Being Thankful

Today I am thankful for many things.  Here are just a few.

• A beautiful wife and daughter
• A wonderful, caring congregation to be part of
• A God who loves so big, He gives His own life, and connects me to His everlasting life
• A wonderful house to call a home
• Plenty of food
• A community to be part of
• The ability to communicate with many throughout the world
• A career in which I am well cared for by God and others
• The opportunity to continue growing
• A moderately peaceful nation in which I live

Rather than sharing what you are thankful for with me today, why not tell someone close to you that you are thankful for them, and tell them exactly why you are thankful for their presence in your life?  Oh, and have a blessed day of giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever!

Thanksgiving Eve Message, November 27

The story is told about this man who went hiking back in the wilderness one time.  This wasn’t just a nice little pleasant hike, he wanted to do some real backpacking.  You know, the kind where you load up your backpack with the tent, with several meals, and you head off into the wilderness for a week or so.  As he was hiking along, he saw all different kinds of animals in God’s creation.  Even better than a zoo.  Each of them was out there in its native habitat.  Deer.  Moose.  Rabbits. All the different birds.  He was constantly being amazed at the great variety of wildlife.

All of that changed early one morning.  He woke up, struck his tent, ate his breakfast, and then kept on his way.  He had climbed to the top of the side of a mountain, and was standing on the edge of a cliff.  From that viewpoint, he could see for miles.  He saw the vastness of the forest and the mountain range.  He stood there, soaking in the beauty of God’s creation.

All of a sudden, he heard a sound in the trees behind him.  It sounded like something big.  And then, a huge black bear appeared, crashing through the dense undergrowth of the trees.  The bear looked right at him, no trace of fear in his eyes.  It started approaching him, slowly, but confidently. 

Now, the man was a devout Christian man.  He knew he was in a great deal of trouble, so he quickly approached God in prayer.  With not much time, and as a last gasp way of saving his life, he quickly asked God to make this bear a Christian bear.

All of a sudden, the bear stopped.  It dropped to its knees on its hind legs, and folded its two front paws together.  And the bear began to say a prayer.  Dear God, thank you for this delicious meal that you have just sent my way.  Please bless it to the nourishment of my body.  Amen. 

A moment ago, we heard some words from St. Paul.  In verse 11 of his letter to the Philippian Christians, he said that he had learned to be content in whatever situation he found himself.  Now, you might say that he might have a bit of a challenging time if he put himself in the place of this hiker.  But for a moment, let’s just think here.  Let’s say that you found yourself in that situation.  How could you possibly be content there?  And yes, I’m asking you to try to throw a few answers my way.

Okay, that one probably isn’t very likely for most of us here.  Or maybe I should say it’s not likely now that you’ve thought about it, and probably won’t be going hiking anywhere that a bear could come up and eat you, right?  So let’s think about the drive home.  You get into your car at the end of the day.  It’s been a long day at work or school or wherever, and you’re ready to get home for the evening.  As you begin to pull out of the parking lot, you notice the long line of cars coming.  It looks like you’re going to have to wait for a break in the traffic.  After a few minutes, you finally are able to pull out into your lane.  That’s when you discover why traffic is moving so slow.  There’s a stalled vehicle in your lane up ahead.  Now you are stuck as everyone has to creep their way around. 

As you finally clear that car, you get on the road and going.  Only now, there’s an accident on the side of the road, and all the rubber neckers are checking it out.  Traffic slows down again.  You’re getting impatient.  It’s been a long day at work, and you want nothing more than to get home.  But now you’re being slowed down again, and you aren’t even to the places where traffic regularly slows down.  So now, same question as before.  How could you possibly be content here?

Since you are here tonight, you know that tomorrow is a celebration day for us in our nation.  Thanksgiving day.  A day to sit down, eat a bunch of turkey and all the sides along with it.  A day to get together with family.  A day to sit down and watch some football.  A day to lay back on the couch, close your eyes for a few minutes, and catch a few zzz’s that you’ve been missing out on for a while.

