1) "Today we heard three readings. Each one seemed to be pretty different. Yet, all three were actually calling for our focus to be on God, for us to make sure that in everything we do, we put God first. In Exodus, Moses, seeking God's guidance, implores God, Show me your glory. In response, God reveals through a cleft in the rock. In writing to the Christians at Thessalonica, Paul gives thanks to God, for the witness of the Christians who are gathered there. A key verse, Our message came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, reminding us that if hearts change, and the world tilts on its axis, it is God's work." [28:31] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2) "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's. See, that's the important part. Render unto God what is God's. Who is God's? Give to God what belongs to God. So let's just back up a little and go back for a moment to Exodus and Moses. What's going on here? Some of you may remember me sometimes talking about and speaking about something called liminal spaces. Thin places. Places that are a bit dangerous. Places where we catch a glimpse of God. This is one of those. Moses on the mountain, not just any mountain but the mountain, with God." [29:47] (56 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3) "Want to see my glory? Here's some of my goodness. Maybe that's how we see God's glory, not head on which would probably overwhelm us, sort of like trying to look at the sun from twenty -five feet away. God's goodness is a manifestation. An accurate shadow of God's glory and accommodated glimpse, peeking through that thin veil. So this is a manifestation, in verse 19 the meaning of the name yahweh is probably best explained here i shall be gracious to whom i shall be gracious i shall have compassion on whom i shall have compassion no predestination here rather it is god's nature to be gracious and compassionate it's god's choice not our earning not our goodness goodness." [30:58] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4) "Kind of fascinating to play around with. You see the back as it moves by. God isn't a still life. God is in motion. God is one who moves. Yahweh is clearly a verbal form of the word, an action verb in Hebrew. And where are you if you see the back? You're behind. You are following. Jesus said, follow me. That is, keep behind me. Watch my back closely. Follow God. And that's where our focus should be. In following God." [33:04] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5) "Don't you find it interesting that Jesus turns this question about taxes into a question of worship? A question of what honor and glory we give to Caesar, the state, the governing authorities, and what we offer up to God. Jesus makes no attempt to carefully distinguish what exactly belongs to Caesar and what exactly belongs to God. One can imagine his critics standing there with their mouths gaping open saying, well, but what is God's? Perhaps he does this in order to leave each of his disciples to make up their own mind about Caesar and God. That's probably unlikely. But it could be. Perhaps this. Perhaps Jesus is saying, you're Jews. You know the scriptures. The psalmist says the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Not much left for Caesar." [44:25] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




6) "Render unto God what is God's. Render unto God what is God's. Your lunch break at work. Your shopping, your meals, your conversation with a friend, with a neighbor, the stuff in your closet, your anxieties in the night, your portfolio, or your debt, or your fantasies, your time, your energy, your brokenness. It's all God's. Render it to God. God. Rendering unto God is worship, which is both liturgy and life. Remember last week about joy and prayer? Render your prayers, your joy, your life, your all." [45:35] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

Thank you. Good morning.

Welcome to Bethel Ontario Online on this 20th Sunday after Pentecost, October 18, 2020. We are so glad you are here. You are here joining us, and I invite all of you that are watching, especially if you're on Facebook, to hit the share button so that your friends can join you in a watch party for our worship service.

So it's wonderful to see all of you, and we are going to begin with our responsive call to worship, coming up on the screen for you now.

Let us begin.

As we gather to worship you, Holy One,
Show us your presence, O God.
As we join to pray at your footstool, Exalted One,
Show us your ways, O God.
As we unite our voices to praise you, Lover of Justice,
Show us your glory, O God.
As we tremble in the cleft of the rock,
Silently awaiting you, Merciful One,
Show us your goodness, O God.
Let the earth shake in your praise, Most High.
We extol your great and awesome name, Ever-Present God.

Please join me in our unison opening prayer. Let us pray.

Living God, move among us and awaken us to your loving presence. When we lose our way and put our confidence in our possessions and our wisdom, call us back to you. Remind us that our very identity is dependent on your abiding mercy. Show us how to walk with steadfast faithfulness, following the path of justice and goodness in our daily lives. May our days be filled with joy and hope, as we share the good news of abundant life that comes from following Jesus Christ. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we pray, Amen.

