South Roanoke United Methodist Church

The season after the Epiphany is a season of Ordinary Time, which includes eight Sundays this year. It is ordinary in that it stands between the two great church year cycles of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and Lent-Easter-Pentecost, and has no central theme. The first Sunday focuses on the Baptism of Christ and the last Sunday on the Transfiguration.

THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY                            JANUARY 22, 2006 

As Christ cares, we care… We care about all people.
We care about worship… We care about learning.
We care about service… We care about You.
We are a community of Faith growing in God’s Grace. 

9:00 A.M. PRAISE SERVICE
Led By Graceful Praise 

8:50 a.m.-Gathering Songs
9:00 a.m.-Greeting and Singing
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Children’s Time
Scripture
Sermon
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Offering and Special Music
Singing
Benediction 

ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M.

+ Indicates the people standing

ENTRANCE 

Words of Welcome, Registration of Attendance and Announcements           Bill Davidson
     (We encourage all of our worshipers to please sign the registration pad as it is passed
        along the pew; visitors are requested to also list their address. After it has been
        passed, please return it to the center aisle. If you wish to join this church by letter of
        transfer or profession of faith, please check “wish to join” on the registration pad.)
Gathering Music                           Prelude on “Cwm Rhondda”                             Manz
+The Opening Prayer
     Almighty and most merciful God, from you comes every good and perfect gift.
     We give you praise and thanks for all your mercies. Your goodness has created
      us, your bounty has sustained us, your discipline has chastened us, your
      patience has  borne with us, your love has redeemed us. Give us a heart to love
     and serve you, and  enable us to show our thankfulness for all your goodness
     and mercy by giving up ourselves to your service, and cheerfully submitting in
     all things to your blessed will;  through Jesus Christ our Savior.
       Amen.                                                                       (The Book of Worship 1965, Alt.)
+Processional Hymn  428           For the Healing of the Nations            CWM Rhondda

                                        PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
     -Phyllis Newman    -Loretta Hodges     -Norma Ruble Family     -Phil Leslie
Children’s Time
                          (Children leave for Children’s Church. See * below)
+Hymn  261                              Lord of the Dance                              Lord of the Dance
The Old Testament Lesson                                                                             Bob Garner
      (O.T. pg. 860)                                                                                     Jonah 3:1-5,10
     Pastor:  This is the Word of the Lord.
     People: Thanks be to God.
The Epistle Lesson  (N.T. pg 170)                                                    I Corinthians 7:29-31
     Pastor: This is the Word of the Lord.
     People: Thanks be to God.
Anthem                              Dear Lord and Father of Mankind                               Parry
     Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways. Reclothe us in our rightful
        mind; in purer lives, Thy service find, in deeper rev’rence praise.
     In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea, the gracious calling of the
         Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow Thee.
     Drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease. Take from our souls the
         strain and stress and and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace.
     Breathe thro’ the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm. Let sense be dumb,
          let flesh retire.
    Speak thro’ the earthquake, wind, and fire, O still small voice of calm. 
The Gospel Lesson   (N.T. pg. 35)                                                              Mark 1:14-20
     Pastor:    The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
     People:  Thanks be to God. 
Sermon                      “So Close You Can Almost Touch It!”                     Bill Davidson
+Response to the Word  885                                                        A Modern Affirmation
Pastoral Prayer                                                                                      
The Lord's Prayer                                                                                  Hymnal, No. 895
     Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy
      will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
      forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And
      lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom,
      and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering of Tithes and Gifts to God's Work
    Offertory Prayer 
    Offertory                     Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore                    Gabarain
+Doxology                                                                                               Hymnal, No. 95
     Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;
     praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
     Amen. 

