PreacherMike

Yesterday was our Senior Sunday, and the preaching was nothing spectacular. But the charge to the seniors by one of their huddle leaders was!

Dr. Jim has been a quiet, prophetic voice in our church for several years. Because of his work in Haiti (along with his wife and three boys) and in Africa and because of his deep convictions about the kingdom of God, he has been a witness who has urged us to keep our eyes open to the world.

When the tragic accident happened a few years ago (January 2005), he was in the ER waiting on us, receiving our children as they came in. When my son and two other boys had to be taken to Cook’s in Ft. Worth, he packed up and went there to watch over them in that ICU.

A year ago, he and Tracey left for Johns Hopkins, where he’s pursuing a Master’s degree in public health. He’s serious about this whole mission-of-Christ thing!

Anyway, yesterday the Morrisons returned to congratulate the huddle group that they’d help lead for three years. He was asked to deliver a charge on behalf of the huddle leaders and the church. I thought you might like to read his words:

I am honored today to be asked to help send you out.

There is a passage at the very beginning of the book of Acts that I love. I think about what it must have been like – the world has just known the fullness of the Lord dwelling in it, the disciples know this Lord as a man of flesh living among them….and now he’s gone, “taken up before their very eyes.” Can we imagine the mixed feelings? The joy, the despair, the desperate longing for their world to be whole again? I think deep in our souls we know that feeling better than we realize.

Acts 1:10-11 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?” This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go.”

We have spent the last several years trying to help each other look intently for the Lord, but I think the time is right for us to ask “why are we standing here?” I think the same messengers who appeared to those disciples also appeal to us today. We are called to live, to act – the kingdom is breaking in around us and we risk not seeing it at all if all we do is wait expectantly.

So what should we do? How should we live?

I want us to live fearlessly. Not because there are not scary things in this world, but because we, by the grace of God and through the presence of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit, have had a taste of life in the coming kingdom and have some idea of where we are headed.

I read a story the other day about a lady who can remember everything. Something happened to her when she was fourteen and ever since then she can remember literally everything. She describes it as her history running continuously in her head. If you ask her what she had for lunch on the second Tuesday in May fifteen years ago – she can tell you. If you ask her what the headline was on the news for August 2nd 1993 – she can tell you. Even more, she says she can experience the sensations of these memories as they return to her. She can taste the food. She can hear the sounds. She knows in her soul that the summer of ’86 feels different than the winter of ’01. All this is in her head. All this is locked in our heads too. We have no idea of our potential. I think God must chuckle when we our impressed with our “great achievements” in science, art and philosophy. Not that these things aren’t wonderful and that we shouldn’t continue to strive — only that I’m afraid that we lack the imagination to see how small our achievements are compared to what we are going to be. I think this woman’s experience gives us a glimpse of what we are to become – we have so little grasp of what God intends for us to be. We have nothing to fear.

Since we have nothing to fear, I want us to live dangerously.

I don’t mean the kind of danger we’re conditioned to think about – not about driving too fast or foolishly, not about extreme sports. It’s only a remnant of biology, only a legacy of our ancestry from dust that makes these things give us a thrill, make us feel alive! It’s danger that can only threaten your physical well-being. The thrill of that kind of danger is not worthy of the attention of immortal beings like you and I.

We are called to a far more dangerous kind of life – a life where we completely reveal all that is in us, the good and the bad, to ourselves and to each other — where we risk rejection, we risk pain, we risk losing control of our lives in the hopeful expectation and faith that the Lord is returning. And with the faith that maybe a little at a time we can learn to break down these barriers between us — we can learn to give each other grace and get about the dangerous business of carrying one another’s burdens.

What’s so dangerous about that?

If your brother’s burden is poverty, then give him a hand up even if it means impoverishing yourself; if your brother’s burden is sickness, then offer him healing or at least compassion even if you risk infection or pain; if your sister’s burden is grief, then offer her your tears even if you risk breaking your heart. These seem pretty straightforward – I have a harder time with others. If my brother’s burden is sin, I must offer him mercy. If my brother’s burden is hate and anger, I am compelled to offer him forgiveness and peace. If our brother’s burden is indifference to the suffering that surrounds us, then I believe we are obligated to wake him up even if we risk making people uncomfortable.

We must embrace the truth that the burdens that diminish one of us, make all of us smaller – make us less than what God intends for us to be. The coming kingdom will not tolerate the lie that I can thrive while my brother or sister struggles to survive spiritually or physically.

So then – I have to tell you the truth – this will be a costly life. Our culture is continuously trying to sell us things and they have one thing right – the best things will cost a lot. This life will cost you more than you could ever hope to save, so you might as well live extravagantly. Live extravagantly in joy, live extravagantly in sorrow, live extravagantly in mercy, demand extravagant justice for those who have long been denied, be willing to accept only an extravagant peace, most importantly live extravagantly in love – it is the essence of the One we worship.

Do not hold back. You cannot run out of the things that truly bring life. The world will try to tell you that you can. Satan will try to plant fear. You must not believe them – even if they starve you to death trying to steal your soul.

The time for safe living is over – if there ever was such a time. I think it’s an illusion we carry over from our parents – as a parent, I know how desperately I want to protect my children and I know I instill in them the message that they can be safe in this world if they will just do the right things. I want to apologize for not being able to resist trying to comfort myself by giving you that message.

The kingdom is breaking in. The Lord is returning. His body lives in this very room. The revolution is not over yet though – you will be asked to choose sides; or sides will be chosen for you. If you do not sense a fierce resistance from the world, then make sure you know which side you’re standing with. Like all conflicts, this revolution will claim casualties. I want you to know that if you are among them, I will shed tears for my loss – but I believe that you will have no time for my tears; you will consider them unnecessary if you have been able to grasp even a small taste of this magnificent kingdom life that we are invited to join.

So live without fear, embrace real danger boldly, live an extravagant life holding nothing back.

We want to leave you with this traditional Franciscan blessing:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

We are glad to have you as fellow travelers in this journey.