Sermon for October 24, 2010

Habits of Healthy Churches: Independence and Community

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:1-8

Did you know that the actions of one affect all? There was a bumper sticker around a few years ago. It reads, “Commit senseless acts of random kindness.” This saying ties in with a branch of science and mathematics called chaos theory. In a nutshell, chaos theory says that the tiniest changes in one small area of the world can cause massive changes in other, distant parts of the world. In 1961, a meteorologist named Edward Lorenz had been working on theoretical models about how tropical storms, typhoons and hurricanes develop. He came up with an idea that was called the “butterfly effect.” The small eddy of wind current made by a butterfly wing can change the weather on the other side of the globe. One small change leads to a larger change, which leads to an even larger change, and so on. Of course, if a butterfly fluttering by can add to a hurricane, more butterflies fluttering by can change the course of that hurricane entirely. In the same way, initial conditions of acts of kindness can also cause small changes that ripple out, and eventually change the world.

In reality, the actions of one affect all. This law of connectedness reaches to the subatomic level of our universe. For instance, we now know that once two electrons have connected or touched in some way, they can never be the same again. No matter how far apart those electrons go, what happens to one happens to the other. We inhabit a universe in which everything is part of everything else. No matter how far apart we may be, we are all one.

This is hard for some people to accept. Especially in churches. Most churches aren’t known for their go-with-the-flow-live-and-let-live-be-and let-be attitude. Throughout history, churches have been known for the ability to control, restrict, contain, narrow, purify, define, and restrain. We Congregationalists are especially susceptible to thinking that we can over control people and situations. The Puritans who founded this church and settled this area were not known for their tolerance and open-mindedness. The Puritans created strict rules that that governed everyone’s behavior. For instance, in 1648, a law was passed ordering all playhouses and theaters be taken down, all actors were to be captured and whipped, and anyone who was seen watching a play had to pay a fine. But guess what? There's a loophole! In Puritan law, someone convicted of a crime could plead “Benefit of Clergy.” If convicted person could read a passage from the Bible without one mistake, the sentence would be reduced.

We have a long history of over control. Our church tradition values independence and autonomy. Every person is a law unto him or herself. And every church is a law unto itself. At the same time, we tend to micromanage others. We expect people to conform to our image. We want them others to dress a certain way, to behave in certain ways, to talk in acceptable ways. We still try to control others. And our desire to control can get out of control. Left unchecked, people try to dominate or marginalize others. We create insiders and outsiders. The goal of the church has been to find the outsiders and bring them in. But not without some cost. We demand transformation, right? We want people to clean up heir acts, live new lives. Break old habits.

Old habits die hard. Even for the church. Do you know how outsiders see Christians? Here are some stereotypes:

• Christians are known for what we oppose: anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-thinking, etc.
• Christians are viewed as angry, mean, judgmental, wanting to convert everyone and generally are not peaceful people
• Christians are judged as hypocritical and inauthentic in our faith and lifestyle (we say one thing, do another or act like we have it all together)

Today, I want to suggest that one habit of healthy churches is to give up some control. We need to submit to the collective subconscious of the people in order to better fulfill our mission. And to do that, to tap into the wisdom of the community. At the same time, we need to act more individually and instinctively. Let me explain.

Lately I’ve been reading about swarm theory. Scientists are looking at the behavior of ants, bees, locusts, schools of fish, and crowds of people. They are learning that these swarms and crowds organize around some simple rules. Each individual member of a swarm, acting individually, will impact the behavior of others. The actions of a few members of the group affect the actions of all.

No one tells the group what to do. There are no orders or commands from the leader at the top. Groups organize spontaneously, following simple, basic rules. One key to an ant colony, for example, is that no one's in charge. No generals command ant warriors. No managers boss ant workers. The queen plays no role except to lay eggs. Even with half a million ants, a colony functions just fine with no top-down management at all—at least none that we would recognize.

Or consider bees. What commands a hive of bees to swarm? Scientists know it is not the queen bee. When a swarm pours itself out through the front slot of the hive, the queen bee can only follow. By choice of the citizens, the swarm takes the queen and thunders off in the direction indicated by mob vote. The hive commands. The queen follows. A mob, thousands of bees united into one, directs itself to swarm. The Queen Bee is not the leader. In fact, there are anonymous leaders within the swarm called “streakers.” The streakers direct from within the swarm by flaying faster and straighter than the other bees. The swarm has no center, but rather thousands of autonomous individual bees engaged in parallel actions, interacting with one another and influencing each other.

Relationship. Connectivity. Interactivity. Collaboration. These are the processes from which every living thing is created, survives, and prospers.

Almost any group that follows bees' rules will make itself smarter. Investors in the stock market, scientists on a research project, even kids at a county fair guessing the number of beans in a jar can be smart groups. Maybe even churches that want to follow God’s aims for the world. It turns out the group is smarter than the individual. If members of the group are diverse, independent minded, and use a mechanism such as voting to reach a group decision, they will reach a correct answer more with greater precision than any single expert.

A fascinating National Geographic article says:

Crowds tend to be wise only if individual members act responsibly and make their own decisions. A group won't be smart if its members imitate one another, slavishly follow fads, or wait for someone to tell them what to do. When a group is being intelligent, whether it's made up of ants or attorneys, it relies on its members to do their own part.

Science confirms something that some religions have taught for centuries. Selflessness. Losing the ego. Being a part of something bigger than yourself. Becoming a drop in the spiritual ocean.

One habit of healthy churches is to learn to tread the line between individualism and community. Leadership is less about controlling people than releasing them. In our tradition, every person must be given every decision-making power and boost to rise to the top. Creativity must be given free reign. Boards and Committees must be encouraged to self organize. Power and authority must be shared by everyone. When we drain complexity and chaos from our work, we snuff out the system. We limit our ability to learn and grow.

To me, this means we need to be defined less by what we reject, and more by what we select. For a healthy church, we need to focus less on control and more on collaboration. There is a difference between inviting the rejected into your circle and inviting them to help lead it. For instance, some churches will welcome a gay person into their church as long as that person joins a group or class designed to straighten them out. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a minister say, “God loves you just the way you are — but too much to let you stay that way.” It’s not just gays. We put qualifications on all kinds of people: single moms, people living together, people who are going through a divorce, and any number of social choices. What would happen if we got rid of the “buts” and simply said, “God loves you just the way you are. That’s it. Nothing else to add. No pre-qualifications before you’re really welcome. You are welcome. Now please tell us your story so we can learn from you.”

And it’s not just a liberal thing. Tolerance is not just for Unitarians anymore. It’s not just tolerance either. It’s true acceptance. I think people are starting to see that they can keep their beliefs, liberal or conservative, without watering them down. We can come together in a church to share those beliefs, and also find value in the spirituality of others. We can be a church that leads others without the stigma of guilt or coercion. We are all in the same swarm and we have work to do. We work independently, and we work as a community of faith. We trust our collective wisdom, and we rely on our collective compassion.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. May it be so.

