Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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When I was somewhere around 10 or 11, my home church and several others determined that a Disciples church was needed in what was then the new town of Coral Springs
Today, it has a population of over 133,000 but in 1970 its population was less than 1,500
I can remember when that new congregation built their first building, I was part of a group that went out to do landscaping around this new facility
My home church took seriously the need to plant new churches throughout Broward County
But just as important to my home church were “Unc” Morton and Mary Light
Two Disciples overseas missionaries who had strong ties to my home church
I grew up with the understanding that Disciples churches had a responsibility to be both locally and globally focused
That not only were local ministries and global ministries not in competition with one another
But that they went hand-in-hand
Indeed, back in the late 1800s, when Disciples churches were being planted at a dizzying rate across the US
Disciples also began sending missionaries to places like Haiti, India and the Congo
Ministries at home and overseas were seen as two sides of the same coin
Disciples took very seriously our responsibility to live out the final instructions Jesus gave to his followers before ascending into heaven
In , we read
Matthew 28:
Unfortunately, over the last 30 or 40 years the attitude has changed in many congregations
Rather than seeing local ministries and global ministries as working hand-in-hand
Too many congregations have come to see local and global ministries as competing with one another
Over the course of my career
As churches have struggled with declining membership and financial hardships
I have heard more and more the refrain, we need to take care of our own before we worry about people we don’t know
But what if the notion that we need to focus on ourselves rather than others
Is the cause of the problem our churches are experiencing and not the solution?
As I have said before, I do not fly all that often
But, unlike many other people, when I do fly I tend to listen to the instructions given by the flight attendants
And, of course, they always instruct us that if the oxygen masks come down
We are supposed to put our own mask on before helping others
And the reason, as is farily obvious, is that if we black out we aren’t going to be much help to our loved ones
But what makes sense in depressurizing airline cabins doesn’t necessarily make sense when it comes to ministry
Remember our first scripture reading from the book of Acts
The early church was not rich
The people who were part of it had the least standing in Jerusalem
They were outcast and ostracized
Yet, they focused on others outside the church
Many of those they were ministring to were afraid to join them out of a concern that they might be punished or persecuted
Still, many of the people of Jerusalem held the apostles and other believers in “high esteem”
It wasn’t easy, but the early church kept reaching beyond themselves to minister to those outside the church
It was hard and it took time but tells us
In the face of hardship, the early church did not turn inward—they turned outward
They didn’t put their own oxygen masks on first, they helped others with their oxygen masks first
And that is how the early church took root
My question is this, what if early church’s experience is a model for our own time?
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