Finishing with Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,[a] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Matthew 22: 36-40

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

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What are we Fighting For? Coming Together Around What Matters Most Thomas J. Bickerton (2016) Cover Art: Marchia Myatt

Ah, yes. Love. As we come to the end of this sermon series, “What are We Fighting For?” we come to the most essential essential that we can come together around. Love. 

It’s hard to say that love is the most essential essential, when we live in a world that has watered down what Love means. We use it so liberally. “I love The Crown on Netflix, you have to watch it!” “Oh my goodness I love your dress!” “I love this song.” “I love that restaurant.” Often, we use love as a hyperbolic word, to describe things that we just really like. When we are apt to water love down, and make it so simplistic in our day to day lives, it strikes as shallow. So, when we talk about our Christian calling to love, it can come across as shallow as well. And yet, there is nothing shallow about Christian love. 

When we think about Christian love, the word “agape” is commonly brought up. Agape love is simply defined as: “love that is unconcerned with self and concerned with the greatest good of another.” Agape love is the closest word we can find for the type of love that God has for us. God, who is so unconcerned with self, so unconcerned with ego, that God came down to earth in the form of a baby. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, who walked and talked and laughed and cried and healed and taught. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, who didn’t concern himself with reputation or prestige or power.  He simply used his power to heal, help, and uplift others. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, so unconcerned with self that he went to the cross. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, whose love was so great that not even death could stop it. That is the type of love we’re talking about: Selfless, egoless, unconditional. The type of love that we know God has for us. The type of love that we see exemplified in the life of Christ.

The type of love exemplified by Christ, this selfless, egoless, unconditional, agape love, is anything but simple. And so, our practice of deepening our love for God and for neighbor is also anything but simple. 

It is this sort of love that is the most essential essential that we must come around together. This love is our measuring stick, our filter, our lens. Everything we do is held in light of this love. Every decision we make. Every action we take. Every word we speak. All things must be done with love.

Love is more important than our theological beliefs, our Biblical interpretations, our church identity, our denomination, our own righteousness, and anything else. If we are not intentional about loving others with this selfless, egoless, unconditional love, if we do not lead with love, if our actions as Christians are motivated by anything other than love. Then our entire religion is worthless.

That’s not me saying that. That’s Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter that ends “Faith. Hope. Love. The greatest of these is love.” That’s James when he writes “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God…is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world,” love runs under that saying. That’s the author of 1 John when they write “”Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” That’s Jesus when he says “Love God. Love Neighbor. On these two things hang all the law and the prophets.” 

Love. It is the most essential essential. 

After writing to the church in Corinth about being the body of Christ and honoring all members of the body, Paul writes about the “still more excellent way” that is love. After listing the spiritual gifts of prophecy, teaching, language, healing, etc, etc. Paul writes of love. He says, basically, that he could use his spiritual gifts well, but if he doesn’t have love, those gifts are useless. He could have so much faith in God, and strive to follow God, but if he doesn’t have love, he is nothing. He could be the most righteous person on Earth, giving away everything he owns, just as the early church asked people to do, but if he does it without love, he gains nothing. Paul writes to the church in Corinth, a church that was going through conflict, that everything they do must be done with love. Because, if it is not, there is no point to their religion. Love is the point of their religion. 

Paul doesn’t say anything revolutionary here. He’s simply repeating something that Jesus had already said. When asked a question by leaders about which commandment is the greatest, out of the 613 or so that are found in the Torah, Jesus replies with two. Yet, these two are connected. Jesus first quotes the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6: Love God, with all your heart, and all your soul and all your might. This commandment to love God was and continues to be a centerpiece of morning prayer in Judaism. The Lord our God is Lord alone. Love the Lord with all you are. This was and is central to Jewish faith. Jesus knew this, and that is why he called it the most important. Jesus also adds on a second commandment, that is found in Leviticus 19: Love others. Found in a list of other commandments, all pointing to treating people just and fairly, Jesus picks out these words “but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” Following commandments to leave gleanings of the harvest for the poor and the alien, to not steal or lie, to not defraud a neighbor, to not revile the disabled, to not render injustice, to not hate or bear a grudge, The first part of Leviticus 19 is simply summed up with “Love your neighbor.” 

So Jesus pulls these two commandments together, one that would be widely regarded as the most important: To Love God. The other like it: To love neighbor. When Jesus says that all the laws and prophets hinge on these two commandments he truly means it. If those who follow God seek to Love God and Love their neighbors, they will not break any of the other commandments found in the Torah. If Love is central to the life of Israel, if the people keep Love in their hearts, then they won’t dishonor God or take God’s name in vain. They won’t put idols before God. They won’t slander their neighbor, or steal, or kill, or speak harshly. If they have love in their hearts, and check all their actions by that love, they will fulfill all of God’s commandments. 

Love, Jesus says, is the most essential essential. 

It is easy to say that love is the most essential essential that we hold. It is easy for us to say that our calling as Christians is to love God and love the world. Love is so easy to say. And, yet, it is so hard to live out. Love is not simply a feeling of goodwill. It’s not simply an emotion. Love is an action. It is a verb. It is a way of life. All of our actions must be checked by love and rooted in love. And not just any love, but the agape love that God exhibits for us. The love that we receive from Christ. That is the love we must show to one another. And that is so hard. It is so hard. Because that love is radical. That love is antithetical to everything the powers of world will ever teach us. 

Love tells us that we are to be selfless, when the world tells us we need to be selfish. Love tells us to look out for others, when the world tells us to look out for ourselves. Love tells us to look for the path of peace, when the world tells us war is the only way. All of our worst moments in the course of human history are born out of the absence of love. They are born out of the moments when selfish people choose their own power, their own ambition, their own desires over the good of others. Our worst moments in the course of human history are born when selfish people decide that their desires, their ambitions, their power, are worth more than the lives of others. Our worst moments are when selfish people choose to abandon the work of love and peace. When they claim that there is no other way, that their hand has been forced, that violence and hatred can only be met with more violence and hatred. Our worst moments come when selfish people claim the loving response is the weak response. That is the constant message we are berated with as humans living in this world. Love is weak. Peace is weak. The path that God lays out for us is weak. And we cannot be weak, we must be strong. That is the plague of the world.

That is the plague that wends its way into our lives together, too. The lack of love, this plague, finds itself in our communities and our churches. 

Though maybe not at a catastrophic, death-dealing, earth-shaking level, we see the effects of selfishness and love reverberate in our own communities. How does this lack of love play out in our lives together? I’ll tell a story to illustrate: 

There was a church that had a long-time pancake dinner. For a very long time, this pancake dinner was the highlight of their year. Everyone in the community knew about it, and in its prime the church fellowship hall was filled to the brim with people. Through goodwill offerings, the church would make some money to help support its ministries, like youth group mission trips, Sunday School, and fellowship groups. But, time passed, as it does. The people of the church got older. There were less people willing to volunteer to help make and serve the pancakes, though many in the church still wanted to come and enjoy the dinner. The community around the church grew. Life shifted and got busier. Suddenly there were less people from outside the church coming, and the fundraiser was less and less successful. When the coordinator of the pancake dinner stepped down and no one took their spot, some in the church figured the ministry had run its course, and began to lay the groundwork for new dreams and new visions. What new ways could the church reach out to the community? How could they meet communal needs, now? 

Yet, there were those in the church who insisted the pancake dinner had to continue. The church had always had it. The pancake dinner was a beloved tradition. How dare anyone suggest a change! Suddenly, there were two camps in the church. Camps born of the fact that the conflict ran deeper than the pancake supper. It always had. 

There was a conflict of identity. In the face of a changing world, who would this church be? There were those who felt that as the world shifted, they needed to shift too. As the world looked different, the church needed to meet the change. How they did things needed to change, in order to witness to the world. And there were those who said the church should remain as it always had been, in order to stay true to its witness. Who they had been had always worked. How they did things had worked in the past, and they trusted it would work again in the future. The old vs. the new. Tradition vs. change. Not to make light use of this word, especially now, but the church felt like it was at war with one another. 

The two camps vied for power. They struggled against one another. They nominated their own factions for committee positions, hoping that being the chair of the leadership committee or the Church Council or the Staff-Parish Committee would turn theyear of the pastor. They subtly undermined each other’s’ ministry, cutting those on the “other side” out of communication. They slowly formed their own groups. Suddenly groups weren’t used to talk about how to do ministry, but to talk about how wrong everyone else was. The church suffered for it. People who were caught in the middle left, because they simply couldn’t take it. People on both sides withheld money from the church, saying “I don’t want my money to be used to pay for their programming.” People stopped volunteering for things, and ministries struggled to run. The church struggled financially. 

The struggle for power, the selfish ambition, the need for control, the idea that some people’s time or money was more important and spoke louder than others, the lack of trust that was bred between the two groups, it was all born out of a lack of love. The church family stopped viewing each other as beloved children of God, stopped listening to each other, stopped caring for one another, stopped focusing on what was truly important, and it toppled their witness to the world. It tore their church family apart. Yet, it was their own fault. They had chosen not to act with love for one another. And without love at the center of their actions, their ministry was badly, deeply, wounded. 

They didn’t choose love. They didn’t choose the best way. And their ministry suffered. 

When we do not choose love, our lives are worse for it. Our witness to the world is worse for it. We do not sow seeds that bear good fruit. We do not sow life. 

We all will do this at some point in our lives or another. We will not love as we should. We will choose our own selfish ways over the ways of the collective good. There will be times that our pride, influence, and power will put blinders on us, and keep us from seeing the most loving way. This will happen. Luckily, for us, God never has blinders on. God will always love as God should. And when our love fails, God’s love endures. 

However, that idea that God will forgive us when we don’t choose love should never be an excuse for our own selfishness. As Christians, it is our moral obligation to choose love all the time. And strive, always, to love God and love neighbor more. It is our moral obligation to look at the world, which tells us to seek power and to be selfish, and reject that message. To say “no” when the world tells us to look out for ourselves. It is our moral obligation to claim love as the most essential essential, and choose love each and every time we act. It is our moral obligation to come together around love. 

How do we do this? How do we show love to the world? How do we continue to choose love? It looks different for everyone.

Individually,  how do you show love to the world? Is it through calling up friends and family members, just to talk to them? Is it through a deep prayer life? Is it through making food? Volunteering at a food pantry? Creating art and sharing it with people? Is it simply by having an attitude to believe the best of everyone, no matter what? What do you do that shows that sort of unselfish, agape love to the world, in a world that so desperately needs to rid itself of selfishness? 

How can our community come together around love? Even through great difference of opinion, how do we choose love, together? How would the church in my story have looked if people chose love? If they had listened to one another, instead of cutting each other out? If they had believed they all had the best intentions for the church? If they had worked together instead of against each other? If no one had tried to control the church with their money or their time? What could that community have done differently? 

And, what would this community do differently, if presented with that sort of situation?

What if there was a conflict in this community, a struggle between tradition and change, how would this church address it? How could we be different? How could we consistently choose love and act with love and come together around love? How could we, and how do we, hold love at the center of all we do? How could we come together and say, “The world is wrong. Love is not weak. Peace is not weak. God’s way is not weak. It is the strongest way there is?” 

It is the most excellent way there is. 

Love. It is the most essential essential that there is in our Christian faith. It is the action in which all our actions are rooted. It is the path down which our faith leads us. It is the hope that we all hold onto. Love. 

As we come to the end of this sermon series, right before we enter into the season of Lent, a season of deep intention and preparation, I invite you to think about the ways that you can cultivate love in your own lives and in the life of this church. How can you nurture love? Nourish love? Grow love? Because when we center ourselves in love, especially that unselfish, agape love that God has for us, then we realize that we are still on a beautiful and wonderful journey. That God is not done with us. That everything that seeks to divide us is non-essential, and that peace, hope, joy, faith, grace, relationships, love, those are the things that truly matter. Those are the things we are truly fighting for. Those are the things we should be most concerned about. 

There is much that will seek to divide us. But we live with a God who asks us to be united in the essentials. A God who calls us to a higher and better and more excellent way. A way of Love. 

That is what we are fighting for. That is all we should be fighting for. The way of grace. The way of peace. The way of Love. The way of God. 

Amen and Amen.

Paddling in the Same Canoe

1 Corinthians 12: 12-31

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

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What are we Fighting For? Coming Together Around What Matters Most Thomas J. Bickerton (2016) Cover Art: Marchia Myatt

You may be wondering why this sermon is titled “Paddling in the Same Canoe.” What does this metaphor mean? Bishop Bickerton opens this chapter with a story of watching shell boat racing on the River Ouse in York, England. He talks about how it looks so simple, yet is a hard sport. In order to glide over the water, the rowing team has to be perfectly synchronized. Each and every one of them has to be focused on their rowing. If even one rower is off, if even one has a subpar day, the performance of the whole team suffers. The team is only as strong as their weakest rower. 

The metaphor of the rowing team reminds me of our scripture passage for today, where Paul uses the metaphor of the body. This is one of the most well known passages in our Holy Scriptures. I’m sure many of us have heard it read before. “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ,'”  Paul writes. In other words, “We’re all different people, and we’re all equally important.” 

Paul writes these words because the early church in Corinth was dealing with social and spiritual elitism. Members of the church were competing with one another, saying their economic status, social standing, or theological take made them more important to the church than someone else. This was all due to the influence of life in Corinth. A bustling port city settled by freed slaves, Corinth was a prosperous area where social mobility for the lower classes was possible. It became a haven for entrepreneurs seeking to gain wealth. The competition of the day to day in Corinth found a place in the Church. The desire for power and the fault of pride had woven their way into the church’s life together, and was affecting their mission to the world. As any pastor would, Paul writes to them, emphasizing unity. No one is better than any other. No one has greater importance than another. Remember, in the topsy turvy Kingdom of God, those the world deems least important are lifted up, and those the world deems most important are brought low. Life with Christ is not like life in the world. 

This is reinforced by Paul’s use of the body metaphor. See, this metaphor was quite common in Greco-Roman political rhetoric. Those in political power said that revolts led by the common people were like “the hands, mouth, and teeth revolting against the stomach and destroying the body.” The political realm used this metaphor to reinforce hierarchical structures that kept them in power, while disenfranchising the common people. “There are some body parts that are more important than others!” They said. “And if the least important body parts rise up against the most important ones, then the body is destroyed.” But Paul turns this metaphor on its head, first saying the least important members are the most important. Like Jesus’ great reversal of “the last shall be first and the first shall be last,” Paul is saying that in the kingdom of God, those seen as “less honorable” will garner respect. So, you best respect them now. What Paul is saying is that no one is better than the other, all members of the body are important to the Body of Christ. And therefore, the church must be united. It is only when the church is not united, when members of the body begin to attack one another and tear each other down, when some members try to act like they are the most important part of the body, that the body is destroyed. The Church is the strongest when it stands united in Christ, while also letting all members play their unique, God-given roles. 

There’s a quote that is often attributed to John Wesley. “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.”

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, love.” 

Now this is a quote that did not originate with John Wesley. It actually originated with the Archbishop of Split, Marco Antonie de Domnis, in 1617. This quote gained popularity in 1626 when Lutheran theologian Peter Meiderlin used it in the midst of the Thirty Years War, a horrible and bloody conflict. Meiderlin used this quote to call people to the way of peacemaking, a way that did not stand for violence, discord, or disunity. While John Wesley never actually said this quote, it is likely that he was influenced by this train of thought, especially since he did say “Can we not all love alike, though we do not think alike.” The phrase worked its way into the United Methodist lexicon in 1996, when it was adopted as the motto of that year’s General Conference, and the sentiment is at the heart of many mission and vision statements of United Methodist Churches across the connection. 

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things love.” 

We will talk about Love next week. For this week, as we talk about paddling in the same canoe, we’ll focus on the first two parts of this phrase: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty.” 

In essentials, unity. We’ve talked about this before. This is the heart of our entire sermon series. What are we fighting for? What are our essentials? What do we come around together? What values are core to who we are? What values, exemplified by Jesus, do we hold in our hearts, as a community? 

The point of our discernment journey is to find a purpose and live it out with a common voice. This is a lot harder than it sounds.

You know, I was reading an article recently, where a spokesperson for a group who wanted to break away from a larger organization was being interviewed. The person said, “We’ve come to a fork in the road and we need to rethink. It was so easy for us to come together around what we don’t like about the organization. It was harder for us to dream who we would be without it.” It was easier for them to come together around what they didn’t like, and to come together around critiques of the larger organization. But when the time came for them to come together and dream of a new thing, they ran into problems. Everyone had their own ideas of what the essentials should be. It was easy to say who they weren’t, it was harder to say who they were. 

The work of collectively discerning essentials is hard, but it is doable. It requires commitment, patience, openness, dedication, love, joy, hope, and vision. All of these things that we have talked about previously. It requires us to conference together, to talk, to dream, to listen to one another. The work of collective discernment means that we must uplift all voices, remembering that every person is a beloved child of God. It means listening before speaking, striving to understand another’s point of view, striving to accurately reflect another’s point of view, disagreeing without being disagreeable, speaking about issues; and not about people, and seriously tapping into prayer before making decisions or getting lost in human busy-ness. The work of discernment asks us to let go of our own agendas and our own egos, and come together with the best of intentions. It’s difficult work. But doable.

But, perhaps, even more difficult, is the work of actually living out the essentials once we discern them. Because that asks us to give up even more of our own agendas and egos. When we discern the essentials and put them at the center of our lives as a community, then everything each individual person does needs to be held in light of those essentials. If we say, “We are a community that holds grace at the center of all we do,” then I need to be aware of my own actions, and check myself if I become ungraceful. If we say “We are a community that holds the truth of scripture at the center of all we do,” then I need to make sure that all of my actions in and for the community are rooted in that truth. And we better have a good idea of what that truth is. Because when each individual in the community makes the commitment to live out the essentials, then the community will thrive. When we decide on the essentials, then our whole lives should flow out of those essentials. If we are a community that says grace is essential, we better make sure we show grace. If we are a community that says joy is essential, we better project joy. If we are a community that says Christ is essential, we better be following Christ. 

Living out the essentials together takes tremendous discipline and practice. It’s like the super-champions on Jeopardy! They don’t just go on and get lucky with a 38-40 day winning streak. Sure, they already had some of that knowledge in their minds, but they didn’t rely on what they already knew, alone. They practiced. They studied. They buckled down and prepared. 

So, too, it is in the life of the church. We’ve already got some of these essentials in our minds. But to live them out, we have to practice them. We have to commit to them. We have to buckle down and put our own selves aside and the community first. We lay our own egos aside for the sake of the community. We practice love, grace, joy, hope, prayer, scripture reading, etc. And we continue to practice those essentials for the rest of our lives. And we continue to communicate those values to every single person who steps foot into our community. Our essentials should be obvious, not just in our words, but also our actions. 

You may be wondering, but what if we can’t even agree on the essentials? What if our community cannot agree on what we hold as core values? First, I would say, keep discerning. Perhaps the community is getting caught up on something that is important, though not essential. Perhaps there is more discerning and more digging that needs to happen. Maybe there is still something underneath and underneath and underneath. Usually, the essential is something that everyone can agree on. For example an essential would be “Scripture is important to our lives as Christians” or “God sent Jesus to be the Savior of the World,” or “We must show God’s love to the world.” I think it’s hard for any Christian to disagree with those sayings. They are foundational to our faith.

But, people may disagree on how to live those sayings out. And there we come to the non-essentials. In non-essentials, liberty. The harder way of saying this is “We will disagree on methods, individual expressions of faith, interpretations of scripture, etc, etc. But we have the freedom to do that. We can disagree with each other about how we all live out the essentials, so long as our essentials are the same.” 

We are a complex and diverse body of Christ. We all have different, unique experiences and expressions of faith. We are not all the same. And yet, we are still part of one body. We still work together, through our differences. That is okay. We have the freedom to do that. 

Bickerton borrows from the Moravian tradition to lay out two different types of non-essentials. There are the incidentals, which are matters of taste and culture. And there are the ministerials, which are sacred tools we use to compliment our essentials. They point us to what matters most. 

So, the incidentals are things that aren’t really all that important, and things we should easily be able to let go of: What translation of the Bible is read on a Sunday morning. What color the carpet in the sanctuary is. The color of the pastor’s lipstick. What type of music is sung during worship. Whether we use the Hymnal or The Faith We Sing. Whether or not a certain banner is hanging up in front of the church. Whether we take out the pews or leave them in. These are all things that, at the end of the day, are just not worth arguing about. Too often, though, we get caught up arguing about these incidentals. They become really big deals. And suddenly a church finds itself in conflict over whether we should have green carpet in the sanctuary or blue. At the end of the day, though, the incidentals don’t matter. These are the “not really important, non-essential” things. And it’s a little silly that they cause such big arguments in the church. 

The ministerials, on the other hand, will cause more arguments in the church. Though they are still non-essentials, ministerials are important tools that help us point to the essentials. They are the “important, but still non-essential” things. Essentials are the core of faith. Ministerials complement the essentials. Ministerials can change. They are the things that should change if they are causing harm or exclusion to any of God’s beloved children and creation. Since no well-intentioned Christian ever wants to use their faith to harm people, these ministerials can be changed and improved, so they better communicate our essentials, and draw more people into the Kingdom of God. 

In his book, Bickerton writes about three ministerials that cause arguments in the church: Biblical interpretation (rooted in the essential of Scripture,) Theological beliefs, (rooted in the essential of belief in Christ), and the practice of compassion (rooted in the essential of compassion.) Biblical Interpretation. Theology. Practice of Compassion. Ministerials, non-essentials that point to an essential. 

What Bickerton is saying is that it is okay to have differences in these things. In the church, we should not demand conformity for any of these. 

Let’s start by talking about Biblical Interpretation. This may be mind blowing, but there is no single way to interpret scripture. We all interpret scripture differently, based on our experiences, the traditions we grew up with, and what our minds tell us. Experience, Reason, and Tradition are lenses through which we read Scripture, and at the end of the day, everyone will approach Scripture differently and interpret it differently. Even those who read the Bible literally will, at some point, disagree on what certain verses say. 

As an example of this: I have a saying that I like to use about my approach to the Bible, “I take the Bible seriously, but not literally.” I’m exposing a bit of my own self here. I do not take the Bible literally. I view it as a series of writings, laws, stories, and letters that are products of the time they were written. I take writing style, authorship, cultural context, translation history and historical context into account when I read the Bible. So, I don’t take the Bible word for word literally. If I did, I could not be a pastor, because my translation of 1 Timothy says women should be silent in church, right?  But, taking the Bible seriously, though not literally, is my personal approach to scripture. And, in my faith life, it does not diminish the truth that I find within God’s Word. I can find the truth of love and grace and God’s movement in the world. I can find the truth of building God’s community and God’s kingdom. I can find the truth of God in the Bible, even if I don’t take everything in it literally, and I can still orient my life around the truth revealed in scripture. 

And it may be jarring for some of you to hear that a pastor doesn’t take the Bible literally. It may make you feel uneasy, or uncomfortable, or maybe even angry that I would admit such a thing from the pulpit. Maybe you think that I need to take it literally in order to be a good pastor. Any good Christian should take the Bible literally. But, at the end of the day, the way we all approach scripture is a ministerial. I find big T Truth in the Bible, just like someone who takes it word for word literally does. I’m still pointed toward the importance of Scripture, just like someone who takes the Bible word for word literally. Scripture is essential, even if interpretation and approach toward Scripture are different. 

The next ministerial Bickerton writes about is Theolgoical Beliefs. Theological Beliefs are simply what we believe about God and how those beliefs are applied to our daily living. So, we can agree that Belief in God is essential. Everyone is here in the church because they believe in God or they desire to believe in God. Belief in God is essential. But how we live out and express those beliefs are ministerials. So long as the theology is not being used to harm or exclude anyone (if that is the case then Bickerton argues it does need to change), how we live out the theology does not matter. There are a variety of ways of expressing belief in God in the life of the church. Church is not a monolith. We do not all conform to the same theology. Bickerton asks the question, “Is it the job of the church to demand conformity? Is it the job of the church to tell people there is only one, most correct way to believe? Should we limit our understanding of God to one box? Is conformity essential to unity? Or, can we make space for all voices in the conversation?”

Does a church have to define itself in a particular way? Does everyone in the church have to think of God in a particular way? Or, is there space in each church to hold multiple beliefs. 

God, Christ, the Spirit: That is the essential. Even if our theologies differ, our belief in the essential is the same. 

The final ministerial Bickerton writes of is the practice of compassion. How do we, as Christians live out our essential value of compassion for the world? Bickerton writes that some may express compassion through justice work, advocacy, and calling for systemic change. Others may express it through evangelism, invitation, and conversion. Others may practice compassion in both ways. But whatever way someone practices compassion, the essential is the same: belief that all persons and creatures are of sacred worth and are beloved of God. Because we believe everyone and everything holds value to God, we care for them and have compassion for them. The ways we show compassion may differ, but again, compassion is essential. How we show it is not. 

Often we tend to confuse unity with conformity. In order to be united we have to all think the same. We all have to have the same expressions, interpretations, understandings, and ways of approaching life. Difference is a threat to our unity. And so, we struggle against difference. We try to rid our lives of difference. We cannot be united if we are different! So we work to court people to our sides. “Hey, hands, why don’t you become a foot!” “Hey, head! Become a heart!” But when we mistake conformity with unity, we hurt the church, because we cut off differing expressions of God. As Paul writes, so clearly in 1 Corinthians12, we are one body, but made up of many members. We are created differently, and that is okay. So long as we respect our differences, so long as no body part is exalted more than another, so long as hands aren’t told to become feet and feet aren’t told to become hands, this body will function well. 

The end of 1 Corinthians 12 says “I will show you a still more excellent way.” Our Bible leaves the chapter on a cliffhanger. What is the still more excellent way Paul is speaking of? What is it that draws us all together? What is it that, ultimately, binds our lives together? 

I’ll leave you on a cliffhanger too. 

But just know, there is something in our lives together that is the most important thing. Something we should all strive for. Something that should mark all our thoughts, all our words, and all our actions. Something that is, truly, the most essential. That still more excellent way which tells us, we don’t need conformity to be united. 

But, we’ll have to wait until next week to get into it.

Filling in the Blanks with the Essentials

Colossians 2:1-7

For I want you to know how much I am struggling for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me face to face. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ himself,[a] 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your morale and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives[b] in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

***

What are we Fighting For? Coming Together Around What Matters Most Thomas J. Bickerton (2016) Cover Art: Marchia Myatt

Last week we passed the halfway point of this sermon series. So, we’re making the turn toward the home stretch now. Thus far, we have talked about what it means to come together around what matters most, first acknowledging that sometimes we have a spiritual problem. We aren’t as inspired by the Holy Spirit anymore,so  instead we turn to our own devices. When we stop listening to the Holy Spirit, we have a problem. So, to help solve our spiritual problem, we need to turn back to God and enter into a journey of discernment. We’ve also talked about the fact that this journey of discernment is a pilgrimage, much like the Israelites’ years of wandering the wilderness. Discernment is not quick nor easy. It can’t be. And so, we buckle down and remind ourselves that a life following God is joyful and fun. It is a life filled with collaboration. And it is a life that constantly shows us how everyone is a work in progress. Last week, we talked about the five guidelines for a journey of discernment, and ended with the idea that we need to sift out the non essentials, asking ourselves the question “If _____ went away, could we still have church?” 

That is where we begin today. Today, we are talking about the essentials. What is essential to our faith? What is important, though not essential? What can we do away with all together? 

Last week, I used the example of coffee hour. “If coffee hour went away, could we still have church?” And led us through the steps of discernment, in a way. Why do we love coffee hour so much? What runs underneath it? What is essential about coffee hour? 

So, I want to open today’s sermon with a series of questions. There’s no need to answer them out loud. Just think about them. Consider if these things are essential or not. 

If our choir went away, could we still have a church? 

If our building went away, could we still have a church? 

If our money went away, could we still have a church? 

If our Sunday School went away, could we still have a church? 

If children went away, could we still have a church? 

All of these things are important for the life of the church, and for the church’s future. But, when we confuse importance with essentials, that can be a problem. We can still have a church, even without a choir, a building, money, Sunday School, or children. It may look different or feel different than we’re used to, but we can have a church. Because none of those things are essential to our life as believers. 

It is the work of every faith tradition and community to discern the essentials of their life together. Because, there are going to be things that individuals think are essential. For some, essentials may be specific rituals or practices. For others, still, the essentials may be things like weekly worship services and daily scripture reading. There are going to be different things that feel essential for different people and communities. You may say that daily devotion to prayer is an essential for your faith life. I may say that social action is essential to mine. But is that really essential? Or are those things– daily devotion to prayer, social action, regular scripture reading, certain traditions–simply important things born of the essentials? We can get caught up arguing about whether or not the church needs to focus on social engagement more than prayer, or if scripture reading is more important than weekly service, but what are the essentials underneath all of it? Do we really disagree about the essentials? Or just the methods of living our essentials out? 

Discerning the essentials is central to the letter to the church in Colossae. In this letter, Paul takes into consideration the culture of Colossae, and the people the emerging church was living with. When Paul writes that he is saying all this “so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments” he is setting up the idea that there are people who pose a threat to the work of the Colossians. Paul is saying this, because he is warning the people in Colossae to focus on the essentials of their faith, and not get caught up in unimportant things. 

I want to be very careful here. When Paul is talking about deception and false teachers in this letter, he is talking about a Jewish community that thought Christ-followers had to follow the same rituals, holy days, and practices they did in order to follow God properly.. Paul is harsh. Now, if we’re not careful, we can get the idea that the Jews in Colossae were wrong. Or we can dismissively say “The Jewish people were caught up in non-essentials.” 

 But, we have to remember that Paul was writing to a specific audience and communicating specific beliefs, in a specific time. Remember, the Council at Jerusalem had talked and argued about whether or not Gentiles, or non-Jewish, believers could be in a Christ-following community. They had argued about whether or not Gentiles would have to become Jewish to follow Christ, if they would have to participate in Jewish practices, observances, and rituals, as well as follow Jewish law. Paul’s argument of “No, belief in Jesus is enough to be a part of this faith,” won out. That belief was established and practiced by Christ-following communities when this letter was written. So, teachers and thinkers and followers that attempted to get the Christ-centered community in Colossae to observe holy days and practice specific rituals would have been seen as wrong in the eyes of Paul and other first century Christ-followers, who had already decided that those practices weren’t necessary for their practice of faith. 

This is a tension in this letter that we have to address. There are some things that Paul writes that are rooted in Jewish theological thought. This is especially true of the eschatological outlook (concern with the end times) and the moral commitments highlighted in the letter. But there are other things, like following dietary laws and observing holy days, that Paul believed could be shed by Christians. In the emerging church, the laws and rituals followed by their Jewish siblings were not important to a Christian practice of faith. Paul is harsh in calling people false teachers and deceptive. It’s not false teaching and it’s not deceptive. Those who insisted on following holy days and food laws and Sabbath practice saw them as an important aspect of their faith. What we see here is a difference of importance that led to some tension between two different faith groups. It’s a theological argument about what is really the right way to worship and follow God. The first century Christ-followers had some important practices. The first century Jews held different ones. Neither were wrong, nor false, nor deceptive. They were just different. And, at the end of the day, the essential shared by these two communities was the same: they wanted to worship and love their God the best way they knew how. 

It would be like a Methodist talking to a Baptist about the ritual of baptism. Methodists practice infant baptism. Baptists practice believers baptism. Methodists believe that God’s prevenient grace is enough to baptize someone into the community of believers.  A baby, though not aware of God’s work in their lives, still receives God’s grace. It is through the work and promise of the community that the baby can grow to discover God’s grace and love in their own lives, and claim Christ for themselves. For Methodists, the essentials of baptism are that God’s grace covers the baby, and God’s grace compels the community to show the child God’s love as they grow. For Baptists, baptism comes when the person is cognisant of God’s work in their lives and can claim God as their own. They are born again in Christ, and that new birth is their choice. They are compelled to baptism by their belief in Christ. For Baptists, one of the essentials of baptism is that the person claims belief for themselves. Neither tradition is wrong. They’re just different. Though, in a theological debate (much like Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae) Methodists may defend their side and Baptists theirs with strong language. 

Yet, in all these theological arguments, there are essentials that stay the same. Both the first century Christ-followers and the first century Jews could agree that worship and love of God was essential. Methodists and Baptists may disagree on how Baptism is practiced, but we agree that it is an essential milestone of faith. You may think that the building is important to worship in, because it centers us and gives us a home to come to again and again. Another person may think that worshiping outside is better, because they’re surrounded by God’s creation, rather than man’s creation.  But you can both agree that worshiping God is essential. 

Even if the methods are different. The essentials are the same. 

Bishop Bickerton suggests that there are four essentials that every Christian can agree on. There are four essentials that we see run through the Gospels, exemplified by Jesus. These essentials may be expressed differently, but the heart behind their expression is the same. 

These four essentials are grace, relationships, joy, and hope. 

If grace went away, could we still have a church? 

Grace is a big thing in the United Methodist church. John Wesley had a very well thought out theology of this unmerited favor. This thing we cannot earn, yet freely receive from God. Grace is something that should undergird our very lives together, weaving its way into all of our interactions. Jesus was a great exemplar of grace.  How often do we see him forgiving the sins of people? We see him extend grace to a woman caught in adultery in John. We see him extend grace to Thomas, who doubted his resurrection. We even see him extend grace to Peter, who denied him three times. Grace is the beating heart of the church, that tells us we are loved, even if we do not always  deserve that love. In what ways have you felt God’s grace in your life? When was a time that grace was made real for you? When have you received it? When have you extended it? Could the church be the church if grace wasn’t in the picture? It seems that the answer is, likely, no. Grace is central to all we do. If we didn’t have grace, we couldn’t have church. 

If relationships went away, could we still have a church? 

The church is home to two types of relationships. The first is the relationship between a believer and Christ. The second is the relationship between believers. We know that the two most important commandments Jesus told people to follow is Love God and Love Neighbor. When we think about relationships in the church, that is the love we are following. We have a relationship with God because we love God. We have a relationship with each other because we love our neighbors. The church is called to foster these two relationships. 

Obviously, church can’t be church if it stops focusing on building a relationship with God. God must be central to our lives. God must be central in our worship, our studies, our conversations, our meetings. We must do everything with an eye toward deepening our relationship with God. Because if we lose that relationship, what would make the church different from a secular social club? 

Further, the church cannot be the church if we stop focusing on building relationships with each other. The entire purpose of the church is to have a community of believers who come together to encourage each other, pray with each other, hold each other accountable, converse with each other, and invite each into a deeper relationship with Christ. The human to human relationship is just as central to the church as the human to God relationship. If we didn’t have each other, the church would crumble. Have you ever been in a church whose sole focus didn’t seem to be its relationship with Christ? Or in a church where the relationships between people or groups seemed tense? Have you ever been in a church that didn’t value deepening of relationships, and whose core focus was on nonessential things? What was the general feeling in that church? Was it a positive one? A negative one? Did you want to continue going there? Did you want to find somewhere else? Relationships are essential to the life of the church. If we didn’t have relationships, we couldn’t have church. 

If joy went away, could we still have a church? 

This is a tough question to answer. Often, churches tend to forget that this life of following Jesus is supposed to be joyful. The Gospels are called the Gospels, because “Gospel” in Old English means “good news.” This is Good News that we follow! This is Good News that we carry! That Good News can only lead to joy! And yet, we tend to get so wrapped up in worry about the future, that we forget joy is core to who we are. This is a problem, though. Years ago, it was common that visitors to a church would go for several weeks in a row, to see if they fit into the community. They’d take in a worship service, maybe go to some small groups, they would sit in the church for a little while before deciding whether or not they wanted to make the church their permanent spiritual home. But nowadays, people church shop. They may come in for one week, and try to get a feel for what this church is all about. What happens if they don’t feel like there’s joy in the church? They leave. They don’t come back. No one wants to go to a church that isn’t brimming with joy, whose cup isn’t overflowing with praise of God. A joyless church feels soulless and cold. Who wants to be a part of that? 

Joy is central to God’s heart, as well. Our God is a joyful God, who celebrates creation. Who laughs when we laugh. Dances when we dance. Finds life in the midst of death. Finds celebration in the midst of heartbreak. If joy is central to God’s character, then it must be central to ours as well. We are called to show the world who God is. We are called to show the world who Christ is. We can’t do that if we have lost our joy. Because if the church has lost its joy, it has lost part of God’s heart. The church couldn’t be church if it didn’t have joy. 

If hope went away, could we still have a church? 

Perhaps hope is one of the most important essentials to our life together as Christians. We are a community of believers founded on the very promise of hope. We find hope in the resurrection of Jesus, this promise that death does not have the final say. Death is not the end. Life continues. That hope is central to our life together as Christians. Yet, churches tend to forget about that hope, especially when they reach anxious or uncertain times. 

My mentor in Massachusetts, the Rev. Dr. Hope Luckie (an appropriate name, is it not?) always said, “What would happen if our church dies? We are a resurrection people. We’d find a way.” Often, churches under stress go into survival mode, which means that we operate out of a sense of scarcity. We can’t have tough conversations with one another, because that will drive people away. And if we drive people away, our membership will go down. And if our membership goes down, we’ll lose money. And if we lose money, we won’t be able to pay our bills. And if we’re unable to pay our bills, we’ll close! We make all of our decisions through the lens of conserving what we have, because we don’t have enough. Scarcity thinking and survival mode cuts off our ability to be creative and to hold on to hope for the future. That is, of course, human nature. When you look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, for example, you see that the basics for survival, like food, shelter, and water, make up the bottom of the pyramid. Threaten a person’s ability to survive, and you may cut off their ability to creatively dream. Without dreaming, how can we have hope? 

Yet, the church does not operate in the ways of humans or in the ways of the world. If we truly follow God, we should have no fear of what the future holds. Because, remember, our God is a God who has seen the future and knows where we are headed. Our God is a God that wants us to thrive, not merely survive. Our God is a God of hope. When they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, the Israelites complained that they did not have food or water, but God rained manna from Heaven down for them, giving them all they needed to survive. Moses struck a rock, and water flowed freely. When the people needed to survive, God gave them what they needed. That is hope. When we need to survive, God will meet our needs. 

When Jesus was crucified, his disciples thought that everything was over. They thought all the work they had done was for naught. Some denied him. Others locked themselves away. Some ran. They separated and scattered. And yet, the women discovered an empty tomb, and Mary Magdalene encountered the risen Christ and was the first to preach that hope into the world. When everything looked like it was over, God declared it wasn’t. That is why we can have hope.

When we’re at our lowest. When the world seems the darkest. When anxiety is high and worry abounds, our God is still working. We can still have hope, because God is still giving us something to hope for. If hope went away, we couldn’t have a church. 

I don’t know if you all will agree with Bishop Bickerton that grace, relationships, joy, and hope, are essentials in our life with Christ, but let’s say we can all agree that they are. Let’s say that we all think “Yeah, without any of those things we couldn’t have a church.” The next step is that we can come together around them. We are a church that holds grace, relationships, joy, and hope as essential to our lives together. Okay. So, how is God calling us to express and embody grace, relationships, joy, and hope? How is God calling us to build on these foundational priorities? It’s not just enough for us to agree that these essentials are important, but we have to be intentional about discerning how God is calling us to live these essentials out: Does grace matter in what we do and how we do it? Do relationships make a difference in the way we proclaim God’s love? Is joy evident in our ongoing work? Do we hope for a better day than the one we’re currently experiencing? 

These four essentials become our starting point. They become the foundation on which we build the church. If a tornado came and tore everything else away, these things would be what is left over. When we use these four essentials, so evident in the life of Christ, as our starting point, what do we discover? How does that change our lives together? How does that help us to follow Jesus’ way, instead of our own personal or political agendas? 

When he wrote to the church on Colossae, Paul wrote these words “As you have therefore received Christ, continue to build your lives in him.” Continue to seek Christ’s way. Continue to look at Christ as the exemplar of our faith. Continue to walk in the way that Christ walked. Continue to see Christ, and his ways, as the most essential part of your faith. That is Christianity. Christ and his essentials are at the heart of our faith. We can take Paul’s challenge up for ourselves, much like the Colossians did. We can continue to fill in the blanks with essentials for our faith. We can continue to discern what matters most for our faith community. And while we may not agree on ministry methods or individual expressions of faith or programming or worship style or missions or X Y Z, we will still be able to come together. Because our essentials, essentials that are rooted in the life and example of Christ, will be the same. And that, at the end of the day, is what matters the most. Amen.

Discerning What Matters Most

Philippians 1:6, 9-11

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ…And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. 

***

What Are we Fighting For? Coming Together Around What Matters Most. Thomas J. Bickerton. Abingdon Press 2016. Cover Art: Marcia Myatt

I want to start today’s sermon with a few questions. I’ll ask you to put a thumbs up if the answer is yes, and a thumbs down if the answer is no. 

1. Should you touch a hot stove? Yes or no. 
2. Is it okay to steal candy from the store? Yes or no.

Okay, we’ll move to some questions where people may have different answers. 

3. Is coffee better than tea? Yes or no. 
4. Is summer better than winter? Yes or no.  
5. Is doing dishes better than doing laundry? Yes or no. 

What we just did together points to discernment. I asked you some questions, and you answered them. Based on your experiences, what you were told growing up, what you discovered for yourself, and what others have talked with you about, you were able to answer my questions. Perhaps when you were young your parents told you not to touch a hot stove, so you know that touching a hot stove is not a good idea. Perhaps, you have tried both coffee and tea, and you know which one you prefer. Most of us can probably answer these questions, because we have already discerned our answer to them. 

But, if I were to ask you, “What matters most in the life of this church?” that question may be harder to answer. Sure, we may say Jesus and God’s love, but what exactly does that look like? How do we show the world we follow Jesus and claim God’s love for ourselves? 

If I were to ask you, “Is Bible study better than Sunday morning worship? Yes or no,” would you be able to answer that right away? If I asked you, “Are missions more important than worship attendance? Yes or no,” would you have an immediate answer for that? Part of determining what matters most for the church is going on a journey of discernment. 

Now, last week, I reminded us that this is going to be a pilgrimage. Which is antithetical to how we humans like to work. We like quick fixes. We like easy answers. We want to get to the end result, the promised land, now. But, in order to get to that end result, we must carefully lay the foundation, pave the road, and navigate the terrain. If we don’t, our journey will be hampered. 

Discernment is a long process. It should be a process that, like Paul writes to the Philippians, will help love overflow, more and more, with knowledge and insight. It is a process that helps us listen for God’s voice, and helps us to see where God is leading us. Discernment is a process that should encourage us to live for God every single day of our lives. 

In his greeting to the church in Philippi, Paul offers this encouragement for discernment. When he says that he hopes the church can grow in love, insight, and knowledge, he means that he hopes the church continues to look for God. It is theorized that Paul may have written this letter to Philippi from prison in Rome. Paul was imprisoned for “creating a public disturbance” as he declared the Gospel of Christ. The church in Philippi faced similar challenges as they tried to spread the Gospel and grow in numbers, and so, when Paul writes to them, he opens with an encouraging message. Keep going, he says. Keep growing in Christ. Keep on seeking the heart of God, because that is what marks your deeds and your works as good. No matter the challenges you face, you will be seen as pure and blameless in the sight of God. 

Paul’s message to the church in Philippi encourages them to walk through the challenges they face while constantly seeking the heart of God. He encourages them, as they walk through tribulation, to always keep their eyes toward Christ. Grow in love. Grow in insight. Grow in knowledge. Keep growing and going towards God, because that is what matters most. 

Paul’s encouragement to the church in Philippi is encouragement to never stop discerning God’s will for their church and their lives. God will still speak. God will still offer love. God will still work in their lives. So, no matter what, it is their job to listen and look for God. They are to discern what matters the most to their lives together, because through that discernment they can face, with confidence, any opposition or persecution that may come their way. Discerning the will and heart of God is what strengthens them for ministry. 

We certainly do not face the same challenges to our faith that Paul or the church in Philippi did. In 21st century America, Christianity is not being persecuted. We are not facing imprisonment for declaring our faith. We are not in danger of being killed if we declare the Gospel. Many leaders and public figures in the secular realm share our faith, and speak about how their faith affects how they approach the world. Christianity is not persecuted. It truly is centered.

And yet, Christianity is still facing its challenges, particularly Christianity as expressed through the institutional church. We talk about this often, so I won’t belabor the point. But, it is true that the world is changing around us, and, as the world changes, church, in its current iteration, seems to be left behind. Which can make us feel like our values are under attack or are being pushed aside. This all leads to questions and wonderings and worries for the future. And we think about how we can continue to be encouraged in our faith. How can we be excited about faith? How can we spread the Gospel? How do we invite people into this journey with us? How do we know what is really important? 

This is why a journey of discernment is so necessary. Paul encourages the church in Philippi to constantly grow in love, knowledge, and insight. While our struggles are not akin to theirs, we can take this call for ourselves as well. We are called to discern what is the most important. We are called to discern what matters most in our faith, and our faith community, so that way we can continue to share our faith with confidence. 

Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton writes that a journey of discernment has five guidelines that help us stay on track. 

The first is “Don’t Wait!” 

You know, back in January and February of 2020, I had taken an improv comedy class through the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre. I had a lot of fun with it. And, after missing a year due to the pandemic, at the beginning of 2022, I had been thinking about taking the class again. But, I held off on signing up, because of money and Omicron and all of these reasons. When I finally felt like I could sign up for the class, it was full. I called to be put on the waitlist, but I knew that the class was popular and fun, so it was unlikely anyone would drop it. I waited too long to try to get in, and I missed out entirely. 

That’s often what happens in the church. We don’t think we can undergo discernment about the future, until we have all the answers. In 2021, when we had our vision team meet, I often heard the question “Why now?” “We’re in the middle of a pandemic, why are we talking about the future, now?” “We don’t know where the denomination will be, why are we talking about a vision now?” “It’s not the right time! We don’t have all the answers! We’re not in a place of certainty! Why are we talking about the future of this church now?” My response got honed over the months that we met, because the question constantly came up: “We’re talking about local church ministry. It is always the right time to talk about local church ministry.” 

That was kind of a lie, in some ways. Because when we talk about the future of the church, and local church ministry, there is never going to be a “right” time. There will always be something that seems like it needs to be answered, first. We need to get finances in order. We need answers from the denomination. We should wait until the new neighborhood is built. We don’t know who we are, so how can we talk about the future? There is always going to be a next question that needs to be answered. Often, we use that next question to delay talking now. We want to wait until the perfect time. But the perfect time will never come. The world moves fast. We just have to jump in and do the work of discernment in the midst of it. If we wait too long, we may miss out on something really great. So we don’t wait. We talk now. We seek God now. We pray now. We discern now. Knowing that God doesn’t need us to wait until the “perfect” time. God just needs us to step out in faith, at all times. 

Which brings us to the second reminder of discernment: To take a look back and see what we can learn from the past. 

An oft heard refrain in churches is: “Those were the days.” We have a habit of looking back to reminisce on the good old days. Those golden years when the church was thriving. When the pews were filled! When there were dozens of kids in youth group and Sunday school! When the pastor preached good, Bible based sermons! When Sunday was a day that had no sports or extra activities, because it was a day for Church and family. Sometimes, we make the mistake of getting stuck looking at the past, wishing things could just go back to the way they were. 

Bickerton writes that there is nothing wrong with looking at the past, because the past can teach us how we can move forward in the future. But we need to be careful about what we’re looking for. When we look at the past, we have to look at where our church’s life and witness intersected with our gifts and passions for ministry. Again, we look at how the church’s life and witness intersected with gifts and passions for ministry. 

We don’t look at the past to get stuck on how “We used to have Vacation Bible School every summer, and now we don’t, and that’s a problem!” We look at the past to see that we had Vacation Bible School because we had a passion for teaching young disciples. 

And then we ask ourselves the question of “Is teaching young disciples still our passion? Is it still our gift?” If the answer is yes then we ask “How do we do that now?” It’s not about looking at programming. It’s about thinking how do we translate our passion for teaching young disciples into ministry, now? Maybe that’s not Vacation Bible School. Maybe that particular ministry is over. Maybe it stopped reaching young disciples in the way we wanted it to. But how do we translate that passion for our church now? The important thing is not that we used to have certain programming, but that the programming was a result of a core value, a core passion, a gift of this church. 

So when discerning the future, we look to the past, not to lament the good old days, but to look at the church’s history of witness, and find the passions and gifts behind that. Did we have multiple programs that spoke to a passion for fellowship? Okay, how do we do that now? Did we have programs that spoke to a passion for discipleship? Okay, how do we do that now? Did we have programs that spoke to a passion for teaching the Bible? Okay, how do we do that now? Did we have programs that spoke to a passion for developing leaders? Okay, how do we do that now? 

Part of discernment is finding the best of the past, those core values we hold, and carrying them into the future so we can continue to use our gifts and our passions for building God’s kingdom, even if we use them in new ways. 

The third guideline for discernment is to seize the opportunity before us. 

Bickerton uses the example of the size of a windshield vs the size of a rearview mirror. The windshield is bigger because what lies ahead of us is more important for driving than what is behind us. Certainly, we have to use rearview mirrors for safety, and check them every once in a while. But if we drove constantly looking in the rearview mirror, there would be a lot more accidents, wouldn’t there? If we were so focused on what is behind us, instead of what is ahead of us, we’d be in trouble. 

Keeping our eyes focused on what is ahead of us requires us to remember that God is not done with us. Our best ministry and our best days are not behind us. We can still do good, kingdom building ministry now. God has not thrown us out. We also have to remember to keep the flame of God alive and burning. When we face struggle, challenge, and worry, it can be hard to keep that flame lit up. It can be hard to have passion for ministry. We can burn out, if we don’t constantly seek God. If it feels like we are just running up against wall after wall. If it feels like no ministry can get done. We just go into autopilot and we lose our passion. Believe me, it is easy to fall into this. But we are called to bear the light of God’s love into the world, and to bear that light, we need to try our absolute best to keep our passions alive. So that calls us into assuming the responsibility that God has given us. To be the love-bearers in the world. And assuming that responsibility looks like every single one of us, on an individual level, figuring out the gifts and passions that God has blessed us with. That is what keeps the flame alive. When we don’t sit on our hindquarters and exercise our passions, that is how we seize the opportunity before us. 

I will tell you, one of my biggest passions for ministry is helping churches find creative ways of moving to the future. It’s working with churches to change and for change. It’s always been connecting churches with the world outside their walls. Exhortation and encouragement and empowerment, those are some of my gifts. I say that with full confidence. Those gifts are part of the reason I love ministry. That is why I answered my calling to ordained ministry. I tell people often, I am not the type of pastor that has a passion for closing churches, or putting churches in quote unquote hospice care. Instead, I am the type of pastor that encourages change, and mentions the future often, and wants to push the church just a little bit out of its comfort zone. You may have noticed this. But that’s because the work of creativity, change, and encouragement for the future is the work that keeps my flame for God alight. 

Part of discernment is each individual in the church figuring out what their passions are for ministry. What keeps the flame of God lit in your heart? And then, as a body, coming together to use all of our passions and gifts and talents for the good of the church, seizing each opportunity before us. 

The fourth guideline is Connecting the Dots. 

I sort of spoke to this already with all of the previous guidelines, so I’ll keep this short. Connecting the dots is about taking all the information we get from the other guidelines, and boiling them down to their basics. We have a passion for teaching young disciples. I have a passion for exhortation and encouragement. You have a passion for writing letters and sending cards. We take all of this in, and we connect the dots. How do our passions speak to our beliefs?  And then how do we take that belief and passion and turn it into action? And then how do we use that action to build God’s kingdom? That is it. Discernment is all about connecting our passions with our beliefs, our beliefs with action, and our actions with our purpose of building God’s kingdom. Passions to beliefs. Beliefs to actions. Actions for God. That is what we are seeking to discover. 

The fifth and final guideline of discernment is to sift out the nonessentials.

 We’ll touch on this a lot more next week as we think about filling the blanks with essentials. But this guideline asks us to really consider what our witness to God’s love must have, and what it can do without. What can we cultivate? What can we let go of?

 This guiding principle is best summed up in one question: “If______ went away, could you still have a church?” How would you fill in that blank? 

Without going through the discernment process it may be really easy to fill in that blank with something that is important, though not essential. 

“Well, I feel best connected with people at coffee hour! So if coffee hour went away, I don’t think there would still be a church! We must keep coffee hour!” 

Is that really true? Is coffee hour essential? Or can you fill that blank with something else? Do you feel equally connected to people at a potluck? Or in Discipleship groups? Or in Youth Group?  Is that feeling of connection still there if you exchange coffee hour with any of those things? So is it really coffee hour that is essential? Or is it something deeper? What’s under coffee hour? Fellowship? Community? 

If you took fellowship away, could you still have church? If you took community away, could you still have church? What’s the core value under a desire for coffee hour?

Let’s say it’s community. That’s why we love coffee hour so much. It gives us a chance to build community. We talk with people. We connect with people. We learn about their upcoming vacation or their sibling who’s in the hospital. That sense of community and family is what draws people into the church. So, coffee hour is not essential, but community is. Community is a value we hold. It’s core to who we are. And so, in the life of this church, we do everything with an eye toward building community. 

See when we dig deeper, under the things that feel important, we can find the core value that lies at the heart of our mission and witness. Coffee hour builds community. Potlucks build community. Discipleship Groups build community. Youth Group builds community. Community is at our heart. And so when we discover that, we can then shift ministries, if we need to. We can shift small group offerings, we can change things. Our methods of building community can change. Because, it’s not the methods that are essential, but the value, and the heart of it. We can disagree about what community building looks like, but we can agree that community is a value we hold. 

So part of this journey toward discovering what matters most is that we are encouraged to delve into discernment. To really dig down, pray, ask for God’s guidance, and sort out what is truly important. What do we need to have to be Christ-centered and love-focused? What is at our very core? What is at our very heart? 

This is what Paul encouraged the Philippians to think about. Grow in love and insight and knowledge, so that your witness for Christ can be strengthened. Discernment is all about digging deep and finding out what truly matters most, so we can then fill in the blanks of our life together with the essentials. The five guiding principles of discernment are: Don’t Wait. Look for the best of the Past. Seize the Opportunity Before You. Connect the Dots. And Sift out the Nonessentials. That is what we do in discernment, take everything we possibly can in, lift it up to God, and work with the Spirit to figure out what it’s all pointing to. 
In that process, we may just make an important turn. From the exasperated, hands tossed in the air question, of “What are we fighting for?” To the inspirational, motivational question, that points to the very heart of our life together: “What are we fighting for?” 

Story Time

This was originally published in a church newsletter in Feb. 2022. (Edited)

I’m going to channel Jesus a little and begin with a story… There once was a small church. They were a faithful congregation. They had a pastor who served them well. He had been at the church for seven years, and he loved it deeply. They had strong lay leadership that cared about discipleship formation. They had a history of being a witness of Christ’s love for their community. But, recently, the church felt like something had changed.  It began when there was an exodus from Sunday worship. In his sixth year with them, the pastor had preached a controversial sermon. He boldly stated from the pulpit he didn’t believe being LGBT was a sin. It had shaken people. Some were upset, and this sermon had been a topic of much conversation during fellowship, in small groups, and around restaurant tables. While some couldn’t fathom leaving over one disagreement with the pastor, others were up in arms. A very vocal minority emerged in the congregation. They decided they wouldn’t go to worship, so long as he remained their pastor. They would worship at a different church, where the pastor had no problem calling homosexuality a sin and “preached the real Bible.”  However, they also wouldn’t pull their membership, and remained active in small groups and on committees. And it seemed, no matter what, this very vocal minority always managed to bring up that sermon.  The pastor was discouraged. He knew that he had made a bold statement from the pulpit, but he was clear that he understood people would feel differently. He thought he had the people’s trust, so he invited people to talk with him. He welcomed and encouraged conversation. He wanted to talk with people. But no one talked with him. And, it seemed, the conflict was spreading to other areas of the church. It wasn’t uncommon to hear whispers of “us vs. them” on any given Sunday morning. The pastor feared that he had taken a step too far with his sermon. He had trusted that Christians would rest in their identity as Christ-followers, above all else. He had trusted that being Christ-centered was the most important thing. But it was starting to feel like his church was most concerned with their political identity.  From some he heard that they were “a conservative, Biblical church” and from others he heard they should be “a progressive church!” He stopped hearing that they wanted to be a Christ-centered church.  The other thing leadership noticed was that the church became very concerned with finances. With the exodus from worship, already tight finances became tighter. The church was transparent about their financial situation. But soon transparency gave way to focus. Committees stopped talking about ministry and only talked about finances. Small group treasurers came into the office to make sure their funds were untouched. “We’re supposed to have $700,” one man told the church secretary, “I want to make sure it’s still there.” The pastor began to notice that those who refused to worship with him on a Sunday would come to financial Q&As and committee meetings. They didn’t care about their worship life, but they did care about church finances. Whenever they could, they told their friends that finances were tight all because of “that pastor.”  If he were gone, their problems would be solved.  Finances soon became another driving factor of the church’s life. Whenever someone wanted to start a new ministry, the first questions was “How are we going to pay for it?” The church’s General Committee used to start their meetings asking about what was new in mission and ministry, but now started with budget reports and discussing the bottom line. The church operated out of a sense of scarcity. They couldn’t do anything new until their financial situation was better. They started centering money more than they centered Christ.  People in the church started to get upset. They weren’t in the church to talk about money and politics, but because they had hearts for Christ and for the world. How could they faithfully be part of a church where Christ was not at the center of their lives together?  Church leadership tried. They led Sunday school, Bible studies, and book studies that centered on strengthening discipleship. Some tried to start new, low-cost, ministries like prayer groups or afternoon teas that would bring people together. The pastor focused on Christ and the Bible in his sermons, preaching trust in God and Christ’s love often.  No matter what they did, nothing helped. The church was lost. They continued to focus on politics and money. The vocal minority continued to both stay away on Sunday mornings and talk about “that man” in their fellowship groups. Eventually, the church lost more people. Some left because the vocal minority had turned their ear enough. Some left to go to healthier congregations. Some left because the church no longer served their needs. Some left because they felt the church no longer served Christ. Sunday attendance dwindled and dwindled. In the pastor’s 12th year with the congregation, the church closed its doors for good.  *** Though I am truly not as good a storyteller as Jesus, I hope you see the point of the story:  A church that loses its focus on Christ is a church that cannot remain.  The church in the story is fictional. Yet, like any good Law and Order: SVU episode, while the story is made up, we may see echoes of reality in it.  There are churches in this world who have lost their way. There are churches that we can walk into and immediately get the sense that they do not center Christ. They center something else: their social life, their political identity, their finances. We know churches like this. We know churches that are Sunday only churches. They worship together for one hour on Sunday mornings, but don’t offer discipleship formation Monday-Saturday. We’ve seen these churches, and we’ve seen these churches close. It is an unfortunate reality.  For this season between Christmas and Lent, I have chosen to preach a sermon series called What are We Fighting For? in my church, following the sermon series with a Lenten book study of the same name. The book study is written by Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, and was originally published in 2016. Bickerton clearly wrote this book in response to the talks of schism and division in the United Methodist Church. While there are parts of the study that certainly reflect the state of United Methodism in 2016, the overall message is one that is timeless: “Now is the time to refocus our attention on the things that Jesus told us we should be and do. We will never find complete agreement on any issue, but we can find our focus when we discover God’s amazing love for us and the limitless possibilities we have to share that love with others” (p. 138).  The heart and focus of the Church is God’s love, particularly God’s love revealed to us through Christ. That is what matters most. Everything else is inconsequential. Politics, inconsequential. Money, inconsequential. Church size, inconsequential. Number of families and children, inconsequential. The Church is at its best when it is Christ-centered and Love-focused.  It is no secret that there is much facing the American Church in the 21st century. Declining attendance. Wavering finances. Deep political rifts. An understanding that Church is no longer an expectation. And all of this can be really discouraging, and anxiety producing. When we realize the world is shifting and changing around us, and that we, the Church, are being left behind, that can be terrifying. We begin to think of the future. What about our kids and grandkids? Will they know God like we do? Will church be important to them? Will they have faith?  When these questions pop up, it can lead to inconsequential things feeling very consequential. Finances are consequential. The building is consequential. Political identity is consequential. Traditions are consequential. Attendance is consequential. If any of those are off, then our church is doomed! But, as Bickerton reminds us, the truth is none of these things are consequential.  In every church, you should be able to take away finances, buildings, politics, and even traditions and still have church. Because, at the very heart of our life together, is Christ and the love of God revealed through him.  The church in my story lost sight of that heart. They focused on inconsequential things, forgetting first and foremost they are Christ’s. It affected their witness and ministry in the world. And while this is a fictional church, it’s also very real. There are churches in this world that have stopped centering Christ, and have instead chosen to center inconsequential things. There are churches that have forgotten, truly, what matters most. And they are worse off for it.  We should remind ourselves, as often as possible and in as many ways as possible, that Christ is ours and we are Christ’s. We should remind ourselves, as often as possible, that the strongest churches are Christ-centered churches. We should remind ourselves, as often as possible, that Christ’s love is, truly, what matters most.

What Are We Fighting For? Three Reminders for the Journey

Exodus 13:17-18a, 21-22

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. 

***

I recently took a trip out to Arizona to visit a friend from seminary. It was the first time I had ever been to the state, and during the time leading up to the trip, I went into planning mode. Where did I have to go? The Grand Canyon, obviously. But where else? What was going to be the itinerary for the week I was out there? What did we have time to see? As I was packing, I texted my friend, asking her what I could expect the weather to be like. You may be thinking “Well, it’s Arizona, so hot.” But my friend is appointed to a church in the mountains, and I’ve often heard about the unpredictability of the weather where she is. What sort of clothing would I need where she was? I also had to start thinking about money. How much did I want to spend while I was out there? How much did I need to transfer from savings into checking? I had to check and double check my plane tickets. What time did I need to be at the airport, to get through security and get to my gate? And, how long was the flight? What shows or movies did I need to download on Netflix, what books did I need to bring, in order to keep my mind off the fact I was 30,000+ feet up in the air? 

Part of going on any journey is preparation. Mapping out the route. Packing the right clothing. Making an itinerary. There is some form of planning that needs to happen. 

Of course, though, we know that all the planning in the world doesn’t account for when things don’t go how we expect. Planning doesn’t account for construction on the route that takes an extra hour to get around. Planning doesn’t account for stormy days that cut into activities. Planning doesn’t account for discovering a different, more fun activity. For example, my friend and I knew we were going to go to the Grand Canyon, so we planned for a two hour drive. But then we discovered a train that would take us to the South Rim, and it just sounded like a fun experience, so we did that instead. So within our best laid plans, there was flexibility. Just as there needs to be flexibility in any plans. 

In our Scripture for today, we read about the Exodus narrative. Moses has just liberated the people from Pharaoh. The plagues have happened. The declaration of “Let my people go!” has happened. Passover has happened. And now the people are going. This is both an unexpected and planned for journey. The timing is quick, but the hope of deliverance and liberation was long awaited. The minute the people get the go ahead to leave Egypt, there is a mass exodus.

Interestingly, on this journey, God takes the people in a roundabout way. God takes them a longer way. Instead of following the coastline, through Philistine lands, they wandered through the wilderness. Part of the reason for this is because along the coastline, they would have run into multiple Egyptian fortifications. And with a Pharaoh who we know changes his mind, they would have faced war, and, being newly freed, they weren’t ready for war. God knew that should they face a challenge, they may decide to go back to Egypt. A place that was familiar and comfortable, despite their status as slaves. God didn’t want that to happen. God wanted their freedom, their liberty, so God led them the long way. 

Their journey wasn’t going to be easy, God recognized that. And there was going to be danger, disappointment, changes, and a whole lot of complaining.  But God wanted the people to trust that they would reach the promised land. We’re told that God guided the people as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Now whether these were literal pillars of cloud and fire going in front of the people, or a volcanic eruption that the people saw and walked toward, the written history of the Israelites tell us that they believed this was God leading them. That the fire and cloud was truly God present with them. That they trusted in God so whole-heartedly, they continued to walk the way they were being led. Even if the way led them through the wilderness, they followed. Even if it was the long way, they followed. Even if the route was not what they would have expected, they followed. The people of Israel, newly liberated from captivity in Egypt, trusted God enough to follow on the journey, to be flexible, and to make changes. They followed God, even when the journey looked different than expected. 

Part of coming together around what matters the most is reminding ourselves that we are on a journey of discernment. On a journey of discernment, there are no easy answers. There are no quick fixes. There’s no magic wand to wave that will automatically get us to where we want to go. This isn’t a sprint, and it’s not even a marathon. This is a pilgrimage. It’s a long, prayerful, spiritual journey in which we seek the very heart and will of God. And like any journey, we need to both prepare and leave room for change. 

Which brings us to three reminders that we must carry with us on this journey of discernment, reminders that both prepare us and root us in trust of God. 

The first reminder for our journey is to Lighten Up, Loosen Up, and Have a Little Fun. Quite simply, this reminder is to let go of all our preconceived notions about just how we can solve our problems. As Bishop Bickerton writes, “If we have a preconceived idea or if we are unable to be flexible in the discernment of the right answer, we might just miss the surprising and enlivening inspiration of our God.” If we become too stiff and too unmovable in the answers that we think are right, we may just miss where God is leading us. 

We are a people who believe that God is always creating, and that God is everywhere in the world. At least that is what we state. But often, our actions counteract that belief. We can say we believe in a God who is always creating, but then we don’t bother to seek God’s creative Spirit. We say we believe God is everywhere, yet we block God out of our conversations. Often, when we humans come up with a plan, we insist that my plan is right. That it’s my way or the highway. That I am the one who will come up with the solution that will solve every problem that this church could ever face. We have this attitude that we must take it all on. That we must be the ones to solve our own problems and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We forget that it’s not about me, it’s not about us. It’s about God. And that part of discerning what matters most for our family of faith is not badgering people into my wants, but fully opening our hearts to the creative work of the Spirit of God. By lightening up, we relieve ourselves of the pressure and the burden of having to fix everything. We hand our need for a solution over to God, and let God lead us, like a pillar of cloud or fire. 

Imagine what place the Israelites would have been in if they didn’t open themselves up to trusting in God when God led them the long way. Imagine what would have become of them if Moses or Aaron had insisted they follow the shoreline, despite where God was leading them. Would the people have been liberated? Would they have, eventually, reached the promised land? Or, would their insistence have placed them right back in Egypt, either by force or by a willingness to return when they faced opposition and hardship? By lightening up and following God, they persevered on to the Promised Land.

By loosening up, we lessen our grip on our own ideas, and we make room for the Holy Spirit to enter. We loosen our grip on everything we think is important to us, so the Spirit can reveal to us what really is truly important. For the Israelities, what was important was not how fast they got to the promised land, but rather their liberation. What was important was not their own comfort or familiarity, but their freedom. The journey through the wilderness, though long, gave space enough and time for them to remember that their liberation and their identity as God’s people was more important than anything. 

By remembering to have a little fun, we also remember that this work, while serious, is not soul-crushing. A life with God, a life following Christ, is joyful. We must live into that joy. Even the Israelites, as they left Egypt, lived with joy. Dancing, playing music, praising God in song. Having fun is part of the journey, and we can certainly have fun with the joy of Christ in our hearts. 

And so, this reminder to lighten up, loosen up, and have a little fun is a reminder to place our trust in a creative, guiding, joyful God. 

The Second Reminder for our journey is to collaborate, and, if all else fails, collaborate again! English Poet John Donne once wrote “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the main.” By this poem, he meant, we are all connected to one another. We are in life together. We don’t do things alone. Collaboration is possible, even if we don’t agree on things. Even if two people are diametrically opposed to one another, they can collaborate, if they commit to sitting down and speaking with each other. They can find common ground. 

The common ground of the church is really easy to pin-points, it’s this: We believe in Jesus. That is it. That is our foundation. Every single person here believes in Jesus, or has an interest in the Jesus story.  Every single person here has been touched, in some way, but Christ’s love and grace. And another thing we hold in common is that we believe in the importance of a Christ-centered community. We believe that the church still has something to offer to our world. We still believe in sharing the good news of God’s love. This is central to each and every one of our lives. There is no doubt and no question about that, because we are here. Now, we may disagree about what following Jesus looks like. We may disagree on how people should live out their faith. We may disagree on how we express our faith. And we will only disagree, because our experiences of God, of life in the church, of the movement of the Spirit, are unique and different. But even in our disagreement we should never question each other’s hearts for Christ. We are here because we love Christ, or because we have felt that stirring of Christ’s love in our hearts, and we are curious about where it can lead us. This is our foundation. 

And from this foundation, we can find room for collaboration. We can find room for creative problem solving, together. A key component of collaboration is deciding what matters most. But, really, there is nothing to decide. In the life of the church, what matters most is Christ, Christ’s love, and our witness in the world. 

Another key component is seeing that those who disagree with us are not wrong, they just are different. So long as their beliefs about God aren’t actively hurting, shaming, or excluding other people they aren’t wrong. They’re just different. Believing that churches should offer a contemporary service, in order to reach more people, isn’t a wrong stance. Just as believing worship should be traditional and liturgical, in order to better connect us with the great cloud of witnesses, isn’t wrong. Those are just two different ways of living out the same purpose: Praising God. Worshiping God. Spreading God’s love. 

Collaboration is important. It is something we should constantly be seeking. If one way of collaborating with each other doesn’t work, try again. Keep trying until we find a way that works for everyone. Collaboration doesn’t mean compromising your values. But it does look like finding communal ways of witnessing to Christ’s love and work in the world. It looks like doing what is best for the whole of the community, taking into account every voice, and finding a way to walk forward. It takes a deep trust in God to collaborate with one another, because collaboration asks us to give up our own self interests and put the community first. It asks us to listen for God’s voice above all else. But collaboration is key for any journey, and it is especially key in a journey of discernment. 

The third reminder is to see yourself, and others, as a work in progress. No matter how young or how old we are, no matter how educated, no matter how long we’ve been going to church, no matter how many committees we serve on or groups we lead, the fact of the matter is none of us have it all figured out. This is why we need God, right? We’re not perfect. None of us has it all figured out. We’re on a constant journey toward perfection, as John Wesley put it. We’re constantly living to love God and love our neighbors better. 

You know, after they were liberated from Egypt, the people of God didn’t get it right. They didn’t live perfectly. They were a work in progress. Their time in the wilderness was filled with complaining and wishing they could just return to Egypt. They were tired. They were hungry. They wanted to reach the Promised Land! Why was it taking so long? Weren’t they better off as captives in Egypt, than as free people wandering through the desert, wondering where their next meal would come from? And they made idols. Even Aaron, the brother of Moses, made idols of God. There was an entire incident where the people melted down all their gold jewelry and made the image of a golden calf. They messed up and screwed up, there were plenty of times where God said “I’m done with them!” and was ready to smite them, until Moses stepped in and interceded for the people. It was so bad that God told the people an entire generation would not reach the Promised Land. They were certainly not perfect. They were certainly a work in progress. But, at the end of the day, God still provided for them, God still cared for them. God loved them and God led them. 

When we think of ourselves and others as a work in progress, we recognize that all of us are just trying to do the best we can to get our calling as Christians right. We’re just doing the best we can to love the world the way God loves us. Embracing this phrase “I am a work in progress,” requires great humility on our part. It requires us to recognize that there are going to be moments where we are wrong. There are going to be times where we need help. There are going to be times when we are going to change our minds. And all of that is okay. It’s a part of being human. We are a work in progress, so we are allowed to be wrong. We’re allowed to need help. We are allowed to change our minds when presented with new ideas, hear new stories, or meet new people. Reminding ourselves that we are a work in progress gives us the necessary humility that we need as we go on a journey of discernment. 

Reminding ourselves that others are a work in progress gives us the necessary grace as we go on a journey of discernment. So often we can hold others to standards that we would never expect ourselves to be held to. If someone is not perfect, we discount their voice. If someone says one thing and then later, then we call them dishonest. When someone says something that hurts us, we assume the worst. By reminding ourselves that others are also a work in progress we see their side of things better. Maybe they said something imperfectly because they’re having a bad day. Maybe they changed their mind because they got some new information. Maybe they spoke hurtful words out of fear or anger. When we remember that others are also trying their best, and that they are striving, just like we are, to love God and love their neighbors, then we can root ourselves in grace, offer loving accountability when they hurt us, loving support when they mess up, and loving care when they need help. 

These three reminders for the journey–To lighten up, loosen up, and have fun; to collaborate, and if that fails to collaborate again; and to remember that we, and others, are works in progress– prepare us for the pilgrimage of discernment. They remind us that a journey of discernment is like wandering in the wilderness. It’s not going to be the quickest route, nor will it be the easiest, but it will be the best route. A journey of discernment is a journey of following God’s calling, to a destination that God already knows. It’s a journey of finding out what is the most important part of our lives, of trying our best to love Christ with all our hearts and souls and minds, and then go and be a witness for Christ’s love in the world. It’s not an easy journey. It’s not a journey that offers quick answers. It is a journey that requires us to dig deep, trust God, and keep moving forward through everything that comes our way. It’s going to be a journey where we won’t agree, where compromise is going to have to happen, and where we will discover what needs to be let go of and what we can cultivate. But in this journey, we may just find the things that matter most to us. We may just find the things that will strengthen our love and witness for the world. We may just find what we can come together around. 

This is an important journey, friends. A journey of discovery and hope. May we undertake it, knowing that we can listen for God, we can work together, and we can let the Spirit constantly inspire us.