Leave, Go Out, Search, Find: Sunday, September 11, 2016

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

He came in seeking help.  I sat down with him. Sometimes the people who come in for help just want someone to listen, many times they need help with gas, or bills, or food…..And usually, even if they come in for help with gas, or bills, or food…..they really want someone to listen.

After I had listened, and we had shared a bit with one another, and we figured out how I could help him from the resources that this community provides, I told him what I tell pretty much everyone who comes in:  “I have one more resource; in fact, it is the best thing I’ve got going….it’s this community….the people of this church.  You know,” I told him, “all of us struggle, all of us need help from time to time and what these people are good about is walking with one another through the tough and the good times.  This community is the best thing I can offer.”

He smiled and said, “Thanks, but you don’t want me.”

“What do you mean we don’t want you? Of course we do.”

“Nah,” he said. “You don’t.” And then he gave me a kind-of smile.

I said, “Why do you think we don’t want you?”

“I told you,” he said. “You heard how I’ve been stupid, messed up, the dumb choices I’ve made. I’m a mess. You don’t want me.  This is a nice church with nice people.”

I sighed.  “Friend,” I said, “everyone who belongs to this community, this church, all these nice people…..we’re just people who have messed up, made mistakes, and bad choices.  You belong right here with us.”

He smiled.  Indulged my invitation and the specifics of different opportunities coming up when he could join us.  He thanked me.  And went on his way.

It was not the first time I have heard the idea that somehow the person in front of me isn’t good enough, isn’t worthy to join us on a Sunday morning or to be a part of our community.  It probably won’t be the last.

I really struggle with this word “worthy.” It finds its way into our Book of Common Prayer: In a prayer at the Eucharistic we say: “we are not worthy to gather up the crumbs from under thy table…” In morning and evening prayer’s general thanksgiving we pray: “We your unworthy servants….” Frankly, friends, I think the authors of the Prayer Book have got it all wrong.  I think proclaiming our unworthiness….or anyone’s unworthiness as far as God is concerned…..is rubbish. 

And here’s why I think we need to do away with the idea that we, or anyone else, is unworthy when it comes to church, when it comes to God, when it comes to belonging…..the Bible tells me so.

In chapter 1 of Genesis, God looked over Creation—including humanity---and God pronounced it: Very Good.  Worthy to be redeemed, worthy to be loved, worthy to be known by God, loved by God, and in relationship with God. When Jesus gave his life so that all might have life, Jesus made it clear: all are worthy.  Jesus didn’t extend his sacrificial love for a few, for some, for the 90%.  Jesus gave his all for all.  Each and every one because each and every one is worthy. 

Now, I do believe no one is deserving of this immense, jaw-dropping love of God, I do believe we can not earn it, but that’s why this is grace.  We don’t deserve it, but God obviously believes we are worthy of it.  In God’s saving and redemptive actions, God says we are worthy, each and every one.  Who are we to say otherwise?

So instead, like Paul, we say: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 

While I am proud of what we have to offer, while I am inspired by how we give to those in need, and yes, I think it’s important to open our doors and be a place where people trust they can come and find help, today’s Gospel is telling us there is more to our ministry than this. 

What do we do about the lost---the ones who feel as if they are not worthy to walk through our doors on a Sunday morning?  The ones who think that somehow we, us nice people in a nice church, don’t want them to sit down next to us and join us at God’s table or that we are not interested in joining them at their table? Surely, we will not just be okay with this reality.  Surely we are willing to do something, to do more.  And the more, the something, isn’t just left to our imagination.  No, beloved, it has been made clear.

We follow Jesus, the shepherd.  The One who leaves, goes after, and finds.  And upon finding, comes back and rejoices in community.  We follow Jesus, who as the woman in today’s Gospel, lights the lamp, sweeps the house, and searches until she finds.  And upon finding, comes back and rejoices in community.  Like Jesus, the shepherd, the woman, we are not satisfied with 90%; we are not satisfied with 99%.  We recognize that all are worthy of finding.  We recognize that we are called to leave, to go after, to light the lamp and sweep the house, to search and to find. This is who we are; this is part of what it means to be the Church, the living Body of Christ on earth.

And goodness knows, we have our job cut out for us.  In Stevens Point alone, over 40% have said they have no connection to a faith community.  There are certainly enough brothers and sisters to whom we are not connected---far more than the 1% or the 10% in today’s Gospel, to whom we are called to leave and find.  And all these brothers and sisters of ours have many reasons why they do not belong, why they are just fine being unconnected.  Some feel unworthy; some feel unwelcome; some have been hurt; some are just bored with church and find it irrelevant.  Like Jeremiah, God’s prophet, we can lament about all those who do not show up, who mock us, who scoff at our belief. We can complain and mutter. 

Or, as God always does—no matter how lost God’s people are---we can go.

We can go and bring community to them, right where they are, just as they are….like Jesus, leave and go after, search and find.  Not to judge them or fix them or save them. Not to convince them that our doctrine is right or that they need to confess Jesus as their personal savior.  But, like Jesus, we go and find. We listen.  We love. We serve. We build relationships and make connections. We break bread with sinner and Pharisees, the learned and the lowly.  Not because we are more worthy, but because all are worthy.  Not because we are nice people, but because we are God’s people. And not because the lost need us, but because we need the lost.

The wholeness of the Body of Christ in the world today depends upon our connection to one another. For it is together that we are the living body of Christ in the world.  Alone we are members of the Body; together we are the Body. Our wholeness is dependent upon the re-membering, the re-connecting of all of God’s people to one another and to God. 

We do this because this is who God is----lover, life-giver, redeemer, the One who makes holy, the One who restores.  This is who Jesus is.  And as Christians, this is who we are.

At Intercession, we have made this our Vision---the path we are intentionally taking in order to be the Church in this time when going to church is not the default, when being a Christian is less and less the norm.  It isn’t time to mutter, complain or fear.  It is time to go.  We are sent, sent by this God who uses unexpected people, providing what is needed in the moment, so that all may stand in their worthiness and be restored by the light and love of Christ.  We are a people who gather to rejoice and give thanks and we are a people who are sent. As Keith Eitel, a seminary missions professor, used to say: “The light that shines the farthest will also shine the brightest at home.”