Mission Possible

Who would you say is the greatest living person in the world? Bill Gates gives out lots of money; President Obama has lots of power; Tom Brady has Super Bowl rings and has a ringed a super model for a wife. The media spends a lot of time and energy in keeping us aware of what these men do.

We have lots of famous women as well. Hillary is certainly well known; Oprah has her own dynasty, and Beyonce is a megastar. You know that you are really up there when a last name is not needed for recognition.

So let's do a little imagining. Suppose that we are in a favorite place and all of a sudden someone hugely recognizable would just appear? That's it, just appear? I'm not talking about Lou DeSeau seeing Elvis in Las Vegas, but I am talking about... Zap...Prince Will and Kate are sitting beside you at Pizza Hut. Would you think that sitting next to you were some crazies who were having a little fun at our expense? What would our reaction be? Excitement, bewilderment, fear, all of the above, none of the above?

Now, let's make it bigger. What would be our reaction if Jesus were to be sitting in our service right now? Would we recognize Him? Would we welcome Him? Or are we more comfortable with Him staying in the books of the Bible?

A teacher asked her class the same question: Name the greatest living person in the world. They gave some of the same answers that were earlier mentioned. Moms and dads were mentioned as well. One said the Pope. One said Andrew McCutch-en. It went on for a while. Little Jacob mentioned Jesus Christ. Another student said that Jesus isn't alive so the answer was wrong. Jake was adamant that Jesus was crucified and died and was buried. Then He rose from the dead and is alive! End of discussion. Score one for Jacob and score a huge one for mankind. I could end the sermon here, but I probably wouldn't graduate from the Lay Ministry Institute in June.

Okay, let's switch gears. Somewhat the same situation, but more serious. Have you ever been involved in something that just went horribly wrong and then it all got turned around suddenly and everything turned out to be ALL right. That is exactly what happened to the disciples. Listen: Things were really bad for the 11 men gathered to discuss in private their next move. They were frightened and confused. Life seemed to be closing in on them and it was not possible for them to continue their three-year-old ministry.

Judas betrayed Jesus and the crowds had Him killed. They denied Him before he was crucified; acknowledging Him now could result in their own horrible deaths. At that moment, a man appears. No, it was a ghost. No, it was an impersonator. It was not an impersonator; it was Jesus' return as was foretold and promised. They saw the scars that Jesus endured so that their hearts might be healed. Jesus asks them if they have anything to eat. We see that the Lord's Supper announced death; we see that a simple meal announces the resurrect-tion. He then reminded them that He had spoken to them and then opened their minds to understand the scriptures which point to suffering and resurrection.

Back to us again. Aren't we like the disciples? In Edgar Allan Poe's short story The
Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero gathers his court into the castle and locks the doors. The plague horrific. Blood was its Avatar and its seal-the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. With such horror sweeping the countryside the prince felt that they will be saved if they are away from the world. If you know Poe, you know that the plan didn't come close to working.

When we come to church, isn't one of the reasons to escape all of the problems of the world? Are we a congregation that is turned in upon itself? We certainly have horrors in the world: mass slaughter in Africa and the Middle East, the drug crisis, wanton disrespect of our values. We view the church as our sanctuary, our safe haven where nothing can touch us. When we leave we feel that we aren't able to do much for whatever reasons.

So now we are almost to the point of the sermon. The new mission statement of St. Mark's is: To know Christ, and to make Christ known. Council worked very hard at researching and discussion on this and other ideas over a couple of months and decided that this statement give us clear direction into what we do. If all that we do relates to the mission statement, we should be on solid footing. If it doesn't have something to do with knowing and making Christ known, we probably need to rethink what we're doing.

The disciples finally recognized their master after he showed them his wounds that he willingly accepted on Calvary for the forgiveness of all of our sins. We would certainly be more knowledgeable if Jesus were sitting in our congregation today, wouldn't we? So, we know Christ and are so blessed to do so.

And now, for the point. As our mission statement proclaims, we are to know Christ. That's the easy part and the comforting part. The second half of the statement is where we start to have some misgivings. If we are not actively involved in building up God’s church in this community, are we fulfilling our mission? If we are not inviting others to the service, are we fulfilling our mission? If we are not proclaiming Christ outside of the secure walls of St. Mark's, are we fulfilling our mission?

It's really not that difficult to do. Take the Seder Meal, for example. Some visitors were invited to attend the meal by members of the congregation. One may have even started a new slogan: Take your boss to church day! The visitors shared in the remembrance of the Passover tradition and we had a chance to welcome visitors to the church. Thanks Ed and Donna, for being witnesses.

You may not feel comfortable in inviting someone to church. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, ...he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers the equipment for these saints to do the work of ministry...to give up our lives as children and grow up in every way into him who is the head, Jesus Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love (Eph. 4: 11f). We all have talents and gifts to work to make Christ known.

Today is the day for the Heroin Task Force Walk. Becky Miller Pryor told council that the program was looking for an anchor church to host the Prayer Walk and the question was quickly answered. Is this a way to make Christ known? You bet! Too many lives are being ruined by this scourge, and we welcome all to our church. If someone who is in this downward spiral of drug dependency sees that St. Mark's cares, perhaps we can bring that person into our family. The church is not a place where we can tune out the rest of the world. We enter to listen, to worship, to praise and then we go out to do what? Again, to know Christ and to make Christ known.

The passage from Luke asks us, “How are we to be released from those fears in order to be a proper witness?” We must move from knowing ABOUT Christ Jesus to KNOWING Christ Jesus. If we KNOW Jesus we under-stand that Jesus conquered the ultimate threat, death and any fears we have are groundless. Then it's our job to make Christ known. We're starting today with prayer walk. Ed took his boss to the Seder Meal. We all know the hymn I Know That My Redeemer Lives. How will you witness to those six words? You know that your Redeemer lives. Tell others. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.