Bible Text: Mark 15:33-41, Psalm 30, Mark 16:1-7 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Canada Day
Out of the depths – July 2, 2017
Mark 15:33-41, Psalm 30, Mark 16:1-7
When was the last time you were thankful to God because He saved you, because He brought you out of chaos? Can we be thankful today when we have Canada Day celebrations all over the country?
Psalm 30 is a thankful psalm. The writer, David, was thankful to God because God lifted him up from the depths; he called God and God healed him.
Today during this time of worship we can take a look back at Canadian history, our personal lives, and also the life of Jesus Christ and see what it means to be thankful for God’s help.
Let’s see why we as modern-day Canadians or immigrants should be thankful to God. What was the depth from which God lifted up our nation?
We all know that this 150th Celebration would not be possible if we didn’t take the time to recognize that the history of this land didn’t start 150 ago. This land and its people were here before that too. We have to acknowledge what happened to the Indigenous people in the past and how the Christian church was involved.
I want to share a story with you. All of you know about Nazi Germany and their leader Adolf Hitler. Germany gave many great theologians to the world. When I was a university student, most of my classmates learned German because Germany has amazing theological literature. And although they had many great theologians, during the time of Hitler the Deutche Christen movement developed and they wanted to accommodate Christianity within National Socialism. It was not new, from the beginning there was an intention for church and state to go hand in hand, but in the 1930s some of the theologians recognized the danger and the Protestant leaders organized resistance against Nazism.
A beautiful declaration, The Barmen Declaration was born in 1934 when they wanted to confess their sin against Jesus Christ, when the Christian church supported Hitler. I remembered this story when I first heard what happened to the Indigenous people in residential schools and what the Church’s role was in this process. Now we are living in a time similar time to when those German theologians recognized what had happened and wanted to do their best to avoid the same mistake and also take responsibility for their actions as a Church.
I think we can be thankful to God that although residential schools caused pain and suffering for many Indigenous people now is the time we can be the people who can raise their voices for justice and peace. We are also the ones who should show the world why Jesus Christ asked us to love God and our neighbours like we love ourselves.
Are we done yet? Can we do this as a Christian Church? Can we do this here in Kirkwall? Friends, I think it’s not a secret what’s going on in this congregation. Today we want to celebrate, we want to celebrate Canada, and yes we can recognize the need for healing and reconciliation in the relationship with Indigenous people. But I know that we also recognize the need for healing and reconciliation here in our Kirkwall church. Maybe this is the time when we should stand up and make a similar confession as the Barmen Declaration, because we should recognize what we missed here in Kirkwall. Do you have any idea what we missed here? Did we miss the chance to deal with those who left the church because of hurt and pain? Did we miss the chance to follow what Jesus asked to do, to love each other? Did we miss having Christ as the Lord of our church? Did we miss making disciples of Christ?
Friends do you know why we are here? We are here because of Jesus Christ. He is the reason, if we have another reason to be here, then we are missing our chance to follow Him. This church is not our church, it is not my church, this church belongs to Him. He is the owner and we are invited by Him to be part of it. It’s a privilege to be here and to hear Jesus.
If we miss something or fail to follow Him we can cry out to God like David did and God will be able to lift us up from the depths.
Not because we are so nice and kind but because of Jesus Christ. He is our role model. From the Bible we know what happened to Him on Good Friday when he who did nothing wrong had to feel the deepest depths. And He cried out to God: Eli, Eli, lamma sabactani. My God, my God why have you forsaken me?
God heard that cry, when the Son of God cried out to Him on the cross, but Jesus had to die and had to win everlasting life for us. The morning of the resurrection came and Jesus Christ won over death. What a victory. We are saved because of Him. We can sing a new song, we can sing Psalm 30:
This Psalm, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the whole Bible wants us to follow new directions, directions out of the depths.
And the first step is to cry out to God, when you feel your life is in the pit, or our congregational life is in the depths. Think of the life of Jesus: Resurrection came after death, Easter morning after the darkness of Good Friday, happiness and joy after pain and suffering.
God never turns his face away from us.
Sometimes we don’t know the solution, we cannot find way out of the depths but we can always ask for help from God and one day we can sing a song like Psalm 30. We will sing a new song when we realize that God saved and healed us.
I think this is a nice day to celebrate Canada Day, what a beautiful thing it is to live in a country where people recognize the need to confess their sins against Indigenous people. We should follow this in our congregational life, we should make a public confession saying we are sorry for not taking it seriously when Jesus asked us to love each other. This love means action against suffering, pain, hurt, humiliation etc. This love should shine through our lives and bring more disciples to Christ. We have to confess if we didn’t follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and didn’t make any disciples for him.
Or if we are still in the depths let us ask God to help us to find the way toward Him. Maybe you don’t know why you need Him but I can tell you there is a big difference between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The difference is life. With God you can live an Easter life, without him, you are still in the depths, in the darkness, which means Good Friday is every day for you. Do you want change? Ask Him. Ask Him today.
And Jesus, who told us: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 24:6 will show us the way out of the depths toward his Father. Thanks be to God. Amen
Bible Text: Exodus 19:2-8a, Psalm 100, Romans 5:1-8 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas
On Eagles’ Wings – June 18, 2018
Exodus 19:2-8a, Psalm 100, Romans 5:1-8
A couple weeks ago before Mother’s Day, I read somewhere that we should not celebrate Mother’s Day or Father’s Day in our churches because it’s not a day of celebration for everybody. Someone may have lost their father or someone has a father who was never a great father, and Father’s Day brings back painful memories.
And it’s interesting that in Bible study, some people shared with me that they found pretty hard to pray to God as their Father with the Lord’s Prayer because their image of a father was damaged by their real dad.
