14th
Sunday after Pentecost
September
02, 2007
Rev.
Elizabeth Macaulay
“Invitation List”
Luke 14: 1, 7-14
Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16
Basically, on this Labor Day, the scripture
lessons point to this:
Savor what you have.
Know your place as powerful and power filled. And
know the good of savoring what is.
Former president Theodore Roosevelt, when hosting
friends, was fond of taking his guests on evening walks. Inevitably, he would
point skywards and recite:
“That is the Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda. It is as
large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is
2,500,000 light-years away. It consists of one hundred billion suns, many
larger than our own sun.
Then, following a brief silence, he would grin and
say, “Now, I think we are small enough. Let’s go in.”
When Jesus taught table manners to his disciples,
he was reminding them that social conventions that are about ego stroking just
don’t serve individuals or the creating of the kingdom.
Offering hospitality as a way to create obligation
and demonstrate superior power? It is and empty and soul withering pursuit.
Jockeying for position in a social setting so that
people can see how very important we are? It is a waste of precious energy and
anxiety.
Opening our hearts in a
spirit of gratitude and generosity to those around us, savoring the sanctity of
our relationships - including our marriage and partnership covenants - and
remembering our place within the vastness of God’s benevolence.
Those practices make for living in the way of
Jesus.
And even as we savor, even as we practice mutual
love with others and take the wild risk of loving ourselves, we know that one
of the bedrock realities of this Jesus way of life is that we are also a
movement, called to change heart and lives and the grand sweep of the world.
Labor day weekend is a
breath. It is a time set aside to consider the sanctity of what we lend our
lives to - our work. It is a time to remember that the promise of our work and
sweat and passion is sacred and meant to be honored.
So we pause. And if we are wise, we open our
hearts to an exploration of our work.
So as a people of faith, I want us to look on this
day at the work we share. The life and world changing work of Jesus.
To do that, I want to share the wisdom of Meg
Wheatley. Meg is an organizational guru, a prophetess and an insister on our
power and ability to change the very world we live in. Because
that IS our work as disciples of Jesus.
Meg was in
First, notice what you care about. What is it that
gets your heart engaged and your passions flaring? For some it is world peace,
for others it is the abundance of their gardens. Whatever your passion is, it
is an indicator that it is right there where your work is.
Second, get started. Start talking to other people
about what it is you care about. Don’t keep it to yourself! Start talking about
it and start doing it. It doesn’t have to work. You don’t have to succeed in
some wildly Donald Trump sort of way - I‘m not sure you want it to - just DO
it.
Third, learn as you go. Stop criticizing yourself
and others for mistakes made and things not done just right. Make it up as you
go along. Explore, experiment, allow yourself to ask
questions to which you do not have the answers.
And fourth, stay together. Tend relationships,
build trust, openness, and collaboration. Build a community where people are
willing to hold each other as each is exploring ways to give voice to their
passions and each is committed to honoring the call and questions of each.
The writer of Hebrews lays it out for us, this
vision of Christian community dedicated to living in mutual love, curiosity and
courage.
Surely, we are told, God
is our helper, we are not to be afraid, what can anyone do to us if we care,
collaborate, act and support? The God who set the stars to spangling will not
desert us as we seek to build grace here on this sweet planet we share.
An example? Plenty of people care about this church. They are energized by imagining
what is possible through the ministries of Richfield United Methodist. They
feel the pulse of promise and they are excited about what is possible.
So they talk to other people about ideas they have
- ideas like thrift stores and study groups and family ministries and mission
trips. And they find others who are fired up.
So they set out together, these people of passion,
and they begin to create what it is they can almost taste it is so right and
good. And they don’t have all the answers. And they fall all over themselves
making mistakes sometimes. But they forgive themselves and they know their
church understands that they are making it up as they go along and it is HOLY,
this vision.
And the church supports them. They stay together.
They live the way of mutual love even if they think these people’s vision is
just plain dumb and it doesn’t interest them at all. They trust that God is at
work in their brothers and sisters and they trust that their connection in
Jesus is bigger than their own sense of what is possible.
And the church comes alive with people excited to
do ministry and live the gospel.
Name your institution or organization, your place
of work or your arena of life, and these four principles make it come alive and
vibrant.
So your assignment for today and tomorrow as you
eat hot dogs and things on sticks, as you tend your life in the ways that are
uniquely your own?
Savor what is. Ask your heart what it loves. Make
sure you bless that passion with your attention. And share your fizz. The labor
movement called Christianity is sore ready for your gifting.
That’s it. Happy Labor Day.
Amen