Testify

Testify

Testify
a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey

DOWNLOAD A LIVE RECORDING

Audio from worship at the 10 AM Worship Service February 16, 2025
at St Peter’s Episcopal Church

edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine.

  John 8:12-19

 Sermons also available free on iTunes

My pastor growing up, Dr. Paul Bauer, said “Sermonettes are for Christianettes.”  That was probably his only joke in 20 years, but it was a good one.  Good morning, Episcopalians.  They’ve got me tied to this mic today, so you’re welcome.

So today I’ve got scriptures, I love the scriptures you give me there.  Define the relationship of Jesus Christ and God the Father without straying from Episcopalian beliefs or violating your Presbyterian doctrine, and do it in 10 minutes.  Thanks.  We’ll pass on that.  I mean, there have been wars fought over this, and over a single Greek letter.  We’ll pass on that.  What we won’t pass on is the opportunity the scripture gives us to talk about testimony.

Testimony.  We need more testimony in this world.  We don’t need more arguing.  We don’t need more fact-checking.  We don’t need more gotcha.  We don’t need any snarky answers to people’s sincerely held beliefs.  What we could use is testimony.  Did you hear it in Jesus’s saying, “You don’t know where I came from or where I’m going?”  If you know where you came from, if you know where you are going, you have a testimony.  You have something to say.

And I don’t know if any of you have been preachers, weekly preachers for 40 years.  But I’ll tell you a secret.  When you’re preaching every Sunday, everything that happens is sermon-fodder.  You know, everything goes in the old chipper and comes out, I tell you.  And so I was thinking about testimony and what does it mean to – and where is the good testimony and where things are.  And would you believe it, in my inbox comes testimony from the Episcopalians.  Woo-hah.  And about 20 other denominations, including Presbyterian, about sanctuary.

Now, you all know how hard it is to keep quiet in a sanctuary.  You know how hard it is to keep me quiet in the sanctuary before service.  Well, I’ll tell you, you Episcopalians work even harder on sanctuary.  For over a quarter of the century, sanctuary has been kept in churches, synagogues, religious gathering places around the country, saying, hey, arrest people somewhere else than in church, at services, on a Sunday.  But no longer.  No longer.  And that’s what the Episcopalians testified.

Listen to this.  Sean Rowe, presiding bishop.  In the Kingdom of God as we understand it, immigrants and refugees are not at the edges, fearful and alone.  Their struggles reveal the heart of God.  We cannot worship freely if some of us live in fear.  Sean Rowe, Episcopal bishop, presiding bishop.  Even Jesus himself identifies as “stranger.”  We must proclaim, particularly in this time, that we are all welcome in the places of worship, that all have – that all are welcome in places of worship.  This seems a basic human right, one that we are called by God to serve.

In the first week of the current administration I see he arrested over 4,500 people, including 1,000 people in a Sunday immigration enforcement blitz.  At least one of these – this is from the court case that your church joined with the church I serve, and 21 other churches in testimony.  And at least one of these enforcement actions occurred at a church in Georgia during the worship service.  According to news coverage, an usher standing at the church entrance saw a group of ICE agents outside, locked the door.  The agent said that they were there to arrest Wilson Velasquez, who had traveled to the United States from Honduras with his wife and three children in 2022.  Immediately after crossing the border, they turned themselves in to U.S. authorities, requested asylum.  They were given a court date, released after federal agents put a GPS tracking monitor on Velasquez’s ankle.

After settling in suburban life, the family joined the Pentecostal Church, where they worshipped several times a week and helped with the music.  They were listening to the pastor’s sermon when ICE agents arrived to arrest Velasquez.  Although Velasquez had attended all his required check-ins at the Atlanta ICE office and had a court date scheduled to present his asylum case to a judge, ICE agents arrested him, explaining that they were simply looking for people with ankle bracelets.  The pastor, Luis Ortiz, tried to reassure his congregation.  But he said he could see the fear and tears in their faces.

And if you’re upset that people are talking in sanctuary, imagine how upset you’d be if someone came in and arrested someone during the sermon.  That should be an announcement every Sunday morning.  But we’re not saying you’re bad, or you’re awful, or you vote for this person, or it’s all your fault or blame.  We’re saying where we have been, where we came from, and where we are going, we know that, so we have a testimony.  And here’s the Episcopal Church’s testimony.  And God bless you all.  This is in the filing of the United States court system.  Because you all know where you’ve been, and you all know where you’re going, and you have a testimony.

Plaintiff, the Episcopal Church.  Recognizing the Bible’s repeated calls for God’s people to embrace the foreigner as a way of extending the work that is the heart of God in every time and place, the Episcopal Church, champions and advocates for humane policies toward migrants.  And many dioceses, parish, and Episcopal networks provide resources, support, and care for asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, refugees, and other migrant communities.  Testimony.  Testimony.

If you don’t know where you’ve been and don’t know where you’re going, you don’t have a testimony.  But Christians know where we’ve been.  We read the scriptures every Sunday.  Hopefully more than every Sunday.  We live by them.  And we know where we’re going.  We’re going to the Kingdom of God, and we’re living in the Kingdom of God right here.  We are not living in Empire.  We do not serve the Empire.  We serve the Kingdom of God.  We know where we’ve been.  We know where we’re going.  We know what our passport says.   Our passport says “Kingdom of God.”  Not Empire.

And so we have a testimony.  You don’t have to argue with someone because they’re just not listening.  They’re just waiting for their turn to argue with you and go back and forth.  We need to have conversations.  We need to find common ground.  We need to go forward.  Yes, yes, yes, yes.  But that’s not going to come from arguing.  It’s going to come from testimony based on where we come from and where we want to go.

Brian, you got that slide up there for me?  Here’s a testimony.  Here’s a sign that doesn’t say “Vote for this” or “I voted that” or “Don’t blame me, I voted for the other one.”  This is what I believe.  In this house we believe love is love.  Testimony.  Black Lives Matter.  And if you’re racist, Black Lives Matter Too, because I have to say that or otherwise you’d think that we do a Breast Cancer Awareness or Fundraiser, we’re saying no other cancer matters.

Black Lives Matter Too.  Science is real.  Women’s rights are fundamental.  Women’s rights are human rights.  No person is illegal.  Disability rights are human rights.  Healthcare for all.  Kindness is everything.  That just says what you believe.  That’s a testimony based on where you’ve come from and where you’re going.  It attacks no one.  It should upset no one.  It goes, oh, thanks for sharing what you believe.  Now, I know you a little better.  Some of those things I believe.  Maybe we could figure out how to make that a little more true in the greater world.  It’s testimony.

I brought a prop.  My wife made this for me.  And I think I’m going to be wearing it more and more.  This might be a daily driver.  Some people are against rainbows.  But this shows where I believe.  And I think I’m going to be wearing this shirt. 

I almost wore it to preach in.  You’re welcome.  This should threaten no one.  This just gives a testimony to what I believe.  It’s perfectly okay if you pee next to me.  Now, if you want to bring a gun in, I might have an issue with that.  But you all can pee next to me.  So if you’re upset, you can say, well, at least he didn’t wear the T-shirt the whole time.

So I come to thank you.  Presbyterian Church is in the pleading, too.  Eighty pages, great reading, along with Episcopalians, the spot on the Mennonites.  We can almost – we’ve got a couple atheists in there.  All testifying.  In 1993, America decided that sanctuary was a place not just to keep quiet for a few minutes before worship, but a place where humans that are fearful could come and worship God, and hear the good eternal truth in the gospel without fear of being arrested and hauled off because it’s easy to get them there.  Over a quarter of a century ago.  I don’t remember changing, that we thought as long as you’re quiet you can arrest people in our services.

Testimony.  I believe sanctuary is a place where everyone can come and worship without fear of persecution, without fear of that.  And you know, folks, I have some privileged folks in my life.  And when I start talking about that, they go, oh, you’re talking politics.  Oh, you’re just talking – we don’t talk politics.

