WELCOME to this post for a Digby Baptist Church Sunday morning. Here, we include a bit of video from the service. The whole plan for the service each week can be found in the Bulletin, here on our website.
(Psalm 15; Luke 10:25-42) J G White ~ 11 am, Sun, Feb 21, 2021, UBC Digby
PRAYERS of the People Today we use this response from Psalm 4 as we pray: when I say, O that we might see some good!, you say, Let the light of Your face shine upon us. Let us pray.
Fire of God, Thou Sacred Flame: refine us again, at this late hour of our lives. Renew us by burning away the wastefulness of our time and the unkind habits we keep repeating. You delight in us when we become more beautiful and generous to our neighbours.
O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face shine upon us.
Spirit of creation, whose goodness gives life to all: we pray for those who mourn, especially those who have tragically lost loved ones this weekend. These deaths make no sense; hear our prayers.
O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face…
Jesus, who wept over his dead friend, who wept over the whole city: people need to know You are near and weep with us again, lovingly.
O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face…
Christ, who hungered in the wilderness, who touched every sick and injured person, who faced your own torture and execution: hear our prayers for those among us who are ill and hurting. Bless Dwight, bless Carolyn, bless Bob, bless
O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face…
Ancient of Days, time is in Your hands: we pray for those waiting for surgery, waiting for therapy, waiting for diagnosis, waiting for healing. We also call out for those who are troubled in heart and mind, that they may be supported and strengthened.
O that we might see some good! Let the light of Your face…
God of all nations, into a troubled world You bring powerful help: our prayers are for the people of Texas and other places suffering in terrible weather; for places of violence and unrest such as Myanmar and the Philippines; and for the worldwide challenges of the new strains of the coronavirus.
O that we might see some good…
Why Church? Why are people in the Christian Church? To Do Good and to Be Good. Baptist author and philosopher, Dallas Willard, spoke often of the longing of humans to find the good life. How to live a good life? This is the deep quest of so many people. Christianity claims that the Church is the way, with Jesus, on earth now, to become the good person we each are meant to be.
How is the Church doing, so far? Well, almost 2000 years on? Are we rather dull and worn and failed now?
One of my favourite chapters in C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is number two, about the Church. Here I see a marevelous glimpse of the real Church that terrifies the demons who work for Satan. A demon named Screwtape writes to his nephew abt. the Christian Church: …we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans.
Demon Screwtape likes to think that a man on Sunday morning at a Church will see things this way:
When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided.
It is so true that the real Church reaches far above and beyond what we see in ourselves on a Sunday morning. It is huge! It has a holy God. It is everywhere in history. And so, Church is a way that we live the good life, here and now, connected with every other person who is in Christ, throughout all of time and space.
But Screwtape was right. This is hidden from most of us, a lot of the time. And all our neighbours outside of the churches do not see the Church that Jesus is building, against which the gates of hades cannot stand.
Nevertheless, we are here, in this school of the spirit, this seminar for sainthood, this saving place for sinners. We have seen goodness among us, and we know we can be trained for right living in this fellowship. O to be good!
Let me take some time to tell you a story told by Micah Brickner. He is Communications Director for Eastern Mennonite Missions. He lives in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Heather: she is pastor of a Brethren in Christ Church called Branch & Vine. Micah tells this experience he had, when he was quite young.
It was winter, in the early 2000s. It was cold. It was also snowing.
My father and I were getting ready to drive to the store in our less-than-reliable 1980-something Chevy Celebrity. The car’s alternator was having some issues, and the engine would not stay running.
We had not traveled very far down the main street in my hometown when the car was not able to make it.
Whatever the issue ended up being, I remembered that we needed someone to help us jump the car’s battery. My father struggled with a form of anxiety that could render him into a significant panic from situations like this one — this one did just that.
I was too young to be of much help, other than walking to someone’s house to ask for help. We did not have a cell phone, and we did not necessarily know what to do.
Suddenly, walking down the street we saw our pastor. We asked for his help, but he said he was running late for a meeting and could not help.
It was disappointing, but we moved on.
Next we saw a neighbor, who happened to be a Sunday school teacher. We asked if he could jump the car. And he responded quickly by indicating that his car’s battery was probably too unreliable to be able to help us. My father tried to explain that this man’s car would be fine, but he continued to find excuses.
We were left to figure out how to solve this problem on our own.
Then an old panel van came driving up alongside our car. The driver rolled down his window and asked if we needed help.
We quickly realized that it was our neighbor … our Muslim neighbor. He pulled onto the side of the road, rummaged for a pair of jumper cables, and quickly helped us get back on the road.
It was such a simple gesture, but it was a meaningful one — one that my family still talks about fondly today.
This man and his wife owned a little gift shop down the street from our house. We were patrons of their business for a long time & found joy in their friendship. Unfortunately, this man passed away a few years later. My parents often encouraged me to shovel their sidewalk while he was sick and after he passed away.
