Sent by the Spirit~to Serve Everywhere

Acts 3:1-10

June 17, 2012

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

            I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but not only do we live in a culture of trends, but we are part of a church of trends. You may not notice it as much in the church because often the trends have to do with how pastors work and lead, what the church emphasizes in its program and ministry, and how it worships (which is the trend that’s the most obvious).

            I’ve been a pastor now for almost 24 years, and in that time I’ve seen the Presbyterian Church, and others like it, move through a number of trends. When I was in seminary the big trend was the “pastoral care” movement. This was a trend sparked by the rise of popularity of psychology and counseling in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The emphasis was on the idea that the main focus of the church should be to care for people as they go through difficult times, with the understanding that people are always kind of going through difficult times. So, the role of the pastor, under this model, is to visit everyone in the church at least once a year, and to be primarily the counselor-in-residence.

            This trend was modified by another in the late 80s and early 90s: the evangelism trend. This trend taught that the church had to reach out more in order to bring people into the church. We were shrinking as a denomination, and the focus was to find ways to get people interested in coming to our churches. So they created a lot of programs such as the “bring-a-friend-to-church” Sunday, with the idea that if we each brought a friend, the church would grow again. The role of the pastor was to be the person who created the context in which people wanted to join the church. So we were to visit prospective new members and spearhead the outreach.

            As we moved into the 90s and 2000s, the big trend was the contemporary church movement, which not only meant creating and offering contemporary worship, but creating a church that is up-to-date technologically in every way. 

            Now there’s a new trend. It’s called the “missional church” movement, and I invite you to find out more about it by watching the video at this web address:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxfLK_sd68

            If you watched the video, it suggests that we have become too self-centered in the church, expecting everything to revolve around church programs within the building. The emphasis is that we each are to become missionaries in our homes, workplaces, with friends, and the like, and we are to open people up to God’s presence.

            I agree with this missional trend. In fact, I’ve agreed with most trends. Often they are balancing out something that was neglected previously. So the pastoral care trend was a response to churches that had become way too dry and theological in the 1950s. The evangelism trend was a response to shrinking churches that had become a bit shut off to outsiders. The contemporary trend was a response to church worship that had become too staid and not as welcoming to non-Christians. The missional church movement is a trend that’s a response to churches focusing too much on what’s going inside the church, and not enough on what was going on in the world.

            We were part of this missional trend even before it became a trend. You’ve been hearing me express the ideas of this trend ever since I came to Calvin Presbyterian Church. Each Sunday I’ve given a prayerful benediction in which I’ve charged all of us to take what we’ve heard in church and make it part of our homes, work, friendships, and everything else. I’ve charged you with going out and becoming Christ-bearers and light-bearers in the world in ways that only we can do, and to do so wherever we are.

            What I find difficult about the missional church movement is its either/or emphasis. Like many trends before it, it tends to see itself as THE answer to what ails the church. I rarely take an either/or approach to life. I tend to take a both/and approach, which in this case would mean being both pastoral and evangelical, both traditional and contemporary, both church-focused and missional at the same time. The point is that as Christians, and as members of this church, we need to emphasize both on the mission and ministry of this church, and on being Christ’s presence in the world. That doesn’t mean that during your lunch break you need to sit down with your co-workers and say, “Have you heard the word of Jesus?” Instead, it means seeing everything you do as a way of serving God, including how we treat others.

            Since Pentecost, we’ve been talking about how all of us are called by the Spirit to become apostles, to serve in ministry, and to serve in mission. To complete this idea, it’s important for us to recognize that we are also called to serve everywhere we are. We ARE Christ’s hands, feet, eyes, ears, and mouths in the world. Wherever you are, that’s your mission field, and you are called by God to serve Christ in it.

            A heard a great way of thinking about this several years ago from one of our members. What he said was quite profound. He was talking about how he had changed his approach to faith. For years he would come to church, pray, think about religious things, but when he went to work he would hang his faith on a hook while hanging up his coat. What changed in his life was when he decided to leave his faith on throughout the workday, and not hang it up with his coat.

