Sermons
This video and the text below are from December 1, 2019. The video is also on our ChatsworthUCC Facebook page, where you can see previous sermons.
“The First Sunday of Advent - Faith”
Rev. Bill Freeman
December 1, 2019
Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to thank you all for being here today. Seeing all your smiling faces restores my faith in humanity. That’s what I want to talk to you about today, is faith. This is the First Sunday of Advent: Faith. Faith is our topic. Faith is very important to have and to hold.
Mr. Rogers had faith. I have to confess; I was never a big fan of Mr. Rogers. I thought he was a phony. I thought he was fake. I thought he was condescending. In fact, the best thing, I thought, about Mr. Rogers was Eddie Murphy’s impression of him, a parody of him, on Saturday Night Live. Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. But then Kathleen and I went to see the movie about Mr. Rogers last weekend: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I realized what a wonderful man Mr. Rogers was. What a man of faith. I talked to my daughter, who is 27 and she said she loved Mr. Rogers. Now she also had loved Barney; and now she hates him. She grew up on Sesame Street, too. I think Barney is for two-year olds, Sesame Street is for pre-schoolers, and Mr. Rogers is for elementary school kids. I didn’t realize it, but he talked to children about important matters. He talked to them about death. He talked to them about divorce. He talked to them about suffering and loss. He talked to them about depression. Mr. Rogers was amazing. He graduated from college in the early fifties, and he saw television, which was in its infancy, and he thought, “What can be done with television to make it good?” He realized that what he wanted to do was children’s television. He wanted to teach young minds how to be good, basically. He wanted to help them through life. And he did that. Then, in 1963, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, which I didn’t know that. That just enhanced his programming. His show was amazing. There is a scene in the movie where Mr. Rogers and this magazine writer who is doing a piece on him are in the subway, in New York, I believe. Some people started to recognize Mr. Rogers, and then a bunch of people recognized him, and they all sang, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” It was very cute and I’m sure he got that wherever he went, that kind of recognition. He was very devout, and he was very faithful. He got up every morning at 5:30, read the Bible, and prayed for different people who’d asked him to pray for them. And he did. Mr. Rogers was a good man and a man of great faith. I’m glad they made a movie and I’m glad Tom Hanks was the star of that movie because he’s a good man, too.
Jewish people have faith that the Messiah will come. The prophet Isaiah writes about it, the coming Messiah: “A little child will lead them,” he writes. “He will be full of wisdom and understanding.” So Jewish people are waiting for the Messiah to come. Christians believe the Messiah has come, in the form of Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke we read the story of how Jesus was born in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Mary must have had great faith that she was giving birth to the Son of God. My hope is that every mother knows that they are giving birth to a child of God, someone made in the image of God, the sons and daughters of God. I think that Jesus, as with birth, shows us many things. It shows us the way we should think about children being born as the children of God. Hopefully, Jesus showed us the way to have faith.
The way to have faith is to do God’s will, to do what Jesus taught, to follow the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught the two great commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Now when I read that, I read three great commandments in there: Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself. I think you first have to love yourself before you can love your neighbor or before you can love God. Jesus also said to love your enemies. I think the best way to love your enemies is not to have any. I don’t think Jesus had any enemies. Jesus also told us to forgive and we will be forgiven. To judge not and we will not be judged. To condemn not and we will not be condemned. I think if we do all those, we will have faith. We will have great faith. We will be following Jesus, the Son of God, a man of great faith, a great teacher, the Good Shepherd.
Henry Ward Beecher was quite the preacher. He was a preacher from the 1800s, and he was the favorite of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. Oh, to be a preacher and be the favorite of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain! Abraham Lincoln wrote that he liked a preacher who looked like he was fighting bees when he preached. Henry Ward Beecher talked about faith. Henry Ward Beecher said that every tomorrow has two handles and it’s up to us to choose whether to grab the handle of anxiety or to grab the handle of faith. I believe we’re supposed to grab the handle of faith and do what God would want us to do, what Jesus would want us to do, and love everyone, to have faith in God, but also to have faith in humankind. And in humankindness.
