Called Out

We are talking about family this month.  Last week explored the definition of family –how it is the blood is thicker than water. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and how blessed it is when we are family by both faith and by genetics or choice. We are able to stand in this world when we are rooted in the family of God.

Today I want to talk about the roots of community. As our world shrinks with communication technology we become more and more segmented as we spend more and more time in front of our screens –Computer screens, television screens and smartphone screens. In a moment I can contact our missionaries and communicate with the Ndjungus in Cameroon and the Pratts in Jamaica. I can see pictures of my cousin in New Hampshire and see the latest news in Palestine. But it’s been since mid-June that I have seen our neighbors that live just up the hill.

Think about the two or three houses nearest to yours. Have you met them? If you have met them could you become acquaintances with them? If you are an acquaintance with them could you invite them to a cook out?  If you have invited them to a cook out could you become friends with them? 

Significant things happen; Real “church happens when people live, work, worship, go to school, eat, grow, learn, heal and play in proximity to each other.” (From Slow Church-cultivating community in the patient way of Jesus).

This church is deeply rooted in this neighborhood. It’s one of our strengths. We will never be one of those cookie-cutter organizations that have homogenized programs. We are a distinctly local expression of the global body of Christ. Can you, in the name of Jesus deepen your interpersonal roots with your neighbors?

Imagine for a moment that this church building is not here. Imagine that you are in your home and this particular piece of real estate on the corner of Morton and Kinney is vacant, Just beautiful wild grass and whatever else nature may have produced here. Now imagine that a car stops at this corner and someone gets out and opens a folding chair and sits down right next to one of those big beautiful trees and the car drives away. 

That person is here for a purpose.  What is his purpose? You stop by and ask.  Turns out it is Jesus.  Not someone representing Jesus or someone with a Christ-like attitude but Jesus himself. Imagine that Jesus in the flesh is sitting in a chair in this spot instead of you and instead of this church building.  He says that he is going to stay for a long time right in this area doing his fathers will.  He’s not going to spend too much time in Ludington or Scottville, there are churches there taking care of things.  He isn’t going to go down to Pentwater or Hart, that’s covered too.  What do you think Jesus on the corner of Morton and Kinney would do? …That’s what we should do.

To be the church means to be called out by Jesus Christ to be his body; to be his physical presence on this earth. And St. Paul UMC is called to be the body at the corner of Morton and Kinney.

“Up to Here, the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). The Israelite army had some success and they thanked God for it. The Judge Samuel took a rock and make and impromptu altar and honored god. He named the rock Ebenezer. That was a good place to worship and honor God. It was good because it was right where they experienced the blessing.

How many of you grew up within 15 miles of this spot? Can you count the blessings you have experienced in all of your years?  This is a good place to worship and honor God because it is right where we are experiencing God’s blessings.

So there’s Jesus sitting in his folding chair by a tree on the corner of Morton and Kinney.  What do you suppose is the first thing he would do?

I think he would start calling some disciples, probably a number that was manageable let’s just say…12.

Does Jesus wait until people stop by to see him?

What does he tell them?

What does he teach them?

What does he send them to do?

Who do they say he is?

Who do you say he is?

We know how Simon Peter answered that question. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered, “you are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church…”

Samuel experienced the blessing of God through success in battle and found a rock to honor God.

Simon, now Peter experienced a blessing from the Son of God because of his confession that Jesus was the Christ the son of the living God.” That rock, that statement, that understanding of who God is is the foundation, the cornerstone of the church.

Jesus is the Christ.  Jesus is the Son of the Living God. If we are going to know Christ and make him known. That is the first thing we must know!

Now what? We are with Jesus on the corner of Morton and Kinney. What would he have us do next?

“I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”

I have this set of keys here. It opens doors that are locked. This set of keys was given to me when I became pastor here three years ago.  Do you suppose they were given to me to hold on to and to not use them?  Or do you suppose they were given to me so that I could open doors.

Jesus has given us the keys to heaven. Based on the confession that Jesus is the son of the living God, we have been granted access, we have the power and the potential to unlock heaven.  Do you suppose the keys to heaven are meant to go unused?

Jesus said whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven. It’s locked up. Our earthly actions are tied to our heavenly rewards.  We can lock ‘em down or we can set them free.

We have been given the keys to heaven in Jesus Christ. We can as a gathered body of Christ, unlock the blessings of God. 

If I give someone the keys to my cabin I expect and I hope that they use them. I hope and expect that they use every room of the cabin.  I hope and expect that they enjoy their time at the cabin. God wants us to have every blessing in heaven. But God gives us the freedom to lock parts of it away.  We can have as much or as little of heaven as we want.

The good news is that we can remind each other of our freedom in Christ.  We can keep each other from going off the tracks.  We can move forward as the body of Christ bringing blessings to this community.

As Christians our roots go back to the Jewish tradition and the covenant first made with Noah. But we don’t replace the Jewish community, we grow out of it.

As the ones called out of this community to be the body of Christ, we don’t separate ourselves from our community we grow in it.

Jesus Christ is the redeemer and reconciler. Jesus is the beginning and the end. And we are the body of Christ for this community.  So what do we do next?