            After hearing me mention what he said in this sermon last Sunday, he wrote me more profound stuff in an email. He said, “I no longer feel that way about hanging up my faith when I hang up my coat at work.  For years I have truly hated my job and my company and was miserable. I tried on many occasions to find other opportunities, mostly somewhere else in the country, and nothing ever worked out.  So I began to reflect on this and decided that for whatever reasons that I did not understand that God wanted me in this position.  So rather than just feel sorry for myself I began to listen and learn that other of my co-workers were also feeling some of the same things that I was (although not to the same degree), and I began to ponder what I could do to help them.  While I didn’t really feel that I could do anything for myself, I came to believe that God would want me to help others, especially for the folks who work for me.  Over time I really feel that I have made contributions to making others more satisfied, more engaged and more happy in what they are doing and feeling about themselves.  Then I realized that by doing this that I was actually helping myself and how I viewed everything in general.  While I still am not in love with my job/company, it is much better and I also have seen myself grow more as a mentor and it has also opened up new opportunities for me such as my two trips overseas to help out a struggling operation there.  This has been a blessing!!”

            Whenever I hear people complain, or ask, where is God during difficult times, I know the answer. The answer is that God is in the hands and feet and love of those who help out those going through difficult times. Christians have been God’s hands and feet in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the tsunamis in the Pacific, the tornadoes in Missouri and elsewhere, and in Haiti. It is often Christians who stay and work after governments have gone away. You are God’s hands and feet anytime you not only care for people somewhere else, but care for someone who is grieving, struggling, hurting, or ill. 

            To give you a different perspective on how we are God’s hands and feet, I’m going to invite our associate pastor, the Rev. Connie Frierson, to finish this sermon:

This is a tag team sermon.  Graham started it and then tag. I’m it.  That is so appropriate for mission because mission is not a solo service.  Mission is done with friends and partners and it is meant to be done by everyone.

           

As I read today’s passage from Acts. something struck me about Peter and John. There they are doing their normal, ordinary thing, going to the temple for the 3:00 prayer service.  How routine this was, a good routine, but a routine nonetheless.  You all know how we rely on doing the habits we do.  If you go to the early service most don’t switch to the later service.  If you go to the 11:00 service, you almost never go to the early service.  We are all creatures of habit. Peter and John had a habit of prayer. Prayer is a holy habit that trained them to listen to God. But habit alone is not enough for the Christian life.  Habit done by rote can lead to a deadening of spirit. The habit of prayer should do just the opposite.  Regular prayer should lead us to see the spirit of God calling in the ordinary moment.

           

In this passage of scripture Peter and John were not doing the ordinary everyday stroll past the Beautiful Gate. On this day they noticed the man who was always there, always with his hand out for alms, always in the same place.  The bible says Peter looked intently at the man and so did John.  I wonder what Peter and John experienced.  Was it a clarion bell of God’s call to heal this man?  Was it a gentle whisper that they strained hard to hear?  Was it an intuition so soft and indistinct that they just needed to go on a hunch, a God hunch?   We will never know which of these most likely describes the moment.  But whatever it was Peter and John became intently aware of this man and his needs and God’s power to heal.

           

When God spoke to me about mission it wasn’t with Charlton Heston’s Godlike voice. But it wasn’t a vague intuition either.  It was more like a stage whisper.  But what I heard was “PSSSST, Follow me, Serve me.”  What I didn’t hear was specifics of where, when, who or how. I remember coming to Graham’s office to talk about God’s distinct but unspecific call. I remember wailing, “But what if God sends me to Calcutta, I DON’T WANT TO GO TO CALCUTTA!” Graham shared some wisdom with me. He said that God probably wouldn’t send me to Calcutta, or if God did, then when I received that call I would be ready for it. But with a husband, two small children and a farm, Calcutta didn’t seem like a likely fit.  Many of you know how this story goes on.  I wasn’t sent to Calcutta. I was sent to Callery, a little community just over the hill from my farm.  I was called to be a hospice volunteer. I was matched to volunteer with a woman who was an elderly twice-removed cousin, whose daughter was a Presbyterian minister. This first Hospice assignment was really a call to help family.  This was a call to serve in my own backyard.

           

This is the way mission and God’s call often works.  We fear the big call to do the impossible task for God far away and at great personal sacrifice. But often what God wants you to do is just go across the street. There are many, many short steps that prepare us for the long jump. But be warned.  Once you step out your door for God, you step onto a slippery slope.  You never know where that small first step will lead you. In my case it looked like a simple visit with my cousin Jean. But it turned into a passion to be with people who are on the sacred ground as they approach the end of this life.  Then that led to wanting to do it more, then better, then more deeply.  So I went to retreat that told me to go out to the deep water of faith. Then I took a course in Spiritual Disciplines. Then I enrolled in seminary. The I graduated and was ordained.  God didn’t want me to go to Calcutta. God wanted me to go to Callery, then Calvin. Maybe Calcutta is still waiting in my future. One simple hometown mission will lead you to the next and the next.  This is what looking intently with God’s Spirit will do for you.

           

I have learned a lot about mission from a friend of mine, Val Rabosky.  I met Val about five years ago at the YMCA.  It was about a year after my husband, Allen’s death. I started walking at the YMCA.  Val was one of my walking partners.  Val was in his early 80’s so we were well matched as exercise pals.  Val is one of those unique people who not only shares his own stories but really listens to yours too.  So we learned about each other’s lives.  Val is a man with a deep faith, who has worked hard and enjoyed life.  He has been active in church life.  He has been a camp director for Christian summer camp and remembers and wonders about some of the youngsters he counseled at camp. He has collected food for families when times were hard. He has been a good friend. Val has been a faithful Christian for so long that there is not much I can see in his life that is separated from following Jesus. Val is a combination of those holy habits of prayer, worship and study and the spontaneous opportunity to share God’s love. 

           

In the past Val has been part of mission that goes outside and does things.  Now Val’s mission is closer to home and deeper.  Over two years ago Val was diagnosed with Mesotheolomia, a lung cancer associated with asbestos. This diagnosis hasn’t changed the fundamental nature of Val’s faith.  This part of life is just a further piece down the road Val has trod all his life.  Val thinks in terms of mission and work for God even at the end of life. Here is what I mean:

           

With a cancer like Mesotheolomia, there are a mountain of lawsuits and a battalion of lawyers that come in tow.  Val is unique in that his memory was so astonishingly clear and cogent.  He remembered every job he ever worked.  He remembered the years, the companies, and the sub contractors and if you pressed him he could probably remember the foreman, supervisors and the union rep.  Val was a treasure trove of information about asbestos and work issues.  In one week Val submitted to four days of depositions, by tons of lawyers.  The deposition was held in a local hotel ballroom, so that all the lawyers and stenographers and camera people and cyber conferencing could go on.   This was a tremendous pressure on a sick man.  But Val did these lengthy depositions not just for the welfare of his own family, but for others.  Val said, “ A lot of guys can’t remember, or they get too sick or they die before they can to tell their story. So partly, I’m doing this for the guys.”  This is mission.  Telling your story clearly and well helps others.  Val understood that.

           

Even before Val got sick he thought of a smile and a simple “Hello” as mission. He once told me, “You never know what difference a smile can make.” Val offered friendship to anyone who wanted to chat with him.  When Val was not able to do his usual workout at the YMCA he would come to say hello and wish people well.  As he sat in chairs outside the weight room, Val would greet whoever came by. I know he knew who was having financial problems, marital difficulty or health problems.  Because he was connected and he cared enough to ask questions.  Val spread goodwill. He was the unofficial mayor of the Cranberry YMCA. This is mission.

           

Val most profoundly looked on his dying as mission.  Val said to me, “I’m a little surprised by the number of people who don’t understand that I will be happy to die.”  As people asked Val about his health they would have sympathetic long faces.  But Val would always remind them that he was going home, that God was calling.  God had made promises to Val. Val knew God was going to keep them. So Val took his dying time as a mission time.  I can see him poking someone with his finger and reminding them dying in the Lord is not a bad thing, but a graduation day to the best thing.

           

This is a life that looks at mission broadly and such a life calls us to think about our mission.  So I’m going to ask you to look at your hands.  Go ahead, right now spread your hands in front of you and look hard.  You think these are your hands.  You think these hands are to do your work for your interests, do your hobbies and fulfill your wants and needs.  But that is not so.  These hands are God’s

So put up one of those hands now. Because TAG!  Your it.  Go and serve.

Amen.

Sent by the Spirit~to Serve in Mission

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Acts 13:1-5

June 10, 2012

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them.

            I want to start by telling you about a Betsy Kain. You may know her, since she used to lived in Squirrel Hill and worked as a therapist for many years there.  Today she lives in Santa Barbara, California, but spends much of her time in Rwanda. Her life changed after a trip to there around Christmas of 2006. 

            The British human rights activist, Rebecca Tinsley, had invited her to go to Rwanda as part of a therapeutic mission trip to help survivors of the Rwandan genocide, in which almost 1 million people were brutally murdered in an attempt at ethnic cleansing in inter-tribal conflicts. She had gone to help female victims of rape and other forms of violence. While there she had a transforming moment. She was viewing a live nativity in which an obviously malnourished mother sat under a banana leaf covered lean-to. She sat with her husband, who was dying from AIDS, while nursing her young baby.

            The scene so shocked her that she went back to where she was staying to listen to Christmas Carols, hoping they would put her in a better frame of mind. Listening to the songs, she was stirred by the Spirit as she listened to the refrain of “Good Christian Men, Rejoice,” which is “Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!” She heard in the song that she was born for this, too—to help these struggling Rwandans.

