Selfishness to Servanthood

Someone once said that the two most significant days in a person's life are the day that they are born and the day that they discover why.  

Discovering our personal why may come easily to some; for others only after much soul searching and perhaps trial and error.  For the unfortunate, it may never be uncovered.  Without knowing why we are here, it is difficult to know the how and what of life.  It is neither too early nor too late for each of us to answer this question for ourselves.

As we sort through the process of figuring it out, we should be mindful of being influenced by the cultural values of the society in which we live.  American culture is one that is very competitive and in any competitive environment there is a natural desire to want to win—to be the best.  Nothing wrong with making the most of the talents that God has given us but we need to be thoughtful as to how we define success.

What is a successful life?  Is it the accumulation of personal wealth and honors?  Is it wrong to be selfish and look out for #1?    After all, hasn’t our country been successful because everyone is incented to take care of themselves?   

In today’s reading, Matthew 20:20-28, it is clear that Jesus does not encourage us to seek to place ourselves ahead of others.  To recap the story, the mother of the apostles James and John approached Jesus with a request.  Their mom's request was a big one--that Jesus grant her sons the privilege of sitting by his right and left side in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Although their mom started the conversation, both James and John seemed on-board with the request which was essentially to place themselves in a position of honor ahead of everyone else in the Kingdom of Heaven.  That was certainly the way the rest of the Apostles interpreted it as they became quite upset when they learned what was going on. 

Jesus used this as a teaching moment and told the Apostles “…whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.”  He cited Himself as an example having come to this world not to be served but to serve--serving to the point of sacrificing His life for the benefit of all mankind.

This isn’t the only time that Jesus makes this point.  At the Last Supper he demonstrated his servitude to His followers by washing their feet. 

So why is Servanthood important to Jesus?  Is this a way that He sees for each of us to undergo suffering as a means of punishment for our sins—a soul cleansing penance?  Or is it to function as some kind of test, similar to that endured by Job, to measure the level of our faith? 

I don’t see either of those as being the reason.  While Servanthood may involve sacrifice, it is not punishment, it is not humiliation and it is not an obligation imposed upon us by God for no reason other than to test our faith.  Servanthood does not mean that we need to minimize our sense of self-worth.  Jesus did not think less of Himself because He chose to act in Servanthood for all of mankind.  Servanthood does not mean that we must think less of ourselves.  It means thinking of ourselves less.  There is a big difference.   

I think one reason that Jesus set the example of Servanthood for us to follow is that the outward focus of a servant is far more capable of positively impacting the world around us than someone with an inwardly pointed self-centered frame of mind.  In thinking about the “why” question, we need to ask ourselves if we want to be remembered for how we sought to triumph over our fellow humans or instead, how we tried to put others before us and make our world a little more like heaven.  The good news is that Servanthood is an effective way of making positive changes in the world around us. 

Jesus placed himself in a position of servitude to the Apostles and then empowered them to go forth into the world to serve others and spread His Word.  Using some modern terminology, the Apostles took the gift of Jesus’ servitude and paid it forward.  That process has continued to repeat itself for almost 2000 years and now there are over 2 billion followers today.  It is our responsibility to continue to pay it forward by serving others and spreading the Word for the benefit of those who will follow us.

The greatest achievements that our country has accomplished are a result of individuals placing the good of the country ahead of their own personal interest.  The most vivid examples of this are the millions of our fellow countrymen who have sacrificed their lives to advance the cause of our freedom and self-determination.

Conversely, you can look at our country’s history to see what happens when self-interest overwhelms looking out for the common good.  Arguably, unrestrained greed by so many parties is one of the primary causes of the great recession that came upon us a few years back and from which we are still today trying to shake off the effects.  

In business, over the past forty or so years, our most progressive companies have adopted some element of the philosophy of servant leadership where management seeks to provide support and empower the workforce to develop solutions to business issues in a collaborative fashion.  By helping the employees succeed, the companies as a whole succeed.

The most successful missions of our own church take place when we set aside our own self-interest and seek to work together to serve others.  A great example of this is taking place right now at the State Fair.  Volunteers at our food stand are called upon to work very hard for long hours in often-times challenging weather.  They make this sacrifice for various reasons—to support the continuation of a long-standing tradition, to provide financial resources for the church to use to help people, or to take the opportunity to demonstrate to the patrons of the stand that our congregation does care about people.  Whatever, the reason, the volunteers are placing others ahead of themselves and that is what has allowed that mission to thrive for 65 years.

Here is what you might think of as an odd analogy but it is the way my mind works and I think will illustrate the difference between selfishness and servitude.  In astronomy, a black hole is a mass of incredible density that has a tremendous gravitational field that pulls in all nearby matter which can never escape.  As a consequence of this, a black hole emits no light and is a destructive force to things around it.  Like a black hole, we can choose to act selfishly and draw everything inward to ourselves.  Through selfishness, always taking and never giving.  In doings so, like a black hole, we will emit no light by which others can see and grow. 

Alternatively, we can act like the sun and serve all in our surroundings by projecting out life-giving light and energy.   Selfishness is an inward focused self-contained existence which will drain the environment of all positive energy and is ultimately a dead-end.   Servanthood is focused outward and makes possible growth on the part of the world beyond ourselves.

Servanthood is also the right way to treat people.  Acting as a servant to others is what it means to live the golden rule.  It is the essence of treating others as we would want to be treated.  Servanthood is an act of love.

One thing that we do know is that Jesus thought that love was pretty important.  When the Pharisee lawyer asked Him what the most important commandment was, Jesus told him:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  (Matthew 22:37-40)

So let’s think about that.  Jesus didn’t just say that it is good to love God and love others or even that it was important to love.  He said that ALL of the Law and the Prophets hang on loving God and loving our neighbors.  In other words, love is THE foundational core principle that God has given us to govern how we live our lives. 

There are numbers of other virtues that God could have chosen as a foundational principle—righteousness, courage, justice, freedom, or honor to name a few.  But God has decided that we should build our lives on love.  There is a stunning level of poetic beauty in that don’t you think?
The Apostle Paul gives us a clue in his letter to the Romans as to how Jesus expects us to love each other.  Paul told the Romans (Romans 12:9-13)

 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

What Paul is telling us is to love God and one another means to place their needs above our own.  In other words-- to serve them.
  
I think most of us recognize that a good servant will seek to help satisfy another’s physical need if they are sick or hungry or homeless.  But sometimes being a good servant calls for paying attention to needs that are more intangible such as being there for them through the emotional peaks and valleys of life—rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn.

An old Swedish proverb says: “Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.”  I think most people would agree with that.   Whenever we receive good news our first inclination is to tell somebody else about it.  Likewise, when bad news strikes, it is comforting to have the support of others.  Think about why we have weddings and funerals.  The need to share both our highs and our lows with others is ingrained in us by God as human nature.  Being there for others in good times and bad is an act of Servanthood..

To wrap up, Servanthood is not about lowering ourselves; it is about lifting up others.  Servanthood is not a punishment.  It is an opportunity.  It is an opportunity to impact the world in a positive way while fully living the principles that Jesus taught us—to love our God and to love our neighbor.  As such, let us seek out these opportunities to put the needs of others above our own. 
•    Let’s serve others and reject the allure of selfishness.
•    Let’s serve others to alleviate their physical needs by sharing our resources.
•    Let’s serve others to heighten their exhilaration by celebrating their joys.
•    Let’s serve others to lessen their pain by comforting them in illness and grieving their losses.
•    Let’s serve others and help the downtrodden recover their sense of self-worth. 
•    Let’s serve others and seek to radiate out our positive energy setting off a chain reaction of good things which will benefit an ever-widening circle at home, at work, in our church, in our community and beyond.
•    Let’s serve others to help them find the road to eternal salvation by setting an example of what it means to live out the principles that Jesus taught.
If we do these things, we will have used our time here on earth to make it a better place.  That sounds like a pretty good why to me.  Amen




Mike Powers

Only the Best Resources

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Believe it or not, I was a child who was on the receiving end of a good amount of discipline, if you've talked to my mother, I'm sure she’s mentioned it. Truth be told my claim to fame is throwing 3 hour temper tantrums, which was usually the result or cause of a good amount of discipline. The traditional timeouts, groundings, privileges being taken away and some more creative options such as cold showers and soap in the mouth. As a mother myself now, discipline is a tricky thing. We know it's necessary for all of us, but no one likes it and I don't know many people who feel like they do it well or without unintended harm. But like it or not we know that discipline makes us better people, we know that under the best circumstances it's done out of love and genuine concern for the other person in the long run. In the scripture for today Paul is telling the Hebrews that discipline is a part of life, they know it from their own lives, but he invites them to consider the hardships of life in a new way, not as something God is doing to punish them, but as a means of growing and becoming more like Christ.

Will you pray with me? God as we listen for your voice this morning, we pray that you open our hearts and our minds, that you help remove distractions and worries, that in this time you would teach us, comfort us, challenge us and give us your grace and peace. In Jesus name, Amen.

We're in the middle of a sermon series called Spiritual Makeover and we've been talking about this spiritual makeover and making a connection to the physical makeover that we hope to do with in the Friendship Room. A couple weeks ago we talked about the real goal of the Friendship Room makeover, which is to create a welcoming, inviting space for those not yet here. And so today I really want to be clear about the goal of our own spiritual makeovers.

Now when we think about what a spiritual makeover really is, we can think of lots of different things we can do differently: coming to church more, praying every day, being nicer to people we work with, giving more money to charity. All these kinds of things might be what a spiritual makeover might look like for you. But for our purposes today, as we try to understand this as a community, we really have to define the broader goal of a spiritual makeover.  And I'm here to tell you that this is nothing new, as Christians we are constantly in the process of a spiritual makeover with the goal being: be more like Christ! Seems pretty obvious right? If we were to be totally made over spiritually, we would be like Jesus.

Now I'm going to throw out a big word to make myself look smart, but my confirmation kids should know this one too. The word is sanctification. Sanctification is the fancy word for becoming holy, becoming more like Christ. John Wesley who's the founder of Methodism was a big fan of sanctification; he firmly believed that sanctification is God's plan for us, that sanctification is the way that God fulfills God's promises to us. And I think Wesley really understands sanctification in the very best way because he not only talks about it as a way to be holy or more like Christ, but the way for us to be whole, and I’d add it’s the way that we become fully human, the way God created us to be. Sanctification is the path to our holiness and our wholeness.

So, now that we have a pretty good idea of what we're trying to do with our own spiritual makeovers, how do we go about that? I'm betting you all could make a list of things you could do to be a better Christian, I thought about making a list this week for you all and frankly it was depressing so I didn't. It's depressing and overwhelming and not very encouraging, right? It’s like saying, “Here are all the ways you're failing at being a human being, congratulations, now fix it.” Now take comfort in the fact that we all could make a list like that, you're not alone. But God does not want to leave us there. Which is why God has given us resources, I want to talk about 3 of them today, the BEST resources for our spiritual makeover, the BEST resources for becoming more holy and whole. Now these resources come out of our tradition as Christians, these are things that those who have gone before us have practiced and trusted in their journey of faith.

