Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 10/20/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, May your will be done, through me.
I went to high school with a friend who loved to be photographed with celebrities.
Once, we went to see ice skater Dorothy Hamill at an arena in Chicago and he insisted I take his picture with her using a camera he always kept in his pocket.
When the Detroit Pistons played the Philadelphia 76ers he insisted on stopping a player named Dr. J in the hallway for a photo.
And he would load up his wallet with these pictures and bring them out anytime a conversation got anywhere near one of the celebrities he had conned into taking a picture with him.
We were too young to delve into the existential reasonings behind this behavior - and the ways we cling to the coattails of the popular, high-achieving, and important to compensate for the lack of our own.
But this topic of ambition, achievement, and self-esteem does not go without comment in our Bibles - it does not go beyond the interests of Jesus - whose specified mission is to liberate you and me from the shackles of earthly identity and help us take claim to our identities as God's precious people!
It's to make us whole and authentic, to usher us into an abundant life!
And this morning Jesus invites us to "change" by pondering the questions swirling around his disciples as he encounters James and John:
How do we cultivate our ambitions and self-worth based on the achievements and positions of others - how dependent are we on comparing ourselves with others as a way of making ourselves feel better? Might this have been what James and John were up to?
Ever been around a name-dropper? Someone who hopes that the celebrity of others will literally rub off on them? It's fun to meet celebrities - but this morning we're going further by asking:
How do we build our own importance on the inferiority of others?
Do we ever look down at others as stepping stones instead of those we've been called to serve?
Do we ever consider others as pawns and peasants, not as precious persons?
How often do we look at others as a means not an end, to judge and not accept, to use and not serve?
Think of a world that would do what Jesus suggests - to seek first not greatness, but servanthood - to show up in life not to be served, but to serve?
I understand nobody is selfish all the time - but enough of us are like this for enough time - to construct a society that is not too bothered to have 10% of us live in poverty - to have inadequate funding for our schools, seniors, and preschoolers! What has put our society in such a tailspin if not the roots of fear, greed, and self-interest?
I want you to imagine with me for just one moment:
Think of all the good we could do in this world if everyone showed up asking not, 'What's in it for me?' BUT 'What can I do for others?' (Can I get an amen?)
And so we're here at church this morning looking to Jesus because we know it all starts right here - Change has to begin with ourselves - And besides, we're the only ones we can change anyway.
Because we suspect that somewhere in the deep recesses of our hearts, we believe we can summon the power of faith and belief in Jesus Christ to break out of the shadows of the ways we feel superior over others - and live into our own unique and authentic selves - to be truly proud, and authentically content with who we are as an early church father put it, 'For the glory of God is the human being fully alive?'
We're in the season of politics - but our answers don't come from human governments, social reforms, or political platforms - this is not what the Episcopal Church is about - this is not what Christianity is about! We are about spiritual transformation - we are about soul-changing - we are about Jesus!
For those of us who came to church thinking we'll just have another average, sunny day at St. David's, hold onto your bulletins - because God is up to something - God wants to help you with your deep craving to get rid of your unwanted selves - and to revive, even claim, that authentic, loving, caring, and confident self that dwells within you.
And you know it starts with service - putting others first! Your renewal - my renewal - our shared quest of fleeing a tired, weary, and even detrimental stasis - is something the disciples also sought: Shall we listen to the advice Jesus gives?
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In this crazy mind of mine I imagine Jesus relaxing at the hookah lounge, when his best friends, James and John, came hunting for a promotion.
Having traded their fishing nets for clerical collars, they had grown fond of their new life as preachers, after all, you only work once a week, and the lucky ones get private jets and designer sneakers.
"We want to be your new vice presidents!", declared the two, "The boys from McKinsey forecast sky high growth for this Christianity thing, and we've had plenty of experience running a fishing conglomerate, you could really use us!" "Not so fast," said Jesus, putting down his hookah pipe, "I don't think you guys really get this!"
"To grow this baby, you have to be like a pelican, who will peck itself in the chest to feed its own blood to its babies!"
James and John exchanged awkward glances, at the gross analogy.
But they knew the McKinsey data was spot-on!
