The Servant Leader (Luke 7:1-10)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 6/2/13

When I was going up before the board to be commissioned, I remember one of the questions they really asked a lot was what is servant leadership?  Now the answer to the question seems pretty self-explanatory, it’s a leader that leads through service, and yet and they kept pushing me to explain it deeper, I realized that not only describing what is a servant leader is difficult; I also realized that being a servant leader is difficult.   Out of all of their questions, which I assure you there were many, and despite the nerves and the sweat and the tears of those interviews, I still remember one question that I really struggled to answer.  What person in the Bible best describes your understanding of a servant leader? Of course there is a wealth of great leaders in the Bible, from Noah to Moses, David and Deborah, John the Baptist and of course Jesus; and yet it was so hard for me to pick one as the shining example of a servant leader. And then I read this scripture for today, it is quite a gem that we have from the book of Luke, a short ten verse story that many may not be familiar with, and when I read it I almost shouted out loud, aha! There’s your servant leader, the centurion is the example of a great servant leader.

            So what makes the centurion such a great servant leader?  Well first a foremost the centurion recognizes the power of the role that he is in.  A centurion was a military leader in charge of a company of a hundred men. In fact that’s where the title centurion comes from, a hundred just like century means a hundred years. The centurion was also powerful enough at that time to have his own servants, or slaves. This is not the time to discuss this as an ethical issue, as we must remember the historical context of this story. As I said earlier however, is that the first great strength of the centurion is the recognition of the power he has. He says, “For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." The centurion does not cower from the power that he, but instead embraces it; he knows the ways in which he can lead others.

            Recognition of power for many leaders however, can become a problem. A sense of entitlement can develop, and as we see so often in our society today, that power can be abused. The centurion still is different; while it is true that authority is given to him by his commanding officers; his power as leader was earned through his compassion, care and service to those he lead. We of course see this in our story, we have a servant, somebody viewed as a nobody in that society, and yet when the centurion finds out that the this slave is close to death, he does all that he can in his power to help him. That includes reaching out to a complete stranger. We must remember that the centurion is a Gentile, not a Jew,  he reaches out Jesus, someone who he has no business associating with, because it provided hope that his servant may be saved.  We can assess that this is type of action is not out of the ordinary for the centurion, that he has always lead with great compassion and respect. We hear the words of the Jewish elders whom he sent to Jesus telling Jesus about the centurion saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him,
 for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” Once again we hear about the centurion’s great respect for those he leads. Although he is not Jew he helped to build the synagogue for them.  All of these examples go to show that the centurion truly did serve those who was leading, in effect became an even stronger leader because his power was not just simply given to him, but earned by the ways in which he served.

            Finally, we come to the last great sign of a servant leader. So far we have noted that a great leader serves those whom they are leading, and we have also noted that a great leader recognizes and appreciates the power that they hold. And yet in our story we find a point of tension.  The centurion realizes that in the midst of his compassion for his servant, he had not truly respected who Jesus is. On the one hand this is a practical statement.  Jesus is a Jew, and for him to come into the house of a Gentile and heal the servant, he would become deemed unclean by the Jewish laws. The centurion realizes that he has asked to put this guest in a difficult position, and so he sends messengers again deferring to Jesus saying, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed.” While the centurion’s respect for Jesus was one hand because of the practices of the Jewish law, on the other hand we can see that the centurion recognizes Jesus for who he is, the Son of God.”  We can see this in the previous statement, he tells Jesus that he himself, a centurion mind you, is unworthy to have Jesus come under his roof and implores him to speak and let the servant be healed. Speak the word and let my servant be healed!” What an amazing statement of faith! The centurion recognizes the power of Jesus, that with a word the slave can be healed. And then in the greatest form of recognition the centurion says, “For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it.”  The centurion is saying, look at the power that I have, a command people and they listen, and yet do not have the authority that you do.  This creates a tension that is the last characteristic of a great servant leader. That although a servant leader recognizes the power they have, they first a foremost recognize that all authority belongs to God. Secondly, though a great servant leader serves the needs of those they lead, the also recognize that service to Christ comes first. And yet we see through this story that the two things are not mutually exclusive. That though the in the power and glory of Jesus the centurion deferred his request, that Christ is also filled with the same compassion for the servant and heals them. And though the centurion claims to not be worthy in the presence of Jesus, Jesus affirms the centurion saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."

            Servant leaders are called to live in that tension of serving those they lead and serving the will of God; the tension of recognizing the power they have, and that at the same time they have no power. Brothers and sisters, today I tell you that we are all called in some way to be servant leaders. To recognize the power that we have in our lives to serve others and at the same be completely obedient to the will of God. And yet, like the centurion discovered, when we submit to the will of God, we can do far more than what we could alone.

Tongue Twister (Acts 2:1-21)

Sermon as preached 5/19/13 at Lambs and Evington UMC

 

Our scripture for today is quite a tongue twister. It’s one of those scriptures that you cross your fingers and hope that you are not asked to read it out loud. Just look at all of the names, “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  Cretans and Arabs.”  This is a scripture that even pastors struggle to get through when reading it aloud. Without all of these names, these regions of the world, our Pentecost story would look very different, and would not be nearly as spectacular and beautiful.  That is because each of these names, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  Cretans and Arabs,  not only represents a person that was gathered on that wonderful day, but it shows us that magnitude of God’s love and grace. It shows us that the power of the Holy Spirit has come for all of the world.

