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  • About Us
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    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
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    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
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The Next Best Step - Phil. 6:3-6

10/26/2021

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We all take a lot of steps in our lifetime but not all of them are the same.  Not all of them are physical, or involve lifting and placing our feet one in front of the other.  Some of our most important steps have nothing to do with our feet and everything to do with our head and heart.  Those are the steps we are talking about today.

Throughout life, we take steps to accomplish various goals and achieve various milestones.  We take steps in our education, relationships, and careers.  We take steps that bring us closer to our dreams. We sometimes take steps to move away from things or people that are harmful or situations that are not stable or healthy for us.  The decisions and choices we make at any one moment, age, or stage impacts the steps we take and the strides we make. 

It is no different with our faith walk.  Even before we say “yes” to Jesus, God is pursuing us - walking alongside us in hopes that we would turn and see God’s face - God’s presence, looking back at us.  Our steps take us closer to or farther away from God.  The challenge is, how do we decide what those steps should be?  What or who influences the steps we take?  How do we know the steps we take are the right ones?  When are we walking by faith and when are we walking in circles?  When are we walking by faith and when are we walking in fear?  

Do you walk by faith, trusting God in the process or do you perhaps walk in bitterness, anger, confusion, trepidation, and uncertainty because things didn’t turn out like you thought?  Do you walk in judgement, cynicism, blame, intolerance, or criticism because of how you or others are treated? 

The apostle Paul gives us perspective in Philippians 1:3-6.  Paul knew what it was like to have power and success by the world’s standards.  He knew what it was to stand on top of the world and live a relative life of ease.   He also came to know what it was like to have nothing and to fail by the world’s standards.  He knew what it was to be at the bottom; to struggle physically and mentally; to feel heartache and suffering, and live a life of challenge, discomfort, and pain. Writing from prison, Paul encourages the church in Philippi to stay strong and continue in the faith knowing God will bring their faith and work “to a flourishing finish.”

We face all kinds of obstacles and challenges in life.  We find ourselves stuck between a rock and hard place whether we are 14, 45, or 70.  We get caught in the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” moments and we wrestle with knowing who is right, what to believe, and who to trust.  AND I believe that is all a part of the faith and transformation process - our journey of learning and growing and trusting Jesus in the midst.

In those moments church - adults, children, confirmands; in those moments the next step may not always be clear.  We may be afraid, uncertain, or fearful.  The next step may be emotionally, mentally, or physically difficult.  Regardless, and the thing I try to tell myself - the thing I try to hold onto is this:  God knows our hearts, God knows our needs, and God knows what we are capable of.  Therefore the thing to do is ask NOT what is the next step, but what is the next best step?  Or as the Disney character Anna sings, in the movie Frozen, “do the next right thing.”  
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can do
The next right thing
I won't look too far ahead
It's too much for me to take
But break it down to this next breath, this next step
This next choice is one that I can make.

If I had to guess, there are those facing a “next step” kind of situation or circumstance in their life, and are searching for the courage, strength, and wisdom to take the next best step- to do the next right thing in their own lives.  If that is you, I invite you to hear something.  Listen again to these words of Paul, “there has never been the slightest doubt that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish.”  The kind of work started in you and in me was good work, great work!  Paul didn’t say, “the bad work started in you will continue” or “the useless work.” He didn’t say “the careless, sloppy, unimportant, shotty, or ugly work began in you.”  He said, “the great work.”
People of God, we need to trust Jesus is at work in us and together we are taking steps to grow ever closer; taking steps to bring about the kingdom of God wherever we are.  We need to trust, like Paul, that Jesus through the Holy Spirit, continually equips, sustains, and works in our lives no matter the moment, situation, or mess.  Jesus is with us every step of the way. 

What is your next best step in your faith journey?  I pray all of us would seek to answer that question today and every day we walk this earth.   Amen.

Pastor Jenothy Irvine
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What's In Your Wallet?: Unlimited Rewards - Matthew 5-6

10/19/2021

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What’s in your wallet?  That’s the question we set out to answer in this year’s giving campaign.  It’s an interesting and clever question used by financial giant Capital One, but when asked of our spiritual life, and applied to our understanding of giving the question challenges us to consider what we have, what we do with what we have, what we give, and how we live our lives with God and with one another.  

