"Serve, Speak, Love"

The sermon went okay. I had higher hopes for the final piece of the preaching series, but I ended with a pretty basic sermon.

It occurred to me that the content of the sermon may be correct, but the challenge is how to take the message and implement it into the life of the church. I think we (that is, the church) can see what is happening and what might be good to do better than we can actually do what needs to be done.

The Cheers illustration was a slight variation of a the Cheers illustration that generally comes to me mind -- the theme song about Cheers being a place "where everybody knows your name." Interestingly, last night I was reading a book on youth ministry and Cheers was referenced in this way. Certainly, the idea that people need a place "where everybody knows your name" is probably true for today's world as well.

I never did find the great story about a loving act that transcended everything else. Maybe next time.


“Serve, Speak, Love” I Corinthians 13; FPC, Troy; 21st Century preaching series; 11/21/10
Introduction: High school and college – Cheers was a very popular sitcom. Bar in Boston; wacky characters gathered each night and shared their stories.
The bartenders Always had some type of greeting when the customers arrived.
Sam: “Norm! How’s it going?”
Norm: “It’s a dog eat dog world, Sammy, and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear.”
(Reference to this greeting found on Don't Eat Alone: thoughts on food, fatih, family and friends, blog by Milton Brasher-Cunningham, 11/15/2010, http://www.donteatalone.blogspot.com/)
After a day of getting chewed up in the world, Norm needed a place to go where he could connect with people, where he could share his story, where he could be accepted.

Behind the technology of the 21st century, behind the resistance to organized religion, behind the “I want something new and different” are people who want to be connected and want to discover meaning for their lives.

What do we, the church, have to offer them? What do we have to offer ourselves?

Move 1: Serve
a. We continue to see a rise in volunteerism among the younger generation.
1. service seems to offer a point of connection for younger adults.
2.. Older generation did it because it was part of their faith tradition.
3. Younger generation turns to mission despite its connection to faith traditions.
4. In doing so, they find themselves doing what Christ came to do.
b. how do we capitalize on the willingness to engage in mission?
1. Can we use technology in our efforts to engage in mission?
2. Invite people to
Serving others not only connects us with what Christ calls us to do, but gives us opportunities to connect with others in our world.
Move 2: speak
a. Not a recitation of beliefs or an argument for God, but a personal word.
1. People may not want to hear what you believe in a doctrinal sense.
2. But they want to hear your story.
3. They want to hear you share what has given meaning to your life.
4. They want to know what has impacted your life.
5. They want to engage at a personal level about important things.
b. Allow other the opportunity to speak.
1. Listen.
2. Help people articulate what is happening in their lives.
3. what they value.
Move 3: Love
a. Where can a person go to experience love?
1.We live in a world where if you get mad at someone you can remove them as a friend from FB.
2.Or never answer their phone calls or text messages because you have caller id and can easily avoid them.
3.Our technology encourages ever-changing relationships with low standards of commitment.
4.Where can a person go to discover what ti means to be in an ongoing relationship where they can be loved unconditionally?
5.The church ought to be that place.
b. Paul's magnificent commentary on love was not originally written about marriage, but about how to be in relationship with others in their faith community in Corinth.
1. Wow!
2. We have trouble loving like that with our spouse to whom we have expressed a high level of commitment, can Paul calls us to show that kind of love to each other.
3. Don’t Eat Alone, blog by Milton Brasher-Cunningham, 12/8/09 : In 1972, Madeleine L’Engle was struggling with being told that identifying as a Christian would turn some people off. She responded: I wouldn’t mind if to be a Christian were accepted as being the dangerous thing which it is. I wouldn’t mind if, when a group of Christians meet for bread and wine, we might well be interrupted and jailed for subversive activities. I wouldn’t mind if, once again, we were being thrown to the lions. I do mind, desperately, that the word “Christian” means for so many people smugness, and piosity, and holier-than-thouness. Who, today, can recognize a Christian because of “how those Christians love one another”? (98, A Circle of Quiet, Madeleine L’Engle)

b. We need to be that place in the world where people can experience love and learn to love.
c.If I have an incredible FB page, but do not have love, I am an empty post.
If I have 100,000 followers on my Twitter account, but do not have love, I am just a bunch of words.
If I have wonderful mission projects, but do not have love, I am merely work.
If I speak and engage others with fascinating stories of my life, but do not have love, I am just a windy storyteller.
Faith, hope, love abide these three, but the greatest of these is love.
Conclusion: Today is Christ the king Sunday on the liturgical calendar. The last Sunday before we start Advent. The Sunday we celebrate that the Christ child becomes king.
We can both live out our calling as disciples and engage the world in the 21t century when we serve and invite others to serve; when we speak and invite others to speak, when we love and invite others to know God's love.
Amen.