made all kinds of money with books on the best sellers list just telling us to live with gratitude. “Keep a gratitude journal,” she said. “Before you go to bed each night,” she said, “Get out a blank journal and list five good things that happened that day, or five things in your life for which you have to be thankful.” She even sold her own blank books called “Gratitude Journals” and made more money! What a deal!

    She could have just told us to read the Psalms! She struck a chord with us. She understood that being grateful and saying “thank you” to ourselves, or to God, for our blessings will help keep us centered.

    She could have just reminded us to do what our parents did with us when we were little children. Say your bed time prayers and say thank you God. I do this with Jamie every night. He says thank you for the same things: “Thank you God for mom, dad, Becca, Jamie.” (Yes for some reason, he thanks God for himself. I guess it’s good to have good self esteem.) Then somehow because he’s a practical child and he learned how to stream line his prayers he usually just says this: “Thank you for food, water, shelter, air and everything good, give us a good night’s sleep and a good day tomorrow.” That pretty much sums it up. He has been saying that same prayer every night for years. If, God forbid, Jamie were taken away from us, kidnapped or something awful like that, I believe he would feel the presence of God with him, and somehow he would find a way to be thankful for something, and to know that God is with him. He’s been praying that prayer for as long as he can remember.  He knows what it means to be thankful. 

    Being thankful is a learned behavior. We can choose to be thankful. It’s a practice we can nurture within ourselves. I know this because people can learn to write thank you notes. Some people take the time, still, to write hand written thank you notes for things like graduation gifts and wedding gifts, and just when you do something that really makes a difference to them. And those notes of thanks mean something to the recipient.

    My first year in ministry, a wise pastor friend told me to do this.   I have saved in my office a file folder of thank you notes I have received over 22 years as a pastor. And when I get discouraged I pull out that file, to remind me of why I am doing this work.  Here it is, 22 years worth.  And every so often I pull it and remind myself on why I do this. 

    We can never say thank you enough.  Today, I am inviting us to give thanks to God for our blessings. God is the source of every good gift in our lives, because God is the creator of the universe. God gives life to everyone of us. God is the source of all wisdom and creativity. God is the source of all love. God is the source of our giftedness and of our wealth. God blesses us, so that we can bless one another.

    The psalmist says: God, let all the people thank you and enjoy you. So let’s do that. Say thank you to God today. Right now, take a piece of paper out, and write down five reasons why you are thankful, and then carry that piece of paper with you. And the next time you get discouraged take that paper out, and read it, and add five more things to the list.

    Let us be thankful.
“God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
      Let all people thank and enjoy you.
 
 Earth, display your exuberance!
      You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.” 

Setting Priorities: Put First Things First by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    Our blog is going to start a little differently this week.  Normally we don’t start with a description of something unique we did in worship, a little demonstration, but we’ll start it this way this week.

    A twelfth grade science teacher was trying to teach her graduating seniors a life lesson.  So she pulled out a large jar and seemed to fill it with large rocks.  Then she had her students try to put a large container of pebbles in.  They shook the container and worked them in slowly and sure enough the full container held another large container of pebbles.  Then she challenged them to add a large container of sand, and sure enough it fit in as well with some effort.  Finally, a large pitcher of water was added and slowly it fit as well.

    The students were amazed, but the teacher assured them that it was sound science and a life lesson.  She asked them what was the Lesson to be learned?  “You can always squeeze more into your life” was what one student said.   The teacher said  NO.

    The teacher’s response was you must always put the big, important things in first. Because then the other things will fit in around it. But if I put the same amount of sand and pebbles and water in first, I would never have been able to get those big rocks to fit in.

    If you have ever taken a time management course, this is what they will tell you. Block out on your calendar what it most important to you, and THEN stick with your calendar.

    If we were to each take out our calendars and show them, we would see what is important to us.  It show alot about each one of us. Most of us, a few times a day say: “I don’t have enough time.” “I wish I had an extra day in the week.” But here is the truth: we all have the same 525,600 minutes.

    We know it because of that great song from “Rent.” And if someone came along and said: I’ll give you a 7 day all expenses paid vacation to the place of your dreams, I imagine most of us would somehow be able to open up 7 days in our schedule just like that! We all have stuff that we want to do that we know would be good for us, it would bring us joy, but we just don’t have the discipline to carve out the time.

