11th Sunday after Pentecost [Pr. 14] August 12, 2007 “Series C”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Blessed are you, O Lord our God, Creator of the Universe. You have made every orb of creation and have cast them spinning into eternity. You have delighted to give us this planet as a home to cherish and care for. Yet you take pleasure in giving us another gift, a more lasting destination, the kingdom of heaven. While we are yet stewards of this world, show us the work that we must do, and give us the tools we need to do the small things that will accomplish your great enterprise of love. And give us a hint of the joy to come, that we might be sustained in our hope of the world to come. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen. [1]
It really feels good to be back in this pulpit! One never knows when you check in for a “routine” medical procedure, what will happen. From my point of view, I think the word “routine” needs to be stricken as an adjective describing any medical procedure. But I’m back, even though it is going to take me a couple of more months to regain all of my strength.
But before I go any further, I would like to again thank everyone for your prayers and expressions of concern. It is hard to put into words what your support and understanding has meant to me. Thank you!
But there is one person whom I feel a need to thank in a special way.
And that is Pastor Blair. Not only did he come and visit me while I was in the hospital, offering prayers of healing, he also stepped into this pulpit in my absence for three weeks, with little advance notice. This was not easy for Ralph to do. At this point in his life, Ralph has fully retired. He is no longer available for supply preaching, due to health concerns and the time and energy required to prepare sermons.
However, Ralph agreed to fill in during my absence, and to do so without pay. He made some excuse about not being able to mow grass or paint or do other things that many in the congregation do on a volunteer basis, but that he could pull himself together for a few weeks of supply. And then he added that by his taking the services, I might get paid.
Then, when I called him this past Friday to thank him for his ministry, he told me that he had this recurring nightmare, that as I stepped into the pulpit to preach this morning, I would run out of gas, and he had to step up and bail me out again. Of course, being that Ralph described his dream as a nightmare, one could assume that this was in reference to the idea that he might have to finish preaching my sermon.
Nevertheless, not every congregation is blessed to have a retired pastor who can so ably answer the call in such a situation, especially in light of the difficulties posed by “Mr. Arthritis.” And so I would like to break for a moment and invite Ralph to come up and receive one of the hand-carved crosses that Pastor Hart made, with his blessing, as a token of thanks.
This brings me to the point of my sermon this morning. In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells us, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” But then Jesus goes on to tell us that as a result of God’s gift of the kingdom, we should live our lives in gratitude, by being responsible disciples. It is as if Jesus is saying that with every gift, there comes a level of responsibility.
Sometimes, a “thank you,” is a sufficient response to a gift. Thus, I thank you, for your gift of prayer and concern. And I thank Ralph for his gift of filling in for me during my disability. But sometimes a gift brings with it a lot more responsibility.
As Clayton J. Schmit put it in his commentary on our text, “The moment of birth is one of unspeakable joy. Yet, if parents stopped to count the cost of taking a child home (which, fortunately, they never do) they might be tempted to turn the gift down.
The cost of baby food and diapers, sleepless nights and worrisome days, braces for the teeth, clothes and school supplies and college tuition, and repairs to the fenders of the family car, heartaches and disappointments, and weddings; it would not be surprising for a young parent to say, “No thanks. I think I’ll pass on the gift.” [2] Clearly, the gift of a child brings responsibilities. But it also brings tremendous joy to every loving parent.
Dr. Schmit goes on to say that the same kind of responsibilities come with God’s gift of his kingdom. They are not insignificant responsibilities. We are to give up the materialistic way of the world, and share our wealth with those in need. We are to work toward expanding God’s kingdom to those we meet, love our neighbors as ourselves, and witness to others that we know the redeeming love of God. It too, is a gift that if one was to stop and calculate the responsibilities, might terrify the recipient.
Yet along with these demanding responsibilities, the gift of God’s kingdom also brings with it the joy of knowing God’s redeeming grace, of not having to carry the burden of our sins and failures around like an iron fetter attached to our ankles. And most importantly, the gift of God’s kingdom offers the hope of new life, as we realize that we are members of God’s extended family.
And this is the core of the message! Jesus says, “Have no fear, little flock. As members of God’s family, we are not, as individuals, saddled with the entire burden of responsibility of the gift of God’s kingdom.
As we read this text, according to Dr. Schmit, and I quote, “we know that we too are individual members of a large flock of faithful disciples who seek to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, the work we do is never ours alone to accomplish. We do our part and trust that God will send others who will join us, and take over for us when we are too weary to continue.” [3] End quote. This has never been more evident to me, than during the past few weeks.
In a poem attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero, entitled “Prophets of a Future Not Our Own,” he states:
“It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not Messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” End quote. [4]
Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, God has given us his kingdom as a gift. And what a precious gift it is. For it assures us of an eternity to grasp and understand what we can only begin to imagine as we are bound to this planet in our finite life on one, but who knows how many orbs God has spun into existence.
So we do what we can, in responsibility for this gift. You have prayed for me, as I have prayed for you. Ralph has again stepped into this pulpit, even though he has said it is time for him to quit. And we keep on doing the little things we can do, none of them enough in themselves, none of them complete in themselves, yet as a “little flock,” as members of God’s kingdom family, we come to realize God’s loving presence among us. Thanks be to God, that it was his pleasure to give us his kingdom.
Amen.
1,2,3,4 All taken from Pulpit Resource, Year C, 2007
