Sharing God's Love and Grace

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Meditation on Luke 9:28–36

Pastor Karen Crawford

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Feb. 27, 2022

Link to livestreamed service: https://fb.watch/brIzQy5AHY/

Bulletin:

          Jim and I watched Chariots of Fire last night. The 1981 movie is based on an inspiring, true story of two athletes. One is a devout Christian named Eric Liddel, who runs for the glory of God, and the other, a devout Jewish man named Harold Abrahams, who runs to overcome prejudice.

     In 1919, Harold enters the University of Cambridge, where he experiences antisemitism. But soon, he gets involved with the Gilbert and Sullivan club and meets and falls in love with Sybil, a leading soprano.

What Harold is really good at is running. He wins a number of national competitions.

     Eric Liddell is the son of Scottish missionaries to China. He is also passionate about running, though it upsets Jennie, his devout sister. Eric sees running as a way of glorifying God before returning to China to work as a missionary. When he accidentally misses a prayer meeting, Jennie accuses him of no longer caring about God. Eric says, “I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

     After years of training and racing, Eric and Harold are chosen to represent Great Britain in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. While boarding a boat headed for France, Eric discovers that he will have to run the 100-meter race on a Sunday. He refuses because of his Christian convictions, though he’s pressured by the Prince of Wales and the British Olympic Committee. A solution is found—his teammate, Andrew Lindsay, offers to give him his place in the 400-meter race on the following Thursday—so they switch events.

     Eric preaches a sermon at the Church of Scotland in Paris that Sunday and quotes from Isaiah 40, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

     Harold is badly beaten by runners from the U.S. in the 200-meter race. His last chance for a medal is the 100-meter race. He runs! He wins a gold medal!

     

Before Eric’s race, the American coach dismisses him, telling his runners that Eric has little chance of doing well in the 400-meter race, since he trained for the 100-meter race. But one of the American runners, Jackson Scholz, hands Eric a note of support before the race. He quotes part of 1 Samuel 2:30, “He that honors Me I will honor.”

      Eric runs and wins a gold medal. The British team returns home triumphant. They come back on the train to London; the team excitedly spill out into Waterloo Station. All except for Harold, who waits for the crowd to disperse before he gets off slowly from the train, and meets his girlfriend, Sybil, whom he had neglected for the sake of running.

      Bible scholar N.T Wright says, “He has achieved what he set out to do. He has the long-coveted prize in his hand. He has been up the mountain and is realizing that whatever he does now, he will never stand there again. He has to come down from the giddy heights to face reality.”

    What now?

***

    And this is what happens after the Transfiguration, which is the highest point in the ministry of the three disciples whom Jesus chooses to go with him on the holy mountain to pray. Imagine how it must have felt to be in the chosen 3 to climb the mountain with him that day and see the mysteries of God. Before their drowsy eyes, they see a remarkable sight: his face and form transfigured before them, his clothes a dazzling white. He is talking with the shining, glorified figures of Moses and Elijah—representing the law and the prophets and Christ’s fulfillment of them.

    But what they are talking about is what is going to happen to Jesus in Jerusalem—his departure. Another translation of the word for departure is exodus. Both Moses and Elijah are figures of exodus—with Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Lord and Elijah a figure of departure by ascension to the Lord, without dying. In 2 Kings 2:11, Elijah and Elisha, his assistant, are walking and talking, when “a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.”

    Soon, Jesus will be a figure of departure—as he has been warning his disciples before this. They will have to learn to get on with Christ’s ministry, with the power of the promised Spirit to do even more amazing things than Jesus did when he was them.

     On the mountain, as Elijah and Moses begin to leave, Peter wants to linger in the awesome moment a little longer. He says to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. Peter was thinking that if he built houses for them, they would stay!

      Moses and Elijah leave, and immediately the disciples are overshadowed by a terrifying cloud. This also connects to the Exodus story, as God led Moses and the Israelites through the desert wilderness by appearing as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The cloud proclaims Jesus as His beloved Son—and commands them to listen to him. Because up to now, they were hearing, but not listening with understanding. They were watching and applauding him in all his teaching, preaching, and miracles of healing, feeding, and casting out demons. They themselves were given his power and authority and sent out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom and heal—and still they thought Jesus would be there with them forever.

      Now at the Transfiguration—the seriousness of the calling and the truth of what he has been saying up to now about what would happen in Jerusalem must have been brought home to them—that Jesus, the Messiah, is preparing them for ministry without him. He is going to die.

