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Today is the fourth of our Celebrate the Gift Sundays. With many lay speakers we have celebrated our church, our people, our mission, and today’s theme: our ministry. I hope you have enjoyed participating by filling out the cards in your worship folders. These cards can be viewed in the Bayshore entryway on four beautiful banners. They are a testimony to what God is doing at St. John. I have departed from the lectionary today and selected a scripture from the sixth chapter of Acts. This new Christian church is coping with tremendous growth and trying to organize itself for ministry. The original disciples of Jesus, minus Judas, were serving a common meal for the followers of Jesus. But it got to be such a huge task that they were neglecting the study and proclamation of holy scripture. So here’s what they did. They asked the people to select seven men of good standing, full of the Spirit, to wait on the tables. They chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus. These men were presented to the disciples, now called apostles, who laid hands on them and prayed for them. All this ritual just to serve the new church a potluck supper! Since our focus today is on ministry I felt it would be helpful to dig deeper into what the early church meant when they used this word. In the Greek the word translated as ministry is "diakonia." Originally it meant "waiting at tables". As I said, early Christians gathered nearly every day for a common meal. People were needed to serve the food. A minister was one who served food to others. A minister is one who serves others in ways that sustains life. Those who studied and taught Scripture came to be known as ministers of the Word. They were literally those who served the Word of God, the bread of Life to the church. And so ministry is about giving to others what they need to grow and live in faith. Ministry is about being a servant to others in need. Ministry is always done with a heart of love. Can you say things that help others grow in their faith? Then you are a minister of Christ. Can you do things, perhaps in the background without notice, that encourage others as they journey through life? Then you are a minister of Jesus Christ. Can you help fold a church newsletter, or serve on a committee, serve food at Bean’s Café, or teach a class so that the church may be strong in its mission to the world? Then you are a minister of Jesus Christ. I’d like you to put your mind and heart around this notion that you…you are a minister! You are a child of God who has the power and ability to give to others what they need to grow and live in faith! In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. The satellite's primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and beam data to earth about Jupiter's magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere. Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, for at that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past the giant planet in November 1973, Jupiter's immense gravity hurled Pioneer 10 at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune at nearly three billion miles; Pluto at almost four billion miles. By 1997, twenty-five years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. The most amazing thing was that these signals emanated from an 8-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night light, and takes more than nine hours to reach Earth. The Little Satellite That Could was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of just three years. But it kept going and going, kind of like the EverReady battery bunny. By simple longevity, its tiny 8-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible. So it is when we offer ourselves to serve Christ. God can work even through someone with 8-watt abilities. So we all had better be careful if we are tempted to minimize the gifts God has given us. We may not think we can do much as a Christian minister but amazing things can happen when we serve others in the name of Christ. Next Sunday is our big day. We will be asked to bring our pledge cards to the altar of God. That card may represent a big gift or a small one. The size is not nearly as important as the heart from which it is given. We do not seek equal gifts, but equal sacrifice. With all of us doing our part, including children and youth, we will continue to witness to the amazing power of God in our midst. This campaign is not about a new building so much as it is about being faithful to our mission to grow disciples of Christ and to be a welcoming family joyfully sharing God’s light. Over the years I have read articles in church newspapers and magazines about growing and dynamic churches. Some started as tiny rural churches. Others were started as new churches in growing areas. Still others were established churches in declining neighborhoods. But I found one thing in common with each and every growing church I read about. It was the lay people who knew their mission. In every article one or two lay persons would be quoted saying something like, "We are a church who…." "We see ourselves as a church that…" In other words growing churches are churches where people know and believe in their mission. Do you believe in St. John’s mission to grow disciples of Christ and to be a welcoming family joyfully sharing God’s light? The truth is that not only do you know and understand this mission, but you are acting upon it! Story after story of acceptance and welcome and compassion are coming out. Are we perfect in our mission? Do we always do a good job of welcoming everyone? Probably not. But we are a church on the way of becoming more faithful to this mission every day. A few weeks ago I was in Atlanta to invite other United Methodist churches to partner with us in our mission. One of the churches I visited was Mt. Bethel, a 6000-member church and largest United Methodist Church in Georgia. Now I admit that I had a hard time imagining St. John being that big. Perhaps there are those here who feel we are already getting too big. Surely, we are not interested in slowing or stopping our mission to be welcoming to new folks. Perhaps our connection with St. John may need to be more than just one hour of worship on Sunday. St. John may feel too big if all we experience are crowded parking lots, jammed sanctuaries, and fellowship time. But St. John isn’t too big when you connect yourself with 10 or 12 other folks in a choir, or a Bible study, a Sunday School class, or fellowship group. Small groups continue to be the key in reaching our mission and staying connected with others. When it comes to Sunday worship the fact is that we have plenty of parking and empty chairs right now. The 8:15 morning service and the 6:30 evening service have lots of room. But if we are going to offer services and Christian education programs that meet the needs and schedules of people then we must deal with the need for expanded building space. Phase II which is several years from now involves expansion of this sanctuary. But I want you to know that my desire is not for a super large worship space. As long as I am your pastor we will maintain the intimacy of sharing joys and concerns the way we do now. I am not interested in asking you to write them on cards for us to read. As long as we all can hear each other the sharing of joys and concerns is one of the special blessings of worship at St. John and I for one want it to continue. So, can you picture yourself as a minister? One who serves others in the name of Christ? I have shared this before, but it fits so well here. It is a poem by an eleven-year old girl named, Summer Waters, entitled I SEE JESUS.
May God continue to reach out in love and compassion to a hurting world through servant ministers like you. |
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03.10.02 - Celebrate the Gift of Ministry (Acts 6:1-7)
