Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

“Everyday” Saints

Pastor Sherry’s message for November 1, 2026

Scriptures: Rev 7:9-17; Ps 34:1-10, 22; ; 1 Jn 3:1-13; Matt 5:1-12 

Today we celebrate All Saints Sunday. It is the Church’s attempt to counter the secular focus on ghosts, goblins, and all matter of scary beings, alive or dead, and instead highlight those followers of Jesus—all Saints–who have gone on to glory. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to think of myself as a saint. Perhaps it is because the Roman Catholic Church has a lengthy process by which it canonizes someone into sainthood. They had to have lived a holy life—demonstrating the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity–and often were martyred for their faith. They must also have performed some sort of miracle.

But the truth is that if we have been baptized into Christ, we too carry the name saint.

The following story provides an example of what we might call not a canonized but an “everyday saint”:

“During the course of earning her master’s degree, a woman found it necessary to commute several times a week from Victory, Vermont to the state university in Burlington, a good hundred miles away. Coming home late at night, she would see an old man sitting by the side of her road. He was always there, in sub zero temperatures, in stormy weather, no matter how late she returned. He made no acknowledgment of her passing. The snow settled on his cap and shoulders as if he were merely another gnarled old tree. She often wondered what brought him to that same spot every evening. Perhaps it was a stubborn habit, private grief or a mental disorder.

“Finally, she asked a neighbor of hers, “Have you ever seen an old man who sits by the road late at night?” “Oh, yes,” said her neighbor, “many times.” “Is he a little touched upstairs? Does he ever go home?” The neighbor laughed and said, “He’s no more touched than you or me. And he goes home right after you do. You see, he doesn’t like the idea of you driving by yourself out late all alone on these back roads, so every night he walks out to wait for you. When he sees your taillights disappear around the bend, and he knows you’re okay, he goes home to bed.”

(Contributed by Keith Wagner, Almost Heaven, adapted from Garret Keizer, Watchers in the Night, http://www.sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Everyday saints are generous souls like the old man in the story. They selflessly put themselves out for the benefit of others. The young woman in the story didn’t ask him to watch out for her. He just determined that someone needed to check on her safety, and that someone was him.  He expected no fanfare and no publicity. I believe a lot of us in this church family might similarly qualify as “everyday saints.”

Our readings today all focus on the behavior or characteristics and habits of canonized and “everyday saints.”  Let’s examine them together to see what we have to look forward to.

A. Our Old Testament reading is actually from the New Testament book of Revelation 7:9-17. In this passage, the Apostle John has been drawn into the throne room of God to witness the heavenly worship there. He sees a huge number of persons dressed in white robes and is asked who they are. He doesn’t recognize them, so they aren’t the New Testament Church! One of the 24 elders seated on smaller thrones before God’s throne tells him they are the “Tribulation Saints,“ the ones who will have probably given their lives to Jesus sometime during the coming 7 years of the Great Tribulation. They are not the Church, per se. Instead, they are nonbelievers who will have come to faith while living through a time of the most terrible persecution the world has ever seen.

They will come from all over the globe, from (v.3)–>every nation and tribe and people and language. Their white robes symbolize that they are covered by the righteousness of Christ. They carry palm branches, demonstrating their victory through Jesus. Despite all they will have gone through, they worship God joyfully, reverently, and constantly. Their trials are over. They will never again experience want or grief. They will be shepherded by Jesus Himself.

These appear to be ordinary people who came to love Jesus during an exceedingly difficult time and are now being rewarded as saints in heaven.

B. Psalm 34:1-10, was written by King David. The occasion was his having taken refuge from the murderous King Saul with a Philistine King (or Abimilech) named Achish (1 Samuel 21:11+). David was weary and needed a “time out.” He left Judea and presented himself at Achish’s court. But some persons there remember it had been said that, “Saul had slain 1,000, but David had slain 10,000.” They alerted the pagan king that David was a fierce, successful warrior; and they suggested King Achish should be worried.

Either David thought quickly, or the Holy Spirit inspired him, but he immediately acted like he was insane, foaming at the mouth and talking crazily. The king and his court feared the mentally ill. So rather than kill David, they sent him away alive. Psalm 34 is his song of praise for his deliverance from the grips of the Philistine king. He praises God for having heard him and rescued him. In verse 7, he reports that-→The Angel of the Lord is a guard; He surrounds and defends all who fear Him He is actually praising the preincarnate Jesus for protecting him. King David was a special guy, and look at how the LORD took care of him, even to delivering him from a mess he created himself. The noted Bible teacher, Beth Moore, says “God loves to mess with our messes.” 

This psalm should assure all of us ordinary saints that God cares for us too.

Hebrews 13:5 reports-→…God has said, “I will never fail you, I will never abandon you.” We read similarly in Matthew 28:20b-→And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. We “everyday saints” are protected by the Lord

C. Our New Testament passage is from 1 John 3:1-13. The Apostle begins this chapter by saying (v.1)-→See how very much the Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” Remember, Jesus has said that if we love and obey Him, we become children of God the Father. So too has St. Paul. John reiterates the importance of our obedience: We are to try to live lives like Jesus. We really can’t call ourselves Christians (little Christs) if we confess Jesus but continue to live a sinful lifestyle. In other words, we reveal the depth of our faith by how we live. ST. John summarizes it in verse 10-→So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God. If we love God, we cooperate with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, helping us to replace sinful habits and behaviors with Christlike ones. We cast off behaviors like cussing, constant criticisms of others, gossip, selfishness, etc. And we recognize other believers by the way they live their lives, not just by what they say with their lips. “Everyday saints” may frustrate the world, but we please God.

D. Finally, in our Gospel lesson (Matthew 5:1-12), Jesus presents the Beatitudes, His Manifesto. What’s a “manifesto?” Google defines a manifesto as: “a public written statement that clearly outlines the beliefs, motives, goals, or plans of a person, group, political party, or government. Have you noticed that many mass shooters leave behind their personal manifesto, thinking their acts of violence are going to impress others to think the same way? I, for one, don’t care about their poisonous beliefs, but I am very gratified by Jesus’ manifesto.

The Beatitudes comprise a list of God’s ethical standards. We have been talking almost weekly about what it means to adopt “the mind of Christ.” The Gospel addresses why Jesus’ had to die and be resurrected as a means of rescuing us from the clutches of sin and death. But, the Beautitudes, on the other hand, outline how He would like us to live—with the Holy Spirit’s help.

If we have the mind of Christ, we should be growing into these character traits: (1) If we admit we are “poor in spirit” (i.e., we need Jesus), we gain the Kingdom of Heaven. (2) If we mourn (have such tender hearts that the death or mistreatment of a person or of an animal grieves us), God will comfort us. (3) If we are humble, we will inherit the whole earth. By ourselves, we can’t make ourselves humble—as soon as we begin to act that way, we tend to brag we are humble, which negates our humility! But we can aim to be humble, knowing we need the assistance of the Holy Spirit to tame our pride. (4) If we hunger and thirst for true justice, we will eventually be satisfied—our God will provide it. (5) If we are merciful to others, we will be shown mercy by God. (6) If we can train our hearts to be pure, we will see God. (7) If we work for peace, we will be called children of God. (8) And if we are persecuted for doing the right thing, we will— again–gain the Kingdom. What do the Beatitudes have in common? They urge “everyday saints” to have tender hearts that are deeply loyal to God, and who spend themselves loving and helping others—like the lederly man at the side of the road.

So, do you now have a sense of what it takes to be an “everyday saint”? Here’s an example of one:

Several years ago, a radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in [on]their clock radios. “Just for fun,” they said, “when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you’re the third caller, you’ll win $106.”

It didn’t take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, “Caller number three, what did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?” A groggy voice said, “Do I smell coffee burning?” Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, “Oh no, I’m late for work.” Somebody else said her first words were, “Honey, did I put out the dog last night?” A muffled curse was immediately heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, “No, you didn’t.” It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience.

One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. “Good morning, this is FM-106. You’re on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?”

A voice with a Bronx accent replied, “You want to know my first words in the morning?” The bubbly DJ said, “Yes, sir! Tell us what you said.” The Bronx voice responded, “Shema, Israel… Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.” There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, “Sorry, wrong number,” and cut to a commercial.

(Borrowed from http://www.Sermons.com, 10/31/2024.)

Wow! Are the first words out of your mouth each morning a prayer of praise to our wonderful God? This is clearly one way to live like an everyday saint. Like the old man in the Vermont cold, it also comes as a result of looking out for the health and wellbeing of another.

Prompted by All Saints Sunday, let’s be aware this week of demonstrating our love to God and to others in practical, generous, and maybe even brave, “EVERYDAY SAINTS” kinds of ways. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Loving the Unlovely

Pastor Sherry’s message for 10/25/26

Scriptures: Matt. 22:34-46; Deut. 34:1-12; Ps. 90:1-6, 13-17; 1 Thess. 2:1-8

At the Church Conference that I recently attended, in Montgomery, Alabama, the focus was on how to repair relational ruptures. It was one of the best church seminars I had ever experienced, and I would love to share what was taught with you today. However I believe the Lord wants me to focus on another tropic: Loving the Unlovely.

I stayed at the home of a woman deacon who runs a Celebrate Recovery Program (Christian AA). She is also a Certified Addictions Counselor. The large church she serves is a wealthy one and many of its members are the movers and shakers of her city. She has baptized 24 adults from CR in the past 9 months, but they don’t look or act like the rest of the congregation. Do you remember when I read to you about the homeless lady who brought her bicycle into a Sunday worship service in South Georgia? (from Theo of Golden) My friend’s congregation is having similar trouble accepting the new church members from CR. They don’t look, act, or even smell like the rest of the congregation–some have even left the sanctuary to go outside to smoke during the reading of the Gospel. They have then perceived critical looks and comments and thus some of the 24 have stopped attending church.

You see, they learn in CRP that Jesus loves them, but they doubt they will experience the same love from His body, the Church. They look around at church goers and say, “Hypocrites!” They see us as judgmental, critical of them, and of their lifestyles, dress, and habits. Sometimes I think they are so sure the congregation will reject them that they reject the church first. While we may be able to win them over to Jesus because He loves them and wants to heal and bless them—even though they cannot see Him–we do much less well at talking them into getting involved with other followers of Christ—who they can see. I have shared with you now several times what G.K.Chesterton, the noted British author, once said 100 years ago”Jesus…tells us to love our neighbors. Elsewhere the Bible tells us Jesus said we should love our enemies. This is because, generally speaking, they are the same people.”

(GKChesterton quotes, http://www.goodreads.com, 10/21/26.)

How exactly do we go about loving the seemingly unlovely? Not just those who don’t dress or act like us, but also those who may have offended us or harmed us? Our lessons today speak to this point:

A. First of all, Jesus instructs us on the supreme importance of love in Matthew 22:34-46: The Pharisees and now the Sadducees are colluding again to try to trap Jesus. This is like the strange modern coalition of Jihadist Moslems and the Democratic Socialists, who have united only around their hatred for America. The Sadducees and Pharisees joined together in their case, their hatred, envy, and fear of Jesus. A Pharisee asks Jesus (v.36, NLT), Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?

Now bear in mind they taught there were as many as 613 commandments. Hoping to trip Him up, the Pharisee is asking Him to commit to what’s the most important of all 613. They are saying, “Give us the bottom line; What’s our takeaway? Just cut to the chase, and bear in mind that we will make a huge deal over the ones You omit!” So Jesus, who is great at getting to the bottom line, says two things matter most in this life: Citing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus ties them together as the greatest commandment.

Deuteronomy 6:5 is the Shema, which orthodox Jews repeated every day–>Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Leviticus 19:18 reads…love your neighbor as yourself. We tend to assume these two laws were created by Christ, but God the Father had already set them out early on in the Torah.

Then Jesus politely shuts them up by tossing them a riddle from Psalm 110: If the Messiah is David’s son (descendant), how can He also be David’s master? This is for them an unanswerable question, somewhat like, “Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” From this side of the Cross, we know the answer is “Jesus is Lord of all,” even King David. What the crowd understands is that Jesus has posed to them a seemingly unanswerable question to counter their difficult question, thereby besting them at their own game.

As Christ followers, we are to love God above all things, and love our neighbors—even the ones we don’t look like or care to hang around with–as ourselves. A woman pastor I know recently was asked by her next door neighbor—a nominal Christian who does not attend church now—to lead her friends and family members in a prayer for her recently deceased husband at his funeral. She agreed. But when she arrived at the funeral home, she discovered that no one had created an order of service and the widow did not know what is usually done. The funeral director asked my friend to lead the service, on the spot.  She had looked around the gathering and noticed motorcycle bikers in their distinctive jackets, a number of “rockers”—musicians dressed in black, with long hair and multiple tats and piercings—and some folks who looked to be drugged out. This was not her normal congregation. So, before things began, my friend asked God to give her the eyes and heart of Jesus, so she could love these folks as He does. They were not her usual mix of parishioners, but the Lord did give her a love for them, so she was able to engage them in prayer and in story telling about the deceased. He had been a drummer in several bands, could fix anything having to do with electricity, plumbing, cars, or carpentry, and was very generous in helping others. He had helped my pastor friend several times. What surprised her the most, however, were the “Amens!” and “Hallelujahs” she heard as she finished up the service with prayer. These folks didn’t look like her people—at first brush—but she discovered they were her people.

    How do we love the “unlovely?” We ask Jesus to help us see them as He does. We take on the mind of Christ, and we choose to love them. This means we also have to have a healthy love for ourselves. As they say in the small town in which I live, “You can’t get back from where you ain’t been!” We can’t give to others what we lack in ourselves. We have to love ourselves in order to love others. To qualify as healthy self-love, we can’t be either arrogant or narcissistic; nor should we be so self-effacing as to appear like we hate ourselves. We are to love God and others because God commanded us to. We are to love God and others because Jesus said to do so. We are to love God and others because this is what wins the world to Christ!

Let’s look at our other Scripture lessons to see if there are hints as to how we accomplish this:

B. Deuteronomy 43:1-12 describes the death of Moses, at 120YO.

Scholars say this ought to be the first chapter of Joshua. We know Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—the Torah (Law). But how could he write this last chapter about his own death? Maybe Moses was being prophetic? Or perhaps his successor, Joshua, recorded what God told him (v. 9 says Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid hands on him). Verse 6 tells us He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.

Who was the HE? God; God the Father probably had His angels do it, while He presided—talk ab out a great funeral! Some scholars say, He died by a kiss of God—that the Lord kissed him into eternity. This too would be a marvelous way to go! The Israelites honored Moses by grieving for him for 30 days.

Now, why did God see to his burial? Verse 10 tells us, Since then [until Jesus], no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD Knew face to face. Because Moses loved God and served God, our God remained with him until the end of this life and into the one beyond. If we love and serve Him with this kind of dedication and obedience, He will welcome us into eternity with open arms!

C. Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17–>Tells us that grasping the concept of eternity is beyond the capacity of our earthly intellect. Seriously, think about it for long and it will give you a headache. Moses wrote this Psalm in about 1400 BC. Now, having shepherded the children of Israel out of Egypt (1-2 million of them), and learning from God that none of them (except Joshua and Caleb) would enter the Promised Land—due to lack of trust in God to help them conquer the tribes living there—I think it is safe to say that Moses attended a lot of funerals! Thus, he wrote this psalm which has been called a Psalm of Death.

He lived to be 120, and yet he refers to how brief life is! Our lives are like a watch in the night. Our lives are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. Then he contrasts our lifespan with God’s: (v.2)–>from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Literally, in the Hebrew, that means, from vanishing point to vanishing point; from east to west or from the past into the future. So, we can say, Before time was, God existed; when time shall be no more, God will still exist. God never was; there is never a time when God will be. God simply is—remember, He calls Himself I am who I am. He lives outside of time; He always is. 

So, in light of God’s eternity, Moses asks God to Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. We need to remember that we are mortal. Moses insists that we make our days count by demonstrating or living out God’s love to others.

D. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8  In this  passage, Paul insists we make our days count by sharing the Gospel with others. Sometimes we do this with our words; but more often we demonstrate the Gospel by what we do. Paul says he did not come to the Thessalonians out of self-serving motives, like for money,

for prestige or honor, or for position. He came to them out of love for Christ. That’s how we make our days count. We do what God has put before us to do—like leading a funeral for basically persons one has never met, out of love for Christ and for His people.

Our Lord’s view of what’s crucial in this life ought to be ours as well, right? The upcoming election is certainly very important—I hope you will make every effort to vote. But even this election is not as important as loving God and loving others. Lord Jesus, please give us your heart and your eyes as we view and interact with others. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves—and especially the ones we may not view as lovely. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

How Soon We Forget

Pastor Sherry’s message for 10/11/2020, 

Scriptures: Ex 32:1-14; Ps 106: 1-14, 19-23; Phil 4:1-19; Matt22:1-14

I have a friend, a woman who is divorcing her husband of 35 years. She has had it with his emotional abuse, his put downs, and his neglect of her relational needs (He sees no need to change since what they have is working for him). She has left their marital home but has had some difficulty finding affordable and safe housing. Her two sons invited her to move to the city where they lived, which she did. Once there, however, she determined that her son with children has too much going on in too little space, and does not need her adding to their chaos. Her other son’s significant other has not welcomed her, despite her son’s reassurances to the contrary. She does not want to move into an assisted living facility. So she is looking into either renting an apartment in a safe neighborhood; or finding a reasonable duplex; or building a “tiny home”—either in one son’s back yard, or in a “co-housing community” where all residents have separate “lodges” with bedrooms and baths, but share dining and recreational facilities with other members of the community. (I had a professor at FSU who, with her Lutheran pastor husband, built a “lodge” in just such a community in the early 1990’s. Apparently this idea has resurfaced today.) In other words, my friend wants to maintain her independence while also experiencing a sense of community.

Fortunately, she is a follower of Christ Jesus and has not lost faith in Him even though her marriage has been a huge disappointment. She has had to make some tough decisions for herself, but she has not erred like the Ancient Israelites. In today’s Old Testament passage, Exodus 32:1-14, Moses had been up on Mt. Sinai, communing with God, for about 40 days. Some of the people assumed he’d been gone so long he must have died. He’d actually gotten the 10 Commandments–and additional instructions on living a life pleasing to the Lord–as well as God’s blueprint and particular specifications for the Tabernacle. With no paper and pencil, or no laptop, these things took time.

But the folks at the bottom of the mountain made the surprising decision that they needed a new (old) god, rather than just selecting a new leader. Where was their trust in the Lord? He had said He would be with them. Where was their faith? Didn’t they remember the miracles they had observed and experienced? Even more intriguing, where was their logic? How soon they forgot!

As Psalm 106 tells us, they abandoned and betrayed God, once they got scared, despite all He had done for them. They should have reminded themselves of God’ s past faithfulness and His provision. But instead, they came up with a crazy plan—which Aaron their apparently apostate minister agreed to—to fashion a golden calf to worship. Verses 19-20 report (NLT)-→The people made a calf at Mt. Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. They neglected to cry out to their their powerful Creator and instead decided to worship a statue they themselves had created. To me, this makes little sense.

Fortunately my friend has not abandoned God in her time of distress, and neither should we.  When we find ourselves in a terrible fix, that is exactly the time to call out to our God. When we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, that is exactly the time to trust that He is there and will hear us and respond to us. In God’s foresight and provision, my friend ran into a mutual friend at a church she was trying out. She had known this woman from Florida, but had forgotten she’d moved to this very city some years back. As our God would have it, this woman invited her to live in her basement apartment until such time as she could afford her own place.

In today’s Gospel,(Matthew 22:15-22), Jesus adds to His earlier condemnation of the religious rulers of His day: In the Parable of the Great Feast, Jesus gives them yet another warning–as well as a key lesson in abiding in faith: Special guests had been invited, but they (the Jewish leadership) made their excuses and did not come. These excuses were lame and indicated disinterest, disobedience, and lack of respect. As we saw last week, the King is enraged and punishes them by destroying them and their city—again a prophesy of the destruction in 70AD of Jerusalem by the Romans. Then the King dispatches His servants to bring in those the 1st guests would have considered undesirables (deplorables), like Gentiles and prostitutes and tax collectors. He supplies wedding clothes and is angry when a guest does not come dressed appropriately. This is not a concern with fashion; it is rather God’s concern for our cooperation and obedience. The king supplied the special clothes! All the new dude had to do was put them on (i.e., say yes to Jesus). But he would not! (Yes to coming, but No to complying with God’s requirements). The head-strong, stiff-necked, disobedient guy gets tossed from the banquet. Jesus goes on to say (v.33)…”Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is the 3rd parable of judgment on the Pharisees, elders, and Scribes. They had neglected to teach how the people should approach God’s heart in love, and had substituted scrupulous adherence to His Laws. They had replaced having an intimate relationship with the Lord with ritually going through the motions—and missed out on having a deep abiding faith in Jesus, God’s Son.