By asking this question we are invited to reflect on how we participate in the unlimited nature of God and how God can provide, build, and sustain unlimited possibility, connection, treasure and reward when we, God’s people, follow the example of Jesus and risk what we have for God. 
Through you.  Through me.  Through us and them.  Through the church - the body of Christ.  Whether it is our prayers, presence, or practice; our time, talents, and tithe, or our heart, mind, and money, we both experience the unlimited-ness of God as well as become a part of it. 

This series had very little to do with your actual wallet and everything to do with your heart.  Where your heart is, there your treasure is also.  Truth be told, it is all about your understanding of a giving God and how we are created to live in relationship with God and with one another.  When that happens successfully - as taught and modeled by Jesus, we find ourselves bringing about the Kingdom of God right here, right now.  

In Matthew chapter 5 and 6, before the parables that describe what the Kingdom of God is like, Jesus instructs the disciples and early followers on why he came, his purpose, and how they are to live in community.  They were instructed to model a different way of being community.  That is still the call for followers today.  It is why we have this conversation about giving, tithing, and the sharing of our gifts.  In a world that tries everything it can to divide, fracture, and pit us against one another, it is critical we remember that as followers of Jesus, we are to model a different way, a better way - the Jesus way.

Jesus said:  
You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world. 

I do not come to abolish the law of Moses but to fulfill its purpose. 

Just say a simple, yes, I will or no, I won’t. 

Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. 

When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do - blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity.

When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do.  They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.

When you fast, don’t make it obvious and try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire you for fasting. 

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.  Store your treasures in heaven.
No one can serve two masters.  You cannot serve both God and money.

Do not worry about everyday life - isn’t life more than food and your body more than clothing?  

All of these teachings lead to the most important one - the reason and motivation for all the rest.  The heart of Jesus’ teaching is that above all else we are to seek the Kingdom of God, live righteously, and trust completely that God will give us everything we need. 

Seek the Kingdom of God.  In later chapters of Matthew, we are told, just as the disciples and the crowd that day, what the Kingdom of God is like - what the nature of God is like.  It is that of  kindness, support, compassion, unity, fairness, faithfulness, empowerment, transformation, growth, and community.  It is not division, injustice, and exclusion.  Of course it is not easy or without burden, pain or sorrow.  Yet it is rooted in the unity of Christ. 

This series then is about taking a good hard look within our hearts and asking ourselves what is it we are going to give - how are we going to give out of what we have been given by God in the first place?  How are we to participate in the Kingdom of God?  How is living with God and with one another related to the unlimited nature of God?

God is with us through God’s unlimited love - “for God so loved the world that God gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” - we are with God and one another when we share that love through genuine giving and serving. 

God is with us through God’s unlimited grace - “by grace, we are forgiven” time and time again if we but seek God. And we are with God and each other when we offer grace to ourselves and others inside and outside these walls. 

God is with us through God’s unlimited strength and comfort - “even youth will stumble and fall but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  And we are with God when we offer that safe place, hope-filled space, and comfort to those in need. 

God is with us through God’s unlimited peace - “a peace that passes all understanding” and cradles all of us in the tension of living.  And we are with God when we set aside our hurtful criticism and judgment of those we disagree with or who we refuse to acknowledge and instead seek unity.  

God is with us through God’s unlimited faithfulness - Jesus says “never will I leave you or forsake you.”  God’s presence through the Holy Spirit is always with us in ways we aren’t always aware of.  God is steadfast and true.  And we are with God when we trust God’s Spirit to lead us into deeper understanding and deeper connections inside and outside these walls. 

Opening your wallet is about opening your heart - your gifts, talents, prayers, presence, participation, and giving yourself and your resources to the God of unlimitedness.  It is about serving with God and bringing about God’s beauty, goodness, and truth to a world that not only needs it but longs and aches for it in ways we might not even know or comprehend. 

God, open us wide to the goodness, beauty, and truth of your unlimited nature.  May it be so. 

Pastor Jenothy Irvine
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What's in Your Wallet?: Unlimited Risk: Matthew 25:14-30

10/12/2021

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In the parable of the talents, Jesus is telling us he as the master is an incredibly generous friend who goes away and gives us far more than we need to imitate him in his absence. It is a parable about seeing the One in whom we can experience the abundance of life in the Spirit. Jesus has shown us everything he wants us to know, and he has taught us everything about what it means to be a disciple. And what he is saying is that, as he prepares to leave us, he wants us to claim all that he has given us. He wants us to understand that we have all the gifts we need to imitate him. 

