Sermon by The Rev Chris Yaw, 9/4/2022,
After a nasty storm in the South Pacific, two Englishmen aboard a huge ocean liner were washed ashore on the same desert island. One castaway found himself on the East side of the small island. The other castaway found himself on the West side of the island.
Over time they set up their two separate camps, building huts, setting out fishing lines, and doing what they could to survive.
After 3 years, a passing ship captain noticed activity on the island and came to the rescue.
After locating both castaways and hearing their stories, the captain took off his hat, scratched his head, and asked in total disbelief:
“You mean you two Englishmen have been living on this small island for the last 3 years and have never met one another?
“Why?”
The first castaway nonchalantly answered: “We’ve never been properly introduced.”
While many of us may have English blood coursing through our veins, no matter how diluted, let’s hope the genes that may give us the tendency to act likewise, have been thoroughly flushed out of our systems…
Because as you and I ponder today’s Gospel - and the harsh, serious words of Jesus, it’s apparent that you and I are not to do as these Englishmen did, and to sit around waiting for things to happen, but to take initiative, to be motivated, to ignore social constraint, and to instigate - doing what needs to be done to fulfill our purposes.
We gather today under this verdant canopy to remind ourselves of our purpose - which is to live lives of obedience to a God who has the world's well-being as a core concern.
And that well-being comes to us as we endeavor to make Christ more central in our lives - Christ who promises contentment, freedom from worry, and a confidence that all will work out ok.
Maybe you are here this morning feeling distant from your purpose.
Maybe the loud clamber of societal division, social injustice, economic and racial inequality, maybe the weight of our world, and its incumbent responsibilities for child care, financial stewardship, healthy relationships, and all that goes into living happy lives, seems far from us.
Jesus is here to remind us that when we pursue our main purpose, to channel God's love into the world through our own unique personhood, using our own unique constellation of gifts, we can't help but keep some of that love for ourselves.
It's a love that puts all things in perspective, it is a healing balm, it is a treasury of assurance, reminding us that no matter what we've done, how we've acted, what we've said, there is forgiveness and acceptance in God. And the more we aim to live out God's purposes in our lives, the better of things go.
And so, this morning we will hear 4 important pieces of advice - 4 ways for us to be a better follower - better disciples - he tells us how to achieve the yearning of our hearts - which is to live in love - to live in God - to have Christ in us and for us to be in Christ.
And we notice that Jesus is not going to force his way into our lives.
Jesus is waiting for us to invite him - for us to take the initiative - as St Paul puts it, 'draw closer to God and God will draw closer to you.'
That's just how God works.
So, let's look at these four things that will help us draw closer to God, who in drawing closer to us can make us better followers of Christ, better Christians, who more fully influence our world for the good.
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Like a lot of you saints, I like stand-up comedy.
My wife knows it, my children know it, and unfortunately, so does Google.
This means that whenever I'm doing a web search, I'm perusing through a website, or on social media, there often appears a little clip, a little ad, a little digital image beckoning me to click on it and listen to some stand-up comedy.
This doesn't just occur when I am doing some leisurely scrolling on my laptop, but when I'm trying to write important emails, write a sermon, even a book. Then up will pop that tempting and alluring clickbait of a stand-up comedy bit. And too often I take the bait.
And I will enjoy a joke, or two, or three...
And the work I was hoping to get done will be delayed.
So maybe you can understand why I love stand-up comedy, but I hate stand up comedy.
This helps us understand the first bit of advice from Jesus and this understandably disturbing statement, "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple."
When do we hate the things we love?
When they keep us from doing what you want to do.
The work God has for us is that serious.
The roles we play as we develop and share our gifts, as teachers, engineers, parents, retirees - The ways we channel God's will into the world - By being kind, forgiving, and reconciling -
Jesus wants us to do the hard work of prioritizing this:
Moving aside the things that get in the way.
Casting aside the things that are not helping.
Grabbing hold of the mission God has for us.
Hating the things we love - to make room for the things that matter.
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At his Hall-of-Fame induction in Cooperstown, major league baseball pitcher Tom Seaver, who was elected with the highest-ever percentage of votes - gave us insight into how he compiled 311 wins, 3,640 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.86, all the while pitching until he was 42 years old.
“Pitching,” Tom Seaver said, “determines everything.
“It determines what I eat, when I go to bed, what I do when I’m awake,
“It determines how I spend my life when I’m not pitching.
“If it means I have to come to Florida and can’t get tanned because I might get a burn that would keep me from throwing for a few days, then I never go shirtless in the sun.
“If it means I have to remind myself to pet dogs with my left hand or throw logs on the fire with my left hand, then I do that too.
“If it means in the winter, I eat cottage cheese instead of chocolate chip cookies in order to keep my weight down, then I eat cottage cheese.”
Now, if you think Tom Seaver's life sounds rather grim, that’s now how Tom Seaver sees things - he says:
“Pitching is what makes me happy.
“I’ve devoted my life to it.
“I’ve made up my mind that's what I want to do.
“I’m happy when I pitch well so I only do things that help me be happy."
Carrying the cross, Jesus second admonition to us, is like that.
Following Jesus is what makes us happy -
It’s what we’ve devoted our lives to -
It’s what we’ve made up our minds to do - and what we want to do.
Those priorities and difficult exercises in kindness, selflessness, and generosity that you all do on a regular basis, then, are not to be considered onerous, oppressive, or burdensome - but the foundation stones of building a great life: our hall-of-fame lives.
