Sermons

Leading Lives That Matter

Today is the first Sunday after Christmas…..Christ the Messiah has been born. We have sung carols which expressed the joy of his coming….. We have listened to the stories of the angels singing and the star shining in the East and……… of the baby Jesus being born in a manger. 

My question for us this morning is…………”Now, what”? 

       The days immediately following Christmas with all of its wonder and celebration can be a bit of a let down. The ordinariness of daily life returns quickly and it’s easy to forget about the Christ child.

       In this morning’s scripture reading from the gospel of Luke Jesus has grown to the age of twelve. He has travelled with his family to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover festival as they did every year. This year, however, when the time of celebration ends and Mary and Joseph begin the journey home…..back to the daily routine of life, Jesus stays behind…..unnoticed.

       Is it possible that once Christmas Day has come and gone and our lives return to normal once again….Jesus often stays behind unnoticed still lying in the manger? For many of us once Christmas is over…..it’s easy to lose track of Jesus just as his own parents did that day in Jerusalem.

       When Mary and Joseph finally find their son….. he is in the Temple talking with the teachers there. Jesus seems genuinely surprised that his parents didn’t know right where to find him. He says: “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” This text can also be translated as “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?”

       For those who seek to follow the faithful man of God who this child later became, the man who answered God’s call even though his faith eventually led him to the Cross…. we, too, “must be about our Father’s business.”………………

       But what does it mean to answer God’s call here in our time and place, in this twenty first century world so far removed from first century Palestine?………..

I would suggest there are two critically important qualities of Christ we must emulate if we are to answer God’s call. 

       First….like Jesus we must be radically available.

We are called to love God with our whole heart, soul, and mind.  In other words, God requires ALL of us. Not just what is convenient and doesn’t cost us much. God must be the highest priority in our lives.

       Several years ago, as I was discerning God’s call for my own life, I found framing my questions in the form of “If God really was my highest priority, what would I do in this circumstance?” In my particular case being open to and willing to go in whatever direction I felt God was leading me eventually resulted in my entering seminary to pursue the ordained ministry.

        This came as a surprise not only to me but to a woman I worked with in Salt Lake City. Susan knew I was leaving work to attend seminary but it was obvious she didn’t really understand what that meant in my context. One day, Susan stopped by my office and as we were chatting she casually asked me which church I belonged to. I knew that Susan was Mormon and her church did not ordain women and certainly not a lesbian woman!

 So I was not surprised when her question came with the subtext of….  ”What church would ordain a lesbian?”

        I proudly told Susan I was a member of the United Church of Christ. As there are not many UCC congregations in Utah I was not surprised when she looked confused. Then slowly I began to see a look of understanding come across her face and she excitedly exclaimed “Oh, I know….I’ve seen those commercials on TV. That’s…that’s that church that takes ANYBODY!

       I explained to her that we in the UCC like to say “Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here; but “we take anybody” works, too.

       My point in sharing this story is two-fold. First, because I think it’s funny…..and also because the story illustrates that the UCC’s “extravagant welcome” is modeled on the fact that God does indeed “take everybody.” There is a role for each of us in God’s realm but first we need to make ourselves available. Radically available.

       Does that mean leaving life as we know it and going off to seminary to study theology or to a foreign country to serve as a missionary? For some, perhaps it does. However, for most people, it probably doesn’t. However, as a starting point, being radically available to God may mean taking a hard look at our priorities and seeing where God and God’s priorities fall on the list.

How many of us have heard it said “If you want to see what a person’s real priorities are, don’t listen to what they say their priorities are, just watch how they spend their time and their money.”

        For example, what would our response be if Jesus asked us as he did the rich young man to “give up all we have and follow him?”……. Granted, many have pointed out that Jesus may have asked the rich young man to give up his possessions because Jesus knew that’s where the man’s heart was.  Some may disagree, but I personally don’t believe Jesus calls us to give up all we own unless our stuff has become more important to us than God.

        However, if we are to be radically available to God, we must be willing to walk away from some or all of what we own (which in reality belongs to God, anyway) ……

       For many people, possessions aren’t the issue. We gladly write checks to support worthy organizations that are doing the work of feeding the hungry or housing the homeless. For us, it’s not possessions or money that is hard to give away,……… it’s….our…..time. Money is comparatively easy thing to let go of, but time, well….they just aren’t making any more of that. But if we are to be radically available to God, being willing to spend our time doing whatever we are called to do is critically important. Again, we may need to re-examine our priorities.

       Jesus calls us to follow him in his total abandonment to God. Yet, we are only able to share in this life of radical availability through the power of Christ who strengthens us.

This leads us to the second of the two important qualities we need to have as we seek to follow God’s call. The first was radical availability the second is……Radical Reliance.

       As we seek to discover what “being about my Father’s business” means in our time and place, it is important to remember that we are never called to do anything on our own strength alone. Christ provides the means. Our job is to show up and follow the leading of the Spirit as we understand it.

       On one hand this may come as a relief, knowing we are not expected to answer God’s calling on our own strength. On the other hand, this radical reliance also means letting go of our independence from God and the death of our pride. In doing so, we gain a new life in Christ and the peace that comes with aligning our desires with God’s will. 

       I am reminded of the famous prayer by Thomas Merton which reads: My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me, nor do I really know myself. The fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you, and I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you even though I may seem lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear for you are ever with me. You will never leave me to face my struggles alone. Amen.

       The title of my sermon this morning is “Leading a Life that Matters.” The truth is that ALL lives matter to God.

God loves each and every one of us. Our response to God’s love as Christ followers is to be radically available to answer God’s call by making God’s will for our lives our highest priority. At the same time, remembering that when we answer the call we know we can rely completely on Christ to give us the strength and the wisdom to do what we are being called to do or sometimes even more importantly to be who we are called to be.      

       In conclusion, the answer to the question I posed earlier: “Christmas is over…Now, what?” is a simple one. We are to be “going about God’s business” as Jesus did…. Jesus heard and responded in faith to God’s call not only on that day when as a boy he had stayed behind in the temple…. but also on each of the many difficult days which followed including the day he embodied the ultimate in radical availability and surrendered his life on a cross.

       While our celebration of Christ’s being born into this world may be complete for another year, the love that God has for each of us, which was made manifest in the birth of Jesus the Christ is with us not only on Christmas Day but on every day. So let us follow the example of the boy Jesus and be about our Father’s business as we answer the call to share the good news of God’s love which is for all people.

Amen.