The Goodness of the Vessel: A Call to Bodily Stewardship

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
This morning, I invite you to tell yourself to hear the word as Dawn brings us the prelude this morning.
[00:08:04] I also am going to be walking around and giving you a pumpkin seed, which is part of our sermon this morning.
[00:08:10] You'll find out what it means as we get going.
[00:08:13] Just a tip in case you wanted to.
[00:08:15] They're out of the pack, so don't eat them.
[00:08:17] Just put it in your hand or in your pocket.
[00:08:19] Hold on to it.
[00:08:20] Let's prepare ourselves for worship.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.
[00:09:01] The Gospel of the Apostles
[00:09:26] That's right.
[00:09:33] That's right.
[00:09:51] Let us pray.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
No, you do not.
[00:10:28] Okay, we'll go behind the scenes here, because that's how the order of worship says.
[00:10:30] Entroit, he is Lord.
[00:10:32] Carrie's handing out pumpkin seeds.

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I'm handing out pumpkin seeds.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
So we're going to switch up, and I'm going to do the traditional greeting, and that will be followed by the entroit.
[00:10:40] So nobody freak out that we're doing things out of order here.
[00:10:44] Good morning.
[00:10:46] Welcome to worship at Williamson's Chapel, United Methodist Church.
[00:10:49] My name is Pastor Wes Smith, co-pastor here along with my wife, Toni Ruth, and we are so glad that you're with us in worship today.
[00:10:55] Here in our sanctuary or online, joining us, we want to say welcome.
[00:11:00] If you are a guest here with us after worship this morning, as you exit out the North Ex to your left, or you look for folks with a welcome name tag, if you'd like to know more about our church, learn how to
[00:11:12] Get involved and become part of what God is doing here at Williamson's Chapel.
[00:11:19] We are continuing our series this fall answering questions that you all asked a few months ago about faith, about the Bible, about God, and we kind of group them into three or four week sections and we are
[00:11:37] Focusing on resurrection and eternal life and questions of that nature that you guys asked.
[00:11:43] And so we hope that you are blessed as you hear Tony Ruth deliver the word this morning as we worship together.
[00:11:50] But before we begin, I'm going to invite you all to take a deep breath.
[00:11:59] Let us be centered and focused on God as we worship this morning.

[00:12:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
He is Lord He is risen from the dead And He is Lord Every knee shall bow Every tongue confess
[00:12:49] Let us sing.

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Praise be to God.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Who dared to take on human flesh and dwell among us.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Praise be to God.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Who did not turn back in the face of evil and death,
[00:13:18] Let all that have breath sing praise to God.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
of Christ Jesus Christ.
[00:16:17] Amen.
[00:17:18] Hallelujah, Yahweh,

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Join with me in reciting our faith through the words of the Apostles' Creed.
[00:18:09] I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
[00:18:28] On the third day he rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:18:38] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:18:42] I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church,
[00:18:46] The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[00:18:55] Amen.

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,

[00:19:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Turn your microphone on.
[00:19:57] As you turn and greet your neighbor this morning to share the peace of Christ, I invite you to share something in your life recently that has brought you joy.

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
So turn and greet your neighbor.

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
.
[00:20:52] .

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation.
[00:21:26] I hear the spring come for all came and hails a new creation.

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
All the two walked and the strife I hear their music ring It was an echo in my soul How can I keep
[00:22:12] The peace of Christ expressed my heart, a fountain never springing.
[00:22:33] All things are mine since I am His, how can I keep from singing?
[00:22:55] Come, sing ye!
[00:23:41] Psalms 10 and over keep ye led.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
My life falls on an end when songs from our hearts lament and shout.

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Until the end of time, I've seen that you have agreed.
[00:24:31] I've wondered and I've dreamed my soul, how can I be?

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
As we prepare to hear the Word, join me in a prayer for illumination.
[00:25:29] God of all power, open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts with the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
[00:25:38] Help us to hear your voice, to see your ways, and to receive with joy your truth.
[00:25:45] In Jesus' name, Amen.
[00:25:50] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
[00:25:57] If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
[00:26:01] And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and your faith is in vain.
[00:26:08] We are even found to be misrepresenting God because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if this is true, that the dead are not raised.
[00:26:19] For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.
[00:26:24] If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.
[00:26:30] Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.
[00:26:35] If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
[00:26:42] But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
[00:26:48] For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human.
[00:26:56] For as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.
[00:27:02] But each in its own order, Christ the firstfruits, then in his coming those who belong to Christ.
[00:27:10] Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.
[00:27:20] For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
[00:27:24] The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
[00:27:28] But someone will ask, how are the dead raised?
[00:27:31] With what kind of body do they come?
[00:27:34] Fool, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
[00:27:38] And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body.
[00:27:42] That is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or some other grain.
[00:27:47] But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
[00:27:53] Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.
[00:28:02] There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is the one thing, and that of the earthly is another.
[00:28:12] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.
[00:28:19] Indeed, stars differ from star to star in glory.
[00:28:23] So it is with the resurrection of the dead, what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
[00:28:31] It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
[00:28:35] It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
[00:28:39] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:28:42] Thanks be to God.

