Soul Cleansing Confession

SOUL CLEANSING:  CONFESSION

Mount Hope UMC

Sunday, October 6, 2019

2 Timothy 1:1-14 The Message (MSG)

1 ^1-2 I, Paul, am on special assignment for Christ, carrying out God’s plan laid out in the Message of Life by Jesus. I write this to you, Timothy, the son I love so much. All the best from our God and Christ be yours!

To Be Bold with God’s Gifts

^3-4 Every time I say your name in prayer—which is practically all the time—I thank God for you, the God I worship with my whole life in the tradition of my ancestors. I miss you a lot, especially when I remember that last tearful good-bye, and I look forward to a joy-packed reunion.

^5-7 That precious memory triggers another: your honest faith—and what a rich faith it is, handed down from your grandmother Lois to your mother Eunice, and now to you! And the special gift of ministry you received when I laid hands on you and prayed—keep that ablaze! God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.

^8-10 So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.

^11-12 This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.

^13-14 So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.

            I’m apologizing now because this message will probably be a little longer than usual.  But it’s a soul cleansing confession and we’re called to confess our sins one to another.  Don’t judge me, but please pray for me.

            I often heard Pastors speak on the weight of the calling.  I believed that God wouldn’t call you into the ministry of shepherding if he didn’t prepare you, anoint you and appoint you to it like he did with Moses, Samuel and David.  And this is all true.  But the oversight is that we forget what it really means to carry the weight someone else’s burden can be.  As humans we all have our own personal struggles and challenges.  As Pastors we take on those of our congregations as well.

            I often think about the weight of the sin of the world Jesus carried on the cross at Calvary.  I cannot begin to image how the burden of sin weighed him down, but I can imagine that it was better to carry that weight to the grave than to let it simmer and blister and fester the world.  Yet, it seems we have taken up the same sin he saved us from and the cycle has begun again.  Does it seem like that to you?  Does it seem that at every corner, at every turn, there is something or someone going through things that are so devastating we cannot imagine how they can carry that weight, that burden, that pain?

            Many of you know that I have been dealing with my own personal situation with my husband – a man who had not seen a doctor in over 30 years.  We’ll be married 24 years this December and for all those years I have tried to encourage him to go to the doctor for regular health assessments, and for years his response was always, “I’m going to make an appointment was soon as I finish this job.”  Some would say he all of a sudden took sick, but it wasn’t all of a sudden.  It was over 30 years of neglecting his health and when the weight became too heavy to bear, he finally gave in and asked to be taken to emergency.  I thank God that he made the decision in time because he was knocking on death’s door and didn’t realize it.  And now that he’s home with a boat load of daily medications and follow-up treatments for the rest of his life.  I thank each of you for your calls, text messages and prayers.  Keep praying for health for him and strength for me, please.

            In the midst of my husband’s health crisis and my running back and forth to the hospital and trying to be efficient and effective in ministry and at home – decluttering, rearranging, cleaning, getting rid of old stuff that was taking up space in the house - I came down with a case of bronchitis which was an annoyance only because I was struck with a case of laryngitis on Friday evening I had a wedding rehearsal for a wedding I officiated in North Beach on Saturday.   So, you can imagine how I sounded at both events.  I also had my own doctor appointments to attend to in the middle of all this – a stress test, an echocardiogram and a trip to an orthopedic doctor here in Calvert County.  After the orthopedic doctor I stopped in to visit with Sister Sallie and Sister Gail Booze, and I stopped by the church to check the mail in my office.  So why am I confessing all this to you?  This is supposed to be a sermon right?  Soul cleansing confession.

            Too often we don’t tell folk we have problems.  And if you are alive and breathing today, you have a problem, had a problem, or are going to have a problem.  As long as you’re human and living, you will have challenges to face.  And it’s not about the challenge, but how you face your challenges that will determine what you’re made of.  God’s grace and mercy will bear you up under the weight.  Remember the poem Footsteps In The Sand?  The beginning of the poem starts with the author dreaming about walking along the beach with Jesus and receiving a vision of her life flashing before her and all through the scenes she saw two sets of footprints so she knew Jesus was walking with her.  But there were times in her life when she saw only one set of footprints and she asked Jesus about the one set of footprints since he promised he would always be with her.  He told her that when she saw only one set of footprints was when he was carrying her through.  Through the storm and through the rain, through the heartache and through the pain.  When we are not able to stand on our own, we have the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ who will hold us up, protecting us from the storms of life.