Thank you so much for praying with us. And now it's time for our gathering hymn. Our first hymn this morning is called "Seek Ye First." Most of you probably know this already, and the words will be up there for you. Sandy even played a little bit of it in our prelude music.

It calls to our mind and our soul the fact that the very first thing, the most important thing in our lives should be God. So let's sing together.

Thank you. And so now here we are at our official welcome and greetings section of the service. We really do welcome you to Bethel, Ontario Online.

We want to let you know that you can always share this, and that it stays up on all our various pages after the live service on Sunday is over. And by the way, we're not just on Facebook. We are also on YouTube, Periscope, and Twitch. So you can find us in all of those places during our live stream on Sunday morning. And then the videos will stay up there for you to share later in the week or to come to later in the week. I'm sure some of you are seeing this on Tuesdays, Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe. And welcome whatever day you have come.

In addition, we have channels on Roku and Fire TV where you can find our services. You can pick anyone you'd like to watch. Those are on-demand services, so you can see whatever you'd like of our worship services there.

So we are just thankful that you're here and that you're joining us.

We did have some really cool news that we found out this week by looking into our statistics and things like that of all of our worship videos that go out every week. We were excited because we found out that we have people checking in and viewing with us from 21 different countries who speak 10 different languages and live in 112 different cities. So we think that's pretty awesome.

To tell you about this cute little tree. See this tree? It has all these little things on it. Those are the countries. We couldn't fit all the people; it was too many people. So we put all the countries there. So we hope you'll kind of enjoy just looking at that. We know you might not be able to read all the countries on there from a distance. But anyway, that's what our tree represents. It represents our worldwide connections with one another and with God.

So once again, we thank you for joining us, and we hope that you'll share this with all your family and your friends.

So now it is time to hear our special music. So if you will give us your attention and enjoy this music.

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Are you here? Max? Hope you're here. Michael? William? Allie? I love calling out your names. Cillian? Zion? Spencer? Nathaniel? Carolina? Alright, it's your time, right? It's your time. Make sure you're here and ready to watch your video along with your moms and your dads and your aunts and your uncles and your grandpas and your grandmas and your friends. Whoever's at your house today, everybody come on in. And it's time for the kids' video. Here we go. Hope you enjoy it.

Stories of the Bible.

Alright, I thought that was pretty good, right? Alright, here we go. Now we're all gonna sing. Everybody ready? We're gonna sing our Gloria. Yeah, here we go. Time for the Gloria.

Thank you so much. Okay, now we're gonna hear our scripture readings today. Our scripture readings come from three different places: Exodus, Thessalonians, and Matthew.

So now please give your attention to Virginia as she reads to us from Exodus.

Thank you, Virginia. And now, please give your attention to Donna as she reads to us from Thessalonians.

And now for the Gospel reading. This is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 15 to 22.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?"

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax."

And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's."

Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.

May we hear and understand what the Scriptures are teaching us today.

Today we heard three readings. Each one seemed to be pretty different. Yet, all three were actually calling for our focus to be on God, for us to make sure that in everything we do, we put God first.

In Exodus, Moses, seeking God's guidance, implores God, "Show me your glory." In response, God reveals through a cleft in the rock.

In writing to the Christians at Thessalonica, Paul gives thanks to God for the witness of the Christians who are gathered there. A key verse: "Our message came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit," reminding us that if hearts change, and the world tilts on its axis, it is God's work.

And in Matthew, seeking to entrap Jesus, critics ask him about whether or not it is permitted to pay taxes to Caesar. And the simple answer given by Jesus, for me, that's what ties it all together.

Listen closely. "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's." See, that's the important part. Render unto God what is God's. Who is God's? Give to God what belongs to God.

So let's just back up a little and go back for a moment to Exodus and Moses. What's going on here? Some of you may remember me sometimes talking about and speaking about something called liminal spaces. Thin places. Places that are a bit dangerous. Places where we catch a glimpse of God.