Wilson is now not with his family.  He’s taken away from his children and his wife.  And I would challenge that person to go and explain to their children that their father is not with them anymore, that he’s in prison, it’s just politics, and they shouldn’t really care that much.  Our faith is a lot more than what is comfortable for us and for the people that we can see.  Our faith is a faith of the entire world.  We believe that Jesus Christ came, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.  It’s not a scripture, but that world means cosmos, means everything, all the relationships, and all the people in it, and the plants and the animals, and the people that come and go.  That’s what God came for, not just to make my life comfortable.  And those I can see not suffering because that’s upsetting.  It’s for everyone.

So I come here as a wandering Presbyterian to thank the leadership of the Episcopal Church in saying where they come from and where they’re going, and testifying to all that would hear, and many that don’t want to, that this is who we are.  This is who we love.  And this is where we’re going.  And we’re telling everyone.  Testify.  Amen.

Testify

Lee Vining Presbyterian Zoom Worship February 23, 2025

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Welcome

Helpers to read 1) responses in Call to Worship, 2) Prayer of Confession

Call to Worship 

Christy and an unmuted person on Zoom will alternate reading.

Christy: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

Person: We come to walk in that light, to listen, and to testify to the truth.

Christy: When challenged, Jesus did not argue or attack. He spoke with confidence, knowing where He came from and where He was going.

Person: We, too, will speak with grace, bearing witness to God’s love in our lives.

Christy: The testimony of Christ is light for the world, and we are called to share that light.

Person: Let us worship with hearts open to truth, voices ready to testify, and lives shining with God’s love. Amen.

 SONG  God So Love

Prayer of Confession:

Person – Holy and Merciful God, You have called us into Your light, yet we confess that we often forget where we come from and where we are going. We lose sight of Your grace, living as if we are alone, as if we must find our own way. Instead of helping others out of darkness, we turn inward, focused on our own concerns.

 Rather than bearing witness to Your truth, we judge by human standards—measuring others by our own fears and expectations, choosing argument over testimony, and self-righteousness over love. Too often, we see enemies instead of neighbors, division instead of possibility, seeking revenge rather than restoration, and proving ourselves right instead of bringing others to You.

 Forgive us, Lord. Remind us that we belong to You, that our story begins in Your mercy and ends in Your eternal embrace.  In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.

Assurance of Pardon:

Beloved in Christ, hear the good news: God has opened our eyes to grace, our hearts to mercy, and our lives to new beginnings. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, restored, and made whole. We are not left to walk alone—God’s Spirit empowers us to see those who are struggling, to embrace those who are hurting, and to live as witnesses to the light of Christ. So let us rise in faith, walk in hope, and love with the fullness of God’s redeeming power. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven! Thanks be to God! Amen.

Sharing Joys and Concerns with Prayer and The Lord’s Prayer (together while on mute)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Offering – Doxology  For phone giving, use the QR code.

or go to https://77da2f07.churchtrac.com/give

 A Reading From The Greek Scriptures:  John 8:12-19

¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ ¹³Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’ ¹⁴Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards;^* I judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^* who sent me. ¹⁷In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. ¹⁸I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’ ¹⁹Then they said to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’

Message: Testimony

Click for PDF of Lawsuit from Presbyterians & 40 other Reigious Groups

Click for article on Presbyterian’s participation in the lawsuit.

Click for a previous recording of today’s sermon. 

SONG  This is My Song

Charge

Go now as children of the light, knowing where you have come from and where you are going. Do not be led by fear or by the need to prove yourself, but by the grace that has claimed you. Speak with kindness, listen with love, and bear witness to the truth of Christ in a world hungry for hope. Let your life shine—not to condemn, but to guide; not to argue, but to invite; not to divide, but to restore.

Benediction
And now, may the God who formed you in love, the Christ who walks with you in mercy, and the Spirit who fills you with power send you forth in peace and courage. May you see with God’s eyes, love with Christ’s heart, and shine with the Spirit’s light, today and always. Amen.

 

- Liturgy made with the aid of ChatGPT

Litany for Speaking Out

By ChatGPT o1 model from: First They Came by Martin Niemöller 

Leader: When they came for our trans siblings, I did not speak up
People: Because I’m not trans, and it felt distant to me.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for immigrants, I did not speak up—

People: Because I assumed they’d only take the “bad ones,” not parents or co-workers I knew.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for the poor, I did not speak up—

People: Because I thought I’d always be able to work.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for those who needed Medicaid, I did not speak up

People: Because I wasn’t sick or old, and thought I never would be.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for journalists, I did not speak up—

People: Because social media told me all I wanted to believe.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for people of color, I did not speak up—

People: Because I was told Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion of others hurt me

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for women’s rights, I did not speak up—

People: Because I am not a woman, and could get care to save my life

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: When they came for voting access, I did not speak up—

People: Because my own right to vote felt secure.

Leader: God, forgive our silence and grant us courage to speak.

Leader: Then, when they came for me,

People: There was no one left to speak for me.

Closing Prayer 

God of justice and mercy,

We confess that we have not always acted with courage.

We repent of our indifference

  toward those whose struggles felt distant.

Stir our hearts to empathy,

  and strengthen our resolve to stand with one another.

May we learn to speak out for the vulnerable

  and uphold the dignity of all.

In Your gracious name we pray,

Amen.

Charge to Spanish Springs Congregation

Given on the occasion of the installation of the Rev. Jeff Rumble as pastor of Spanish Springs Presbyterian Church on January 26, 2025.

Recorded Audio Version Available Here

Beloved people of Spanish Springs Presbyterian Church, God has called you together as a community of faith, not for comfort or convenience, but for bold witness to Jesus Christ. You are the Church of the risen Lord, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ alone as your cornerstone. In a world filled with competing voices, shifting loyalties, and false certainties, stand firm in the truth of the gospel.

I charge you to affirm that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of the Church. No earthly power, no political movement, no personal agenda can claim the Church’s highest allegiance. Christ alone rules through His Word and Spirit.

Reject lukewarm “thoughts and prayers” political religious theater that stays safely distant from real suffering and authentic faithful compassion. For we believe our nation will be judged by how we gave food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty,

How we welcome to the stranger at our shores and in our fields,

How we clothed the fire victims and those left naked by the slow burn of poverty,

How we recognized and respected those imprisoned—whether by iron bars or by the unbendable norms of society. and by how we stopped the shooting of schoolchildren and saved their actual lives rather than saving the imagined gender purity of their sports teams. (Matthew 25:35-40)

I charge you to reject every force that distorts the gospel or seeks to shape the Church in its own image. Faith is not a tool for power, the Church is not the servant of the state, and worship is not entertainment for the bored. The Church belongs to Christ—there is no popular vote, no recount, no charges of politics, no violent attack, no magic hat, no racist chant that changes that in Christ, we have the totality of our being. We are for Christ. The Church is not for us—it is for Christ, to spread His love to all people.

Reject the misuse of faith by those who wave Bibles to serve their own power rather than seeking God’s guidance within it. God’s guidance is in the Bible—not as a prop for personal or political gain, but as a witness to the living Word that calls us out of ourselves and into justice, mercy, and humility with all.

Resist spreading false news in social media, at office desks, and around family dining tables—news that divides, distorts, and encourages fear and hate instead of the Gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ that unites the diverse in mutual love, shared experience, bold faith and bright hope.

I charge you to reject despair, complacency, and every false claim on the Church’s loyalty. Christ is victorious, the Church is alive, and the gospel still transforms the world.

I charge you to stand firm in the call to be a people of courage and grace. Welcome Jeff, not as one who carries this ministry alone, but as a shepherd among you, a fellow servant in Christ’s mission.