                                                   SENDING FORTH
+Hymn 348                      Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling                      Thompson
+Benediction
+Postlude

+Indicates the people standing

THOSE SERVING TODAY:
       Ushers:   Captain-Gary E. Tegenkamp, W. R. Clemmer, Jr., Ellie Clark, Jeff Huffman,
                 J. Patrick Budd, Tim Johnson 

January 22, 2006 3^rd Sun after Ep.  SO CLOSE YOU CAN ALMOST TOUCH IT!
          Jonah 3:1-5, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20  

Sometimes things are closer to us than we think.  It seems that 9/11 happened a long time ago now and certainly far from here, but a recent experience served to bring it all back again, reminding us how very close we still are to the threat of terrorism.  Dr. Bob Roth and I were preparing to board the airplane to join our hurricane relief mission team in Mississippi .  At the baggage check the inspector found a pair of scissors that Bob intended to use in his volunteer medical capacity—he had forgotten to put them in the checked luggage, mistakenly leaving them in his carry-on bag.  Although Bob insisted that it was a surgical instrument and that indeed he was not a terrorist, nevertheless they confiscated his scissors.  In that moment Bob and I again experienced how terribly close the threat of danger can be in our day.   In our experience that day it felt so close you could almost touch it!  Close, uncomfortably close.  

A number of months ago, the police and ambulance responded to my Dad’s condominium in Newport News where he lived before we moved together to Roanoke .  They were responding to his Lifeline signal.  You see he was using this robot vacuum cleaner my brother got him for Christmas.  You set it in the middle of the room, turn it on (by remote control, of course!), and it vacuums the carpet all by itself.  But that day it got caught on something under his bed, so when he leaned down to dislodge it he accidentally pressed his lifeline button which he wears around his neck.  When they called his home he couldn’t hear phone ringing because of the noise of the vacuum cleaner.   So immediately I received a phone call from Lifeline as did Cheryl and my brother at his workplace in Manassas , and finally, the police and rescue squad.  When I did get a hold of Dad to tell him to let them know everything was all right, the police and rescue squad were already knocking on his door.  I have to tell you, at that moment I have never known help to be so close to my Dad since before my Mother died and he moved from Florida to be near us.  That assurance felt so close to me I can almost touch it.  As a matter of fact, my Dad can touch it!   He may set off a false alarm now and then, but in an emergency, well, that’s close enough for comfort.  

Close, so close you can almost touch it!  Jesus says in the Gospel today,
          The time is fulfilled; the Kingdom of God has come near.
Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians,
          I mean, my brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; the  
          present form of this world is passing away.
Jonah tells the Ninevites when he cried out for 3 days walking through the city
          Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown…

Jesus, Paul, Jonah all knew the Kingdom of God is so close you could almost touch it.  The question is, with the reality of the reign of God so close, how do you experience it?  The Scripture is clear today.  The reign of God is so close to you that it already affects you.  It’s not here in its entirety yet, the triumph of God’s love is not yet complete, but it is very close: sometimes uncomfortably close, sometimes close enough for comfort.  

Jesus says, “Repent!”  Things are going to change around here.  Don’t trust the way things are
          A world full of violence and hatred and war
          A life where sickness and suffering and failing relationships are so much of                       our experience
          Existence that always revolves around my personal needs and wants and                           desires than on the needs of others.
The reign of God—the time when God rules over everything; when all of creation is restored to the life in which it was originally made; when God really is in charge again.  It’s so close you can almost touch it!  How close is it to you—uncomfortably close?  Close enough for comfort?  Both?  When the reign of God comes so close to you is it like a threat that requires you to change or is it a comforting assurance that everything is going to be OK?  Or is it both?  

Well, Jonah believed the kingdom of God was close, very close.  He really did.  He believed it so much that when God first called him to tell the Ninevites, the mortal enemies of the people of God, to repent, he refused to go.  He refused to go because he knew that if he warned them of God’s intention to destroy them they would repent and God would not destroy them.  Jonah hated the Ninevites so much that he desperately wanted them to get what they deserved.   Jonah knew God well—God is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  God would not destroy them if they repented.  So he headed for Tarshish instead, in exactly the opposite direction.  But you remember what happened to Jonah.  He was swallowed by a great fish which spewed him on shore right back home again.  So in our text this morning God calls Jonah a second time.  And this time he goes to Nineveh , shouting “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”  What happened?  Just what Jonah feared the most:  they believed God, they repented, and God had mercy on them, and Jonah did not like it one bit.  Turns out Jonah needed to repent just as much as they did!  

