Call to Worship:
Psalm 19:1-2, Good News Bible
How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory!
How plainly it shows what he has done!
Each day announces it to the following day;
Each night repeats it to the next.

Unison Prayer
Lord Jesus, we pray that you will bless our church this week as it hosts the UM Army.  Bless the leaders, the volunteers, the participants and the clients.  May your love be seen through their words and actions, so that all may grow closer to each other and to you.  May the days not be too hot, nor the nights too warm.  May the food be nourishing, the work be rewarding and the sleep be restive.  May each encounter lead to an outpouring of joy.  Amen.

Words of Assurance: Ephesians 3:16-18, Good News Bible
I ask God from the wealth of his glory to give you power through his Spirit to be strong in your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love, so that you, together with all God’s people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ’s love. 

The Lord’s Prayer
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.

Opening Song: Paul McClure, “More Precious Than Silver”

Scripture:  Mark 10:17-22, RSV
As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.” And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

Sunday Sermon

One thing. That’s what Jesus says to the rich man. You’ve been doing great, and now you only need one thing to get to heaven. But the man can’t do it, because he has too much stuff.

Maybe he shouldn’t have asked. Maybe he should have stayed in his illusion that he was good. After all, he had kept at least six of the commandments, and Jesus hadn’t asked him about the other four. From all outer aspects, he was a good person. just like the 81% of Americans who say they are good people. Is that all it takes to get to heaven? Or are we also missing something?

It is very easy to believe we are good. For example, the more bad people we read about, the better we think we are in comparison, because at least we’re not that bad. And if we keep six out of ten commandments, that’s more good than bad, and seven is a passing grade even without a curve. And if in addition we do some good things, like recycling, that’s like extra credit. But from this man, Jesus wants something more. It’s just one thing, but it’s a big thing.

I used the Revised Standard Version today because of a word that has a double meaning in English: “great,” as in “many” and “great” as in “really awesome.” I think I have some great possessions. I have some great pieces of beach glass. I have some great records. I have some great toys, and if I can die with more than anyone else, I will win. But if I try to play show-and-tell with all this great stuff for more than a minute, other people get bored. This is not their idea of great stuff. They have their own great stuff.

There’s a recent commercial that opens with a woman polishing her spoons. She says, “If I die, who’s going to get all my spoons?” And her daughter says, “Nobody cares about your spoons, Mom.”

The rich man had great possessions. Most likely he had a lot of them, and he was really attached to them, and he may have worked really hard to get them, but Jesus wasn’t interested in his stuff; he was interested in his heart. And here’s where it gets tricky. The dude was almost there. Jesus looked at him, and he loved him, and he gave him the answer of how to get to heaven, and it was actually something concrete and doable.

And let’s be fair to the man. The Scripture doesn’t say he didn’t do it; the Scripture says he went away sad. We don’t know the rest of his story. He may have thought about it, prayed about it, talked to his friends about it and listened as they tried to talk him out of it. And the most likely scenario is that he decided to try giving away some of his stuff and giving some of his money to the poor to see how it felt, and hopefully it felt good. I say this is the most likely scenario because this is what we would have done, and have done, and are doing. And I use the word “good” again because it’s the word the disciples used, and that Jesus used, with the implication that no one is good enough to get to heaven without grace, except for, miraculously, this one time, which is like winning the golden buzzer on America’s Got Talent. The golden buzzer was used only twice in the Old Testament, for Enoch and Elijah, and only one other time by Jesus, for the thief on the cross.

All he had to do was to sell what he had and give to the poor. Other translations add the words “everything” and “all.” The implication is clear: at the very least, he is being asked to sell everything he has until he only has as much as the next person, which is by the way, not much: a few pieces of clothing, basic tools and basic furniture.

I have some pieces of furniture that I never use; that would be unheard of back then. I have some clothes I never wear; that would also be unheard of. I have some tools I never use, such as a jelly donut making kit that I am too lazy to figure out. Am I the rich young man? Notice that Jesus does not tell the rich young man to give his stuff to the poor; they probably wouldn’t want a jelly donut making kit either, but they might want a cloak or a pillow or a fish.

