God and Outsiders
A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
February 1, 2004
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Annual Meeting Sunday
Text: Luke 4:21-32
I
Yesterday, someone said to me, "Tomorrow is the big day." I said, "You mean our parish’s Annual Meeting." He said, "No, it’s Super Bowl Sunday." Well, I guess that goes to prove that it’s all a matter of perspective. One person may think it’s a big day because it’s the annual meeting (there’s probably a least a dozen of us!) and others (a few million) get all excited because of the Super Bowl. At any rate, Annual Meeting starts at 12 noon and ends around 2:00 -- well before the opening kick-off at 6:25. I’m sure that the Super Bowl sponsors are very happy that we are not going "head to head" and competing with them.
I would like to reflect with you now about today’s scriptures and three lessons that apply to our annual meeting: 1. Do not be afraid; 2. Use your individual gifts to build up the community, and 3. Serve those outside yourselves.
First, do not be afraid. I don’t usually use football examples in my sermons, but I see an obvious application in today’s first reading where Jeremiah shrinks from the responsibility of a prophet: "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." A couple of years ago people were saying that Tom Brady, the boyish quarterback of the Patriots, was too young, too inexperienced, too green. They said he would wilt under the pressure of the Super Bowl. That was before he led the Pats to victory over Rams.
I don’t know whether Tom Brady felt as fearful as Jeremiah, but I know that many of us get squeamish when we are asked to take on a responsibility in the church. "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy or girl." But God says, "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you."
What a wonderful message for Annual Meeting Sunday. "Do not be afraid . . . for I am with you to deliver you." At times we may feel that as individuals that we are not up to the task or that we are too small a parish to make any difference against the problems of the world. We need to remember God’s message to Jeremiah, "Do not be afraid, I am with you."
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Second, use your individual gifts to build up the community. You can only go so far in using football examples, but, if you’re going to do it, perhaps this is the day. The Patriots are not a team with super-stars. There are no great heroes; rather they are a hard-working bunch that submerges individual egos for the good of the whole. Instead of setting individual records, they excel in building up the team.
St. Paul, in today’s epistle, tells the Corinthians the same thing. "Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church." The problem was that the Corinthians were parading their spirituality -- comparing themselves to one another and boasting of their superior gifts (mine’s better than yours!"). Paul says if you have a spiritual gift, then use it to build up the church, not yourself. And he tells them that love and service are the greatest gifts -- far greater that speaking in tongues that dazzle, but do not build up the community.
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Third, serve those outside yourselves. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus speaks in his home synagogue, where his listeners get so enraged that they try to throw him off a cliff. He obviously had pressed some hot buttons just as Jeremiah did in his day and as Paul did in confronting the Corinthians.
The thing that seemed to make his hometown synagogue angry were his examples of God’s interest in outsiders, those who were not part of the community. Jesus gives the example of Elijah who doesn’t help the widows of Israel, but instead helps the widow at Zarephath. He gives the example of Elisha, who doesn’t cleanse the lepers of Israel, but instead cleanses Namaan the Syrian. Jesus is suggesting, no, more than that, asserting, God’s interest in outsiders.
If Jesus were the preacher at All Saints this morning, what might he say to us? Today’s Gospel passage leads me to think that he would praise our efforts to help individuals and groups outside of ourselves. Who is the widow at Zarephath and the Namaan the Syrian that Jesus is calling us to serve?
I think of the dinners that our parish serves for the homeless at St. John’s on Bowdoin Street; the bible study with prisoners at MCI-Mattapan; the worship services with senior citizens at Goddard House; the start-up baskets for families leaving homeless shelters.
I think Jesus would tell us to keep sharing our building with others, with the Korean Church, St. Andrew’s Church of the Deaf, Deaf Senior Citizens, Corner Coop Nursery School, RUAH, Family Music Makers, Hospital Clown Troupe, choral groups, artists, and the twelve-step groups that serve as a life-line for people with addictions.
I think Jesus would commend us for joining with 80 other congregations in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization that are working to build affordable housing, to reach out to the unemployed and underemployed, and to help janitors and nursing home workers obtain fair wages.
This is the paradox: we can only be a strong church if we serve those outside of the church. We are truly following Christ when we bring justice to others and help those who are in pain.
So, three messages from today’s scriptures for our annual meeting: Do not be afraid, use your individual gifts to build up the community, and serve those outside yourselves.
Someone said, today is Tom Brady’s annual meeting. Yes, it is. And, of course, it is ours.
Let us pray: O God, like Jeremiah, we sometimes feel inadequate for the great challenge of being your church. Help us to overcome our fears and to put our trust in you. Help us to use our individual gifts to build up your people. And help us to look beyond ourselves for ways to serve others and to bring justice to the world. Amen.