                Because what happens on that day of Pentecost?  We know the story pretty well. It was after Jesus ascended into heaven, and he told his disciples to gather and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. And that’s how we find the disciples in our scripture for today. They are gathered together, with many other Jewish followers from all over the world.  “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”  What an amazing scene!  Violent rushes of wind, Tongues on fire resting on the shoulders of those gathered there, and to cap it all of the followers, began to speak in other languages.  It was such a spectacle that those who were observing what had happened thought that the followers were drunk.  But of course they were not drunk, they were filled by the Holy Spirit, and celebrating in its power and glory.  We here this story, we picture it in our own minds, we find the story to be captivating, but at the end of the day we may still be asking ourselves, So what?  This amazing moment happened about two thousand years ago,  what does it have to do with my own life?

                And yet this text has everything to do with our own lives.  This text teaches us so much about us both as a community of believers, and also it teaches  us about us about ourselves as individuals. So let us first look at what this story has to teach us about the church, or about the community of believers. Prior to this moment, the disciples and the other followers of Christ, had actually been able to follow Christ, walk with him, follow him, and learn directly from him. Jesus then ascended into heaven, and the followers of Christ were left to figure what to do next. Other than the disciples there was not real organization, there was no structure for how to proceed. Other than the life and teachings of Jesus there was no guidance on what type of ministry to do next.  And so the followers of Christ listened to what he commanded, and they waited for the Holy Spirit. This text is that moment in which a random group of followers, turned into a community of believers through the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is the moment in which followers from all around the known world became united. This truly is the beginning of the church.  (We) Many churches still celebrate this wonderful occurrence each week in worship, without really recognizing it. (We)   Many churches recite the apostle’s creed each week as an affirmation of faith. It is a way for us as Christians to reaffirm our beliefs in our  “God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was crucified dead and buried. The third day he arose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God the father Almighty.”  And then when come to the next line in the creed, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy catholic church.” When we say catholic we don’t necessarily mean Roman Catholic like we think of the world now, but when we say the holy catholic church we mean the universal church; we are talking about the whole community of believers.  And yet when we read, or recite the Apostle’s creed we may find it to be strange that the Holy Spirit and the Holy catholic church are both lumped together in the same sentence. After all we had a whole paragraph to talk about God the father and about the life death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ; but here we have a sentence to talk about the Holy spirit, and half of it talks about the church.  At first it seems as though the Holy Spirit is getting the short end of the stick; but when we read our scripture today we come to find out that the Holy Spirit and the church are so integrally  tied together. God sends us the Holy Spirit to lead us, and the Church could not exist without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our scripture today is the story of when the two unite. It  is as  I said earlier when the church was formed, because the Holy Spirit had come to unite a random group of followers, and to lead them in the way of the Lord.

                This Pentecost story is also important to the church because it is a foretaste of what is yet to come. It is a reminder of what the church will be like in the end of times.  We can see this in Revelation, chapter 7 which says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God,who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”  All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying: Amen!
Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” ¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’^[a] nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;‘ he will lead them to springs of living water.’^[b]‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

            What a beautiful vision of what it will be like. Where every tear will be wiped from our eyes and we will gather as one, though we are multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, and sing praises to the Lamb.  Does that sound familiar people from different tribes and languages coming together and singing praises? Well it should because it what we have going on in our scripture for today.  The beginning of the church and the church in glory is made up of all people gathering together to praise the Lord. But as believers of Christ we can work towards that vision today. It reminds me of my time in South Africa.  I was blessed to be able to visit South Africa for 11 weeks, and many of those weeks me and a few other students from Duke, stayed at a Methodist seminary in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.  We frequently ate, learned, and served with them, but maybe what was the most meaningful time there, was the moments in which we were able to worship with them. One thing to point out is that South Africa is very different than the US; we have one official national language English, while South Africa has twelve official languages, and many others that aren’t official.  South Africa also has a difficult past, where the English and Dutch colonized the many tribes, the English and Dutch descendants even fought each other, and until 1994, the country was under what was called the Apartheid rule, which meant that those who were not English or Afrikaans (which is the name for the Dutch descendants) were oppressed and had very little rights. And so here we are 4 Americans, gathering in South Africa only 12 years after the Apartheid had ended, with South African Christians who were English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and many more and we were worshiping together. I remember one service in particular in which seven different languages were spoken. We prayed in Xhosa, sang in Afrikaans, heard the scripture in Portuguese, and the sermon in English, and so on. I remember singing along with one of the songs in Zulu having no idea what I was saying, and yet feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit binding me closer to every one worshiping with me. And to top it off we gathered together and recited the benediction together in our own native tongue, saying the same words, just different languages.  This experience was a reminder that the universal church is a church made up of so many different people, and yet we are all bound together by the Holy Spirit.

            And that leads to our last point for this morning.  This Pentecost story not only teaches us about the church as a whole, but it also teaches us as individual believers. As I said, the universal church is made up of so many different people, and each one of us is a part of that.  Just like those who were gathered on that day of Pentecost, each one of us come from different places. Now we may not come from different tribes on countries like in our story, but each one of us has our own story that has brought us here. Not one of our stories is alike, and yet in all of differences we are all united by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our differences also means that we each have unique gifts, experiences, and stories, that can be used to serve the Kingdom of God.  Our scripture for today tells us that each one of us play a role in the ministry of the Kingdom of God. It says, “ 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” The great news about the Holy Spirit is that we are all able to receive its guidance and power.  Each and every one of us have a special calling in our lives. Sons and daughters shall prophesy, upon both men and women in those days I will I pour out my spirit. No matter who you are, no matter what circumstances, the Holy Spirit has a way for you to serve God and to testify to the glorious name of Lord and savior Jesus Christ. So like those followers on the day of Pentecost let ourselves be ready to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us be ready for it to lead us in whatever direction it calls us. Let us be ready to see how the Spirit can not only strength and empower our own lives, but how it may be leading us all, as a community of believers, and a church, as those who are so different, and yet are united by the Spirit’s power. Let us listen for the Spirit’s calling, and when we hear it, let us respond boldly, so that the world shall see us, and wonder what is going on there? Are they drunk? No they are just filled with the Holy Spirit.

