Sermon...the last

That title sounds way more dramatic than it is meant to be. Below is the text of my sermon from this past Sunday. I preached this sermon at Edgemont UMC as my 'going away' sermon. Therefore, my last....at Edgemont.

Here is the transcript of my sermon, as I said last time, it's not exactly as delivered.

Wait for it...

As I began preparing to share with you guys today my first thought was of Jesus and the first time he preached in his home synagogue. They chased him out of the building and tried to throw him off a cliff. I almost called Eric earlier this week to ask if there were any cliffs nearby.

I want to share two readings with you this morning. They are a little redundant, but both are relevant. It is universally accepted that Luke and Acts were written by the same author. Acts is, in essence, a sequel to Luke’s Gospel. I love sequels. Some of my favorites growing up were the Rocky movies. One thing I loved about the sequels was the beginning. Each movie began with the final scenes of the previous movie. Luke uses the same technique with his two writings.

Luke 24:44-53 & Acts 1:4-14

Today is Ascension Sunday. It is the Sunday we celebrate the fact that Jesus “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty.” So we have two readings, two accounts from the same writer of the same event. The disciples gather with Jesus at Bethany on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. Once again, it seems the disciples don’t get Jesus. They gather and the first thing out of their mouths is, “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They are still thinking of Jesus as a political leader. This time, it is not so farfetched. Zechariah prophesied that Messiah would enter Jerusalem for his final victory from the place where they stood, the Mount of Olives. Jesus, this time, sort of ignores the mistake and tells them something very interesting… He tells them to wait. He tells them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for “the promise.”

Earlier this week, I used a trick I learned from some other preachers. I used Twitter and Facebook to solicit some sermon material. I asked that people share their feelings about waiting.

My favorite came from Jerry Miley.

For Jessica Danielowicz, waiting brought to mind this saying

This made me think of homemade brownies. Those things take forever! Especially if, like me, you watch through the oven window. But they sure are good.

Will Reade shared this:

This got me thinking about the times and places we wait. In line at the bank. Stuck in traffic. And Will is right, how tolerable the experience is depends totally on our attitude.

Laura Senecal said,

What we are waiting for can make the experience easier or harder. This week I’ve spent a lot of time with the family of one of my church members. They are, in essence, waiting for their sister, or aunt or friend, to die. Brownies are much easier to wait on. But it is a type of waiting that can build perseverance and it is an opportunity for me to share and for them to experience God’s love and God’s presence.

Why tell the disciples to wait? Throughout the Gospels, there is an urgency to Jesus ministry. “The kingdom is at hand. Repent!” Now he tells them to wait.

It’s really not a foreign concept in the Bible. The Jews spent 40 years wandering in the desert waiting to enter the Promised Land. They waited centuries for the Messiah. Waited and lamented for decades during the Babylonian exile. Early Christians anxiously waited for Jesus’ return. Our Christian calendar is filled with waiting. Advent and Lent are both times we wait.

It’s interesting how they wait. It is not a passive waiting. They are not sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Acts tells us they were “constantly devoting themselves to prayer.” Luke’s Gospel says “they were continually in the Temple blessing God.” There is expectancy in their waiting. One commentator I read said “The ascension leads us to be expectant, not frantic.” They are waiting for, are expecting, power. Which will come in the form of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So they pray and bless and wait.

But waiting is hard. We wait at the bank and the line moves slow so we change to a quicker line and that line stops while the previous line moves quicker than before. It gets frustrating. Traffic is the worst for me. I’m better now, but a few years ago, I was the poster child for road rage. I would pound the steering wheel and gesticulate wildly. It never sped up the traffic. I hate waiting! What good is waiting?

In the case of the disciples, the waiting prepared them. Jesus called them to go and make disciples. Baptizing and teaching. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, without God’s presence, success is in doubt. Maybe that can hold true for us as well.

When Eric asked me to speak this morning he asked that I speak about call. Many of you know that I have recently answered a call to full-time pastoral ministry. I am in seminary and plan to be ordained as an Elder in about 5 years. Now, that is a wait. But I know that the wait is a time of preparation. I will attend school and complete other educational requirements that will prepare me for a career in pastoral ministry.

But there is a danger in waiting. My call is not new. I think God called me to this path a long time ago. I thought I needed to wait. Well, at first I just needed to ignore it. Then I’d wait. I didn’t feel ready or capable. I needed time to prepare. So I waited and waited and waited.

You know, there is a thin line between waiting and being stuck.

I think my favorite part of today’s scripture is Acts 1: 10-11. Jesus has just ascended on a cloud to heaven and the disciples are standing slack jawed staring at the sky like they just watched a shuttle launch and they are trying to see the solid rockets separate. Then they hear, “Hey, what are you doing? Why are you staring at the sky? There’s work to do!” Of course they are still to wait for the Spirit, but staring in awe at the sky is not the waiting Jesus had in mind. We can get stuck in awe just as easily as we get stuck in woe. Maybe easier. It’s really easy to let success stop progress. While we are reveling in our success, we fail to hear God’s call or we just ignore it. It sure is easier to keep doing what I’m doing rather than turn my life upside down and start some new something.

I want you to know that God is calling all of you. Pastoral ministry is not the only ministry. That thing Eric says about being him one of 300 ministers at Edgemont is not just words. My call is to serve as a pastor. But you have a call. Maybe it’s to serve on the Missions Team or to volunteer in the Nursery or to start some new exciting ministry. Might I suggest an HIV/AIDS support group? Are you waiting? Praying, blessing, listening, preparing? Or are you stuck? Ignoring, turning a deaf ear, running to a sinking boat instead of Nineveh? (Did you catch the Jonah reference?) There’s one more way we can get stuck. We get stuck waiting for God. When really, all along, God is waiting for us.

A member of my church told me a story recently that illustrates this. She headed up the Kids’ Church at Mt. Moriah. She began to feel burned out with it and felt called to begin a young adult ministry. She prayed for God to send someone to take over Kids’ Church. And she waited and prayed and prayed and waited. A couple of people who had been involved before returned to the church, and she kept waiting for God to send someone. Finally she realized, “Maybe God is waiting on me.” And she called one of the returnees. The response she got was something along the lines of, “I thought God might be calling me to that.” Almost immediately she had a replacement.

It’s hard sometimes to realize that you are stuck. You think you’re still waiting. I sent out another request on Facebook. I asked my friends, “When does waiting become stuck?” One of the responses from earlier was directed to this question. But I also got this from Terry Randall.

Wow, good question. The red light part is what sparked my mind. How many of you have sat at a red light and you realize you’ve been waiting a long time. How long does it take before you know the light is stuck and you are stuck at it? There is a point a moment of realization where waiting becomes stuck. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish. Then the question becomes what do you do? Wait for the light to get repaired, or plow on through? Do you sit there stuck? Or do you take action and move.

So what? I was talking to someone recently about preaching and he said that every sermon needs to have a “so what” moment. I’ve filled your ears with words for 10 minutes, but so what? Well here it is.

For the last year or more Edgemont has been waiting. Not always for the same thing, but waiting. Waiting for the worship times to change. Waiting for the money situation to improve. Waiting for the new pastor.

Here’s the part that might get me thrown off a cliff.

I don’t think we’re waiting. I think we’re stuck. Not only does God have a call for each of you, God has a call for this church. I hope you don’t hear this as me bashing Edgemont. I am not. Edgemont has done, is doing, and will do great things. But I believe God is calling you to more. I’ll admit I am, or at least I was, part of the problem. About a year ago, I had some grand visions and great ideas for Edgemont. But I got stuck. I got bogged down.

I want to see Edgemont do great things. I’m leaving. I’m actually already gone, but this is my home church. This is where I heard clearly and answered God’s call for my life. And I am happier than I remember being. I want Edgemont to experience that joy. I want Edgemont to hear and answer God’s call. And I think that call is just over those trees, and that highway, and around that corner.

Yesterday Brian McLaren spoke at Annual Conference. I wrote down several things he said, but this quote about the un-churched made it onto my sermon prep page. “What if we need the people out there as much as they need us?” If that’s the case we can’t afford to wait.

You know what, we need some grace. Someone once defined grace to me as God doing through us what we cannot do for ourselves. This morning we have the privilege of experiencing together one of the means of grace, an extending of that grace from God to us.

We, like the disciples need the Holy Spirit for success in our call. I know Pentecost isn’t until next week, but maybe, just maybe as Eric blesses our elements and asks God to pour out God’s Spirit on them and we share this meal, we can experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of God’s grace.

We shared Communion at this point.

Here's my Benediction:

What are you waiting for? There are people out there who need you, but you need them just as much or more. Go!

Some of you disagree. You don't think Edgemont is stuck. That's OK, but I would ask one thing. Prove it. Show me and this community that Edgemont is not stuck.

Go, as the body of Christ. Be the voice and the heart of God in this community. Be doers of the word.