Disclaimer: At the request of a few of the congregation, I’m ‘publishing’ the text of my sermon ‘as written.’ I cannot guarantee that I will deliver the sermon ‘as written.’
Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
- You may remember the well-know cartoonist, Charles Schultz and his famous comic strip, Peanuts. Do you remember one of the major characters in Peanuts? The little kid with the security blanket?
- (Linus van Pelt) Linus was the comic strip's resident theologian. He often pointed out the strange things the other characters did, even if they rarely noticed for themselves. Mr. Schultz put these words in Linus' mouth: “I love mankind... it's people I can't stand!” Here Linus shows us the danger of a generalized Christian love. He can't see the trees for the forest.
- It'd be best if we do things differently. The spiritual discipline in the spotlight today is “Serve.” In Bishop Susan's view of things, service here is not simply service to the congregation or to the church in general. It is service in a personal way to the folks around us. It is more than setting up a way for the church to help the needy; it is personal involvement in service and help to our neighbors.
- As before and as always, Jesus is our example and model for this sort of service. Our Savior served others out of love for them. Bishop Susan puts it this way: “Jesus didn’t shy away from those who were sick or poor or in need of any kind. He reached out with hands of compassion to love and serve his many neighbours.“ There are plenty of examples in the Gospels of Jesus serving others and asking his disciples to do the same. He healed the sick, especially lepers. He stood with and comforted the sorrowing. He fed the multitudes and did it twice if you hold to the Gospel account. In his final act, he gave up his life that all people could be free.
- “Why?” we may ask. The simple answer was in last weeks Gospel reading from John: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...”
- The love we're speaking of here is a grounded, down-to-earth love. It is not a head trip or an only spiritual activity. With this in mind, I remember what a professor of mine in seminary once said. His name was Augustine Donegan, and in class he said this: “Jesus doesn't save souls; he saves people!”
- Jesus' service was not general and faceless. Jesus couldn't see the forest for the trees. his service to those around him was face-to-face. He didn't set up charities or service organizations (even as good and as necessary as those might be.) His service to others was literally hands-on, even to the point of touching lepers, public sinners, and others considered beyond the limits of righteousness and ritual cleanliness. Jesus did not shy away from that.
- Our service will be personal as in person-to-person. To be real Christian service, it will be as personal as Jesus' was.
- Whether we like it or not, we will constantly encounter people as they are – messy, selfish, confused, cranky, sleepy, sick... just like us... for that's how Jesus encounters us.
- We may well ask why this service is to be to people outside the fold of the Church. Surely all these needs can be found with in the congregations that make up the Church of Jesus Christ.
- There really can be no denying that. Every sin and failure, every trouble and pain, every need and loss in found in the human condition may be found within the Church of Christ, and we are not exempted from service to one another. But the call of Christ and the community of Jesus Christ exists for the world. It is not for self-congratulation and self-witness. The church is constantly called to look beyond itself, even beyond it's own need.
- It could be said that the church is most the Church of Christ when it is suffering and in need. Under those conditions, the reality of discipleship is driven home. In those conditions, the Christian community often comes forward to serve those who are also in need. It could be said that the Church of Christ is most itself when it pours out the riches that it has received from God upon the whole of the world – namely the love and concern that the Church has received from God. It is this sharing that will change lives and make salvation known to the world around.
- It may sound a bit trite, but it is true that one can only give what one has. What the church has is the love of God, and that may be all we have to give, even in the most simple of ways.
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you
No comments:
Post a Comment