Here is the sermon I preached this past Sunday, March 4, 2012. I have included some of the other things I wrote for that service. It is for the 2nd Sunday of Lent.

INVOCATION

We come to this place, God, because somewhere in our lives, faintly or distinctly, we have heard you call to us.

We come – some sleepily, some alert, some tired, some energized – to share in your presence.

We come to say thanks that we are your people. We come to worship, to know better what your call upon us means.

PASTORAL PRAYER

O God, this has been a hard week to live through. We have seen so much blood and desctructiion that we feel numb. We pray for those who have lost loved ones this week, whether by violence, war or Mother Nature. We pray for the sick and wounded and their faimilies. Though we may find it hard, we also pray for those who have caused the violence and war. Our prayers go to those who find it hard to put one foot in front of the other, to go about normal activities, who feel lost. We pray for the community of Chadron, Ohio, whose children no longer feel safe at school, for the families whose children were killed and wounded and for the young man who caused the violence. Our hearts go out to all of them. Dear God, the destruction caused by tornadoes this week has been devastating to many areas in this country. Be with those who lost loved ones, homes, everything. We pray for the Syrian people as they struggle to bring a new way of being, to life. Their leaders have lost all respect, not only from their own people, but from around the world. They have taken to killing their own people to serve their own needs. Let us pray for those who sow dissidence between genders and attack the one's who speak truth to power. When one gender is assailed, both suffer. We pray for those who stand up for justice and righteousness. Lastly, Loving God, bless us, your people here in this church, as they continue to spread your Good News. Amen

BENEDICTION

Go now from this church and these friends to places God will show you. God will make of you a great & righteous people. God will guide you and make your name great and righteous for the sake of Jesus the Christ, and by you all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed. Amen & Blessed Be.

Title:     For Righteousness' SakeAuthor: John Greenleaf Whittier

Inscribed to friends under arrest for treason against the slave power.

Writen in 1855

THE age is dull and mean. Men creep,
Not walk; with blood too pale and tame
To pay the debt they owe to shame;
Buy cheap, sell dear; eat, drink, and sleep
Down-pillowed, deaf to moaning want;
Pay tithes for soul-insurance; keep
Six days to Mammon, one to Cant.

In such a time, give thanks to God,
That somewhat of the holy rage
With which the prophets in their age
On all its decent seemings trod,
Has set your feet upon the lie,
That man and ox and soul and clod
Are market stock to sell and buy!

The hot words from your lips, my own,
To caution trained, might not repeat;
But if some tares among the wheat
Of generous thought and deed were sown,
No common wrong provoked your zeal;
The silken gauntlet that is thrown
In such a quarrel rings like steel.

The brave old strife the fathers saw
For Freedom calls for men again
Like those who battled not in vain
For England's Charter, Alfred's law;
And right of speech and trial just
Wage in your name their ancient war
With venal courts and perjured trust.

God's ways seem dark, but, soon or late,
They touch the shining hills of day;
The evil cannot brook delay,
The good can well afford to wait.
Give ermined knaves their hour of crime;
Ye have the future grand and great,
The safe appeal of Truth to Time!

SERMON – MARCH 4, 2012: RIGHTEOUS FAITH

I have always wanted to preach a sermon on the word, 'righteous', because it is such a misunderstood word. In the past couple of years, it seems to have gathered more baggage, with it now being used in the political arena. I t is time to take back the word and to drop all of its external body parts. When I was asked to preach today, I looked at the readings in the Lectionary to see what inspiration I could get from them, to figure out what to to speak about. The reading from Roman's jumped out at me. Here, in this authentic letter from Paul, Abraham and Sarah are written about as “righteous in their faith.” But what do these two words, 'righteous faith' , really mean?

Let's start with, 'righteous'. According to the dictionary, it means: meeting the standards of what is right and just; morally right; acting in an upright or moral way; virtuous. Synonyms are: philanthropic, conscientious, meritorious, trustworthy, and scrupulous. I did a very unscientific survey on my Face Book page, asking my “friends” to leave a comment as to what first popped into their minds when they saw that word. Most people thought of the word in the pejorative. In actuality, it has a REALLY positive meaning. Perhaps they were thinking about the word self-righteous - which means: confident of one's righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others. Some of it's synonyms are: sanctimonious, hypocritical, pharisaic, holier-than-thou, preachy. So, righteous means something very positive, self-righteous – not so much.

Abraham and Sarah, in the reading in Romans, are rewarded for their righteousness, by becoming parents. Ultimately, they are the mother and father of many nations and three religions. In our Psalm, which was the responsive reading, we heard about Jacob, Rachel and Leah, descendents of Abraham & Sarah giving praise to YHWH or God. They would also be considered righteous in their faith. Why? Take Jacob, he was deceitfully married to Leah, while he really loved Rachel. He served 7 more years so that he could marry Rachel. He proved that he was trustworthy, conscientious, perhaps even meritorious. Rachel, who has to wait to be married to the one she loves, proves herself to be patient, at the least, but also virtuous, conscientious; then there is Leah. Now, I believe Leah must be the most righteous, because she knows she is not the beloved of Jacob. Her marriage to Jacob was duplicitous. But Jacob treats her respectfully, despite the way she became his wife. He is just in his treatment of her. She is morally upright, conscientious, and tolerent, totally the opposite of self-righteous.

How do we become righteous people? Jesus has given us all of the guidence we need in order to become righteous human beings. He taught us that we must care for the sick, clothe the naked and feed the hungry. AND perhaps most importantly, we must love each other. We must love our fellow human beings. All of these things seem easy and simple, until you actually start trying to do them. The sick may exhibit behaviors we literally can't stomach, the naked may smell bad and the hungry may demand “too much”. Jesus told us to, “Love one another.” We have to love people who make us uncomfortable, angry and uncharitable? Yes, that is what we have to do. God forgive us, because we find this all too much to manage equitably. But if we call ourselves followers of Jesus or Christians, we are compelled to do this.

What about faith? How can we be people of 'righteous faith'? We are called by Jesus to have a faith that is 'inclusive' not 'exclusive'. He did not exclude people because they smelled, were sick or had different ideas from him. He included women, as followers and who 'ministered to him', which was unheard of in the 1^st century. His beliefs were that all people were children of God: men, women, tax collectors, the sick, the mentally ill and Pharisees. Are we to be less inclusive than Jesus in our faith?

What does the word, 'faith' mean? The dictionary tells us it means a confident belief in the truth, value, trustworthyiness of a person, idea, or thing. That belief is not based on proof. Can you prove the exsistance of God? No, not really. Certainly not to someone who doesn't believe in God's existance. Do we trust that Jesus taught us what is the right thing to do? Yes. But can that faith make us into a righteous person? Good question. That has to be answered by each one of us. God gave us the ability to decide that. It's called, “will”. If we have the will to do what is right, then our faith will push us

in the right direction. Jesus often used parables to teach about faith. The parable of the mustard seed is a good example. This seed is so small we can barely see it. But it can grow to be quite big so that “birds nest in it.”.

There is something else about faith, that I believe is quite important. It is the issue of deeds. Jesus' brother James says it best – this is from the Book of James, Chapter 2, verses 14-17: What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if people claim to have faith but have no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Let me say that again: faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

So, despite was Paul says, faith ONLY, will not make you righteous. It has to be attended by good deeds for others.

During this time of Lent, as we prepare for the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made, we are reminded that our work is continuing – that of making ourselves better people. You don't have to believe in God, you don't have to follow Jesus, but our mission here on earth, every single person's mission, is to care and love others as we have been loved. We can be righteous people individually, but our greatest strength is in being together, to make this, right now, a righteous community of faith.

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