       When they come down from the mountain, the other gospels have Jesus telling the disciples not to tell anyone about what happened—not until he has been raised from the dead. Here in Luke, we only know that they decided to keep silent “and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.” Maybe there weren’t words to describe what they heard and saw and felt. Maybe they didn’t think anyone would believe them. Would you?

     But Peter, James, and John were changed that day. They would never look at Jesus in the same way. They would always have the memory of the Transfiguration—when he was shining and his clothes were a dazzling white. They would share this memory with one another and later with the world as a testimony to their faith.

    Peter in 2 Peter 1:16-19 says, ¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.¹⁹ So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

***

Friends, we have been to the top of the holy mountain with Peter, James, John, and Jesus. We have seen through our eyes of faith in the Living Word the transfiguration of Jesus, God’s Beloved. We will never think of Jesus in quite the same way, now that we have seen his shining face and form in our imagination.

As we come down the mountain and leave this place in a little while, let us consider what this experience of hearing God’s voice and being urged to listen to Christ might mean for our ministry in his name today, tomorrow, the next day, and next year.  What will it mean for us personally, today and for the rest of our lives? For God made you for a purpose! It’s up to you to seek God’s will for your life and for the ministry of your congregation.

For if you leave this place with only the remembrance of a fantastic Bible story, then you will be missing the point of this message—which is, what, now? We have a future filled with hope, brothers and sisters! We have the power of God living within us!

The Transfiguration will guide and inform the disciples’ ministry from that day forward. I pray it will guide and inform you—and that you will, above all, listen for God’s voice and pray for your church, your community, the world. You don’t need to fear death or anything in this life—for nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!

You can live in freedom! You have the promise of eternity with him!

And when you grow weary or discouraged, for it will happen, I pray you will remember the words of Isaiah 40, preached by a devout Christian athlete, a future missionary to China, who ran for the glory of God—and won Olympic gold in 1924.

 “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Let us pray….

Holy One, thank you for Jesus, your Son, your Beloved, fully divine and fully human, like us, but perfect, without sin. Thank you that through your Beloved’s sacrifice on a cross our sins are forgiven, and we are your Beloved now, too. Thank you for working in our hearts and minds by your ever-flowing Holy Spirit, transforming us and teaching us what we need to know through Christ, your Living Word, as we seek to follow him every day. Help us to be bold and share our eternal hope through belief on your Son—and the abundant life and freedom from fear available to us right now. Remind us that nothing, Lord, nothing can ever separate us from your love shown in Jesus Christ. Stir us, more and more, in our prayers to talk less and listen more for your loving, calming voice, so needed in this world of chaos and disorder. We surrender our wills and desires to you, O Lord, and ask that you replace them with your will and desire for us, your church, as we minister here in Coshocton, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and seeking to heal a wounded world. In the name of our Triune God we pray. Amen.

 Meditation on Luke 6:17-26

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Feb. 20, 2022

Click here for livestreamed service: https://fb.watch/bkQDKh90hs/

   I had been invited to speak at a luncheon for retired pastors in our presbytery. This was Oct. 2019— during my first year in Coshocton. The gathering was at the First Presbyterian Church in Uhrichsville, where the presbytery office is now. Matt Skolnik, our general presbyter, had invited me to speak.

     The only problem was, the retired pastors didn’t know I was coming. One of the retired pastors told me, right after we were introduced, that they never had a speaker before. They didn’t need a speaker. I think, if she could have, she would have sent me back home to Coshocton. But I stayed, anyway, and had a nice lunch.

    I don’t remember any of the other retired pastors I met that day, except for one gentle man—who didn’t really belong there at all. He was about 90 years young—and FAR from retired. He sat next to me, welcomed me with a big smile, and spent the next hour or two trying to get to know me better. Shy would never be a word that anyone would use to describe the Rev. Don Bartow.