I got a call the other day from my friend Kathy. She is a woman of great faith. She has a ministry for the homeless. She goes out every month or so and gives food and water and clothing to homeless people in encampments and other people go with her and help. Kathy called me and said that she had been praying for hats and gloves and scarves for the homeless in this wintertime in Southern California, when it gets cold. Some people in other parts of the country might not believe it, but it gets cold in Los Angeles. She told me that she prayed for those hats and gloves and scarves. Then she got a call a little while later from someone who said, “Could you use some hats and gloves and scarves to give to the homeless?” She said, “Of course.” She was, I don’t think surprised because I think she knew this would happen, she was just confirmed in her faith in God and in humankind and in human kindness. And that’s what faith is all about. To have great faith.
But what about people who have lost their faith? At Christmastime, many people have an empty chair, an empty plate at the table; they’ve lost a loved one. Sometimes, because of that, they’ve lost their faith. So, how can their faith be restored? There’s an ancient story about a woman who has lost her child and she is devastated. She’s, of course, in tears, and she doesn’t know what to do to get rid of the pain that she is feeling. So, she goes to a holy man and she pours out her heart to the holy man and tells the holy man that she just can’t go on because the pain is too great. Nobody has suffered like she is suffering. The holy man gets a jar and gives her the jar and tells her to go from house to house in the village and ask the people if they have suffered a loss of some kind and, if they have not, to ask them to give her a seed to put in the jar, and when she fills up the jar to come back to the holy man. So, she does. She goes from house to house to house in the village, telling people of her pain and loss and asking them if they have suffered a loss and if not to give her a seed to put in her jar. After she’s gone to every house in the village, the jar is empty. She doesn’t go back to the holy man. She realizes that everyone suffers a loss of some sort. Some people might lose a child. Some people might lose their job. Some people might lose their home. But I think that all people, sometime in their life, at one time or another in their life, suffer a loss. Hopefully that woman’s faith, faith in God, faith in humankind, was restored. It didn’t eliminate her pain, but it maybe eased it a little bit, I guess because misery loves company, I’m not sure, but knowing that she’s not the only one who suffered. We have to have faith.
Daniel had great faith. Daniel, according to the book of Daniel, was a very devout man. He would pray often to God. There were people who were jealous of Daniel, who didn’t like Daniel praying to this God. So, they went to the king and they demanded of the king that he issue a decree that said you can’t pray to God, you have to only pray to the king. So, the king made that decree. Then the people who didn’t like Daniel saw through his bedroom window that he was praying to God. They went to the king and they said, “Daniel has violated your decree. You have to kill him.” So, the king, kind of reluctantly, had Daniel thrown into the lions’ den, because the king really liked Daniel. But Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den and the lions’ den was covered with a stone. A stone was rolled to cover it. Daniel spent all night in the lions’ den. In the morning, the king rushed to the lions’ den and they rolled away the stone and there was Daniel, sitting peacefully. The lions were not eating him or tearing him apart because of his faith in God, because Daniel spent all night praying. He was saved because God closed up the mouths of the lions. Daniel demonstrated to us what great faith is all about. Now I would not recommend going down to the zoo and going into the lions’ cage and praying to God to save you. I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re not supposed to put God to the test, according to Jesus when he was in the wilderness and tempted by the devil. And I’m not going to go into the shark-infested ocean and pray for God to save me. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to test God. I’m not going to go to Florida and swim in a river and make sure that the alligators don’t get me by praying to God. But I do have faith in God. I have faith in humankind. And in human kindness. And we can show our faith, we can demonstrate our faith, by our works. James, the brother of Jesus, said that faith without works is dead. So, we show that our faith is alive through our works. Our food pantry – Ana and the people who volunteer at our food pantry demonstrate their faith, and demonstrate the faith of this church, by having a food pantry and by giving food to people in need. Kathy, my friend, demonstrates her faith by helping the homeless. We demonstrate our faith through our good works. We demonstrate our faith in God through human kindness. I believe that when we do that, God is well pleased. I believe that we should do that at Christmastime and all the time.
Rev. Bill Freeman
December 1, 2019
Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to thank you all for being here today. Seeing all your smiling faces restores my faith in humanity. That’s what I want to talk to you about today, is faith. This is the First Sunday of Advent: Faith. Faith is our topic. Faith is very important to have and to hold.
Mr. Rogers had faith. I have to confess; I was never a big fan of Mr. Rogers. I thought he was a phony. I thought he was fake. I thought he was condescending. In fact, the best thing, I thought, about Mr. Rogers was Eddie Murphy’s impression of him, a parody of him, on Saturday Night Live. Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood. But then Kathleen and I went to see the movie about Mr. Rogers last weekend: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I realized what a wonderful man Mr. Rogers was. What a man of faith. I talked to my daughter, who is 27 and she said she loved Mr. Rogers. Now she also had loved Barney; and now she hates him. She grew up on Sesame Street, too. I think Barney is for two-year olds, Sesame Street is for pre-schoolers, and Mr. Rogers is for elementary school kids. I didn’t realize it, but he talked to children about important matters. He talked to them about death. He talked to them about divorce. He talked to them about suffering and loss. He talked to them about depression. Mr. Rogers was amazing. He graduated from college in the early fifties, and he saw television, which was in its infancy, and he thought, “What can be done with television to make it good?” He realized that what he wanted to do was children’s television. He wanted to teach young minds how to be good, basically. He wanted to help them through life. And he did that. Then, in 1963, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, which I didn’t know that. That just enhanced his programming. His show was amazing. There is a scene in the movie where Mr. Rogers and this magazine writer who is doing a piece on him are in the subway, in New York, I believe. Some people started to recognize Mr. Rogers, and then a bunch of people recognized him, and they all sang, “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” It was very cute and I’m sure he got that wherever he went, that kind of recognition. He was very devout, and he was very faithful. He got up every morning at 5:30, read the Bible, and prayed for different people who’d asked him to pray for them. And he did. Mr. Rogers was a good man and a man of great faith. I’m glad they made a movie and I’m glad Tom Hanks was the star of that movie because he’s a good man, too.
Jewish people have faith that the Messiah will come. The prophet Isaiah writes about it, the coming Messiah: “A little child will lead them,” he writes. “He will be full of wisdom and understanding.” So Jewish people are waiting for the Messiah to come. Christians believe the Messiah has come, in the form of Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke we read the story of how Jesus was born in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Mary must have had great faith that she was giving birth to the Son of God. My hope is that every mother knows that they are giving birth to a child of God, someone made in the image of God, the sons and daughters of God. I think that Jesus, as with birth, shows us many things. It shows us the way we should think about children being born as the children of God. Hopefully, Jesus showed us the way to have faith.
The way to have faith is to do God’s will, to do what Jesus taught, to follow the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught the two great commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Now when I read that, I read three great commandments in there: Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself. I think you first have to love yourself before you can love your neighbor or before you can love God. Jesus also said to love your enemies. I think the best way to love your enemies is not to have any. I don’t think Jesus had any enemies. Jesus also told us to forgive and we will be forgiven. To judge not and we will not be judged. To condemn not and we will not be condemned. I think if we do all those, we will have faith. We will have great faith. We will be following Jesus, the Son of God, a man of great faith, a great teacher, the Good Shepherd.
Henry Ward Beecher was quite the preacher. He was a preacher from the 1800s, and he was the favorite of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain. Oh, to be a preacher and be the favorite of Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain! Abraham Lincoln wrote that he liked a preacher who looked like he was fighting bees when he preached. Henry Ward Beecher talked about faith. Henry Ward Beecher said that every tomorrow has two handles and it’s up to us to choose whether to grab the handle of anxiety or to grab the handle of faith. I believe we’re supposed to grab the handle of faith and do what God would want us to do, what Jesus would want us to do, and love everyone, to have faith in God, but also to have faith in humankind. And in humankindness.
I got a call the other day from my friend Kathy. She is a woman of great faith. She has a ministry for the homeless. She goes out every month or so and gives food and water and clothing to homeless people in encampments and other people go with her and help. Kathy called me and said that she had been praying for hats and gloves and scarves for the homeless in this wintertime in Southern California, when it gets cold. Some people in other parts of the country might not believe it, but it gets cold in Los Angeles. She told me that she prayed for those hats and gloves and scarves. Then she got a call a little while later from someone who said, “Could you use some hats and gloves and scarves to give to the homeless?” She said, “Of course.” She was, I don’t think surprised because I think she knew this would happen, she was just confirmed in her faith in God and in humankind and in human kindness. And that’s what faith is all about. To have great faith.
But what about people who have lost their faith? At Christmastime, many people have an empty chair, an empty plate at the table; they’ve lost a loved one. Sometimes, because of that, they’ve lost their faith. So, how can their faith be restored? There’s an ancient story about a woman who has lost her child and she is devastated. She’s, of course, in tears, and she doesn’t know what to do to get rid of the pain that she is feeling. So, she goes to a holy man and she pours out her heart to the holy man and tells the holy man that she just can’t go on because the pain is too great. Nobody has suffered like she is suffering. The holy man gets a jar and gives her the jar and tells her to go from house to house in the village and ask the people if they have suffered a loss of some kind and, if they have not, to ask them to give her a seed to put in the jar, and when she fills up the jar to come back to the holy man. So, she does. She goes from house to house to house in the village, telling people of her pain and loss and asking them if they have suffered a loss and if not to give her a seed to put in her jar. After she’s gone to every house in the village, the jar is empty. She doesn’t go back to the holy man. She realizes that everyone suffers a loss of some sort. Some people might lose a child. Some people might lose their job. Some people might lose their home. But I think that all people, sometime in their life, at one time or another in their life, suffer a loss. Hopefully that woman’s faith, faith in God, faith in humankind, was restored. It didn’t eliminate her pain, but it maybe eased it a little bit, I guess because misery loves company, I’m not sure, but knowing that she’s not the only one who suffered. We have to have faith.
Daniel had great faith. Daniel, according to the book of Daniel, was a very devout man. He would pray often to God. There were people who were jealous of Daniel, who didn’t like Daniel praying to this God. So, they went to the king and they demanded of the king that he issue a decree that said you can’t pray to God, you have to only pray to the king. So, the king made that decree. Then the people who didn’t like Daniel saw through his bedroom window that he was praying to God. They went to the king and they said, “Daniel has violated your decree. You have to kill him.” So, the king, kind of reluctantly, had Daniel thrown into the lions’ den, because the king really liked Daniel. But Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den and the lions’ den was covered with a stone. A stone was rolled to cover it. Daniel spent all night in the lions’ den. In the morning, the king rushed to the lions’ den and they rolled away the stone and there was Daniel, sitting peacefully. The lions were not eating him or tearing him apart because of his faith in God, because Daniel spent all night praying. He was saved because God closed up the mouths of the lions. Daniel demonstrated to us what great faith is all about. Now I would not recommend going down to the zoo and going into the lions’ cage and praying to God to save you. I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re not supposed to put God to the test, according to Jesus when he was in the wilderness and tempted by the devil. And I’m not going to go into the shark-infested ocean and pray for God to save me. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to test God. I’m not going to go to Florida and swim in a river and make sure that the alligators don’t get me by praying to God. But I do have faith in God. I have faith in humankind. And in human kindness. And we can show our faith, we can demonstrate our faith, by our works. James, the brother of Jesus, said that faith without works is dead. So, we show that our faith is alive through our works. Our food pantry – Ana and the people who volunteer at our food pantry demonstrate their faith, and demonstrate the faith of this church, by having a food pantry and by giving food to people in need. Kathy, my friend, demonstrates her faith by helping the homeless. We demonstrate our faith through our good works. We demonstrate our faith in God through human kindness. I believe that when we do that, God is well pleased. I believe that we should do that at Christmastime and all the time.