Passing By On The Other Side

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

January 15, 2017

Passing By On The Other Side

Selected Texts

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

the words of the Amen,

the faithful and true witness,

the origin of God’s creation:

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish that you were either cold or hot.

So, because you are lukewarm,

and neither cold nor hot,

I am about to spit you out of my mouth….

Let anyone who has an ear

listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

(Revelation 3:14-16)

**********************************************

“I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Those are God’s words…

God’s words to God’s children;

God’s children who were living their faith

more by convenience than commitment,

more by conformance than conviction;

going along to get along,

neither cold nor hot:

lukewarm.

God’s reaction was,

“Well, if that’s the way you are going to

go about your lives as disciples,

as followers of my Son Jesus Christ,

then I have no more interest in you

than you have in me.

“Don’t you remember the words of my prophet Elijah,

who roared in rage on my behalf so long ago,

‘How long will you go limping with two different opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him;

but if Baal, then follow him.’”

(1 Kings 18:21)

“Make your choice!”

God says to us time and time again

“and then live your choice!”

God says to us,

that if we choose to follow Christ,

-and the choice is ours, the decision ours;

if we choose to respond to the flame of faith

the Spirit has lit within each of us,

then God wants us,

calls us,

expects us

to do so with all our heart,

all our mind,

all our soul,

all our strength.

God isn’t interested in part-time disciples.

God wants us 24-7,

every bit of us.

All in, or nothing,

there’s no half-way.

Writing and preaching a century ago,

one of my favorites preachers,

the Reverend Harry Emerson Fosdick

picked out a bright thread that is woven

in so many of the stories we read in the Gospels,

a thread that’s easy to miss

if we don’t read with deeper eyes,

looking for deeper meaning:

that Jesus didn’t condemn evil

as often as he condemned uselessness,

tepidness,

lukewarm faith,

those who were neither hot nor cold,

men and women who,

while they certainly did no harm,

did little good.

Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan,

that powerful story in Luke’s gospel

(Luke 10:30ff)

that helps us to understand

that our neighbor is everyone,

including the stranger, the foreigner,

the person with different skin color,

the person with a different accent.

Do you remember that before the Samaritan

came down the road and found the man

the robbers had beaten and left for dead,

two others had passed him by,

passed him by on the other side:

first a priest and then a Levite,

two men of God,

holy men,

two men who knew their prayers,

two men who offered their sacrifices

regularly and faithfully at the Temple,

two men who knew their scripture.

As Jesus tells the story,

the two were useless;

they were of no help.

They “passed by on the other side.”

We find it easy to pass by on the other side,

all of us, myself included,

to turn away,

to rationalize,

to say we are busy,

to excuse ourselves as having no time,

to feel we’ve done enough,

to let someone else step up and step in.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus condemns those

who failed to act in the face of obvious need:

“I was hungry and you gave me no food,

I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,

naked and you did not give me clothing,

sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”

(Matthew 25:42)

Do you hear what our Lord is saying to us,

what the nature of his indictment is?

He’s not saying,

“You are bad;

you are corrupt;

you are evil.”

No, his indictment is more devastating,

more searing:

He is saying,

“You did not act;

you chose not to act.

You were unresponsive,

impassive,

unmoved,

indifferent.

Called to act,

you did no harm;

but called to act,

you did no good.”

In the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick,

“[Jesus] knew well that

[most of those who followed]

[were] not so much tempted

to fall away from positive service into destructiveness,

as they were tempted to fall between the two

into uselessness.”

How will you serve God,

respond to God in the coming year?

How will you respond to our Lord’s ever-present call

to serve,

to act,

to do

to give God your all?

How will you avoid the trap of uselessness?

Avoid being neither hot nor cold?

Avoid being comfortably lukewarm?

Avoid becoming conventionally faithful

rather than completely committed?  

