A SERMON PREACHED AT BETHANY BEACH CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BETHANY BEACH, DE, ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2017 A young seminarian was chiding his wife on her spending habits. We have very little, and we need to be saving for what s ahead, so please, only buy what is essential, he told her. Later that day he came home to find his wife in a stylish new red dress, admiring herself in the mirror. I thought we agreed that you would not be purchasing anything new, he bellowed. We did, his wife said. But when I saw this I was sorely tempted. Red in the face, he retorted, when you were tempted, you should have said Get thee behind me Satan! That s what I did say, his wife replied. And he said, You know, it looks really good from the back! Ah, the words every fashionable woman wants to hear! We, however, are asked to listen and learn so many things in the lessons for today that it s difficult to know where to begin. We ended last week s reading from the gospel of Matthew with Jesus telling Peter that he is the rock upon which the church is to be built, undoubtedly bolstering Peter s confidence and setting him apart from all the other disciples when it comes to expectation levels. Now comes the hard part, where the disciples have to face the reality that by giving over so much responsibility to Peter, Jesus is, in effect, trying to prepare the disciples for his own death, and the manner in which it will take place. Peter will hear none of it. Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you! he exclaims. Jesus once again has to be firm with Peter with the now infamous words Get behind me, Satan! reminding Peter that he should not be concerned with such earthly matters like suffering and death, and that God has a greater plan in store for Jesus and the disciples. And then Jesus tells all of them about the cost of discipleship: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. We, as hearers of God s word, can make up all sorts of excuses, even through valid reasoning, to try to give this admonition some other meaning than its plain sense. But in the end, it is what it is, and that is a call to action (once again) that we, as Christians, must be willing to do whatever is possible, even if it
be life-threatening, to take up the cross, as did Jesus, in order help bring about God s kingdom, the beloved community of Christ. If what Jesus had to say to the disciples is not just metaphor, that he expects them, and by extension, us to be true bearers of the cross, just what would that mean? What would it look like for us to take up the cross? The book, The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister who was imprisoned and executed by the Nazis in his native Germany, comes to mind. Bonhoeffer had a very strong opinion about how the notion of bearing the cross holds little meaning for those of us living in modern times. That is because we have gotten used to cheap grace, which, according to Wikipedia, is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. Cheap grace, Bonhoeffer says, is to hear the gospel preached as follows: Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness. The main defect of such a proclamation is that it contains no demand for discipleship. In contrast to cheap grace, costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus; it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: My yoke is easy and my burden is light. " Bonhoeffer uses a lot of terminology that makes us feel uncomfortable, such as repentance, forgiveness, cheap, costly, yoke, burden, discipline. We here are, I dare say, a church that intentionally requires little of our members, other than a confession to being Christian. What if our words and actions were really costly to us in some significant way? Or as the old saying goes, If we were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? Which brings us back to how it is that we are responding to our call to be Christian. What does that mean to you? How do you see Christ working in your daily lives? Several ways come to mind when I consider the membership of Bethany Beach Christian Church and what we are about in our worship of Christ. The first is prayer, an essential part of who we are as a community of believers. It is important that we pray for the well-being of others; prayers for our nation, for our President and Members of Congress should be always on our mind. This
week we should hold up in our prayers all those affected by Hurricane Harvey and the areas in which they live. When the rains stop, the worst continues while receding flood waters leave behind incredible devastation. May local governments and FEMA and the National Guard be able to provide solace to those who have already experienced so much loss! We should always be praying for peace in the world. Outside of our domestic problems there is an entire world at war. The Council on Foreign Relations daily publishes and updates a map of Global Conflict that lists the top ten hot spots of continually unresolved strife, naming The Balkans, Uzbekistan, Kashmir, The Philippines, Burundi, Indonesia, Angola, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Colombia. To that we can add what we already know about troubles in the Middle East and the Ukraine, plus domestic terrorism concerns throughout the countries of Europe. Add to that our BBCC prayer list with its ongoing best wishes and prayers for health and a happy issue of all afflictions for those we know