Party Time

FOCUS STATEMENT

Most people take life seriously, and we should.

It is such a precious gift that we have life at all, so it is important that we respect and cherish it.

Just like life, religion is very personal and a gift to those who practice it, and it is important to respect and cherish our religious beliefs as well;

however, serious need not mean joyless.

POINT OF RELATION

I love to have fun...to live life...to be spontaneous.

That’s the sort of personality I have.

I have a hard time with people that take things way to seriously and, no doubt, they have a hard time with me.

Just two very different personalities, them and I.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I know when to be serious, and when not to be.

I know there is a time and place for everything under the sun, as King Solomon wisely taught us in Ecclesiastes 3;

however, one can be TOO serious and can take themselves too seriously.

I am NOT one of those people, if you haven’t already notice.

I love my God, my life, my family...more than words could ever qualify.

I take those things very seriously.

God is at the center of all I do…

even when I mess up...

Christ is the center or my life.

Nothing is more serious to me than that.

I love my family with all of my heart

and do everything to provide love, support and a good life for them. I love life.

I love to travel...to explore...to create...to experience LIFE AT ITS FULLEST.

With that said, anyone who know me, knows I can act spontaneously.

I can come up with an idea and go 150% toward it on the turn of the dime.

I can be impulsive...

but I am also cautious when I need to be.

I am also committed.

When I commit to something, I stick with it...come hell or high water.

I’d like to think I balance those two...some days better than others.

But God gave us life to LIVE and to ENJOY.

That is what worship is.

It is the ultimate expression of our thanks and praise of God for the LIFE God has given us.

Worship is the ultimate expression of the joy we have in our salvation...

that God loved us so much that he suffered the cross and death for us.

Worship is supposed to be a celebration.

It’s supposed to be filled with jubilation and praise,

singing and partying,

rocking out and dancing for our LORD.

I want to liken it to my recent trip to Walt Disney World.

There I was having the time of my life.

It was the first day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

and I was super excited to be there because of the new Star Wars land: Edge of Galaxy that they built.

We were lucky to have gotten through the lottery system and we were going to get to go on Rise of the Resistance...

an amazing ride that blends physical sets, CGI, animatronics,

and a cart that zips you through a Star Destroyer as you seek to escape the evil First Order.

If you are not into Star Wars, let me quickly put this into perspective for you.

Think of Star Wars in terms of World War II.

You have The Resistance, who are like the allied forces fighting against the evil First Order,

which are an evil dictatorship under a powerful commander named Snoke.

You can think of Snoke as a sort of Hitler and the First Order is like the 3rd Reich.

These are really bad people...

and the resistance are freedom fighters that have organized to bring the First Order down.

So, there we were...

but we had a little time left before we went on the ride.

As such, we were going to go on Mickey Mouse’s Runaway Train ride, which was also new.

I was dressed in a tank top, shorts, crocks, and a Grogu hat...

Grogu is the Yoda-like baby creature (and by baby I mean he’s 50 years old)

who is a main focus of the Mandalorian Series on Disney+, which takes place in the Star Wars Universe.

In other words, there we were...

Grogu and me...all in boyish excitement...when one of the workers...a retirement-aged gentleman...said, “Boy, he’s childish isn’t he”, to my daughters.

Now, he was just joking around I am sure…he had a big smile on his face and was trying to get a laugh out of my kids...

but it took me by surprise...

especially coming from a guy in his 70s or 80s who is employed by a Mouse and dressed like a conductor on a runaway toon train. #justsaying.

But the words took me by surprise...

because that is exactly why Walt Disney built Disneyland...

so the adults could be kids. So they could have fun along with their kids and enter the world of Make Believe.

This same Walt had a running, full-sized, toy train in his back yard...

and who had a limitless imagination.

Walt would have been childish to this man too, probably.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Again, this man was working at Disney...

and just trying to have fun...his words weren’t meant to be insulting...

at least I didn’t take them that way...

but they did make me think.

Some people are just uncomfortable around someone who likes to have fun...

to use their imagination...

to see things differently than most see things.

Don’t believe me...look around the Methodist Church.

Folks...John Wesley was a visionary.

