Hebrews 11.1-3, 29-34, 39-40
"ORDINARY LIVES, EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE"
Once there was a lifesaving station along a perilous coast where shipwrecks often occur. It was a crude little affair; their building was merely a hut. They had only a small boat to launch into pounding waves. But the few devoted members kept constant watch with little thought for themselves. They tirelessly risked themselves to search out and save the lost.
Remarkably, many lives were saved from this little station. So many that its fame spread. Some who were saved, and other supporters, became associated with it. They gave to support its work. New boats were bought, new crews trained. So this simple station grew. Some became unhappy that their building was so ramshackle. So they replaced the cots with better beds and scattered tasteful furniture around an enlarged and improved facility.
Suddenly, with more room, the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members. Their social life became so lively that they lost the taste for going out to sea on lifesaving missions. So they hired lifeboat crews to do that work. After all, the crews could be trained as specialists. Oh, the lifesaving motif was still visible in the decorations and designs around the club, er, the station. The men wore natty blue blazers with a pocket crest of a life preserver and rope stitched in gold thread. They looked smart and genteel.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off that very coast. The hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, frozen, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and hacking up sea-water. The beautiful new station was in chaos and disarray. After this, the governing board decided a shower should be built outside the station so that the victims might be cleaned up before bringing them inside. Despite muffled protests, the measure passed.
At the next Board meeting, a split divided the membership. A majority wanted to stop their lifesaving activities. After all, they could be so unseemly and upsetting to their pleasant mood. Besides, the seaward ventures often interrupted their social functions. Again, some protest was raised, insisting that saving lives was the normal life of that community. After all, they were a lifesaving station. But they were voted down with surprising ease. And so, if you ever cruise those rough waters, you will see a number of lifesaving stations along those shores. Shipwrecks remain frequent there. Sadly, most of the people there drown.
This story from Theodore Wedel is a parable for the Christian church today in an affluent society. For God has put the church on beachheads all over the country to reach out and act as life saving stations for the broken and the lost. But it is all too easy to lose track of this divinely sanctioned reason for being and to settle back into the ease of becoming a club. Perhaps now is a good to time to say this, as we enlarge and improve this place where we gather. God put us here more as a mission outpost for a hurting world needing to hear and experience good news than as a club for the enjoyment of the like-minded. The moment we lose track of that we have placed ourselves on the slipperiest of slopes.
Actually, that’s one reason why the leadership of Dennis Union Church has been so intent upon launching mission trips in the year ahead, even in the midst of our building project. We have already had a gathering of those interested in going to
I will lead 12 to 15 of us to the Central Highlands of
For me the remarkable thing in these experiences is how God is able to take people as ordinary as you and I. People who sometimes fret that it is not within our power to make a real difference in the world. And how as we band together and put ourselves at God’s disposal, God can accomplish incredible things, leading us out into spiritual adventure.
That is the testimony from our New Testament lesson in Hebrews. How the most ordinary people got caught up in the movement of God at work for great good in the world. And how ordinary people ended up doing the most extraordinary things. Hebrews claims they “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, won strength out of weakness, and put foreign armies to flight.”
Probably one of the most familiar ways to measure a church is its seating capacity. As I give people a tour of our church, invariably people ask is, “how many people fit in here?” Of course, that is in the midst of change here at Dennis Union Church, as we hope to add room for another 75-80 worshipers as we finish refurbished and enlarging our sanctuary.
But as God takes our ministry to the next level, it is not just about seating capacity. More telling still might be our sending capacity. Our ability to enlist and employ God’s people to make the kind of difference with our neighbors that we know Jesus would have us make. Clearly, you don’t have to go all of the way to
Still, there is something to drawing the circle of “love thy neighbor” so large as to include a place like
I promise three things to those who join with me on this spiritual pilgrimage to
Our increased sending capacity will help make sense of our increased seating capacity.
Our going will help keep this beloved life-saving station in touch with why God put us here.
One of my personal heroes is Clarence Jordan, mentor to Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity. Jordan, a peanut farmer in Georgia and scholar of the Greek New Testament, founded the interracial community in the
Once
Today I began with a story that was really a parable. Here’s another. It’s from my first work trip to the Kakchiquel Indians up at
So we dug this hole 8 feet wide by 15 feet deep. We carried the earth to level the site for the house. The family of ten was working with us, including their toddlers. We were charmed by their smiles and their gratitude. They spent what was likely a few days’ wages just so they could bring us soda pop in the heat. We were getting along famously and getting the job done. As we reached a depth of eight feet in our digging and carrying, something interesting happened. We realized that we were unearthing pre-Coumbian Mayan artifacts in the rich, black volcanic dirt. There were large shards of pottery with the painted vegetable-based colors and patterns still visible. There was a jade ceremonial pendant the size of a silver dollar, a better specimen than I had seen before in museums. Such jade buttons are believed to be worn here by the Mayan priests in their religious ritual.
Ordinary people, extraordinary adventure. We dig a toilet and discover ancient treasure. That memory has become a metaphor for these experiences. Rooting around in soils of forgotten and humble people whose dignity gets revealed in God’s final scheme of things.
Hear finally a poem from Julia Esquivel, a Guatemalan writer versed in God’s treasures:
"In the most obscure and sordid place,
in the most hostile and harsh,
in the most corrupt and nauseating places,
there You do Your work.
That is why Your Son descended into hell,
in order to transform what IS NOT
and to purify that which IS BECOMING.
This is hope!"
Lord God, we pray for the marvelous multiplicity of ways in which your Spirit moves across the face of the earth, that we would discover it and bask in it, and celebrate wherever your people hear the sound of your voice. Let this sound of victory reign across this earth. We rejoice that no boundaries contain you, but that you are God of all the earth, and that you reveal yourself amid struggle, hardship, sacrifice and need as you cannot be revealed among a people sufficient unto themselves. Be there first and always, O Lord, and be present to those who need you most, and who would receive you, seeking your presence. And teach us amid our comfort and affluence, that we need you no less desperately, that our lives can be impoverished despite appearances of ease and plenty, that we too often have many things but lack the one thing needful. Humble us, O God. Give us simple gifts.
Draw close your family, Lord God, in our need, as we speak of our own various concerns:
We pray for our sexton Steve Reid at the sudden loss of his cousin, Bob Gillette, and pray for his widow.
