Who are my mother and brothers and sisters?

The Rev. Robert P. Travis

Pentecost 2^nd Sunday Sermon – 8am and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN

RCL Proper 5 Year B 6/10/2012

Scripture Text: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, Psalm 138, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, Mark 3:20-35

Sermon Text:

How well do you know your brothers and sisters?

In the scene that we have in today's Gospel,

from the early part of Jesus' public ministry,

His siblings and mother don't seem to know him that well.

They come to restrain him,

to take him out from what he's doing,

because people think he has lost his mind.

From the things he is saying,

the things people can see

and hear immediately,

he is acting crazy,

and it is a reasonable argument that he is

demon-possessed and a shame to his family.

So they come to try and take him away,

and people around him tell him,

“your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside,

asking for you.”

They don't have the courage,

or maybe they don't have the ability to come inside,

and that gives Jesus the chance he needs,

to make a powerful point,

about the difference that following him makes,

in the relationships of those who follow.

I might as well say something at this point,

about that anxiety producing statement Jesus makes,

about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,

the unforgiveable sin.

Just so no one sits there worrying about it

and misses the rest of the message.

There is pretty good agreement among biblical scholars,

that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit,

comes from knowing God in his fullness,

and the deep love that God has for all of us,

and rejecting that love with full understanding

of what that means,

It is a sign of our great freedom

that we can condemn ourselves to seperation from God,

by rejecting his Holy Spirit

after we have come to know Him fully.

But most people agree that the perfect knowledge of God

is not possible in this life,

and that this is only something that one who

dwells in the perfect presence of God can know.

Basically the devil and his angels have committed

that blasphemy, have rejected God

after dwelling in his love and perfect presence,

and therefore condemned themselves to eternal seperation,

You and I cannot in this life.

My seminary professor put it like this,

If you're worried that you have committed

the unforgiveable sin,

then just by being concerned about it, you have not,

so don't worry about it.

Now back to the main subject this morning.

How well do you know your brothers and sisters?

Do you just know what is on the surface,

what is seen, and can be known by anyone?

Do you know their hopes and dreams?

Do you know how they handle crisis?

how they come to terms with their faith?

how they deal with loss?

Does anyone in your life know that about you?

How much of how we are known, is just what can be seen,

what is obvious to everyone,

and is temporary?

This morning we are lifting up our Stephen Ministry

and celebrating what our Stephen Ministers,

and Stephen Leaders have done,

to transform the care we offer to one another in this parish. There is a lot of training that goes into being a Stephen Minister,

50 hours of training on the front end,

plus monthly continuing education sessions,

and a big commitment of time and energy

to share in the distinctly Christian caring

that Stephen Ministers offer, confidentially,

to members of our parish and others.

But what it all comes down to,

when you distill it to it's core,

Stephen Ministry is about the belief,

that being known deeply,

beyond what the surface shows,

brings healing and life, to people who need it.

And who doesn't need healing at some point in life?

Stephen Ministry is about being a brother or sister,

to Christ,

by being a brother or sister,

to another person of faith,

and offering to them

the opportunity to share themselves,

to one who is trained to listen carefully,

so the person may share as deeply as they can,

with the trust that the relationship is confidential,

and based in true love for them,

grounded in the love of Christ.

That kind of sharing,

that goes way beyond what is seen,

brings healing,

because it brings us in touch

with what cannot be seen,

as we heard in the Epistle this morning,

what cannot be seen is eternal.

Let me share with you one Stephen Ministry story,

one among many that come from the 5 years

we have been a Stephen Ministry parish.

There is an older couple in our parish,

well, the husband died a few years ago,

and the wife lives by herself,

but they had been active here for many years,

and through disability had been unable to come anymore.

When Stephen Ministers first got involved with them,

they were living in fear of outsiders.

Their children all live far away,

and they have no relatives in the area.

The Stephen Minister came to their door,

to visit the wife,

and the husband would not let her in,

because he did not know what she wanted,

and was afraid that she wanted to take advantage of them.

You can imagine how nefarious sales people,

or others who pray on the isolated people in our society had lead the husband to that belief.

The Stephen Minister persisted in love,

reassuring them through a few personal visits to the door,

that she was from our church,

and just wanted to talk, and listen to his wife.

Finally, after a couple of weeks,

and a plate of home baked cookies,

he let her in.

A Stephen Minister was assigned to the husband as well,

and over time that man and woman,

opened up their lives to these ministers,

and began to find healing from the isolation

that had settled in over the years.

The Stephen Ministers walked with this man and woman,

through her illnesses and his,

through the changing nature of their relationship,

and through his dying process,

and through her grieving as well.

On the outside, it appears that this woman,

is still living an isolated life,

and one might think that nothing much has changed,

but knowing the fearful place they were in together,

and how the visits with her are now characterized by joy

and singing,

-did I mention that she loves to sing hymns?-

We who know her, know that her life

has been tremendously healed,

and a great deal of that healing has come through

the faithfulness of Stephen Ministers,

who came just wanting to listen,

to know deeper than the surface,

and who were patient in waiting

for the healing to take place.

The Stephen Ministry, more than

any other ministry I have been involved with,

has helped me to see the truth in what Paul wrote

to the Corinthians.

Even though our outer nature is wasting away,

our inner nature is being renewed day by day.

The renewal of that inner nature,

the growth and healing that God accomplishes in us,

even as we grow older,

and the trials of life in this world wear us down,

that renewal is not able to be seen

unless we really get to know

someone deeply,

unless we care enough to listen way beyond pleasantries,

until we connect with each other at a level

more like family

at the level of being brothers and sisters in Christ.

I have come to see that there is no greater honor in life,

than getting to participate in others' lives,

to share with them the inner renewal

that is experienced through sharing a loving relationship.

The ministries that our church offers and shares,

are all about extending that grace to more and more people,

so that our thanksgiving to God increases.

Stephen Ministry is the primary way,

that our deepest level of pastoral care,

is extended to many people,

because there is no way that even a full clergy staff,

could reach the number of people

that our Stephen Ministers can reach,

with the level of depth of relationship they offer.

Jesus made an important distinction,

that day, when his mother and siblings came to restrain him.

He created the idea that what unites us as family,

is deeper than bonds of blood,

it is bonds of love, love for God,

and love for one another that flows from the love of God.

It is what cannot be seen that unites us

to one another.

Look around you today,

they may not look like it,

but these are your brothers

and your sisters,

your mothers and your fathers and your children.

The rest of the world,

that looks only at the outward and visible things,

might think it is crazy to think that way,

and even crazier to waste time and energy,

getting to know and caring for these people.

But we know that

Jesus' mother and brothers and sisters,

did not wait outside for long.

Eventually they came inside his family again,

and no longer thought he was crazy,

for what he was saying.

They followed him after his death and resurrection,

and after his Ascension and Pentecost,

they built the family that he mentioned early on,

the family that is now the Christian Church.

The family that we enjoy at Church of the Ascension.

I think that was because they came to know his deeds of love,

and the way he embodied the love of God to all those

he encountered.

You have an opportunity to experience that love,

and to know that great honor that comes

from listening deeply to a brother or sister in Christ,

and caring for them as no one else will,

through times of crisis,

through times of transition,

through times when your brother or sister is

struggling to comprehend how

their inner nature is being renewed

as their outer body wastes away.

If you feel called to engage in this ministry

by becoming a Stephen Minister,

fill out an application form for our next training

which will begin in just a couple of months.

If you are not called to that ministry,

know that you are called,

to be a brother or sister in Christ,

to those you see gathered here.

I pray that you may come to know

how there is nothing greater than being

united in the family of Christ.

Amen