February 15, 2004
|
|
|
|
I want you to know that
I will talk about warning and hope in this sermon, but the actual title changed
between the time I gave it to Bonnie and the time I started writing. The title
of the sermon is “As Disciples of Christ”, and the pun is intended. I have talked a lot
about renewal and community in recent weeks, and I will continue to do so as we
put our minds and spirits to the hard work of rebuilding this congregation. Jesus teaches us what it
means to be his followers in a Christian community by showing us how to be
disciples of his. His words here echo those found in the gospel of Matthew’s
sermon on the mount. But in Luke, Jesus is in a flat, level place looking up at
his listeners. Put yourself among the people with Jesus. The apostles are there,
the twelve whom Jesus had chosen to mentor and to whom he would entrust the
church stood listening. There are disciples
there. These are the men and women who followed Jesus, who learned from him, who
placed themselves under his discipline. Let’s
number ourselves among the disciples, not only because we belong to a
congregation that is part of a system that bears that name, but because we have
put ourselves under the discipline of Jesus. We accept his teachings, we are
baptized in his name, we are saved by his grace. We are Disciples of Christ in
name and disciples of Christ by
confession. And because we are, we
can stand with the apostles, the disciples and the gathered crowd and find what
we need. Among the crowd that day
were people who were rich and poor, Gentile and Jew, those who knew Jesus well,
and those who were simply curious. People needing a word of hope came to hear
him – some of us want a word from him now. People who were sick in
body and spirit wanted to be healed by him and given hope by him, so do we when
we are hopeless and utterly beaten down. When your spirit is down, when you need
a word of hope – it just might come in the form of a song, I think of
“Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us” or “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior”.
Every now and then a Bible verse soothes my spirit.
As I pray for you and work with you to renew our congregation, I am
strengthened by the words used to encourage the Hebrews when their spirits
needed healing: “But we are not among those who shrink
back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved” (Hebrews
10.39). There were people there
who in the language of Jesus’ day were possessed by demons. Our more
enlightened language would suggest they were dealing with emotional distress or
mental illness. They needed Jesus too. Everybody wanted to touch him because
they knew that when power came out of him, it went into them and it comes into
us and has the power to make our lives better. But we are not disciples of
Christ just because it makes us feel good. Did Jesus meet their needs? Does he
meet ours? Certainly, but he also called them and he calls us to care for one
another, because that is what people in community do. A full, faithful life is
about blessings and woes Jesus says, and who is blessed and who is woeful is not
as clear as we might think. We live in a time and place that too often believes
that poverty equals laziness in this world and the judgment of God in this world
and the next. We live in a time and place that believes that wealth equals hard
work in this world and paradise in this world and the next. But Jesus wants us to
develop a new way of making sense of the world in which salvation is
characterized as a reversal of fortune” (New Interpreters
Study Bible. Nashville. Abingdon Press, 2003, p. 1864). Jesus gives
blessings and promises of relief to the poor, not the poor in spirit Matthew
describes in the sermon on the Mount but the materially poor, the working poor,
the more month at the end of the money poor.
To these poor, Jesus says, “the kingdom of God is yours”. He says to those who are
hungry for food, for faith, for fellowship for friends and family – I will
make sure you are filled with all that you need. To the despairing, he says,
“I can look in your eyes and see that you have been crying. I feel your
depression, your unhappiness, the way your life is unsettled. I know you woke up
this morning and your prayer was ‘God, why are you so far away? I am a good
person, I have lived faithfully, why am I sick, why is my family in tatters, why
does my life not make sense’?” It’s not all you. Our
lives can be thrown off balance by the ups and downs of the times in which we
live. One illness, one lay off from a job, one unexpected expense, one emotional
crisis, a world that gets caught up in things that ultimately do not matter, can
get us off track. Look at how much energy and conversation was given to Janet
Jackson, as if her exposure is more important than war, a Presidential election,
or the state of public education in this country. We live in a world of
messy days, but even difficult days come with a promise. “If you weep now, you
will laugh then. When people attack your faith, when they say to you, “who
needs to spend any time in a hypocritical institution like the church. Who needs
to spend time with people who claim to depend on an old man in the sky to take
care of them?” Don’t worry about it, you have a place in eternity; and
besides God’s people have always been under attack and they have kept the
faith. We are here because our spiritual ancestors believed not in an old man
with a beard in the sky, but in a God beyond human description who honors our
faithfulness by sharing faithfulness with us. Know that if things will
be great in heaven, we can claim the greatness now. As disciples of Christ, we
can live day by day in the confidence that Christ’s promises will be
fulfilled. So, God is blessing us right now, so keep the faith, hang in here,
even in the tough times. Jesus does not just
speak to his poor disciples. He also has a word for his wealthier disciples.
Today is important, but don’t get too caught up in living just for today. Let
your faith provide balance in your life. If you have been blessed to have some
material wealth, if your portfolio is solid, your bank account is healthy, work
provides a way to make ends meet with plenty left over, be glad, praise God, and
be careful. Things can turn on a dime, and your fortunes can be reversed in an
instant. If it’s all about how full you are now, be careful because you will
know hunger. If it is all about laughing, being care-free, and on top of the
world; if what is essential to you is being the most important person in the
room, or if it is of great consequence to you to stand next to the most
important one in the room, watch out. Why?
Eugene Peterson answers the why this way: “It’s
trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you’ll ever
get. And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self
will not satisfy you for long. And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s
all fun and games. There’s suffering to be met and you’re going to meet
it” (The Message. Eugene H. Peterson. Colorado
Springs: NavPress, 1993, p.31). Whether we count
ourselves among the rich or the poor, or among those in between, we are
disciples of the risen Christ, and we have committed to the renewal of our lives
and of this congregation. We know that we cannot escape the hard realities of
our lives, but we can transform it. That is why the EZEKIEL Project is hard at
work studying and planning and dreaming. We know the reality of our congregation
is that we have been in decline. But I pray we also know that decline is not our
destiny, and we do not have to continue this slide. In the next newsletter you
will be able to read about our first steps out of decline and onto the upward
clime that God is directing us to take. The reality is that the
Christian journey is sometimes hard. There are barriers so high we want to turn
back. There are forces so strong they will knock us down. But as disciples of
Christ, we have the power to move through hardships, climb over barriers and get
up when we are down. Remember a few years ago
all those bumper stickers and wrist bands, and Bible covers and other
paraphernalia that asked a question in the form of initials? If you didn’t
know what the initials meant, the question made no sense. WWJD – why wear just
denim? Who was John Dean? If you were around during the Watergate scandal you
will remember him. When will joy descend? What Would Jesus Do? If we are
disciples of his in action as well as by denominational title, we do not have to
ask. The issue for us is not what would Jesus do? In fact we are not about
asking a question, we are about making a bold declaration and a pledge. Our
declaration and pledge is WKWJD: We know what Jesus did
and as followers of his, we promise to do likewise, even when it goes against
the cultural grain. We hear that 10.30, or 10.45, or 11.00 Sunday morning is the
most segregated hour in America. We go against the grain every time we gather to
worship. The culture says, that if you live a certain lifestyle, you are not
welcome in the church. We say we are all made in the image of God, God loves us
all and all are welcome here. We have an invitation
from Christ to live fully and to live differently than the world around us. For
all of us, for any of us to live as a disciple of Christ is to live counter to
the culture which surrounds us. The culture says if you
have enemies, crush them. Jesus says, love your enemies. The culture says, if
people hate you, hate them back, and hurt them too. Jesus, says do good things
for them. Our instinct, if we are hit is to hit back, Jesus says if you are
slapped, turn the other check. This is one of the most difficult instructions we
hear from Jesus. No one likes being hit, nor should we tolerate being abused.
Jesus is not talking about abuse, he is talking about taking the power to hurt
away from the one who strikes you. Turning the other check takes the power away
from the hitter. When you turn the other cheek, you make yourself vulnerable and
the hitter has to make a conscious choice to hit you again.
We live in a world in a
world in which our stuff, our things, our possessions can begin to possess us.
Let them go. Now most of us are not quite there yet, so Jesus says in a culture
whose attitude is, “I’ve got mine, too bad for you”, Jesus says, treat
people the way we want to be treated. Show others the behavior you want others
to show toward you. If you want to be
treated with respect, respect others. If you want to be hugged, extend your arms
to others. If you want to be cared for, care for others. If you want more people
in the pews, start inviting people to church, talk positively about this place.
It is true we used to be bigger. We had bigger attendance, a bigger choir, a
bigger budget. I know in my soul that the best way to grow again is by talking
about the good news we have here. Tell them about Trinity House, Thursday’s
Child, our women’s groups, children’s groups, youth groups, and our emerging
men’s group. Finally, as disciples of
Christ we are here to change this congregation from one that has been slow to
move to one that is eager to go in the directions God is sending it. As
disciples of Christ we are eager to follow the one who loves and cares for the
world and who teaches us to love and care for the world too. He faced some
realities too, including the cross and death. We are here as hope-filled
disciples because God raised him up. God is raising us up too as we take on the
ethos of Christ and look forward with hope giving all we can to the One who gave
his all for us. May Jesus Christ be
praised as we take our place among the disciples of his. Thanks be to God. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
|
Broad
Street Christian Church
|
