A sermon by a guest preacher, January 23, 2011
Isaiah 9:1-4
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Matthew 4:12-23
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. I bring you greetings from the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ! I bring you greetings on behalf of the 167 churches who make up our Maine Conference, from David Gaewski, our Conference Minister, and from Susie Craig, my colleague Associate Conference Minister. I want to thank you for the kind invitation to be with you to celebrate the ministries of the Maine Conference on this Third Sunday after Epiphany.
Before I begin my message, I ask you to please join me with a word of prayer: O God, come to us in the quietness of this place; center our hearts and our minds on you and you alone. Open us to the power and to the presence of your Holy Spirit, and remind us that your love, mercy, and grace come to us unasked for and free. Amen.
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As a young Army soldier traveling to my first duty station at Fort Hood, Texas, I drove a packed U-Haul truck with my vehicle towed behind, and started an exciting, new adventure in my life. I had no sooner crossed the Texas border when the U-Haul I was driving broke down. I pulled to the side of the road, opened the hood, and then thought, “Now what?” (I am not mechanically inclined at all, I had no idea where I was, and this was long before the days of cell phones). I did what came natural – I prayed. “Oh God I need help!” I had no sooner opened my eyes when a pick-up truck pulled in front of me, the driver jumped out, made a hasty inspection under the hood, and he then quickly hooked up a chain under the front of the U-Haul and said, “Get in, I will pull you to the garage at the next exit.” Within minutes we were at our destination and a mechanic was working on the U-Haul.
I was dumbstruck at how suddenly everything happened. The man who came to my rescue was just about to jump into his truck to drive away. I ran up to him and said, “I don’t know how to thank you; I can’t believe that you even stopped to help me.” To which the man replied, “It was nothing. Besides, I saw the Christian bumper sticker on the back of your car and I couldn’t just leave you on the side of the road.”
The text from Matthew’s Gospel describes the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Matthew describes Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee and calling the first four of his disciples. There really is not much detail in the text. New Testament Professor Douglas Hare notes, “the call story is here reduced to its barest essentials: Jesus summons with irresistible authority, and the men respond with radical obedience.” My call to ministry did not have the easily discernible characteristics described here. There were no clearly articulated, authoritative words, and no easily understood commands.
Many of you may not be aware that I worshiped here and sang in your choir a number of years ago. The physical distance between my seat in the choir and where I stand now may not seem far, but let me tell you that my journey did not follow a quick or easy path. In the same way, the process of discerning God’s will for our lives is not easy.
I have heard today’s Gospel lesson read countless times at ordination services and reflections given about answering the call to follow Jesus. Let me suggest to you that the call to follow Jesus is not a one-time, singular event, but rather a daily commitment. Think about it for a minute. You profess to follow Jesus Christ, and yet you can decide to do nothing about it.
Marcus Borg writes in Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, “The Christian life is not primarily about believing the right things or even being good. The Christian life is about being in relationship with God which transforms us into more and more compassionate beings, ‘into the likeness of Christ’”.
Jesus is asking us to “follow” – not to believe and stay where we are. To follow is to leave something behind – leaving behind our old ways of living and believing. To follow Jesus is to demonstrate each day that we are answering the call from Jesus. So that is why the decision to answer this call “to follow” from Jesus is not easy – there are no clearly articulated, authoritative words, and no easily understood commands. And the path that you will be asked to follow is anything but a brightly lit yellow-brick road! Through a simple act of kindness, a man driving a pick-up truck stops on the side of the road to help a disabled motorist in response to his command to follow Jesus.
What happens in a church when the people of God answer this summons to follow Jesus? John McCall and I had a telephone conversation a couple of weeks ago, talking about today’s service, and he referred to me as an “Ambassador for the Wider Church.” In my three years on Conference staff, I have never been called an ambassador. So as a result of my conversation with John, I have been thinking about ambassadors lately.
In everyday usage, an ambassador is the highest-ranking government representative or diplomat who represents a nation. The word ambassador implies a level of distinction or honor, so it is flattering to receive such a title. Some ambassadors know the host country they are assigned (that is why they are appointed to the position), but some do not. An ambassador must get to know the country and their people in order to be an effective representative.
In today’s New Testament reading, Paul directly states, “So we are ambassadors for Christ…” What is an ambassador for Jesus Christ? What does it mean for you and me to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ? What does it mean for you to be an ambassador for Christ here at the First Congregational Church on Cottage Road in South Portland, Cumberland County, Maine? What does it mean to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ in the year 2011 in our littler corner of the world?