      Don was retired from parish ministry when he got to do what he had always longed to do. He is the founder of “The Total Living Center.” It was truly an act of faith—the whole ministry—right from the beginning. He bought an old church building in Canton to set up this new kind of helping place where people in need could get, if not all the help they needed, pretty darn close to it. It operates completely on donations. It isn’t a homeless shelter, but it is a place of refuge; the doors are open every day to people who feel tossed about in the storms of their lives. The full title of the center discloses its mission, “A Bridge of Healing and Compassion in Canton.” Here’s Don in front of TLC:   

   TLC offers free meals, free groceries, free medical care, free laundromat, free haircuts—counseling, mentoring, and friendship. The support allows families and individuals to focus on their personal growth, family health, and stability while having basic needs met on a consistent basis. TLC’s chapel offers worship, healing services, and evangelism events.  Don, I would find out in my conversation that day, wrote numerous books on healing and prayer.  He appeared on national Christian television and radio shows: the 700 Club, the PTL Club, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and 100 Huntley Street. In 1984, Don traveled to Washington D.C. to open the US Congress with prayer. In July 1991, he was designated Pastor Emeritus of Canton Westminster Presbyterian Church, after serving as pastor for 25 years.

    I drove home feeling encouraged in my ministry that day, because of Don.

    Within a week, a package arrived for me in the mail. Don had sent me information about the Total Living Center—and a hard copy of his novel called, “The Gospel According to Mary, Mother of Jesus.”   The book is written in the form of a letter from Mary, when she is old, writing to her son, Joses, telling the story of her life as Jesus’ mother.

    I felt blessed to have Don as a friend and co-laborer for the Kingdom.

    The Sermon on the Plain, the Beatitudes of Luke, is our gospel reading today.   This passage in Luke, read in conversation with the Psalm and Jeremiah reading, is about putting our trust in God and having faith and courage to live out the vision of the Kingdom of God that Jesus reveals to his disciples long ago—and to us now, living in the 21^st century.

     The word that stands out to me in our gospel reading is the word translated:  BLESSED. This doesn’t mean Jesus is invoking a blessing on those he is describing. And it doesn’t mean some kind of future wish list—when the poor, hungry, grieving, and persecuted followers of Jesus are rewarded for certain faithful behaviors. It’s easy to misread these familiar verses to mean blessed are the people who do X because they will receive Y.

      The word Blessed refers to a quality of spirituality that is already present, even if the Kingdom of God can only be glimpsed by faith. The word translated “Blessed” (makarios) may be better understood as “happy.”   Happy are you who are poor, now! (Jesus is saying.) For yours is the kingdom of God. The kingdom belongs to you!  Happy are you who are hungry now, because you know you will be filled. Happy are you who weep now, because you will laugh. Happy are you who are persecuted for my sake, because you TRUST in the Lord!

     Amy Zeitlow, pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Illinois, offers this interpretation.  “The Sermon on the Plain invites us into the tension of living the cross-shaped life. As Jesus comes down the mountain to the plain, the disciples gather to receive instruction for their new role as apostles  and the crowds clamor around Jesus to see his power reflected back into their lives. Jesus sees in them all a people in need of both blessing and challenge.” 

      We find comfort in the Beatitudes when we are the ones struggling with poverty, hunger, grief, and persecution. Yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we would admit the woes are for us, too. We are in both categories—we who are both saints and sinners—as Martin Luther used to say.  “We cannot avoid the woes, those places we’d like to ignore or imagine don’t exist,” Amy says.

     While the cross is still a distance away in Luke 6, Amy says,  “Jesus’ preaching already invites listeners into the rhythms of death and resurrection. Conviction and awareness of sin and death are balanced with Jesus’ promise of new life, blessing, and hope. Ultimately, a cross-shaped life leads to love.”

      Love of God and neighbor.   

      It was a God thing—my going to that luncheon on Oct. 2019.

      It was about encouragement. And stirring up a passion in me for compassionate ministry that I would share with you today. I wish that I could have known him longer. For Don went home to be with the Lord on Feb. 8, or, as his obituary says: Don “received his eternal reward.” He was 93.

      I dug out Don’s book yesterday, after he was mentioned briefly in our presbytery meeting. His Celebration of Life service was yesterday at 2 in the chapel of the Total Living Center in Canton.

     I opened the inside cover of his book to find a note from the author.

   “Hi Karen, Blessings to you and yours. I am sending my book with the hope that you will send me a copy of yours when it is published. O.K.  Don Bartow—Oct. 29, 2019.”  My eyes filled with tears because I had forgotten what he had said to me that day—when I did give my little speech, typed on my IPAD. He told me I was a good writer and that I needed to write a book.

     Because I wish all of you could have known Don, I will share a little more of his story. I pray that his life of service will inspire us to do more acts of kindness and love.