Today we have Father’s Day and another celebration, as this Sunday is Aboriginal Sunday too and that is why we can learn together about a real Father who is father for all of us, for Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals and also for those who have great memories about their father and for those who don’t.
From Exodus chapter 19 we can see why God is the best example we have on Father’s Day. Through Moses he had a message for the Israelites which was that if they obeyed God and kept the covenant, they will be God’s treasured possessions, and also a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
How does this sound? Is it good to belong to God, to be his own people? I think it’s pretty cool but to really be his people we should do the same, we should obey him and keep the covenant.
But who is this God and why should we do this, why should we believe in his promises? I hear this question from those who had a bad relationship with their father: what if these are only promises and God will never keep them?
And friends, he knows us. That is why we should read the Bible because God himself is the one who told the Israelites why he asked them to obey him. God says:
"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."
This is a special reminder that before God asked anything from them, He saved them. They were in exile in Egypt and God carried them out on eagles’ wings.
The eagle can bear up the young eaglets on its pinions, which are the outer wings. This is basically what God did when He carried Israel out of captivity from Egypt and continued to carry them on in their wanderings in the wilderness.
And also, when the storms hit, eagles can fly far above the storms, indicating that God is never affected by conditions for He is also sovereign over nature.
Being in exile is a big storm but God saved them and brought them out and after this he told them that if they kept the covenant with God and obeyed him, they would be his nation. It is not only a sudden promise, but also a planned action by God who knew how to save his people even before they promised to obey him.
He saved them and that was the reason why he asked them to keep his covenant and obey him.
Because this is the biggest problem with many parents, they cannot keep their promises, or they ask for something before showing their love.
God is pure love, he saved those people because he already loved them.
And did you know that his love never changed although the Israelites didn’t keep their promises, they didn’t obey God and didn’t keep the covenant? Let’s look at Romans chapter 5 verses 6-8:
Can you hear this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God loved those Israelites and saved them from Egyptian captivity, and throughout the ages he sent prophets and apostles to spread the good news of how He loved us, he sent Jesus Christ, the only son who died for us while we were still sinners.
Did you know this? Did you know that He loves you so much? If you never accept him into your heart, if you never accept Jesus as the one who died for you I ask you to look back into your lives.
Here we are today on June 18 2017, please look back into your life and see whether God carried you on eagles’ wings, whether he lifted you up above the storms. It’s not an accident that you are here. He brought you here to hear the good news, that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.
Do you need this peace? I need this today and tomorrow, on Tuesday and every day.
Years and years ago when I was a student we had to take a chaplaincy course in the hospital. Our task was to go into the patients’’ rooms and ask them whether they want to talk to us and also to pray with us. and then at the end of the day we gathered together and shared what we experienced, what we learned.
And one day I had to go to the pulmonology ward and one of the women asked me to come to her bed and pray with her. She was a gypsy woman, and I called them gypsies and not Romas because my gypsy friends asked me to call them gypsies. So I met with this gypsy woman who told me she had a seven-year-old son who would start school in September and she wanted me to pray with her to survive till then. She had stage four liver cancer and the doctors told there were no hope for her. She had strong faith in God, never asked any questions about why God allowed the cancer to take her life, she only wanted me to pray with her to live till September. It was in April and of course I prayed with her but after this meeting when we had our gathering to share our experience I couldn’t do anything else, only cry. The women’s faith hit me in my heart. I was so young, probably 21 years old, full of energy and with big dreams about my life as a missionary in Africa, then the meeting with this lady changed me. I asked the leader of our group, why did God allow this and why did I have to be there. Our leader only asked one question: can you believe in miracles?
That gypsy woman at the end of her life believed in miracles, she had peace from God. She knew somebody who could lift her above the storms. It was in April, we finished the chaplaincy class and I never heard anything about the woman, but I will always remember her and how through her life God taught me to believe in miracles and ask peace from him.
Once there was a big storm, a cross stood on Golgotha and Jesus Christ died for us. If you want to know more about this love, more about the father’s love, read the Bible, pray to him and he will reveal himself to you through the Holy Spirit. Amen
Bible Text: Genesis 1:2:4a, Psalm 8, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas
New Creation – June 11, 2017
Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 1:2:4a
Responsive Reading: Psalm 8
New Testament Lesson: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13
In the very beginning God created and his creation was perfect. He had a perfect order for how to have things done. And that was perfect. Everything he created was so good.
The creation story. How many of us have heard of the debate about whether God created the world in six days? Whether he was able to use a day like our days for such enormous jobs, like separating light from darkness or creating animals and most importantly humans?
When I studied theology in Hungary, one of my professors taught us that the creation story was written when the Israelites were in exile in Babylon . The Babylonians had many gods and they feared the stars, the Sun and Moon. The Israelites had only one God, but they were not sure whether their only God was with them or if He stayed in Jerusalem, where the temple was. And during their time in exile the creation story was formed by the prophet of God: they didn’t have to fear the stars, Moon or Sun because those were created by God. God is the creator and he is the only living God. The stars, Moon and Sun are all creations of our creator God.
And this is the beauty of the creation story, that our God created everything and so we don’t have to fear.
Years and years later, when science became more important than faith there was a big debate about whether the creation story of the Bible was a real story or only a nice tale. We know about the theories which tried to show the world how irrelevant the Bible was.
What is sad about this whole story is that we have God who is our creator but instead of celebrating our lives people questioned whether he could create the world in six days or whether those days were like our days with 24 hours, and somehow people forgot to think about how God is able to do everything, there is no impossible for Him.
What do you think the most important question is:
whether God created the world in six days
Which is the true version: the creation story of the Bible or the Big Bang theory
Is it God who has created the world?
