Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Pastor Sherry’s message for Easter Sunday

Scriptures: Jer 31:1-6; Ps 118:1-2,14-24; Acts 10:34-43; Matt 28:1-15

We opened our worship service this morning with the hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” (p.251 of the new Global Methodist Church hymnal)

It was written by Charles Wesley, who lived from 1707-1788, and “was probably the greatest hymnwriter the Christian Church has ever known.”

(Robert K. Brown & Mark R. Norton, The One Year Book of Hymns, Tyndale House, 2024, p.88.) He was the youngest brother of John Wesley, the founder of our Methodist denomination. Both brothers were Anglican priests, serving the Church of England. Rev. John was known for the radical idea of preaching outdoors. Actually, the Church of England at that time was spiritually dead. John and Charles Wesley were both filled with the Holy Spirit and “on fire” for Christ. Their desire for revival, and their preaching aimed at winning souls to Christ, distressed many of their parishioners and the Anglican Church authorities, so they were put out of the Church! Then John and Charles simply took the Gospel to the people, preaching in city squares, and outside factories and coal mines. Their congregation became the poor and often illiterate agricultural, industrial, and mine laborers of the day.

Rev. John moved about the countryside on horse-back, and Charles often accompanied him. It is said that Charles wrote an average of two hymns a week as they traveled, from age 31 (the year of his conversion) until his death, 50 years later. His over 6,500 wonderful hymns were a brilliant way for those who could not read the Bible to learn about Jesus. Some of his most memorable hymns are “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,”and, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”

Consider the lyrics of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” a hymn about Jesus’ resurrection, including simple, but theologically sound lyrics, easy to remember:

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply. Alleluia!

Charles is teaching that all earthly and heavenly beings celebrate Christ’s resurrection.

Lives again, our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting, Alleluia!

Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where’s thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Why do heaven and earth celebrate?  Because Jesus defeated death and saved us  Death has dogged human beings ever since Adam and Eve. But the grave could not confine our Lord Jesus! He broke the bondage of death through His resurrection (echoing St. Paul, from 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (NLT) who quotes from Hosea 13:14-→Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death…But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. How beautiful that people who could not read, could learn this hymn and be reassured that the grave would not be their final end if they believed in Jesus!

Our Scripture lessons today all reiterate this truth:

A. In our Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah 31:1-5, God reassures us of His continuous, faithful love for Israel and for us. The Lord asserts through the prophet (v.3, NLT)-→”I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love, I have drawn you to Myself.” He is saying to them and to us that—despite our sinfulness and despite how often we disappoint Him–He still loves us! He has not given up on us. He promises in this chapter that He will one day restore Israel, both so that they will again worship Him; but also, in God’s great scheme of things, they will also come to worship His Son, Jesus. The implication, then, is that we will be resurrected and in Heaven so we too can worship Him there.

B.  St. Luke, in Acts 10:34-43, affirms this when he writes that one result of the resurrection was that Jesus’ work on the Cross opened the way for us Gentiles to gain entrance into God’s Kingdom. As we have often noted, ethnic divisions were deeply ingrained in the Jews in 1st century Israel. For the Israelites, there were only two categories: Jews (God’s Chosen people) and Gentiles (everyone else). Knowing this, Peter is surprised to be summoned to the home of the Roman Centurian, Cornelius (He managed a troop of over 100 men). His household already knew about and believed in the Jewish God. Peter enters his home and announces: (v.34, NLT)–>I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. In every nation, He accepts those who fear Him and do what is right.

Peter’s sermon from vv.36-43 is truly a great summary of the entire Gospel. In short, (a) Jesus lived and walked among us, preaching, teaching, healing, and casting out demons; (b) He died on the Cross to satisfy the penalty for our sins; (c) And He rose again, demonstrating His power over sin and death. Cornelius and his family and friends wanted to be baptized and to become Christ-followers. Then the Holy Spirit fell on them all, validating what Peter had been told. All of us who are “in Christ” (have been born again) are going to heaven.