    Don knew poverty as a child but didn’t know he was poor. He always felt loved. He was the son of a coal miner, growing up near Shawnee, Ohio, with 10 siblings.

    “He found the Lord at 10-years old when a church opened near his home. It was then he felt a calling from the Lord to be a pastor. He is survived by his wife of 72-years, Mary, his daughter, Beckie Cisler, his son, Dennis, 5 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

     “He was the first member of his family to attend college. When he got to college, he found out he had bad eye-sight and obtained his first pair of eyeglasses.

     “Although small in stature (he often said that he had to be kind to everyone because of his size), he was a giant for Christ. He “would light up every room he entered. Countless individuals and families, whether at his office, or in their homes, or in the hospital or at a funeral home, or in day-to-day encounters with people, were deeply consoled by his presence and words of comfort, and most of all, his prayers.”

    Friends, I regret, now, that I never visited The Total Living Center and that I never talked about it with you before—and that I didn’t offer my support, in some way, for this wonderful, local ministry. I am wondering if our congregation or individuals here might also like to support this ministry in some way?

    Don would have been pleased to know his conversation with me in October 2019 would result in our offering our support and prayers for what had been his passion and dream, but only realized in his “retirement”  when he bought a church and the Total Living Center was born.

   If Don could speak with us today in person, I know he would smile and encourage us all to be faithful—and do God’s will. The Bible verse that was his compass and comfort throughout his life was 1 John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” 

    He would have said of his long, wonderful life, knowing Jesus and doing ministry in his name,

“I trusted the Lord. I was blessed.”

Let us pray. Holy One, thank you for the words of Christ your Son teaching us how we should live in this in-between time—as we wait for His return and seek to glimpse and reveal the Kingdom of God through our own love and service. And Lord, we pray that you would continue to bless and provide for the ministry of The Total Living Center—so that more people will come to know your help and healing, your love and forgiveness, and experience health for their spirit, body, and soul. Help us to be truly grateful for our salvation and your promise to use us to build your kingdom. Teach us how to live out our faith in the present—to know your will and obey courageously. Stir our hearts now to creative, compassionate ministry so that someday, like the Rev. Don Bartow, we can look back on our wonderful lives, knowing Jesus and doing ministry for his sake. So we can say, “I trusted the Lord. I was blessed.” Amen.

Pastor Karen Crawford; Tina Johnson, newsletter editor

Feb. 17, 2022

Meditation on Luke 5:1–11

The Presbyterian Church, Coshocton, OH

Pastor Karen Crawford

Feb. 13, 2022

Link to a recording of the livestreamed service, with the message: https://fb.watch/b90lH9iqM2/

Bulletin:

    I was sorry that we had to cancel worship last Sunday because of the ice. It was really dangerous! But honestly, wasn’t it a relief that we weren’t canceling because of the pandemic? It feels like we are getting back to ministry as usual—in winter, in Ohio.

    Today is the Super Bowl. Got any Super Bowl fans here? Who’s rooting for the Cincinnati Bengals? How about the Los Angeles Rams?   Well, I am in Ohio now, so I am rooting for the Bengals. Even people who don’t care about football were talking about their comeback from a 21-3 deficit to unseat the Kansas City Chiefs at the AFC Championship on Jan. 30. That was quite a game!

   I read this week about the Bengals quarterback—Joe Burrow and his family’s passion for sports.  

 Joe was born in Ames, Iowa, when his father, Jim, was on the staff for the Iowa State Cyclones. Jim was a football player and coach, whose career lasted more than 40 years. Joe’s grandmother in the 1940s set a Mississippi state high school record with an 82-point game in basketball.

His paternal grandfather played basketball at Mississippi State; his uncle, John Burrow, played football at Ole Miss; and two older brothers also played football at Nebraska. 

    Little Joe Burrow attended the 2002 Rose Bowl at age 5, when his father was an assistant coach for Nebraska. Not long after, he began playing in youth football, starting out as a quarterback, because his first youth team had no one else who could play the position. Joe ended up in Athens, Ohio, when his father accepted the defensive coordinator position at Ohio University in Athens. Joe played football at Athens High, leading the school to three straight playoff appearances and the school’s first seven playoff victories in school history. He won awards and the school board decided in 2019 to name the school’s football stadium in his honor.  

Joe played college football for Ohio State,

then LSU.  

He won the Heisman Trophy and the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship as a senior.

