Adopted
Into the Family of Faith
Part Two: Average or Alien
Sermon preached by Rev. Brad Beeman
July 23, 2006
Scripture:
Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
It’s
been a tough news week…articles of those teenagers shot down
at Samohi, Venice and Hamilton High. We have youth in this church
at each of those schools. The war between Lebanon and Israel continues
to escalate. More challenges in Iraq – and many of us don’t
want to hear about it or talk about in here, particularly on a Sunday
morning. But there comes a point where we simply have to. We must
because we are the church, we live in challenging times and we have
a role that we are called to play. It makes the statements used to
conclude last week’s sermon even more appropriate. I ended it
by saying: “It is my dream that everywhere any of us may go
we will hear people saying of this church – see how they love
God, see how they love each other and see how they love their neighbor.”
Today I’d like to take that just a bit deeper. Let’s open
with prayer:
May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts gathered in
this place this morning be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength
and our redeemer. Amen.
I
begin with Robert Burns. My assumption is that you haven’t heard
of him. Robert is thirty-six years old. He is 5 foot 8 and weighs
185 pounds. He lives in a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, is married
and has three children. He prefers smooth peanut butter over chunky.
He knows the names of the Three Stooges. He recycles – at least
most of the time – goes to bed before midnight, drinks the milk
out of the bowl after he finishes his cereal, isn’t famous and
has no desire to be, believes in God and goes to church about once
a month. According to author Kevin O’Keefe, Robert Burns is
the epitome of the average American. O’Keefe should know. He
spent two years researching for his book, The Average American: The
Extraordinary Search for the Nation’s Most Ordinary Citizen.
What’s scary is that he got paid to do it. Only in America.
So, do you know the names of the Three Stooges?
What
is it about average or ordinary that makes us either want to avoid
it or compare ourselves to it – thus the O’Keefe’s
study. I’d like to call Robert Burns and ask him how it feels
to have been selected as the quintessential average American. How
would you feel if you had been selected, knowing that in this society,
average just doesn’t seem like what we want to become. I mean
a “C” is average but who wants one? We seem to know those
who are significantly above average – the above average golfer,
baseball player or football team. We know of the restaurants whose
food and even whose prices are above average. We know that there are
those whose looks seem better than average and seem to wonder, particularly
around here, if it’s surgery or a gift of God. Average –
ordinary – very simply doesn’t seem like a good trait.
I will tell you, it was even more so in Jesus’ time. Average
meant poor and often hungry. And it was Jesus’ extraordinary
ability working within that time that seemed to both set him apart
and draw people to him – extraordinary teaching, an extraordinary
focus on the important things, the extraordinary ability to heal and
extraordinary compassion. But, as it often does, this came at a cost.
(continued...)
"Average
or Alien" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 23, 2006
Like folks to an A-list star, people were drawn to him,
wanted to be near him, wanted to watch him, wanted to be a part of whatever
it was that he was saying or doing. Extraordinary does that. It draws
people. What is even more amazing is that this description of Jesus,
this time of trying to give his disciples a break, respond to the people
around him, this constant barrage of people seeking to touch him, be
healed by him, all comes on the heels of a phenomenal loss. He had just
lost his cousin, John the Baptist, in a very cruel and politically motivated
killing. Let’s not romanticize this. This was a tough time, even
an abusive time, and Jesus continually sought to deal with it in ways
that could potentially change and better people’s lives. But there
was more to it. Look at how often Jesus utilized these events as opportunities
to push and teach his disciples so that the next generation would also
move toward the extraordinary. In as much as many may have heard his
teaching, it was more often those closest to him that he challenged
and taught, hoping that they might pick up enough to take the movement
both outward and forward. He was obviously a great judge of character
and trusted the power of the Holy Spirit, for this small group passed
it on to others, and they to others. The result: the church moved outward
and forward. We see that in the church at Ephesus.
Last
week we took some time and examined the early church at Ephesus, one
of the more powerful and needed churches in early Christianity. What
I didn’t mention last week was that it was an extremely diverse
church. That is part of what set it apart. It was a church filled with
folks coming from different backgrounds, with different understandings
of God. It had Jews looking for the Messiah. It had Greeks looking for
the right philosophical path. It had Diana worshippers looking for a
different kind of love. It had rich and it had poor. It had professionals
and it had laborers. It had both men and women in leadership. That diversity
could have torn it apart. But it was the exact opposite that appears
to have happened. It was able to overcome that diversity by centering
itself on Christ and listening for the insight of the Holy Spirit, a
church centered, as I said last week, on the three loves: love of God,
love and acceptance of each other and love of those in need in the community.
The ways they were able to deal with each of those elements, the diversity
and the loves, made this church at Ephesus unique and powerful –
extraordinary if you will. Look at the lesson Andy read to us.
To
the Gentiles – all non-Jews – this author says, “once
you were far off but now you have been brought near.” He says,
“Even you are now a part of something new, something different,
not based in laws, not in commandments, not in ordinances, not even
in tradition but something new – you are now among those who have
found peace.” He says, “For he is our peace,” Christ.
This is a time when peace in the church was very unique. To the Jews
he then says: “There is no more dividing wall…no separation
in the Temple between Jews and Gentiles – and therefore no need
for hostility.” Something I wish those in the Middle East might
come to terms with. Again, this author centers these words, “He
(Jesus) is our peace.” Peace was unique for Judaism in that time
as well. He then says, “For through him both – Jews and
Gentiles - have access in the one Spirit to the Father. So you are no
longer strangers or aliens, but members of the household of God…with
Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. In Christ the whole structure is joined
together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you are also
built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” There
was no question that this church at Ephesus, as diverse and potentially
volatile as it was, knew what was at its center and moved from potentially
average into something well beyond it.
So,
how does any of this relate to us, to this church? I believe it says
a lot to us. We are living in a volatile time, a changing time –
in the world, in the country and even here in Santa Monica. Again, see
the newspaper. As a church, we cannot afford to seek to be immune from
what surrounds us. We need to realize that we have a message that can
create peace if we are willing to take up the mandate. We exist in a
time when the greater church – Christianity – is also changing
– and not all of it is good. We have a role to play there.
(continued...)
"Average
or Alien" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 23, 2006
It
was tough picking up the LA Times Friday and seeing right there on
the front page, the article whose headline read, “What Would
Jesus Sell? Christian perfume’s not your thing? Try golf balls
or candy. This booming market has piles of products and a single message.”
The article basically stated that if you wear an attractive Christian
perfume or have a message of faith written on your golf ball then
it would potentially open up opportunities for witnessing to your
faith. Here’s a direct quote. “It [the perfume] should
be enticing enough to provoke questions: ‘What’s that
you’re wearing?’ Then you take the opportunity to speak
of your faith.” Wow! Friends, if we’re relying on perfume
to open up opportunities to speak of our faith, then we’re in
real trouble. I cannot begin to tell you how troubling this is to
me. It is our actions not our smell that better open up those conversations.
It’s not about an above average fragrance. It’s about
an above average life of Christian faith and action that will more
appropriately lead to those questions.
Catholic
sister Mary Jo Leddy puts it this way. She says, “We are living
through one of those historical in-between times when a former model
of religious life (either traditional or liberal) is fading away and
a future model has not yet become clear. One could be tempted to flee
from the dilemmas of this moment to some more secure past, to the
surface of the present, or to some arbitrary resolution of the future.”
The LA Times article seems to point to this. “These,”
she says, “are very real temptations and they can be met only
with the faith that this is our hour, our kairos. This is the only
time and place we are called to be followers of Jesus Christ; there
is no better time or place for us to live out the mysteries of creation,
incarnation, and redemption. These are our times and, in the end,
God’s time.” How true that is for us in Santa Monica and
the greater community – and this community simply cannot afford
for us to be average. God is calling us to be extraordinary.
I
look around the congregation this morning and I see a lot of extraordinary
folks, not so much by vocation or profession, although there is that,
but by character and faith. I can’t realistically look at us
and see us as anything but a potentially extraordinary church. We
are also a very diverse group. Someone asked me the other day if I
really believed that. I do. We have those who are staunch Democrats
and others who are equally stanch Republicans. We have the Libertarians
and Green Party represented. We have the gamut of theologies represented
here – conservative evangelical, ultra liberal and virtually
everything in between. We are rich and we are poor. We are an intelligent
gathering, most knowing where they stand on almost any issue because
of time spent studying it. There is more, but you get the point. Like
the Ephesians we come together, as diverse as we may be, because of
our belief that there is a God who loves us and who desires and needs
us, like Jesus did his disciples, to live our lives as He would have
us live. But what does that mean? Simply put, it means we become that
much more intentional about being centered on Christ and allowing
the Holy Spirit to move through us. We get more intentional about
prayer and study, and about – at every level of Christian experience
– teaching others how to practice them. We live as Jesus did,
intentionally focusing on those in need, on those not at peace, and
on those in need of balance. Those become the priority as we explore
and take appropriate actions as a church. In the midst of it we continue
to develop leaders; men and women, old and young, the next generation
that will move this church out and ahead.
We
sent 21 people off to the Gulf Coast this morning to do exactly that.
Sixteen of them are youth. Once they return, we need to offer them
opportunities to talk about their experiences. We assist them to come
to terms with what they saw and we celebrate what they did. Then we
encourage them to teach us and train the next set of workers that
will go. Furthermore, like with every baptism, we again do follow
up with these two beautiful Adamson children and provide them the
absolute best opportunities for learning about and experiencing the
church. Again, there is so much more.
(continued...)
"Average
or Alien" by Rev. Brad Beeman, July 23, 2006
As
for our role in the community - we don’t just offer opportunities
to discuss the death penalty – as important as that is –
we move also into active conversations about life expectations and
life opportunities needed in Santa Monica. We don’t just concentrate
on homelessness, but move into deeper conversations about creating
healthy homes in this community. We don’t stop with conversations
about the war in Iraq, but move into a deeper understanding of our
call of God in the world for peace and even take up the difficult
task of learning how we might strongly disagree with each other and
yet still love and respect each other making peace in this church
a priority.
Robert
Burns goes to church as the quintessential average American, once
a month. Jesus and his disciples did church every hour of every day.
They simply lived it. They became ‘church’ – a different
church. It made them a bit strange and set them apart as alien to
the norm of the time. It created a curiosity but also created opportunities.
They took up those opportunities to heal, to teach, to respond to
injustice, and became a driving force in communities like Ephesus.
Friends,
to truly be like Jesus we have to be different from those that surround
us – and that may be the most significant challenge. We cannot
be satisfied or fall into the trap of being like everyone else. We
have to be above average, even extraordinary, in ways that are different
enough to raise the curiosity and even commitment of those like Robert
Burns. We have to be doing things that are challenging, insightful,
useful or even radical to those in this community. We do this, not
by creating perfume, but by continuing to search for, then doing right
actions. Then people will ask us the why questions. Why are you doing
this? With confidence, we then say, “because we are the church.”
We
live in challenging times surrounded by challenging events. As wonderful
as it may be to know the names of the Three Stooges, that will not
further the kingdom or community of God. Our focus is to be on creating
a different kind of community, a different kind of environment than
what may be expected around Southern California – an exceptional
environment that seeks to bring peace to individuals and to a community,
an exceptional environment that expects and “does” actions
with attitudes of love here and everywhere. How will we know then
we’re doing that? I repeat again the words used last week to
close the sermon and how I opened this morning. When we hear –
as Jesus did with his disciples and as was said of the church at Ephesus
– see how they love God, see how they love each other, see how
they love their neighbor – see how they follow Jesus. Or more
simply stated, “See how they love. It is extraordinary.”
By the Holy Spirit, it is within us. It is our time. It is God’s
time. Amen?
Amen!
Notes:
1. Los Angeles
Times – What Would Jesus Sell (Front Page, July 21, 2006)
2. Alan Roxburgh, Crossing the Bridge – Church Leadership in
a Time of Change (Percept Group Inc, 2000), p 54
©Brad
Beeman , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
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