One thing I know, we all need someone to share our problems with.  We need to be able to talk through them and we need someone who care enough to listen and thank God we can go to Rock we know that he’s able, we go to the Rock of our Salvation, the stone that the builders rejected.  When the earth all around us is sinking sand, on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, when we need a shelter, when we need a friend, we go to the Rock.  On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all else is sinking sand.

            When I accepted my calling and became a Pastor, I asked my Pastor one question and I ask every Pastor I meet the same question – Who feeds me/you?  Who nourishes me/you with a message of encouragement and support?  How do I/you get fed when I/you am feeding others?  And I found that many Pastors are asking themselves these same questions.  They are also wondering who will feed them.  I know this is probably a strange conversation on World Communion Sunday or Pastor Appreciation Month, but we have Pastors who are committing suicide because the weight of ministry is too great for them.  The reward of ministry is beyond comprehension, but the weight.  I know I say it sort of jokingly, but I always ask you to pray for your Pastor and I know you do, but don’t just pray for me.  Pray for the calling of Pastoring for all the Shepherds of our churches.  Pray for our local pastors, our elders, our DS’s and our Bishop.  Pray for those who are praying for a word to answer the call to ministry.  Pray for our seminary students.  Pray.  And don’t just pray for us.  Pray for your strength in these troubling times.  Pray for your family members, friends and coworkers and co-laborers.  Pray unceasingly for the prayers of the righteous availeth much.

            Pray for your church and church family.  Pray that Mount Hope will be a pillar of hope in the community of Sunderland and beyond.  Be steadfast and unmovable always seeking to abide in the Word of God.  Be confident.  Be bold because as Timothy says, “God does not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a strong mind” for the casting down of strongholds.

            Paul’s letter is reminding Timothy of God’s grace in their lives and implores him to remain committed to the Gospel even though he is suffering for preaching it.  We have to learn to speak the truth to power.  Paul encourages his mentee, Timothy and us that we cannot be afraid of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have to learn to speak truth to power.   2 Corinthians 10:3-5 AMP version says, “For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. ⁴ The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. ⁴ The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ, For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. ⁴ The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. ⁵ We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Paul encourages Timothy to remember his sincere faith that leads to the challenge of rekindling God’s gift of the laying on of hands, and to resist feelings of being ashamed and to join him in suffering for the Gospel.  When the Bishop commissions someone during ordination, it is done by the laying on of hands.  Many of us know that there are folk who profess to have the gift of healing by the laying on of hands.   God is using our hands to do his work through us.  Many of us are skeptical about someone laying hands on us.    “You don’t let just anyone lay hands on you”, or “I don’t know where their hands have been”.   Let me assure you, God can work through anyone he chooses – and most of the folk he works through had dirty hands at one time. 

            Paul continually says he is a prisoner.  He is a the Lord’s prisoner.  He is a slave for his Master.  And once again I confess, I am also a prisoner and a slave for Jesus Christ.  If it had not been for the Lord on my side when I was sinking deep in sin, where would I be?  I confess I have not been faithful, I have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory more times than I can count.  I have not loved my neighbor; heck, I haven’t even loved my family members sometimes.  I have not heard the cry of the needy even when I see them begging on the street sometime – although now I do try to do better because there but for the grace of God go I.  But what I’m trying to say is that confessing that I have faults and not using the excuse that I’m only human and we all make mistakes – that’s a cop out for Christians.  A mistake is something that is totally unintentional.  We do a lot of things intentionally because we do what we think is best in our own eyes rather than what Jesus has commanded us to do and then we make excuses as to why we do it.  We need to be honest and confess our sins one to the other.  I’m confessing mine now so that I can cleanse my soul and move on to receive Communion and become one in union with the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 

            Now, I’m going to ask you to do something a little different as we move into the service of Communion.  I want each of you to take time to have a little talk with Jesus.  I want you to spend 5 minutes either talking with someone next to you or in silent prayer and confess where you have fallen short.  And if you are confessing to someone else, ask them not to judge you, that’s not what we want.  Ask them to keep you in their prayers that you will be strengthened against the darts of the enemy.  If you are confessing in silent prayer, ask God to forgive you and to strengthen you.  But whatever you do, confess so that your soul becomes free from the weight and burden of carrying baggage that does not belong to you anymore.  Let go and let God.