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
I hope y'all all got your seeds.
[00:28:57] I promise that's going to come back around.
[00:29:01] So, it's going to come clear later why you have this seed in your hand.
[00:29:07] If you don't have one, carry it.
[00:29:10] Well, raise your hand.
[00:29:11] Did anybody not get one?
[00:29:13] We're good?
[00:29:14] Okay.
[00:29:15] I just, for now, what I want you to do is just hold it in your hand while I preach.
[00:29:19] I just want you to pay attention, feel it in your palm and in your...
[00:29:23] Notice the shape, the size of it, what sort of seed it is, what it will become when it's planted in the ground.
[00:29:30] Just something to hold on to.
[00:29:31] Some of you are like, I don't really want to do that, and that's okay.
[00:29:34] And some of you are fidgeters.
[00:29:36] Some of you are like me, and my grandmother used to say to me, Teruth, just sit on your hands.
[00:29:42] Because I fidget it all the time, so this will give you something to mess with while I'm preaching.
[00:29:46] So we'll come back around to this in a little bit.
[00:29:49] We've been talking about death and resurrection as Wes mentioned.
[00:29:54] A couple of weeks ago I talked about how heaven is less about being with our loved ones, though that's part of it, than it is about worshiping God in heaven.
[00:30:03] And last week Wes talked about where Jesus was in those three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection.
[00:30:11] And he said basically, I don't know, but the good news is there's nothing beyond the reach of God's love.
[00:30:18] And today I'm tackling your question about what it means to believe specifically in the resurrection of the body.
[00:30:23] This is a question that you all asked.
[00:30:25] What does that mean?
[00:30:26] We say it in the creed, we believe in the resurrection of the body.
[00:30:30] What do we mean by that?
[00:30:32] So that's what we're going to talk about today.
[00:30:33] So let's pray.
[00:30:37] God of all creation, would you come and create something new in us today?
[00:30:43] Send your life-giving spirit once again to us that we may see, believe, hear, and live the word that you give us in the name of Christ.
[00:30:54] Amen.
[00:30:56] So, let's start at Genesis.
[00:30:58] The Bible says that God created everything and called it good.
[00:31:05] The Hebrew word for it is tov.
[00:31:07] Tov means good.
[00:31:09] And God doesn't just say everything is good, but when it gets to us, He says it was very good.
[00:31:14] It was very tov.
[00:31:18] I don't know what very is in Hebrew.
[00:31:20] You don't know either?
[00:31:21] Thanks for that.
[00:31:22] And that includes what He calls good, these things.
[00:31:29] Our bodies.
[00:31:30] God calls them good.
[00:31:31] Now you and I get frustrated with their limitations and with their tendency to be sick and how well or not well they meet the cultural standards of what is beautiful or good and men you may or may not understand that but every woman in the room can absolutely knows exactly what I'm talking about do we not?
[00:31:52] We complain about our bodies all the time because everybody on every
[00:31:57] There is however no escaping the fact that God created these bodies of ours and God called them good.
[00:32:17] And not only that, God doubled down on the importance of our bodies by taking on flesh Himself.
[00:32:26] and becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ and being born of Mary.
[00:32:31] God is so committed to this body business that he got one for himself.
[00:32:39] And in that body Jesus ate and he drank and he slept and he walked and he laughed and he cried and he worked and he loved and he healed and on the cross Jesus in his body bled
[00:32:55] And he hurt and he suffered and he stopped breathing.
[00:33:00] He died.
[00:33:02] Not just for the sake of our souls, but for our bodies too.
[00:33:09] It was very in fashion a few years ago to say things like, I am not a human being having a spiritual experience.
[00:33:17] I'm a spiritual being having a human experience.
[00:33:21] Baloney.
[00:33:22] that is wrong it's called heresy okay heresy means wrong or false teaching and the church has been against heresy since the very beginning this particular heresy that is articulated about I am a spiritual being having a human experience
[00:33:40] That's a version of what the early church called Docetism.
[00:33:44] And the Docetists were people that believed that Jesus did not actually have a physical body.
[00:33:50] He was just a spiritual being and he had something that seemed like a body.
[00:33:56] But it wasn't an actual physical body.
[00:33:58] And part of what this group was trying to protect, because all false teaching comes from somewhere, but they were trying to protect that how can God suffer?
[00:34:07] Like how can God die?
[00:34:08] That's not a thing.
[00:34:10] God can't do that.
[00:34:12] Apparently God can.
[00:34:14] But they didn't think so.
[00:34:15] And the church rejected this teaching because it understood that Jesus' embodied life and death is critical for our salvation.
[00:34:26] It's not just that our souls that are mortally wounded by sin and in need of a redemption, it's our bodies too.
[00:34:37] I read a few years ago that 64% of Americans, only 64% of Americans, believe in the resurrection.
[00:34:44] And my first thought was, really?
[00:34:45] 64% of Americans believe in the resurrection?
[00:34:48] I mean, just based on how many people aren't at church on a Sunday morning, I just got to think to myself, that can't be right.
[00:34:54] It's got to be smaller than that.
[00:34:55] Anyway...
[00:34:56] Even among Christians, you know, there is faith that Jesus was raised and yet you don't say it out loud because you're not sure if it's right or not, but lots of us are operating in the world like that's effectively what's true.