  You could say that Joe’s entire life, up to this moment, was taking him on a certain path to become the professional football player he is today.

  Today in our worship, we recognize a different kind of greatness—a greatness of service to God. We welcome and pray for our new team of leaders as we ordain and install elders and deacons. As we seek God’s blessing upon everyone who has said yes to the call of Jesus Christ, we honor and give thanks for the Great Cloud of Witnesses, those who have given us the example of faithful service to the Lord and His Church.

We look to the future and keep moving forward, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, praying for healing, peace, and reconciliation after two difficult years of a pandemic.  We say yes to serving because we love and trust the Lord and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We believe in this ministry. We are not just a human organization—not some kind of Christian club. We are an Incarnational ministry, serving as Christ’s hands and feet, mind and heart.

    We remember the call of the first disciples in our gospel reading today to encourage and enlighten us as we say yes, once again, to our own call to live as Christ’s disciples and make disciples of all the generations.  Our reading in Luke marks a significant moment in Christ’s ministry, but it’s NOT the beginning of the story. His disciples aren’t strangers to him when he calls them.  An interesting detail in Luke—not found in other gospels—is in 3:23: “Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his work.” The first 30 years of his life was all preparation for what God planned for him to do!

        After his birth, baptism, and temptation, Jesus traveled, preached, healed, and cast out demons. Reports of his miracles spread around the region. Then one day, after he preaches in the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus goes to Simon’s house and heals Simon’s mother-in-law.  

As the sun sets, Jesus heals more sick people and casts out demons. The demons proclaim what human beings had not yet said,“You are the Son of God!” At daybreak, Jesus tries to get away from the crowd; he goes to a deserted place.  Maybe he went away to pray, or maybe he just needed a rest before the work ahead.

    When the crowds cling to him on his return and ask for more miracles, he says: “I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities, also; for I was sent for this purpose.” He goes and preaches in synagogues all over Judea.

    Then we come to today’s passage, at chapter 5. Jesus is standing on the shore on the Lake of Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Tiberius or Sea of Galilee. The crowd is pressing in. Jesus needs a pulpit, so he asks Simon to take him out in his boat, a little way from the shore.  

When he finishes his sermon, he asks Simon to take the boat out into the deep water—and let down his nets for a catch. Simon’s tired. His body is aching from the physical labor of fishing in the First Century. And he’s even more tired because they were unsuccessful. It was a big waste of time and energy.

      I wonder, is he saying yes to Christ’s request more out of obligation—because Jesus healed his mother-in-law?” His address as, “Master,” reveals his respect for him, but then the next part says the opposite—that Jesus doesn’t know a thing about fishing—or else he wouldn’t ask Simon to go back out.   “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing,” Simon says. “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”

      Immediately, they catch so many fish, their nets are breaking!  Simon signals his partners, James and John, to come and help them!

This is the biggest catch they’ve ever had. But their technology fails them. The boats begin to sink. Simon realizes that Christ has done this miracle to reveal his power—and help with his unbelief. “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” cries Simon Peter, convicted and ashamed, falling at Jesus’ knees. “Do not be afraid,” Christ answers, an echo of the Lord reassuring Isaiah at his calling, when he confesses to be “a man of unclean lips.”

     The best part of the story for me comes after the miraculous catch.  They bring their boats back to shore. And they leave everything behind to follow him! Simon isn’t a youngster at the time he makes this lifechanging decision. He has a wife and extended family living with him—and a house. He has a good, steady job. His own fishing boat! He has a life, a predictable routine—until he meets Jesus.

     It’s not really a question, this invitation. It’s not like in Isaiah, when God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”   It’s a statement: “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to Simon, James and John. “From now on, you will be catching people.”

   Friends, those who take Christ’s service seriously, realizing that it is a life-changing thing like it was for Simon Peter, come to this moment with fear and trembling. Our leadership example is Jesus Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

      There’s something important I want you to remember. The leaders we are seeking to bless today with our love and prayerful support aren’t meant to be the Church of Jesus Christ for us! They are meant to help US be the Church God wants us to be. And your call, my friends, is not a one-time thing, although this particular day in the life of Simon Peter will be remembered and retold for centuries after the crucifixion, resurrection, and empty tomb.  Recalling this joyful story serves to empower the grieving disciples when they have to figure out how to go on with Christ’s ministry when he is no longer with them in the flesh. This joyful story is necessary for all of us, for everyone who answers the call, but then grows weary—or frightened—when the call gets hard. Because it does. It gets hard sometimes.