C. Scholars tell us that Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, was sung by Jewish believers, from memory, at the Passover meal. Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, would have sung it with His apostles after they drank the final cup of wine at His Last Supper. The psalm is a song of salvation, celebrating the victory of a reigning king who had once been looked down upon. Several verses are particularly meaningful when viewed in the light of the resurrection: Verse 18, NIV–>I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord…He has not given Me over to death. Jesus was laid dead in a tomb; but He did not remain there as we know. Instead, He rose again, overcoming death! And verses 22-23, NLT–>The stone [the rock: Jesus] that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see.  Verse 24 summarizes it all beautifully (NLT)-→This is the day [Resurrection Day/Easter Sunday] the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Today, the universal Christian Church celebrates Jesus’ resurrection.

D. Our Gospel gives us John’s version of the events of Resurrection morning (John 28:1-15). He reiterates what the other Gospels attest to: women, not the men, were the first eye-witnesses to the Resurrection. This is important to note as women were not considered reliable witnesses in those days.

Remember, our God likes to do things “opposite the ways of the world.” I think He was also affirming that He valued women. So, the angel appears to Mary Magdalene and Mary (the mother of James and Joses/Joseph), 2 witnesses. They were greeted by a shining angel, following an earthquake and the supernatural opening of the tomb. The Roman guards are so shocked they faint away. This in itself is unlikely as these were hardened men. It seems the angel didn’t want them to overhear his conversation with the women. The angel tells the ladies that Jesus is alive! He has risen! They can look into the tomb and see for themselves that His body is gone. They are to go tell the disciples that Jesus has risen from the dead, and intends to meet them in Galilee.

Even better, as they are on their way to witness to the men, they encounter Jesus Himself! He tells them not to be afraid—don’t you love it?! And to tell the men to rendezvous with Him—away from Jerusalem—in Galilee.

Meanwhile, the guards revive and have to report they’ve lost the One whose body they had been assigned to guard. This could have resulted in capital punishment for each of them. However, the Jewish religious leaders concoct a convenient narrative: Despite the sealed tomb, and the contingent of battle-hardened soldiers, Jesus’ unarmed followers stole His body! They have to bribe the soldiers to agree to collude with them. And Matthew informs us that many Jews believe that false narrative, that hoax, to this day—proving yet again, at least regarding false narratives, that there is nothing new under the sun.

But John and Charles Wesley, like us, knew the true story, and Charles enshrined it in his hymn:

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!

Death in vain forbids Him rise, Alleluia!

Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

(Jesus is victorious over death.)

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!

Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!

Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!

Ours the Cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

    (We too shall die to be raised again.)

Alleluia, the Lord is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Resolve in 2026

Pastor Sherry’s message for January 4, 2026

Scriptures: Jer 31:7-14; Ps 84; Eph 1:3-14; Matt 2:1-12

Some dear members of our congregation who have a huge movie collection loaned me a video that I watched several days ago. The name of the film is Purgatory, and it was released in 1999. It featured some actors you might recognize: Sam Shepard, Randy Quaid, and Donnie Wahlberg. The premise is that some famous gunslingers from the Old West, fellows who actually had good hearts, are resurrected to live in the supernatural town of Refuge. They can advance to Heaven if they avoid violence, immoral living, and cussing/dirty language for 10 years. However, if they slip up, an old American Indian from their era collects them and throws them off a cliff into the fires of Hell. The town of “Refuge” is actually Purgatory.

Roman Catholics believe in Purgatory as a place where you burn off your sins until the prayers of your family or others get you released to heaven. This is a very comforting belief because it promises another chance after death to receive forgiveness for our sins. The problem is there is no Biblical support for this belief. In fact, in the parable of Lazarus and Dives, the Rich man vs. the Poor Beggar, Jesus makes the point that there is no coming back from Hell. We make our choice over where we spend eternity by how we choose to live our lives while we are alive.

At any rate, the famous gunslingers include Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, Jesse James, and Billy the kid. They are all doing pretty well at controlling their carnal natures until a gang of about 25 bank robbing killers enters their town.

The 4 are then faced with a terrible dilemma: (1) Strap back on their guns and save the citizens of Refuge from this murderous gang, thereby consigning themselves to Hell; or (2) maintain their good behavior record but let the violent, lawless hoodlums rape and pillage their friends and their town. Following some pretty rotten behavior on the part of the bad guys, the four “fastest guns in the West” decide to sacrifice their eternal future to save their friends. Wild Bill says he’d spent almost 10 years (and his previous lifetime) thinking only of himself, but that it was now time to think of others.