This is one of those. Moses on the mountain, not just any mountain but the mountain, with God. And Moses is being, well, he's being a bit cheeky as some of my UK forebears might say. He chides God. Moses chides God. He chides God. He chides God. Moses chides God.

Moses is scolding God. Can you believe that? Moses is scolding God for telling them that they are going, but God hasn't revealed whom the guide will be. The Lord says, "I'll go." So then with even more cheekiness, really kind of taking his life in his hands, Moses asks to see God's glory.

God responds to this bold ask by kind of sneakily substituting goodness for glory. "Want to see my glory? Here's some of my goodness."

Maybe that's how we see God's glory, not head-on, which would probably overwhelm us, sort of like trying to look at the sun from twenty-five feet away. God's goodness is a manifestation. An accurate shadow of God's glory and accommodated glimpse, peeking through that thin veil.

So this is a manifestation, in verse 19 the meaning of the name Yahweh is probably best explained here: "I shall be gracious to whom I shall be gracious; I shall have compassion on whom I shall have compassion." No predestination here; rather, it is God's nature to be gracious and compassionate. It's God's choice, not our earning, not our goodness.

Tenderly, God offers a viewing spot for Moses in the cleft of the rock. Rock of Ages, cleft for Moses. How good of God to provide in all those tectonic shifts and geological upheavals that made mountains to provide little caves and crevices for creatures to hide and rest.

And to provide that spot for Moses, kind of like giving us the special viewers when we want to look at an eclipse. God shows Moses God's backside. Kind of fascinating to play around with. You see the back as it moves by.

God isn't a still life. God is in motion. God is one who moves. Yahweh is clearly a verbal form of the word, an action verb in Hebrew. And where are you if you see the back? You're behind. You are following. Jesus said, "Follow me." That is, keep behind me. Watch my back closely. Follow God.

And that's where our focus should be. In following God.

So now, talking about focus, let's fast forward back again to Matthew.

So in a few weeks, we're going to have a national election. Have you heard about that? I guess you have, right? So I thought I would take this Sunday as an opportunity to use my sermon and tell you how to vote. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't do that.

A sermon is not primarily preoccupied with politics. The point of a sermon is to attempt to listen for what God has to say to us through God's scriptures. And well, Matthew 22, 15-22, is one of those sort of political scriptures, isn't it? So that's why I joke with you.

But in all seriousness, it is actually one of the most grossly misquoted texts ever. As if Jesus were outlining the separation of church and state for modern people who would find such an arrangement to be very convenient for themselves and their political ideologies.

In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus' critics raise a question about politics. Is God, in this passage of scripture, perhaps attempting to make us think about politics, whether we want to or not? I don't know.

Well, the question that Jesus' interrogators place before him is not about voting. That's a practice that nobody there in that time was ever allowed to do. Their question is about taxes. And as our politicians have shown us, we're all very interested in taxes. Who enjoys paying taxes?

The Judeans having this discussion about taxes didn't have much choice in the matter. The taxes they paid were being paid to their Roman overlords, and if that wasn't already a bitter enough pill for them to swallow, these very same taxes to the Romans helped keep a Roman occupation army in their land.

The question about taxes is really a question about government and authority. To ask, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?" is to ask follow-up questions like, "Is Caesar so powerful that we must pay his despised taxes whether we like to or not? Or is Caesar's government a legitimate government over us? And if not, what should we do?"

Of course, those questions are all supremely political.

So my question is, what exactly were these Pharisees really trying to learn? Were they in earnest? Well, of course not. Jesus' critics aren't really interested in having a debate with Jesus about tax payments. Matthew states clearly that they are seeking to entrap him.

What Jesus' critics hope to do is humiliate him and to draw Jesus into some kind of conflict. And to make a kind of dangerous discussion in front of God and everybody to trick him into saying something that might move the governing authorities to move against him. They wanted to get rid of him.

Eventually, of course, the government did move against Jesus.

In encountering this Sunday's gospel, it is important to note that Jesus doesn't ask the question about Caesar's taxes. It isn't Jesus. It's his critics who are asking it. We can certainly understand their preoccupation. What we call news is mainly reports about politics now. And for the last few months, maybe years, politics has been the only news any of us were all that interested in.