            Her efforts to help started when she returned to Santa Barbara, and convinced the members of her church to buy a cow for a village in Rwanda. That may not seem like much, but introducing Holstein milk cows in Africa, which produce up to 2/3^rd more milk than African cows, makes a huge difference. The milk, breeding, meat, and manure from a cow can make a major economic impact for them. Her church raised funds to purchase three. 

            Her continued visits to Rwanda also convinced her that while cows could make a difference, goats could make an even bigger difference. For a family to have just one goat can make the difference between starvation and thriving. The goats eat anything. They produce milk that can be drunk or made into cheese to be eaten or sold. Their manure fertilizes gardens. They can be bred to create more goats, and they can be eaten.

            Recognizing the need, she started an organization called goatsforlife.org, where, for $45, a person can purchase a goat for a family in Rwanda. Since she started the organization, it has given over 3400 goats to individual families, and 36 milk cows.

            What’s remarkable about Betsy Kain isn’t just her traveling to Rwanda and starting the organization. It’s that she saw her whole life as mission. Her mission to Rwanda was remarkable all in itself, as was her starting goatsforlife.org, but it’s also clear that these weren’t exceptions. They were the rule of a life spent in mission. She grew up the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, and so learned the value of living a life of mission. She has lived a life of mission, taking her from working as a psychiatric social worker, to being stay-at-home mom, an individual therapist, working in soup kitchens, making donations, and working as a missionary.

            She understood something that’s a calling for all Christians: we are called by the Spirit to serve in mission. We are called at times to take a bold step—even if it’s a small one—to make a difference for people we don’t know, who may be different, and who may hold different values.

            One of the problems I’ve had over the years with the way Presbyterians look at mission is that too often we’re too limited in our thinking about mission. Often Presbyterians limit their understanding of mission to providing food, medicine, buildings, and education, all of which certainly are part of mission, but mission isn’t limited to them.

            I discovered how much we can limit mission in a pastoral interview I had with a church in Maryland before I came to Calvin Presbyterian Church. When Presbyterian churches are looking for new pastors, they are interviewed, much like would happen in a business. During the interview, one of the members of the pastor search committee, looking at my Personal Information Form (kind of like an extensive resume we pastors fill out), commented, “I don’t see much mission in your background.”  I said, “It’s there, and it’s pretty extensive, too.”  “Where?” she asked.  I replied, “My whole background is mission in one way or another. I’ve worked with mentally retarded children, in a psychiatric hospital counseling children and teens, as a hospital chaplain, as a drug and alcohol counselor, as an individual and family therapist, helped with an inner-city vacation Bible school in Wilkinsburg, and more.” She said, “That’s not mission.”  I replied, “Maybe not the way you think of mission, but it was mission to me. Some I got paid for, much I didn’t. But it was always mission. I see mission as doing whatever we’re called to do.”

            I found out later that this sparked a big debate on their committee about the nature of mission. I never had the opportunity to see if they were going to invite me to become their pastor. I became pastor here before they finished their deliberations. The discussion I had with them, though, revealed how limited we can be in thinking about mission.

            In our passage, the mission Paul and Barnabas were called to by the Spirit had nothing to do with food, medicine, education, and building. They were called to a mission of spreading the Gospel. Unfortunately, this is a mission that we Presbyterians aren’t particularly good at. We often feel as though sharing our faith is too intrusive, or too embarrassing, or that we aren’t adept enough. But it’s mission, too.

            I know that when I came to Calvin Presbyterian Church one of the struggles was to get us to look at everything we do as mission. This was already a wonderfully mission-focused church, but the mission tended to be outward looking and limited in its scope, treating mission as only stuff we do somewhere else outside of the church. I remember in my first year having a conversation with member who insisted that any money spent upgrading the church was selfish, and that the money should only be spent on things outside the church—unless we’re talking about a collapsing ceiling. I replied that if we want to increase mission outside the church, we have to enhance worship as a mission in the church. Not only that, but we have to start seeing the everything we do in the church as potential mission: drama, music, building, teaching, program, preaching,… everything. I had said that if we see our worship as mission, upgrading the sanctuary, the sound, the lighting, and everything else, it will grow the church and allow us to do even more mission, locally and globally. That’s been born out. I’d invite you to look at the mission page of our website and see how much we are doing in mission. It’s quite amazing.

