Cosmopolitan United Church

Cosmopolitan United Church Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul & all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Meditation Sep 6 2026 Ezek 33:7-11 & Ps 119: 33-40; Rom.13:8-14; Matt 18:15-20.“YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING”“. . .I...
09/05/2026

Meditation Sep 6 2026
Ezek 33:7-11 & Ps 119: 33-40;
Rom.13:8-14; Matt 18:15-20.

“YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING”
“. . .I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their evil ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways and live. . .” (Ezek. 33:11a, NRSV); “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matt. 18:20, NRSV).

SIGNS WITH ABOVE CAPTION have proliferated in recent years. I’ve seen it in public venues like parks, and even in schools. And I’ve seen it installed in a semi-permanent way in a memorial park . It urges the public to be vigilant and, when they happen to see something that seems to be wrong; or see something terribly evil taking place, to say something. It posits a genuine sense of responsibility on everybody, and discernment of what is right and terribly wrong. And it is something that could be unsafe to do, because perpetrators are defensive about being held to account.

Turns out this is not entirely new. The admonition to turn away from evil ways and live is truly a noble way to look at wickedness. It actually turns concerns for public order on its head. Where in our time we look at public order based on apprehension, conviction and punishment and in some instances rehabilitation; God in Ezekiel looks at the same condition with compassion, care and concern. How differently God really looks upon our human condition! Truly God’s ways are beyond our ken. Truly God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. In the midst of our inclination to do wrong, and in the midst of the evil to which we are prone and often involve ourselves perhaps unthinkingly or even perpetuate knowingly to our detriment and danger to our life and faith, God says to us and to all the world, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their evil ways and live. . .” It may not apply to you or me. But it may in some other ways in our imperfect and frail condition. But the message is addressed not just to us but the whole world, because God’s concern and compassion belong to the whole of creation; which God constantly desires to bring closer and closer to the heart of God.

The task or calling to say something when we saw something out of whack is a task reserved for special kind of persons. Only the prophets, as a special class of people were invested with that task to speak out. But that has changed. It has changed when, as a result of the incarnation, God has come in Jesus Christ. His coming, ministry, death and resurrection gave us the power we never had. We receive God’s embrace, we become empowered and invested with God’s compassion for a broken world. And it is not enough for us to accept that blessing of life away from the power of evil and wickedness. To our world and those around us we are Ezekiel, empowered with the message to tell the world around us, “God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked might change their ways and live.”

God makes each one of us contexts where God’s will take place. No big crowds required to ignite the fire in each of us. Of course, it does not stay with us alone, as it is contagious and creates community. The Lord Jesus assures us that even with two or three together for his name become a powerful community with his presence. That context, that community that lives its faith which I hope and pray all of us are, proclaims to a broken world, “It does not have to be like this. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that all find their way in God and live.” I close with Helen Lemmel’s little but powerful hymn, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.” May it be so for you and me. AMEN.

Joy and peace,
Pastor Ben

08/31/2026

Sunday Worship Service- Aug. 30, 2026
Sermon: "Get Behind Me Satan" - Rev. Praveen Raj
Liturgist: Ms. Gloria Benemerito
Tract/Locations: || Prelude 00:40 || Call to Worship 07:28 || Scripture Lessons 11:50 || Children's Time 15:39 || Gospel Lesson, Anthem 25:14 || Sermon 31:19 || Invitation to Offering, Special Song 59:15 || Benediction 1:06:03 ||

Meditation August 30, 2026Jer. 15:15-21; Rom. 12:19-21; Matt. 16:21-28.PROFIT & LOSS. . .“. . .whoever wants to save his...
08/29/2026

Meditation August 30, 2026
Jer. 15:15-21; Rom. 12:19-21; Matt. 16:21-28.

PROFIT & LOSS. . .
“. . .whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:25,26, NIV).

MY PARENTS TOLD ME, when it was time for me to start high school after the elementary grades, to go to a certain high school in town where none of the schools had the same curriculum. They told me, not asked. So, they took me there. This was the Philippines in the 1950s, right at the aftermath of the Second World War. This particular high school included in the curriculum learning how to type, business subjects where we learned doing balance sheets and stenography, and other extra for girls; on top of the regular math, algebra, grammar and composition, English, American and Philippine literature and other required subjects, plus a couple of electives. At the time I didn’t realize how significant some of those subjects turned out to be later in life for me. As I grew more mature in life, I realized how important it is to discern what values to embrace as one navigates the intricacies of life, with the use of those that seemed esoteric knowledge for me at the time. And then, much later when it was necessary to write reports or stories, the typewriter became a necessity instead of a pen or pencil. With the advent of computers and the arrival of the digital revolution, I marvel at the prescience of those seemingly humdrum parts of the curriculum in the high school where I took my high school education.