We tend to think of the rich man like a member of the 1%. In America, the top 1% controls a third of the wealth, while the top 10%, including the 1%, controls over two thirds of the wealth. The bottom half of the U.S. controls only 2.5% of the nation’s wealth, but chances are, we’re not in the bottom. In global terms, every one of us is rich, which means we’re going to have to look harder at today’s Scripture.

But before we do, a caveat that will help us all to breathe easier: Jesus is not asking every person to sell all they have; he is asking this one person who was foolish enough to ask Jesus a question, so maybe the lesson of the sermon is “never ask Jesus a question!”

It does seem that Jesus is challenging each person who hears this story to take inventory, to ask if we have too much stuff or have spent our money on the wrong stuff or have given only a little to the poor that we didn’t even notice when we spent it, like the difference between a 15% tip and a 20% tip. And Jesus is definitely asking the rich man to put other people’s needs above his wants. The irony is that sometimes when we start to do this, our hearts shift, and our new want becomes to help other people.

This is what UM Army is all about. It will happen to most of the youth at least some of the time, and some of the youth all of the time. What seems at first like work will become a desire. They will connect with the clients and the needs, and something will click. At the beginning of the week, the wants may include shade and breaks and energy drinks, but by the end of the week, sometimes, with God’s help, the wants will shift to helping people. My prayer is that every one of our work teams includes at least one youth who arrives with this attitude, and at least one more who leaves with it. It’s not a big ask, because I saw it happen last year in my own group.

At least one group will face a major spiritual test. At one site, there is a lot of yard work right next to a pool. And it’s going to be hot. And if no one “accidentally” falls into the pool, this will be a miracle second only to the resurrection of Christ. Apart from that, we’re going to be painting, doing small repairs, constructing a handicapped ramp and other similar tasks for people who don’t have a lot, or who once had a lot but who are now elderly and on fixed income. What we do will make a huge difference for the clients we serve. And then we’ll be inviting all of the clients to eat dinner with us on Thursday night.

And if we tell the kids – which we will – that there is nothing better they could be doing with their time than helping others in need, then the same principle holds true for us. There is no higher calling: not gaining wealth or prestige or fame, or accomplishing great deeds, or winning big games, or even going to church and singing God’s praises. The soul is measured by whether it faces inward or outward.

I’d like to close today by imagining a possible ending to the story. The rich man’s countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had many possessions. But he also wanted to do what was right, so he prayed about it, and one day he decided to use some of his wealth to build a series of wells, so people didn’t have to walk so far. And seeing that he had made a difference, he began to host parties for the poor in between the parties he had for the rich. Eventually he stopped having parties for the rich. He wandered through town in a disguise, giving coins to everyone who asked, until people started to recognize him. Then he moved on to another town. He decided to live in a smaller house. He planted fields and hired workers and gave them all the food until he could no longer afford to do so; then he retired and led a humble life. When he died, nobody remembered that he had been wealthy, except for Jesus, who welcomed him into heaven and said, “Now, for the first time, you are truly rich. Come, see the treasures I have stored for you.”

Closing Song: Matthew West, “Good”

Benediction
May our hearts be hearts of giving,
and our hands be hands of love.
Amen.

For the second year in a row, we will be hosting U.M. Army, with over 60 participants from multiple states! The group arrives Sunday afternoon, July 12 and will stay at CUMC until Saturday morning, July 18. Middle and high schoolers will go into the community every day to help with painting, yard work, ramp construction and other tasks at homes, churches and community centers. In the evenings they will enjoy spiritual programs and activities, and will sleep at the church overnight. Please keep the group in prayer as they serve God and community!

Call to Worship
Happy birthday, America!
We thank God for our land.
We thank God for our people.
We thank God for our freedom.
May freedom ring from shore to shore,
And may peace flow like a river throughout the land.

Unison Prayer
God of every nation, we thank you today for making us a people. We are blessed to live in this nation, a nation of immigrants, a nation of inventions, a nation of dreams. With your help, may we grow ever closer to our ideals as one nation under God. Amen.

Words of Assurance: Genesis 12:2
I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.

The Lord’s Prayer
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.

Opening Song: Anthem Lights, “America the Beautiful”

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:17, Galatians 5:1, Romans 14:13 and 19, NIV
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Therefore, let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, let us make up our minds not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. Let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Sunday Sermon

On every 4th of July Weekend for 40 years, I’ve chosen “The Star-Spangled Banner” as one of the hymns. Until last year I never gave it a second thought, but last year, for the first time, some people expressed discomfort about singing the national anthem in church. And they made some very legitimate points. So I thought about not doing it this year, but it’s America 250th anniversary, so I figured I would do it with an explanation.

The discussion comes down to one simple question: “What do you think of when you look at the American flag?” When I look at the flag, I think of our history, and how far we’ve come, and how much we’ve accomplished. I think of our ideals, from “liberty and justice for all” to “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” I think of 50 stars and 50 states united despite their differences, and the original 13 stars representing the equality of all 13 colonies. I think of Betsy Ross, mother of 17, and the original meaning of the red, white and blue, representing valor, purity and justice.

I am not blind to the criticism and controversy. I mourn the fact that the flag represents other things to other people: that the United States has lost much of its good will around the world; that the flag reminds some of colonialism and slavery; that some confuse the flag with the government. The flag is a symbol, and as such it is open to interpretation. But the same is true of the cross. Some look at the cross and they see the sacrifice of Christ; they see mercy and forgiveness; they see love and hope and encouragement and triumph. But others look at the cross and confuse the cross with its worst followers. They see hypocrisy and judgment and exclusion; they see dominance and aggression and the wrong kind of power.

These things make me sad in similar ways. I am proud to be an American, but I’m not proud of every American or everything America does. I’m proud to be a Christian, but I’m not proud of every Christian or everything Christianity does. But the beauty of both is the tapestry of opinion. I wouldn’t give up the breadth of opinion in faith in order to impose my beliefs on others, nor would I give up freedom of speech to make everyone share my political beliefs. Counter-intuitively, the thing that divides us is also the thing that has the potential to save us.

Neither the cross nor the flag is Republican or Democratic or independent; neither the cross nor the flag belongs to any one color or gender or age or social class. Each symbol is meant to unite widely diverse people – even those who were once enemies – in a common vision of shared ideals. Each symbol is meant to communicate the belief that what unites us is greater than what divides us, that we can do more together than we can apart, and that our diversity is our strength. America is what it is today because it is to some a melting pot and to others a refuge: a place where the traditions of one’s ancestors can be preserved or can mingle with the traditions of others. Most importantly, it is a nation where exposure to other cultures can soften prejudice and promote understanding and acceptance.

The ideals of our nation remain solid. The dreams of our nation remain secures. And as such, the flag ~ our flag ~ is an enduring symbol of where we’ve been, who we are now and what we might become.

Last week in The New York Times, 16 writers were invited to write short essays about what we are celebrating this weekend, focusing on the best parts of our country. Here are some of their answers:

~ Our aspiration to fairness in every arena:
~ The idea of America as a refuge for the oppressed;
~ Our bravest selves, including those who fought against slavery;
~ The “sunny, generous confidence” that believes that diversity makes us stronger;
~ Our ability as a nation to perform large, generous acts, such as relief for the poor;
~ Our public lands, preserved for all time and for all people;
~ The public library, which provides public access to information;
~ And perhaps most importantly, our willingness to “acknowledge our limits,
to struggle with failure and still try again.”

We are not a perfect nation, and we are not a perfect religion. This is because we are not perfect people. We strive, and sometimes we achieve, and often we fail, and over time we learn even more from our failures than from our achievements. We do not stop learning, and we do not stop dreaming, and we do not stop striving.

It would be easy to look at the American flag today and to guess that the blue is for Democrats and the red is for Republicans. But nothing could be further from the truth. The red represents the courage of soldiers who fought against the British Army in the War of Independence. The blue represents fairness and justice for all. The white represents freedom and equality, integrity and honesty.

What do you see when you look at the American flag? These are the things that I see, and I hope you see them too. Together, let us rise and sing our national anthem.

Closing Song: Whitney Houston, “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Benediction
May we go forth as good citizens
of our country, of our world, and of our faith.
May God bless America, and may God bless you.
Amen.