Stir it Up!

Sermon Hebrews 10:19-23; 24-25 January 26, 2019 Presbytery of Eastern Virginia (PEVA) assembly, theme: new mission statement-“We build bridges across divides to deepen connection to Christ and one another to serve the world.”

Stir it Up!

It always happens on those mornings when time is essential. Just as the kids are told to hurry and get dressed, a voice emerges, “Why?” In an attempt to be a good parent, all the reasons about how important it is to get dressed are presented. How wearing pajamas to school is not acceptable. What we need to do is just get dressed and get in the car. And the voice is not satisfied, “Why?” So, again, we try our best to say what is important and how we must do this thing called getting dressed. And in desperation the child’s voice says, “BUT, Why?” And in desperation the parent in us yells, “Because, I said so!”

Probably the hardest thing to do in life is to explain the why of something when we really don’t know the why. Why aren’t we allowed to where pajamas to school or work or church? Perhaps, it’s because of rules, or tradition, or culture, or…we really don’t know why, so we say-‘because, I said so’.

In the life of the church, we get so used to doing and being. We get so used to what we do over and over again and how we do all things, but we get stopped dead in our tracks when we are asked why we are the church? And like the exasperated parent with the child we stomp our feet and yell, “because, I said so!”

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was deeply concerned for the church there.

The church had become stuck.

It had forgotten the why of its being.

It was losing its sense of purpose and people were becoming inattentive, disagreeable, disenchanted, and mostly disengaged from one another.

It was a tough time in the life of the body of Christ in this first century community.

The writer of this letter comes along with some challenging words and some serious admonitions.

Sometimes the things we least wish to hear are things we most need to change our ways of thinking and living.

Sometimes we need a voice to stir us up and to move us forward.

Sometimes we need a reminder of whose we are and why we are.

Perhaps, the early church had the same issues we do today.

Perhaps, they were complaining about the outdated music, or the sermons that were irrelevant, or the Bible stories didn’t fit their modern culture.

Perhaps, they were having trouble reaching the younger generation.

Perhaps, they were complaining that the other churches didn’t care enough about them. Perhaps they felt left out of the bigger churches.

Perhaps they felt the churches in Rome or Corinth or Ephesus were getting all the attention and weren’t helping them.

Perhaps, the burden of keeping things going was just too much.

Perhaps, this idea of being the church just wasn’t worth it anymore.

Perhaps, they were just bored.

They suffered decreased attendance and a lack of zeal-the newness of being church had left them and the descendants of those first generation followers of Jesus just didn’t get it anymore.

Boy, can we relate to that?

Every generation needs a chance to ‘get it’ again.

Every generation needs to stop when they hear themselves say, ‘because I said so’.

Every generation,

every generation

needs a reminder of their why before any of the enthusiasm, wonder, joy, and the power of love and good works can occur.

Why are we followers of Jesus?

Why, Jesus?

In verse 19 we hear, ‘Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain…since we have a great priest…”

This is why!

The glorious promises of our grounding are here in these words-we have confidence by the cross of Jesus to be reconciled to God-we have a great priest!

The chasm of separation has been crossed. The divides from our connection to God have been bridged by Jesus.

Not only has Jesus spanned the chasm to return us to God, but Jesus has spanned across all generations to draw us into life and into love and good works.

That’s our why!

Wow!

To be connected

to be drawn to God

who draws us together

in one another

as the body of Christ-

what could be more wonderful than that?!

 If this is old and boring news, then let’s hear it again, as if it is fresh (like a first love or a first kiss) and we are hearing it for the very first time…

You see, Friends, there comes a time when an important truth becomes clear. When this truth emerges from the clouds of darkness, when it comes into focus, it reveals the path forward. It renews our souls and it revives our spirits in ways we have not known before.

With clarity the truth that Jesus loves us washes over us and seals us forever.

We are grounded in the truth of Christ’s confidence. We approach God with faith. We hold fast in hope. We help one another in love.

I love this Greek word ‘paroxysmos’ because it means encouragement. Yet, it can also means to pester, to push, to provoke, to stir it up!

And sometimes if we’re apathetic we need a stir it up to get us on the move again.

Every generation needs to stir it up, to be inventive, to be provoked into being the people of God to love and good works.

As the presbytery council, we struggled with our why.

We all know and recognize we are followers of Jesus, but why and why are we a presbytery here with these most wonderful churches, ministers, elders and members?

Why, has God determined we are the church here in this place and in this 21^st century.

And so, in retreat and in prayer and discernment, we discovered the power of God within us to show us not just who we are but why we are. And the way became clear that God has called us through Jesus Christ to span the divides with love and good works, to build bridges as we deepen our faith, and learn from each other and together go out and serve the world beyond us. We believe this is our why for PEVA. We don’t know the details of how and what it looks like-that’s what we can do together as we ask the why of our commissions and committees, as we ask the way of our congregations. God will make the way clear and the path will be revealed.

Allow God to stir it up in us! May we rejoice with a little provocation from the Spirit.

There are several things planned for our participation that can assist us in our faith, hope and love. There are retreats in spirituality planned, educational opportunities, leadership experiences. All of these things are there to help us bridge the divides of our geographic and relational realities. They are there to help us get to know our neighborhoods. We can trust these opportunities and learn to take risks together. As we get to know each other more and more we recognize our opportunities to build alliances and partnerships. The opportunity to discover the truth of our why even allows us to appreciate the moments we disagree or experience conflict or face the onslaughts of brokenness. 

Because as we are sealed through love, we learn to live it in the most challenging ways.

We build bridges across divides to deepen connection to Christ and one another to serve the world, came out of this need to know our why as PEVA. We honestly believe our lives together are vital for the church of Jesus Christ to the next generation.

We are stirred up to love and good works.

We are excited about the future and confident in the present.

We trust our connections with each other as we move forward together.

If we can all agree that we love God and one another, 
then 
let us consider this as our encouragement 
to meet together 
to work for good deeds,
and to serve the world. 
We have these things in common,-
faith, hope and love-
let's begin to live what we believe.

Not because I said so, but because we are followers of Jesus, and we see the Day approaching. Amen.