Home / Sermons / Gather and Follow

Gather and Follow

Posted on

The jump. The shift. The naming. The life. The living. The sacrifice. The covenant. The interconnections that shatter the boundaries between past, present and future. This is the journey we are on. Right. Now.

For 3 weeks during Lent, in worship, we will be focusing on God’s covenant with us—and on our covenant with one another—in this faith community. We will use Memorial UCC’s mission statement to guide our 3-part reflection. Whether you are a covenanted partner of the congregation (i.e., a member), a friend of the church, or a visitor, you are welcome to join our prayerful reflection.

The past few months we have been revisiting our mission statement:

We are a community of faith called by God, to gather for worship and reach out in ever-widening circles as a witness to God’s all-inclusive love in Jesus Christ, and to act out God’s grace and mercy in deeds of teaching, healing, reconciling, nurturing, and feeding those who are hungry in body or in spirit.

 

Today, we will focus specifically on the first third of our public proclamation—that “we are a community of faith called by God, to gather for worship and reach out in ever-widening circles.” Next Sunday, March 4, our reflection is entitled “See and Flip Over,” as we pause to think about what it means to be “a witness to God’s all-inclusive love in Jesus Christ.” Then, on March 11, we will lean into our commitment to “act out God’s grace and mercy in deeds of teaching, healing, reconciling, nurturing, and feeding those who are hungry in body or in spirit.”

In your bulletin is a post-it note. There are also pencils scattered in the chair holders throughout the sanctuary. Be alert. Stay awake. YOU are the Body of Christ, and YOU are integral to this reflection. At the end of the meditation I will be asking you a question to which I would like you to respond. Then, each of the next two weeks I will have additional questions on which your input will be integral to the visioning and discernment of this faith community.

Gather and follow.

“We are a community of faith called by God, to gather for worship and reach out in ever-widening circles.”

Our community of faith includes our biblical ancestors. Those stories that resonate in the fabric of our narrative as followers of Jesus. Divine action. Encounters with the living God.

Four thousand years ago.

Two thousand years ago.

Today.

And tomorrow.

 

THIS is what we gather to experience and live into each week. God coming near, calling, renaming, and reframing our understanding of what it means to be Jesus followers. To be the Body of Christ. To Be the Church. To encounter the Divine.

Four thousand years ago, two people, Abram and Sarai, had just such an encounter. One of the aspects about today’s bible reading that captures my imagination is the inclusivity of the ongoing promise. Hebrew Bible professor Rolf Jacobson notes that:

“One of the major points of (Genesis) 17 is that… Abram has now gotten a child by means of Hagar, Ishmael. And so (Abram’s) actually happy with his part of the covenant… (but now) God’s coming back a third time with the promise. Here, it’s really about Sarah…

Abram’s good, ‘It’s OK…’ He’s got what he needs. He doesn’t really care if Sarah is included in the covenant. ‘It’s good. I’ve got a son. I’ve got an heir. Promises to me have been fulfilled.’ But God really cares about Sarah and her inclusion in the covenant too… in verse 16 God says, ‘I will bless her…and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall give rise to nations…’ (Gen. 17:16, NRSV). God made the promise to Abraham and Sarah. And even though it’s been fulfilled to Abraham… with the birth of Ishmael… God’s not done.”[1]

God’s not done. THIS is what we gather to experience and live into each week. God coming near, living, breathing, eating, drinking, sleeping, teaching, healing, out on the streets, through the Spirit and in the life of Jesus. HERE, in this week’s reading, Jesus asks for followers. New Testament professor Matt Skinner states that, “The primary mark of discipleship, or identifying with Jesus in (Mark’s) gospel is simply to follow—which doesn’t necessarily require a whole lot of… belief, but requires a commitment and requires keeping one’s eyes on Jesus and doing what he does.”[2]

And as the crowd gathered around Jesus in the land of Caesarea Philippe two thousand years ago, “He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me…’” (Mark 8:34). Follow. Followers. Taking up crosses. This. Means. Death. Dying. Risks. Keeping our eyes on Jesus. Taking a death experience and making is a resurrection story. Being aware of our own encounter with the Living God.

 

We are a community of faith called by God, to gather for worship…”

In his book, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian born in 1906 who was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, and executed in 1945[3] wrote, “It is by grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God’s Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in (foreign) lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing.”[4]

Have you ever thought about this hour in which we get together each week through that lens? As a blessing? A grace of God? This. Simple. Gathering. This moment in time. One hour(ish). This, our worship together, our reading of the weekly Bible passages and reflecting on the Word, is a privilege. A blessing. A moment of grace. This is our living. A small sacrifice of our time. A snippet of our participation in God’s covenant. The interconnections that shatter the boundaries between past, present and future.

God’s not done. For we are a people of God’s eternal covenant, and together we gather here as not simply members of a church, but as covenanted partners. An essential part of God’s promise. And understanding THAT is a BIG THING. Something to be taken seriously. Something to proclaim. Something to follow. For this is GOOD NEWS!

This is where YOU come in. What is our living, our part in the participation of God’s covenant, God’s promise, God’s kin-dom… here… now… as we Be Church in 2018? How will we live into our commitment that requires keeping one’s eyes on Jesus and doing what he does?

Are you ready for THAT? Today we are going to do some long-term visioning. For God’s not done. God’s promise is NOW. As we gather for worship, as we reach out in ever-widening circles both inside and outside the life of the church, how is God working in our midst today—and into the future?

I am going to give you a couple of minutes to prayerfully reflect on a question. At the end of our time of pausing, I will say “God is not done in this community of faith called to gather for worship and reach out in ever-widening circles. Amen.” If the Spirit moves you to a response regarding the question that I am going to put before you, please write your response on the post-it not in your bulletin. If you need a post-it note, please raise your hand and one will be brought to you. If you need more time to process the upcoming question that is OK too.

Then, after worship, you are invited to put your written response on the tri-fold board that is on a table out in the narthex. If something doesn’t come to you now, but does later this week, feel free to email me your thoughts (pastorkris@memorialucc.org).

 

So now… prepare yourself for a moment of pausing to respond to this question:

In term of social justice ministries, both inside and outside the walls of this building, what is your vision for this church—your church—our church—in 5 years?

{Prayerful silence was offered in which people wrote their responses to the question above}

“God is not done in this community of faith called to gather for worship and reach out in ever-widening circles. Amen.”

 

~Pastor Kris

 

(Reflection based on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and Mark 8:31-38)

 

 

[1] Jacobson, Rolf, in Sermon Brainwave. (n.d.) (13:20). Retrieved February 24, 2018, from https://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?m=4383&pdc=3

[2] Skinner, Matt, in Sermon Brainwave. (n.d.) (9:45). Retrieved February 24, 2018, from https://www.workingpreacher.org/brainwave.aspx?m=4383&pdc=3

[3] Sherman, F. (2018, February 19). Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Retrieved February 24, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer

[4] Bonhoeffer, D., & Doberstein, J. W. (1954). Life together: the classic exploration of Christian community. New York: HarperOne. 18).

Top