Where Do We Go From Here? (Acts 1:1-11)

Our scripture for today may be one of the most baffling, most spectacular, and yet this Sunday is probably one of the least celebrated Sundays in the Christians church. Today is Ascension Sunday, the day in which we celebrate Christ ascending from Earth into heaven. We celebrate this fact every Sunday during  our Affirmation of Faith when we say, “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty” and yet how often do we talk about it during the life of the Church. We talk a lot about the birth of Christ as we prepare for his coming during Advent and celebrate it during Christmas. We talk about Christ’s struggle with temptation in the desert during Lent and then there of course is Holy Week; we celebrate his Last Supper with the disciples, we remember his death on the cross, and of course we celebrate the good news that Christ rose again from the dead for the forgiveness of sins. Last week I lamented about how little we talk about the activity of the Holy Spirit, but at least we celebrate it once a year with the celebration of Pentecost (which is next week by the way). All of these things are important to talk about because they help us to relive the good news of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit and the Church.  Still, in the middle of this retelling of the story of Jesus Christ and the formation of the Church, why do we seem to neglect Christ’s ascension? We even talk about Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and yet if we left the story at that, Jesus would still be walking the globe, or would have died again. When we think about it in those terms we start to realize how crucial the ascension truly is. So why do we so rarely talk about it? Is it because it is a difficult issue to believe? I don’t think that is the case because if we as Christians believe in the resurrection of Christ, then why would his ascension be any harder to believe? It seems as if the reason we don’t know how to address it. I have to admit as I read the scripture for this morning, as I prepared to write this sermon, I ended up staring at a blank computer screen for half an hour asking myself, What am I supposed to say about this? Where do I go from here? And then it hit me, that is one of the important questions of the scripture. Where do we go from here?

            In our scripture for today the disciples are in a crossroad in their ministry. For three years or so they have been following Jesus, listening to his teachings, following his commands, walking in his footsteps, literally.  We as Christians use the term following Jesus so often, and when we say it we mean that we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior and that we live our lives according to his will. We have to realize however that when we say that the disciples followed Jesus, they actually followed him. They followed him in deserts, the followed him into towns, the followed him up the side of mountains, and they followed him across seas. You can imagine the panic attack that happened when their leader was killed, but that panic was short lived because Jesus rose from the dead, and the disciples once again had their leader to follow. So here they are once again following their leader when all of the sudden Jesus tells them that they must stay in Jerusalem and wait. Wait? We are followers we don’t wait we follow. Then after speaking to the disciples some more, Jesus ascends into heaven, leaving the disciples staring into the clouds. Think about their confusion, their frustration, their fear, because they had been literally following Jesus for three years now, through stormy seas and dry land, and now Jesus ascends to heaven and the disciples had to come to the realization that they could no longer physically follow Jesus. So they had to ask themselves the tough question, how do we follow Jesus now? Where do we go from here?

            We can imagine that the disciples had a difficult decision ahead of them; what are they going to do now? On the one hand they could fall apart; they could throw up their hands and say, “our savior is gone, there is nothing more that we can do.” As they stood there staring at the heavens where Jesus just ascended to, it could also have been easy for them to sit there on their hands and simply wait for Jesus to come back. This is made even easier by the fact that Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem. If the disciples were anything like me, their instinct would have been to make a plan on what to do next; where to go from here.” They had been following Jesus watching him serve and teach and I am sure that they learned that this was some of their responsibility as followers of Christ to do the same. If they were like me, they would have made a plan of action, and then tried to immediately implement it based upon our own desires and our own understanding of what we think is best. Yet this seems to be the tension that is happening here in our scripture. On the one hand Jesus is telling the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, to not try to follow him (as if they could if they tried), and to not disperse but to stay together.  On the other hand Jesus is telling his disciples to stay in Jerusalem, and we understand that this is because they have work left to do there. How are we supposed to both stay and wait, and at the very same time follow and serve? Doesn’t waiting seem contrary to everything that Jesus did while he was here on Earth?  He seemed to be always on the go, with the disciples on his footsteps, teaching, preaching, serving, and healing. Wouldn’t waiting be dropping the ball on those special ministries? At the same time, the disciples had always been followers, always just been behind Jesus watching what he did and listening to what he said, and then followed the examples. Jesus has ascended now, what are they to do? They know they should be in ministry, but where should they serve first? How should they go about doing it?  I can imagine at this time there were so many questions going on in the minds of the disciples.

            The problem is that as humans we seem to always want the answers immediately. We can see this with the disciples, Jesus had just told the disciples, “While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me;

1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."  And what do the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"  Jesus just gives them the command to wait for the Holy Spirit, and the disciples have to know the answer of whether or not this is the time in which Israel will be restored. We as humans have such a need to know all of the answers. We have such a need for control. When we don’t know what to expect, when we don’t know what to do, we start to freak out. Usually instead of waiting to discern what is the will of God, we try to jump in and decide what we think is best. We rush into making decisions, because we feel as if we always have to have an answer, that we always have to have the solution. But Jesus tells the disciples, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." In a time in which the disciples just wanted an answer, Jesus reminds them that it is God who is supposed to know all things, not us. That we do not know the will of God, nor are we supposed to. Our job is to wait for the Spirit to tell us her will, and then go out and follow it.

