September 4, 2005  16^th Sunday after Pentecost   

Romans 13:8-14  Matthew 18:15-29

Gary E. Benson

Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester, Minnesota

 

“The Work of the People”

Was your life and spirit interrupted and moved to tears and pain this past week?  My computer comes up to USA Today. I clicked on the 63 pictures of the devastation in New Orleans, and, without question, the scope of the situation was beyond pictures and verbal description. It is simply pain of the soul. Then that evening on TV, I noted the 800 people, created in the image of God, while in a religious procession, were trampled on a bridge in Iraq when someone started a rumor of a suicide bomber on the bridge. Then I listened to a new country western song, “Arlington,” which speaks of soldiers making the ultimate sacrifice for one’s country and then, in death, quote “making it to Arlington!”

 

Psychologists call it “survivor’s remorse;” you hear about it regarding survivors from car and airplane crashes, to war, to natural disasters. Trust me, today we ought not gather together as the people of God with “survivor’s remorse.” Rather, as we take our worship and world seriously, we do more than observe devastation and pain from a distance. We do more than examine our “feelings” on this Labor Day weekend when we ask, “Today, what is the work of the people (the faithful/the church) in the world?” 

 

Some historical perspective regarding such a question. I will pick on those I know the best – those who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s.  Not to say that it was right or not so right, but as I recall, in reference to the “work of the People of the Church in the world,” at the time of my youth, for most, it meant going to church on Sunday, “sending” some money to foreign nations for missionary work, and, for the most part, simply “being good people.”  And with certainty, even though it was emerging, entering into social concerns of justice, hunger, human rights was, at best, very divisive. The work of the people, in the minds of most people, was simply about “faith in Jesus” in a very private manner and very vertical “me and Jesus style.”  Certainly any topic or issue of a controversial, difficult nature was divisive and, therefore, seldom was brought forward.  ……….Now decades forward to 2005.

 

Each week an acolyte processes with the cross up the aisle and at the end of the worship down the aisle. What does this symbolize?  It symbolizes that faithfulness is not simply about “me and Jesus,” (vertical) it is about “me and Jesus in the world” (horizontal), let us say.  It is about “being the light,” “lifting the burdens,” entering into the world where Jesus calls us to share our gifts, talents, resources, faith witness, to be a blessing.  That is to say, the “work of the people of God is personal, but it is not private!”  The worship is in this place, but the service/witness is “out there,” as we scatter to our homes, work, community, and world.

 

I think of last Tuesday at the Habitat House – it was so awesome; it was hilarious.  In a small bedroom we must have had eight people trying to sheetrock. It was unbelievable – hammering, cutting, talking, watching –  it was all going on. And even though it may not have been real efficient, it was all about faithfulness. It was hands and hearts of God’s people at work on the site we stood a couple of months ago with the cross symbolizing the work and presence of Christ.  The ministry of Christ scattered………(read the newsletter insert)

 

Or I think of two weeks ago, sitting with the Director of Outreach from the ELCA regional office, Pastor Richard Mork, who had come with former refugee, now recently ordained Sudanese Pastor Mawien Ariik.  This meeting of listening, thinking, processing was not about pounding nails and building homes, it was about listening to our own member, Magok Alim, and other Sudanese Christians from our Rochester community and asking how the Cross of Christ, the ministry of  Jesus Christ, can enter more fully into the lives of those persons.  I appreciated so much what Mork said, “Years ago we would send people from here to the nations, now the nations have come to us – what an opportunity.”

 

In that regard, previous to 1993, when I came to ZLC, the congregations where I served had not used a processional cross. In the thoughts of some, it was too quote “high church” -- don’t understand it so I don’t like, need it, or want to deal with it!  Now at ZLC, I believe we diminish our worship and are delinquent if we do not process and recess the cross. Why? Because it is the Cross of Christ which not only symbolizes our faith, but also propels our mission. Outside the doors of the church, the Cross of Reconciliation symbolizes the truth that as the People of God, we have had the cross placed on our forehead in baptism. Now as claimed and sent people we find our purpose --our mission/witness/ministry into/to the world. This is not an end, but a place of beginning.

 

Yes, as liturgy is by definition, “the work of the people,”  we gather around the cross to be fed and equipped; and we scatter to take the Cross of Christ – expressions and witness of God’s goodness and mercy – into the world.  As Dr. David Preus, years ago, would preach, “You don’t give to the church, you give through the church.”  The church is the mission station where we worship, are equipped, then sent – to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

 

A Lutheran was invited to a meeting of Quaker Friends.  Anxious to participate in a new  and  unfamiliar  religious  experience,  the  Lutheran eagerly said, “Yes.” They arrived a few minutes before meeting time, and they sat in silence.  Gradually the chairs filled up.  Still, the whole place was quiet.  After 25 minutes of silence and no sign of a pastor – in fact, no activity at all up front –  the Lutheran asked the Quaker, “When does the service begin?”  The Quaker answered, “When the worship ends.”

 

Note the printed words at the end of worship: The worship is over, the service begins!