In our New Testament reading today, the Apostle Paul provides 5 ideas for how to live a joyful, peaceful life, despite our troublesome circumstances: First, in verse 1 —Rather than worry about an unknown future—which could change in a New York minute–let’s set our minds on heavenly things and stand firm in the LORD. This includes setting aside our quarrels with others. Like Euodia and Syntyche, we should figure out a way to not take offense against another Christian. Remember, I have mentioned before John Bevere’s book, Bait of Satan, in which he states that choosing to take offense against another is taking Satan’t bait and it does not serve us well. As Christians, we should forgive insults or slights from others; we should grant grace to others as Jesus has to us.

Second, in verse 4 —We are to rejoice! i.e., to celebrate! Our joy comes from our relationship with Jesus. A good habit to have is to daily think of three things you can be and are grateful for and thank God for these. This practice will help you feel better. This practice will retrain your brain to focus on what is positive rather than the negative. Noting the negative may keep us safe; but it does not lead us into peace and joy. Developing this practice will help you better note and remember the good things that God is doing in your life. If they had daily repeated 3 miracles God had done for them since leaving Egypt, the Israelites would not have fallen so quickly (40 days) into idolatry. My friend has had some rough days, but her deep faith in Jesus has pulled her through them. She has not soon forgotten God’s goodness to her!

Third, verse 6 —Rather than be anxious (or rebellious), we should pray — Bring every concern we have to the Lord. No matter is too small; if it matters to us it matters to God. Then follow up the request with thanksgiving. Notice: We are not assuming God will do what we ask every time—the “name it and claim it gospel”; but we thank Him because we trust and appreciate that He always hears and pays attention to us, and intends to answer us in ways that benefit us.

Fourth, in verse 7 —When we pray and leave our worries to God, His peace, which transcends all understanding will descend upon us. In the place of stress, we will feel His deep shalom peace. This peace depends on our relationship with Jesus, not on our current circumstances.

Fifth, in verse 8, Paul asks us to put on the mind of Christ! J. Vernon McGee calls this list of characteristics, “the shortest biography of Christ.” 

(Through the Bible Commentary on Philippians, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.98). 

Isn’t it accurate that Jesus is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy? When we focus on living out these attributes of Jesus, we really are putting on the mind of Christ. Our news media tend to emphasize whatever is scary, depressing, unexpected, or horrifying. This tends to lead us to believe their reports accurately depict reality. We have to remember, however, that the true, the good, the noble, the right, the pure, the lovely, and the admirable are not considered news. Some network news persons end their programs with an example of something good, but we do not hear enough of these things. If we are to live out lives that demonstrate peace and joy, we have to discipline ourselves to look for and celebrate the good! Paul saw the truth of this long ago. Secular Psychology has just recognized this truth in the past 25 years. In 1999, Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist famous for his research on depression, became the president of the American Psychological Association. In his first address to the profession, he said the field of psychology was “half-baked.” Psychology had spent its first 100 years trying to help people get from mentally ill to normal, from negative numbers to zero. He challenged the field to begin to research what it takes to help people become happy, and unleashed more than two decades of happiness research. The results are amazingly very Christian: forgive people who have harmed you; help someone else; practice gratitude; take care of your body, exercise, rest, and eat right; thank those who help you, etc. In a way, do those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.  

God has given us, in His Scriptures, a pathway or the keys to a life of peace and joy. We don’t want to be like those faithless Israelites, forgetting God’s previous provenance every time they faced a crisis. This week, let’s be mindful of (1) keeping a heaven-mindset, standing firm in the Lord; (2) Rejoicing! Christians should not be grumpy! (3) Praying, the small and the big things, turning them all over to Jesus, leaving then in His care, and resisting the impulse to take them back. (4) We need to let go of worry while also being grateful to God for His many blessings. (5) We need to seek God’s peace and His continued blessing. And let’s remember that our retirement home is Heaven! Our invitation to the wedding supper of the Lamb came at a great price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ! AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Rejecting Christ

Pastor Sherry’s message for October 4, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 20:1-21; Ps 19; Phil 3:4b-14; Matt 21:33-46

The story is told of Josef Stalin (horrendous dictator of Soviet Russia from 1924-1953, who killed between 6-9 million of his own countrymen), that……at one time [he] had been a seminary student, preparing for the ministry. At a later time it seems that he made a decisive change from his belief in God. This dramatic and complete reversal of conviction that resulted in his hatred for all religion is why Lenin choose Stalin and positioned him in authority-a choice Lenin too late regretted. (The name Stalin, which means “steel,” was not his real name, but was given to him by his contemporaries who fell under the steel-like determination of his will.) And as Stalin lay dying, his one last gesture was a clenched fist toward God, his heart as cold and hard as steel.”

(Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God, Word Publishing, 1994, p. 26).

How amazing to think Stalin had started out as a Christ-follower, only to defect to atheist communism. He came to believe that the Christian Church had helped oppress the people. And he perceived that the Eastern Orthodox Church held too much power—power that could be turned against the communists. So he killed and imprisoned many, many religious leaders.   In an incredible example of human pride, it would seem that he grew tired of waiting on God to change human behavior and irradicate human injustice, and took the job into his own hands.

That the Church still survives in Russia, despite decades of persecution, is a testimony to the fact that dictators can control our behaviors but not our minds. Furthermore, look at the oppressive tactics communist dictators use to coerce compliance (between Russia and China, in the 1900’s their leaders were responsible for 100 million deaths):

  • 1. Walls to keep people in, rather than out (the former Berlin Wall);
  • 2. Shooting people who try to escape;
  • 3. Imprisonment, executions, and brain-washing;
  • 4. Even starvation.

Communism and Socialism promise so much free stuff, but rarely deliver. In supressing motivation and free enterprise, they soon run out of money or the desire to provide even essential services. My son currently works with a naturalized Cuban woman whose parents are still living in Communist Havana. She reports that her folks are allotted 2 hours of electricity a day, at erratic times. If the current is on at 3:00am, they have to do their cooking and bathing then. We have all heard of bread lines that become the norm when food supplies run scarce. As Margaret Thatcher once said,“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Contrast this with our God Who wants us to live by a moral code, but never forces our compliance: 

A.   Psalm 19, written by David, reminds us of how God’s glory is on display in His creation (v.1 NLT) The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies display His craftsmanship   His masterpieces are all available for all to see: oceans, sunsets, beautiful mountains. This is what theologians call “general revelation,” available to anyone to perceive, whereas Scripture and Jesus constitute “specific revelation.”

Beginning in verse 7, David extols or celebrates God’s specific revelation of Himself in His Law The Commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clean, giving insight for living. From this side of the Cross, we know adhering to the Law alone cannot save us.   Actually, the Law proves to us that we are not perfect;   that is, it holds up for mirror in which we can see how much and how often we fall short of that high standard. God’s Law makes clear to us that we need a savior, a rescuer, a redeemer.   That famous verse 14 foreshadows Jesus May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Jesus is our Rock;   Jesus is our Redeemer.

B.   Our Exodus lesson (20:1-20) spells out the 10 Commandments. These 10 laws are the foundation of moral behavior. The first 4 tell how we are to behave toward God; the last 6 specify how we are to behave toward other people. The Chinese communist leader, Ji Jing Ping, has recently altered each of the 10 commandments to fit communist rhetoric—Woe be unto Him! Lord, please frustrate the ways of the wicked!

The 10 Commandments of the Bible are not meant to cramp our style, but rather to ensure that we live morally and peaceably with our neighbors;to ensure a sense of security and safety for all of us.

Consider how many of the commandments are broken daily in the United States today, and observe the results: Gangs of looters steal store goods without consequences in major cities (Commandment #8:Thous shalt not steal).   I saw an expose this week on Seattle, the city where I was born. The reporter showed a whole block downtown, adjacent to the famous Pike’s Place Market, where all of the storefronts are now vacant. Homeless encampments, drug dealing, shop-lifting, and vandalism have led businesses to close. This block used to be a vibrant tourist area, but the current Socialist mayor (and her predecessor) has done nothing to make it a safe environment for businesses, shoppers, or tourists.   It is true that if Mayors and DA’s don’t prosecute and punish those who are guilty, prices go up—so that we all pay—or stores and restaurants go out of business.

Similarly, Lying—(Commandment #9)–is so commonplace in Washington D.C. that we no longer have confidence in most of our governmental officials or agencies, or most news media. Truth-telling is essential in a democratic republic. People running for office make big promises, but we have to note how what they say today compares with what they said (captured on video or social media) before running for office.   Many lie to get elected, then do what they want.   We need to remember that—baring an encounter with Christ or some other life-altering event (jail time, surviving a bout with cancer or a car wreck)—the field of Psychology tells us that the single best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

Don’t even get me started on #6, murder, or #7, adultery. If you know someone whose family member has been murdered, or whose parents, spouse, or sibling suffered through an adultery, you know the impacts are long-lasting and incredibly painful.

These are not kill-joy commandments, but rather the guardrails on the “mountain pass highway of life.” As I have told you before, we are like Ferraris or Rolls Royces. We are not meant for driving off the side of the road into the brush.   When we disregard any of the commandments, we run the risk of tearing ourselves up, spiritually, emotionally, and even physically.

Someone has said, “Grace is what God is, while Law captures God’s thinking with regard to what people out to be.)

(J. V. McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Exodus, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.23-25.)

C. We might say that Paul is on a roll in our epistle lesson today, Philippians 3:4b-14.   He cites all his credentials:

1. He was raised by godly parents;

2. He was born into the tribe of Benjamin, Jacob’s favorite son in his old age, and thus a favored tribe. The first king of Israel, Saul, came from the tribe of Benjamin.

3. He was a leader of the Hebrews and a Pharisee, a teacher and protector of the law;

4. He was so zealous for God that he persecuted members of the infant Christian Church, believing they were heretics;

5. And he kept God’s Law scrupulously, always offering the designated sacrifices for his sins—not perfect, but perfectly compliant.

Despite all these glowing accomplishments, he—since coming to know Jesus—has discerned that they are as useless as scubala, human or animal waste products (often translated as filthy rags). None of our human successes earns us heaven. Neither our lineage nor our achievements can save us. So he implores us to realize this in our own lives and seek out Jesus. Like a runner in an Olympic relay race, we want to (v.12, NIV) …press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Additionally, he urges us to (v.14) Forget [ing] what is behind [us] and strain [ing] toward what is ahead, … [we] press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.   

