Leading the Way

Mark 10:35-45

I’d like to share a couple of news stories with you.

The first happened back in June.  A high school junior named Meghan Vogel was running the 3,200 in the Division III girls’ state meet in Columbus, OH.  She’d already won the title for the 1,600 meter race, and she’d only had an hour to rest between that race and the 3,200, so she wasn’t expected to win.

As she came around the final turn for the last lap, she saw a runner from another team collapse.  Vogel went to the other girl, helped her up, and then pulled the other girl’s arm over her shoulders. 

When they reached the finish line, Vogel made sure the other girl crossed first.  It was the first time Vogel ever finished last in a race.

The second story comes from Minnesota.  Earlier this month, another high school junior named Tom Anderson was competing in a 5k.  About two miles into the race, he was on pace to post a personal best time when he saw a boy from the other team fall. 

Anderson helped the other boy up and ran with him, supporting him for about half a mile until the other boy could begin running on his own.  Anderson finished with a significantly slower time than he normally would have had.

These two runners are excellent examples of leading through service.    When their coaches were interviewed, both runners were called leaders.  Their leadership wasn’t based on their ability to win races.  Their coaches talked about a concern for their teammates, their willingness to help others and give newer runners the benefit of their experience.

James and John want to be leaders, and that’s why they’re asking Jesus to make them his right and left hands.  Their request makes it pretty clear that they think being a leader means being in power, being in charge.

They’ve been following Jesus for a while now.  They’ve watched him reach out to the poor and disrespected members of every community they’ve visited.  They’ve watched him heal the sick and minister to the hurting.  He’s taught in the synagogue, and spoken to huge groups of people.

In hundreds of little ways, he’s been teaching the apostles about service. 

Now he’s telling them about what’s going to happen.  He’s telling them that he’ll be taken by the pharisees and handed over to the Romans.  He’s painting a picture of abuse and death by crucifixion.

And James and John respond to this by moving to make sure that when the time comes, they are in a position of power.

The other apostles are irritated, but not for the right reasons.  They aren’t mad because the brothers seem oblivious to the danger that their messiah is in.  They aren’t mad because the brothers have apparently missed all those lessons in serving.  No, they’re mad because James and John got there before them.

The apostles have all made the same mistake - they’ve come to the conclusion that leading is synonymous with power.

And they’d be right, if their leadership was being measured by the world.

In the world, winners come in first--they don’t lose, even if it’s to help someone else.  In the world, leadership is measured by the power wielded, by the number of people controlled.

If there is one thing that Jesus makes clear on every step of his journey, the choices we make when we follow Him will not make sense to the world.

The apostles had some trouble with this idea, and so do we.

We ridicule leaders who have the nerve to apologize when it’s needed, who dare to reach out in peace instead of anger and hate.  We label them as weak.

As Christians, we suffer from a basic conflict within ourselves.

We know that, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,” from reading Proverbs 15:1.  But the world tells us that we can’t be a doormat.  When someone threatens us, or treats us badly, we have to loudly proclaim our intentions to exact revenge.  We’re afraid that the gentle answer recommended in Scripture will make us appear weak, make us a target.

Our leaders are put in a no-win situation.  They don’t want to be seen as war-mongers, but they don’t want to be seen as putting our country in jeopardy either.  If they reach out to people and countries that we see as opposing us, they aren’t praised as peacemakers, they’re reviled as dangerously soft.  If they take a hard stand, they still can’t win because any conflict that arises from that position will be their fault.

There’s no way to win, and simply doing what your conscience and your faith demands can easily destroy the work of a lifetime.  I don’t think you could pay me enough to step into that meat grinder.

Pastors have the same problem, although on smaller scale.  We want our pastors to lead, but we don’t like to be led.  We want our pastors to always make the biblical choice, but when we don’t agree with that choice, or the choice doesn’t go our way, we cry foul.

We want leaders.  We want people who make decision based on what’s right for the greater good.  Unless, of course, that decision makes things difficult for us - then we’re not interested in the greater good.

A prime example of that is housing.  As Christians, we believe that we have a responsibility to care for the “least of these.” 

But when someone proposes a housing project for low-income families, the town hall is going to be packed with people voicing concern about crime, drugs, violence, and property values.

