Because I’ve been spending some time with our Confirmation students, who are all in middle school, I’ve been thinking a bit more about the pressures of being a teen ager in our world. Some of you have raised teenagers, and others are contemplating raising teenagers some day. You see, Kathy and Katie and I are having conversations with these young people about our spiritual journey, because we want to give them tools. They are entering a crucial stage in life where the choices get harder and harder.
Think back for a moment to high school. You remember high school, don’t you? When we are in high school, we enter a time when our peers have way more influence over us that our families. We being to choose which pack we will travel with. I’m not sure what they call the groups these days. In my high school in Abilene Texas, these were some of the groups:
· there were the ropers, (the ones who were cowboy boots and hats and dipped snuff),
· there were the dopers, you can probably guess what they did
· the cheerleaders and the jocks, (they were all about style and image)
· the band geeks, (that was my group), similar to the speech and drama team folks,
· an overlapping group was the Christians who went to First Baptist Church. That was the big youth group in town.
That was the Cedar Creek Church of Abilene Texas.
I went to St. James United Methodist Church. We were the tiny little liberal church on the other side of town. You’re not surprised to hear I went there, are you? I was the President of the youth group. I once interviewed the youth pastor at First Pastor of First Baptist and he explained to me why they did not believe women were called to be pastors. We had an interesting conversation about that. I agreed to disagree with him. (But I digress.)
Back to the teen-agers. They make decisions about what group they will be in. As parents we hope and pray they will make good choices. There comes a point where we have to give them some freedom. We have some power over them, but we also have to start letting them make some choices.
Free choice is the human condition. God created this way. We are not puppets. God, like a parent, has many hopes and desires for us, but God allows us to make choices. God, even more than the best parent, will always forgive us when we make bad choices and give us another chance when we mess up. (Sometimes parents are not so forgiving. We call this being a human being.)
In our scripture for today, Mark 8:27-38 (The Message) for those following along from afar, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who are the people out there in the crowds saying that I am?” He knows that folks are talking about him. He knows he is a powerful leader. He is like the most popular kid in the high school times 1000. But remember not everyone loves the popular kid. Some of the groups hate the popular kid. So, Jesus was checking out the mood of crowds. He wanted to know what they were saying about him.
People were not quite “getting it” about who he was. Some thought he was John the Baptist or Elijah or another prophet. Then came the important question. Jesus pushed his own disciples. “OK, guys, you have been with me for awhile, now. Who do you say that I am?”
Peter had an answer. Now you have to remember that Peter was one of his closest disciples. But Peter was also known for being sort of a hot head. Peter boldly and bravely proclaims: “You are Christ, you are the Messiah.”
This was huge. I have got to think that it made Jesus really happy to hear Peter say these words. But right away Jesus tells them to keep this quiet. Because he knew what was coming. He warns them about the suffering that is to come. "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.
32-33But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works."
The mood changes so quickly. Jesus goes from being gratified that Peter recognized him as the Christ, to scolding Peter harshly. He sees that Peter can’t take the truth. Then Jesus goes on with some really hard teaching.
Those of you who are going to join the church today, well, I have to be honest so I want you to listen to this part carefully. I want you to know what you are getting into. This is serious stuff when we say we want to follow Jesus.
"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
38"If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."
Jesus is saying that giving our lives means we are all in – 100%. We can’t hide our association with Jesus, when our friends challenge us. “So you’re one of those Christians.” Because the world will have their own understanding of what it means to be a Christian, and we don’t have any control over that. We know what it means.
And there will be some suffering. Loving the people God loves means that we will sometimes suffer. You see, the world does not always want us to be that kind and generous. Because it challenges THEM to be kind and generous when they don’t want to be.
“All you need is love” is a great song – in theory. But when you start trying to live that out IT GETS MESSY. It’s like we’re back in high school, and we get to choose which group we want to be in. And we have a choice. Are we going to join the Jesus group?
Now for a moment try to take away all your bad stereotypes of bad religion. Leave those at the door. We don’t have time for that today. This is The Village. This is just us and Jesus. You know who Jesus is.
The world is sort of like high school. There are all those other choices out there: the popular folks who are all about status, the ones who are turning to drugs to cover up the pain. There are the ones who are just going home and watching the home shopping network and reality TV to get away from everything.
And then there is us. We are following Jesus and changing the world! But the stakes are high. Because you see Jesus will ask us to speak the truth to injustice and not just look the other way. Are you ready to do that, to speak the truth to injustice, to stand up for those who don’t have a voice?
Jesus will ask us to be generous with our money and help people who have less than we do; he’ll ask us to sacrifice some of our comfort so that everyone can have basic healthcare and unemployment benefits and so there will be enough food to go around.
And Jesus will ask us to care about this earth and make better choices about the cars we drive and about our own consumption so that the Earth is not destroyed by global warming. Jesus will demand that we suffer some discomfort and some ridicule, so that our children and grand children in the future will have a better life.
When Jesus asked his disciples: Who do you say that I am? He was asking them: what are you going to say about who I am and who you are by your choices and actions for the rest of your lives?
And that is what we need to ask ourselves today. That is what we are asking our new members today. We are about to ask them some traditional questions that have been asked of persons who have joined Christian churches for centuries. We are going to ask them to reaffirm their faith.
The questions are really quite wonderful. Let me give you a little preview of a couple of them.
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the powers of evil in this world, and repent of your sin?
Sounds a little old school doesn’t it? Now on one level, this is simply saying that we will resist making choices for evil in our personal choices. But on another level, this means that we will work again evil and wickedness in the world. This means that when we are baptized and when we agree that we want to follow Jesus, we are promising actively to work against forces of evil.
The next question follows right along with it:
Do you accept the power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?
You know, we have been talking about the struggle within our own United Methodist Church, because our church does not yet fully accept gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender persons into leadership in our church. Some local churches, like The Village do. But the whole church, has not come around on that yet.
When we read these vows, It seems that we are actually living out our baptismal vows when we work towards this justice. Because we believe LGBT people are suffering from injustice and oppression by our own denomination. We are actually living out our baptismal vows to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
We are following Jesus, and changing the world. So, Jesus is asking us, will we follow him? Even if it means we may suffer the consequences of conflict? That is what he was asking his first disciples and that is what he is asking us. We all get to choose what groups we will be in, just like teen-agers who are maneuvering the difficult waters of high school and the choices of what groups to join. Jesus is asking us: if you say that you are my follower, who do you say that I am with your actions?
Today, a group of people are making the bold step of becoming members of The Village Church and reaffirming their commitment to Jesus. Let us celebrate with them. And let us all consider how we might deepen our commitment to Jesus and change the world.
Do you have a place where you can boldly resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? Where you can change the world as you follow Jesus’ example and teaching? If not, come check us out. We’re at the Maumee Indoor Theater (at the corner of Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail) Sundays at 10:30 AM and out in the world the rest of the week.
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