[00:35:09] That we question whether or not the resurrection, the bodily resurrection of Jesus and our bodily resurrection is actually a thing.
[00:35:17] And we aren't the first people to do that.
[00:35:20] There were folks at the church at Corinth
[00:35:23] who said that resurrection was purely a spiritual event.
[00:35:27] In other words, when we die, our bodies die and our souls go to be with the Lord and that's resurrection.
[00:35:35] And I would wager that a bunch of people in this room, that's exactly what you think of when you think about resurrection.
[00:35:42] That when you die, your body's gone and your spirit goes to be with the Lord.
[00:35:48] And yet, friends, that is actually not what the church has taught or is in Scripture.
[00:35:55] Resurrection is not the same thing as the immortality of the soul.
[00:36:00] Scholar N.T.
[00:36:02] Wright reminds us that if the disciples had meant to say that Jesus was alive in spirit only,
[00:36:11] And that we also have hope that when our bodies die our souls will live on.
[00:36:16] They had words to describe that.
[00:36:20] But they did not say that Jesus did anything other than be resurrected.
[00:36:25] Bodily resurrected.
[00:36:27] Raised up and given life though he was dead.
[00:36:30] That is in all four of the Gospels.
[00:36:33] Not resuscitated.
[00:36:34] Nobody gave Jesus CPR three days after he died.
[00:36:40] okay because that's what you and I think we think somebody dies they're not breathing we give them CPR they come back to life Jesus was dead three days in the grave not breathing no heartbeat dead and he came back to life resurrected with a body and breath and a heartbeat let's go back to Eden again
[00:37:08] After Adam and Eve, y'all remember in chapter 3 of Genesis, after Adam and Eve ate the apple, remember?
[00:37:14] And sin entered the world.
[00:37:16] The consequence to the sin was not just a spiritual thing.
[00:37:22] It was also physical.
[00:37:24] When God was meting out the punishment, right?
[00:37:26] He says to the snake, on your belly you will crawl.
[00:37:30] Snakes are evil.
[00:37:30] It's right there in the Bible, y'all.
[00:37:32] Anyway.
[00:37:35] And he says to Eve, with painful labor you will give birth to children.
[00:37:40] And all the women said, yes, that's right.
[00:37:42] With painful labor you will give birth to children.
[00:37:47] And to Adam, by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.
[00:37:54] The consequence of sin is not just that we have a spiritual separation between us and God.
[00:37:59] The consequence of sin is that there is something physical that happens.
[00:38:04] Pain in childbirth, toiling in labor, sweating under the hot sun while we plant gardens.
[00:38:11] That is part of the consequence.
[00:38:14] Paul later emphasized the impact of the fall, not just to the soul, but to all of creation.
[00:38:19] He does that in Romans chapter 8, which is a beautiful chapter of Scripture.
[00:38:23] Wes referenced it last week, the end part where he says,
[00:38:27] Life or death will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
[00:38:30] But before that, Paul writes this, he says, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of labor right up to the present time.
[00:38:40] And not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan eagerly as we wait for our adoption to sonship.
[00:38:50] We inwardly groan as we eagerly await our adoption of sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
[00:38:58] He doesn't just say the redemption of our souls.
[00:39:03] He says the redemption of our bodies.
[00:39:05] For in this hope we are saved.
[00:39:09] It is important that we believe that Jesus really died and rose in the flesh because death came to Adam and Eve and you and me in our souls and it happened in our bodies.
[00:39:28] Sin happens in our bodies.
[00:39:34] It's in these bodies that all of us have wandered away from the truth and we have embraced lies about ourselves and our worth and our value.
[00:39:45] It's in these bodies that we have harmed other people.
[00:39:50] It's in these bodies that we have experienced separation from God.
[00:39:56] And that's what sin is.
[00:39:58] It's the things not just that we believe, but it's the things that we've said and the things that we've done, right?
[00:40:03] Because your vocal cords are part of your body.
[00:40:07] They're part of your physical body.
[00:40:09] Friends, what's the worst lie we ever tell our children?
[00:40:13] Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
[00:40:16] Bunk.
[00:40:17] That's a lie.
[00:40:18] We just stop telling that to our children.
[00:40:21] Because I remember the worst thing anybody ever said to me.
[00:40:23] Do you remember the worst thing anybody said to you ever?
[00:40:25] The meanest thing?
[00:40:26] The thing that hurt you most?
[00:40:28] I was in the first grade.
[00:40:29] Her name was Jessie Dale.
[00:40:34] I'm real sorry if she's watching.
[00:40:36] I love Jessie.
[00:40:37] She was one of my best friends growing up.
[00:40:39] But she said the meanest thing anybody ever said to me.
[00:40:41] And I still remember it.
[00:40:42] I'm almost 50.
[00:40:45] We carry the wounds of the things that people have said to us, do we not?
[00:40:48] And we, with our vocal cords, say terrible things about other people.
[00:40:51] That's part of our body.
[00:40:55] For God to just save our souls is not true redemption of all creation.
[00:41:02] Hence why Jesus put on flesh and lived and died and bodily rose from the dead.
[00:41:10] See, these bodies of ours, they are not our enemies.
[00:41:14] Broken vessels that betray and decay.
[00:41:18] They are part of God's beautiful, wonderful creation that God has gone to great lengths to redeem.