      Jesus invites us now to trust and obey him, no matter how weary, or how long we worked the day or night before, without seeing the fruits of our labor.  Jesus urges us to persevere, with his help, for his sake.  “Do not be afraid,” he says to all of us. “Put out into the deep water. Let down your nets for a catch.”

Let us pray. Holy One, thank you for your Word, for the stories of the calls of Simon Peter and Isaiah. Your Word continues to encourage us and illumine our call to be your disciples and to make disciples, right here in our own community of faith and beyond our church walls. Lord, we say yes to your invitation with fear and trembling. We know that serving you will take all of ourselves—who we are now and who we will become as your Spirit works in us and in our midst. We grow weary sometimes, Lord. We feel frustrated or discouraged when we don’t see immediate fruits of our labor. Help us to trust in you and obey, each day, following in Christ, step by step. And bless our congregation, especially our newly ordained and installed, who seek to serve you with their lives. Teach us how to support, encourage, and join with them in loving service to one another and the world. May we become in all that we say and do your hands and feet, heart and mind. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Karen Crawford and Tina Johnson, Newsletter Editor

Pastor Karen Crawford

Tina Johnson, Newsletter Editor

Meditation on Jeremiah 1: 4–10.

Pastor Karen Crawford

Jan. 30, 2022

Link to livestream: https://fb.watch/aSLH3d68wO/

Link to bulletin:

So, I finally figured out Ohio weather. It only took me 3 years!

In the summer, it’s Florida. In the winter, it’s Minnesota.

Aren’t you glad I served churches in Florida and Minnesota before coming here? God was preparing me for Coshocton!

Today is Jim’s last day as interim at Northminster Presbyterian Church in N. Canton. He has been there a year. He has served as an interim for a number of congregations since I was ordained and installed in Minnesota in 2011.  

What do you know of Jim’s call story? His parents nurtured his Presbyterian faith since he was born. They were charter members of Eastchester Presbyterian, which started as a little storefront church next to a bar in the Bronx. This is what it looks like today.

And Jim’s parents weren’t just the kind of people who showed up on Sunday morning. His father was the superintendent of the Sunday school, among other things. Jim and his sister, Mary, always knew that they would be in church and Sunday school every Sunday, no matter how tired they might be from whatever they were doing on Saturday with their friends.

Jim’s parents chose to send him to Missouri Synod Lutheran schools beginning in 4^th grade. This must have been a sacrifice for them! They were Irish immigrants; his Dad drove a bakery truck and his mom cleaned offices at night. They lived in a rented apartment. They didn’t own a car. But they were willing to pay for a religious education.

Jim has served in a variety of vocations—not just parish ministry, which he did right out of seminary, but also 25 years in healthcare administration. During that time, he stayed active in church, serving in adult Christian education and preaching occasionally, attending worship, as his parents had modeled for him.

Then one day, when Jim was in his 50s, he was asked by his pastor, “Why don’t you come back to the parish? Serve as a pastor, again.” This was the Rev. Dr. Dick Sheffield of Market Street Presbyterian Church in Lima, Ohio. Dick kept on asking him. When the associate position opened at his church, Dick urged him to apply for the position.

When I met Jim around 2004, he had come to York, PA, to be the pastor, head of staff, of Eastminster Presbyterian Church.

One person spoke into his life—and then other voices confirmed it.

But the call originated with the Lord, who not only claimed Jim in his baptism, but had plans for him since before he was born.

Jim didn’t hear an audible voice like the Old Testament prophets. Nevertheless, the Lord was calling him to follow in the way he should go. The call required a faithful response.

God was saying, slide “You shall go. You shall speak. Do not be afraid.”

***

Just how young Jeremiah was when he heard the Lord speak to him, we don’t know. Many think that when Jeremiah heard from God, his cry of,  “I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy,” was really him saying, “I am not qualified for this! I am inexperienced. I don’t know what I am doing. I am unworthy.”

He answers the call with anxiety and trepidation, not enthusiastically like Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!” Jeremiah lives from around 650 BC to 570 BC. His prophetic ministry begins around 609-598 BC, in the reign of Josiah.

Scholars say that Jeremiah was sensitive, introspective, and possibly shy. His calling would lead to physical and emotional suffering. He would be arrested and imprisoned. He would struggle with doubts and loneliness.

The Lord sensed his fear at the time of his call, and said, “Do not be afraid of them.” God was speaking of those who would be shaken up by his preaching and oppose him. Jeremiah would preach against the people’s insincere worship of the One True God and their idolatry, worshiping Baal with burnt offerings. He preached against social injustice. He urged the people to repent and trust in God and reveal their trust through how they lived their lives in community and in national affairs. He warned of God’s judgement as they faced drought, famine, pestilence, and war.

The Babylonians would attack and conquer the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Many people would die; many others would be deported to Babylon and forced into exile in 597 and 587/86 BCE.

The Holy City and Solomon’s Temple were destroyed.

But the predominant message of Jeremiah is HOPE. In the darkest days in the history of God’s people, God always proves to be faithful. The love and mercy of God is always stronger than the forces of evil and hatred. Restoration would come after the Babylonian Exile, and God would do a great work. God’s people must be patient, Jeremiah says, and persevere in faithfulness.

In chapter 29, beginning at verse 5, Jeremiah writes to encourage the exiles living as strangers in a foreign land:

 ⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; slide multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare….

¹⁰ For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. ¹¹ For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. ¹² Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. ¹³ When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart…”

Jeremiah has no idea what’s in store for him at the beginning of prophetic ministry, when God says, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Still, he obeys, blank slide believing the one who calls him will strengthen him to do his will. After all, the Lord says you SHALL go (meaning there’s no question about it) to all to whom I send you. You SHALL speak whatever I command you.Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.”

Sometimes, it hits me—just how mysterious and amazing God’s plans are. It’s probably a good thing that we don’t know God’s plans until we are looking back and marveling at what God has done. Just think how scary that might be if we knew ahead of time.

I know that I would not be a pastor if I hadn’t married Jim. That wasn’t the path I was walking and I didn’t have a thought in my mind, when I met Jim, that I should be a preacher. Jim told me that I already was a pastor. If we hadn’t met, I would probably still be a religion writer with The York Daily Record/Sunday News in York, PA.

But there’s no use wondering what might have been. For we know, now, that it has been God’s intention for us—to serve as pastors and be husband and wife.

It wasn’t easy or comfortable.  It still isn’t easy or comfortable—learning to trust in God, wait on Him, seek His will, and serve Him, daily.

In time, God placed people around us who spoke into our lives at the moments we needed to hear. Things started happening. Doors opened, confirming our calls and guiding us in certain directions. More and more, God was shaping us so that we could fulfill the specific ministries God had ordained for us. God is still working on us!

But this message isn’t about my call or Jim’s call. There’s nothing special about Jim and me—at least there’s nothing more special about us than you. Your gifts are just as valuable as ours! Everyone’s gifts are needed for the Body of Christ to function and serve God and neighbor well.

This is what I hope you will take from this message. Three things. Here we go.

One: The Christian calling is not just for prophets, preachers, or teachers. It’s not just reserved for those who do mighty things that are loud and public and capture people’s attention. The greatest gift—Love—leads us to do quiet acts of kindness that have the power to heal and change hearts and lives forever!

Two: The Christian calling doesn’t originate with us or depend on us. God, with his plans for us since before we were born, is the source. It’s not a reward for what we have achieved. And it’s not our confidence in whatever act God is calling us to do that qualifies us to answer the call of God. Jeremiah’s story reminds us that God is the one who prepares us to live out the vocation for which we were created and gives us what we need to fulfill that calling daily.

And three: The Christian calling requires a faithful response—obedience. If you know God is calling you to serve and you haven’t answered the call to serve, yet, what are you waiting for?????

Listen to the promise in God’s Word to each of us, the Body of Christ, with all our gifts and talents.

You SHALL go.

You SHALL speak.

Do NOT be afraid.

Let us pray.

Holy One, thank you for knowing us so intimately, just as you knew Jeremiah, your prophet long ago, before he was in his mother’s womb. Let us always worship you with our whole heart and not turn and worship idols, as we are sometimes tempted to do. Thank you for having a plan for each of us and giving us unique personalities, talents, and passions to accomplish your will for the world with us because you love us. Help us, dear Lord, to obey. Take away our fear of failure and what others might think of us. Let us quickly respond in faith when you say to us this day, You shall go. You shall speak. Do not be afraid! In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

Pastor Karen Crawford

Tina Johnson, newsletter editor

Pastor Karen Crawford

Jan. 20, 2022