If you’re like most people, you probably enjoy the time together.  Perhaps it’s with family that you haven’t seen for a while.  You spend some time catching up on what all has been going on in your lives.  You remember previous thanksgivings, like the one where the food didn’t turn out right.  And even in the midst of all that good remembering, you find a few other thoughts entering your head.  You remember how so and so can really get on your nerves, and maybe they are already doing some of those things that drive you crazy.  You remember how Auntie Dear keeps going on and on with her stories, and she sure doesn’t seem to mind if they embarrass you or others in the family.  Uncle Chatterbox keeps going on, because he has a comment for pretty much everything that gets said.  And you remember why you love your family, but why your family is also good in small doses.

So same question.  How can you be content here, especially among people that you know so well?  How can you be content with them, even when they get on your nerves a bit?

“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”  Contentment sounds so nice, doesn’t it?  In a way, we all wish that we could be a lot more like Paul in this instance.  How nice it would be if we were content with what God had already given us, rather than striving to have more.  How nice it would be if we could be content with the people in our lives as they are, rather than trying to form them into something else (mostly unsuccessfully, too).  How nice it would be if we could be content with the place we are in life, rather than seeing what may be “better” out there and having a yearning desire for it.

That’s the kind of contentment that Paul is speaking of here.  And sure, we could point out why Paul would feel that kind of contentment.  But it basically boils down to the fact that Paul knew that He was in God’s hands, no matter what.  It might not be the most enjoyable thing in the world to be shipwrecked, but Paul could be content there because he knew he was in the Lord’s hands.  Being stoned for speaking up about Christ Jesus might not be pleasant, but he could be content because his life was in the hands of one who had given himself up for Paul.  Enduring want and need might prove to be a little tough, but Paul could be content because he had God’s promise in Christ, that he would be cared for, no matter what this life brought at him, and even if it meant hunger or starvation, his life was still in the hands of that same God.

That is contentment at its utmost, and it’s the hard kind of contentment that we have a difficult time grasping.  And yet, that is the promise that is yours in Christ Jesus.  You are in the hands of the God who has loving created you, knitting together every single cell in your body.  You’re in the hands of the God who knows the very number of hairs on your body, no matter how many or few.  You’re in the hands of the God who feeds the sparrows generously, and who regards you of much greater value than sparrows.

You’re in the hands of the God who also knows that your needs extend beyond the physical needs of this life.  You’re in the hands of the God who creates community because He knows that it’s not good for you to try to go this life alone.  Though you may be reluctant at time to share your life, your burdens, or your joys with your brothers and sisters in Christ, that’s the very reason that God has brought you into the community.  You can be content with one another because you’re part of a community that God has created.  God cares for your community needs and provides for ways to be cared for in your emotional and spiritual needs through this body that we call the Body of Christ.

You’re also in the hands of the God who knew that you need hope beyond what you experience in this life.  You’re in the hands of the God who gave up His own Son, who would go through the doorway of pain and death to prepare the way for a place of eternal contentment.  Jesus would purchase your place there through His suffering, death, and resurrection for you.  Your hope as you live in this world isn’t merely that you would occasionally find contentment here, but that you have hope for a place in which you will be eternally content.

Just so we’re clear on this, you aren’t going to find that place tomorrow.  Even your well-deserved nap sometime in the middle of the afternoon isn’t God’s intended place of your contentment.  Sure, it might be a bit of a preview of what God has in mind for you someday, but even as you discover some degree of contentment tomorrow, always remember that God has much more in store for you.  Thanks be to God for that, in Christ our Lord, and have a most blessed day of giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.  Amen.    

Contentment

Thanksgiving week is here!  You might not know it if you go into stores, as they seem to be announcing Christmas in full volume, but in a mere two days, we celebrate our national day of Thanksgiving in this nation.  And the truth is, we have much to be thankful for.  But it also seems that we far too often forget to be thankful, and instead focus on what is lacking or missing in life.

I'm going to admit that there are times when I find it difficult to be content in life.  That's a problem.  You see, God has given me so much, and I see that every day.  In so many ways, God has actually given me too much.  I see it in the unpacked boxes sitting in the basement.  I see it in the kitchen items that sit in cabinets unused, because I got them for a specific purpose, but that purpose doesn't arise too frequently.  I see it in the many books on my bookshelf that haven't been opened for years, simply because I read them once, but don't have the time to go back to revisit them.