            It is so easy for us to get caught up in doing what we think we should be doing, and many times we do it out of compassion and love, we do it because we truly do want to serve God. Still we often forget the importance of waiting. This reminds me of a story of a Methodist preacher who was just assigned to a church in Georgia. The pastor arrived early to the church one day full of zeal, wanting to make a difference for that church. When he arrived the first thing he noticed was an old tree that was blocking one of the side doors of the church. The pastor thought that a way to show the church how committed he was to the church would be to cut the tree down for them so that they could once again use those doors, and that’s exactly what he did. The next Sunday the pastor arrives to the horror and anger of the members, because that very tree was planted by John Wesley himself when he came and visited Georgia, and now John Wesley’s tree was gone forever. We so often try to do the right thing, but don’t realize our need to wait for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

            We however mustn’t confuse waiting for the Holy Spirit’s guidance with doing nothing. Waiting for the holy spirit does not mean inactivity, it means receptivity. It means we must find ways in which we can prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit’s guidance.  As most of you know, the past few months I have been the chaplain at the hospital once a week. I didn’t however just walk room to room talking to people, instead I had a pager that would go off whenever someone needed a chaplain. You would be surprised that this happened less than you think; usually a chaplain is only called for a crisis or for a death, so I would usually only get paged once or twice a night. And yet I was at the hospital waiting, preparing for when I might have to respond. I would eat as soon as possible so that I wasn’t caught without dinner. I made sure I drank plenty of water. At night, I would lay out my clothes on the bed next to me, even keeping my tie tied, so that if I received a call that I could throw on my clothes and respond to the call as quickly as possible. Finally the last thing I did before I went to sleep was to check to make sure the pager was turned on loud, so that I would not miss a calling. While most of my time on call at the hospital was simply waiting, it was not doing nothing; I had to make sure that I was ready to respond at any moment.

            The same is true with the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus tells us to wait, we must do all we can to prepare ourselves so that we don’t miss it. We must gather for worship, partake of the sacraments, study the Bible, and of course we must as Paul says, pray without ceasing. If we prepare to receive guidance from the Holy Spirit, then when she comes, we shall be ready to follow God’s will. Patience is a virtue, and a difficult one at that; we can’t rush into ministry, or we like the minister who cut down Wesley’s tree may actually do more harm than good. But when we are led by the Holy Spirit then we truly can make a difference in this world. So what do we do now that Jesus has ascended?  Where do we go from here?  We go where the Holy Spirit leads us.

 

Musings: Let Everything that Has Breath Praise the Lord

There are 150 Psalms in the Bible. They span an array of emotions from praise to anger, from sadness to joy. The way the Psalms end however tells us so much about life as well about our relationship to God. Psalm 150 ends by saying, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”  While this is a psalm that I had heard throughout my life, recently it has become so much more meaningful to me. As most of you know I have been fulfilling some chaplain duties as part of Clinical Pastoral Education. During this experience I have encountered people in some of their most intimate moments: fear of surgery, grief from the loss of a loved one, uncertainty of a crisis, and loneliness from being in a nursing home for so long. While ministry in all of these circumstances is a challenge I’m honored to have the opportunity to experience, one challenge has stood out above the rest as being the most difficult. That challenge is providing ministry to those who are unresponsive, those who may not even be aware that I am there. At first this was a frustration; what type of ministry can I provide if they cannot respond? How can I help them? How can I reach them? As I was reading scripture to one of these patients one day, I turned to this psalm and it all seemed to make sense when I read, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

As I looked at this patient their eyes were slightly open,  fixated on the wall, they could not speak, they could not move, they could not even eat, all they could really do is breath; and yet let everything that has breath praise the Lord. This person, just like every person, is a one who is truly loved by God. While the world may see them as old, decrepit, and taking up space and money while waiting to die; the Lord sees each one as a precious child. The same Lord who breathed into man giving him life, is breathing into each and every one of us. From a baby who takes its first gasp of air to those who are exhaling their last breath; the Holy Spirit sings praises to God. For as Romans 8 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

 Soon we will be celebrating  Pentecost and how the church was formed through the power of the Holy Spirit.  While we are called to be in ministry with the “least of these” let us be remind that our ministry is not a ministry of “results” but a ministry of love.  We serve others not for some benefit that we will gain, and not even necessarily anything those we serve will gain either; but we serve because we love God and because we recognize the sacred worth of all of God’s children.  If we love in this way then just like the psalms we will experience both joy and pain, fear and comfort, anger and praise. Still, at the end of the day when we recognize that the breath of God is in each and every one of us, working between us in a delicate dance of inhaling and exhaling, allowing two strangers who may not know each other or who may not even be able to communicate with each other to share in a sacred moment of praise, then we truly can exclaim,   “ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.”

 

The Farewell Address (John 13: 31-35)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 4/28/13

On July 4, 1939 thousands of fans packed into Yankee stadium, but on this day they did not come to see a baseball game; no they came for a much more somber occasion. They came because news had spread that one of their beloved Yankees, Lou Gehrig, had been diagnosed with a new rare disease, one that would later be named after him, and one that would eventually take his life. Knowing the imminence of his own death, Gehrig came to give a farewell address to his loyal fans. He was joined by some of the great Yankees of all time, including Babe Ruth, and when it came time for him to speak he uttered some of the most famous lines in sports history. “Today I consider myself, the luckiest man on the face of this Earth.” Those words have lived on and for as great of a player as he was, for all of the records that he held, this may have been his defining moment.

