A NEW CHALLENGE FOR A DIFFICULT SEASON
The Rev. Ronald R. P. Myers
Ocean Shores United Methodist Church
March 23, 2020
The challenge for all of us during this season of uncertainty as we battle the Coronavirus is similar:
How do we live a life that is healthy and well balanced as followers of Jesus Christ, and thus keep Hope alive?
It seems to me that we must first affirm that the power to bring about the necessary spiritual growth that this season demands rests in centering our lives in God.
We must find ways to intentionally incarnate the love God for self and neighbor so that we become a living reminder of the redemptive love of God in Jesus Christ for the world.
Jesus did not offer his disciples (his followers) a “successful” ministry, he proclaimed and practiced a sacrificial ministry. He told his follower that they would always be “winner” but that they would need to learn what it means to “lose” ones life for the sake of another. He asked, “What can we give in return for this life?”
So let me ask you, “Was Jesus a success?”
Here was a person who lived in a small town of no consequence, and his message was confined to a tiny segment of the population. His own chosen disciples were slow to learn and quick to doubt and run. He so infuriated the religious and political powers that his days were numbered. He was arrested, tried and convicted while being abandoned by his followers. He suffered a humiliating, tortuous death on the cross.
Is this a story of success, and are the symbols of his death symbols of success?
Our faith teaches us that the answer is “Yes.” Jesus was completely and absolutely committed to a “sacred choice.” He was willing to follow God’s expression of love for the world, and not be defined by the success symbols of the world. Jesus’ choose to love you and me by giving up his life for values that have an eternal quality and character: selflessness, other person centered, God’s centered.
We all live in a world where we are invited each and every day to make sacred choices. Everyday we have opportunities to make choices that impact the quality of our life and the life of others---it is more than simply wearing the bracelet, the cross necklace, or the t-shirt. The decision is rather simple. Will we make a choice to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and follow God’s divine path? Each day we make choices that shape whether or not we will live into the dream that God has for humankind. God’s dream for us is intimacy with others, wholeness and a deep and abiding joy, intimacy with the divine and peace.
The sacred choices we are given are as Deuteronomy 30: 19 states:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.”
The sacred choice that leads to faithful living is wrapped up in believing the promise of resurrection faith. On the other-side of any cross that we are called to bear is resurrection—there is hope, but you cannot embrace the full weight of this promise unless you are willing to carry the cross. Just as Jesus had to carry his own cross, we must learn to bear our crosses, but we need not carry them alone. The mystery of our faith is that we must bear our crosses, and trust that God gives us the power, the strength, and the presence so that we do not bear the cross alone. Jesus is our partner in the journey.
How does the world define a “successful life”? And is the “successful life” that is defined by the faith community different?
The way of evil is: fear, anxiety, hopelessness, self-centeredness, selfishness and consumerism.
The way of the Divine is: trust, faith, the ability to empty oneself in order to fill oneself in service to others, other-centered, selflessness, and faithful stewardship of God’s abundant blessings poured out upon us for the purpose of building up the Body of Christ in a broken world
Success in God’s world is a wholehearted commitment to following the divine plan of love of God, love of self, and love of neighbor as self.
The cross of Jesus becomes for us a symbol of life and not of death for it becomes a plumb line of a God-breathed, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled life. Without this plumb line in our life, we see the disintegration of primary institutions like the family, the church, the home, and the community. In our headlong pursuit of worldly success, we discover the poverty of success. We value the wrong virtues and we reward the wrong behaviors. Hard work isn’t nearly as important as “timing” and “location”. Doing your best isn’t nearly important as knowing the right people. Climbing to the top is more important than lifting the bottom and supporting the whole.
Francis Greer tells the following story: “I have a friend who was hired by a highly competitive marketing firm. Recently, he seemed to be showing some signs of wear and tear, so I invited him out to lunch and asked him how the now job was going.
“He said, ‘The way it works at my job is that when you get hired you get 100 points. When you make a mistake, you lose points. If it’s a small mistake you lose one point, but if it is a big mistake, you lose three, or maybe five. When you get down to 80 points, they fire you and hire somebody else.’
“Being naïve in these matters, I asked him, ‘How do you gain points?’
“With a steely gray expression of despair, he looked me right in the eye and said, “You can’t!”
Part of the Christian success-story is that because Jesus took up his cross, God gives us back points all the time. The good news of the gospel is that now we need never fear death. No matter how many mistakes we make in life, we will never slip below “80 points.” Jesus is always re-setting our score to one hundred.
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
According to legend, a Greek soldier ran from Marathon to Athens ( a distance of about 25 miles) to announce the Athenian victory over the Persians after the 490 B.C. Battle of Marathon. After announcing his one word message, “Victory,” the runner collapsed and died. This tale inspired Olympic officials to include a race of about 25 miles when the Olympics were revived in 1896.
This tradition lies behind a cartoon that depicting a marathon runner, carrying a torch, who finally reaches his destination, then while gasping for air turns to the expectant crowd and says, “I forgot the message.”
No matter how difficult the way, we must always remember the message. The message is that Jesus is always there holding us up, and giving us life anew. Our success rest in giving our life for the true message of life.
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