Community Church Sermons
Year A
June 26, 2011
Pentecost 2
The Waterpeople
Matthew
10:40-42
Rev. Martin
C. Singley, III
Every year on the 3rd Monday in April, a
relatively obscure holiday is observed in Massachusetts. It’s called “Patriots
Day” and it commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord where the opening
shots of the Revolutionary War were fired. However, in recent times, Patriot’s
Day has become better known for a major sporting event held each year on that
third Monday in April – the Boston Marathon. Started in 1897 with 18
contestants, the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest full marathon and one of
the most famous. It draws contestants from all over the world. This past April,
26,895 runners took up the challenge of Boston’s 26.2 mile marathon.
Back when I lived in Massachusetts, I used to do the Marathon
every year on that third Monday in April. I didn’t RUN it! I got in my car and
drove for 26.2 miles and THAT, my friends, is exhausting – in Massachusetts!
The Boston Marathon is considered one of the most difficult
marathon courses. It begins in the town of Hopkinton and for the next 26.2 miles
wends its way through seven other communities before ending up in Boston and
the finish line at Copley Square. But the last six miles of the race are the
real challenge. This is where already exhausted runners – muscle glycogen
stores nearly depleted - enter the Newton Highlands, a series of four hills
culminating in the famous “Heartbreak Hill.” Many Boston Marathons have been
won or lost on Heartbreak Hill.
And it’s there in that most challenging part of the course
that spectators get most involved. They have cheered the runners on, of course,
but there on Heartbreak Hill where lungs are burning and muscles are cramping and
it’s tempting to just give up, hundreds of people along the roadsides hold out
cups of water for the runners. And those little cups of water give the runners
enough of a boost to make it over the top of Heartbreak Hill and onto the last
downhill dash into the city.
It’s amazing what a cup of water can do.
Jesus talked quite a bit about cups of water. In fact, if I
didn’t know better, I might think Jesus must’ve run the Boston Marathon at one
time because he certainly knows a lot about Heartbreak Hill, too. Heartbreak
Hill is that place in life where you don’t know if you can go on – where you
are utterly exhausted, and confused, and hurting, and discouraged. Your
Heartbreak Hill might be the road you find yourself on after the death of a
loved one, or the loss of a job, or the diagnosis with a serious illness, or
dealing with an addiction, or facing a family crisis, or seized up in the grip
of depression, or trying to accomplish some great thing and not making any
progress. We all face our own Heartbreak Hill.
Or Heartbreak HillS.
The 10th chapter of Matthew’s gospel is about
Jesus sending his disciples out to minister to others. Thus far, they have
primarily been observers of Jesus at work. But now Jesus is saying, “It’s your
turn. You’ve watched me heal and help and love others. You’ve seen me bring
Good News to people. Now it’s your turn. It’s time for you to jump out of the
nest and learn to fly!” You see, Christianity is not a spectator sport. We are
called to participate in the work of the Gospel. This is why you can’t join a
church as if you are joining an organization where you can sit back, relax and
watch the organization do its thing. Our new members today are not joining an
organization so much as they are joining as active participants in a MINISTRY
to others in Jesus’ name. So Jesus takes some time to brief his disciples on
what to do “out there”, and how to do it, and what to expect. And Jesus tells
them the truth: it will not be easy. It will take hard work. And sacrifice. And
some of the people you reach out to will not welcome you, he says. Others will betray
and abuse you. Sometimes you’ll feel discouraged, exhausted and you’ll want to
give up.
Remember? Heartbreak Hill.
But then, at the very end of his instructions, Jesus tells
them something wonderful.
“If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these
little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly
not lose his reward.”
Jesus is probably not talking about children here. He is
referring to these fledgling disciples – all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed –
ready to go out there and minister to the world! He is talking about you. And me. And all us amateurs who take up
the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And what he says is essentially this: as you go and serve God
in my name, encountering all the challenges and even heartbreak that may go
along with that, there will be folks along the roadway offering you a cup of
water.