Maybe, just maybe, God has given me too much.  Or maybe, just maybe, I wasn't content at the time, thinking that some "thing" could bring that contentment.  But it has been simply amazing how often I have gotten that "thing" that I just needed to bring contentment to my life, but it didn't live up to my expectations.  So I moved on to the next thing, thinking that it might bring contentment.  And on, and on, and on again.

Maybe in some ways I'm starting to recognize what King Solomon knew when he sat down to write the book of the Bible called Ecclesiastes.  It's just stuff.  It can't bring contentment.  It can't bring happiness.  It just exists.  And sometimes, the more God gives the ability to have "stuff", the less content we find ourselves.

Recently my wife and I were talking about making Christmas lists.  It was a strange conversation.  Strange, because both of us realized that we really didn't want more stuff.  Truthfully, even our little girl doesn't need more stuff.  But we, as people, are so oriented toward stuff that we just know parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and the like will want to find out what stuff we want.  And that conversation opened our eyes a bit, to recognize that stuff isn't really what we want.

Being content isn't easy, and in fact, we never get there in this life.  There's always something else to have.  There are always changes to life that we want to make it better or easier.  But every once in a while, God flashes that momentary glimpse into His desire and design for our lives.  That's when we recognize contentment for what it is.  My prayer is that we all get more of those glimpses as we prepare to celebrate a day of giving thanks.

Sermon from November 24

Jeff and Adrian had been friends for a very long time.  Their friendship traced back all the way to their childhood.  Though there had been a few times where they had ended up in different places, life had managed to keep them in close proximity as they both got jobs, got married, settled in, and began families.  It was a strong friendship, and over the years, a great deal of trust had been built up between the two men.

That’s why Jeff could feel comfortable that day talking with Adrian.  Jeff had been having some conflict and trouble between himself and his wife.  It had started over a number of small things, but in recent weeks, had started to really seem to build up.  Jeff didn’t like the way things were going, but he also didn’t really know where he could for help.  So, in a desperate time like this, he went to the one friend that he knew he could rely upon.

Jeff and Adrian had met for a round of golf, and as you tend to do on the golf course, they chatted about a lot of different things.  But it was around the 8^th hole, right after Adrian’s first birdie of the day, that Jeff finally got the courage up to talk about what had been on his mind the whole time.  As they stood next to the tee box, waiting for the group ahead of them to clear the fairway, Jeff mentioned it.  “The wife and I have been having a few problems lately.  It seems like we’re arguing about one thing or another every day.  We argue about how to take care of the kids, about when I get home, about when she gets home, about what to have for dinner, how we spend our money.  It seems like everything nowadays is a debate or competition rather than a conversation.  And last night, I slipped up.  I said something that really scared me.  I said that maybe things would be better if we just weren’t around each other.”

Adrian listened as he leaned against the side of the golf cart.  After a quick glance at the group just ahead of them, he asked Jeff what he was thinking he wanted to do for the next step.  Jeff admitted, with a slump of his shoulders, that he just didn’t know.  He knew things couldn’t keep going this way, but he also didn’t really know how to stop them.  He loved his wife dearly, but just couldn’t stop himself when she seemed so good at pushing his buttons, and he knew that she probably felt the same way.  But he just didn’t know where he could go to get some help in bringing their conflicts to an end.

After each of them hit their tee shot, (Jeff’s naturally heading into the rough, since his mind wasn’t on his golf game) they climbed into the cart.  Adrian asked Jeff how open he was to suggestions for getting some help.  Jeff hesitated a moment.  He knew Adrian well enough to know that Adrian was about to suggest something that Jeff might bristle at.  But the situation was tough enough at home that he figured he could at least hear Adrian out.  “What do you have in mind?” 

That’s when Adrian began to touch on a topic that hadn’t come up too often in the history of their friendship.  He began to talk about the pastor at his church.  Now, these two had been friends for a long time, and Jeff knew that Adrian had a strong faith life, but that had never really been all that pressing to Jeff.  So it was with a healthy dose of pessimism that Jeff listened to Adrian’s suggestion.  Why not go talk to my pastor?  He has counseled a lot of couples at our church, some who had marriage issues really similar to yours.  Through his counseling, quite a few couples have gotten back on the right path.  He’s really good at working through things.  