He wants us to recognize that nothing earthly is more important than our relationship with God.   He wants us to put God first in our lives.

D. Finally, our Matthew 21:33-46 passage, Jesus gives us a front row seat to a major confrontation with the Jewish religious leaders. Remember, last week we considered the Parable of the Two Sons.   That story immediately precedes this second condemning parable. In it, Jesus rightly accused them of having said “yes” to God’s call on their lives to serve Him, but then lived their lives as if they had said “no.”  He is even firmer in His judgments against them in this one, the Parable of the Tenants. The vineyard owner is God and the vineyard is Israel. The rebellious tenants are the Jewish religious leadership. The servants thrown out or killed were the prophets. The son is of course Jesus.

He asks the leaders what the owner of the vineyard will do to those rebellious tenants when he returns. They answer correctly (v.41)–>He [God the Father] will bring those wretches to a wretched end…and He will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give Him His share of the crop at harvest time. Though they have studied Scripture, they have missed recognizing God’s Son, the Messiah. Notice, Jesus predicts His death at their hands; but He also exclaims (v.43)–>Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.   Jesus is straight out telling them that the leadership of God’s mission to save human kind will be transferred from them to the emerging Christian Church.This, of course, enrages them.   Five chapters later, in Matthew’s Gospel, they arrest and execute Him. Then in 70AD, a generation after Jesus ascended into heaven, the Romans descend on Jerusalem and raze it to the ground.They kill the disabled, small children, and the elderly, and take all the rest off to slavery.  Additionally, they tear down the Temple of God, burning the marble and plowing up the foundations.   

Though not believers, the dictators Josef Stalin and Xi Jinping are rebellious tenants. Similarly, the Jewish religious leadership of Jesus’ day were also rebellious tenants. Jesus stripped them of their leadership over God’s earthly kingdom with the Roman invasion under Titus in 70AD. Imagine what punishments await the communist leaders of this and the past century! It is a seriously critical mistake to reject Christ.   Our God has revealed Himself—and His heart–through His creation and His Law. His laws are meant for our good—to keep us from crashing and burning. Neither they nor our own excellent achievements can save us.But, in His mercy, our God has sent us His Son, Jesus to save and to redeem us.Let us thank Him, praise Him, accept Him, and obey Him. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Did You Hear Me?

Pastor Sherry’s message for September 27, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 17:1-7; Ps 78:1-4, 12-16; Phil 2:1-13; Matt 21:23-32

There are moments in every parents’ life when we wonder if our kids ever listen to us. Can you remember taking your young child to a funeral, after having explained to them the proper way to behave at such an occasion?

Consider this true story:  

“I am attending my great-uncle’s funeral. As his casket is being lowered into the ground, I notice that all his grandchildren are smiling far too much for such a solemn occasion.

Parent: “Why are you boys grinning?”

Grandson #1: “We’re not.”

Parent: “You absolutely are.”

Before anyone can question them further, thick red, yellow, and orange smoke starts pouring out from underneath the casket.

Priest: “What is that?!”

Family Member: “Is the casket on fire?”

Grandson #2: “No!”

Parent: “How do you know?”

The smoke becomes so thick that everyone has to step away from the grave. Then, from somewhere nearby, a boombox starts blasting “Highway To Hell.”

Everyone turns toward my great-uncle’s three grandsons.

Parent: “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Grandson #3: “It wasn’t our idea!”

Parent: “You have exactly five seconds to explain yourselves!”

Before their parents can tear them apart, the fourth and oldest grandchild takes out an iPad.

Oldest Grandchild: “Wait! Great-Uncle [Norton] left a message.”

He plays a video recorded from my great-uncle’s hospital bed about a week before he died.

Great-Uncle: “Hello, everyone. If you’re watching this, the smoke bombs went off, the music started, and my grandsons followed my instructions perfectly.”

The three boys beam proudly.

Great-Uncle: “Don’t blame them. I planned the whole thing. I wanted one final great prank—and one last chance to make my children clutch their pearls.”

The family goes from furious to laughing, and the grandsons escape punishment. Their parents calm down pretty fast. But the poor priest, however, takes a little longer.”

(“One H*** of a Funeral,” www.notalwaysright.com, 9/18/26)

This is the kind of situation that, while funny, makes you wonder about the great uncle! The 4 boys listened to the deceased, doing as he directed…but clearly ignored all parental directions on how to behave at funerals.

In our Gospel lesson today, Matthew 21:23-32, Jesus tells a parable concerning obedience. The context is yet another confrontation with some Jewish religious leaders. They ask Him about His authority to teach, preach, heal, and forgive sins as He does. But it’s a set-up, which He rightly discerns. They are hoping to catch Him saying His authority comes from the fact that He is God so they can charge Him with blasphemy and have Him executed. But Jesus brilliantly turns the tables on them. He agrees to answer their question (actually their demand) if they first answer His (They are testing Him). Staying with the issue they have raised regarding authority, He asks them Who commissioned John the Baptist. If they say John prophesied by God’s authority, then Jesus can ask them why they mocked John and did not believe him. And if they insist John was a fraud, they know the people–who loved John and considered him a prophet–would condemn them. So they fail to commit to either option.  Thus Jesus can then say (v.27)-→Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things. Really, He is saying, “Well, you wouldn’t answer My question, so I will not answer yours.” Then He goes on to reprimand them through a parable.

This is the Parable of the Two Sons: The Father makes a request. The first son refuses initially, then goes and does what his father asked him to do (No, then Yes). The 2nd son agrees initially, then blows dad off (Yes, then No). Jesus then asks (v.31)-→Which of the two obeyed his father?  They rightly answer the first. Then before all the listening crowd, Jesus exposes and condemns the religious rulers. This is not our usual Jesus, meek, mild, humble. This is an angry Jesus, a disappointed Christ. The very ones who should have recognized Him have not. Instead of teaching the people to be loving and to share that love with those who don’t know the Sovereign Lord of Israel, the Jewish religious leadership have become rule-bound, negative, unloving, judgmental. They are like the 2nd son, originally saying Yes to God, but then going their own way, saying No. This is why Jesus insults them by saying notorious sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes—who they abhorred and shunned—will enter the Kingdom of God before they will. It’s true that notorious sinners repented due to John the Baptist’s teaching; but these leaders remained skeptical and unbelieving. Did they hear Jesus? My guess is that they said Yes to serving God originally, but then lived out No. They heard and saw Jesus but rejected Him and His teaching.

Sadly, Jesus knew where their stiff necks would lead them (to Hell), and Him (to the Cross).

In some ways, these hard-hearted religious leaders are a lot like their ancestors in the wilderness wanderings. In our Exodus 17:1-7 reading the people find themselves at Rephidim, where there is no water.

Once again, they complain bitterly to Moses and Aaron. Once again, they fail to believe that God both accompanied them and would care for them. So many miracles later, they still lack faith. They are demanding that God prove to them that He is their provider (just as the religious rulers demanded proof from Jesus).

We can ask for a sign based on faith (Mark 9:24): I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief. But our Lord detests a test based on doubt (John 6:30)-→They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in You. What can You do? (like Jesus is a trained seal or a bear).

It’s tantamount to saying, “I think God should prove Himself to me.”

“A test based on doubt makes us the judge and God the defendant”—which is wrong (NLT study notes, p.101).

Nevertheless, God, in His infinite grace, tells Moses how to locate water for them. Moses is told to strike the rock at Mt. Sinai with his staff. We know Jesus is the rock of our salvation. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4-→I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground….All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. J. Vernon McGee states that, “The smitten rock is a picture of the death of Christ.”

(McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Exodus, Thomas Nelson, 19091, p.154).

This is why Moses could not later enter the Promised Land: In anger, he struck the rock again instead of simply speaking to it (Christ cannot be re-sacrificed.) The people tested God (Massah) and quarreled with Moses (Meribah)-→These place names memorialized their lack of faith. 

Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 reviews these events. The psalmist, Asaph, encourages us not to be faithless, but to remember His miracles, and trust that God is faithful. Remembering His faithfulness can strengthen our faith and lead us to obey Him. In light of this psalm, those religious leaders who challenged Jesus should have been prostrate before Him in worship. They should have been awe-struck and humble, rather than arrogant and dismissive.

St. Paul directs us, in Philippians 2:1-13, to have the mind of Christ.

The mind of Christ is humble. Think about it: From what do most quarrels arise?

The quarreling parties each assume they are right. Humility requires that we each consider we could be wrong. Paul is setting out a pattern for Christian living (v.2)-→Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. He wants us to avoid being selfish, focusing only on what we want. He wants us to consider others and their needs even before our own. This is what it is to be unselfish, to be “un-self-centered,” to be Christlike. The Jewish religious leaders who confronted Jesus were convinced they knew what was right. Time and again, Jesus did or said something that challenged their ways of thinking and of being. They had said Yes to God and became His priests and religious teachers, but they said No to God’s son. They lost out on a deeper relationship with the Great Shepherd, the King of the Universe, because they were not humble. They physically heard Jesus, but intellectually they tuned Him out—Poor Souls!

I began today with a story about some kids at a funeral. I want to end with another such tale:

  A fellow named Jim Lyons shared: “ A very close friend of ours, Bob, had passed away and we took our eight-year-old son to the gravesite service. He was in awe the entire time. After lowering the casket, Bob’s grandchildren gave each person a golf ball. Bob was an avid golfer and his widow decided to drop golf balls into the grave instead of flowers [or dirt]. Everyone smiled and joked. When we finished dropping the balls, our son, speaking in his outside voice had everyone laughing when he said, “Mom, it’s a good thing your friend wasn’t a bowler.” 

(Juliana LaBianca, ReadersDigestHumor.com, 08/24)

No wonder Jesus said, in Matthew 18:3-4-→Then He said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Let us pray: Dear Lord, help us to be humble, to have the mind of Jesus.

Help us to abandon our selfishness and our arrogant assumptions that we are always right, and lovingly look to the needs of others. Teach us to truly hear You and to obey You. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Our Griping vs. God’s Grace

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/20/26,

scriptures: Ex 16:1-15; Ps 105:1-6, 37-45; Phil 1:20-30; Matt 20:1-16

I want to begin this morning with a brief video clip of research done on two Capuchin monkeys. A Dutch Ph.D. named Frans De Waal was assessing whether or not these monkeys could detect unfairness. (Go to YouTube and locate a 2:44 minute clip of Frans De Waals’ TedTalk entitled “Two Monkeys were Paid Unequally.”). Even monkeys can tell when someone else is getting more or better than they are. Did you notice how the 1st monkey behaved when she didn’t get a grape? She frammed on the desk, shook the cage, threw the cucumber piece at the experimenter—we witnessed a monkey tantrum!

Isn’t this just like Jesus’ Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16)? The Vineyard owner hired workers early in the morning to work among his grapevines. He promised them (v.2, NLT)-→the normal daily wage. Then he hired others at 9:00am, noon, and 3:00pm, saying to each group that he would pay them (v.4)-→…whatever was right. He even made the same deal with some workers he hired at 5:00pm—who worked only an hour or so. When he paid everyone the same, no matter how long they had worked, the earliest guys protested this as unfair. Like the monkeys, it looked unfair from their perspective. But the vineyard owner insisted that his money was his to dispense as he thought best. You see, “this story of workers and wages is not about economics or farm management, or even human relations [and certainly not about Capuchin monkeys preferring grapes to cucumbers]; it is about the incredible grace of God.”

(Fairless & Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, 2013, p. 228.)

Jesus is teaching the startling concept that God’s generosity is not tied to any of our standards of what seems fair. Remember Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) reads, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “-As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  No matter how long or how hard we have worked for His Kingdom—or how much we have produced—He prefers to measure how faithful we have been to the task He has given us. So the woman who raised up a missionary who then brought many to Christ is as valuable in God’s eyes, not due to her labor as compared to her son’s, but because her faithfulness set the stage for her son’s impact for the Lord. So too the person who comes to Christ on their death bed vs. a life-long believer.

As Scripture points out over and over, our job is not to compare ourselves or our potential rewards to anyone else. (We can’t really know specifically how the Lord regards another.) God calculates how He rewards us on the basis of His unfailing and overwhelmingly generous grace–again, not based on how long or how hard we worked or how many souls we saved or Kingdom “widgets” (meals served, clothes gathered and given away, hospital visits, prayers prayed, etc.) we produced. Instead, He appears to focus on how faithfully we served in whatever setting He placed us. As I have said before, I believe He bases a lot on how well we loved Him and how well we have loved others? 

God’s concept of grace (unmerited or unearned favor) is certainly other-worldly, isn’t it? And aren’t we glad?

A. Let’s review our Old Testament lesson, from Exodus 16:1-15, for a story that illustrates how this works: Scholars appear to differ on whether the people are 1 month out of Egypt or 2, but it is long enough to have left their experiences of God’s miracles in their rear-view mirrors. It’s long enough for the people to begin to complain. They are hungry and remember their slave conditions more rosily than realistically. They wax on about meat, vegetables, and spices they miss when they probably subsisted on a form of Egyptian gruel.

They are irritated with Moses and Aaron, both of whom are their God-appointed leaders, with little control over finding water or food in a wilderness—unless the Lord directs them! They don’t yet seem to know God’s nature or to trust Him to take care of them (sound familiar?).

But notice the Lord’s response to their anger and complaining: He doesn’t smite them, as we might, or disappear in an angry huff. He patiently charges Moses to tell them…(v.4)–>Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. And (v.11)-→I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, “In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” God has heard their complaints; and He will graciously and generously provide them what they need. Have they earned it? No! Nevertheless, He gifts them with quail and manna, a Hebrew word meaning what is it. Whatever manna was, it tasted like honey. It was apparently packed with protein and provided energy, focus, and calm. And it was presented to them fresh daily. It was the original of what our military calls MRE’s-→meals ready to eat.

What is the Lord teaching them? “I hear you; I listen to your complaints.”

“Despite the fact that you don’t trust Me, I can and do provide for you.” Also notice that He doesn’t—at this juncture—address their anger at Moses and Aaron.

Moses tells them (v.7)-→In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because He has heard your complaints, which are against Him, not against us. Later on the Lord will punish some of them for talking badly about His appointed leaders (including Moses’ sister, Miriam, whom God afflicted with leprosy but then restored due to Moses’ prayerful intervention for her). (See Numbers 12:1-16). You see, our Lord doesn’t like us complaining about the leaders He has appointed.

As St. Paul will later write, in 1 Corinthians 10:10-11→And don’t grumble as some of them did [the Israelites in the wilderness], and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. If you should have a beef with me, I would appreciate it if you would—rather than grumbling to others, or posting complaints on social media—approach me directly. Let’s meet individually, face to face, as Jesus recommends in Matthew 18:15, and talk it through to try to work it out. Our God much prefers this to grumbling and complaining about church leadership.

B. Our Psalm (105:1-6, 37-45) joyfully recounts God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt and His faithfulness to them on their 40 year journey.

It references God’s provision of the manna and the quail. And it emphasizes how we should love, appreciate, and praise Him for his goodness and faithfulness to us.

C. I could be wrong, but I believe Paul’s discussion in Philippians 1:20-23 is connected to what Jesus was teaching in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers. Years ago, when I was providing Nursing Home Mental Health Services (prior to attending Seminary), I encountered a 93YO man named George. Out of respect, I called him “Mr. George.” He was still ambulatory and in his right mind, but he was depressed. The staff asked me to help him if I could. He told me he wanted to die and was discouraged to wake up each day and still be alive.

He had no grandchildren. His wife had died some years earlier, and tragically, his two sons were killed when their car stalled on railroad tracks and was struck by a train. He was alone in the world and mad at God for keeping him here. He had worked in the automotive industry but could no longer drive or tinker with cars.

He needed a purpose for living. I suggested to him that the Lord might wish for him to pray for the others there in the nursing home with him. Even the Apostle Paul, like Mr. George, wanted to die in order to see and be with Jesus.

But in our passage today, Paul says that—even though he would like to go be with the Lord—(v.25)-→…I am convinced that I will remain alive so I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith. Paul concluded that if he continued to live, he could still do the kind of Kingdom work that makes life worthwhile. Partnering with Jesus makes life worth living.

We can’t look at life from the human perspective and feel satisfied. We learned in the Alpha Class this week at St. Luke’s that most all of us ask at some point: “Is this all there is?” when we consider our lives, and are disappointed.

Even today, Canada has enacted legislation called MAIDS, Medical Assistance in Dying, having decided as a nation that people suffering from a terminal illness, for instance, have a right to have a doctor help them end their lives if they want.

As Christians, however, we believe God is the author of life and has written all the days of each of our lives in His Book of Life. We are not to try to take our own life. This leaves us with the responsibility to discover how to make the time we have left meaningful (Hint: It has everything to do with believing in Jesus.).

Mr. George could still walk about—he could have visited with residents who never had visitors. The staff helped him come up with a list of folks who would have appreciated a visit and who would have loved to know someone was praying for them. This new purpose to his life lifted him from his depression, and certainly blessed the other residents of his facility. Again, Paul insists (v.27, NLT)-→Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ.

We have to evaluate our lives from God’s perspective. What are we doing to advance the work of God’s Kingdom? We all have gifts and talents the Lord has given us. We don’t want to focus on the fact that we might be dealt cucumbers rather than grapes, or the same rewards as someone who hasn’t worked as long or as hard as us, and get angry with God. In God’s Kingdom, life is not an unfairness experiment, and we are not meant to compare ourselves with others.

Rather, we want to give up griping and complaining, and focus on God’s grace. We want to agree with Paul that (vv.21-24)-→living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ….I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be better for me. But for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live. Living in service to Jesus is what makes life meaningful.

Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ! Alleluia! Alleluia!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

True Christian Hospitality

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/13/26

Scriptures: Ex 14:19-31; Ps 114; Ro 14:1-13; Matt 18:21-35

Two weeks ago, I preached on what Scripture has to tell about how we should try to live out our Christian walk. Once again, our passages appointed for today provide great guidance for daily living:

A. Our Old Testament lesson, Exodus14:19-31, reminds us of God’s miraculous interventions on behalf of His Chosen People. The free Hebrew slaves are caught between all of Egypt’s chariots (“the devil”) and the Red Sea (“the deep blue sea”). Pharaoh has rethought letting his slave labor force leave the country. He has pursued them with all of his considerable number of chariots (more than 600). The Pre-Incarnate Jesus appears as a cloud toward the Egyptians, keeping them in the dark (miracle #1); and a pillar of fire toward the Israelites, so they could see overnight (miracle #2) to walk thru the parted Red Sea (miracle #3), on dry ground (stated 3 times in the passage, and comprising miracle #4). God effects a massive rescue of His people, drowning Pharaoh’s army without a single military battle between Hebrews and Egyptians (miracle #5)–>The battle belongs to the Lord. This divine rescue is recalled again and again in Scripture so that we will be grateful to God for His providence and protection.

B. This divine rescue is also memorialized in Psalm 114. The psalmist wants us to realize that the Lord (v.3) “rolled back the Red Sea…” and “held back the Jordan River.”

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on the Psalms, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.76.)

McGee claims it is “a call to remembrance of God’s mercy and power on behalf of His people.” We want to live our lives in awe of and believing in God’s miraculous, redemptive powers on our behalf.

C. Paul asserts in Romans 14:1-13 that we should not criticize one another (Christians against Christians) for differences in on issues that are not critical to salvation. Some people dress up for church and others, more casually. This shouldn’t matter because our heart attitudes and beliefs about Jesus are more important than the way we dress. Some believe we shouldn’t dance or play cards, while others do both. Some prefer organ music, while others, the piano or guitars and drums None of these is critical to salvation, but we do want to be aware of how our behavior influences nonbelievers. The point is that our behavior as Christ-followers should not be a stumbling block to new Christians or to those seeking the Lord (we shouldn’t cuss, get drunk, view porn, etc.).

D. Finally, Jesus makes it very clear, in Matthew18:21-35, that we are to forgive whoever offends us. Because of all that God has forgiven us, we are to offer to others the same grace. And we are to do so again and again and again—because our God forgives us innumerable times.

There we have it: Some really valuable advice on how to live if we want to please Jesus.

Now I want to depart from my usual style of “sermon-izing” and ask you to bear with me as I read an excerpt from a modern novel that is making the rounds today: Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi (Simon & Schuester, 2023). Three friends mentioned this book within a single week, and one even lent me her copy. I knew then the Lord meant for me to read it. It’s an excellent book and I recommend it.

The novel concerns an elderly man named Theo who transplants himself from New York City to a small town in southern Georgia along the banks of the Oxbow River. He is quiet, observant, and friendly, and—over the course of a year —makes many friends in Golden. One of these is a homeless woman with mental problems, named Ellen, who tenaciously holds onto her bicycle. She calls her bike, “The Noble Invention”—a reference from a story by author William Saroyan, titled “Rescue the Perishing.” Ellen may be mentally off but she has clearly been educated and is well-read. The portion of the novel I want to read you this morning concerns her initial visit to a Sunday service at St. James Episcopal Church (See pages 153-157).  As I read, try to think about what the passage says about the congregation of St. James. And try to imagine how we would behave if someone like Ellen visited us for Sunday worship.

The excerpt: (Warning: the passage contains some cussing)

As the last note of the song faded, Father Lundy rose to welcome the congregants and make his opening remarks. He had just begun reading a passage of Scripture when to the complete and utter shock of everyone present, a loud disturbance erupted at the back of the room. The sound of breaking glass, a falling vase, sounded through the high rafters. That shock was heightened when the words being spoken became audible and distinguishable.

“You get your blue blood hands off of me, you pin-striped whore of Babylon! Touch me again, and I’ll ride this Nobel Invention right over your hypocritical ass! Get out of my way.

An usher, fighting an onset of total astonishment and embarrassment, was trying to restrain a wild-eyed woman wearing a blue hat from bringing her bicycle into the sanctuary. She had forced her way through the door, bicycle in tow, and was intent on joining the congregation assembled there.

Or, more precisely, intent on finding and joining Theo.

Every head turned her way. A number of the leaders and others moved immediately toward the disturbance and encircled the intruder. Any semblance of order or sanctity fled the room as Ellen, not to be deterred by another act of bureaucracy, railed against her opposition. She was equal parts prophet and whirling dervish.

“Your sign outside says ‘Visitors welcome.’ Well, St. Smartass, I’m a visitor, so get out of my way. You touch my property one more time and see what happens, you throne-sniffing Pharisee. Get the hell out of my way! All of you. Right now!”

Her fist was raised and ready.

St. James had never experienced, and likely never would again, such a display of righteous indignation on its premises. Some of the congregation watched or ducked down cautiously behind their pews, horror-stricken at this unexpected visit from an uninvited guest. After all, there had been killings in churches in recent years. Others, who recognized the woman from having seen her around town, were curious and even amused that an actual sinner had entered the elegant premises of James, the saint. The biblically literate among them might have expected a finger to start writing on the wall at any moment: Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin.

Panicked cell phone calls, many from the sanctuary floor, were made to 911 with the expectation that, in a matter of seconds or minutes, officers would arrive, arrest the troublemaker, and restore dignity to the meeting. In the meantime, Father Lundy implored parishioners to remain seated and be calm. Few paid him any attention. The main event was clearly at the back of the sanctuary. Across the room, people gaped, craned their necks and whispered excitedly about the scene unfolding before them.

And then came a voice.

“Darling, Ellen. Ellen, darling. Hello, dear. Good morning, dear.” Mrs. Ocie Van Blarcum, her white hair shining like a nimbus, stepped between Ellen and the others and touched her hand. There was no sense of alarm or urgency in her voice. But her forceful presence made it abundantly clear who was now in charge.

Immediately, the confusion began to subside, affirmation that a gentle answer (still) turns away wrath.

“Ellen, please come sit with me, sweetheart. We’ll find a place for your bicycle. Would you like to sit with me and my family?”

Ellen stood silently for a moment, still defensive against the bodies that surrounded her. It took a moment and several hard blinks, but eventually a glimmer of recognition filled her gaze. Her hands relaxed.

“Hello, Miz Ocie.”

Mrs. Van Blarcum was a matriarch of St. James, a venerated and lifelong member whose family name was empaneled in the grand window that covered most of the sanctuary’s west wall. She knew well and lived devotedly the ethic of St. James: “Faith without works is dead.” She was not merely capable of saintliness. She was saintly. Some would have argued she was a saint.

While she fit in comfortably in the highbrow world of St. James, Ocie Van Blarcum was no stranger to the soup lines and homeless shelters in Golden. She and Ellen had seen each other often at such places.

She understood the difference between “troubled mind” and “troublemaker,” and she recognized in Ellen all the signs of the former—a wounded soul, a lost sheep, a “least of these my brethren.”

The sound of sirens had grown in strength until they were just outside the building. Clearly, more than one police vehicle had responded to the disturbance. Mrs. Van Blarcum instructed several of the ushers and vestry members, in a tone of voice that would not be denied, to tell the policemen to leave. Her eyes blazed with an authoritative “right nowness.”

“Ellen, come this way, darling. My family is right here. On that row. We have room for you.”

Ellen shook her head. “No ma’am. I’m looking for Mr. Theo.”

At that moment, he smiled and stepped forward into the small space that belonged to Ellen and Mrs. Van Blarcum.

“And Mr. Theo has been looking for you,” he said cheerfully. “Good morning, Ellen.”

Theo and Mrs. Van Blarcum knew each other only vaguely. They had met on a previous Sunday and had crossed paths occasionally since then. Standing there together with Ellen, they were the embodiment of goodness and mercy. And for the moment, the room belonged not to Father Lundy but to Ocie and Theo, surrogate shepherds of the flock.

No one shaving or dressing or selecting shoes or watching television before driving to St. James earlier that morning would have guessed that a church service could be as engrossing as this one was shaping up to be. No one could have anticipated the sight of an old man guiding a garishly attired homeless woman and her bicycle down the center aisle, eighth pew from the front, and helping her find a seat at the end of the row.

Ellen kickstanded the Noble Invention, sat and patted her blond dress, touched her necklace, rested her hands in her lap, smiled at Theo, then directed her attention to the pulpit.

Father Lundy began to speak. By then he had regained his composure. He knew a teachable moment when he saw one. He also knew that the congregation, if only they could see it, had just witnessed and participated in a sermon. Need he say more?

The organist, in a stroke of musical eloquence, played a simple rendering of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” as a never-before, widely-enlarged sense of reverence filled the room. Some still looked at Ellen. Most, “the oldest first,” had redirected their attention away from the spectacle of her strange appearance and had turned their gazes inward.

One could almost hear the sound of stones dropping to the ground.

After the morning service, it was agreed that, in the future, Theo would sit in the last row, on the outside aisle, so that when and if Ellen attended (which, in fact, she began to do regularly), her bicycle could be parked beside her. That way the Nobel Invention would not impede movement up and down the center aisle when collections of the offering and celebration of Holy Communion took place. It was the practice at St. James to dispense the bread and the cup at the altar to all in the faith who were able to walk forward., After the first week, when Ellen insisted on wheeling her bike with her to the Communion rail, Theo was able to convince her that it would be safe at the pew. He and Mrs. Ocie would guard it.

He also encouraged Ellen to be on time for the service. She was never late again.

This is such a lovely story and a great example of true Christian hospitality. I wept when I read it at home. We should welcome any and all visitors to our church. We want them to get to know Jesus. We want them to participate in our church family. It shouldn’t matter how they dress or even if they are disruptive. As Paul would say, we abandon our critical attitudes/ or judgments. While we can understand the shock of the ushers, we need to be as kind as both Mrs. Ocie and Theo. Remember when 18 Year old Dakota (who is autistic) wondered aloud, right in the middle of my sermon, where two missing couples were, one by one, and by name? I told him they were on vacation and that they would be back. He was worried about them, but my calm response reassured him and quieted his anxiety. Remember when toddler Annie wandered the sanctuary during both the readings and my sermon? I recall lifting her up and holding her in my arms as I finished my remarks.

We want all to feel welcome. We can offer grace to our members, but we can also do the same for the stranger—and even tolerate the presence of a friendly, 3-legged hound dog who joined us for worship Thursday night. Let this be our consistent response to anyone who joins us. AMEN!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams 

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

God is love

Pastor Sherry’s message for 9/6/26

Scriptures: Exodus 12:1-14; Ps 119:33-40; Ro 13:8-14; Matt 18:15-20

The story is told of an old grandmother who had decided that Christmas shopping had just gotten to be too much for her. Now she still wanted to do something nice for her kids, grands, nieces, nephews, etc., so she decided to send each a nice Christmas card with a $50 Visa card inside.  Granny selected the Christmas cards, addressed the envelopes, added stamps, and deposited them at the post office, innocently assuming she had taken care of Christmas gifts for all of her family in a way that could not help but please each one. The problem, however, was that–being a little forgetful–she had neglected to include the Visa cards (probably also forgot where she had put them), and had happily written next to her signature, “Merry Christmas! Go get your own presents.”  We laugh, but this could all too easily be any one of us!

Her intention was loving, but the result indicated neglect or even insult…until her oversight was discovered.

When I was in college, there was a foreign language requirement for graduation. There were 3 stipulations: (1) You had to be able to read it; (2) You had to know the grammar, vocabulary, and correct sentence structure; and (3) then you had to demonstrate you could speak it by passing an interview with the language Professors. I managed to make it through the first courses, but put the speaking part off until my Senior year…YIKES! The first day of class, a stereotypical French woman came into class—wearing a beret, fishnet stockings, a tight skirt with a slit up the side, and carrying her own ashtray (in 1967, professors could smoke in class as they lectured). She propped herself on the front of the teacher’s desk, told us we could not speak English for the rest of the semester, and asked us in French to respond to the question, “What is love? I knew my goose was cooked! Before I had even begun to formulate an answer in English, then laboriously translated it into French, she had gone on to the next deep question.

I survived conversational French, praise God, because I paid a very proficient underclassman to tutor me. Back in 1968, I was able offer a student a cup of coffee and a piece of pie to talk with me in French for an hour 2-3 times a week. By the end of the semester, this young man had me contributing to class discussion in French and also thinking and dreaming in French! It was, to me, a miracle for which I will always be grateful!

But I have never forgotten that French professor’s question, “What is love?”  Our Old Testament lesson, Exodus 12:1-14 gives us some good answers to a timeless question.

Let’s first consider the context: Back in Exodus 3:7+, God had told Moses:  

“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.” That was God’s promise. He would create the situation that would compel the stubborn Pharaoh to let His people go. The Hebrews had been in Egypt about 400 years—long enough for the Canaanites to have time to come to love the true God–which they refused to do. So God was ready to rescue the Israelites from Egyptian slavery with 10 plagues.

