By Stephon Carlisle Void

No Big Deal

A Gathering Meditation Inspired by Job 38:1-7

Suggestion: If your congregation uses “video bumpers” before the sermon, add images, voiceovers, and music to turn this into a high-impact video.

Boom! Bang! POW!
Out of the darkness I created the universe.
In seven days, I created the world.
I measured its dimensions. I laid its foundation.
With my hands I built this. Out of clay I made man in my image.
I made that clay flesh with my breath.
If I made all this, what makes you think I can’t fix you?

I can wipe any slate clean.
I can make any one whole again.
I don't care if you sold weight. It's okay, I forgive you. I can still use you.
I know about your past with your relationships and I know you feel ashamed for
Having kids before marriage.
That's okay.

I still love you and I still need you to use your gifts.
So what if you denied me. Peter did too, and we are cool now.
The drug use and the alcohol, I know all about it.
I still love you.

I'm the Master Craftsman. I have all the tools I need to put you back together.
No matter how dirty you feel, the blood I shed for you will make you brand new.
There is only one thing that I ask you to do: trust ME.
Trust the plan I have for you.
I promise you that everything will be all right.
So do we have a deal?

Cool.

Come with me; we have so much time to make up for.

Trust Me; I Got This

A Responsive Reading, Inspired by Job 38 1-7

If I created the universe with all its stars and planets, can’t I fix your brokenness?
Trust me, I got this!
Lord, help us to trust you.

If I laid the very foundation of the earth, measured its dimensions, placed my Son, its cornerstone, as a protector of my creation, then surely I can fix your broken marriage.
Trust me, I got this!
Lord, help us to trust you.

If I created the sky, the sea, the moon, the sun, then surely I have the cure for all your diseases.
Trust me, my child, I got this!
Lord, help us to trust you.

If I took clay and molded you into being, if I gave you my breath to live, if I gave you my word as a compass, then surely I can take you back from the clutches of sin and death.
Trust me, my creation, I got this!
Lord, help us to trust you.

Lord, you have shown us countless times that you are here for us, yet we are slow to trust. We turn to worldly providers and hope things will work out. We resort to vices and devices to numb our pain, but the pain still exists. Help us, O God, to place all of hope, dreams, fears, plans, and doubts in your capable hands.

Amen.

The Ransom Has Been Paid

A Prayer, Inspired by Mark 10:35-45

Since being exiled from the Garden, O so long ago, we have been held hostage to death. There was no way of escaping the clutches of death. The price was too high, and we could never truly pay it off to become free. There were not enough sacrifices to atone for the sins that we had committed.

Then, Father, you had a plan to change that. You sent your Son as the Advocate on our behalf, to snatch us from the Kidnapper, Death. With three nails, a cross, and a crown of thorns, Jesus paid the price to set us free from the jailhouse. With the power of the Resurrection, Jesus paid our ransom and snatched back the keys to the shackles that held us prisoner to our sins. With his crimson blood, he took away our filth and made us clean. Whom the Son has set free is truly free indeed. We were once on the outside looking in. Now we have a seat at the Welcome Table. As we gather here, as newly freed souls or souls that have been on the battlefield for some time, help us to remember we are no longer hostages to our past. Open our ears and hearts to listen to the refreshing word that will further convince us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. May someone have an awakening experience to the fact that he or she can be set free today. In the Name of the One who paid the price, we pray.

Amen.

Help Us Refocus

A Sending Forth/Challenge, inspired by Mark 10:35-45

Lord, we have been so focused on having seats in the kingdom
that we almost lost focus on the work of the kingdom.
Father, we have become so pious that we are neglecting those who need you most.
So, as we leave this place, may we not just bask in your Word.
Let us take what we have learned today and apply it the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Let us not become so focused on the everlasting but shift to what we can do for you today.
You did not pay the price for our sin for us to keep this gift to ourselves.
*We have a charge to keep and a God to glorify.
We have a never-dying soul to save and fit it for the sky.
Let’s get to work and build God’s kingdom while we still have breath in our bodies.
Amen.

*Note: “A Charge to Keep I Have” by Charles Wesley, 1762

Stephon Void is a Certified Lay Servant in the South Carolina Annual Conference and is a member of New Covenant United Methodist Church in Bowman, South Carolina. He is currently a nuclear magnetic resonance technician and facilities manager at Claflin University.