Time will tell in what God will do with me

Last Sunday I was the guest minister at Grace Presbyterian church in Temple. My time worshiping with this congregation and its new interim pastor was such a huge blessing for me. And one which I was extremely grateful. I not only wore a alb for the first time but felt for the first time confident and affirmed in my role as emerging pastor. It was a good feeling. Here is the sermon I preached....

Ephesians 1: 15-23
Sunday, May 16, 2010


Marking time, we're in the seventh Sunday after Easter. How time flies, as they say. It seems as if Easter Sunday was just last weekend. People mark time according to the seasons of life. In this current time, spring has bloomed, and the evidence of the summer season approaches with the earmarks of school getting out, summer weddings, longer days, flowers in bloom and warmer weather. With longer days upon us, hope of relaxation gives us a much needed change of pace and the opportunity for a renewed frame of mind. It’s kind of like the last 36 hours. Friday gave us a stormy day, but about 11 a.m. Saturday morning, an abundance of sunshine poured in to establish a day with low humidity and an ending high in the low 80s. Absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know about you, but it definitely gave me a renewed sense of being. Parker Palmer in his book Let your Life Speak, says summer abundance is “...created when we have a sense to choose community, to come together to celebrate and share our common store (107). And, Summer is the season when all the promissory notes of autumn and winter and spring come due, and each year the debts are repaid with compound interest. In summer, it is hard to remember that we had ever doubted the natural process, had ever ceded death the last word, had ever lost faith in the powers of new life (109).”

Eastertide, as this time is called, is the season when we find faith in those powers of new life. Today marks a significant passage of time, but this passage is one of liturgical time. Today is what is called Ascension Sunday. A diffident passage of time both for Jesus’ disciples and for us. Today commemorates the day that Jesus leaves his disciples and gives them the command to act as witnesses on Jesus' behalf, carrying forth the legacy of his love and his life, and allowing a pathway for his saving grace to flow. As described in Acts 1, Jesus ascends to heaven to sit at the right hand of God. Acts 1 reads,

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men [people] of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus helps clarify how Jesus comes to us. How Jesus is in the midst of us as we learn to live out the seasons of our lives in love and hope. Paul reminds us, as he reminded the people of Ephesus, about the marks of the church, and how we should relate to one another in Christ. The church in Ephesus was not much different than us in many ways. They struggled to find understanding in their faith; and desired to live in a way that was honorable and pleasing to God. They wanted to share Jesus' love. They wanted to share with others in the life-renewing changes they had received in their own lives through Christ's grace. Paul sees the hearts of the Ephesians and provides encouragement to them when he says,

“I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.”

Paul wrote this, let's just say, a long time ago. So, in virtue of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians, how do we get to know God today through the marking of time? How does the church mark the divinity of Christ through time? The answer lies in the simple yet profound. One of the commentaries I read says that the true Church embodies two characteristics: loyalty and love for Christ Jesus being number one. And number two: to love all of God's children. In the work of all of us together, Christ's church, we can show this love by caring for one another. Let me say that again. We can show this love through community and caring for one another. The Apostle Paul gives us the metaphor that Christ is the head and we're the body. Paul says, “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” We are Christ's hands, feet, heart and muscle, unique and separate, but all vitally important in working together to show Christ's love to others. We show our love for Christ by loving one another, by being community with one another. We acknowledge that we are the body of Christ.

One of the commentators I looked at had this to say, Christ is the head; the church is the body. The head must have a body through which it can do its work. The church is quite literally hands to do Christ’s work, feet to run upon Christ’s errands, and a voice to speak Christ’s words. The Church this writer says is the complement of Christ. “Just as the ideas of the mind cannot become effective without the work of the body, the tremendous glory which Christ brought to the world cannot become effective without the work of the church.”

Now I know that this is easier said than done. In our society today, individualism is at a height. The “I” can often be the central focus. My opinion. My feelings. What makes me feel good. Not to mention, the individualism as its rooted into seeing only the differences of the denominations that make up Christ’s church. It can lead to an us versus them mentality. At the time of this letter to the church in Ephesus, the world which Paul lived and witnessed to was in complete disunity. You had disunity among Jews and Gentiles; and among Greeks and Barbarians. It was Paul’s contention that Jesus’s death brought all the elements of discord back together. Jesus drives all that separates us to a point of reconciling person to person, people to people, and then not done, reconciles each person back to God. We need each other to do God’s work. Seventeenth century poet and Anglican priest, John Donne put it this way, “No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

And through this main, God works through us. Jesus works through us. It starts by doing small things. Small things have a way of making huge impacts. Each of us has a gift to give. Each of us can be the hands, the lips, the feet of Christ. Before I started seminary, I had an idea to write a book about the small ways people make huge differences in others lives. I spoke with and interviewed many pastors, leaders of non-profits like Impact Austin and Habitat for Humanity, and lay people who know that somehow their efforts make a difference because they give from a place of love. Almost every person I interviewed gave me this one kernel of truth. The idea that one kind act can change the world. One of my interviewees who is now a bishop in the greater Seattle Washington area told me a story. It was the story of a made for TV movie called Door to Door. Have you heard of it? The movie made in 2002 stars William H. Macy, and is about a man named Bill Porter. Bill worked as a door to door salesman for the Watkins company for nearly 50 years, as well as one of their top sellers. Bill’s genuine good nature and caring spirit helped make him successful. However, there was one thing that tried to limit Bill to what he was capable of doing. Bill suffers from the effects of Cerebral Palsy. This charming and giving man could not make a life for himself working in the world helping others, without the help of others. The movie has a sequence that shows others becoming a community for Bill. They support Bill by helping him in small, small ways like fixing his tie, making sure his hat was on straight, sharing some food with him, shining his shoes, or giving him a ride to the bus so he could start his route.

What are the ways you all become the hands and feet of Jesus? I was looking at your website and was noticing all the wonderful ways you all help become Jesus for the world. I noticed how you contribute to such organizations as Meals on Wheels, Church Touching Lives for Christ (CTLC), and providing Communion for those home bound. This is such a few among many other gestures of kindness and grace I notice you all bestow on others. In this season, find small ways to share what is common. Christ is in the midst of us. You can become God’s healing for the world through your kindness. Hope is renewed in this new season quickly approaching. The realization of that hope is seen by witness of the work of our hands. Dear Saints, how do you mark time? How can the hope found in Christ be renewed through you this summer?