The title of my sermon this morning is "God's Humility," and its theme is another difficult and challenging one. Today, Greg Batson preached at the 9 a.m. service, while I was leading the Book Study, so if you're curious, check out the Website or the printed sermons next week and you'll see how each of us addressed a difficult topic. I'm eager to read Greg's myself!

Last week's theme was challenging, too, as you may recall. I heard and overheard a number of you talking about "that scripture that wasn't fair," and coming up with the old maxim that "God's ways are not our ways." The same holds true with this morning's texts-maybe more so. They cause us to consider God's humility, and, of course then, our own, we who are created in God's image.

It helps us to look at some great people, who show us how to live with a measure of humility. George Washington, for example, the father of our nation, has been described as one who lowered himself to elevate others. He would always pass on compliments he heard and would find ways to let others know of his esteem for them. Gary Wills has called him someone "who perfected the art of power by giving it away."

Humility is hardly a popular or marketable or attractive quality in our time. Instead of Sandy Koufax, the prevalent societal attitude towards humility is summed up perfectly in a statement made by cable and sports mogul, Ted Turner, who is reported to have said, "If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect." In our world, what we really admire is the big bucks, the big job, the big salary, the big house, the big vehicle, the big name, the big success . . . and relegate humility to a few dear but quaint, marginal souls epitomized by Mother Theresa. We know the world is made better by a few of these humble, selfless ones, but we'd really rather not have to be one of them.

Humility. Humbleness. Those words come from the same Latin root word, humus, meaning "ground or soil." It is from this very soil that God formed us in the beginning, remember, from the soil of the earth, the dust, the clay. Adam, the first human, made from the adamah-the soil, the earth. We are of that earth, that humus, rich and vital with life-giving nutrients. And having formed us, God, in complete self-giving love, takes the very form of this earthen vessel in Jesus, so that we might know both the utter preciousness of our earthen frame and how it is changed when suffused with holy love. We are earthlings, heavenly earthlings, seeking to be followers of the Christ. Our humility is to be a mark of our very humanity.

From the beginning of his life to its end, Jesus showed us over and over again how to live out this spirit of humility, how to let our humanity be defined by humbleness. He was born of humble parents and cradled among the animals. He grew up among the poor and oppressed, though he challenged kings and emperors. He ate with sinners. He hung out with the despised of his time. In the parable we hear today in Matthew's gospel, he most exasperatingly reminds us that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of Heaven in front of us, the religious establishment. And, on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he stooped to wash the dirty feet of his disciples, becoming himself a servant to them, and commanding them to love one another in that very way. Humbly.

How then can we not be nailed by today's words from Paul: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Occasionally, something in our time will jolt us out of our complacency to see this quality with new eyes. It happened in 1987, when Princess Diana, who died five years ago this summer, reached out and shook the hand of an AIDS patient in the Middlesex Hospital.

At that time, horrendous fear and prejudice trapped many into believing that AIDS could be transmitted through mere proximity and simple touch. Diana's compassionate gesture rocked the world and was a pivotal, watershed moment in AIDS care. In that one gesture, she shattered the myths and restored the humanity of those who had been shunned. She humbled herself to be with them in the hospital and offer them the love for which they ached.

UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan, later said of Diana, "Were Diana with us today, I would say this-you won the hearts of millions by acknowledging your own human vulnerability, and you were among the first in the country to fight the conspiracy of silence and prejudice against AIDS. Faced with her example, we simply cannot leave the neediest on this earth to needless death and degradation. She gave too much, and cared too deeply, for us not to honour her memory with action."

Jesus makes it clear that what counts is the doing of God's word, rather than mouthing the words with no follow through. What matters is how we live, not what we merely say or espouse. We might ask ourselves this morning how we honor the memory of Jesus through our actions. Does the way we live truly show forth what we say we believe? Do we exemplify the humility of Christ in all we do and say?

The apostle Paul certainly expected the early church to do so, not just as individuals, but in community, as well. He sent this letter we hear from today, to say that how we live together in community, as the Body of Christ, is where we are to start living out what he calls "the mind that was in Christ." Now, the congregation in Philippi, at that time, was torn apart by dissension and internal conflict. This grieved Paul deeply. And so, he admonishes them to have the mind of Christ. He reminds them that knowing encouragement and consolation from Christ, the congregation is to be of the same mind, and have the same love and be in full accord and of one mind. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit," he says, "but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

We live in a time when we prefer our heroes to be big and strong and rich and famous, more like the Terminator than Jesus Christ. Maybe we're not really so different from those early Philippians, after all. Like them, we need the church to be a place where we practice "putting on the mind of Christ," living out humility and compassion for others. Luckily, God puts examples among us, such as Robbie Carlson, who we memorialized here in this sanctuary yesterday. And today, as we add a new member to the mix, may we each reexamine our own membership vows, and seek to live more faithfully according to the example of Christ.

Someone once asked Albert Schweitzer to name the greatest person alive in the world at that moment. While many would have been quick to grant him that honor, he instead replied, "The greatest person alive in the world at this moment is some unknown individual in some obscure place who, at this hour, has gone in love to be with another person in need."

May that unknown person be you, be me. May we have the mind of Christ and love one another with the same love with which Christ first loves us. Amen.

NOTES:

1. Jane Leary interviewed on NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday," September 21, 2002.
2. Turner and Schweitzer quotes from "Homiletics."
3. Kofi Annan on Princess Diana from the BBC, Thursday, July 8,1999.

© Patricia E. Farris, 2002. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.