I remember well my 10-year
high school reunion. Except for the handful of friends I kept up with through
college and beyond, I had lost touch with most of the 272 classmates in my
graduating class. There was Facebook, of course, so, I remained “friends” with some
through social media.
Oddly
enough, I was looking forward to the event. Would we all look and act the same?
Who would still run in the same friend circles? What kind of jobs would we all
have? Who would be the ones with children? Again, because of Facebook I already
knew some of these answers.
Anyway,
I remember talking to a classmate named Melissa. While we weren’t close
friends, our friend circles often overlapped during high school. As we began to
catch up, we asked the normal questions. How are you? How’s your family? Etc.
She finally asked, “So,
what do you do?” I told her I was an Episcopal Priest. I could tell by her
facial expression that she was waiting for the punchline. When there was no
punchline, she anxiously said, “No, really? What do you do?” Again, I told her
I was an Episcopal Priest. She tried not to laugh but she couldn’t help it.
I couldn’t blame her
though. How could the Jack who threw the biggest party of senior year be a man
of the cloth? How could the Jack who couldn’t go three minutes without sneezing
preach a 10-minute sermon? How could the shy and reserved Jack teach a Bible
study let alone lead a parish? I was “Just” Jack not “Father” Jack.
In
today’s lesson, we see a similar story play out when Jesus returns to Nazareth.
Like my friend Melissa, the people who knew Jesus as a boy keep waiting for the
punchline as he teaches in the synagogue. But there is no punchline. Jesus keeps
preaching, “Repent. The kingdom of God has come near.”
The people who knew Jesus
as a young boy can’t fathom how that same cute little boy could now be a
prophet who is mighty in deeds of power. How can that same rambunctious
teenager now be a healer and miracle worker? How can the same kid who ran away
from home at age 12 now be the one who is to gather the flock of Israel back
into the household of God?
After it becomes clear
that Jesus will not be able to minister to these people, he says, “Prophets are
not without honor except in their hometown.” Jesus is amazed at their unbelief.
Following the rejection in his hometown, Jesus shifts gears in this ministry.
He follows the same
advice he is about to give to his disciples. He shakes the dust off his feet
and moves onward. In the gospel according to Mark, this is the last time we see
Jesus teach in a synagogue. Jesus turns to his disciples and sends them out two
by two. He sends them out among the Gentiles, among the non-churchy people.
Like the shift in Jesus’
ministry, I sense a shift in our ministry here at St. Paul’s. By the end of the
summer, we will finally be finished with this major portion of our preservation
plan. As I reflect in prayer on the conversations I have had with the Vestry,
with members of the community, and with many of you, I feel that God is calling
St. Paul’s to pivot in a different direction. I feel God sending us back out
into the community now that we have taken care of our house.
For example, on Saturday,
July 14th, St. Paul’s, along with members of the other downtown
churches, will be sent out among the community in Ward 3. The tangible work is
to clean up vacant lots and debris in the area. But the spiritual work is to
connect with the neighborhood around us.
The spiritual work is to
let the community know that the downtown churches care about the community
around them. The spiritual work is to lift the community up through acts of
service and love. The spiritual work is to put our faith into action.
Jesus calls the disciples
to put their faith into action when he sends them out two by two. He tells them
to take nothing for their journey. He tells them that if they are rejected,
then shake the dust off their feet and move on. Essentially, Jesus tells them to take only
the faith they have been given. Nothing else is needed.
And yes, this is an incredibly
vulnerable feeling. We as Episcopalians are more comfortable sharing our faith
through actions and deeds rather than with words. If we are asked to use words,
then we open our prayer book. While this isn’t always a bad thing, there are
times when picking up the prayer book isn’t an option (there is an app for that, though!).
For example, I read a
story recently of a clerk who worked at a bookstore. She was an Episcopalian. A
Jewish man walked into the store, greeted the clerk, and asked, “I would like
to know about Jesus.” The good Episcopalian pointed the Jewish man in the
direction of the Christian books section. The Jew replied, “No, don’t show me
more books. Tell me what you believe.”
The clerk recalls, “My
Episcopal soul shivered.” The woman took a deep breath and told the Jewish man
all she knew about Jesus. The story doesn’t tell us how the Jewish man
responded but that’s not the point. The point is that the woman didn’t have any
props to articulate her faith. She didn’t have any books. She didn’t have
pictures. She didn’t have resources.
All she had was her own
experience with the Christian faith. And this is what gives credibility to our
witness to Jesus Christ. Not our books, not our stuff, not our intelligence but
our personal stories about how the love of Jesus’ has touched our lives. How
has the compassion of Jesus Christ breathed new life and hope into your life,
especially when things got tough? The answer is your credible witness to Jesus
Christ.
When Jesus sends us out
to be messengers of the kingdom, in both word and deed, he is telling us that
we have all that we need. We don’t need any props. We don’t need sophisticated
language or theology. We don’t need hammers and shovels. While these things
might be expressions of our faith, they cannot replace the faith that is
already in us.
Jesus is telling us that
we don’t have to hide behind our stuff – our prayer books or our pocket books.
We are called to commend the faith that is already in us. We are called to
share our own experience with the living Christ through our own words and our
own stories, and these are the stories that shed light on the power of the
gospel. And if we are rejected or laughed at, then we recall what Jesus said to
the first disciples. Or in the words of Taylor Swift, "shake it off!"
And remember, we are all
a work in progress. The ways in which
we articulate and act out our faith today will look different three years down
the road. I look back at sermons I preached three years ago and say, “I wrote
that!” Sometimes the exclamation refers to some nugget of wisdom I didn’t know
I was capable of thinking. Most of the time the exclamation means, “I can’t
believe I made someone listen to that.” I’m sorry!
Our job as Christians
isn’t to be perfect in our faith. Rather our job is to follow the perfecter of
our faith – Jesus Christ – the One who is led by a spirit of compassion. Our
job as Christians isn’t to convert as many people as possible with
sophisticated tactics and programs. Rather our job is to be faithful and trust
that our relationship with Jesus – the One filled with compassion – will foster
deep and life-giving relationships with those around us. And if that doesn’t
happen, what do we do? Shake it off and move on!
I saw a church sign
recently that said, “compassion is love in action.” In all that we do or say,
our witness to Jesus Christ is a witness to the compassion that he first showed
us. That’s who Jesus is. Jesus’ authority is rooted in his compassion for a
lost and lonely people.
It is Jesus’ compassion
that makes miracles happen. It is Jesus’ compassion that grants healing and
wholeness to broken lives and broken communities. It is Jesus’ compassion that
draws the people into the household of God. Jesus’ compassion is the source of
his power and authority.
So, for us, as members of
St. Paul’s, we can’t assume our Christian witness is made credible because we’ve
been around for over 180 years. We can’t assume our Christian witness is made
credible because we were voted best church in 2015. Rather, the only thing that
makes us worthy and credible messengers of the gospel is the compassion we know
in Jesus Christ.
As you are sent from this
place today and every day, may your life bear witness to the power of a faith
that finds its credibility and power in the One who is full of compassion, in
the One who is love in action. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment