“Worship, Study, Serve, in that order”

Mark 10:46-52
Rev. Dr. Marisa Laviola

October 25, 2009

 

             During these past several weeks we have been celebrating our mission.  You have read letters from the Stewardship Committee about our mission.  We have turned a corner in our mission with me as your now installed pastor, with many tried and true ministries that have set our foundation, and with the expansion and development of new ministries to develop our mission into the future.  Two weeks ago you heard Sara Russell speak about her faith walk as it intersects with our mission of full time ministry.  Last week you heard David Bickford speak about his faith walk as it intersects with our mission of music. This morning you have heard the Stewardship committee present our budget in a new way:  our budget will now be crafted as it reflects our mission.

In 2000, faithful servants of this church crafted a mission statement that has guided you this last nine years.  The statement was outlined this morning in David’s powerpoint presentation.  The statement is on the back of every Sunday worship bulletin.  This is our statement:  Our Mission is to promote the worship of God as revealed through Jesus Christ and to promote the study of Scripture. Relying on Scripture and prayer as our guides, we strive to serve humanity.  What a great statement.  Let’s take some time this morning to unpack what this statement may mean for us as we have set our foundation and are looking expectantly and hopefully toward the future.

 

Our mission is to promote the worship God as revealed through Jesus Christ

And who is this Jesus Christ through whom God is revealed? Jesus was born into poverty in a stable or a cave that housed animals.  Jesus lived the first 5 years of his life in exile in Egypt because King Herod sought his life. Jesus was baptized by his cousin who ate locusts and wild honey and roamed the desert. Jesus lived an itinerant ministry in the area between Nazareth and Jerusalem with fishermen and women who came from the working class.  Jesus preached incessantly about the ways and will of God:  peaceful giving, blessings on the least of these, love for God and neighbor.  Jesus lived according to the ways and will of God:  ministering to the poor, the outcast, the marginalized, those who are shunned; healing all who sought his healing.  Jesus wept when a friend died. Jesus got grumpy when he felt burnt out. Jesus got angry at people who exploited the poor, and Jesus prayed in solitude with his God constantly. Jesus suffered and was killed at the hands of exploiting, greedy human beings.  Jesus Christ overcame all human suffering, greed, and exploitation by rising to new life.

What does our worship look like if we are to worship the God who is revealed through the One who knows the deepest poverty, exile, pain, desperation for the fate of humanity? What does our worship look like if we are to worship the God who is revealed through the one who healed, wept, got tired and grumpy, got angry on behalf of the poor, prayed incessantly, and died because he would not stop preaching, teaching, living the will and ways of God?  What does our worship look like if we worship the God who is revealed through the One whose grave could not contain him, whose resurrection brings new life and possibilities right now, for all who seek the will and ways of God?

 

Our mission is to promote the study of scripture

             How do we study scripture?  It’s not easy to do so on our own.  It is helpful to study together.  Such study is so important to knowing who our God is.  But does the revelation continue beyond Scripture? Or do we rely on Scripture alone for the revelation of Jesus Christ? How does our study of Scripture, the model and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, relate to our lives today? There are poor, outcast, marginalized around us. There are sick, infirmed, and dying around us. How does our study of the early church’s attempt to follow this Jesus, written in the Epistles, speak relevance to our lives as we seek God’s will and God’s ways?  Who now in the 21^st century speaks with Jesus’ words?  Heals with Jesus’ hands?  Brings peace with Jesus’ feet?  Proclaims the miracle of the resurrection? Brings the good news of God’s radically inclusive love?

 

Relying on scripture and prayer as our guides, we strive to serve humanity

             Aha, not only worship, not only the study of scripture, but prayer. But what kind of prayer?  Prayer that asks for things?  Or prayer that seeks mercy and peace?  Prayer that asks for deliverance from the trials of this world?  Or prayer that seeks healing and wholeness so we can live gratefully and graciously among the trials of this world?  Prayer that curses our lot in life?  Or prayer that thanks God for bounty, that praises God for salvation in this life and the next?

Notice the order of the mission statement? We worship, we study, we pray. From that worship, study, prayer, only then do we serve.  We do not begin our service until we worship the true God, until we learn of the will and ways of the true God, until we pray into God’s purposes for our lives and those around us. And then we venture out in faith to serve. 

If we look closely at our scripture for today, we see a clear example of worship, study, prayer, and faith poised for service from a seemingly unlikely blind beggar named Bartimeaus.  No, this example is not about the disciples. Mark’s rendition of the disciples throughout this gospel is that they were more interested in securing their place in triumph and glory than in looking for God in the life, works, teaching, and impending death of their leader Jesus.  Much of who Jesus is, what he’s done, what he’s preached, has gone right over their heads.  They have been blinded by their version of worship, learning, prayer, and service.  Just last week we read that they were bickering over their places in glory, even after Jesus told them the week before that the first will be last and the last will be first.  And to add insult to injury, they shun someone who Jesus has been telling them not to shun:  a blind beggar by the side of the road by the name of Bartimaeus. 

And why shouldn’t they shun him?  Why must Jesus be hindered now as he’s poised to enter into Jerusalem?  Why should they stop for this one more blind and infirmed nuisance? The disciples are looking to big triumphs in Jerusalem, for Jesus to liberate them once and for all from Roman domination; even as Jesus as predicted his suffering and death.  And as they tell this blind beggar to shush, as they reprimand him, he cries out even louder.

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  What’s this?  He is blind yet he knows who Jesus is?  He knows this Jesus is the One of the lineage of King David, who has been prophesied to save the people?  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”  Is this man worshipping God through the revelation of Jesus Christ as he cries out?  He certainly can’t see Jesus with his physical eyes, but he seems to be worshipping Jesus with eyes of faith.  He worships by naming that which he has studied through the Hebrew Scripture.  He names Jesus as the One who came to have mercy and to serve; to reveal the will and ways of God. So here comes this blind man, full of worship, full of knowledge of Scripture, praying a faith filled prayer to his God.  "My teacher let me see again."  Worship, study, prayer.

After Jesus heals this man, the last healing that Jesus does in Mark’s gospel, Jesus tells him, "go on your way." But Bartimaeus will have nothing of that.  He chooses to follow Jesus.  He immediately leaves everything and follows Jesus to learn about true service. 

What a model for our mission statement: a blind, poor, marginalized man who sees clearly in his mind and heart to worship, study, and pray; and now sees fully so he can follow and serve.  What a contrast to the disciples who are still blind even after living with Jesus for almost 3 years; for the disciples who are only healed of their sight problems, gradually as they interact with the risen Christ for forty days after the resurrection, onward to Pentecost.

Perhaps this is also part of the wisdom in our mission statement.  Perhaps along with worship, study, and prayer, we must be healed before we can serve humanity; healed of our blindness.  Perhaps relying on scripture and prayer means that we rely on Jesus’ ability to free us from whatever fetters us, heal us of whatever holds us back from service.  Jesus asks the blind man the same haunting question he has asked the disciples; perhaps that he asks each of us, “What is it that you want me to do for you?" The answer could be the same from any of us, to be healed from whatever fetters us so we can truly see:  see the true God, worship the true God, know the true God, so we can follow the true God and serve the true God.   Healing the blind man and giving him his sight required nothing short of a miracle.  Healing us and giving us our sight can be just as miraculous.

I do not know the wisdom that led the faithful servants of 9 years ago to craft the mission statement in the order of worship, study, prayer, and service, but the order is filled with Godly wisdom.  If we served before we worshipped, studied, or prayed, we would indeed do good things, for we have God’s loving intentions deep within our hearts.  But such loving intentions must be nurtured as we worship the God in Jesus Christ who loves us so intimately and so tenderly.  Such loving intentions must be nurtured through prayerful study of God’s will and ways. And as we worship, as we study, our prayer becomes more in tune, more at one, with the will and ways of our God, with God’s mission for us in our community and in this world of ours. And as we worship, as we study, as we pray; as we use these as guides for our service, we can speak Christ’s words, we can heal with Christ’s hands, we can bring God’s message of healing love with Christ’s feet.