|
|
PENTECOST
15-A (PROPER 16)
24 August AD 2008
"For
as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all
have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of another."
Romans 12:4-5, Matthew 16:13-20
I.
N. I.
Every so
often I find myself watching Channel 13, our PBS station, and
when I do they are undoubtedly in the middle of a fund raiser
to keep the network going. Caren asked me once, "do you enjoy
watching them ask for money?" "No," I said. But
on these nights 13 airs special shows that you will not view on
anywhere else on TV. No one, not NBC, CBS, none of them will bring
you the concerts that PBS will, with names like Luciano Pavaroti,
Sarah Brightman, Andrew Lloyd Weber.
The last
time I tuned in we saw an Andrew Rue concert. He had an orchestra
set up in the middle of a European city, (was it Amsterdam?) It
was a delightful setting; it was evening and all ancient buildings
on the square were awash with lights. The concert was serious
with some lighter moments. The audience loved it and the viewers
at home were invited to become members of 13 to insure that such
quality events would continue for decades to come.
I'm not appealing
to you for money. I love music. I love all kinds of music. I particularly
delight in ancient music. Some of this stems from the curriculum
used in the public schools, but my parents thought it was a good
idea for me to take accordion lessons. I think I lost interest
in the accordion because I was all alone. It's not like you can
join an orchestra and become first accordionist at Carnegie Hall.
And I didn't know any bands that needed an accordionist. You can
imagine how popular playing an accordion was in the 1970s. We
hadn't yet heard of Al Yankovic.
If you have
musical talent you want to use it; you want to entertain your
friends; you want to glorify God; and if you are really good,
you'll want to make money. You want to harness your talents and
blend them with others so that you make a really good sound.
A good orchestra
is made up of people with diverse talents. Most orchestras will
need only one accordionist-if any at all. With an accordion you
need brass horns and a drum, maybe a clarinet and an oboe, and
a good pair of lederhosen. I'm thinking a glockenspiel might good
to have too. And, what about a washboard? You gotta have a washboard
in an accordion band.
But all those instruments by themselves are not much fun. Go ahead,
find me a washboard player with a solo album. I have a CD that
features cello music with violin: Emmauel Ax and Yoyo Ma. A very
serious kind of listening. But I don't think they sold lots of
them. A violin by itself, taxes even my patience, give me something
from the dark ages or the Renaissance. Oboes and glockenspiel
are the same, solo they don't cut it. But as part of an orchestra
they are indispensable. Put a bunch of them together with a good
composer-director, like John Williams, and BAAM!- you've got Star
Wars; and Indiana Jones is coming to the rescue.
Under the
direction and head of a good director the violins, the cellos,
the harp, the drum, the brass, the woodwinds….all take their
place. The director orders their talents, and arranges them to
compliment one another. Together they are greater than the sum
of their individual parts. Under his direction they are a thing
with life and spirit. The music begins to excite us, it pleases
us, and sometimes it teases us, and it moves us.
We have a
Good Director; he is also called the Good Shepherd. Our Creator
and Lord, Jesus, is our spiritual head. He wants to order our
days and talents and other gifts, for the benefit of his universal
(catholic) Church.
We've been
reading through Romans, and if there is anything you know by now,
it's that this Church is universal, she is made up of Jew and
gentile: those who thought they were elect and special in God's
sight, and the Johnny-Come-Latelies, for whom the Jews had to
make place. It's like when you have some crazy modern piece of
music to play, and the woodwinds, brass and strings having to
move over for the new guy who plays the wood blocks, the raspy
thing, the can filled with the dry beans, and the whistle, and
kazoo.
Today American
Christianity is facing a real problem. Jesus' Church is changing
dramatically. The established WASP-ish churches are dwindling,
closing up left and right all across the USA. The children do
not share the faith, the values and the worship tastes of their
fathers. In a real sense it represents the failure of a generation
to share their love for God and their traditions with the next.
A phone call
I took Monday morning was from a man who wanted a good pre-school
experience for his child. He wasn't looking for religion. He wondered
if his child could be given something else to do when it was time
for the religion lesson. Here is person for whom Jesus grieves.
He obviously has not met the Lord whose love for those who people
his Church is unconditional. He has not compre-hended in a personal
way, the Jesus who died in our place. The Lord of love, Jesus,
died and rose again, not to make us guilty, but to remove from
us our guilt and shame and all that keeps us from the joy and
peace that is God.
Younger Americans
are loathe to join things-unless it is a soccer league for the
kids or a softball team at work. Near the hospital where my mother-in-law
is recuperating, a local fire company has a sign out front begging
for new members. You wouldn't have seen that a generation ago-there
was no need to advertise, people were proud to volunteer-to be
part of something greater than themselves. We find the same thing
in phenomena in our churches. People are too busy to part of a
band, everyone wants to go solo. No one wants to be ordered into
something grand, universal. But those who do find themselves with
Peter uniquely "blessed."
Solo acts
only go so far, my accordion sits idle and unused. I don't like
playing alone. When the Almighty said, "it is not good for
the man to be alone" he may have had more in mind than just
a life partner, a wife. I am willing to bet that God had in mind
already then, community-the joy of community and the body of Christ.
Somewhere
in that body there is a comfortable shoulder to lean on, a hand
holding out a tissue, a wise person who has already walked the
road you're on. Who is there for you? Who are you there for? Together
you have been ordered and arranged into the body of Christ, Jesus
is the head, we are his limbs. We do his work. We joyfully serve
the One who served us, the One who gave his life as our ransom.
The kids at the car wash are just as valued as the man who painted
the hallway, or counts the collection.
Individually
we a so very little. Together we have Spirit, the Holy Spirit
who helps us to recognize and confess the cosmic reality, Jesus
Christ is Lord! He is Savior and messiah, the Son of the living
God. Together, we are blessed!
I am grateful to Ms Susan Epper on whose original
sermon this message was based.
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Hamburg, NJ 07419
|
