25th Sunday after Pentecost
November 15, 2015
1 Samuel 1:4-20; Hebrews 10:11-25; Mark 13:1-8
(Or watch it here: https://youtu.be/nJTjU6XlcFo )
What happens when you get tired? What happens when you get weary and
fatigued? What happens when, as one
member so delicately phrased it this past week, you get so crotchety you can’t
stand yourself? I’m guessing that for
many of us, a good night’s sleep is in order, and possibly a nap before then,
if it can be arranged. I don’t know
about you, but when I hit that level of crotchetiness, I don’t want to be
around anyone, either. Just leave me
be. Now, what happens when the church
gets tired? The church is a living
organism, after all; it’s the body of Christ.
What happens when we together get crotchety and worn out? It’s not like we can sleep for a hundred
years like Rip Van Winkle and wake up without any side effects besides a
super-long beard.
The book of Hebrews that we read from this week and last is
believed to be a homily, or sermon, in the form of a letter. Its author is unknown, and it was likely
written sometime between the years 60 and 90 A.D. The temple that Jesus and his disciples are
talking about in our Gospel reading was destroyed in 70 A.D., which makes that
particular Gospel story an interesting pairing with the book of Hebrews. Anyway, the congregation addressed by the
book of Hebrews appears to be one that is tired, discouraged, and in decline.[1] They seem to have become crotchety not due to
a lack of sleep or chronic pain, but because evil still persists in the world,
in spite of their best efforts. Now,
they’re at the point of questioning the value of following Christ. Why Jesus?
Why the Church? Why bother? What difference does it make? Attendance at this church has decreased,
enthusiasm to serve has waned, and the loving and compassionate congregation
they once were is now only a shadow of their former self. It sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it?
The
good news is that this preacher of Hebrews has a solution. He believes that the only way to overcome their
despair “is to know more firmly and believe more deeply [in] the work and
meaning of Jesus Christ.”[2] The best way to overcome discouragement is to
remember why you’re here in the first place, learn more about your faith, deepen
your faith, turn your eyes again to Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our
faith.”[3] In the passage we read this morning, Jesus is
the priest who offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, and then sat down
at the right hand of God.[4] Now, Jesus is waiting, “because he perfected
the people who are being made holy.”[5] Brothers and sisters, beloved, we are those people. We are the ones
slowly being made holy, slowly becoming who he has called us to be, slowly
living into our calling, being his people at this time in this place. As we continue our journey together, Hebrews
has some advice for us, in the form of do’s and don’t’s for our life together. We’re going to start with the don’t’s first.
First,
don’t provoke each other. Don’t encourage bad habits, like stopping
coming to church. Hebrews says, “Don’t
neglect to meet together with other believers.”[6] That
is a good habit, and good habits we want to affirm and lift up and let people
know when they’re doing a good job. The
habits of worship and time with others who follow Jesus are good ones and
life-giving ones. That’s not to say that
misunderstandings won’t happen. Hannah
certainly ran into quite a misunderstanding in our Old Testament lesson. She came to pour out her soul to God, praying
at the altar, and crying, and Eli, the priest, accused her of being drunk. How often do we get it wrong when someone’s
hurting! How often do we just not know
what to say, and so we say nothing at all, and the other person is hurt by our
silence, because we don’t even acknowledge their pain. The best thing you can do is to simply
listen. Eli was watching Hannah pray, but not listening
to her prayer when he thought she was drunk.
Once he heard what she had to say, once he listened, then he could
say, “Go in peace. May God give you what
you asked from him.”[7] So, don’t assume you know what’s going on in
someone’s life. Don’t ignore someone
who’s hurting. Don’t provoke one
another.
In
our Gospel this morning, Jesus says don’t
let anyone lead you astray.[8] He says many people will claim to speak for
him, and say, “I’m the one!” and they will deceive many people.[9] So, Jesus says, “Watch out! Take care! Don’t let anyone mislead you.” How do we do this? In the Wesleyan tradition, which includes us
Methodists, we use what is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. John Wesley didn’t call it that, but he did
outline four ways to test something. The
first authority, of course, is Scripture.
How does what someone is saying compare with what we read in the
Bible? The other three methods are all
secondary to Scripture; it comes first.
A second one is tradition: what does church doctrine have to say about
it? How has the church interpreted it
over the years? Third is reason: what
does your brain intellectually and rationally have to say about it? God gave you your brain and the ability to
think, so what do you think about it?
Does it make sense? Finally, the
fourth part is experience, which is your understanding of it based on your own
life experiences. What do your own
experiences tell you about it? What has
happened to you in the past? So, relying
primarily on Scripture, yet also on tradition, reason, and experience, pay
attention and don’t let anyone deceive you.
Instead, Hebrews says, do provoke one another to
love and to good deeds.[10] I loved the variety of verbs I found in
different translations when I looked this verse up. The Common English Bible (which PG reads
from) said, “Consider each other carefully for the purpose of sparking love and good deeds.” The old RSV encouraged us to “Stir up one another to love and good
works.” The New RSV said, “Let us
consider how to provoke one another
to love and good deeds.” The Good News
Translation (which Cowenton uses) said, “Let us be concerned for one another, to help
one another to show love and to do good.”
Finally, the New Living Translation said, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and
good works.” Look at all the variety of
ways we can say this! Provoke, spark,
stir up, help, motivate! All of these
verbs result in us building each other up!
Encouraging each other. Speaking
a word of promise when you can, like Eli did to Hannah. Eugene Peterson in The Message wrote, “Let’s
see how inventive we can be in
encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do
but spurring each other on.”
Jesus
said, “Don’t be alarmed.” We, the body
of Christ, draw near to each other because
of Jesus Christ, because we are all part of his body, the Church. We hold fast without fear or faltering to our
faith. If you’re feeling discouraged,
chances are someone else is, too.
However, rather than get together and throw yourselves a joint pity
party, get together and encourage each other.
Call a friend. Write a card. Bake a birthday cake, or just create for no
special reason at all. Being creative,
being encouraging, even when you don’t feel like it, are acts that are
life-giving and that’s what we’re after.
See how inventive you can be in provoking someone positively. We all know we can provoke someone
negatively; even my fourteen month old can do that! See how inventive you can be in provoking, in
sparking, love and doing good. Put your
mind to that, make that your task and your goal, and I have no doubt that
despair and discouragement will dissipate.
I
still believe God is not done with our church yet. However, our words and our actions don’t
always reflect that belief, and if we’re done with God, if we’re done with
this church, [shrug] then that’ll be it. We know very well how to provoke each other
negatively, any family does. My sisters
and my children know how to push my buttons better than anyone else. I suspect my husband could as well, but he refrains from doing so. Provoking each other positively can be a little more difficult, but is far more
rewarding. It is life-giving. Salvation is always the endgame here. In Hebrews, the question is not about losing
your salvation, but are you going to stick with the people who are going to get
their salvation? Are you going to stick
with the church? And if you are, then
are you going to spark each other to love and good works? That’s how life together works. If you are feeling discouraged, then double
down on your faith and turn your eyes upon Jesus. Hide in him, the Rock of Ages, for a
time. That’s how we “take a nap” as a
church. We go back to some of these old
hymns. “O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal
home!”[11] Or, “Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide
myself in thee.”[12] Or, our closing hymn, “How firm a foundation…
is laid for your faith… What more can he say than to you he hath said, to you
who for refuge to Jesus hath fled?”[13] When we need refuge, when we need shelter,
when we need a nap, when we are so crotchety we can’t stand ourselves, we seek
out Jesus. To paraphrase the last verse
of our closing hymn, God will not desert the soul that leans on Jesus. That soul, be it an individual or the church,
“though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no, never, no, never
forsake.”[14] And that is good news. We can, as a church, rest in him. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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