Mount Tabor UMC Modern Service 2024-04-21 | Mount Tabor UMC Modern Service 2024-04-21 Let's Worship Together | By Mount Tabor United Methodist Church | Testing, testing. We got two more, two more weeks. Good morning. Sunday, April 21st. Amen. Testing, testing. Good? Keep keep talking? Alright. Sunday, April 21st, 2000 twenty-four, Modern Worship, Osbald Worship Center, Yay. Thank you. Check, check, check. One, two, check, check. Check, check, check. Good morning. Good morning. How is everyone today? So happy to see everyone here. Please stand and sing along with us with this first song. You in you in the so I need you shine pray for dawn eyes make the way done we are privileged today to have the opportunity to administer the sacrament of baptism to two children and to receive their parents as members in full of the church. So, I'm going to ask Ty and Julia Rutledge and their children to come forward now. Marcy and I will be able to participate in this but on behalf of the whole church, we express our excitement and joy for this moment. Brothers and sisters in Christ, through the sacrament of baptism, we are initiated in the Christ's Holy Church. We are incorporated in god's mighty acts of salvation and are given new birth through water in the spirit. All this is god's gift offered to us without price. I present to you this morning for baptism, Meredith Ellen Rutledge, and Grant Emmon the parents. On behalf of the whole church, I ask you, do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness? Reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin. Do you accept the freedom and power god gives you to resist evil and injustice in whatever forms they present themselves? Do you. Do you confess Jesus Christ as your lord and savior? Put your whole trust in his grace and promise to serve him as your lord. Will you nurture your children in Christ's holy church that by your faith, teaching, and example, they may be guided to accept god's grace for themselves, to profess faith openly, and to lead a Christian life. We and now to the church will you support these children and their family with love and prayers and live before them a life of faith that serves as a model of Christian discipleship? We will. Amen the water that we use includes water from River Jordan where Jesus was baptized. So, he might be baptized with the same water they used for him that is entirely possible. You come over. That's special. Won't touch it. Is it too cold? Alright, what full name do you give to this child? Meredith Ellen Rutledge, I baptize you in the name of the father, the son, the Holy Spirit, amen. That's god's way of saying, I love you, I choose you, you're my daughter. What for me was given Miss Gerald? Can do the same thing, okay? Grant Emmett Rutledge, I baptize you in the name of the father, and the son, the Holy Spirit, world without end, amen. I didn't give you a chance to touch. This is special water, wouldn't you? But Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Marcy has a presentation for you now. So, Meredith has already received her Bible. So, we're going to give you a devotion that goes along with your Bible and for grant, we're going to give you your own Bible so that you may read it and learn more about Jesus and being a child of god. You're welcome. Alright, let us pray. Gracious and loving god, as a family of faith, we lift our hearts and our voices, asking that you surround Meredith and Grant with your love and fill them with the Holy Spirit so that they may grow in the knowledge and confidence of your love, and walk in the way of Christ, and gracious God, may we, as a family of faith, surround them with a gathered community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their love of you, and go faithfully to serve others. God, today, we celebrate Meredith and Grant and pray that they may be the disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. Amen. And now for mom and dad, you are joining our church today and basically, what they answered before the baptism of their children is the same as the profession of faith you've made that previously anyway but there is one question I'm always required to ask of those who join our churches. Will you be loyal to the United Methodist Church and to this local congregation and support us with your prayers, presence, gifts, and services, answers we will Welcome on behalf of Mount Tabor. It's such a blessing to have this family as part of our faith family. At the close of the service, would you be willing to stand with me at the back so that folks can greet you as as they exit. Thank you so much. What a oh let me give you also these certificates. Um that come in your very own personalized High Point University folder. Which is now wet. This is because this is what was lying on the desk. Now, you get this but there are places as you will notice where you can have witnesses sign all of these documents but I've already signed em. Thank you. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you. Good morning, church. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Gabriel Serber and I get to lead us in worship today. Um so, thank you all again for being here this morning. If you are a guest, we're so happy that you're here and chose to worship with us this morning on this rainy Sunday and if you are a guest, we out of the welcomed us, we have a gift for you. I hope that you'll stop by on the way out so that we can bless you with that and learn more about you. Um and if you're at home, please feel free to text us hello at three three six seven seven seven seven nine nine zero. We'd like to connect with you as well. Um little story because that reminded me when they were getting baptized. When I was nine, I decided I want to be baptized too. So, at the time, reverend Doctor Ken Carter was our pastor and I went to his office and I said, I'd like to borrow him. No one take it home with me. He was like, well, okay. Um can I ask why? And I said, yes. I said, my grandma Judy, she's going to baptize me and we need the parts in the back to to we know the words that we're supposed to say and he was like, okay. Well, you know, I'm glad you want to be baptized but it really doesn't, you know, work that way. Um so, from there, he helped me, you know, get through the steps and got my parents involved on what that should look like and I was baptized. So, and I got my brother be baptized that same day too. So, my thoughts on his story. Um but as I we get called to worship a little bit less about me. Um in the book of Psalms, verse seven, verse chapter seven verse seventeen says, I will give thanks to the lord because of his righteousness. I will sing the praises of the lord of the lord most high. Let's stand and worship together. If I told you my story you were it wouldn't let go you would hear you would hear and when to tell you and if I told over the you would hear that was one for me and of Jesus that is greater is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long I am surround every side a life of stick my claim you say I will sing I trust you with it isn't oh god you hold my with every breath I will convinced that your promises will hold together and I will dwell in the hope of your love forever promises will hold I will see through and thunder a faithful It is time for Tabor Kids Worship. All children fifth grade and younger are invited to Tabor Kids Worship. Meet the leader in the back and follow us to the children's building. If you decide you want to stay here and worship, that's okay too. Be sure to check out the playground and pick up a kid's bulletin. Please pick up your children at the end of worship service in the children's building. Good morning. Good to see you all on this wonderful Sabbath morning. My name is Kim Harvey. I'm your director of Congregational Care and Spiritual Formation. I'm going to pray in just a moment and and then after that, we will be collecting our tithes and offerings. You can just place those in the baskets and pass them along your row and it gets in. You can pass it to the people behind you. You can also submit those offerings online. You can mail into church office or drop it off in the church office. So, thank you for your generosity in supporting the ministries of our church. We believe in the power of prayer here at Mount Tabor. We are a praying church. We say that every week and we are sincere. Um if you have a prayer request, you would like to share, you can place it on the back, on our prayer board. You can go to our website, submit it there. If you're watching us online, you can leave it in the comments on Facebook and our pastor, our staff, our prayer chain will pray over every single request and as always, any of us are happy to pray with you here today. So, at this time, I ask you to join me in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious god as we enter into this time of prayer, let us center ourselves, quiet our minds, and focus on you. Thank you for your presence, your abundant grace, and for the many blessings you have given to us. We pray for comfort for those who are mourning, for healing, for those who are sick. And for provision, for those who carry burdens. We pray for our church, for our next senior pastor who will be announced shortly and lord, we know whatever the future holds, you go before us and so we trust in you, united by our love for you, our service to you, and our shared purpose, and fulfilling the mission of your church, Now, bless our tithes and offerings for the building of your kingdom. May we continue to serve as your hands and feet as we care for each other. And help us to be the church you have called us to be. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let them take my feet with am I not a mile of mine will be Emmett Fox's manuscript work about the Sermon on the Mount. He says that the beatitudes are the executive summary of the entire Christian faith. That everything we know, live, and believe in Christianity somehow results from emerges from that and I think behaviorally at least he was correct. So, I want to share with you that what you already know. Fox the the Beatitudes basically say to us, think right and you'll live right. That's simple. He said, listen again to these verses from Matthew chapter five verses three through twelve. Now, I wish I would be here long enough that we could go through Luke because Luke tells them differently. Uh the Beatitudes but the intent the the dynamic of it just shifts dramatically but we're with Matthew so important. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are them that mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. Blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted for my sake. Yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, falsely saying all kinds of evil against you because of me, Rejoice and be glad in that day Because great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is the word of God for the people of God. Let us pray. Help us, oh god, to hear in this mysterious word of power beyond our own. That we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. In our lives, we do and say all sorts of things that we just kind of take face value that if you step back and look are just profoundly illogical. Friday night, I sat down to watch a documentary on Prime about the band Chicago. I fell in love with that band when I was in college. I still love Chicago. Listen to him often. And there's this documentary which turned out to be, I thought, really informative and good. Anyway, I sat down. I had the remote I knew that the batteries were going because they reached a point that's why you have to take em out and kind of roll em around, put em back in and they work. So, I sat down, turn it on, nothing happened. Turn it on, nothing happened. Turn it on, nothing happened and the betters were dead. So, what did I do? I'll bet some of you have done this. You won't admit it because it makes us look a little weird. I pushed it harder. And I kept and pushing harder. As if doing that will make dead batteries come back to life. Completely illogical but there I was and I'm sure some of you have done this. We we do things that are logical. We say things. When I was in New York, I weighed about 30 pounds more than I do now. And I'm not skinny now but about 30 pounds more. One day, I went into a blue store. Not knowing that it was a blue jean boutique the blue jeans in there were $800 a pair. I wanted some Lee's, Levi's, you know, 800 and I'm not kidding. $800 a pair and I was browsing knowing, no way on Earth, I'm paying that for blue jeans and one of the sales associates in in that boutique. Came over to me, dressed like he was going to be on the cover of GQ and speaking in some sort of weird, phony, European accent. And he said, would you be looking for something in a slim fit Now, I was polite. I was polite but I I just answered does this look like a slim fit? We do things, we say things that make no sense. I heard a TV preacher. Just recently, he was being interviewed and the interviewer said, why should people become Christian? And he answered and insincerely and I get what he was saying but he said, because it just makes more sense than anything else and I thought, maybe not. Maybe not when you really take it seriously over against what we call the wisdom of the world. Paul said, it is foolishness to both Jews and Greeks. Frederick Beechner said, nothing makes less sense. Than what Jesus told us about god So, if we do and say things that are illogical and take them as if they made sense when they don't, just think how the disciples must have felt when they heard Jesus articulate the beatitudes. They would have thought this makes no sense because they were steeped in Jewish law and Greek reason and suddenly Jesus began saying stuff there thinking, that doesn't compute. That is incredibly illogical. For example, we're not going to look at all of em that I just read but just just a sampling blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth and the disciples would have thought no are you talking about? We don't need meek. We've been waiting for centuries to have the new David. We need power. We need power that's military. Power that's economic. Power that's political like we had back then. Meekness equals weakness. And that's not what we need. And and that's the logic of the world. Meekness equals weakness. And it sounded therefore that Jesus was illogical until we hear what he actually was saying. He was saying, we find power when we finally discover where real power really resides and we align ourselves with it in and of ourselves, there is no power but if we are meek enough to say, I know where it is and I will reach out for it. That's when power occurs. I had a professor preaching in seminary. So, that was several years ago and he told a story that stuck with me all those years about a young man just graduated from seminary. He was assigned to a small membership suburban church and he went in there convinced he was the best preacher since Jesus himself and maybe better. Uh he had every bit of confidence. Person can have. I am going to knock them dead. These folks have never heard the kind of preaching I'm going to do and he arrived that first Sunday. In his congregation, there was an old retired clergyman spent his life faithfully, quietly, unassumedly, serving god-loving people