Cultivating Mission
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
October 30, 2011
Matthew 25:31-46
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?”Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’
Jeremiah 29:1-7
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah, and the queen mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the artisans, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah sent to Babylon to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. It said: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
“Hello Prime First Credit. My name is Peggy. May I help you?” OK, how many of you know who Peggy is? For those of you who haven’t let me explain. Peggy, is not a she but a he. He is a bearded, middle aged generic eastern European sounding man who is working for this rather non-descript credit card company at a shack of a call center in the arctic. He is supposed to be a customer service representative. When people call, regardless of the problem they have, they are given either misleading answers, no answer at all or are simply passed from one customer non-service agent to another. In the end, not a single caller is ever helped. So the second question is how many of you have ever had to deal with a Peggy? You get on the phone, call the customer service line and you begin to wonder if the people on the other end are related to Peggy…that is if you can actually speak with a real human voice. For those of you who have suffered through this you know how frustrating it can be.
This morning though what I want to do is turn the tables for a few minutes and ask, what would you think if a huge portion of the world thought of us, the church, as a Peggy? Let me explain what I mean. We live in a hurting world. We live in a world which is crying out because of human trafficking, a lack of clean water, crime and injustice, war, famine, disaster, inadequate education, HIV AIDS, fear, loneliness and a lack of meaning and purpose. The world has been and continues to call to the church seeking help. Yet over the two thousand year history of the church of Jesus Christ the church has often acted like Peggy. We hear the people call for help but we respond with; we deal with spiritual and not physical needs; we are not a social service agency; that is the role of the government; or we are too busy arguing about how many angels fit on the head of a pin to hear the voices at all. The world has called and the church has passed the needy from one organization to another.
It is in our Peggy moments then when Jesus calls to us once again out of the Gospel of Matthew. Just as he reminded the disciples, he reminds us that as God’s customer service agents here on earth…bet you never thought of yourselves that way did you…that our end of life evaluation will be based on how we treated the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless and the imprisoned. I realize that many of you will object to that kind of image. After all we are saved by grace through faith according to Paul. However, according to Jesus God is going to be doing some separating of the sheep from the goats based on how we have dealt with those who called on the “I’m in need” hotline. Jesus will either say, “You did it to one of the least of these and thus did it to me,” or he will say just the opposite. While we may wonder why Jesus would be this blunt, all we have to do is remember why God called a people, first the Jews and then added Gentiles to them, in the first place.
Why did God call a people? God called a people in order to bless the world. That’s right we are to be a community of blessing. God did not call a people in order that we enjoy the benefits of membership. God called a people in order that they be God’s boots on the ground to help this world look more and more like God’s own kingdom. This was the message first given to Abram, that through him and his family, God would bless the world. It is the same message that came to Jeremiah, which he was supposed to give to God’s people in exile. I want us to pause here for a moment and consider Jeremiah…who is a prophet whom most people know little about. Jeremiah was writing to God’s people who had been brutally carried off into exile thousands of miles from home. Their nation was in shambles. Their army destroyed. And what does God tell Jeremiah to proclaim? God wants God’s people to bless the Babylonians who had defeated them. God’s people were to be a people of blessing to their enemies. Why? Because that is who God’s people were and are; a community of blessing.
The wonderful thing about First Presbyterian Church is that we understand this. We have come to the realization that we are to be a community of faith that blesses the world around us. From tutoring in Pontiac, to work at Fort Street, to helping the homeless through SOS and Welcome Inn, to Focus Hope, to the Mexico Mission Trips, to training nurses in Haiti, to all of the many agencies we assist through First Foundation, Rummage Sale proceeds, Deacons and all of our special offerings we bless hundreds if not thousands of people a year. The mission to serve those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and homeless is part of our life together. Yet you all have said what we are doing is not enough. Throughout the responses we received from you about the vision of this church you told us that you believed God wanted us to be a community of Christ that had a greater and more profound impact on this community and on this world.
I will pause here for a moment and say, I know that some of you feel overwhelmed already with what you are asked to do and with the needs of those around you. You may be thinking, I can’t do any more. What we are asking, or what you asked for the vision to be, was not simply that we do more and more and more until we all burn out. What you were asking is that mission, serving those Jesus spoke of as well as others become a central part of the very DNA of our church. It means that our ears are become more and more attuned to the cries of a hurting world. It means we do not pass people off to someone else but respond, “Hello, my name is Christian, how can I help you?” It means we can honestly say when people ask about First Presbyterian Church, that we are a community of blessing that works to make the world a better place. While we cannot solve every problem we can listen for God’s call as to those places where we as Everybody’s Church can offer creative, life changing solutions for those in need.
What I want to offer you then is a twofold challenge. First, as you consider what you will give financially to the life and work of First Presbyterian, consider that you are giving to a community of blessing, where we are determined to make mission a priority over the next five years. Second, ask yourself this…how am I answering the call of a hurting world? Am I answering, “Hello this is Peggy” or “Hello, I am Christian, how can I help in the name of Jesus?”