Support him as Aaron and Hur held up the arms of Moses when he grew weary, as Deborah and Jael did what Barak could not do alone, so that together, the people of God may remain steadfast in the work to which Christ has called them. (Exodus 17:12-14; Judges 4:8-9, 21)

I charge you to refuse the temptation to make ministry the work of one person. Proclaim the gospel, care for one another, and serve the world in Christ’s name. Make Jeff neither drag the unwilling forward into mission nor race to catch up with the zealots.

Walk with Jeff as a shepherd among the flock, not ahead in isolation nor behind in pursuit, but hand in hand in the Spirit’s leading, following the voice of the Good Shepherd together.

I charge you to hold fast to the hope that is in Christ. Trust the Spirit’s leading, listen for God’s voice, and stand firm in the truth of God’s Word. Spread the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ, which brings light to the darkness, hope to the weary, and life to the world.

Now, I charge you to go—in courage, in hope, in faithfulness. Love one another, support your pastor, serve the world, and trust the Spirit’s leading. And may the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, now and always.

This charge was reworked over 2 hours with ChatGPT, The Theological Declaration of Barmen, and the scriptures quoted.

Not My Job

Not My Job

Not My Job
a sermon by Rev. J. Christy Ramsey

DOWNLOAD A LIVE RECORDING

Audio from worship at the 10 AM Worship Service January 26, 2025
for ZOOM with Lee Vining Presbyterian Church

edited from a flawless transcription made by edigitaltranscriptions all errors are mine.

  John 2:1-11

 Sermons also available free on iTunes

Should the church be run like a business?  People tell me that, throughout my career in the ministry in 40 years, and they come in, you know, church has to be run like a business.  And they usually don’t know that I have a business administration degree from Grove City College with cum laude.  So they think this is news to me, God bless ‘em.

And I was wondering, you know, when I’m in a more festive mood, with is almost always, I admit it is a problem, I ask them, well, if church is run like a business, what’s its product?  I mean, what is it selling?  I mean, that’s basic business that you know your product.  What’s a product?  You know, it gives them pause because, I mean, you all think of that, I ain’t going to put you on the spot because, you know, it’s like being in the front row at a comedy club, you know.  You know you’re going to get picked on if there’s only, like, six of you.  So don’t answer out.  I’m not putting you on the spot.

But what would you say is the church’s business?  What’s the product?  What are we making?  Oh, you’re going to – you’re going to – you’re, yeah, are we making Christians.  That’s one of the A-plus answers.  I would go A-plus on Christians, disciples, yeah.  You know, others would say, you know, Laurie, others would say, well, you’re making worship services.  You know, some people say that.  Or, well, you’ve got to maintain the building, you know.  Or some people would say, you know, you’re feeding the hungry, and Matthew 25, and the thirsty, and you’re doing that stuff.  And I don’t know if you’d get agreement from everyone in a room about what the product is for the church, if it was run like a business.

And then it gets even more complicated because then you’ve got to say, okay, we’ve got a product, maybe.  You would say, well, who’s our customer?  What’s our target audience?  Who are we working for?  And I’m sure Laurie knows the answer.  It’s always God.  God’s always the correct answer in any children’s message or sermon.

Well, some people say God’s the customer.  Okay.  Other people would say, well, the people who pay the bills.  You’ve got to keep them happy.  You’ve got to keep the people happy who’re paying the bills or you don’t have a church.  They’re the customer.  Well, sure, God, but you know, oh, I’ve got to keep the money folks happy.  Some people would say that.  Some people say, well, it’s the church board.  I mean, I don’t know if anybody would say that.  Maybe one or two would say you’ve got to go with the – or maybe a couple would say the pastor has to be happy.  That’s rare, but that could happen.  I’m sure that’s happened.  You know, who are you trying to please?  Who are you working for?  Who’s the customer?  That’s a difficult one.

