7/4/2021 | Trinity UCC Sermon Only | Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

0:13 We've come to the moment in our worship experience where we not only pray, but we enter and examine the Word of God. We invite you to pray with us right now as we approach the Word of God to discern what God has for us on this day that the Lord has made. Let us pray. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and see if there is any destructive way in me. When you discover what does not belong, I ask, O God, that you would take away from me what does not belong and keeps me from connecting with you. That the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart would be acceptable in thy sight. O Lord, you are my strength, and without a doubt, you are my Redeemer.

1:07 Holy Spirit, do thy will, do thy will, Holy Spirit. In the mighty, magnificent, awesome, majestic, powerful, and saving name of Jesus, who is the Christ, we pray. And the people of God, who love God, may say, Amen. I would invite you at this time that you might turn with us to Acts chapter 13, beginning with verse 1. Acts chapter 13. We're going to read verses 1 through 3 for our lesson on today. And it reads as follows from the New International Version. Whatever version you have is certainly the Word of God. And it reads this way. Now in the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, another translation, Simeon, who was an African, and Lucius, who was from Cyrene or North Africa.

2:19 Menea, who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul, while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Now in the church of Antioch, there were prophets and teachers. So they, after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy word.

3:19 Let's place a tag here as we continue in our series entitled The Truth About the Church. This has been a wonderful examination of the book of Acts as we have looked at the history, the heritage, the origins, and how the Holy Spirit was and is speaking through what we know as the faith community we currently today call the church. For today, we want to look at this idea of being set apart. Being set apart. We have often heard this word, being set apart, within the faith community. Being set apart, being anointed, being consecrated. The religious language that we hear, but sometimes we are not clear about the meaning of this idea of being set apart.

4:19 That one way of looking at it is this, is that to be set apart is to understand your call and to be sensitive to how the Spirit is speaking in your life. Everyone, I say to you, everyone, under the sound of my voice, has been called. Not everyone has been called within a religious framework, but everyone has been called in a spiritual framework. What does that mean? It means that a true call, understanding your true purpose, is always God-inspired, but not necessarily religiously defined. Religion simply meaning a system specifically.

5:13 For example, that I've been called in ministry is framed within the particular denomination and Christian community that I'm rooted in. But you may be called to something else, but it is nonetheless inspired by God. And you have to discover what that particular call is. It could be the call to writing. It could be teaching. It could be the call of serving. but understanding your call is important for your journey to become who God has fashioned you to be. That we are all called. I'm not speaking about your job. I'm speaking about the passion that God has placed in you. That if you even receive not a cent for what you do, There's something in you that calls you, that pulls you to do this kind of work.

6:14 Ah, this idea of being set apart is what we want to examine today. And I believe that this word helps us to begin to discover some of the processes that we must go through if we are to not only to understand our call, but to recognize our call in our relationship to Christ in that call. Remember, not every call is framed within the religious community. It does not mean that you will be a minister or a deacon or a trustee, or that you will be some type of missionary or create some spiritually framed religious organization, but it does mean that there is something God inspired in you, that when you tap into that call, it will improve and make an impact upon humanity. Because the God that we serve is a God of love, and every call that God has given a human being is a call that is to improve humanity, to help humanity and impact humanity.

7:21 If your call is one that denigrates, destroys, and creates tragedy and harm, then it is not a spiritual call that is coming from God. Everyone has a call, And that call is one that should improve and develop humanity. And so we have been looking in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is sharing with us the beginning, the development of the church. We have seen from the moment of Pentecost, when the spirit of God rests upon God's people, and they are able to understand each other in the midst of a diverse ethnicity and people from different geographies and the church begins to grow. From chapter to chapter in the book of Acts, we see the boldness of people who come out of the Jewish tradition who are willing to share the teachings of their rabbi, the teachings of the Messiah, the teaching of the one we call the Christ.

8:30 to people who are living in a Roman world, a world of empire and colonization, and they are communicating the idea of liberation. Everyone, everyone is called. And we see here within the 13th chapter that we already have a person who has shifted and changed in terms of their life trajectory by the name of Saul, who was knocked off of his force and as a result makes a commitment to Jesus Christ. He is a Jew, just as just about every single other person who is a part of this community called the followers of the way. But Saul is a peculiar individual because he is a fundamentalist who has shifted from saying, ain't nobody right but us, to saying that I want to communicate the love and the teachings and the grace and the beauty of the master teacher by the name of Jesus Christ.

