Keep On Keeping On (Pastor Cheryl Lavornia)

AXE Throwing Contest for Children seems a little, I don't know, might want to pay attention to that.

No, it will be good.

Okay, it's time for a pop quiz.

Do you remember that feeling?

Remember that feeling when you showed up for class and you're like, it's time for a pop quiz?

And you're like, what class am I in?

Well, you're fine.

I think you guys will be doing pretty well.

You can grade yourself, so don't worry about it.

But, okay, so first question.

Where was Christopher Columbus from?

Italy, right?

Yup, okay.

Fill in the blank.

In blank, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, right?

What was the purpose of his first voyage?

Was it to prove the world was round?

No.

By 1492, people had known for a long time that the world was round.

Where was he actually headed?

India, Asia, right?

Yup.

Where did he actually land?

Yup, Hispaniola, the Caribbean areas.

He ended up going to Central and South America.

What were the three ships' names?

Oh, yes, good.

Which of those ships came back to Spain first and where did it land?

So I found this out on my second Camino.

If you don't know, it's a pilgrimage that you will walk across Spain

in some parts of Portugal as well.

I came up on this summery resort town in Spain called Bayona.

There I found this monument called the Encounter Between the Two Worlds.

You can throw up that slide.

There's the pinta, the one that came back first.

There's a little plaque I took of where it landed.

And then the next slide is the statue of the Encounter Between Two Worlds.

And it was commemorating the landing of the pinta as Columbus returned from the New World.

And upon its return, the ship loaded with not only riches and gold and materials,

but captured indigenous people, one of whom died right there in Bayona.

Now Columbus returned three more times under the guise of exploration.

But in a letter to the monarchs, he states his motivation.

Under the protection of the Holy Trinity, from here we can send all the slaves needed.

And if the information I possess is correct, we could sell 4,000 slaves,

who will be worth at the very least 10 times the total amount of my first voyage.

Happy Columbus Day?

I don't mean to wreck tomorrow's holiday, but I sort of do.

In elementary school, we learn cute historical facts that are motivated with cute rhymes, right?

But as we grow up, we should probably be rethinking some of those rhymes.

Like in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean of really bad theology, P.U.

Somehow, what Columbus believed was the good life came from a desire to be famous and to have riches.

It came more from his point of view than from Jesus' own words of being merciful

and being a peacemaker to the foreign people around him.

But we too can fall into this trap when we stop being formed by Jesus.

So today in my sermon called Keep On Keeping On,

we're going to be challenged into the types of relationships that keep us Jesus saved.

So would you stand with me?

From the letter to the Hebrews in chapter 13, one through three, we read,

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers for by so doing,

some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison

and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Lord, we come to you this morning with this passage.

And as we go and explore it and dig through it,

may your word permeate some of the rhymes that we may be playing with,

some of the ways that we actually have believed about ourselves,

about you, about what it means to follow you.

Holy Spirit, quicken our hearts as we hear from you this morning.

Holy Spirit, go out and flow among us to unite us

so that we can hear you, experience you, and be changed by you.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated.

So let's look at these three verses to keep on keeping on,

being Jesus-shaped people.

Okay, now a brief word about the letter to the Hebrews.

We actually don't know the author.

For a long time, people would say it was probably Paul,

but it's very possible it was one of his disciples,

like Barnabas, Apollos, or even Priscilla.

And the audience is not known either,

but the author seemed to know his or her audience

and knew the apostles who had originally followed Jesus.

He or she also knew the audience,

that the audience knew their Old Testament scriptures really well

because they quote it like every other verse it seems.

So with this in mind, the writer challenges the audience

with the types of relationships that are Jesus-forming.

In verse one, we read,

keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

So loving one another, there's this word, this is Greek word,

it's Philadelphia.

Philo meaning love, and Adelfos, which means brother.

Brotherly love.

And the idea is the affection that's naturally supposed to

attend, you know, occur between siblings,

you know, naturally supposed to be occurring between siblings,

but it's especially here as the affection of those who are

now siblings in God's family.

Philadelphia is not to be understood figuratively

brother-like love, but a mutual love that is shared

among those who are united in Christ.

It seems though that the audience may have been

slacking on their love for each other.

They were seemed to be closing ranks about their identities

as Jews or non-believers.