As they pulled up to where Adrian’s ball lay sitting on the edge of the fairway, they climbed out of the golf cart.  With a bit of a sigh, Jeff said that he would think about it, but right now, he had to go over and find his lost ball.  With a chuckle, Adrian offered to help, saying that he knew a thing or two about finding stray golf balls.

It was three days later when Adrian’s phone rang.  It was Jeff, who said that he had talked things over with his wife, and that they would consider going to Adrian’s pastor for some counseling.  But first, Jeff simply wanted to meet him, to feel him out a bit.  Would Adrian be willing to set that up?  

So it was, a week later, that Jeff found himself nervously sitting in his car outside Adrian’s church.  Jeff was nervous.  He hadn’t been in a church, outside of Christmas, for quite some time.  He sure hadn’t taken time to talk to a pastor since he was going to Adrian’s youth group way back in High School.  He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, and thought for a moment about just driving away.  But then, Adrian’s question came back to him.  How open are you to a suggestion for getting some help?  And for a moment, Jeff’s love for his wife hit him again.  Yes, he was willing to do this to help improve things at home.  Even though it was a new situation, and he was doing something that kind of frightened him, he would do it for her, for them.

Jeff entered the building.  He saw the office administrator, and told him that he had an appointment with the pastor.  But Jeff didn’t have to wait.  The pastor must have heard him come in, and came out with a smile and a handshake.  He invited Jeff into his office, and sat down with Jeff in a couple of chairs that faced each other.  For a few moments, they chatted about Adrian, the common link that had brought them together.  Jeff was kind of surprised at how well regarded his friend was by this man.  He had never really given too much thought to Adrian and his church and what he did there.  

Finally, the pastor asked what had caused Adrian to refer Jeff to him.  It was kind of awkward.  Jeff didn’t want to make the situation sound too bad, so he kind of stammered something about his wife and he having a few arguments lately, and that he wanted to know if the pastor had any resources that he could recommend.  In the course of their conversation, the pastor asked a few probing questions, reassuring Jeff that everything he said would be kept strictly confidential.  So Jeff shared a few more of his concerns, the seemingly constant arguments, the conflict that seemed to be rearing its ugly head every day.  And then, in good man fashion, Jeff clammed up, figuring he had already said too much.

The pastor asked if he could make a couple of very brief observations.  Sure, why not?  “As I’ve been listening, you seem to have focused a lot on what your wife isn’t doing for you in your marriage.  I can understand that.  We all have times in our lives when our needs aren’t being met, and our human tendency is to lash out, to make others see that they aren’t giving what we need.  But can I ask you something?  What price are you willing to pay to make things better with your wife?”

Jeff was stunned.  Stunned because his first reaction was what he had always thought about the church.  “This guy has some nerve, asking for my money before he even offers to help.”  So Jeff, somewhat angrily, answered that right now they weren’t ready to pay for anything, that they just wanted to try to make things better.  “Oh, you misunderstand what I’m asking,” the pastor replied.  “What is your personal price?  What are you willing to do to make things better between you and your wife?  You want to see things get better, but I’m asking you what you are willing to do to make things better.

Jeff thought about that for a moment.  It wasn’t something that he had really thought about before.  He looked back at the pastor with a bit of a confused look and said that he didn’t really know.  He hadn’t thought it from that standpoint before.  So the pastor asked if he could share something that he thought could be pretty helpful.  Sure.  So the pastor picked up the well worn Bible sitting on his desk and flipped toward the back.  That’s when he read these words.

(Read Philippians 2:1-11)  Do you understand what that is saying there?  Jeff said he wasn’t sure.  The pastor read a couple of the verses again.  “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  The pastor looked up at Jeff again.  So I come back to the question I asked you a minute ago.  What price are you willing to pay to make things better?  Are you willing to put your wife’s interests above your own?  Are you willing to not see your arguments as competition, but as an opportunity to see her as more significant than yourself?

Jeff sat there.  He remembered those times when they were first dating that he would do anything for her.  He remembered making a fool out of himself for her benefit.  When was the last time he had done something like that for her?  What price was he willing to pay to make things better?

What’s the price you are willing to pay to resolve the conflicts of your life?  Are you willing to pay the price?  I can’t answer that question for you.  It’s a question you have to consider, and your answer is probably different for each person in your life.  

As we observe this Last Sunday of the Church Year, we reflect upon the promise of Jesus to reappear and bring an end to all our conflict as He brings His chosen people into their eternal inheritance.  Jesus knew the price He was willing to pay.  We heard a portion of it a few moments ago, as we heard of Jesus being crucified on the cross.  “Father, forgive them.”  Jesus was willing to pay a price that even included His own life, to bring an end to the conflict you have with Him.   He fully and willingly paid that price, looking to your interests above His own.  You are worth that much to Him.

How much are those people with whom you have conflict worth in your life?  What price are you willing to pay to bring your conflicts to an end?  It’s a good question for us to consider, especially in light of Christ’s promise to reappear and to make all things new.  What price are you willing to pay to make things better?  A worthwhile question, because the reconciliation of every conflict has a price.  May you always consider that price in light of the price that God was willing to pay for you in Christ Jesus.  Amen. 

Bringing Meaning to Work

How meaningful is your work?  For many of us, we find a great deal of meaning in our work.  We have a tendency to wander into those fields that we enjoy, or that we have some degree of aptitude in.  We enjoy putting our time and effort into our work, and find joy and fulfillment in it.  In some ways, we don't mind when it's hard work because it's meaningful.

But what happens when your work isn't meaningful?  For many of us, we also find ourselves in careers or jobs or occupations that we didn't necessarily anticipate.  Or, we find ourselves in those kind of jobs that we think of as menial.  We fail to see how meaningful those positions are, and so we find ourselves merely being a warm body doing what is necessary to get a paycheck.

In my perusal of the Bible, I have noticed that our God is one who seems to believe in meaningful work.  After all, everything that there is that needs to be done is there because of His creation.  God gives meaning to work because He created us to be active in working as we care for this world and creation.  Now, because of the presence of sin in the world, our work is often challenging, difficult, and can seem dreary rather than joyful.  But God's intent from the beginning was for work to be meaningful.

I bring this up because we also often find much work to be done in our life together as Christians in the context of our congregations.  Yet, so often, that work doesn't seem to be all that meaningful.  We get chosen for a board, or a position, and seem to discover that we're a warm body filling a spot that some document calls for to exist.  We don't see the meaning of the position, and so we don't find ourselves doing the work of the position.

I have come to believe that meaning, however, isn't something that we draw out of work or positions which call for work, but is rather something that we bring as we work.  Meaning, in and of itself, does not exist in relation to our work.  The work is merely necessary.  The meaning comes when we look at what we are chosen to do, when we apply ourselves and make things happen, and as we start to touch the lives of others with the work we do. 

In other words, we so often bring meaning to our work, rather than getting meaning from our work.  And here's another thing.  That meaning tends to come when we find out how our work impacts others.  In other words, meaning comes when we apply ourselves to our work, and when we see that the work touches other people in their lives.  Meaning comes when community touches our work, and when our work touches community.  And as we discover that meaning, we then are so often led to invest ourselves even more in what we are doing, because we see the importance it has for us, as well as others. 

What is "Physically Exhausted"?

"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.  And he ate nothing during those days.  And when they were ended, he was hungry."  Luke 4:1-2

You always hate to feel like you might be insulting God in the words that He conveyed to this world, but the last statement of those two verses previously quoted sure seem to call for a, "Well, duh!"  Who wouldn't be hungry after not eating for forty days?  And if you'd like to call me a blasphemer or something like that, feel free.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit simply seems to say that which is so obvious, but maybe, just maybe, He knows what He is doing.

This is an interesting thought to me, though.  The last week and a half in my life have been fairly physically challenging.  Now, I've had physical challenges before.  Training for a marathon and half marathons would be some of those times.  But during the last week and a half, I've had a daughter who hasn't been sleeping well, a wife who hasn't been sleeping well, with both of them battling various illnesses.  Not to mention that last week turned out to be one of those weeks where things seem to snowball on you.  You never feel like you're going to get caught up.  And then, when you get home from work, you have to help take care of things around the house because the two ladies aren't feeling up to snuff.  And then, you only get about 5-6 hours of interrupted sleep before you get up and do it all again.

I'm very thankful that God made my body and spirit as resilient as He did.  Other than a general weariness and perhaps a minor headache or two, I pulled through remarkably well.  With the two ladies on the mend, it seems like they are pulling through, too.  And with a couple of nights of much better sleep all around, we might be turning the corner.

But that has gotten me to thinking.  How far is it that we have to go until we become absolutely physically exhausted.  I don't mean tired, but we still could keep going if we had to.  I mean, getting to the point that your body simply refuses to allow you to get up and do anything.  I know it's possible, because people have died from physical exhaustion before.  (And I should throw in, I'm looking strictly at dying of physical exhaustion, not from something, say like dehydration, that comes because you wore your body out, but from truly just working it or demanding too much of it.)

Jesus endured 40 days without food.  He was hungry at the end of them.  I've heard some put forth the thought that this is one way that the Bible is not inerrant.  There are those who would say that the body would physically shut down after 40 days of no food.  Now, I might agree if it's a body that has been used to getting three square meals a day for most of the lifetime.  But for someone who probably lived through a lot of times of hunger and want, it doesn't seem quite as much of a stretch to endure that long.

Two final thoughts before I bring this to a close.  First, since Jesus is not only God, but a truly perfect, sinless human being, is it even possible for something like physical exhaustion to kill Him?  I believe very strongly that the statement, "Jesus gave up His spirit," is the only way Jesus could die, because nothing in this world could possibly kill Him.  So from that standpoint, 40 days of hunger are just that, hunger.

Second, what if our human bodies are truly capable of so much more than what we give them credit?  God created us with both remarkable strength and terrifying fragility.  I've seen people bounce back from the toughest of injuries, and I've seen people's bodies lose the fight over something that seemed relatively minor.  But who is to say that God hasn't, in the creation of our bodies, actually created something that has far more strength than what we ever could imagine?  It's an interesting thought, especially when we find ourselves in those wearying, wearing times of life.

Transition Times

In my life, I have seen quite a few transition times.  Some of them have involved moving from one place to another, an event that I've done enough that I'd rather not have to do it too many more times in the future.  Some have involved significant life events, such as marriage, or the birth of a child.  And some have been much less significant, such as the time I decided to change my exercise routine from basketball (due to several sprained ankles and the doctor's advice) to running, and chose a half marathon as my first event.  All have impact, though some have greater impact that others.

Congregations also go through transitions.  Sometimes they involve major things, like the changing of pastors, or locations.  Sometimes they involve such things as refining the scope of the ministry of the congregation, seeking to be led by God's Spirit in ministry.  Sometimes they involve changeovers of significant people, such as when a long-time president or elder or teacher steps aside, or new people begin to make their way into leadership roles.

There are also transitions that come as congregations reach certain numbers of worship attendance.  Once a congregation reaches a certain number of people who call that place their worship home, things inevitably have to change.  One of these transitions arises as a congregation passes about the 50 worshiping community mark.  Up until that point, the pastor is pretty able to be a very hands-on shepherd for all of God's people.  In a congregation of that size, one or two influential members can be very important to the life of the congregation, and their support and work together is vital when congregations seek to minister.  Some would call this the family member size congregation.

After that 50 worshiping community number arrives, a transition takes place.  Now the pastor simply cannot be as hands-on with each person there as he and they might hope.  It becomes simply a logistical matter.  Also, as that worshiping community increases on to 100 and beyond, each individual voice becomes a bit less influential.  God's people begin to look to the pastor, rather than significant influential people for leadership and guidance.  Some would call this the pastor led congregation.

However, another transition takes place when the worshiping community begins to rise between 150-200 (several different authors place the transition at different places, but typically, they arrive between these two numbers in the worshiping community).  No longer can the pastor continue to effectively be the most influential servant among God's people.  He has to now rely upon other trusted leaders, since he simply cannot be everywhere, and attend to all the things that need attention and oversight.  The transition becomes more about the staff that work in close coordination with the pastor.  If that staff (which includes both paid and volunteer positions) are not on the same page and going in the same direction, many difficulties will occur.

This transition places a great deal of importance upon the individuals who walk alongside the pastor in guiding the congregation.  This isn't to say that they all have to agree with everything that the pastor leads (as though that were possible in the first place), but they all have to be able to work together, and then, when decisions are made, be able to support the decision, even if it isn't one they personally were hoping for (and, by the way, that also goes for the pastor, who cannot assert his authority unless it is something mandated by the Bible as right or wrong.  He also has to be able to go where the Spirit may lead through God's people, rather than in his own personal preference). 

Transitions are very important times for congregations.  They have to be handled with wisdom, with sensitivity, and with a great deal of care.  When they are handled well, the congregation remains equipped to share the Gospel message in their community.  When handled poorly, they often set back the congregation and cause an internal examination, rather than a striving to reach out to the community.  As congregations arrive at these transition places, the hope and prayer is always for a smooth, Spirit-led transition.

Sermon from November 3

This past week, I read the kind of email that you always dread.  Way back in 2001, I graduated from Concordia Seminary with about 75 other men.  We headed out to our respective places throughout this world to serve God and His people with the message of the Good News.  Now, my class was pretty typical.  We had those younger guys that went straight from college to the seminary, and we had a decent amount of guys who had heeded God’s call to ministry after working in some other field for a time.

All in all, my class was pretty typical, I would think.  But what has happened over the past 18 months or so hasn’t been all that typical.  During that time, I have received a message on four occasions that one of my classmates has gone from this world to receive his eternal inheritance.  Two of these have been dear brothers who were my very own age.  One was a man who had some serious health issues already, but whose leaving of this world was rather unexpected anyway.  And then, this past Wednesday, I got the email.  Yet another dear friend, a man a mere 17 years my senior, had gone on to receive his eternal inheritance.  I had been keeping up with his health issues over the past week or so, as he’d gone in for some heart troubles.  And so it was that, on Wednesday, the eternal kingdom received one more who is no longer sinner, but purely a saint.

So this All Saints day that we observe today is one that has some special meaning for me.  A few moments ago, we heard the beautiful picture that was painted for St. John when he received the revelation of Jesus.  A great multitude standing before the throne and the Lamb, crying out their praise to God.  An unnumbered crowd whose robes have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.  An unnumbered crowd who have no cause for tears because their sin has been fully and completely put away from them forever, and they live in the full, unencumbered presence of God forever.

That’s a crowd that contains four dear friends and classmates of mine.  It’s a crowd that contains many in your lives who can drop the “sinner” label of their existence and fully seize the “saint” aspect of their life in Christ Jesus.  But those aren’t the only ones in that crowd.  What John saw at that moment was every single one of the redeemed of Christ Jesus standing there.  That means that you are in that crowd that he saw.  John himself was in the crowd that he saw.  Even those who have not yet been born are part of that crowd.  And that’s significant as we remember All Saints Day today.  

That crowd consists of every single person who has, does, and will put their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb who was slain.  That is a crowd who recognizes the importance of “Connecting Community and Christ.”  Every single one of the members of that crowd is connected to Christ Jesus, through the saving waters of their baptism and through the gift of faith that God the Spirit grants.  And every single one of those people there are present in that crowd because someone saw fit to bring them to Christ Jesus.

You’ve heard our little catchphrase since Easter of this year.  “Connecting Community and Christ.”  It’s what we here at Oak Road Lutheran Church do as we live out our lives as God’s saints in this world.  We connect the various communities that we are part of to Christ Jesus.  In His wisdom, God has seen fit to spread the message of His victory over sin, death, and the devil through His saints.  He sends every single one of us out into our personal, unique communities with that message of hope and good news in our hearts and on our lips.

But all too often, that task seems overwhelming to us.  We can be tempted to wonder if it really matters if we connect community and Christ together.  Maybe it’s because we’ve tried, but it didn’t seem to ‘take hold’ somehow.  Maybe it’s because we feel that we’re inadequate to the task.  Maybe it’s because we feel like we can’t make a difference here in Gwinnett County.  And so we start to wonder if it really matters if we connect community and Christ together.

Does it really matter?  That’s the question, really, isn’t it?  Does it really matter if I take my faith out into my everyday life?  After all, I’m forgiven.  My robes have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.  Jesus has lived for me, died for me, and risen back to life for me.  I have all that I ever need when it comes to my relationship with God.  If I don’t connect community and Christ, does it really matter?  My hope and place in that crowd is secured.

