Palms West Presbyterian Church
Where ... there's a place for you!
Where ... there's a place for you!
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January 17, 2010
Benchmark moments in our lives. Those moments that occur in history that are so significant,
so earth shattering, that we’ll never forget where we were or what we were doing, when we
first heard about them.
The most recent Benchmark moment in history for most of us is probably Sept. 11, 2001. The
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in N.Y.C., the Pentagon in Wash. D.C. and
a thwarted attack that felled a plane in Shankesville, PA. Over 3,000 people died in those
attacks. The term “9/ELEVEN” is forever part of our culture. “9/ELEVEN” is no longer a date,
it’s no longer a birthday, it’s no longer an anniversary, it’s now a historical benchmark. Where
we you when you first heard the news reports on that fateful morning? “9/ELEVEN” forever
seared into our minds and our memories.
30 years before “9/ELEVEN”…another Benchmark moment. July 20, 1969. A man steps foot
on the moon. American Astronaut Neil Armstrong steps out of the lunar module at 11pm EST
and his boot hits the dust of the surface of the moon. Most of us saw it in T.V. the next
morning. “One small step for man one giant leap for mankind” he utters as he walks on the
moon and the phrase is spoken over & over on millions of T.V.’s around the world by Walter
Cronkite. Buzz Aldrin also walked on the moon that day but it seems that Neil Armstrong gets all
the press. Where were you.the day that man first walked on the moon?
30 years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the moon….another
Benchmark moment. Dec. 7, 1941. The Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Force stationed at
Pearl Harbor. T.V.’s didn’t exist in homes back then so the word didn’t get out all that fast.
Oh, the technology might have existed but it would be the mid 50’s before the majority of
families could enjoy television. So they all hunkered down by the family radio to hear the
accounts of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. They heard the President, F.D.R. utter that famous
phrase on that infamous date that the date of Dec. 7, 1941 shall be “a date which will live in
infamy”. Soon America would enter WWII and the rest would be history but…where were you
when you heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
The final benchmark date I’ll bring up, which will lead us into the message this morning, I
understand is the historical event which the baby boomer generation considers to be the ultimate
benchmark date. Where everyone old enough to understand knows exactly where they were
and what they were doing, on this date. November 22, 1963. The day President John F.
Kennedy was assassinated while riding in his motorcade through the streets of Dallas, TX. I
was a little too young to remember but, if my Mother was still alive, she’d tell you that I was
riding in the back of the family station wagon when the news came over the radio and that she
was so upset, she had to pull the car over on the side of the road to compose herself before she
was able to continue driving. November 22, 1963. It’s seared into our minds. Where were
you and what were you doing when you heard of the Kennedy assassination?
This was the first young, popular President. He came from the ultimate political family. Life in
their world was favorably compared to Camelot, that mythical land of tranquility inhabited by
King Arthur, Lancelot and Gwenevere. His wife was a fashion icon. His children looked
perfect. His mission was to build a Great Society that would focus on enhancing civil rights for
all peoples, establishing Medicare and Medicaid for the elderly and the needy & waging a war on
poverty. Goals everyone was in favor of. J.F.K. made a promise to the American people in
1961 that he would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. And as we now all
know, that promise came true with 6 months to spare. November 22, 1963…was that the date
that the dreams of a modern day Camelot died???
Imagine how the senior staff of J.F.K. must have felt after his death? His advisors, his cabinet
members, his closest friends, did they all think that the dream of a great society was dead now
that the architect of that dream was dead? Did they all think that the strides being made in the
war on poverty and the enhancements in Medicare and Medicaid would now cease to exist now
that J.F.K. ceased to exist? Did they now think that since J.F.K. was now dead that the vision
of a man walking on the moon was now dead? And did they think that the mission & purpose of
that Presidential administration died that fall afternoon on the streets of Dallas, TX. when the
President died?
Upon thinking of these things, I had to ask myself the question….How do followers and
disciples of charismatic leaders manage to carry on when the leader himself is no longer in their
presence?