[00:41:27] You and I, we are human.
[00:41:32] Lovingly created literally from the humus, the dirt, the mud, the dust of the earth.
[00:41:39] All right preacher, that's great.
[00:42:09] But what is that going to look like?
[00:42:11] What's the resurrection of the body?
[00:42:12] What is that actually going to be like?
[00:42:16] I don't know.
[00:42:18] I have no idea.
[00:42:20] Here's what I do know.
[00:42:21] Jesus' resurrected body, all four Gospels tell us, was physical.
[00:42:27] He ate with his disciples.
[00:42:29] He cooked supper by the sea for Peter.
[00:42:32] They could touch him.
[00:42:34] He says to Mary on the day of resurrection, don't hold on to me, which implies there was something to hold on to.
[00:42:41] He invites Thomas to put his hand in Jesus' side and to touch the scars in his hand.
[00:42:47] There was something to touch.
[00:42:49] Jesus had a physical body.
[00:42:51] He was not just floating around.
[00:42:53] He did not float up the road to Emmaus.
[00:42:56] He walked up the road to Emmaus in a physical body.
[00:43:03] And he walked into rooms with closed doors without opening the doors.
[00:43:09] Is he a ghost?
[00:43:11] Like what is that?
[00:43:12] He had a physical body but it was somehow different.
[00:43:16] It had a different sort of materiality about it.
[00:43:20] I don't have any idea about what that means for you and me but that it's true is attested to in all the Gospels.
[00:43:28] Paul tried to clear it up when he was talking to the Corinthian church when they asked this question and he likened it to a seed that's planted into the ground.
[00:43:37] And he said, look, you plant a seed, it looks a certain way, and it comes out of the ground and it looks very different.
[00:43:43] So this, for example, we all know what that is.
[00:43:47] This looks nothing like what's gonna come up out of the ground, does it?
[00:43:53] This is going to come up out of the ground and it's going to be great big rounded orange and sort of hollow on the inside with some stringy stuff that if you cut it out and you put a candle in it, it looks like a jack-o'-lantern and it makes the sweetest, yummiest pie in the whole wide world.
[00:44:12] But it doesn't look like this.
[00:44:14] It looks like something different than that.
[00:44:17] Genetically speaking, friends, this seed and the big round orange thing, that's the same thing.
[00:44:21] Just like every cell in your body is the exact same DNA.
[00:44:25] I mean, haven't you watched CSI?
[00:44:27] They can take DNA out of anything and find out who you are.
[00:44:32] Bone.
[00:44:32] Some of it looks like bone, and some of it looks like eyeball, and some of it looks like hair, and some of it looks like skin, and some of it looks like fingernails.
[00:44:40] But all of it is genetically the exact same thing.
[00:44:45] So Paul says, look, you take this and you put it in the ground and it's physical.
[00:44:50] It has a materiality about it.
[00:44:51] You can touch it.
[00:44:53] You can feel it.
[00:44:55] And then something else sprouts up and it's green and leafy and it's a vine and it's got orange things on the end of it.
[00:45:02] How does that happen?
[00:45:04] God, the miracle of creation, both are physical.
[00:45:09] They just look different.
[00:45:11] So I cleared that right up for y'all, right?
[00:45:13] You feel better.
[00:45:14] You just understand it now, right?
[00:45:17] Friends, I can't explain it all, but in some way, God's going to make a new heaven and a new earth.
[00:45:23] And you and I won't just be floating around as spirits in heaven.
[00:45:27] We will be embodied.
[00:45:30] And we will be able to worship and to embrace our loved ones and to sit down and dine at God's great banquet table.
[00:45:37] We will be able to touch the hem of His robe.
[00:45:40] We will be able to worship Him in our bodies and our souls.
[00:45:46] So why does it matter what we think about this?
[00:45:49] It matters because bodies matter.
[00:45:52] My body, your body, everybody's body matters.
[00:45:55] That our physical and spiritual bodies are ultimately both subject to both death and resurrection, that is clear in the Scripture.
[00:46:04] So we cannot care for one, friends, without caring for the other.
[00:46:08] It matters what we do with these bodies of ours here on earth because it's going to matter in heaven.
[00:46:15] Creation, friends, is not something we're trying to escape.
[00:46:19] That was another heresy of the early church.
[00:46:21] Thinking that this body, the physicality, the physical world, this is evil and our souls are good and we're trying to escape the evil and be part of the good.
[00:46:31] That's not what the Bible says.
[00:46:33] Creation is not something we're trying to escape.
[00:46:35] It's something we're called to tend and care for as God does.
[00:46:39] Our bodies, the bodies of other people, as well as the earth and the sea and the sky, we are called to steward, to tend, to care for all of creation because it matters to God and God called it Tov.
[00:46:53] God said it was good.
[00:46:56] That, friends, is why we stand against all acts of abuse of anybody, anywhere, ever.
[00:47:02] It's why we are not okay with practices that strip the earth of all of its good.
[00:47:10] It's why we are against the mistreatment of people and why we say violence of any kind is not of God.
[00:47:19] It's why we say that what we do that affects the oceans matters.
[00:47:24] Practices that lead to the extinction of God's beautiful creation, that matters.
[00:47:29] It's why we are always in pursuit of medical advancements that care for and give life to these bodies of healing, to these bodies of ours.
[00:47:40] To say that we believe in the resurrection of the body is so much more than just a claim about our bodies in heaven one day.
[00:47:48] It's a claim about the fullness of creation and the steadfast loving kindness of God who redeems all of it, both the spirit and the body, for His glory.
[00:48:02] I have a cousin named Cindy.
[00:48:04] And Cindy passed away last year on New Year's, this year actually, well no, that would be last year, on last New Year's Eve.
[00:48:15] And she was 61 when she passed away.
[00:48:17] Cindy was not supposed to live past the age of 10.
[00:48:20] She was born in the 60s, friends, with severe cerebral palsy.
[00:48:27] Cindy never walked.
[00:48:29] She could not verbally speak any words.
[00:48:32] She said, eh, for yeah, and eh for no.
[00:48:35] That's my cousin, Cindy.
[00:48:36] I'd forgotten I had that picture in there.
[00:48:38] That's Cynthia.
[00:48:39] She held a toothbrush in her hand all the time.
[00:48:42] That's me and my cousin.
[00:48:43] Leave it right there, because I'm going to talk about that in just a second.
[00:48:46] Okay, so Cindy.
[00:48:49] Cindy, my youngest memories are with Cindy.
[00:48:52] And we would, when I learned to read, like really read like chapter books, I would read chapter books to her, usually Nancy Drew books.
[00:49:00] And when I said words wrong, she would laugh at me because, you know, that's what you're supposed to do is laugh at your little cousin.
[00:49:06] Anyway, I love Cynthia.
[00:49:08] And so Cindy in the, she would have been probably in her teens, so 15 or 16.
[00:49:15] Technology improved such that she could have what they called her, we called it her voice box.
[00:49:19] and it was this computer you can sort of see the edge of it there on the corner and it was this rectangle it was maybe this big and it had rows so like a row that would go with boxes so one two three four five six seven eight nine in rows and there would be a light there was a light at the top of each of those little boxes and it would scan down the rows the light would and when it would get to the row that she wanted she would turn her head and that that red thing you see there she would turn her head it's like a little like a mouse she would click it
[00:49:47] And it would stop then on the row.
[00:49:49] And then that same little light would scan across the boxes.
[00:49:55] And when it got to the number she wanted, she'd click it again.
[00:49:58] And every word in the English language had a three-number code.
[00:50:02] And when she first got her box, my sister and I would help her memorize those codes.
[00:50:07] Her favorite word was chocolate, as it should be.
[00:50:12] And this is how Sidney talked.
[00:50:14] So she memorized all these words and it was the first time in her teens that she could do more than say yes or no.
[00:50:21] Instead of saying yes or no, she could tell us what she was thinking.
[00:50:25] So in this body that could not verbalize things, she was so smart.
[00:50:30] And she was a thinker.
[00:50:32] And she could express herself finally.
[00:50:35] And there weren't names.
[00:50:37] She couldn't do names at the time.
[00:50:38] This was in the 80s.
[00:50:39] So I'm sure now they could probably program names.
[00:50:41] But then they could not.
[00:50:42] And I was December cousin because my birthday was in December.
[00:50:46] And my mom was aunt therapist.
[00:50:48] Okay.
[00:50:49] So now go back to the picture with my aunt and uncle.
[00:50:52] That one.
[00:50:52] Okay.
[00:50:53] That's my uncle Bud and my aunt Vivian.
[00:50:56] And I love them both.
[00:50:57] I preach both of their funerals.
[00:50:59] My Aunt Vivian was an atheist.
[00:51:01] She was not a believer.
[00:51:02] And in part because she couldn't understand why it happened to Cindy.
[00:51:06] My Uncle Bud did not go to church.
[00:51:09] He would usually watch the Gaithers on Sunday morning.
[00:51:11] Y'all remember when you could watch the Gaithers on Sunday morning?
[00:51:14] And he would, in Cindy's room.
[00:51:16] So the only time I ever knew Cindy heard anything about Jesus was listening to the Gaithers on Sunday mornings.
[00:51:22] And so, every year at Thanksgiving, Aunt Vivian's family was in the tree business, and so, because we all want Christmas trees, she had to work on Thanksgiving.
[00:51:32] And so, she would bring Cindy to Mama's, and Cindy would have Thanksgiving dinner with us, and I'll never forget this one Thanksgiving, Cindy came in, and we got her voice all plugged in, and she had programmed something, she could program, because it took a while to do this talking thing, so she would, that's what she would do during her day, she would think of something she wanted to say to somebody,
[00:51:52] and she would work all day programming the sentence she wanted to say to them and you had to sort of figure out what it was she was trying to say because she'd have to do it with as few words as possible right because it's taking a long time to do this so she came in and she wanted my mom and mom came over in her apron sat down next to Cindy and Cindy pushed play effectively and the message was aunt therapist when I get to heaven I won't have this body anymore
[00:52:23] For my cousin Cindy, redemption of the body was about a freedom from the thing that had been her limitation.
[00:52:32] In heaven, we'll get to hear Cindy talk to us in her own voice.
[00:52:39] And she'll still look like, she'll still have brown hair and she'll look like my sister.
[00:52:43] She looks more like my sister than I look like my sister.
[00:52:47] And she's going to be tall, because you could tell she would be tall if she could have stood up.
[00:52:53] And she'll still laugh at me and her little cousin and we'll get to embrace, which we never got to do in this life.
[00:53:02] Cindy will still look like Cindy.
[00:53:05] But she'll have a body.
[00:53:07] So I wonder, friends, what makes you feel like you don't have freedom in your body that you need to be redeemed from?
