Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm 71:1-6 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Luke 4:21-30
Since this is Sunday, I’ll confess – I had planned to write this sermon on Friday, but waited until the sun was out on Saturday to get started. Based on the forecast, I thought there was a strong chance we wouldn’t be able to have church this morning and I didn’t want to write a sermon that I won’t be able to use for another three years.
This is one Sunday when all three lessons are wonderful choices for a sermon. In Jeremiah we have the story about his call from God, in 1st Corinthians we have one of Paul’s greatest passages about the importance of love, and in Luke we have Jesus being driven from his home synagogue.
Today, after my sermon, we will install our vestry members. All three of these readings have something to say about this responsibility. Let’s start with Paul’s letter. This passage is a favorite of many at weddings, but its message is as true for leaders as it is for couples. “If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” As leaders in the church, speaking from the heart is more important than how well we say what needs to be said. In fact, I think Paul would say that if what we say is not from the heart it does not need to be said. Paul wrote, “And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” It is human nature to develop an opinion, but the underlying facts that lead to our conclusions are, Paul says, incomplete for human knowledge itself is incomplete. Paul says simply, “now I know only in part; then I will know fully.” Life together in the church, as well as the family, requires love that is patient, kind, not boastful, arrogant, or rude. These words are especially appropriate for people in leadership – which is every one of us. In Christianity there are no followers – only leaders – people who lead by example. Titles such as priest, senior warden, junior warden, or vestry member are simply designations of responsibilities. The title of Christian is above all others. As Christians were are to reflect the love of Christ whether we’re in charge or someone else in charge. Think about who you have turned to for advice – for most of us we have turned to friends, family, or people we have worked with who are not the ones in charge. They provide us with answers, they challenge our thinking, they guide us to right decisions, and they do it with love. That is the type of leadership every church needs.
We are often upset by the people who challenge us – the people who speak the truth when what we want is conformation that we are right and the other is wrong. From today’s gospel reading we see that this is the case in Jerusalem where the people drive Jesus out to the cliff with the thought of throwing him off. Why? Because Jesus, who had just spoken about the scriptures being fulfilled, then reminds them that God’s favor is not for them alone. No, Elijah went to a widow in Zeraphath, not Israel, during the famine and Elisha healed a leper from Syria. Jesus preached that God’s love was for everyone – not just the elect. And so it angered the people who had faithfully attended the synagogue and followed laws and ordinances given to them by Moses.
As a church – and as a vestry, we must listen closely to what Jesus taught and remember that God’s love knows no bounds. Jesus came to find the lost and as Christ’s Church – that is what we are called to do as well.
Jeremiah hears God say, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." Like so many called to jury duty, Jeremiah tries to make an excuse as to why he should not serve as a prophet saying he is too young for such a task, but God is does not accept excuses and says, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.” We tend to read about the call of the prophets and forget that we, too, are called. Today, we will install our vestry. They have been called to serve God in his church. The canons say they are responsible for the temporal needs of the church – the building and our finances, but their call is more than that.
Their call is our call – to lead by example by serving others. Given the need in this community and in the world, it is an overwhelming task – but never fear, God is here to deliver us, to support and guide us. Remember what Paul teaches us: what we do will fade away, but the love we share will grow in strength in the hearts of those we serve.
I heard recently that a young family received a great deal of groceries – enough to last a month. Two weeks later they were out of food. When asked what they had done with all the food that had been given to them, the couple said simply, we shared it with our friends. On the surface this seems irresponsible, but that is how they survive with little to no income. They share what they have and others share with them. In their small community of friends, that is what they all do – they feed the hungry, and when they are hungry they are feed.
This couple with so little understands what it means to be Christian. They understand that caring about someone, loving someone means sharing what you have with them. Love endures. They also understand that their family is not limited to those who live in the same house. God’s gifts are to be shared with others, not just those who are a part of our household. And they understand that this is what God is calling each of us to do – to share our gifts and enjoy the company of others. The challenge is always to avoid defining “others” narrowly for every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth is a child of God.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, we pray today especially for the people on the vestry of St. Andrew’s that they might be filled with your Spirit and love. So support them, that their actions might reflect your call to them and that they might be an example to others of your love which endures forever. Guide us, too, we pray that we might support them in their service and join with them in mission. Unite us in love, that we might faithfully work to spread the Good News of Christ to others. In the name of one God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.