I share this story not to chastise the two Christian men who did not help us, but rather to highlight the kindness of the man who did. This neighbor was willing to openly talk with us about faith and the differences between Christianity and Islam. While we differed in our religious views, we had mutual respect for each other.
My Good Samaritan Was a Muslim
Micah Brickner titled his article: ‘My Good Samaritan Was a Muslim.’ Though not the same as the Luke 10 parable of Jesus, these personal events illustrate the act of being a neighbour, a true good thing in this life. Jesus’ parable is an extreme example of neighbourliness, in a truly dire situation.
The Africa Bible Commentary simply calls this parable in Luke, ‘Co-travellers,’ and sums up the issues nicely:
People from countries such as the United States of America, South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda and Burundi and other countries racked by racial and ethnic divisions have a special appreciation of this story of the travellers. It deals with racial harmony and what it means to be human and humane, or to be someone with ubuntu, that is, someone who is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, with a servant spirit that says, ‘I am because you are; you are because I am.’ (p. 1251)
Jesus tells this story when answering questions. He keeps on with His teaching theme: what you do matters. To be welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous – these describe actions, not beliefs or thoughts or feelings. For the Church to be a centre for learning these ways of God, we must focus upon this: how to do the things Jesus taught. It is all very practical.
Once in a while, a local congregation stands out in the message it gives to the community at large. In my research last week, I happened to look at the web page for Branch & Vine, that Brethren Church in Lancaster City, Pa. On their homepage are three simple statements. If they claim these things, so clearly and concisely, they must be making these practical and ‘real.’ That Church says: We Believe…
- Jesus loves everyone.
- Church should be simple.
- Children should be seen and heard.
I don’t think you can make such brief, direct claims about yourself without doing what is implied. Hypocrisy about loving neighbours, or the church running simply, or children being totally welcome, would soon show up.
The ways Jesus shows us how to be good and to do good in life are not sublime ideas and theories. They are practical ways of living, day-to-day.
The great teacher of preachers, Fred Craddock, raised an important issue about Jesus’ parable of the travellers, which Jesus told when talking with a Jewish law expert.
The lawyer knew the answers to his own questions, and in both cases Jesus expressed full agreement.
Then what is wrong with this conversation? We have two good questions, two good answers, and two men who agree. What else could one ask? All kinds of things are wrong. Asking questions for gaining an advantage over another is not a kingdom exercise. Neither is asking questions with no intention of implementing the answers. …Jesus did not say to the lawyer, “Great answer! You are my best pupil.” Rather, Jesus said, “Go and do.” (Craddock, Fred, Luke: Interpretation, 1990, p.150)
Ah, how wonderful those moments when we, dear Church, help one another ‘go and do’ what Jesus teaches. Christ has planted us here as a source of good in the neighbourhood. And I see every day how you are on Jesus’ team, blessing others.
I meet one of you in the grocery store, buying a fruit basket for a neighbour recovering from surgery.
A deacon texts me to let me know about some recent deaths in the community, and the circle of prayer and care grows.
A parent and children come in here during a cold snowstorm to prepare activity packs for the Sunday kids.
Such actions are our natural ministry – or perhaps, with Jesus, they actually are our supernatural ministry. We are saved to do such good work so that the world will be helped. Not so that we will earn our way into heaven. The doctrine of grace tells us that God’s care and compassion for us saves us, with the actions of Jesus. We don’t earn our way, or become worthy. Jesus is the worthy One.
The temptation has been, for centuries, to come to Church, to worship God, to earn God’s favour and get enough points and get into glory when we die. More about that a couple sermons from now. I know we do have scripture texts like Psalm 15, that we spoke earlier.
O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right…
Yet it is Jesus, our Jesus, who takes the final step, and walks more blamelessly that we can, He does right when we do not. Now, in Christ we get two things. First, we get to be considered perfect, blameless, doers of what’s right. Secondly, we actually will do better in this life, with Christ living within us. This week of our lives will be lived better with Jesus than without Him. We will be good neighbours.
Dallas Willard wisely wrote: In the morning we cannot yet know who our neighbor will be that day. The condition of our hearts will determine who along our path turns out to be our neighbor, and our faith in God will largely determine whom we have strength enough to make our neighbor. (Willard, D., The Divine Conspiracy, 1997, p. 111)
To do good, to be a good person, does come down to how we become a neighbour to others. The Lawyer’s question still stands. “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus’ parable remains the answer. My neighbour is the one I treat well. My neighbour is the one who treats me well.
It is not Mr. Rogers, but Christ Himself who asks us: Won’t you be their neighbour?
PRAYER of Confession Let us pray. Jesus, our Righteousness, we clothe ourselves with You, we take off our weaker attempts at being good, we submit to all the training You have for us in the school of life. We confess the pride we have in the good we count as our own. We confess the neglect of time and effort and expense for helping those we could help. We confess our forgetfulness of the many life lessons You have offered us. We regret our sins. We ask for hope, that we may truly be better and greater in this world. We turn to You, O Perfect One, to do more now to make us complete, and good, and joyful in this life. It is by Your own power and authority – Your name – that we pray. AMEN.