Is there anybody behind creation? Does God really exist?
Does God have limitations? Is He able to create?
What is your answer? I don’t want to tell you what is good and what is wrong, the answer is in the Bible:
In the beginning God created…
You know, that is enough for me. I know God and I want to believe in Him, I don’t want to worship stars, although I know what a big temptation it is to read Horoscope., I also don’t want to fear natural disasters, I want to fear God, who created them, and who is able to stop them. How many times do we worry about natural disasters because we know about what is happening in our world and it is a real fear. We don’t want to lose our lives, our loved ones, our possessions. But how many of us are worrying about losing our souls?
That is why we have to see the next chapter of the creation story.
Whether you can believe or not that God created the universe, it is obvious that something happened to the good order. And I don’t think that day, night or animals changed, but human beings did change. Sin started to appear in every part of our lives: anger, madness, sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, drunkenness, etc.
The creation which was so beautiful in the beginning needed to be recreated and that was why God send Jesus Christ, in Him our lives can be renewed. In Him it is possible what Paul asks:
"Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace." 2Cor 13:11
What is the reason for our joy? Because in Jesus Christ our God was reconciling the whole world to himself. In Christ it’s possible to strive for full restoration.
How many of you want full restoration? Think for a minute about your life and ask the question in which part of your life do you need restoration from God the most? Think of your life and see where your weak point is, where you need strength to be whole.
Then we should encourage others to see that it’s possible, our lives can renewed and we can live in unity and in peace.
When you accept Jesus as your Saviour, you will experience special peace from God. And we need this.
We all fall away and worship the gods of success and of wealth and of power
and we do seek divine protection and divine comfort from things that
are mortal and perishable rather than seeking them from the one who
makes all things. Like when the Babylonians worshiped the stars. And when we all made bad decisions in our lives and we expected God to be angry He chose not to be angry forever but love us more.
God has chosen to bless us even though we have not sought his Blessing. He has chosen to forgive us even though we have blamed him for all our faults. He has chosen to love us with a love that will change us and save us from ourselves even though we have not loved him and even though we need a lot of saving.
God decided he would rescue us from ourselves by becoming one of us. That is why He came close to us in Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful story about our salvation, about our creation. This world is so beautiful. Sisters and brothers, rejoice and be glad!
Bible Text: Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47, John 17:1-11 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas
Christian unity - May 28, 2017
New Testament Lesson: Acts 1:1-11
Responsive Reading: Psalm 47
New Testament Lesson: John 17:1-11
Our son Gedeon started daycare last Tuesday. It was an emotional day for me but we survived and most importantly that day reminded me of my own kindergarten experience. There were rules which we had to learn pretty early on in our lives. Do you remember these rules:
What we really need to know about how to live, and what to be, we learned in kindergarten. Wisdom does not always come from the top of the graduate school mountain, but from the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody...
Take a nap every afternoon. I hated that time but now I think it’s a pretty cool rule. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that...
Do you think our world would be better if we all -- the whole world -- had afternoon snacks about 3 o'clock every afternoon and we could lay down with our blankets for a nap? Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Because it’s good to be together. Ok, sometimes it’s hard but most of the time we like company and especially at church it would be nice to hold hands and stick together. What unity this would it be! And that’s why Jesus Christ is praying for us, praying for all those who are his and praying for their unity. He knew that he had to go back to Heaven to have unity with his father. He had to go back to be in unity with him just as he was before, but he wanted to pray for his disciples. He knew how hard it would to be in unity when he wasn’t with them. Next week we will celebrate Pentecost and before that, Thursday was the day when Jesus went back to Heaven and the disciples looked at the sky, watched after him and two men asked them: why do you stand here looking into the sky?
He left them. He didn’t leave them alone, since this is the message of Pentecost, but this is the point when they had to step out of their comfort zones and be the message, just like Jesus Christ’s whole life was a message from God.
Jesus loves us and prays for us. When I imagined this situation, I had tears in my eyes because do you think we need Jesus’ prayer today? Do we need Jesus to pray for our unity? During the years, have we learned to love each other, respect each other, have we reached unity with each other?
Unity isn't easy. Most of us have never learned how to disagree in love, or how to love those with whom we disagree.
Unity isn't easy. But Jesus not only prayed for it, He modeled it for us. Remember when the disciples came to Him complaining about the people who were preaching and doing signs and wonders in Jesus' name but weren't part of the crowd of disciples? They were ready to run them out of town or call down lightning upon their heads. Jesus told the disciples not to stop them and said, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit."
Christian unity is not determined by whether we agree with each other about every interpretation of scripture or doctrine or form of church government. Christian unity IS determined by whether we love one another, and whether we reflect the love of God in Christ for the world.
And that is why today I want you to take a step out of your comfort zone and try to think about who it is who should change something so our church could be a better place. I don’t want to hear names but the answer is in this box. Look inside and see who is the one who should change…
An old rabbi once asked his students how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun. "Could it be," asked one student, "when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it's a sheep or a dog?" "No," answered the rabbi. Another asked, "Is it when you can look at a tree in the distance and tell whether it's a fig tree or a peach tree?" "No," answered the rabbi. "Then when is it?" the students demanded. "It is when you can look on the face of any person and see that it is your sister and brother. Because if you cannot see this, it is still night."
So we want to see each other as sisters and brothers, but this doesn’t happen in a time of night. We have to know each other, we have to know that we are not the same, some of us can speak easily, some of us not. Some of us can come here and read from the Bible, some of us not. When Jesus prays for our unity he prays for the unity that is like that he has with His father and with the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are the same. It’s hard to imagine and accept this, but we can imagine it if we think of the water, ice, and dew which is all H2O but in different forms. We are all humans but we are not the same, unity means accepting others, even with their difference. It is both hard or easy. I have to tell you I like to be with those who are like me, who love Jesus, believe in the Bible but I have also learned to love to be with those who have different opinions than mine. It’s not easy, but it means that I want to find a way that will work for our church, like here in Kirkwall.
