Sermon for Rally Day/God's Work Our Hands Sunday: September 8, 2013

Sermon for Sunday, September 8, 2013

Rally Day/God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday

Luke 14:25-33

PREACHER: Pastor Carrie Smith

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now, large crowds were traveling with Jesus, because summer was finally over and it was Rally Day in Galilee. So Jesus turned and began his “welcome back to church” sermon by saying: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Amen?

Yeah, I think it probably went over just as well when Jesus preached it, too! This was one heckuva sermon for Jesus to deliver, especially after a dinner party during which he proclaimed “all are welcome!” Now that all those sinners, outcasts, and other folk have heard his message and rallied around him, he says “hate your family” and “carry the cross or you can’t be my disciple?” Well played, Jesus, well played.

Jesus must have been at least somewhat excited to see that his message was reaching more and more people. But the words we hear from him today indicate his concern, too: Do the people really understand what they’re signing up for? Do they realize this is an “all or nothing” proposition? Do they know where this path leads? Looking out at the crowd, Jesus may have noticed how some folks seemed to have one foot on the path with Jesus and one foot back at home. A few were keeping one eye on the door in case someone more important or interesting showed up. Others appeared to be listening to the sermon, but were in fact mentally making a shopping list for later on (go ahead and nod if you know what I mean. And don’t worry – I’ve actually written sermons in my head while listening to other preachers’ sermons! In the name of + Christ, we are all forgiven! Amen?)

It may not be a crowd-pleaser, but this passage from the 14^th chapter of Luke represents one of Jesus’ central messages: All are welcome, grace is for everyone, but following Jesus is a costly affair. This was literally a “come to Jesus” talk for the rallying crowds that day! Jesus says to all who would follow him: “No one comes any further on this journey until you know what you’re getting into and where we are going. I need you to be all in: Both feet forward, eyes on the prize, and, most importantly, hands free of possessions so you can carry the cross and follow me.”

Yes, Jesus calls us to practice “hands-free discipleship”. He asks us to relinquish all that stuff we love to hold so tightly—our over-packed schedules, our control over everyone and everything, our personal comforts and privileges, our strongly held beliefs, and everything else we’re proud to possess—so our hands will be free to carry the one thing Jesus requires of us: the cross of Christ.

The other day, when I preached on this text at the nursing home, I asked the little congregation assembled there what crosses they have to bear (thinking they might mention aging or facing their own mortality) but one resident right away offered: “Being cheerful to my roommate is the cross I must bear!”

Carrying the cross certainly can be a deeply personal struggle with any number of things: loving our neighbors, dealing with an addiction or an illness, or overcoming adversity. Some days, carrying the cross and following Jesus means just putting one foot in front of the other in spite of what life throws at you. Day by day, we all seek to see him more clearly, to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly. (nod if you just started humming the music of Godspell just now…)

Today, when we hear Jesus ask us to “take up the cross and follow”, we most often think of our daily discipleship walk. We imagine ourselves enduring life’s difficulties and coming out a better Christian at the end. But in Jesus’ time, the only people who carried the cross were criminals. Carrying a cross meant only one thing: a death sentence. The only people you saw with a cross on their backs were trudging through the city to their execution. This was not an attractive lifestyle choice. Carrying a cross didn’t make you a better person, build character, help you win elections, or give you better arm muscles. It just made you dead.

So for Jesus to say to the large crowd rallying around him “Listen, you can’t be my disciple unless you carry the cross and follow me” must have been quite a shock to the hearers. How many do you suppose turned around and went home? How many do you suppose turned to each other to ask, “What did he just say? Carry the what? Where are we going?”

For those who stayed for the whole sermon, the point was made clear: discipleship is serious business. It’s time to get real about what it’s like to follow Jesus, and to trust in God, when the party’s over, when the crowds are gone, and when Rally Day is finished. It’s time to contemplate just where Jesus is leading us in this cross-carrying itinerary—because it sure looks like we’re all headed to Calvary.

On Thursday I was called to the bedside of Bethany member Bill Kohl, 89 years old. (I’m sad to tell you that Bill died early this morning.) Please keep the Kohl and Romano families in your prayers. As many of you may know, Bill was a dentist for over 45 years. I mentioned to the family that I had been thinking about a good “theme verse” for Bill’s life. Unfortunately, there just aren’t many Bible passages about dentists or teeth! But Bill’s wife, Lois, said she had been thinking for several days about the hand blessing we experienced in worship here at Bethany last week. She was deeply moved by this ritual, when each of you had the opportunity to come forward and have your hands anointed with oil and blessed for the godly work that they do. “I wish he could have been there” Lois said. “He cared for so many people, so many teeth, and so many smiles with his hands.”

And then Lois went on to tell me how when she was called to the nursing home the night before, as Bill’s health started to quickly deteriorate, she walked in and saw a crowd of people working on him. Nurses, doctors, hospice workers, the chaplain—all gathered around her dear husband. All were using their hands to do God’s work of loving, comforting, and healing. All were accompanying Bill and his family on his final journey.  “All their hands are blessed hands” said Lois.

Sisters and brothers, I can think of no better example of what it means to carry the cross and follow Jesus wherever he leads. While we all have personal crosses to bear, discipleship is not chiefly about our own daily struggles. Carrying cross of Christ means lightening the load for others. It means keeping our hands free to do God’s work of loving our neighbors, bearing one another’s burdens, and yes, accompanying the condemned and the dying to the very end.

Today we are celebrating “God’s work, our hands” Sunday, in honor of the 25^th anniversary of the ELCA. This afternoon we will be out in the community, serving our neighbors at two different PADS sites, at the new LSSI Gable Point senior housing, at the Queen Anne home for disabled adults, and at the Fruits of Faith community garden. Behind us you can also see some visual examples of all the ways in which this beloved community does God’s work with our hands. This is a day to celebrate. It’s a day to roll up our sleeves and get to work, in the name of Christ.

But let’s be clear about one thing: we seek to do God’s work not to puff ourselves up, and never to save ourselves or become better people, but rather to join with God in the work of loving our neighbors, and sharing their burdens. Because we are free in Christ—free of sin and death and everything else that would possess us—our hands are available to take up the cross and become instruments of God’s love, peace, and mercy—whether we are providing shelter at PADS, food through the food pantry, making music to soothe souls and draw people closer to God, taking communion to shut-ins…or being present at the bedside of someone who is dying, using our God-given gifts and talents to comfort and to heal.

Sisters and brothers, on this “God’s Work, Our Hands” day, I give thanks for each of you and the ways in which you practice “hands-free discipleship”. Your hands are truly blessed! (Let’s do a very non-Lutheran thing right now and raise our hands in the air, saying “Thank you, God, for using my hands!” And now, everyone E-L-C-A!)

And now, dear friends in Christ, as we prepare for a busy season of work in the church, and as we celebrate all the work we do with our hands, let us also give thanks to God for the work we DO NOT do.  Let us rejoice again in the work that God’s already got covered, for  it is in Jesus Christ, our brother, that we see God’s work most clearly:

We see God’s work of love for the world through the birth of Jesus Christ.

We see God’s work of compassion in the life of Jesus Christ.  

And we chiefly see God’s work of redemption for all sinners in the walk Jesus made to Calvary, carrying the cross, and loving us to the end—even to death on that very cross.  

Sisters and brothers, God’s work is love. God’s work is sacrifice for the sake of others. God’s work is redemption for all of creation. In Christ, our hands are free to carry on God’s work for the sake of our neighbors, easing their burdens, and loving them as we have been loved – to the very end. Amen.