Community Church Sermons
Year A
September 11, 2011
Pentecost 13
You Are Someone’s Hero
John
15:9-17
Rev. Martin
C. Singley, III
Ten years have now past since September 11, 2001. A full decade later, many of us can still remember where we were, who we were with, and what we were doing when we first heard the word about the terrorist attacks against New York City and Washington, D.C. Even today when I think back to that tragic Tuesday, the same sick feeling rises up within me that I felt that day, and I still cannot bring myself to watch the video replays of all that happened. Ten years may have passed, but nothing much has changed in terms of the still-open wound inflicted upon us that day.
And yet we come together on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to remember. But what we remember HAS changed.
For me, the true story of 9/11 is not about terrorism, but about heroism. It is no longer a story about terrorists on a suicide mission, but about heroes who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of others.
September 11th is a day to remember and reflect upon sacrificial heroism.
One of the lesser known stories of 9/11 involves a young Air Force F-16 pilot by the name of Heather Penney. She and her commander were in the first jets off the runway at Andrews Air Force base. The twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington had already been hit. Now there was another jetliner screaming toward Washington. Their orders were to stop it.
The only problem was, the two F-16’s were unarmed.
As they raced down the runway and climbed out to the northwest, Heather Penney and her commander made a pact. He would put his jet into the cockpit of the 757 and she would ram hers into the tail.
They would give up their lives.
Sacrificial heroism.
What they did not know right away was that the passengers on board United Airlines flight 93 had already taken matters into their own hands and brought the jetliner down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Sacrificial heroism.
And along with all these heroes of September 11, we remember with love and respect the firefighters, police officers, office workers, and countless others who gave their lives that day trying to bring help to their fellow human beings.
Sacrificial heroism.
Such stories stir up our strongest emotions and reach into the deepest depths of our souls. And there is a reason for that.
This is who we are! This is how we were created to be. When we recall the stories of these and other heroes, we see a shadow of ourselves in them. We wonder what WE would do in the same situation, and sometimes even imagine ourselves alongside them. When we remember the heroes, we see what WE can be, and we instinctively know there is something deeply good and right about it.
And there is! You see, the God who created us in his own image, placed within us a drive to spend our lives for the good of others, just as our heavenly Father does.
This is why parents so naturally sacrifice their own well-being for the sake of their children.
This is why we feel so good when we help build a Habitat for Humanity house.
This is why veterans have such a deep sense of pride over their service to their nation.
This is why Jesus gave his life on the Cross.
“Greater love has no one than this,” Jesus said, “that a person lays down their life for others.”
Sacrificial heroism.
This is what it means to be a Christian!
God created you to be somebody’s hero!
This is what it means to be a church!
God created US to be somebody’s hero!
Today is Rally Day at the Community Church. We’re at the beginning of a brand new “church year”, and I’m praying it will be the most amazing year yet!
But it will take heroes to make it happen – people who sacrificially give of themselves for the sake of others. No, it’s not likely any of us will be called upon to rush into a burning building. But all of us – in small but significant ways – will be called upon to lay down parts of our lives for the sake of the Gospel.
For one thing, we will have to lay down “ME” and take up “US.”
Tex Sample, the now-retired professor of Faith and Culture at the St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City tells a wonderful story about this. He was invited to speak one weekend at a church in Starkville, Mississippi and when he arrived in Starkville, Tex was wiped out. All he wanted to do was meet his host family, get a bite to eat, and have some quiet time to prepare for the next day.
Well, when he connected with his host family, the husband said, “Tex, have we got a treat for you! We’re big time fans of the Mississippi State Bulldogs. We’ve got tickets for tonight’s basketball game! And you’re invited!”
Not what Tex wanted! But what was he to do? So off they went to the game. And Tex was not having a good time. Whenever Mississippi State did something good, the band – which was sitting right behind his seat – started playing the fight song: Da-da-da-dah-da… The cheerleaders came cartwheeling onto the floor and these little girl cheerleaders would climb up one side of the big guy cheerleaders, do some flips, and then come down the other side. And all 20,000 people in the arena would leap into the air and scream, “Bulldogs! Bulldogs! Bow-wow-wow!”