Bible Text: Acts 2: 42-47, Psalm 23, John 10; 1-10 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas
Dream Big – May 7, 2017
New Testament Lesson: Acts 2:42-47;
Responsive Reading: Psalm 23;
New Testament Lesson: John 10:1-10
Dream big my friends. Dream big about our church’s future. My dream is like the situation described in the New Testament when the believers were together in joy and they broke the bread and helped each other. Friends, when I read this scripture I felt that I wanted to belong to this community. I need to find this community. Or maybe our question should be: how can our church become this kind of perfect fellowship?
The answer is in the Bible, actually it is in our reading:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer.
They devoted themselves…it means they decided in their hearts to follow the teachings of the apostles, they decided to belong to their community where they broke the bread and prayed together.
And the emphasis is on how they devoted themselves, how they made the decision about Jesus Christ.
This particular community was the first Christian community and we might think it was easy for them to be Christian, but this was not the case. It was just a fresh new start of Christianity.
Those who believed in Jesus Christ wanted to come together and enjoy the fellowship. They met every day and Jesus Christ was the reason for this.
I know there is a temptation today to provide the best programming and interesting worship styles to our people, but at that time those early Christians didn’t meet because of the interesting programs. Nobody wanted to sell the church, as we feel many times when we want to invite somebody, like we have to mention what we can offer.
This Bible text can liberate us from the temptation to trust in our programs, in our church buildings, or the idea that if we provide the best entertainment more people will come. Because quantity is a big temptation today: we want more people, we want quantity but what about the quality of our faith?
This Bible text reminds us that we should come together for the same reason as those early Christians came together: devoting ourselves to the Bible’s teachings and the fellowship, breaking the bread, praying and praising God.
So how many of you want to find a different church community here in Kirkwall from now on? Who wants to belong to a community where everybody helps everybody, there is no hurt, only joy and awe, where every speech is about praising God?
Friends, this is our church, maybe not today but Jesus Christ is working on us, lived and died for us. And the dream can come true, we can be the perfect community of God.
Do you know what the last sentence in the text is:
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
I know a couple of months ago many of you thought that when you had a minister she could perform a miracle and get new people. But the truth is in the Bible: The Lord is the one who can give us new people, but only when we are ready for them.
Just look at the church history. Although we read about the beautiful start of the early Christians later we know that there were misunderstandings and splits. Look at the church body today, there are uncountable denominations. Today when we have problems with each other, it is easier to leave the church than try to work on the solution. And it’s true not only for the church but for our families and relationships as well. It’s hard to work for a relationship when we feel that we are being mistreated or somebody is hurting us. Sometimes it’s easier to leave than to believe and love again.
But Jesus Christ shows us a wonderful example, He never left us. He never chose the easier way; His way was straight to the cross. He is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep. He was not only the Good Shepherd for those early Christians, He is still the Good Shepherd who wants to save us and lead us.
In John 10:1-10 we can read about Jesus as a Good Shepherd, how he cares about all those who belong to him and that those sheep follow him because they know Jesus’ voice. We can say many good things about this passage and also about Psalm 23, but today when we have the ordination of our new elders, you have to remember one thing, that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. It means Jesus is our leader. Yes, we have minister and elders but the head of our church is Jesus Christ, He is our leader, he is our Shepherd. He is the one who called us to be in his flock, who gave his life for us He knows very well who belongs to Him.
Minister, elders, members, non-members, all those who belong to his flock are sheep. Jesus is the One who can give more sheep to his flock, to his Kirkwall flock and also he is the One who can call his people for different kind of services. Eldership is a very important position but it’s not about power. Sometimes we think that elders are those who make decisions about our church issues, who form a secret society and deal with everything. But friends, most importantly elders are those who are serving in faith. Jesus Christ is the best example, he showed us the way of serving:
-He called his disciples by name and he taught them
-he visited them in their homes
-he healed them
-he showed them the way toward His father
-He spoke with them about the real understanding of the Bible
-He let a woman wash his feet and He washed his own disciples’ feet
-he visited sinners and ate with them
-he wanted to show an example to his disciples by giving his life for them and for us
-He gave everything he had for us.
And do you know why? Because He has a Father who loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son for us. Yes, because He loves us.
Friends, let us follow him on the way to serve others through love.
We are not perfect, nobody is perfect. We are all in need. Our lives are broken even though many times we want to look like we are strong, many times we are just hiding our brokenness. We need peace, joy and love.Where else can we find our joy than here in the church? Where brothers and sisters can get together and share the love of Jesus Christ?
I didn’t want to give a special sermon to my elder friends, but I wanted you all to know how important it is to love each other, and to speak to each other with respect. We belong to the same flock, to the same Shepherd who is Jesus Christ.
And yes, the elders have special roles, they are our examples of serving in faith and love. And yes, they are not perfect, but with help from God and the support of our congregation they can grow in love and faith. Pray for them and help them.
And at the end my elder friends! Do your best to rise up to your Call. God is with you. Serve and love your people as Jesus the Good Shepherd shows you, and help Kirkwall to be a church like those of the early Christians who were together in awe and joy.
Amen
Bible Text: Isaiah 65: 17 – 25, Psalm 47, John 20: 1-18 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Easter
Look for Jesus – Easter Sunday April 16, 2017 – Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas
Isaiah 65: 17 – 25; Psalm 47; John 20: 1-18
Friends, Jesus Christ is risen, he is risen indeed and today we can celebrate his resurrection. That is why we are here at Church today, we really want to celebrate. Let’s look at this ancient story with an open heart and hope for new creation today.
