THREE PRACTICES
Hebrews 10:11-14, 19-25
Mason UMC
November 15, 2009
Bishop Jonathan D. Keaton
Congratulations. You’re 170 years old. Serenading the church by singing Happy Birthday 170 times is a fleeting thought but it takes too long. But it does not take long for one to understand the depth of commitment required to keep your doors open for nearly 200 years. Without the prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness of past and present generations, we would not be enjoying this moment. From its denominational roots, one can infer that Mason UMC followed the lead of John Wesley in its congregational life. Decade after decade, men, women and children found a way to embody the Three Simple Rules of John Wesley, namely to “Do No Harm, Do Good, Stay in love with God.”
In this Anniversary Sermon, I want to focus on Three Practices expressed in Hebrews 10:19-25, worship God boldly and faithfully; hold on to hope tenaciously and provoke one another to love and do good deeds. The writer of Hebrews commends these practices to us for such a time as this. Why? In no age ought the sacrifice of Christ for the world be forgotten, set aside, or upstaged by human agendas. For the church and the Christian, Jesus Christ is the best thing that ever happened to us. Better still, He comes that we might have life and that more abundantly.
Worship God boldly and faithfully
Worship God boldly and faithfully. That seems like a no-brainer. Individually and corporately, Christians do that all the time. Things were somewhat different in Jesus’ day. It is the priest who goes in and out of the tent daily, offering sacrifices to God on behalf of the people of God. It is the priest who uses the blood of bulls and goats as the atonement for the sins of the people. It is the high priest, who goes behind the second curtain and enters the Holy of Holies. Once a year, he offers spilt blood, prayers of confession and intersession to God for the sins of the people. Century after century, worshippers participate primarily as by-standers and/or observers.
But Christ’s death on the cross changes all that. Worshippers far away are brought near. Now, Jew and gentile, worship together. Now, priest and congregant have access to God. Now, the daily slaughter of bulls and goats ceases. Christ, mediator and advocate, Christ our rock and Redeemer, sheds his blood once and for all so that our encounters with God through Jesus Christ might have full effect in our lives. If nothing else, the flowering of a more intimate and personal relationship with God lies before us. Hence the testimony of Joseph Scriven is right on, “What a friend we have in Jesus.”
What God did for the world suggests that those who follow Christ must take the act of worship seriously. Worship cannot be the private domain of the preacher, the choir, the liturgist, General Conference or civil religion. Worship is the work of the people. And worship is the constant acknowledgement of what God has done for us. Like the smell of smoke in a room, the lyrics of the following song reek with acknowledgment of the divine. Every now and then, I hear folk singing this old song. “The Lord is blessing me right now, right now. (repeat) He woke me up this morning and started me on my way. The Lord is blessing me, right now.” Part of the work of worship for today’s service is giving thanks for the 170 years of ministry at Mason UMC. While we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, God has made the way yesterday, today and forever.
November 16, 1839, a group of folks organized a Methodist society. They were guided by scripture and John Wesley’s Three Simple Rules. Later, you followed the leadership of Thomas Wakelin, the first Ingham County Circuit Pastor. The Bishop assigned him in 1842. Lightning struck the church in 1865. You worshiped in the Court House for two years. Some of your prayers still inhabit the judiciary. By 1880, church membership stood at 200 and church school over 100. Other churches closed before and after the Great Depression, and you kept growing. New parsonages, new and remodeled church facilities meant that each succeeding generation made the stewardship sacrifices to build and/or maintain religious citadel for our God in Mason. Had it not been for God working in and through disciples of Jesus Christ, this day would not have ever come. But it has. For the rich history of Mason UMC and for so many other blessings, we give God thanks and praise. We glorify his name.
Quite frankly, the writer of Hebrews poses the worship for anyone who enters God’s holy temple. For example, we go to church but do we worship? We go to church but do we pray? We go to church but do we “make a joyful noise unto the Lord?” We go to church but do we expect the hirelings to free us from the work of worship? Has God done anything for you, your family, your nation or your world that would lead you to thank God?
Here is what I know by faith and reality. Survivors of the Ft. Hood massacre are thanking God for the efforts of Sgt. Mark Todd and Kimberly Munley. They appeared on Oprah explaining how they subdued the alleged gunman Sgt. Hasan. People in the Philippines have thanked God for the United Methodist Church. Not long after typhoons killed hundreds of Filipinos and displaced over 45,000 victims, UMCOR along with other agencies was on the ground with food, clothing, shelter and prayer. The songwriter of “There is a Fountain” gave poetic description to the devotional posture of the thief on the cross that Christ took to paradise with him. “The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there may I thou vile as he, wash all my sins away.” Yes. The writer of Hebrews calls us “to worship boldly and faithfully.”
Hold on to Hope Tenaciously
I’ve traveled to Israel five times. Numerous sights, sounds and experiences have touched me. The story of a Palestinian woman really touched me. One Sunday, our tour group attended worship service at a small Christian church in Jerusalem. English was spoken. Everything was quite typical. Songs were sung. Prayers were prayed. Announcements were made. Visitors were welcomed. The sermon was preached. A benediction was offered and fellowship followed. One of the women who came to worship was from Bethlehem. She had obtained a pass to get out Bethlehem to come to worship. Inhabitants of Bethlehem are incarcerated behind very thick 25 to 30 foot walls, checkpoints and Israeli soldiers. Worshipping with her colleagues in Jerusalem seemed just as important meeting God in Bethlehem. However, attending worship in Jerusalem meant that she ran risk of returning home after curfew if something unexpected happened. If she were late getting back to Bethlehem, she could be detained and imprisoned by Israeli soldiers. Attending worship and belonging to a caring, loving Christian community meant a lot to her. Because of the church and its embodiment of Christ’s spirit, her spirit was nurtured. Worship enabled with others enabled her to hold on to hope tenaciously. Ironically, holding on to hope tenaciously is what the Christian church is all about in Jerusalem. Like the United Methodist Church in America, their numbers are dwindling. Unlike the United Methodist Church, Christians still exist in an environment that is not all that welcoming. Yet, Christians have continued to practice their faith in the Holy City that is home to Christian, Moslem and Jew.
A similar dilemma exists during the first century. Christianity is in its infancy and largely misunderstood. Our Lord’s teachings pose the kind of threat that led his enemies to have him put to death. Those who join Christ come from everywhere although most of them are Jewish Christians and a lesser number of gentiles. Neither Rome nor former Jewish colleagues make it easy to become Christian much stay one. One fact seems clear. To follow Christ-to take up his cross daily, requires disciples who hold fast to hope. Following Christ is not easy. Persecution, suffering, false accusations and loss of friendships accompany discipleship. Nevertheless, it is hope that blunts the sting of giving up, turning back or throwing in the towel. Hope lights the way to the new and the possible. Hope provides the stuff to keep on keeping on. To keep making disciples of Jesus Christ, influencing the life of the community and the Annual Conference, to retire the debt, Mason UMC must hold fast to hope. You’ve done it before. You can do it again.
Earlier, I mentioned that Mason UMC started out as a small group ministry. Methodism began in small groups called societies. They met weekly. Preaching, praying, hymn-singing, and fellowship took place. Members agreed to follow the three simple rules mentioned earlier: do no harm, do good and stay in love with God. Apparently, hope flourished in the Mason Methodist Episcopal Church society. In three short years, you needed a preacher. Three years after that, you had to build a parsonage. And ten years later, you built your first edifice. Hope enabled the growth and spiritual development of the Mason Society. And hope made the members of the Mason Episcopal Church Society believe they could start a church. And they did. Ironically, Wesley’s reluctant attendance at a society meeting on Aldersgate Street in 1738 launched the Methodist movement. (“I felt my heart strangely warmed.”) Anything can happen when your hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” To be sure, exercising hope in every aspect of our lives makes a difference. For example, November 8th, 2009, the San Diego Chargers demonstrated the power of hope on the football field. They beat the New York Giants on the last play of the game, 21 to 20. Can’t somebody here give the Detroit Lions some hope??
Provoke one another to love and do good deeds
When the bishop mentioned that the United Methodist Church our denomination was on the ground helping victims of typhoons and other natural calamities in the Philippines, I had a motive in mind that went beyond the sharing of information. I sought to provoke you into caring about them as the global village was stirred to help America during 911 and Hurricane Katrina. Hence, we have arrived at the third practice touted by Hebrews. Provoke one another to love and do good deeds.
What if the nations of the world, members of local churches, individuals in every village, city and town believed that their only responsibility to the neighbor, the widow and the stranger was to simply know about various and sundry crisis people experienced nothing more? We’d live in a sad world; wouldn’t we? Why? Because those down and out would get no help when needed. To be sure, if you’re “not down and out,” crises like these seem far removed. But we live in a day and time when those we know and don’t know have gone into bankruptcy and foreclosure and joblessness. They have been maimed by war, lost their health insurance, are without food, have no safe place to stay etc. We can’t ignore them. According to the book of Hebrews, we need to be provoked to help them.
Agencies designed to address human need have played this role for years. Who has not been provoked, motivated and/or inspired to give and help by the March of Dimes, UNICEF, Jerry Lewis’ telethon, the bell ringing of the Salvation Army, turkeys for thanksgiving, angel trees for Christmas, etc. Was it not the Ghosts of Christmas Past and his own misery that provoked the cold hearted, tight fisted Ebenezer Scrooge to change-to love his fellow villagers rather than subject them to his stinginess and irascible personality?
Every local church is challenged to learn the lesson of Ebenezer Scrooge. No matter how big the mortgage or how small the congregation; no matter how smelly the homeless or how the economic status of the families that want to join us, no matter the controversies that the church may want to avoid; never, never make this church about satisfying the needs of church members and nothing more. You have decided to follow a God who loved more than his own. His Golden Rule for Mason and the church universal called us out to love God and love the neighbor.
The writer of Hebrews addressed a human need not heavily emphasized in contemporary culture. This crisis has been banished from public discourse in church and society. In the face of the so-called prosperity gospel, the need for institutions to survive, to satisfy the customer, even the church has backed using a term that keeps our personal and global world in turmoil. That is sin. Sin plagued God’s people in Old Testament and New Testament times. In our contemporary world, the story has not changed. Paul’s declaration in Romans 3:23 has continued to be true. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Like generations before us, we have not wiped out sin anymore than we have destroyed poverty or had peace on earth. We have not dealt well with our own faults and failures. When the College of Bishops met in Rapid City, South Dakota this fall, we visited the Rosebud Indian Reservation. Our Native American brothers and sisters reminded us of the challenges they faced rooted in events of centuries gone by. But they chose not to remind us of how their thinking about Thanksgiving differs from the vast majority of Americans. We enjoy and celebrate it. Many of them mourn Thanksgiving and suffer in silence.
But God has given us a way out. God has offered redemption and release to all who seek it. So we find ancestors of persons who confined Native Americans to reservations working and worshiping with them; doing what they can to improve the quality of life. In essence, God has declared we don’t have to be Ebenezer Scrooges anymore. Just as God sacrificed his Son for the good of humankind, so can we. We can make the kind of sacrifices that provoke one another to love and do good deeds. If you want to know how to become a provocateur for Jesus Christ; follow the Golden Rule and it will happen. Yes, our Lord gave us that gave us the Golden Rule to remember and implement. What is it? Love God and Love neighbor. More than that, God through Jesus Christ sacrificed himself to transform those who believe. John 3:16 describes Jesus’ most provocative act with memorable lines. Say them with me. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
In one of Martin Luther King’s sermons, he quoted a song that provoked his hearers to consider how they ought to be the church and God’s servant to the world. Occasionally, George Beverly Shea sang this song when Billy Graham preached. 1. “If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, if I can show somebody that he’s traveling wrong, then my living shall not be in vain.” 3. “If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring back beauty to a world up wrought, if I can spread love’s message that the Master taught, then my living shall not be in vain.”
170 years of ministry at Mason United Methodist Church would mean so much more if the three practices recorded in the book of Hebrews dwell among us. I commend them to you. First, worship God faithfully and boldly. Second, hold on to hope tenaciously. And third, provoke one another to love and do good deeds. Amen.