Does it really matter?  After all, I can’t really make that big of a difference. I’m just one person in a sea of faces.  I don’t have the gift to simply insert Jesus into every conversation I have.  In fact, I’m rather uncomfortable about speaking about my faith even with those closest to me.  Does it really matter if I go about connecting community and Christ?

Does it really matter?  After all, I’m not someone with a lot of influence.  I don’t have a really large circle of friends, and most of them already know that I go to church.  Does it really matter if I share anything more than that with them?  It would seem that, if God really wanted me to do that, He would have had them ask questions that I would have been able to answer, but that just hasn’t seemed to happen.

Does it really matter?  After all, it seems like our community and our nation seem to be heading in a direction other than that which reflects faith in Christ Jesus.  I’m just one person, and I can’t really do anything to change that tide.  So it seems more prudent not even to try.  I know where I stand in God’s eyes.

Does it really matter if Christ and community get connected?  My friends, look at that Bible reading from Revelation 7 on the back of the worship folders again.  In particular, look at the last few verses there.  “Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Does it really matter?  It seems to matter a great deal to God and to the Lamb.  Every single one of those who stands in that unnumbered multitude is a dear one of God’s.  God knows each of them so intimately that He protects them from anything that would harm them.  God knows each of them so intimately that He provides everything they need for that eternal life that they inherit.  God knows each of them so intimately that He shepherds them.  God knows each of them so intimately that He knows, not just them, but knows every tear that falls from their eyes.  God knows each of them so intimately that He wipes each tear from their eye because each of them matter to Him that much.

Does it really matter if we take seriously our task to connect community and Christ?  Right here we see a picture of just how much it matters.  For my friend who went to receive his eternal inheritance this week, it matters to him that God’s servants saw fit to bring him to the waters of baptism, and to raise him to know the God who redeemed him.  Does it matter that someone in his life connected him to Christ?  It does, especially now that he has received his eternal inheritance.  

Does it really matter if we connect community and Christ?  It matters to every person who gets the joy and privilege of standing in that unnumbered multitude before the throne and the Lamb.  They will each know God intimately, just as they will be intimately known.  And that’s good news.  It matters because that connection to Christ will be lived out in a life that never ends.  Nothing will ever separate that crowd from Christ.

Does it really matter if Christ and community connect?  Let’s look at it from the other side of the coin.  There’s another reality that we don’t see in this picture.  It’s the reality of all of those who don’t get to be part of this crowd, those whose robes are not washed in the blood of the Lamb, and who don’t receive an eternal inheritance.  Does it matter to them that Christ and community remained unconnected in their lives?  It does, and it does so forever in a reality that does not end.

Does it really matter if we connect Christ and community?  Let’s think about this for a moment.  Does it matter if you connect Christ and that person who regularly cuts or styles your hair?  Have you ever thought about how you can serve God and that particular neighbor by thinking about ways to connect that person to Christ?  It could very well be that they get the joy and privilege of spending forever with you in this crowd because of your sharing with them.

Does it matter if your neighbor is in this crowd because he or she saw your life, or heard your words, and became a part of that crowd?  Chances are, you know the people who live on either side of your house, or across the street.  What do you know about their connection with Christ?  In what ways might Christ be calling you to connect them to Him, so that their robes can be washed white in His blood, and they be part of that unnumbered multitude?

Does it matter if you know a young person who may be missing a parent in their life, and you chose to make some small effort to connect with that part of your community?  They may be missing more in their life than you could ever imagine, and your influence in their life may be the very thing that introduces an eternal change in their destiny.  Would you say that matters?

Does it matter if you talked, not just about your church, but about your faith, with that person who asks about your church?  The Holy Spirit may simply be waiting to seize the opening in order to plant the gift of faith into that person’s soul, and introduce them to an inheritance that never passes away.  Would you say that matters?

Does it really matter?  It’s easy to fall into Satan’s trap to think that our words or our lives don’t really make that big of a difference.  But this All Saints Day, as we once more hear of this beautiful picture of the unnumbered multitude who stands before the throne and the Lamb forever, we’re reminded that it really does matter.  How we live our lives as God’s saints does make a difference.  Being prepared to share our faith really does matter.  Connecting Community and Christ really does matter, because God works through those efforts to add more and more to that unnumbered crowd.  May we respond to God’s call to connect community and Christ, for the sake of Christ.  Amen.