We remember what happened with Jesus after he entered Jerusalem on that little donkey, how the events accelerated during Holy Week.
We stood under his cross on Good Friday, then we felt the silence of the next day, waiting for the day of Resurrection, which is today.
But it is not easy to understand what is happening on Easter morning, not because we don’t want to believe in the resurrection of Christ, but because this news is so unbelievable.
Just look at Mary Magdalene who went to Jesus’ tomb when it was still dark. See, it was still dark. Mary was surrounded by darkness, not only physical darkness but all the dark emotions that come into our life when tragedy happens, when we lose somebody. Under the burden of this emotional and physical darkness Mary was looking for Jesus. This would be the first message today. It doesn’t matter how big your darkness is or how big darkness around you is, look for Jesus. Follow Mary, who was not scared to go to the cemetery while it was still dark. She didn’t know what had happened, she didn’t know that Jesus was resurrected, what she knew was where she had to look for Jesus.
That is why we are here today, we also want to look for Jesus, and we know that today He is with us as our Risen Lord, who defeated death and darkness.
But let’s follow Mary on her journey toward meeting with Jesus.
Mary is the one who noticed that something happened to the stone and she had to go back to the disciples to let them know that the stone was not there. She went back to the tomb but she didn’t step inside, she cried outside. When the two disciples left she looked into the tomb, saw the two angels and continued to cry. She was so desperate. On Friday had Jesus died, then she just wanted to visit the tomb but something had happened to the stone and now Jesus’ body had vanished. What a terrible experience for this poor woman. In addition those two angels in the tomb asked her why she was crying. Oh why didn’t they understand her feelings? She loved Jesus and she didn’t know where He was. And at this moment she looked back and thought the gardener was there and asked him about Jesus.
But what a great surprise when Jesus called her name: Mary!
No more darkness, or mourning, or the stone, or fear and pain because of the loss of Jesus; no more death. Only Jesus, who still knew her name, who was still the same Jesus whom she loved.
This is the turning point of the story. Look at Mary, she forgot about every pain when Jesus was there in front of her, when her eyes looked at him and she didn’t see darkness anymore. Her new life began at that moment.
How many times are we similar to Mary Magdalene who wanted to meet with Jesus and knew where to look for him? But she didn’t realize that everything around her was singing Hallelujah to the risen Lord: the rolled away stone, the empty tomb, and the white dressed angels in the tomb. Then she saw Jesus but didn’t recognize Him till he called her name.
Please open your eyes today and see that the Resurrected Lord is with us. Sing Hallelujah, enjoy how God loves us. And start your new life with Jesus.
Yes, there are many reason to weep, that was why Mary wept but she didn’t weep anymore after she met with Jesus. If you have reason for weeping today, look at Jesus and wait for Him. Let Him take away your sadness, pain, and tears. Yes, we have to face death and the loss of our loved ones. We have to face terrible things in this world, and sometimes in our everyday lives. There are still incurable diseases, natural disasters and sometimes we cause disasters around us, but please today look at Jesus.
The tomb is still empty and we have Jesus who is our Resurrected Redeemer. We need Him more than anything else in this world. We need Him so that we know we are not alone when we are crying, and that there is somebody who will ask us why we are crying when instead we could be celebrating life.
Death is not the end of Jesus’ story. Yes, he died on the cross, he was laid in a tomb, but the tomb couldn’t hold Him. He is still alive. If he was not raised we wouldn’t be here. Our Bible with the testimony that because He lives we will live too would not exist. Without Him there is no Easter message, and you would go home with your heart empty. But we have a resurrected Lord, who will fill your heart with hope, joy and love. Yes, today you are here because He wanted you to be here, He wanted to call you by name.
Rejoice and be happy. Look at only Jesus, like Mary, who didn’t look at darkness and pain and didn’t cry anymore because if Jesus is with you, life is with you. If He is with you today, you have hope for a new life which can begin today. I am so thankful to Jesus for this new life. And I am also thankful that it is not only for me, but for all of us who want to look at Him and live with Him every day of our lives. Amen
Bible Text: Luke 19: 28-40, Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Luke 19: 41-44 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Easter, Palm Sunday
Let’s celebrate Palm Sunday! – April 9, 2017 Palm Sunday
Luke 19: 28-40 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Luke 19: 41-44
Let’s celebrate and remember the first Palm Sunday when people put their cloaks on the little donkey and the road, and others celebrated with flowers and Palm branches. What a lovely day.
They celebrated a man sitting on a donkey who was going to Jerusalem to celebrate Easter. Others were also going to celebrate and to give thanks to God. But this man was different, His heart was heavy, He knew what was waiting for Him in Jerusalem.
But that comes later; now let’s speak about the celebration, today we don’t need to speak about the Last supper, betrayal and the cross of Good Friday. Can you hear the crowd:
"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
We also want to celebrate Palm Sunday and to remember the day when Jesus approached Jerusalem as a king.
But who are we in this story? Where is our place within this celebration? Do we have flowers or we are standing here with empty hands and waiting for others to celebrate? Did you come today to celebrate or is your heart heavy thinking of the road before Jesus, since after this triumphal entry to Jerusalem there is no turning back?
There were several people who wanted to celebrate Jesus on that first Palm Sunday. Some of them were waiting for Him because they knew He was the One who healed the sick, who gave bread to the hungry, and who spoke their language. Jesus was different than those priests who always spoke about those barely comprehensible rules and laws. Oh no, Jesus taught about the kingdom of God and his voice was full of life and love. Yes, his stories were about us. His eyes were so bright when he spoke about His Father who sent Him. And we believed in Jesus’ words. Here at Kirkwall, we came every Sunday to meet with Him and wait for Him to speak to us. And He was here, every Sunday and every other time when we gathered together to listen Him.
No, he was not here in His earthly body, but we believed that Jesus was with us because we felt in our souls that because of Him we can rejoice before God; we can be whole and free.
Today Jesus is the One who comes again, but before Easter there is the cross.
Are you ready for this journey for Holy week? I know, today is not Good Friday or Easter Sunday but Palm Sunday. I have a heavy heart when I think of the road before Jesus. How could he enter Jerusalem on that little donkey while people shouted hosanna, while he knew what was going to happen to Him there? And Jesus let people celebrate. He let them shout hosanna, celebrate with flowers and Palm branches but days later the same people shouted: Crucify Him!
We could explain the behavior of the crowd but it is more important to look at how we celebrate. Today we are the ones who celebrate Palm Sunday, who shout Hosanna.
Today the story is about us. We are the ones who will have to choose our actions after worship. How about you? Will you forget about this Palm Sunday celebration and how you sang Hosanna? Will you shout Crucify Him? Oh, it’s a tough question but on Good Friday there will be stripes and wounds on the body of Christ. What do we have to do with it? It happened because of us.
Today I don’t want to speak of our sins, we all know the result if we live without God. God speaks to us every Sunday, as Jesus spoke to his disciples and they were really happy on that Palm Sunday. They believed that Jesus was the promised king, it was a wonderful day to celebrate Him. It was good to shout Hosanna. But Palm Sunday was not the end of the story and Jesus knew this. Have you ever noticed that Jesus didn’t say too much. Jesus was the celebrated King, but He was quiet. He knew that days later he had to face the reality of the cross instead of a celebration.
Have you ever felt the same? You were here at the church, felt how Jesus loved you but later the cross of everyday life stole the celebration from you? Yes, it’s good to be here with Jesus and we wish to have more quality time with him so let’s listen to him. What was going on?
Jesus was weeping. Rejoicing crowd, flowers and Palm branches, but Jesus Christ was coming closer to the cross, to Jerusalem and he broke into tears. The Son of God cried not because he was scared of the cross. He wanted to bear that cross for us. He cried for the city which He loved. Jesus cried two times in the Bible: here in this story and also when he had to raise Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus was already with God but he had to bring him back into this life. In this story Jesus cries again seeing that Jerusalem will be destroyed but He loved that city.
Many times I remember this story and ask myself weather or not Jesus has to cry for me? For you? Do you know how he loves you? Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, Christmas and every Sunday, the worship is about how he loves you. Yes, He loves you, and looks for you. Do you hear his voice? His voice is so quiet you can't hear it if you think about other things. He is looking for you.
In the Bible we have joyful stories but we can also read about those who cried before God. The Israelites cried when they wanted to enter into the promised land but they had to confess their sins. The sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. Peter cried after denying of Jesus. When was the last time you cried? Have you ever cried because of your sins?
“If you only knew today what is needed for peace!”
We need peace not only with God, but with our sisters and brothers. We are not enemies. We don’t need the suspension of arms manufacture or the illusion of peace when we need real peace, and real love and please don’t want less. God already took the first step, look at the cross. Today you have chance to get peace from God.
“If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! 43 The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. 44 They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!”
What a terrible sentence for those who cannot live today with the offer of God. What about if it’s about you. What if You are here, but you miss the message. How many times do you recognize God’s work in your life but you don’t have time for God?
Today is the perfect day to cry out to him. When the crowd celebrated, Jesus cried because he loved them. He can cry over Kirkwall and your life. And you know why? Because He loves you. His tears come from love. His tears make me cry over my sinful life and I want to be thankful for him and for that cross and this will be the way the celebration of Palm Sunday is a celebration for the real King who saved my life. Amen
Bible Text: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; John 9:1-7, 17-34 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Lent - Easter
In our culture we put more emphasis on how we look, having nice clothing, a nice smile, especially at church. I use the mirror every once in a while, to check my teeth and my hair because I don’t want to look crazy. Sometimes I’m successful, other times not. But I have to use the mirror. Just like my homemade mirror. Do you want to see this? It’s easy to make one at home. It’s not perfect but it’s good. But wait a minute. Look into the mirror again. It’s crumpled but it doesn’t mean you are crumpled/wrinkled too. You cannot see your inside in the mirror.
Have you ever read the Little Prince by St. Exupery? It’s one of my childhood favourites because it’s so good to hear that “The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” “And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” I realized that these thoughts are really close to what God says in the Bible, how important it is to look with our hearts and also to examine the heart. And when I heard about the story of Samuel that God looked into the hearts of the people and that’s why Samuel had to look at the inside to find the perfect king chosen by God I realized that in our lives we should learn this ability to look the heart. Do you know how to do this? Do you know the difference between looking with eyes and with hearts?
Here we are today we have family Sunday and the traditional sap party afterwards. We want to enjoy this day, although it’s still Lent so we also have to continue our Lenten journey toward Easter. We have one story from the Old Testament in which Samuel, God’s prophet, had to go and look for a new king because Saul, the first king failed and God wanted a new king. Samuel felt sorry for Saul the old king but God wanted Samuel to choose a new one. So he had to go to Bethlehem and choose one of Jesse’s sons. And Samuel went and looked at all of Jesse’s sons, he tried to choose the king but he always looked with his eyes. Just like everyone of us. We use our eyes to choose something. But God told Samuel to see with his heart. Yes, he wanted to choose the best leader for the people, he wanted a strong man and he didn’t really think about the shepherd David. He was young but God wanted him because God looked inside David, and not outside.
