Fairhaven UMC

Before I head into the sermon, I wanted to share with you just a few notes from the annual conference, which ended yesterday around noon. The annual conference this year was moved to a new location, the campus formerly known as California University. It’s a lovely spot, and the folks at Cal U did a beautiful job of hosting us there. The sessions were informative. The worship was uplifting. Worship Band was from Swickley United Methodist Church, and if you’re ever out that way, I encourage you to go hear them. They’re quite good.

I brought back some flyers from Global Ministries. They’re on the back table. You can take a look at those, along with a jar of dirt, which is now from a—we all were asked to bring jars of dirt from the properties of our churches. There was reference to that throughout the week. But at the end of the week, we all sort of exchange jars. So this is a jar of dirt from, I forget the name of the church now, sorry? Peter’s Chapel, which is up around 80? Is that right? Okay. It’s by Franklin. Up near Franklin. Okay, yeah. So they’re going to sort of be our, I guess, our dirt prayer partners. I’m not sure, but we’re going to kind of keep them in mind and in prayer. And I’m not sure who got our jar, but it was there. I also have on the back table a picture of our three jars from our partnership there.

So let’s see, what else? The United Methodist Church has a new mission statement, to love boldly, to serve generously, and to lead courageously. And you’ll probably be seeing more of that in the months ahead. We celebrated what our ministries have accomplished, which included honors to Deaconess Katie Peterson at the Mission Barn, where we take all the cleaning supplies to make cleaning buckets. She does an amazing job of coordinating huge amounts of donations and getting them to where they’re needed in places of crisis.

Both the conference and the camps, as Dylan mentioned at the meeting earlier, have of and course been significantly impacted by the loss of churches and members, and this will result in two things. Number one, reorganizing the conference in the districts, and then reassigning district supervisors. As you probably know, Fairhaven and Spencer, we are still in the Pittsburgh district until, actually formally until December, after which we become part of the Southwest District, which includes Allegheny and Washington counties. Quite honestly, I think that Allegheny, Washington just makes a whole lot more sense. That’s me. But we will be led at that point by D.S. Ross Pryor. The Camp’s task force asked for and received another year to work on their financial situation, which is a whole lot more complicated than what you and I have to do around here.

So on the whole, everyone came to conference, I man think, very prepared. And I think that’s one of the reasons why there was so little comment or debate on the floor. I mean, votes passed easily. There were no, there’s no back and even. So, it was really, it went very, very smoothly. The bishop’s comments in her sermon were based on the passages from Romans, and she talked about the fact that Jesus came to quench thirst and bring new life, and also about the fact that we are the body of Christ. We are one body and one spirit. And she said there is still the condition of the soil, which is the human heart, still needs to be toiled, sorry, tilled a little bit, still needs to have some seeds cast yet. And this is one of the reasons why the bishop asked us to do the dirt and the exchanges of seeds and so forth. So, again, good message.

Coming up in the 26-27 year, there will be a Pennsylvania racism bus tour. Other cities have had this. It’s finally coming here next year, where people get to tour some of the places where, like, the Underground Railroad was and that kind of thing, just taking a look at some of the historic spots. Dates for special Sundays have been set for next year. There are one or two new ones, and I did not make a whole list. I’ll have to go look at that.

Personal notes, I had the chance to greet a number of our former pastors. Pastor Matt Price was there, who is now being moved up into the conference staff. He will no longer be leading a church at this point. Pastor Diane Randolph sends greetings. Also, Pastor Matt Grubbs. And I ran into Pastor Lola Turnbull. I’m not sure if you guys know her, but she’s an and old friend of my from like back in the 1980s. So, it was kind of cool to catch up with her. Retirees this year, that doesn’t apply to us. And I think that’s it for the staffing.

And then last but not least, I am now officially a United Methodist licensed local pastor. Yay! Thank you. I’m glad it’s done, and that opens the door. Even though I’m retiring at the end of this month, it opens the door to things past retirement that I might be able to come and do. So that’s a good thing. So that’s the announcements. That’s

Pray with me, please. Lord Jesus, thank you for this day and for this place and for each person here. Pray now as we come to your word that you would fill my mouth and your mind with your truth and with your $your$ love. And Lord, help us open us to your heart and to your wisdom as we come to your word. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Today is also Native American Sunday, and they said the day post-annual conference. And this is also the first Sunday of 2026 that is in what they call ordinary time. In other words, this Sunday is not part of Advent Lent, a holiday of any kind. It’s just a plain old Sunday for the first time this year.

