Sign On the Dotted Line

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

May 19, 2013

Confirmation Sunday/Pentecost

Sign On the Dotted Line

Isaiah 59:21

We all know the scene from the movies or television:

the dapper man – and it always seems to be a man –

sharply dressed in a tailored suit,

silk tie, elegant shirt,

perhaps a pocket square in the suitcoat,

He speaks with a refined accent,

each word enunciated precisely.

He seems simply and suddenly to appear

next to a man or a woman who is frustrated,

wants something,

but doesn’t know how to get it,

or finds every way blocked.

The dapper man smiles as he speaks softly,

his every word wrapped with comfort and assurance:

“I can help you:

Just tell me what it is that you want,

Do you want to get to the top?

Win the prize?

Never grow old?

Be the champion?

Have riches beyond your wildest imagination?

There is no problem that my organization and I cannot fix,

no hurdle or barrier we cannot surmount.

Tell me what you want and then consider it done.”

“All we ask of you,

and it really is merely a formality,

is that you sign here,

on the very bottom of this short agreement,

right there,

by the x,

sign your name on the dotted line.”

A few months back we talked about

that wonderfully theatrical Super Bowl commercial,

the one with the actor Wilhelm Dafoe

sliding an agreement and a pen across the table

to a young man who was enthralled with a luxury car,

longing for it,

imaging himself in it,

wanting it more than he’d ever wanted anything else

in his life.

Dafoe’s smile was so sinister as he said:

“Just sign here and you’ll be behind the wheel.”

That’s not the approach Jesus takes with us, is it?

With Jesus, there’s no agreement,

no paperwork,

no signing on the dotted line.

“Follow me” is what Jesus says to us,

“Follow me.”

The words coming out of Jesus’ mouth

almost over his shoulder as he keeps walking,

a man in constant motion,

always moving forward.

But even as he moves along

he invites you, me,

all his disciples the same way:

“Follow me;

Join me;

It’s up to you;

Your choice;

You decide.”

We have all received that invitation,

and we have all responded yes.

We’ve all accepted the invitation to follow Christ.

And today we rejoice as Sophie, Ben and Sara

accept that same invitation.

We’ve all accepted the invitation and we all follow,

follow our Lord Jesus Christ;

but we follow in different ways,

ways as unique as we are,

each of us.

And we all find the road we walk

as we follow Jesus different,

as different as each of us is.

Sometimes it is smooth and easy;

at other times it is bumpy, difficult,

even frightening.

There are times as we follow

when we are focused firmly on Jesus,

mind, heart, eyes, and ears

focused on his teachings,

on how to respond more completely to his call

to a life of discipleship.

But there are for all of us

other times we follow, our feet moving forward,

but our hearts and minds, eyes and ears elsewhere,

on their own journey,

perhaps even looking for distraction,

for another path,

a path that’s easier,

more interesting,

more exciting,

less demanding.

Following Jesus isn’t easy –

but Jesus never said it would be.

Indeed, how many times does he remind us

that following him requires our losing our lives

to the things of this world

in order to find the life Jesus calls us to.

We need help as we follow our Lord;

Jesus knows it,

God knows it.

And we have that help.

Partly from one another,

from the fact that we are called to discipleship,

called to follow within community,

the body of Christ,

where we support and encourage one another,

where we can always find support and encouragement.

But we also have God’s help through the Holy Spirit:

the Third Person of the Triune God.

God has given us the Spirit within us to comfort us,

guide us,

energize us,

teach us and help us to grow in wisdom and faith

as disciples of Christ.

On that first Pentecost more than 2,000 years ago,

the Spirit burned away every last bit of worry,

every last bit of anxiety,

every last bit fear and uncertainty

that had gripped the disciples,

after Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.

The Spirit’s consuming fire burned away

everything that had held them back,

and then filled the disciples with courage,

empowering them,

enabling them to go out into the world,

to evangelize,

to go and tell,

to share God’s love boldly,

with confidence,

anywhere, everywhere.

Our Brief Statement of Faith from our Book of Confessions

teaches us that the same Spirit gives us the same courage

given the first disciples –

courage to go and tell and do,

by taking the good news out into the world.

The Spirit empowers us to live fully into the covenant life

Christ calls us to as we follow him,

a life in which we are called to work for justice,

for righteousness and

for peace

with even more commitment than others work for

money, power,

prestige, celebrity,

comfort, possessions.

(Brief Statement of Faith, 10.4)

We don’t have to sign on the dotted line to receive the Spirit.

We’re given the Spirit,

a gift given us by the grace and love of God

As we heard through the prophet Isaiah:

“And as for me,

this is my covenant with them, says the Lord:

my spirit that is upon you,

and my words that I have put in your mouth,

shall not depart out of your mouth,

or out of the mouths of your children,

or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord,

 from now on and forever.”

We’re given the Spirit so we can respond

with confidence and conviction

to Jesus’ invitation to follow him,

to walk with him as his disciples,

to live the life he calls us to live,

a life that is a both joyous and hard work,

richly rewarding and yet very demanding.

Writing in his new book, Rob Bell reminds us that

“Jesus teaches us that

…all life is spiritual,

all space sacred,

all ground holy.

Jesus comes to heighten our senses and sharpen our eyes,

…helping us to become spiritual men and women

so we can see the sacred in the common,

the holy all around us.

Jesus teaches us to understand that

we’re these exotic mixtures of dust and

quarks and blood and soul,

filled with the Spirit,

the presence of God as close as our next breath.”

(What We Talk About)

You, me,

all of us, each of us:

we are disciples of Christ,

men and women who have said yes to Jesus’ call,

Jesus’ invitation to follow him.

We are each of us, all of us filled with the Spirit.

Enabled,

empowered,

to lives the apostle Paul calls us live:

“a … life Jesus will be proud of:

bountiful in fruits from the soul,

 making Jesus Christ attractive to all,

getting all involved in the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 (The Message)

Sophie, Ben and Sara join us today,

as followers of Christ,

all of us together,

the body of Christ.

All of us graced with the love of God,

the Spirit of God,

given us through Christ.

And none of us had to sign on the dotted line.

AMEN