The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew,

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.  When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.

So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.  But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’      Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.
When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.

Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’
 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35 )

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The narrative  that preceded this week’s Old Testament lesson told us  of the cries of the Israelites when they were trapped between the sea and the Egyptian army. How they blamed Moses, and God and wished they had never left Egypt.

This week we read how God took pity on them, causing strong winds to blow on the waters of the sea and the waters to separate so they could cross safely.

The story of the Hebrews in the wilderness is one of deliverance, rebelliousness, forgiveness, drifting away from God, being welcomed back, sinning, forgiveness – just like the lives of many of us, don’t you think.

I used to think the Hebrews were an ungrateful lot. I used to think they were whiners in the bad times and arrogant so and so’s  when things went well.

Then I realised that the story of their struggle is an allegory of the struggle of each of us as we live our lives.

We too whine and blame God when things go wrong, and yet when things go well, we tend to take the credit ourselves.

We drift away from Him, and when we wander back, beaten down, remorseful, sorry about what we have done, He welcomes us back.

And isn’t it good to come back?  Isn’t it good when we know we are forgiven, and loved and wanted?

The Christian knows that, but what about those who don’t wander back?  What happens to them?

The story is told  in Spain of a father and his teenage son whose relationship had become strained.  So the son ran away  from home. 

The father, broken-hearted,  began to search for the rebellious boy.  Finally, in Madrid, in a last desperate attempt to find him, the father took an ad in the newspaper.

The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of the newspaper office at noon. All is forgiven. I love you.   Your father.”

The next day 800 Paco’s showed up outside the newspaper office.

Seeking forgiveness and love from their fathers.

And there were 799 fathers somewhere, too arrogant, or too unforgiving, or too lost themselves, to make the effort to be reconciled with their children.

I don’t know why children and parents fall out.  There seems to be a  different reason in every case.

But one lesson that we parents have to learn is something that Paul tells us in this week’s epistle. 

He is talking to people who have ‘fallen out’ over some religious ritual.

“Hey,”  he says, “ Some abstain from eating meat to glorify God, while others eat it  for the same reason.  Why should one treat the other as if he were a sinner?”

If you act one way to glorify God, and she acts another way to glorify God, then that’s fine.  Both are glorifying God.

He is saying in effect,  “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”    Don’t be too quick to judge each other. As God is not  quick to judge us.  

Jesus tells the story of one man who had done wrong against his boss, and was forgiven.

He was happy to have been let off. He had panicked and groveled, and cried for forgiveness and his boss had relented and forgiven him.

But what lesson did he learn?

He must have learned the wrong lesson. He may have thought, “Oh, he forgave me because I am such a good worker. He forgave me because I am valuable to him. Because I am special. Or, I am such a good persuader.”

That must have been the lesson he learned  – wrong! – because when he was in the position of  deciding whether or not he should  forgive someone,  he  had them  thrown into prison.   But he hadn’t been forgiven because of any personal virtue. He was forgiven because his boss took pity on him.

If he had figured that out, then he might have been a bit more forgiving of the man who offended him.

It’s hard to know how he couldn’t see it.  Everything was out in the open, wasn’t it?    Most often,  our sins are committed in secret.

It is so easy to secretly destroy a reputation by passing on something and saying that  you were only repeating what someone else told you.

It is so easy to lie about your circumstances when someone has asked you for help.   “ I am sorry. I am tapped right out.”  No-one really knows.  

There are, of course,  many ways we can sin in private,  away from the eyes of others, and still present a face of virtue to the world.  No-one need know.

And aren’t we glad, because we have all done something that we don’t want anyone else to know about?

There was a movie called, “We Know What You Did Last Summer.”

The idea  must have come from a real incident which happened fifty or so years ago, when  two girls sent an anonymous letter to a man, saying simply, “ We know what you did.” 

They weren’t aware of anything wrong that this man had done. It was just a silly joke

But the man committed suicide.

I wonder how any of us would feel  if  we thought our worst sins were public knowledge?

One welcome result might be that people would stop criticising others.  We can only criticize when we appear to be virtuous.    

That poor man  would not have killed himself if he had known that our sins don’t need to be there, even in the secrecy of our heart.  We are told that  because of what Jesus did,  then our sins can not only be forgiven, but they will be forgotten

Forgotten!