[00:53:15] In what ways have you thought of your body as your enemy?
[00:53:19] As something to be escaped?
[00:53:22] What war have you had in your life with your body?
[00:53:25] Maybe it's because you have some sort of disease.
[00:53:27] Maybe it's because you have some sort of limitation.
[00:53:31] Maybe it's because it's too fat or too skinny or too red-headed or too white-headed or too bald.
[00:53:36] I don't... Everybody's got something.
[00:53:43] So I wonder, how does God want to redeem you?
[00:53:46] And what does it mean for you to believe in the resurrection not just of your soul friends but of your body too?
[00:53:53] What wounds do you carry in your body that God's going to redeem?
[00:53:58] There's a great book called The Body Keeps the Score and it talks about how trauma lives in our bodies, how it just sort of gets stuck in our bodies.
[00:54:05] So maybe you've lived through trauma and God needs to set that free too.
[00:54:12] So let's go back to the seed you've been holding through this service.
[00:54:15] I want you to just put it in your hand.
[00:54:16] We're going to meditate for a minute.
[00:54:19] All you need to do is have a seed in your hand and your eyes on the seed in your hand.
[00:54:22] That's all you got to do.
[00:54:24] I want you to just look at that seed again for just a second.
[00:54:27] Look at its size, its weight, its appearance.
[00:54:30] What sort of seed is it?
[00:54:32] What's it going to become?
[00:54:34] What beauty or delight might it bring into the world in its next form?
[00:54:38] What potential lays right here in the palm of your hand?
[00:54:43] Now I want you to pay attention to your hand, your actual hand.
[00:54:48] See the lines across it and your knuckles and your fingers?
[00:54:52] Move your fingers.
[00:54:55] Marvel, friends, that you didn't consciously think about how to do that, but how your body had a whole bunch of processes that started at your brain and down through nerves and into muscles and bones and makes that happen.
[00:55:07] Marvel at the wonder of your body.
[00:55:11] Think about a picture of yourself when you were a young child, maybe even just a baby.
[00:55:16] Friends, this is the very same hand that your parents first held and yet it is different.
[00:55:25] You've grown and you've changed, have you not?
[00:55:29] Maybe you can picture your mother or your father's hands and what they feel like or felt like in yours.
[00:55:39] I can hear the
[00:55:41] The dry skin on my mama's fingers from washing them so much as a therapist, and the way that they would catch on fabric.
[00:55:51] Maybe you can remember your child's hand too, or your grandchild's.
[00:55:58] Do you have any scars on your hands?
[00:56:01] Maybe not on your hands, somewhere on your body.
[00:56:03] What wounds have you borne in your body, either by accident or by intention?
[00:56:14] How have you seen this body of yours both as friend and as enemy?
[00:56:23] In what ways have your thoughts wounded your body?
[00:56:35] Whose hands have you held in this life?
[00:56:41] What burdens have you shared with other people?
[00:56:43] What tears have you wiped away?
[00:56:45] Who have you reached out a hand to to lift them up?
[00:56:49] Who reached out theirs to yours when you were down?
[00:56:55] Where have you held a hand in friendship or love or laughter?
[00:56:59] Lifted a high five or a glass to a friend in celebration?
[00:57:10] Clench your fist around that seed.
[00:57:16] What harm have your hands done in your life?
[00:57:20] Acts of hurt to yourself and to others?
[00:57:26] Things you've lifted up that have invited harm to your life?
[00:57:31] Lies that you have written?
[00:57:32] Harm you have participated in?
[00:57:37] Ways that you've beaten upon yourself or other people.
[00:57:40] Maybe not with your hands but with your words.
[00:57:45] God made your hands for kindness.
[00:57:47] How have you taken them to wrongdoing?
[00:57:55] Open your hand again.
[00:57:56] What labor have you done in your body?
[00:58:00] How has this body of yours sustained your livelihood, your home, your family?
[00:58:05] When have you carried cool water to someone who was thirsty?
[00:58:10] Have you held a newborn child that you birthed, who grew in your heart?
[00:58:17] When have you bandaged the wounds of others with these hands of yours?
[00:58:21] Who bandaged yours?
[00:58:23] Whose hands have you greeted in peace or in forgiveness?
[00:58:31] Can you see your hands growing older one day?
[00:58:34] Maybe you're very aware of that at this stage of your life.
[00:58:39] Gaining wrinkles or arthritis, slower to move and yet full of a different kind of wisdom that knows just the right way to knead bread or to fix something that is broken.
[00:58:51] Knows to just go and sit and put your hand on someone's shoulder and say, I'm here.
[00:59:00] Friends, who do you love who might hold your hand as you breathe your last?
[00:59:06] And who will ache not just for your spirit but for your physical presence?
[00:59:13] And who will long for a day when they will embrace you?
[00:59:19] Really embrace you, not just spirit but body too, in heaven.
[00:59:26] Take a deep breath.
[00:59:31] Breathe it out.
[00:59:33] Focus on that seed again.
[00:59:35] Friends, what is your prayer for the redemption of your life?
[00:59:39] Like this seed, once planted in the ground will become something new, but every bit as material in nature as it is now, what is your prayer for the redemption of your life, soul and body too?
[00:59:54] What is God working that you might become?
[01:00:02] O Holy God, you create us and you call us not good enough, but truly good.
[01:00:16] Would you help us, Lord, and redeem and make something beautiful and new, not just of our bodies and our souls, but of all of this creation of yours.
[01:00:30] It's in your holy name that we do ask it.

