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If No Sound
So What Now?©
October 18, 2009
Job 38:1-7
(34-41)
Psalm 104:1-9,
24, 35c (UMH 826)
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
Amy DeWitte
I was recently challenged by a question – so
now what? Now what are you going to do with your life? Now that you’re out of
school, now that you’re commissioned, now that you’re settled in Alabama, now
what are you going to do with your life? I have to admit, I stumbled and
struggled with the answer. I really don’t know how to put the “now what” into
words. But it’s not something I hadn’t thought about. This is a question that’s
been on my mind for quite some time.
You see, I’ve always been on my way somewhere,
always been preparing for something else. When I was in elementary school, I
was on my way to middle school. When I was in middle school, I was on my wa to
elementary school. When I was in middle school, I was on my way to high
school. When I was in high school, I was preparing for college. When I was in
college I was preparing for seminary. And when I was in seminary I was preparing
to be commissioned and appointed. I was on my way, this whole time, to be with
you. Now all of a sudden I am doing what I have always been preparing to do. So
now what?
I think we all have this kind of sense that we
are on our way somewhere, that we are preparing for something. In fact, we
often talk about our lives as if they are a journey. But sometimes we let the
preparation for the next leg get in the way of actually enjoying the ride on
this part of the trip. We do it all the time. “If I can only get through this
week…,” “If I can just get past this surgery…,” “Once this task is over and done
with…,” “If I can only accomplish…,” “If we could just get through…,” “As soon
as we move on to…”
And we don’t just so this in our individual
lives. The same thing happens in the church. It’s too tempting not to be who we
are really called to be because we feel like we have to wait to the next
“something” to happen first. Have you heard yourself or someone else say
anything like this…??
“Sure it would be great if we could so that
kind of really meaningful ministry, but we’ll need to get some more people in
here first.” Or, “Well, I guess it would be neat to have a place prepared for a
new generation of Christians to come up in the faith in our church, but
shouldn’t we wait to see if the children start coming first?” Or, “Well, I think
that might be a good idea for something new to try, but shouldn’t we wait for
our new pastor to get here first?”
Ah! And this is where our “so now what?” meet!
What is next for you as a congregation? What is next for me as a pastor? And
what is next for us as a ministry team? We are a team, you know!
I wonder if these were some of the same
sentiments of James and John as they approached Jesus that day. They had been
with Jesus through it all, from the very beginning. They ate with him, were in
ministry with him, worked, witnessed, wandered around Judea with him. And he
started saying things that made them think they were in a time of transition.
“So what’s next, Jesus? So now what? Teacher, we want you to grant us whatever
we ask of you,” they said.
“What is it that you want,” Jesus inquired.”
“Grant us to sit one at your right hand and one
at your left in glory”
Jesus said, “It’s obvious that you still don’t
understand what we’ve been about here. It’s obvious that you don’t know what
you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to be
baptized with the baptism I am baptized with
And quickly they answered, “We are able.” But
the didn’t know what they were saying.
“Are you able to swallow the reality that
following me means persecution and hardship in this life? a baptism of
suffocation unto death?”
“’Are ye able,’ said the master, ‘to be
crucified with me?’ ‘Yea,’ the sturdy dreamers answered, ‘to the death we’ll
follow thee!’”
“We’re not in this for the glory,” says Jesus.
“You will drink the cup which I drink, and you will be baptized with my
baptism….but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and
whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
So now what? What
do we do with that? We know that the disciples didn’t lead easy lives, and in
fact many of them were persecuted and even martyred for sticking it out with
Jesus. But that Word from Jesus was not just for James and John. All followers
of Jesus are called to drink that cup; all followers of Jesus are called to
baptized into that baptism.
The good, hard
news is that we know what’s next, even though we don’t like it, even though we
often put it off until “something” happens. You know, a lot of evangelism these
days has a warm fuzzy feeling: Come and be a Christian and your life will be
peaceful again. Come and be a Christian and find meaning for your life. Come
and be a Christian and you can have a better attitude, a better outlook.
That all sounds
well and good on a church sign.
But if that’s all
that people come to church for, if those are the only reasons people think they
want to go to church, to sit at the right or the left hand of God, then those
church signs and a lot of what we say too I false advertising
What does Jesus
say? Come, and follow me, and work. Come and follow me and be a servant. Come
and follow me and be a threat to the status quo. Come and follow me and don’t
let “wait and see” be your excuse for not doing what I tell you to do. Come and
follow me, and if you’re doing it right, you will be persecuted. Jesus says now
what? Follow me. This is the time.
Today is Laity
Sunday, a day to recognize and celebrate the ministries of the laity. That’s
you. You are the ones who grew this church from nothing some fifty years ago.
You are the ones who sang in the choir and worked in the food pantry and have
kept this building in tact with your one two hands. You are the ones who have
taught children Bible stories and cooked meals for the sick and have helped
people go on mission trips. You are the ones to whom Jesus says “Are ye able?”
And you have said, “Lord, We are able.”
So now what? Do
we sit back in glory, one at his right hand and one at his left? Jesus says, if
greatness is what you’re after, keep on serving, keep on giving yourselves into
this ministry. Keep on reaching out your hands to the ones in need. And if
you’re doing it right, it will be hard. If it’s not hard, you’re not doing it
right.
I have made my way
through college and internships and seminary and student appointments, all to be
a pastor. So now what for me? I get to be in ministry with you, brothers and
sisters, and I am not too proud to think that I can do it on my own.
You have built
this church, put your blood, sweat and tears into it, watched pastors come and
go, watched people walk away when things didn’t go their way, and you have stuck
it out with Jesus through it all. Now what for you? You don’t wait for
something to happen, you don’t wait for the time to be perfectly right for you
to be a servant of the Most High God.
And what’s next
for us? Something big can happen here. Something that we might not have even
imagined yet. I am convinced that there is a neighborhood, a community right
outside the walls of this sanctuary that needs radical servants. Disciples who
are not in it for the glory, people who toil and give because that’s what Jesus
called us to do. They need us. And we need them. Not just their butts in the
seats and their money in the offering plate, but their experiences and their
lives and their stories. What’s next? What’s next that instead of aging off in
a corner somewhere over to the right or left, we get to be a part of the great
recreation that is stirring in the imagination of God.
So now
what? Are ye able?
Copyright © 2009 Amy DeWitte. All Rights Reserved. No portion of
this writing may be reproduced in any form without specific, written
permission of the author.
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