January 1, 2012

“HERE WE GO AGAIN”

The First Sunday Of 2012

 

Text Mark 4:1-9

Here we are, the first Sunday of a new year. We leave 2011 behind and all we experienced both the good and the bad and we begin something different, 2012. We don’t know a lot about the New Year. We have no idea what the challenges will be or what God will ask of us and this church. We do know that Bethany will be 100 years old this year, and we have to figure out what that means both now and in our future witness. There aren’t many churches that get to be 100 anymore, why Bethany? That question has to be important to what we do this year for we will not get another chance.

Let’s think a bit about what we do know. There are a few things we know and they are significant. We need to be sure we remember them.

First we know God loves us. We know that because we just finished celebrating the birth of Christ. God loved us enough to send Jesus to earth to live, to teach, to die and to rise again, all so  we might have all we can out of the gift of life God so wants us to have in abundance.

We know that God has accepted us as we are and calls us to come to him and be with him and try and make the very best we can out of life together. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He knows we are not that. He just wants us to come to him, sincerely and honestly without trying to be something we are not, and let him mold us and make us into far, far more than we could ever think we could be.

We know God has called us. We are his witnesses. We are the stewards of the Kingdom and stewards of the message of the Gospel. That is a very humbling place to be. There is no one else to fulfill that task other than you and me and those we can encourage to join us in the journey. If searching, seeking, lost people are to know of the saving truth of Jesus Christ, we have to tell them. If the world in which we live is going to hear a word from the Lord, we will have to be the ones to speak it, even if it is unpopular. Often times people do not want to hear what God has to say. We have to show them that a life lived in Christ is real and worthwhile and one we would not trade for any other.

We know that God has a plan for us. We don’t understand it all. We know little about it really, but we know that he is involved in the world he created, and that he wants to play a part in what we become and what we do. He wants to help us. He wants to encourage us. He wants to give us what we need so we will not give up, we will not give in to temptation, but will stay the course and keep the faith.

In our text, Jesus tells the parable of the sower who went out to spread seed. He wasn’t careful in the way he scattered the seed. He wasn’t paying attention. Some of the seed fell on the path in front of him and the birds quickly swooped down and ate them. Some of the seed fell on rocky ground; they sprang up quickly but had no soil to put in roots. Other seed fell among the thorns and were choked by the thorn bushes. Finally some of the seed fell on good rich soil which with care brought crop after crop each larger than the one before it.

Jesus is telling us that the task before us is a serious one and one with which we must take care. It’s not always going to be easy. But the feeling we get when just one person who was lost and struggling comes to know how much Christ loves them, or a person who thought life had no meaning for them comes to feel the hope and peace of the Resurrected Lord. You just can’t get any better feeling than that.

We have been called to make a difference, to help those who are drifting, to lift up those who have been beaten down, and to share both our resources and our heart with those who do not believe anyone cares for them.

So we face a new year and new challenges and we wonder if we are up to the task. Sure we know God has called us, but we have to know if we are as up to it as he obviously thinks we are.

In your bulletin this morning is a copy of Christ’s Bell. A friend of Sonja’s gave it to her and I wanted to give it to you. On it is listed twenty-eight positive things we can say about ourselves. Twenty-eight gifts God has already given us before we really get started. And the neat thing is that it also has the scriptural references if you need a little more back up.

I hope you will keep this bell. If you want more copies or want it sent to you electronically, please call the church office. It’s something we need to share, for it reminds us how God has already gifted us and prepared us well for the task ahead. We just have to remember that, for that is our strength and our foundation.

We have a job to do. Let’s get at it.