Sun 10/22/06 Sermon
When I was in college, I had a roommate who turned out to be my best friend. I remember one night, particularly after a long day and some horrible event, like breaking up with a girlfriend, or failing a test or something, I climbed into bed, he was in his bed and I said, “You know, life is pain.” I was not being original, as that is a funny quote from the movie, The Princess Bride, where Buttercup’s evil husband-to-be says to her in response to her unwillingness to wed him instead of her true love Wesley, “Life is pain, Princess, get used to it.” My roommate was silent for a time, and said back to me, “No it’s not.” I think we chatted about whatever was bothering me then we both drifted off to sleep. For some reason that moment has stuck in my head since then, I have never been able to shake it, I am not sure what caused me to say it, I am not sure what I was feeling, I must have been in love. But Erik’s response took me off guard, it was unexpected, I probably wanted to talk about something, but his response, I remember, set me at ease, it reminded me that yes, life hurts sometimes, but overall, I am pretty lucky and blessed to be alive, in relationship with people who make my life rich and beautiful and fun.
I believe that Erik’s response instilled in me a sense of hope, not unlike Princess Buttercup, who never truly gave up hope that her beloved Wesley would come for her. Hope is a powerful thing, hope is something that can change the world, hope is something that can overcome fear, and hope is something that can bring great joy. Henry Nouwen in his book, The Wounded Healer wrote, “Every Christian is constantly invited to overcome his neighbors fear by entering into it with him and to find in the fellowship of suffering the way to freedom.” Hope requires at least two people, we can be hopeful about something, or some event, but without other people to share both the joys and the sorrows hope does not lead us to freedom. Hope is about overcoming fears, and limitations, hope is about lifting up a vision, raising up a dream that seems impossible, or moves us beyond despair to see the speck of light shining through, the speck of possibility that something Good, something joyful, something miraculous could occur. We are invited to be in relationship with each other, we are invited to lead one another to freedom, freedom that has been discovered because of the hope we maintain together. Jesus asked James and John to join him and to help him overcome the fears he was facing, the worry and concern he had for his own life. Jesus is asking James and John, by sharing their wounds and their fears with him, to heal him and help him find freedom and experience the Reign of God. Jesus is asking James and John to take on leadership by a radical call of discipleship, a radical call to service.
What is so difficult in looking at leadership and service this way is that hope is the base characteristic we cling to. It is hope that brings us the possibility of love, it is hope that brings us into the valley of those we are vulnerable with, it is hope that sustains our life and our desire for the Reign of God. Nouwen continues in his book, “Hope offers a vision beyond human suffering and even death.” It was because of hope that James and John were able to ask the question of Jesus, it was because of hope that they believed they could experience the same suffering that Jesus was about to endure. This hope that bubble’s up in us is love and it is what recalls for us the knowledge of who we are and whose we are. We belong to God and to God alone. It is God alone who brings love into our hearts; it is God alone that grants us the gift of life. It is God alone that is present with us in our suffering, God is hope.
Christian Leadership is based in hope, not a rosy colored optimism, but rather a hope that is based in history, a hope that has been proven time and again to bring justice and peace. Jesus himself, when he explained his philosophy of power and authority is placing himself in a long line of hope-filled people. People who have dreamed of how oppression and corruption could be overcome and more than that, defeated. People who have imagined how the poor could be freed, oppressor’s hearts softened and the Reign of God fulfilled. The prophets, like Jesus, placed the burden of leadership and morality upon the backs of the kings and rulers of Israel, on the backs of those who claimed power and leadership. The prophets challenged the ruling elite to be responsible leaders, to be stewards of the land, the animals and the people living on that land. More often than not they were unable to meet the expectations of the prophets and God’s will. Their leadership fell short because it did not instill love, it did not instill hope and it did not instill the requirements of righteousness that God desired to see among the people of Israel. Too often leaders were steeped in simple optimism, or misplaced hope in other nations’ strength rather than in God’s strength and love. Jesus offers a new a simple but real hope, a hope that we will be able to overcome oppression, a hope that lifts up justice and will bring joy to the hearts of those who follow him.
