As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
We at St. Mark’s are in
the midst of what will be some monumental changes. If you came in the side door
you probably saw the picture on the easel depicting the proposed changes to
this space. You know what it entails-- The altar moved
closer, the rail down at floor level. The
carpet being taken up, the floors refinished- air conditioning this space. The
choir moving back behind the altar.
As most of you know we
also have plans for developing some dedicated youth space and plans for a new
service on Sunday evenings that will tentatively begin this fall.
Now for most of us
there are probably some areas of the proposed changes that we really don't like
or aren't too sure about – for others there may be areas that we feel really need
to happen to help move this congregation forward.In the midst of it all, there may be some
potential deal breakers or what feel a lot like deal breakers in the proposals.
At one point for
several months there were discussions about whether we should retain and
refinish the pews or scrap the pews and put chairs in this space. There was a
lot of conversation and energy around
pews vs. chairs.
Let me just say that
that discussion has been tabled for the foreseeable future. We have not come to a common mind about where
we are going in the pews/chairs debate -so we've put that on hold for the time
being. We may revisit that question in
a couple of years.For the time being we
will retain the pews, but will not refinish them.
Now for
the sake of this sermon- I would like you to think about what might be a dealbreaker for you. Something that you might
have a really hard time swallowing. Maybe you like the altar where it is and moving
it right over there is going to be really hard. Maybe you really like the idea
of having cool air pumping into the
sanctuary during the summer, but what if we don't end up getting air conditioning in the sanctuary.
Maybe you need to think a little more hypothetically
to find a deal breaker- for a moment let’s pretend we've move a few years into the future and a decision is made to take out the pews
and put chairs into this space.
For some there may be
still no deal breakers- so let’s have
some fun and get really radical- just
bear with me you will see where we are going in a moment. What if we were going
to install a large screen to project music onto ceiling, scrap the choir and start singing rock music. Would that feel like a deal breaker? What if we decided to scrap Holy Eucharist and
start spending an hour in silent meditation with lots of smoky incense filling
the room?
Now I’m imaging
everyone’s got a deal breaker- if not bear with me.
For a moment, I want you to imagine Jesus
calling you to move in the opposite direction of your deeply held deal
breaker. What if Jesus was calling you
to let go of your deal breaker to follow him? Could you do it? Could you leave pews behind for chairs- if
Jesus called you to do so? Could you embrace a large screen that descended from
the ceiling and rock music if Jesus was calling this community to do so? He’s
not calling us to this, but just bear with me.
Could you embrace a
sanctuary that is not air conditioned or has pew cushions or a wood floor where
the carpet now is? What if Jesus was calling you to let go of your deal
breakers in order to follow him? Could you do it?
That’s really what
happening in today’s Gospel story- Jesus in the Gospel this morning is calling
his followers to let go of their deal breakers so that they might come and follow him into the kingdom of God. Jesus says to a young
man along the road- Come follow me. But,
but, but Jesus first --- let me go and bury my father. Let the dead bury their own dead. To another person- Hey-Come follow me— but, but, but Jesus first let
me go kiss my wife and children good bye- no one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
Now on the surface this
Gospel this appears to be showing an extremely insensitive and unsympathetic
Jesus- How could Jesus ask that guy not to bury his dead father-- but this is
not “pastorally insensitive” Jesus- Jesus is not calling that young man to not
go and bury his father-- he’s not calling us to leave our families behind- most
of us are called to bring the kingdom of God into our homes, into our families
into our workplaces.
What I think Jesus is saying
there can be no stipulations in following him, there can be no idols, there can
be no deal breakers.
If you hang around with
Jesus long enough- he’s going to challenge your allegiances, he’s going
challenge your deal breakers.—I will follow you Jesus, but I can't take it that
far. I will follow you but you can’t
impinge on that part of my life. I will
follow you, but I need to be in control of the direction. The Gospel
this morning tells us that those are unacceptable responses.
Following Jesus is not EASY.
Love your neighbor, pray for those who
persecute you forgive someone seventy times seven. Are those things easy? They may the Ten Commandments look like child’s
play.
Foxes have holes, birds
have nests but the son of Man has no place to lay his head. Following
Jesus may be difficult- letting go of
deal breakers is incredibly difficult.
But following Jesus
also leads to the kingdom of God- not just a future kingdom that we enter into when
our hearts stop beating and we take our last breath. Jesus leads us to the kingdom breaking in
here and now- but to experiences the fullness, the richness, the beauty of the
kingdom right here, right now we might just need to let go of some of our deal
breakers. Can we do it?
AMEN
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