Sources:
“Swarm theory supports spiritual independence,” at “http://hinessight.blogs.com/church_of_the_churchless/2007/07/swarm-theory-su.html”
“My Swarm Theory,” at http://theagnosticpentecostal.com/2010/04/19/my-swarm-theory-synchroblog/
"Swarm Theory" at http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/07/swarms/miller-text
The Smart Swarm by Peter Miller
The Perfect Swarm by Len Fisher
Aqua Church by Leonard Sweet

Sermon for October 10, 2010

Habits of Healthy Churches: Meeting Needs
October 10, 2010

As the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.” [Everyone liked this idea, and they chose seven men, including Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit).] These seven were presented to the apostles, who prayed for them as they laid their hands on them. So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too. Acts 6:1-7

I recently read the following story from a sales clerk: At the clothing store where I work, I make it a point of pride to give customers my unvarnished opinion. One day, when a man emerged from the fitting room, I took one look at him and shook my head. "No, no," I said. "Those jeans look terrible on you. I'll go get you another pair." As I walked away, I heard him mumble, "I was trying on the shirt."

A shopper tells her customer service story: During a shopping trip to a department store, I was looking around for a salesperson so I could pay for my purchase. Finally I ran into a woman wearing the store's ID tag. "Excuse me," I said. "I'm trying to locate a cashier." "I can't help you," she briskly replied, barely slowing down. "I work in customer service." And she walked away.

Listen to this experience from another shopper: Late one night I stopped at one of those 24-hour gas station mini-marts to get myself a fresh-brewed cup of coffee. When I picked up the pot, I could not help noticing that the brew was as black as tar and just about as thick. "How old is the coffee you have here?" I asked the woman who was standing behind the store counter. She shrugged. "I don't know. I've only been working here two weeks."

We know when we’ve had great customer service and when we’ve been treated poorly by a company. Service is as important in the church as it is in the business world. Healthy churches are committed to meeting needs: serving people within our church as well as the meeting the needs of the broader community.

In our reading from the book of Acts, the apostles actively serve others. In fact, they’re so backlogged, they can’t perform their other duties. Like good church people, they form a committee to help out. Seven people are set apart to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the community. This is the first Board of Deacons. The word Deacon comes from the Greek word used to describe what these seven people do. The word is diakonia. It means “service.”

I don’t want us to think that the deacons are the only ones who are supposed to serve. In healthy congregations, it takes everyone working together to do the work of the church. When I think of people working together, I remember some of the great concerts I’ve been to in my life. Imagine the best concert you’ve attended. There is usually an energy that takes over the venue. At the end of the night, the artist performs his or her signature piece. The audience becomes unified in their thoughts, words, and actions. The audience sings and moves together with energy and power that is greater than any one person. Imagine the potential that humanity has if we could unify like that for longer, on a bigger scale. What would we be capable of? What can we do together as a church – what heights could we achieve if we stop thinking of ourselves as small little individuals in a hostile world and take charge of meeting needs in our church and in the community? What can we BE if each of us joins together to work for good, fully awakened to God’s power working through us.

When we closely examine Acts 6 we see that there’s a two-fold service problem. In the early church there were two distinct Jewish groups, each with their own language and culture. Some members of the church were Jews who were born and raised locally. Their mother-tongue was Hebrew or Aramaic. Other members of the church were Jews who were born and raised abroad. Their mother-tongue was Greek. Each tended to stay within their own group. The first problem is when it comes time to hand out food, someone is ignoring the Greek-speaking widows in favor of the Hebrew widows. Now there are insiders and outsiders, haves and have-nots within the church. Jealousy and envy erupt between the two groups. There is also a second problem -- a management problem. The 12 apostles are in charge of the daily distribution or food. The job takes up so much time and effort that the apostles neglect their main jobs of prayer and preaching. The apostles find themselves spending so much time looking after the widows that they don’t have time for their first responsibility.

The apostles propose a division of labor: seven men to do the meet the needs of daily food distribution, while the apostles meet the needs of prayer and preaching. They choose helpers, seven deacons whose task is to wait on tables and make sure that everyone gets food. There are no social welfare programs, no food stamps, no Aid for Dependent Children (ADC), no WIC (Women, Infant, Children) program. The early church has a soup line. The hungry show up at meal time and the deacons serve them.

As the church grows, different kinds of service develop. As more people help, the church realizes there are varieties of ways to meet needs. The apostle Paul will say, "There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord" (1 Cor 12:5). There’s the service of the seven – to wait on tables. There’s the service of the apostles and pastors – to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. There’s the service of the elders – to keep watch over the flock. There’s the service of the members – to serve one another. Within the church must be different ways to meet needs so no vital area of ministry is neglected.

The idea here is that diverse people with individual talents come together to serve the greater needs of community. Since no further mention is made of the problem, we can assume that the early church does a better job of looking after the Greek widows and the poorer members. We can also assume that the apostles are better able to concentrate on their prayer and preaching, on spreading the Good News of the Kingdom. And because everyone helps out and does his or her job, something amazing happens. Luke says, “God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too”

At TCC, leaders often talk about how we want to grow. We want people to grow in maturity. We want the church to grow in members. We want families to grow in their stewardship and their active support of our ministries. The experience of the early church suggests that one way to keep growing is for everyone to do his or her part to serve. Each of us finds a way to use our time, our talents, and our financial gifts to meet needs.

From the beginning, the church feeds people. We feed hungry bodies. We share our food with others. We nourish hungry souls. My question is, are we wasting our resources. Are we using our resources to spread God’s message and meet needs?

I ask this because I know that Americans tend to be wasteful. We don;t always use our resources wisely. Especially when it comes to food. Hunger and malnutrition are the number one worldwide risks, greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Over 9 million people die world wide each year because of hunger and malnutrition. 5 million are children. Rich countries waste around half of the food supplies annually. America throws away 40 % of the food while UK throws away from 40 to 50 %. I recently watched the movie The Book of Eli, in which Denzel Washington travels through a post-apocalyptic wasteland in order to follow a mission from God. In the movie, people fight for water, food and survival. Denzel’s character remembers what it was like before civilization crumbled. In one scene, remembering the old ways, he says, “People had more than they needed, people didn't know what was precious and what wasn't, people threw away things they kill each other for now.” How true. 38 billion US dollars worth of food is thrown away every year.

The model of the book of Acts is for people to make voluntary contributions so that needs are met, pains are shared, and joys are amplified. Sometimes we get off track. We start thinking that the end goal of the church is to survive. We mean well. but sometimes we get caught up in the very patterns that repel us. The job of the church is to meet needs. The job of the church is to serve. The job of the church is to give, even if it means risking its own security. The church that meets needs will share with compassion so that no one shall be pushed to the margins of our compassion.

