WITHOUT COMPARISON
Preached on June 28, 1998
by The Reverend Dr. Thomas C. Sheffield
Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34 Philippians 3:10-15
Were you raised the same way I was raised? One should
always, in front of persons outside the family,
remain silent about personal matters. Actually
it was also true that even in front of certain family members
certain topics were deemed inappropriate, if not taboo. Not everything
should or could be told in front of grandparents, for example,
in order that certain images of parenting and childhood accomplishments
be maintained. The advice rings clearly still today: "Don't
air your dirty linen in public. It is none of their business.
Keep you nose out of their business, too."
Were you raised the way I was raised? If you were, you
understand that it is with some trepidation that
I start to talk today about all of our personal
lives. But as Paul said to some of his friends -- "You forced
me to it." You forced me because I know that there is something
stirring, something happening, in this church. More people
are studying in the church than nearly ever before.
More and more people want to have their lives
touch and be touched by others in prayer. There is an obvious
openness to all kinds of worship experiences -- from
the quiet of the Taize service to the soul-chilling
service of God's Trombones, from services that involve
many in creative activities at 8:30 in the morning to the candlelit
chapel service of prayer and silence and healing. Something
is happening that reveals an openness for the
presence of God in our lives. Something is happening
that shows people in this church want their whole lives lived as
disciples of Christ.
A little more than two years ago the officers of the
church promised that for the next three years
they would try, as they came to word it, "to make
stewardship a year-round way of life." It was both a desire
to create opportunities for something new and different and also
a willingness to see what already was happening. People
want, they felt too, to take seriously their calls
to be disciples. Stewardship is not just giving
money once a week. It isn't just making a pledge once a year.
It is the way we live as giving people all week, all year. It is
the way we live out our being the disciples of Jesus
Christ.
There is a yearning in our congregation to have faith
be more than a Sunday word. There is a hunger
to have Christ's love and power, Christ's grace
and presence, Christ's call and challenge, be living experiences
that penetrate and envelop.
Now, think about this: it is the life that Jesus envisioned
for us. A life that took in the power of the Spirit
and made evident its effects. A life that did
not let a day go by without wondering about God.
A life that sought the unique way that God was moving in one's
life. Look at the people that Jesus encountered in his
ministry. That is what he wanted for them. He
wanted them to find and know and live the life
that was truly, eternally, uniquely, their lives. He hated comparisons
between people. That is what got him irritated at Martha, when
she wanted Jesus to chastise her sister, Mary, for lolling around
the dining room when she was sweating in the kitchen.
It wasn't that he thought Martha was worse and
Mary was better. What got Jesus stirred up was
Martha's wanting Mary to do what she was doing. It was that Martha
wanted Mary to live her life. Jesus wanted Mary to live
her own. He wanted her to choose her life and
live her life. He wanted her to receive his presence
into her life and then do as she and only she could do.
For most of my years as a Presbyterian and a preacher,
when that passage from Philippians was read my
ears clutched ferociously to the words: "Not that
I have already obtained that or have already reached the
goal." I liked that and I knew countless others who liked those
words, too. We are not perfect in our lives. We haven't
yet got everything figured out or settled.
I still think that is true. But I also think that we
have gotten too settled in being unsettled. We
have grown used to our compromises and our inconsistencies.
We have found a comfortable middle ground in which
to exist that doesn't let us appear too religious and yet allows
us to accomplish that which still calls to us from some
deep place in our hearts. "No, I don't know the
Bible too well," we say with feigned embarrassment.
"I know I should pray more," we say, and leave unsaid the
significant words, "but I have no intention of changing." In so
many ways we know our lives are not quite right, but
something has kept us from doing anything about
them. We know we should spend more time with family.
We know we should let go of that grudge. We know we aren't
as close as we used to be. All the right words are heard and
known, but they remain even after all these years slightly
strange and unfamiliar. Even the One whom we have
called "Lord," in whose name each prayer is spoken,
and to whom hymns are sung that bring tears to our eyes,
is a stranger to us.
"Who do you say that I am," said Jesus. And we must
answer, "We aren't always sure. We aren't always
sure." We have lingered too long in our imperfections,
doubts and anxieties. And, in so doing, if I may be
personal, we have missed the life that could be ours.
We have settled for what we have and we have neglected
the even more important words that Paul wrote:
"I press on toward the goal for the prize of the
heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus." I press on. That
is what Jesus still is calling us to do. That is what Jesus seeks
us to say as we live in this day. I press on to understand.
I press on to figure out what can be figured out.
I press on to discover what it is that God wants
me to do and see and know. I press on to live the life
that is uniquely and miraculously mine. I press on to learn more
and more about what God is doing in the world, in the
lives around me and in my life. I press on to
become, with all my heart and mind and soul and
strength, the disciple of Jesus Christ that God calls me to become.
The Covenant of Personal Life that is in each bulletin
this morning is a way for you to press on. It
isn't meant to be a check list for righteousness.
It is a suggested list for you to get wondering, thinking,
and being the one God wants you and only you to be. It is a way
for you to begin to open the way for God to come into a new,
untouched, untapped place in your life. It is a way for
you to do what you always have meant to do, but
have never had the time or the courage or the
prodding. It is a way for you to seek for the next year the things
that will begin again to make discipleship something more than a
sometimes thought and bring to be an everyday decision.
We will take time today for you to look them over. I
encourage you to pray about each. Are you where
you want to be? Are you where God wants you to
be? Are there other decisions and directions that you are being
called to make? Write them down. Make them a covenant, a covenant
of your heart, as Jeremiah called it, a covenant, a promise grounded
in Christ's promise to be with us always, that you will carry
out in order to press on to the life Christ is seeking
you to live. As you know from last week's service,
there will be opportunities to consider three
other covenants that focus our attention on three other parts
of our lives. But you can be assured that we will continue also
to emphasize this covenant and find ways to help you
remember and find support for what you need to
do and say.
For example, at the end of the service, if you like,
you can add your name to the long sheet of paper
that is found alongside the covenant in the narthex.
Let others know that you are making a promise for
discipleship in your life. Let others pray for you, as you pray for
them. Let others know they are not alone in their struggle
to press on.
I know that this is somewhat different from our usual
procedure, but that is precisely what we are seeking
to do -- break out of what we have been doing
and start doing what we should be doing -- take a risk and
come closer to the Living Life of Christ -- with the stroke of a
pen, with the offering of a silent prayer, you could
become the disciple Christ always has hoped you
would become.
Now, let's think in silence and pray and consider this
Covenant for our lives.
A Covenant for Personal Discipleship
Because God has given me life and called me to be a
disciple, I covenant the next year to ...