So the author is telling them to keep on loving

as a Jesus-shaped community.

This type of love should be very normal to them,

but for some reason it was being threatened.

So then we move on to verse two.

It says, do not forget to show hospitality to strangers.

Here again we find the writer's challenge by blurring

previously avoided relationships.

There's this other Greek word that he uses,

and it's filio zenos, which is filio, love,

and zenos means stranger.

Love of the stranger.

This word illustrates the practice of hospitality

from a biblical perspective.

Instead of xenophobia, which we're sort of used to,

the fear of strangers, and it's a topic that is much

part of our culture right now,

instead this type of filio zenos, the type of hospitality

was a call to reexamine their own history,

their own identities, and to discover new practices

that would lead them to be more Jesus-shaped.

Practicing the love of the stranger type of hospitality

meant that they had entertained angels without knowing it.

Some translations you would have heard,

entertained angels without knowing it,

but in my translation I specifically chose show hospitality

to give you that juxtaposition between zenos,

the stranger, and Adelphos, the brother.

And it highlights that there's this challenge

of loving the stranger like you love a brother.

By the way, the idea of entertaining angels

or welcoming angels is another illusion

that this author puts in from the Old Testament.

And it's a story in Genesis chapter 18

Genesis 18 · chapter mention

when Abraham is outside of his tent

and he looks up and three men approach

and he offers them food, he washes their feet

and he feeds them and he offers this hospitality

to complete strangers,

one of who ends up promising Sarah that she will have a son.

And then these visitors are apparently identified

with two angels who visit Lot and Sodom

but decline his offer of hospitality.

So that's sort of an illusion

and he jumps back and he uses that

in that specific location.

Now this got me thinking on my first Camino

I actually joined a friend of mine

who had begun walking the Camino,

her Camino like two weeks before.

She had asked me to join her along the way

because she didn't want to finish the Camino alone.

She thought it was going to be too difficult for her.

See, she had lost her husband

to a sudden heart attack just the year before

and they had walked part of this route

and was planning to walk it again but then he died.

So she decided to do the whole thing

as a way to work out her own grief.

Weirdly enough I ended up joining her in the very town

they had originally started when they did it together

years before.

Now on our first day together

she told me a very strange story.

She said about a week before

she had left the town in the dark

and had walked without seeing anyone for hours.

At some point she realized a blister was forming

so she found a rest place and a bench and she sat down

and as she looked down she realized

that her foot had swollen so much

she couldn't get her shoe off.

As she sat there she began to cry

and within minutes that crying became deep sobs of grief.

It's just this heart wrenching grief

just poured out of her.

As she sobbed she suddenly was aware

of the presence of a woman standing by her.

This woman silently sat down beside her

and she helped her remove her shoe.

She got out her own first aid kit

washed and bandaged her foot

then stood up smiled and went on her way.

My friend told me she had been looking

for her ever since to say thank you

but she had never seen her again.

Now whether or not this woman

was an angel in disguise or a real woman

doesn't matter.

Either way she was ministered in such a way

that not only was her foot better

but she said my soul and my heart felt lighter

and the grief somehow easier to bear.

I thought about it after

and I thought well it's very interesting

because this friend of mine

is the first to welcome a stranger

and that's how she and I actually met.

Maybe she did.

She had just entertained an angel unaware.

Okay verse three continue to remember those in prison

as if you were together with them in prison

and those who are mistreated

as if you yourselves were suffering.

Now it seems that this church was being persecuted

and were suffering arrest and imprisonment

and they were abandoned in each other

in the midst of this turmoil.

So the author reminds them not to forget

their siblings in Christ

and the stranger alike

as though that they too

were your brothers and sisters in Christ.

And it seems to me that there's this very direct link

between how we love one another in Christ

that is supposed to affect and shape

how we love the stranger.

I figured this out as I was looking through my notes

and realized hey we did this this summer

so I'm gonna show you something that sort of goes together

the way that scripture gets tied together with themes.

First of all we talked this summer about the Beatitudes

and Jesus preached the good life belongs to the powerless

to those who grieve, to the afflicted, to the unimportant

to those who are hungry and thirst for righteousness

to those who are to show mercy, to the pure in heart

and to the peacemakers because they will be persecuted.

Then later on Jesus says

I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was in prison and you came to me

I was naked and you clothed me

and I was sick and you visited me.

Suddenly this author doesn't jump back to the Old Testament

they jump right into Jesus' words

when they say in Hebrews

do not neglect hospitality to strangers

and remember those in prison those who are mistreated.

There's this really fantastic theme

that just keeps being pulled through scripture that we see

and it goes on and on and on

when we love one another

this is how we're shaped to love the stranger among us.

So I want to review something that I said last week for a second.

Jesus' life was shaped by three different types of relationships.

Last week I called them pressers

but we also can think of them as formational experiences.

They are really easy to remember

especially if you use a triangle.

At the top of the triangle

you have this upward dimension

this upward relationship.

Jesus was so very formed by his relationship with his father God

that he grew in the understanding of God's vision

and mission and his word.

He encountered God regularly through prayer.

Then he moved inward.

He moved to that bottom right part of that triangle.

Jesus intentionally went from his father's presence

into the presence of the disciples

as they ate together, talked together, did life together

probably even argued and got on each other's nerves together.

Jesus was teaching them how to love one another

like he was loving them.

Then Jesus took those disciples and went out with them.

He went to this outward, out to the crowds.

You see this pattern throughout Scripture.

Jesus prays, he guesses disciples and then they go out.

Once Jesus shaped his followers

through his vision and his mission

he showed them how to go outward into the world

to love those outside in the world.

To love the stranger, to love the other,

to love even their enemies.

So we can actually apply this right in this Hebrews passage.

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.

Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers

and continue to remember those in prison

as if you were in prison

and those who are suffering are mistreated

as if you were suffering.

So this November and December the deacons

along with the Isaiah 58 team have proposed

that our season of giving reflect these inward

and outward relationships

as we are called to reflect what it means to follow Jesus.

So of course they started upward.

They spent a week praying about what's out there?

What's happening? Where are we going with this?

What is God saying to us?

What is God inviting us into?

How to respond and how to invest?

And then they decided, okay,

I think we need to do this inward thing first.

Let's keep on loving one another

as brothers and sisters in Christ.

So this season we're going to invest

within our church community

through teams who are going to go do visitation,

teams who are going to bring care packages

to those that we haven't seen

or can't get out on a regular basis.

And then we're going to also supply some extra resources

to those among us who just need those extra resources.

And they're like, well, we can't just do the inward.

We do have to focus on this outward.

So they said, let's not forget hospitality to the stranger.

Jesus never lost sight of the Father's vision

to reach the lost world.

And so when we give over and above

what we usually give at church,

it's a reflection of this outward relationship

that God has sent us to.

And so we will be doing this by sending extra giving

to our denominations Covenant World Relief.

They are right now mobilizing churches and resources

to go into the areas that the hurricane hit

in all those different areas.

They are linked with lots of different churches,

linked with lots of different organizations.

And when we give to the Covenant World Relief,

it will help crisis situations within our own country

as well as crisis situations outside into the world.

We will also be partnering right here in our community

with some local churches to put on a dinner later on in February.

See, if our focus is only in one or two of these areas,

we end up being lopsided.

Like Columbus, yes.

He may attended Mass.

He may have been religious.

He had that up and in.

He knew people, but it didn't seem to shape

how he saw and treated the indigenous people.

He saw the out as exploitation advantages.

I think this is really important for us today too

because last week our survey pointed to the fact

that 71% of us are regularly,

regularly like five to seven times a week

engaging with God in prayer and study.

We're spending time with God,

which is that upward dimension.

That's fantastic.

But only 35% of us are investing in our church community

through C groups.

That's in.

This ends up being lopsided.

That we don't have the whole picture of being Jesus shaped.

And when we don't have the whole picture and we're lopsided,

it ends up skewing how we see the outsider or the stranger.

That's why we are always inviting you

into opportunities for C groups or for studies

or for events and for our ministries.

It's never, ever, ever too late to jump in.

So it's our challenge for us to not be lopsided.

So how do we keep on keeping on being Jesus shaped?

Well, I thought about this and I'm like,

well, I can't send you guys all out

to do a bunch of things this morning,

although it might be really fun.

But we're going to do it and we're going to start

by doing upward dimension.

We're going to spend some time praying to the Father

like Jesus did.