Angie and Shane, here today with Austin to baptize Gavin, know all about this real hope Jesus has given us. In talking with them last week, I learned all that they went through in preparing for Gavin to come into their world, into our world. There was a good chance that Gavin was not going to be with us, celebrating this day, celebrating new life, celebrating God’s glorious love. Shane and Angie never gave up hope that Gavin would come through, it was hard, and I imagine there were times when it would have been easier to give up hope, to simply love what you already had and not think about the possibilities of the future. Love is grounded in hope however, and the two of you are gloriously loving people, therefore you are amazingly hope filled and inspiring people as well. You lifted up the speck of light that all would be well, and all was well and we sit together today prepared to baptize this beautiful child of yours. Shane and Angie allowed the living active word of God to come into their hearts, they allowed God to fill them with love, they allowed God to hold them and raise them up. We must remember we have been given the gift of life, the gift of companionship and relationship. We have been given this gift of love simply because God thinks it’s pretty cool that we are alive. God is present to each of us simply because God loves us. We must always remember God is close to us, there is always hope for a better future. All we can do is graciously and sometimes pleadingly pray to God, “Let your Kingdom come on earth.” All we can do is bask in the glory of God, living in the midst of God’s grace; grace that embraces all of who we are as children of God. By turning over our need for control, our need for leadership, through sacrificing our selfish wants and desires we can come to understand clearly how it is that God loves us and how it is that God can hand us something as precious as the ability to hope.
As many of you know, the word Gospel means Good News. That leads to a simple concept that is difficult to remember but that is vitally important. A concept that as leaders, and yes, simply by being here in Church on a Sunday morning we are all leaders of and in this Church, we must always remember to share ourselves with others. Leaving all we have, selling all we have, and giving what is left to the poor, to people in need of the abundance that we have at our fingertips, to people in need of our service. Jon Sobrino, a liberation theologian writes, “God is coming close; God is coming close because God is good; and it is good for us that God should come so close.” If the message of the Gospel does not move from oppression to freedom, from sickness to health, from sadness to joy, we must be aware of what it is we are saying and what it is we believe about the hope found in the Good News of God in Christ. What is keeping us from proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ, the Good News that rests at the seat of our being that defines who we are, the Good News that makes us such cool people to be with, and such cool people to serve with?
As leaders of the Christian Church, we have a responsibility to care for and to celebrate the coming of the Reign of God. We have a responsibility to live into a hope that takes us from the lowest valley to the highest mountain to the lowest valley again. We have a call to live into a hope that takes us into dark places and even into pain and suffering, but it is also a hope that helps us see a world where justice has been accomplished, where there may be no more oppression. We must remember to hope, because the Gospels, as hard are they are sometimes, call us to rejoice and celebrate the gift that God has given us. The promise God has given to us, a promise to love and serve as long as we shall live. How will we challenge God, how will we walk in the footsteps of James and John, seeking to heal others and ourselves, even those we see as powerful leaders, through the joyous love of God?
I believe that Erik’s response instilled in me a sense of hope, not unlike Princess Buttercup, who never truly gave up hope that her beloved Wesley would come for her. Hope is a powerful thing, hope is something that can change the world, hope is something that can overcome fear, and hope is something that can bring great joy. Henry Nouwen in his book, The Wounded Healer wrote, “Every Christian is constantly invited to overcome his neighbors fear by entering into it with him and to find in the fellowship of suffering the way to freedom.” Hope requires at least two people, we can be hopeful about something, or some event, but without other people to share both the joys and the sorrows hope does not lead us to freedom. Hope is about overcoming fears, and limitations, hope is about lifting up a vision, raising up a dream that seems impossible, or moves us beyond despair to see the speck of light shining through, the speck of possibility that something Good, something joyful, something miraculous could occur. We are invited to be in relationship with each other, we are invited to lead one another to freedom, freedom that has been discovered because of the hope we maintain together. Jesus asked James and John to join him and to help him overcome the fears he was facing, the worry and concern he had for his own life. Jesus is asking James and John, by sharing their wounds and their fears with him, to heal him and help him find freedom and experience the Reign of God. Jesus is asking James and John to take on leadership by a radical call of discipleship, a radical call to service.
What is so difficult in looking at leadership and service this way is that hope is the base characteristic we cling to. It is hope that brings us the possibility of love, it is hope that brings us into the valley of those we are vulnerable with, it is hope that sustains our life and our desire for the Reign of God. Nouwen continues in his book, “Hope offers a vision beyond human suffering and even death.” It was because of hope that James and John were able to ask the question of Jesus, it was because of hope that they believed they could experience the same suffering that Jesus was about to endure. This hope that bubble’s up in us is love and it is what recalls for us the knowledge of who we are and whose we are. We belong to God and to God alone. It is God alone who brings love into our hearts; it is God alone that grants us the gift of life. It is God alone that is present with us in our suffering, God is hope.