Meeting needs does not come cheap. The church that meets the needs of others practices a basic principle of Jesus’ teachings. If you want to gain life, you have to lose it. Put another way, if we want to gain, we must be willing to lose. If we want to get, we must give. Giving helps us grow. It leads to resurrection. Meeting needs helps people heal. Communities that practice resurrection are communities of healing and hope, places where individuals torn and tattered by the pain of this world can come and have a soothing balm of love and care applied to their hurt.

Let’s keep working to be a gathering of people who are so intent on meeting needs, we live and work and pray together until the lives around become richer, until individuals who feel excluded are healed, until we model together the possibility of healing hope for the world.

God help us to live with the grace, enthusiasm, and serenity. Help us to know that living and dying are one that life is precious, and beautiful, and limited. That nothing good is ever lost. Help us become the church you envision for the world. Amen.

Sources:
http://www.trinitycrc.org/sermons/ac06v01-07.html
http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/Butler/Acts/Acts_06.1-8_7.55-60_Healing.htm
http://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/public-witness-addressing-power-affirming-peace/poverty-wealth-and-ecology/sharing-food-sermon-at-the-ecumenical-centre-morning-prayers.html
www.wfp.org/hunger

Sermon for September 26, 2010

Habits of Healthy Churches: Diversity

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

The book of Ecclesiastes reminds us of these words: For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven (3:1). I think it should say, “For everything there is a nut, bolt, nail or screw, and a correct tool for every activity under heaven.” Do you know people like that -- people who have exactly what’s needed for any home repair job that needs to get done? I’m not like that. I’m the kind of person who grabs whatever is around and tries to make it work. I’ll bang wood screws into place with a hammer because I don’t feel like getting a screwdriver. I had a landlord who covered an unused stovepipe hole in the wall with a piece of copy paper. He painted over the paper to blend with the wall, and then rolled the stove in front of it so no one would know.

Then there are those people who do the job right. They have saved every nut, bolt, screw and washer they’ve ever met. Each fastener is sorted and categorized according to size, use, head shape, thread count, drive type, or diameter. Wood screws, machine screws and metal screws are all separated. Flat head screws are divided from round, oval, pan, hex, button or truss heads. Whatever you need for any job, they have it. They know where to find it, and they know how to use it.

The sorting system I grew up with was organized chaos. My father saved every piece of threaded metal he could find, but they were unsorted. If he wanted a certain bolt, he’d send me to dig around for it in a giant wooden box. I can still smell the rusting metal and grease as I imagine myself sorting through that old wooden container.

There is a different fastener and a different tool for every job. A wood screw just can’t do the job of a machine screw. So, in this case, we like diversity. Trying to get a good result with the wrong tool is frustrating. If you don’t believe me, just try putting IKEA furniture together with the wrong tools. All the parts work together to make a complete project. Skip one step, or use even one wrong-sized bolt, and you will pay with hours of mounting anger. The project may even become dangerous. We want diversity when all the parts create something like a loft bed or a table. We love diversity when it comes to grocery stores and TV programming, and vacation options and restaurant menus, and of course, financial investing.

Diversity is a fact of life. Diversity makes life interesting. If every house on the block looked the same, if every restaurant served the same food, if everyone talked in monotone at us for hours about things we already knew -- well, then life just wouldn’t have much life at all, would it? Diversity makes whole systems possible: You need diverse parts to make a bicycle. A box of handlebars won’t do the job. An ecosystem needs diverse species, making up complex food webs and cycles that keep the whole thing going. Our entire economic system with all its different jobs and products and services and forms of exchange is all totally dependent on diversity.

Diversity is key to resilience. If all our corn is identical genetically, and a powerful bug attacks it, the crop may all be killed off. If our corn is genetically diverse, then some of it will succumb and some will survive. If it’s not genetically modified, the survivors can reproduce, resulting in greater resistance to future attacks. If everyone depends on one mega-corporation for a monopolized product . . . If everyone uses the same operating system for their computers . . . If all the production facilities use the single most efficient form of production . . . If we all get our electricity from a single grid with no distributed local energy sources . . . we make ourselves vulnerable to the collapse of the single things we all depend on. This is what freaked people out about Y2K: that it would knock out some basic central systems, triggering a catastrophic domino effect. This is a nightmare for terrorist emergency response planners: that terrorists could knock out a vital link in some technological system that we all depend on, for which there is no good alternative. Alternatives, diversity -- even redundancy -- are keys to resilience.

Among us humans, diversity is a resource. In particular, we can tap our diverse strengths -- skills, aptitudes, forms of intelligence, experience -- in ways that make us much more powerful than we could ever be separately. This is a principle of modern social organization: Make a lot of diverse specialists, producers and consumers and then connect them up to exchange information, services and products.

In short, we need diversity. We thrive on diversity. We love diversity . . . except when it comes to life in church. We shy away from diversity when it comes to people. Some church growth experts will tell you if you really want to grow a church you’ve got to take into consideration what they call the “homogeneous unit principal.” It says that people like to be with people who are like them. Therefore, to grow your church, target people that are just like you. And build in a comfort zone in the church that will not be threatened by racial or cultural or socioeconomic diversity. We want people to look like us, think like us, believe like us, and behave like us.

Thinking about diversity brings up thorny issues. One is that too much diversity can be a bad thing – at least when it come to civic engagement. Robert Putnam , the social scientist of Bowling Alone fame, researched the effects of diversity on community life. As a self-professing liberal who favors diversity and multiculturalism, he came up with some surprising results. Putnam found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer. The greater the diversity in a community, the less people give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in settings where people are more alike. Levels of trust are not only lower between groups in more diverse settings, but even among members of the same group. “Diversity, at least in the short run,” he writes, “seems to bring out the turtle in all of us.”

On the other side of the issue, lack of diversity can lead to a pursuit of false purity. In an effort to stay the same and maintain traditions, groups tend to get rid of those who are different. Churches are notorious for this.

One can easily be snared by the trap of exclusion. In fact, think about the enormous number of words in the English language that we have to describe exclusion: omission, segregation, apartheid, banishment, deletion, deportation, discrimination, elimination, exemption, expulsion, expurgation, rejection, and removal. We can ban, bar, blackball, blacklist, boycott, delete, drop, disregard, eject, excommunicate, expel, forbid, isolate, omit, ostracize, overlook, prohibit, reject, segregate, separate, shun, and shut out.

How many words do we have to describe inclusion? If we are talking about the inclusion of people, we have only a handful of words: embody, embrace, encompass, incorporate, and involve. Why is this the case? One reason may be that exclusion is simple. Once we reject others, we don’t have to deal with them any more. No change. No hassle. No worries. Inclusion involves a great deal of thinking, and listening. Inclusion requires time and energy. Inclusion requires change.

Here at TCC, our statement of core values declares that we want to grow a church family that embraces diversity within a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. We desire to move beyond simple tolerance toward genuine understanding. We recognize that all people are free to make choices regarding their own personal and spiritual journeys. In short, commit ourselves to building a diverse, loving community of believers in Jesus Christ. We want diversity. Why? Because God wants diversity. Look at the creation out there. God has made petunias and porcupines. God has made mitochondria and mountains, rivers and rutabagas. God loves to display the diversity in creation.

