The Whaler's Church of Sag Harbor welcomed us to join them in worship this week while Pastor Sarah is away on study leave.
The children's message was a lesson presented by Mrs. Mitchell on the Book of Matthew . She spoke about how Jesus shared God's peace and love among people that were not accepted as worthy. She compared different kinds of pizza with the many types of people in the world. Some of us might think one pizza is better than another. Jesus loved people who were considered to be unlikeable. He taught us to love everyone and to share God's peace and love, just as we learned in the book of Matthew.
She asked that we go out and share God's peace and love with everyone no matter how different they seem to be.
Pastor Linda Maconochie spoke about John the Baptist, a strange looking man, who wore strange clothing, lived in the wilderness and spoke about judgement and repentance. He was considered to be a radical.
Jesus did not follow the rules of acceptance. He associated with all of the wrong people and did not fit the standards of righteousness. Neither John nor Jesus seemed holy enough for some people and were rejected because they did not fit in to the kind of messenger from God that many people were expecting.
God sent Jesus and John to spread the Good News of his everlasting love. He sent them to let us know that no matter what burdens we may have, peace and love will "yolk" us together. Jesus and John were God's chosen messengers, unlike anyone expected. They were different and they loved everyone. It seemed odd that God would have chosen them to spread the Good News of his love. It was a time of uncertainty, just as we live in today.
Jesus came to spread the news that God loves us and will bring us peace if we believe in him.
The Book of Matthew tells us that God will carry us through all of our burdens if we believe in the Good News.