Yes, Jonah knew this reign of God was coming right into the midst of life.  Jonah discovered that when the reign of God comes close mortal enemies repent, believe God, and become your very own brothers and sisters whether you like it or not!  The reign of God was uncomfortably close to Jonah no matter how hard he tried to run away.  

When Jesus came proclaiming the good news of God, that was uncomfortably close for the Roman ruler Herod who had already arrested John the Baptist for proclaiming the very same thing.  Yet Jesus boldly declared that “the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near.  Repent and believe the good news!”

Repent!  Turn around.  Things are going to change around here.  Don’t you trust the way things are because God is in the process of making great changes, restoring all of creation to the way it was made in the beginning.  

When Jesus called Simon and Andrew, saying, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people,” he was inviting them to be with him as one in the Jewish tradition became the follower of a rabbi or teacher.  Traditionally the student would sit at his feet and learn until the student became a teacher himself.  But Jesus’ invitation to Simon and Andrew is quite unusual in 2 ways:  1^st the rabbi did not extend invitations or recruit disciples; students would seek the teacher’s permission to join him.  2^nd whereas the student usually sat at the rabbi’s feet for training, Jesus’ disciples served at his side in active mission and ministry among people.  He doesn’t say, “You’ll learn something from me” or “I will teach you the things of God” rather, he says “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  And immediately they left their family business and followed him.   

Jesus said, “the time is fulfilled.  The Kingdom of God has come near.”  

The Apostle Paul echoes this faith in his letter to the church at Corinth when he says, “The appointed time has grown short….the present form of this world is passing away.”    You see it’s so close you can almost touch it!  

Now when Jesus calls you he may not be asking you to leave your family, your job, your home in order to follow him, but he is telling you not to trust the way things are.  Don’t trust your wealth any more—don’t build your security on your earthly treasure—not your paycheck, your SS check, your 401K plan, your medical coverage (be good stewards of all these things but don’t put your ultimate trust in them.)  Don’t put your trust in the way things are.  You have all learned by now haven’t you that you cannot ultimately put your trust in good health or youthfulness or the perfect relationships in life?  If you do what is your life if you get sick, or when you grow old, or you experience divorce, or your children are not as fulfilled as you would like them to be, or you experience death in your family.  You can’t trust health, youth, or any model of perfect relationship or you will surely be bitterly disappointed and ultimately believe that God is very far away indeed, not close, not near at hand.  Jesus says, “Repent.  Don’t trust the ways things are.”  

Steve Rhodes, a pastor in our annual conference, told the story of Eric and Mark, two men for whom the kingdom of God is so close they can almost touch it.

Steve had visited Mark who was the pastor at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Durham , North Carolina as he was researching a book he wrote on multicultural congregations.  Mark was the founding pastor of the church and through his ministry one of the most diverse congregations in United Methodism emerged.  

Meeting in a storefront, Good Shepherd was an incredibly vibrant congregation of over 18 different nations.  Mark’s eight year tenure was marked by great successes in building an authentic Christian community and also by great difficulties in those who were opposed to Good Shepherd’s international and inter-racial ministry.  Almost from the very beginning, the Ku Klux Klan openly challenged Good Shepherd’s ministry at every opportunity. During Mark’s tenure there, the church tried to secure land on which to build their first facility.  In the first seven years, every time Good Shepherd found a piece of property to buy, the Klan would intimidate the property owner and the land would be immediately taken off the market.  When, in their eight year, someone finally agreed to sell to them in spite of the Klan’s efforts, the Klan then organized the community around Good Shepherd to try to defeat the church’s effort to have the property rezoned for use as a church.  On more than one occasion, the Klan organized large crowds to turn out at public hearings voicing opposition to Good Shepherd.

The Klan’s intimidation did not stop there.  Bricks were thrown through Mark’s car windows.  The Klan would gather outside the store front of Good Shepherd verbally threatening the congregation as they entered, taking down license plate numbers of parishioners, distributing racist flyers and the like.  The Klan even approached Mark’s children and warned them not to go to their “daddy’s church.”  The Klan also threatened Mark’s life, at one point telling him that if he persisted in his efforts to build a facility, he “would be dead in a year.”  