            Another farewell address in sports that happened a little more recently also holds such great power. It was 1993 at the ESPY’s a sports award show much like the Oscars or the Grammy’s. Jim Valvano was the recipient of a humanitarian award. Valvano had been the head coach of the NC State basketball and had even lead them to an improbable National Championship in the early 80’s, and yet much like Gehrig, Valvano’s legacy may be defined by his farewell address. Jimmy V as he was lovingly referred to as, was diagnosed with cancer, his body riddled with tumors with nothing the doctors could do. He teamed up with ESPN to start the Jimmy V foundation to raise money for cancer research, something that at the time was not as common and as he said in his speech was ten times less funded than AID’s research. During this speech there are many classic lines, but two of them have stood out over time to become the defining lines of this farewell address. First he says, “To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.”  And the second legendary line that has become the motto of the Jimmy V foundation is, “Don’t give up don’t ever give up.” Jimmy V after giving this speech was so weak that he had to be helped off the stage by Dick Vitale and Mike Krzyzewski. Jimmy V died less than two months after that speech. It is still played in its entirety near the beginning of the college basketball season to raise money for the Jimmy V foundation.

            There is just something about farewell addresses that gives the words that the person is saying so much weight, so much gravitas. A person knows they are going to die and these are the words that they find important to share before they pass away. “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.” “Don’t give up, Don’t ever give up.” If someone who is dying, someone who has had time to reflect upon their own life and have come up with what is the most important things to say tells you something; you take it very seriously. It even becomes phrase or memory to remember them by.

            So why am I spending so much time on farewell addresses? Well, it is because our scripture for today is a farewell address of its own. Jesus is talking to his disciples, and he knows that his time is quickly coming, so he starts to tell the disciples about it. He starts off by talking about how he is glorified through God, and God’s is glorified through him, and some other very deep things that I’m sure that the disciples didn’t understand, and that will be the topic of discussion for us another day. The mood of the address changes quickly and becomes much more intimate, he says to the disciples, “Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you.” This is it, this is the iconic line, the build-up must be killing the disciples, what is it that Jesus is going to leave for them to remember? Jesus continues, “'Where I am going, you cannot come.”  Wait, what?! Where I am going you cannot come.  Jesus has come to the crucial moment of his farewell speech,  and what he says is  “Where I am going you cannot come.” At best,  this statement seems to be anti-climactic, a letdown, not what the disciples were expecting. At worst, this statement may have made the disciples feel as though their faith had been in vain. That they had been following the Messiah, holding on to the words of hope of eternal life that he had been sharing, only to hear Jesus say, “where I am going you cannot come.” We know that Jesus is not saying that we can’t come to heaven, we know that all who truly believe in Christ have the opportunity for eternal life, but for the disciples this could have been a shocking statement.  Even we today may be like the disciples wondering what he means when he says that we cannot go where Christ is going.  If we read the next line of what Jesus says we may however start to get a better understand of why Jesus would say such a thing.

After telling the disciples that the cannot go where he is going, Jesus says to them, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Jesus tells the disciples to love one another. Sure this is something that we have heard from Jesus multiple times, but here Jesus put an emphasis on this point, he says, “I give you a new commandment” This is our new commandment, our new charge, our new responsibility, to love each other. Jesus tells the disciples that when they show the same love for each other that Jesus showed for them, then everyone will know that they are disciples of Christ, or as the hymn states it,  “they will know we are Christians by our love.”

            When we hear this new commandment from Christ to love one another so that all will know that we are disciples of Christ, and when we hear it right after Jesus telling the disciples that where he is going they cannot come, it starts to become a little clearer about what Jesus is saying. He isn’t saying that we don’t have the opportunity to get to heaven, he isn’t saying “Nanny nanny boo boo, I’m going to heaven but you can’t come.  He is saying to the disciples, I have my work here on Earth, to die and rise again for the forgiveness of sins, and to ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father almighty. You also have work to do; that you should love each other so that all may know me through your love; that others may see my love working through you and want to follow as well. You see, the reason that Jesus says that we cannot come where he is going, is because we have been called to join in with God’s mission to the world, by showing God’s love to one another.

            So when Jesus tells us to love each other, we can read it as a command to first and foremost love the other followers of Christ. That there should not be backstabbing, hatred,  and malice between those who claim to be followers of Christ, because after all that is not how Christ loved us. The Bible says a house divided against itself cannot stand, so how can we be truly followers of Christ, living out God’s mission for the world, if we are in constant conflict with ourselves. We can’t. I think this commandment to love each other goes much deeper than not fighting with each other however. If we are to love each other as Jesus love the disciples, then we must love each other, brokenness and all. We must realize that the disciples that Jesus called were not the perfect, clean, respectable members of society; they were fisherman, tax collectors, those that society saw as unclean, or even as morally corrupt.  Jesus however called these men and used them in extraordinary ways for ministry. And yet sadly, in most churches today there is this concept that those who follow Christ have no blemishes; and if they (which they do, then it is something that we must hide).   Countless Christians sit in their pews week after week battling with addictions, struggling in their marriage, fighting depression, fighting eating disorders; and they have no idea that their neighbor sitting next to them is going through difficult trials of their own, maybe even the same circumstance.  When Jesus is calling us to love each other as he loves us, he is calling us to embrace each other’s pains and weaknesses; to embrace each other’s faults. Not that we embrace the faults themselves, but that we do not create a culture of shame, but instead create a safe sanctuary where children of God feel safe to wrestle with their difficulties, knowing that those around them are there to love them. This is truly loving each other as Christ loved us.

            Loving each other is not contained only in the walls of this building, Love each other does not only mean loving other Christians, but if we are to truly love in the way that Christ loves, then we know that we must all of God’s creation. Jesus was in ministry to the sick, the poor, those in prison, those oppressed by race, or nationality, or economic standings. If we are to love each other as Christ loves us, then we must love in a similar manner. We should be visiting the hospitals, nursing homes and the shut-in. In our culture today there is a unspoken belief that once a person is no longer “useful” to society then we should put them out of sight and out of mind. As Christians however we know that all life is sacred, that all life serves a purpose on Earth and if we are not there to affirm and treasure that life who will be? The same goes for prison; society see criminals as those who have lost all rights, all privileges, in essence have lost their humanity, but we as Christians know that through Christ there is hope for all, that through Christ there is forgiveness. We have all probably heard of the wonderful works that prison chaplains have done, bringing prisoners to repentance. For some of us this is hard to accept that someone could commit a crime and still reap the benefits of eternal life, but this is what is so wonderful about our savior’s love, is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Prisoners still face their sentence on Earth, but like all of us have the opportunity for eternal life; therefore we as Christians should not hesitate to show our love to those in prison through visitations or simply cards expressing our love. These are just a few ways that we as Christians can show Christ’s love to the world, but there are so many more ways. It is the call that Christ has placed upon us; to love each other as he loves us. That we cannot yet go where he is going, because we are called to be in ministry to each other and to the world. It may at first sound like a burden, but when it is all said and done, when we have spent our lives in love, we like Gehrig may be able to say, “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this Earth.”

The Shepherd's Voice (John 10:22-30)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 4/21/13

“The Lord is My Shepherd I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.  He leads me in the right paths for his name sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.” These words or a another translation of these words from psalm 23 hold a special place in the hearts of so many of us. It is usually one of the first psalms that we ever learn.  We hear it frequently in times of great joy, but we especially hear it in times of our greatest distress. I would bet that it is the most common psalm used at funerals, and it seems to bring such peace to so many who are grieving. I have even been able to personally witness the power that these words have. I once had the opportunity to visit the family of a man who was in his last days on Earth. The family asked me to pray over their husband and father, and so together we prayed, but as we finished praying one of the family members asked if we could conclude by praying these words from the 23^rd psalm. It was a powerful moment and one that seemed to bring some sense of peace and closure to the family. What is it about these words that bring us so much comfort? What is it about saying the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, that gives us a feeling of such peace? Our scripture today may not explain the power of these words, but it may help to give them even more power and meaning for us.

            Our scripture for today starts with Jesus in Jerusalem at what the Bible tells us is the festival of the dedication in winter. In other words Jesus was in Jerusalem during the time of Hanukkah. Like so many of the stories that we have of Jesus in the Bible, this story starts with Jesus being asked questions; this time he is being asked by some of the Jewish leaders at the Temple. “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah tell us plainly.” The text makes it seem as though these leaders are hanging on the words of Jesus, waiting for him to proclaim that he is the Messiah so that they can follow him; however there seems to be something lost in the translation. The leaders actually use an idiom that would not make sense in English so translators tried to have it make sense to us.  The original tone of the phrase is probably more hostile than it seems when we read it. The leaders are probably asking a question more like, “How long are you going to keep annoying us, or How long are you going to keep bothering us.[1]” The leaders wanted to know whether or not Jesus professed to be the Messiah and what evidence he had to support it. It is difficult to tell whether they truly believed that it was possible if he were the Messiah or whether they were simply asking him so that they could make a case against him.

            The scripture does make one thing clear about this interaction however, and that is that they did not know him. Sure they knew who Jesus was, they had heard about the signs and wonders that he had done, this is probably where their curiosity came from; but for as much as they knew about Jesus they did not know Jesus. They did not know that this man was the Messiah. This is made clear when Jesus answers them saying, “I have told you and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.”  In essence Jesus is saying to the Jewish leaders, you ask me to tell you if I am the Messiah but I have shown you. I have done many works in the name of the father, but as he says later in the passage, “The father and I are one.”  Why do you need me to tell you that I am the Messiah when my works attest to the fact that I am. You do not follow me, you are not part of my flock and therefore you do not believe.

In English we can say that we know something or someone, however in many other languages such as Greek and Spanish to name a few, there are multiple different words for knowledge. These words differentiate between types of knowledge.  For example if we were to say we know George Washington, what would we be saying? We would be saying that we know about him, we know his history, and why he is significant. On the other hand, if we were to say something like, I know my son, or I know my wife and they would never do something like that, what are we saying then? In this instance it doesn’t seem to be a knowledge based on intellect, it seems to be a knowledge based on experience or relationships. It then starts to become clear that there is a difference between intellectual knowledge and relational knowledge.  We could even say one is a knowledge of the mind while the other is a knowledge of the heart. This difference in knowledge seems to be what is at play in our story for today. The Jewish leaders desire an intellectual knowledge that Jesus is Messiah, that want to prove that it is either true or false. They know about Jesus and what he has done, and yet they do not believe because they do not know him. They do not have that deep relation with Christ. They are not part of his flock.

            This leads to us back to the words of psalm 23, this might help to explain why it is that the imagery of the Lord as our shepherd is so comforting to us; because after Jesus tells the Jewish leaders that they are not part of his sheep, he goes on to say, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” When we hear these words from Jesus as he describes himself as a shepherd and us as his sheep, we get a sense of great intimacy. Whereas the Jewish conception of a Messiah is a great ruler, a military avenger; Christ likens himself to a shepherd. It seems to be in stark opposition to the expected role of the Messiah. The Son of God should be strong and mighty, the Messiah should almost be like a king, and we his subjects, and yet Christ does not use this comparison but rather compares himself to a shepherd.

            What beautiful imagery the shepherd truly is for our Lord! On the one hand the power dynamic is still there. A shepherd is in control of the flock, rounding them up, herding them where they are supposed to go. The shepherd plays the role of protector, keeping predators away from the flock.  If we remember the parable of the lost sheep then we remember that the shepherd is also responsible for the group as a whole but for each sheep individually and would go to any lengths to find a lost sheep. All of this stresses a status of power, and yet there is a great relationship between the shepherd and the sheep.

The first aspect of that relationship is that the shepherd knows his sheep. Even when the sheep of two different flocks come together, the shepherd is able to know which is his. The great news of Jesus as the shepherd is that we are all his sheep and that he knows each one of us. The Bible tells us that we are wonderfully made and that even the hairs of our head are known by God. This truly is good news. We have a God who truly knows us, knows our joys and knows our pain. A savior who sees each and every one of us as a unique and special individual; a individual worth seeking after when they are lost. Jesus says earlier in the chapter, “I am the Good shepherd… I lay my life down for the flock.”  This may be the most amazing element of this relationship between sheep and the shepherd; that when push comes to shove, when the lives of the sheep are in danger, the shepherd will risk his own life for the sake of the sheep. Jesus is indeed the good shepherd and he laid down his life for us. Not only did he lay his life down for us but here the good news, Christ died for us while we were still sinners, that proves God’s love for us. The good shepherd died for us, even when we did not deserve it. It is that sacred relationship between the sheep and the shepherd.

The first aspect of that relationship is that the sheep know their shepherd’s voice. Earlier in the chapter Jesus talks about the nature of sheep. He says that sheep are able to distinguish their shepherd’s voice from the voices of others. I’ve heard stories of different flocks that were intermingled and yet at the call of their shepherd’s voice they quickly separated from each other, all because they could recognize their voice. The Bible tells us that when a stranger comes and tries to call the sheep they will not follow because they do not recognize their voice. We take it for granted but one of the greatest aspects of our relationship with God is not only that God is loving, and merciful, and just; it’s not only that the shepherds knows us and seeks after us when we are lost, but one of the greatest aspects of that relationship is that we are able to hear  the shepherd’s voice. God is not some distant being, watching from afar as play out our lives here on Earth; God is ever present, God is with us, walking beside us, leading us, calling out to us.

            In the midst of the horrible tragedy that happened Monday during the Boston Marathon there have been a lot of voices calling out. There have been voices of fear, voices of pain, voices of anger and retaliation,  There have even been voices questioning whether God even exists because if God did why would something like this be allowed to happen? Still, in the middle of all of these voices, in the middle of our own doubt and fear, we as God’s flock are still able to hear the shepherd calling out to us, saying to us, “yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, do not fear for I am with you.” The voice reminds us that even in times of such tragedy, we should as Mr. Rogers said, “look for the helpers.” We may not be able to understand how or why things like this happen, but if you are asking where is God in all of this, look for the helpers. Look at those brave men and women who rushed into the debris to try and save those hurt by the explosion, putting their own lives at risk. Look at those runners who after running a marathon, who continued to run to the local hospitals so that they could give blood. Look at the countless cards, emails, facebook and twitter messages that have been sent to the victims and their families. Look at the millions of people from different faith traditions gathering in prayer for those involved. When we see these things we are able to see God at work. We are able to see God’s love and mercy at work at a time of such great need. We are able to hear the good shepherd calling us just as he called Peter saying, “tend my sheep” and we are able to see those who have followed the call. It is this relationship that makes psalm 23 so special to us. It is a relationship that allows to say the Lord is my shepherd, and to claim that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

           

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[1] New Interpreters Bible Commentary

Once ,Twice, Three Times My Savior (John 21:1-19)

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC 4/14/13

 

One of my favorite movies of all time would probably have to be Braveheart. It is a movie about medieval Scotland and the Revolutionary William Wallace. Scotland at that time was under oppressive British rule, so oppressive that one of the laws was that British troops were given the right to be with a man’s new wife on their wedding day.  After William’s wife resists and is killed, William starts a revolt against the king in attempts to free Scotland. There is one aspect of this movie that reminds me of our scripture for today. While in the midst of his struggles to free Scotland, William elicits the help of one of the noblemen of Scotland. He was a Scotsman who had been given money and some power from the king in exchange for his obedience. William asks for his help on the battle field and he consents. During a major battle however, as William is relying on the forces of this nobleman for help, the nobleman abandons William in his time of need. William is later captured and executed, however the movie ends with this nobleman taking up the fight, and leading Scotland to freedom. It is a true story of redemption.

            Our scripture for this morning is also a story of redemption. In our scripture for today there are really two different things going on. First you have Jesus appearing on the beach to the disciples and telling them where to cast their nests in order to catch more fish. The second part of the story is a conversation between Jesus and Simon Peter. This morning we will be focusing on the latter.  The gospel of John gives us a fascinating conversation between Jesus and Peter. “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."  A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."  He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him  the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.”  

