Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

Your Mission, Should You Accept It  

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10 

There was a television series from 1966 to 1973 called Mission Impossible. In the opening sequence, the team leader was offered an impossible and dangerous assignment. The closing statement was brief synopsis of the task, with the opportunity to choose not to go forward. 

In the TV series, but not in the series of movies using the same title, the TV series focused on the multiple gifts of the team, as they performed wonderful acts of daring and deception to pull off an elaborate scheme to achieve their common goal. The focus was on the team and their coordination. 

It can be an awkward thing, when we balance the call of the gospel stories, which are so often focused on our personal relationship with God, and the context of the church, where we are gathered together. The church is full of flawed individuals, and often we consider some of our flaws as our personal identity, and press our flaws to give us an advantage in the community of faith. 

In this particular age, the weaknesses and foibles of the church are commonly expressed as reasons to avoid the church entirely. 

As a church pastor I often feel like I am torn between two realities. On the one hand, I love the church. The worship times we spend together are important to me. Listening to sermons, or working for hours on sermons, so often exposes me to God’s truth in ways I would otherwise avoid -if left to my own devices. Then there is the fellowship, and our collective ability to accomplish so much more good than one can make happen on their own. 

But I also believe that the point of going to church is to live a good life. So I try to honor those who are doing good in the community, without the visible benefit of a church or pastor. I also try to comfort those who have gotten hurt by a misbehaving congregation or church member, or worse yet, a pastor who wounded a member by word or deed, and give them forgiveness for withdrawing from the church while they sort out their pain and the best response to the situations that dealt them injury. There is no one, clear, one size fits all answer. 

That might be the unavoidable truth of our age. There is no -one size fits all answer. While many recoil from the layers of sensitivities this time brings with us, we live in a world of sensitivities. We can use food allergies as an example. Some people have specific and often dangerous allergies. Peanuts can often cause harsh reactions. Gluten, dairy, certain peppers, all are able to cause problems for some in the community. 

Food allergies are a good example because we all recognize that the individuals do not choose to have allergic reactions. Many of them spend years of discomfort before a specific test or a change in life pattern reveals the source of their trouble. We can empathize with those who struggle with discomfort where the source is hidden. 

It can be harder to appreciate that gender identity can be a similar struggle for some. It seems so simple and obvious to those of us who have not suffered with those questions. It appears from the outside as not the result of a struggle as much as it is making a choice. We never know what folks around us are dealing with. 

Jesus sat down to eat with tax collectors and other sinners. Tax collectors were viewed as traitors who made a living collecting taxes for the Romans, and keeping a percentage for themselves for their trouble. As much as we dread April 15th, and the elaborate Income Tax system in this country, how much worse would it be if some traitor showed up at your door, with his body guards, and demanded payment. These tax collectors made a choice to collaborate with the enemy. This “so called holy man” Jesus, is enjoying their company and the fancy wine that they were able to buy with our money. 

Few if any of the tax collectors would be able to withstand the judgmental attitudes of the Pharisees, and so they were not welcome in the Temple or the Synagogue. They were excluded from the house of worship, because of the attitudes of the “good people.” 

Many souls today feel as if they would not be welcome in any church, either because they have felt a sense of rejection themselves, or know stories of folks like themselves who have been rejected. In these cases, the walls of the church become a barrier to sharing the good news with sinners. 

I know, it feels odd to say that, but it is true. The church often gets in the way of delivering the good news of forgiveness and welcoming back those who have gone astray. 

The shepherd does not sit amongst the flock and call out to the lamb who has wandered away. The shepherd must actually go out and seek the lost sheep. The woman does not sit at the kitchen table, wishing she had not lost her coin. She has to get up and go all through the house, cleaning in, under, and around all of the furniture, until the coin is found. 

So how can the church respond to this message? The first issue is clearly to be sensitive to visitors, understanding that it is common for folks to expect judgement in a strange church. They may even be more sensitive if they used to be part of the church, but have wandered away sometime ago. Maybe the last pastor bugged them. Maybe they wished for a church with a lot more going on for young people. Maybe they got sick, and then got out of the habit. Maybe they associate the church with a deceased loved one. We need to be very sensitive to folks who come, but are more like visitors than regulars. 

The church is more than a building, it is the community. So wherever you are, the church is there. You can be a welcoming presence. You can create a sense of possibility when you see folks that once were a part of the church. You still need to be very attentive to the issues “as they define them.” You have to initiate a conversation, and then listen as well as you are able. 

Be prepared for people to tell you that they are doing good things in the community, but not feeling the need for being in the church. If it is working for them, bless them for the good that they do. You might invite them to share in any of our projects they might like to take part in. Sometimes the best way into the church community is by participating and showing what you are good at. 

One of the great strengths of this congregation is that you seem to treat your Moderators with respect. I know of churches that by the time a person has served as the Moderator for a couple of years, they are so fatigued by the constant complaining and bickering, they may take years and years before they would become involved in a community event again. 

The biggest culprit is a behavior pattern called triangulation. Person “A” is upset with person “C” over something that was said or done. Often the facts are cloudy, but “A” decided that “C” is responsible and imagines there was some elaborate motivation for this behavior that “A” found objectionable. 

It becomes a problem when “A” refuses to speak to “C”, and tries to manipulate the Moderator “B” to take action to address the injury “A” feels is the result of “C” having it out for them. This kind of behavior can become a regular pattern in some churches and it leads to burnout of the leadership. Many times it is the Moderator, but can just as easily be the pastor. 

We may have been in the church for years, trying to maintain what we believe are high standards of behavior. The call of this gospel message is that it is not important to impose high standards on other people. What is important is to represent forgiveness and a wide welcome. Protecting high standards, is often an excuse for doing what we can to avoid making contact with the pain of those who are suffering. 

In the letter to Timothy, the writer (posing as the apostle Paul) declares that God redeemed the life and soul of this most conspicuous  sinner, in order to give evidence that God’s love is sufficient to redeem and transform even the most belligerent sinner. We are in the life changing business. It is easy to forget that. 

We are busy with our church responsibilities, setting the altar, programming for Sunday School, singing in the choir, we might lose sight of the real goal, which is to praise God, and bring others home with us. 

It is my mission to Union Congregational UCC, to coach and advise you. Most of my work is done among those of you who are active members of the congregation. 

Your mission, is to carry the love and forgiveness of God into the various place you go. Recalling the lost sheep, finding those who may be conspicuous sinners, and offering a kind word to those who are in distress. Your mission is not impossible and you are not alone. Your entire team stands ready to support you. And all of the saints and angels of heaven, are offering you encouragement to be successful. 

As this week opens up before you, remember to praise God, and offer a word of encouragement to those you meet. Sometimes all it takes is a kind word in a cruel world, to open up the possibility of transformation. Amen.