My daughter and I have only recently become a Gleek (Glee Geek or fan of the show Glee for those who have not been clued in). How about you? Do you watch “Glee” on television? The show is set in Lima, Ohio (about an hour or so south of Toledo for those tuning in from around the world) of all places. It’s about a young teacher, who was in the Glee Club when he was in High School, and now he takes over the job of leading the Glee Club in the high school.
It is a thankless job. When he starts out there are only 5 students. They are the misfits. No one in the school shows them any respect. In the season premiere, the teacher is about ready to quit. His wife gets pregnant, and pressures him to quit teaching and to get a better paying job to provide for the family. These kids need him, because music is their passion. It is his passion too. Music is the thing that brings him joy! But he almost stops believing. He gets scared that it won’t be enough. He needs more money to make his wife happy and to take care of a child.
We watched a scene in worship, where his friend, the school guidance counselor tries to help him see things another way. She shows the leader of the glee club a video of him in High School at nationals. He is happier than she has ever seen him. He says he knew who he was. He was where he wanted to be. She talks to him about how money is not the only thing in life and living life is what is important. It’s then that he hears his small band of misfits singing “don’t stop believing” and rediscovers his passion.
In an earlier scene, one of the boys, the quarterback of the football team, who has been pressured by his teammates to quit the Glee Club, it’s not cool, only the geeks are in the glee club. He finally owns up to the fact that he loves both football and singing. He says to his football team: you can’t win without me, and neither can the Glee Club – so you are going to have to deal with me doing both, a quarterback and a glee club member. He claims his joy.
Our theme for our life together this year at The Village is this: we have enough. Sometimes it takes a team or a family. Because, as a pastor, and as a human being, I hear lots of folks say, they don’t have enough. If I just had more of this, or that, THEN I would be happy! In our scripture for today, (we read 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 from the Message translation in worship. Look it up online, it’s worth reading.) Paul tells us that when we love God, and live as followers of Jesus, we have enough. We have within ourselves and within that relationship with God, unlimited spiritual resources, to find our joy.
The teacher in Glee found his joy as a high school student in singing. And he wanted to help some other students, who were awkward teens, but who had the gift of vocal talent, to find their joy in performing in the Glee Club. But each one of them had something to overcome. He has to deal with the expectations of a wife who values money and things. He comes home one day to a closet full of bags from Pottery Barn and sees where her values are. The kids in his choir are bullied by the more popular kids in school. One is the quarterback of the football team who had been one of the bullies and he has to find his moral compass and stand up to the rest of the team and choose not to be a bully. That is perhaps harder, to stand apart from his peers when they are doing things that are hurtful.
So how about you? What is your biggest challenge? What keeps you from living a life of joy? Now many of us might say that outside forces have hurt us, and that may well be true. We might say that others have control over us. But we usually have more power than we admit.
What is the thing that keeps you from living the life that God put you on this earth to live? Can you name it? You see, I believe God has a purpose for each one of us. God wants us to live with joy and to make a difference in the world. God wants our lives to have meaning. God wants us to laugh, yes laugh. God wants us to look back on our lives and say, “well done.”
But most of us are not there yet. Because something is holding us back. We are not yet in tune with God’s desire for us. We have some brokenness, or some fear. We are lacking something, or we think we are lacking something so we don’t go for it. Somewhere along the way, early in life, someone told us we’re not enough: not good enough, not smart enough, strong enough, tall enough, rich enough, you-fill-in-the-blank-enough; and so we get stuck.
So, Paul wrote this letter to the new Christians in Corinth, to give them encouragement. We’re going to spend a few weeks looking at this letter to that church. It’s a great book. Paul had lived in Corinth for awhile. He had planted a church there. By the way, Corinth was known as a bad place (could have been Lima, sorry folks from Lima it fits) in Paul’s time. It was a rough town. There were lots of drunkards, and prostitutes, and thieves in Corinth. But while Paul was there, lots of people cleaned up their lives.
There were conversions. People heard the good news of Jesus and gave their lives to his Way. They were baptized and chose a life of honest living, hard work, compassion for the poor, and healthy relationships. But after Paul left, and went to the next town to plant the next church, after some time, the folks in Corinth returned to their old ways. Ever made a change for the good, but then went backwards? So Paul got a letter, reporting to him that the folks in Corinth had become weak in their faith. They had become what we call “back-sliders.”
So he wrote a letter to them, to urge them to remember their decision to follow Jesus, and to be strong in their faith. First he reminds them of who they are in his greeting: “I send this letter to you in God's church at Corinth, believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life.” He’s calling them to be their best selves again. And then he reminds them of all the wonderful things God has done in their lives: “Every time I think of you—and I think of you often!—I thank God for your lives of free and open access to God, given by Jesus. There's no end to what has happened in you—it's beyond speech, beyond knowledge. The evidence of Christ has been clearly verified in your lives.” He’s giving them lots of praise, like a good life coach.
We need this often, don’t we? We need to be reminded of how we have seen Jesus in our lives. When I start to feel far away from God, sometimes I get out my prayer journal and just write a list of blessings. When I remember all the ways I have experienced God’s presence in my life, it draws me closer to God. It helps me during those times when I feel myself drifting away from God.
Then Paul wraps it up with these words: “Just think—you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you. . . . God will never give up on you. Never forget that.”
You don’t need a thing. You have it all! God WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU.
When I am feeling weak, and a spiritual mentor tells me that God has given it all to me, to be honest, I feel kind of silly and ashamed. Of course I have it all. To think that I don’t, means that I don’t trust God, doesn’t it? God is right here with us, keeping us on track. God gave us this whole world, right? That’s what we said last week, when we read the creation story. God created the Earth, called it good, and made us the care-takers of the Earth. I’m giving you each a small Earth this week (we handed out little Earths in worship this week. It’s attached to brads so we can attach it to something where we will see every day to remember that we are care-takers of the Earth, and that the Earth is God’s gift to us, try doing this yourself. Go find one).
So, why, would we think that we are lacking anything? It’s really kind of crazy. Of course, God has already given us everything we need. God has given us the whole Earth! How can we possibly say we don’t have what we need? The teacher in Glee almost gets sidetracked, like we all do. We have the whole Earth. We have Jesus. We have life. We have breath, which is the source of life. And we all have spiritual gifts. We do. We all have gifts that God has given us to use in this world. They are all different, because God loves diversity. God does not want us to all be the same, that is obvious just by looking around this room.
So, I am going to ask you again, what is it that you are lacking? What is it that keeps you from living your life with joy? The teacher in Glee took on the Glee club because he wanted music in his life and he wanted to help students find their joy in developing their gifts. But he almost gives it up, because he gets fearful when his wife gets pregnant and she pressures him about money. She wants him to be an accountant. But being an accountant is not his joy. He almost makes a huge mistake. It happens every day. People get side-tracked from their joy.
What keeps you from living the life that God put you on this earth to live? Do you know? I think we can answer that question with this one: what do you want more of? Most of us think we will be happier if we have more of something. And the truth is, we already have enough. We have enough of it, whatever it is. We simply have to unlock it, or uncover it. We need to allow ourselves to claim it, or re-arrange our priorities.
If we want more time for what is important to us, then we have to learn to shift our time away from the things that are not so important to us. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. If we want more money, then there are ways to find financial freedom and there are tools for doing that. There are methods and people who can help us learn those methods. If we want love, or more healthy relationships, then there are ways to get healthy ourselves. It may mean we have to do some hard emotional work on our part, but the work can be done. Trust me. The work can be done there are people who can help us. If we want to be physically fit, there are ways we can work on that. It will take some discipline, (something I hate) but we have the ability.
We have unlimited resources for JOY. Honestly! We do.
It’s right here in Paul’s promises to the early Christians in Corinth: “Just think—you don't need a thing, you've got it all! All God's gifts are right in front of you.” I believe this! Really, I do!
Here’s where I believe we need to start today, with confession. It’s an ancient Christian practice, because it works. We confess, because it helps us start fresh with God. I’m inviting us, here and now, to confess to God, the thing we don’t believe we have enough of – the thing we want more of: money, time, love, courage, strength, health, whatever. I invite us to trust that we have it, because we do. God gives it to us. We have enough.
In worship we passed out little slips for us to write down what we feel like we don’t have enough. We have some left at The Village and you can do it later or you can write this down at home. The next thing is the instructions. We put them up at the Village so we can all confess publically and give it to God. So here’s what we got:
CONFESSION
What do you want, but feel you do not have? This is something that is such a challenge, only God can give it to you, but you have unlimited resources of this thing. Confess to God, your lack of this thing, and trust that God wants you to have it. Pray the prayer: I have enough (your thing)_. Write in one word (or maybe two) in large letters, what your thing is, on the other side of this paper, and pin it to the burlap curtain on the stage at the front of The Village Commons.
So, are you ready to start living a life where you realize you have enough and start living in that joy, that place you should be? Come join us at The Village this year. Whatever your issue – time, money, health, whatever, we’re going to help you find what you need to start living that full life God wants you to have. Join us, we’re here every week on Sundays at 9:45 and 11:30 AM, and throughout the week around the area is small groups to help you find a way to that life. Join us.
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