Musical Prelude and Service.

Psalm 13 & Matthew 10:40-42
How long God?
How long must I, or we, endure the heart break, the sense of betrayal and injustice, the pain that we
experience so often, just living? When will we experience the new life and the renewal that you have
promised us?
Psalm 13 is short but powerful. It doesn’t pull its punches. Life is difficult. Life is painful. Why are you
not making things better God? Have you abandoned us? But then it turns in the last couple of verses
to say in faith we turn to you and are joyous knowing that God is there and that we can count on
God’s love.
We experience pain and frustration. We experience a sense of loss and longing, but we are also
assured of God ‘s love, and so we sing on thanksgiving. But what does it mean to be grateful?
What does it mean to live in the knowledge of God’s love?
Jesus urges us to share that sense of love. To share what we have and to participate in the good
news of God’s love for the world.
Today’s Gospel reading is Jesus urging his disciples to go forth in faith to share his message with the
communities around Him. The tradition and view of the time of the Gospel is that the messenger is
the personification of the person who sent them. So, the person receiving that message should
receive the messenger in that manner. So; see the person bringing Christ’s message as if they were
Christ. And to do so is to act with kindness and generosity. And remember, there are no small acts.
Even a cup of water brings a reward.
The question then becomes, what is our reward? We can sometimes be lured into thinking in terms
of something grandiose. Perhaps securing a spot in life beyond death. But there is also a tradition
that looks at the reward for kindness or love in terms of our own sense of peace and comfort.
That showing kindness or generosity offers a path to the reward of being part of God’s kingdom
come. An act of compassion in a world that is often dominated by greed and indifference can make
all the difference in the world.
A Catholic writer and mystic from mid-century America named Thomas Merton offered some wisdom
on the rewards of compassion and kindness. This quote speaks to me. “Love seeks one thing only:
the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love,
therefore, is its own reward.”
And 17th Century English poet John Dryden offered these words: “Love is love’s reward.”
It is not a matter of seeking wealth or fame or power. It is not a question of gaining reputation
reverence. It’s a matter of showing love and contributing to the love of God’s kingdom.
We admire and often revere the actions and the lessons offered by the saints of our faith. People
who did remarkable things and are viewed as heroes. Admiring and learning from their actions and
their sacrifices is important. The teachings of people such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther
King Jr. The significance of the sacrifices made by people such Jane Haining who died in Auschwitz
can’t be downplayed. But if we are not careful, we can be intimidated and think we are not up for the
work of following Jesus. We are not capable of such sacrifice. But Jesus does not demand such self
giving. Even a cup of cold water.
Discipleship isn’t always heroic. It is simply living a compassionate life. It is offering simple generosity
when we recognize a need.
Today we had the joy of baptizing two children. To be part of welcoming these children into the
family of believers. We made commitments to guide them and encourage them on their journeys
through life. To help show them what it means to follow Jesus. Those lessons are not offered merely
through words. To speak of following Jesus, to say we believe.
It also means living lives of love and of compassion. To work towards a world of peace and of justice.
And that doesn’t necessarily happen through big gestures. Clearly some men and women found those
huge gestures necessary. They found themselves in remarkable times and moments. But far more
people offer lessons on how to follow Jesus through the quiet acts of generosity and kindness that
are part of our everyday lives. Making invitation and welcome a part of who they are. Of offering the
cup of cold water when it is most needed. Of recognizing the need in the people, they meet and
being those ambassadors of God’s kingdom of love and peace.
This congregation makes a point of being a place of safety, a space of generosity and compassion.
Of being a refuge of kindness and concern in a world that all too often rewards indifference and
judgment. Love is love’s reward.
Consider how you feel when you witness the gratitude of someone who has received an unexpected
gift. How did it make you feel? Was the joy in that moment a reward itself? Was that small step
taken toward God’s kingdom worth what you did?
Taking up the cross can be frightening. Giving up the life you have known can and is frightening.
Those words can take on immense meaning when we consider the sacrifices made by the people we
rightly memorialize. But Jesus tells us we can also gain so much. By giving up that which we know;
for a life in Christ, we also gain our lives. We gain a new life in Christ. We are not told, don’t love
your mother and father, don’t love your family. No. We are told not to love your family more than
God.
That love of God should frame how you love your mother, your father, your child.
And in that love, you find a new life. One of love, one of compassion, one of peace.
How long O God? Where are you O God? The psalmist starts this prayer expressing loss and anger
that God seems out of reach. But ends with exclamations of gratitude for God’s love.
We find God; we experience God in our relationships with the people around us. In our acts of
generosity and of kindness. As we welcome the stranger into new relationships, we experience God.
We witness God’s love in those growing relationships.
So, as we live lies of welcome and of love, may we continue to say, thanks be to God.
Amen
Rev. warner Bloomfield

Music provided with permission through licensing with CCLI License number
2701258 and One License # A-731789