Looking Like We've Arrived

3D"Text
I John 2:28-3:3
Mark 8:31-38

Well – what does it profit a church to gain the whole world and give up its soul? I was a young teenager when I saw the film The Citadel. I still remember it. It was in black and white, styles reflect= ing the age in which it was made, and the age in which A.J. Cronin wrote the no= vel. Our English teacher insisted that we see it, because it was an example of literature affecting public policy. Cronin was commenting on the state̵= 7;s failure to keep its covenant before God of guarding the health of the peopl= e. And change came as a result of his writing. My goodness, how quaint! – that a government might forget to guard the health of its people.

I remember the story this way: two physicians; one following the course of coddling wealthy hypochondriacs, and very soon gath= ering the things of this world and achieving great recognition in the right social circles. The other, gave himself to the needs of a Welsh mining town. He encountered there a critical need for a sanitation system, the lack of which was causing illness and death among the people. His patients had no voice or power. He became a voice for those without voice. Setting self aside, he so= ught a larger good for the community. He confronted power with its greed. He sou= ght to protect the poor. Yes, what does it profit…?

We like to pretend that we have little power. Indeed= we are born into circumstances over which we do not have a lot of control We h= ave not determined the era in which we have been born, nor under what sort of circumstance. We did not choose to appear in homes of creative spirit or in homes of huge apathy and ignorance, or homes of boredom and broken spirits.= Yet Jesus constantly challenges us to choose our destiny within the gifts we ha= ve been given. Those choices seem to be difficult for us.

Yes, we are spiritual beings. But we also have bodie= s, and we are vulnerable to hunger, pain and luxury! We discover so quickly that w= hen one hunger is satisfied there are ten new ones to take its place. In fact, there is literally no limit to the hungers of this world. The world is alwa= ys with us, tantalizing, demanding our attention. And you do not have to paint this world’s allure in black and white; good and evil. Even in its goodness and its beauty the world wishes to control us, and divert our attention from that which we have been created and called to become. There = was the burden of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness that even the good = can detract us from an eternal quality of life.

I am assuming that we all have times of a hunger deep within us; a desire for life rooted in the living God; a desire so huge that all of the things in this world could never satisfy it. But we keep on tryi= ng! We are treated in our culture to conspicuous consumption that is no longer considered vulgar. In fact we are made to feel it is our duty to keep it go= ing. If we are given a tax break of some kind we are made to feel it is so that = we can buy more. Hence the rise in the early eighties of what a friend of mine calls “the yuppie porn catalogue.” A stack of them come in the = mail every day. I have to be honest with you, even though Pat is not here this morning. I like to peruse almost every one of the, sometimes more than once= !

And one day, I confess, I was not really reading the= New York Times, I was perusing all of the ads. I was stopped dead by the ad of = the Torneau Watch Store. A watch that was large and pretentious; not pretentiou= s as in gold or platinum, in fact it was in stainless steel, but a very macho chronograph. I did not note the maker. I did note that it could be had for $20,000 and you could pay for it over 24 months with no interest. What real= ly captured my attention were these words in bold letters: “In order to = get to where you are going, you have to look like you’ve arrived.” = Now I suspect we have all done that one way or another, even when we could not afford it!

At first I was put off by this blatant appeal to snobbishness. But the more I reflected on it, I thought, what exquisite wor= ds to describe the stewardship of life! For while we were busy acquiring all t= he baggage of our lives, we missed out on the purpose and the process of the human jou= rney that would bring us personal growth, development of character, inner spirit= ual resources for tough times, that shaping of our attitudes toward justice and human dignity, and a centering love and commitment that the Christ journey offers to us. Of course the journey is tough. Jesus put it succinctly: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and tak= e up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose = it, and those who lose their life for my sake, will find it.” I have always called this the Jesus Journey! Does not the same principle work here? – in order to get whe= re we are going on this Jesus journey, we had better begin to look like we’ve arrived?

In just a few weeks we will be a congregation that l= ooks like we’ve arrived, on Bronson Park. And I will en= joy being a part of that as much as you will.

But what will it be like inside? And what will the p= eople be like inside? And what will the inside, the soul of the people inside be like? That’s what Jesus is concerned about.

Up on the third level of the Church House, where chi= ldren, youth and adults will gather for nurture in the faith; the place where we c= arry out Jesus’ mandate to “make disciples”; the place where we make good on our promise every time a child is baptized to nurture our chil= dren in the faith at church and in the home; will require very special people. It requires people who understand that faith is not so much taught as it is caught. These will be people who act, sound, look like they have arrived on that Jesus journey.

It is not as much about what they know as what is in= side of them. What is their inner beauty and grace; how do they speak to values = of compassion, hope, non violence, and responsibility to the call and will of = God. I know it from my own life and experience. I can name the people who did th= at for me.

These are people who have smoothed the sharp edges a= nd are able to control the quick tongue. They are people who are welcoming from the inside out; able to set self aside and welcome and spend time with the stra= nger in our midst. They are able to get rid of the little stuff instead of allow= ing it to become big stuff that hurts and discourages the faith community. Yes, what will the inside of the Church House feel like? What will it say to us = and others? Will it feel like we’ve arrived where the Jesus journey seeks= to take us?

“If any want to become my followers…R= 21; Arrive where Jesus arrives, right in the heart of God! There is a story of a village peas= ant who would go to the village church day after day, and kneel for hours with = his eyes fixed on the crucifix. People were curious, for they never saw his lips moving in prayer nor heard the sound of his voice. Finally someone asked wh= at he was doing. He said simply: “I look at him; he looks at me.” = Can it be that she who looks long enough at Jesus Christ must ultimately become like him? John says: “When he is revealed, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

But until then, long before the journey is over and = all is accomplished, even before we know the end of our own story we shall begin t= o be like Him! Will it make a difference? We will never know unless we make the commitment.

Jesus called it cross bearing. For me it is cross be= aring when you do not have to do it; when it is simply voluntary. You deliberately choose some awesome and difficult responsibility toward another that could = be avoided. It is to take a burden from another; bring caring to the unlovable= ; to struggle against all that would destroy someone else’s life, even som= eone you do not know. That is cross bearing.&nb= sp; It is highly visible in world like ours. It is tough. It might even = be seen through the glass of that North Tower looking out on Bronson Park. Someone walking through Bronson Park might look through that glass and say: “That church looks and feels l= ike it really has arrived on = Bronson Park! Amen