As a progressive, I believe there are many names for God and many ways to God – this article reflects one of those ways. Take from here what works for you. Celebrate life with joy and peace!
Recently, I began my seventh year as senior pastor of Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) San Diego, and your words and notes have deeply touched my heart. Thank you! In thinking of anniversaries, and the visioning process, and Holy Conversations we are going through with Rev. Elder Don Eastman, I wanted to share with you the first sermon I preached at MCC San Diego in 2008. It seems so fitting at this time of our anniversary together, the beginning of a new year and moving forward in faith – together. Here goes!
Rev. King Duncan tells a story of a rather poor, elderly lady who sometimes visited a prominent church in her town in the Midwest. The lay elders of the church were embarrassed when she did, because she loved to get excited in the service. “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen,” she’d shout.
That was more than some of the dignified members of this staid congregation could endure. One Sunday morning, the church elders greeted her at the door and made an agreement with her. They promised her a new, heavy blanket for the cold, winter months if she wouldn’t shout in their service. She agreed, and took a seat near the front of the sanctuary. She held her silence at first, but as the pastor got into the message, preaching from the heart, his words gripped her until she almost exploded with excitement. Finally, she stood up and said, “Blanket or no blanket, Preach it! Amen!”
You and I aren’t likely to get that excited in our worship service – well, most of us anyway. But sometimes don’t you wish we did? Not in an emotional, showy, draw-attention-to-ourselves sense. But wouldn’t it be nice to get so excited – sincerely excited – that you simply couldn’t restrain yourself from telling your friends and family just how much God means to you?
Andrew was like that in our Gospel reading of John 6. He listened to what Jesus had to say and he listened to what John the Baptist had to say about Jesus. He followed Jesus and he got so excited that he went and found his brother Simon Peter and excitedly said, “Come with me! You’ll never guess who I just met! I’ve met the anointed one! You’ve got to see!”
Studies in Church Growth reveal that the most enthusiastic members in most churches are the newest members. They have an enthusiasm and a willingness to serve that some people who’ve been around the church for a long time have somehow misplaced.
That’s one good reason for a church to keep reaching out … new people add to the excitement.
Even more impressive, however, is the excitement of one who has just encountered Christ for the first time – or in a very meaningful, transformational way. Sometimes more mature believers feel it’s their duty to somewhat restrain the new believer’s unbridled enthusiasm. It’s amazing how uncomfortable we can feel in the presence of someone who’s really charged up and energized about their faith. Yet, there’s something about a fresh experience of the Divine that has that kind of effect on us.
When we meet Christ, for the first time, or again and again, it’s an exciting experience. To keep that excitement alive, it helps to share that experience with someone else. A joy shared is a double joy.
There was a large church in the downtown of a large city, a beautiful structure. It was neo-Gothic with flying buttresses; a classic large church building that rivaled some European cathedrals. It had a very dignified, educated pastor and a wonderful choir of professional quality. The church practiced what one pastor described as a sort of “osmosis evangelism.” They expected Christ to sort of “leak” out of their fellowship into the world outside.
In the Narthex, the main entry hallway to the church, they had a 10 foot tall marble statue of Christ with his arms outstretched. But, as time went on things changed, people moved away. The church declined. They couldn’t keep the building up. It was hardly used. They considered closing it.
One night a fire broke out – due to faulty wiring. The whole church went up in flames. Oak walls in the sanctuary, walnut banisters were all destroyed. The floor in the Narthex around the statue of Christ gave way and the statue went crashing to the floor of the basement.
The next afternoon, after the fire department had doused the flames, workmen started to clean up and remove any surviving valuables. Then they were going to tear down what was left of the building for safety’s sake.
One of the workmen in the basement found the statue of Christ with hardly a mark on it, hardly a chip broken off. Gently, they put a cable around it, lifted it out with a crane and set it on the sidewalk. Two businessmen were passing by. They looked at the ruins of the church and at the statue of Christ. One said sarcastically, “Well, looks like Jesus is all they got left.” The other looked at the sight and said, “At least they got him out on the sidewalk where the people are.”