2,000 years prior to this “final Benchmark date that we just mentioned”, I wanted to look into
how a group of men and women, who just lost their leader, who was the architect of the plan
for all mankind, managed to carry forward with the mission of the greatest man who ever
walked the face of the earth.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
The Apostle Paul asks us in a very childlike way…. If every single one of us was an ear, how
would we see? If every single one of us was a nose, how would we hear?
After Jesus was crucified, after he rose from the dead, after he walked the earth for another 40
days and after he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the father Almighty for all
eternity, how did his Church manage to still march forward? How did they manage to not have
a bunch of noses but no ears, a whole bunch of ears but no eyes or a whole bunch of eyes but
no noses? How did that early Church, those first Christian Congregations, manage to carry on
and succeed after their leaders physical presence ceased to exist?
Well, God sent what we have come to know as “The Comforter”, the Holy Spirit. He knew
these mere mortal men & women would need comfort now that Jesus was no longer living with
them, eating with them, teaching them, preaching to them, worshipping with them and leading
them.
It was catastrophic to the disciples when Jesus finally ascended into heaven. Even though he
told them that it would happen, when it did, it was a shock.
Well, it was kind of a shock to us too when Pastor Gary announced he was leaving, wasn’t it?
It was 1,000 times more catastrophic for the disciples to lose Jesus Christ but losing our Pastor
was still a shock, no? Now I’m not about to compare an earthly Pastor to Jesus Christ or
ourselves to that first group of disciples, but you get the comparison, right? The physical
presence of a leader, a Pastor, a Minister and a “Shepherd”, both 2,000 years ago and, in our
case, one month ago, ceased to exist!
One of the final times that Jesus spoke to his disciples He said,
This last sentence “He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” was intended
to help the writers of the Gospels remember what Jesus had said when he walked on the earth.
You need to remember that some of the Gospel writers didn’t begin their letters, their accounts
of the life of Jesus, what makes up our New Testament today, for 25 or 30 years after Christ’s
ascension so they needed the help of the Holy Spirit to recall all that Jesus said and did.
Today, this verse “He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” is intended to
help us remember all that we read and study in the bible. “Bringing to our remembrance” is
designed to help The Holy Spirit help us to remember all those great bible verses and bible
promises that we learned as kids. So when we have periods to great trials or great joys, we can
remember the promises of God to help carry us through our lives.
Jesus continues in verse 27 to say “My Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Let
not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful”. Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit was needed
2,000 years ago to help his Church carry forward and he knows that his Church today, our little
Church today, needs the same Holy Spirit for us to carry forward with the mission of Christ.
He never wants us to be troubled or fearful for what comes around the corner for his people or
his church. He wants us to move forward with great joy and his wonderful peace!
You’ve all probably heard to old sports axiom “There is no I in team”. A sports team must
function as one in order to succeed. Teamwork is paramount. Individuality is discouraged. It’
s the team that wins or loses, not individuals.
In the scripture that we just read from I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us that “There is no I
in body”.
Just because some of us stand before you in a visible role delivering a message on Sunday
morning doesn’t mean we’re any more important than the person who goes to Prayer Meeting
on Tuesday night @ 8:30 and prays for each one of you. Just because the Choir is front and
center in their fancy robes or a soloist stands on the pulpit to bless us and inspire us with
beautiful music, doesn’t mean they’re any more important than the person who comes in here at
the crack of dawn each first Sunday of each month to prepare the communion elements so they’
re ready for you when you walk in the door to partake in the Lord’s Supper.
There is no “I” in body when it comes to the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul goes on to look at this concept in another way. “You,” Paul says, “are the
body of Christ”. There is a tremendous thought here. Christ is no longer in this world in his
body, therefore, if he wants a task done within the world he has to find someone to do it. If he
wants a child to be taught, he has to find someone to teach him. If he wants a sick person
cured, he has to find a physician or a surgeon to do it. And he wants his story to be told, he has
to find someone to tell it. Literally, the Apostle Paul says, we have to be the body of Christ,
hands to do his work, feet to run his errands and a voice to speak out for him. This is the
supreme glory of the Christian—we are all part of the Body of Christ on earth.
