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Mamaroneck United Loving God and Neighbor...
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Mamaroneck United Loving God and Neighbor... |
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The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, August 16, 2009 Making the Most of Time John 6:51-58; Ephesians 5:15-20 Pastor Richard Allen
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Back in 1980 and 1981, when my two sons were born, I struggled to balance work and family. A member of my church, Olivia Smith, stepped forward to be a surrogate grandmother to Matthew and Nathan. She gave them her love, and she gave me this advice: “Enjoy these days while you have them. These days are precious, and they’ll be over sooner than you think.” My children and grown now, 29 and 27. And Olivia was correct. These I find myself repeating Olivia’s advice to parents I run into here at the church, and elsewhere. “Enjoy these days. They are precious.” Even as I listen to my voice echoing her advice, I wonder why. Maybe it’s because our church is especially blessed to have a number of children in our midst these days, or maybe it’s because my age invites personal reflection on the speed with which our lives unfold. But while there is truth in that advice, and while it’s a necessary caution to remember how fast our children mature, I think that Paul’s advice to the young Christians (and their growing families) at the new church in Ephesus is more helpful instruction. Early in his letter he gives the Ephesians affirmation: he reminds them that they (and we) are blessed, that they are chosen in Christ, they are adopted as God’s children, they are redeemed, forgiven, and united in Christ’s love. Then Paul here turns to lay out the implications of that grace: “Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16; New Revised Standard Version) Paul speaks here not just about enjoying the brief and precious days of our lives; rather, he reminds the Ephesians, and us, that Christians have a sacred responsibility. We are responsible as parents to teach our children about life; and we are responsible as the church to teach our neighbors about the gospel of Christ. And since our lives become, in that sense, our witness, our lives belong not merely to us alone. Paul reminds us that we’re given the task of shaping the lives of those who are watching us by how we shape our own actions and how we live the values we claim to cherish. In other words, enjoy life, yes; but do so in a way that also makes the most of life. “Enjoy these days. They are precious. Yes. But this too is important: be careful how you live, making the most of the time.” Here Paul reminds us that the faith is just saying “yes” to any number of affirmations. Faith is what we live, not just what we think, in the midst of challenging times. When people in our world are selfish, we’re called to generosity. When people in our world show their sinful nature, an edge that leans to violence, we’re called to a strong love. When people are rude, we’re called to respond with compassion and forgiveness. When others seek only personal gain, we’re called to invest in the common good for our neighbors as well as for ourselves. When our world loses its civility, we’re called to respectful dialogue. Paul means all that, I believe, and more, when he instructs the church, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Of course the days are evil. We live in a fallen world, and we are among the fallen. We are broken, we are out of synch, and we are, in a word, sinful. And because of who we are, naturally, we’re invited – no, we are instructed – to allow ourselves to be formed as Christians throughout our lives. To say that is to acknowledge that Christian formation is essential to our salvation, our being made whole. Undisciplined and unruly in our natural state, we’re called to the discipline of life in Christ. And we’re called into discipline in community. So Paul instructs the church, to “form” them, with imperatives of faith: “make the most of the time,” is followed with: “understand the will of the Lord,” and “be filled with the Spirit,” by singing, and “giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything…” Today we have a sacred privilege. We’ll welcome a child into our community as his family shares him with us for baptism. We’ll affirm that he is a child of God. We’ll give witness with our words that he is like each of us, named and claimed and loved by God. But we’ll also be challenged by this baptism service as we promise to live our faith as a witness to Michael and his family. We’ll “proclaim the good news of our faith and live according to the example of Christ.” We’ll promise to surround Michael and his family “with a community of love and forgiveness, that he may grow in his trust of God” and we’ll pray that both he, and we, will be true disciples, following Christ faithfully through our lives. That’s a tall order, of course. And keeping that commitment, not just making it, is crucial to his Christian life, and ours. That promise is crucial because though we won’t always be aware of it, he and others will be watching us, and how we live. We’ll have some help. Because we’re committed to Michael and others in his generation, we’ve invited Pastor Sabrina to join our team and lead us as our Minister of Christian Formation. Yes, she focuses on education, but it is education with a sacred purpose: forming us as Christians. She and I are both committed to structuring an environment where Michael and others can learn the faith that we hold dear, so that he will hold this faith dear as well. We are committed to building a community where we, too, are growing in our faith, so that we will be models for Michael and others. Because they are watching us, and whether we want to be so or not, we are witnesses of either God’s love or of the world’s corruption in these evil days. So let’s be witnesses of God’s love. Let’s us be careful, living as the wise, enjoying these days with Michael and his friends, and, in doing so, make the most of the time. And one last piece of advice, a bit of instruction on being careful how we live, comes from an old poem, available in several versions, titled “Children Learn What They Live.” It’s a reminder that in evil days, our witness is lived, not merely spoken: “If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn; If children live with Hostility, they learn to fight; If children live with Ridicule, they learn to to be shy; If children live with Shame, they learn to feel guilty; BUT If children live with Tolerance, they learn to be patient; If children live with Encouragement, they learn to have confidence; If children live with Praise, they learn to appreciate; If children live with Fairness, they learn justice; If children live with Security, they learn to have faith; If children live with Approval, they learn to like themselves; If children live with Acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in the world.” (Taken from http://www.slideshare.net/Anny_b/children-learn-what-they-live-presentation; see also others, including http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/Kristone.html. The most complete current version written by and copyrighted by Dorothy Law Nolte, and used in her book “Children Learn What They Live.”) In the light of the truth that we are witnesses of one kind or another, hear again these words from the apostle Paul. This advice is as true for us as it was for the Ephesians who were witnesses to their generation, and, ultimately, to us: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. [But] be filled with the Spirit, … giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, 18b, 20; NRSV.) Like it or not, we, too are witnesses. Michael, and others, will be watching, and learning.
Amen.
Mamaroneck United Methodist, August 16, 2009, 2009.
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