That comes about when we are once again in a loving relationship with God.

And if we are in a loving relationship with God then we won’t want to judge others.

In fact we will be forgiving and forgetting the sins of others as ours have been forgiven and forgotten.

Because we will want to be back in a loving relationship with them too.

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

I forgive you,  you forgive them, they forgive others, and so on.

Imagine if the sins of the Croatians against the Serbs, and the sins of the Serbs against the Croatians, and  the sins of the Albanians against the Serbs, and the sins of the Serbs against the Albanians had been forgiven – years ago – the tragedies of Bosnia and Kosovo would have been avoided.

Imagine if the sins of the Israelis against the Palestinians and the sins of the Palestinians against the Israelis, and the Catholic Irish against the Protestant Irish and the Protestant Irish against the Catholics, and so on had been forgiven. 

Instead, it has been like the famous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys, hasn’t it?

That feud lasted for decades. Somewhere in the mountains of the southern United States.  It went something like  – ‘You killed my brother because my cousin killed your uncle, so I am going to kill you, and you will try to kill me, and if you do my father will kill you,’ and so on.

Whole peoples have been behaving that way haven’t they?    But in  broken relationships between nations, just as between individuals, someone has got to be the one who says, “Stop. It’s  enough.”

That’s what God did, didn’t he. He said, “ Enough is enough. This has got to stop!”   

And he stepped in Himself, in the person of Jesus to show us how love and forgiveness work.

And  love and forgiveness do work!

If given the chance.

Here is a lovely poem by George Roemisch published years ago, titled ‘Forgiveness.’

Forgiveness is the windblown bud which blooms in placid beauty at Verdun.

Forgiveness is the tiny slate-gray sparrow which has built its nest of twigs and string among the shards of glass on the wall of shame.

Forgiveness is the child who laughs in merry ecstasy beneath the toothed fence that closes in  D

a Nang .

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel of the shoe that crushed it.

Forgiveness is the broken dream which hides itself within the corner of the mind oft called forgetfulness, so it will not bring pain to the dreamer.

Forgiveness is the reed which stands up straight and green when nature’s mighty rampage halts, full spent.

Forgiveness is a God who will not leave us after all we’ve done.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Reading from Romans

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (Rom. 13:8-14;)
 

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Let love be your only debt. That lovely advice from the Romans reading is something that should be included in every wedding service, and reiterated by every marriage counselor.

The writer is saying that if we love others then we have done all that is expected of us.

But then he admonishes us not to behave badly.   Which is a bit puzzling. Right after giving us the ultimate advice – do everything out of love  basically – we are now being told what we must or must not do – and reminded about the law – which we were told we would fulfill just by loving others.

Can that be because Paul knows that loving others, and consequently acting properly is not easy to do?

Could it be that wanting to love others, wanting to act properly is something that doesn’t come  – a change that doesn’t take place  – like lightning, but rather is an evolving thing?

We evolve into being good examples of  Jesus-followers – Christians.

I  have read about people being changed overnight, and I have met some. I myself came back to the church because of a change that took place in my own heart, seemingly instantaneously. 

Looking back later though, I could see that there was a number of  influences that gradually coalesced, and eventually guided me back to Christ. 

It didn’t happen just like that.

Rather, like you, I have become painfully aware that living a Christian life is a struggle. It isn’t something we can achieve right away.  

It helps that we are part of a church community. It helps that we consciously try to live better.

It’s a good thing if our partner is also trying to live as a Christian. One can help the other.

But boy, sometimes it seems like one step forward and two steps back.

On the good days, though, it is two steps forward and one step back. That’s how we like, it isn’t it?  

We become disciples gradually, as every day we try to be purer, calmer, more patient, more loving, than we were the previous day.

The trouble is, that immersed in this world, we sometimes absorb, by osmosis, it seems, the world’s ways of doing  things. 

It’s a fast paced place.

It needs people who can think on their feet, get things done.  Aggressive people!

The adjective most often used in advertising for executive positions is “aggressive.” 

You had better be aggressive if you want to be a manager, or a salesman.

But is aggressiveness  an ideal Christian trait? 

I don’t think so. The people I remember as being good Christians always seemed to have lots of patience. They were the opposite of aggressive.

But I  met an aggressive Christian once. He wasn’t from one of the mainline denominations. He knocked at my door one Friday when I was trying to write my sermon, and falling behind schedule.

