Sermon from Preaching Festival

I've heard it thousands of times, and most likely so have you, Jesus told his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matt 28:19) In the scriptures for today, He said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38) Many times in the bible Jesus gave the directive to go and preach. His apostles in the epistles admonished others to do this as well. I remember as a child, being told that this directive now applied to me. It seemed easy to me at the time, but as I have gotten older I have struggled to try to come to an understanding of what it means. And I've found the more I study and try to learn, the more I become humbled by the amount of things I don't know and understand. We know as Christians that we are called to share the gospel, but just how are we to do it?

There is no simple one-size-fits all answer. We may sing hymns about how we are one in the spirit, but in truth, sometimes we forget that. Our communities are a diverse amalgamation of people with unique identities, histories, and values. Too often it's all to easy to get caught up in an us verses them mentality. Who them is changes. Sometimes it's by race. Friends of mine who recently bought a house, were told by the realtor that off the record, their house was in the black neighborhood, because he thought they looked like nice girls. We can be divided by religion. Not just in Christian vs. Non, but even among Christians. We can be obsessed with “my Jesus vs. your Jesus” and forget that we revere the very same Jesus. There's wealth or lack thereof, age, disabled or abled, single, married, or divorced, children in wedlock vs. children out of wedlock, people with children, people without, two parent homes and single mothers. People who have lots of kids are the sadly often the butt of jokes about contraception. There's Fat vs fit, woman vs. man, and of course sexual orientation and gender identity. The list is endless. Most recently there was the election. Here in Ohio it was a barrage of phone calls, e-mails, and mail about which guy was the right guy and how the other guy would send us to hell in a handbasket. Even when I assured my party that I was voting for their candidate, I still got a barrage of communications from my party reminding me why our guy was better than the other guy and why I needed to make sure I voted. This is the way of elections and I do not imagine it will change soon, if ever, but such divisiveness pulls us apart and can make us wonder how the other side can be so “ignorant.” The thing is, instead of worrying about how wrong the other side is, we need to recognize we are all a part of the same community and we need to focus on the collective whole, not our differences.

In his letter to the Ephesians (2:14-22) Paul tells them that they are no longer Jew and Gentile, but through Christ they have been united into one group. He says that Christ proclaimed peace to both those who were far off and near so that they all could have access through him to the Father. He encourages them to recognize each other not as strangers but as citizens in the household of God. This is something to keep in mind as we go out to preach the gospel in our community. We are not better or worse than “them.” We are all the same through Christ. It through his love, through his death and resurrection that we are united as one. He brings us in the the community of believers as equals to encourage and help each other. When we stop choosing to see differences as weakness, or something to fear, we can recognize that we are all wonderfully made by God, and that are differences are often strengths. It takes a diverse collection of talents to work for the Lord.

This may seem like a daunting task. Our cities are full of hustle and bustle. It can be easy to get swept up in the current, or to become lost. This even happens in the smaller cities like where I come from, Chardon. And Chardon is barely a city, calling Chardon a city is like calling Taco Bell Mexican food. Technically there's a connection, but not much of one. When we break free and step into a different path, it can be difficult, but Paul tells us we can have confidence when we depend on Christ. On our own, we know so little from our perspective. As time passes and our lives change our perspectives change. Sometimes what seems to be one thing turns out to be the opposite. Just as Christ unites us, he is our strength. If we depend on ourselves and our own wisdom, we are weak. But if we acknowledge our weakness and instead have faith, we have the power of the spirit behind us. With that, we can do anything with confidence. For God will provide and he will be our strength in all that is to come. With him, we become so much more than we are alone.

And like so many things it comes back to love. Preaching isn't always just about words. One of the ways to preach is to live love. When we actively show love to others, we are showing our love for Christ, because what we do for the least, we also do for him. Love has compassion for those in need. Love brings healing to the wounded spirit. Love creates a community of fellowship, rather than drawing boundaries between people. When we live love, others can see it. They see something different, and they become curious. Some learn for the first time, others rediscover the love they had forgotten. When we live love, the light of Christ is in us. That light can't be kept hidden. The light of Christ spreads like wildfire, igniting sparks that will grow and burn with passion. It connects us not just in our own communities, but in the greater community of all believers.