NBRC Sermon 06/29/2008 – Living Water

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[In the audio podcast of this service, the sermon begins at 21 min 20 secs.]

Elder Paul Soskey spoke about his experiencein Ghana.

From today’s scripture reading we hear Jesus saying, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Christ describes living water leading to eternal life. Today I will be speaking of another kind of living water, that which is found in most areas of the undeveloped peoples of the world, and does not lead to eternal life. In fact it does lead to pain, suffering and in some cases even death.

I want to share with you my recent service trip to Ghana to help improve the health situation of remote villages in the Lake Volta and Ashanti regions. The “living” water there. is one of bacteria, viruses and parasites that live either by themselves or in host organisms in untreated surface streams, ponds and lakes where people directly get their drinking water. Even rainwater collection systems and pumped ground water can be further contaminated by poor hygiene practices and storage conditions.

One such parasite is the Guinea worm. Guinea worm eradication efforts spearheaded by the Carter Foundation in the 1990s has eliminated the condition in many of the affected countries around the world, going from hundreds of thousands of cases a year down to thousands and in some countries actually to zero. Ghana has not eliminated it completely and in fact has had a recent increase in the problem, especially in the drier northern region where dammed ponds are created to collect and store the scant rainfall.
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NBRC Sermon 06/22/2008 – Historical Turning Points: Seeds of Growth

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[In the audio podcast of this service, the sermon begins at 9 min 30 secs.]

Mark 4:26-32

The two of us were sitting in her office in the convent. It was an ordinary day. The white room was decorated by a little religious art with haoloed heads. Though her office furniture was sparse, the chairs were comfortable. I was a young, solo pastor in Sussex County; she was a 60ish Reverend Mother of her Vails Gate, NY Episcopalian convent. I don’t remember what I was saying; but I do remember what she said. I was blathering on to this guru seeking insight into leadership for she was my spiritual director. The only thing extraordinary was her comment on spiritual leadership. She stated:
Over time I’ve decided that all I can offer my people is my own burning desire to grow.

Yeah! That’s all I can offer you. That’s all you can offer your grand/kids or your work or school mates. Your own burning desire to grow! That desire propelled NBRC to allow me to take a sabbatical from tomorrow for a month. In essence, that’s what the last NBRC historical period of which I’m preaching, 1987-1994, was about: GROWTH.

So how do you/we let God grow us? That’s one of the most important life questions!
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NBRC Sermon 06/15/2008 – Historical Turning Points: From Fighting to Fruitfulness

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[In the audio podcast of this service, the sermon begins at 35 min 40 secs.]

I Cor. 3:1-9

There you go minding your own business, and stumble again upon two well-meaning folk, who are arguing, did I say it before, AGAIN!

Maybe it’s family. In Sussex County I lived next to a gruff guy who had a relatively good family life except for his relationship with his sister. And no wonder when you hear that he began one family picnic conversation with her by saying, Fran, you look like hell today. Then, I understand, they were off to the races. Got any relatives like that?

Maybe it’s the church. The historical era from which I believe God wants us to learn today began with the last doozy of a fight in NBRC history over whether or not to give the parsonage to Bob Henninges after he had been here for 25 years. More on that later.

Maybe it’s work politics. Like Obama, do you invite the person that you bypassed for the promotion to help you lead the department? Is V.P. Hillary a good thing, and what do you do with Bill? How do you heal the wounds of win-lose to become win-win?

Maybe it’s the Bible. The Corinthian church had a problem. It was as if people were coming to church with Hillary and Obama pins, and not speaking to the other. Actually, they would have been Apollos for Apostle, or Paul for Apostle. It was as if Apollos’ supporters and Paul’s supporters were passing out literature on the way out of church!

How do you get well-meaning, fighting folk to work together?
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NBRC Sermon 06/08/2008 – Historical Turning Points: The Lord of the Dance

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[In the audio podcast of this service, the sermon begins at 29 min 10 secs.]

