Valois United Church

September 28, 2008 - Philippians 2:1-13 & Matthew 21:23-32

Jesus was busy turning the world upside down.  

Can you imagine that day when he is talking to the chief priests, to the elders.... heck, these are important people.
They KNOW they are important.  They’re the ones who tell others what to do.  
And everyone listens to them.
They are important people.

And Jesus turns to these important, high and mighty people and says to them, for all to hear:

 Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.

I don’t expect too many of them smiled at him on that day.  
Rage was probably a common feeling amongst them.

But you see, they did not live the way of Jesus.
They did not live the way of the incarnation - of being with the people, truly.  
    Not above them, but with them.  
Not being above the people, but down at their level of living.
Righteous - living God’s way - - NOT self-righteous, seeing oneself as better than the other.

Paul, and his contemporary leaders, ran into the same kinds of attitudes, even in far-off places.

There were people who thought they had all the answers - the Greek philosopher types, well-educated.... they knew they were important, because they had the answers.  Or thought they did.

There were people who thought they had it all - the all-powerful Roman government people who had all the justice system - or injustice system - and all the military behind them.  They thought they had it all.

And there were people in the church who thought they were just the thing - those who had attained certain positions, and those who had certain gifts and abilities, and those who brought with them the mind-set of their secular experience.  Yes, there were those in the church who thought they were above the others, that they counted more than the others.  

Paul, sitting in prison, was not interested in people’s haughtiness.  For he knew that it was not the way of Christ.  It was not the way of God.  It was not the way of Christian faith and Christian life.

Paul writes of Jesus’ example
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.”

That example, he is clear, is the one which we are to follow.  
...
But we don’t always.

We are not all that far, in our ways, from the people of Paul’s time, inside and outside the church.  

There are those who have all the answers - or think they do.
There are those who have the power to make the decisions.
There are those whose abilities put them in the spot-light
There are those who have positions, inside and outside the church,
    that make them think they are above others.

Paul writes to the Philippians,
Paul writes to us of Jesus’ model:
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.”

It is not about hiding our gifts.
But it is about an attitude that does not place us above others,
an attitude that does place us in partnership with others,
so that we listen to others,
have conversation with others
and are open to the ideas of others.Paul says:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus....”

This is the mind of sacrificial humility.

Jesus was busy turning the world upside down.  
And if we don’t find his words challenging - we probably need to be turned up-side down too,
so that we will then be able to serve
our neighbour, our church, our community, our world.

I intended, originally, to speak simply about this kind of Christ-like humility today.
But I want to move on from there.  

In part because of the survey included in today’s bulletin and sent out by a link in an e-mail to those on our e-mail list.
In part, because humility means that we’re listening and learning.
In part, because we recognize, like the t-shirt that says “I’m not perfect, God ain’t done with me yet” .... we recognize that we’re on the way, we have not arrived.
Indeed, the church in Philippi was reminded of that in the same passage:
    2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, ...
For it is God who is at work in you - We’re a construction zone!  Individually, and as a congregation, we’re a construction zone!

I suppose we could all go around with an orange “under construction” sign on our backs.  
But even if we don’t, we need to have that attitude.  
We’re under construction.  We’re still learning.  We’re still on the road to where we need to go.

And God is at work in us.
And God is at work in the congregation.
And if we walk humbly with God, and if we walk humbly with each other, we’ll get where God wants us to go.

Now, if we’ll get to where God wants us to go, then we’re moving.
Valois United Church in 5 years time is not going to be what Valois United Church was 5 years ago.  
I’m not going to try to tell you what it will be.  
That would not be wise, especially on this day when you’re filling in the survey.
But even if the future is not radically different than it has been,
    it will be different.
I’m not going to try to tell you what it will be,
    but it will be different
    because you’re on a road.
    And because you’re under construction.

In my preparation, I was trying to think of Biblical models for this period of time for Valois United.  The typical image for interim ministry is the model of the Exodus, where the people leave slavery in Egypt, spend a whole lot of time figuring out where they’re going, and then, with God’s guidance and with each other, they find the promised land.  Many interim periods are like that.  My last interim involved working with a congregation that had just left the slavery of major conflict with the last minister.  And they were trying to find where they were going, with God’s guidance and with each other.

But you were not in Egypt.  Your situation was not terrible as a congregation.  In a sense, your challenge is moving from a good thing to another good thing.  It makes me think of Jesus’ time in the wilderness.  He was moving from a good thing - as far as we know, he was probably doing fine as a carpenter - to another good thing, ministry throughout the land.  But in-between he had a period of reflection, and thought and ‘construction’ during the 40 days in the wilderness.

I don’ t do interim ministry in 40 days.
But while we are in this wilderness together, for two years, it is always my hope that while we walk together that this might be a time of reflection and re-construction, as God works in you, works in us.

One of the important things in this period is the needs assessment document.  It helps potential candidates for the job of next minister here, and it helps your search committee, as both candidate and committee they try to find the right match for Valois United for the year 2009 and on into the future.

And to do that, the Committee needs to hear your voice.  Where do you see the congregation developing in the years to come?  Where is that road leading? What kind of minister is going to help you find your way?  What kind of minister will be able to travel that road together with you?

The Committee, in humility, is ready to hear you.
You, with a humble ear tuned to God’s Spirit, are invited to speak.

Please take the time - right here this morning, or on-line early this week,
to thoughtfully answer the survey.
And as you answer it, may the words of Paul speak:
    “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus....”
For as we go into the future,
    we are not called to create a church that is great in human terms.
No, not at all, for Christ continues to turn us upside down.
We are called to be under construction, we are called walk the road,
    as church, with Christ
    in humility and in faith.

Amen.