The apostle Paul thinks that the church ought to reflect God’s unity and diversity, too. In today’s reading, he talks about different people using diverse gifts in order to share the faith. Some are apostles, while others are prophets. Some are the evangelists, while others are pastors or teachers. All work separately, and all work together to make Christ known. Health churches realize their diversity and find ways to use it to heir advantage. Healthy churches recognize that God gives different gifts to different people.
Some, a passion for peace;
Others, a passion for political freedom.
Some, a passion for life and its sacredness,
Others, a passion for forgiveness and mercy.
Some, a passion for a literal interpretation of the Bible,
Others, a passion for a more open interpretation of the Bible.
Some, a passion for evangelism,
Others, a passion for justice.
All of these people use their diversity to work for the common good. Each and every one of these people are inspired by the same Spirit, the Spirit who gives each of us a unique and different perspective.

How do we embrace diversity in ways that honor God and one another? I think it begins by finding unity in diversity. We look for common ground, universal threads that bring us together without demanding that we all be the same. When God embraces us, we must make space for others by inviting them in – even our enemies.

We were created to be a wondrously variegated church, a delightfully diverse community, a people of differences and of relationship. Look around at who the Spirit has brought here.
It’s pretty incredible. Go forth and discover more of those marvelous differences. And may just a little of God’s own Spirit be in each one of our relationships with each other.

God: Mother and Father; Savior and Friend; Unity and Trinity; Lover and Judge; Wind and Whisper; Liberator and Captivator; Lamb and Lion; Suffering Servant and Almighty, enable us, to celebrate our oneness in you and the shared inheritance of your world. Prosper our work as we seek to build bridges of love, understanding and cooperation, that, transformed and renewed by your Holy Spirit, we will be no longer strangers to one another. Together, as diverse members of your world, we always give you glory. Amen.

Sermon for September 19, 2010

Habits of Healthy Churches: Energy

“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” Luke 6:46-49

So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. 1 Cor 15:58

A few days ago, I was talking with someone about the worst job I ever had. I paid my way through seminary by fixing boat propellers at a shop in South Boston. It was hard work. In those days, to fix a damaged prop, one worker would hit it with a sledge hammer while another worker held the prop against a cast iron pitching block. I was the guy who held the prop in place for the guy with the hammers. It was a backbreaking, dirty, painful job, with a lot of sore fingers.

It could be worse! British man Jon Hanson had what he describes as the worst job in his entire life: quality control on cat food. He described several tests he had to perform. Test 1: Bury face in a huge tub of cat food and sniff it to make sure it's fresh. Test 2: Plunge arms in it up to the elbows and grope for bony bits and take them out. Test 3: Scoop up huge dollop of it, smear it flat on surface and prod it with fingers to test how much gristle is there. Uggghh!

Some jobs are obsolete now. Some of you may remember when there were icemen and milkmen who delivered goods to your doorstep. By 2005, less than half of one percent got milk deliveries..

Switchbaord operators are becoming a job of the past. Switchboard operators used a "cord board" to connect callers by plugging incoming lines and metal pegs into the corresponding hole on the board to connect with the correct caller. Long-distance callers were routed through operators, but with only a limited number of lines. If all circuits were busy, operators took the caller's number and called them back when a line was available. Now, with the advancement mobile phones and long-distance plans, there are fewer operators.

Even show business is hitting a professional slump. Thanks to reality TV, talented actors are becoming unnecessary. These days, if you can launch your acting career and rise to success quickly, you must try to fizzle out by 2012 so that you are eligible to participate in the 2014 season of “Kickboxing with the Stars.” Film actors are in equal jeopardy. Right now, humans can be replicated on screen with computer generated animation, and audiences don’t really seem to mind. It won’t be long until studio execs realize that a digital version of Angelina Jolie, slightly altered for legal purposes, will work for free. Not only that, but CyberAngelina won’t have weird demands, like a dressing room scented with gardenia and 2 liters of organic Peruvian yak’s milk.

There’s another job in a slump: The work of the Church. Across the country, congregations of all sizes and denominations are struggling with issues of faith and finance as the tough economy grinds on. Churches are scouring their budgets for wasteful spending. While the collection plates no longer overflow, churches see an increase in requests for support. I have gotten more calls for financial assistance from people who need money than ever before. I’ve had to start turning people away. Funds are low. In the past, houses of worship did OK during recessions, even as other institutions struggled. But the magnitude of the current downturn has caught up with places of worship. The economic climate for religious organizations is the worst in at least 30 years, forcing membership drives and construction projects to take a back seat to balancing the budget. This is THE topic of conversation for congregations. All other conversations have ceased.

Churches are not known for their ability to adapt to change. While the world around us transforms at lightning-fast speeds, churches are often satisfied to maintain traditions. The expectation is that churches don’t need to change. Churches expect others to change when they walk in our doors. We like to think of ourselves as a safe haven from the world around us. A place of timeless tradition. A place of peace. A place where the novelties around us are kept at bay.

Here is the challenge: It sounds good, but in reality, it doesn’t work. To upcoming generations, our obsolete attitudes can sound grumpy and irrelevant. Kind of like my Mémé. As a kid, I had a 100-year-old great grandmother. I remember her knitting and her soap operas, her root beer barrel candies and her ways of showing love by yelling at you until you cried. She lived in the basement of my grandparent’s house, and I was afraid of her. All were afraid of her. My great grandmother (we called her Mémé) had an anxiety-inducing presence. The worst words one could ever hear was, “Matt, please take this to Mémé’s room,” as my grandmother handed me a tuna fish sandwich for delivery to Mémé’s lair. If I heard those words, a chill would run down my spine. It was easier to avoid her.

Is the church becoming Mémé to a new generation? Is the church an old-fashioned, mean-spirited, rigid or fearful presence that’s best avoided? To play a role in American life, to do our part in the renewal of American Christianity, mainline churches like Trumbull Congregational Church need to go back over their history and ask if we’ve lost the ability to inspire new generations with the gospel of God’s love.

I have heard some culture watchers say that the Church is a generation away from extinction. The first time I read that, my knee-jerk reaction was denial. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. This can’t be! The Church is forever.” As I thought about it some more, I began to see the power of these words. God is forever. Church is ephemeral. The church is the temporary expression of what God intends for humanity. We aren’t meant to last forever. While we are here, the church is supposed to align itself with God’s aims and show the world what, new, free and abundant life can be. And as members of the church of Christ, we are responsible for equipping the next generation of disciples. Jesus left the future of the Church in our hands. The future of our faith depends on our ability to pass it on. When I watch the news and listen to conversations, I often hear about the plight of our country and the older generation’s lack of trust in the younger. We see school shootings and work shootings, broken homes, and many other examples of disgruntled, misguided youth. What is going on? The more appropriate question is, “What is not going on?” What are we NOT providing to this rising generation? Why is Christianity not important to so many people?

Churches respond to these questions in different ways. Some churches decide that they need a new way to BE. Instead of opening their doors and expecting people to come to them, these churches have decided to take church to the people. I’m talking about traditional, protestant churches like ours. They realize that they have a God-sized task: to bring God’s good news to the next generations. To use Jesus’ metaphor from Luke’s gospel, these churches are building a house on a solid foundation. They seek to do God’s will in the world by looking outward and practicing their faith in a public way. They build a firm foundation by carrying out the teachings of Christ.

Other churches build themselves on shakier footings. Some churches think the solution to the shifting sands around them is to get more people to do more stuff. They focus on getting people to serve on church committees. They think that if more people serve as part of the governance of the church, if more people understood what it takes to keep the place going, the church will become a solid, healthy organization. Sometimes this strategy works. Oftentimes it does not. Some people find meaning serving on church committees. Others face burnout, sabotage, and frustration. Some people serve the church with energy and love. Others are turned off when it seems that church members are protecting their interests. They ask, “Where’s the common goal? What’s the God-sized task? What’s our God-sized vision?”

Maybe churches need to do less with our energy and more with God’s energy. Maybe churches like ours need to prayerfully realize our God-sized task that takes God-sized energy. As Paul tells the church in Corinth, “Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” The question is, what kind of work should we do?

Here is a good indication that you are serving the church for the wrong reasons. If you are doing something out of guilt, then you are spending your energy in the wrong place. If you are doing something because there's no one else to do the job, then you are spending your energy in the wrong place. If you are doing something to please people or because you are afraid to say NO, then you are spending your energy in the wrong place. If you are doing something for power and prestige then you are spending your energy in the wrong place.

You can always tell when people are doing things for the wrong reasons. You can see it in their energy level. Just ask my kids. If I say to my kids, “Can you pick up your rooms and then come downstairs and drink a glass of milk and eat a plate of broccoli?”, they move as slow as dead snail. At dinner time, limp, boiled-to-death broccoli really is the bane of childhood. Ask my kids to eat broccoli, and they suddenly lose their appetites. Five minutes ago, they were famished. Faced with a side dish of broccoli, they lose the will to live. While my kids are pushing their slimy broccoli around the plate, pretending to eat it, I will mess with their minds. “Who wants desert?” I’ll offer. Notice how the energy changes. Nothing feels better than broccoli amnesty! Now kids are laughing. Their appetites come back. There’s a party at the Braddock house. They have new hopes.. New goals. New vision. It’s exciting and refreshing.

I know, I know, broccoli is good for you. I know, it’s the king of lo-carb veggies. It’s full of vitamin C and antioxidants and calcium. But I don’t know a lot of people who get excited when told, “Eat your broccoli. It’s good for you.” This sounds more like a threat. It sounds like something my Mémé would say to make me cry.

New times demand a different attitude from the church. No more boiled-over broccoli when we have the sweetness of God’s love to offer. We need a God-sized task. We need God-sized vision. We need God-sized energy. Energy is ours, not when we hoard our strength, but when we devote it willingly and joyously toward living out the Good News. Faith and energy go hand in hand. If you have deep faith in what you are doing, you can move mountains. Energy is always highest when one’s cause is just. The greater one’s faith, the greater one’s will power. And the greater the will power, the greater the flow of energy.

Do you know what? This is a great time to be in the church! So what if we have no money, our membership is down, we run a deficit budget, and can’t do repairs. So what if people claim to be spiritual but are leaving churches in record number. So what if Christianity seems to be less and less relevant to our culture. This is a great time to be in the church! Unless we can say that with enthusiasm and passion and energy, I don’t think we will be able to communicate the good news to this changing world.

I refuse to let the Church to grow obsolete or extinct. How about you? Can we show others the love of God? Can we communicate the love of Christ to a world that’s waiting and hungry and starving to know God’s delicious presence? Will we use our energy, intelligence, imagination, and love to lead the church in this time of transition? In your own life, what keeps you from being all that God is calling you to be? What keeps our church from reaching out and communicating the love of Christ? These are in many ways the worst of times for the Christian church. But they can also be the best. The promise of the Scriptures says that no matter how difficult life is, God is good. Our good God has some good work for us to do, and the energy to do it.

Sermon for September 12, 2010

The Habits of Healthy Churches: Devotion

When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” -- Matthew 22:33-40

I have some questions. They are some of life’s unanswered questions:

Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?
Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?
Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
Can you be a closet claustrophobic?
If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year why do they have locks on their doors?
If a parsley farmer is sued, can the court garnish his wages?
If aliens are smart enough to travel through space, why do they keep abducting the dumbest people on earth?
If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
If you throw a cat out a car window, does it become kitty litter?
Who’s cruel idea was it to put the ‘s’ in the word lisp?
Why do doctors call what they do practice?
Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
Why is it you get a penny for your thoughts but have to put in your two cents worth?
Why is it that when our kids are naughty we ask “do you want a spanking?” What are they going to say, “Yes, please. May I have two?”

Sometimes, when I’m reflecting on life and work, I ask some questions of the church, too.

Why are people more spiritual than ever but leaving the church in record numbers?
How does the church get people’s attention in a fast-moving world?
What are we here for and what do we do?
Can we love without changing others?
What if we are wrong about thinking we are the only ones who have the complete truth?
Who is left out of our churches? How has that served us? Who is our neighbor?
Why is there so much controversy in churches? Why can’t people of the same faith get along with each other better?

I think church controversy began with the church founder himself. Jesus constantly debated and confronted religious people who believed that they knew the word and the will of God. People of his own faith tempted, tested, and questioned Jesus.

In today’s reading, we hear some of this conflict. It’s a conversation between Jesus and his “pastors.” It’s actually the last time there will be conversation between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day. On this, their last conversation, they ask Jesus a question. “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” It’s a trap. Hebrew Scripture has 613 commandments to follow. Obeying all 613 at once is virtually impossible. How can anyone even remember all 613 commandments? So they ask Jesus, “If all 613 commandments could be summed up in one or two sentences, what would you say?” The religious leaders feel threatened by Jesus’ authority, so they ask a question designed to publicly humiliate and belittle Jesus. To them, Jesus is a simple, unlearned, working class teacher from the backwoods town of Galilee. His followers don’t have a semester’s worth of theological credits between them. The religious leaders, on the other hand, are professionally trained leaders of Israel’s spiritual life. They are learned practitioners of every detail of Jewish law. They try to push Jesus into a corner by asking that he pick one commandment out of all Jewish law as being the most important.

Jesus’ answer takes us to the essential core of religion. Out of all 613 commandments, he picks two verses from Scripture, and combines them into one: “It’s about the love!” ”‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Everything else in scripture,” Jesus says, “Relates to these two things.” His answer to the religious leaders is a way of accusing them of breaking the greatest commandments. Those who claim to be the most committed law keepers of all are guilty of missing the heart of Israel’s faith! Jesus and his religious leaders had two different visions of the purpose of their religion.

