Climbing Ladders

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
November 13, 2005

Climbing Ladders
Matthew 25:31-46
Isaiah 40:27-31

We are always climbing ladders aren’t we?
Climbing ladders to success:
always trying to move up, move ahead,
get to the top.
We start climbing ladders when we are young:
we want to be the captain of the team,
we want to have the lead role in the play,
we want to get the best grade on the test,
we want to be the most popular.
We climb ladders to get into the best college,
to get the scholarship,
to get a good job.
We climb ladders in our workplaces:
we want to get ahead, get promotions, get raises,
move out front, ahead of others.
We even climb ladders in churches:
we want to be the leaders of committees,
we want to be the ones who are in charge,
the ones who occupy the seats of honor.

We are always climbing ladders;
there is something hard-wired in each of us,
men and women, that makes us want to climb.
But climbing ladders begs the question:
How do we know how far we should climb?
And how do we know we are on the right ladder?
How do we know that the roof
that we have set our ladder against
is the right roof,
the roof that we should be climbing to;
not the roof that we want to get to,
but the roof we should get to.

The metaphor of climbing ladders is not mine;
I stumbled upon in a book I was reading recently,
and I thought it was a wonderful illustration.
The book was about mid-life and the changes
both men and women go through
as we pass through our late 30s and early 40s.
It is a time when men and women who have ascended
career ladders often find themselves wondering
whether the ladders they have been on
have been the right ladders.
The questions and struggles that inevitably come
with those concerns have led to the term “mid-life crisis”.
In keeping with the metaphor, we can think of
a mid-life crisis as climbing the ladder,
getting up on the roof,
and finding the view not what you expected it to be,
what you hoped it would be.
The term crisis is probably too strong.
Most psychologists believe that serious introspection
is healthy and necessary for men and women in mid-life.

But as I was reading,
I realized that questioning the ladders we are on
and the roofs we are ascending toward
should not be limited to mid-life.
We should always be asking ourselves about
the ladders we are on,
and whether our ladders are leading us to the right roofs.
We can be confident if we allow God to direct us to our ladders,
if we allow God to point us to the roofs
he would have us climb toward.

What we do, though, is get in the way:
We tend to be the ones who pick the ladders,
set the ladders, select the roofs.
We don’t listen for God’s voice,
look for God’s guidance.
Is it any wonder that we might find ourselves
on the wrong ladders, the wrong roofs?

The apostles who walked with our Lord
were busy climbing ladders,
and much to Jesus’ constant exasperation,
they were often on the wrong ladders.
You remember the story of how James and John
sought to be the first among the disciples,
to have the seats of honor next to Jesus?
They were busy climbing the ladder of power and prestige.
Peter often seemed hesitant to climb the ladder of faith
beyond the first rung or two for fear of falling.
And Judas climbed the ladder of betrayal.

The five maidens whom we heard about last week,
the ones who had no oil for their lamps
when the bridegroom arrived
had been busy climbing ladders of foolishness
rather than faithfulness,
ladders of playfulness, rather than preparedness.

Our focus the past few weeks has been on our need to be on
the ladder of preparedness, of attentiveness, of readiness,
the ladder of anticipation for that day, that hour
when our Lord returns in glory.
You have heard the lessons;
Now as we near Advent, are you on the right ladder?
Or, will you get to it tomorrow, or maybe next week?

Our lesson from Matthew’s Gospel tells us that
the disciples gathered around Jesus
were still not on the right ladders,
even after the months and months they had spent with him.
Even as Jesus looked to the cross,
he knew that his followers still did not understand,
still did not get the message:
that they – and we - are to climb ladders of love:
love for God,
and love for one another,
climbing as we grow in love for God and one another,
each step a response to the love given us
from God through Jesus Christ.

Their question shows that they were on the wrong ladder:
“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,
or thirsty, and gave you something to drink?
And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you,
or naked and gave you clothing?
And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison
and visited to you?”

Had they been on the right ladders,
climbing the right way in life,
ascending to the right roof,
they would not have even asked the question,
much less been surprised by Jesus’ response:
“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”
And “just as you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to me.”

This lesson is often thought to be about mission work
the way we reach out to the poor, the helpless, the downtrodden.
It is; But it is so much more than that.
It is about how we live our lives.
It is about how we treat one another: family, friends,
one another here in our church.
This is a lesson about charity: reaching out to others,
charity in the sense of reaching out to those who need our help
But this is also a lesson about charity
in the broader sense of the word.
Charity as the dictionary defines it:
“benevolence or generosity toward [all] humanity.”
(Am. Heritage 4th Ed)
Charity isn’t just about writing out a check
to a worthy organization.
Charity is a state of mind,
the state of mind we develop as we climb the ladder
of discipleship following Jesus Christ.

