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Foundry United Rev. |
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“Confirmed for
Greater Works” Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
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Acts 2: 1-21
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The
sermon this morning is for the members of our 2007 Confirmation Class. I
invited the rest of the congregation here this morning to listen in, but I am
really talking this morning just to you, members of the Confirmation Class of
2007. Let us pray: God our
friend and teacher, we come before you, newly confirmed in the faith you have
shown us through Jesus. We can still feel your hand upon us through the hands
of others. Help us to hear you speak to us today and everyday of our lives.
Amen When I
was in elementary school and high school, where I grew up, one of the worst
things that you could be called was a show-off. One of the worst things that
could be said about you was that you were trying to show off. The dictionary.com
definition of showing off is “to seek to gain attention by displaying
prominently one's abilities or accomplishments.” One of
the character traits that was drummed into us when I was a boy was humility.
So, showing off was considered a very tacky thing to do. When I
became the pastor of a predominately African-American church some years ago, sometimes
four or five different churches would get together to have a combined Sunday
afternoon service, and sometimes it would be my turn to be the preacher. Or
sometimes I would be invited to travel to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and
preach for a revival or a family reunion. On
those occasions I would prepare my sermons extra carefully, and I would spend
extra time in prayer to prepare. There were
some older women in my congregation who, after I preached for one of these
special occasions, would often come up to me if the sermon went well and say,
“You were showing off tonight, Reverend.” They would laugh and say to one
another so I could hear them, “The Reverend was sure showing off tonight.” At
first I thought they were criticizing me. Isn’t showing off a bad thing? Then I
realized that it was meant to be a compliment. They were telling me that they
thought I had done well…that I had given my best…that I had caused them to be
proud of me in a situation where I could have embarrassed them by not doing
well or by not giving my all. I
learned to think of being told that I’d shown off as a compliment. Here’s
one way to think about Jesus. What we think about Jesus is called “Christology.”
Here’s one Christology: Jesus was God showing off. Jesus
was what God can do if we really let God do what God can do. Jesus was God
showing off. Think
of all the things God did through Jesus – Jesus healed the diseased. He
healed people with leprosy and other diseases that made them to be considered
unclean. Jesus healed the diseased. Jesus
cast out evil. Where there were people and groups caught up in oppression,
hatred of self and hatred of others, Jesus cast out those demons, those evil
forces, and restored love and peace to people’s hearts and to
communities. Jesus
taught so that people could hear and understand. Jesus brought understanding
where there was ignorance, illumination where there was darkness. And Jesus
brought community where there was alienation and stratification. Edward
Schillibeeckx once said that the surest truth we know about Jesus is that
Jesus ate and drank with sinners…Jesus ate and drank with people whom the
rest of society considered sinful for whatever reason. No biblical scholar
has ever questioned whether that statement is factual. Jesus brought love and
community to outsiders…those who were called sinners by society. Jesus
was God showing off…God showing off what God can do if we really let God do
what God can do. Of
course, the other side of this, is that when God showed off, we crucified
Jesus. God showing off threatens us. Jesus
was God showing off…showing us what is possible if we really allowed God to
work through us. There
is a statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John that is much on my mind and
heart lately. It is part of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples before his
crucifixion. It is John 14: 12. It says: “Very truly I tell you the one who
believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater
works than these…” Jesus
assumed that if we follow him we will do what he did – we will bring healing
to the diseased and isolated, we will bring love and peace to the people and
groups in our world where there is evil and hatred. We will bring
understanding and knowledge where there is ignorance. We will bring community
and inclusion to those whom society isolates and rejects. We will
do what Jesus did and Jesus says we will do ever greater works than he did. This is
what I think Jesus meant – Jesus healed individuals, but those who believed
in him created scientific medicine and built hospitals. Jesus cast out demons
but those who believed in him ended slavery. Jesus taught but those who believed
in him built universities. Jesus ate and drank with sinners but those who
believed in him built democracies with civil and human rights. Part of
what made Jesus Jesus was that he wasn’t just or even mostly interested in
what he could accomplish as what we, the generations to come who believed in
him, could accomplish. I think
God has been showing off in the generation that I am privileged to be a part
of. God has done some marvelous things and I am so grateful that I and my
generation have had the opportunity to be part of it. When I
was your age, confirmation class, 47 years ago, or so, there were no curb
cuts. People, in wheel chairs, if they wanted or needed to go somewhere, had
to push their chairs out in the street with the traffic. I remember seeing people
in wheelchairs risking their lives by pushing their wheel chairs in the
streets. Most buildings had no way for people in wheelchairs to get inside
them. Most people in wheelchairs and other people who are differently-abled
were expected to stay at home. They were not permitted or expected to
contribute their abilities to the greater good of society. I am
proud to be part of the generation, at least in When I
was your age 47 years ago, black people were segregated in the When I
was your age 47 years ago, there were only a handful of women ministers. In
many churches women were not allowed to serve on the trustees or to be
ushers. So I am proud to be part of the generation of women like Sue Zabel
and Susan DeVogel. When I
was your age 47 years ago, gay and lesbian men and women could be fired from
their jobs if it were discovered that they were gay. They had to keep it
secret if they wanted to keep their jobs. So I am proud to be part of a
generation including people like There
are great things God has done in the generation of which I am a part. I
consider myself very privileged to live the lifetime I have been given to
live. God has done a great work though us. We have done some of the same
works that Jesus did. But let
me say to you, our confirmation Class of 2007, this morning, God wants to do
even greater works through you than God has done through us. Listen
again to John 14: 12: “Very truly I tell you the one who believes in me will
also do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than
these…” This is
why I think Jesus was resurrected…because he knew that God’s work in the world
did not begin or stop with him. Sometimes when we get tired, sometimes when
we have been stretched as far as we can be stretched, sometimes when we’ve
gotten to where we think we want to be, we think God ought to slow down for
us. But to
be a resurrection people means that we rejoice because God is going to do
even greater works through those who believe. I
believe in you, Confirmation Class of 2007. I believe God will do even
greater works through you and your generation. And I believe that I will somehow
be able to know what God does through you…that I will be able to celebrate it
with you even when I and my generation are not here anymore. My
young friends, let God show off through you. Let God do amazing and
miraculous things through your life. I am
proud of the things my generation has been able to contribute and there is
more we will do, but I am even prouder of all you will do – greater works
than we could imagine. Let God show off through you. Let God be a show-off in
you. www.foundryumc.org |
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