Christian Leadership is based in hope, not a rosy colored optimism, but rather a hope that is based in history, a hope that has been proven time and again to bring justice and peace. Jesus himself, when he explained his philosophy of power and authority is placing himself in a long line of hope-filled people. People who have dreamed of how oppression and corruption could be overcome and more than that, defeated. People who have imagined how the poor could be freed, oppressor’s hearts softened and the Reign of God fulfilled. The prophets, like Jesus, placed the burden of leadership and morality upon the backs of the kings and rulers of Israel, on the backs of those who claimed power and leadership. The prophets challenged the ruling elite to be responsible leaders, to be stewards of the land, the animals and the people living on that land. More often than not they were unable to meet the expectations of the prophets and God’s will. Their leadership fell short because it did not instill love, it did not instill hope and it did not instill the requirements of righteousness that God desired to see among the people of Israel. Too often leaders were steeped in simple optimism, or misplaced hope in other nations’ strength rather than in God’s strength and love. Jesus offers a new a simple but real hope, a hope that we will be able to overcome oppression, a hope that lifts up justice and will bring joy to the hearts of those who follow him.
Angie and Shane, here today with Austin to baptize Gavin, know all about this real hope Jesus has given us. In talking with them last week, I learned all that they went through in preparing for Gavin to come into their world, into our world. There was a good chance that Gavin was not going to be with us, celebrating this day, celebrating new life, celebrating God’s glorious love. Shane and Angie never gave up hope that Gavin would come through, it was hard, and I imagine there were times when it would have been easier to give up hope, to simply love what you already had and not think about the possibilities of the future. Love is grounded in hope however, and the two of you are gloriously loving people, therefore you are amazingly hope filled and inspiring people as well. You lifted up the speck of light that all would be well, and all was well and we sit together today prepared to baptize this beautiful child of yours. Shane and Angie allowed the living active word of God to come into their hearts, they allowed God to fill them with love, they allowed God to hold them and raise them up. We must remember we have been given the gift of life, the gift of companionship and relationship. We have been given this gift of love simply because God thinks it’s pretty cool that we are alive. God is present to each of us simply because God loves us. We must always remember God is close to us, there is always hope for a better future. All we can do is graciously and sometimes pleadingly pray to God, “Let your Kingdom come on earth.” All we can do is bask in the glory of God, living in the midst of God’s grace; grace that embraces all of who we are as children of God. By turning over our need for control, our need for leadership, through sacrificing our selfish wants and desires we can come to understand clearly how it is that God loves us and how it is that God can hand us something as precious as the ability to hope.
As many of you know, the word Gospel means Good News. That leads to a simple concept that is difficult to remember but that is vitally important. A concept that as leaders, and yes, simply by being here in Church on a Sunday morning we are all leaders of and in this Church, we must always remember to share ourselves with others. Leaving all we have, selling all we have, and giving what is left to the poor, to people in need of the abundance that we have at our fingertips, to people in need of our service. Jon Sobrino, a liberation theologian writes, “God is coming close; God is coming close because God is good; and it is good for us that God should come so close.” If the message of the Gospel does not move from oppression to freedom, from sickness to health, from sadness to joy, we must be aware of what it is we are saying and what it is we believe about the hope found in the Good News of God in Christ. What is keeping us from proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ, the Good News that rests at the seat of our being that defines who we are, the Good News that makes us such cool people to be with, and such cool people to serve with?
As leaders of the Christian Church, we have a responsibility to care for and to celebrate the coming of the Reign of God. We have a responsibility to live into a hope that takes us from the lowest valley to the highest mountain to the lowest valley again. We have a call to live into a hope that takes us into dark places and even into pain and suffering, but it is also a hope that helps us see a world where justice has been accomplished, where there may be no more oppression. We must remember to hope, because the Gospels, as hard are they are sometimes, call us to rejoice and celebrate the gift that God has given us. The promise God has given to us, a promise to love and serve as long as we shall live. How will we challenge God, how will we walk in the footsteps of James and John, seeking to heal others and ourselves, even those we see as powerful leaders, through the joyous love of God?
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