We are going to provide you with a few opportunities
to step up the ladder of discipleship, charity, and righteousness
over the next few weeks.
We will start next Sunday when you will be asked
to respond to our Stewardship campaign
as we look to what we hope to accomplish next year
as a church, a community of faith,
called by Christ to service.

You will hear from our Stewardship co-chairs Nick Grounds
and Nancy Popoloski as they tell you
about what we do as a church.
You will hear that we will end this year with a deficit,
with our expenses greater than our revenues,
just as we have each of the past 6 years.
Our deficit is not because we spend too much money.
No, our budget is about as tight a budget as can be
without strangling what we do.
I have watched our officers struggle each of the past
six years to put together a budget that
is both responsible and yet responsive to God.
Each year our budget committee has prepared a budget,
and then our Session has reviewed and discussed the budget
before approving it.
Each year they have known that we would fall short
and that we would have to take money from our savings
not because our expenses are too high;
there isn’t a committee or a function
in this church that would not like more money,
that could not use more money .
No, the dilemma that we have faced every year
has been that our revenues from pledging,
the money that comes from you and me
has fallen short of what we need
to do the work God has called us to do.

We are a church of 200 people,
but our giving level is more typical of other churches
I have seen with membership half our size.
I have seen lots of church budgets in all kinds of denominations
over the years, and a church our size should be able to support
a budget of somewhere between $160,000 and $175,000.
A few months back I suggested that we challenge ourselves,
challenge ourselves over the next few years:
challenge ourselves to increase our giving:
challenge ourselves so we can increase Mission giving
to a full tithe of our budget: a full 10%, up from the current 3%;
challenge ourselves to provide more money
for Christian Education programs;
Challenge ourselves to complete a Capital Campaign
to set make sure we have the money for necessary capital improvements.

Cynthia Carey, our church secretary
has worked for us for five years now.
Those of you have worked with her
know she is hard working and loyal.
But were you aware that after five years of service,
we don’t even provide her with one paid vacation day a year?
When she takes vacation time with her family
she loses a week’s pay.
How can we be good stewards of our staff?
How can we be good stewards of this church facility
and of the Manse?
How we can be faithful disciples
if we are not on the right ladders,
not striving to climb higher?
Not providing the financial resources we need
to do the work God wants us to do,
calls us to do?

I am constantly amazed by God’s faithfulness
when we are faithful.
The text from Isaiah makes that so clear:
when we are faithful,
God will renew us, refresh us, help us to soar.
“Those who wait for the Lord,
shall renew their strength.
they shall mount up with the wings of eagles
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”


We are a community of faith,
called to work together by the Holy Spirit
work in cooperation and love in discipleship.
We are a community of faith on a ladder
looking to the future, a future that God is calling us to.
Let’s covenant to increase Stewardship this year
not by 5% or 6%, but by 20%, 25%.
Let’s covenant to have a budget within three years
that is balanced, balanced not because we have cut
back on what we are doing,
but because we have all stepped up
to support the work God calls us to do.
We can do that!

God will guide us, refresh us, point the way,
God will encourage us as we climb,
climb in Spirit, climb in service,
climb in devotion, climb in dedication.
God will encourage us as we climb in love:
love for God, and love for all God’s children.
“Have you not known, have you not heard
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the Earth.
He does not faint or grow weary.
He gives power to the faint
and strength to the powerless.”
God will show us the ladders,
the roofs,
give us the energy, the courage, the will,
the faith to step up.
If we just listen, and then respond in faith,
eager faith, bold faith,
the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Paul's Poetics

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
November 6, 2005

Paul’s Poetics
Matthew 25:1-13
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The great 19th century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning
used words the way a painter uses color:
to create images in the minds of the listener,
to give life to her poetry,
as she conveyed the depths of her emotions.
As she wrote, she stitched together otherwise ordinary words
in such a way that they traveled from ear to mind
on their way to their final destination: the heart.

Listen to these well-known lines from her
“Sonnets from the Portuguese”:
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach,
when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s most quiet need,
by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs,
and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints,
I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life!…”

Who cannot hear those words and feel the depth of her love
for her beloved Robert?

There is a great deal of poetry in the Bible,
splashes of color across a canvas,
extraordinary images that form in our minds,
built on nothing more than a string of words.
The Song of Solomon, which is rarely heard in church,
is a marvelous love poem, as passionate and emotional
as anything from the pen of
either of the two Brownings, Elizabeth or Robert.