[01:00:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Amen The Hebrew for very good is Tov Miod.
[01:00:54] Tov miod.
[01:00:55] And that tov means good and miod means exceedingly or great or abundant.
[01:01:01] So like God looked at all creation and called it good in abundance.
[01:01:07] Good, well, very good.
[01:01:09] And so that's what God has created in creation.
[01:01:13] And we're part of that.
[01:01:15] And we live in that.
[01:01:18] And that helps us to remember that God has been so very good to us.
[01:01:24] God has been tov meod to us.
[01:01:28] And so we are called to respond.
[01:01:31] We are called to respond to how good God has been to us.
[01:01:34] We are called to be generous because God has been so generous with us.
[01:01:38] God has given us the gift not only of this creation but also this church family.
[01:01:45] God is doing some amazing things in and through Williamson's Chapel and we want to invite you to be a part of that.
[01:01:52] One way you can be a part of that is to support the church with your tithes and offerings.
[01:01:57] So you can see on the screen we'll have a QR code there.
[01:02:00] You can give online.
[01:02:02] I think we're going to see on the screen that slide.
[01:02:06] Maybe we won't.
[01:02:07] There we go.
[01:02:09] You can give online or as ushers come around, you can place your gift on the offering plate.
[01:02:14] But just keep in mind that that's an act of worship.
[01:02:17] Our giving is an act of worship in response to God's abundant goodness, in response to God and what God has given being tov meyot.