            Remember King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles when he was up against a mighty army and his back was against the wall, he cried out to the Lord for help and the Lord answered him and said, “Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”  2 Chronicles 20:15, 17 NKJV.

         Exodus 13:13-14 says, “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

            And 1 John 5:4, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.   And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

            And, now the key is having the faith to overcome your fear and use the gifts that God has given you so freely and lovingly.  It just takes a mustard seed kind of faith.  Faith that is convinced and convicted that nothing can stand against you because God will never leave you nor forsake you but will be with you even until the end of time.  Mustard-sized faith that can move mountains.  Faith that says “I am more than a conqueror in Jesus Christ who loves me”’; faith that says, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper”; faith that says with confidence and purpose, “I can do ALL things through Christ that strengthens me”.

            It’s one thing to be locked up physically, but the worst thing in the world is to be a prisoner in your mind to fear.  See fear has a domino effect that destroys everything around it.  Fear creates doubt, doubt creates distrust and distrust creates division.  When division enters in the enemy has entered the camp.  Church, Jesus defeated the enemy on Calvary.  The enemy has no power against those of us who are in Christ Jesus.  Don’t give him any room to recover what he lost when Jesus went to the cross.  Be bold, confident, unmovable with the gifts you have been given.  Use them in all your power and authority given to you by Jesus to uplift the Kingdom of God here on earth to glorify your Father who is in heaven.  Don’t let no devil step on the Jesus in you.  NO weapon – no physical weapon, no mental weapon – that is formed against you by any power real or perceived can harm you because you are MORE than conquerors in Christ Jesus who loves you.  When the enemy comes against you, tell him with all authority and conviction – Get thee behind me, Satan – you have already been defeated.  Your power has been taken away.  You can shoot your best shot, but this battle is not mine, it’s the Lord’s and he has lost a battle yet.  You are cooked, roasted and toasted.

            Do some soul cleansing confession and have enough faith to leave fear outside the door of your heart. 

            

Who is My Neighbor?

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR!

Mount Hope UMC

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Luke 10:25-37 New Living Translation (NLT)

The Most Important Commandment

²⁵ One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

²⁷ The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”^[a]

²⁸ “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

²⁹ The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Parable of the Good Samaritan

³⁰ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

³¹ “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³² A Temple assistant^[b] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

³³ “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. ³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[c] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

³⁶ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

³⁷ The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

            I’m going to apologize because today’s message is the longest I have given, but I believe God wants me to share it with you.  Let me submit a present day, and very real representation of this parable in light of the ICE raids that will begin today to deport and detain immigrants in this country.  It is estimated that there are over 2 million men, women and children who will be affected by the President’s Executive Order.  Let’s think about the Parable of the Good Samaritan in this light.  I have changed this somewhat to delete references to ethnicity because many people of all ethnic groups have discriminated against our Hispanic brothers and sisters who have arrived in this country out of fear for their lives by the drug cartels and gangs who have threatened them in their countries.

            An American Christian asked Jesus, “How do I get to heaven and gain eternal life?”  Jesus replied, “You have to read the Bible.  You know what it says.  Be sure you are not ignoring what it says.”

            The American Christian replied, “It does say to love God with all that I am and all that I have and to love my neighbor as myself.”

            Jesus replied, “Yes.  You have stated correctly what God’s Word says.  But are you living it?  Are you loving your undocumented neighbor who is afraid of being deported this weekend?  Our neighbor who is a detained migrant in a concentration camp?  Your neighbor who has become a victim of “wait in Mexico policy” when they have the legal and God-given right to seek asylum?  Your neighbor who is being put in an immigrant detention center to be a pawn and a source of profit?  To which the American Christian said, “I mean, are those people really my neighbors?  Who really is my neighbor?”

