NORWOOD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
5TH SUNDAY IN LENT MARCH 29, 2009
Sermon “Giving One’s Life to God: By Honoring the Covenant with God”
· The words may have changed a little over the years, but when I was a Girl Scout, the “promise” or “oath” that we said at the beginning of every meeting was: On my honor, I will try to do my duty to God & my country, to help other people at all times, and to obey the Girl Scout laws.
· As the pastor officiating at a wedding, I help the groom make a vow to his bride: I take you to be my lawful wedded wife, and I promise, before God and these witnesses, to be a loving and faithful husband, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.
· In a court room, during a trial, if you are called to be a witness, you must take a vow to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.”
· Promises. Oaths. Vows. Covenants. We’re not always very good at keeping them. We have good intentions but something happens and we chip away at our promises until they are completely broken.
· But the good news is – God keeps the promises God makes with us.
· And God’s good promises or covenants to us are not new inventions – they are evident all through the Scriptures.
· A long, long time ago, God made a covenant with a man who at that time was known as Abram – telling Abram that he would be the patriarch of a large family and nation.
· God fulfilled that promise – and Abraham had two sons: Isaac and Ishmael – and from them came the beginnings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We’ll be celebrating Abraham’s family this afternoon during our potluck.
· The youth of this congregation told us the story of Noah and his ark – through their puppet show.
· They used the puppet stage that Larry Weber (the very same who is being baptized today) donated to the church.
· After the 40 days of rain & the subsequent flood was over, God put a rainbow in the sky.
· Every time we see a rainbow, we are reminded of God’s covenant to never again destroy the earth with a flood.
· Jesus provided us with a NEW covenant in the Lord’s Supper.
· Holy Communion / Eucharist – is one of the two sacraments we Presbyterians practice.
· Sacraments – sacred moments – are an “outward sign of an inward grace.”
· The Lord’s Supper is celebrated often in a Christian’s life – we at NPC celebrate it at least once every month (the first Sunday of the month.)
· As Christians, we participate in the Lord’s Supper to remind us of Jesus’ sacrifice and redemption for us - so we never forget God’s new covenant of abiding love.
· The other sacrament we observe is baptism – which we Presbyterians believe is needed only once in a person’s life – and can be done at any stage of a person’s life – as an infant, an adult – or any age in-between.
· Baptism is the sign and seal of God’s grace and covenant in Jesus Christ. It is a public display of our acceptance of God’s love and grace.
· Just as Jesus said in today’s gospel lesson: a piece of grain must die before it can bear fruit – so we must too, in our baptism, enter into the new and fruitful life of Christ - by dying to our old way of life and rising anew.
· We die to sin in order to live for God.
· And living for God is what it is all about. Learning God’s laws and enjoying God’s covenants. Living within God’s grace.
· Being assured that nothing can separate us from God’s love – that God will never leave us nor forsake us.
· We are called to turn our lives over to the One who created us, who redeemed us and who sustains us.
· During our moments of meditation this morning, knowing that you can depend on God’s promise to be with you throughout your entire faith journey, ask yourself honestly: What is it within me that must die – in order to live for God – to make room for God? In order to have God bear fruit through me?