Do Good

from my sermon on 12/5/10 on Acts 10:38

A family visited us for the first time last Sunday. They had done considerable research on us through our website. In talking with the mom that afternoon, she said, "I really like your vision statement, 'Following One, Serving All.' It's so clear, so simple. That resonates with me."

This season of Advent we are trying to be clear with our church wide study on this little book, Three Simple Rules: Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. This week we focus on doing good. I want to affirm you Westlake UMC: you really do well at doing good.

You have seen those pictures in the paper, on TV, and on the internet of a company presenting a huge check for $5,000 to some charity. Well, I am not going to spoil the environment with more paper, so I will project these huge checks on the screen. The first one is for $121,406 that this congregation is giving this year to apportionments. That is Methodistspeak for "a portion meant for others." You don't even see this out of our $1million dollar budget how much you are giving for the needy through our Methodist connections. The second check is for $48,486 that we have already given this year to other missions like Haiti relief, Imagine no malaria, etc. The third check is for $31,100 that we are spending this year on local service projects like Any Baby Can, Mobil Loaves and Fishes, etc. In addition, we are giving to Christmas in October some 12 mission projects and Alternative Gifts Market in November...and on and on. I want to thank you today for your doing good.

Mr. Wesley who founded the Methodist movement and wrote these 3 simple rules said that we were to do good by taking of people's bodies. He was very present to the here and now. We are called to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit those who are sick or in prison. We are further called to take care of people's souls. We are doing this. Women from this church go to the Gatesville prison to help inmates read stories to their children in the Storybook project. Person from this church take the altar flowers to the sick and homebound. We visit those who are in grief, not just once, but many times over a year. We listen to people, pray with them, and encourage them.

Here's the first point: most of the time nobody will ever see us doing good. It won't make the headlines; it won't even get reported. Most people won't know. But that's okay. We play to an audience of One. God sees. That's enough.

Secondly, we do good because it feels good. I try to work on Habitat for Humanity on Friday mornings. I get to work with my hands. I get to work with some other guys. Gerard our boss and church member calls me "Rev. Lynn" on the jobsite. You should hear how the language changes when I show up and am identified this way! Kevin, a Roman Catholic man, who works there recently gave me a book. It is called The Power of Kindness by Pierro Ferrucci. You remember last week when we talked about doing no harm and how we were fighting global warming. Well this author on kindness talks about how in relationships today we are facing and Ice Age of the Heart. We sometimes lead cold, hurried, impersonal, uncivil lives. We need to do good to melt hearts. The author says that when we do good, when we practice kindness we are at our best. We are more like our true self here than anywhere else in life. We are at our most efficient and most effective because we are not wasting energy in worry, resentment, suspicion, manipulation, and self-defense. It feels good to do good. We are our best selves.

Thirdly, we do good because Jesus did and the church continued this. That's what is happening in the passage from Acts. Peter has gone to Cornelius's house to preach the good news. A former Jewish man converted to Christianity is going to the house of a Roman soldier, a member of the occupying army and a gentile. Peter realizes that Jesus who went about doing good to all wants to put no barriers on his love. God shows no partiality. All are included in God's grace.

Which brings me to one of our latest Long Range Planning meetings. Our chair, Ron, asked us if we really meant it when we say in our vision statement about serving all. Can we do that? Serve All? I think we need it in our vision statement or else we become comfortable. We put up the limits, the barriers too soon. And think about how it would sound if we said, "Following One, Serving Some." Or "serving those whom we like" or "serving those who are like us."

My response was that we can't meet all of the needs, but we need to be challenged by the "all" so we don't quit too soon. The way we determine those whose needs we can meet is to focus on the first part of the vision statement, "Following One." It is only by staying close to Christ that we discover with those we are called to do good. We stay close to Christ by staying in love with God, but that is next week's message. It starts with coming to this table today, praying, reading the Bible, and holding each other accountable. We can't serve all of the needs, but Christ will lead us to serve some.

We called to do good, but more than that to do what is godly. The object is not to be busy but to be close to Christ and what He would have us do. Some of us overfunction. We need to keep it simple and cut back and do what is godly, not just what is good.

I want to affirm you this day of all that you do good that no one but God ever sees. I want you to know the best selves that come out when we do good. I want us to continue doing the good that Jesus did.