All except Tex. He thought it was awful. He had a headache. And all game long it happened over and over again. The band started playing in his ear – da-da-da-dah-da… - the little girl cheerleaders crawled up one side of the big guy cheerleaders and down the other – and 20,000 people jumped up and screamed, “Bulldogs! Bulldogs! Bow-wow-wow!”
All except Tex.
Well, sometime late in the game, a Mississippi State player intercepted a pass and threw the basketball all the way down the floor where another player jumped 30-feet in the air, caught that ball in one huge hand, did a couple of spins and twists on the way down and performed what Tex describes as a “Slammer-jammer.”
And the band started playing – da, da da, dah, da…and the cheerleaders climbed up one side and down the other, and all of a sudden Tex Sample found HIMSELF leaping into the air and screaming, “Bulldogs! Bulldogs! Bow, wow, wow!”
Tex had left behind his ME and become part of the WE. And what power there is in a community.
I was looking at a photograph the other day. It was of that beautiful group of people who come here once a month for a luncheon. They are developmentally disabled adults. In the photograph, they were enjoying the food, and the people from our church serving it, and they had such beautiful smiles on their faces.
This photograph could not have been made unless people from our church had laid down their ME for a little while and become part of what WE are doing to care for others.
Many people had the same feeling on Scholarship Sunday when 20+ young people came to thank us for the financial assistance we are giving them as they pursue educational goals. Not one of us could have accomplished such a great good by ourselves, but TOGETHER…we become somebody’s heroes.
Sacrificial heroism begins when we are willing to lay down our ME in order to become WE THE CHURCH.
A second sacrifice we have to make is to let go of bad theology and take up a commitment to radical grace. Grace is offering God’s unconditional love to others.
Back in the 1960’s when it was popular for churches to take votes saying they were willing to accept black people into membership, the people of my previous parish were shocked when their pastor would not allow a vote. It seemed so unlike Ken Bath to take a stand like that. On the surface, he seemed to be committed to Civil Rights, but…what was going on with Ken?
Finally, he explained why he would not allow such a vote. “I’m not going to allow the people of this church to think they have the right to approve or disapprove of who comes here,” he said.
Who gets to come here to the Community Church? Will be like so many other churches who accept some, but not others? Does one have to have a “correct” theology and believe all the right things? Shall we use our pulpit as a vehicle for heaping judgment upon people and reminding them how bad they are?
Or will we – like Jesus – sit at table with tax collectors and sinners, and love them as we have been loved?
To sacrifice judgment and take up grace is one of the hardest things to do. But it brings the experience of God’s love even to those who aren’t expecting it, and people are transformed, and the church becomes a hero to those who were once left out in the dark.
Sacrificing ME for WE, letting go of judgment for grace, and more than anything else – putting God first in our lives.
I think one of the most difficult prayers to pray is that prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. The soldiers were coming to get him. Death was staring him in the face. And he wanted out.
“Father, if there is ANY way you can stop this…”
But then Jesus said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.”
That sacrifice of self-will in order to take up God’s will, changed the course of history. And it will change your life, just as it changed Christ’s life.
All of us have our own ideas about what this church should be like – what it should do – what it shouldn’t do – what kind of music to play – how it spends its money – what it should teach and preach – how it should relate with the community around us.
But frankly, your opinion – or mine – doesn’t count.
God has been in the Church business a lot longer than any of us have. And so the most important question we can ask whenever we make a decision is this: “What is God’s will on this?”
And, “Am I willing to put God’s will over my will?”
Am I willing to put God first in my life?
In the book of Revelation, Jesus says that when the kingdom comes, God will give a white stone to those who decided to commit their lives to the Lord and sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the Gospel.
Today, as you leave the Sanctuary through the main doors, or through these side doors, you will find baskets filled with white stones. If you are willing to make or renew a commitment today to follow Jesus and to be a part of the sacrificial heroism of this church, we invite you to take a white stone. Place it in your pocket. Or by your nightstand. Or in your office. And whenever you see or feel that white stone, remember who you are and whose you are, and the commitment you have made to sacrificial heroism.
You are somebody’s hero.
We are somebody’s hero.
We are a Church of Jesus Christ.