Each plague was actually a put down of some Egyptian god. Yahweh had declared war on the gods of Egypt: 

1st, He turned the Nile to blood—fish died and no one could drink from it. They so depended on the river for their water supply and commerce that they equated it with life. In rendering it fully polluted, God was essentially saying to them, “I, not your river god, Hapi, (the so called bringer of fertility) am the true source of all life.”

2nd, He sent a superabundance of frogs. Seven days later, millions of frogs leave the polluted river and invade Egyptian homes, businesses, and even Pharaoh’s palace. The frog-headed Egyptian goddess, Heqet, was equated with fruitfulness. God is saying, “I, not Heqet, can deploy millions of frogs at will.”To those who considered frogs to be demons, He declared, “And I also exercise control over demonic entities, even the entire supernatural realm.

Similiarly, out of dust Moses tossed into the air, God produced 3rd, a plague of lice (in opposition to Geb, god of the earth), and 4th of biting flies, the servants of Khepri, god of the morning sun. Again, God was asking, Why aren’t your gods powerful enough to counter Me and to destroy these pests?

5th, God sends disease on their cattle, rams, sheep, and goats, many of which die. The Egyptians had gods for each of these animals. But God is saying, “I have complete control over animal life, not Osirus, the bull or Apis the ram god, or Hathor, the cow-headed goddess of motherhood and childbirth. None of them can counter Me.”

6th, He afflicted the animals that remained—and this time, the people too—with boils. Even Pharaoh’s magicians couldn’t prevent them, nor could Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of healing, heal them.  God was saying, “Only I have power over physical health.”

7th, He sends hail—a form of ice clumps accompanied by fire. Egypt normally gets very little rain. God was essentially saying, “I—not Hephaistos, your god of fire or Porphry, your god of rain, or Nut, your god of the sky—have complete authority over forces of nature.”

8th, God sends locusts to eat up any vegetation left over, then sends them off to drown in the Red Sea. Egypt’s gods of nature were helpless, including Shu, their god of the wind. God was saying, “I can raise up hordes of any creature, deploy them, and then destroy them.”

By now, the Egyptian economy is in ruins, but still Pharaoh will not let his slave labor force go free. God then sends the 9th plague, 3 days of completedarkness—except over where the Israelites live. God was saying, Your sun god, Ra, is powerless before Me.

Finally, God sent the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn person and animal. The Egyptians believed their god, Horus, was the god of life, and Bes, another god, would protect their households. They also believed that Pharaoh was the divine author of life. With this final plague, God was saying, “Not so! Yahweh is the giver of life and He can take it away when it is in rebellion against Him.”

(New Living Translation of the Bible, Tyndale House, 2024, p.89.)

This brings us to the Passover: In the 10th plague, God intended to and did take the life of every 1st born. Those who loved Him, however, could and would be spared. They were to select a perfect male lamb around one year old; they were then to slaughter it on the 14th of Nisan, and paint their door frames with its blood. The blood of the lamb would signal the angel of death that they were true believers and their lives would be spared. They were to remain inside their homes all night, eating the roasted lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs. This was a hasty meal. They were to be dressed for travel as they would soon be free to leave Egypt. The first born of those with no blood over their doors did in fact succumb to death, even Pharaoh’s son. By the next day, all of Egypt wanted the Israelites gone!

This series of plagues was tough on the Egyptians, but so effective for the Hebrew slaves! Look at how God manifested His love for them!

He provided a way for the angel of death to distinguish His Chosen People from Egyptians. While every Egyptian house contained at least one dead person, the blood of the Passover Lamb signaled to death, pass over, pass on by every Israelite. This final plague broke the back of Pharaoh’s resistance. He capitulated to Moses’ demands following this event. He finally let the people go. And the Egyptian people were so glad to see them leave that they gifted them with gold and silver coins and jewelry, what my Old Testament professor in seminary called “back pay.”

This is such a great, dramatic example of God’s love: He ground down the Egyptian resistance with 10 plagues, then rescued His people without a single military battle! The historic Jewish Passover finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus—it foreshadows pr predicts Jesus’ blood shed for us on the Cross. He too was a perfect male lamb. John the Baptist calls Him, in John 1:29  …the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.  Jesus was the only sinless human ever, which qualified Him to be our sinless Substitute, our Savior. He was also God–the only Son of God, so His blood–the blood of God–was a perfect satisfaction or atonement for our sins. Paul later tells the leaders of the Ephesian Church in Acts 20:28  Be shepherds of the church of God, which He [Jesus] bought with His own blood. No mere person would have been capable of atoning for our sins. Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf was totally acceptable to the Father. The writer to the Hebrews calls Jesus is the once and for all perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Peter, on trial before the Sanhedrin, testifies in Acts 4:12 (NLT) that  There is salvation in no one else [meaning Jesus]! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. John tells us in 1 John 3: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.

So what is love? The 10 plagues and the Passover were God’s strategies for motivating a despot to let go of a free labor force of 1-2 million people. The plagues and the Passover demonstrate how far God will go to redeem those He loves. Jesus’ death on the cross proves the same truth again: Our God has died an undeserved but agonizing penalty to obtain our freedom from sin and death; like His Father before Him, He has gone to extreme lengths to redeem us.

 As the apostle John tells us, (1 John4:10) This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. If I could go back in time, I would tell my French Conversation professor, “Your question can be answered a number of ways…

But the best and most complete answer to what love is is this: God is love!

Jesus Christ loving me (and you) so much that He died so you and I could have abundant life!

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory thru our Lord

Jesus Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

How Now Shall We Live?

Pastor Sherry’s message for 8/30/26 

Scriptures: Jer 2:1-13; Ps 81:1, 1-16; Heb 13:1-8, 15-16; Lk 14:1-14

Back in 1999, Chuck Colson (former President Nixon’s Special Counsel and considered an attack dog for Nixon against any of his enemies), having served time in prison for obstruction of justice, wrote a book titled, How Now Shall We Live, coauthored by Nancy Pearcey (Not to be confused with Francis Schaeffer’s How Then Shall We Live, 1976). Colson came into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ while serving his prison term.

The book reflects his resulting radical change of heart. In it, he attempted to answer 4 significant, essentially existential questions:

1a. Who or What do we come from? 

1b. Who are we?

2. What has gone wrong with the world?

3. What can we do to fix it?

4. And How should we live, based on these answers?

As I was praying this week about what the Lord would have me preach, the answer He gave me was Colson’s book title: How Now Shall We Live. I had not read it, so I downloaded it to my Kindle and checked it out. When I perused the readings appointed for today, I figured why. Please review this with me:

1a. Who or what do we come from? We come from a Who, not a what. We live because our God called each of us into being.

1b. Who are we? If we believe in Jesus, we are each, as a wonderful old prayer says…a sheep of His own fold, a lamb of His own flock…a sinner of His own redeeming.

(The Book of Common Prayer, Church Publishing, 1986, p.499.)

Through the saving work of Jesus on the Cross for us, we have been adopted into His line and are now children of God the Father. We know from the Bible that God choose the Jews to be a people set apart for Him, through whom He intended to bring about His plan for the redemption for the world. God chose them–and through their legacy and Jesus’ sacrifice–we have each chosen to follow Him.

2. What has gone wrong with the world? The short answer is that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s willful disobedience. And ever since, we have struggled between our spiritual nature that wants to please God and our fleshly or carnal nature that wants to please ourselves (Romans 7 and 8).

Let’s look to our readings to find deeper answers to this and Colson’s other two questions:

A. The Jeremiah 2:1-13 passage also provides answers to what has gone wrong with the world. In verses 1-5, God reminds His Chosen people of how much they loved Him and followed Him after He rescued them from slavery in Egypt. In verse 5, God asks His people through Jeremiah, What did your ancestors find wrong with Me that led them to stray so far from Me? The Lord sounds puzzled, but we know He knows all things! He wants them to think about it…They didn’t remain grateful to Him for having shepherded them through the wilderness for 40 years, protecting and providing for them the whole time. No, they wandered into idolatry. Even their priests, (false) prophets, and rulers ignored God and turned against Him. In verses11-12, the Lord expresses His disappointment and grief-→Yes my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols! The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay.

He boils their sins down to two: They have abandoned God (the living water), and they have taken up with false, evil, pagan gods, who are empty, broken cisterns that hold no water. I think we could make a very good case that America has done the same thing. Our founders gave our nation a solidly Christian foundation. But over our 250 years, we have pushed God away or ignored Him entirely. We, like the folks in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s time, have settled for broken cisterns of money, power, fame, material things, riskier and more daring experiences, and more and more depraved sexual behaviors. We have embraced sin and called it good. Thank goodness, this was not God’s last word for the Jews or for us!

(J. Vernon McGee, Throgh the BibleCommentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, p.30.)

B. Our psalmist, Asaph (81:1, 10-16) reminds us all in verse 9 that our Lord never wanted us to pursue false gods. We were always meant to follow the Lord and Him alone. He rescued His people from bondage in Egypt and hoped to have deep fellowship with them. Through Jesus, He has rescued us from our bondage to sin, and He desires today to bless us abundantly! But we (and they) dismissed Him and did what we wanted; He, in response, said (v.12)-→So I let them follow their own stubborn desires, living according to their own ideas. (See Romans1 for a similar message.) Our willfulness, our pride, our insistence that “I know better than God,” brings us to low, painful, and discouraging places. And all the while, the Lord is ready to protect and bless us—if we will only turn back to Him.

C. Well, there’s the answer to the question about how we go about fixing the mess we are in: We turn back to Him. We admit, with AA, that we are powerless to turn our lives around by ourselves. Remember the caterpiller caught in the ring of fire? We cannot rescue ourselves. We need a divine rescuer, and we have one, Jesus! We confess that He is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, and we are saved by faith in Christ. Then we go on to cooperate with the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. He molds and shapes us through our experiences, our prayers, our Bible reading, perhaps a sermon or two—and even our pain. Through it all, He helps us to become more and more like Jesus.

The writer to the Hebrews (13:1-8, 15-16) finishes out his/her book by sharing a list of recommended Christian practices. Remember, the 4th of Colson’s questions was how we should live. These suggestions all demonstrate love…we don’t just love other people as if they are brothers and sisters in Christ, but we love them because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ: So we show hospitality/kindness to strangers. We remember those in prison and those who are mistreated. When we can’t do this in person, we provide donations to ministries who do. If married, we remain faithful to our vows. We don’t love money, recalling that God cares for and provides for us. Since God is our helper, we don’t have to be afraid (His perfect love drives out all our fear). We respect and appreciate our spiritual leaders and mentors. And we hold fast to the truth that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are to offer to God a sacrifice of praise. I could be wrong, but I believe this means we come to worship even if we would rather not. We offer the Lord our time. We also offer Him our gratitude, even if we are not feeling very grateful or happy or a given day. Again, it’s a sacrifice we offer to Him. And we continue to prompt ourselves to do good to others and to share with those in need.