Several months ago the Bangor Daily News reported a story about five churches who tackled various civic projects. About 200 people associated with five Bangor area churches cleaned up playgrounds, flower gardens, and painted some rooms at five public schools and the Bangor Public Library. This semi-annual event is called “Labor for Your Neighbor” in which these churches reach out in the community where they live, work, and play.
In the Maine Conference, the Small Church Mission Team oversees the Parishes of Promise program – a process of planning church renewal through mission outreach, which is designed to help revitalize small churches by identifying ways in which congregations can become more actively engaged in their communities. The process is predicated on the belief that as a church establishes itself as a valuable community resource, it will attract greater community participation and support – thereby strengthening the congregation. Through a facilitated process lasting 12-18 months, congregations learn how to be effective ambassadors for Jesus Christ in their local setting.
Contrary to what many believe, living a life of faith does not make our lives easier. In fact, it demands more from us than you expect. As one of the Associate Conference Ministers in the Maine Conference, I have seen far too many smaller churches who expect the minister to do it all – citing that they are paid, after all, so therefore why shouldn’t the minister pick up all the duties and responsibilities that the congregation is too tired to do! I am afraid to tell you, but that is not how it is supposed to be. The Apostle Paul aptly points out that the pastoral leader’s main responsibilities are to equip the saints – that is all of you – to do the work of ministry. Having John and Elsa as your ministers does not mean that you get a free pass. Our faith demands much more from us, so I challenge you to offer your best assistance in the work of your church, because the world’s needs are currently greater than the church’s capacity to meet those needs, and if the only ministry a congregation offers is what one person can accomplish, the church is in big trouble.
This past Thursday marks the fiftieth anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s famous inauguration speech in which he states, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” I was not old enough to hear these words spoken at the time, but the echoing challenge is timeless. In this context, I suggest that we “ask not what God can do for us – ask what we can do for God.”
One of the challenges I see around the Maine Conference is this idea that only grand, large-scale ministries are valued, so therefore many of our congregations possess poor self-image and are depressed over the fact that they are not able to do what they used to. The notion that bigger is better has to be eliminated from our thinking! Our sense of worth should not be tied to leaving behind a grant legacy. Our response to the summons to follow Jesus does not include the requirement that we must do great things. The smallest act of kindness can have a great impact.
You may not realize it, but the First Congregational Church of South Portland played an important role in my path to ordained ministry. Your embrace and welcome at a time in my life when I felt lost and alone is something that I will never forget. Your kindness and generous spirit lifted me when I needed it most. So thank you for answering the call to follow Jesus Christ, for welcoming the stranger, and healing the sick. I am a witness to your proclaiming the Good News, serving as an Ambassador for Jesus Christ.
Your ministry in South Portland has been, and continues to be, a beacon in this community. You are not separate from the world, isolating yourselves from the difficult challenges outside these doors, but rather you have a beacon faith that stands out, striving to narrow the margins for those on the edges of our society, showing your love of God, self, and all people in the community around you. Your faith shines forth, actively demonstrating that you are a safe place, so that no matter where people are on their life’s journey, all are truly welcome here.
Ministry happens not just within these four walls, but also outside the church building as well. Your generous support to the United Church of Christ’s Our Church’s Wider Mission makes a huge impact not only here in the Maine Conference, but also in the national setting. Were it not for the covenantal support you and your sister congregations around our Conference and denomination provide, important ministries would not be possible.
As your Ambassador for the wider church, I want to thank you for supporting the work I do to strengthen small churches through the Small Church Mission Team and Resourcing the Local Church. A large component of my work is to provide search and call support to local churches that are in pastoral transition. The Middle School program, the Honduras Partnership activities, the Fall Learning Event, the Academy for Congregational Life and Leadership, support of Association Church & Ministry committees, and seminary and seminarian support are just a few of the things we do in and on your behalf – all because of your support to Our Church’s Wider Mission.
I look forward to telling you more about Our Church’s Wider Mission and the ministries of the Maine Conference during the Davidson Conversation at 11:30.
Today and every day is a new day to heed the summons to follow Jesus, to ask not what God can do for us, but rather to ask what we can do for God. Let us demonstrate through our words and our actions that we are in relationship with God, that we hear the call from Jesus to follow, and that we are fully committed to do what is within our power – serving as ambassadors, called to different ministries, and striving to transform our community and our world for the better. Amen.
The Rev. Darren L. Morgan
Associate Conference Minister for Small Church Development
Maine Conference, United Church of Christ