This was a tough week to be a father
-First you need to know that there is traditionally no love lost
between the Stevenson and Libertyville football teams.
-Thursday afternoon I found myself standing on the sidelines
with a group of parents in Libertyville watching
the Stevenson freshman B-squad football team go down to
defeat
-I started out on the side of the freshman field with the bleachers
but found myself surrounded by Libertyville parents
enjoying their children's athletic abilities too much
-I finally had to walk around to the other side of the field
and stand with the rest of the parents whose team
was on the short end of the scoring.
I really didn't like those Libertyville parents a whole lot just
then.
Later that evening I was at a meeting that included other Lake
County clergy
-Pastor Bob Davis was there from Holy Cross Lutheran in Libertyville
-his son plays on the freshman A-squad
-as we shook hands in greeting each other the first words from
his mouth were
-"I don't want to talk about it-your guys beat us, okay?"
"Okay!" I said with possibly just a bit too much enthusiasm
and smile-"Okay" I thought again-"one squad may
have lost but the other squad won
-we'll be number one as sophomores."
To be the best-to be number one
-in the competitive moment it often seems like
the most important thing in your life is to win
-that the stability and future of the universe depends on who
wins
-for most of us there has been at least one time when we felt
at least for a moment
that we would give just about anything to win
-untold numbers of deals have been offered to God
if there could be just some way to complete a pass
-catch the ball-make the score.
For some folks the center of the universe shifted yesterday to
the City of New York
and the opening pitch of the World Series-which team is the best-number
one.
At least this year you only have to remember one city in order
to name both teams.
We are entering the final weeks of what some
believe
will be the closest presidential election in recent history if
not all time.
To hear Democrats and Republics talk
it will be the end of civilization as we know it if the wrong
party is elected.
The goal is to finish on top-to be number one-the all too human goal.
From our youngest days we strive to be first
-first in line at the drinking fountain-first to do or hear or
see or touch or receive
-to be chosen first-to get the best grade.
As we grow older we learn that first will not always be the place
for us
-but we still have our moments
-leaving the concert or play early to be the first to our car
-we tell ourselves it is to avoid the traffic jam
-watching for the opportunity to be the first to have some item
that will soon set the trend.
It is no surprise that the Zebedee boys-James
and John-the sons of Zebedee
-exhibit the too human desire to claim a special place
-seats of privilege in Christ's kingdom.
You have to give them credit for asking
-that took what is becoming a more familiar word-real chutzpah
-amazing nerve considering that there were 10 other disciples
who might have felt they had equal claim.
In fact, our Gospel lesson for today makes the point of telling
us
that the disciples got angry when they learned what the Zebedee
boys had done.
We can almost see Jesus slowly shaking his
head
and silently wondering if he will ever succeed
in getting his message across to these twelve
-to say nothing of the rest of the crowd.
When Jesus speaks it is yet again to try to shift their thinking
-"whoever wishes to become great among you must be your
servant,
and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."
There is nothing breathtakingly new or surprising
about these words
-they just don't easily become a part of our lives
-yet we know their value and we would proclaim their truth.
Our entire society is peculiarly volunteeristic
-we depend again and again on the commitment of others to volunteer
to serve
-service to others that is not dependent on pay or even prestige.
In most of our communities the mayor and trustees are elected
to serve without pay
-school board members give hours and hours of time
-the church councils and committees are usually recognized
as the training grounds for most community leaders
The special values and community of our society
depend mightily
on the willing service of others
-The measure of most lives is ultimately chronicled
not by occupation or career success but by what someone did for
others
-service to others reveals the true character of each person.
The importance of service has become a staple
of our educational system
embracing models practiced in churches for centuries
-meaning in life is found in relationship to others
-this is a truth of love-and is equally true of service.
Jesus tried to help those around him to recognize
a core value
that we almost take for granted today
-yet the story of the Zebedee boys also reveals the too human
temptation of self interest.
In the midst of the final weeks of the Presidential
campaign
I am reminded of President John F. Kennedy's famous words in his
inaugural speech,
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can
do for your country."
All of us know in our heads that the health
of a free and open society
depends upon our willingness to do just that
-to concentrate as much or more upon what we can contribute to
our society
as upon what we can take out of it.
But in spite of what we know with our heads,
there is that old voice which sends us running for the front of
the line.
Who do we elect to public office?
The people we think will best lead us in serving our country?
-or the people who promise to do the most for us personally?
Any politician who undertakes really responsible leadership is
courting disaster.
Watch a few of the political ads and you quickly recognize
that they assume the voters are only interested in what benefits
them personally
not what might be of value to the common good.
Too often the electorate affirms the old saying by Mark Twain
that democracy is a system which assures that the people
will get exactly the kind of government they deserve.
Jesus wanted those who followed him to know
that discipleship is a servant calling
-a sacrifice of self for the greater good
-the truth of real service is that it is rarely acknowledged or
even known
-the cost of discipleship is often paid quietly and without fanfare.
Many years ago now, Lloyd C. Douglass wrote the book Magnificent
Obsession
which centered on a young man who lived a spoiled and useless
life.
One day the young man wakes up to learn that he had almost drowned
and that a great brain surgeon who lived on the nearby lake had
himself drowned
in the rescue effort that had saved him.
Moved by what his life had cost the world,
the young man resolved that he would himself become a neurosurgeon
and give back to the world what he had taken.
He succeeded in that
but he discovered that the surgeon had given himself
to hundreds of people in different ways.
To some he had given money.
To others he had donated his skill.
And for every deed of this kind he had exacted one promise only
that never in his lifetime would the recipient reveal that fact
of his help.
For the young man that philosophy and the example became a magnificent
obsession.
He found that the more he gave himself for others, the more he
himself received.
The Christian church the first disciples knew
was a church committed to service
-it was a church that served a world
that cared little for the widows, orphans, hungry and sick
-and for the first couple centuries of its existence
the faith of Christians had no special place in the world
-few even noticed-the slaves and Christians were in the arena
-persecuted together by Roman authority
But then came the day when the emperor converted
-the religion of the realm became Christian-the power of God ruled
-kings were seen to be in power by divine right-chosen by God
-the church ruled all social orders
-the highest academic degree was the Doctor of Theology
-Armies marched under the banner of Christ
-knights placed the cross on their shields-Christendom ruled.
And even when the people became enlightened and rose up against
oppressive rulers
-they often did so guided by their faith in Christ
and belief in divinely established order and laws.
The history of our country cannot be fully understood apart from
the faith of its citizenry
-who time and again entered armed conflicts in the sure and certain
belief
that God was on their side
-that power would win out to vindicate the true people of faith.
There are many who still believe that we have
triumphed
and occupy a special place in God's plan for the world
-but if that is so then our lesson for today makes us very uncomfortable.
That which was once a calling to discipleship
has become a calling to power, place, prestige and self.
Those called to be servants have decided they are now to be served.
Faith has become just another commodity to be shopped for and
acquired.
Most historians and theologians now agree that
the reign of Christendom is over
-a new religious self has triumphed
-one that the Zebedee brothers would know well.
The care of self and self interests is once more the defining
mark of society
as many seek the best seat at tables of prosperity.
Yet still the disciples remain
-those who by grace discover they do not need to run to the head
of the line
-those who still hear Christ's call to service.
There are many of our community who have not heard Christ's invitation
to a fuller life
-a more meaningful role of service.
Too many have not yet been embraced into the fellowship of Christ's
body.
We are no longer standing on the sidelines
-in baptism we were called to discipleship
-we may not yet fully understand our calling to serve
-but we can rest assured that God has provided the gifts we need
to answer Christ's call.
We do not need to worry about having all the skills
-of being perfect or always right with God.
That is the great joy of being a disciple
-we follow the one who has already won
As Martin Luther once observed,
"This life, therefore, is not righteousness, but growth in
righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet what we shall be but we are growing toward it,
the process is not yet finished but it is going on,
this is not the end but it is the road.
All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified."
So we follow the example of he who has gone
before us-Jesus-God's son.
For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve,
and to give his life as ransom for many.
Amen.