“You Have Only Just Begun”

            This Sunday, November 24th, I’m returning to the pulpit at Christ United Methodist Church after a two-week study leave.  My return occurs on a very special Sunday.  At several families’ request, we have had an intensive confirmation class this fall, and this Sunday is “Confirmation Sunday” for the youth who’ve taken part in this class.

            On Confirmation Sunday’s, I usually try to focus on a scriptural passage that will provide helpful advice for the confirmands, as they take their vows of full church membership.  For this Confirmation Sunday, I have chosen the story of Mary and Martha in the Gospel of Luke:

“Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”  ~ Luke 10:38-42

             In the story, Mary and Martha model two completely different responses to the unexpected visit of their friend, Jesus, and his entourage.  Martha focuses on being a gracious and generous host.  We can imagine Martha scurrying around, picking up things as Jesus and his entourage entered her home.  Next, she would have hurried to get water for them to bathe their feet, washing off the dirt from walking along the dusty road.  Then, she would have hastened to prepare food and drink for all of her unexpected guests.  Martha wanted to be a great host, generously welcoming Jesus and his followers, and making them very comfortable.  By being a gracious host, Martha intended to show Jesus how much she loved and cared for him as a family friend.

By contrast, Mary, her sister, dropped everything, sat down in front of Jesus (most likely taking the spot of a disciple) and listened to Jesus’ teaching with rapt attention, drinking in every word which he spoke. 

As time passed that evening, some sibling tension emerged on Martha’s part.  This tension kept building and building, until eventually she could take it no longer and so she said to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”  On the surface, this seems like a fair request.  Afterall, Martha had been doing all of the work, hosting this large,  unexpected group.

However, Jesus’ response was completely unexpected, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”  In other words, Jesus challenged Martha’s priorities.  Martha thought that the best way to be a good and gracious host to Jesus was to focus on all of the details of welcoming her guests, making them comfortable, and providing generous food and drink.  Yet, Mary’s devotion to Jesus’ teaching was a much higher expression of her love for him.  That is to say, devotion to the teachings of Christ is the best expression of our love for God.

Over the course of my ministry, I have taught many confirmation classes and confirmed many youth into full church membership.  I’ve always felt a little ambivalent about the way in which we organize and conduct confirmation classes in most mainline Protestant churches.  My ambivalence arises because we put so much emphasis on learning more and more and more about the Christian faith and what it means to belong to the church.

It is not wrong to push confirmation students to learn as much as they can about the scriptures and Christian discipleship.  But, sometimes I worry that we unwittingly convey to students and their families that they are going to learn all that they need to know about being a Christian through their confirmation class.  Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

Christian discipleship is always a progressive learning process.  God seeks to enter into a relationship with each of our confirmands that will last a lifetime—and beyond.  Christian discipleship is not a set body of knowledge to be mastered.  No, instead, discipleship is a “lifestyle,” in the sense of a set of values, commitments, wisdom, and practices which we pursue in relationality with God.  Our expectation should be that we will grow in our discipleship and that we will grow in our relationship with God.  In Christian discipleship, we never reach an endpoint. We are always finding new ways to grow, especially in our love.

Confirmation class should provide the confirmands with the background and tools to begin God’s intention that we grow throughout our lives.  Thus, Confirmation Sunday’s are never endings, but rather beginnings.  Thus, the title of this proclamation to the confirmands (and everyone else), “You have only just begun.”

When we think about confirmation from this angle; when we think of confirmation as a beginning, then it seems to me that the story of Martha and Mary offers an important illustration and reminder.  Living in the twenty-first century, with its many responsibilities, obligations, diversions, and distractions, we frequently find ourselves in those “Martha-Mary decision moments.”  Do we love Jesus more by working frantically to be a good and generous host—the course chosen by Martha?  Or, do we love Jesus more by studying his teachings and following in his footsteps—the course chosen by Mary? 

                There will always be houses to clean, food to prepare, dishes to wash, laundry to do, homework to complete, work and jobs, movies to watch, ballgames to watch, concerts to attend, and much, much more.  This was Martha’s way and all of these activities are good and necessary in proportion for a happy and fulfilling life.  Yet, Mary’s path is even more important—to seek God and grow in our relationship with the Divine.  My hope and my prayer for the confirmands, as well as for myself and Christ United Methodist Church is that along with Mary, we will prioritize loving Jesus by studying his teachings and following in his footsteps. 

                If you live in the Lincoln, Nebraska area and do not have a place of worship, then I invite you to come and join us at Christ United Methodist Church this Sunday, November 24th.