When I answered the door, he said, “Good day, can we (he had a colleague) spend a few minutes with you to tell you about salvation?”

I said, “Well, I think I know about salvation, and I am very busy, and I don’t have time  to get into a big discussion about faith right now.”

“So you don’t want to be saved?” the other one asked.

“Well I think I am saved.” I said.

“I don’t think so,” said the first.” You need to listen to what we have to say.”

“So you are the only one who knows the secret?” I asked.

“ We have the key to salvation,” he said.

I said,  “Well, I don’t have time to dispute that right now, so would you please leave?”

The second one then leaned forward, (they made no attempt to leave) and said  something to the effect that I obviously didn’t care about what happened to my soul, and that I was headed for somewhere horrible.

It took me a long time to get them off my porch, I tell you. I was becoming aggressive myself, if you must know.

That young man may have been a salesman in his secular job, and he may have been using techniques that were valued in that job.   And which he felt should be used in persuading pagans to convert. 

He was determined to close a deal!

But that’s the point, isn’t it?   The things that are valued in this world are not necessarily what make a good Christian.

And yet we may have so slipped into the world’s ways without knowing it.

Sometimes, it may take another Christian to show us where we go wrong.

I will show you what I mean, by means of a I found a sketch on the web by Dave Marsh : I will play all three parts.  

It goes like this:

Jim was busy at work, his was a busy desk, and he had just taken a call from his minister, where they discussed livening up the Bible Study that Jim was leading at his church. 

He then began dictating a letter to his admin assistant, Donna, but was soon interrupted by a call from his wife reminding him that he hadn’t bought a gift for his father, whose birthday was coming up soon.

He was a little bit tetchy with his wife. She had already reminded him about his dad many times.  He finally told her to get anything she wanted and wrap it.

Then he got back to the letter, which was to a supplier. Jim was drawing their attention to the fact they had shipped two computers less than ordered and invoiced. 

Jim suggested to admin assistant  Donna that they should say the shipment was short shipped three.  Not two.   

As he was doing the letter with Donna, a pretty young woman, named Tina came in with a message, smiled, and complimented Jim on his tie.  “You look good today, Jim,” she said.

Jim reacted to the compliment from this pretty young woman, as you might expect, and had to be reminded to come back to the matter at hand by Donna.

When he had finished dictating the letter, he asked Donna to read it back to him.

This is what she read:

Dear Mr. Johnson. I’m writing you this letter in regard to the last shipment of Pentium machines. It appears that I  – am rude to my wife on the phone and that the shipment of July 1^st was in error. We ordered 17 Pentium 450 meg processors and our clerk Tina only received – inappropriate flirting from me – 15 processors – even though I’d like my assistant to lie and say 14. –  Please contact me with any questions. I expect the missing 3 – but really 2-  machines here on Monday. Best regards, Jim Davis.

Jim jumped up, “Donna?” he cried out, “Are you crazy? Don’t you know the difference between what you’re supposed to say and not say? Between the good stuff and the bad stuff?”

Donna said, “ Funny, I was going to ask you the same question.

Paul’s advice about coping with the world is to “Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won’t try to satisfy your selfish desires.”

And you will mind what you do, even if you don’t expect to be caught out.

Amen.

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” ( Mt 16: 21-28)

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I was preparing to do a communion service at a hospital once, and as I waited for the chronically ill patients to be brought in, I found myself standing next to a man immobile, in a wheelchair.

I knew him as a retired United church minister.

Although he wasn’t able to move, I could see from his face that he was bothered about something so I leaned over to hear him whisper, ” Now you won’t leave me out there not knowing what is going on, will you?”

I wondered what he meant at first, then I realized that the noise and bustle of preparing the service, people talking, the organist quietly practicing a hymn – all these sounds had taken him back to when he was a minister.

And the feeling of having to participate. And of being unprepared!

It is everyone’s worst nightmare isn’t it,.to be in front of people, to have to address them, and to be totally unprepared.

In a study that was taken, the top of the list of what people feared the most, was speaking in public. The second item on the list was a fear of dying.

So people would rather die than speak in public.

At that moment, this man, he must have been ninety if a day, and a stroke victim, was ready – albeit nervously – to serve his God, as he had for goodness knows how many years, if only he were prepared.

The phrase `faithful unto death,’ comes to mind, doesn’t it?

Jesus says in today’s Gospel that those who want to become his followers must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him.

I imagine that old man had taken up his cross many, many years ago and never put it down.

You must deny yourself, Jesus also says.

To be a Christian means to deny what “we” want and do what “He” wants.

In my home town there was a woman doctor by the name of Dr. Skelly. She didn’t look like a doctor. She wore laddered nylons, and broken down shoes, and I imagine her car was older than she was.

Some people used to laugh at how she was, behind her back.

It turned out that Dr. Skelly only took out of her salary enough for the bare essentials. She gave the rest to those who had nothing. She didn’t care what people thought about her appearance.

That’s what it means to deny what “you” want, and do what “He” wants.

Then Jesus says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

When Matthew wrote this Gospel, the church was in the midst of a terrible persecution. Christians were being killed just for being Christians.

But you could save your life by renouncing Christ.

An eighty year old bishop of the church was told he was to be questioned the next day about his faith, and that if he didn’t deny Jesus, he would die.

His friends begged him to do as he was asked.

He said, ” In all these years I have known Jesus he has never let me down. I can’t let him down, now.”

It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? It’s something that we have never had to face.

But there are pressures in this world to renounce Christ. Admittedly not as extreme as those.

We can’t get children into Sunday School because of hockey, baseball, skating, or whatever. People can’t make church because of having to work on Sundays. A late night on Saturday, means missing church next day. You can’t fill a Bible-study class because people are too busy.

Television, movies on video, computer games, even the internet – I read somewhere the other day that the biggest problem with the internet is that there is just too much material available – there’s not enough time in the day, the article said.

A million things compete for our time, and call us away from Christ.

We just don’t see it. Because it’s just natural to do what everyone else is doing, isn’t it?

Jesus faced temptation to do what the world expected.

You will remember that in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted by Satan to take the way of power. ” Give them bread ,” he said, “Give them, sensation. Give them wonders and they will follow you.”

Jump from the height of the temple. You will live, and imagine how people will turn to you after something like that.

“Compromise with the world, reduce your standards, and they will follow you.”

Jesus didn’t give in to temptation, of course.

But when Satan ended his efforts to tempt Jesus, there in the wilderness, Luke said,” He departed from Him until an opportune time.”

Satan would be back.

And there were opportune times. I imagine.

Like in the Garden of Gethsemane.

When Jesus was looking toward the cross.

Let’s face it, no-one wants a cross. No-one wants to die.

And now not too long before that Gethsemane moment Satan uses Peter to try to talk him out of doing what his Father asked him to do.

I don’t think Jesus said, “Get thee behind me Satan,” in anger, but rather in sorrow.

But Jesus could call Peter, `Satan’ because anything that deflects us from the way of God….. is Satan – the Adversary,

Anything that makes us turn back from the hard way that God has set before us…… is Satan.

Any power which seeks to put human desires in front of wanting to serve God….. is Satan.

Satan used Peter’s love of Jesus to try and turn him away.

Peter wanted to protect Jesus, as we all want to protect the ones we love.

I am sure that most of us with grown up children have tried in our love, to protect them from the world, even if they are old enough to go out and look after themselves.

Real love encourages us to fulfill our destiny. Not to protect us unnecessarily.

What really wounded Jesus’ heart and what made him speak as he did was that the tempter spoke to him through the fond… but mistaken love… of Peter’s impulsive heart.

Jesus was going to give up his life and Peter wanted to stop him.

Brooks Philips was a man, famous for many achievements who was even better-known for the help he extended to many people – he was always there, and had always been there – a phone call away – and he died an early death.

Someone said that he could have lived much longer except that he gave so much of himself to others. They asked why didn’t somebody stop him so he could have a longer life?

The response was, “Ah but he would not have been Brooks Philips then, would he?”

You might say that Brooks Philips had taken up a cross, and never put it down.

Jesus talked about taking up a cross didn’t he? He didn’t mean it literally, of course, it means to take up a life of sacrifice.

Joel Osteen, the current popular television evangelist doesn’t preach a life of sacrifice. He preaches a life of good things which come from following Jesus. A prosperity Gospel!

Follow Jesus and you will be prosperous and happy, and so on.

But according to Jesus himself, the Christian life is a life of sacrifice.

Anybody who has been a warden, a treasurer, a Sunday School teacher, a fund-raiser, a group leader, and so on, knows that.

You have often had to sacrifice a quiet hour by the fireside, or time with family to do what had to be done.

It’s a good job there have been, and are, real Christians like that, ready to sacrifice, or many a church would have been gone years ago.

It shouldn’t surprise us, that the Christian way is the way of sacrifice, should it? After all, we are called Christians because we follow Jesus…… we follow our leader.

Do you remember that game we played as children, called Follow the Leader? You had to do everything the leader did. Remember that game? There’s a grown up version, did you know?

I remember once, standing in line in the service club, when I was in the Air Force. I played a silly game of follow your leader.

A young lady, standing behind the counter was talking to a friend and waving her arms as she talked. I copied what she was doing. And my friends laughed, waiting to see what she would do when she saw me mimicking her.

Isn’t that annoying, when someone does that? Mimic you?

But she didn’t get angry ……… she just struck a very sexy pose, and I of course, red-faced, didn’t mimic that in front of my buddies.

The laugh was on me!

There’s no fear of being caught doing something that’s not right when we follow Jesus.

But being a Christian does call for us to follow a leader who sacrificed all. We know that don’t we?

Was it the opportunity to sacrifice that brought you to your church?

And what about those who don’t attend church? What would attract them?

Should we tell them that yours is a nice easy church and you can sit back and don’t have to do much. Just show up on Sundays and drop your envelope onto the plate. That would be the extent of your involvement.

Or should we say: It’s a church where you are expected to attend, and, as far as you can, to make an offering to support your church, but that in addition, you will be asked to help in a ton of other ways: teaching Sunday School, reading, carrying a chalice, providing coffee hour, serving around the altar, right through to helping clean up the grounds.

Oh, and not to mention providing a casserole when a family needs help.

Or to drive someone to the doctor’s office.

Because church is family, and everyone in a family helps, don’t they? It’s not much of a family where no-one helps.

I wonder which type of church would bring in more people? The one which doesn’t ask for that sort of commitment or the one that does?

I know what that old minister, in the wheelchair would say, if he could. Even at ninety years old.

I think he’d tell us that that the church which has expectations of its members is one that breeds commitment. And that commitment breeds growth.

So, pray with me, that we can follow Jesus in a life-long… and life-giving…. commitment. Sacrificing, and following, and resisting the temptation to take the easy way.

“For the Son of Man is coming in great glory and he will repay everyone for what has been done.”

Amen.

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Matthew

 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter,^[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[b] will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[c] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[d] loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. ( Mt. 16:13-20)

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Some missionaries in the Philippines set up a croquet game in their front yard. Several of their Agra Negrito neighbors became interested and wanted to join in the fun. The missionaries explained the game and started them out, each with a mallet and a ball.

As the game progressed, opportunity came for one of the players to take advantage of another by knocking that person’s ball out of the court. A missionary explained the procedure, but his advice only puzzled the Negrito friend. “Why would I want to knock his ball out of the court?” he asked. “So you will be the one to win,” the missionary said.

This short-statured man, clad only in a loin cloth, shook his head in bewilderment. In a hunting and gathering society, people survive, not by competing, but by sharing equally in every activity.

The game continued, but no one followed the missionaries’ advice. When a player successfully got through all the wickets, the game was not over for him. He went back and gave aid and advice to his fellows.

As the final player moved toward the last wicket, the affair was still very much a team effort. And finally when the last wicket was played, the ‘team’ shouted happily, “We won! We won!”

That’s how Paul tells us the church, the body of Christ should be.

A team. We all play and we all win together.

Paul’s favourite thought is of the church as a body. The members of the body neither argue with each other, nor envy each other, nor dispute with each other as to their relative importance.

Paul was sure that was what the church should be like. Each member has a task to do and it is only when each contributes  the help of her own task, that the body of the church functions as it should.

We are urged first to know ourselves, and our gift: to assess our capabilities honestly, without conceit or false modesty.

Then we are urged to use the gift that God has given us. 

Paul is saying that even if the contribution we can make is going to be unseen, without praise, and without glory, that we should still make it, and that without the offer of that gift, the world, and the church, can never be what they are meant to be.

Because whatever gift we have comes from God. And it comes for a purpose.

Paul  calls a gift from God charismata.

Some people have charisma.

You could practice playing the violin for a lifetime and yet would never be able to play like Yehudi Menuhin. He had more than practice going for him. He had something plus. Charisma  – a gift from God.

Similarly, you might toil for a  lifetime and still be hopeless in the use of wood and metal – like me, and yet, another person fashions wood or metal effortlessly. The tools become a part of the artisan. A gift from God. A charisma.

You might practice speaking for ever and a day, and never acquire the presence and the special something that makes people listen to you. A gifted speaker, on the other hand comes to the podium and soon has the audience in the palm of her hand.

Try writing.  You can try and put words onto paper and never get them right, whereas someone with the gift of words, can see his thoughts take place, flowing effortlessly from  mind  to  paper.

My thoughts flow effortlessly from mind to paper, or rather computer, then I need someone with gift of translation to correct all the typos.

Everyone has their own charisma. Their own gift from God.

It may be for writing sermons, for building houses, gardening, fashioning wood, working with figures, playing the piano, singing songs, teaching children, playing football, or golf.

And gifts are not given to be used solely in the church. They are given to be used in a wider context.

The gift of healing, for example.

A physician who has studied, and has found the balance between medicine as a science, and medicine as an art, is truly a healer.  Using that gift for healing, that charisma, to make the lives of people more bearable, is truly serving God.

At the other end of the scale, my mother was a relatively uneducated woman. She left school at age fourteen. She worked as a maid for the local vicar.  

Later, as a married woman, with four children, she didn’t have much time to develop whatever gifts she might have had.  But there was one gift she had in abundance. Compassion.

I remember her going to the homes of two elderly members of our church and getting down on her hands and knees, and  cleaning their homes.  Regularly. And no thought of being paid.

No-one at the church knew what  she did.

It was what she could do, and her use of that gift – of compassion for others – was just as important in God’s scheme for the world, as the use of the gift of healing by the physician.  And it had nothing to do with the church.

All of us are gifted by God, and He expects us to use our gift.  Because in using our gifts we are acting as members of the body of Christ.

Imagine if Jesus were here now.

Wouldn’t he be healing people?

Wouldn’t he be helping the old and infirm? 

Wouldn’t he be teaching? 

Wouldn’t he be feeding people? 

Wouldn’t he be teaching us how to forgive?

If he were working in a company, wouldn’t he be trying to make sure that the business of that company was done honestly?

If he were working in a job that involved meeting people, and handling their complaints, then wouldn’t he be loving and understanding?

Of course he would, if he were here.

But he is not here.

He is not here in body.

He is here in Spirit. And he is here in the gifts that we have.

So doesn’t it make sense for us,  in whatever job we have, or in whatever way we live, or in however we work for our church, or in whatever we do, to act like him? To be his body here in the world?

And being members of his body here in this world, each doing what we are gifted with, and called to do, we don’t fight with each other, or expect to be placed higher than another, or envy what others do.

It’s kind of like – it is like – being on a team.

Isn’t it?

You know we don’t always act as if we are on a team – at least not as if we are on the same team.

There is sometimes dissent. There is sometimes disagreement. There is rivalry. Because we are human. And we haven’t all reached a state of perfection.

But you, know, the church at large will never be a church that effectively reaches out to those who are lost, if we shoot our wounded, and enter into big battles about small things.

Instead of becoming fishers of men, we are, as often as not, keepers of a shrinking aquarium.

Next Fall, when you see geese heading south for the Winter, flying along in a ‘V’ formation, you might be interested in knowing what science has discovered about why they fly that way.

It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in ‘V’ formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater  flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

Christians who  share a common direction, and a sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they travel with the  shared strength of each other.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of those immediately in front.

When the lead goose gets tired, he or she rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It pays to take turns doing hard jobs with people in church, just as it does for geese flying South.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What does it mean when we hear honking from behind?  

Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by a shot, and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the wounded goose until it is either well enough to fly, or it dies.   And then they launch out on their own, or join another formation going in the right direction.

If people outside knew that we would stand by them like that in church, they would be pushing these walls down to get in.

You see, all we have to do to attract those who are missing out, is to demonstrate to the world that here at church, we have as much sense  – as geese!

That seems a small enough price to pay to win the lost and minister to each other.

Even a goose knows it makes sense to work as a team.

Amen.