Me or We

Matthew 6:25-34   (NRSV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

I just want to start by saying thank you to everyone who offered up suggestions on sermon ideas for next year.

         You have given me some great ideas

And you still have a couple of weeks to get the ideas in before I take a couple of days to try and really listen where I believe God through the Holy Spirit is wanting me to help lead this congregation.

Secondly, I encourage you to ask yourself where God is inviting you to help lead here at Meridian Street. 

In our membership vows we promise to support the church with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service and our witness.

When we all use our God given gifts in the way that God intended --- our impact on the world grows massively!

So please fill out your "Please Consider Me" form

This past week I had the opportunity to travel to Kansas City to join together with 2500 other United Methodists and dream about the future of the UMC

It was a short trip

I left home at 5am on Wednesday and caught a flight so that I could be at the Church of the Resurrection by the time the conference started at 9am

Friday, as the conference ended I flew back to Indy (my 8pm flight was delayed repeatedly --- and I got home at 3:30 am) just in time for Anne Swope's funeral yesterday morning.

While in Kansas City

         We prayed together

                  challenged each other

                           sought solutions to the terrible spot that the church is in right now

                                    and dreamed about what might be next after the General Conference in May

I left feeling hopeful

         that despite whatever happens --- a new expression of the UMC will be born

But we were also were reminded that we have been in this predicament before --- with good, well intentioned people on both sides of an issue using the Bible to support their individual understanding of scripture

Our opening worship began with two UMC bishops reading scripture

         1 Corinthians 14:34-35

in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

1 Timothy 2:8-15

I want men to pray everywhere by lifting up hands that are holy, without anger or argument. In the same way, I want women to enhance their appearance with clothing that is modest and sensible, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive clothes. They should make themselves attractive by doing good, which is appropriate for women who claim to honor God.

A wife should learn quietly with complete submission. I don’t allow a wife to teach or to control her husband. Instead, she should be a quiet listener. Adam was formed first, and then Eve. Adam wasn’t deceived, but rather his wife became the one who stepped over the line because she was completely deceived. But a wife will be brought safely through childbirth, if they both continue in faith, love, and holiness, together with self-control.

What made this reading so striking was --- both bishops were women

It wasn't that long ago that woman were finally granted full clergy rites in the UMC --- anybody have any idea when that happened?

         1956

In 1980 Marjorie Matthews was the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the UMC

         She was elected in our jurisdiction and served in Wisconsin

And then we were reminded of another difficult time in the church

We merged, as a denomination, in 1939 --- to end the separation that resulted over slavery and created The Methodist Church from the Methodist Episcopal Church, Methodist Episcopal Church South and Methodist Protestant Church.

The Southern church only agreed to union after a compromise created a jurisdiction based exclusively on race — not geography.

Nineteen black annual conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church were placed in the Central Jurisdiction and the white conferences were placed in five regional jurisdictions.

        

In other words, we created our own Jim Crow rules within the Methodist Church

I hate to say this --- but neither of those battles are completely over

         Women clergy are in many places not considered equal to a man

Do you remember the challenges when Cindi Alte was named interim senior pastor when Bill Schwein left?

Probably not --- because we hate history and love nostalgia

Or as Rev. Junius B. Dotson, the General Secretary of the Board of Discipleship said in quoting William Faulkner:

         The past isn't dead and buried

                  In fact, it is not even dead

If you are not sure you believe me --- just go Google "NC Conference Women in Ministry" and watch the video they created this past June – you will be shocked (https://vimeo.com/335862568)

My friends we have a long way to go

NO matter what happens next May --- it will not be over

         You cannot legislate change

But Meridian Street will continue to strive be open and welcoming to ALL no matter what happens

Last Sunday I asked you an important question --- and I encouraged you to ponder it this week --- I hope and pray that you have.

I asked you:

         HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

It is an important question because most of us create small personal gods that we worship in our own image

         They may be athletes, political parties, nations, or even ourselves

And too often our god's that we create are

·       angry

·       vengeful

·       doesn't like the people we don't live

·       forgives our mistakes, but not the sins of others

·       tribal, and xenophobic

Need I go on?

