Third Sunday after Epiphany

Reformation, Media

Larry V. Smoose

Have you seen any good movies lately?  (get answers)  Worth going to see?  Tell anyone about them?  Anyone have a favorite TV Show?  The fella I work out with in the morning at the Healthplex enjoys “The Wire.”  He comes in bubbling over about it.   A few weeks ago he asked if I had seen it, and I hadn’t because I don’t get HBO.  A week or so later I heard him mention it with enthusiasm to someone else.  He just had to talk about it.  I like to share good movies and TV shows with others as much as anyone.   

But here’s what concerns me  -- movies and TV shows are not likely to have any major impact on a person’s life and yet we are eager to talk about episodes, and encourage others to see them.  But, when it comes to talking about something that can change their life - episodes and teachings in the life of Jesus – we are mute. 

A report from The Alban Institute called Why Some Churches Don't Grow states in the abstract:

The Lutheran Church, like most mainline denominations, works under a broad unwritten assumption that the conversion to personal faith in Jesus Christ has already occurred in people's lives elsewhere and that church growth merely involves assimilating these "already converted" into the ongoing life of the congregation.

Lutheran clergy (and I think I fit this categorization) are trained as nurturers of the faith, rather than as catalysts in any process of spiritual transformation in the lives of individuals.

How easy it is for us to forget what draws people to congregations in the first place, namely their hunger for an authentic encounter with God, one which has a transformative effect on their lives.

An authentic encounter with God -- Our gospel lesson is the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, as he goes forth to transform people’s lives, to give them an authentic encounter with God.   The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.  I don’t know about you, but I have to wonder what kind of a person I would be if I had not been introduced to Jesus.  In fact, I want to go back a bit and give the credit where it is due – if my parents had not been followers of Jesus.  They were the ones who introduced me to Jesus.

We were far from wealthy, but our home life was not about money and things, it was about family and friends, and healthy relationships.   The language around the house was the same language we would use anywhere else.  My parents’ devotion to church was the same before, during and after raising the kids.  Their lives of service were life-long as was their generosity.  And the example they provided as people who tried to live the faith became an example for me and my sister and brothers.  Jesus made a difference in our lives and I know that beyond my calling as a pastor, my life would be diminished without a Lord who knows my faults, forgives my failures andd always encourages me to keep trying to follow him. 

There are still a lot of people sitting in darkness.  And the darkness takes all kinds of forms.   It can be in a job that seems to be a dead end or tries to compromise your values; it can be family obligations that are squeezing in on you and making you feel alienated or angry; it can be an addiction that cannot be shared with others or even admitted to yourself; or an illness that drags us into depression.  Any action or structure that burdens us, makes us less than we are meant to be or is against God’s purpose is part of the darkness. 

Here we are on the heels of the Martin Luther King, Jr. commemoration and a golf magazine publishes an issue with a noose on the cover and talks about the only way to beat Tiger Woods is to lynch him.  Our economy is reeling because of the greed of sub-prime mortgages and credit crises that have caused over-extended families to lose homes that they could not afford in the first place.  A woman is found shot to death at Greg Shreaves’ Church up near Coopersburg and suddenly violence is not just a city issue. 

What people need is a great light!  The times in my life when I have been most aware of my need is when those forces of darkness were enveloping me, and I realized that I could not manage my life.  That’s a hard thing to admit to.  We are such “Can Do” people.  We work all of our lives to be self-sufficient, self-starting,  self-aware.  When our kids say, “I can’t” we correct them – don’t say that.  You have to be positive.  We read them the famous story of the “Little Engine that Could” – I think I can, I think I can. . ..

But in the midst of our Positive thinking culture, Jesus comes and says “Repent!”  Repent is for those times when you feel as if  “I can’t.”  For those times when I can’t face this illness any longer;  when I can’t overcome this addiction;  I can’t get out of this lifestyle, when I can’t go to counseling.  It is giving up control of our lives, and inviting God to do what we can’t do alone – change us and recreate us.  Repent. 

It is the story of the “Little Engine That Couldn’t” and it reminds us of our need for a Savior.  Whether it is in our individual lives, or as a nation or world, we need one who has and is the light – who has the power to change our thinking and our living.  It is this power of Jesus that enabled Martin Luther King to promote and successfully use non-violence as a means to change our nation -- and make us aware of why a noose is not an appropriate image on a magazine cover.   It is the power of Jesus that has changed millions of lives, including my own.  Jesus’ ministry is not a course of study, but a way of life to follow.   

That’s what he said to his disciples – follow me.  I will help you change your lives.  And at first, that can seem frightening, because we see them leaving their work, leaving their homes, leaving their families.  Do we have to leave everything?  I don’t think so.  Their ministry was still in Galilee, we know they came back home occasionally.  But it reminds us that the kingdom of heaven doesn't exist to serve the family; the family exists to serve God; the goal of the kingdom is not to serve us in being more effective and productive in our jobs.   Rather, our work is truly effective when it serves to express the will of God. 

 Jesus was not going to do this all by himself.  He told all of his followers - I’m going to teach you how to catch people.  When you were fisherman, you used nets to drag fish into the boat – to drag them from life to death.  But I will teach you how to use love to bring people into the ship of the church and drag them from death to life.  I’m going to use my church as a beacon of God’s light to rescue people from darkness – whether that darkness is hunger, or oppression or disaster or tragedy.  Movies won’t do that!  TV programs won’t do that!  Working harder or making more money won’t do that!  And, the truth is, left to our own devices – we can’t do it – but God can.     

As Lutherans, when it comes to talking about the transforming power of God in our lives; when it comes to sharing with others the transforming ministries of the congregation and church; when it comes to getting excited about our faith or about Jesus, we suddenly become impotent, frightened, tongue-tied, and socially disabled! -- Partly because as pastor’s we have not encouraged you or modeled this style of witnessing.  For too long when it comes to sharing the faith or inviting people to church we have been reading “The Little Engine That Couldn’t”  and not tapping into the power of God who wants to help you bring people into the light. 

It’s time we change – we can’t just sing about going to the seashore and hearing our names called out and following Jesus – we have to do it, in Word and Deed.  We need to challenge ourselves and sign up for E-100 and think about who we might bring with us too those discussion groups.  We need to read our Lenten devotions, take an extra copy to give to a friend, invite them to our soup supper so they can see the good fellowship we have and enjoy the intimacy of mid-week worship.  With God’s Help I think I can!

Peter, Andrew, James, John, and each of us are disciples of Jesus Christ because of the power of the Word to call us out of our old lives and into the new.  For the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the world, it’s a call we need to hear daily. 

Amen.