First United Methodist Church - Fort Collins, CO

Two things seem to be running through my mind as I think through some of the implications surrounding the theme, “What if we could live forever?”

As impossible as that might seem it is important to realize that we will leave a lasting legacy and, in that way, we will live forever. The momentum of our lives does not stop with our passing. There is “carry over” and some of that we can determine. We can work hard to see to it that the “carry over” from our life, our legacy, is positive and life-giving.

When Jesus met with his disciples for their last meal together he said something about how they would see him no more for a little while and then they would see him. Also, as he broke the bread and offered them to cup of the New Covenant he was thinking with them his legacy. In a real way he was working through what it meant that when his days on earth were over, they were not over. He was reflecting upon what would outlive him that he initiated in his life.

Through our legacy we will live forever. How do we want to be remembered? What do we want our legacy to be?

The other part of the sermon that is coming into focus is the part that understands inheritance. We existed before we were. It did not begin with us when we were born. The writer of Proverbs points out, “The Lord created me at the beginning of His work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.”

There is something that was before we were, and it is important to know what that was. From where or what did we come? How was the world being prepared for our arrival? What obligation do we have to take the inheritance we have been given and do something with it?

We will leave something behind when we die, and something of us will live forever. What will that be?

We were given something before we were born, what will we do with our inheritance?

If you have thoughts on either of these subjects or both of them write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you would like others to read your comments click on the “comments” box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

What If You Could Live Forever?

Sermon for June 3rd

One of the most important things to notice, which we often forget, is something Jesus did at the Last Supper. We have turned this into an important ritual and sacrament, and it’s a wonderful time in the church. The last meal Jesus had with his friends was preparation for his death, but it was a reminder of something that would transcend his death.
We celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion on the first Sunday of every month here. We will celebrate it next Sunday.

What does Communion mean?

1. It is a reminder of the appreciation we have for loved ones who have died. We remember when we were at the table with them.

2. It is a reuniting with the spirit of Jesus as we are told about the body and blood in the cup of juice and the bread.

3. It is a lifting up of the common and showing how every ordinary meal prepared in our homes has the potential to be a sacramental moment.

4. Finally, it is Jesus’ reflections on what it would mean if he were to “live forever”. In the sacrament Jesus is inviting us to think with him his mortality and the eternal life he sought to bring to us.

This Sunday we will want to think about the ramifications of what it means “if we live forever”. How will that change the way we think and the way we act? How will that influence our relationships and our dealings with those with whom we have no relationship; or a negative relationship?

What would it mean if you thought you would live forever?

I’d welcome your thoughts on this. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to view your response click on the “comments” box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

As we look back over our lives there are some days when things come together for us. We may wonder what makes that possible. As I have thought about the Tower of Babel and the Pentecost event I notice two contrasting outcomes.

In the Genesis 11 story the people built a tower and discovered their language was confusing to them. They spoke the same language but there was no understanding. It always happens when we build monuments to ourselves. We may say the same words and we may speak the same language but we will not understand each other if we give ourselves to building a monument to our own selfishness.

In Acts 2 the disciples are celebrating the harvest of Thanksgiving. Pentecost is a Jewish festival of harvest. The disciples have come together to thank God for the good things in life. The Spirit of God comes upon them, and people of all nationalities are speaking in their own native language. Everyone is understood.

The meaning of this seems clear:

1. We are best served to begin each day with gratitude rather than greed.

2. We are most confused when we spend our time trying to gratify our own ego need for recognition and we move toward a higher degree of clarity when we are in touch with that which is greater than ourselves.

On this Memorial Weekend we are given the time to reflect upon the people who have given so much to us. We realize how important people have been in our lives as we remember them. We realize, with gratitude, the men and women who have served our nation and have given their lives in service of freedom.

May this be a Pentecost weekend for all people.

For what are you thankful. On the weekend approaching whose sacrifice for you will you remember?

If you have thoughts write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net and if you are willing to let others read your ideas click on the “comments” box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

“Those Were The Days, My Friend”

This sermon is taking on a life of its own. I am now moving from the issue of language to the issue of memorial. Looking back what do we see? Thinking about the past what do we notice?

There are eras of our lives; times that make up our character and help us move forward. Three eras to consider.

1. There were days given to the “glory of God”; times when there was a belief and an understanding that there was a God in charge, and we lived our lives to God’s glory.

2. There were days given to the “babble and bumble” of our own effort to build towers to ourselves; momuments to our ego. Generally, these were days when we came to realize we are divided by a common language.

3. There were days given to the “power of Pentecost” when we are able to look beyond ourselves but to see within ourselves something Holy and special, and when we were able to understand the goodness of God and we lived to the glory of God.

Pentecost always happens when we realize our human potential and we elevate it to the Glory of God.

Those were the days when everything came together for us. Those were days when we knew our own power, but yeilded to a power greater than ourselves.

On Memorial Weekend we celebrate the lives of people who have gone before us. We remember what they thought and what they taught us about the days we spent with them.

Have you had Pentecost potential in your life when you realized God’s presence and your own power? When did it happen? What did you do with it?

I’d like to hear from you. Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net or leave a message others can read by clicking on the “comments” box.

I look forward to reading your ideas.

Charles

May 27th 

“We Are Divided By A Common Language”

In looking over two texts that seem to compete with each other we see something that is quite revealing.

In the Pentecost account in the 2nd Chapter of Acts we learn about the Holy Spirit coming onto the people and the people each spoke in their own language but everyone was understood.