He was serious...sometimes too serious for his own good...

but I think he liked to play.

Now, John would not call it playing...

everything was an opportunity to serve Christ...

yet, John loved serving Christ and he had a playful side to him.

Once, in Georgia, he heard of a boy who was getting bullied because he didn’t wear shoes to school,

because the kid couldn’t afford to.

What did John do? He showed up as the minister...

ready to teach the class...without his shoes.

He preached in fields when it was considered improper to do so.

He had people at his meetings,

as did the later American Camp Meeting Methodists,

who would have ecstatic experiences...

shouting, dancing, passing out...

during his sermons and the music.

Picture it...people gathered in a place like Ocean Grove...

camping for an entire length of time, literally getting high on God, and partying it up in spiritual ecstacy by shouting amen, singing and dancing.

Friends, believe it or not,

that was the beginnings of the Methodist Church.

Look at us now. Oh, we’re not one of THOSE churches...are we?

Singing...barely. Dancing, heavens know...what sort of devilry is going on here! Shouting Amen? I don’t know...do we shout amen here, folks?

All jokes aside, what happened to the joy?

To the LOVE?,

To the passionate expression of our thankfulness for being saved and redeemed.

We are typically inviting people to a dirge, if we invite them at all, when we should be inviting them to a party. It’s party time dudes!

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

Today’s Scripture is pretty straight forward.

David had been made King.

What’s more, he besieged Jerusalem and that is where we pick up.

He was triumphantly bringing in the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem,

which became forever known from that point on as the City of David.

He and all of Israel were rejoicing...

praising God that they had gone from a kingless people who started off as slaves in Egypt, became nomadic wanderers in the wilderness, had taken over an entire land as their own, and now were a people with a King and a Capital. Things were looking great for them.

David, dressed in priestly garbs,

was leading the people in celebratory worship,

giving all of the credit to God who is their true King and deliverer.

David saw himself, for the most part, as a representative of God’s...

one whom God had put in charge of caring for God’s people…a shepherd of sorts. God the heavenly king, David his earthly counterpart.

Of course, there was politics behind this too.

We can see that in Michal’s response.

She was disgusted.

According to 2 Samuel, the reasoning was protocol. David wasn’t a priest.

He also wasn’t a court jester...

yet he was dancing and parading around indignantly like a street rat.

Perhaps that was the only reason behind Michal’s disgust.

Maybe she also was disgusted at the fact that she was married off to the one who usurped her father’s throne?

Whatever the case maybe she was embarrassed and disgusted by David’s behavior.

I can almost hear her say,

“You’re acting so childishly...stop it.”

But David was not going to stop.

Despite pressure to tone down the party, David kept on leading the celebration.

He couldn’t help himself...God is just THAT GOOD! Amen?

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

Friends, what is worship for you?

Is it a dirge that we are obligated to go to?

Is it something that should make us feel dignified and respectable...

something that feeds our ego and the statuses we attribute to ourselves?

Or is worship a celebration...a time to show our ultimate expressions of our Joy in the Lord.

Are you ready to celebrate?

if so, say amen!

Come on, you can say it louder.

Let’s mean it. Let’s feel it. Let’s let it pour out of us!!! Amen?!?!?

Let’s here you clap...

let’s give our Lord a huge round of applause this morning!

If you love Jesus with all of your heart, stand up...let’s rise together...let keep applauding...let’s shout [Whooohooo!] and praise Jesus Christ...

for he has saved us...

he has redeemed us...

he has liberated us from the bondage of slavery to sin and death,

he has washed us clean in his blood,

and delivered us into the promised land of his eternal kingdom,

as God’s agents and ambassadors of Christ our King.

Let us praise God. Right now…let us join together.

If you are home right now...

I hope you are standing and praising and shouting your love of God right now.

I hope your neighbors are wondering “What did they all take?”

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR US

I pray that we, as a congregation,

I pray that we get known as those crazy shouting, stompin’, jumpin’ Methodists.

I pray that we grow in our love, joy and excitement of the Lord,

so that we draw the curiosity of our fellow Newtonians.

Let us be a church that brings the contagious LOVE of GOD out into the streets.

Friends, It’s Party Time. Amen? Amen!