In a massive shoot out, the 4 manage to kill every last bad actor. They are sure they have thus lost their chance at Heaven, and present themselves to the old Indian. However, they are shocked and relieved to discover their sacrificial love and selfless defense of their town has saved them from Hell. 

To those of us who know the Bible, the theology of the movie is obviously faulty: This life is where we make the choice to follow Jesus and are saved—there is no purgatory. Additionally, we are not saved through our own goodness; in fact, we really cannot redeem ourselves—we need Jesus! However, what I liked about it is that they were redeemed by putting the needs of others before their own, even at such a colossal price.

On this first Sunday of 2026, I would encourage us all to resolve to love God and to love others—in ways that are self-sacrificial–before we take care of ourselves. Our Scripture passages today all speak to why this should be the case.

A. Our Old Testament lesson comes from Jeremiah 31:7-14. Speaking for God, the prophet tells the Israelites that even though Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian armies are at the gates of Jerusalem, the Lord promises to eventually bring them back. Following the 70 year penalty for their idolatry and disobedience, they will be returning to the Promised Land. The Lord promises to carefully hand deliver the most vulnerable, like the lame, the blind, children, and nursing mothers. 15 times in chapter 31, He says, I will…,” vowing to redeem them. In spite of their impending defeat and captivity, God is promising, in advance, that He will restore them because He declared, back in (v.3, NLT)-→>”I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself.”

Later, in verse 9, He calls Himself the Father of Israel, the collective people, the nation. This is significant because He calls Moses (Job 1:2)–> “MY servant;” King David, too, He refers to as (Psalm 89:3)->”My servant.”

Because the nation of Israel consists of His sons and daughters, He will restore them following their discipline.

(J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible Commentary on Jeremiah, Thomas Nelson, 1991, pp.130-136.) 

We want to resolve in 2026 to love God more than ourselves because we, the Church, are—like Israel—His children.

B. Our psalm (84) describes how someone feels who truly loves God above all things. Verse 10, as paraphrased in Peterson’s The Message (p.1019) reads-→One day spent in Your house, this beautiful place of worship beats thousands spent on Greek island beaches. I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honored as a guest in the palaces of sin. Our worship of God is both a beautiful and a pleasing thing to God. That’s why it’s important for us to be here each Sunday. We honor our God, but we also leave feeling better, elevated, even comforted somehow.

Spending time in God’s House is also safe. The psalmist mentions the sparrows and wrens that nest in the Temple. They are noisy and messy birds, but neither the Lord nor the Levite keepers of the Temple ever chased them off. God’s House is a safe place, a sanctuary.

When we truly Love God more than our own comfort, we make sure we come to worship Him. The writer to the Hebrews said (10:25)-→Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage on another. This is how we do life together. This is how we dwell in Christ.

We want to resolve in 2026 to spend time in God’s House each week as a way of showing both the Lord and our church family that we love Him and them more than we do sleeping in late—or doing all the less important things that compete for our attention here on earth.

C. Our New Testament lesson (Ephesians 1:2-14) is a true celebration of God the Father and of Jesus Christ His Son. Listen to portions of this passage as paraphrased by Peterson in The Message (p.2126)-→How blessed is God! What a blessing He is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down the earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love. Long, long ago, He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ….Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, His blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’ re a free people … And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!…It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. It is in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it…, found yourself home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, God has adopted us through the saving work of Jesus on the Cross. Like the nation of Israel, we are now His Chosen People, His sons and daughters. Ultimately, with Jesus’ 2nd Coming, God the Father will place all things under the authority of His Son. Because we are God’s children we will be co-heirs with Jesus, sharing in His inheritance. 

We want to resolve in 2026 to love God and to love others better than we love ourselves because—just like the supernatural stagecoach coming to pick up the 4 famous gun-slingers—we want to avoid Hell and share in God’s glory in Heaven.

D. Finally, our Gospel lesson (Matthew 2:1-12) reminds us that wise persons of all times, places, ethnicity, and nationality have sought the Christ. They model for us the appropriate response to Jesus: The wise men seek Him earnestly, even at considerable time and expense to self.  When you locate Him, kneel in reverence and worship Him. Bring Him gifts of your time, talents, and finances. Be aware that there are forces at work who would try to destroy your faith. These include the world, the flesh, and the devil. Recognize and fight against the attempts of these forces to draw you away from God.

We want to resolve in 2026 to love God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ so strongly that nothing can take us away from them.                                            

In 2026, Let us resolve to love God above all things because He is our creator and redeemer. Let us resolve to spend time with the Lord each week, in His house, worshiping Him and sharing fellowship and love with other believers. Let us resolve to do all that is necessary to spend eternity with God and share in Christ’s glory and inheritance in Heaven. Let us also resolve to be watchful, guarding against all attempts of the evil one to pull us away from our Lord and Savior.

The driver of the Heaven-bound supernatural stage coach in “Purgatory” tells the four newly redeemed “The Creator may be tough, but He’s not blind.”  I take this to mean that the Lord has standards but He also is grace-filled. It makes me happy to think that Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid could be in Heaven. But it will make me even happier to arrive there one day and find each one of you there as well. Amen!

©️2026 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams

Posted on by Cheryl Norman

Bought at a Price

Pastor Sherry’s message for August 3, 2025

Scriptures: Hosea 11:1-11; Ps 107:1-9. 43; Col 3:1-11; Lk 12:13-21

Last week, we saw how in Hosea 1:1-11, the prophet was told he was to live out a metaphor of God’s faithful love for His faithless people.  God tells Hosea to marry a whore, a woman who would be repeatedly unfaithful to him. How painful for poor Hosea! The Lord meant for the Northern Kingdom to view Hosea’s tragic marital life as a portrayal of how He (the Lord) felt about the entire nation’s “spiritual adultery.”  Hosea’s wife, Gomer, humiliated him time and again by running around with other men. By Jewish law, Hosea would have been justified in stoning her to death.  

But God told him to break the law God Himself had created in order to make his life an object lesson for the people.  So, Hosea remained faithful, as does our God, to a spouse who was a serial or repeated adulterer.  

Worse yet, Gomer bore him 3 children, but he could not be sure they were his. The Lord had him name his 2 boys and 1 girl names that reflected the Lord’s increasing disappointment with and distress over Israel: (1) A son, Jezreel, whose name meant, variously, God scatters, not pitied, or bastard; (2) A daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, whose name meant not loved; and (3) A second son, Lo-Ammi, whose name meant not My people.

Through these children, God was saying to the people of the Northern Kingdom, I have faithfully loved you, but you have been consistently and blatantly unfaithful to Me.  I am withdrawing from you.  I will scatter you.

Interestingly our Lectionary skips Chapter 3, in which Gomer finds herself trapped in sexual slavery, and on the auction block—for sale to the highest bidder.  The Lord tells Hosea to go bid on her and buy her freedom.

Imagine how this woman has humiliated him, yet he has to demonstrate God’s unfailing love by using perhaps all the money he has to set her free.

Scripture tells us he offers 15 pieces of silver—a slave in those days cost 30. This would amount to about $230 in today’s money.  Remember Who was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver?  Jesus, the King of the Universe, was handed over to His enemies for the price of a slave.  Hosea paid half that in cash–perhaps because it was all he had—so he also added a bag and ½ of horse feed.  The man gave everything he had to buy her back!   Hold on to this metaphor:  Hosea redeemed Gomer at great price to himself!

Now, in chapter 11 (today’s reading), God changes the metaphor from a marital relationship to a parent-child relationship. He poignantly recalls (vv.3-4): It was I who taught Ephraim [Israel] to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.  I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.  God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt.  He freed them, loved them, healed them, led them, and fed them.  And how did they respond to His continuous, long-suffering, fatherly love for them?  They turned away from Him, like Gomer, to take up with pagan gods.  So, the Lord names the nation He will use as His method of discipline: Assyria (who defeated and ravaged the Northern Kingdom in 722BC (Hosea prophesied this message in approximately  750BC). 

Chapter 11 also movingly portrays God’s love and His emotional agony as He considers disciplining His people.  Verse 8 (NLT): Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?  How can I let you go?  How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim [2 cities neighboring Sodom and Gomorrah, probably just as evil and destroyed as collateral damage].  My heart is torn within Me, and My compassion overflows.   The Lord is heart-broken!  Nevertheless, His love endures.  The chapter closes as He expresses His intention to re-gather His scattered people and to bring them back to the Land (at Jesus’ 2nd Coming). 

