from my 2nd message in the Extravagant Generosity series, based on Deuteronomy 6:3-6, John 13:34-35
Relationships. This message is about relationships. We hunger for relationships that have intimacy, honesty, integrity.
As United Methodist pastor, I must take our church health insurance plan. Don't you just love dealing with health insurance? I know I am the only one who has ever experience this: you call the provider and you get a recorded voice that says, "Please listen to our complete menu as recent options have changed. Press 1 if you are frustrated. Press 2 if you are really mad. Press 3 if you are going ballistic." This happened many years ago, but I had worked through the meun and finally gotten a person. She said to me, "My name is Sharon. If you ever have an issue or a question, I want you to ask for me." I said, "Thank you." I was no longer a number or a statistic. I mattered. I was a person. We hunger for that kind of relationship.
I have been a pastor for some 35 years now. Many times over the years, I have visited with persons who have terminal diseases. Sometimes, the person will say to me, "I want to get to know you. I want you to know who I am. It is important to me to have a relationship with you as my pastor as I face this dying process." We hunger for relationships that matter.
You may not know this but Cathy and I are planning to take off 10 weeks this summer for a renewal leave. This church will celebrate its 40th anniversary on June 2. Then we will leave to go hiking on the Appalachian Trail. I have invited our former pastors back to preach and lead worship this summer so you can hug on them and have good memories, and I can rest. It is a win-win. To prepare for hiking, Cathy and I have bought the right clothes that wick water away from our bodies. We have the camel-bak water system. Cathy has her walking sticks. We have also been doing a lot of reading. One book was Just Passing Through by Winton Porter. He owns a lodge right on the AT, just about 40 miles from the southern starting point in Georgia. That means about 3 days into their hike, people come in with overloaded backpacks begging for help. Winton takes them to a back room where they lay out everything, and he helps them sort out what they don't need. He ships thousands of pounds of stuff by FedEx every year back home. So one day he is doing this job with someone, all of their gear strewn about, when his daughter Sierra comes up to him. "Daddy, Daddy, I want to ask you something." "What is it?" She hands over 2 quarters. "Daddy, if I give you 50 cents, will you play with me?" He stops and looks at his little girl. He calls over an assistant. "Take care of this customer. I just remembered another important appointment I have." He goes with Sierra on her favorite trail up to a springs. They find branches and play like they are their horses. We are hungry for relationships that matter.
I am here today to tell you that relationships are more important that rules. I know we have the reading from Deuteronomy where we are commanded to love. But who can remember all of the rules? Who can keep all of the rules? What we have in Deut. is the Shema, which is very important to our Jewish friends. It a prayer that is said during the day. It is repeated in a Jewish worship service. I think what it says is that God wants to have a love relationship with us. And God wants us to pass it on. The verses following the Shema talk about how parents are to teach about this love when they are at home and away, when they lie down and when they wake up, to bind them on arm and forehead, and to post them at the doorway. They are for the generations to come.
And Jesus modelled this love relationship for us. "As I have loved you, you also should love one another." We have an example of extravagant generosity to follow. I suspect that someone has taught you about love, about giving, about being generous. That was not something you were just born with. I have seen little children playing. There is a toy there that no one cares about until one child picks it up. All of a sudden all of the children must have that one toy!
Someone has modelled love and generosity for us. Who has that been for you? I would love for you to reflect and to write their name down on that card in your bulletin. Who has had the most impact on your spiritual life? For children, who has helped you to be most like Jesus?
As you consider this, I will tell you some stories that I heard from others. Kay told me about Tom Taylor. He was a former mayor here in Westlake, but more than that he was a Sunday School teacher here. Kay said, "I learned about God's love through Jesus in the Bible lessons that Tom presented." Our Taylor building is named after him.
For Margaret, it was someone from her Fellowship class. This large and healthy class pays attention to its individual members. When Margaret had her surgery at the Mayo clinic, she was surprised to find one of her class members who had flown up to be with her! That was an example of a generous, loving relationship.
Jenny is up here in our chancel choir. She said it was the youth program that initially attracted her family here, but it was the choir that sealed the deal. Dr. Diana and the choir members welcomed her. When Jenny and her family joined the church, she stood there wearing her choir robe. Dr. Diana cannot make it a conditions for everyone who joins here, but she wishes she could!
For the youth, it is not a retreat, or a mission trip, or a program, or a Sunday School class, but a person. It will be a youth director, or confirmation mentor, or Sunday School teacher, who has had the most impact.
Who has it been for you? And then who might you be called to love and to model generosity. Here's a great take-away line, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Someone is probably looking to you as an example of Christian living and giving.
I challenged you last week to make 29 gifts in 29 days, because it was good for you. How are you doing with that? You may not have been here, but you can start now. Our generosity is good for us, and it is good for others. I went reluctantly yesterday to a called session of our Southwest Texas Conference, a meeting of some 1,000 lay and clergy delegates from some 350 churches in the 78 counties of South Texas. It would have been my usual day off with Cathy. It was foggy. The traffic was fine till the last few miles on Loop 1604 approaching University UMC in San Antonio. No one told me about the construction work. Traffic was backed up for miles. I cut across a ditch, went throught neighborhoods, trying to find a way around. Liz, one of our delegates, told me later, "I got a lot of opportunites to practice extravagant generosity as I let people into traffic."
At the conference session, I was encouraged by the stories people told. We Methodists are generous. We are making a difference in people's lives. We are still providing rebuilding support after the wildfires of more than 1 1/2 years ago. Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso is providing education for children on both sides of the border, and 95% of them are going on to college. A church is providing week end backpacks filled with food for starving children in the Rio Grande Valley. Kingdom Kamp has been going on for 30 years, offering mentally challenged adults a time to worship and to have fun together.
We are starting new churches which are drawing new persons to Christ. One of our new church pastors talked about standing in the parking lot when a man approached him. "I have been on drugs. I have depressed. I am at a loss for what to do. I need some Jesus." We as the church are not just another service club. We offer a relationship with Jesus. He is the relationship that matters.
While there I saw Abby, our former director of youth ministries. She now works at Servant Church here in Austin, as an ordained deacon. Seeing her reminded me of my recent visit with Abby. It was after some other church meeting. Abby was wearing a white circular collar, you know, one of those that says, "I'm clergy. I am set apart." I approached her. "Abby, this is the first time I have ever seen you wearing the collar. What's that about?" "After this meeting, I am going to the strip club." "Oh," I said. "Yes," she continued, "I go there once a month to witness to the girls. The collar also keeps guys from hitting on me. We've had some women start coming to Servant Church because we have reached out to them." Everyone needs some Jesus.
Who has had an impact upon your spiritual life? Give thanks for them as you write about them on the card. To whom are you called to witness this loving relationship?
Watch this video (find it our church website YouTube channel).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment