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8/30 “Blessed be the Ties?”1 Thessalonians 5:1414?And we urge you, beloved,[a]?to admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.1 John 1:77?but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.Matthew 22:37-3937?He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’?38?This is the greatest and first commandment.?39?And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’Music Focus: Fellowship(Show a picture of guardrails on a road.) INTRO“I like Jesus, but don’t like the church.”We Christians hear that from time to time.The church isn’t perfect, to be sure.But can you really follow Jesus without it? The church is how we Christians connect with each other. This fellowship is essential. Andy Stanley says that “guardrails” are systems designed to protect us. We see them as we drive down what might be dangerous roads and highways. They are almost unnoticeable as we go about our journeys and yet, they are important to our safety. They remind us where the edge of the road is. They make our paths safe!The church, and the groups that make it up, are like guardrails for people who want to follow Christ.MORE ABOUT MY CONFIRMATION RETREATIf you worshipped with us on August 9th, I shared about a time when faith became real for me. I said I’d share more about that today. In case you weren’t there, my confirmation class met on Sunday afternoons, with our Sunday School teacher, Art. We went on a District retreat to a “downtown, historic church”, with another 100 or so confirmation kids. I, and about 10 other sixth grade boys, snuck out the back door of the large meeting one night, because someone told us there were pretty girls in the sanctuary. We crept through the hallways into the balcony.There were pretty girls there alright.We had crashed a wedding rehearsal! Here’s what happened next—“Clump, clump, clump”… came the sound of footsteps up the balcony stairway”. An authority figure wearing gray slacks and black wingtip shoes cut off our escape. He asked, “What are you boys doing?” As if we knew…right?For punishment, we were essentially sent to bed early, herded into a Sunday School classroom in which we were supposed to sleep. He turned off the light and said, “Be quiet”, “Good night”. “Clump, clump, clump”…the sound of his footsteps down the hallway. That’s when I came to realize the quality of the other young gentlemen with whom I had been detained.One of my cohorts, produced a board game he had hidden in his sleeping bag.Another produced a large bag of candy. Always the Boy Scout, I produced a flashlight.We knew that downstairs our confirmation classmates were engaged in still more riveting conversation surrounding, “The Confirmation Manual for United Methodist Boys and Girls”.Meanwhile, I and my friends, were transforming that Sunday School classroom into “sixth grade boy paradise”. Kids aren’t the only ones who make mistakes. Whichever adult thought this was punishment, was sadly mistaken. About that time, my friend with the candy offered to lead us in prayer. Only, it wasn’t the version of The Lord’s Prayer we had learned in confirmation. Instead, it went something like, “Now I lay me, down to sleep, a bag of candy at my feet, if I should die before I wake, you’ll know I died of a stomach-ache.”Now I know that sounds lame today, for a bunch of sixth grade boys, sugared-up on candy, and revved-up on board games and comic books…it was absolutely hilarious!Our laughing out loud got us unwanted attention. “Clump, clump, clump”, the sound of footsteps down the hallway. We were prepared: The board game, cards, and bags of candy vanished.I switched off the flashlight.The door opened, light from the hallway, light spilled into the room, silhouetting “the authority figure” from behind. He stuck his head in the door again saying, “Go to sleep boys. Now!” We pretended to do that.Of course, the entire church was praying for us that night. So were our parents.They were faithful.Their prayers were effective. In spite of our youthful shenanigans, our bent toward mischief, our ignorance regarding acceptable confirmation retreat behavior, there was an important “Fellowship” behind us. They were a kind of “guardrail” for us. They loved us and, in their love, they reminded us of the boundaries and dangers of our choices. Guardrails, can be a real life-saver.Series RecapWe’re in the 7th week of an 8-part sermon series regarding United Methodist Beliefs. The primary belief we’ve been focusing on is that of “Growing in Faith”. This has been called the via salutis, or, “way of salvation”. This Sunday, we’re talking about one of the things that makes that happen -- Christian fellowship. Wesley believed that unless we’re shipwrecked on a deserted island, Christians needed fellowship, community. He noted that whenever God was growing the Methodist Movement, it was through Christian Fellowship. The leaders of groups made their weekly rounds to receive offerings, but they also discovered problems-- family disputes, drunkenness, and other less-than-holy behavior. Wesleyan groups became “guardrails” for Christian living. People in the groups challenged one another and upheld one another. Wesley met with group leaders, weekly when possible, and a spiritual network formed. The groups became places where faith was made real.They were intentional and structured. They had “covenants” for their “community”, which protected the participants, and the community itself.One of their covenants was to conduct themselves by “three simple rules”. They attended to the ordinances of God (sacraments).They sought to “do no harm”.And they committed themselves, to doing “good”.(Worship with us in November and you’ll learn more about that!)According to many, these “covenants” were the secrets to Methodism’s power and longevity.We need structure like that. We need Fellowship like that. We need to have people who will tell us the truth, when the truth matters. (show means of grace slide)“Fellowship is a ‘Means of God’s Grace”While God can choose to work any way God chooses, there are certain channels through which God chooses to operate again and again. Like a carpenter smooths out his work with sandpaper, Fellowship groups are the “sandpaper” that God uses to fashion/make Christian disciples. As Ecclesiastes 4:11-12 states,“A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”This means that one cord is a person, so is another. The third strand is God.This worked…People who were alcoholics dried out.Fathers who had abandoned their families returned.The people fashioned and formed in these groups, changed the world.It work’s today too…My Cohorts Today!In spite of our shenanigans, my merry “band” of confirmation brothers were a huge factor in my remaining Christian.They were a support to me, when I was 15 and my father died.We saw each other through break-ups and let downs.We celebrated one another’s successes.We consoled one another in our losses. I get to see my “band of confirmation brothers” pretty frequently. When I attend Annual Conference for example…Three of us became United Methodist pastors, a fourth became a pastor in a sister denomination, “The Nazarines”. Today, we remain “guardrails” for each other. And one of the churches, I have been sent to serve over the years, was the very one that I had misbehaved so badly at for confirmation.It took me a long time for me to work up the courage to tell them about that, but I eventually did, in a sermon. Shaking hands at the door, a longtime member of that church came to me and said, “I think I know ‘the authority figure’ in your sermon. You do too. You performed his funeral a few years ago.” As I’ve thought about this, over the years, I’ve realized that guardrails were protecting me, even before I was ever aware that I needed them. Perhaps you have heard of the road from Jericho to Jerusalem (Luke 10). That’s the road that the man who was stripped, beaten, and left half dead, traveled. Buses full of pilgrims and students used inch down that road. Riders would gaze out the windows into the chasm below. I did that once. It’s discouraged today, illegal I understand. Do you know why? Several buses went over the cliffs. There are no guard rails there. Christianity is -wonderful,- joyful, -spirit-filled,We can’t do it on our own. We need guardrails, the fellowship of the church.And so, my friends at Pender, just as so many people prayed for me so many years ago, I’m praying for you today.I’m praying that you find or create Christian fellowship groups. That someone there might bring you candy—sweet, kind, words, loving thoughts, and hugs.That someone there might offer you board games—help you remember the rules, and that some rules matter. That someone here may offer you a flashlight—provide you with light when the world around you is dark.That someone might offer you comics—because we all need a laugh.And all God’s children said, “Amen.” ................
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