William Allen White was editor of a newspaper

in a small town in Illinois

back around the same time

Harry Emerson Fosdick was preaching,

As he neared the end of his career as editor,

he made this observation:

“Passing the office window every moment

is someone with a story that should be told.

Every human life, if one could know it well

and translate it into language,

has in it the making of a great story.

…If each man or women could understand

that every other human life is as full of sorrows,

of joys, of base temptations,

of heartaches,

and of remorse as his own,

which he thinks is so peculiarly isolated

from the web of life,

how much kinder,

how much gentler he would be.

And how much richer life would be

for all of us!”

(In Our Town)

Here in White’s words is a thread that can help us

to live more committed lives,

more faithful lives;

our very recognition

that “every human life is as full of sorrows,

joys, temptations,

heartaches and remorse as [our] own”,

that in every human life there is a story

that should be told;

that every passerby is our neighbor;

that every passerby reflects the image of God;

that every passerby is part of

the great community God has created,

and called us to be part of.

White can help us turn our attention

to the passerby

and avoid the path the leads to uselessness

as we pass by.

If the Levite had thought that,

the priest had thought that,

then surely each of them of them

would have stopped,

would have helped the injured man,

dressed his wounds,

looked after him

as the Samaritan did.

Our new officers have made their commitment.

Each of our new Elders and Deacons

has said yes to God’s call to service,

none of them passing by.

All of our Elders have said “yes”

to God’s call to leadership,

to taking on “responsibility

for the life of this congregation.”

(Book of Order, G-2.0301)

And every one of our Deacons

has said “yes” to God’s call

to share in Christ’s ministry of love for

the “poor,

the hungry, the sick,

the lost, the friendless,

the oppressed.”

(Book of Order, G-2.0201).

As we talked about last week,

We are all called to say yes,

a strong yes,

a committed yes,

to God’s call to seek justice,

to work for justice

in our community,

in all God’s world.

                                            

We are all called to say yes

to our Lord’s call to be light,

a strong light,

a bright light

that reflects God’s love,

God’s grace

given us in Jesus Christ.

Lukewarm?

Neither hot nor cold?

Christian by convention,

rather than commitment?

God cautions us,

even as God loves us,

lest God should pass us by.

AMEN  

The City on Whisky Hill

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

January 8, 2017

The City on Whisky Hill

Isaiah 42:1-4

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

*******************************************

A prophecy – is that what our text is?

Is that what it was as Isaiah spoke those words

so many centuries ago?

Was Isaiah speaking of the one who was to come,

the one whose birthday we just celebrated –

our Lord Jesus Christ?

“My chosen, in whom my soul delights;

…he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Surely, those words fit our Lord perfectly.

But to read our text that way and leave it there

is to stop too soon.

We need to read with deeper eyes,

for deeper meaning.

This is an expansive text,

a text that speaks, yes, to Christ;

but it also speaks to you and to me.

This is a text for all of us who follow Christ,

all of us called to the challenging work of ministry

in the name of Jesus Christ.

This text complements the text we heard last week

from Paul’s letter to the Romans,

for it tells us how we are called to live our lives,

and go about our work as disciples,

as ministers, each of us.

We are to go about our work with conviction, of course,

as well as enthusiasm and energy,

empowered as we are by God’s Holy Spirit.

But we are not to do so in a showy, splashy way.

“He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street,”

our text tells us.

Or, as Eugene Peterson words it in the Message,

“He won’t call attention to what he does

with loud speeches or gaudy parades.”

In other words, we are to work faithfully,

but quietly, calmly,

patiently.

And what is our work?

Nothing less than to help our Lord Jesus

bring justice to all the nations,

to establish justice on all the earth.

And Scripture helps us

to understand what justice is:

Through the prophet Isaiah, we hear:

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

…cease to do evil,

learn to do good;
seek justice,

rescue the oppressed,

defend the orphan,

plead for the widow.