NBRC Historical Turning Points: The Lord of the Dance
Matt. 9:14-17

There they sat ladies in hats and gloves, men in suits and coats. A much more dignified congregation than that one born in the barn, sitting on a haystack. Gathered in our traditional, white-washed sanctuary was a small but growing congregation. 50 years ago they sat somewhat stiff and formal, but appreciative of the high-quality of the young pastor’s sermons. 25 years later at the end of the second longest pastorate in NBRC history, what a transformation! A much larger congregation, a much larger building, a much larger program, and a looser congregation. No longer did the ladies wear hats and gloves, and less men wore neckties. For the Prayer of Confession Pastor Henninges might read the newspaper headlines to the congregation to challenge them to confess the sins of the day. A little too loose for some. A favorite song was Lord of the Dance… They may not have danced in the aisles but they danced in their hearts.

The Spirit of God changes people/congregations because Jesus changed history. John’s disciples wanted to press Jesus and his disciples into an old mold. Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but you do not? In other words, how come you’re not playing by the routine religious rules, rabbi? What makes you think you can change things? But Jesus was the Lord of the Dance. Just as an old wineskin could not contain new wine that was still fermenting and expanding, neither could a tired, old religious system contain Jesus’ expansive love. Jesus accomplished a big C change (history) with his life and death on the cross. From that point on the Spirit accomplishes many little c changes so that individuals/church continue to learn how to express Jesus’ same love in changing times.

During the Henninges era the Spirit accomplished many little c changes. Stand up if you first started coming to NBRC during Bob and Barbara Henninges time. These are the real experts in how God changed NBRC from 1955-1981. You see that era has impact on us yet today! How blessed we are to sit on the shoulders of past saints!!

It seems to me that the Spirit made three main reformations in those 26 years:
First, the pulpit was never so lively. Not that Bob ever stood behind the pulpit because he usually stood something like this. Yet one of you described Bob’s sermons as ones that you remembered yet on Thursday. He was able to take the issues of the day, as if he were still reading the newspaper, and speak God’s word directly to them. He had the gift of prophecy. So what about the controversial issues of the day like civil rights, or the Viet Nam War, etc. Well, he wasn’t like this pastor… though he always included humor in his sermons. He took on the social issues with sort of a Hillary bent. One Republican friend admitted that sometimes she wanted to stand up in the middle of a Henninges sermon and shout, That’s WRONG! Another close friend described the aim of his preaching to help NBRC be the hands of Jesus in the world. The word of God lived!
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NBRC Sermon 06/01/2008 – Historical Turning Points: Dr. Doolittle!

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[In the audio podcast of this service, the sermon begins at 20 min 15 secs.]

HISTORICAL TURNING POINTS: Dr. Doolittle!
I Cor. 15:50-58

How do you get a plaque like this one here? Most of you, like me, don’t need one in a building, but you do pray: LORD, make my life matter! I mean, how does your life matter beyond studying for tests, affording gas, pruning trees, and correcting kids?

LORD, how does my life matter? I Corinthians 15:58 could be the life verse for our next historical honoree, Dr. Doolittle. Read it with me. God tells us two things:

First, expect some trouble—otherwise you wouldn’t need to be steadfast and immoveable. In Dr. Doolittle’s 50 years here (1856-1906) he had his share. Still green in the ministry he held hands around the bedsides of folks dying of a typhoid fever outbreak. On the heels of plague came war—the Civil War. Flag-draped coffins must have broken the hearts of the community. Then on the heels of being steadfast through war, came money problems. By 1874 the new church already had a steeple 5 ft. out of plumb; walls that were sprung by brick filling too heavy for the frame, and decaying main posts. The building wasn’t immoveable. $7,000 later they had their second new church in a dozen years. Paying that off in the post-war Depression forced Doolittle to offer to accept 20% pay cut for the year of 1878. 6 years later when the good Dr. asked consistory, how about restoring that 20%? consistory made the reduction permanent.

We have some trouble wherein God calls us to be steadfast and immoveable, too. I don’t need to remind you of America’s problems with the war and the economy. Though we don’t have plagues of sickness, we do have plagues of indulgence today: obesity, STDs, etc. LORD, help us be steadfast in healthy eating and sexual disciplines!
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