Following Jesus…to where?

Sermon Mark 8:27-38 September 16, 2018 Ordinary Time

Following Jesus…to where?

Life is messy.

We know that more due to the events of this past week than we really might want to admit. A hurricane was coming and we had to decide how we would respond to it. Was it really going to come to the Shore? It doesn’t usually.

Do we pray it away?

And if we do, where does it go?

But, would we just accept it the way it was?

No.

We decide to pray for it to go away,

to be just a storm,

anything to keep the chaos away.

And that is ok according to the words of Jesus about prayer.

Schools were closed. Our VDOT folks had to go into disaster mode. Our local first responders

had to stay alert and be ready for the next phase. The stores had to triple their supplies. Homes had to prepare, stock up, clean up, check on their neighbors. People had to evacuate Zone A areas. Churches, restaurants, and theaters cancelled events and shut down. It was messy for our regular way of life.

The storm went south and has decimated areas of North Carolina and is relentless there. It is far from over.

So, we keep praying for the storm to go away.

And we ask ourselves why are we still praying?

And we answer ourselves (because that’s what people like me who talk to themselves do),

‘we are still praying because we know God shows up.’

In our prayers, God is there.

In our messes, God is there.

In our fear, God is there.

In the storm, God is there.

And in the absence of the storm, God is there.

God shows up.

This is what we believe.

When we read in the gospel the question Jesus asks, ‘who do you say that I am?’ Are we like Peter and state clearly what we believe?

We believe that God shows up in Jesus Christ.

That God shows up in Jesus as our Savior, the Messiah.

God showed up in the beginning of creation sorting out the chaos and bringing order to it. God is still showing up in the chaos and sorting it out and bringing order to it.

If I believe that, really believe it, then when Jesus asks me the question about who I think he is, what is my answer?

This is my chance to say what I really believe.

This is my chance to be authentic about my faith.

This is my chance to be honest with myself, with Jesus,

and with the people around me who will hear my answer.

Because when I give my answer

I am telling all, everyone,

how I believe about me.

Huh?! What’d you say?

You see, how we live our lives,

how we work out our faith,

how we commit ourselves to following Jesus and who he is

is the measure of our discipleship.

It is our answer to the question who we say Jesus is.

Who I am is how I am a follower of Jesus.

Following Jesus…to where, then?

Have we been in conversations about shaming others and blaming. Have we been pointing our fingers at ‘those people’? Have we been more accuser and judge? Is our Jesus we follow the right Jesus, and all the others are wrong because they look different from us? If so, then we are telling everyone exactly who we are and the Jesus we believe in.

OR…

Have we been the ones who have sought to lift up those in need? Have we been in conversation where we have held up the integrity of human love. Have we looked to those who are beyond our understanding and reached out and called them neighbor? If so, then this is the Jesus people see and this is how I believe about me.

We hear a lot about integrity these days and we hear a lot about being Christian. It is Christians against Christians in several arenas. And it bruises my soul to hear it and to watch it.

When I come back to the gospel and read the words of Jesus again, I hear Jesus speaking to me and asking me if I’m willing to take up the cross. Now, what does that look like in my life? How do the anxieties of our finances, of our jobs, of our children, of our communities fit into this cross carrying kind of life?

Jesus is calling us to live lives where we are healthy in our bodies, in our minds and in our spirits. Perhaps, cross carrying is assumed to be suffering as Jesus suffered. 

Perhaps, cross carrying is assumed to be as it was in the crusades where people were oppressed and persecuted into believing.

But, maybe the suffering of the cross is not about self-abasing but about self-reflecting.

If Jesus asks us to take up our cross without thinking about who we are and what we are doing when we carry it, we are doing the cross carrying a disservice.

Jesus is asking us not to be ashamed of what we believe nor how we carry our cross as disciples.

As we self-reflect,

we open up our vulnerability.

We open ourselves to places of pain,

places of hurt,

places of sorrow,

places of regret,

places of shame,

places of vanity,

and violence.

Jesus asks us to lift up our cross and

be released

from the things

we have allowed the world

and our own heart

to define us.

Let us be fully aware that God loves us and that God shows up all the time.

As we carry this cross, God is taking our insecurities and turning them into profound strength.

When we choose to carry our cross, Jesus is present in every action and every circumstance we face.

We deny ourselves-but we do not disregard ourselves.

We deny our desire to run the show for God.

We deny our notion that we have a better way of running missions and care for the poor than Jesus does.

We deny our self-importance and offer ourselves fully and totally to the God who has named us and claimed us.

When we become fully lost in Christ, his love increases, his presence in seen and known, his essence fills every space.

I now have the ability to live responsibly and to live with courage because as I go I pick up my cross. As I carry my cross I can see everyone else and their crosses. I’m not stuck in self-pity. I’m not stuck in my depression. I’m no longer stuck in self-criticism. Jesus offers us his presence as we are propelled into the world. He grants us grace to live.

Following Jesus…to where?

Following Jesus, everywhere, cross and all.

Life is messy.

God shows up.

This is what I believe.  

Amen.

Reverend Monica Gould

PCUSA

Resources: Feasting on the Word; 11^th Hour Preacher Party-Terri Cole Pilarski