            Still, it’s not enough to see everything we do as mission. We need to constantly be asking what we are called to do in mission, individually and as a church. Like Betsy Kain, we have to be willing to follow where God calls us, so that we can live a life of mission. This is what I’ve tried to do in my life. I’ve tried to follow what God has called me to do in mission, and it’s allowed me to develop a mission that is very unique to me.

            Most of you don’t know this, probably because I don’t make a big deal about it, but for the past six years I’ve had two personal missions. One is that I serve as a counselor and spiritual director for other pastors, helping them become healthier in their own lives and leadership. At any time I’m seeing 5-7 pastors from different denominations, at no charge, once every 4-5 weeks to help them become healthier in their ministries. Also, because of the books I’ve written and the work we’ve done here at Calvin Church, I travel around the country and Canada, 15-20 times a year, to give talks on how to create a more spiritually open, grounded, and healthy churches like ours. Over the past six years I’ve been to California, Oregon, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa (4 times—they must really like me there), Michigan (5 times), Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Ottawa, Ontario, New Hampshire, and more. I’ve been in Mississippi in the heat of July, and in Minnesota in -27º. Over the next 8 months I’ll go to Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Edmonton, Alberta.

            The way I keep this as a mission is that even though I charge speaking fees that range from $1700 to $3000, the fees don’t go to me. They go to Calvin Church. This allows my mission to serve as a double mission. I am sent by this church, by you, to help other churches become healthier, and then their fees come to Calvin Church to support the ministry and mission of Calvin Church. Each year these fees provide anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 to Calvin Church’s budget. You can find them in our financial statements under “Standish Ministries.”

            My mission to pastors and churches is one that I’m uniquely called to, and that fits my skills and abilities. Others are called to other mission work. I’m not necessarily called to Betsy Kain’s mission, nor she to mine. But we are both called by the Spirit to mission that fits us uniquely. So are you.

           

            Following where God has called is what I’ve asked our church to do. The only thing I’ve ever asked us to do it to seek God’s calling in prayer, and to do what we are called to do. I’m convinced that when we do this, mission opportunities flow. Along with this emphasis on seeking God’s will has been my constantly reminding the Mission Committee and individuals that it is okay to say “no.” Listening to God’s call is as much a question of saying yes to what God wants, and saying no to what isn’t right for us. 

            Because we are a church that seeks God’s call, many in our church are listening. The response to God’s call by many of our members has really inspired me. For example, I see the McConahy family raising funds for the Relay for Life, in memory of their son, Sam. They began coordinating this local fundraiser after their son died, and each year have managed to raise increasingly more funds. Last year they raised over $8000 to fight cancer. I’ve seen Kim Sebring respond to the pain of the death of her son, Tyler, by starting Project Hope, hoping to ease the pain of others with children at Children’s Hospital. I’ve seen Zane and Jen Sanders serve as college chaplains at Kenyon College. I’ve seen the six members of Calvin Presbyterian Church go to seminary to become pastors, five of whom now are ordained pastors. I’ve seen all the people who have followed God’s call to serve on mission trips, food cupboard, Ladle and Hearth, collecting water for families in Connoquenessing, the mission committee, Habitat for Humanity, SERRV, the Green Team, the Wounded Warrior Project, and so much more.

            Simply put, part of being a Christian is discovering how God is calling us to mission—to sacrifice our time and effort to reach out to people we don’t know, who may be different, and who may have different values, and doing so because we care. How is God calling you to serve in mission?

            Amen.

Called by the Spirit~to Serve in Ministry

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Acts 6:1-7

June 3, 2012

Now during those days, when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables. Therefore, friends, select from among yourselves seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this task, while we, for our part, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serving the word.” What they said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

            As many of you know, because of my background I tend to keep my feet in two different areas at the same time. I read and study a lot in the areas of spirituality, theology, and religion, but I also spend a lot of time reading in the areas of psychology and the social sciences. The reason is that I remain constantly fascinated by people and why we are the way we are. I don’t believe in focusing only on one area of human life, and so I try to be well-integrated in my understanding of what it means to be human and how we can live better lives. It’s not easy having feet in both camps because many in the scientific/rational camp are hostile to religion, and many in the religious camp are hostile to science. But I try to be a bridge between the two.

            On of my favorite magazines in the science camp is Scientific American Mind. It’s a magazine that explores human psychology from a mostly neurological and physical perspective. In their May 2012 issue, they had an interesting article titled, “Are Believers Really Happier Than Atheists?” by Sandra Upson. Like many articles of the kind, it cites a growing body of research that says that, in fact, religious people are happier than non-religious people.  