In the Genesis story in Genesis 11 we read about the Tower of Babel and how humankind was attempting to develop a common language but God disrupted their language so they wouldn’t be able to understand one another.

I think this is the state of things today in the Christian Church. We are divided by a common language. We speak the same words but do not understand. Orthodoxy is confronted by heterodoxy; liberals are confused by conservatives; fundamentalists battle extremists on the other side and people are speaking but not understanding.

Can we ever get to the point that we understand each other or are we destined to languish in a world of miscommunications? It is a problem we don’t seem to be able to repair?

Have you ever tried to communicate with another person your faith only to feel that you were not heard? Have you ever been confronted by people whose faith is so different from yours and to have them come on in such a strong way you began to feel your faith was not as strong as theirs; you had no answers to their questions; no response to their strongly worded propositions?

What do we say to a ‘fundamentalist’?

What do we say to a person who shares our Christian belief but whose understanding of it is so different from ours we wonder if its truly the same?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to read your thoughts and respond to them click on the “comments” box below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles Schuster

Don Messer will be preaching on Sunday, May 20th. We have been trying to bring Don to First Church for over a year and we have been able to get his schedule cleared for this coming Sunday.

Don is the Director of the Center for AIDS Awareness. He travels all over the world for the United Methodist Church trying to make people understand the devastation of this epidemic. He is a great speaker and this is an important subject.

If you would like to add your own expressions of concern about HIV AIDS write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow others to see your comments click on the “comments” box below.

Charles

In the 14th Chapter of the Gospel of John we find these words:

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom God will send in my name, will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Some people have a clear sense of the Holy Spirit. There is a power in their lives that is as real as anything else they know, and it is decisive and strong. Some people will tell you their lives are directed by the Holy Spirit and it is an intimation of the Will of God.

Other people have no awareness of such a thing. They may wish for it but they do not experience it. They may appreciate that other people understand it but they have nothing in their lives that compares to it.

I think there are two areas in every person’s life that can be the equivalent to the Holy Spirit impulse expressed by very religious people. If we have a mother who was a nurturing and caring person, we have an Advocate like that which was spoken of in the Gospel of John.

If we have not had a nurturing and caring mother that doesn’t mean we have no awareness of this. I am convinced every person has an advocate in their lives. For some it is a loving mother. For those who have not had a loving mother, or father there is a mentor. There is someone who has been a caring presence. Maybe it is a teacher who believed in us when no one else did. Maybe it was a sibling who stood up for us when a good word was needed. Maybe it is a spouse who learned to believe in us and helped us learn to have confidence in ourselves.

We all have an advocate. Hopefully, for many of us it was our mother and on Mother’s Day we pause to say, “Thank you”. If not our mother, on this Mother’s Day we will spend some time thinking about the people who have been important to us and through whom, the Holy Spirit has come.

Who has been your advocate?

If you have thoughts about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the “comments” box. I will get to read them as will others. I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

“It’s My Mother”

There are two kinds of people who will be attending the services of worship this Sunday. These two kinds of people will be there for different reasons and, because they are present, preaching on Mother’s Day is especially difficult.

The first group is the group that has has a bad experience with their mothers. In some cases what is involved is abuse. In some cases it goes back to something that happened between them and their mother that has never been reconciled. Mother’s Day is difficult for some people because they have never had a mother they respected and they feel that their mother really didn’t love them. What do you say to these people?

The other group is made up of people who have now or have had in the past a wonderful relationship with their mother. Their mother was loving and caring. Their mother was or is their best friend. For some their mother has died and Mother’s Day is a very sad day.

What do you say to the person whose relationship with their mother wasn’t good?

What do you say in the same sermon to the person whose relationship with their mother was great, but there is sadness because thier mother has died?

Mother’s Day is a difficult Sunday.

What do you think needs to be said?

Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to allow other people to see your response click the “comments” box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles

“My God; It’s My Mother”

The sermon Sunday, May 13th will present the philosophical ideas of Christian existentialism. Existentialists believe we must face the absurd in life. If we want to find meaning we have to work our way through the absurd. The absurd is part of what it means to be alive. It is a part of the frustration of living. We are like the Myth of Sisyphus who is consigned to eternity by having to roll a rock up a hill only to have it fall down the other side, and then to push it up the hill again with the same result. There is in life the frustration and absurdity that we have to learn to deal with. We try to ignore it and it will defeat us. If we try to fight against it it will overtake us before we are aware of it. What we have to learn to do is work through it.

Motherhood, by itself is filled with wonderful moments and complete absurdity. The function of motherhood is to raise a child so the child can become adult and leave. Mothers have the task of working their way out of a job.

Tess Stackhouse sent me a poem she thought was appropriate to Mother’s Day. Tess is one of our youth. You can see in this poem the importance and the pathos of Motherhood.

YOUTH SUNDAY

MAY 6, 2007

As soon as we can do it we will post something up here on Build a sermon and we can give suggestion to the youth who are in charge of the service. I know they are going to have us look at three aspects of our faith:

1. Where it is

2. Where it’s been

3. Where it’s moving

I also know they are going to convey the truth that if we involve the world in our belief systems we will be able to evolve our faith.

In the meantime if you have some thoughts you’d like to give me about anything in particilar or everything in general write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with others click on the “comments” section. If you have sermon themes you would like to have me or the other preachers tackle let us know.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Charles