So straight up, here we go. Today is also the second to last time that I will be with you as your associate pastor. Having reached the ripe old age of 67 and a half, I have finally realized that my usual level of energy is a thing of the past, and I’m going to miss being here a lot. I’m really going to miss you guys. It has been such a privilege to have been your pastor over these past years, two years as pulpit supply and 10 years as staff. And I hope we’ll still at least, at the very least, exchange Christmas cards and stuff. I want to keep on hearing about what’s going on with y’all.

But with retirement in mind, I’ve been thinking about what I’d like my final sermons to be, and today’s scriptures could not have been better chosen. I’m actually going to speak from all three readings for today. You only heard two. You heard Genesis and Matthew. There’s also, for this particular day, there’s a passage from Romans which fits in with the other two, so I’m going to quote all three and pull them together here.

The main point of all three of these passages is this. God has plans for us. God has plans for each one of us. Each one individually and us as a church. Plans for good, plans for a future, and we receive these plans by faith. We may not know what those plans are just yet, at least not entirely, but we shouldn’t feel shy about asking God what God has in mind for us, because our God is a God of mercy and kindness. And this thought, this great thought that God has plans for us, is the backdrop and today’s readings are presented.

So starting with Genesis, the story of Abram is a familiar story. Abram is the man God chose to be the founder of the nation and the people of Israel. Abram’s name means exalted father. But ironically and sadly, Abram and his wife Sarah had no children. When Abram first met God, God told Abram to pack up and move away from his home in the city of Ur in the south of Mesopotamia in what is today Iraq. And so Abram packed up his whole family, including his father and his nephew Lot, and they moved northwest to Haran in what is today southeastern Turkey. And they stopped there for a number of years. And while there, Abram became quite wealthy, lived as a herdsman, life was good, except they still didn’t have any children.

And eventually, Abram’s father died, and then God visited again and said to Abram, move to the land of Canaan, which is where we picked up with the scriptures today. God said, move away from your country, move away from your father’s family and your father’s house. Go to the land I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and I will make your name great. This was God’s first promise for Abram, that his name would be great. And here we are, 4,000 years later, still speaking his name. And then God made Abram two more promises. First, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. And secondly, through you, all the families of the earth will be paved with blessings. And Abram’s answer was a response of faith. He did what God said to do.

And this was not easy for a man who had built a life in Haran and who owned massive herds and employed many workers, but Abram didn’t ask questions and he didn’t try to bargain with God. He just went ahead and did what God asked. Now, stepping back from the story just for a moment, if God said to one of us, leave your country, which is exactly what God was saying to Abram, and by the way, I’m not suggesting that’s what God is saying to us, okay? But what if it was? I’m sure everyone here loves our country very much and loves our hometown very much. If God said go, would we go? Imagine for a moment what it was like standing in Abram’s shoes. Now, you know if it was me, I’d be tempted to ask God, can I choose which country? But Abram did not say that. Abram just started packing, and that is the response of faith.

So imagine what’s going through his mind at this point. Abram is about 75 years old when he heard God’s call, left his hometown, his father’s house, packed up decades worth of things and hundreds of animals, began the journey south through Israel, following God’s lead until he arrived at Canaan. Abram said yes, because God had made him a promise that he would have descendants and wealth and fame and blessings. And Abram believed God. When Abram and all his family finally arrived in Canaan, they discovered the land was already occupied by Canaanites. And Abram probably turned to God and said, what’s up with this? God assured Abram that this land would belong to him and would belong to his descendants one day. But since the land was already occupied, Abram passed through and continued on to the far side where he and his family stopped. And Abram built an altar, and they worshiped there, and they settled there.

And this is where today’s reading from Genesis basically leaves Abram. There is, of course, a lot more to Abram’s story, but that’s for another day. For now, it seems to me that this passage of Scripture challenges us to think what we might have done in a similar situation. If God asked us to, would we pack up the family and move to somewhere where we don’t speak the language and don’t know how long it’s going to take to get there and don’t know what we’re going to do once we’re there, but God has made us promises of an amazing future, would we do it? And I wonder if Abram ever wondered why God couldn’t just bless him right where he was? Why did he have to move to receive God’s blessing? Sometimes we don’t know the answers to questions like this, but God does.

And Abram chose to do what was wise, to follow God’s direction and settle in the land that God pointed out. Abram also did not march up to the Canaanites and say, hey, God says you have to leave. Abram left everything in God’s hands, and when the time was right, God brought Abram and his family into Canaan. And as I reflect on this story and what it might mean to us, a number of questions come to mind. In what ways has God called us? Called us as a church? Called us as individuals? What gifts has God equipped us with? When we step out in faith, how do we deal with the unexpected? Abram sets an example for us. Trust God and follow, even when what God is promising sounds unlikely. The author of Genesis says the trust that Abram had and his family had in God was reckoned to them as righteousness, just the trust. Abram’s trust in God was the foundation, became the foundation of the Jewish faith and the Jewish people, and by extension, the foundation of our own faith, because Jesus was descended from Abram, just as Abram was called righteous because he believed in God. We are called righteous when we believe in Jesus. You see the connections there.