As I've mentioned, I think John Wesley totally gets sanctification and one of the most helpful things that he emphasizes is the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the #1 best resource that God gives us to help us become more like Christ. The way that John Wesley talked about it is called sanctifying grace, the grace that God freely gives us that works in us to make us more like Christ. And this is the #1 resource because it's not about anything that we do. Remember that list we just talked about? It probably involved a bunch of things that you would have to DO something about. Get yourself out of bed and go to church more often, pray every day, give money to charity, say and do nice things to people at work. But sanctifying grace is not about you doing something to be more like Christ, it's about the Holy Spirit working in and through you so that your heart is more like Christ's. I'm here to tell you that you can force yourself to sit in a pew every Sunday or be nice to that person at work through clenched teeth, and I trust that through those God can work to change your heart, but it's still not about your actions. Your actions might be more Christ-like, but your heart won't be different, you won't be more whole. As Methodists we understand grace in 3 different ways, which is a whole other sermon series, but the definition I like to use for grace in these three ways is: “the Holy Spirit enabling us to believe, love and serve God.” The Holy Spirit enabling us to believe, love and serve God. The Holy Spirit does the work in us that enables us to be more like Christ, to trust God more and to take bigger risks. The Holy Spirit gives us the power, the strength, the heart to be more like Christ. One of my favorite things that I learned in seminary is the role of the Holy Spirit. So so many times I know people who are so concerned about how do we change people? How do we save people? (although I strongly dislike that terminology) How do we convince people that Jesus is the way? And what I learned that’s not my job. That’s not your job. THAT, my friend’s is the Holy Spirit’s job. Don’t go trying to do the Holy Spirit’s job. Our job is to love people, to care for people, to share our faith with people, to change our communities, SO THAT the Holy Spirit can do her job. The best resources we have as Christians to make ourselves over spiritually, or to be more like Christ, to be whole, is the Holy Spirit. We open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit, we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives and we tune ourselves in to what the Holy Spirit is doing around us.

But then of course, it’d be helpful to know how do we connect with the Holy Spirit? How do we best connect to what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives and the lives of others and the life of our community? Well I’m glad you asked! This also could be an entire sermon series, but it’s worth getting the shortened version. The second best resource that we have for our spiritual makeover is the spiritual disciplines. Going back to the scripture for today, this isn’t the type of discipline that I think that Paul was talking about, but it has the same effect. These are ways that we grow in our faith, that we learn and practice how to be more like Christ and where we open ourselves up to what the Holy Spirit is doing. Towards the end of the passage, Paul says this about why all this discipline stuff: “in order that we might share in God’s holiness” and so that “no one fails to obtain the grace of God”. That’s the point of disciplines.  

So many of you are probably familiar with spiritual disciplines, these are those things that Christians who have gone before us have practice and come to believe that they work. Here’s a short list, there are plenty of others: prayer, meditation, fasting, study, simplicity, service, worship, Sabbath, spiritual friendship and I would add bearing hardships like the scripture talks about today. These are all things that we can actively do to become more like Christ and open ourselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit. While I don’t want you to forget that #1 resources, I want to be clear that there ARE things that you can DO and should do. But not for the sake of crossing them off your list or for impressing others, but for the sake of giving the Holy Spirit a chance to do her job.

The last couple of trimesters I’ve led a LifeGroup that tries different prayer practices. It’s not about becoming experts at any of them, or event liking all of them, but it is about trying new things, new ways to connect with God. And both times that I’ve led this group, every single week I’m honestly kind of surprised that God very clearly shows up, that people experience change and growth just because they’re opening themselves up to the possibility. The truth is that many of you probably have more spiritual practices than you realize. Fishing or running or gardening or cooking. These all can be spiritual disciplines when we use them to help open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit, not only so that we can be holy, but so that the Holy Spirit can bring healing and peace and direction so that we might be more whole. So I encourage you to find at least 1 spiritual discipline to practice. Try it for a month, see what happens, try another one. It is a dynamic process, one where we have to keep moving and growing and being changed.

And the last resource that I want to talk about is community, because we weren’t designed to do this alone. We’re a very individualistic society and so often we have this idea that our spirituality is really just between me and God, that we can become like Jesus on our own. The problem is that Jesus wasn’t on his own either. The Bible is based in community, it’s always been God’s people, not God’s individual persons. Jesus modeled the importance of community with the guys that he surrounded himself with, community is the way we do life together.

