John 14:1-10
May 22, 2011
Heritage Sunday/Last Message at FUMCTC
As you know, the rapture, the end of the world as we know it, was scheduled to happen yesterday. Either that was not true, or you and I have been left behind and we need to pay very close attention to Jesus’ instructions in the scripture reading today!
Let us pray. Prayer before sermon: “Holy God, we come together in worship this day to proclaim your goodness and declare your greatness. Stir our hearts, that we may bring you the worship you deserve. Send your Holy Spirit to guide us in our worship. May all we do, say, and sing, bring honor and glory to God the Creator, God our Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit.” Amen.
I remember a plane ride where the pilot came over the intercom: “We have lost one of our engines. No need to worry, we have four. We will, however, be arriving 1 hour later than anticipated.” Thirty minutes later, the pilot came on again: “We have lost another engine; no need to worry; however, we will be arriving 2 hours late at our destination. One hour later, the pilot came on again: “We have lost our third engine. No need to worry. We will, however, be arriving 4 hours late at our destination.
At that point one of the passengers turned to her husband: “I AM starting to worry. If that last engine goes, we’re going to be up here all night!”
Worry is not good for the heart. According to a new study from Mayo Clinic researchers, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, at least when it comes to the health of your heart. Throughout the course of 20 years, doctors tracked the breakfast habits and health statistics of some 2,100 individuals. The goal was simple: to determine the positive or negative overall health effects of skipping breakfast.
Respondents who grew up in homes where breakfast was skipped or who later in life chose to rebel against a pro-breakfast upbringing by passing on the meal as adults showed significantly higher levels of heart-wrenching health statistics. Their waistlines were larger. Their cholesterol was higher. Their insulin levels were out of whack. The bottom line? Their hearts were sick.
We have known for years that what we eat affects the heart. That did not keep someone from keeping a record of all the Big Macs he has eaten – now totaling over 17,000. That does not keep places like “In and Out” – a recent addition in Frisco where you can order 3/square and 4/square hamburgers – from being jam-packed into the late hours of the evening. Still, we know that what we eat affects the heart. Now we know that when we eat affects the heart. In fact, many doctors who have studied the report now recommend waking up and eating some kind – in fact, almost any kind – of substantial breakfast as an essential step in avoiding serious heart trouble later in life. So, what do you know? Mom was right.
The Mayo Clinic has some advice about heart care, but so does Jesus. In today’s gospel text, Jesus gives his disciples – and us – this clear command: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Jesus isn’t talking about cholesterol levels or bypass surgeries. Jesus is talking about a different kind of heart trouble: the kind that can also be classified as worry, fear, anxiety or stress. Worry is such a part of our normal lives that we write songs about it to calm us. We devoted an entire sermon series to worry – worry, the kind of heart trouble that can feel like a loss of hope, a lack of faith, a panic attack or pangs of uncertainty, the kind of heart trouble that keeps you up at night thinking about money, biting your nails when you’re worried about your child, or on the phone with a friend craving advice for a crumbling marriage. Perhaps already today you’ve had palpitations of worry or fear about some financial issue or family problem? That’s the kind of heart trouble Jesus is talking about. It’s the kind we’ve all experienced.
The text today is a part of the Johannine Farewell Discourse of Jesus. Jesus was addressing his closest followers and doing so with the language of love. Jesus has just washed the disciples’ feet in an effort to show THE WAY to live and serve one another and others; Jesus has just given them a new commandment to love one another as I have loved you in an effort to show them THE WAY; Jesus has the discussion now about where he is going, that he will prepare a place for them and will return, to comfort them along the way, but they do not get it! They don’t want Jesus washing their feet. They don’t want to have to love each other in that way, and they certainly do not understand where it is that Jesus is going. I don’t know if you can relate to those crazy apostles - but I surely can. I admit to having that same kind of worry and anxiety as I began to think about being without you and First UMC, The Colony.
I worried, “What if there are not those fabulous greeters who greet come rain or shine while you are still in the parking lot?” Those smiling, hospitable greeters at the front door? Those capable and thoughtful ushers? What if they don’t have those workers who clock in almost every week day and work all day yet don’t come by to collect a pay check? What if they don’t have someone who would work so amazingly hard on a Kiss-a-Pig contest to raise money? Or a congregation who, after just spending money and time to do what transforming congregations suggested to improve the physical facility, would then allow a 400 pound pig into the newly renovated fellowship hall on a snowy, rainy day? I began to worry.