All of this, all of this leads directly into Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 4, verses 13 to 25, which was the alternate reading for this morning. Here’s the passage I wanted to include, and this is Paul talking. He says, The promise that Abram would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the and the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If it’s the adherents of the law who are going to be heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there violation of the law. For this reason, it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of all of us. As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. In the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, hoping against hope, Abram believed that he would become the father of many nations. According to what was said, so numerous shall your descendants be. He did not—Now, the words, it was reckoned to him were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

That’s the Apostle Paul. He gets a little deep sometimes. But Paul here, he’s drawing a parallel between our faith in Jesus and Abram’s faith in God. Both our faith and Abram’s faith have the same source and the same destination. Abram came first, we follow in his footsteps. As Paul says, the promises of God do not come to us by following the law, that is the Ten Commandments, and everything else that was added to those commandments, but the promises of God come to us through faith. The commandments are given to us so that we can understand what God expects and what God honors, but our salvation rests on faith.

And this is the catch, because not only back then, but also today, and in so many periods of and history, People keep trying to get to heaven by following the rules, and it doesn’t work that way. The Bible says it’s impossible for human beings to keep God’s law perfectly. But for some reason, people keep wanting to have lists of do this and don’t do that. People want to hang the Ten Commandments on every wall they can find because we want to know the rules, and we want to know who’s living up to them and who isn’t. But the Bible says the law brings God’s wrath. Why? Because we break it. We can’t live up to it. None of us can.

But the good news is that God says where there is no law, there is no trespass. In other words, you can’t get ticketed for speeding if there’s no speed limit, right? If we approach God with faith and trust, this opens the door to mercy and forgiveness and life. By faith, Abram becomes the father of all of us who have received God’s promises by faith. And when we live by faith, we fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, not in the flesh, but children of faith. That’s what Paul has to say.

And then we turn in our readings to the book of Matthew which we heard a moment ago in this passage Jesus takes mercy and faith one step further Jesus shows us how faith and mercy can change the life of a notorious sinner Matthew the tax collector who by the way is writing his own story here because this is from the book of Matthew. Tax collectors in ancient Israel were considered the worst of the worst. They worked for the Romans. They were collaborators. They worked for the occupying forces. Tax collectors were considered traitors to their own people, and what’s worse, they deliberately overcharged and then pocketed the difference, getting rich on their own people’s misfortune.

Jesus, however, did not shun Matthew. Jesus saw something the others didn’t see. So he invited himself to Matthew’s house for dinner. And Matthew immediately got up, left his tax collecting, went home, made preparations. And of course, Matthew invites all of his tax collector buddies and other shady characters to come and meet Jesus, who has become something of a local celebrity at this point. And all these nasty characters gather to meet Jesus. Why? Because they had heard about Jesus and his compassion and his honesty and the way he healed people and the way he loved people. And who needs love more than the people outside proper society?

Jesus went and sat at the same table with them, which was, by the way, against the law of Moses because righteous people weren’t supposed to eat with sinners. But where Jesus is involved, sinners can’t make him unclean. Jesus makes them clean. And this is exactly God’s plan. Meanwhile, the Pharisees, the experts in the law, see Jesus eating with sinners, but they don’t take Jesus aside. They take Jesus’ disciples aside and ask them what Jesus is up to, which is itself a violation of the law, because the law says if you have something against someone, you go to that person, not a third party. But Jesus answers anyway. He says, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. He says, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. for I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.

This is Matthew’s salvation story. The day Matthew came to know and love Jesus, Matthew went from being a hated tax collector to the writer of one of the four gospels, all because Jesus gave him a chance. Jesus found Matthew in a tax booth. Can we remember where we were when Jesus found us? And what stories could we tell about being found by the Lord?

Matthew’s story tells us that no one is disqualified for becoming a follower of Jesus by what is in their past. No one is marginalized. It doesn’t matter where we’ve been because Jesus is the healer, the teacher, the Savior. It rests on Jesus to make us into what God created us to be. And as this process happens, we become, by faith, children of Abraham. We become part of the fulfillment of God’s promise that Abraham would have many, many descendants. All we have to do as children of Abraham is keep on keeping the faith amen.