There is a sense that as we move towards this election that's really already in progress, we are moving toward a very important cataclysmic event. Politics. Politicians on both sides of the aisle keep telling us that this election could well be one of the most important elections in American history.

The whole future of Western democracy is in our hands as we pull the voting lever. The words of Jesus may therefore sound a bit out of touch to our audience's ears. But as you know, Jesus only rarely and almost never really explicitly talks about politics.

As for us, politics is about the only thing that people are publicly talking about. It seems to be our obsession. Maybe that's why Jesus doesn't talk much about politics. He knows how fascinated we are with human government, with human power.

In Jesus' day, Caesar was emperor, and later Caesars demanded worship as God. In our day, even though we live in a democracy or a representative republic, as my mother, the social studies teacher, would have insisted, and even though we are told that the people are the ones who determine who rules over us, it sometimes seems as though politicians think of themselves as modern-day Caesars, as gods.

In some insane way, they even become God images of ourselves. And ever idolatrous humans attempt to make God in their image. But Jesus didn't fall for it.

His strong suit was discerning hidden motives and knowing theirs. And his downright Lincoln-esque ability to reply to tough questions with something clever to stump the questioners, well, they had no choice, no chance.

As is often the case, the Christian religion is a family of hypocrites. The real reason for them to be hypocrites is quite the opposite. It's often the case with hypocrites. They open with flattery.

By the way, for anyone who likes Aristotle or who studies him, Aristotle pointed out that the opposite of a friend is a flatterer. Well, they are indeed what Jesus calls them, hypocrites. The Greek word meaning "play actors."

They think they have the perfect question, unanswerable. If he says yes, he appears sympathetic to the hated tax collectors, thus alienating all the nationalists. If he says no, he's risking a charge of sedition.

So not surprisingly, Jesus serves up neither. In contrast to the way we think about politics, Jesus seems almost nonchalant and dismissive in this whole exchange about whether or not to pay taxes to Caesar.

When I ask a question directly, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Jesus doesn't immediately reply. Rather, he says, "Who's got a coin?" You know what? Jesus' pockets are empty.

"Let's check out one of these coins," he says. I'm going to hold up a piece of paper from my written notes here so that you can see the coin. And if I remember, I'll put a bigger picture of it in the video.

There's the coin. I hope you can see it.

So Caesar says, "Let's check out one of these coins." So surveying it, he asks an easy question. He says, "Whose picture is on the coin?" They reply, "Caesar's."

Here's the thing. Archaeologists have found these coins. The one like I just showed you, right? They have an image of Caesar and the inscription on it includes this blasphemous word to Jews, D-I-V-I, D-V. He's divine.

On the flip side, the coin dubbed Caesar as Pontiff Maxon, the high priest. So here, in no small bit of irony in this story, here is God's divine son, our great high priest, studying this very coin.

Well, says Jesus, if he loves this stuff enough to put his own image on it, on this piece of metal, give it to him. "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's," he says.

The Greek render word, "apodonte." I might have pronounced that wrong; I didn't look it up. "Apodonte" means give back, as in return to him. Must be his. Let him have it.

Then the clincher line, "And render, give back to God what is God's." Well, that would be everything. Your life, the boats, the water, the fish, maybe even the minted coin with the blasphemous image. Heck, even the emperor himself.

Don't you find it interesting that Jesus turns this question about taxes into a question of worship? A question of what honor and glory we give to Caesar, the state, the governing authorities, and what we offer up to God.

Jesus makes no attempt to carefully distinguish what exactly belongs to Caesar and what exactly belongs to God. One can imagine his critics standing there with their mouths gaping open saying, "Well, but what is God's?"

Perhaps he does this in order to leave each of his disciples to make up their own mind about Caesar and God. That's probably unlikely. But it could be.

Perhaps this. Perhaps Jesus is saying, "You're Jews. You know the scriptures. The psalmist says the earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Not much left for Caesar.

Or perhaps Jesus is simply and wisely trying to get them to focus on what's most important in regard to God and Caesar. I don't know.