9:40 So Saul now is a part of this movement. And we move to the church at Antioch. this church in an area that we would call Syria, this church at Antioch. And it's an interesting church because it is a church that is filled with prophets and teachers. Prophets, people who are speaking on behalf of God, specifically talking about truth to power and how one is to live their life in a just manner with love undergirding everything you do, the prophets. Then there are the teachers who are attempting to explain and help people understand the Torah and also the teaching legacy of Jesus Christ. There are prophets who are speaking truth to power, and there are teachers that are helping people understand the Word of God.

10:38 This church is filled with them. There's something here that is lifted up, which is very interesting, that if you are going to understand your call, it's right here in the text. It says here that the people have moved from Jerusalem and they have gone to the church at Antioch. And the scripture spends time telling you a diversity of people who are present in this church. A Levite by the name of Barnabas. An African by the name of Simeon. Another African by the name of Lucius from Cyrene. Anytime you see the word Cyrene, you know that you're talking about someone from the northern portion of Africa. And then a person who is raised with Herod the Tetrarch. Let me give you a principle that I don't want you to forget.

11:34 If you are to understand your call, if you want to figure out your purpose, if you don't understand what it means to be set apart, many times God will place you in a diverse spiritual network. Let me help you out to be in a diverse spiritual network. You have all of these individuals, all of them very different. You have one who is a Levite coming from this strong tradition within the Jewish community. The Levites were usually the people who were the priests, but you also have someone who is an African, then another person who is from Cyrene, and another individual who comes from the upper middle class, a bourgeois brother, because he was raised with Herod the Tetrarch. That if you are to truly discover your calling, you've got to be around a diverse network of people. Not everybody can think just like you and have a perspective just like you.

12:33 If you want to discover who God has called you to be, you need to expand your circle so that you are around people who have a different perspective than you, who are studying and looking at disciplines that are not the discipline that you are part of, that you've got to have a diverse network. And that will help you not only hone your gifts, but it's also going to put you in a position where you will be able to discover your call. Here we have the continued story of Saul and his becoming, to become that great apostle that we know as Paul. And he is in a diverse network. Let me say something to you. There is nothing more destructive than when you have people around you who are yes people who are always agreeing with everything you say.

13:42 You've got to have diversity of opinion and perspective because every human being has a way of looking at the world and the way that we are structured. It is God that wants us to be in a diverse ecosystem so that we can do what God has called us to do. And so if you are going to discover your call, you've got to put some diverse people in and around in your network. You don't need the yes folk around you all the time. You need people who love you enough, who are going to speak the truth to you in love. Not to harm you, not to destroy you, but to say that I see the world differently. And not that I'm trying to break or anything that you are trying to do, just so that you can see a different way of viewing the world. So as you begin your journey to understand your call, make sure you are around a diverse network, a diverse network of people to assist in your development.

14:51 Now, I offer this particular story, if I may stop here parenthetically, that I'm part of a network, yes, a diverse network, out of Auburn Seminary, specifically the Auburn Fellows Program, where they have brought, they bring together all of these religious leaders, or I should say that faith-inspired leaders doing social justice from different perspectives. There I'm in partnership with people who are within the black church, but also with rabbis and Sikh activists and Muslim activists and Buddhists, and even some who are agnostic, but yet have a deep respect for the faith tradition. They bring us all together because we found out that through different perspectives, we become stronger in the process. that though we are all focused upon social justice and have love and justice as the basis of what we do, we recognize and understand that I need to hear the perspective of a Bishop Vette Flundon.

15:58 I need to hear a perspective of a Rabbi Brouss. I need to hear a perspective of a William Barber or a Michael Ray or a Jackie Lewis. I need to hear a perspective that's different than my own, like an angel, a Kyoto. I've got to hear a different perspective like a Valerie Carr. I've got to hear people from a different perspective because as a result, it begins to sharpen my understanding of my call and also of the issues that I am passionate about by hearing those issues from the perspective of someone else. A diverse network is one of the things that are going to be necessary for you to understand your call. A diverse network is one of the other things that you're going to need if you are going to understand why you have been set apart for the work that you are doing. So right now, we see within the text that there is this diverse network, but there's something else here that I want you to understand that is so very powerful. They tell us where they are, Antioch, that this church has prophets and teachers. It goes very specifically, it goes into detail about the diversity that is a part of this church known as Antioch. We have the Levite and we have the Africans. We have the middle class or upwardly mobile, upwardly middle class, bourgeois brother who grew up with Herod the Tetrarch. It spends time telling us about the diversity. But then you will notice that it says they were worshiping, they were fasting, and they were praying. You need to see this, that spiritual practice is the prologue to Holy Spirit action. I said something, I want to bless somebody with this. You see, in order for the Holy Spirit to speak, people want the Spirit to speak, but don't want to be involved in the spiritual practices in order to get to the moment when the spirit speaks.

