This sermon is dedicated to our Confirmation Class, who served in a Homeless Ministry Program this weekend past. They were a credit to themselves, their families and our entire Church Family. It's also dedicated to all those who have heard God say no in their lives and still understood the promise of His constant and eternal love!
When God says no! How do we feel when we hear the word no spoken and our personal preference is denied? Ask John Mark, who wanted to be on a preaching mission with Paul but was told no. He had disappointed Paul in the past. Paul just didn't trust him , so when the Preaching group was organized and Barnabas suggested John Mark, Paul's response was an emphatic NO! As our prayer of confession puts it, what was on John Mark's heart and mind when he heard that emphatic no?
And how about Timothy? He was the son of an intercultural marriage between a Jew and a gentile. He had heard no throughout his life. His parents did not fit the norm and so he, innocent child that he was, faced the consequence. As Timothy grew up and felt the lack of the loving support of his faith community for him, what was in his heart and mind?
And what about Paul. His burning desire was to be the first disciple to take the Gospel to Asia,but the Spirit said no! What was in his heart and mind as he dealt with that no? In truth, all of today's Scripture stories deal with the question what do we say when God says no and each of them have a message for our reflection as we come nearer and nearer to our glorious celebration of Holy Week and Easter. So let us reflect upon these stories and see what guidance these provide for us as we continue our Lenten journey of reflection and repentance that will prepare us for the renewal that Easter offers to us and to all people.
Let's start with John Mark who was excluded from Paul's preaching team. It must have been a bitter disappointment for him. Like all of the disciples, John Mark's heart burned with a passion to preach the Gospel, but he had failed Paul in the past and now as Paul gathered his A-Team to begin an important mission effort, he wanted nothing to do with John Paul who had abandoned an earlier preaching mission and who Paul must have felt was not someone he could depend upon. Obviously, Paul's judgment was felt to be too harsh by Barnabas who advocated for John Paul's inclusion on this mission effort but Paul would not budge. John Mark had failed him in the past, and there were consequences to this poor behavior.
Now, we really don't know all of the intimate details of this disappointment and conflict but let us not be sidetracked from the important point we see in this conflict which is that there are consequences to our poor behavior! One of the highlights of this weekend's Confirmation Retreat was a brutally honest story that was told by a man to our Confirmation Class. I can't go into all of the details but in essence his story could be summarized by the fact that because of past behaviors that had created conflict within his family, this wonderful man spent 17 years of his life in the bitter cycle of homelessness. Yes, today things are so much better in his but the sad fact is that as a consequence to the conflict within his family, he spent 17 years struggling to find a fresh start.
Are there consequences to our inappropriate behavior? You bet there are and the story of John Mark and our homeless friend from YSOP remind us that we should strive to avoid the conflict and disappointments in our lives that can result from our actions and decisions. No, none of us are perfect but the calling we all share is to be faithful in our daily life in our response to live as an instrument of God's grace in the lives of our loved ones and all who are effected by our faithful witness. And as I think of that calling, I have to tell you that their family and our church family should be beaming with pride over how our young people of the Confirmation Class were ready, willing and able to serve the people whom they met on our Confirmation YSOP Retreat. Yes, many of the people we met on this retreat have led painful lives but our young people were there to serve as instruments of God's grace for them.
But now, let's move on to Timothy and again because our Confirmation Retreat is so fresh in my mind as I write this sermon I can also see a connection between Timothy and what we learned about the Homeless on our Confirmation retreat. Let's start with Timothy. You see, as I said in my introduction to today's sermon, Timothy was an outcast. He was neither fish nor fowl because one of his parents was a Jew but the other parent was a Greek and because of this cultural difference, throughout his life, Timothy had been shunned within both communities. He didn't fit the norm and their expectations and so he was pushed to the side.