and he saw the young man get out of his car and he didn't walk into the building. He just strode into the building I'm going to tell them something you never heard before and when he got into the church and robed up, that's how he went to the pulpit. He strode into the pulpit with that sort of weird, overly confident, hello we do. Which is like the weirdest gesture ever but that's a whole different sermon but he goes up into the pulpit doing that stuff, you know, and he begins to preach the worst sermon in the history of the world. Even he figured out about midway through, I don't even know what I'm talking about. This is going no place fast, and he said the benediction, shook a few hands, retreated to his office, closed the door, hid out until he thought everybody was gone and then he walk out to his car and his shoulders were sagged and his head was hung low and he felt like another failure like he had no ability at all and he looked up and there was the old retired clergy. And he said to him what did I do wrong in the pulpit? And very gently the old guy answered, son, if you'd gone in, the way you came out. you'd have come out the way you went in. The point being that power means knowing where real power really is. Alone, there are a lot of stuff I simply cannot do but together with god, we can move mountains. Isn't that what Paul said? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So, Jesus said, blessed are the meek. Those who are smart enough to figure out where the real power really resides into align themselves with it or how about this one? Blessed are them that mourn for they shall be comforted. Seriously? The disciples must have thought that that makes no sense. That's illogical. Uh blessed the Greek word for blessed. Uh one of the interpretation. One of the definitions of it is happy. Happy are them that mourn them that have had their their hearts ripped out of them. by an experience of grief, by a loss of someone who is absolutely irreplaceable. Where's the blessedness in It's illogical. Woman told me about the loss of her mother. She and her mother had been mom-daughter clothes almost sister close, best friend close, they lived near one another, there was not a day, they didn't talk on the phone, most days they saw each other. They were strength to one another, and then the mother contracted a terminal illness, the end of which was not easy for her, nor was it easy for those who loved her to watch. After she died, her daughter said to me, it was the weirdest experience. I was absolutely devastated but at moments, almost elated. I was sorry for me and my lost but I was happy to know that my mom would not be suffering anymore. In fact, she was in a place where there is no suffering anymore. What she's saying? That grief and joy can coexist in the same moment, the same experience. So, what Jesus was saying, Jesus, the great psychologist. He understood human nature. Another woman said to me after the death of her husband, all my I have been the strong one for everybody. That's my nature and I thought that's my role. Everybody leaned on me but when I lost him, Suddenly, all my strength disappeared and that was the first time that I simply had to collapse into the arms of god and it was the first time I finally realized those arms will hold me up. When we hear what he was saying, that which seemed illogical makes perfect sense and when you go through it, that's when you learn that it really is true. Blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted. Um let's do two more. I promise to do them quickly, more or less kind of sort of. Uh Blessed are the peacemakers No. We don't need peacemakers, Jesus. We need David. We don't need peacemakers. Let's not take control enough. Let's not take charge enough. It sounds passive. It sounds olive branchish. We are occupied by the Romans. We need somebody who light the match, drop the bomb. It just was illogical. I guess. But look at our world. We got lots of people who like the match and drop the bomb. Look at our world. Look what's happening in Russia and Ukraine. Look what's happening in the Middle East. Israel, Gaza, and now Iran is stepping in and we might too. Do we need more bravado? Do we need more anger is it possible that what we need most of all is for the political leaders of all those nations and others to finally begin to practice what they say they believe. The leaders of everyone of those nations, all their leaders. our members of one of the world's primary faiths, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and we said this before, what do all those faiths share in common? One verse that shows up in all their Bibles. One verse, do unto others what you would have them do unto you. Maybe what our world needs is somebody with the wisdom and the strength on a global stage to stand up and say we've tried everything else. Why can't we get smart enough to try what we say we believe in anyhow? The golden rule. If nothing else works, why don't we give love a try? Because we all say, we believe in it. What does our world need more urgently or more desperately? Than somebody who has the courage to be a peacemaker Is that naive? Yeah. Is it illogical? Yeah. Is it Christian? Yeah. Blessed are the peacemakers. One more. Talk about illogical. Whoo. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and say all manners of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad in that day for so they treated the prophets who came before you. Are you kidding me, Jesus? The disciples must have thought, that's the craziest one yet. That makes no sense. What is blessed? Where is the happiness in standing up or speaking out for something that is true and something that is right and some that you're ostracized, you're criticized, you're dismissed, you're made fun of, maybe you are persecuted. No. That doesn't make any sense. It's smarter. It's easier to sit still and remain silent. I know a ministries early nineties had a wonderful ministry. He was primarily a professor and an author, a great writer, but he also served earlier in his ministry, several churches and he's a wonderful preacher. As a matter of fact, in his early nineties, he's still writing and still preaching just as active as as if he were, you know, 40 or 50. A great great guy. He served the church for some time near a church that I served and so I knew the People and I knew the reputation of the church. Every church gets excited about something. Some about worship, some about fellowship, some about music, some about evangelism, some about missions, some about fighting. And that was one of those churches. It got its its energy from conflict. They were always mad at one another. Always had some sort of conflict going on. Always mad at whatever preacher they happen to have at the moment. Until he got there. And they adored him. All the years he there. Peace came to that church. It was the you know they they just had a truce with one another. They would have followed him wherever he led. They loved that minister. So years later, he and I were talking. I said, you know, you're you're remarkable. Almost miraculous. I know that church. I know those people. I know how they are. And I know that they've never liked a single preacher they had except you. In all the years, I never heard one of those people say one harm word about you. Ain't nobody responded he looked at me just as seriously as he could and he said, what a tragic commentary on my ministry. If I never said or did anything to make them uncomfortable, then I never said or did anything to help them grow. Blessed are you when others revile, you reject, you persecute you because you stood up, spoke out for that which was right, even when it was not popular. The world doesn't recommend that. The world doesn't understand that. But in the beatitudes, Jesus says, ultimately, it's more important to be on the right side of history. Then, on the right side of the crowd. So, we met Fox said, the Beatitudes are the executive summary of the whole of Christian faith and and and he may well have been right which is why we should read them often and seriously and when we do, we realize in a hurry, they don't make sense. From the standpoint of how the world does business, they're divinely illogical. They go against the grain of our nature. They challenge us to see life in a way that we have never seen it before nor have we been encouraged to see it. They they in challenges to see people in a new way and if we see em in a new way to treat them in a new way, no longer with such anger and such vitri and such judgment but now with mercy and compassion and tenderness and patience and grace and even love. It was a great old black and white nineteen40s romantic drama on TCM not long ago you don't know what TCM is, do you? No. Does mom, do you know anything? Yeah, any of the kids here. No, no, you gotta be my age but there was one of these old black and white, wonderful dramas about a man and a woman who loved each other and every obstacle in the world was put in between them. It just, their love could never work out but you know how those things are. Uh Bogey and Bacall always get together in the end. So, whoever they were, they got together at the very end. They overcame the obstacles and they're in an embrace before the final kiss and he says to her, know what makes no sense that someone like you could love someone like me. People say that about paging me, don't they Phil? Really? Yeah. I know they do. Uh someone like it makes no sense. Someone like you could love someone like me and she looks back at him and says, love is not supposed to make sense. It's supposed to make us come alive. Kiss, music, fade to black. Somebody wrote a wonderful closing line for that movie. Could in fact have been the closing line for the Beatitudes. Christianity does not make sense according to the wisdom of the world. But when put into practice it makes us come alive Let us pray. Oh God, by the grace of Jesus, and armed with his power. Give us the wisdom and the strength to become divinely illogical. We pray in Jesus name gracious to you and the children a thousand and beside you he is for sing everyone again one more time, amen. Our closing announcements, we have a special announcement from Bill Huffman, chair