            This body of research has basically demonstrated that just by your being in church this morning you are healthier and happier than those who aren’t. Much of the research done in the past 20 years points to higher levels of health and happiness, even if you control for unhealthy factors. For instance, if you are a smoker and you are part of a church, you are healthier than a smoker who isn’t. If you are diabetic and part of the church, you are healthier than someone who isn’t.

            The article admitted, more or less, the validity of these studies. But then it went on to take a next step. The author adopts the perspective that what makes religious people healthier is that they spend time with others in a community of support (a conclusion which, by the way, isn’t really supported by research). She believes that there is nothing inherently special about religion other than being a community of support, and she goes on to speculate that atheists could be just as healthy as religious people if they could form similar communities of support. She then offers her ideas on how atheists could form similar communities.

            As I read the article, I kept thinking that the author was really missing the point of the research. She never delved into the reason atheists don’t have these kinds of communities. The reason is that atheists don’t is that they aren’t driven by the same impulses as religious people. What drives a religious community is that it is filled with people looking to love God and love others. Love is the glue of the Christian community. We may love very imperfectly, and we may fall short in the details, but we try. As flawed as we are, we are driven by a desire follow God’s command to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love others as ourselves.

            This is not to say that atheists can’t love or don’t love. It is to say that love isn’t necessarily a driving force of atheism. What drives atheists?  Obviously what drives each atheist is individual motives, but as a group they are driven as much by what they are against as they are by what they are for. Being against God and religion, they block the possibility for the kind of community religion brings. You can’t create a community of love by starting out being against religious communities of love.

            Christian communities actually become unglued when love is diminished and taken out of the church. The churches that fall apart generally are ones in which the members forget about love. They become so focused on individual agendas and power struggles that they become divided. And you see this same forgetfulness in churches that give Christianity a bad name. For instance, you heard about the pastor of Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina, who recently preached in sermon that went viral on YouTube. He said that we should gather all the homosexuals and “queers,” put them behind a compound behind a high fence, and send airplanes over to drop food in. His vision is that eventually they would all die out because they won’t reproduce. The following week a pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas took the issue a step further by saying that all homosexuals should be rounded up by the government and put to death. These are pastors and churches that have forgotten the primacy of love. You see the same loss of love in the members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas who stage ugly protests at the funerals of those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. And their lack of love sparks non-Christians and atheists to paint all of us as unloving.

            Still, what this article really brought out for me is something that makes what we do in this church, and all churches, special. We are a community rooted in a drive for love. I want you to reflect on how special that is. How many communities are you a part of, or are you aware of, that can say that they are primarily rooted in love? Your school?  Work?  Your neighborhood? Your favorite sports teams? The clubs you belong to? The reason a religious kind of community is missing among atheists, and among those who’ve rejected church because they are spiritual but not religious, is that there really aren’t other kinds of communities rooted in love. If you can think of one, it is a rare one. 

            What makes any church special, and this church specifically, is how we try to make love visible. I never want to suggest that we are perfect at it, but we try. I want you to think about everything that goes on here at Calvin Presbyterian Church, and how it impacts others by focusing on others. A focus on others is the essence of love. Love is about putting aside what is right for us so that we can do what is right for another. In that sense, Calvin Presbyterian Church is a church for others.

            Take a walk with me though the ministry of Calvin Church and I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s start with worship. The focus of worship, at its core, is to enhance our focus on God. It is meant to help us grow in our love of God. Think about everyone who participates in the worship service on Sundays. What’s the focus of those who serve as greeters? They don’t greet you and hand out bulletins because of how wonderful it feels. The skeptic will say, “well, they’re doing it so they can get into heaven.” We Presbyterians don’t believe that our deeds get us into heaven, only God’s love and grace do. So I’d be hard pressed to agree that any of our greeters are saying “good morning” and handing out bulletins in order to get into heaven. If that’s the case, then the bar for entry into heaven is awfully low. They greet as a simple act of love, focusing on others.

            You can apply the same focus on all the other things people do in worship. The folks who play music or sing, serve communion, serve on the soundboard, offer coffee after worship, serve in the nursery, or even those of you who sing hymns in worship, don’t do so because of you. You do it for others. Worship is a manifestation of being other focused—either focusing on God or on others. It is hard to do worship when we are the only focus. It is easy to do worship when the focus is on love.

            Think about our education program. We have over 40 people teaching Sunday School on Sunday mornings. These are people who often are cutting out little paper hands at 10 p.m. on Saturday night, reading curriculum on Saturday night, preparing classes from scratch, or are spending time being trained to teach. They could easily be doing other things, but they do this because they love children. And the parents who endure their kids’ whining and complaining on Sunday mornings to take then to class do so because they love their children and know how important it is for their children to learn about God and love.