What if they went beyond that and said, okay, well, now, who owns the business?  You know?  Who?  Is it a nonprofit?  That’s problematic in a church, if you don’t have profits.  If you do, well, what’s the business?  What is that customer?  Who owns it?  Who is in charge of it?  I mean, the Presbyterians have gone all the way up to the Supreme Court about who owns the church.  And the Supreme Court, way back, oh, ‘70s, said, well, that PCUSA owns the church, but please make it more clear in your constitution.  So we’ve been – we struggle with that in reality of who owns the business of the business?  That’s important, too.

Well, you know, we shouldn’t be surprised that we have these questions and answers, and that we can’t get consensus and move around because even Jesus Christ had trouble, as we saw here, skipping over the dynamic of why you’re calling your mother “women,” that doesn’t sound good to us English-speaking ears that you go “woman.”  But maybe it’s better in the Aramaic, I’m hoping.  But Jesus had some troubles about his jobs and where he was doing and what he was doing it for.  And, you know, a mother, the mother, you know, you don’t want your mother coming up to where you work and saying you’re not good at your job.  I mean, that’s not good.  That’s a bad day right there.

And, you know, and I don’t know, you know, can you imagine, I don’t know if we can be Jesus, but you’ve got these world-changing powers.  You want to change the world for good.  You want to help people, you want to get love all around, forgiveness and all that, and your mom wants you to solve the lack of wine at a three-day blowout party for people you don’t know.  You know, Jesus Christ is fully human.  I can see him being a little upset about that one.  And not just, you know, hey, bring a bottle of wine.  I mean, come on, it’s a party, bring the wine, what are you?  You know, we’re talking multiple gallons of water turning to wine.  We’re talking 20 to 30, what is it, six times 20, help me out.  It’s over 100 gallons of wine.  That’s a lot of wine.  Of course, you know, Mary didn’t say, hey, go get 100 gallons.

Is that Jesus’ job?  I don’t know.  We struggle with that in the church.  We’re struggling right now about what is the church’s job.  I mean, folks will say let’s get politics out of the church, doo to doo to doo, you know, they want to say that.  And you know what, I’ve noticed over the years, I mean, I’ve been around a little bit, politics just kept getting wider and wider and wider.  You know?  It used to be you could go buy craft supplies and not worry about politics.  Now you’ve got to say, well, that one’s Republican and that one’s Democrat.  Politics are just freaking everywhere.  You know, and people wear them, you know, as part of their clothing, their politics.  It is politics, politics, politics, politics everywhere.  And it affects – and it’s not just politics.

Politics affects our lives, affects our health, affects our neighbors, affects ourselves, affects our family.  You know, we say, well, it’s just politics.  Well, no, man, it’s morality.  It’s reality.  It’s how we live.  It’s how we structure society.  It’s how we help one another.  And even now we saw right now that a bishop, you know, we don’t have bishops.  I don’t know.  Sometimes that’s good; sometimes it’s bad.  I don’t know.  But we don’t have bishops.  But that’s like, you know, up there, you know, big hat, in charge of church and stuff.  And the bishop in the church, okay, that’s kind of a big thing, bishop in the church there actually makes it a cathedral when the bishop’s in the church.  So the bishop in the cathedral saying a sermon, you know, the bishop in the cathedral in a sermon, you think that’s religious.

But some people say, oh, no, that’s politics.  They can’t say this.  They can’t say that.  They’ve got this to do.  They’ve got this to do.  They’ve got to be in this box.  They can’t be this.  And oh, my gosh, I want to tell you about how the bishop in the cathedral preaching a sermon should be.  I say get the politics out of the church.  I say get the politics out of my life.  My life belongs to Jesus Christ.  Don’t be telling me I can’t follow Jesus Christ because you don’t like the politics.  And don’t be coming into a cathedral and telling the bishop what he can say in their own pulpit.  No.