And if our leaders actually lead, overriding those worldly concerns to do what is right, they’re probably pounding a nail into the coffin of their career.  We won’t praise them for swimming against the flow to follow the lessons of Jesus, we’ll gleefully burn them at the stake as soon as the first problem shows up.  And that’s if we gave them a chance to actually act in the first place.

In our churches, we see leadership as the ability to have a positive effect on the community.  We want to see lots of big, flashy ministries, and a nice big church with beautiful windows and plush carpeting.

We point to those people who lead the committees, and we call them leaders.  And they can be.  But a lot of times, the real leaders in a church aren’t the ones heading up the Trustee Committee or the Ministry Council.  Sometimes, the best leaders in your church are the people who never get called to the front of the church to be recognized.  They’re the ones who show up early to every event to set up tables, and stay after to clean up.  They’re the ones who stop by the church two hours before Sunday service to make sure the steps are clear of ice.

We don’t see them as leaders because we make the same mistake James and John made.  We equate leadership with power.

The real leaders in our churches and in our communities are the people who are willing to serve without reservation or judgment.

Those are the leaders we need, if we are going to follow Jesus not only as individuals, but as a church.

If we want to lead, we have to learn to serve.  We have to learn that every act of service is important, and that every failure to act is equally important.  We cannot truly lead in our communities until we are willing to serve every member of the community without reservation or restriction.

The world won’t understand that kind of leadership.  Reaching out to the unwanted or invisible people isn’t going to fill pews.  Serving people who’ve made bad choices - and keep making them - isn’t going to put money in the offering plate.  Offering God’s love to anyone who needs it, no matter what church they go to or what they believe, isn’t going to pay for the repairs to an aging church building.  Standing for what is right, speaking up, and supporting others who are trying to do the right thing might make our own property values fall.

Serving, truly serving, isn’t always appreciated and it doesn’t always get us the recognition we’d like. 

But it will make us leaders.             

 

The Breath of Life

James 2:1-17

¹My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

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How often have you heard, “Don’t judge a book by its cover?”

Okay, yeah we’ve all heard that, but I do it all the time!  I love to read.  I read a LOT!  Which means I buy a lot of books – both at traditional bookstores and on the internet for my Kindle.  I have authors I like, but sometimes my favorite authors don’t have anything new out, so I end up browsing.  And when I’m browsing, I tend to judge the books by the covers.

Romance novel?  I like pirates, cowboys, cops, firemen.  Not a fan of the fainting femme fatale.

Science fiction?  I like interesting worlds, creatures, space ships.  I don’t like clock faces (they usually indicate time travel, which I hate), or anything that looks like a Star Wars wannabe.

Fantasy?  Real vampires (no sparkling please), magic, unique ideas.  I avoid books that have covers showing teenage characters doing pretty much anything.

It saves time.  I avoid picking up books that are probably going to have story lines that irritate me.  But it’s also possible that I’m missing out on a great book.

I don’t spend a lot of time stressing about that, because as much as I love to read…really, it’s a book, not exactly the future of the world.

We do the same thing with people—and that’s a problem.

In 1990 a movie called Pretty Woman came out, starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.  You might have seen it.  If you haven’t, the basic concept is this: Julia Roberts is a prostitute and Richard Gere is a very rich business man.  He basically hires Julia Roberts’ character to accompany him to a variety of functions.

He gives her a great deal of cash to go buy appropriate clothes on Rodeo Drive.  But there’s a problem.  Although she has plenty of money, she’s still wearing the clothes that identify her as a down-on-her-luck prostitute.  The sales person refuses to wait on her.

When she finally gets the help she needs, she returns to the shop that refused to help her.  She now looks like an affluent customer, and the sales person’s attitude is significantly better than it was the first time.  The sales person obviously doesn’t recognize Roberts’ character until Roberts points out that the sales person works on commission.  Gesturing with the clothes she’s purchased elsewhere, which would have represented a huge commission for the sales person, she says, “Big mistake.  Big.”

It doesn’t really bother me that I tend to judge books on the shelf by their covers, even though it means I might miss out on a good book once in a while.

But when we judge people only by what we see, we miss out on a lot more.

Our scripture today warns us about playing favorites in our churches.  This was a warning given to churches two thousand years ago.  I can’t decide if it’s encouraging or discouraging that our churches today still need this warning.