And how do we manage to be able to do all these things? How do we, mere mortal sinners,
manage to be his hands, be his feet, be his voice?? I Corinthians has the answer……
“The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all the things that you
need to know and he will bring to remembrance all that I have said to you”.
And it’s the same Holy Spirit that will help us today that was here on earth 2,000 years ago to
help those first Christian congregations. In 2,000 years, the purpose of the Holy Spirit has never
changed.
Well, you know, somehow, someway, a few of the missions and the purposes of the Kennedy
administration somehow managed to survive that November assassination in Dallas, TX. The
Vice-President, who took the oath of office on a plane back to Washington D.C. a mere 4 hours
after the assassination was quoted as saying “I make a promise to the American people to carry
out the programs of the Kennedy administration, L.B.J. said. Not out of sorrow, not out of
sympathy and not out of grief, but because they are right.”
And those early Christian congregations after Christ’s ascension managed to survive also with
the help and the leading and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that we have
today. The same Holy Spirit that fuels the Church worldwide as well as our little congregation
right here.
And we will survive, too. We survived the leaving of Pastor Jeff Mitchiner and we’ll survive
the departure of Pastor Gary Cecil because….this is the Church of Jesus Christ and we are the
Body of Jesus Christ, fueled by the Holy Spirit…and that will never change.
So we will continue to preach, to teach, to sing, to learn, to give, to pray and to worship
because these are the great commandments of Jesus Christ and we are his body right here on
earth. And we do these things out of love for God, out of an appreciation for all that Jesus
Christ has done for us, out of the inspiration and the gifts from the Holy Spirit and, we do all
these things because they are right! Amen!!!!
Written By and Presented To the Congregation by Eric Widness
Benchmark moments in our lives. Those moments that occur in history that are so significant,
so earth shattering, that we’ll never forget where we were or what we were doing, when we
first heard about them.
The most recent Benchmark moment in history for most of us is probably Sept. 11, 2001. The
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in N.Y.C., the Pentagon in Wash. D.C. and
a thwarted attack that felled a plane in Shankesville, PA. Over 3,000 people died in those
attacks. The term “9/ELEVEN” is forever part of our culture. “9/ELEVEN” is no longer a date,
it’s no longer a birthday, it’s no longer an anniversary, it’s now a historical benchmark. Where
we you when you first heard the news reports on that fateful morning? “9/ELEVEN” forever
seared into our minds and our memories.
30 years before “9/ELEVEN”…another Benchmark moment. July 20, 1969. A man steps foot
on the moon. American Astronaut Neil Armstrong steps out of the lunar module at 11pm EST
and his boot hits the dust of the surface of the moon. Most of us saw it in T.V. the next
morning. “One small step for man one giant leap for mankind” he utters as he walks on the
moon and the phrase is spoken over & over on millions of T.V.’s around the world by Walter
Cronkite. Buzz Aldrin also walked on the moon that day but it seems that Neil Armstrong gets all
the press. Where were you.the day that man first walked on the moon?
30 years before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the moon….another
Benchmark moment. Dec. 7, 1941. The Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Force stationed at
Pearl Harbor. T.V.’s didn’t exist in homes back then so the word didn’t get out all that fast.
Oh, the technology might have existed but it would be the mid 50’s before the majority of
families could enjoy television. So they all hunkered down by the family radio to hear the
accounts of the attacks on Pearl Harbor. They heard the President, F.D.R. utter that famous
phrase on that infamous date that the date of Dec. 7, 1941 shall be “a date which will live in
infamy”. Soon America would enter WWII and the rest would be history but…where were you
when you heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
The final benchmark date I’ll bring up, which will lead us into the message this morning, I
understand is the historical event which the baby boomer generation considers to be the ultimate
benchmark date. Where everyone old enough to understand knows exactly where they were
and what they were doing, on this date. November 22, 1963. The day President John F.
Kennedy was assassinated while riding in his motorcade through the streets of Dallas, TX. I
was a little too young to remember but, if my Mother was still alive, she’d tell you that I was
riding in the back of the family station wagon when the news came over the radio and that she
was so upset, she had to pull the car over on the side of the road to compose herself before she
was able to continue driving. November 22, 1963. It’s seared into our minds. Where were
you and what were you doing when you heard of the Kennedy assassination?