We shouldn’t be too harsh on the religious leaders. At one time or another, all of us get all tangled up in the web of “little things” and miss the “big picture.” Churches do it all the time. We get so wrapped up in our traditions and our programs and our property, we can lose sight of who we are and why we’re here. It’s easy to lose focus. Vision becomes blurry. Sometimes churches realize what’s happening, and they regain their sense of purpose. Others get stuck in the pattern of worry and anxiety. If something goes well, the church gets credit for it. But if something goes bad, the church system is not at fault. Instead, an individual or group gets blamed for the problems. If a person voices problems with the church, that person will be marginalized, put down and discredited. We sense the same pattern happening in Matthew’s gospel. When put on the spot, the religious leaders attack Jesus instead of examining their own traditions.

I want to suggest one question that can help us determine where we are as a church. Finish this statement: “Our church is best known for ______________ .” What would you say?

• Our church is best known for our beautiful building?
• Our church is known for its worship services?
• Our church is best known for our programs for children and youth?
• Our church is best known for keeping traditions alive?
• Our church is best known for managing money and resources?
• Our church is best known for the quality of its caring and outreach?

If we are on target as a congregation, the completion of this sentence will relate directly to what Jesus identifies as the greatest commandment of all. I think first and foremost, a healthy church will say, “Our church is best known for our devotion to God and to one another. It’s all about the love.”

One of the crucial lessons in this passage is that getting lost in the nit-picky details of religion can cause us to miss God entirely! If my heart is not open, if my mind is already made up, if there is no room for me to challenge my assumptions, I put myself in the very precarious spiritual position of missing where God is going and what God is doing. The point is simple. Healthy churches love God with all we’ve got and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

This is Jesus’ challenge to us when we are tempted to give our first love to people and things other than God. Jesus confronts our competing devotions. Some Christians think that our job is to protect the Bible and the reputation of historic Christianity. We’ve seen a great example of this with Pastor Terry Jones of Florida and the media frenzy over his threat to burn the Qur’an. I hope you can see this story for its utter craziness. Not the crazy pastor. No, the crazy media and how they promote a silly local town story to blanket our national media reality. In one corner, we have an unknown, swivel-eyed Pastor of a tiny church in the swamps of Florida. In the other corner, we have the Commander in Chief, his Secretary of State, and his top US and NATO Commander. Who really cares what this mini-church does? Somehow, someone wanted the world to see America as a Qur’an burning, Islam-hating nation of bullies. If he wakes up in time, Pastor Jones might realize he and his 50 members were being used to make a statement on behalf of all 350 million Americans to a watching and waiting Muslim world. He was manipulated into making a statement that America is not saying at all. And now he’s being used as a pawn in the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” debate. Someone noticed a trivial and stupid act that should have been ignored and elevated it to a national policy debate. The story should have been nothing more than the local town news. It’s the same as reading about the Sheriff’s daughter who comes in third at Garlic Queen Pageant, or the minister who locks himself in the church steeple and won’t come down until the church raises $8000. Here is the story: “Crazy Pastor Jones is at it again. After the success of Qur’an fire, he promises to burn Catcher in the Rye next week. Bring your copy. Free hot dogs served in social hall after the bonfire.”

For me the issue is that Pastor Jones feels he has to protect Christianity, actually Christian America, from an outside menace. He threatens to burn a Qur’an because of THEM, as if he has few other choices. His faith needs to be protected from outsiders and infidels. He wants the church to be best known for its devotion. But devoted to what? To purity? To the authority of the Bible? To his interpretation of the faith? To the elimination of competing ideas?

Pastor Jones forgot what Jesus said just before he was murdered. Jesus didn’t scream “Someone has to stand up to this abomination.” He said something far more provocative “Father, forgive.” Now that is a story all of us still haven’t come to grips with. Don’t burn the Qur’an. Burn the hatred, burn it and bury it. Let love rise in its place. It’s all about the love.

More than devotion to purity, we devote ourselves to love.
More than devotion to judging others, we devote ourselves to love.
More than devotion to doctrine, we devote ourselves to love.
More than devotion to eroding traditions, we devote ourselves to love.
More than devotion to our congregation, we devote ourselves to love.
More than devotion to the bible, we devote ourselves to love.
In other words, we are to do the impossible. But we can at least keep trying.

On the day that we meet Jesus, all of our arguments will end. That which we thought mattered the most will be put into proper perspective. We may have to answer a couple of questions.

1. Did you, the church, abandon yourself to love?
2. How did you make the love of God and the love of your neighbor the center of your life together?

Devoted love to God and neighbor. This makes healthy churches. This makes healthy lives.


Sources:
http://www.lectionarysermons.com/Oct24=99.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/10/terry-jones-quran-us-media
http://www.storywise.com/wordpress/

Sermon for September 5, 2010

The Complications of Long Division

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. Luke 14:25-33

There are a few things I really hate. Maybe hate is too a strong word. But let’s just go with it. You know what I hate? Buffet Anarchy. The food buffet is a lawless frontier. Anything goes. I was at a buffet the other day and serving myself was like being a contestant on a Japanese game show. I’m accidentally splattering myself with food, dropping string beans on the floor and dripping my chicken marsala sauce into the tray of roasted potatoes. Meanwhile, packs of pre-teen boys cut the line, shoveling doughy fistfulls of rolls into their orthodontically altered mouths and swiping all the deserts the end of the table. There is no peace for me at a buffet table.

You know what else I hate? I hate it when I used to go to the gym and I had to use a piece of equipment after someone else. I mean, obviously I can bench press, you know, a whole ton of weight. And as for reps, don't even talk to me about reps. I can do anywhere between 3-5. I thought I could certainly lift more than the gangly high school sophomores or the rugged old grannies in their velour workout suits. I would saunter over to the bench press machine after they were done, and they always had the weight set quite high. Higher than I could lift. So, I had to go through the elaborate charade of pretending to raise the weight while actually taking it down to around the 3 pound level. I’d push out my 3-5 reps and then put the weight back really high for the next person to see. Pretending was more exhausting than the actual workout. So, I stopped going to the gym. It’s working well for me, isn’t it?

You know what else I hate? I hate my mother’s recipe for Beet Loaf. Yeah, you heard me right. BEET loaf. She cooks it in a crock pot for 8 hours and serves it up with a swell of pride. Delicious? I think not.

Like I said, hate is a strong word. These are all trifles, really. Annoyances. I mean, it’s not something serious like saying I hate my parents. It’s not something really bad, like if I confessed to detest my wife and children. But it seems as if that’s what Jesus wants me to do. He says: If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison — your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. I can’t go that far. In fact, I hate that Jesus would ask me to hate my loved ones and even my own life.

