All Who Take the Sword Will Perish by the Sword

 Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church 

 

 A warm welcome to each worshiper today. We celebrate you and offer you our friendship and love. We are a congregation of people who seek to grow spiritually, to become more like Christ in His compassion and acceptance of everyone while growing more aware of what it really means to be Christians today. 

As a Reconciling Congregation, EPUMC affirms the sacred worth of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities and welcomes them into full participation in the fellowship, membership, ministries, and leadership of the congregation. 

  

  

943 Palmer Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12309 / 518-374-4306 epumc943@gmail.com / www.easternparkway.org 

Order of Worship 

August 28, 2022 

10:00 a.m. 

*You are invited to rise in body or spirit. 

  

Prelude IX, Twelve Short Pieces for Organ Samuel Wesley 

 
 

Greeting and Announcements 

 
 

Mission Statement: 

We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send forth disciples of Jesus Christ. 

  

Call to Worship: 

Jesus said, "Love one another, even as I have loved you." 

Love is more powerful than fear; it is mightier than hatred. 

Let the love which God has lavished upon us be poured out to those in need. 

Help us, O Lord, to witness to you by the ways in which we care for others. 

Remind us, Lord, that we are called to be your disciples. 

As we worship this morning, heal our hearts and spirits and prepare us for service. AMEN. 

Nancy Townley 

  

*Hymn Faith, While Trees are Still in Blossom #508, vv. 1, 2, 5 

              

Prayer of Confession: 

God of peace, we confess how hard it is for us to understand you. You tell us to be our brother and sister’s keeper, and we cry “personal responsibility.” You tell us to beat our swords into plowshares, and we cry “second amendment.” You tell us that the one who lives by the sword dies by the sword, and we cry “swords don’t kill people, people kill people.” Forgive us. Open our ears, and help us to listen. Open our eyes, and help us to see. Amen. 

  

Assurance: 

Jesus is our Prince of Peace, and every day is a new chance to commit to following him, and learn what that means. Amen. 

 
 

Scripture Reading Matthew 26:46-56 

46 Get up, let us be going. Look, my betrayer is at hand.” 

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus 

47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.” 49 At once he came up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you are here to do.”[j] Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. 51 Suddenly one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?” 55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a rebel? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. 

 
 

Sermon All Who Take the Sword Will Perish by the Sword 

Today we’re at week 4/7 of Stump the Preacher 2022, sermons requested by you and then preached by me. Today I’m lifting up the other topic that my husband Sean requested this season, and, I have to tell you, every time he shares his heart and mind I love him more, if that’s even possible. Sean didn’t shy away from this one, he went right for it: he wants to hear what our faith teaches us about gun control. 

Hey, at least he didn’t pick something controversial, right? Otherwise this could have gotten awkward. 

First, there’s the sociocultural side to this question, about what we bring about gun control to this space from the outside. Faith doesn’t grow in a vacuum, it grows in a life lived in the world, so I have to talk to that part of you that sees and hears the nonstop public discourse about guns, violence, prohibition, and personal liberties. This conversation never goes away, it’s a loud hum in the background of everything else we do. And statistics you that you guys have very strong, personal feelings about gun control and gun safety. Four in ten Americans have a gun in their home, and three in ten personally own one. Among gun owners in America, six in ten name self-defense as the primary reason they need one, and four in ten claim to need a firearm for hunting. Interestingly, only 5% of US gun owners claim the main reason they need a gun is because of their line of work. This is a very politically divisive conversation, with those who vote Republican being more than twice as likely to own a gun compared to those who vote Democrat. Fear of gun violence, meanwhile, ranks 5th among a list of deep concerns Americans have with this country, the first four being the affordability of health care, the national debt, violent crime, and undocumented immigration.  

This is a racially divisive conversation, as well. 82% of African American adults identify as very afraid of gun violence, compared to 58% of Hispanics, and 39% of White people. Greatly compounding that fear, horrifyingly, is the steep rise of police militarization and lethal force police officers have felt justified using against unarmed people of color. 49% of American adults believe stricter gun laws would curb gun violence, but another 42% believe gun laws have no effect on the actions of a criminal. Our beliefs are also sharply divided by where we live. Our rural dwelling friends tend to be much more comfortable with the private ownership of guns, with the concealed carry of guns, and with guns being present in public places, even schools, whereas urban-dwelling people, even those who vote Republican, favor stricter limits on gun sale and possession. The amazing thing, though, is that while we have such a huge diversity of opinions on the usefulness of guns, the importance of owning one, our fears of guns in public, and our beliefs about who should have access to them, the overwhelming majority of Americans want at least some very basic form of common sense gun control—91%. If we can’t all agree on absolutely anything else, we really do agree that we need to do something to keep guns out of the hands of those most likely to commit mass violence with them. We want gun control in this country more than we want Nutella.  

Despite that glaring reality, a very vocal segment of our population continues to fight for their right to own, keep, and use their guns. And many of those folks publicly invoke their Christian faith in arguing their side. Last June, Republican Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert rather infamously quipped, “On Twitter, a lot of the little Twitter trolls, they like to say, ‘Oh, Jesus didn’t need an AR-15, how many AR-15s do you think Jesus would’ve had?’ Well, he didn’t have enough to keep his government from killing him.” My jaw dropped when I read that one. Some of you who have been living in the capital region for a while might remember back in 2014, when the Grace Baptist Church in Troy held a raffle for a fundraiser, and the prize was an assault rifle. In 2009, a pastor in Kentucky hosted a “Bring Your Gun to Church Day” in his house of worship, an act which has been publicly repeated several times since by like-minded pastors. Historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez has deeper thoughts about this, which she shares in her book Jesus and John Wayne, which I will warn y’all sitting here is a very tough read. Du Mez makes a case, based on a century’s worth of historical evidence, that one very vocal, very American manifestation of Christianity has slowly so tied its identity to Christian nationalism, militarism, and stereotypical notions of rugged masculinity that the Jesus that many of us hear lifted up in public has lost most of his resemblance to our Savior from scripture, and has instead become the action hero we imagine we want. Oof. 

Meanwhile, the pain of living in a country that places guns on such a pedestal deepens with every mass shooting. As of the beginning of July, the Center for Disease Control has identified 314 American mass shootings. Lord, have mercy. I can stand up here and just keep spouting statistics for the sake of information, and for the sake of arguing what I personally believe about gun control and gun violence, but, the thing is, I don’t think I should have to support my case with numbers for you to hear me. I’m a citizen, a registered voter, a Methodist clergywoman, and a lot of other things that sway my opinions on these controversial issues. But this is one issue where I want to stop all that back and forth discourse right at my ears. Because I’m a mom. And I don’t care about the Second Amendment, or hunting, or self-defense, or your buddies at the shooting range, or how much you like watching Clint Eastwood shoot people in movies. Not as long as these guns, over and over and over, show up at places where my children might be—schools, churches, malls, theaters, sporting events, doctors offices, public transit, and too many others to name. I know a lot of y’all are likely to disagree, and that’s absolutely your right, but I profess that the death of even one person is enough to justify getting rid of all the guns right now. Oh Lord, hear our prayer. 

Though our denomination’s stance on gun control is much less extremist than mine, the UMC also proclaims that even one death by gun violence is too many. As of our 2016 Book of Resolutions, which lays out our social policies, the UMC reiterates these commitments: 

• To make the prevention of gun violence a regular part of church conversation 

• To do all we can to help survivors of gun violence 

• To practice the highest level of gun safety if we happen to own a firearm 

• To have conversations with churches that have experienced gun violence so we can build compassion and empathy 

• To show up at prayer vigils and protests that encourage legal and police reform 

• To encourage local gun sellers to protect the greater population 

• To fight for stricter gun ownership laws 

That tells you about our experiences from life and culture, the reasoning of our denomination and statistics, and our denominational and cultural traditions. As far as the fourth corner of that Wesleyan quadrilateral goes, scripture teaches us about Jesus’ deeply nonviolent practice and love ethic. There are many, many different verses I could have gone to with this one, but I went to Jesus’ passion as told by Matthew. You hear some of the most important things you’ll ever need to know about Jesus from these verses. At the moment of his arrest, he was surrounded by weapons (swords and clubs). But this didn’t intimidate him. He knew he couldn’t, and shouldn’t, try to stop what was going to happen, and wouldn’t allow any fighting to start, even to save his life. Peace was worth more to him. When one of his friends struck the high priest with his sword to try to protect Jesus, Jesus insisted he put it away, and was in no way appreciative of the use of a weapon to defend himself or anyone else. His rationale was stunningly simple: if you live like that, you’ll die like that. 

So it has been for us, with guns: we insist on living by them, and in 2020, 45,222 Americans died by them. I’m exhausted by this society that chooses death, over and over. This isn’t the first time y’all have heard me lament about gun violence, and, sadly, I doubt it will be the last. We learn our lessons the hard way. But we don’t worship a Savior who lived defensively or anxiously, clinging to weaponry and fighting despite the costs to keep it. We worship a Savior who courageously disarmed all those around him, and who clung to peace no matter what. No matter what personal choices we might make about gun ownership, we owe it to the One who saved us to save one another from this violent world, and choose to live by love. We’ll live longer for it. 

Amen. 

 
 

*Hymn I Love to Tell the Story #156, vv. 1, 3, 4 

 
 

Offering Rigadoun in D Elisabeth de la Guerre 

 
 

Offertory  

 

*Doxology #94 

*Prayer of dedication             

  

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer 

 

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;  
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;  
Where there is injury, pardon;  
Where there is doubt, faith;  
Where there is despair, hope;  
Where there is darkness, light;  
And where there is sadness, joy.  
 

O Divine Master, 
Grant that I may not so much seek 
To be consoled as to console;  
To be understood, as to understand;  
To be loved, as to love;  
For it is in giving that we receive,  
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,  
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.  
Amen. 

Our Father, Mother, Creator God, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen. 

 

*Hymn My Lord, What A Morning #719 

 
 

Benediction 

 
Postlude I Want Jesus to Walk With Me Traditioinal Spiritual 

arr. Mark Hayes  

 

Staff 

Natalie Bowerman Pastor 

Betsy Lehmann Music Director 

Joe White Custodian 

Cassandra Brown Nursery Attendant