Community is important for us as Christians and as people who are undertaking a spiritual makeover because it tells us who we are, it helps us understand what we believe and why we believe it, it gives us a place to ask questions and express doubt, it provides care and comfort when life is inevitably difficult, it keeps us on the right track and it widens and deepens our understanding of God and the kingdom of God. We are more whole when we are in community. Just like the scripture that talks about the body of Christ like a human body, we are more complete when we are a part of a community, a body.

My prayer LifeGroup would have been a whole lot different if it had been a take-home course. If I had given out the instruction sheets to everyone and told them to go practice them, I imagine that maybe 2 of us would have actually done it. I wouldn’t have been one of them. But ask anyone in that group, the impact and the power of what God was already doing in our lives was amplified because we were doing it in community. Because we practiced together, because we shared our experiences, because we helped each other interpret and understand what God might be saying to us, because we prayed for each other. We needed each other, the experience would not have been the same if one of those people hadn’t been there.

We have LifeGroups at this church because we believe that community is important and that LifeGroups give us the opportunity to do life together. Not just Sunday morning, not just Bible studies, but running together, gardening together, even texting each other. These are all ways that God works through the Holy Spirit in and through and among us, to make us more holy and whole. Our summer LifeGroups are about to start so I again encourage you to find one, find a way to connect in a new way to this community and to God.

A spiritual makeover isn’t something that we undertake once, or only while we’re doing a sermon series on it. This is the journey of the followers of Jesus, so remember that God has already provided the best resources for you: the Holy Spirit, spiritual disciplines and community. But more than that, that God is in this with you and that God has been, is and will be in the process of making you more holy and more whole. Amen.

Pastor Jen Hibben

     

Memorial Day, Critical to Building Our Foundations

Sermon at West Des Moines United Methodist by Rev. Dr. Wesley SK Daniel on Memorial Day, May 25, 2014.

Meals from the Heartland 2014!

Icebreaker

I recently attended a seminar on cultural diversity where the leader opened up with an “icebreaker exercise” in which every participant was dealt one playing card face down on the table in front of them.  We were then instructed to pick the card up without looking at it and hold it against our forehead so that everyone else would know what the card was but we would not.  While holding the card in this manner, we then circulated about the room.  The kicker was that if you came upon an individual that was holding a face card you were to treat them as a great friend.  If the card was between a six and a ten you were to simply treat them politely and if the card was anything else you were to make it known to them that you did not want to associate with them.  As someone who was dealt a four, I soon found myself as someone that everyone wanted to avoid.

Although the exercise was relatively simple, the lesson it taught was far from trivial.  As one who had the misfortune of having been dealt a low card, I was shunned by every other person in the room.  If the exercise had continued beyond the short period of time that it did, I surely would have appreciated someone breaking the rules and coming to talk to me.

Now obviously walking around with a four of clubs on my forehead and having people pretend to not talk civilly to me for five minutes is probably a hurdle in my life that I can overcome.  But what if the thing that sets someone apart from others has more serious consequences. 

The question that each of us needs to answer is:  By what set of rules are we going to play this “real” version of the game? It can be quite tempting to follow the “icebreaker” rules and ignore the less fortunate choosing instead to focus our attention inwardly.  This approach can be all the more enticing when the people in need may look, think or act differently than ourselves.

Nadia Bolz-Weber is a Lutheran pastor who serves what many would call a “non-mainstream” urban congregation in Denver and she wrote a very insightful book describing her own faith journey entitled “Pastrix”.  (Caution to those who may choose to read the book as the language may range in some instances from PG-13 to R.)  In the book, her husband, who is also a Lutheran pastor, commented that “…every time we draw a line between us and others, Jesus is always on the other side of it.”

Our church last week wrapped up its second annual campaign to feed starving people around the world in cooperation with Meals from the Heartland.  In doing so, we were able to significantly increase the amount of funds raised and the number of meals produced above the levels of our first campaign and beyond what we had reasonably hoped to achieve this year.  Reaching the number of meals that we did was certainly gratifying as what it means most importantly is that more people who are starving will now be able to get something to eat. 

But the numbers are also a mark of the generous sacrifice of time and money by a whole lot of people who refused to draw a line between themselves and others.  The support of the congregation for the fundraising activities of the campaign was both broad and deep and I will never cease to be amazed by the tireless efforts of the members of our planning team.  To top it all off, on the day of the event over two hundred people showed up on one of the first nice Saturday mornings following a rather challenging winter to package meals in a crowded room for complete strangers.  This cannot be described as anything but an act of love!

All of which should go to erode at least some of the cynicism about our fellow humans that seems so prevalent today.  To be in the packaging room that Saturday and seeing Cub Scouts and 4-H club members alongside grandparents and people of every age in between, working with such fun and enthusiasm, was to know that goodness exists and can prevail in this world.  

If you find yourself being dealt a card in life that you wish that you could discard but can’t, have faith that God can lead you to people who want to help you.  As the Meals from the Heartland campaign showed, we can all make the world a little better place by simply following Jesus’ command in Matthew 7:12 “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” That is, after all, the real icebreaker.

Mike Powers, WDMUMC member

Spiritual Makeover: The Grand Architect and Designer

Sermon at West Des Moines United Methodist Church on May 18, 2014 by Rev. Dr. Wesley SK Daniel.

Spiritual Makeover: We Don't Build Alone

We don't Alone

Listen to the full sermon here: 

So I've been thinking a lot this week about what being a Christian community looks like, how it’s different than other kinds of community. I've been part of church my whole life, which is probably the Christian community we all claim, but I've also spent a considerable amount of time working at church camps, which if you've worked at one, you know it is most definitely a community as well. I started when I was 14 as a junior counselor and pretty much spent at least a week a summer, but usually more, working at camp until I finished college. And I was remembering this week a seminary student who camp to work at camp one summer because he wanted to be a part of an intentional Christian community. And that's pretty much code for some type of communal living situation, usually a lot like what we see talked about in our scripture for today. Now he's a really smart guy and he probably knew what he was getting into, but as I thought back on what I imagined that he experienced, I can't help but think that that community did NOT live up to his expectations of an intentional Christian community. As great as the people that we worked with are, we are all human and we really didn't look much like the community Luke is describing here in Acts. Now I have plenty of stories to back that up, but the miracle, if you will, is that regardless of our humanity, God still worked in and through us all to positively impact and changes the lives of children that summer.

Will you pray with me? God this morning we come to hear from you, we want to know what you have to say to us and to this community. Would you open our hearts and minds that we can hear you? Will you speak clearly to us? Will you show us how to build a community that makes a difference? Amen.

So our scripture for this morning comes from the book of Acts, which we believe was written by Luke, and tells us what happened after Jesus ascended into heaven, so sometimes we call it the Acts of the Apostles. So just to give you a bit of backstory here, right before the passage that we read today, the Holy Spirit came down, something we call Pentecost, a group of people in Jerusalem had a powerful experience of God, Peter preaches to them, tells them about Jesus and thousands of people respond. And as a result the BUILD a new type of community. And so what we're reading about today is what that Jerusalem Christian community looked like.

A lot of this doesn't seem like such a big deal right? We do a lot of these things: teaching, fellowship, praying, eating together, taking communion, these are built into the way that we operate as a community. I'd even argue that we too are doing signs and wonders in our community. Feeding the hungry through Meals from the Heartland, Child and Family Urban Movement and The Eddie Davis Center, by creating a safe place for children in our preschool programs and Children's ministries. Those are modern-day signs and wonders and they really help define what Christian community is about. But let's be honest this gets real tricky when we get to v. 44 and 45 when Luke starts talking about holding all things in common and selling possessions and distributing the proceeds. Because frankly what they’re doing is re-distributing wealth, generally we as humans are not big fans of that, especially if we are the ones with the wealth. If we were to advertise this type of community, I think many of us would buy in up to that point, it all sounds good until Jesus tells you to sell your stuff right? Truthfully I can help you out, I can offer you a few outs, a few ways around that being some type of requirement for a faithful Christian community.

