Proper 29, Year B

Proper 29, Year B

What God Expects From Us

Readings: Job 38:1-7; Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45

Most of us aspire to greatness at some time in our lives. It is ingrained in us as we go through school. It is part of the work ethos in our North American culture. It can lead to a top of the pile mentality that causes frenzied activity in our lives. We are not alone in that kind of aspiration. It appears from the gospel reading today that the disciples of Jesus were like that too. They had listened to Jesus countless times talking about the kindgom of God. Yet here are James and John making an outlandish request.

Rather than coming right to the point, they begin with a little manipulation. It is a line we have all tried at some time or other. “Will you do for us whatever we ask?” they say to Jesus.

And he responds in probably the only way he can. “What is it you want me to do for you?” And then it comes.

“Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory.” What are they thinking? Had they ever listened to one word that Jesus said to them about the kindgom?

And Jesus goes on to explain to them once again what it takes to be truly great. “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” And he reminds them of his own call, a call that ultimately leads him to suffer for the sins of humankind.

The disciples needed to learn the price of greatness. They needed to know what was at stake. They needed to know that greatness consists of understanding what your particular call is. They needed to know what God expected from them. They needed to know that there was a price to be paid. They needed to know whether they were ready to pay the price.

It is important for all of us to understand at the end of the day what really motivates us. When all is said and done, what really matters? The reason it is so important to know and to understand is that it will determine the way we live the whole of our lives. It is important in our personal lives.

Jesus was certain about the mission that God had sent him to do. He understood the purpose of his life and indeed of his death. There was nothing that would keep him from fulfilling it. We see that throughout scripture. It is an integral part of the gospel passage. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

We are all candidates for that kind of greatness. It is a call to servanthood. It consists of knowing what your particular call may be. Take for example the story of a young woman who aspired to become an Olympic champion. Her aspirations absorbed her in intensive training until she finally ranked ninth in the world in the women's hundred yard dash. She had everything she needed to achieve greatness including talent. It looked as if she would participate in the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

“Competing in a sport sounds glamorous,” she said. “But when you are standing outside ready to begin a run at five o'clock on a cold and miserable morning, with every muscle aching from a weight-training session the evening before, there is nothing to hold you there except your goals. Yet eventually,” she goes on to say, “ I got to the point where I realized that as much as I loved my sport, there were some values that were even more important to me. I wanted to get married and have a family. I wanted to be more involved with my friends and in my church community. I could not fit everything into my life. The realization led me to give up my Olympic aspirations.”

Was it an easy decision for her? Not at all! She agonized over it. Particularly when the Olympic Games were on. Yet it was in watching her team mates as they made the finals that she came to accept that it was, for her, the right decision.

You won't find her name in any book of records. But she did go on to live the life that God was calling her to live. I would say that she achieved true greatness.

It is just as vitally important for us to understand our call as a parish. Some years ago I received a short article adapted from “Good News People” by Harold Percy. In it he outlines the difference between parishes which are simply sustaining themselves and parishes which are mission minded. He gives many examples of the difference between maintenance and mission. As I reflect on this parish I see us moving from maintenance to mission. I see us beginning the transformation from a congregation that struggled simply to maintain its presence in this place to a church that is reaching out beyond itself into the community. We are beginning to think about how we can best support the community. We are raising up good leaders.

We have responded to God's call to servanthood. I see the many ways in which that is happening. As I look at our Apple Tree Banner on the back wall I am constantly amazed at how many people take an active role in this congregation. You give freely of your time and talents. There are names of young people who offer their time as servers and assistants. We would not have been able to host a wonderfully successful Vacation Bible School last summer were it not for the time given by our teens. In total, they scored up a whopping one hundred and eighty hours of service amongst them. That is just our teens. We have lectors, teachers, Bible Study leaders, the ACW, secretarial help … The list goes on.

You give generously, both for the work of this parish and for our Outreach into the community. During the last four years our givings have steadily increased so that we are more and more able to meet our commitments.

This is the beginning of our Stewardship campaign for this year. The theme for this year is “What God Expects of us”. That is a wonderful theme. So often we let God know what we expect of God. That is what James and John did when they asked to sit by Jesus' side in the kingdom. But what does God expect from us? Over the next few weeks, we will keep that theme before us. We will be reporting to you about the needs of this church as we move forward into a new year. We will present our budget in the form of a narrative so that everyone can plainly see the needs of the congregation. Hopefully it will be a reminder of our mission to respond to God's call, to serve, and to commit ourselves to the gospel message.

This morning we have another task. Actually as I think about it, it is not another task. It is part of our stewardship. For this morning we are also holding a special vestry. I want to bring before you briefly a couple of issues of importance not only to this parish but also to the Church Centre. Let us move into our Vestry.