Finally, would you raise your hand if
you have been part of the church for all or most of your life?
Thank you. Did you notice something in your responses? Did you
notice that a large majority of those who raised their hands
have been long-time members of a church? We’re grateful for those
people, for their faithfulness and their loyalty, to be sure.
But we might also wonder about something.
Might we not wonder what it says, in a county where 2/3 of the
people claim no church affiliation, that the vast majority of the
people of Holy Shepherd have been long-time members of the church?
Might we not wonder if there are Macedonians today, calling out
to us as the call once went to Paul, “Come over here and help us!”?
I think that just could be the case, don’t you—whether they know
they need Jesus Christ or not?
And if you agree with me, don’t you wonder who they are—those who
need the church to come across the boundary and share the love and
forgiveness of Christ?
I wonder if today’s Macedonians could be the high school students
who hang out at the convenience store across the street, when they
could be in school learning?
I wonder if today’s Macedonians could be the young adults of our
nation—and our community? We baby boomers, my generation, left the
church in large numbers, and we see even fewer of the next generations
around the church, don’t we? I know I hear that comment with
some regularity: where are the young adults and children?
I wonder who else might be outside these doors, looking in,
calling out, “Come over here and help us?” Who are those 2/3 of our
county’s residents who aren’t even remotely connected to a community
of faith?
Who are they? Will we learn who they are? Will we learn their
needs, their hopes, their fears, their values, their gifts?
And are they calling out to us, “Come over here, and help
us! We want to know Jesus!”?
I believe they are calling. I believe that call is God’s
Spirit, nudging us, urging us, to take the good news of Jesus from
this place into the places where we live every day.
And will we follow? Will we go—as Paul went long ago—to
Macedonia?
That’s not an easy call to hear, is it! It’s not our style.
It’s not our history. It doesn’t come naturally to Lutherans. And we
know the story of Paul. We know that, when he crossed boundaries to
tell the story of Jesus, he often paid a price: he was arrested,
beaten, shipwrecked, hungry, lashed with whips and, as ancient
tradition has it, martyred for his faith in Jesus. It can be risky
and uncomfortable, even frightening, can’t it, to follow the call of
God?
Yes, it can! But what else can we do, as followers of Jesus,
sent into the world to proclaim mercy and forgiveness in his name and
by his power? What else can we do?
And, oh yes, we do have his promises.
Did you hear all those words of comfort and encouragement in the
gospel?
Jesus spoke these words the night before his death. He knew his
followers would soon be without his physical, bodily presence. He
knew they would be frightened and filled with grief. After all, they
had devoted their lives to him and his teachings. And now he would be
gone!
Yes, Jesus would be leaving—but he wanted his disciples then, and
he wants his disciples now, you and I—to know that he is with
us still. “The Father will send the Holy Spirit in my name,” he
promises. “That’s how I’m going to be with you, even when you can’t
see me with your eyes. And my Spirit will teach you and be your
companion. My Spirit will give you peace—peace in the most
frightening and god-forsaken circumstances you could imagine. I know
you will be frightened, but the Holy Spirit will make it possible for
you to trust me, and move beyond your fear, and carry the gospel into
the world. Remember. Remember. Remember: I will always be
with you, to give you peace and courage!”
Those are the promises of Jesus—the risen and ascended one, the
one with all the power in the universe!
I think we can take Jesus at his word!
And when we do, we’ll go—go across the boundaries, the boundaries
of fear and discomfort, go with the gospel of Jesus!
Paul went. In spite of all the challenges, Paul went. And, when
he did, God used him. God used Paul to bless and save others who
hadn’t heard of Jesus and his love. God sent Paul across the
boundary, into Macedonia, to bring the gospel to Lydia, who came to
faith in Jesus and became a leader in the church at Philippi.
That’s what can happen when God’s people follow God’s Spirit and
cross the boundary into Macedonia!
I had a delightful experience at an ordination during which a
minister was ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America, and will continue the service he has already begun at
Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey. That congregation was formerly known as
American Lutheran Memorial Church. A number of you know more
personally than I do the long and painful journey that community of
faith has taken in its effort to follow God’s call and be in ministry
with the Latino people in its neighborhood. Finally, that effort is
bearing fruit. There is a vibrant faith community at Cristo Rey, with
this newly ordained pastor as their leader, and the congregation is
reaching out to its neighborhood, inviting children, inviting their
parents, to discover the abundant life God offers in Jesus Christ.
That’s what can happen when God’s people follow God’s Spirit and
cross the boundary into Macedonia!
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, leaders of a traditional city church,
Bethlehem Lutheran, discerned that God was calling them into a deeper
ministry. They especially became convicted that God was calling them
into a new approach, a new way of trying to reach young adults who had
been written off by the established church. After prayer and
discernment, Bethlehem established a satellite worship site with an
unlikely name for a church—“Spirit Garage”. More than ten years
later, Spirit Garage continues a thriving, vital ministry with some
who longed for an experience of the grace of God in the midst of an
authentic Christian community.
That’s what can happen when God’s people follow God’s Spirit and
cross the boundary into Macedonia!
And that brings me back to wondering:
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