Small gods can control our lives, but it requires a BIG GOD to change our hearts

Abraham Joshua Heschel was born in Poland just prior to the First World War --- his family tree consists of preeminent European rabbis on both sides of his family.

He grew up with a very traditional Jewish education and became an Orthodox Rabbi.

In 1938, Rabbi Heschel found himself arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland.

Just a few weeks before the Nazi invasion of Poland, Heschel escaped and slowly made his way to New York.

Rabbi Heschel believed the teachings of the Hebrew prophets were a clarion call for social action in the United States and he worked tirelessly for African Americans' civil rights and against the Vietnam War. 

He became a close confidant of Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1962, in his book The Prophets he argued that prophets do not speak for God so much as they remind their audience of God's voice for the voiceless, the poor and oppressed.

He writes:

Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profane riches of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging in the prophet's words

He also wrote these simple but powerful words:

         “Few are guilty, but all are responsible”

Rabbi Heschel is reminding us of the moral teachings found in the biblical story and how each generation must renew their charge to form a “community not indifferent to suffering, impatient with cruelty and falsehood, and continually concerned for G*d and every man.”

Of course: “Few are guilty, but all are responsible” is not a principle that can be applied in a court of law and is not a standard that can or should be enforced by any policy.

However, within this prophetic call, is a reminder of the aspirations of our society and just how out of reach that ideal remains for too many. 

The claim that we are all responsible leads to a lifetime of questions

But while sitting in the beautiful sanctuary of the Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City what struck me was the first part of this statement.

         "few are guilty"

In one brilliant stroke Rabbi Heschel is saying that, yes there are some who willfully cause injury to others because they fail to treat them as fully human,

         but the vast majority harbor not malice, but insufficient concern. 

We are not a country made up of bigots, but a society that is still yet to come to grips with how corrosive it is to become indifferent to the lives of those who are regarded as other. 

To accept the notion that all of us are responsible for the marginalized, oppressed, put-down and belittled groups in our society is a tough pill to swallow.

         But it is the clarion call of Jesus.

                  It is the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus

We are called to strive for God's kingdom --- not ours

         It is what we prayed a few minutes ago

                  "Thy kingdom come

                           Thy will be done"

And the only way to get there is to move beyond our "me centric" religion -- in which we create a multitude of God's to meet our every whim

·       We must move beyond our "me centric" reading of scripture --- where we elevate scripture that supports our position and let the position of the breadth of scripture reign true.

·       We must move beyond our "me centric" belief that Christianity is about my personal salvation and instead seek God's kingdom and not our own.

If you’re becoming a Christian with your own happiness as your main goal, you will be disappointed in a severe way.

Following Jesus is not about your happiness, it’s not even about you.

It’s about love — which is something we choose to give time and time again.

It’s about sacrifice, serving, giving, forgiving — and then doing it all over again.

Following Jesus teaches you more about selflessness than you ever wanted to know.

At the heart of it, following Jesus is all about sacrifice.

About the giving of yourself, in ways big and small.

• It’s about offering forgiveness when you’ve been hurt.
• It’s about giving your time though it’s not always convenient.
• It’s about choosing to respond with love when you’d rather respond in anger.
• It’s about sharing your possessions --- even when you want to store them away.
• It’s about putting others needs and desires before your own.

I could go on and on, but it always ends with the same formula:

         You before me. And we before me

We live in a world that despises the sacrificial side of following Jesus and tries to wish it away.

They fool us to thinking that being a Christian is about doing what makes us happy.

         Affirming our beliefs and whims

And the second we feel less than happy, they encourage us to bail, to abandon ship and to stop investing in Jesus and each other.

But they’ve got it all wrong.

Because the more we give, the better we become.

Being a Disciple of Jesus is not self-seeking, and it will always cost you.

How are we to love God?

         Jesus tells:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Jesus is pretty clear --- if you want to follow Jesus it is going to cost you.

And the only way to transform this world that at times seems to be spiraling out of control --- is when we put God first.

We have much work to do --- but we cannot do it alone

Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can become carpenters for God's kingdom.

Let us pray (Wesley’s Covenant Prayer)

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven.  Amen.