Because we're a compassionate Christian community,

there's that up in and out dimension.

And by doing this together as a church,

we're going to strengthen that inward relationship

we have among us.

And so then we can go out into the world.

So I want you to be really comfortable right now.

Just get yourself comfortable in whatever position

or posture or voice you're most comfortable with.

If you want to pray out loud, go ahead.

If someone else is praying out loud, join in.

Just think of it like a choir of voices

that are all praying at the same time.

God can actually hear all of us

even if we're praying at the same time.

If you pray silently, it's fine too.

If you want to kneel, kneel.

If you want to move to the aisle,

because you need more room, move to the aisle.

If you want to stand, do what's best for you.

You can change positions whenever you want.

So let's really still focus right now

on praying for our church community

and churches around us.

And I'm going to lead us and pause.

And at those pauses, you can go ahead

and pray out loud or pray silently.

Again, it's up to you.

From Ephesians chapter 2 verse 19,

Ephesians 2:19

consequently you are no longer foreigners and strangers

but fellow citizens with God's people

and also members of his household.

God tells his people to be generous to the foreigners

and kind to those who need help,

but to also keep on keeping on loving

your siblings in Christ.

We pray for the person next to us,

in front of us and behind us.

Lord, we pray that they experience

your love, acceptance and grace.

May we be the instruments of this love,

acceptance and grace through this prayer this morning.

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We pray for those in our midst who are struggling

and need relief, healing,

a visit and a supernatural invention.

May we rise up to meet them.

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We pray for the strangers in our own country

affected by recent storms.

Psalm 461 says,

God is our refuge and strength

and ever present help and trouble.

We pray right now for those

who have lost families, friends and loved ones.

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We pray for those who are cut off

from key resources like food,

water and medical care.

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We pray for those who are displaced,

those facing the terrifying prospect

of leaving their homes unsure where

they will go or how they will live.

May we, your people,

remember to keep on keeping on

as we look for ways to be part

of the solution and answer to these prayers.

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We pray for COVID-19 world relief.

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We pray for the strangers out in the world

who are in crisis for more

oppression or enslavement.

Psalm 146-9 says the Lord watches

over the foreigner and sustains

the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the way of the wicked.

This morning, we pray for security.

We pray for effective international

peacemaking that seeks diplomacy

over warmongering on all sides.

Blessed are the merciful and the peacemakers.

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We pray for the families who are grieving

the sudden loss of loved ones

or have been captive

or whose homes and lands have been destroyed.

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We pray for justice.

We pray for a miraculous de-escalation

of recent conflicts,

asking for reason to overcome rage

and revenge.

We also ask that other nations be restrained

from escalating any situation further.

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We pray for comfort that God's presence is felt

by the people who are suffering.

May your kingdom come.

Your will be done on earth

as it is in heaven.

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And so we join together and say amen, amen, amen.

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So as more information on our season of giving

comes out in the next few weeks,

I want you to consider

God's invitation

to you specifically.

Is there a person or group of people

that you need to keep on

loving one another

as a brother or sister?

When you prayed for the people around you,

maybe right after,

just make sure you know their names.

Just greet them.

Maybe they need a hug

or just a hand shake or a smile.

Is there a way for you to not forget

to show hospitality to strangers?

Maybe you can jump onto a team

and plan the dinner.

Maybe you can jump onto a team

and think about packing the care packages

or organizing the visitation.

It actually will take all of us

to do this inward work.

So maybe that's an area

you want to jump into.

Or has God put a certain group of people,

maybe prisoners,

or the missionaries from Japan

that we just heard from,

refugees,

those who are suffering

because of mistreatment,

or anyone in need

on your heart this morning?

How can we help you

keep on keeping on

following God's vision

for your heart?

This morning, if you felt something,

you saw something,

you heard God speak,

how can we help you

follow God's heart

for this vision?

So my challenge to us as a church

is to choose just one way

to engage this week.

Maybe you want to take this prayer time

and move it into the week

and really focus upward.

Maybe you just want to go out,

grab a team,

and do the Scarecrow contest.

Sign up a team and be in.

Or maybe you want to look at what's happening

in your neighborhood

or your workplace

and see where you can meet out needs.

What are the ways that God is speaking to you

and how are you going to respond this morning?