Sermon prepared
for
by Pastor Gregory
S. Kaurin
Texts: Ps. 67:1-3, Mt. 25:34-39
Sermon:
Better
Than This
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Why are you here?
Take a moment with that question. What on earth are you doing here? What got you here this morning? What motivated you? Be honest with yourself. What do you hope to get out of this service,
or any Sunday? Anything?
Are you here out of habit; this is just what you do
on Sunday? Are you here because your parents
made you come? Or your kids made you go
to church? Are you here to get your
weekly fill? Or you knew your friends
would be here? Are you here to avoid
guilt, the guilt that sometimes comes when you miss? Are you here because you volunteered to do
something? You’re on the altar guild, a
host family, or a Sunday school teacher.
Are you here to be challenged, or to grow in your faith? Have I hit on all the reasons?
Well, I told you to be honest. I’ll be honest with you and tell you why I’m
here, from my worst reason to my better reason for being here. Finally, at the end of this sermon, I’ll tell
you God’s reason why I’m here, and why you are here.
First, my worst reason. You probably already know what it’s going to
be. What do you think my worst reason is
for being here? Right, it’s my job.
You know what, though, I can honestly say I’m not
here because you pay me. I love this
part of my work; I don’t preach for the money.
You pay me to do some of the other things a pastor does with the rest of
the week. My preaching mentor has said a
couple times to his congregation, “I’m not paid for preaching; I’m paid to
manage complexity.” It took me awhile to
figure out what he meant by that, not paid to preach, but manage the complexity
of a church.
On the other hand, I have sometimes wondered what
my church attendance and involvement would be like if I had gone into some
other line of work. I sometimes think
God looked into my future, or at least looked at my church attendance while I
was in college, and he asked his angel buddies, “What are we going to with this
slug-a-bed Greg? I know, let’s make it
his job. That’ll get ‘im to church!”
Again, that’s when I’m at my worst, my worst
reason. I really love what I do, and don’t
know why anyone would choose any other career.
My better reason comes from my twelfth-grade
English class. We called her Mrs.
B. And she taught us this one word—from
every story, book, poem—“transcendentalism.”
She loved transcendence, to “rise above” normal life, or to rise above
the situation. “How does this character
transcend? Where is the transcendence?”
Transcendence.
It’s true; nearly every story, book or poem has protagonists, heroes,
and what makes them heroic, are not just their amazing feats, but that, morally
or in action they rise above, they transcend, others around them and act on
higher principals if and when it means risking themselves.
However, to really understand transcendence, you also
need to understand tragedy. Tragic
characters are tragic in that they seem unable or unwilling to change their
actions, their personality, or the course of events around them. They are unable or unwilling to alter it even
if that very behavior or habit leads to destruction, loss, death, theirs or
anyone around them. In literature tragic
characters include MacBeth and Mercutio in Shakespeare, or Achilles in Homer’s Iliad or the new movie
In real life, though, tragic people are even more
sad.
·
The alcoholic who destroys self and tears apart the
family, too…that is tragedy.
·
A church tearing itself apart for the sake of
various interest groups, or to maintain purity while millions need to hear the
loving gospel of Jesus Christ, that is tragedy.
·
Teenagers who join their friends in smoking or
drinking just because it’s social, or a bit rebellious, or seemed like the fun thing
to do at the moment, with everyone else…that is following tragedy.
·
Adults who won’t give it up even when they know
it’s ruining their health: tragedy.
·
Soldiers who say they were just “following orders.” Just following orders is an incredibly tragic
excuse.
·
Fringe and organized fanatics who perform
horrendous acts on disarmed civilians for a sense of power or momentary
victory, that is tragedy—not just because someone died—but because of the
short-sighted lemming nature of violence and the search for power or vengeance.
Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and I don’t
often see things the same way, except perhaps in these past days I have heard
him say, over and again and, at least in one interview, I heard him say it with
tears: “We are better than this.”
We are better than this. We are hurting; we have been violated by
terrorism; we are losing young men and women.
We are called to respond to all that, and yet we are called to be better
than this. God made us to be better than
this.
We are judged not by the way we treat people at the
top. We are judged by the way we treat
jail inmates, prisoners of war, and unclassified detainees.
We are judged by the way we treat kids in the
special ed classes, how we treat the freaks, the geeks and the dweebs. We are judged by the number of homeless
people who sleep without shelter tonight.
We are judged by pornography and casual sex, whether
it’s consensual or not…not because it’s dirty or nasty, but because it
objectifies and dehumanizes people.
