July 24 – From Inward to Outward
Matthew 25:31-45
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
I am not a Christian in order to receive a ticket to heaven. I am not a Christian so that someday I will get holy enough to glow in the dark. I am not a Christian to have Jesus solve all my problems for me. I am a Christian because I believe and hope that by following Jesus’ Way that I can help make the world just a little bit better.
Whenever I see people (well intentioned, to be sure) for whom faith is all about escaping eternal damnation, for whom worship is all heavy petting between “Jesus and me,”, for whom the “second coming” is proof that we are right and they are wrong, I am stumped and befuddled. Some of the most heated discussions I have had with church people are about holding on to “my church.” When our faith is exclusively inward-focused, we are blinded to what Jesus was really calling people to.
Clearly, there is an interior facet to spirituality. We do need to nurture our heart and soul and tend to our inner wounds and growth. I am not saying that we do not have interior needs .I am saying that when our focus is exclusively about ourselves, individually or as a particular group, then something is wrong. That is easy to see in its most extreme cases.
While not that extreme, I do think that we have warning signs here at SCUCC. The people of SCUCC did great work in the two and a half years between pastors. You kept ministry happening, you kept worship vibrant and meaningful, you kept the church alive. It was a period that required energies to be directed inwardly. It was appropriate and necessary and you actually did it quite well.
But the time has come to shift directions. We do not exist as a church just to keep ourselves afloat. Our faithfulness to Christ beckons us to turn our eyes outward. We exist as a church to be in ministry with the world, whether that world be next door or on the next continent over.
This passage from Matthew’s gospel is often referred to as the “Judgment of the Nations,” and it would be interesting to compare how our modern nations measure up. We more often read the story on a more personal level. Those whose lives are committed to doing good for the people around them have actually served Christ even unbeknownst. Those who have refrained from doing good have missed countless opportunities to attend to Christ. The first have an outward focus in life, the second do not. I omitted the 46th verse where Jesus announces eternal life and punishment for the two groups, respectively.
The catch 22 here for me is that if, again, we do good to those around us just to escape eternal punishment (which I don’t believe in, anyway) then we are still inwardly-focused. I believe that the heart is just as important as the acts themselves. In the story from Matthew, those who do good are just doing what they do, they are acting out of their hearts.
I learned once that on these huge ocean-going vessels that the rudder is not enough to actually turn the ships. Along the hull of these ships (cruise-liner and oil-tankers alike), are little wings that make small adjustments and enable the boat to shift course more easily. These wings are called trim tabs. Trim tabs do enormous work, and yet are virtually unseen and unknown to most people.
What are the trim tabs of our spiritual life together that we need to apply and activate to turn our direction for inward to outward? How do we turn from keeping ourselves afloat to sailing where we are needed most for the sake of compassion, peace, and justice?
A couple thoughts... The heavy petting between Jesus and Me made me read and reread that several times. Coming from a Pentecostal background I had to evaluate worship in that light. I think some get lost in the "heavy petting" and fail to realize what it is really about. If their relationship with Jesus does not reflect "Jesus" in their daily lives what is the point of worship then.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of trim tabs used in a few different manners 1) a small mini rudder on a large rudder that enables the ship to make that change in direction. 2) trim tabs on the sides of the ships that help keep the ship from rocking backing and forth. Cruiseliners use them especially in turbulent weather to reduce the rock of the boat and make a more pleasant ride for passengers and 3) Trim tabs used to help bring the bow up or down to optimize speed, balance the load, stability in rough whether
II found this quote on trim tabs. I like the imagery of sticking a foot out.
“The engineer Buckminster Fuller is often cited for his use of trim tabs as a metaphor for leadership and personal empowerment. In the February 1972 issue of Playboy, Fuller said:
Something hit me very hard once, thinking about what one little man could do. Think of the Queen Mary—the whole ship goes by and then comes the rudder. And there's a tiny thing at the edge of the rudder called a trim tab.
It's a miniature rudder. Just moving the little trim tab builds a low pressure that pulls the rudder around. Takes almost no effort at all. So I said that the little individual can be a trim tab. Society thinks it's going right by you, that it's left you altogether. But if you're doing dynamic things mentally, the fact is that you can just put your foot out like that and the whole big ship of state is going to go. So I said, call me Trim Tab.—Buckminster Fuller”
It can be taken personally. Sometimes there is a fear to stick a foot out but all it takes is one person to go from inward to outward. If we all wait for someone else to stick their foot out nothing will happen. The same goes for SCUCC. Just sticking the churches foot out (we collectively sticking our feet out) we can begin to change things in Scottsdale, Arizona, etc.
On the thought of trim tabs controlling the bow position. As a church do we have our trim tab down keeping the bow down in slow gentle waters or de we have them optimize allowing us to take off.
Crazy analogies but they do back you think about what are you trimming and is it helping.