and love best. Praying could be a full-time vocation at this rate! And prayer can take on many forms. Sending a card to a shut-in is a prayer. Calling someone to see how they are faring is a prayer. Posting a happy birthday message on Facebook is a prayer. Taking a friend or a colleague to lunch is a prayer. Sending a check to PAWS or Habitat for Humanity is a prayer. In fact, there are so many ways to pray that we really have no excuse to have it not be part of our daily routine. Prayer is just one of the ways to respond to our call as both disciples of Jesus and as Disciples of Christ. A second way to demonstrate our willingness to be disicples of Jesus is through intentionality. This is not a word that appears often in our dialogue with one another, but it is crucial, in every sense of the word, that we seek to be intentional about opening our minds and our hearts in our dealings with one another. If we say we welcome folks regardless of their economic or refugee status, race, creed, sexual orientation, married or not, then it cannot be lip service; it must be real, or our dishonesty will further divide us. And it is important that we invite those with whom we disagree to our table. Being an open congregation means that we must be open to all points of view. It is not possible to have diversity if it does not include those who hold different opinions than our own. Close mindedness is an affront to Christ s welcome at his table that we offer every Sunday. One cannot be a Christian with a heart that is hardened against another. That is part of what lead us not into temptation means - - the temptation of believing we are always right and that the other is always wrong. That s why it is so important to read and know Scripture - - not just pick and choose portions of it that support our way of thinking. To be frank,
as my father used to say, one can use the bible to support any point of view one wishes to hold. But in our hearts we understand the nuances and what is right. And what is always right is Jesus love for, respect for, and care for the downtrodden and repressed. There is no getting around that reality. So wherever there is hurt, wherever there is disclusion, wherever there is isolation, Jesus is there. And he stands before us in our dreams and in the encounters of real life to remind us that whoever oppresses others must answer to him, for they have injured the body of Christ as well. We are asked, therefore, and reminded daily by Christ s presence in our lives, to be intentionally kind, inclusive, loving, intuitively aware of the pain that others suffer, and of course to treat people as we would like to be treated. And as St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans, love must be the unflagging standard of our behavior. Our call as both disciples of Jesus and as Disciples of Christ depends on our understanding of these norms. Finally, but not in and of itself the totality of discipleship, is to understand and live by the way of the cross. All that I have mentioned before is part of the work to be done. But in order to do so, one has to set aside the time and energy to take the cross seriously, which to my way of thinking implies self-denial. Now I m not talking about giving up some kinds of food or gambling or drinking, although these actions could be beneficial to us in the long run. I m speaking about the kind of living that takes us outside of ourselves. It does not take any smarts to realize that when we are so concerned about ourselves, how we should live and what clothes we should wear and what club we should belong to, there is very little room for the needs and concerns of others. It is important, therefore, to remember that God s kingdom breaks through, in small but significant ways, every time we get out of our own way, and make it not about us but about Christ and what he would do. I dare say that the Lamb of God is often embarrassed, if not humiliated, by those who speak in his name. How is the beloved community of God to make its way into our world? An extended hand, a hug, a check, a call, a kind letter, an invitation to join, a smile, an acknowledgement, a reassuring comment, the passing of the peace. Disciples of Jesus and Disciples of Christ must take on these commitments to one another as part of our call. In conclusion, I d like to tell you the story about a friend of mine who pastors a small church from whence I came back in New York. Pastor Paul had been advised by his doctor to lose 30 pounds or risk serious health consequences. The good pastor took his new diet seriously, even changing his driving route to the church
building to avoid his favorite bakery. One morning, however, he arrived for Bible study carrying a gigantic devil s food cake. The class chuckled and chided him, but the good pastor s smile remained cherubic. This is a very special cake, he explained. I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning and there in the window were a host of goodies. I felt this was no accident, so I prayed, Lord, if you want me to have one of those delicious cakes, let me have a parking place directly in front of the bakery. And sure enough, he continued, the eighth time around the block, there it was! All of which is to say, let us not put off until tomorrow that what must be done today. Christ has called us, and not too soon at that, to a new way of living with one another. May we answer his call, and truly be D(d)isciples of Christ. Amen. The Rev. Dr. Rayner W. Hesse, Jr., Pastor, BBCC