On the one hand, it’s kind of encouraging because it can be nice to know that we’re not first to mess this up.  On the other hand, it’s discouraging because we’re still making the same mistakes after all this time!

The fact is, we are human.  We’re wired to approach our world a certain way, and the first impression we typically receive is a visual one.  Our first impression is mostly instinct—it’s influenced by past experience, the lessons we learn from our culture and environment. 

We may not always be able to control that first, instinctive thought.  We can control the thoughts that come next.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s easy when your neighbor looks and acts like you, but not all of our neighbors do.  What about the neighbor that doesn’t speak English?  What about the neighbor that wears a turban or a hijab?  What about the neighbor with a family structure that is very different from yours?

There isn’t a community on the planet that’s made up of people who are completely the same.

But it’s so much easier to love people who look like us, act like us…are us!

Take a walk through Wal Mart and listen the conversations you hear.  Go online and check out the comments on any given news item.

It won’t take long before you hear or read something that sounds like this:

“Those people need to learn English if they wanna live here.”

“Why do they have to force their culture on us?”

“We have to protect our way of life—they want to make us all (fill in the group).”

I’m not exactly feeling the love.  If you want to have a really passionate discussion with someone—in person or online—ask them about the “love your neighbor” thing.

Almost immediately you’re going to get a whole raft of excuses for why that doesn’t apply to this particular situation.  Some of those excuses are going to be accompanied by scripture (typically taken out of context).

No matter what excuse we come up with, the fact remains that when Jesus was asked which commandment was the most important (in Mark 12:28-31) he very clearly stated that the most important commandment was to love God.  And the second most important commandment was to love your neighbor as yourself.

Not, love your neighbor as yourself…unless they look funny.

Not, love your neighbor as yourself…unless they speak Spanish.

Not, love your neighbor as yourself…unless they’re on welfare.

Not, love your neighbor as yourself…as long as they look exactly like you and never do anything wrong.

Suddenly the fact that we still struggle with this, even after a couple thousand years, doesn’t seem that strange.  We’re fighting instinct, training, and experience.  We’re fighting our own human nature.

We’re not going to succeed every time.

I’d really like to say that you will.  That someday you will become so good at this Christian thing that you won’t even think about what a person looks like, or acknowledge that first impression.

That’s a nice thought, but it’s not realistic.

The apostles failed at this once in a while, and they were literally walking with Jesus.  We’re not always going to win that battle, but that doesn’t mean we stop trying.

And that’s where the next part of today’s scripture comes in:

¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

We are never going to win a battle we stop fighting.  We have to act on our faith—which means reaching out to our neighbors and serving in our community.

No matter how small your community is, there are opportunities to serve.  It’s easy to avoid some of those opportunities.  We don’t feel comfortable with the people being served, or the environment that service is happening in.

Some people don’t like serving at their local food bank because they feel like some people are taking advantage of it.  Some people don’t like serving at the women’s crisis center, because they feel like some women make bad decisions and get themselves into trouble they could have avoided.  Some people don’t like volunteering at school because they end up working with Hispanic kids and they wonder if the parents are here illegally.

“Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

We don’t want a dead faith, and we definitely don’t want to be judged without mercy!

Those first thoughts, those reasons we have for not serving, are the products of our human nature.  They may be the first thoughts we have, but they don’t have to be the last.

Spend some time this week looking at your community, and how you serve your neighbors.  Are you taking advantage of the opportunities to serve?

Make a commitment to serve in a way you haven’t considered before.  Find a way to work with people who don’t look like you…step out of your comfort zone and breathe some life into your faith. 

Acting Up

James 1:17-27

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.

Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.  But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.

For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.  But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. 

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

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When I was nineteen I took a job as a nanny for two little girls, and part of my responsibilities was to do their laundry.  I’d been doing my own laundry for quite a while and had never had a problem.  Their mother was very particular about their clothes—she only bought expensive, name brand clothes—but I thought I could handle something as simple as laundry.

Everything was fine for the first few weeks.  Then one afternoon I opened the lid to the washing machine and saw something that struck fear into my heart.

capl@washjeff.edu

Red.  Everything was shades of red.  The mother had bought a red top for the older girl—somehow when I’d separated the laundry the red top had gotten mixed with the whites and turned everything red.

I stared into the washing machine for a few minutes and then did the only thing I could think of: I called my mother.