What if they don’t have a magical, brilliant staff who lives out “doing” the gospel every day they come to work? What if they could not gather the funds to bring a little girl whom they had never seen, a little girl with a dying heart, to the United States on the chance that that heart could be repaired at the Mayo Clinic? What if there were not those people who would work tirelessly without anyone ever knowing that they spent hours writing out baptismal certificates, arranging library books, cataloging those books? I began to worry.
What would I do without a media center to guide and direct, to get the best sound and lighting faithfully in all occasions? Without drums and bells and so many other instruments? What if no one had mints for me on Sundays? What if there were no one who would come faithfully with a camera a take photographs of improvements and special occasions on a regular basis? What if there was not someone who would, out of their own small surplus, graciously give enough to start to renovate the church? I began to worry.
I began to worry, but then I was reminded of today’s passage – the lectionary passage for today that says “Let not your heart be troubled.” I go to prepare a place for you……and I realized that walking with Jesus means that Jesus, through the faithful people of Grace UMC, is preparing a place for me. Jesus, through your faithfulness, is preparing a place for Pastor Marsha. Jesus is preparing a place for each one of you.
Last month, my husband Rick went to the Trenton homecoming. Trenton is where Rick spent his first five years in the field of education. There he bumped into a friend of ours from Wolfe City. Rick began to talk about the man who was superintendent of schools in Trenton when Rick was teaching there. Rick recalled how he had also been a beekeeper and how touched Rick was at his funeral when he saw him in the casket, his arm cradling a jar of honey. Our friend said that he could top that. He said that when he was in high school in Wolfe City, he worked for a beekeeper there. When the beekeeper died recently, he had been laid to rest in the full regalia of beekeeper – the mask, the net, the honey. Then he said, knowing that I was a United Methodist minister, “Do you know Marsha Engle?” Rick smiled and said, “Small world. Marsha Engle Middleton is following Judith at The Colony.” He said, “Well, that beekeeper was Marsha’s father.”
“I go to prepare a place for you and you know the place that I am going.”
You will prepare a place for Marsha. You are already doing that at the young age of 35. Yes, on this Heritage Sunday, you are 35 years old – as of March 31. Oh, the plans that I heard yesterday at the women’s tea for some really fun times this summer and fall; oh, the hope and leadership I have been seeing in so many of you this past year-18 months as you have stepped up to the plate in crucial leadership roles; oh, the joy I have experienced in seeing the job fair where some of you have already signed up to lead committees and others are anticipating getting a job here at the church for the first time. Oh, the church pride I have that this church continues to sponsor so many candidates for the ordained ministry – in just a few short 35 years. Oh, the anticipation of a well-rehearsed special concert by Sung-Yun and Caley in less than two weeks. Yes, you are preparing a place – for Marsha – a place for Marsha in the choir as well - and for many, many others.
On the altar today is a sculpture that usually sits on the cradenza in my office. It is the sculpture of a woman whose heart is outside her body – on top of her head. She is surrounded by homes – a village. The caption is “If only I could speak.” It is symbolic of the times when our heart has feelings that we simply cannot express in their entirety – feelings like I have had for two months, feelings like I have today. Somehow or other, it reflects that there are things that cannot possibly be expressed - but there is evidence of service. The evidence is that you have been my family; you have been my family’s family; you have been kind, caring, and good to my family. I have married some of you, I have baptized many of you, and I have walked the final way with many of your loved ones. I should not be so overwhelmed, so surprised, at the myriad expressions of tenderness, kindness, friendly protest, congratulations, best wishes, letters, emails, cards, and gifts that I have received over these past two months. But as I said at admin council this past week, still I am. My cup runneth over. If only I could speak.
But I need to warn you. At the young age of 35, church, you are following the way. You are welcoming. You are hopeful. You are positive. You are inclusive. You welcome the stranger, you welcome the other. You continue to take on new missions such as New Hope to subsidize child care for those in need, citizenship classes that teach and welcome, community gardens that invite and welcome, Angels’ Place – for much needed respite. You refuse to limit how far Christ’s redemptive love can reach. Here’s the warning: I know Marsha, I work with Marsha on the conference lever, and I will be checking on you! Seriously! I will be checking on you; I will never forget you; I will always love you. I thank God for each and every one of you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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