    That thing is the big rock that is left sitting out on the table. What is that thing for you? What is the thing that is important to you, but not urgent, so it just keeps getting put off until next week or next year? Taking a class? Giving some time in service for something that is your passion?

    I would like to write a book. One of the steps I need to take to work toward writing a book, is to write a blog. I was actually a writing major in college. I like to write. I would like to write about some of our experiences here at The Village so that people in other cities and in towns even smaller than Toledo could benefit from what we have learned. But I don’t have time. I am a busy pastor and mother of two children.

     I think God wants me to write. I have been given a gift. And so this year in order to live my dream and to live the calling that God has for me, I have to take this big rock and put it in my jar first. Somehow the laundry and the bill paying and cooking will get done. No one is going to starve at our house. The important work for The Village will get done too. I just have to set my priorities and put first things first. And, I have to trust God. I have to start each day with prayer, or the wheels will come off the whole thing. You can count on that!

    Now, in addition to our time, and feeling like we don’t have enough of that, a few of us, well most of us, say these words once or twice a day: “I don’t have enough money!”  If I had X amount of money I’d be happy.

    I have felt that one this week. I have some friends who are taking MY dream vacation this week. I am ENVIOUS of my friends, because they are taking the vacation that I have been dreaming for years of taking with Kurt. We wanted to take it for our 10th anniversary which is now long past. Now we are just hoping to take it after the kids get through college. I don’t like to feel envious of my friends. I just want to be happy for them. They don’t have kids at home. They are in a different life situation. I want to enjoy the photos of their trip on FB without being jealous.

    So, I was thinking this week, about money and budgets, because Kurt and I were discussing what we will give to The Village for the next year. This week we are going to send out Commitment Cards and invite those of us who attend here regularly to make our annual commitments of our time and our money to support The Village. And I realized that for the amount we give to The Village every year, we could easily take that dream vacation.

    But we would not dream of taking this year’s money away from our church in order to take that trip. The Village is our priority.  We have our big rocks just like you have yours. We have to pay our utilities and mortgage. We pay to send Jamie to private school because we live in a neighborhood that has a public school that has one of the lowest ratings the in the city. Those are all big rocks and so is our giving to The Village. All the other things just have to fit in around those.

    So we will take a vacation this summer, but we will visit friends for most of it. And if you come to our house, you will see that it still needs painting. I think I mentioned that last year in this message. It doesn’t look that bad. We listened to Kristen’s challenge to “step up” our giving to The Village last week. We believe in what this church is about and so we have decided to give an extra $40 a month over what we gave last year. It’s not a huge amount, but every little bit helps The Village live out our mission. And, as always, we will give FIRST to The Village.

    That takes me to today’s scripture.  Perhaps you were wondering when I might get to The Bible. First fruits.   We heard four short scriptures today. I could have chosen many more, because the Bible is full of these references to this idea of “first fruits.” Now, of course, the Bible was written during a time when many of the people were farmers who lived off the land. I don’t think we have a single farmer who attends The Village. But maybe some of you have a vegetable garden in your backyard in the summer. Or maybe you grew up with grandparents who had a farm. I don’t know much about farming. But I’m told this is how it goes. At harvest time, there is a day when the first crop is harvested.

    You have worked REALLY hard to get to this day. REALLY HARD! And especially if it’s something good to eat, it’s a great day to enjoy the first fruit of that harvest.  These are the best of the best of the food in harvest.

    Well, people who love God, that’s us, and that’s the people we heard about today, from the books of Deuteronomy, Exodus, and 2 Chronicles, take the first fruits to their place of worship, and give them as an offering to God. So they would take their first baskets of wheat, or corn, or figs or whatever and give them up. It’s like giving up the first tomatoes off the vine and trusting that there will be more. You know, like you hope there won’t be a big hail storm that will destroy the rest of the crop.  That’s pretty trusting.

    The reason they did this, is because they understood that they were connected to the land. They understood that they would not have the crops if it were not for God. You see, all of creation belongs to God. We are just tenants. We are just caretakers of God’s creation. Remember? God gave us this Earth to take care of. It does not belong to us. We may THINK that we hold deeds to property, but God created the whole thing. Our legal deeds really don’t mean anything. It all belongs to God and God just blesses us by letting us use it.

    So when we get something, like the miracle of crops coming right out of the ground, it seems like magic to me, we are so grateful, that we thank God by giving some of us right back to God. In practical terms, they took it to the temple so it could be used for God’s work.