She suggested a magic concoction that included dishwasher detergent and some extended soaking.  I followed her instructions exactly.  Words can’t express the relief I felt when I rinsed those clothes out and they were all back to their original snowy white.

As I mentioned, I was nineteen.  At some point in my early teen years, I’d reached the same conclusion that a lot of teenagers reach—my parents didn’t know anything that I needed to know.  But in that moment of panic my teenage pride shattered, and my mother was the smartest person I knew.

When I was growing up, and my mother was trying to teach me those life skills everyone needs as an adult, I would have sworn to you that I heard everything she said.  I heard it a lot, because she repeated it a lot!

I know she’d warned and lectured me about being careful to separate clothes carefully, especially if something is new.

I heard, but I didn’t do.  I thought I knew better.  I thought I had things under control.

And then I didn’t.

Luckily, my mother was there to repeat her lesson and get me out of the trouble I’d gotten myself into.  And she didn’t even say, “I told you so.”

I was reminded of this incident when I read today’s scripture.  Particularly the bit at the end: “keep oneself unstained by the world.”

I’m not unstained.  In fact, sometimes I think I’ve been tye-dyed by the world.

That wasn’t my intention, but remaining unstained is more difficult than it seems like it should be.  We are in the world.  We interact with the world and the world interacts with us.  Everyone leaves a bit of a mark on each person they bump up against.

Now, more than ever, we have the capacity to mark more people than ever before—and in turn, the world has more opportunity to stain us.  Facebook, Twitter, texts, cell phones…a thought can be broadcast to the world almost before you finish having it.  Certainly before you’ve thought about it or prayed over it.

To maintain our identity as Christians—and to be strong enough to resist the world’s influence, we are encouraged to spend time reading and listening to God’s word.  You may go to church on Sunday, or double up and go on Sunday and Wednesday.  Maybe you go to church every day.  You may spend time reading and studying the Bible—that sweet hour of prayer mentioned in the popular hymn, or a small group that meets regularly to discuss their studies.

However much, or little, time you spend in God’s word, simply hearing it is not enough.

You could spend every waking hour of every day in the study of God’s word, but if you do not act on what you hear, that time is wasted.

So we are supposed to act.  What does that mean, exactly?  Are we supposed to sign up for the next mission trip to a foreign land?  Should we spend two nights a week serving dinner at a homeless shelter?  What about tutoring at the local school?

How much time do we have to spend?  How much money?  Is there a graph somewhere that can tell us exactly what God expects us to do with our time and resources?

It’s simpler than that…and at the same time, incredibly difficult.

All of us have gifts, abilities, and talents that can be used to do God’s work in our world.  But I can say with absolute conviction that the majority of us don’t meet the potential we are given.

We have our reasons, and our excuses.  We’re not good at anything.  Nothing we do would make a difference.  Someone else is already doing it better than we could.  We don’t have the time.  We don’t have the resources.

“Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above.”

It doesn’t matter if you are the best person to act, what matters is that you act.  It doesn’t matter how much you can give, what matters is that you give.

But we have another problem—a problem that goes back to those red-stained clothes in the washing machine.

We have allowed the world’s judgments and the world’s values stain ours.  We have allowed the world to tell us who is worthy of our compassion, our pity, our help…and who is not.  We have allowed the world to tell us it is acceptable to dislike and even hate people.

We are stained.

We use phrases like, “those people.”  We separate our neighbors into “us” and “them” and then we use that separation to justify our actions…or lack of action.

Particularly now, during the election season, we are slow to listen (if we listen at all), and we are quick to speak and quick to anger even though we know better.  Respect and courtesy are lost in the fire of rhetoric and political platforms. 

Spend some time in God’s word.  Take the time to study his plans and make them yours.  Soak yourself in his love, not only for you but for everyone around you.  Remove the stains the world has marked you with.

And then go out and act.  Listen to the people around you, without giving in to the need to speak.  Look at your neighbors, and remember what you see when you look in the mirror: an imperfect person who is loved by God.  They are imperfect people, and God loves them too. 

Be the voice of peace and understanding.  Be the voice of acceptance and love.  Don’t let the world to tell you that anything else is acceptable.

Read and hear God’s word, and then go into the world and act on it.  You have the potential to make a difference, and so do I.  We only have to act.