The Laity, Who are they?

I wanted to title my sermon for this morning "Laymen, who are they?" but in today's world, liberated as our society is, it sounded sexist, and laymen and laywoman didn't make it either, so I settled on "The Laity, who are they".

I want also to add a sub title which is the theme of the Methodist Church this year, "Catch the Spirit".

The Laity is all of us gathered together here this morning, who have come to worship together here this morning, who have come to worship together, to listen to the spoken word, to be comforted by the music, and to fellowship together after service. The Laity is also those persons who by circumstance of life cannot be in fellowship with us this morning. All of us together are the Laity.

The question is often asked of us, 'Why do we come to church?' Let me try to explain why I think we come and why we should come.

This being the football season, Let's see if we can find similarity to football and the church service.

A football team, as we all know, has many signals that are used to successfully execute it's plays on the field. The members of the team huddle together to receive the signals from the quarter back who in most cases receives it from the side lines. They then go to the line of scrimmage and carry out the play. The successful final outcome of the play depends upon all the players carrying out the signals properly. If any of them fail the play most likely will fail.

So it is with the Church. We come together, as we have today to huddle, to get the signal for the coming week. We get that signal in many ways, in Church School classes, and there are classes for all ages, in the formal Church worship, in the many meetings that can occur in Church and in the homes of the members, in prayer groups and through the music both as we listen to the message in song that the choir brings, and as we lift our voices together in praise.

How well we understand and carry out that signal determines how successfully we carry the message of love and salvation to the world around us, until we meet together again and huddle. It takes each of us doing our part to execute the plays that Jesus has set before us.

In the beginning, God dealt with his people through the Prophets. He made covenants with the people, giving them direction for living. He gave them the ten commandments through Moses. This was their signal for the living of each day.

In the New Testament, we find God sending His Son in the form of a man to live among his people, to bring the message of God's great love for us. Jesus gave us a new commandment, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind and our neighbors as ourself. What stands out for me in this commandment is , that we must love ourselves in order to love our neighbor, Love and self as we are-

After the crucification, When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, where the disciples were trying to decide what they would do now that Jesus was no longer with them ( to give them the signals). He told them that when he went to be with th Father, he would not leave them comfortless, but that they should tarry until the Holy Spirit came upon them. We read in the scriptures what great things happened at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit empowered them. They had "Caught the Spirit".

In our Old Testament reading we find Moses trying to avoid God's call to go and set his people free, but God removed all of Moses' arguments, and we find Moses "Catching the Spirit", and great things happened, Moses indeed led God's people out of bondage into the promised land, Moses had carried out the signal that God set before him.

In the story of Zachaeus, we see that when Jesus identified with Zachaeus in a loving and positive way and went with him to his home and shared a meal with Zachaeus, Zachaeus' heart was warmed and he became a changed person. He said he would return all the monies he had cheated people out of even returning it fourfold. Zachaeus had "Caught the Spirit". Just as Zachaeus' life was changed by Jesus so can mine and yours.

We at Nottingham Church have levels of needs that we need to consider. I would like to briefly lift out three levels.

At the first level are the needs of this building we worship in. We need to faithfully take care of our meeting place. We have salaries for the Church staff. We have utilities to pay for, we have operating bills to consider. We have many functions in the Church's life that require funds and there are office expenses. We have a pressing need for funding a janitorial service. We have not had this service in over a year.

At the second level...we as a connectional church have District and Conference askings to meet in order for the workings of Methodism to go forward. These askings are a major part of our budget.

I know that to a degree the Laity of Nottingham is functioning in all three of these levels, in some areas to a greater degree than others, and I commend you for all the good things that you are making happen here. But if we sit where we are like a frog on a lily pad, basking in the warm sun, who is equipped with a very fast tongue that allows him to catch his food without moving, we will be like the frog who says to himself, 'this is a great world I really have it made.' If we are like that frog, satisfied with what we have done, we will not do a good or effective job at any of the levels I briefly spoke of.

If we the Laity "Catch the Spirit" we can do all things together for good.

I ask you today with all sincerity to Catch the Spirit and be about the task of doing the work of the universal Church of Jesus Christ. Catch the spirit of carrying, catch the spirit of giving of your time, your talents and your tithe, Give of yourself.

Let Us pray.....

Lord we pray just now that the sunshine of Thy love will shine upon us, and that our lives may be as mirrors that will reflect that love into the world. Around us, that all people may know the Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Nottingham UMC