So they said, "Ya, we're down with that!"
"Great!" said Jesus, "Take another hit from this pipe, you're going to need it!"
Jesus knew they had a lot of learning to do!
Their ambition, their desire to get ahead, was rooted in the wrong stuff.
He knew that they needed to go from fans and followers - to selfless servants.
In what ways are we fans and followers - and not selfless servants?
How is God calling us to be less of the former and more of the latter?
We know this about the disciples because of how they reacted when Jesus was arrested, tortured, sentenced to death, and hanging on the cross, when these wannabe vice-presidents were nowhere to be found. They are fair-weather fans - like me and the Tigers: I only get out my Navy Blue hat when they're winning... So when Jesus lost - they went M-I-A!
But then came the resurrection! And what is this but God's sign that Jesus was right - that good wins out over evil - that the work of God is worth doing even if it kills you - because not even death will be victorious. This is what turns the disciples from fans and followers - to selfless servants!
What will it take for you?
The transformation the disciples went through was astounding - from selfish ambition - to altruistic self-sacrifice - it was nothing short of monumental. And it is the foundation of the Church today: How the revelation of God's love and sacrifice can spur you and I to live lives of love and sacrifice.
So this is the same transformation that God seeks for all of us! That our ambitions, our desires, our self-images, would be rooted in our identities as Christians - and not determined by worldly influences, no matter how strong, such as our proximity to others - our idols, our celebrity crushes,
God's desire is for us to seek our identities in selfless servanthood - as Jesus did - not showing up in life complaining and bickering - but in loving care, asking 'how can I help?'
Can I ask for a show of hands to the question: Do you know a chronic complainer? Somebody whose first words are almost always negative - and about something that's gone wrong, going wrong, or about to go wrong?
I have a friend who's like this - and when I called him on it - he said, 'I'm not a complainer, I'm a realist!'
To which I replied - 'Well, you need a reality check!' - Did you come here to be served, or to serve? Is life all about what you can get, or what you can give? Do you really think that you'll be happy hoarding it all away, or giving it all away?'
I have yet to see a hearse with a luggage rack!
Philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote:
'Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness: on the happiness of others, on the improvement of humankind, even on some art or pursuit followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.'
Some of you have heard me reference that famous study in Würzburg in Germany carried out in 2015. It found that football fans smiled more quickly and broadly when their rival team missed a penalty, than when their own team scored. Yes, Fredrich Nietzsche made an astute observation when he said, "To see others suffer does one good! This is a hard saying, but a mighty, human, all-too-human principle.”
This is why Jesus is calling us to something that is beyond 'all-too-human' - it is divine - to put others first - it is divine - to wish your enemy well - even when it's a soccer team - is divine - to show up in life to serve and not to be served - is divine!
But guess what - you are in Christ - you can do the divine!
The transformation Jesus desires goes deep to the core of who we are - to our self-esteem - which experts say has three levels of evolution:
1-I'm not important - this is where most people are stuck - this is why we are name-droppers and celebrity-obsessed - we derive our importance from those who are important - because we don't truly believe we are important enough on our own.
The second evolutionary level of self-esteem is to discover that "I am important" - it is to discover how wonderfully irreplaceable and invaluable every one of us are.
And the third level of The evolution of self-esteem, then, is when we say, "I want to contribute to something important" - which is built on the confidence we have found in ourselves - dear Christians - who are coming to Christ not asking to be Vice President - but wanting to know where we can find the mop and bucket to do our work to continue cleaning up this mess..
Friends - Jesus invites us to go further along the path from fans and followers to selfless servants: How far along are you - and how might today be even a small step forward?
As the old saying goes, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one cup of coffee - so this week I invite you to take a sip - and on one occasion - here's your homework: bring this to memory - give this gift - the gift of non-comparison - find a time this week to say to a friend, coworker, - not out loud - but inside - Take a sip- "I do not need your inferiority in order to prove my worth"
And one sip of coffee at a time, one sip, one mug, let's see how far we can stretch the metaphor, let us go forward, and be the church founded, rooted, and grounded, on Jesus Christ!
Amen.