    In the 21st century it works like this. Most of us earn money, in one way or another. Again, we have jobs, or we get some sort of financial benefit, because we are children of God. We are blessed. But the money does not belong to us. Everything we have is a gift from God. We can keep it all. God gives us free will. God does not come take it from us. Or as Christians, we can choose to give our first fruits to God, because this has been our way for thousands of years.

    Now that we have electronic banking systems, it’s even easier, just as I pay my mortgage and my car payment on the first day of the month when I know my paycheck is going to be deposited into my bank account, Kurt and I choose to transfer money to The Village Church every time we get paid. Because It is a priority to us. It’s actually more important to us than a new car having the premium cable package. It’s definitely more important than going shopping for new clothes or going out to eat. So we send money to The Village first. And we only go out to eat if there is money left over.

    Remember how I said we can look at our calendars and see where our values are? Well we can look at our checkbook registers and see where our values are too. Now I am not talking about this to make anyone feel guilty.

    I just saw a study on CNN this week.  We live in America. We live in a consumer society. Until recently, statistics showed that most Americans spent 10% more each year than we earned. That is why we all had so much credit card debt.  So, if you feel like you don’t have money to give, you are in good company. You are part of our unhealthy consumer driven culture in the U.S.

    Here is the good news: it does not have to be that way. I heard a study on CNN this week that said for the first time in years, Americans are SAVING money. We are no longer spending more than we are making. If you need help getting out of debt and learning how to live within a budget, there are tools out there to help you.

    Last year, the Village offered Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course last year in order to help us learn how to get out of debt. We can offer that sort of help again. Kurt and I took the class and it helped us.  It’s hard.  We live in a culture where buying and spending are the norm.  Saving and giving are counter cultural.

    We want to be a church of generous givers. We are giving you an opportunity in this next week to consider making a Commitment of your time and your money to The Village for the next 12 months. We are not a church that wants you to give because you feel guilty or because you feel pressured to give.

    We want you to give only if you feel can feel good about it. This church has already been a blessing to many. We have come this far because of the generous gifts of people who have believed in what we are doing, and people who have freely given their time and money to make this church a reality for you.

    Those of you who are attending regularly will receive a Commitment Card in the mail early this week. I invite you to pray about it and to consider making a commitment of your first fruits to The Village church. Come to church next week either way, because we want you all to come enjoy lunch with us next week. If you feel ready to make a Commitment of your time and/or your money, bring the card with you and turn it in next week. If you don’t feel ready to commit, there is simply a place where you can say you want to pray for the Village, fill that out and put it in the basket.

    Now, again, we’re not a faith community where we are going to check your financial statements versus your giving.  We give our time, our talents, our money and our service because we believe in what the Village and the wider Methodist and UCC churches are doing.  We ask that you consider doing the same.

    If you’re not a part of a faith community like ours, consider joining one.  Together we can do much more than separately.  If you’re near where the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street come together in Maumee, come join us some Sunday @ 10:30 AM.  We are following Jesus and we will change the world.

HOPE: EVERYONE IS INCLUDED by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    Well, it has been an interesting couple of weeks if you pay attention to the news. Do you watch the news on TV? Or read the paper? (I know that’s really old school but I still like to do it.) Or do you get your news on line? (I know some of you are really tech savvy and probably do that.)

    Let’s see:

·    President Obama finally came out in favor of gay marriage.

·    NC passed one of the most restrictive laws against gay marriage we have ever seen; people are really up in arms about that one.

·    The John Edwards trial over his affair and all that continues to make news (someone in my family was a BIG fan of Edwards at one time).

·    A woman in Toledo was charged with killing her baby, after the baby was found in the freezer.

·    There was that man who killed a mother and one daughter, and then they finally found the other two little girls and the man shot himself when the police arrived.

·    Oh yes, the United Methodist every-four-year General Conference (an international meeting of our denomination) met down in Tampa. They talked about some big restructuring proposals and could not agree on one. They ended guaranteed jobs for clergy which was a HUGE deal (so I don’t have a job guaranteed anymore) . And they debated once again about whether or not it’s ok to be gay. We still came down 60-40 on that one. More later on that.

·    Lots of big news.

Some of it tragic.  Some of it just causing people to draw lines; I’m on one side and you are on the other.   Some are fuzzy or in the middle in the discussions. 

    I want you to keep all of these headlines in your mind as I introduce today’s theme. Remember we have been talking about our emphasis for this year at The Village: HOPE.  Hope grows in our Village community. We are using the four letters in the word HOPE to talk about what it means to live our live together as The Village.

