In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Things are not always as
they seem. It’s one of those universal clichés, but there is some truth in that
statement. Things are not always as they seem. I’ll start with a story from my
time in DC. On a cold January day a few years ago, a man was playing a violin
just outside a downtown subway station. He played for 43 minutes and just over
1,000 passed him by and tossed a total $32.17 into his violin case. No one
applauded at the end of any piece that he played. And that isn’t a big
surprise. You see musicians at subways stations all the time in DC.
Now I wasn’t there to
witness this particular man playing the violin. But something was different
about him. He looked the same as any other street musician, but the music
sounded better. Turns out, it wasn’t just another guy playing the violin; it
was the Grammy awarding winning, world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell. And he
wasn’t playing movie themes, but instead was playing some of the most complex
and beautiful music ever written. And he wasn’t playing on some instrument that
was bought at a thrift store, but instead on a violin that was made around 1710
and was purchased for $3.5 million dollars. Just two days before this social
experiment, Bell had sold out a concert hall where tickets went for $100 each. A
man whose musical talents normally earn him $1,000/minute made only $32.17 in
43 minutes. That day, things were not as they seemed.
We find this same reality
expressed in our reading from 2 Samuel this morning as well. Things are not as
they seem. David is the king of Israel, a nation experiencing peace for the
first time in generations. Up to this point, the Ark of the Covenant was seen
as the physical representation of God’s presence with the Hebrew people. But
David thinks that now that he is living in a grand city that God also deserves
some sort of a fancier place to dwell. David thought it was a nice offer, but
things were not as they seemed.
Many of you know that
today a group of youth and adults are leaving for Grundy, Virginia to work for
a week at the Mountain Mission School. Last year we spent a week there, living
in community with the faculty and students of this school, and we’ll be doing
that again this year. I hope that you also know that we’ve hired a very
talented and enthusiastic young woman as our Director of Children’s and Youth
Ministry. Bringing her on board will mean that I’ll be shifting my job
description to include more work in the area of evangelism. So I’ve been
thinking a lot recently about mission and evangelism and what they mean.
This passage from 2
Samuel challenges us to reconsider our assumptions, not only about the house
for God, but about everything that we do on God’s behalf, which includes
mission work and evangelism. Historically, mission and evangelism have gone
hand in hand. The story goes like this: God has redeemed humanity in the crucifixion
of Jesus, but in order to receive this salvation, you must be aware of and
accept it. So the work of evangelism is telling people about it and mission
work revolves around getting people to believe the same thing that what we do.
And I’m not knocking mission work, a lot of good has also come from it. What I
want to challenge is our view of evangelism.
God, it seems, is
constantly calling us to a new vision. As soon as we get comfortable, God seems
to push us in a new direction. It’s the story of David. Finally, Israel is
established as a nation, they have a king, and an army that protects them from
invaders. And this is when David offers to build God a house. This passage
really can’t be understood without considering the Hebrew in which it was
written. David says to God, “I’m going to build you a bayit.” And God responds “when have I ever asked for a bayit?” God then recounts what God has
done for David- brought him into safety, handed over his enemies, and
established his throne. David offers to build God a bayit, but God says “no, I’m going to make you a bayit.” The word play here is so rich-
as the word bayit can mean house, but
also dynasty. David is thinking in terms of a dwelling place, but God is
talking in terms of an everlasting covenant. Things are not always as they
seem.
I hope you see the easy
parallel to mission work and evangelism that is imbedded in this turning of the
tables. David thought he was to build up God, but instead it is God who builds up
David. Too many missionaries have uttered the phrase “we’re going to take God
to Africa, or wherever.” We do this in the Church as well; we think it’s our
mission to build God up, to sell God, to sell people on the concept of faith. The
Church has a real edifice complex. We focus on what we build. I applaud our
national Episcopal Church for deciding this past week at General Convention to
move our headquarters away from the posh downtown Manhattan office building,
realizing that we are not called to build and maintain buildings.
God doesn’t seem to be
very interested in, or impressed with, the things that we build. God has seen
the rise and fall of empires and churches. And let’s be honest, most of what we
build with our hands and take pride in doesn’t give glory to God, it gives
glory to us. Jesus once said something about not letting your right hand know
what your left does. But we like to have huge buildings that cost millions of
dollars, we do an act of charity and we issue a press release and put it all
over Facebook. Are these things built for us, or for God?
Instead, God says that
God will make David into a bayit, a
dynasty. God wants to build David up, not the other way around. We see a few
things in this new vision of building. The first is that God won’t be confined
to an Ark, a Temple, or even the Church. God will be with God’s people,
wherever they are. We can’t put boundaries on God. This new vision of who
builds up who also shows us a lot about what God is really interested in- us.
We are the mission of God.
CS Lewis offers this parable: imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in
to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing.
He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You
knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But then he
starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts a bit and does not seem to
make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building
quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing
here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.
You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is
building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.
I suggest that this is
the true work of evangelism, becoming the house of God ourselves, not building
it. And this is risky business for God, to put God’s mission and task into the
hands of fallible and imperfect beings. For God to work with us, the limitless takes
on limits, the unknowable becomes known. But God takes this risk with us
because God trusts in us, and because God’s mission needs our hands and feet,
our ears and mouths. As I’ve quoted St. Augustine before, I’ll do it again- “without
God, we cannot; without us, God will not.” We are the mission of God.
So if God is building us
into a house, what sort of house do you look like? What will be your dynasty?
What will be your legacy? We are all evangelists, we all are preaching
something in our lifestyle. If a Martian came to earth and met you, and was
told that you are a Christian, what would they think the Gospel of Jesus is
about? Would they say the Gospel of Jesus is the prosperity gospel, would they
say it’s about building wealth, would they say it’s about spending every waking
moment with a Blackberry in hand? Or perhaps would they say that the Gospel is
about loving others at least as much as you love yourself, would they say it’s
about giving so that you can be ready to receive?
A quick word-study of
evangelism might be helpful at this point. Evangelism is a Greek compound word
meaning “good news.” The prefix is eu
and means “good,” think of euthanasia meaning “good death,” or Eucharist
meaning “good thanks.” And the root is angelos,
which you’ll recognize as being related the word “angel,” or those who were God’s
messengers. So evangelism means “good message.” But this word, evangelism, is a
noun. The real question here is how do we make this noun into a verb? How do we
live evangelically?
Simply sharing the good
news isn’t really enough. If I told you that I won $10 million in the lottery
last night, and to be clear- I didn’t, that’s good news. But how does my
telling you about it actually do anything for you? What if, though, I decided
to use half of that money for you? That changes things. St. Francis said “preach
the Gospel every day and use words when necessary;” and while it’s important to
use the name of Jesus, he was on to something.
Evangelism is not about
telling others about God, it isn’t about building things for God, but rather
evangelism is about letting God build something in us. Evangelism is about
being the Good News. And that too is risky, because God is going to do grand and
wonderful things with you. God is going to make you into a palace, but
sometimes the construction process can be a bit uncomfortable.
The blogosphere,
Facebook, and Twitter have been full of commentary this past week about two articles
about The Episcopal Church. One article was in the Wall Street Journal, the
other in the New York Times. Both classified The Episcopal Church as being in a
downward spiral of liberal insignificance and decline. I’m very proud to be an
Episcopalian right now. Our Church has decided to stop building the Church as
we think it should be built and let God build us instead. We’re realizing that
buildings aren’t necessary for ministry, and often they hamper ministry. Just
think of how much money we put into maintaining buildings and grounds. And
while those buildings are beautiful and are a place to do ministry, do we
really need 6 Episcopal campuses in Greensboro? We’re starting to realize that the Holy Spirit
isn’t confined to our buildings, but instead can be found in coffee shops,
bars, gyms, and soccer fields. We’re realizing that God’s blessing is not
confined to the limits of one man and one woman marriages. We are learning that
structure and rigid hierarchy aren’t as necessary as we once thought.
And to act on this is
risky and challenging. These articles were written out of fear. Fear of what it
means to let God build us and shape us into the Church we are called to be instead
of holding onto our power and prestige. Fear of what it means to actually make
sacrifices in our lifestyle so that the poor and outcast can have a stake in
the Kingdom of God. Fear is what made the Pharisees so uneasy when the
rebel-rousing Jesus threatened to upset the status
quo of the religion of the day.
There is a prayer that we
use on Good Friday and at the Ordination of Priests, and I love it. It says “let
the whole world see
and know that things which were being cast down are being raised
up, and things which had grown old are being made new,
and that all things are being brought to their perfection through
Jesus Christ
our Lord.”
This, my brothers and
sisters, is good news! The parts of the Church that are old and tired are being
reborn. The mistakes we’ve made will be redeemed. Our shortcomings will become
our strengths. God is building us up, we just need to get out of the way and
let God do it. In our reading from Ephesians today St. Paul writes “but you are
citizens of the household of God…with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”
If we are to let God build us up, if we are to live the Good News of God’s
love, God’s salvation, and God’s ongoing construction in us, we need only to
let Jesus serve as the cornerstone for God’s building project in us.
So how do we do that?
Well, Jesus was a man of prayer, of loving others, of serving those in need, of
making sacrifices for the God’s Kingdom. If we can follow this example of
Jesus, if we can live his Good News in our lives, then God will build a grand home
in us. And if we don’t follow Jesus’ example, don’t expect God to just leave
you alone- you’ll still hear the sound of hammers and chisels in your heart and
mind, the project just might take a bit longer.
Things are not always as
they seem indeed. We’ve spent too much time and energy trying to be the foremen
and women of the construction project of building the Church and doing
evangelism, when all this time God was trying to build something in us. It’s a
lesson David had to learn, and today we are challenged with it as well. What is
God building in your life? What will your house be known for? Is Jesus your
cornerstone? Living the Good News is risky business, but it exactly the
business that our world longs to have- justice, peace, love, and building up
instead of tearing down. Let’s be the pillars of God’s Kingdom.
Today a group of us will
leave for Grundy on a mission trip. The rest of you though will go on another mission
trip- a mission trip to your office, to your house, to the gym, to the grocery
store. We all are embarking on a mission trip today, what will be the legacy of
yours?
