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Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 26, 2007
Delivered by Reverend Sandra Stayner
Isaiah 28:14-22
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-29
Luke 13:22-30
When Jesus was traveling between towns and villages someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" "Strive to enter through the narrow door" Jesus replied, "for many will try to enter and will not be able to." Now, at first sight these might appear to be pretty harsh, judgmental words from Jesus. The doorway is narrow and many who try to enter will be unable to go through. Unfortunately some Christians through the ages have used Jesus' words as a threat to those who do not profess the same beliefs as them. "If you don't live a certain way, you have no hope of being saved" they say. But I don't hear Jesus threatening the person who asked the question about who will be saved, I hear him instead, quite simply stating the facts. "Many will try to enter and will not be able to." I remember a little skit I once saw about this passage. A young man came up to a fairly small doorway with a backpack full of stuff, bags on each shoulder and an armload of books and video games. He tried to squeeze through the door but couldn.t get through while his arms were full. So he put down the books and tried again. This time it was the bags he was carrying that prevented him fitting through the door. After several unsuccessful tries he eventually put first one bag and then the other on the ground beside him and tried to fit through once more. Unable to go through facing forward he turned sideways and tried to squeeze through the gap. Guess what! The backpack got stuck and he realized he would have to put even that down if he was going to make it through in one piece. Sadly he unpacked his bag, looked at everything he had brought with him and then laid his precious possessions on the ground one by one. Without anything in his hands or on his back he was finally able to fit though the narrow doorway and make it to the other side.
The scriptures have been full of hard sayings lately. A couple of weeks ago in our scripture from Luke, Jesus told the crowd around him, "if you want to be my disciple you must sell what you have and give it to the needy."(Luke 12:33) He didn't say give away 1% or 2% or even 5 or 10% of what you have. He simply said, "if you see someone in need, get up and help them." In other words, don't sit around wondering what you can do, take action now!. In our scripture reading last week, Jesus told his followers that the call to follow him would not necessarily bring peace to that individual. "From now on a household of five will be divided, father against son and son against father."(Luke 12:21) In some Muslim countries today it is extremely dangerous to be a follower of Christ. A person who converts to Christianity is likely to become an outcast from their family. Families with Christian converts in their midst are liable to be targeted by extremists and forced to leave their homes. The message in these two scriptures as well as our scripture from Luke today for those with ears to hear is that the cost of discipleship will always be high.
Yet some people seem to think that following Jesus simply means living a good life, working hard, doing your job to the best of your ability, raising your kids well, paying your taxes and living as a good citizen. Some people come to church not to follow Christ but in order to give their children the right kind of moral training. They believe that morality means becoming the best person you can, living life well for yourself and your family and refraining from hurting people whenever possible.
But Jesus asks more of us than simply living good lives. He tells us that we must actively give ourselves to God above all else. The Christian life is an active life. Intercessory prayer results in action on behalf of those for whom we pray. As we worship God we become more like God, more compassionate, more merciful, more engaged in seeking justice for all people not just ourselves and our family's. We show whether we are followers of Christ, not by calling ourselves a Christian, but by the way we live our lives. The sign of membership in God's kingdom is that you are actively involved in making the world around you a more Godly place. Do you feed the hungry and clothe the naked, or do you spend your time avoiding anyone who does not move around in with your social sphere? Do you visit those who are in prison or do you simply thank God you are not like them and go on your merry way? If we are to be among those who make it through the narrow door we must find ways to reach out beyond our comfort zones to engage with the people we don't find easy to be around as well as those we love.
This year the outreach committee will be looking for opportunities for this community to become more actively engaged in acts of mercy - serving meals in soup kitchens, working with refugees who come to New Haven to start a new life and perhaps visiting Haiti or Honduras or Louisiana to help build and restore homes for those without the resources to build their own. We need to be actively involved with the poor on our doorstep not because it builds character, but simply because it's what Jesus has asked us to do.
This week seventeen young people and four chaperones gave up a week of their vacation, (for many, the last week of their vacation) to attend chorister camp, where they spent many hours each day seeking to perfect the music they will offer in worship this coming year. It was very moving to see the dedication and commitment of these young singers, learning new music, struggling with new concepts, singing, praying, eating and sleeping together. Among other things, they each took a turn in leading or reading at Evensong, which we sang every day while we were away, and believe me, it took a great deal of courage for some of these young people to stand up in front of a group of people and take a leadership role. But they were willing to take a chance, many chances in order to grow and mature as followers of Christ.
At the beginning of camp we sat in a circle on the ground and asked the choristers to come up with a list of expectations for one another during their time together. They came up with things like, "knock before entering other people's rooms; don't wake neighbors up before 7am; don't touch other people's belongings without asking them first; make new friends; alternate who you sit with at meals; get to know more friends; don't shine your flashlight in other people's faces; treat others the way you want to be treated; counselors try to be nice to campers." It was one thing to be sitting around on the floor on the first night of camp coming up with the things we expected from one another during our time together but it was another thing to work out those things from day to day. One of the most impressive things about the camp to me was the way these children were able to deepen their relationships with one another as they tried to live up to the expectations they had started with. Someone would get left out of an activity and their feelings would be hurt. We would have to take time to understand what had gone wrong and try to mend bridges that had been broken. Someone would act in a thoughtless way towards another person and we would have to work together to allow the possibility for forgiveness in our relationships with one another. By the time we left on Friday afternoon there was not a single child who had not been fully accepted as a member of the choir.
The choristers hard, hard work had paid off in many different ways. Their singing had improved enormously by the time they left and the children sang beautifully at the small concert they gave for their parents. But more than that, they were becoming formed as a community of people who loved God and were willing to make a commitment to worship God together and to love one another without reserve. As they went off in their parents' cars there were hugs for everyone from the youngest to the oldest. There was not one child who people were glad to say goodbye to because we had come to respect one another's differences and recognize that everyone had something to offer the group. We all had to squeeze through a pretty narrow door in order to participate fully in the activities of the week, and many of us had to leave behind our pre-conceived ideas about other members of the group as well as things we were or were not able to do. The result was, I believe, a little taste of God's kingdom here on earth.
When asked to describe to other people what it is like to be a member of St Peter's choir they said this. "You have to work hard to be a singer but the payoff is fun. St. Peter's Choristers is a really good group with wonderful people in it. No-one is left out. Everyone likes to be together. You make many, many new friends." I tell you this story because I think every one of these children would tell you that they worked extremely hard at chorister camp. They worked hard at their music and they worked hard at their relationships, but the pay off was enormous and each one of them said how much they look forward to returning next year. And I will tell you that whether they knew it or not, every single one of them squeezed through the narrow door this week, and experienced the joy of living in God's kingdom.
The doorway to God's kingdom is indeed narrow. Many who try to enter will find themselves unable to make it through because their arms are full and the bags they carry are way too big. But for those who persist, who little by little turn their hearts and their minds towards loving God the pay off is a joy-filled life beyond compare. So don't be fooled by those who would tell you that joy can be yours without the presence of God. God offers a peace that is unshakeable, a joy that cannot be taken away by external circumstances. You may have some baggage you need to shed in order to make it through the narrow door but I can tell you, in the end, it's worth it!
In Christ's name
Amen
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