18:00 That you will see here that they said, we're going to worship, we're going to fast, and we're going to pray. Because in worship, I then humble myself before God. I recognize that not only God is creator, but every good and perfect thing comes from the Lord. I remove idols from my life when I choose to worship. Because I recognize in the words of Paul Tillich that when I worship, I recognize that God is my ultimate concern. So worship breaks me from the idols that every day are presented on the altar of my heart when I worship. But not only do I worship, then I also must fast. Because fasting simply is saying that I have spiritual control, that the spirit is over the physical, that I have control of my body, and that in reducing what comes into my body, by choosing to reduce things from my life, I then can focus upon God. And so I worship, it breaks idols, and fasting says to me that I'm in control of my body.

19:16 It is not the body that is in control of the spirit, but the spirit that is in control of the body. But then there must be some communication through prayer. Prayer works in a variety of ways. It is communication, yes, to God, but one of the ways, especially in the contemplative aspect of prayer, that sometimes you've just got to be quiet in your prayer, Not even say a thing, but learn in the words of Howard Thurman how to center down and be quiet and hear God in silence. And there they were. They were worshiping and they were fasting and they were also praying. Before you can discover what your call is and understand that you have been set apart, you need to raise the question, put it in your notebook, are you worshiping, are you fasting, and are you praying? And I want to say something to you on this day, to the entire village of Trinity. I want to invite you to worship and to fast and to pray before we enter into this sanctuary.

20:28 Ah, we're going to enter into the sanctuary on the final Sunday of August. There'll be a limited number of people who can come into this space. But what I say to you on this day, we need some worshiping people, and we need some fasting people, and we need some prayer warriors, meaning that you've got to have worship that is taking place before you come into God's house. and we need some people who are going to fast three days prior to when we move into this space. You can fast during the day. You can fast by removing something from your life, but we need you to say that the Spirit is in control of the body and that I'm removing some things in my life because when we step into this space that we want the Holy Spirit to speak, and we need you to pray to center down to just be...

21:29 quiet. Not say, Lord, this is what I need. Just be quiet. Quiet. And be quiet for some moments before anything is uttered from your lips. To worship, to pray, and also to fast. That spiritual practice is the prologue that leads to Holy Spirit action. So do not expect to discover your call if you are not involved in the spiritual practices. Do not raise the question, God, oh God, when are you? Speak to me, I need you to show up. But you're not involved in the spiritual practices. It is a practice. And in the church at Antioch, they were involved in the practice. And as they were practicing, we then notice that the Holy Spirit speaks after the practice.

22:28 You've got to see this, that that's when the Holy Spirit speaks, that as they've been involved. Is it just one time they showed up to church, God spoke? No, it was a continual practice. And after it became a part of who they were, then the Holy Spirit speaks. I just want to give you some instruction on this day. And so the spiritual practice is the prologue that can lead to Holy Spirit action. that you've got to place yourself in a diverse network, a diverse network of spiritual people who look at the world differently. But you've got to see something else here that I want you to understand that when you discover your call, your call will not be something that you will be doing by yourself. Because most people cannot handle their call, that they have to be mentored to grow into the call.

23:29 You've heard me quote Howard Thurman over and over again. Howard Thurman used to state to Morehouse students, and he would remix it many times when he would preach, he would say that, ah, God places a crown above our heads. We will spend the rest of our lives growing tall enough to wear. And it says here that the Holy Spirit speaks to this community and says, I want you to set aside, set apart Barnabas and Saul. Watch this now. Barnabas is a Levite. He comes from a tradition of people who knew the Torah very well. He comes from a tradition of priests. But then there was Saul, the fundamentalist, who is now new to the practices of grace and mercy, who leaned more into being Roman than he did being Jewish, and as a result was persecuting his own people. So Barnabas is the mentor. Saul is the mentee. God places Saul under the teachings of Barnabas. And if you want to grow in your call, if you want to grow in your purpose, you've got to be willing to be under the authority and the teaching of someone else. That even a train can come by and remind you that you've got to be under the teachings of someone else. We notice here that Barnabas and Saul are paired together. And part of the challenge, especially today in this social media world, especially where everybody can become a celebrity just by making a video and appearing on Instagram or YouTube, that we don't want any mentorship. We don't want to walk with anyone. We don't want anyone to share their wisdom. But in order for us to grow, especially within our purpose, you've got to

25:40 have a mentor and be paired with somebody. That I have many mentors. I mentioned several of them, a few that have gone on to the Lord and a few that you've never heard me mention. You've heard me mention my father. You've heard me mention our pastor emeritus. But there's some that you don't know who've been mentors, such as Dr. Charles Booth, who is no longer living with us. This brilliant, incredible individual was one not only did I look up to, but used to just ask questions about ministry and about how he approached ministry. He was a great revivalist. But one thing about Dr. Booth, Dr. Booth believed in visitation to the hospital and praying over people who were ill. Another one is a person by the name of Dr. J. Alfred Smith in California, who also, my grandmother, considered him to be or her pastor. And this gentleman taught me about not only the power of prayer, but pastoral presence. And although he was in California, Dr. J. Alfred Smith would pick up the phone and just call randomly to check in on someone.

