“…but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
Perhaps you have heard that there is a rather important event coming up on November 5th. Although I will never tell you who to vote for, I will point out the importance of exercising that right of citizenship, and please vote. I am sure I will make the same plea in the coming weeks.
But with the election on the horizon, I have turned my thoughts to what comes after—what happens in the days and weeks after November 5th? What happens after the confetti has fallen and the speeches have been made? In every election, some win, and those, whether they choose to believe it or not, lose.
Regardless of what happens on election day or in the days after, life will go on.
It has been said that we are more divided now than we were prior to the Civil War. I am a student of that period of our history from a theological perspective, and by that, I mean what role did the church play in the events leading up to and after the war?
We are called United Methodists largely due to the split before the war. The theological and ideological split divided the church along northern and southern lines. It took only a few years to break apart, but it took more than 100 to come back together, and it is still not fully restored.
For the last couple of weeks, I have been wrestling with this question of what’s next and what our role should be in what’s next.
In Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, he writes to the church about the type of leaders we should want and what we should be. Paul writes that the High Priest does not perform his duties for his own glory but for the glory of God, “…one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God.” But Paul also reminds those he is writing to that the High Priest is a human and suffers from the same weaknesses that we all do, sometimes more.
Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating in an ordination service in Plymouth. It has been several years since I attended an ordination service, and it was nice to be reminded of the obligation we take when we submit to being set apart for leadership in God’s Church.
The first lesson is leadership, not about us. None of this can be about us. In last week’s lesson from Mark, the Rich Young Man calls Jesus “Good Teacher,” and Jesus rebukes him. “No one is good except God,” Jesus tells the man. Jesus constantly and consistently points away from himself and towards God. When they want to make him King, he runs away. When he faces temptation in the desert and is offered everything, he turns it down. None of this is about me.
The second lesson is that to be leaders, we first have to be servants. A true leader must be willing to wash the feet of those they lead. Some of the best leaders I have had in my military service have stood beside me in the rain and mud. The leader who does not wish to get dirty is no leader, and the leader who is aloof is no leader.
Marks’s Gospel sums it up rather nicely for us today, “…but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” And Jesus continues, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” Must be a slave of who? All. Not some, not just the ones we like, but all.
Here is that radical Jesus again telling me that I have to love everyone and now serve them. This message is for us as individuals and for the church.
The church is at its best when it serves as a moral compass. I am not talking about forcing people to think a certain way or even to force conformity upon them, but rather offering an alternative and providing forgiveness and reconciliation. And doing it all with grace and love.
But the church is also at her best when she speaks the truth in love and rebukes. We must never compromise for the sake of unity. Jesus was all about bringing people together, but he was also aware that there were those who would not wish to come together.
After Jesus told the Rich Young Man that he would have to sell everything to follow him, the man turned and walked away. Jesus did not chase after him, nor did Jesus change his mind; he let the man walk away. Part of leadership is recognizing when it is time to let people go and watch them walk away. But we should never close the door because they might come back one day.
The question remains: what do we do?
Can we reconcile? Should we reconcile? Can we repair relationships? Should those relationships be repaired?
I will admit that I don’t know, but I believe we have to try.
Not too far from here, out there in the harbor, stands a light that has been warning mariners about the dangers in the area but also lighting the way to safety. A lighthouse is a symbol of hope, a sign that just past the light, we will find sanctuary from the storm, a place of refuge from all that troubles us. The church can and should be that lighthouse, lighting the way to hope in the present and the future.
The sign that stands in front of our building boldly claims that we are a reconciling congregation. That means that, as a community, we decided to come to grips with the past hurts and divisions we have caused and promise not to cause those same hurts in the future. It is a recognition that we are not perfect, but God’s all-sufficient grace will help us get there.
But if that sign is to have any real meaning, we have to live out that principle of reconciliation in all aspects of our lives as individuals and as the church. We must be willing to open our doors to all, not just some.
The twelve that Jesus picked to help him were the most unlikely bunch ever assembled. Among them was one who despised the government and everything it stood for, but their number also included a tax collector, one who represented that government.
There was Judas, who never understood nor appreciated what Jesus was doing and would eventually turn him in. My friend Peter, who was bold in his faith and proclamation of who Jesus was and is, and of whom Jesus said that his faith was like a rock, would deny Jesus to save his own skin.
The two we encountered today were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, boldly asking to be put in seats of glory. And then, when Jesus needed them most, they all abandoned him. These twelve were imperfect, but they were able to spread the message of love and acceptance to the farthest reaches of the world.
All of this is possible if we are willing to humble ourselves and be of service to others. We bring about reconciliation through love and peace, but it all begins with us and our ability to reconcile and forgive.
We have a great and important task before us, and we must be ready. Our work will not end next month; it is only beginning.
Amen