I’ve been to Heartbreak Hill many times in the course of my
ministry.
Last week was a Heartbreak Hill kind of week here at our
church. We had four memorial services in four days. And the thing about the
death of loved ones and the services we have for them is that they take place
alongside everything else that’s already going on in the church. And when these
things take place around a weekend, you can imagine how exhausting it is.
But up there on Heartbreak Hill this week, someone handed us
a cup of water. It was a card left on my desk, and it didn’t have anything to
do with all that had gone on last weekend. But it was so refreshing! Listen:
“To the Tellico Village Community Church,
Ah! I learned 1st hand that our Community Church is definitely
Christian! After a…surgery in my
ankle I had an emergency need for a wheel chair. My friend Jan Elliott stepped
up to the plate and arranged for me to borrow your wheel chair. Jim Elliott
declared that using your wheel chair made this little Catholic girl “1/2
Protestant.” I thank Jim for that honor, as I have certainly witnessed your
Christianity. Thanks so much!”
And after reading that note, our spirits were refreshed, and
we were reenergized for the work of the Gospel. It was a cup of cold water
shared with some disciples of Jesus who really needed refreshment.
Two years ago, in April, Joy Merder was climbing Heartbreak
Hill. After a courageous battle with cancer, her dear
husband Jan passed away. All during his illness and after his death, Joy was
amazing. She still showed up for work every day and still led her handbell
choirs as they offered inspiring music for all the rest of us. I can’t imagine
how hard that must have been at times. If you didn’t know what was going in
Joy’s life during that time, you’d never know it by the way she served us. She
was serving cups of water to you and me even while knowing the thirst of
heartbreak herself. But as Joy climbed that hill, many of you offered her cups
of water, too. One of the most important was the gift of her handbell ringers
when they commissioned a song in Jan’s memory. It was played at his memorial
service. And it was played earlier today. Sweet
Spirit is its title and it captures the essence of Joy’s husband Jan.
And it was a cup of water given to one of Jesus’ “little
ones” on Heartbreak Hill.
You’ve known this experience, too – of being reached out to
as you traveled through the Heartbreak Hills of your life. A card comes in the
mail. The phone rings and it’s just the right person at just the right time.
Someone says something that inspires you, a friend gives you a hand, a church
family prays for you, a stranger sticks out a hand and makes you a friend, a letter
comes saying you’ve been awarded a scholarship, a grandchild calls on the phone
and says, “Mimi, I love you. Goodbye.”
These are all expressions of Christ’s love for you and me. I
hope you appreciate them for what they are – gifts sent from heaven through a
person along the roadside. Jesus says these waterpeople
will be rewarded in heaven for that cup of water! Isn’t that great?
And if we have received such cups of water ourselves, we must
learn to hand them out, too. And cups of water like this come in all shapes and
sizes.
A smile. A compliment.
A pat on the back.
Do you know how Heartbreak Hill got its name?
At the 1936 Boston Marathon, Ellison “Tarzan” Brown was
leading the race as it entered the stretch through the four hills of the Newton
Highlands. That’s when defending champion Johnny Kelley put on a burst of
speed, caught up to Tarzan Brown, and – giving Tarzan a consoling pat on the
back – zoomed past him toward that fourth hill.
Well, losing the lead was bad enough, but being patted on the
back like that was even worse. That gesture by Johnny Kelley ignited Tarzan
Brown’s competitive juices, and he took off after Johnny Kelly, catching up to
him midway up that last hill. Tarzan passed Kelley, pulled away, and went on to
win the 1936 Boston Marathon.
The next day, Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason
described the experience as “breaking (Johnny) Kelly’s heart.”
And that’s how Heartbreak Hill got its name.
Do you know how we Christians got OUR name?
When the followers of Jesus went out into the world with cups
of water for thirsty people, others thought, “They are just like Jesus.”
That’s what the word “Christian” means.
Just like Jesus.
Go this week and celebrate the waterpeople
who help you along the way.
And offer a refreshing cup of water to someone making their
way up Heartbreak Hill.