Have you ever met a family that fractured over of a spiritual teaching? I knew a lady who joined a very strict, fundamentalist Christian sect. She tried to get her husband to join the group and he wanted nothing to do with it. The spiritual leader of the group convinced the wife that her husband was going to hell, that she should get away from him and his evil doubts, and she should get the kids away from their unbelieving father. Of course, she gave this group a pile of money. Her family was devastated. The husband still wonders how and why this all happened. These groups work through division -- malicious mathematics that promises a better life if only you believe, disconnect yourself from family ties, and write a big check.

Hate my parents? Give up all my possessions? Isn’t this the demented preaching of Jim Jones and David Koresh? Hate my wife and kids to follow Jesus? If anyone comes to me and demands that I choose between him or my wife, the choice is simple. I choose my wife. I choose my kids. I choose my family. I choose my beloved friends. I choose the connections that help me find support, survival, courage and love to get us through this complicated life.

But wait, it gets worse. I hate the examples Jesus uses to illustrate “discipleship.” Jesus talks about a builder thinking about money and a king preparing for war. Jesus implies that these two have it right and that his followers are to be more like them. Here’s the problem. In our day, building developers and war planners are not moral standard bearers. Think about some developers who cut corners that make money while imperiling others. During this Atlantic Hurricane Season, many remember Hurricane Katrina, a disaster that left a blotch on the psyche of America. Among the revelations in the aftermath of Katrina, the flooding uncovered the negative impact of floating gambling casinos on the Mississippi River. The huge casino barges became battering rams in the storm surge, washing ashore and destroying many homes and cheap developments that sprang up to support the gambling industry. The destruction became symbolic of how greed had destroyed lives along the Gulf Coast. All to say, I have a hard time accepting real estate speculation as a symbol for faith. In the same way, I have no empathy for the struggle of a king who wants to go to war and needs to make sure that he has enough soldiers to overcome the enemy.

I know that I’m supposed to ask myself how I can love God a lot, and what I am willing to give up to show it — at least that’s how this Gospel story has been explained to me dozens of times. However dividing the family, managing real estate for outrageous profit, and acting like a warmonger are qualities I need to leave behind in order to follow Jesus. I’m a peace-lover. I don’t want to divide.

You know what I really, really hate? Mathematics. Math gives me the hives. They’re not called math problems for nothing. I have a special moral crisis with division. Especially long division. I like addition. I LOVE multiplication. These operations are about increase. We tend to think that if something is good, than more must be better. So I’ll stick with arithmetic that supports growth and abundance. Division is different. When I was young, I’d tell my 9th grade algebra teacher, Mrs. Bach, that division was evil. It was subtraction on steroids. We should have serious problems with doing math that creates separation and scarcity. Mrs. Bach didn’t buy it. Division is just so . . . negative. It comes from two Latin roots that mean to separate apart. Many of our English words beginning with the letters d-i are from a mean-spirited little Latin preposition known as dis. The English language has a lot of ways to talk about how to exclude and separate. And many of the words begin with those two or three little letters: divide, disrespect, divest, dispose, disable, discord, discard, destruction, disadvantage, discipline, discomfort, disenchant, disagree, disappear, disappoint, disarray, disaster, disconnect, discredit, disgrace, distort, discrepancy, discriminate, disengage, dishonest, defeat, dysfunction. Here we go again with the malicious mathematics. You just heard a list of the worst kind of complicated long division there is.

Malicious mathematics is quite simple to perform. Once we divide and discard others, we don’t have to deal with them anymore. Once we discredit and disgrace those with whom we disagree, we allow ourselves to believe that we’ve done our divine duty. Division seems to be a desirable decision when it comes to dealing with people who are different. My heart tells me that this is not what Jesus had in mind for his people.

You know what I really wanted for this sermon? I wanted some alternative interpretation of the text. I wanted a trustworthy biblical scholar to tell me how I misunderstood the story. After a better understanding of the life and times of Jesus, I would learn that he really wants us to embrace our parents, hug our lovers and our children, bear some modest burdens, and follow Jesus the best we can. Do you know what scholars say? Out of all the sayings of Jesus, this is probably among the most genuine lessons from the lips of the Lord. I’m not going to try to domesticate Jesus. He says something that I just don’t like. In his passion to uphold the simplicity and sacredness of his ministry, Jesus wants something I just can’t give.

Jesus says, "If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison." Seriously, Jesus? Yes, seriously, because anything else is idolatry.

Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." Seriously, Jesus? Yes, seriously. Because following Jesus is serious business.

I like a challenge as much as anyone (as long as it doesn’t involve a quadratic equation). But I'm not ready to answer this challenge with an unqualified yes. What about a definitive maybe? How about a sincere I'll think about it? What if following Jesus is less of a denial of all I love and more like a work in progress? What if following Jesus is more like deciding each and every day how we can be disciples?

Following Jesus is not about what you can’t do or won’t do. It’s not as if those with strong faith give up everything, and everyone else is a coward. Discipleship is more about how we define ourselves. Are we solely defined by our relatives? Are we solely defined by our belongings? Are we solely defined by our shortcomings? Are we defined by our willingness to go with Jesus into some difficult places? How often do we stress ourselves out for the wrong person’s approval? How frequently do we sweat for the wrong kingdom’s treasure? How often are we willing to give something up to make life better for another? If we are going to die – and we are – will we die for a worthy cause? If we are going to invest our lives in something – and we will – will it be something that matters?

In the end, it’s not about the complications of long division. Jesus proposes a new equation:

Recognition + Consideration = New Life

Recognize or identify that which holds you back from living a full and vibrant life.
Add the cost of holding on and the cost of letting go.
Find your balance as a new future emerges.

In the end, we consider how far each of us can go to keep company with Christ. Do the math. Count the cost. Listen to the Spirit. Follow. Live.

Sermon for August 15, 2010

What Baptism Did You Receive?

As we celebrate the baptism of London this morning, I wanted us to reflect a little more on what it means. Congregationalists have a long history of sprinkling water on babies. Other traditions do it differently. For instance, a young son of a Baptist minister was in church one morning when he saw for the first time baptism by immersion. He was greatly interested in it, and the next morning proceeded to baptize his three cats in the bathtub. The youngest kitten bore it very well, and so did the younger cat, but the old family tom cat rebelled. The old cat struggled with the boy, clawing and tearing his skin, until he finally got away. With considerable effort the boy caught the old cat again and proceeded with the “ceremony.” But the cat acted worse than ever, clawing, spitting, and scratching the boy’s face. Finally, after barely getting the cat splattered with water, he dropped him on the floor in disgust and said: “Fine! Be a Congregationalist if you want to!”

As we think to our own baptisms, let’s listen to the story of a baptism from the book of Acts.

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers.” Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them.
“No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
“Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked.
And they replied, “The baptism of John.”
Paul said, “John’s baptism called for repentance from sin. But John himself told the people to believe in the one who would come later, meaning Jesus.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all. (Acts 19:1-7)

Congregationalists also have a long tradition of fine preaching. Another story is told of a young preacher who had just announced to his congregation that he was leaving to accept a call at another church. He was standing at the door after the service and greeting people when one of the elderly saints approached him, her eyes swimming with tears. She sobbed, “Oh pastor. I’m so sorry you decided to leave. Things will never be the same again.” He took her hands in his and most graciously replied, “Bless you, dear lady, but I’m sure that God will send a pastor even better than I.” She choked back a sob and was heard to reply, “That’s what they all say, but they keep getting worse and worse.”

How do you handle it when you keep hoping for something better in your life but it never seems to come? How many times have we settled for something less than we really want or something less than we’ve been promised? I think the people in today’s reading may have felt the same way. Ephesus was a trade center for the Roman Empire. The people of the city had a spiritual core. The city was home to the temple of the goddess of nature, Diana, which ranked among the seven wonders of the ancient world. So, Ephesus was constantly filled with religious worshipers, tourists, and traders from all over the Empire. In this cosmopolitan center, Paul finds twelve followers of the teachings of John the Baptist. They have not heard about the death and resurrection of Jesus, nor have they heard about the giving of the Holy Spirit. Let’s recall the message of John the Baptist. He says, “I baptize you in water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not even fit to remove his sandals; for he himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Men and women flocked to John make a visible demonstration of their need for cleansing from sin. They carried with them the word of hope that the Messiah was coming to do more. Now we meet twelve disciples of John who had no knowledge that the Messiah had come. They were still hoping for something better in their lives. Paul noticed that something was missing in their experience with God. Their hearts had been prepared to receive Christ. They knew the promises, but they had not yet come to a place where they experienced the fullness of God.

Have you ever found yourself in the same situation? You know the message of God’s love. You’ve heard the promises over and over again. But something seems to be missing. I talk to a lot of people who feel that they have not found any real spiritual satisfaction. They say, “Whatever it is that has the power to satisfy me truly and deeply, I have not found it yet.” Maybe you are frustrated because you know that God has more abundant life for you than you are experiencing. Maybe you have experienced great tragedy in your life and need to know the fact that God’s promises of comfort are true. Perhaps you are standing broken and bewildered in life and you don’t know which way to turn. Maybe you are earnestly seeking God, but nothing seems to be happening.

THINK ABOUT THIS: Perhaps those gnawing feelings of unfulfilled faith are God’s way of getting our attention. Maybe those thoughts are pointing to something which we don’t yet know–something that lies beyond our reach but still draws us with the force of an invisible attraction. Suppose our longing for spiritual fulfillment points to a reality we have not yet discovered–something that really has the ability to turn our lives around.

Paul’s answer to the yearning of the twelve disciples of John is to announce that the promise is fulfilled. Then he baptizes them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Paul places his hands on them, the Holy Spirit falls upon them and they begin to show supernatural signs of the Spirit’s presence. On that day, twelve people did more than make a superficial commitment to Jesus. They experienced God’s power and were transformed. They encountered God, and the promises that they heard about in the past were finally answered in their own lives.

If you are just going through the motions, God is saying, “I am here, and I am ready to fulfill my promises in your life.” This new life takes commitment from us which says, “I have heard your message, Lord, and I believe it. I want to experience all you have promised and I am willing to commit myself to the next step in my spiritual life.” Saying this takes great openness and trust in what God wants to do in your life. We have the choice to invite the Holy Spirit to per part of our lives and transform us, or to shut the Spirit out.

A patient went to her doctor with a catalogue of complaints about her health. The doctor suspected the real problem was the patient’s negative outlook on life; the bitterness and resentment that kept the patient feeling ill. The doctor took the patient to the room in her office where she had a shelf filled with empty bottles. She said to her patient, “See those bottles? Notice they are all empty. I can take one of those bottles and fill it with poison–enough poison to kill a human being. Or I can fill it with enough medicine to bring down a fever, or ease a throbbing headache, or fight bacteria in the body. The important thing is I make the choice. I can fill it with whatever I choose.” The doctor then looked at the patient and said, “Each day God gives us is like one of those empty little bottles. We can choose to fill it with love and life-affirming attitudes, so we can fill it with destructive, poisonous thoughts. The choice is ours.”

In our spiritual lives, we have some choices to make. We can just go through life hoping to make the best of what we’ve got, trying to distract ourselves from the feeling that all is pointless. Or we can see life as a glorious gift which points to something even more wonderful which is yet to come.

I suspect the twelve people in Ephesus were faced with the same decision. John’s baptism was OK, but it was not all that God had promised. There was something even more wonderful to come. This phenomenal gift came through accepting Jesus the Messiah in faith and being filled with the Holy Spirit. The same offer is extended to us. It’s your choice to accept the Holy Spirit in your life or to ignore the Spirit’s presence. It’s your choice to live with enthusiasm or to just fumble along, always wanting but never getting what you hoped for. Christ died and rose again so that we could enjoy a relationship with God. The Spirit is here to fill us and transforms us. Don’t be satisfied with anything less.

Luke tells us that the twelve were baptized in the Spirit. The Greek word from which we get the verb baptize literally means “to submerge.” In other words, the twelve men were totally flooded by the power of God’s presence. It engulfed them. It consumed them. For us to experience God to the fullest, we need to be baptized with the Spirit–submerged in our relationship with God. I talk a lot about having an intimate relationship with God from this pulpit. I do this because I’m convinced that without it we are spinning our spiritual wheels in the mud. I speak only from personal experience. I don’t know how I would be able to keep going in this life if I could not call God my friend. The Gospel is this: we are all God’s friends, claimed in baptism and submerged in his Spirit. No longer do we have to wonder when God is going to act. No longer to we have to hopelessly wait for something better. We have been offered friendship . . . relationship . . . status as God’s beloved.

Have you ever stopped to ponder what makes a real friend? One person put it this way:
“Friends are people with whom you dare to be yourself. Your soul can be naked with them. They ask you to put on nothing, only to be what you are. They do not want you to be better or worse. When you are with them, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent. You do not have to be on your guard. You can say what you think, as long as it is genuinely you. With a friend you breathe freely. You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks, your meanness and absurdities, and in opening them up to friends they are lost, dissolved on the white ocean of loyalty. They understand. You do not have to be careful. They like you. You can weep with them, sing with them, laugh with them,. Pray with them. Through it all – and underneath – they see, know, and love you. A friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.”

God offers this kind of friendship with us – the kind of friendship I know to be true in my own life. No more aching loneliness. No more yearning for something better. No more unfulfilled promises. God sees us, know us, and despite of what we’ve done, and especially because of everything we’ve done, God loves us. What baptism did you experience? Are you living a life of waiting for unfulfilled dreams, not knowing that they have all come true? Are you living in only half the blessing, not knowing the tremendous joy and love that comes with experiencing God through a relationship with Christ and a submersion in the Spirit? Are you living a Christian life on the outside and secretly wondering if there is more? If so, there is no secret formula. No magic words. Nothing to buy. No gimmicks. We simply believe, receive, and begin a new life submerged in God.