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    Aug 30, 2015

    Sunday's Message - The Butterfly Effect

    Sunday's Message - The Butterfly Effect

    Passage: Matthew 1:1-7

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Series: Women in the Bible

    Category: Women

    This week’s another first.  If you had told me when I was in seminary that I would want to read even part of the genealogy of Jesus in worship, I would have said, “no way!”  But here we are, focused on the women in the Bible and find some rich, important material from the first few verses of Matthew’s gospel.  This genealogy mentions 2 of the women we will be sharing about today.

    Did you know that there is a scientific theory in physics that states that a single butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world can create a hurricane all the way on the other side of the globe?  Let’s watch a brief video by Andy Andrews that applies the Butterfly Effect to purpose in our lives. 

    Play video  – Butterfly Effect

    I encourage you to read the whole book (which takes just a few minutes) and look up Andy Andrews on YouTube for a couple of interviews with Andrews that briefly connect his stories with his understandings of God.

    I asked our witnesses for today to consider the butterfly effect and how lives of biblical women have had an effect on their lives.

    Tanya Gaspard is going to talk about how Sarah has had an effect on her life.  Sarah, you will recall, was Abraham’s wife – the woman who, at about 90 years old laughed when God said she would be the mother of generations, who had faithfully left what she knew to go to the Promised Land with her husband.  Tanya, how have you seen Sarah’s life as influencing yours?

          Tanya speaks

    Alli Tambaoan is coming now to talk about Miriam, Moses’ sister.  Miriam was probably younger than Alli is now when Moses’ mother enlisted her daughter – Miriam – to protect her baby brother from the Egyptian king’s edict that all Israelite baby boys were to be drowned.  When Miriam was a woman and Moses led the people out of Egypt, Miriam became a leader alongside her brother.    So, Alli, how has Miriam influenced your life?

          Alli speaks

    Kathleen Goebel, please come and share with us about Tamar.  You may never have heard the story of Tamar before today, but she is one of 4 women mentioned in the ancestry of Jesus in the first chapter of Matthew.  In the context of the time when Matthew wrote, it is astounding – scandalous, even – that there are women named in the genealogy and particularly so since people have questioned their character for millennia. 

    Tamar is a name that may seem familiar.  It is a story, however, that may not be familiar.  Tamar was a Canaanite who married Judah’s son, Er.  Remember that it was Jacob’s sons for whom the 12 tribes of Israel are named. 

    Er died, leaving Tamar childless, and in Israel, the Law said that the brother of a childless widow was to then provide children for his brother with his brother’s wife.  Er’s brother went through the motions but intentionally prevented Tamar from having children.  He died, too, leaving the youngest brother, Shelah.  At this point in the story, Judah instructed Tamar to return to her father’s house to wait for Shelah to grow up. 

    The story says that “after a long time” Judah’s wife died and he left home for the shearing of his sheep.  The scripture also says that “Tamar realized that although Shelah had already grown up, she hadn’t been given to him as a wife,” so she took matters into her own hands, deceived Judah and slept with him.  He had no idea it was Tamar and almost had her burned because he thought she was a prostitute. 

    Tamar was an astute woman.  She knew Israel’s law that was intended to see that widows had children who would care for them when they were old.  And she had maneuvered Judah by making a deal with him before they slept together that assured she would have proof that he was the father of her child.

    Kathleen, how do you see Tamar in terms of the Butterfly Effect on your life?

          Kathleen speaks

    Our final biblical woman for today – a second one from Jesus’ ancestry – is Rahab.  Rahab was a prostitute whose story is in Joshua, and were it not for Rahab, who put herself and her family at risk, by protecting Israel’s spies to escape from Jericho, Joshua wouldn’t have been successful in that famous battle when he led the Israelites in playing the horns until the wall fell down.  Rahab likely saved the lives of those spies.

    Deby, how do you see Rahab’s effect on your life?

          Deby speaks

    In closing today, I want to share with you the story of a man that many may have written off.  He has the terrible disease, ALS. CBS News has been following a story since last March – an inspiring story of how Chris Rosatti has, rather unintentionally, changed a number of people’s lives – his own Butterfly Effect that has traveled across the world:

    Play the video at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-inspires-hundreds-to-spread-kindness/ - begin playing at 19 seconds

    So, don’t underestimate the effect of your discipleship, friends!  What is your purpose?  What will you set free for someone you may never know, who may live hundreds of years from now?  How will you flap your wings?