In the New Testament story Jesus teaches us about the differences between being physically blind and when our hearts are blind. Those people around Jesus should have known that God wanted us to see with our hearts but they were too busy with their rules and laws and didn’t realize that a blind man was healed.
In Jesus’ teaching seeing means knowing who God is. If you know God, you believe in him, and when you have personal relationship with him it doesn’t matter if you can see with your physical eyes or not, with your heart you will see God. But those who think they can see with their eyes and don’t use their heart cannot see God.
Why is it important to see the heart of another person? Because many times we use masks to cover who we are, we want to look nicer. We spend money to have nice dresses, lotions, creams, and make-up, but how much money you spend for your inside?
What was the problem for the Pharisee? Why didn’t they like when Jesus healed the blind man? Because Jesus did that on Saturday and according to them work was not allowed on Saturday, so this meant no healing on Saturday as well. Then others didn’t want to believe that Jesus had done this miraculous healing, they thought that the man was not blind at all. They didn’t look at the man, that he was healed, they couldn’t be happy for him, their hearts were blind.
How about your heart? If God looks at your heart today what he will see? I can see – with my physical eyes – nice people, you all look beautiful in your dresses but what about your heart? How do you like each other? And maybe you think yes, we like each other but let’s go further, how do you treat each other? Are you caring for those who live around you?
Let’s see the two stories from the Bible again.
When Samuel had to find, the new king chosen by God he didn’t think of David, but God did. He was the youngest son in the family and when Samuel visited Jesse, David was with the sheep and do you know what that means? He was ready to save the sheep from all the wild animals, he was ready to fight for his sheep, he didn’t let the enemy get them. I thought about this story when I heard about the human trafficking in our neighborhood. We have youth, you have children and grandchildren. Do you really care for them? Do you want to save them from the enemy? The biggest enemy is when we don’t care about the insides of our children. When they don’t know how special they are, when they have to look for other places to find love and honour. Do we really have to speak about this issue in our church when we don’t really have many young people? We are here to be present with God, we are the children of God and yes, we are responsible for our youth. And it’s not only about human trafficking. Last year the son of one of our good friends committed suicide. His mom broke into pieces and still cannot wake up from that nightmare. And this 20 year old boy was not the only one who took his life while studying in university.
Why did I want to share these stories with you on family Sunday? Because we love our family, not only our children, we love everybody in our family and want to take care of them, want to save them from suffering and pain BUT do you know how to do that? Children of God, do you know how special you are to God who can heal your broken heart and broken lives?
When Jesus healed the blind man he made a remarkable confession: “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Jesus is the only one in this story and in your story who can open blind eyes. Without Jesus, we cannot see with our hearts, we cannot recognize God but with Jesus we can experience the unbelievable, those who are blind can see.
Are you blind? How many of you can see with your heart? How many of you feel pain for all those who are living without God? Both David’s and the blind man’s story show us how important it is to see with your heart. With your eyes, you cannot see God but your heart can see him forever.
Bible Text: Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 12:1-4a; Responsive Reading: Psalm 121; New Testament Lesson: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Lent - Easter
Promises. Do you like promises? Do you remember a time when somebody promised something important to you then forgot about it, and didn’t keep their word?
I don’t really like promising because I feel terrible when I cannot keep those promises. I will never forget that old man from the Hungarian Church who asked us to stay in Windsor for as long as they were alive because he and his wife wanted a Hungarian funeral, and they loved us. Two years ago his wife died but this man was still alive when I got the email from Rev. Fred Shaffer about Kirkwall. And my first thought was about this old gentleman and my promise that we wouldn’t leave Windsor while he lived. And I preached for the call on the 26th of June last year and you cannot believe this, but the old man’s funeral service was on the 20th of June. It was the perfect timing from God because I kept my promise, then I was free to come and enjoy the weekend.
But many times we cannot keep our promises, we promise without thinking, not even realizing that we can hurt others. Especially little ones can remember our promises and over the years they can learn not to trust in promises.
Today the promises come from God: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
What a great promise from God, I need this too. And actually when I prepared this sermon and looked in my Hungarian Bible I found a note beside this text: Aug. 7th 2009. This was my fourth day in Canada and I also got this message from God. I was here in a foreign land, I couldn’t imagine my future here, I left behind everything and whenever I felt I couldn’t do it anymore I read this promise again, I wanted to hear more about God’s blessings and I wanted to keep in my mind that my future is in his hands.
Do you know how the Israelites taught their children not to forget about God’s words? They wrote the words on small papers and wore them on their foreheads or on their wrists. I remember I attended a youth group when I was 13 and when I went to high school they prepared me a booklet to wear on my wrists about the most important promises from the Bible. And for me this promise, which was for Abraham, was my promise as well.
So today we also get this message. Let’s hear this again: I will make the people at Kirkwall Presbyterian Church into a great nation, and I will bless the people of Kirkwall Presbyterian Church; I will make their name great, and they will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, my people, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through the people of Kirkwall Presbyterian Church.
Wow, it sounds a bit strange, and we are not sure how this would be possible, but let’s trust in God and ask Him to prepare the road for us and follow him. We don’t have to worry about planning and finances. From the story of Abraham, we know that he left his land and relatives behind and followed God.
Today when we continue our Lenten journey, we have the opportunity to see how we should follow God. From the story of Abraham, we can learn what we have to do to have those wonderful promises became true in both our personal and church lives.
But first of all, do you want to be blessed by God? Do you want our church to be great? Do you want others to be blessed by you?
If your answers are yes, let’s hear what we have to do: “Go to the land, I will show you.”- says our God.