                 Christ UMC is located at 4530 “A” Street.  We have three worship services on Sunday mornings at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.  This weekend, the 8:30 service, held in our Sanctuary, will be led by Josh Seifert, our student intern.  The title of his Proclamation is “Discerning our Faith.”  The 9:45 “Gathering,” which is a more informal service held in our Family Life Center (gym), and the 11:00 traditional service held in our Sanctuary, will be the confirmation services.   You are welcome at any of the three services. 

Come, join us.  Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

On Study Leave

I am on study leave from my pastoral duties for two weeks, November 4-17.  During this time there will not be a weekly sermon blog.  Watch for my next blog the week of November 18th, in preparation for Sunday, November 24th, when we will be celebrating "Confirmation Sunday" and Thanksgiving.

“The Power of Love as the Basis of Hope”

            This Sunday, November 3rd, is “All Saints Day,” the Sunday traditionally set aside to remember and give thanks for friends and loved ones who have died this year—or, in years past.  In the Church, these departed friends and loved ones are referred to as “saints.”  In our worship services at Christ United Methodist Church this weekend, we will recognize and commemorate  our “saints” by ringing a bell as we lift up the name of each departed friend or loved one. 

I will base my meditation for All Saints Day on selected verses from Romans 8.  Although I find this entire chapter in Romans to be very powerful, the focus of my meditation will be on a simple claim made by Paul towards the end of the chapter, “For I am convinced that neither death, … nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”  (Romans 8:39) 

For the Apostle Paul, God’s love is so profound, powerful, and so utterly beyond our comprehension that it literally conquers all—even death itself.  From the teaching and model of Christ, we know that God loves each and every human person and that God seeks to be in a loving relationship with each of us, as children of God, who are created in God’s own image.  Thus, for the Apostle Paul, logically, death cannot be the termination of our existence.  No!  Far from it.  Instead, death must be a point of transformation in our existence and our relationship with God. 

In this profound transformation, we become part of God’s New Creation at the end of time.  As described in the Book of Revelation:

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4)

For Paul, God’s love for us provides the basis for our hope that the death of our loved ones is not simply the termination of their existence, but instead the transformation of their existence.  Pau believes that the structure of God’s love for us has to be the same as the structure of our love for one another.  Regardless of who it is that we love, the common denominator is always the same:  we want our relationship with the beloved to continue forever and we want to grow closer and closer in our relationships with those whom we love. 

God’s love for us must be the same.  God wants our relationship to last forever, and God wants our relationship to grow closer and closer.  So, logically, death cannot possibly be the end; the termination of our existence.  No, instead, death must be a transformation point to a deeper and more powerful, loving relationship with God.

And, we know that because of this profound love, God always wants the best for us.  We know that God wants us to thrive and flourish in this life—and, in the next.  In God’s Wisdom, God made humans social creatures.  We are shaped and molded and influenced by our network of family and friends.  So, since we know that God wants only the very best for each of us; then, we can be confident that God will provide a time and an opportunity for us to be reunited with our loved ones—even after death. 

The power of God’s love is the basis for our hope in the face of death.  As the Apostle Paul writes in another one of his letters, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?  Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 15:55)

As I noted above, the power of God’s love forms the basis for our hope that death is not a termination, but rather a transformation in which we become part of God’s New Creation.  The Resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday and the additional stories of his resurrection appearance can be interpreted as a foreshadowing of our own physical resurrection and transformation as part of God’s New Creation.

Of course, there is no scientific explanation for this radical transformation of ourselves into part of God’s New Creation.  However, some scientists and theologians, working across academic disciplines, have argued for a broader view of God’s work as Creator, in which God’s work of creation begins ex nihilo, (out of nothing), but then continues throughout history, until it is completed at the end of time, when God redeems the universe and transforms it into a New Creation.  They point to the possibility of other laws of nature in other universes as signaling the possibility that part of God’s final redemption of Creation would be “redeeming” the laws of nature, so that eternal life as described in the Book of Revelation becomes a reality.

Again, to reiterate, the power of God’s love forms the basis of this hope.

If you live in the Lincoln, Nebraska area and do not have a place of worship, then I invite you to come and join us at Christ United Methodist Church this Sunday, November 3rd, as we remember and celebrate our loved ones who have passed away.  Come and join us, as we lift up our loved ones by name and ring a chime in memory of them. 

Christ UMC is located at 4530 “A” Street.  We have three worship services on Sunday mornings at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.  The 8:30 and 11:00 services feature a traditional worship format and the services are held in our Sanctuary.  “The Gathering” at 9:45 is held in our Family Life Center (gym), and it is more informal and interactive.   

Come, join us.  Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.