Sermon for July 21

The reading 

Hebrews 2:10-18

10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, "I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here am I and the children whom God has given me." 14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

The message

This Sunday about 20 of us we gathered for worship in one of the school classrooms. This was during heat wave. Our sanctuary is air conditioned but we have other churches that share the space with us who worship in the non-air conditioned gym, think outside temperature plus 10.  We
rearranged the spaces so that all the congregations could worship in air conditioned spaces

I spoke about what we needed for church, we had bulletins and hymnals so that everyone would participate, we had the keyboard and music so we could sing as the church has for 2000 years, we had communion, we had a bowl of water to remember we are baptized, a cross to remember we gather around the good news that Christ is Risen and that's about all we needed.

Paul's letter to the Hebrew was written to restore a community of faith, I spoke about hat we did with the visiting group, how it helped restore my energy and faith, the things that I witnessed, the faith and joy of the experience, how this group came together to do hard work, support each other, care for people and encourage one another. It was a hot, uncomfortable week.  lots of things (crowds, smells, heat and humidity, anxiety about the city, discomfort with an ever changing plan) made things tough but they were all overcome with faith and community.  I also shared the same hope with our visitors, that our time together might transform both communities, filling us with new fire for ministry.