It’s as simple as it could possibly be, if we want all the blessings, all the promises from God we only need to go to the land he shows us.
But where is that land and what kind of land God is talking about? The land is our future, where the promises will become true. The land can be 2017. 2017 can be our blessed year if we have enough courage to follow God toward an unknown future. From the story of Abraham, we know that Abraham didn’t know the new land. He didn’t make any calculations, didn’t see photos of the land, never asked anybody who lived there what the possibilities would be, he didn’t even have a plan-b (how many of us have one). He only followed God by faith and because of his faith “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” Rm:4:3 And because of his faith and righteousness he and his offspring received promises.
What should we do to receive promises? We should follow God by faith. That’s it. But it also means to forget about all of our worries, not count what we have but count on God.
Let’s be honest and think about what we have if we look at ourselves…and now try to forget about it and focus on God who calls us to follow him on a way we don’t know, toward a future which is promising but still unknown.
If Abraham had heard the calling from God but instead stayed home in the well known land, where everything was so good, he wouldn’t be in the Bible as a great example before us. When he stepped out of his comfort zone and followed God he started his faith journey and later his son, grandson and his offspring followed his way. When we look at Jesus’ genealogy in the gospel of Luke we can read Abraham’s name in it. He was blessed by God and through him all the earth was blessed because of Jesus Christ.
Today I invite you to follow God and be blessed. The decision is yours. I cannot decide for you. If we the people of Kirkwall decide today to follow God and go to the land we don’t know, He will bless us and our children. If not, these promises are not for us. Our church’s future depends on this decision whether we want to follow God and be part of a prosperous future or follow our own calculation for how we should survive the upcoming years. And please don’t forget that this decision is not only about our church’s future, but it is also about your own personal life. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15.
Bible Text: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 | Preacher: Rev. Monika Bereczki-Farkas | Series: Lent - Easter
What do you know about Lent? I always thought Lent was about fasting when you didn't eat meat and fat. As a Presbyterian, I didn't think that we should keep this tradition although I remember how my Catholic grandmother ate only popcorn on Good Friday. I thought it was important to her to keep her family tradition. But later I realized that Lent is about much more than taking away food. For me, it is a journey with Jesus when I remember the road toward the cross. During Lent, the shadow of the cross is always in front of us, we cannot forget about it.
When do we think about our things what we want to give up what is our reason?
We want clean hearts, we want to get rid of bad habits, we want to have healthy bodies, minds, spirits, etc. These are not bad goals but one of the most important reasons for Lent is to be ready for Easter, ready for the message that "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Do you want to be ready for this message? It's not too late to think about your own Lent journey, what you have to do to have purified heart for Easter, what is the things in your life which means a gap between you and God? What should you give up to have more time for God?
On October 1, 2006, Charlie Roberts shot 10 Amish girls and five of them died. Charlie's father was a police officer and he and his wife lived in the Amish community when the tragedy happened. Terri, Charlie's mother had a hard time to forgive his son who killed himself after he killed the girls. The parents wanted to move away from the little village but the Amish people helped them to understand what forgiveness meant.
Can you imagine how Terri, Charlie's mother thought about her son, can you imagine the anger, the shame which was mixed with the feeling that she lost her son. She was not able to forgive his son till those Amish people explained to them that how do we want forgiveness when we cannot forgive one another? We all need forgiveness but forgiveness is a choice.
Today when we start our Lent journey toward Easter and our minds are full of ideas what we should give up, I wanted to share this story with you to see that Lent is not only about giving up meats, fat or chocolate but choosing love, peace, forgiveness...
In Matthew 4:1-11 we can read about Jesus' 40 days when he was in the desert and the devil tempted Him but He was able to say No to him. Friends, we have to know about temptation and one of the biggest temptation when we don't think with temptations when we think we are perfect and we don't need Jesus Christ.
In the third chapter in the Bible, we can hear about how Adam and Eve were tempted and they couldn't say No. From the Romans we know that we are not better than Adam and Eve, we cannot say No on our own. And please don't think that you are not tempted. Temptation is part of our lives and it doesn't matter if we want to face it or not. How interesting that Satan didn't do anything else, he only talked to Jesus. Satan didn't act but he wanted Jesus to do as per his requests, just like he did in Eden when he suggested to Eve that she eat from the tree. It means we have to be really careful, we have to follow the way of Jesus, we have to know who we are, that we are the children of God. And the best way to know who you are is to spend time with God.
Once I got a little song book with children's Christian songs and there was a story at the beginning. Many years ago in a city there was a big tragedy, many children were kidnapped. A young lady lost her little son and daughter. 10 years later a miracle happened and the police found the kidnappers with the children but they were already grown up. The police and social workers organized a meeting for the families and children and when the lady who had lost two of her children looked around she was so sad because she didn't see her children. One of the officers suggested to her to think of a story or a song that she sang to her children when they were young, and maybe they would recognize it. The mother started to sing a simple children's song and when she finished it a boy and a girl ran and hugged her with tears in their eyes. When I read this story I decided that if I ever had a child I would sing to him. That is why I have two favorite children songs to sing to Gedeon and Lili. One is about how our hearts should always listen to God and the second one is the idea that we don't have to fear because we are the children of God. I sing these songs to them almost every day.
Because I know that we are like those kidnapped children. Once our father formed us and created us but later we wandered far away from Him, especially the times we didn't want to say "No" to Satan. But our God didn't want to lose us, so He sent Jesus who told us about our God and just like when those children recognized their mother's voice it is the same for us too. Our hearts start to long after God. If I am with God I can hear his voice in my heart, I can recognize His loving presence in my life. Spend time with God.
This is the only way to know who you are and how you can say "No" to the temptation.