"God's Work Our Hands..."

If you weren't in church on Sunday, you missed a great sermon by Pastor Joanne, in which she brilliantly spoke to the radical call of community to which Jesus calls us.  Using Mark’s narrative of Jesus sending out the twelve with “nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts…”  PJ spoke passionately and eloquently about the blessing that is community.  The twelve are sent out with all “authority” and yet they are to depend not on themselves but upon the generosity of those they meet. 

If you ask me, that’s the hardest thing about being a follower of Jesus; giving up self-reliance.  As a recovering control freak, that is not easy for me to do.  My entire life I’ve subscribed to the cliché, that if you want something done right, you must do it yourself.  I’m good with that.  No compromise is needed.  No conversations are entailed.  It’s not that I don’t play well with others, it’s just I’ve found that being on a committee of one is much easier than having to work with others.  Scheduling is a breeze when it’s just my calendar on the table.  Consensus is even easier.  But apparently that’s not how Jesus works, nor is that the lifestyle to which Jesus calls us.

For the twelve being sent out by Jesus, there is no survival without community.  Maybe that’s the point. 

Earlier this spring, each congregation of our synod was challenged to raise $400 for ELCA World Hunger.  I challenged the saints here at Incarnate Word that if we raised $1,000, I would cycle from Rochester to Brockport delivering food to the Brockport Food Pantry in memory of Monika Andrews.  In typical Incarnate Word fashion, this community rose to the challenge; raising over $2,300!   

So, this past Sunday five of us dawned our bright yellow “God’s Work Our Hands” t-shirts trekking 21 miles to Brockport.  There we were in our matching yellow God shirts, cycling along the Erie Canal Trail.  At one point a young girl even shouted out to us, “nice shirts!”  Had it just been me riding the trail, “God’s Work Our Hands” would have gone unnoticed.  But with five of us riding in tandem, folks we encountered knew that God was up to something; something involving community.

 

We are each called to follow Jesus in lives of discipleship; thankful lives shaped by sacrificial love and service.  But we are not called to do that alone.  We are called to live those lives in community.  To work alongside others; to depend upon others; even those with whom we don’t normally associate; even those we don’t especially like.  I guess that’s what makes us a church and not a club.  We are not like-minded.  We come from different backgrounds with very different points of view.  And yet we come together in community, enlivened by God and fashioned in God’s image, holding each other up, sharing our gifts with the world.

By the way, during our trek one of our cyclists was taken out by a low hanging tree branch along the trail, suffering cuts and scrapes.  Though he would have certainly made it to our final destination, because he was in community infection was averted. Neosporin was administered and cuts were bandaged.  Who better to do that, than the ones whose lives are shaped by the confession plastered across the front of our yellow shirts?  “God’s Work Our Hands”.

Peace and Love,
Pastor Doug