[01:06:10] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[01:06:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Praise the Lord!

[01:07:03] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Praise Him all creatures hear!
[01:07:04] Praise the Lord!
[01:07:04] Praise Him all creatures hear!

[01:07:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Our closing hymn is He Lives on page 310 in your Kindle or on the screen.
[01:07:34] Let's sing together.

[01:07:51] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I stood upon the edge of sin

[01:08:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
We ask Thee how I know Thee.

[01:08:54] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Thee is within my heart.

[01:09:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
The Day of Peace Appears
[01:09:53] Rejoice, rejoice!
[01:10:28] Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy

[01:11:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]:
Next Sunday is Bible Sunday.
[01:11:09] Whitney Cassell, our, I guess, intern for Congregational Care, will be preaching next week.
[01:11:17] We'll be giving Bibles to third graders.
[01:11:18] We're also going to invite you, if you still have the first Bible you were given,
[01:11:24] or a Bible that was important to you in your life at some point.
[01:11:29] We invite you to bring that with you next week as we celebrate Bible Sunday.
[01:11:35] Also want to, what was the other thing?
[01:11:38] Yes, the podcast.
[01:11:39] We have started a new podcast called Faithing Out Loud.
[01:11:45] Pastor Tonyruth and I will be releasing new episodes every Monday, right?
[01:11:51] Tuesday.
[01:11:52] Golly, every Tuesday.
[01:11:54] About 15 minutes-ish, enough for your commute, or just a quick kind of weekly look at some things about faith, some of the questions you all have had in this series that we can get to, some things that it's going to be connected to what's going on either in the world or in the life of our church.
[01:12:13] And I believe, is this coming week the great candy corn debate?
[01:12:18] Yes.
[01:12:20] Candy corn is disgusting, by the way.
[01:12:23] So check out that new podcast on any podcast platform that you use.
[01:12:34] It's on the church website as well.
[01:12:37] Faithing Out Loud.

[01:12:38] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
And we hope you can join us for that conversation.
[01:12:49] and you'd like to know more about doing that we hope you'll come Wes and I would love to see you we're gonna have pizza there and just good conversation you can sign up for that online or you can call the church office if you don't want to know can't find it online just call us let us know we'd love to have you have join us so I hope this week that you'll go outside and you'll feel the warmth of the Sun on your skin and the coolness of the breeze
[01:13:14] I hope that you'll embrace somebody or hold somebody's hand and give thanks for the gift of your physical body and the gift of these bodies that God has given us to experience this beautiful world and that you'll consider how God is redeeming not just your soul but your body too.
[01:13:32] Friends, now may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:13:34] The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
[01:13:37] The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
[01:13:40] In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
[01:13:42] Amen.

[01:13:48] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy