FIRST (SCOTS) SERMONS SOME STEPS REQUIRE MORE EFFORT THAN OTHERS Scripture Lessons: Genesis 5:21-24; John 5:2-9 This sermon was preached by Dr. L. Holton Siegling, Jr. on Sunday, January 21, 2018 at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston, South Carolina. John 5:2-9 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids blind, lame, and paralysed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me. Jesus said to him, Stand up, take your mat and walk. At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. Leader: People: This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let us pray Almighty and Everlasting God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be pleasing, acceptable, and even joyful in your sight, for you are our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. In the summer of 2002, I accepted the call to serve as Pastor of the Marion Presbyterian Church, located in Marion, South Carolina...about two and a half hours north of here in a region affectionately dubbed the Pedee. The church itself, though young in comparison to First (Scots), is slightly north of 150 years old. A couple of things you may find interesting about that call: To begin, one of the pastors who served that church with distinction for 16 years was our very own Art Gatewood. What s more, when yours truly was called to serve as pastor a few years after Art had left to take the lead role in starting a new church development in Ft. Mill, South Carolina, one of the members of the Pastor Nominating Committee was a lovely lady by the name of Ginny McIntyre, though the association we might make here at First (Scots) is that she was Margaret McCormack s mother! Indeed, a small, small world. 1
The church member I want to tell you about this morning, however, is a man that both Art and I knew well - his name was Bob McCollum. Now, by the time I arrived in Marion, Bob was well on in years in his mid-90 s as I recall. And he was always late to church...5, 10, sometimes 15 minutes late...every single Sunday! But that s not the best of it. You see, Bob was also one of those unusual Presbyterians who liked to sit near the front. And so, in he would walk, with an usher flanking him to one side, one arm assisting Bob and in the other arm was the same small pillow on which Bob would sit each week. Down the aisle they would walk in, a labored journey that seemed to take forever. But even that s not the best of it! What really endeared Bob to the congregation, and to his young pastor as well, was his utter and complete inability to stay awake. He tried hard, I know he did, but he just couldn t do it. And some Sundays he actually snored! And because the Marion Presbyterian Church is a delightfully small meeting house style sanctuary, if something happened that was audible at all, just about everyone heard it. I remember one time I actually paused the sermon and we all smiled and waited for a moment. What proved to be a little more regular was that someone sitting near him would abruptly clear their throat and that would sort of rouse him. I got to know Bob pretty well during our time in Marion and when he passed -- at the service of worship where we celebrated his life -- we paused at that point early in the service when Bob would have customarily entered...that was our way of honoring the phrase late to your own funeral. What I appreciated most about Bob though - stemmed from my awareness of just how difficult it was for him to come to church every Sunday. Most folks didn t know that it was about a two hour process whereby Bob would do all kinds of things to prepare himself to go to church -- it really was for him a hugely difficult task, simply to go to church. I remember asking Bob what fueled his determination and how he managed to do it week in and week out. To the determination, he said that he felt like he was supposed to be there and he couldn t imagine being anywhere else. And as his managing to do so, well, he attributed that success to God, and also to the fact that he forced himself, every day, to do more than his body naturally wanted to do, because he knew that by putting one foot in front of the other today, he just might be able to do it again tomorrow. To me, Bob was an example of someone who had every good reason to skip church; nevertheless, he was determined to get up and get ready...he was determined, every day, to take the kinds of steps which were by no means easy for him to take. It shouldn t come as a surprise to hear me say this morning that being willing to take those sometimes difficult steps is truly an integral part of what it means to live our lives as faithful followers of Christ, because, at least on this side of heaven, we never do finally arrive! 2
To put it another way, we never achieve that kind of high rank and station spiritually that we can suddenly rest on our laurels and be satisfied with the steps that we have taken, because there are always more steps for us to take. In our Old Testament Lesson this morning, we are given a beautiful image of God...so present was God in the life of Enoch, that Enoch, for all intents and purposes, he literally walked with God. We get the sense that they just sort of strolled along together...that God was such a part of his life, that Enoch was essentially with God all of the time. A little girl once said to her Sunday School teacher, Enoch walked with God every day. And one day, God said: Why don t you come to my house? And so they walked together to heaven. What a precious and beautiful perspective on this story and life of faith! Now, while that kind of death defying entrance onto heaven s stage is unique to folks like Enoch and Elijah, they were certainly not the only ones who we are told in the Scriptures walked with