This was the first young, popular President. He came from the ultimate political family. Life in
their world was favorably compared to Camelot, that mythical land of tranquility inhabited by
King Arthur, Lancelot and Gwenevere. His wife was a fashion icon. His children looked
perfect. His mission was to build a Great Society that would focus on enhancing civil rights for
all peoples, establishing Medicare and Medicaid for the elderly and the needy & waging a war on
poverty. Goals everyone was in favor of. J.F.K. made a promise to the American people in
1961 that he would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. And as we now all
know, that promise came true with 6 months to spare. November 22, 1963…was that the date
that the dreams of a modern day Camelot died???
Imagine how the senior staff of J.F.K. must have felt after his death? His advisors, his cabinet
members, his closest friends, did they all think that the dream of a great society was dead now
that the architect of that dream was dead? Did they all think that the strides being made in the
war on poverty and the enhancements in Medicare and Medicaid would now cease to exist now
that J.F.K. ceased to exist? Did they now think that since J.F.K. was now dead that the vision
of a man walking on the moon was now dead? And did they think that the mission & purpose of
that Presidential administration died that fall afternoon on the streets of Dallas, TX. when the
President died?
Upon thinking of these things, I had to ask myself the question….How do followers and
disciples of charismatic leaders manage to carry on when the leader himself is no longer in their
presence?
2,000 years prior to this “final Benchmark date that we just mentioned”, I wanted to look into
how a group of men and women, who just lost their leader, who was the architect of the plan
for all mankind, managed to carry forward with the mission of the greatest man who ever
walked the face of the earth.
And now I will show you the most excellent way.
The Apostle Paul asks us in a very childlike way…. If every single one of us was an ear, how
would we see? If every single one of us was a nose, how would we hear?
After Jesus was crucified, after he rose from the dead, after he walked the earth for another 40
days and after he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the father Almighty for all
eternity, how did his Church manage to still march forward? How did they manage to not have
a bunch of noses but no ears, a whole bunch of ears but no eyes or a whole bunch of eyes but
no noses? How did that early Church, those first Christian Congregations, manage to carry on
and succeed after their leaders physical presence ceased to exist?
Well, God sent what we have come to know as “The Comforter”, the Holy Spirit. He knew
these mere mortal men & women would need comfort now that Jesus was no longer living with
them, eating with them, teaching them, preaching to them, worshipping with them and leading
them.
It was catastrophic to the disciples when Jesus finally ascended into heaven. Even though he
told them that it would happen, when it did, it was a shock.
Well, it was kind of a shock to us too when Pastor Gary announced he was leaving, wasn’t it?
It was 1,000 times more catastrophic for the disciples to lose Jesus Christ but losing our Pastor
was still a shock, no? Now I’m not about to compare an earthly Pastor to Jesus Christ or
ourselves to that first group of disciples, but you get the comparison, right? The physical
presence of a leader, a Pastor, a Minister and a “Shepherd”, both 2,000 years ago and, in our
case, one month ago, ceased to exist!
One of the final times that Jesus spoke to his disciples He said,
This last sentence “He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” was intended
to help the writers of the Gospels remember what Jesus had said when he walked on the earth.
You need to remember that some of the Gospel writers didn’t begin their letters, their accounts
of the life of Jesus, what makes up our New Testament today, for 25 or 30 years after Christ’s
ascension so they needed the help of the Holy Spirit to recall all that Jesus said and did.
Today, this verse “He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” is intended to
help us remember all that we read and study in the bible. “Bringing to our remembrance” is
designed to help The Holy Spirit help us to remember all those great bible verses and bible
promises that we learned as kids. So when we have periods to great trials or great joys, we can
remember the promises of God to help carry us through our lives.
Jesus continues in verse 27 to say “My Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Let
not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful”. Jesus knew that the Holy Spirit was needed
2,000 years ago to help his Church carry forward and he knows that his Church today, our little
Church today, needs the same Holy Spirit for us to carry forward with the mission of Christ.
