Community Church Sermons
Year B
September 30, 2012
Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost
Seeing, Welcoming and Loving Christ
Mark
9:33-37
Rev. Martin C. Singley, III
Senior
Pastor
During this month of September we have been in Rally mode! Coming back from the adventures of summer vacations, we spend a little time in September of each year rallying together this amazing congregation for another year of ministry.
On Rally Day back on September 9th, we talked about the importance of leaving Limbo – that is, letting go of old ideas and attitudes and even beliefs that no longer serve us well and bring glory to God. Faith is something that is always unfolding, always growing. That’s part of what is involved in becoming the interdenominational church we are. There’s nothing wrong with denominational traditions – we all love where we came from - but we are so much stronger and can accomplish so much more for God and others when we work together instead of separately. That’s a great rallying cry for starting a new year – WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!
Then on the 16th we celebrated the many caregiving ministries of our church. One of the things that’s very true about us is that everybody here is from someplace else. That “someplace else” may be as nearby as Lenoir City or Knoxville, or as far away as Singapore or some other distant place. We leave behind support networks, home churches, family members and careers to come here, and so we are vulnerable to life’s changes and challenges. We need each other! I think this is the most caring community we have ever lived in, and this church works really hard at caring for people through all the seasons of life – from birth to death. Two Sundays ago, we reminded each other of how we must continue to care for one another. And how excited we are today to announce the return of our Parish Nursing ministry that has been so important to so many people.
Then last week we celebrated the amazing experience of worship we share each week. A short while ago one of our visitors commented to me that he has rarely experienced a worship service with such richness and variety. He said, “I hope you all realize what a unique thing it is you’ve got going here!“ What a nice compliment! And last week we reminded each other that when we come here to worship we come to observe the Sabbath – to claim the future that God has promised – and strengthened by that, to go out and live well in the week to come.
And that brings us to this Sunday. Outreach Sunday.
Our Founding Pastor Carl Burke once told me how important it was that from the earliest days of our church the people were committed to reaching out – reaching out to all who are seeking God – reaching out to people who need help – reaching out to the whole community with the love of Christ. One of the first groups to form in our church was the Crafters who made beautiful things, sold them, and gave the proceeds to organizations that help people. And the Crafters are still doing that every Monday morning. And they’d love other women to come and join them!
One of the first official mission projects was the Scholarship ministry – starting with one four-year scholarship given to a graduating senior from Loudon High School. Today, that ministry has grown to about 24 scholarships! Our Founding Members deliberately shaped our church into a ministry where all the good and life-giving things that take place WITHIN our walls inspire and prepare people to go and minister to those OUTSIDE our walls.
That’s OUTreach.
But in our Gospel story this morning, the disciples of Jesus are all excited about INreach!
As they walk along to Capernaum Jesus becomes aware of a heated discussion going on among them about which of them is the greatest. Now this may seem to be a foreign idea to us – Christian people arguing about who is better than who. But hang on there! This is actually a discussion that occurs in every church, in every time and place. It even happens here!
Why I have it on good authority
that the other day at one of the beauty parlors in Tellico Village someone was
carrying on about how our friends at the Baptist church paid off their mortgage
in two years while the Community church
still owes on theirs! Then the other person said, “Well, the Community Church project was 4 or 5 times bigger than the
Baptist Church project!”
“As
they walked along to Capernaum they were arguing, saying, “My church is better
than your church…”
Why I remember my good friend Dave, a member of a church I served, who called me up one night to let me know he and his family were leaving our church because, he said, “The people there just aren’t very spiritual…” – meaning, not as “spiritual” as Dave and the new church he and his family were going to attend.
“As
they walked along to Capernaum they were arguing about which of them was more
spiritual…”
Why, over the centuries, Christian people have engaged in heated arguments about who is more theologically correct, more morally pure, and more genuinely Christian. It still goes on today. You may have seen the story about two churches that got into a theological dual involving the signs out on their front lawn. It started when the Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church put a message on their sign that said, “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” The Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church responded by putting on their sign, “Only humans go to heaven. Read your Bible.” The Catholics then retorted with, “God Loves All His Creations, Dogs Included.” The Cumberland Presbyterians shot back, “Dogs Don’t Have Souls. This is not Open for Debate.” So the Catholics wrote, “Catholic Dogs Go to Heaven. Presbyterian Dogs Can Talk to their Pastor.” The Presbyterians came back with, “Converting to Catholicism Does Not Magically Give Your Dog a Soul.” The Catholic response? “Free Dog Souls with Conversion.” So the Presbyterians said, “Dogs Are Animals. There Aren’t Rocks in Heaven Either.” And the Catholics wrote, “All Rocks Go to Heaven.”
“As
they walked along to Capernaum they were arguing…”
Frankly, I’m with the Catholics on that one. But isn’t it true? We are ALL engaged in the argument about who’s better than who – from those who look down at people who like to clap in church to those who think worship without a rock band really isn’t worship. We Christians LOVE to look down at each other!
“As
they walked along to Capernaum they were arguing about which of them was
greater, better, spiritually superior….”
Faith can become a dangerous and destructive force when its primary focus is WITHIN. If faith becomes about making ME a better person than others, giving ME strength for living, saving ME from disaster, getting ME to heaven when I die, then the outcome is almost always estrangement from and conflict with others – like those church signs. And we miss the point.
Faith is not about going INWARD. It is about reaching OUTWARD!
Which is what Dave Twesme was telling us earlier. His experience of reaching OUT with the Kairos prison ministry has changed his life WITHIN! Funny thing, I was talking with one of my fellow gas-pumpers the other day at the Celebrity Gas Pump Day the GM Club puts on for the United Way. I found that he is also involved in the Kairos Ministry. I asked him what his experience was. “It’s changed my life!” he said. He told me about an inmate he connected with. The fellow is in prison for a long time. And he was “hardened” – distant – very wary about my friend. But as the Kairos weekend went on, something happened. This prisoner started to soften under the weight of friendship and Christian love. Eventually, he broke down and blubbered something about the fact that he came into the Kairos weekend not believing that anybody could ever love him again because of the crimes he’d committed. But through the friendship and Christian love of another person – my friend – this inmate found God’s love and his life was transformed. And that experience transformed the life of my friend!
My experiences as a Christian person and pastor have convinced me of something. You can pray all day long and read the Bible from cover-to-cover. You can go to church every time the doors are opened, and faithfully keep all the rules. You can feed your inner self with all the religious writing you can find. But it’s only when you reach OUT to another person that your life will truly change.
And Jesus tells us why.
He gathers those contentious, arguing disciples around, and then places in their midst a little child. Jesus takes the child in his arms, and makes sure all the disciples are paying attention. Then he says, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.”
Dave Twesme’s life was changed – and my fellow gas-pumper’s life was changed - because in welcoming the prisoner, he welcomed Christ. That amazing, grace-filled thing you are feeling inside, Dave, is Christ. In welcoming the inmate, you welcomed Christ and the one who sent him.
Those of you who build houses with Habitat for Humanity and tearfully stand there on Dedication Day as a family receives the key to their new home feel what you feel inside because you are not only welcoming a family, but you are welcoming Christ. You are experiencing the presence of God!
Those of you who reach out to abused children, hungry people, victims of domestic abuse, and those without homes and without hope, often testify about what a life-changing experience it is to be involved in the life of another person.
That is Christ you feel. That is the presence of God in the other.
God’s children come in many ages, many colors, many circumstances. But Christ is IN each one. And when you welcome one of these children, Jesus promises, you are welcoming Christ.
But I don’t want you to think that outreach is only about outreach projects sponsored by our church. Outreach is something we are all called to do in our own personal lives. Learning to see Christ in family members, neighbors, waiters at the restaurant, workers at your house, cashiers at Wal-Mart, the people sitting here in church with you, fellow tourists on your trip, even the people you don’t like very much and who don’t like you…
Outreach means seeing Christ in others, and then welcoming them – treating them with respect – affirming them - listening to them – getting to know them – building them up – accepting them – loving them in helpful ways.
The outreach ministry of our church will only be as good and powerful as your individual commitment to reach out and find Christ in others.
So I want to ask you to renew your commitment today.
Reach OUT!
A great man by the name of Howard Thurman once captured this idea in a poem he wrote about Christmas. And even though, as of today, there are 85 days until Christmas, Howard Thurman’s poem speaks into this moment – every moment – of the year. It goes like this:
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.
When today’s music is stilled, and the pastors recess down the aisle, and the time has come to leave this place of worship, the work of outreach begins.
So, go…reach out!