Community Church Sermons

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C – September 9, 2001

"The One And Only Jesus”

Luke 14:25-33

During our vacation in New England, Sandy and I enjoyed worshipping with two congregations that are very different from our church here in Tellico Village – and yet we hold much in common.

For two Sundays, we gathered with members of the little Washington Congregational Church in New Hampshire. The church building sits alongside the village one room schoolhouse, and the town hall - three beautiful white buildings standing together on the town common – a setting so quintessentially New England that photographs of the scene have appeared in National Geographic, and Life Magazine, and just about every photojournalistic work depicting the beauty of New Hampshire. The church itself is very small, its straight-backed white pews capable of seating perhaps a hundred people, though there were only about half that number on the two occasions we worshipped there. Bill Salt is the pastor, and the choir consists of – oh, four, or six, or eight, or however many people show up early to rehearse on Sunday morning. They call themselves the Choristers – and they are terrific as they sing out their music to the accompaniment of a small antique reed organ that the organist has to pump with her feet as she plays. And the congregation sings loudly. And many of the women wear very fancy hats that are wonderful to look at, but dangerous to sit behind. And the last Sunday we were there, they installed new officers in the church. And of the fifty people in worship, about 43 of them stood up to take the vows. We were blessed by the ministry of that church!

On the other Sunday of our time away, we visited Greendale People’s Church in Worcester, Massachusetts – the parish I served before coming here. And it felt good to be back among people with whom we shared a lot of life. Their new Associate Pastor, Ellie Kraner, was the preacher that day and had a wonderful sermon about Finding Your Way Through Life’s Detours. I’m probably going to steal some of Ellie’s ideas – because, you know, all work and no plai…garism makes Marty a dull preacher! The wonderful People’s Church choir was on leave for the summer that day, and the hymns were led by a young woman playing the guitar. It was different – and we enjoyed it!

And now that we’re home – safe and sound within the familiar setting of this congregation with its large crowds, wonderful choir, our own Steve Nash, and even old Bob “what’s-his-name” – Sandy I feel so blessed to be part of a faith that expresses itself in so many diverse and wonderful ways.

I love the nature of the interdenominational church for exactly that reason. The longer I am in the movement, the more I am open to and come to appreciate the vast and varied beauty of how God expresses himself through his many churches. The fact that I really like pipe organ music does not keep me from enjoying and joining in on a guitar-led hymn. My preference for simple Congregational worship does not stand in the way anymore of my being touched by God through the intricate liturgy of the Roman Catholic mass. And although I think I have a little Pentecostal blood in me that really responds to Spirit-filled worship, and clapping hands, and shouting “Amen”, I find myself also resonating to the Presbyterians who want to do all things “decently and in order.”

To be an interdenominational Christian affords such wonderful opportunities to experience God’s beauty and presence in ways that overflow the manmade and often shortsighted restrictions of denominational boundaries. And our lives are enriched.

And even more importantly, this journey into the rich diversity of Christian life helps us to understand what’s really important. It requires us to adjust our attention away from peripheral issues, and to focus more clearly on what is at the very center of Christian life:

The one and only…Jesus.

Booker T. Washington once said that he prayed, “God, help me to understand Your mind.” And God answered, “Booker, that’s a little too much for you to handle. Let’s try a peanut.”

And the best advice I can give to any of you who are seeking God, but are overwhelmed by the vast complexities of what faith is sometimes made to look like, is to let go of all the confusing, peripheral stuff, and focus instead on something smaller. The core of our faith. The essence of our faith.

The one and only…Jesus.

This is how St. Paul led people to faith. He invited them to look at Jesus.

A number of years ago, I had a conversation with a man who was very turned off by the church. He had had a number of disappointing experiences in serving the church as a leader. He would appreciate the sign I have in my office that says, “For God So Loved The World That He Didn’t Send A Committee.” You know what I’m saying. The internal politics of church leadership can wear you down. In the process, people burn out, and this man was one of them.

At the same time, this man was becoming disillusioned by another of life’s tragedies. His son and daughter-in-law had given birth to a child with a severe birth defect. He wondered aloud how God could visit such a thing on an innocent child, and on a family that had always been so faithful.

As we talked, he expressed his deep disappointment in both God and the church. And I didn’t try to talk him out of it because anger is anger and it needs to be expressed in order to be understood. But at some point along the way, we started to talk about Jesus – how he had little patience for religious institutions that had lost their soul – how he always sided with people who were going through hard times. And somewhere along the line, this man said a wonderful thing without even knowing it.

He said, “I’m very upset at the church, and I’m not even sure about God – but Jesus – well, I LIKE Jesus. Always have! If God and the church could be more like Jesus, I think I’d be okay.”

Isn’t that marvelous? When he could clear away the smoke and the confusion caused by trying to come to grips with the sometimes hurtful humanness of the church – when he could just stop for a moment trying to somehow understand the whole mind of God in relation to his family’s tragedy – when he could clear it all away and reduce it all down to Jesus – he began to find his way!

That’s what Christianity is about.

The one and only…Jesus.

Not the form of our worship, but the One we worship. Not the way we do things, but the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

This is why St. Paul formed his whole ministry around – in his own words – preaching Christ, and Christ crucified. What happened at the Cross nearly two thousand years ago is the key event in human history. And it has powerful life-giving ramifications for every human being. It is the key to your life!

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to be preaching about what Christ and the Cross mean for our lives today. I sincerely hope you’ll not miss one of these messages, and that you’ll bring along friends and neighbors and anyone you know who’s trying to find their way. Because the world is a pretty confusing place. And we need the one and only…Jesus.

In today’s reading from St. Luke, vast crowds are coming to follow the Lord. Everybody loves Jesus. His words, his touch, his presence, his actions have brought healing and hope to thousands! The Kingdom of God is breaking out all over! And now, they are all chasing after him.

But, all at once, Jesus turns to these vast multitudes, and warns them to not come to him unless they first count the cost of discipleship. “Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children…and yes, even life itself cannot be my disciple,” Jesus says, much to their distress – and to ours.

Now scholars point out that the word “hate” here is not the emotion-charged word we mean when we scream, “I hate you!” No, the word “hate” as it is used here is a Semitic hyperbole for expressing detachment, or a turning away from. In other words, if you’re going to follow the one and only Jesus, you’re going to have to place following him at the very top of your daily “to do” list. Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once complained about petty preachers of his day who preached nice artistic sermons whereby, he said, “Jesus hath obtained admirers, more than followers.”

The crowds admire Jesus. And so do we. The crowds are fascinated by his teaching. And so are we. But there is a great difference between admiration and discipleship, between fascination and commitment.

Will Willimon tells of a young woman who went to Duke – the first person in her family to attend college. And they were so proud of her. What would they have at the end of her four years? A doctor? A professor? A business executive?

Well, all that would have gone well, except that she had this conversion experience during her junior year. Something got hold of her, someone to whom she wanted to give her life. Her plans got rearranged. Her family was devastated. Now, if they want to brag about her, they have tell others about “our daughter the Peace Corps worker who helps dig ditches in East Africa.”

To follow Jesus means to step away from what others want us to be, and from how our lives used to be defined.

I don’t know why you are here this morning. If you are here for the music, or the fellowship, or the beauty of the sanctuary, or to meet some nice people, or even to feel challenged by a sermon – then fine! If you’re here for those reasons, Jesus may not get through to you, and you can rest easy tonight.

But if you happen to be here trying to follow Jesus, then be careful. There is a cost. There is a price. There is a cross you must bear.

I don’t know what yours is – the cross you dragged in here this morning, or the one you left outside in the Narthex because you thought it was too ugly to be carried into this beautiful place. I don’t know who or what you must lay aside or take up to be faithful. You know. And God knows.

Yet, I know this. To all who receive him even as he asks them to renounce their lives and follow him – to those who receive and believe – to them he gives power to become children of God.

The cross brings power to people!

One faithful Christian – a Roman Catholic – was being led once into a prison for bearing the cross of Christ and standing up for Jesus in the midst of some terrible social injustices. He looked over at the reporters covering his arrest. He smiled at them and said, “If you follow Jesus, you’d better look good…on wood!”

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

This is the call of the one and only…Jesus!