We are judged on whether way we place our values
first, ahead of profit, and ahead of popularity or power. We are called to be better than this.
We are judged by the starvation of millions around
the world, and by the hunger of children even within our own state.
All of this--that seems like a huge unavoidable
human tragedy. The real tragedy is to
know about it, to see it, and still to do nothing about it, to simply let it
happen. That is tragedy.
Now, we can understand transcendence. Transcendence can happen right in the middle,
or in spite of tragedy. A faith that
transcends seeks the hope and presence of God in the middle of suffering, in
the middle of the worst.
Transcendence is the soldier who blew the whistle
and, whether secretly or officially, reported what was happening in the Abu
Ghraib prison.
Transcending is taking action, not out of some
great heroic strength, but truly and honestly out of humility and even
embarrassment for yourself or others. To
transcend the situation is be different for the sake of a greater right—even if
it means losing friends, losing a job, going to jail, whatever. To do what’s right, to keep higher ideals and
act on them in each small moment: transcendence.
Yesterday, my wife and I went to the
I answered, “So did Lord of the Rings and you didn’t want to see those movies with me.
She said, “Yes but, those movies only had a bunch
of hobbits with hairy toes.
In both the movie and Homer’s Iliad Achilles was a tragic character. He let his drive for victory and battle and
his name drive him to eventual destruction.
Except one moment, he finally transcended. After he defeated his enemy Hector, he
desecrated the body, drug it behind his chariot, and left Hector’s body to rot
outside his tent. Hector’s father snuck
through the camp into Achilles’ tent to beg him for his son’s body, to allow a
decent burial. He kissed Achilles’
hands, the hands that killed his own son.
In a father’s love, Achilles finally saw his shame. His guilt led him to give up the body, but
also to grieve, to grieve for Hector, for his father, and what he had
done. That was the moment that Achilles
transcended. That was the moment that he
became a hero, when he was humbled.
Transcendence. That word has echoed in my head from
12th grade on. In every story,
book, and movie, I still look for it.
And really, it is my better reason, one of the
ideals that constantly drive me as pastor.
Transcendence and searching for it is one thing that keeps me motivated
and hopeful in the church.
In the midst of this congregation, Messiah
Lutheran, it drives me to believe, to preach and teach, and to live
better. I honestly believe that we can
transcend merely following our date books, or following our friends, or profit. I believe that we are called to rise above
that and be better…by the power of God.
One of the better reasons I am here is out of a
hope that ebbs and flows, but grows, believing that we can be better, make a
difference… here and there. We can be
there for individual people, who need to grieve or grow, for our community that
needs to hear and see the grace of God, given by Jesus Christ and shown through
us.
I believe we have a responsibility, each of us, and
together as a congregation, to grab hold of the transcendence that God offers to
us. We need to let it free us from mere
obedience, and to let it free us from merely doing what others are doing around
us. We are called to something better,
to act better…not for what it will get us, not to earn what we already have in
heaven, but simply because it is the right thing to do. With a lot of prayer, forgiveness and our
best guesses, we are called do our best.
And we have come here to church for all kinds of
reasons, to hear again the love that saves us, to have a sense of camaraderie
and fellowship with each other, but also to learn and remember to be the Body, to
be the representatives of Jesus Christ in our daily lives. We come to transcend the normal stuff going
on around us in school and work and home, and let our Christianity transform
our behaviors—even at cost of acting or appearing different. We are called to react to the needs of the
world around us, and to begin discovering Jesus Christ in the face and needs of
each person we encounter and help, and listen to.
I asked you to think of why you are here this
morning, all the different reasons that brought you here. The real reason you are here is because God
wanted you to be here today. It shows
something very revealing and powerful about God that he will use all kinds of
motivations. He will use the nagging of
parents, or volunteer jobs, or friends, or your need for a spiritual fill. Whatever it took, God sent it, and that is
why you and I are here.
The next question to ask yourself is “Why?” Why does God want you here? Why does God want you at all?
The first answer is simple and uplifting: because
he loves you.
The second answer is more humbling, scary and
hopeful. You are here because God wants
to make a difference, and God believes that he can make a difference through
you. Through us as a congregation, and
through you as an individual, God creates transcendence.
You are here for his love, his strength and encouragement
so that you can walk away from here transformed, and to keep you transforming
and transcending. You are not a piece of
human tragedy. You are part of the loved
and saved Body of Christ… Act like it. And
together, let’s flex this congregation’s muscle and do something about it, here
in
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