God. Consider Abraham, and how it was that when he was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said: I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. Noah, he too received that honorable designation as being a person who walked with God. But, tell me, does that Biblical mandate not also apply us, to you and me, here today? When Jesus invites us to follow him, we are invited to begin a journey of faith -- to walk with God -- and whether, at times, our steps are taken literally or figuratively or theologically or ethically...we can never stop taking those steps of faith. Ah, but some steps require more effort than others, don t they? Like Bob McCollum, there are a great many stories that go with the people who worship in this sanctuary, week in and week out. And I dare say that none of us know exactly the hardships that someone else may be forced to endure in their life. For some, they may find it difficult to move into God s future with hope and assurance; maybe they are worried about where their steps will lead them; perhaps someone has made it hard for them to put their complete trust and faith in God. Still, for others, bearing the weight of their particular despair, it is all they can do to get out of bed in the morning - and put their feet on the ground - much less take a step! Oh, if you hear anything I say this morning, hear this: Our life s steps are never taken alone! And I know, at times, we may feel like that man in our New Testament Lesson who had been near those healing waters for so long, but who never could quite get to them. And like him, we trouble ourselves with excuses; when, all the while, what Jesus wants -- what Jesus really wants is for us to take another step of faith, and to believe in our hearts that God is not only there, but that God loves us, and that God is always faithful. 3
Friends, when that kind of step is taken, something else begins to happen and it is what the Scriptures tell us will happen -- we will begin to walk and not faint, we will begin to run and not be weary...we will find that, by God s grace, not only are we walking, but that we are walking and leaping and praising God! So, tell me, what sorts of steps would God have us to take this day and how might we muster the strength to take them? Perhaps we would do well to consider the metaphor of an athlete - a runner, let s say. This runner, he or she knows the difference between maintaining a basic level of fitness on the one hand and actually training toward the goal of getting noticeably better on the other. And one way they differentiate between those two realities is at the very end of a workout. When the end is in sight and when it would be quite easy for them to take their foot off the gas and no one would be the wiser...they don t! What they do is they put in the effort that is required to cross what is for them an internal and sometimes uncomfortable threshold -- it is the one that causes their lungs to burn and their legs to feel like lead. And they do this because they have learned, through experience that the way they get better is not by doing what comes easy, but by putting in the time, and investing the energy and accomplishing the hard work of training. In doing so, they have also learned one of life s most important lessons: that sometimes the most uncomfortable steps are the ones we most need to take. We have a senior in high school at home, and, though he hasn t mailed it in just yet, I am beginning to see some of the tell-tale signs of Senioritis. Many seniors have a college acceptance or two or three in hand and they know that very few colleges, if any, are going to ask for a transcript at the end of their senior year so why keep trying? Why try? Because that s when the true mettle of our character is tested and we take steps that no one else expected us to take, maybe not even ourselves...but we take them anyway. For example, instead of knowing just enough to make a good sales pitch or providing a basic medical diagnosis or doing that which is merely necessary to join the church, maybe instead setting our lives on cruise control we determine to study a little bit harder so that the people leaving that conference room leave having heard the best sales pitch of their life; or we add to our diagnosis the kind of suggested treatments and changes in lifestyle that will make our patient s life markedly better; or, maybe, upon joining Christ s Church, we take additional and faithful and committed steps which demonstrate that ours is nothing short of a lifelong journey of faith, a life of faith and service to God and neighbor! And that is to say nothing of the members who have been here forever and know the ministries of the church back and forth and up and down. I think the question applies to all of us: What next step is God inviting any of us to make? Go on a mission trip? Give financially to the work of Christ s Church? Volunteer at 180 Place? Be a part of a Women s Circle or a Men s Morning Bible Study? 4
Friends, whether we are talking about matters of life or faith...as if the two could ever truly be separated at all...in this new year, and with resolutions still fresh on our minds, perhaps our best resolution would be for us to realize that our most important step...is our next one, and that sometimes the steps that end up making the biggest difference are the ones that required the most effort. Let us pray Gracious and loving God, help us by your grace to take the steps that you would have us to take as your children. Give us the strength to take them when they are not easy...give us the faithfulness to take them when no one is looking...and give us the thankfulness for having the opportunity to take them at all! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen. 5