26:56 He'd say, Otis, how are you doing? And would teach me this idea of being present just by checking in for a few minutes and seeing how someone is doing. Another one you know very well is a person by the name of Irvin Clyde White, my mentor who is a part of this particular body known as Trinity United Church of Christ. We call him Jipa, an incredible and powerful individual, but also a mentor. You've got to be under someone's teaching. Another person is a Dr. Teresa Fry Brown, who is a mentor, one of my favorite preachers and teachers, learning under her. You've got to be under somebody if you want to understand your call. and there has to be people in your life who are your mentors.

27:56 And what I love as I get out of here about this is that the Spirit said, I want you to set apart Barnabas. I want you to set apart Saul. I want you to know that I've called them. I want you to send them. I lay hands on them, pray for them, and encourage them. Now, let us go back to the first verse where it says, this is a community filled with prophets and teachers. I'm pretty sure within this entire community, this entire faith village, a lot of people probably wanted to be like Barnabas and Saul. But you see, when you know your call and you know your gifts, when you see someone else lifted up by God, you don't get jealous, you get excited. When you see someone else being blessed, you shout. When you see someone else, ah, where a door is open for them, you lift up holy hats. And I'm here to let you know that maybe you can't find your call because you are digging in the dirt of jealousy so much. But as soon as you come out and you can get excited about what God is doing in the life of someone else, some things will open up in your own spirit because you are able to affirm someone else. I got to get out of here, but I just want to say on this day that you need to learn how to affirm somebody, somebody that God is doing some great work in and with and through. And I encourage you right now in the chat, I encourage you to take your phone and send a text. I encourage you to send an email or post something on Twitter or on your Facebook page. Put the person's name in there and tell them how you're encouraging them and you're so excited about what God is doing in their life.

29:54 Just do it randomly and affirm them because you see God opening doors. To understand your call, you've got to be in a diverse network. You've got to practice the spiritual practices, which is a prologue to God's movement. And you also have to be paired with somebody because you need a mentor to understand the fullness of the gifts that you have. Ah, God has set you apart. Are you willing? Are you committed enough to go through the process to understand the call? I know it's scary, but there's somebody today. God called you.

30:50 You've been waiting for this message, but you've been too afraid to be in that network. You've been too afraid to practice the spiritual disciplines. And you've been too afraid and maybe too arrogant to get a mentor. And you will continue to ask the question, well, what's my call? What's my purpose? God wants to set you apart to do great work in this world. I pray that you are blessed by this message on this day that the Lord has made. And if this message blessed you, if this ministry blesses you, there is an email that is coming up and a number. we ask that you would call it or send us a note.

31:47 Just tell us how this ministry has blessed you throughout this pandemic. We've done our best to create a virtual experience that will nurture your spirit. Let us know. We really would love to hear from you. If you would like to become a part of this community, We welcome you right now to become a part of Trinity United Church of Christ, the greatest church this side of the Jordan. We are part of the Jesus movement, and we invite you to be a part of this community. You just call or send a note to the email that you see on the screen. And so on this day, this weekend where you celebrate with your family, I offer this prayer to you on this day. May you be free, free from things that hold you back.

32:47 May you be independent from destructive forces that seek to shape your spirit in the form of that which is ugly and tragic. may you be set free from yourself and your low expectations and the fears that you hold close to your heart. May you have a diverse network of people who will speak truth and share with you a new perspective. May you practice the spiritual disciplines and may they be a prologue to Holy Spirit action and may you be brave enough to be paired and to be mentored so that you may grow.

33:40 And may you have the unmitigated gall to affirm somebody, encourage someone's heart and let them know, I see you. I see how God is moving in your life. May the road rise to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sunlight of Jesus Christ always grace your cheek and may rain.

34:05 And there's been a lot of rain these days. May rain gently fall on your field and nourish the soil underneath your feet. and may God keep you in the hollow of God's hand until we meet again. May you find that network. May you practice the spiritual disciplines. May you be paired with a mentor and may you affirm other people who are doing God's work. Until next week, I'm Otis Moss III. May you be blessed. Peace.