But I want us to pretend, I was us to suspend our fears about what that would mean and consider why this community was like that and how things would look different if that type of community existed today. Just for the next 10-12 minutes, don't fight it. Actively try not to find a way out, not to discredit this, not to start listing the ways that this is impractical and just imagine what it might have been like. When we’re done today, you all have the option to go right back to the way things were before. Although I don’t think that’s why you’re here today.

First off we have to understand how this seemingly crazy concept of community came about. The reason I gave you a quick summary of the back story here is because I want to emphasize that all of this is a direct result of a powerful experience of God. This happened because this group, this community had a powerful experience of God. This is a response to experiencing God in a new and powerful way. Got that? OK. I don't believe that this group of people got together, sat down and analyzed the best way to form an authentic Christian community. I think as a result of this experience they were actively aware of their need for community and a new way of living as a community. They NEEDED a community in order to live faithfully, because they could not go back to their old way of living after having this experience of God.

And that experience shaped the values and the culture of this community. So the things we read about, the teaching, fellowship, praying, eating together, communion, the sharing, the selling of possessions, the redistribution of wealth, were the things that that community felt convicted to do. That experience of the Holy Spirit lead them to believe that this was how they should live together. If you've heard me preach before you know that I like to talk about the kingdom of God, and how we are supposed to be making the world around us look more and more like the kingdom of God. That’s exactly what I think these early Christians were doing. For them this set up of community was a huge step towards living out the kingdom of God, this community that they created looked more like the kingdom of God to them than the communities they had been a part of before.

          Can you imagine? Having an experience that changed you that much? Totally turning your life upside down? Feeling so strongly about something that you dive in head first into a new and totally countercultural way of life?

          Many of you know that we’re just starting this sermon series about spiritual makeover to go alongside the makeover we hope to do the friendship room. And no matter where you consider yourself on your spiritual journey, we could all use a little making over. So we look at this scripture today, and we have to wonder how this might affect our spiritual makeover, what might this tell us about our spiritual makeover. And I think one of the main things we can learn is that we don’t do this alone. Just like these early Christians, we don’t do this alone because it all starts with an experience of God. We don’t do any of this without God working in our lives. Now we’re probably not going to have the same experience as these early Christians in Jerusalem, in fact nobody else had that experience after them. Since that time, throughout the rest of the history we have in the Bible, we see that God began to work in less dramatic ways we could say. The truth is that just being here this morning is proof that God is working in your life. We try every Sunday to create an atmosphere where people can come and experience God, an environment where we’re safe to open ourselves up to whatever God would want to say or do in our hearts and lives. We can’t make that happen, we don’t create an experience of God, but we can be open to it. So what’s a meaningful, powerful experience of God that you’ve had. It doesn’t have to be a miracle, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be a dramatic emotional experience, but it can be. It doesn’t have to be a drastic turning point in your life, but it can be. It can also be a moment when you felt deeply loved, or when a piece of scripture felt so true to you, or when you realized that a lie you’d believed about yourself wasn’t true, or when a song really resonated with you, or it could be when you became a parent, when you realized that we don’t have all the answers and that maybe there’s something bigger than all of us at work. God works in lots and lots of ways. I wish that over the years I’d kept better track of those times in my life, that I had a book where I could look back and remind myself of all the ways that God has spoken to me. And I wish even more that I’d been more aware of all the times I missed those things too. One of the most memorable experiences for me was when I felt called into ministry and I know I’ve shared that story before, but in that moment I was just overwhelmed by the truth that God had a specific plan for me and that regardless of my faults and failures and serious doubts that God wanted to use me for good. I think that experience is so memorable because it was one of the first times that I could say, without a doubt that God was speaking to me. Because Lord knows I would not have concocted that plan for myself. We see today that that’s where the beginning of the church started, with a clear experience of God, not alone.

          One of the major dangers of Christianity is that we have these experiences of God and we think that’s the goal. That having an experience of God is the point of being a Christian. But it’s not. Those experiences of God, while they may make us feel great, while they may have value in and of themselves are meant to launch us into action. We are supposed to DO something about those experiences. Sometimes it’s specific things like, become a pastor, or stop a destructive behavior, or call up a friend or family member. But sometimes it’s not. Sometimes, and I think most of the time, what we’re supposed to do, what we want to do, is to help others experience God. Experience God’s love, experience God’s grace, experience God’s acceptance, experience God’s forgiveness, experience God’s healing. We want people to experience those things because we know what that’s like. We come together as the church to create an atmosphere where people can have those types of experiences. We pray for each other so that more people might have those experiences, we teach so that more people might have those experiences, we share Holy Communion so that more people might have those experiences, we spend time together so that more people might have those experiences, and friends we share our resources so that more people might have those experiences. That’s what we read about in this chapter of Acts, a group of people who had an experience of God and who shaped their community around that experience and those who were not yet there. And the last verse we read today says: “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” More people did have an experience of God and this community grew.

          Now if you’ve been a part of this church for a while, this story should sound familiar. People having an experience of God, coming together as a community to build something incredible for those who had not yet come. That’s us, that is what we’re celebrating, remembering and claiming as we renovate the friendship room. That over 60 years ago, a community of faith that had an experience of God came together, for teaching and prayer and fellowship and eating together, but they were also convicted to share their resources, to put them together and to build not only a building, but a community for those who had not yet come, space and community to have a life-changing experience of God. If you haven’t heard the story before, the way I understand it is that West Des Moines United Methodist Church had outgrown its current building in Valley Junction and so the congregation had gotten together to talk about what to do next and how they would raise the money for a new and bigger building. And I think one of the best parts of the story as it’s been told to me is that Peg Lavere stood up, told the pastor to sit down and shut up, and went on to tell the congregation just how they were going to build this community, this building. The next day the pastor got a call from the bank wondering why all of his members were there taking out loans. Their experience of God, their desire for others to experience God and their strength as a community of faith prompted them to do something incredible. And this year we celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the day that members of that congregation walked from one church in Valley Junction, to where we are today. And you know what day by day, month by month and year by year the Lord has added to their number those who have been saved.

                                     

          This is our legacy, church, this is a part of our DNA. But those who have gone before us didn’t do it alone and we don’t either. We know that God is the originator of all of this, that this all starts with our experience of God, as individuals and as a community, God builds with us. And as a community, we know that we don’t do any of this in isolation. I’d dare to say that our community is not just those who are members today, those who are sitting here today or any Sunday, but that we are also accompanied by a great cloud of witnesses, those who have gone before us, and those who have not yet come. The most important thing about this makeover of the Friendship Room is that it is creating a space for those who have not yet come. A welcoming space, a safe space, a space where we give God free-reign. We are undertaking the renovation of the Friendship Room so that others might have a powerful experience of God. God has moved in our hearts and lives so that we can impact the lives of others. We don’t walk on this spiritual journey alone, friends. We don’t undertake our spiritual makeover alone. We don’t undertake this project alone. We don’t build alone, friends. We do all this with the companionship of each other, those who are with us now and those who have gone before, but more importantly with the companionship of God. Amen. 
Pastor Jen
(c) Jen Hibben 2014

Spiritual Makeover: Building a Life that Matters

Sermon at West Des Moines United Methodist Church on May 4, 2014 by Rev. Dr. Wesley SK Daniel.