                    Healing for our brokenness.
                    Openness to God.
                    Purpose for our Lives.
And today – Everyone is included.

When I ask you what is unique about The Village, one of the things that you would probably mention is that EVERYONE is welcome here.

    I have been thinking a lot about how to say that this week and what that means. Because you see, all churches say they are friendly. Just about every church at one time or another puts out on their sign: Everyone is welcome. And they sincerely mean it. But every church has a culture, and when you walk in, you know if you are part of that culture or not. Another way to think about it is the tribe.

    The tribe might be race, age, economic status, but most churches are pretty narrow in who is a part of that church.   You pull in the parking lot and the entire parking lot is filled with mini-vans with soccer stickers on them.  And when you walk in, and you are not part of that tribe, you know it and they know it right away.

    We try a little harder here at the Village to be broad in our welcome.   I think one way to put it is to say: “We DARE to welcome everyone.”  Or “We are BOLD in our welcome.”

    Sometimes I like to sit and think about who might want into our church and STRETCH our ability to be welcoming.  For example I wonder, if some of these people from the news this week walked in, would welcome them:

·    The people who supported the amendment in NC that prohibits gay marriage

·    How about the people who are unhappy that Obama came out in favor of marriage

·    How about that young woman who is accused of killing her baby? Could we be compassionate toward her, and hear her side of the story.

·    Would we welcome the people who love that man who killed those two little girls and offer them comfort?

·    Would we welcome people from United Methodist Church who voted against the church being accepting of gay marriage and the ordination of gay pastors? Could we sit down with them and try to help them understand our point of view? And listen respectfully to them?

·    If John Edwards and his girlfriend showed up here, or someone else who was cheating on their partner, would we welcome them?

    Hmmmm. So we say everyone is welcome. But do we really mean that?
Well, I don’t want to be too hard on us. We ARE BOLD in our welcome.

·    We do welcome LGBT folks who are not welcome in many other churches. This is an important ministry for us to provide in NW Ohio.

·    We have provided a safe place for folks who are in alcohol and drug recovery.

·    This is one of my favs: One Sunday, we probably had fifty people in worship and two of them had orange hair. One of them were 17 and the other was 70.  I love to tell that story because I wonder, what other church in Ohio had 4% of the congregation with orange hair AND nobody blinked!!

·    We have had women with us, who are pregnant and are not married, and we did not judge them, we simply welcome them and care for them.

·    Today we are hosting a Mother’s day luncheon and inviting women and children who have been affected by domestic violence. So, we do pretty well when it comes to boldness in our welcome. BUT there are always people who will stretch us. So when we say that we DARE to welcome everyone, we need to remember that God WILL challenge us. We do some incredible things, but God is going to send some folks to challenge.  And we need to be ready.

    Which brings me to today’s scripture.  The apostle Paul wrote this in a letter to the church at Rome. The book of Romans is an amazing book. It is chock full of great theology. (Don’t be intimidated by that word – theology – it just means – thoughts and words about God.)

    Listen again to some of the highlights of this scripture:
Romans 8:31-39
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.

This is from the Message Translation, a paraphrase so the language won’t be exactly the same in other versions.  It’s more modern, more relevant.

    Now, of course, there are times when we feel like experiences in the world are trying to separate us from the fullness of life that God created for us. But God sent Jesus to create a connection between us and God.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. 
Paul writes: 
I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
This is some good theology.  Don’t LET ANYONE TELL YOU ANYTHING CAN SEPARATE YOU FROM GOD’S LOVE.  It’s right there.  

    John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement called it prevenient grace – the grace that goes before us. It’s the love that is at work in our lives even before we say “yes” to God. Of course it’s important for us to say “yes.” Even when we are children, and for some of us, long into adulthood, before we say “yes” to God’s love, God has already said “yes” to us. God is in love with us and God is at work in our lives trying to get our attention, even before we are paying attention. And nothing can separate us from God’s love. It’s just that we are choosing not to pay attention.

    This is why we believe so firmly here at the Village that everyone needs to feel welcome and “at home” when they walk through these doors. We do everything we can to make this place non-threatening. We give people some coffee and treats. We have music, and some flowers and candles on the table to make it feel like you’ve come to a party in our home. We don’t dress up, so if you don’t have nice clothes or you don’t like to dress up you don’t feel out of place (Kurt wears t-shirts and sweats all the time for this reason, ask him about why sometime and it’s not because the lawyer doesn’t have suits and ties). We want to make God’s love accessible.

    Well, United Methodist General Conference met week before last in Tampa for 10 days. Some things happened there that were kind of disturbing. I need to tell you about it, because we are family, and I want to be honest with family. As most of you know, we are a mission church of both the UMC and the United Church of Christ. We are connected to the UMC, because I am a UMC pastor. I grew up in this church. The UMC has some good theology. John Wesley was a rebel in his own day that got out there with the people on the edges and took the gospel message out into the world to some of the people that the established church was neglecting (for instance he preached in bars (never heard of such a thing) and on tree stumps outside of coal mines). That was what the Methodist movement was all about when it started.  That is one of many things I love that about Wesley.

    I’m not happy that the UMC still has not joined the United Church of Christ in being fully accepting of lgbt folks but we keep hoping that those 60-40% votes will turn, because 40% of the church is voting with us.

    Last week at the General Conf, there was a piece of legislation put forth to add to our Book of Discipline, which is our UM rule book. It was in the preamble to the “Social Principles” which includes our stance on a variety of social issues. They voted to add these words: “We affirm our unity in Jesus Christ while acknowledging differences in applying our faith in different cultural contexts as we live out the Gospel.  We stand united in declaring our faith that God’s love is available to all, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

    The first part of the statement was, I believe, meant to acknowledge that we are a diverse church. We are not of one mind. There have been many attempts to put something in the Book of Discipline,  stating that we are not of one mind around belief about homosexuality and other things. Those have all been defeated. We can’t seem to agree to disagree because that would give some weight to the position that you can be gay and Christian and those who believe that being anything other than heterosexual is a sin, cannot abide giving any room for any other position. 

    You may recognize that last phrase in the final sentence: “We stand united in declaring our faith that God’s love is available to all, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.” It’s a direct quote from Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8.

    The motion passed at the General Conference and will be in our Book of Discipline. But this is the sad part. It barely passed and there was actual debate about whether or not to add it. And there was significant debate about whether to include those key words right out of scripture; “nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

    This message of God’s love and grace drawing us to God is pure Wesleyan theology. But, you see, one of the delegates stated that our belief and our practice can separate us from God and bring us to judgment. That seemed to be the crux of the matter (for that delegate at least), whether or not we are going to be a church that draws people to God with a message of grace or a message of judgment (Daily Christian Advocate, Vol. 4, No. 8, p 2448, May 2, 2012).  In that person and others minds, our beliefs and actions can separate us from the love of God.

    The amendment passed 56% to 44% which means that 44% of those voting at our General Conference, for whatever reason did not want to include these words in our UM rule book: “We affirm our unity in Jesus Christ while acknowledging differences in applying our faith in different cultural contexts as we live out the Gospel.  We stand united in declaring our faith that God’s love is available to all, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.”

    Now 56% voted for it, so thankfully, here at The Village we are still in the majority on that one. We can give thanks for that. And by the way, on the votes about making the church fully inclusive of LGBT folks, 40% voted with us, so we are not alone in that, we are just not the majority yet.

    What does all this mean for us? It means we keep doing what we are doing. We keep following Jesus. We keep being faithful. We dare to welcome everyone. But let’s don’t pretend that is easy, because we have our close knit tribe too. Someone could show up here in a suit and tie and feel really out of place. We need to welcome that person just as much as we welcome the person with ratty jeans and arms covered in tattoos. Everyone who dares to walk in that door is seeking the love of God, and nothing can separate us from the love of God. As the community called The Village we are called to welcome all and to be the love of God for everyone who comes here (and who can find out there in the community). So there can be NO EXCEPTIONS. God does not exclude us. So let us go and do likewise. Amen.

Purpose for our Lives by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

    I wish I had time to sit down with each of you personally, but I don’t.  But , let me ask, do you know why God put you on this earth? Truly?  That’s what we’re going to look at as a part of our HOPE series, Purpose.  

    I think I know why God put me here. I have a personal mission statement. It gets tweaked a bit now and then but it goes something like this. My purpose in life is to lead others to know they are loved by God, and to help you claim your gifts and use them to live out your purpose for being on this earth. That’s why God put me here. And a few years back that led to me planting The Village Church as a vehicle for doing that.  We help people find God’s love and then live it out in the world.

    Well this is graduation season and I’ve been reflecting on purpose in life during this season. I’m willing to bet that there have been lots of commencement addresses about purpose – finding your purpose. Lots of smart people out there are telling lots of hopeful graduates – here’s what it takes to have a good life and be successful. I’m sure there are some great speeches being given and more will be given this month.

    This is what I would say.  Do you know what makes me most happy for someone? When they find their own purpose! I love it when I meet a person who has found their bliss, their calling, their place in this world.  They are so excited and certain.   There is no stopping that person. I am convinced that God wants each one of us to be that person. God wants each one of us to discover God’s purpose for our lives.

    A few days ago Becca and I went to go visit baby Avi and her mom Jessica. Jess was the first Village kids leader when we opened back in 2009. Jess is very special to my kids and to our family. She moved here with her husband from out west to do a doctorate at Wayne State. This week she will graduate with her PhD, and on Tuesday they will load up a moving truck and move to Logan Utah where she will teach at Utah State. When Becca and I hugged Avi good-bye yesterday I found myself silently giving Avi a little blessing. She is a happy little girl. Her parents love her very much. I want her to grow up knowing that she is a beloved child of God. As Becca played with Avi, I just found myself thinking about Becca and baby Avi.

    My daughter is turning 13 this week, which is a pretty big milestone. As I look at these two girls what I want for both of them, is for them to find their purpose in life. I want them to find their bliss.  Isn’t that what we all want? To know why God put us on this earth.

    I believe, without a doubt, that we all have a purpose. Maybe the way we live out that purpose gets tweaked a bit in different seasons, but I think we each have pretty much one clear God-given purpose. And I pray that little baby Avi, and that my daughter Becca, and my son Jamie will find their purpose. I pray that each of you will find your purpose. As I told you, I’m blessed to feel confident that my own purpose in life is tied to helping others claim their gifts from God and use them in the world to live out their purpose.

    Today’s scripture (Exodus 3 & 4 for those reading along on the net)  is just such a story of finding one’s purpose. Are you familiar with this story from the Old Testament? You may have heard about the part with the burning bush. God speaks to Moses in a bush that burns, but is not consumed. That is to say, the bush is on fire, but it does not burn up.

     If you don’t know that Bible background, let me give you a quick re-cap. Moses was born a Hebrew baby during a time when they were killing all the Hebrew babies. His mother hides him by sending him down the river in a basket and Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and saves him. Moses is then raised as an Egyptian in Pharaoh’s house as a child of privilege.

    One day Moses has had enough of how the Egyptians are treating the slaves, who are the Hebrews, his people. He gets into a fight and kills one of the Egyptian over-seers. He knows he’s in trouble so he flees. He goes to Midian, where he meets Jethro and marries one of his daughters. He works there for awhile. This is where we find our story for today. Moses is tending the sheep, and God comes to Moses and gets his attention with this bush. God says to Moses: “I have seen the affliction of my people. They are suffering. I need you to go down to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. In essence, God says to Moses: “This is it. I have put you on earth for something much more important that tending sheep. It’s time to do something important. Moses replies with a list of excuses.

    Do you know anyone who has ever done that? An opportunity comes along to do something great, and you just say: “Um, no, I don’t really think I am up to that. I’m not smart enough. I don’t think my parents, or my girlfriend or boyfriend would want me to do that. I don’t have the training, or the money to do that.” What other reasons might we give? Moses gave a whole bunch of answers
God just kept countering. God gave Moses a staff that would turn into a snake and then back into a staff. God told Moses what to call God.

When Moses said, “But God I can’t speak eloquently, I stutter,” God said, “You have a brother, Aaron, who can speak.”

    You see, when God gives us a big task,  we don’t even have to have all the skills. That’s why we have teams and why we have community. God gave Moses Aaron to be on his team. Aaron was part of the team and he had a purpose too.

    Finally Moses wore down, and accepted his calling. He chose to accept the purpose God laid out for him. And he became the leader that the people needed. He went to Pharaoh. He led the people out of slavery and into the promised land. But only because he was willing to listen to God and to submit to the idea that God had a purpose for him.

    So how does this play out in our own lives?   Do you know what your purpose is?  Maybe you have a hint, but maybe you’re trying to finalize the details. Well part of the Christian life is paying attention along the way to the markers God give us.

    Do you see that pile of stones in the picture? Some of you have been wondering what that picture is about. These man-made piles or stacks of stones have been used since ancient times as trail markers, also called cairns. Sometimes they are “placed at junctions or in places where the trail direction is not obvious, and may also be used to indicate an obscured danger, such as a sudden drop, or a noteworthy point such as the summit of a mountain. Most trail cairns are small, a foot or less in height, but may be built taller so as to protrude through a layer of snow. Hikers passing by often add a stone, as a small bit of maintenance to counteract the erosive effects of severe weather.”  ( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn)

    I like to think of these markers as similar to the signs or signals God gives us along the way in our lives. God uses people and experiences to show us the direction God wants us to go. When an experience is positive, or when we learn something, or people seem to grow or benefit in some way from our presence, then this might be pointing us toward our purpose in life. This is a marker for us.

    If something just doesn’t seem right, then it’s a marker trying to guide away, and get us to head in another direction.  These trail markers are the experiences that point us in the direction toward or away from God’s purpose for our lives. Spiritual discernment is the messy process of learning to pay attention to these markers.

    You see a few years ago, it became clear to me, that I was put on this earth to plant The Village Church. It took at little while for me to be sure, but eventually the markers were all there and I began to see that everything in my life had brought me to this moment. I could look back and see experiences and situations since I was a teen-ager that had all come together to leave my job, take a step where there was no promise of having the money to pay my own salary, to be ready to take this leap.

    They had all formed me, and prepared me to be a church planter in the right place at the right time plant this kind of church in this setting. No one else was in a position to do it, and nothing could stop me from doing it. It was a God given calling. As I said, I had previously written a personal mission statement: to lead others to claim that they are beloved children of God and to use their gifts in the world. You can see how that purpose ties into planting a church can’t you?

    Well, let me tell you, it sounds clear now, but it was not so clear at the time. It came together in God’s time. But it was not easy when I was in the midst of discernment.  And it will not be so clear and easy for Avi and Becca. How many young adults do you know right now who are drifting from one thing to another, trying to find their focus? They don’t know what they want to do with their lives and you wish they would figure it out. Maybe you don’t know what you want to do with your life! And maybe you are not so young! It happens all the time. It’s hard to discover our purpose. So many other factors can get in the way. So many other people will try to tell us what we should do or be. So many extenuating circumstances can throw us off course at any age.

    The priest and prolific spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen, spent the last years of his life, working as a care-giver in the L’arche Community. He was the daily companion for a man with mental and physical disabilities named Adam Arnett. Now before he took this position, Nouwen had spent some time on Bolivia and Peru and contemplated living with the poor. Nouwen had been a university professor. He was sought after as a speaker and teacher. He could have had any number of jobs at prestigious universities. In the last years of his life he chose basically to be a direct care worker in a home for people with disabilities. He said Adam became his unlikely spiritual guide. Henri Nouwen often wrote about the spiritual state of brokenness and our need for God’s healing. He said that working in this community with Adam and others helped him look at his own brokenness and how we can find our way toward healing.

    Henri Nouwen found the purpose that God laid out for him. His work has made an impact on the spiritual lives of countless people across the world. More than 2 million of his books have been sold in more than 22 languages. I am sure there are people who thought Henri Nouwen was crazy for choosing that job and that life. But he knew this was God’s purpose for his life, and it was the most meaningful thing he could do.

    So how about you? Where are you in your discernment these days? Do you know your purpose and are you living it? Are you restless? Is God trying to speak to you and are you making excuses like Moses?  We’ve all been there, there is no shame.  Has it been a long time since you hear God speak, and it is time to try to re-open communications? There are probably people in this room at all of those stages, and others. That’s ok.  We are all on a journey and God just wants to be on the journey with us. But if you don’t feel you are living God’s purpose for you, then I encourage you to look a little harder for those trail markers, and seek out some companions who might help you pay attention to the signs.   There are people in our community here who will help you walk the trail with them, help lead you along the way. 

    We’re going to listen to the band play a song and then we’re going to take a few minutes to talk to the folks around us (come to the Village Facebook Page or this thread if you want for those following along at home)  about today’s message. I want to ask you to consider this question, if God sent you a trail marker today pointing you toward your purpose in life, and it had a big sign on it, what would be written on that sign?

    If you need some help finding a trailhead for this journey, think about stopping by the corner of Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail at the Maumee Indoor Theater Sundays at 10:30 AM.  There are many folks here, on various trails, walking at many speeds, to walk with you.  Come join us.