1 Kings 19:15-16,19-21, Luke 9:51-62
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
It just seems to be in us, a part of our DNA, that when we get turned away from a place or have our ideas ignored or turned down, no matter what the reason, we get angry, disappointed, frustrated, sometimes hurt. In today’s Gospel reading the Disciples were so angry, they asked Jesus if they could punish the Samaritan village for turning them away, by raining down fire upon them, so as to destroy them. Even without hearing Jesus’ response I would have guessed that the answer would be, “no”; (and) it was. As a pastor, I learned very early on, that in ministry you cannot take defeat personally, it was not the way of Jesus and it is not the way for Jesus’ followers. Likewise, when someone chooses to leave and go to another church, or chooses not to go to church at all, you cannot see it as a personal failure. I joke sometimes, that I’ve had so many people walk right over top of my head, that I’m surprised the hair on my head hasn’t been worn off. The fact that I still have hair, could be described as a testimony to my ability to endure defeat. Is that a good thing? I guess, it can be, as long as i don’t give up on what I believe to be the will of our Lord. But, all this, is just me and it’s not about me; the fact of the matter is, that I am just a small part of the ministry of St. Peters, and a much smaller part of the ministry of the Body of Christ. I know for a fact, that many of you also suffer defeats in your attempts to make the church, what you think is best. I know because as your pastor, I’m often called upon to help reassure you, and sometimes help you over some anger or hurt, smoothing ruffled feathers as they say (anger and such are a normal response to having our ideas overruled, especially when we really think that our ideas are inspired by the Holy Spirit, that they are God’s will and they are the best thing for our congregation).
To quote Mick Jagger (and I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen much in church): “You can’t always get what you want…. But if you try sometimes, well you might find you get what you need.” Sometimes God lets us, as individuals and the church, make mistakes, sometimes we misunderstand what God wants for us and his church, sometimes we have the right idea at the wrong time and sometimes I believe God feels we need a challenge and so it would be wrong for us to give up easily on the ideas we feel are inspired, maybe after a time the congregation will be ready for them. If only we knew for sure which ideas were truly inspired by the Holy Spirit, all of the time. I could make a list of the ideas that I felt would have been good for St. Peter’s that were turned down, and my guess is, so could all of you who have been actively involved in the decision-making process of the church. I can’t say, I like it when my ideas are voted down, but in truth, it is okay; St. Peter’s is still ministering to the community; being voted down is a good reminder, of just how important it is to trust in the Lord, a reminder that God’s will, will in God’s time, prevail. Again, it is not about me; it is not about you; it is about Jesus and it’s about the ministry that will proclaim Jesus’ love and the story of Jesus and his promises and help identify the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us all.
Raining fire upon our adversaries might make us feel good, but it is not what Jesus wants, no matter how much we may want to make it happen. Thankfully, that particular power or gift of God, does not seem to be among our handy selection of the Spirit’s gifts. Thankfully (of a different nature), the gifts of reason and patience are among the gifts that the Spirit has made available to us. Does that mean that we should not get angry and such? No, but it does mean that we have the power to keep ourselves from acting in a way that might hurt those who have refused to welcome us or our ideas and hurt the ministry of Jesus Christ. We have a choice to retaliate, but if we trust in the Lord we don’t. We either follow Jesus, like his Disciples or we are left behind like those in the second part of today’s Gospel reading. Elijah was more flexible in this respect than was Jesus; Elijah let Elisha first take care of some things before following Elijah. Jesus told those, who wished to follow him, the hard truth and some were turned away. Those left behind were those who couldn’t handle the uncertainty and who would not drop everything and follow Jesus right there and then. It is not about our hurt feelings, anger or even our ego, it is all about Jesus, about trusting Jesus. So, will you trust in the Lord, will we follow Jesus, or will you make yourselves feel good by getting your vengeance?
Next time your idea gets rebuffed by Church Council, by a committee or by me, how are you going to handle things? Are you going to get angry; are you going to give up; or are you going to leave the church all together? I’ve seen all of these. I pray, that if you truly believe that your ideas will be good for St. Peter’s and that they have been inspired by God, that you don’t give up, maybe they will be accepted at a later time; maybe the church is just not ready for them; certainly your Spirit driven inspiration is needed by St. Peter’s. I have a number of ideas tucked away in the back of my mind for another, maybe the right time, to be reintroduced for action. The Spirit talks; I try to listen; how about you, are you listening for the Spirit’s wisdom and guidance? What ideas for St. Peter’s and for ministry have come to you? We welcomed the Wesley Bell Ringers a couple weeks back; we are planning Christmas in July; what else could we be inspired to plan, to do?