September 4, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Philemon 1:1-21; Luke 14:25-33[1]
It might be a
little hard to follow, but in Paul’s letter to Philemon Paul is asking him to
free a slave. Onesimus has been helping Paul while he is in prison, and has
become a follower of Jesus. Paul sends him home and asks his former master to
accept him as a brother, no longer a slave but an equal. He writes, “welcome
him as you would welcome me.”[2]
This is not necessarily a huge loss for Philemon; after all, Paul suggests that
Onesimus had been “useless”[3]
before. But still, a change in that relationship, and one that Philemon may
find hard to accept. There is a cost to discipleship, and it is not always easy
to bear.
It is a
dangerous thing to be a Christian, and sometimes I wonder why we are all so
keen to make sure that our children become Christians. Sure, we want them to be
kind to others, give of their time and money to those in need, grow close to
God. We don’t want them to end up hung on a cross, though. The thing is, following
Jesus is a commitment. Being a disciple means that we cannot be shallow or
uncommitted believers. Jesus points this out with some pretty strong language
in this passage. To become a disciple takes total dedication, and that means
careful reflection and decision making. It cannot be done on impulse, because
Lord knows that this road may lead to the cross.[4]
I was baptized.
I was confirmed by my church. I even went to seminary and got ordained into the
ministry. Did I really sit down and estimate the cost? Did I consider what I
might have to give up in order to become a disciple of Jesus? What have I
gotten myself into?
Alright,
alright. Let’s pick apart that first line about hating your family. We can love
more than one person at a time. Each of us has enough love to go around for our
parents, our brothers and sisters, our children, our girlfriends and
boyfriends, our spouses, and even ourselves. But sometimes we get out of
balance. A father becomes ill and dependent on his son, who must now sacrifice
attention and resources that would ordinarily go to his wife and child. A
mother with three children finds her time and energy consumed by the needs of a
child with a disability; what belongs to the other two has been nearly used up.
Conflicts of loyalty can be heartrending. [5]
It is not only
family members who compete for our affection and attention. We love our
friends, our school, our church, the flag, the Lord. Usually, we can keep our
obligations in balance, but sometimes our competing interests come into
conflict. Should I go to sleep so I can sing in the church choir in the
morning, or should I stay up talking with a friend who lost her dear
grandmother to a heart-attack? Should I stand up for my gay friend knowing I’ll
probably get bullied too? Jesus wants to prepare us for a life of making hard
choices.
Discipleship
goes a step further than being a responsible human being. Jesus tells us that
we need to take this business seriously. Now, I read something in the Covenant
section of the Constitution of St. John’s that tells me people here have
thought carefully about living as Christians: “We agree one with another to
seek and respond to the Word and the will of God and to walk together in the
ways of the Lord, made known and to be known to us.” [6]
Responding to the Word and will of God, and doing so together, are important
qualities for a Christian community.
Standing up for
what is right in the face of what is wrong is not easy. It’s a risky thing to
do what is right, rather than what is cool. People might laugh at you, or
worse, people might get mad at you for pointing out that what they’re doing is
wrong. Loving your neighbor, caring more for the well-being of others than for
yourself is not the message we receive from our culture. You’re not going to be
a star on America’s Got Talent if you’re concerned with those on whom
the spotlight never shines.
At the same
time, in all its seriousness, discipleship is a process. It takes time to learn
to live as a disciple, and there will be both false starts and modest
successes, as we grow in our faith and journey into the fullness of that
holiness that resides in each of us. [7]
It helps to
know that somebody out there knows you, knows what is going on with you, and
cares. It helps to know that somebody out there is praying for you. That is
what we have the church for, and that is part of the reason we are here
together today.
There is a
pastor named Kenneth Samuel who wrote that “Our culture is in grave danger of
losing the value of shared experiences and shared expressions.” [8]
iPods, smart phones, TVs, and PCs that capture our attention and limit our view
of the rest of the world keep us constrained within the walls of our
self-interested pursuits. The incredible array of choices we have for news and
entertainment mean that we lack a common reference. I don’t watch America’s
Got Talent, or Game of Thrones, so I have no idea what people are
talking about half the time.
Common Core
standards in schools have tried to address some of the need for common
references and basic knowledge that everyone should have. But for everything
that is put in, something is left out. Rev. Samuel suggests that “The lack of
comprehensive standards in education means that, as a nation of people, we
share very little in terms of common references.” He goes on to name some of
those references: the experiences of Huckleberry Finn along the
Mississippi River, or the hypocrisy revealed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The
Scarlet Letter, the abolitionist epic of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin or the dimensions of African American life described by James
Baldwin in Go Tell It on the Mountain. “Our sense of shared values,” he
says, “is in serious jeopardy.”
He goes on to
say that “Much of our technology has been used to build a global network of
isolated individuals.” He makes some suggestions of how to counter this trend
toward isolation. Why not take off the headphones and just spend a few days
talking and listening to the special people in our lives? Or how about buying copies of the same book
for a group of friends and planning to read and discuss it together? Why not watch the same movie with your family
followed by dinner at the same table while you engage in shared
discussion? Or… maybe we could all go to
church together and share a common experience with God.
There is
something special going on here today. There are people gathered together in
this place to connect with one another the old-fashioned way – face to face.
Every Sunday, when you see other people here in church, you know that they are
not working at their jobs, they are not playing soccer, they are not sleeping in
– they took the time and have done the work to be here, because they care about
the church and they care about their faith. It is our job to make sure that
each of us looks for and points out the light of Christ shining in each other,
to help one another discover the strength, the goodness, and the hope we have,
and the power that God has to breathe life into all we do.
Together we
nurture the intimate relationship we have with God in Christ and discover that
obedience to God is not blind or easy. It is a process in which we grow in our
ability to ask the tough questions about life and living, not only of God but
also of ourselves. [9] Part
of our work here at St. John’s is to develop critical thinking and learning
skills, so that blind faith and half-hearted discipleship are replaced with the
power to repair broken lives, restore broken families, and revitalize broken
communities.
We can’t spoon-feed
a lukewarm faith to each other. If we really want to be Christians, we must
stoke the fires of the Holy Spirit, prepare for the road to Calvary, and walk
together as we take up the cause of God’s Kingdom of justice and peace. We
cannot do it alone, but as a united church, as the one body of Christ, there is
a chance that we can make a real difference in the world.
God bless you.
Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
Philemon 1:17.
[3]
Philemon 1:11.
[4] Emilie
M. Townes, Theological Perspective on Luke 14:25-33 in Feasting on the Word:
Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 4, David L.
Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, General Editors (Louisville: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2010), p. 44.
[5] Ronald
P. Byars, Homiletical Perspective on Luke 14:25-33 in Feasting, p. 45.
[6] Section
4: Covenant in Saint John’s United Church of Christ, Union IL, Constitution
(Revised 2/18/2018).
[7] Townes,
p. 46.
[8] Kenneth
M. Samuel, “A Shared Witness” from http://www.ucc.org/feed-your-spirit/daily-devotional/a-shared-witness.html.
[9] Townes,
p. 48.
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