Now perhaps you are asking yourself, why is this Hosea-Gomer saga paired with today’s Gospel, Luke 12:13-21?  They don’t seem very connected, but I believe they are.  Let’s examine how that may be:  A man from the crowd listening to Jesus’ teaching asks Him to make his brother share an inheritance.  We all know how these situations can be, don’t we?  One sibling gets more than the others, and resentments grow as jealousy and envy reign.  Or one sibling hires a slick lawyer to get a fair settlement overturned in their favor.  I personally know of a situation where the younger two siblings sued their older brother for a larger share of the inheritance.  They wrestled over this in court for five years, such that much of the remaining money went to attorneys.  The guy’s beef may be legitimate, but Jesus won’t go there!  His focus during His 1st trip to earth was to save us.  It will only be at His second coming that He will arrive to judge us. 

So instead of addressing the inheritance issue directly, He replies with a proverb (v.15; NLT): Beware.  Guard against every kind of greed.  Life is not measured by how much you own.  Then He teaches what’s now known to us as “The Parable of the Rich Fool.”   Peace, happiness, health, true friends do not come as a result of how many possessions or things we have.  Desires for abundant material goods are insatiable:  John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in America in the 1950’s was once asked how much money was enough.  He answered, “One dollar more than I have.”  No matter how much we have, we always want more because money or material things don’t truly satisfy. Furthermore, there are no U-hauls going to heaven.  The parable calls this kind of greed folly:  It violates the 1st and 10th Commandments and it puts having stuff ahead of loving God, which is idolatry.

The man in the parable is wealthy.   Even if people don’t realize it,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   wealth (and the ability to accrue it) is a gift from God.  James 1:17 says: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights.  Our Psalm 107 reminds us: For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Jesus focuses in on the man’s surplus, which is a problem for him.

He is already living well.  The man does not need the extra.  But he is greedy and self-centered.  Notice how often he uses the words, me, my, I, and myself: 11 times in 3 verses.  What letter is at the center of the word sin?  It’s I, isn’t it?  Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 5:10: Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loses wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.  Paul states emphatically in Ephesians 5:5: For of this you can be sure:  No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man/woman is an idolater—has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  He reinforces this in Colossians 3:5, Our New Testament reading: Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:  sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Selfishly, the man has no plans of providing for others out of his surplus; but, instead, he plans to horde his excess profits.  The Greek word used for the rich man is actually aphron: without mind, spirit, or emotions.  He thinks he is smart; but spiritually, he’s a zombie, a dead man walking.

Jesus is saying the man’s plan for the good life is foolish!  His life, like all that he has, is transitory, on loan and God is calling the loan in.  Jesus knows the man in the crowd is invested in gathering more money.  He also knows, and so should we, that our money, our worldly wealth cannot save us.

So, Who or What does save us?  Just as God the Father used Hosea to redeem Gomer from sexual slavery, He sent Jesus Christ to redeem us from slavery to sin and death.  In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV) Paul asserts: You are not your own; you were bought at a price!  As I have said many times, the Old Testament always points to the New (finds its completion in the New Testament).  The price for our redemption wasn’t 30 or even 15 pieces of silver and a bag and ½ of horse feed.  It was the precious blood of Jesus Christ!  Scholars believe Hosea bid all the cash resources he had to free Gomer.  We know that Jesus gave all He had to gain our freedom!   Hosea and Gomer present a picture of what was to come about 780 years later through Jesus’ great sacrifice on the Cross.

Do you suppose Gomer was grateful that Hosea had rescued her?  As she stood on the auction block and heard the demeaning things carnal men said about her—perhaps she was even groped!—she must have been so relieved to see her long-suffering husband come to her rescue.   This side of Heaven, we can’t know for sure, but we can hope.  Similarly, I believe we need to live every day grateful that Jesus bought us with His own blood.  Years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Peter wrote (1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV): For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. His saving act removed us from the auction block of sin.

Let us pray: Thank you, Father God, for loving us so much as to send us a Redeemer.  Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your selfless love foreshadowed by Hosea, and for volunteering to be that Redeemer. We could not save ourselves, but You were and are our Savior.  Please keep us ever mindful of this fact. We thank you, we love you, and we worship you in gratitude, now and always. Amen!

©️2025 Rev. Dr. Sherry Adams