            So, Jesus told this story: “A man with his young daughter had crossed from Honduras to Guatemala and all the way across Mexico and arrived at the U.S. border.  They had fled Honduras because their life was being threatened every day by the gangs and drug dealers and there was not food to eat in their small town and they were dying of poverty.  When they arrived at the U.S. border exhausted yet full of hope, they presented themselves as asylum seekers.  The Border Patrol agent would not listen to them explain their situation and told them they had to wait in Mexico.  A U.S. politician visited the border and spoke at a press conference to decry the horrible conditions of migrants but returned to Washington, DC and said there is nothing we can do to stop this current administration.  But a Muslim woman who has been separated from her family because of the Muslim ban that has been in place for 5 years and will not allow her husband and children to join her from Yemen went to the border.  She fought for the young Honduran an to get free legal representation, for them to be able to join is uncle in New Jersey while awaiting for an asylum hearing and immigration and made sure his young daughter got the medical care she needed.”  Jesus then asked the American Christian the question: “Which of these three was a neighbor to the Honduran man and his young daughter seeking asylum in this country?”  The American Christian answered, “the one who showed mercy.”  And Jesus replied to him and all of us: “Go and show mercy.  Fight for the immigrant.  Don’t turn away from the injustice.  Do what you can to make changes to this system that is breaking families, damaging people and destroying our democracy.”

            If you have seen the news, Friday the Vice President went to one of the immigrant camps on the Texas border.  What he found far exceeded the conditions he believed existed.  Hundreds of men were housed in a cage like animals.  Some were laying on the floor covered in the aluminum blankets, while others stood around because there was not enough room for them to lay down.  Reports who had accompanied the Vice President reported that the stench was unbearable.  The caged men said they had not been able to bathe in weeks and that they had not even been given toothbrushes to brush their teeth.  This is not our America.  This is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.  This scenario is too much like how Nazi Germany treated the Jews before the holocaust during World War II.

            The thought that there are camps that house women and children under the same condition is abhorrent, disgusting and an embarrassment and everybody in the country ought to scream in disgust against this policy to their Congressmen and women and their Senators.  This is totally unacceptable because who will be next – us?

            Beginning today, our Hispanic brothers and sisters will go into hiding to try and avoid ICE.  Migrant workers will not show up for work on Monday morning.  Hispanic children will disappear from the classrooms.  Blue collar workers, landscape companies, car repair shops, retail establishments – all will be missing valuable employees.  Do you understand the depth of the havoc this will have on our economy?   But consider this – those in our prison system may be the first to be deported because they are more easily identified and if they held citizenship or a green card, they may lose their right to be in this country because of the crimes they committed.  They can’t hide from ICE.  And what do you think will happen to them if they are returned to their countries?  Most likely they will find a way back into this country illegally.

            In the past America has been outraged by foreign countries human rights abuses.  We have stood on the side of right in calling out these countries for how they mistreat and abuse their citizens, yet this country is doing the same with those who seek to find a better life.  There is a song whose lyrics say, “Give me your tired, your poor; your huddled masses yearning to be free.”

This is not the first time America has resorted to camps.  During World War II Asians who were American citizens were placed into camps.

I read this on Facebook this week and it was timely.  “The Greek verb splagchnizomai is formed from the word for inward parts or guts.  The verb suggests being moved in the innermost core of one’s being.  A gut-wrenching, stomach-twisting mercy.  In the New Testament, it’s a Jesus verb.  He has splagchnizomai for the people who are like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36); for the sick (March 14:14); for a widow (Luke 7:13).  In the parables, the Jesus figures of the forgiving king (Matt. 18:27), the father of the prodigal (Luke 15:20), and the Samaritan (10:33) all show splagchnizomai.  Thus, rather than a good Samaritan, he’s the splagchnizomai Samaritan.  He’s moved in his very bowels with compassion, the giver of gut-wrenching compassion.  In the innermost core of Jesus is love for us.”  Author, Chad Bird.

            There are a number of Scriptures that speak to how we are to treat the alien, or the foreigner, who resides in our land.

            For instance, Leviticus 19:33-34 says, “When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 34You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. “

            Matthew 25:35-40 – “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’  (New International Version)

Jeremiah 22:3, “The Lord proclaims: Do what is just and right; rescue the oppressed from the power of the oppressor. Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t spill the blood of the innocent in this place.  (Common English Bible)

Hebrews 13:2 – “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!  (New Living Translation)

            These are just a few of the Scriptures I share with you today.  My heart is so heavy, and I don’t know how I can be a vessel to effect change but speaking to you today to encourage you to use your voice is one way.

            If you read your Bible you know that people are always testing Jesus, trying to see if he is faithful to the Law of Moses or if he is a fake prophet.  The Pharisees were always testing him because they were jealous of his following and felt he was a threat to their authority and control over the Jewish people.

            Society challenges us as Christians, too.  We are considered hypocrites because many of us say one thing and do another.  Society sees the fundamentalist Christian as Bible thumping, preaching about sin and damnation, fire and brimstone.  Then they see the traditionalist Christian as preaching the Word, but not always living what they preach.  Then they see the holier than thou Christian who is so heaven bound they are no earthly good.

As professed Christ followers, many of us feel we’re too good for the rest of the world who are the least, the last and the lost.  Those that have the most need of hearing how Jesus brought us out of our mess, we keep at arm’s length.  They smell, they’re immigrants, they don’t speak our language, they’re homeless, they drink, they do drugs, they prostitute, they lie, they steal, they sleep around with other people’s spouses or girlfriends or boyfriends.  We have become self-righteous and set ourselves up as judge and jury over the rest of the world.  We now think we’re better than the immigrant, the drug addict, the alcoholic, the homeless person, the prostitute, the poor.  Surely, they are not our neighbor.  But let me tell you, beloved of God, there but for the grace of God, go each and every one of us.

Take the man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit the Kingdom of God.  First of all, you cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  Many people think because their parents or their grandparents where fire Baptized and Holy Ghost filled, that they are too.  They may have walked down the aisle to the altar to accept Jesus Christ to please Momma or Grandma because Momma or Grandma made them when they were young or Sunday School encouraged them, but Christ is not living in them.  They think because Mamma and Poppa or Grandma and Granddad are saved, that covers them too.  You have to know Jesus for yourself.  If you have not opened your heart to let Jesus in, you walked down the aisle to appease Momma, Daddy, Grandma or Grandad, but you are still only going through the outward motions; your heart has not been strangely warmed as John Wesley said.  I keep telling you sitting in the pew doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in the garage makes you a car.  You have to surrender to Jesus and let the Holy Spirit come into your heart. 

When you let the light of Jesus in, you will find that everyone is your neighbor.  You will find it not robbery to love everyone, even those who may not be quite so lovable.  So, who is my neighbor?

Three men encountered the man on the road.  Two were holy men – a priest and a Levite.  The priest was a holy man who could make sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins in the Temple and preach in the Synagogue.  The Levite was a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi and provided assistants to the priests in the worship in the Jewish temple.  These were men, if you think about it, who were really not trained in pastoral care.  They didn’t necessarily have empathy for the people they served.  Their service was contingent upon payment for their services, so seeing a homeless person beat up on the side of the road would not have prompted them to compassion because they knew they would not receive compensation for giving assistance.  Plus, the law said that if they touched someone who was unclean and bleeding, they would have had to be quarantined for a period of time.  They couldn’t afford to be out of service for that long, so the priest and the Levite kept galloping along.  Just like we do when we drive by the homeless person asking for change on the side of the road.

But the Samaritan.  Samaritans are genetically linked to Jews and to Palestinian Arabs.  Because they were a “mixed” race, Orthodox Jews did not associate with them.  That is why the story of the Samaritan woman in the Bible is so significant.  Samaritans also were adherents of Samaritanism, a religion closely related to Judaism.  They believed their religion is the true religion of the Israelites from before the Babylonian captivity and that Judaism is a related but altered and amended religion.  The major issues between Jews and Samaritan has always been the location of the Chosen Place to worship God.  Samaritans believed it was Mount Gerizim and Jews believed it was the Temple Mount of Moriah in Jerusalem.  Bottom line, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans.

