Imagine Greater!
Posted on Nov 23, 2014 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who abides in which of us. Amen
So, here we are at the end of the church year. As we will do next week, once again, we began this past year by anticipating the coming again of the Word Incarnate. Then we celebrated the birth of Christ during Christmas. Then we witnessed to how God revealed who Jesus was during the Season of Epiphany and we focused on how we might live repentant lives during the Season of Lent. Then, with all that behind us we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and the promise of eternal life during Easter and then finally, as we have done for the past six months, we spent the rest of the year focusing on how we might live our lives as fully baptized children of God. And today, on this last day of the church year, this Christ the King Sunday, Matthew invites us to use our imaginations to grasp God’s call on our lives.
In this Gospel text we heard Jesus say,
34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
Jesus invites us today to imagine ourselves serving him. How do we serve Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God? Well, says Jesus, we serve him every time we feed the hungry, every time we give drink to the thirsty, every time we welcome the stranger, every time we cloth the naked, we every time we care for the sick, or every time we visit those who have been falsely imprisoned.
Now, I know it is hard to imagine that when we hand out pantry packs that we are literally feeding Jesus, but it should not be a surprise to us and it should not have been a surprise to Jesus’ disciples that when we serve each other, we are serving Jesus. Shortly before this story in Matthew’s Gospel, in Chapter 22, Jesus was asked by one of the Pharisees, who was a lawyer, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (22:36), to which he replied, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (22:37-39). In other words, we love God, by loving and caring for each other.
In our Gospel story on this last day of the year, Jesus invites his followers, that is you and me, to imagine what the world might be like if we understood that our purpose, the reason for our very presence in this world, is to love God by serving each other and in doing so, actually bringing about the Kingdom of heaven here.
Can you imagine God’s kingdom here, now? Can you imagine what that would be like? I know it is hard to imagine such a thing when our world is filled with violence. I know it is hard to imagine when we live in a world where two men can walk into a synagogue and kill other men as they are praying. I know it is hard to imagine such a thing when our world is filled with people who are starving, homeless, poor, falsely imprisoned, and even worse. It is so hard to imagine God’s kingdom here, now, but Jesus says, imagine that and then, go, be my disciples and make it happen. Jesus is urging you and me, to share God's generous saving grace with everyone.
Imagine what the world would be like if we all began to embody the presence of Christ. Can you imagine such a thing? (Ask people to share their thoughts.)
Now, as you know, the theme of our stewardship campaign right now is Imagine Greater. Our campaign logo shows a simple bird on the left and then on the far right, on the other side of the cross, is a beautiful peacock. And in the middle is our theme, Imagine Greater. Well, while Jill and I were in Israel, I learned something new about ancient Christian symbolism. As you can imagine, in our travels we visited many ancient church sites and in many of them there were mosaics of peacocks, like this one in the Church of Multiplication. So, finally I asked our guide what the significance of the peacock was and to my surprise, he said it was an ancient symbol of Resurrection. You see, as peacocks grow, they shed their old feathers every year and grow newer, brighter ones. Now, I don’t think Lorel and the campaign Communication team knew this when they designed this beautiful logo, but I knew I loved this theme and this logo when they presented it and now I know why.
Imagine Greater, if you can, that Salem, that old, small church that sits on the corner of Haskins and 91st, shedding its old ways each year to grow newer and brighter ways. Imagine, what that might be like. Can you imagine that? (ask the congregation to share their dreams thoughts.)
Today, Jesus has invited us to Imagine Greater things. He has invited us to Imagine the church in greater ways and he has invited us to Imagine Greater how you and I might be more like him and love all as he has loved us.
As I mentioned in my announcements, a commitment packet was sent out to you this past Friday. As you review it and consider the plans that we have to be active in God’s Mission here at Salem, I am asking you to Imagine Greater, how Salem can and will be a part of God’s kingdom here in Lenexa. Our goal is to raise a minimum of $425,000 for our 3-year growth appeal and to raise $450,000-$500,000 for our annual mission appeal. Right now, as of today, we have early commitments from our leaders of over $230,000 toward our Growth appeal and $120,000 toward our annual mission appeal.
Imagine Greater how you might be able to commit your time, your talents, and your financial resources to help Salem once again shed its old feathers and grow new and brighter ones, so that Salem can continue to be the presence of Christ in this community for the sake of Christ’s church. Amen.