When we think of poetic writing in the Bible,
Paul’s is not a name that jumps to mind.
He was more adept at the dry logic that is typical
of one trained in the law.
Most of his writings were designed to persuade,
to inform, to teach, to encourage, and
occasionally to chastise and discipline.
But every now and then we find a glimmer of poetry in Paul’s writings,
a few lines here and there where Paul shines.
Who has not heard his timeless, artful words of love
from his first letter to the Corinthians:
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels,
but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing….”
(1 Cor. 13:1)

Paul might not rival the great poets of history,
but still he knew that imagery could help his listeners to understand,
help them – and us -- to comprehend.
This is what Paul was trying to do in our text from Thessalonians.
Paul was waxing poetic, trying to convey an image
to give the people of Thessalonica hope,
hope in the promise of life eternal with Jesus Christ.

The passage we heard ranks right up there
with passages from Revelation
as among the most distorted and misinterpreted in the Bible.
For the past 150 years verse 17 has been referred to by some
as the “Rapture”: “we who are alive, who are left,
will be caught up in the clouds together…
to meet the Lord in the air”.
The notion of the “rapture” came from an itinerant preacher named
John Nelson Darby back in the 1860s.
The word “rapture” came from the Latin word for “caught up”.
Most theologians and clerics dismissed Darby’s interpretation,
but in the early part of the 20th century,
a small but strident group who referred to themselves as
Fundamentalists latched onto the idea
that they would taken up as the chosen among the chosen
and that the faithless would be left behind
to suffer agony too terrible even to imagine.

Over the past decade an entire industry has been built on this notion
of a select group being “raptured”, while most will be “left behind”.
The theology behind this is no stronger than Dan Brown’s
premise that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were secretly married;
but still there are many whose imaginations
have been captured by the idea.

So if Paul is not telling us about the rapture,
what is Paul doing?
He wrote to the people of Thessalonica to give them hope;
hope in a time of confusion, persecution and misunderstanding.
Paul, along with Peter and the other apostles
all believed that Jesus would come again,
as Jesus had promised.

But they believed that Jesus would return in their lifetimes.
In his first letter, for example,
Peter sounded positively apocalyptic:
“the end of all things is near” (1 Peter 4:7)
Paul sounded the same note in his letter to the Romans,
“the night is far gone, the day is near…”
(Romans 13:12)

The faithful in Thessalonica believed as Peter and Paul did.
But as time passed and as brothers and sisters in faith died
in the natural order of things,
the faithful grew increasingly concerned
about the fate of their dead brothers and sisters,
If they died before Christ’s return
did that mean that they were lost forever?

Paul used poetic imagery to allay their concerns,
to assure them that all believers would enjoy eternal life
with Jesus Christ regardless of when they might have died.
The foundation of Paul’s argument is what we talked about
a few weeks back: the resurrection of the dead
to life eternal with Jesus Christ.
He put that hope another way in those familiar words
from his letter to the Romans:
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation
will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

Paul wanted the Thessalonians to persevere,
to have hope, even in the face of danger, discouragement,
disappointment, disillusion, and death.
Something so deeply emotional needed emotional imagery
and so Paul the lawyer became for a moment,
Paul the poet.

We don’t have the fears and concerns
the believers in Thessalonica had,
because we take on faith the words we said
at the beginning of our service this morning:
“I believe in the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting.”
Neither you nor I have anything to fear;
we will not be left behind.
We will be in God’s presence,
safely in the shadow of his wings,
as the Psalmist has written, for all eternity.
This is the promise given all of us
through the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

But that doesn’t mean we can sit back and take it easy.
No Jesus tells us to be prepared, be ready,
for that moment could come at any time.
When it will come, and of course, how it will come
is known only to God.

Paul knew that readiness was important,
so only a few lines after he gave the Thessalonians comfort
he urged them on, to work at their faith:
“you have been taught by God to love one another
and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters
throughout Macedonia.
But we urge you, beloved, to do more and more,
to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs,…”
(1 Thessalonians 4:9-11)

Simple, strong, effective words for the believers in Thessalonica,
and simple, strong, effective words for you and me.

As you come to this table this morning,
I invite you to offer a prayer of Thanksgiving,
a prayer of Thanksgiving not for the “rapture",
but for the rapturous love
you have been given in Jesus Christ.
Come to this table to be renewed and refreshed by this holy meal,
and then go out into the world to share
the rapturous love you have been given.
Go out vigilant, filled with hope, always ready,
and confident in the promise that nothing will ever,
nothing can ever separate any of us from the love
of God in Christ Jesus.
AMEN