We have trouble with jobs, with what is a job.  I mean, even today we have trouble.  You know, we say we might get upset about oh, my gosh, he should have said into this.  Oh, my gosh, that’s not her job.  Oh, she shouldn’t have made the wine.  I mean, I’m sure that there were some people, well, Jesus, you know, you shouldn’t be making that much wine for drunk people.  I mean, that is a reasonable criticism.  I mean, Laurie can help me out here, but I’m thinking that’s enabling.  I mean, that’s like master-class enabling right there.  These drunk people need more wine.  I mean, the steward flat-out said they were already drunk; you know?  And why do drunk people need more wine, I don’t know.  And people could criticize that, and I don’t even think that would be political.

But what is the job of the church?  It’s something we’re going to be struggling with, I’ll tell you.  We’re going to be struggling with that.  And, you know, between ministers, and it’s especially a struggle because, you know, when you get in a ministry you can sort of say, good, the ministry will figure that out; you know.  But when it’s just y’all, you know, you’ve got to figure out what is the church.  Does the church do this?  Does the church do that?  Is that our job?  Should we have services even though none of us lives in Lee Vining and we’ve got a lot of weather?  Should we do that?  I mean, it’d be really nice to have a minister decide that.  But you don’t, so you’ve got to decide that, oh, you know.  So what do you do?

Now, let me change gears a little bit.  Palisades Fire.  Have you heard of it?  Palisades Fire.  Now, I don’t know it you know about Palisades.  Kind of a rich people place.  But, you know, they have a severe homeless problem.  They’ve got a lot of folks there that are hungry, don’t have housing, don’t have food.  But the disaster is a disaster.  I can’t imagine losing everything you own.  I can’t imagine that.  There’s been loss of life in the double digits, I think it’s up to 23 or so.  Whole neighborhoods washed out.  I mean, one of the Presbyterian execs lost her home down there, one of my friends, Wendy.  I can’t imagine that.  Everything, you look around, everything gone.

Another one of the ministers at the Palisades church, he had time to run down – you’ve got to read it.  It’s on the PCUSA website, that Palisades fire, and was in the Presbyterian newsletter last week.  But the pastor had enough time to run from the church down to the elementary school, grab his kids, because there was just cars everywhere, nothing was moving.  There’s parents trying to get their kids.  Had enough time to go down, get his kids, take them back out to the car, and flee the church.  He didn’t take anything out of his office, and the church burned to the ground.  I can’t imagine, what a tragedy.  I want to say that, that it’s awful, it’s a tragedy, it’s a horrible thing.  Suffering is real.  And that’s one of the things the Church knows.

But I do want to tell you about jobs.  When we’re talking about jobs, for at least a little while, for at least a couple weeks, there’s no hungry person in the Palisades.  There’s no one hungry.  There is no hunger because World Food Kitchen rolled in there with the food trucks.  They rolled in, and they said anyone that’s hungry, come and eat.  And we’re not checking your ID.  We’re not seeing where you’re living.  If you’re hungry, come and eat.  We’ve got food.  Come on down.  And good food, too.  And they got stores there that are open, and they’ve got brand new stuff for babies, and clothes, and if you lost something, come on in and don’t pay.  There’s no charge.  The donations are there, and they’re here for you to pick up, and God bless.

So we can do that.  It takes a fire.  It takes a disaster.  It takes a horrible thing.  Now, in Mary’s case the disaster was we ran out of wine at a social event.  Okay, a little bit of a disaster.  But the disaster that we have here that wiped out entire communities was enough to say, oh, yeah, we can feed every person and not charge them.  We can clothe the naked and not charge them.  We can do that.  So when you say to me, oh, well, we can’t do it, you know, we’ve got to run like a business, and we’ve got to have profit and loss, so we’ve got to have [indiscernible] and negative, yeah, I’d say, well, yeah, I understand that, I mean, I did get an A in accounting.  But for at least a couple weeks we did it.  We could do it.

We could stop making billionaires and now trillionaires.  We’ve got a couple people on the way to trillionaire, hoo-hoo.  We could quit making them.  And we can start making people that are fed and housed.  We can do it.  I don’t want a fire to wipe out a whole community to figure out how we can be Christians and make sure everyone’s got fed, clothing, and housing.  I’d rather not.  I’d rather we just decided, yeah, this is something we could do.  And you know, it’s not just the church’s job.  I mean, we say, well, the church ought to do that.  They should have a lot of money and social things and all this.  You know, Matthew 25, where it talks about the naked, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry and visiting the imprisoned and all the things that folks say, oh, I don’t know if we can afford all that.