Jesus hit the nail on the head about profit and loss. Jesus’ question makes it inescapable to decide which value we are to embrace. We can’t have it both ways. Jesus was saying if one chooses to have the whole world, embrace values that the world thrives on, one becomes consumed and focused on things that belong to this world. In saying this, we need to be wary of the danger of duality like the philosophy that sees everything about the world as demonic, therefore one must seek punishing conditions to live one’s life. This can be a bit confusing, except that the motives and bases for the choices we make determine who we are, or will ultimately end up being. T.S. Eliot has a line in his explosive play, Murder in the Cathedral, where he said, “The last temptation is the greatest treason, to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” For that reason, there are people who have the enormous means to give to philanthropy, no strings attached, out of gratitude for what someone had done to them in the past and of thankfulness for God’s providence. Conversely, there are those consumed by the desire to amass excessively the world’s goods, and no thought of sharing any of it, because their motivation is centered around their need for possession and power. Jesus’ laser question ultimately isn’t one of condemnation, but of compassion in that those who choose to embrace the world might see the folly for what it is, and choose redemption.

This is where we find the Wesleyan way of life attractive, for it insists that faith is a journey of choices guided by the Holy Spirit. And it was not, nor is not, polemical or defensive as the earlier Protestants like the Lutherans and Calvinists where they had to be in dealing with Roman Catholic reactionary impulses following the Reformation period. The Methodist three-fold adage we use today, “do no harm, do good, stay in love with God” is an admirable distillation of John Wesley’s life and lifelong career, writings and example. And it is a remarkable example of profit in a man’s choice of his soul in God’s embrace, rather than one focused on the world’s treasures where moth and rust destroy, and thieves steal. Charles Wesley captured this meaning in his hymn, “O For a Heart to Praise my God.” In one of the stanzas, he wrote, “A heart in every thought renewed, and full of love divine, perfect and right and pure and good, a copy Lord, of thine.” The ultimate profit for our being is become a copy of God’s. May we continue to move on to that being in the perfectibility of God’s grace. AMEN.
Joy and peace,
Pastor Ben
Rev. Dr. Ben Vinluan

08/24/2026

Sunday Worship Service- Aug. 23, 2026
Sermon: Jesus: The Ultimate Influencer by Rev. Praveen Raj
Liturgist: Ms. Gloria Benemerito
Tract/Slide Locator: ||Prelude 00:44 || Call to Worship 06:22 || Scripture Lessons 14:14 || Children's Time 16:14 || Gospel Lesson 22:34 || Anthem 24:23 ||Sermon 26:18 || Offering & Special Song 53:15 || Benediction 1:01:01 ||

Meditation August 23, 2026Isa. 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Rom. 12:1-8; Matt. 16:13-20.INSTANTANEOUS, IRREPRESSIBLE WITNESSSimon ...
08/22/2026

Meditation August 23, 2026
Isa. 51:1-6; Psalm 138;
Rom. 12:1-8; Matt. 16:13-20.

INSTANTANEOUS, IRREPRESSIBLE WITNESS
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”. . . And Jesus answered him, “blessed are you Simon son of Jonah!. . .and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. . . “(Matt. 16:16,f, NRSV).

THE FIRST – AND PERHAPS THE LAST TIME -- I WENT TO THE VATICAN was as a tourist, like many people that go there. My late wife, Gerda, and I were with a group on a tour that included Rome. The 300 some steps going up St. Peter’s Basilica isn’t an experience for the faint of heart, or weak knees. I remember being guided through the Sistine Chapel with Michaelangelo’s famous painting that adorned its ceiling, a sight and experience that stick to you throughout your life. We were shown other features of interest aside from the massive cathedral’s interior, and the cardinals’ consistory. All the while I was wondering where St. Peter’s life-size statue. Finally, there towards the left as you exit the Basilica was the black bronze statue of him seated on a white marble chair. It seemed unusual on the surface having Peter’s presence so obscurely, given his stature in the church. But then ultimately it made – and makes – sense, as he is not the church.

As I strolled along with others in a sea of humanity from all over the globe, people of all sizes and shapes and colors rubbing elbows with one another and otherwise observing an eerie silence; nevertheless enjoying each other’s presence in so sacred a space, a sense of kindred and unity in the spirit and understanding each other’s humanity, in a shared awareness that here each one is connected in the shared consciousness that together we all belonged. And God was present where we all were.

And my thoughts went back in time and space to that moment eons ago on a mountaintop. Speaking to a select few of his disciples, Jesus confronted them with the question who or what they thought he was to each of them. Back came the reply, unprimed, from the former fisherman, Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” No other respond was made, nor was any other still needed. As Jesus said, “Blessed are you Simon, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in Heaven. . .and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. . . “ I remembered, and still feel a sense of awe each time I go back to that visit which is often; and each time is a means of blessing for, as followers of the Christ, that moment belongs to all, not just a particular corner of the church of Jesus Christ our Lord. And each time it hits me. Each time it hits me that Peter, the fisherman from Capernaum, originally from Bethsaida; Peter, as common a member of humanity as you can get, not one paragon of erudition, came up with that one response that mattered. Then I’m reminded that while it matters to the Lord who or what we are and that we are valuable in God’s sight, it matters even more what we can become in attaining and receiving the best we can be as we come close to our Lord Jesus. The irrepressibly expressive follower in us, or the silent doer of what is right, and doing the loving thing wherever and whenever called for are a fruit of that closeness and connection with the Lord Jesus, Do no harm; do good; stay in love with God, says the Wesleyan adage. For faith is not a tourist trip; it may sound cliché, but it is a joyous journey of a lifetime with others. May it be so for us always. AMEN.