By the time Mark left Good Shepherd, property had been purchased and a building had been built.  But the emotional and spiritual scars of giving birth to this wonderful congregation, however, have remained with Mark.  

A number of months after leaving his ministry at Good Shepherd, Mark had the opportunity to lead a teaching session at a Walk to Emmaus, a spiritual growth weekend which many United Methodists have attended.  When he first arrived at the retreat he met a young man of about thirty who looked vaguely familiar to him.  The young man even commented on it, but they could not place each other.  Later that evening, after Mark spoke, this young man, whose name was Eric, bumped into Mark as he was talking on the porch of his cabin with another man on the retreat.  Eric shared that he was from Fayetteville and that he had only been a Christian for a year and a half.  He went on to share that he had gone through a fairly dramatic conversion.  He had previously been a Klansman.

Mark was stunned to hear Eric’s admission.  Though he would like to say that he felt otherwise, at that very moment all the Mark felt was anger.  They both agreed that they needed to talk more about what had happened, but that this night was not the time.  So they left each other for the night.  Eric, as he later told Mark, went to the chapel at the retreat center praying and crying through the night asking for God’s forgiveness and also that God might make a way to allow Mark to forgive him.

The next day they met together and spent several hours talking.  They went through what had happened to Mark, incident by incident, and discussed Eric’s involvement.  Eric then shared how everything he had done to Mark was now being done to him.  Because of his conversion, the Klan had turned its full fury on Eric.  

When Mark asked Eric what had turned him around.  How did he go from such an active Klansman, persecuting the church, to now attending an Emmaus Walk?  

Eric told this story:  during the public hearings involving Good Shepherd’s property rezoning, Mark was asked to speak.  This was near the end of the process of hearings and, in this hearing in particular, the Klan had turned out “en masse” to defeat the rezoning proposal.  Mark had come to this hearing “armed for bear.”  He had the courage of Ezekiel and the righteous anger of Amos.  He was ready to call for “justice to flow like the waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  But when he stood to speak, Mark said that he felt that God was telling him not to blast the Klan.  Instead, God told him to speak words of grace.  So when Mark spoke, he looked right at the Klan and said, “I just want you to know that God loves you and I forgive you.”  He then sat down.  That was all he said.  It runs out that Eric was in the room that very day and Mark’s words cut him to the quick.  Those few simple but very profound words were the ones which initiated Eric’s conversion.  Though Mark had no clue, God used him that day as an instrument of the kingdom of God .  Now, here at this Emmaus Walk, the seeds sown some three years previous had born fruit.

Eric asked Mark to forgive him.  Mark was very honest about his anger, bitterness, and pain.  What Eric was asking of Mark was truly hard for him to give.  This was no easy forgiveness.  Mark said that he had no real choice, however.  He looked at Eric and said, “Eric, in the name of Jesus, I do forgive you.”  And at that moment, the anger, the hurt, the bitterness that Mark had been carrying around with him for so long began to heal.  More than one soul came very close to the kingdom of God that day.
                  Rev. Steve Rhodes, email posted to ClergyNet_VaUMC@yahoogroups.com September 29, 1998  

Brothers and sisters, it’s so close you can almost touch it.  A threat so close you’re just going to have to change, and a comforting assurance that everything is going to be OK.  With God so very close, you can live life in confidence, can’t you, no matter what life may bring?
                   The broken pieces of life find healing and wholeness in a way you                                     never expected
                   Even death does not hold the same power over you anymore.
                   You can dare to open your heart and let God change you and make of
                          you the person you are supposed to be
God is transforming our world right now.  Don’t trust the way things are because the present form of this world is passing away.  When Jesus rose from the dead there was such power released in creation that the reign of God is so close it already affects you.  The reign of God—the time when God rules over everything; when all of creation is restored to the life in which it was originally made; when God really is in charge again.  It’s so close you can almost touch it!