So, on the road to Jerusalem from Jericho a Jewish man was attacked by bandits, beaten, robbed and left to die on the side of the road.  A priest came by, saw the man and kept going, offering no assistance.  A Levite, a man of his own people, came by and saw him, but kept going.  Now along comes a Samaritan – someone Jews considered unclean and not worthy to even talk to.  This Samaritan saw the injured Jew, attended to his immediate injuries, picked him up and put him on his horse or mule, and took him to an inn.  He cleaned the Jew up, gave him a clean change of clothing and laid him in bed in a room for him to recover from his wounds.  He paid the innkeeper for the room and board and any incidentals and said if he required more he would come back on his return journey and pay him anything over what he had already given.

We see people on the side of the road every day and we keep driving.  I did it for years.  If I don’t have any money on me, I may still drive by – but it’s because I don’t have anything to give.  But, generally, now I try to keep a couple dollars in the car so that if I come across someone in need, I can offer a small token.  If someone approaches me in the street, I will give a dollar or two or ask if they want something to eat, and if I have the resources, I will take them to McDonald’s or Wendy’s and purchase their meals.  I think I’m going to start buying $5 McDonald gift cards to hand out.  You all probably do the same.

I know Mount Hope serves at Project Echo and for Warm Nights.  For years we have donated backpacks to school children, but this year we’ve been talking about providing much needed school supplies to an elementary school in Calvert County so that the teachers don’t have to come out of their pockets and the children will have the classroom resources they need.  We have been Good Samaritans, but there is so much more we can do.  Perhaps we can think about providing food baskets at Thanksgiving to our seniors, especially those who are shut-ins.  Our youth give Christmas gifts to our seniors.

It is my prayer that we can think beyond Mount Hope and reach out to our community in need in Sunderland, not just in giving, but in doing.  I’d like to see us come together with the youth to participate in a mission project to adopt a needy family.  We need to be the feet on the ground for the homeless, drug addict, alcoholic, prostitute and the immigrant.  Somebody came to our assistance when we were down to nothing!  Oh, maybe you’ve never been down to nothing.  Maybe you’ve never been hungry.  Maybe you’ve never needed a hand-up or had someone walk with you to get you jump started.

The Good Samaritan never met the Jew before, but he gave much needed assistance out of the goodness of his heart, expecting nothing in return.  I know the church does not have the resources to support people who need emergency help like rent, or utilities.  But there are things we can do and the first thing we have to do is build relationships with the community.  We have to know where the need exists.  I talk to people who call here for money for rent, etc.  Some have tapped every Social Service agency they could – perhaps more than once.  This tells me they are always in need and may not be doing anything to help themselves get back on track.  Maybe we can guide them to get back on track.  We have to try.  We’ve had people come here that are a day away from homelessness or called and received guidance on places that could assist them with their rent or utilities – they have come to service to thank the church for whatever assistance we have provided.

This is a loving, but cautious church.  Perhaps we’re cautious for good reason – maybe because we have been burned by people who were conning us too many times, or maybe we’re just afraid.  If that’s the case 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that “God did not give us the spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline”.  But we need to take a lesson from the Good Samaritan and step out on faith that God will provide, but that we must take the first step.

Mr. Rogers said, “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

Church, Jesus calls us to be responsible for the foreigner living in our land.  He calls us to speak out about injustice.  He calls us to stand when others sit.

In his last speech before his assassination, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shared his thoughts about the Good Samaritan in relation to the march the following day for the sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee.  He observed that perhaps the priest and Levite didn’t stop because (1) they were on their way to a religious gathering and “One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony.”  Dr. King said another possibility was the priest and the Levite were afraid because the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was dangerous and in Jesus’s time was called “The Bloody Pass”.  Another possibility Dr. King presented was that the priest and the Levite looked over at the 0man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around.  Or that the man on the ground might have been faking that he had been robbed and hurt, in order to lure them there for quick and easy seizure.  And so, the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by – a man of a different race and he reversed the question and asked himself, "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"  When will we stop being afraid and asking, “What if someone is trying to rob me” and instead ask, “What can I do to help others?”  Don’t let your living be in vain.  As Mr. Roberts used to ask, “Won’t you be my neighbor?”