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.

Proper 25, Year B

Holy Wisdom

Readings: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-18; Mark 9:30-37

A theme throughout the readings this week is that of wisdom. “Who is wise and understanding among you?” asks James. It is a challenge to all of us. We can claim to be wise. We can reiterate the adage that wisdom comes with age. We can look at the successes of our lives and claim that it is proof that we are wise. But it needs to be demonstrated in our lives. James asks that we show it by acting with humility and goodness. That is certainly not wisdom in the eyes of the world. Society promotes getting ahead. It is ambition that is rewarded, not humility. We speak about “keeping up with the Joneses”. Remember Avis’ old ads about being in second place to Hertz. Even that second place message is based on obtaining power over our competitors.

To be wise in the ways of God calls us to something quite different. It calls us to gentleness, compassion, humility and peace making. Godly wisdom teaches us that it is not about gaining power over others, nor does it lie in ambition, but rather it becomes evident in our striving to be God like. True wisdom will show itself in our lives. It will bring us closer to God. It will be shown in our quality of life, in the life giving decisions we make, in the good that we do.

It is certainly what Jesus emulated to the disciples. Jesus is at home in Galilee. The disciples are sitting at his feet. As they had been walking home they had been arguing about who was the most important. All this was happening as Jesus was explaining to them that he was going to die.

“What were you discussing?” he asks them. Suddenly no one has anything to say. They are quite rightly embarrassed. They have been caught out. Jesus has been talking about the kingdom of God. It is a new concept for them. They are finding it difficult to put into their context. They see it from their worldview. They visualize a kingdom in which the present powers are toppled and replaced with a new order with Jesus in control. They see Jesus’ mission in political terms within a hierarchical structure. It is perfectly logical. It is what they have experienced. And they see themselves assuming political roles in this new kingdom.

We get it, don’t we? They are being very human. As humans we spend time and energy disputing who among us should be considered the greatest? Is it the clergy or the laity? Is it the husband or the wife? And our educational system encourages competition based on marks rather than on learning. Children are taught from an early age to take part in sports activities, not primarily for the enjoyment of the game or for its physical benefits, but in order to win. We go through strikes which pit labour against management and leave us with the message that making more money is everything. Politics is the biggest offender with its smear campaigns that assault one another on a personal level. Advertising is big business. It encourages cutthroat competition at any cost. Competition and winning have become the primary religion of our increasingly secular lives.

But Jesus points out that he has come to preach quite a different message. “The first must be last,” he tells them, “The servant of all.” He is not judging their behaviour. He is teaching them how to achieve true greatness. He is explaining the essence of greatness. He gives them a practical illustration of what he means. He hears some children playing outside. He opens the door and calls out to one of them. He brings the child into their midst. The little boy stands there nervously shuffling his bare feet, his hands dirty, his nose running. Jesus puts his arm around the little tyke and draws him closer. The little one, welcoming the attention climbs up on Jesus lap. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me,” Jesus says to them.

It must have been quite a shock to them. This is the kind of child no one takes seriously, a street urchin, the lowest level of humanity. Even in our modern day world children often do not count for much. And here is Jesus saying that true greatness is achieved not by holding great offices, but by doing services to insignificant people such as this little child.

We can think of times that such service has brought a smile to our faces. The sense of trust as a child puts a small hand into yours. A toddler’s first tentative steps towards you, arms reaching out for support. A lost child’s frightened cry replaced with a smile as you help find her family. Consider whether you would feel the same if the child were a street urchin on the streets of Calcutta, or a slum child living in the dump outside of Kingston in Jamaica.

Greatness lies in servanthood. It consists of service. As Christians we are called to live out our lives in a spirit of humility and service. But if you are anything like I am, that is not always easily lived out. It is easy to say that we are called to serve the poor, the disenfranchised, the oppressed. But it is difficult to overcome our own perceptions of people. There was a shocking story in the paper last week about a bus driver in Toronto who refused to allow some children on his school bus simply because they were Roma, Gypsies. One of the little children refused entry to the bus was in tears as he explained that he could not even think about going to that “white” school after what had happened. I know that I can find examples in my own life. They have made me wiser in the ways of God.

Growing up in an inner city rectory, it was our job as children to make and dispense sandwiches and coffee to the many street people who came to the door for assistance. Many of them were ‘regulars’ whom we got to recognize. We saw their ragged clothing. We smelled the liquor on their breath. We labeled them. They were bums. We did give some of our favourites nicknames. There was Rudolph and Pinhead. It never occurred to us, or at least to me, that they were people with names and feelings and heartbreaking stories. We thought we were doing the ‘Christian’ thing. And in our own way we were.

When I worked in urban ministry while I was studying Theology at Trinity I was able to draw on those early experiences and find ways to reach out to the street people in a way which did not devalue them as people. I learned not to judge them. I listened to their stories. I learned their names, their real names. It took me a while to realize what real ministry it was. I kept thinking that I should be giving them something. What I came to realize was that in seeing them as people, in seeking Christ in them, I became a far more effective proclaimer of the gospel than I had ever been. In giving service to them I received so many blessings.

This past summer I bumped into a friend downtown. We sat on a park bench to get caught up. No sooner had we sat down that a couple of street people headed in our direction. “They are going to hit us up for money,” I thought to myself. “I wonder how Al will react.” To my delight he greeted them warmly and introduced them to me by name. We had a conversation about the weather. After they left he told me about getting to know them. He helped them from time to time with a meal or a place to stay. But their relationship was not about what he had to give them. It was a relationship built on mutual respect and friendship.

The whole notion of exercising leadership by serving seems paradoxical. But there really is no contradiction. It is true wisdom. There can be no real exercise of authority without service. Service lies in taking sides with those whom we would serve. We must continue to ask ourselves searching questions about our how we live out our faith. Are we living out the gospel message in our ministry in the church? In the life of our congregation? In our own lives? Who are we called to serve?

Jesus’ answer to the disciples speaks to us. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven? Who are the wisest? The answer of course is those who mirror Christ, those who give humble service to others.