In the Meantime (part 2): Step into the Plate

Sometimes, even the best intentions can be hard to follow up on! Like my intention to do some writing for you while I've been on vacation the last week.  However, I did get invited to give the message again at Leesburg UMC last Sunday.  And I did some writing to prepare for that.  Of course, it's not quite the sort of thing I usually share here... but its something!  

I hope it feeds you: http://leesburgumc.org/media/2011/08/21/step-plate

In the Mean Time...

I've been rather adrift the past few months, which is why I haven't generated any food for your souls. I've got some words floating around in my head on that topic of drifting, but they haven't quite got enough speed up to break free of the lazy current I've been drifting in.  Soon, though.   Soon...

In the mean time, July presented me with two unexpected opportunities to share God's word from the pulpit, which I would like to share with you.

On July 10th, I gave the message at Leesburg Methodist Church on the topic of "Caring Community."  They have an audio file of that message posted on their website, and you can find the message here if you want to give it a listen.  The scripture that goes with it is John 14:15-18 and Galatians 6 :1-5, 7-10.

On July 24th, I preached the sermon at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church.  The scripture for the day is available at the lectionary page (along with the readings from Romans and Matthew, we used the passage from Genesis and Psalm 105).  The message text follows.

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Passionate for the Kingdom 

Two of the little parables we just heard - Treasure Hidden in a Field, and The Pearl of Great Value - reminded me of a book I have: “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” with the subtitle “take a look at the world’s weirdest facts.” Now, there are many weird facts in here, like the largest ham & cheese sandwich, a water-skiing squirrel, and a hang glider with a toilet attached to it, to mention a few. But there have always been just a few that struck me because of the “all in” commitment-level of the people involved, which is reminded me of the two parables I just mentioned.

One man left his work as a carpenter, and moved to Mexico where he spent 4 years building a raft-island paradise home. Another fellow turned his suburban home into a replica 1950s gas station, with gas pumps, service island and everything, even the back half of a vintage Chevy apparently protruding from the side of the house as though it had crashed into the building. But my “favorite” is the man who legally changed his name to “Captain Beany”. He has such a thing for baked beans, that he paints himself orange, wears an orange “super-hero” suit, drives an old VW bug painted up like baked beans, and not only eats baked beans every day, but occasionally baths in them as well.

Personally, I think these people are all just a little bit unbalanced, but they certainly live their lives completely committed to their values and passions, willing to give up a lot to live they way they are convinced they need to live. The OT lesson today also shows us an example of a person willing to go to extraordinary measures to get what they are after. Jacob willingly works 7 years to get the wife he desires, Rachel, then works ANOTHER 7 years for her when her father Laban tricks him into marrying her sister Leah first. It’s a dedicated young man who’s willing to work not just 7 but 14 YEARS to get the woman he wants for his wife. I wonder how many of us would be willing to invest 7, let alone 14, years of labor in order to marry the man or woman of our dreams?

You’ve got to have powerfully motivating dreams to take on the sort of heavy costs like Jacob – or Captain Beany – have paid to follow their dreams. But that is just what we see going on with the treasure and the pearl in our Gospel passage. The person who finds the treasure in a field wasn’t LOOKING for treasure, but he certainly realized the great value of what he found when he came across it. And Jesus says that he sells everything he has so that he can buy the field – and obtain the treasure. The pearl merchant WAS searching for the best pearls, but he, too, realized the tremendous value of one particular pearl, and was willing to sell all the others – along with everything else he had- in order to have this one most perfect pearl in his possession.

Jesus tells us that these two stories are pictures of what the Kingdom of Heaven (God) is like. Those who discover it, whether accidentally stumbling upon it or intentionally searching for it, will find themselves willing to give up everything in order to have it.

So the challenge then, is this: do we live like this in our desire for Christ? Are we willing to DO all we can or GIVE all we have in order to obtain the Kingdom and to live as disciples of Jesus Christ?

For myself, I have to be honest and tell you that most of the time, I am not living like a person who’s willing to potentially give up everything for God. In my better moments, I certainly desire to be a person willing to do anything or give up everything for Jesus sake. I WANT to respond like the pearl merchant or the treasure finder, but I rarely do.

I have heard any number of people express the idea that when you finally understand, in your heart of hearts, the love God has for you, and the extraordinary lengths that Jesus went to to save your soul – when the scope and magnitude of those things finally sinks in – then everything will change. You’ll be so overwhelmed by the knowledge of the love of God that your whole life will change, and you will respond like the treasure finder and the pearl merchant, and willingly give up everything for that treasure.

And that idea has made me feel so very inadequate on so many occasions – made me question whether I really do even believe.... What am I missing, what’s wrong with me that this “big change of heart” doesn’t seem to have taken place? Do you ever wonder that about yourself?

If you’ve ever felt that way, then let me encourage you – fear not! I certainly believe it is true that some people will have a nearly complete and instantaneous change of heart when they finally “get it”. In a moment, or perhaps in the course of a few days or weeks, suddenly and unexpectedly they come to understand the great treasure before them, and their lives are completely and irrevocably changed. But I suspect it’s more common to have an initial change that is much smaller and less dramatic, and then we move incrementally closer to understanding over time in a series of baby steps. Some folks will plunge right in to the deep end of the pool, others inch their way in from the shallow end.

For those of us who may feel like we’re struggling to inch our way in from the shallow end, our epistle reading from Romans this morning offers some powerful promises and reassurances. I just LOVE this part of Romans – it just so GOOD and rich and full. Listen:

• “the spirit helps us in our weakness” – we don’t have to do this on our own. 
• “all things work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to his purpose” - even our current feelings of inadequacy, of not quite getting it – all those things will be to our benefit eventually. 
• “those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” - it’s God’s plan for us to fully find and understand his love sooner or later. We are among the predestined, and it is our ultimate destiny to love God as perfectly and passionately as Jesus does, whether we get there by sudden leaps and bounds or whether we inch along in baby steps. 
• “If God is for us, who is against us?” - there is no one against us who is more powerful than God who loves us. So we need to love ourselves as well. 
• “neither death nor life,… nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.” I just don’t know what I can say to add to that statement!

Bottom line, if you’re afraid your faith may be inadequate, that you’re not “getting it” the way you should – don’t worry. You will be changed eventually. God wants YOU to be his. Even if you feel like a baby-stepper, inching in from the shallow end instead of making a sudden plunge, we who are God’s own will get there eventually.

Looking back at today’s Gospel reading again, Jesus says that the kingdom of Heaven is like a tiny mustard seed that becomes a giant plant, or a small amount of yeast that can spread through and raise a large amount of flour. Be confident that even the tiniest desire to love God, to live for his pleasure and fulfill his purposes – even a bit as small as a pinch of yeast or a single tiny seed can make huge changes in your life.

Our reactions to the tug of God at our hearts will influence our progress. Think about it: a seed that is carefully planted, watered, weeded, pruned, fertilized and so on, will grow faster, stronger and bigger than one left to it’s own devices or worse, one that is trampled or intentionally allowed to be persecuted by the elements. Similarly, the yeast in a dough will multiply and raise a dough much faster and more effectively if there is adequate sugar in the dough, and it’s set to rise in a protected place that’s neither too cool nor too hot.

Whether our faith is small or well-developed – whether it’s a newly sprouted seed or a mature plant large enough for the birds of the air to nest in – in either case we can help and nurture its growth in the same way a gardener cares for a seed or a baker tends to yeast dough. The various Spiritual Disciplines are the tools we have available to help our faith grow.

Here is one list of spiritual disciplines (from this website: http://quaillake.blogspot.com/2006/09/spiritual-disciplines.html )

Solitude: The practice of spending time without any others or any distractions. Silence: No noise or conversation. Just you and God. Fasting: Abstain from food, media, entertainment, or anything else that occupies your time. Frugality: Use your money for purposes outside your own needs for a time. Chastity: 1 Corinthians 7:8, “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” Secrecy: Do not allow anyone to know of the deeds you do or the money you give in order to avoid doing them for the wrong motivations. Only God needs to know. Sacrifice: Stretch your sense of what you can do without for the sake of those who have less.Study: Memorize Scripture and expand your universe of biblical study helps. Worship: Engage in corporate worship and include worship in your own prayer time. Celebration: Practice being grateful and thankful both in your own relationship with Christ and with other believers. Express encouragement and thankfulness to others. Service: Give your time to the church and/or to others. Ponder tithing your time. Prayer: Take deliberate steps to pray regularly and with purpose. Praying through the Psalms is a good way to increase your “prayer vocabulary.” Fellowship: Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Confession: Practice confessing your sins to trusted people who will pray with you and be spiritual allies. Submission: Submit to the proper people in the proper ways—fight against the sin of pride.

I encourage you to read through this list and take stock of which disciplines you are presently practicing, and what discipline (or disciplines) you might add. These practices are ways we can cooperate with God’s plans and desires for us, and they can help us to increase our faith, fire up our passion for the Kingdom of God, and more fully develop our love of Jesus Christ. Our faith and love of God should make us stand out from the rest of the world. And while I don’t necessarily encourage anyone to stand out quite as weirdly as Captain Beany does, nevertheless, something of our joy in finding the treasure of the Kingdom of God should be evident to those around us, and make us stand out from the world.