            This is a very interesting and confusing conversation between Jesus and Peter.  Jesus continues to ask Peter if he loves him, and Peter keeps answering yes. We can sense the frustration of Peter, and we begin to wonder why is Jesus doing this? There are many theories and interpretations to what this means, and many of them are correct, but this morning as we ask the question why did Jesus ask Peter this question three times, we must turn to another scripture that might shed some light on the question. We must go back to John 18 and the night in which  Jesus was handed over to be killed. “ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." After this the scripture switches to Jesus being questioned by the high priests, but a little later in the chapter the story comes back to Peter. “Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, "You are not also one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not."  One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"  Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

            And with the cock crowing, Peter had fulfilled what was prophesied by Jesus, that Peter would deny Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice. We must realize that this is not some minor incident. While Jesus had twelve disciples that he relied on, there is no arguing that Peter was special, that Peter was some sort of leader amongst the disciples. Peter is talked highly about throughout the gospels, and even this gospel of John, who frequently refers to a different disciple as the disciple whom Jesus loved, still talks about Peter as though he was a leader of the disciples. At the mount in which Jesus was transfigured before a select few disciples, Jesus even tells Peter that Peter is the rock on which he will build his church. This even plays a huge role in the Roman Catholic church, as it is believed that is pope is in a lineage all the way down from Peter himself. This means that one of the great leaders of the disciples and one of the leaders that the church today emulates, denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. This certainly seems to put a dent in his credentials as a Christian leader.

            This leads us back to our scripture for today.  As Jesus is asking the question of whether Peter loves him, I can imagine that Peter has that fateful night in the back of his mind. He must be thinking that he had betrayed Jesus, and now Jesus does not trust him eanymore. It must have been a horrible feeling, to feel as though the one that you love so much as your Lord and savior no longer trusts you. It must have been humiliating to feel as though you had let your savior down. While this may have been how Peter was feeling while Jesus was asking him these questions, I think that it would be wrong to assume that this was Jesus’ intent. In fact if we look at these questions from the perspective of that fateful night in which Peter denied Christ, we may see that this moment now on the beach is actually a chance for redemption.

            As we think about that horrible night for Peter, let’s pinpoint what it is that Peter did that would make him feel guilty or ashamed. It is a pretty to figure out; Peter was asked if he knew Christ and he denied him. He didn’t just deny him once, not even twice, but Peter denied Christ three times! Peter wasn’t even being asked whether or not he loved Christ, he was simply being asked if he knew him, and still Peter denied knowing Christ. And now Jesus is here with Peter asking whether or not Peter loves him. At this moment we are going to take a step back and have some of our scripture acted out and then maybe we will start to get a sense of the significance of this moment.

Reader 1: "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?"

Me: “I am not”

Reader 2: “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?

Me: “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”

Reader 2: Feed My Lambs 

Reader 1: You are not also one of his disciples, are you?"

Me: I am Not

Reader 2: “Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Me: Yes, Lord; you know that I love you

Reader 2: Tend my Sheep

Reader 1: "Did I not see you in the garden with him?" 

Me: You must be mistaken; I do not know this man

Reader 2: Simon son of John, do you love me?

Me: Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.

Reader 2: Feed My Sheep

Cock-a-doodle-do

            This is the beauty of our scripture for today.  Three  times Peter denied Christ on the night in which Christ gave himself up for us, and now three times Peter is able to tell Christ that he loves him. It is not Jesus doubting Peter because even Peter says that Jesus knows all things and knows that Peter loves him. This conversation was a gracious act of mercy by Jesus, allowing Peter to redeem himself by testifying to the goodness of the Lord. Our passage for today is a redemption story. It is a story that tells us that even when we fail, even when we turn our backs on Christ, Christ is there offering us grace and forgiveness. That is why our liturgy for the sacrament of Holy Communion says,  “when we turned away and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.” Christ’s love remained steadfast, it remained steadfast for Peter even after betrayed him, and it remains steadfast for each and every one of us here this morning. We just have to answer that one question, “Do you love me?” Of Jesus I love you. 

            If we stopped here with the message however we would be missing one crucial element of the story. After this great moment of redemption, after each time Peter was able to affirm his love for Christ, what did Jesus say? Feed my sheep, Tend my lambs, feed my sheep. You see Jesus did not simply say I forgive you go on your way, he did not say you are now redeemed let’s go back to eating fish on the beach. He says feed my sheep, tend my lambs. Christ gives Peter a calling, a ministry of his own. Now there are some who would argue that this was some penalty for Peter’s betrayal. Some would argue that since we do not merit the grace that is freely given that we must do the work for Christ out of our debt for him, but this is not how I understand it because Christ did not cancel our debt of sin simply so that we would become indebted to him. What type of freedom is that?  Instead, Jesus is saying,  Peter, I told you that you are the rock on which I will build my church, and I did not lie. I have not turned my back on you Peter, you have not lost my trust, I will still build my church upon, here is your mission, feed my sheep.  Our calling to ministry, and when I say that I mean all of us,  is not out of  some debt that we have to God, but is out of God’s love, that even after we fail him time after time, Christ still sends us forth in his name. That with every denial  there is a chance for redemption, that every time we turn away, there is still an opportunity to serve. That even in all of our failings, we are called to be Christ arms and feet in this world. It is a humbling and daunting task, and yet one that proves God’s love towards us.