It doesn’t say the church is going to be judged by that.  It doesn’t say that individuals are going to be judged by that.  We would like it to, oh, my gosh, that’d be so much easier.  You know, oh, I’ve done good.  I’m okay.  I give things.  I’m helpful.  No.  It says the nations will be judged.  The nations of the world line up and are judged.  Our Bible says, our Savior says, our gospel good news says right there in black-and-white, that the nations will be judged by how they take care of one another.  So if you take comfort like I do, well, I’m a good person, I don’t hurt anybody, I’m nice, uh-oh.  The nations are judged by that.  

Well, that’s pretty heavy, Christy.  My gosh.  No wonder they only let you in once a month.  Hey, let’s talk about the servants.  Did you notice the servants?  It’s hard.  They don’t have any speaking parts.  I mean, that is just plain unfair right there.  Because you look at the Scripture, the servants are doing all the work.  They’re going, they get ordered over here, I mean, there’s this Mary person.  Who’s she?  She’s not part of the household.  Mary has to go over here, and he goes, talk to the stranger; you know?

And here’s the thing, you know, if I’m a servant, you know, and I’m thinking this, I’m not saying it out loud because servant, you know.  But I’m thinking, you know, we’d have the wine if this guy didn’t bring all his big burly Galilean fishermen to drink all the wine.  You know, I’m thinking that was an issue.  I don’t think they planned for that.  You know, his whole entourage comes, I mean, I’m thinking, those are some wine drinkers there, buddy.  You know?  And so makes sense to talk to this guy, do what this guy says.  And they’re saying, oh, okay, I guess we’re servants.  I guess we do that.

And he goes, go fill up those big old honkin’ jars.  I mean, you know, it’s like 55-gallon drums, if you can imagine.  Not quite that big, but, you know, roll them around and fill them up with water.  I mean, who knows where that water is?  Could have been, you know, a couple blocks away; you know?  Lot of work there.  They do all that.  And they’re thinking, this guy’s nuts.  Why is he giving water?  We’re out of wine.  We should be going around and getting some wine, and now he’s having us do this busywork and then go do that.  And then they go, they bring that.  And then Jesus says, “Go take the water to the chief steward to inspect for wine.”  They go, what craziness is this?  They’re going to yell at us.  This is ridiculous.  Why are we bothering the stewards?  I don’t want to get involved.

And the guy, the steward said, you know, this is really good wine.  And, you know, the servants are going, “Crazy white people,” you know.  What?  What?  We put that in there.  It’s water.  We know.  And they go, oh, yes, it’s great wine.  And they tell one another, you know, should we say something?  Should we tell them?  No, we shouldn’t say anything.  I don’t want to say anything.  We’ll get along just fine.  And then says the disciples believe.  I think the servants just thought he was crazy, crazy folks.  But, you know, where are the servants?  You know?  You know, he says, go do whatever Christ told you to do.  Even though it’s crazy.  Even though it can’t possibly work.  Even though we know better.  Even though we know it’s going to fail terribly.  Go ahead and do it anyway.  Go ahead and do it anyway.

What if Jesus says go over to Palisades and feed all the hungry over there?  Oh, that’s not going to work.  I can’t possibly do that.  That’s ridiculous.  Go do it anyway.  That’s where we’re at.  You know, we’re not around, sitting around saying, oh, let me think about what Jesus should be doing, what the job of the church is, and where are we going, and what’s our profit and loss, and what’s our five-year plan?  What’s our objectives, you know, specific measurable attainable and time-related.  What should we do?  It’s to follow Jesus and do whatever he tells you.  That’s our job.  That’s our job.  If we do that, Jesus will be revealed, and people will believe.  Amen.

Not My Job