June 11, 2006
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Be the Church: Equipped and Serving "In the year Uzziah died, I saw the LORD…" (Isaiah 6.1). Except for times of war, there is no greater crisis for a nation than when the head of state or of a movement dies. The moment sears in the mind. That is why some of you know what you were doing that April day in 1945 when Franklin Roosevelt died. You know what you were doing that day in November, 1963 when John Kennedy was killed, and on another April day in 1968 when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed, and on that June night two months later when Robert Kennedy was shot down.Isaiah says that in the year the king died, he had a vision. He saw God surrounded by six, winged angels singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the L ORD of hosts. The whole earth is filled with the glory of God" (Isaiah 6.4). No wonder Isaiah says, "woe is me.""In the midst of a time of grieving, the prophet Isaiah went to the temple to pray. There he had a vision of God’s majesty, that moved him to recognize his unworthiness and sin. Sometimes we think we have nothing to confess, until we are confronted by the awesome presence of the Creator of all things…" (Gathered by Love by Lavon Bayler. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1996, p. 106). Isaiah declares his uncleanness, but God in a ritual of atonement, of cleansing, of redemption, of love, put a hot coal to the prophet’s lips."Notice how many words refer to the power of speech: ‘mouth’, ‘lips’, ‘voice’, ‘saying’, and ‘said’. The act of cleansing not only restores a sinful person to wholeness, but also releases that person’s power to hear God’s speech and, in turn, to speak God’s words to a sinful people. God’s question, ‘Whom shall I send?’ is answered by ‘Here am I, send me!’…the prophet has been released to go, but to go as a possessor of God’s word" (Texts for Preaching, p. 357-358)."Send me, give me what I need to speak your word to people longing to hear it. Show me how to overcome my limitations, my doubts, my unworthiness, and accept your commission to me to go out in your name so that I can live out my call." This season of the church year is called ordinary time. The name of the season is not meant to imply boring or uneventful times, instead, it refers to the time between Pentecost and Advent when we hear and live the story of Jesus and his ministry, and when we celebrate the work an equipped and serving church is called to do. There is no greater time for us to be active in the church. As one writer puts it, "having celebrated fresh creativity from the Spirit on Pentecost, the church now answers its call to mission, to be sent out, which it does in the name of the risen and ascended Christ. What God did through the earthly ministry of Jesus now lies in the past, and the community of Christ’s faithful people now understands that it has become the bearer of God’s redemptive presence in human life" (Texts for Preaching – Year B. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993, p.56). In other words, now it is up to us. There is truth in the saying that God’s hands are our hands, God’s mouth is our mouth, and God’s love is ours to share in God’s name. Except there is something in the way. The church today, no matter its denomination or size or theological perspective is in crisis. We are a church divided. We are plagued by political divisions, by conflicts about vision and how best to use limited resources. We are divided by identity questions: who are we as God’s people. In this crisis time, do we have a critical mass of people, and enough money, and enough other resources to do all we need to do? The church in crisis is nothing new. The Christians at Ephesus were in crisis too. They were unsure of their purpose, unsure of their vision, and with several voices telling them what to believe about Jesus Christ, they did not know to whom they should listen. In our time of risk and opportunity, what shall we do? Let’s try this. We can listen to the one in whose name we were baptized, around whose table we have broken bread and by whose grace we find our salvation. We can "lead a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called" (Ephesians 4.1). Eugene Peterson puts it this way: "get out there and walk – better yet run! – on the road God called you to travel" (Ephesians 4.1 as interpreted by Eugene Peterson in The Message. ). You heard in the list of people to whom this letter was written, to evangelists and apostles, teachers and pastors and prophets that Ephesians was written to the leaders of the church. But, all of us who are leaders here are called by God to discover and claim our gifts, they are how we serve God and they are how we serve others. We need strong leadership gifts here, we need teachers and stewards, worshipers and others who are skilled in their use of words, great in their compassion, and excellent at generosity. We need voices that can sing, and every other gift that can be used to the glory of God. While Ephesians is written to church leaders, it was read by the whole congregation as a way of calling leaders and members alike to serve God with all that we have. It is about equipping the church, that is what is meant by "the saints" for the work of ministry. Our work here, the work we are doing together is to know God, build relationships, and to do justice; that is the ministry we have named for ourselves. To be equipped for ministry is to be made fit for service in the church. As each of us finds our place of service, the body becomes stronger and we come to understand ministry in new and renewing ways. We are equipped to serve as we claim our unity in Christ Jesus. Being one in Christ does not mean we agree all the time, but it does mean that we keep Christ as our focus and guide and model for ministry. It means that as we believe that we are one through this body, one Spirit breathing in us, one through the church, though our hope, in one Lord, and that we share in his name, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is our creator (v.4-6). The one in whose name we are created, by whose grace we know salvation, has equipped us to serve. When we are equipped, we have a purpose that energizes us, we come to know through prayer and meditation and our own faith development Jesus just a little better. We even grow up a little bit as we become grown up Christians. What might a mature church do? We can be creative and dedicate what we have to God and work hard and work together to see where God is leading us and to praise and thank God when we get there. We can take advantage of every opportunity for renewal. We can use every gift with which it is equipped by god to look at itself and beyond itself to serve others. What might we do here? We might expand Vacation Bible School which we will do with Woodland Christian Church into other joint ministry opportunities. We might seek a grant for speakers to help us learn more about the issues of the day such as affordable health care for our mind and body, or for after school programs, or programs for seniors. What if we made it a regular practice, part of our core value of building community by making this space available to community groups and musical groups for meetings and concerts and plays? What if we found a community-based ministry to do, and then set about doing it? It just might mean that as we serve others, we will find ourselves enjoying the gifts of God to us. Those gifts help us serve. There is one more reason for us to thank God that we are equipped to serve God. It is that it helps us to stand, to be sure of what we believe and to act with confidence from a place that keeps us anchored in Jesus Christ. Our foundation is that we believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God; that he lived in Galilee, died in Jerusalem, rested in a borrowed tomb, rose on the third day, and reigns even now with God. This is the One who calls us to be spiritually rooted, to have integrity in our lives, to live with authenticity, and to claim the future because we will have no spiritual anchor other than Jesus the Christ. God has said, "who will go?" We have said, "send me". God has equipped us to do the work of ministry. Our joy will be to do ministry with the people and passion and lives that God has given to us in Jesus Christ. Claim the gifts God has given you in Jesus Christ. Use the gifts, enjoy the gifts. Let them help you find your voice so that we can speak lovingly and carefully to each other. So that we can enter the process of renewal with putting our gifts with each others, as we serve the church of Jesus in whom we are joined together each doing our part to the eternal glory of the risen Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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