october 11, 2009

Written by Anna Blaedel; preached by Cal Nicklay, Lay Speaker
First UMC, Osage
October 11, 2009
James 5:13-16a
Mark 10:17-25

“First, I’d like to make an announcement. I, Cal, am not Pastor Anna. Pastor Anna is enormously grateful (those are her words) that I, Cal, am willing to read her sermon, and share her message with all of you today. Pastor Anna is unable to be with us in worship this morning, but will be holding all of us in prayer as she worships with other United Methodists outside of Iowa. Sometimes even pastors just need to be in worship. She wants it said that anything that goes well, that connects with you in the sharing of this message is likely attributable to Cal. Any mistakes or disconnects are likely Pastor Anna’s.

Let us pray: O God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in our sight, O God our strength and our redeemer…

The week before Pastor Anna moved to Osage, a week before she started pastoring this church, she called a mentor. Her mentor, Jill, has been a pastor for a handful of decades. She is wise. She is faithful. Pastor Anna’s plea was urgent—“Jill,” she asked, “what do I do?” How do you pastor a church? How do I prepare to preach, week after week? What if I don’t have anything to say? Where can I find the courage to be prophetic, even if it doesn’t make me popular? How will I navigate the quagmire of committee meetings and charge conference forms and church budgets? How do I find balance so I don’t burn out?” Pastor Anna’s questions rambled fast and furious. “Teacher, how do I do this?” Jill listened. She took time to hear, to really hear. “You know that stuff,” she said. “Or at least you know enough. What you don’t know, you’ll learn.” Keep it simple, Anna, she said. Two things. “Love God. Love the people.” The rest will follow. Love God. Love God’s people.
Jill was shifting the focus from rules to relationships. From commandments and conference mandates and curriculum and committees and conflict management styles—shifting the focus to compassion and community. From to-do and not-to-do tasks, to right relationship—being the Body of Christ.

In 18th century England, John Wesley was approached. “Priest! Pastor! What do I do? What do I need to be faithful? How can I build up God’s kingdom?” John Wesley took a complicated question and tried to make it simple. Pare down to essentials. Three simple rules: 1) Do no harm; 2) Do good; 3) Stay in love with God. Do no harm—this is what the commandments get at—Don’t steal—Don’t murder—Don’t commit adultery—Don’t break the Sabbath. Two—Do good. Pursue personal piety and social holiness. Pray. Commit to small group study for support and accountability. Work to free the poor from poverty. Challenge injustice. Challenge anything that breaks people down and destroys and keeps the Kingdom from coming. And, third—stay in love with God. If you don’t nourish this love, if you don’t tend to your relationship with the Holy, you’ll never be able to sustain yourself in doing good and avoiding harm.

John Wesley was shifting the focus from rules to relationships. From commandments into compassion and community. From to-do and not-to-do tasks, to right relationship—being the Body of Christ.

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him, urgent. Frantic. “Good Teacher,” he says, “what must I do? How might I experience life eternal?” Jesus responds: You already know what to do. Go do it. Jesus almost sounds exasperated. Perhaps because he’s setting out on a journey, and eager to be on his way. The man responds, “I’ve been doing all this already. Since I was a child.” Jesus looks at him. And, the text says, then he loves him. He looks. He sees. And when Jesus sees him, when Jesus loves him, it stops being an exercise in theological exhortation. It becomes about relationship. If you really want to be faithful, if you want to inherit eternal life, if you want to be thy kingdom come, then you’ve got to shift your focus beyond rules, into relationship. Beyond commandments, into compassion and community. Beyond to-do and no-to-do tasks and into right relationship—being the Body of Christ.

There is, of course, the rest of the story. This is a challenging text. For while relationships are more important than rules, that doesn’t mean that building Christ-like community is easy, or without discomfort or sacrifice.

Jesus says, because he loves the man, “Go. If you’re really in this thing, sell all you own and give the money to the poor. Then, come follow me.”

In preparing this sermon, Pastor Anna thought about how radical this gospel piece of scripture is. She thought about how even the most simple living she could imagine included some ownership of possessions, some desire for security She wondered how you might feel if she gave you this advice—the very advice Jesus gives this man. If you came to her for counseling, and she told you that to be faithful, you were to sell everything you own and give the money to those most in need? Not just what you don’t want anymore, but everything? What if she proposed this church doing it…selling the building, auctioning the stained glass windows, emptying every account and fund, and giving the money to the poor?

Even as she thought about these questions, she felt the need to assure you—this is NOT what she is proposing. But…it is what Jesus proposes.

If we have things, we will be bound by them. If we value possessions, possessions will compete with people. If anyone is in need, our abundance keeps us from right relationship.

Jesus starts it simply enough, but it doesn’t take long for him to admit to the challenge of this call. “How hard it will be,” he says, “for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” This is perplexing to the disciples. It runs counter to everything they’ve learned—all they’ve been taught. So Jesus says, again, “Children, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

If our concern about rules trumps our care for relationships, we are not building the kingdom here on earth. If committees and commandments keep us from extending and embodying Christ’s compassion, we are not building the kingdom come here on earth. If we eat our daily bread but don’t share it with those who have none, if we don’t question why some have too much when others have not enough, we are not building the kingdom come here on earth. If we place profit over people, if we value comfort more than compassion, if we invest in security but not social justice, we are not building the kingdom come here on earth.

So. The question is: What are we to do? How can we be faithful? What will enable us to taste and see life eternal, here, now?
The answer, said in different ways, all pointing towards the same truth:

According to Jill: Love God. Love the people.

According to John Wesley: Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.

According to the prophet Micah: Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.

According to Jesus: Sell everything you own. Give the money to the poor. Follow me.

May we have the wisdom to place less value on rules, and more on relationships. May we have the courage to focus less on commandments, and more on compassion and connection. May we have the sense to put to-do and not-to-do lists on the periphery, and place people and right relationships in the center. When we do, Jesus promises, we will glimpse life eternal.

May it be so. Amen, and amen.”