The same speaker who I already mentioned had a similar experience to Timothy that probably played an important role in leading to his spending 17 years in the bitter cycle of homelessness. For you see, as he described his early life, it seemed that he had not enjoyed the blessing of being part of a loving family and faith community and this absence had led to him feeling like a stranger within his own home. Friends, never doubt the powerful impact of the love and support that we provide for our own family and our entire church family. I saw that love and support very well within the community of our confirmation class during their YSOP Retreat. Don't get me wrong. Our Confirmation Class just like you and I are not perfect. We all have our human flaws but bu the grace of God, when we are living with a shared commitment to serve as instruments of God's grace within one another's lives boy are we blessed!
I think that's what happened in Timothy's life. Prior to meeting Paul and becoming active in the life and ministry of the early church he felt like an outcast but as he grew in and through God's grace through his participation in the life and ministry of the early church he was no longer an outcast but now a brother in the faith and what a wonderful difference that made for him. That's the same positive difference we experience when we commit to Christ and to being an active member of his Church. No, our flaws don't suddenly disappear but now we are able to see and embrace our purpose to serve as an instrument of his grace and to be blessed in that experience. You know yesterday, as we came home from our retreat, I didn't see a bunch of students who were exhausted by getting up at 6:30AM to travel to various ministry sites, rather I saw a group of young people who were thrilled to be part of an adventure of faith. True, by the time we got to Massapequa, they were physically exhausted but it is more true to say that they were spiritually renewed and I expect wonderful things to happen in and through the lives of these young people.
Of course this point leads very well to the final experience in the Book of Acts readings that deals with what happens when God says no. For you see, Paul had a plan. He wanted to be the disciple that brought the Gospel to Asia! But his plan was not God's plan and so when he wanted to go to Asia, God's Spirit said no! In other words, God threw a curve ball at Paul and said forget Asia, I need you to serve in Galatia and Macedonia! And Paul accepted that no and began a wonderful mission that would change countless lives because he accepted God's no with his own yes! Yes Lord, send me where you need me!
Yet again, I have a Confirmation Retreat story to share. For you see the six students who came with me to serve in the Christian Help In Park Slope Soup kitchen wanted to be the ones who would serve the meal to the 97 guests who would come to that kitchen. That was our plan but when we got there, Dolly, the Coordinator for that ministry told our Confirmation Class that there job would be scrubbing pots and floors in the kitchen! Do you want to know how excited our youth were with that assignment? Just ask their parents about how much they love to scrub pots and floors at home. But guess what? Despite their initial disappointment, they faithfully went into that kitchen and scrubbed away and at the end of the day, 97 guests at CHIPS and 1350 total lives at all of the sites we served in were blessed because our Confirmation Class and the other students heard God's no to their request for an easy job and responded with a resounding yes that said God, use us where you want!
What happens when God says no? that's the question that is raised by the title of today's sermon and the answer is this. When God says no, we need to pray and live the words "Thy will be done" trusting that God will bless us and all who are served from our shared commitment to live as an instrument of God's grace in the lives of our loved ones and all who are effected when we say "Yes, God, I will serve you where you call me!"
Let's start with John Mark who was excluded from Paul's preaching team. It must have been a bitter disappointment for him. Like all of the disciples, John Mark's heart burned with a passion to preach the Gospel, but he had failed Paul in the past and now as Paul gathered his A-Team to begin an important mission effort, he wanted nothing to do with John Paul who had abandoned an earlier preaching mission and who Paul must have felt was not someone he could depend upon. Obviously, Paul's judgment was felt to be too harsh by Barnabas who advocated for John Paul's inclusion on this mission effort but Paul would not budge. John Mark had failed him in the past, and there were consequences to this poor behavior.
Of course this point leads very well to the final experience in the Book of Acts readings that deals with what happens when God says no. For you see, Paul had a plan. He wanted to be the disciple that brought the Gospel to Asia! But his plan was not God's plan and so when he wanted to go to Asia, God's Spirit said no! In other words, God threw a curve ball at Paul and said forget Asia, I need you to serve in Galatia and Macedonia! And Paul accepted that no and began a wonderful mission that would change countless lives because he accepted God's no with his own yes! Yes Lord, send me where you need me!