           

            Our youth program is similar. Whether we are talking about Bruce Smith, our youth director, the adult leaders, the youth leaders, or the parents, they all lead and support the youth involved because of their love for the youth. They want the youth to grow up with a sense of God’s love in their lives, and with a desire to love others. No one is there because it is so self-serving. They are they because it is other-serving.

            Look at other areas of ministry at Calvin Presbyterian Church. We have a great pre-school, taught by loving teachers, with loving parents and church members serving on the board, the session committee, taking part in fundraisers, and more because of love of children. All of our committees are served by people who do so because of a desire to make Calvin Church a place of love. Whether it is a committee devoted to caring for the building, overseeing our finances, tending to worship, coordinating our mission, developing a great education program, and more, they are served by people primarily driven by a love for God and others. If it wasn’t so, who would serve?

            Our drama program is rooted in love. We don’t just put on plays to please ourselves. We put on plays to teach a religious and moral message to others, both inside and outside our church. And the people who commit to night after night of rehearsals and performances certainly like to act, but if that was the primary motive Calvin Church would not be their venue. The folks who take part in our plays like to act, but they also like to be a part of something that shares God’s love with each other and with us.  

            Giving is another act of love. When we give to the church, we are acting out of love. We are recognizing our own limitations by saying, in effect, “I may not be able to spread God’s love by acting, teaching, singing, counseling, visiting, playing an instrument, or the like, but I can devote part of my day, each day, to support others who can do these things. So I give money to the church to support others’ acts of love.” 

            As Paul says in his letters, we are the body of Christ, and every part of this body works together to be a body of love. In a body there is no dominant part. All work together or not at all. We are a body of love who come together, coordinate together, work together, and serve together to love not only those within the church, but those outside the church. We are all ministers. The word “minister” literally means “a servant.” In the Protestant faith we believe that people like me are pastors, called and trained to care for those in ministry, but all of us are ministers. All of us are servants serving in ministries of love. This is what makes churches both distinct and special.

            What the article got wrong is that we aren’t happier and healthier because we’re involved in something that gives us a sense of community or even meaning. We’re happier and healthier because we are trying to live out the source of happiness and health: God, God’s love, and God’s grace.  It’s not what we do that makes us happier and healthier. It’s who we become as a result. As we serve in ministry, we become people of love who love God, love others, and love ourselves.

            We are all sent by the Spirit to be involved in ministry with each other. The thing I’d ask you to reflect on is how open you are to the Spirit’s calling to become involved in the ministry of this church?   

Amen.

Sent by the Spirit--to Become Apostles

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Acts 2:1-12

May 27, 2012

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

I have a bone to pick with Christianity, and it has to do with what we celebrate today. The bone I have to pick is that we don’t celebrate Pentecost very intensely and intentionally. Pentecost should be a BIG DAY, but it’s an afterthought for most Christians. It certainly takes a backseat to Memorial Day this weekend. Think about this for a moment. Christmas and Easter are BIG days, and the whole country celebrates both, but for Pentecost Sunday there are no Hallmark cards or trinkets, no Pentecost Day sales, no Holy Spirit treats left in stockings or baskets,… just wearing red or yellow—if you remember. And when it hits on the same weekend as Memorial Day, there’s virtually no mention of it in the culture. In fact, many churches minimize Pentecost in order to emphasize Memorial Day. No disrespect to veterans intended, but I’m not sure this is right. We should remember all who have fought and died for our freedoms, but is that more important than the coming of the Holy Spirit?   

            I think Pentecost is just as important as Christmas and Easter. Why? Because it’s the day we celebrate Christ’s Spirit truly becoming available to everyone. Jesus certainly considered the Holy Spirit to be as important as him. He followed the Spirit into the desert to struggle with temptation. He followed the Spirit’s onto the cross. After the resurrection, he breathed the Spirit onto his disciples, saying that the Spirit was his Spirit in them. And he invited his disciples and followers to gather on the Day of Pentecost to await the Spirit’s coming into their lives.

            It is this gift of the Holy Spirit, available to all of us, that distinguishes Christianity from every other religion. The fact is that all religions teach something similar to each other in terms of love, compassion, justice, and the like. But Christianity teaches something unique about God, which is that we can open up and allow God’s Spirit to come alive in us, if we choose to do so. This is a radical vision of God. Basically it means that God is not only in heaven or in the eternal realm, but right now God is in us, God is around us, and God is working through us.

