God of revelation,
mere flesh and blood cannot reveal divine truth; only your Spirit can give that gift. Be in my breath and voice, be in our ears and understanding, that through these words your Word may be known. Amen.
Several weeks ago we started our journey together learning about what it takes to be “The Buzzing Church”, a church buzzing with enthusiasm, excitement, joy and love; a church that practices what it believes; a church willing to do a new thing in obedience to God; a church filled with the necessary spiritual tools to achieve its calling and purpose; a church where every member is a vital part of the team.
We learned every one of us must integrate four core practices into the life of our church: instruction in God’s Word, fellowship with one another and the world, worship of God and a devotion to prayer. These practices provide the avenue for God to do a new thing in our lives and the life of our community. We learned we have all inherited the necessary tools of the trade in order to put these four practices into action; the full armor of God: “the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit”. We learned for a team or a community to be successful and meet its goals, every player, every member has specific God-given gifts to be used to play their specific role on the team. We are one body with many members. Everyone has been given spiritual gifts from God through the Holy Spirit. The big question we need to ask is: For what will we use them? For what purpose, for what ends will we utilize them?
Paul writes we are to “present our bodies to God”. We are to present our whole selves, including our spiritual gifts, to the God of all creation. We are to take all the gifts we have been given and the tasks that we have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the factory, the oil field, the shipyard, the mine, the office and offer all of it as an act of worship to God. This is true worship. This is real spiritual worship. When we offer our whole selves, our whole body, and all that we do with it to God, this is our true spiritual worship. Real worship is not the offering of fancy prayers to God; it is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to God. Real worship is something which enables us to see the whole world as the temple of the living God, and every common deed an act of worship. But it is far from common and far from ordinary!
There once was a boy named Timmy. His kindergarten teacher announced, “Today we are going to draw a picture.” Good, Timmy thought. He liked to draw pictures. He could draw lions and tigers and trains and boats. He took out his crayons and began to draw.
But the teacher said, “Wait, it’s not time to begin.” She paused until everyone looked ready. “Now,” she said, “we are going to draw flowers.” Good, Timmy thought. He began to draw beautiful flowers with his orange and pink and blue crayons.
But the teacher said, “Wait.” She drew a picture of a flower on the blackboard. It was red with a green stem. “There,” she said, “now you may begin.” Timmy looked at his teacher’s flower. He liked his better, but he didn’t say anything. He just turned his paper over and made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red with a green stem.
A few days later the teacher said, “Today we are going to make something with clay.” Good, Timmy thought. He could make all kinds of things with clay—snakes and snowmen and elephants and mice. He began to pinch and pull his ball of clay.
But the teacher said, “Wait, I’ll show you how.” And she showed everyone how to make a dish. So Timmy rolled his clay into a ball, flattened it, and made a dish like the teacher’s.
Timmy learned to wait and watch and make things just like the teacher’s. And pretty soon he stopped making creations of his own.
A few months later Timmy’s family moved to another city, and Timmy started at a new school. On his first day, Timmy’s new teacher said, “Today we are going to draw a picture.” Good, Timmy thought. And he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do. But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room. When she came to Timmy, she said, “Don’t you want to draw a picture?”
“Yes,” said Timmy. “What are we going to draw?”
“Well, I don’t know until you draw it,” the teacher said.
“How should I make it?” he asked.
“Why, any way you like.”
“And any color?”
“Any color,” the teacher said. “If everyone drew the same thing in the same color, how would I know who made what?”
“I don’t know,” said Timmy. And he began to draw a flower. It was red with a green stem.
When Timmy was very young, he was robbed of his creativity. His teacher told him that there was only one way to draw a flower or shape a lump of clay. We are more like Timmy than we realize. We have the potential to draw outside the lines, to be creative, to use our talents and gifts in a remarkable and unique way, but the world has told us that we can’t do it.
The world we live in conditions us at an early age to believe that we all have to look the same, act the same, and think the same. Then when Jesus calls us to be different, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to respond to his call. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). If you will allow Jesus to have control of your life, you can break out of the world’s mold and begin to discover God’s calling and purpose for your life.
We were not created to match our lives to all the fashions of this world. We are not called to be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings. We are not to go with the world. Don’t let the world decide what you are going to be. God has placed a calling and a purpose upon you. Paul is calling for the transformation of a person through the power of God. The command is “be transformed”, not “transform yourselves”, thus placing primary emphasis on the activity of God in the life of the Christian. And I believe that holds true for the community of faith.
“When the Spirit dwells with the community of believers, a new vitality will be its expression and various gifts will be revealed and expressed. Then a new way of thinking, dwelling, relating, and acting will reign in the community ; a way that stands in contrast to the ways of the world – to the ways of the global domination system and its myriad of expressions.”[1]
When we allow ourselves and our faith community to “be transformed”, an inward change happens. We are essentially changed and now live, not a self-centered life, but a Christ-centered life. When Christ comes into the life of the faith community, we are a new community: the center of our being is different; the driving power of our lives is different; the focal point of our minds is different; for the mind of Christ is within us. When Christ is at the center, it is then that we offer to Him real, authentic worship, the offering of every moment of every day.
Where do you see the Spirit of God dwelling in the life of our community of believers?
I see the Spirit of God among us when the church is a place where we can be ourselves, where we are comfortable with one another, in spite of our sins and shortcomings. The church becomes a place where it’s okay to make mistakes, where it’s okay to get it wrong, where it’s okay to not be perfect, where it’s okay to fail and not have our act together and always be nice. Jesus didn’t come to make us into nice people. Jesus came to rescue us from evil and to establish a right relationship with God. Jesus came to transform how we live.
I see the Spirit of God among us when each of us presents him or herself as a living sacrifice transformed by the power of God. We are not to let ourselves be shaped by what everyone else does, but rather we are to let ourselves be transformed by a whole new way of thinking, so we can discern what conforms to God’s will and not our own. This is revealed through an attitude of realistic humility and dedicated service to the world. It is diminished when we think of ourselves more highly than we should, when we try to control other people and situations and manipulate them to our advantage, when we live a lie behind a façade hiding who we really are, when we fail to be honest and direct with one another. But It is enhanced and magnified when we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, when we love our neighbor as ourselves no matter how different they are or where they’re from. It is further enhanced and magnified when we seek to do what is good and acceptable to God.
In the world, as God’s faithful ones, we will need to engage as those who seek what is good and acceptable to God, and this will surely mean witnessing with our whole selves against injustice of any kind and advocating for anyone who is marginalized because of matters such as the color of their skin, their gender, their sexual orientation, their poverty and/or their immigrant status. We the church need to let go of value systems that order relationships hierarchically and instead embrace a value system that honors diversity without destroying distinctly and equally valuable persons.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,…” (Romans 12:2). If you will allow Jesus to have control of your life, you can break out of the world’s mold and become what God created you to be. If we allow Jesus through the Spirit of God to be our guide and our strength in this community of faith, there is nothing God can’t do in us, among us and through us. This is the Good News! Amen!
[1] Eleazar
S. Fernandez. Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word – Year A.
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013) p.428.
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