He never wants us to be troubled or fearful for what comes around the corner for his people or
his church. He wants us to move forward with great joy and his wonderful peace!
You’ve all probably heard to old sports axiom “There is no I in team”. A sports team must
function as one in order to succeed. Teamwork is paramount. Individuality is discouraged. It’
s the team that wins or loses, not individuals.
In the scripture that we just read from I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us that “There is no I
in body”.
Just because some of us stand before you in a visible role delivering a message on Sunday
morning doesn’t mean we’re any more important than the person who goes to Prayer Meeting
on Tuesday night @ 8:30 and prays for each one of you. Just because the Choir is front and
center in their fancy robes or a soloist stands on the pulpit to bless us and inspire us with
beautiful music, doesn’t mean they’re any more important than the person who comes in here at
the crack of dawn each first Sunday of each month to prepare the communion elements so they’
re ready for you when you walk in the door to partake in the Lord’s Supper.
There is no “I” in body when it comes to the Church of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul goes on to look at this concept in another way. “You,” Paul says, “are the
body of Christ”. There is a tremendous thought here. Christ is no longer in this world in his
body, therefore, if he wants a task done within the world he has to find someone to do it. If he
wants a child to be taught, he has to find someone to teach him. If he wants a sick person
cured, he has to find a physician or a surgeon to do it. And he wants his story to be told, he has
to find someone to tell it. Literally, the Apostle Paul says, we have to be the body of Christ,
hands to do his work, feet to run his errands and a voice to speak out for him. This is the
supreme glory of the Christian—we are all part of the Body of Christ on earth.
And how do we manage to be able to do all these things? How do we, mere mortal sinners,
manage to be his hands, be his feet, be his voice?? I Corinthians has the answer……
“The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all the things that you
need to know and he will bring to remembrance all that I have said to you”.
And it’s the same Holy Spirit that will help us today that was here on earth 2,000 years ago to
help those first Christian congregations. In 2,000 years, the purpose of the Holy Spirit has never
changed.
Well, you know, somehow, someway, a few of the missions and the purposes of the Kennedy
administration somehow managed to survive that November assassination in Dallas, TX. The
Vice-President, who took the oath of office on a plane back to Washington D.C. a mere 4 hours
after the assassination was quoted as saying “I make a promise to the American people to carry
out the programs of the Kennedy administration, L.B.J. said. Not out of sorrow, not out of
sympathy and not out of grief, but because they are right.”
And those early Christian congregations after Christ’s ascension managed to survive also with
the help and the leading and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that we have
today. The same Holy Spirit that fuels the Church worldwide as well as our little congregation
right here.
And we will survive, too. We survived the leaving of Pastor Jeff Mitchiner and we’ll survive
the departure of Pastor Gary Cecil because….this is the Church of Jesus Christ and we are the
Body of Jesus Christ, fueled by the Holy Spirit…and that will never change.
So we will continue to preach, to teach, to sing, to learn, to give, to pray and to worship
because these are the great commandments of Jesus Christ and we are his body right here on
earth. And we do these things out of love for God, out of an appreciation for all that Jesus
Christ has done for us, out of the inspiration and the gifts from the Holy Spirit and, we do all
these things because they are right! Amen!!!!
Written By and Presented To the Congregation by Eric Widness
This Week's Sermon
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many,
they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one
body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to
drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say,
"Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not
belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole
body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body,
every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would
the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the
hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On
the contrary, those parts of the body that seemto be weaker are indispensable, and the
parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are
unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no
special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater
honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that
its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers
with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all
apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts
of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those
speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?
Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most
excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 NIV)
they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one
body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to
drink. Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say,
"Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not
belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole
body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body,
every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would
the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the
hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On
the contrary, those parts of the body that seemto be weaker are indispensable, and the
parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are
unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no
special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater
honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that
its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers
with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all
apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts
of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those
speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues?
Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most
excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 NIV)
“These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. The Holy Spirit, whom the
Father will send in my name, will teach you all the things that you will need to know &
he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”. John 14:25-26 (NIV)
Father will send in my name, will teach you all the things that you will need to know &
he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”. John 14:25-26 (NIV)