            What makes the day of Pentecost really important is how it changed Jesus’ disciples, and how it changed all of Jesus’ followers. Most people don’t make the distinction between disciples and apostles. We don’t think that there’s much difference, but there is. Most people just think the words are interchangeable, but on the Day of Pentecost Jesus’ disciples stopped being disciples and became apostles. Look at the words “disciple” and “apostle” and you’ll see the difference.

            The word “disciple” used in the Bible the Greek word μαθητής, or mathetes, which means “a pupil” or “an apprentice.” The Latin version of the word (the root of the word we use) is discipulus, which means “a student.” Basically, the disciples were Jesus’ students. The fact that he had twelve disciples wasn’t a rarity. Jesus was a rabbi, and in the rabbinic tradition of the time a master rabbi typically would take on 12 apprentice disciples who would be trained to become rabbis in their own right. Jesus may have called them differently than the typical rabbi. And he certainly wasn’t a typical rabbi, but he was following the rabbinical tradition in training them to be rabbis—except that he was really training them to become apostles.

            The word “apostle” is different from “disciple.” It comes from the Greek word ἀπόστολος or apóstolos, which means “one who is sent away.” Apostles are “sent ones,” sent by Christ to spread his gospel, his love, and his Spirit. Being an apostle, a sent one, is a dramatic difference from being a disciple, or student. Think of your own student years. Was the focus of your being a student just to be a student, or were you being trained for something else? The Day of Pentecost was a transforming day because that was graduation day for the disciples. The disciples became apostles, and as apostles they left the relative safety of Jerusalem to share the Gospel with the world. I say “relative” because soon it became very dangerous for them. They spoke out about their faith. As a result, many of them were becoming abused, persecuted, and even killed.

            When they left Jerusalem, many of the disciples went to share the gospel in dangerous places. Andrew went to Scythia (present day Armenia and Georgia), where he was crucified. James went to Spain, which was a wild and unsettled province of the Roman Empire, and was killed there. Matthew went to Ethiopia, Thomas went to India (I spoke about him several weeks ago), Jude went to Assyria, Peter to Antioch and then to Rome, and Paul went to Turkey, Greece, Rome, and possibly Spain. All died because of what they were preaching. Becoming an apostle, a sent one, can be dangerous work, but it is the focus of the Christian life. We aren’t just called to be students. We are called to be sent.

            In all American denominations, and especially among the nondenominational, evangelical churches, there has been a big emphasis on making everyone a disciple. This has been true for a number of years. Often that means that the focus of the church is getting everyone involved in small groups. This focus on disciplemaking is big. Last January I was invited to be a speaker at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Disciplemaking Conference  in Florida. I told them what I’m telling you right now. The focus of the Christian faith is not on becoming a disciple. It is on becoming an apostle, to become someone who is sent into the world to make a difference. To become apostles we need to learn more about our faith, but being a disciple is only a step to our ultimate calling.

            We had a great example this morning of what it means to be a modern apostle. Cary Efaw, one of our members, did a moment for mission on the Wounded Warrior Project that we participated in back in March. It was a great example of how the Spirit works. Heather Efaw, Cary’s daughter, is in the U.S. Air Force, and was stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She was posted in the hospital/medical unit. Looking around she saw the struggles of the wounded soldiers. It stirred her to do something—or more accurately, the Spirit stirred her to do something. She called her father and told him that the wounded came in but had no backpacks, containers, or bags to put their stuff in when they were transferred out to another medical unit in German or elsewhere. She wondered if Cary could coordinate an effort at Calvin Church to provide backpacks and containers.

            As Cary said, he struggled with the request because he was concerned about being embarrassed if the congregation didn’t respond. But as he also said, in the end the Spirit stirred him to do something, and he decided to let God take care of the results. This congregation responded in a big way, sending over 45 backpacks, 144 tupperware-like containers, and so much more.

            This is how the Spirit works. Heather became a “sent one” to Afghanistan. It may not have fully been her choice, but the Spirit uses lots of different means to send us where the Spirit wants. She invited Cary to become a “sent one” in Zelienople. Cary invited us to all become “sent ones,” sending us to places like Target, Giant Eagle, or even our closets to find material to send to Afghanistan. This is what it means to be “sent.” The Spirit enters us, calls us, stirs us, and those of faith respond.

            I want you to look at your life and ask a question: “How are you being sent to make a difference in the world?” You are being sent somewhere in some way. It may be no further than your home and town. Or it may be supporting someone else who is sent. Or it may be that you are sent somewhere else.  The question is, are you ready to be sent?

            Amen.