Let's look at the Gospel on the Lent. The gospel says they were amazed. The Gospel says they were amazed. Jesus' wisdom is met with stunned silence. Some ministers wish that their sermons were met with the same.

But there's the sermon in this. The clear imperative. An all-encompassing takeaway. Render unto God what is God's. Render unto God what is God's.

Your lunch break at work. Your shopping, your meals, your conversation with a friend, with a neighbor, the stuff in your closet, your anxieties in the night, your portfolio, or your debt, or your fantasies, your time, your energy, your brokenness. It's all God's.

Render it to God.

Rendering unto God is worship, which is both liturgy and life. Remember last week about joy and prayer? Render your prayers, your joy, your life, your all. Amen. Amen. Amen.

We come now to our offering time, and I remind you to please help us in supporting our missions and our ministries and help us to continue coming to you all the time this way so that we can be here for you at all times, 24-7.

Any small offering you give really helps. You can give to special things if you want, to the children's offering or the pet food bank. You can give to neighbors in need, which is a very important special offering of the UCC, or you can give to things like One Great Hour of Sharing or just to the general offering.

Whatever way you would like your offering to be used with us, just let us know, and we'll make sure that that happens.

And now, the various ways you can do this are all pretty easy. One of them is to visit our website BethelUCCOntario.org and use the yellow donate button. That's for credit and debit cards.

We also have a special offer on our website at BethelUCCOntario.org. We have a service called Zelle that we really like. That's Z-E-L-L-E. It's a cash transfer service so that you can send your offering directly to us from your bank account.

You'll usually find it in the online banking area of your bank, and you can also use their standalone app. You'll need to tell them that it's going to Bethel Congregational Church, and they ask you to identify us by our email, which is info at BethelUCCOntario.org.

And last but not least, you can send it to us in the mail. Just address your envelope to Bethel Congregational Church, 536 North Euclid Avenue, Ontario, California, 91762.

And once again, we thank you very much, and we pray that we are a blessing to you.

As we enter our time of prayer, please prepare your hearts for confession. We're going to join together in our prayer of confession. It is a unison prayer, and the words are coming up on the screen for you right now.

Let us pray.

God of mercy, we place our trust in tangible things, things we can see and touch and question whether you are really there. Forgive us, Holy One, when we fail to recognize that you are always nearby, patiently waiting for us to recognize your presence and your glory.

Help us when we lose our way and forgive us when we forget to whom we truly belong. Lover of justice, open our eyes to see you. Open our ears to hear you. Open our hearts to love you, and open our hands to serve you.

When we cry to God looking for favor in God's sight, God answers, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

In the power of the Spirit and in the name of Jesus, we are forgiven. We will rest in God's mercy.

We now invite a time of silence where we can call to God our own individual prayers and joys and concerns. Let us pray.

And now please join with me in the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. Let us pray.

Our Father, 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 debts, as we forgive those who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Okay, our final hymn for the day, our hymn that we call Going Into Mission, is all about rendering to God what is God's, giving to God what is God's. This is a hymn called "Take My Gifts."

So I hope you will join me in this lively and lovely, worshipful hymn offering our gifts to God.

Thank you so much for singing with us.

And now I invite you to join in our response benediction. Just be watching on the screen for the Leader and the People sections and say it all together in your household when it's the people’s turn.

Let us begin.

Go from this place with the confidence that you are God’s beloved children.
We go to labor in love with all we meet.
Go out into the world with steadfast hope and joyous trust.
We go to labor in love with all, remembering our faithful God who goes before us.

In God's love, the Spirit's power, and the peace of Christ, go now in peace. Go in peace. Amen.

Thank you so much for joining us today, and I encourage you again to please make a little comment on the bottom there, to sign in and say, "Hi, we're here from Arkansas," or "We're here from Washington State," or "From Indiana," or "Illinois," or wherever all you are coming from.

We would just love to hear about it. And leave us a word of blessing, and if you would like us to pray for you, let us know that, and we'll be happy to pray for you.

And we just want to continue blessing you in every way we can. Go in peace. Amen. Amen.

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