Therefore, what he wants us to do is to use the gifts he has given us, like the Holy Spirit, and thus succeed in the only way that matters: looking and living like him. 

It is maybe why the real question we need to answer is not necessarily “What is in our wallet,” though important, but how are we are using what God has given us? What gifts do you, do we – need to employ to shape the church and the kingdom? What do you and I really need to give? 

After all, we can trust Jesus with what he is saying; he has shown us what he has done for us, even going to death on a cross. Jesus will never let us down.

But let’s not forgot the twist of the parable: to get to the root of this parable, we need to see Jesus not just as the master who gives us gifts and us as servants who do or don’t use those gifts, but we need to see the talents themselves. For in sending Jesus, the Father did not bury his love for us in a hole in the ground; instead, God took that love to market, to trade with it, to face the risks and dangers of relationships. The talents in the end are the Incarnation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the resurrection – of God risking everything to be with us, and that these talents are the proof that God will be with us, forever, revealing to us the very heart of God.

Amen!

Pastor Andy Kinsey
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What's in Your Wallet?: Unlimited Connection - Ephesians 4:11-16

10/5/2021

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In a world of 6.6 billion people, it is hard to believe that we could be connected to everyone else through no more than six connections.  That is the premise of the movie,“Six Degrees of Separation?” It’s a fascinating take on the connections every person has to everyone else on the planet.   

The premise of the film is that you are connected to everyone else in the world through no more than six connections. Effectively it says that humanity is just one big network, all linked by chains of acquaintance, in essence then, you are just six introductions away from any other person on the planet.

Believe it or not, by studying billions of electronic messages, scientists and statisticians recently confirmed this theory.  They worked out that any two strangers are, on average, distanced by precisely 6.6 degrees of separation.  In other words, putting fractions aside, you are linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances to Denzel Washington, Madonna, the Dalai Lama and the Queen of England.

I said all that to point out what I think followers of Jesus should already know.  It is something believers and church goers should already be aware of, recognize, and celebrate and that is that we are all connected.  There is a connection between all humanity and a specific connection between those who believe in God and put their faith in Jesus.   

What better weekend to explore this concept of connection than this, World Communion Weekend?  Christians all over the world join together in the unifying practice of communion this weekend.  Also called the the Lord’s Table, the Eucharist, or the Last Supper, this meal is about connecting - with Jesus and remembering his life, love, and sacrifice for us; with others as we accept one another as we are when we come to this table; as a church sharing and supporting one another as the body of Christ / people of God.  This table is both a personal and communal connection to Jesus and one another.  

The apostle Paul spoke of connection multiple times throughout his writings and emphasized the unity found when we connect through Christ.  For Paul, connection to one another through Jesus Christ, was central to the identity, function, and well being of the church.   The key thought of Paul in this letter is the gathering together of all things in Jesus Christ. Unity in Christ is the foundation of Paul’s conviction and writing.  In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul speaks to both existing and new believers, trying to help them understand how important it is that they find unity and work as one.  It is the relationship to Jesus, his presence within us, and our commitment to him that unites us one to another,  and in that alone, we should find unity, solidarity, and peace.   

Christ was and is God’s instrument of reconciliation - God’s way of connecting with humanity.  The church is now Christ’s instrument of reconciliation - Christ’s way of reconnecting with humanity.   The way we are connected to each other and the way we connect with others is the core of who we are AND a big part of what’s in our wallets.  It is the unlimited connections we are a part of and can be a part of when we give of ourselves to God and to the ministry of the church.  It takes the connection and gifts of all of us to be and do church in our world; to walk through and navigate life together when we are all different, to be a light of Christ and a safe place for all God’s people in our community; and to bring about transformation.

When you answer the question, “what’s in your wallet?” remember to think about your connections - how you are connected, where you are connected, and then ask yourself “how can God use me and my connections to deepen my faith and further God’s kingdom?”  Think about new ways to connect and how God might use new opportunities and relationships to deepen your faith and grow your understanding of living for God. 

May we come to realize through the giving of our prayers, presence, and service that we are a part of God's unlimited connections.  May we come to see that what we give can become the next connection for someone else, for ourselves, and for the church.  May we pause and give thanks for the connecting power of this table.   

May it be so.

​Pastor Jenothy Irvine
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Grace United Methodist Church
1300 E Adams Dr,
Franklin, IN 46131

Phone: 317-736-7962
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Weekend  Worship Services
Saturday: 5:30pm 
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