Please check back regularly for ideas about how to create a space at home for children to grow in their faith as followers of Jesus. I'll have all these ideas under the category of "faith at home".
Earlier this week I attended the Southeastern Iowa Synod's Fall Theological Conference featuring Dr. Mark Allan Powell and Dr. Mary Hess. Both were engaging speakers! Dr. Hess has a strong interest in nurturing the faith at home, and has a website I offer for you to explore and mine her ideas. Let's talk about them. Enjoy!
Friday, September 28, 2012
How Great is Great? (Proper 20B, 2012)
Mark 9: 30-37
A fellow preacher once mentioned that when Elvis Presley was asked a question about the Korean War he replied, "I don't know nothing about war, ma'am. I just sing songs." In this heated political climate a revised response for preachers should probably be: I don't know nothing about politics, I just preach sermons.
But what may not be so clear is how putting others first can be so great.
So I'm thankful for this story. (Fuller version here.) It concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a vibrant and creative community, but now only 5 aging monks remained in a delapidating building.
In the nearby woods was a hut that a wise rabbi occasionally used as a refuge. When he was in, the abbot decided to visit the rabbi to ask for advice. The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut, and when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate: “Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the abbot and the rabbi wept together. No one seems to have time for God anymore. They read the Torah together and embraced. But before the abbot left, he asked the rabbi: “Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?" "No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."
When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" The abbot said “The rabbi said something mysterious, cryptic: He said that the Messiah is one of us.”
The monks were dumbstruck: the Messiah is one of us? which one? the abbot? He’s our leader after all. Or what about Brother Thomas? He’s a holy man. Then there’s crotchety Brother Elred- he’s a pain, but he’s virtually always right! Surely not Brother Phillip! He’s so passive, a nobody..but he has a gift for being there when you need him. Of course the rabbi didn't mean ordinary old me. Yet suppose he did? O God, do not put that burden on me!
As they pondered this new revelation, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
People still occasionally came to visit the monastery as a tourist attraction, and when they did they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect around these the five old monks. It seemed to radiate out from them. It was so attractive, so compelling. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends. Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk with the monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery was alive and vibrant again, thanks to the rabbi's gift!
Jesus is talking today a completely different but more powerful form of greatness—and it’s a greatness he gives to us. It’s not a greatness we have earned or made, but it’s a greatness you have by virtue of these very baptismal waters. And the promises in them. You are great because the messiah is in you. and you. and you. Welcome him in yourself, in each other, and welcome him knowing that when you do, you welcome God. Amen.
A fellow preacher once mentioned that when Elvis Presley was asked a question about the Korean War he replied, "I don't know nothing about war, ma'am. I just sing songs." In this heated political climate a revised response for preachers should probably be: I don't know nothing about politics, I just preach sermons.
That's my disclaimer as I go into the perilous land of politics to engage your imagination a bit. Let’s just say
that one of the presidential candidates, whichever one you like, decides to go off message
and level with the people. This is just my own whimsy here. I’m not a politician or an
economist. But imagine he should say:
“Look. We’re now living in a global economy,
and competition is fierce for smaller pieces pie. The reality is that this is
the new normal. Forget the glory days of the 50’s or the 90’s. We are going to
have to live with less stuff, and we’re going to have to find ways to live
together, share, and redefine our riches. We’ll also have to redefine greatness
– it won’t be about how much stuff you can accumulate, but the degree to which
you help your neighbor in need. That’s going to be our survival, even our
greatness!"
What chances do you think that candidate would have of getting
elected? If there’s any doubt in your mind, there was once public figure who
said exactly that, and they nailed him to a cross! Any wonder?
Remember, this is just a fantasy apocalyptic scenario…but it seems to me that we as the church are called to live as if it were so.
Why? Because we follow a leader who calls us to live in a different kingdom
NOW, a kingdom where those called “last” are first, and the one who serves
is the greatest of all. True, it's counter intuitive, maybe even counter
human! But there it is in black and white in our reading today. Jesus couldn’t possibly be clearer. No sermon needed!But what may not be so clear is how putting others first can be so great.
So I'm thankful for this story. (Fuller version here.) It concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a vibrant and creative community, but now only 5 aging monks remained in a delapidating building.
In the nearby woods was a hut that a wise rabbi occasionally used as a refuge. When he was in, the abbot decided to visit the rabbi to ask for advice. The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut, and when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could only commiserate: “Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the abbot and the rabbi wept together. No one seems to have time for God anymore. They read the Torah together and embraced. But before the abbot left, he asked the rabbi: “Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?" "No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."
When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" The abbot said “The rabbi said something mysterious, cryptic: He said that the Messiah is one of us.”
The monks were dumbstruck: the Messiah is one of us? which one? the abbot? He’s our leader after all. Or what about Brother Thomas? He’s a holy man. Then there’s crotchety Brother Elred- he’s a pain, but he’s virtually always right! Surely not Brother Phillip! He’s so passive, a nobody..but he has a gift for being there when you need him. Of course the rabbi didn't mean ordinary old me. Yet suppose he did? O God, do not put that burden on me!
As they pondered this new revelation, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
People still occasionally came to visit the monastery as a tourist attraction, and when they did they sensed this aura of extraordinary respect around these the five old monks. It seemed to radiate out from them. It was so attractive, so compelling. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends. Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk with the monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery was alive and vibrant again, thanks to the rabbi's gift!
Jesus is talking today a completely different but more powerful form of greatness—and it’s a greatness he gives to us. It’s not a greatness we have earned or made, but it’s a greatness you have by virtue of these very baptismal waters. And the promises in them. You are great because the messiah is in you. and you. and you. Welcome him in yourself, in each other, and welcome him knowing that when you do, you welcome God. Amen.
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