EASTER 07 – 2007
(Acts 16:16-34;
Ps.89:1-20; Rev. 22:14-14,16-17,20; John 17:20-26)
THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF
!
St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church,
the Rev.
Ken Kroohs
One of the ironies about our service structure is that most of the time the very hard readings ... the
difficult words and long sentences ... are given to the lay readers. The clergy usually get the easy stuff!!
Today is one exception.
Every time this lesson comes up I practice reading the gospel several
times ... I write it out with extra punctuation, and still get tongue tied!
Looking past the confusing sentence structure, we find some
especially interesting thoughts. At the
very beginning Jesus explains He is praying not just for the disciples of that
time but for all who believe ... through their
word. Not “their” as in the original
disciples but Christians throughout the centuries.
I had never thought about that until this week. Through their
word .. through the work and
teaching of Jesus followers, other people will become followers. NOT through direct acts by God — but through
the actions and words of followers – of those claiming to be Christians.
Note the reading from Acts ... that is exactly what happens. Through Paul and Silas’ words and actions
their jailer, and others, begin to believe in Jesus.
Go back to the gospel and notice the reason Jesus gives. Paul usually stresses believing in Jesus for salvation .. for eternal life. He tells the jailer “believe in the Lord
Jesus and you will be saved”.
ASIDE — notice this is one of the times Paul is recorded as
having baptized “all the family”. MAYBE,
that means all the adults in the family ... but maybe it included the smallest
children.
OK, back to salvation ... Paul stresses believing in Jesus to be
saved. BUT, Jesus approaches it from a somewhat different
direction. He says: “that they all may
be one — so the world will believe that you have sent me” Jesus repeats that
theme at least 3 times in this passage alone.
So we have two thoughts: that people will know Jesus and God,
through us and second, that it is in being one that we, the world ... other
people ... begin to know, appreciate, wonder about, and then follow Jesus.
ASIDE #2: This is actually the second part of a two part sermon
with the first part coming next week. ... If you think that is confusing for
you, try writing it that way!
That is just how the
scripture passages fell out.
Let me define a phrase. I define the phrase “active Christians”
as people who believe in Jesus Christ, and pattern their life after Jesus’
teachings – at least to some extent.
That leaves a lot of people who are “inactive Christians” or
“non-Christians”.
“Inactive Christians” are in many ways the most intriguing
group. These are people who generally,
when asked, say they are Christian. One
common phrase people use is that the are “spiritual
but not religious”. Frequently that is
followed by some derogatory comment about “organized religions” — comments that
have too much truth for comfort I might add!
The point is that when asked how they expressed their
Christianity in the past week, the answer is minimal at best. An active Christian can tell us how they
lived out their Christianity through worship yes, but more importantly through
prayer, study and action. If someone
followed them for that week and kept a diary there would be a category for
“Christian actions”.
So why would people who know the basic Christian story, who may
have been baptized, who grew up in the church become “inactive Christians”? More importantly, why would they not change
back into “active Christians”?
Jesus gave us the instructions and Paul gave us the model. As we look around our society, do you believe
the world ... including both inactive and non-Christians are being attracted to
God ... attracted to Jesus Christ through the actions of Christians?
Of course that question requires generalizations
! ... Personally, I think it happens sometimes. Sometimes people are attracted to Jesus by
the actions of Christians but too often the reverse happens. At best the inactive or non-Christians are
bored. At worst they are chased away.
That, I believe, may be the worse sin anyone can ever
commit. That we can ever commit. To bore or chase away people who could become
active followers of Jesus Christ.
I don’t believe the answer is to seek the least common
denominator ... if you follow the show: “Are you smarter than a 5th
grader” you
You see, I believe this stuff is important. It is important to us but maybe more so to
the people whose paths we cross. I
believe THAT is what Jesus is teaching.
I believe THAT is what Paul and Silas demonstrated — this stuff is
important.
.... As you know I am fascinated with why people do, or don’t do
things. I am especially fascinated by
why people do or don’t do religious things.
So I have been fascinated by the rapid growth of some churches,
especially some non-denominational churches but also some main stream churches,
even some Episcopal Churches.
This past week I was reading an article that articulated one of
my favorite theories ... not mine alone but of the many theories proposed the
one I find most convincing. The article
was about Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for President and focused on
his Church of the Later Day Saints’ — Mormon beliefs. In the article it mentioned how quickly that
church has grown recently. It mentioned
the focus on families and traditions.
Even with all that, I believe the key point the article mentioned
is how the church expects a lot from its members. It expects them to tithe – give 10% – at
least. It expects them to live a healthy life style. It expects them to have a strong family
life. It expects the men to give two
years of their life to a mission — to spend two years talking about Jesus.
With the exception of the mission years, many of the same
expectations are found in other rapidly growing churches. My thought on this is that the key factor is
not the political or even the theological.
Rather the key is that the people believe this religion stuff is important !! These
churches convey the belief that this Christianity stuff is important.
The politics, even the theology come later and are more
acceptable BECAUSE people believe it is all important.
.... This past week I was heard to groan because my knees
hurt. It was no big deal. I frequently over do the gym workouts and pay
the price afterwards. But immediately
after the groan a couple suggestions were made about how to help my knees. Nobody said the obvious one: “be sensible
with your workouts!” but other suggestions were made.
People cared. People
thought it was important. People had
discovered something that worked and were anxious to share it.
Haven’t we all done that at some point? Shared something we learned with a friend?
We are willing, even anxious to share lots of things but .... do I need to finish this
thought or is it too obvious?
What would it take for us to believe this religious stuff is
important? More
important than we now believe?
What would it take for us to believe this religious stuff is important
enough to increase our expectations of ourselves?
If you know me you know I am not particularly focused on the next
life. I believe we have all we can do,
and all the blessings we could want right here – right now.
What would it take for us to believe this is important enough to
keep talking about it, doing it, living it even after the authorities told us
to stop and threw us in jail? .... Or simply a neighbor showed disdain for our
life style?
This is important stuff!
This is more important thancreaky knees!
Forget the tithing. Forget
the two years on a mission.
I certainly do not advocate their approach. I sincerely believe they are wasting
resources. BUT, I am extremely impressed
with their dedication ... with their belief that this is important.
But ignore those extreme expectations. Imagine for a moment that everyone in this
room took Christianity just a tad more seriously. Not up to Paul and Silas’ standards of being
arrested. Not even up to Jesus standards
to all be one. But a tad more seriously.
Forget the tithing part.
Forget the money because that is the easy part. Imagine what would happen if every one of us
took Christianity more seriously for 15 minutes a day. Just 15 minutes. Those chunks of time might be combined into
an hour every few days or something but averaging out to just 15 minutes a day.
What do you think would happen?
I have NO idea what it would mean for you to take Christianity
more seriously. Call me and we can talk
if you want but it will be different for each person. Maybe it will mean some prayer time. Maybe some Bible study. Maybe some activity to help
make this world better.
I am inviting you to spend time considering what it would mean to
take Christianity more seriously for just 15 minutes a day — and then try that
out. ... BUT — be careful! In fact, be
afraid because this could be life changing.
In a good way life changing but still life
changing. In fact, you could be the one
surprised when you see you taking this religious stuff seriously.
We
have previous sermons on our website. To
read an earlier sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermondate. For example, the
www.st-christopher.org/sermon06-16-06
CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)