(Isaiah 1:15ff)

And through the prophet Micah,

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice,

and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

The painful truth is that too often

we’ve interpreted the call to bring “justice”

to the world,

as a call to bring judgment to the world;

that we Christians see ourselves

as the chosen, the favored,

and so we can judge others,

and we do so in ways that at best condescends,

and at worst, brings violence to others.

No: we are to walk humbly as we bring justice,

justice pursued zealously,

energetically,

joyfully;

And also, as our text reminds us,

with care, concern,

and often a gentle hand,

“a bruised reed he will not break

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;”

“A dimly burning wick” –

how easy it is to look at a dimly burning wick

and dismiss it,

scoff at it,

let it burn itself out,

             

Yet, our lesson teaches us

that if we follow our Lord faithfully

we are to cup our hands around

the dimly burning wick,

the flame that is struggling,

and help it, tend it,

bring it to life,

until it can burn strong on its own.

In April 1630, almost 400 years ago,

a fleet of ships set sail from England

bound for what those on board called

“the new world.”

They would establish

what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The leader of that group of immigrants

was a wealthy English lawyer and landowner

named John Winthrop,

aboard the Arabella.

The voyage would take more than two months,

more than 60 days to cross from England

to the Massachusetts coast.

Can you even imagine that?

In a day when you or I can board a jet

at Dulles and land in London

in less than 6 hours – 60 days!

Two months at sea:

all aboard facing furious storms,

heaving, swelling seas,

and also days becalmed,

still in the water,

not a whisper of a breeze to fill the sails,

to move them closer to their new home.

Two months gave Winthrop time to think, ponder,

and then write,

write a sermon for all called,

“A Model of Christian Charity”.

Winthrop’s sermon was filled with words of instruction,

words of guidance,

and words of hope

for what he and all might become

in their new land, their new home.

What he longed for for himself and

for his brothers and sisters in faith

was that they become a model of

Christianity community,

a model of what he called Christian charity,

charity meaning here goodwill, compassion,

consideration for others,

simple kindness.

He concluded his sermon with these words:

“Consider that we shall be

as a City upon a Hill,

the eyes of all people upon us.”

The image Winthrop used came from

our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount,

that beautiful sermon in Matthew’s gospel

that begins with the beatitudes:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

Jesus then goes on to say,

“You are the light of the world.

A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one after lighting a lamp

puts it under the bushel basket,

but on the lampstand,

and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

We are lights, all of us,

and, like a city on a hill,

we are there for all to see,

letting the world see our light shine

through our good works,

through our “charity”, to use Winthrop’s term,

“charity” in the broadest sense.

It is particularly fitting that we embrace that idea

that we are a city on a hill,

for our church is on the highest point in Manassas.

I was told this shortly after I became pastor here,

and I remember the person quickly following up

with a wry smile,

telling me that the hill

on which our church sits

had long been known as Whisky Hill.

So there we are as we begin our 150^th year—

a City on Whisky Hill!

We have work to do,

lives to live individually and together

as followers of Christ.

As John Winthrop would have us do,

“we must delight in each other,

make other’s conditions are own,

rejoice together,

mourn together,

keeping the unity of the spirit

in the bond of peace.”

Last week we heard from Paul’s letter to the Romans;

and they are words that complement Winthrop’s sermon

words well worth hearing again

to help us shine our lights:

“Let love be genuine;

…hold fast to what is good;

love one another with mutual affection;

outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not lag in zeal,

be ardent in spirit,

serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope,

be patient in suffering,

persevere in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints;

extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you;

bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice,

weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another;

do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly;

do not claim to be wiser than you are.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil,

but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.”

In a fractious, angry,

selfie,

polarized world,

it is no easy task to live

as Paul tells us we should,

as Winthrop would have us do:

as light to all the world.

But our Lord is with us,

to teach us, guide us,

encourage us

with the Spirit empowering and enabling us.

So let us shine brightly this 150^th year,

brightly for all the world to see,

we,

proud disciples of Christ,

a city on Whisky Hill.

AMEN