Maybe you came to church this morning feeling the weight of that cross.
Be encouraged.
When you do the right thing, you are doing the right thing.
Work through the pain of generosity, forgiveness, and letting go of grudges.
You can do it, God is near.
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As you probably know - 50% of the world’s wealth today is owned by 1% of the people. It's never been higher. At the top end of this 1% are those who are labeled ‘Ultra High Net Worth Individuals’ - and who are defined as having at least $30m in investable assets.
Currently there are 167,669 people in the world who fit this category.
And if you’ve ever aspired to be one of those 167,669 people then you’re normal.
However, if you think this would lead to your ultimate contentment, fulfillment, happiness, and your ability to follow Jesus would be increased, then you’re most likely very wrong.
Brooke Harrington, who studies this subject as a sociologist at Dartmouth, describes the financial lives of these 167,669 people, and says that, for the most part, they are consumed by the job of protecting their wealth - through tax avoidance and debt reduction, using complicated and intricate financial instruments, like off shore trusts, foundations, and corporations to play cat and mouse with tax authorities and debtors, not to mention the constant monitoring of potentially renegade relatives who may try to poison the pot for everyone.
Harrington says the lives of these 167,669 people are unlike anything you and I know.
They are, for the most part, lived internationally, flitting about from estate, to yacht, to winter home, island getaway - passport often optional, due to the private jets and harbors only ’they’ have access to.
Harrington describes a life wholly detached from a sense of responsibility for the common good, the realities of taxation and its beneficiaries, and the depth of compassion that Jesus urges us all to embody.
And it's not because the 167,669 are bad people, it's because the lives they have been given make it very difficult for them to count the cost.
Of course, we would all love to go to Paris for dinner, or sit in 50 yard line boxes at the super bowl, or walking into any store and never having to look at a price tag. But Harrington's research suggests that the price of doing so is very, very high.
And that's what Jesus is trying to get at with his third piece of advice. Watch what you wish for. Think through the journey you're taking. Count the costs, we have but one Life to live, one chance to make our mark of Love upon the world.
What are some of the things we are doing that are just too expensive to our spiritual lives?
What habit, possession, hobby, or other pursuit, do we need to question?
How is Jesus asking us to count the cost?
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Speaking of costs...
The price of eggs used to be consigned to the Kroger ads. Now they're the headlines...
As soaring food and fuel prices are the talk of the town.
Why?
Because these have a way of stoking our fears.
What we eat, how we get where we're going, the costs that take away from IRA's, vacation budgets, even mortgage payments and medicines, are things we can't help but think about.
They are important. And because they are important, we think about them, and we worry about them.
So, when Jesus says, "therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions" - we are justifiably troubled at these difficult words.
But is Jesus really suggesting that the only way to follow him is to live an abject poverty?
Or is he after the more important aspect of our daily worries, urging us, instead, to abandon all earthly things upon which we have placed trust, hope, and confidence?
After all, this is what our possessions give us... Trust, hope, and confidence.
How often I look to food and gasoline and paychecks to supply my needs, when it’s God who supplies our needs. Food and gasoline and paychecks are just God's vehicles...
So getting rid of our possessions is really about getting rid of our attachment to our possessions and making sure that the thing we are most attached to is God.
What does that look like in our lives?
What realignment of our priorities does this demand?
In what ways is Jesus asking us to loosen up on our attachments to things and strengthen our attachment to him?
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In case you missed it, there's something new on our back lawn this morning.
It is our latest Interactive exhibit, this one inviting us to contemplate a difficult and distasteful aspect of our common lives, gun violence and gun safety.
Like it or not, the number one killer of children in our country and in our state is guns.
Half of all guns in the world, that are owned by civilians, are owned by Americans.
Through information gathered from the Oakland County medical examiner's office, this year we are counting everyone in Oakland County who has died because of gun violence. The monuments you see are current through the month of August, each month we will update this exhibit.
These monuments are color coded, so at a glance we can judge suicide from homicide from those killed who are 18 or under.
Inside our little library are booklets outlining the reality of gun violence in our community, state, and Nation, I urge all of you to pick one up and to walk through this exhibit contemplating our part in encouraging gun safety. You will find information on an initiative that our Bishop and diocese are involved in, it is called End Gun Violence Michigan, and you can read more about it in the booklet.
Also, our prayer wall, on it you can write your own prayer request regarding your desire for the cessation of gun violence in our community.
Additionally, we are currently in talks with our Oakland County commissioners who are working on a pilot program for gun buybacks, one of which we may host in October here on our property. Stay tuned.
When this idea was first proposed it did not receive unanimous support: Who are we to publicize or encourage dialogue and action on such a contentious and, admittedly, difficult subject?
But in light of our Gospel this morning, we must ask, who are we not to instigate something like this?
We all know that God did not put us here to lay back, eat our bonbons, and watch our soap operas. There are serious problems facing us. And it is our faith, it is Jesus, who invites us to look at them squarely, soberly, and ambitiously.
Hate the things you love, when they get in the way of bigger things.
Carry the cross, it will give us the life we're looking for.
Count the costs, what we want is not always what we need, and
Sell all your possessions, breaking the attachments that keep us centered on earthly things and not godly things.
Our savior, our mission, our ultimate fulfillment, can be found here.
Amen.