Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7, 11; Micah 6: 6-8
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
November 12, 2017
Stewardship Commitment Sunday
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. - Jeremiah 29: 1, 4-7, 11
With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? - Micah 6: 6-8
These words from the prophet Jeremiah have been guiding my vision of ministry this year. I did not randomly choose Jeremiah’s words but rather they took hold of me in a devotional reading one January morning.
Each week over the past ten months I set aside time to focus on Jeremiah’s words. Holy Spirit keeps drawing me deeper into this text to shape the attitude of my heart, not just as your pastor, but as a fellow disciple of Jesus Christ. We are all in this together to grow as disciples and to grow in our authenticity as the body of Christ.
Jeremiah wanted God’s people to be an authentic community of faith too. The city where God sent the Israelites into exile was Babylon. It was a challenging time for God’s people faced a lot of change. They were disoriented and they wanted nothing more than to go back to what was familiar and cherished and experience the goodness of life as they remembered in Jerusalem. The Israelites also questioned who they were in light of those difficult times.
The Lord spoke through Jeremiah and gave God’s people encouraging words to shape the attitude of their hearts from discontent, anxiety, and worry to a new attitude of purpose and gratitude.
No matter how difficult it was to adjust to all the changes in life, the Lord wanted the people to be intentional about two things. The first was to daily cultivate God’s goodness in their personal home life (Jeremiah 29:5-6). The second was to daily read the communal landscape of Babylon and to pay attention to the places where God’s shalom, God’s peace was missing.
If God’s people would have a prayerful heart for the true wellbeing of the city which God had sent them to, then by pursuing Babylon’s wellbeing, they would find their wellbeing and God’s peace too. It would not be an easy, but God promised to go before them to bring a future with hope and God’s unfolding kingdom.
We find ourselves facing a lot of change in our lives, community, and world. Even the landscape of ministry is quickly changing. It can be easy to worry and allow the chaotic troubles of today to steal our gratitude as people of faith. Remember the wisdom of one of our church members shared last week, “Gratitude is a day by day journey. It comes when we realize how blessed we are for everything that God gives us. Even the not so good but growing experiences.”
You and I have been blessed to be a blessing in an ever changing world. The prophets Jeremiah and Micah reveal to us how to be that blessing; for it involves being good stewards of God’s grace and living into God’s vision for ministry.
I am grateful for the long history of Van Wyck Presbyterian. Over the past 133 years the saints, past and present, who worship, fellowship, study, give, and serve here are also leaders in the community. Van Wyck Presbyterian Church is a welcoming community church that exudes genuine care and concern. We are movers and shakers who wholeheartedly invest ourselves to improve the community around us. My heart is grateful that this church community does this because of a deep value of relationships with God and one another.
God connects each of us into a priesthood of believers. That means each of us is a steward and minister of God’s grace. Your baptism is sufficient for your calling and commitment to Jesus Christ. God has given each of us a gift – a passion - and it is God’s greatest desire to lead us to intersect our passions with the needs of the greater community.
God calls you and me to goodness in our personal lives. We do this by nurturing this gift of faith and our passion for Jesus Christ within our families. Our spiritual lives are nourished through worship, Bible study, fellowship, and serving others. We serve by sharing our time, passions, and financial treasures. As we grow in our faithfulness God’s Spirit breathes within us a renewed attitude of the heart. God gives us a deepening love of God’s people and the bold trust in God’s coming kingdom.
As we look towards our shared ministries of 2018 I ask that you pray with session and me for the Spirit to open our eyes to see the places where God’s shalom, God’s peace is missing within our surrounding communities of Van Wyck, Lancaster, and Indian Land.
Where is God calling us to do justice by working for right relationships? Will we sense God nudging us in new directions to love kindness by serving and empowering our neighbors in need? Will we hear God whispering into our ears to walk humbly to share our blessings so that God’s love and God’s name will be shown, known, and glorified? God’s Spirit is on the move to encourage us to see these God moments before us.
God’s grace promises to go ahead of us, to shape the attitudes of our hearts, and bring the peace only our Lord can provide. God’s grace promises to give us a future with hope as we seek where God’s peace is missing among us.
When we are about God’s business, then we feel God’s peace deep down in our bones. And let me tell you – that kind of peace surpasses our understanding because we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. We are a part of God’s unfolding kingdom!
Never underestimate the spiritual power of a smaller sized church! God is not calling us to be successful. God is calling us to be faithful.
Will you join me in doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly?
Will you, because God wants each of you to say yes to God. For God wants you to be a part of building the kingdom in a way that only you can do!
I really cannot wait to see what God is planning to do among us and through us in 2018!!!
In the name of our triune God – Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
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