Another thing that Church Growth experts have noticed is that growing churches are happy churches. There’s something about the experience of taking Christ out on the sidewalk where the people are that does something for the morale of a congregation. We need Andrews – people who get so excited that they go out and tell their friends and family the good news of God’s love for them. Their enthusiasm is contagious. When people encounter God in a personal way there’s excitement. When people share the love of Christ with others, that excitement is sustained and often grows.
Two of Andrew’s attributes were faith and love – keys to an exciting and rewarding life. Faith, meeting the Divine and love, sharing that Good News with others.
The life of faith is a life of positive expectancy. “I know God will be with me – all the way! No matter what I’m going through. God’s promises are for me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
The night before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis he spoke these words. “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And God’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land.” What faith!
Even more important than our attitude of faith, however, is our activity of love. Tony Compolo, in his book, Who switched the price tags? tells a beautiful story about a schoolteacher named Miss Thompson. Miss Thompson was a conscientious teacher who tried to treat all her students the same. There was one little boy, however, who was difficult for her even to like. His name was Teddy Stallard. Teddy didn’t seem to be interested in school. He wasn’t a well-behaved child, his schoolwork was horrendous and his attitude was no better.
To her, there was nothing loveable about Teddy Stallard. For some reason, Miss Thompson felt a great deal of resentment toward Teddy. She almost enjoyed giving him “Fs.” There was something about him that just rubbed her the wrong way.
Miss Thompson looked into Teddy’s background. His school records indicated that in the first grade he showed some promise but he had problems at home. In the second grade, his mother became seriously ill and Teddy started falling behind. In the third grade, his mother died and Teddy was labeled as a slow learner.
In the fourth grade, he was far behind. His teacher noted that his father had no interest in Teddy’s progress. Miss Thompson knew Teddy’s situation, but still there was something about him that she resented.
Christmas time came and the boys and girls in Miss Thompson’s room brought her some gifts. To her surprise among those gifts was a very crudely wrapped present from Teddy. Opening it in front of the other children she discovered a gaudy rhinestone bracelet, with half the stones missing, and a bottle of cheap perfume.
Sensing that the other children were beginning to smirk and giggle at the simple gift, Miss Thompson had the presence of mind to put on the bracelet and open the perfume. She put some of the perfume on her wrist which she invited the children to smell. “Isn’t this bracelet beautiful?” she asked the children. “Doesn’t this perfume smell lovely?” The children responded with “oohs,” and aahs.”
At the end of the school day, little Teddy came to Miss Thompson’s desk and said, “Miss Thompson, Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother … and her bracelet looks real pretty on you, too. I’m glad you liked my presents.”
When Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God for forgiveness for her attitude toward Teddy.
To make a long story short, from that day forward Miss Thompson became a new teacher and Teddy Stallard became a new pupil. Both Teddy’s attitude and his grades dramatically improved.
Many years later Miss Thompson received a letter from Teddy telling her that he would be graduating from high school second in his class. It was signed, “Love, Teddy Stallard.” Four years later, she received another letter from Teddy telling her that he was graduating from college first in his class. Four years later, there was another letter to inform her that the young fellow who once presented her with a gaudy bracelet with half the rhinestones missing and a cheap bottle of perfume was now Theodore Stallard, M.D. Also, he was getting married. His father was dead now, too. Would Miss Thompson be willing to sit where his mother would sit for the wedding if she were alive? “You are all the family I have left now,” wrote Teddy.
Miss Thompson sat proudly where Teddy’s mother would have been seated for that wedding. That moment of sensitivity and compassion many years before had earned her that right.
Can you see the power of reaching out to others in love? We can learn a lot from Andrew this morning – being enthusiastic and joyful people with two attributes. Faith and a positive expectation about what God is going to do in our lives. But there’s one more thing. With what we’ve received, are we willing to share with others?
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about my faith! That’s enough to make me want to say, “Blanket or no blanket, Preach it! Amen!”
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the senior pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met), 2633 Denver Street, San Diego, California, themetchurch.org. Services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.