D. Jesus Himself gives us some practical pointers on how to live the Christian life in today’s gospel, Luke 14:1-14. First He demonstrates that love trumps law by healing a man on the Sabbath. No doubt this was a set up, a trap on the part of the Pharisees to make Jesus look bad. But as usual, He demonstrates that their zeal is to have others strictly obey the Law, rather than to relate lovingly to God and to others. They won’t self-incriminate by answering His questions, but they clearly would do work to rescue a child or an animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath. Then He rescues a man from “the pit” of a chronic illness, dropsy. The point is that the Lord desires mercy over strict adherence to their interpretations of the religious rules.

Next, He gives them a seminar in etiquette, in the “Parable of the Ambitious Guests.” Since they didn’t use place-cards in those days, as one commentator puts it, once dinner was announced, there would be a rush to commandeer the seats of honor. Younger, impolite pharisees might even push aside a slower, older cleric in their rush to be prestigiously seated. Jesus recommends each one take the least valued seat, then feel blessed when the host moves them to a better place. Imagine their chagrin when their rudeness and selfishness is pointed out by the honored guest, Jesus. What if one of them was publically asked to move and make way for Him? Our Lord was teaching humility—in God’s Kingdom, humility trumps arrogance and entitlement. (See Micah 6:8.)

(J.V. McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Luke, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.176-177.)

Finally, in verses 12-14, and in a nod to our Hebrews lesson, He recommends they feed those who cannot repay them, the poor, the lame, the blind, instead of their successful, well-off peers.

So How Now Shall We Live? Like we know and acknowledge that the Lord created us, that we owe our lives to Him. Like we appreciate and follow Him, despite the fact that we all too often turn away from Him and follow the devices and desires of our own hearts. We want to follow Him, but we too often succumb to the pull of the world, our flesh, and the devil. As St. Paul states so eloquently (Romans 7:24-25, NLT)-→Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. We embark on the solution to our sin-problem, just as Chuck Colson recommends, when we turn our lives over to Jesus. He, and the lessons from His word, the Bible, show us How Now We Shall Live. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman w/a Mary Jo Delaney

Who Does God Choose to Use?

Pastor Sherry‘s message for August 23, 2026

Scriptures: Ex 1:8-2:10; Ps 124; Ro 12:1-8; Matt 16:13-20

This story falls under the category of “Truth is Stranger than Fiction”:  Back in the mid to late 300’s, there was a slave named Moses the Black” (who lived from 330-405AD).  He was a tall, intimidating Ethiopian, who stole from his Egyptian master.  The master also suspected of him of murder.  Rather than sell him off, the master fired him and threw him out.

So, Moses the Black joined a gang of thugs.  Almost immediately he became their leader, and for years his band of hoodlums terrorized folks along the Nile River Valley.  At one point, he evaded the law by hiding out in a desert monastery.  He thought he was pretty clever to take refuge in a church, but the joke was on him, as he encountered Jesus there, and then gave his life to Christ in that place.

Even more incredible is the fact that four of his former gang members—not realizing he was there—decided to rob the monastery.  Moses the Black completely overpowered them (citizen’s arrest), tied them up, and dragged them before the abbot.  Because he didn’t slit their throats, the thugs were so moved that they too gave their lives to Christ, and became monks as well.  Legend has it that he was martyred, as an old monk, by a different band of robbers who did not know who he was. The former robber, murderer, adulterer had been transformed by God into a Christ-following teacher and priest. Notice, however, that even though God so transformed him, he still reaped what he had sown: He had lived by the sword, and he also died by the sword.

(Wikipedia, 8/19/26.)

But isn’t it interesting who God chooses to do His work? Last week, we noted that it was a non-Christian German painter, Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760), numerous Moravian Christians, and John Wesley Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son; St. Paul; and even some pretty unlikely persons, like you and me!  This week, our OT lesson, Exodus 1:8-2:10, introduces us to Moses’ backstory. Moses was born to an Israelite family, from the tribe of Levi, working as slaves in Egypt.  Almost 350 years after the death of Joseph–the one God had used to save the fledgling Israelite nation as well as Egypt from a massive famine–a new Pharaoh (Ahmose? Rameses?), from a different line, came to the throne of Egypt. He looked around and saw how numerous the Israelites had grown. Here is the outworking of God’s promise to Abraham: his descendants would outnumber the stars, or the grains of sand on a beach.  From the 90 family members who joined Joseph in Egypt, the Israelites had grown to what scholars believed were about 2 million Hebrews by the time Moses led their exodus. They had indeed become a “great nation,” and the new Pharaoh was afraid he and his countrymen could be overwhelmed and overcome by them.  So, he decides to contain any threat by enslaving them.  He works them hard and harshly, but still they seem to multiply.

As the story unfolds today, Pharaoh is concerned that the Israelites are reproducing too rapidly.  So he calls in the head Hebrew midwives and tells them to go ahead and deliver girl babies, but kill the boys (this is once in history that it paid to be female).  The midwives are wise.  They fear/respect God more than Pharaoh. They refuse to practice male infant genocide.  Pharaoh then notices that male Israelite infants are surviving and wants to know why.  The wise midwives claim Hebrew moms are very hardy and complete the birthing process without calling upon them. This is no doubt a lie; but it seems to prevent Pharaoh from exacting revenge.

Moses is born in the midst of this birth-control strategy. As a male, he should have been euthanized; but his mom, Jochabed, rears him to 3 months. Then she places him in a carefully water-proofed basket, and sets him adrift on the Nile–a true act of faith (Nile crocks are ferocious, but we don’t know if they were so numerous then). In an amazing twist of fate—like Moses the Black, thief and murderer becoming a monk—Moses the Hebrew is spotted and rescued by Pharaoh’s eldest daughter.  Childless, she decides to raise the baby as her own son.  Miriam, his sister, has been watching over him and suggests a woman to nurse him—his biological mother, Jochabed, for pay!  How ironic—and how like our God—to keep Moses safe on the river, and to place the future deliverer of Israel within the very household of Israel’s chief oppressor.  A Hebrew slave will learn the Egyptian language, culture, and military strategies. God has once again placed one of His own (like Joseph) into a position of authority and influence.  Additionally, “Moses is ‘brought out’ of the river [so that] one day, he will ‘bring out’ the nation of Israel from Egypt.”

(John Faiurless & Delmer Chilton, The Lectionary Lab Commentary, Year A, The Lectionary Lab, 2013, p.207.)

Whether Pharaoh realizes it or not, God is also demonstrating that Pharaoh will be impotent to destroy God’s people or His program (shoring up the lineage of Jesus).

   Psalm 124 is a Psalm of Ascents, sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to the Temple Mount to celebrate one of the major feasts.  They praise God for His protection of them now and in the past, even mentioning saving them from (v.6, crocodile) teeth.  They worship Him saying (v.8, NLT)–>Our help is from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        In our Gospel lesson, Matthew 16:13-20, our Lord commends Peter for both recognizing and testifying to who Jesus really is.  Remember, Jesus is still outside the borders of Israel, in a Roman resort town (Caesarea Phillipi), 2 days’ walk north of the Sea of Galilee.  Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, asserts that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God—a Deliverer even greater than Moses.  Jesus praises him.  He calls him “Peter,“ or “Rocky.”  Jesus Himself is “The ROCK”—but it is on faith like Peter’s, and believers like Peter that Jesus will establish His Community, His Church.  In addition, Jesus proclaims that…

(v.18) the Gates of Hades/Hell will not overcome it.  The deaths of believing individuals will not extinguish the flame of the Church.  Historically, the Church has always grown during times of persecution.  Nonbelievers are so impressed with the peace or the commitment of martyrs that they too come to believe in Jesus.  Just as Satan did not kill off the Jews through either slavery or Pharaoh’s schemes, no one person, or group of persons, can thwart God’s plan and program.  Furthermore, Jesus gives Peter (the apostles, the early church, and us) (v.19) the keys of the kingdom of heaven authority to preach and teach the Gospel.  Some claim Jesus was hereby making Peter the leader of His Church, and giving him the power to forgive or fail to forgive sins.

Others interpret this somewhat differently:  Only God can forgive sins.  But, iI we, as Jesus-followers, loose or proclaim God’s truth on earth, the powers of heaven will support our efforts.  God’s word will not return to Him empty (Isa 55;11).  Souls will be brought into God’s Kingdom.  But if we bind it on earth (forbid or fail to proclaim), the Church will not live into its destiny.

Last week, I asked us to consider who gets saved.  This week, the issue under consideration is who does God choose to work in His program of redemption.  He appears to pick the unlikely:

1.) The reprobate, Moses the Black, becomes a major force for Christ in the 4th century Church as a teacher, pastor, and martyr.

  2.) Moses–born to Hebrew slaves–is nurtured and educated under Pharaoh’s own nose, then used by God to free His people.

3.) Peter, who takes his eyes off Jesus, resorts to violence in the Garden, denies Him three times, and fails to show up at the Cross to support Him, is selected by God as a leader in the 1st Century Church.

4.) Paul assures us in Romans 12:13-20 that the Holy Spirit has given to each of us gifts to be used for the upbuilding of God’s Kingdom here on earth.  

The beauty of all of this is that God chooses unlikely, even weak and flawed people to carry out His program of redemption.  He trains us up.  He places us strategically—like Joseph, like Moses–right where He wants us.  Back in the 1960’s there used to be a popular poster in offices that showed flowers in a pot with the caption, “Bloom where you are planted.”  That poster irritated the stew out of me!  Like many of my generation, I wanted to change either the place where I was, or take myself elsewhere.  The idea of blooming where I was planted seemed to me either too restrictive and like giving up.  I have since come to realize that the Lord places us where we are for His reasons.  We-folks like you and like me- are meant by Him to join Him in His Kingdom purposes where we find ourselves. 

The wonder of it is that He puts so much trust in us.  This week, let’s agree to assist Him in His goal to bring the lost to Jesus.  This week, look for opportunities to tell those who don’t know Jesus Who He is; how He loves them; and how knowing Him has impacted and improved our lives.  The best thing you can share with a nonbeliever is how you have seen Him work in your life.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory thru our Lord, Jesus Christ! 

.©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams