This is the manuscript from my sermon today. It is, essentially, the product of my preparation for preaching. I preach from the aisle and there is no denying the Holy Spirit moves a bit differently in that space than she does in my study in front of a computer. Still in all, this is the message shared today.
If you‘d like to read the lectionary, you’ll find it here. We use Track 1.
I have no idea why, but several times this week I either saw or read about posters of idols on the wall. You know the ones I mean. Posters of favorite rock stars or actors, hung on the walls and sometimes on the ceiling. Back when I was hanging posters, my room was full of posters of dancer Misha Baryshnikov. Misha in a tour jete. Misha in tour l’air. Mischa in an entrechat. Misha on just about any surface. It got me thinking: if I were to hang a poster today, who would it be?
My choice might be something of a surprise. I’d hang a poster of President Jimmy Carter. He was the first presidential candidate who caught my notice, a few years before I was old enough to vote. You know me, so some of you at least, would guess that I admire his politics. You’d be right. I do. But there are other reasons, too. He has done more good in his 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s than most people accomplish in a lifetime.
You might know that I have a bulletin board above my writing desk. On it I keep quotes, which are usually about things I need to remember. I have a couple of quotes from President Carter, including:
“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”
If these words sound familiar, it may be because I quoted them in my sermon last week when I talked about using all that we have to do good in the world, claiming our action as part of our Christian identity.
You see, it is not his activism or his politics that would cause me to hang a poster of him on my wall. It is the root of his activism, his core outlook on life and faith that moves me most. Jimmy Carter is one of the most faithful and faith-filled people I “know.” I am amazed and humbled by his example of embodied Christianity, his model of Jesus-focused discipleship.
When I hear him talk or read something about him, I can imagine him listening with his whole self to Jesus’ invitation:
“Will you come and follow me?”
I can imagine him saying, “I will follow you wherever you go. I will follow you wherever you lead me, Jesus. I will follow you to places I don’t necessarily want to go, to be with people I don’t necessarily want to meet, to do things I don’t necessarily want to do. I will follow you, Jesus. I will follow you wherever you lead me.”
Today’s Gospel can be a hard one. Is Jesus really saying that burying one’s father is not important? I know how problematic that can be. I invite you to think about it a bit differently.
Could it be that Jesus recognized this request: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” as an opportunity for this man to move himself far enough from Jesus that the power of the invitation was lost. This invitation to transformational relationship would be forgotten in the details of daily life. I’ll be honest. I choose to believe that Jesus was responding to this eventuality, this likelihood.
Jesus knows that this invitation: “Will you come and follow me?” is not a simple or easy one. It may, in fact, be one of the most challenging invitations we will ever receive. It is one that, if most of us thought too deeply about, would send us hurrying in the opposite direction. It is, I dare say, one that many of us, myself included sometimes, would rather not examine too deeply.
And, yet, it is the most amazing invitation anyone could ever receive. Following Jesus, living into our call to Christian discipleship, requires that each of us be open to life-altering changes. Jesus does not -never has – invited us to comfortable discipleship.
The invitation is not to venture out of the comfort of our homes each Sunday morning to walk or drive to this beautiful building on this lovely parcel of God’s creation, to sit with people we love and people we like, to offer prayer and prayers, to seek comfort and strength, to be nourished by the fellowship of the Table. Don’t get me wrong. That is a part of the invitation, but only a part.
The true invitation is to take the chance to let your heart be opened, to let your very life be changed. It is about doing God’s work in the world, seeing God’s people as God sees them, perfectly made and loved by God. This is not always easy. Even those of us who venture out to do God’s work need a bit of encouragement and help to see as God sees. For even the well-intentioned seeing of someone as a person who “needs help” means we are not seeing that person in all fullness, recognizing that person as God would have us do, as one of God’s unique and thoroughly beloved children.
Sometimes the challenge is in letting go of things we think we know about ourselves so that we have the space to see ourselves as God sees us. A good example of that (to me and, I hope, to all of you) is how we ended up on this journey together. If you had asked me five years ago if I would leave my life in Massachusetts to move to Millburn, NJ, I’d have dismissed the possibility out of hand. To leave family and friends, to ask my husband and children to do the same, to leave behind the ministries I’d loved and nurtured since before I was ordained, would have been outside the realm of any likelihood. And yet, here I am. Here we are, discerning together how God’s Spirit is working in and through us as we seek to follow where Jesus leads.
“Will you come and follow me?”
Will you live your faith with your feet, venturing into unknown places? Venturing into places you know you’d rather not go?
Will you live you faith with your hands, providing food for the hungry and clothing to poor? Medical care for the ill? Safety for those fleeing violence? Building houses for the homeless?
Will you live your faith with your heart? Will you offer a listening ear to one who desires to be heard? Will you offer your company to one who desires to be noticed? Will you do your best to see that person as God does?
And, yes, will you reach into your pockets and share your treasure as a sign of faith? Will you give generously to those causes that enable God’s justice and mercy to be enacted in our days?
In our tradition we have an understanding of saints as being those people who live their lives as extraordinary examples of embodied faith. They show us ways to live more deeply into the heart of God,as followers of Jesus. This is something we all can aspire to do. This is something we all are invited to do.
I’ve shared that Jimmy Carter is one of the people who challenge and invite me to live my life as a follower of Jesus, to accept with joy Jesus’ invitation to me. Perhaps you, too, have a “poster person,” someone who is an example or inspiration to you, someone you can look to for encouragement when accepting Jesus’ invitation seems too hard or unexpected.
Whether or not you do, or even want to, I encourage you to listen closely for Jesus’ invitation to you,
“Will you come and follow me?” I encourage you to answer with a resounding,
“Yes! I will follow you, Jesus. I will follow you wherever you lead me. I will do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”
I encourage you to let Jesus into your hearts and minds, into your lives wherever it is, however it is whenever it is, with whatever it is, that Jesus asks. I invite you to take that leap of faith to trust the Jesus will only lead you to the place you need to be to experience transformation and to move deeper into the heart of God.