of Staff Parish Relations Committee. Gabriel. You're welcome. Uh good morning, Mount Labor. Good morning I've got we're running out of time. So, I'm going to give you my abbreviated version Uh count your blessings. We I do want to I do want to thank I want to thank thank god for our church staff. Uh the job they've done the last 6 months. keeping things moving, keeping things together. I'd like to thank the those who serve in the staff parish relations committee Uh you know, when some someone learns that your own staff parish relations committee, It's not at all unusual to hear the words. Good luck. Well, I'm sorry Uh but they like our staff, they're accompanying god-loving and a god-serving group. They're knowledgeable and gifted friends and I'm indeed grateful when they when has to serve. Each of them said yes. I want to thank god today for Mount Tabor n United Methodist Church. I thank god for you. You are the hands and feet of Christ. So much good has taken place. Since my family, Debbie, Christina, and I joined Mount Tabor back in the early nineties. Place to worship renovated sanctuary, children's building, welcome center all the hands and feet of Christ. At work. I'm so grateful to be a member of Mount Tabor United Methodist Church October. Last October, October twenty twenty-three, was a difficult time for Mount Tabor. It was a time of frustration of hurt feelings, of sadness many of us were confused Many of us did not understand but there was good news god understood God understood our heart and our frustration god understood our needs and I thank god today for directing Doctor Michael Brown to Mount Tabor and I thank Michael for saying yes when Todd. God understood our needs in the past and friends, god understands our needs today. I received this letter. We received this letter about two and a half weeks ago. I'm going to read just three sentences from it real quickly. It says, dear Bill, on behalf of the Western North Carolina cabinet, I am pleased to inform you that the reverend David Beam, B E A M will be appointed senior pastor of Mount Tabor United Methodist Church. Effective July 1st 20 twenty-four. An announcement may be made to your congregation on Sunday, April 21st. I also ask that you can contact Reverend Beam at your earliest convenience after April 21st to set a time for him to meet with your staff your staff parish relations committee, and a few other selected leaders. Well, I don't have a lot to share. A lot of information about reverend Bean. What I do have, I share with you now. David Beam, he earned a PA degree at UNC Chapel Hill and a master in divinity at Duke University. His first appointment in 1989 was as an associate at Broad Street United Methodist Church in Statesville. He's had four appointment appointments since then. The two recent appointments were Harrison United Methodist Church South of located south of Charlotte and he is currently serving as senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Franklin, North Carolina. He has served in Franklin. for the past 12 years. Reverend Beam has one son, Andrew Bryce Beam, who is 29 years old Reverend Bean's wife of 25 years, Angie passed away this past October I look forward to them. Talking to Reverend Bean Tamar, congratulating him on his appointment and hopefully, getting some dates and times that are convenient for him to come and and visit with us. As we move forward, his plans are made, his plans are finalized, staff parish, we do our very best to keep you informed. If you have questions, during this period please pass them along to staff or to a member of the staff parish relations committee. In closing, if you would please join me in prayer. Gracious and loving god We are excited for our church. We're excited because we know you have a plan. You have a plan for Mount Tabor. You have a plan for David Bean. And you have a plan for each and every one of us. We pray once again that Mount Tabor will be grateful, embrace, and love David Bean. And we pray that David Bean will be grateful embrace, and love Mount Tabor. And we pray for Mount Tabor to be the church that you want us to be In Jesus name, we pray. Thank you for your time Thank you, mister Huffman. Well, before we leave today, in your bulletin, there are a few announcements I'd like to share with you. One is the Andy Burton Memorial Golf Tournament which is May eighteenth. Um you can register online to participate and this is a support of youth missions as we also remember and celebrate Andy and his love for golf. Second is the nourishment for the soul. It's alert lunch and learn with pastor Michael. Um it is this Thursday, April 2fifth. Um from twelve to one in the fellowship hall. Lunch will be provided by Sherry Um with donations to are accepted to cover the cost and the topic is the gospel of Matthew. And lastly, we have the Red Cross Blood Drive which is this Tuesday from two to seven in the Family Life Center. Well, before we leave here today, let us be reminded that Jeremiah 2911 says, for I know that I have the plans for you, declares the lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. So, go in peace and in