Joy and peace,
Pastor Ben
Rev. Dr. Ben Vinluan

What happened last Sunday at Cosmopolitan? Pastor Zaki Zaki, our former District Superintendent, visited and preached. I...
08/18/2026

What happened last Sunday at Cosmopolitan? Pastor Zaki Zaki, our former District Superintendent, visited and preached. It was an honor! Pastor Praveen returned from India after a five-week vacation.

08/16/2026

Sunday Worship Service- Aug. 16, 2026
Guest Preacher: Rev. Dr. Zaki L. Zaki
Liturgist: Ms. Gloria Benemerito
Track Slide/Locator: || Prelude 00:50 || Call to Worship 06:04 || Scripture Lessons 12:05 || Time with the Children 15:11 || Gospel Reading, Anthem 28:02 || Sermon 34:43 || Offering and Special Song 1:11:56 || Benediction 1:19:30 ||

Meditation August 16, 2026Gen. 45:1-15; Isa. 56:1, 6-8; Rom. 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matt. 15:21-28.A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN OUTS...
08/15/2026

Meditation August 16, 2026
Gen. 45:1-15; Isa. 56:1, 6-8;
Rom. 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matt. 15:21-28.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN OUTSIDER
Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matt. 15:28, NRSV).

THE TEXT PROVIDED US with an important context we should take seriously for a moment. It says earlier that Jesus “went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.” We need to remember this: Tyre and Sidon had the ancient reputation for infamy. They were an important hub for trade, wealth and commerce in the ancient world, represented by what used to be Phoenicia, now Lebanon. That is not bad in itself – it was good to point. For some reason, they have become the symbol of arrogance, unbridled libertinism, and excess in everything.

Jesus’ going to the region of Tyre and Sidon, was a side trip. Undertaking a side trip usually is occasioned by some important motive. Or purpose, although it may not have been part of the original plans for a main activity. Matthew, the gospel writer of the book that bears his name where this lection is based, wrote his gospel, building on the important view that the earliest Christians were people of the Jewish faith who found in Jesus the redemption promised of old. So, he was bullish on everything Jewish- that is, he was protective of that background. For him to report Jesus’ side trip to Tyre and Sidon packs a powerful point. Tyre and Sidon represented a way of life antithetical to the Hebrew view that all of life is God’s gift and therefore we rise or fall based on our acknowledgement of fealty to God. Jesus’ trip there symbolized Jesus’ willingness to confront, perhaps transform, the outsider in order to bring to bear upon it the grace and reconciling power of the incarnation as seen in Jesus, the son of the living God. To extend the metaphor a bit, we see shades of what H. Richard Niebuhr talked about in his writings concerning Christ and culture.

With all that as background, we go back with a clearer picture of that unnamed woman Matthew called Canaanite. She was also known as a Syro-Phoenician – one of mixed race identified with Syria, and Phoenicia (now Lebanon). She must have had some cultural credentials – spoke Greek, fairly economically well, given the overall atmosphere of the area as a trading post. But for all that she was an outsider from the promise given to the chosen people. I mean, her audacity screamed even louder than her begging for help. And I admire her, as we all do. Matthew thought Jesus was right to treat her with some hostility – the only place in the Bible where Jesus spoke to a postulant with the kind of language we see here. In the end Jesus’ compassionate and gracious nature trumped tradition and ideology. And with it, Jesus brought salvation to a famously benighted region and people, seen in the healing of the unseen daughter of an unnamed outsider, whom Jesus encountered on a side trip he made.

That to me is a beautiful picture, perhaps one of the most beautiful pictures we could derive from Holy Writ. It is of the Christ, the Son the Living God, who one usual day made one usual, normal side trip to a place he would normally avoid because of tradition and ideological and theological nicety. Yet there Jesus goes (went) where angels fear to tread. We have come to know by now, through the testimony of witnesses ahead of us of people who loved boldly, served joyously and lead courageously beyond the bounds and limits of barriers and artificial boundaries after the way that Jesus has shown which we saw through the blessed encounter with that blessed woman. May it be so for you and me always. AMEN.

Joy and peace,
Pastor Ben
Rev. Dr. Ben Vinluan

What happened at church on Sunday? We celebrated the last Sunday of Pastor Benjie Benitez as our preacher. Pastor Benjie...
08/10/2026

What happened at church on Sunday? We celebrated the last Sunday of Pastor Benjie Benitez as our preacher. Pastor Benjie and family were with us for five Sundays while Pastor Praveen was in India. Pastor Praveen is returning on August 13. The two Benitez children sang My Prayer as their parting song.

Address

1112 9th Avenue
Melrose Park, IL
60160

Telephone

+17088873058

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Cosmopolitan United Church posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to Cosmopolitan United Church:

Shortcuts

Share

Category