Interstitiality

Back on blog with a sermon

I'm back... Here's the sermon that I preached for the first day of orientation:

Text: Matthew 24:42-47

Are You Ready?

It’s here. The time is at hand. Are you ready? It will require of you more than you ever thought. It will push you to your very limits. It will challenge you to be more than you thought you could be; and it will often make you face a side of yourself that you never knew existed. It will ask of you to think beyond your comfortable notions of home and what home should be, to consider a world that is much larger and more complex than you ever thought imaginable—a diverse world that remains in need of God, desperate for love, hungry for compassion and understanding, in need of grace. You will encounter things and entertain thoughts that most people only think about for a fleeting moment during Christmas or Easter. In fact, you will devote countless hours of your brain power, your emotional energy, and yes, your very soul to this purpose; and there will be times when you cry out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” or “Why on earth did you choose me?” “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.” It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. It’s here. The time is at hand. Are you ready? Oh, and, by the way, welcome to orientation and your first “unofficial” week of seminary.

Now, when I say, “It’s here” and “Are you ready?” I want to make clear that I am not talking about orientation or the beginning of your lives as seminarians at Seabury. Trust me, by next Friday you WILL be ready… or at the very least you will be ready for classes to start. The orientation committee has done a fine job of making sure that you will be prepared for the school years ahead. On the other hand, you will never be ready. We as the faculty will find some way, I’m sure of it, to throw you something that will keep you off balance. That’s our job. Learning always comes with some form of disorientation. New knowledge always shifts your equilibrium. That is why all schools start with “ORIENTATION.”

The “IT” to which I was referring, is not the commencement of the academic year, it’s not your own call to ministry, it’s not about the next three years of your life, though all of these things are related to “IT,” at least ideally. The “IT” that will require so much of your resources, that will require your complete devotion and attention, is the “IT” that we find in today’s gospel. Are you ready for, are you working for, are you waiting for the kingdom of heaven and the end of the age. Are you ready for Jesus to come back? Are you ready? My evangelical brothers and sisters have it all wrong. The primary question that the gospels make us ponder is not “What would Jesus do?” We know what Jesus would do. Duh! Jesus lived God’s righteousness as a human, died on a cross, was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. We know what Jesus WOULD do because we know what Jesus DID. The heart of the matter, and what today’s gospel makes clear is that Jesus’ coming is soon. SO the primary question is: "What are YOU going to do?” OR better, "How are you going to be?"

Our gospel lesson makes the answer to this question very clear: BE READY. We as Christians are to be ready. But how can we be ready? Readiness is like knowing that a thief is coming in the night, and so you stay awake so that your house can’t be broken into. It means that we must be alert and focused on what is important. Being ready is like knowing that the master of the house could arrive at anytime for a surprise inspection, and so you do the work that you were called to do, and you do it with the energy and thoroughness that you would as if the boss was looking over your shoulder. Being ready requires that we focus our energies, thoughts, and commitments toward the things that matter. It requires us to faithfully apply ourselves with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to those things that God has entrusted to us. So that when God comes—and God comes at the times that we least expect—we will be ready and be found doing the things that God has given us to do.

There are many worries and anxieties that will seek to distract you from such purposes. Fear is not only the source of most human neuroses, it is also what derails us in that it gets us to concentrate our energies and commitments toward things that often don’t matter much in the large scheme of things. What is your fear? Fear of failure? Fear of being exposed as inadequate? Fear of being taken advantage of by systems and people more powerful than you? Fear of being alone? Whatever your fear, chances are it has the potential to distract you from the good things that God has in store for you.

As the school year begins, and soon as you find yourself increasingly busy and potentially distracted, I encourage you to remember to be ready and to apply yourselves to what God has called you to do. Don’t get caught up in the trap of thinking of seminary as a set of hoops through which you have to jump to get to your ultimate prize. Your studies ARE a spiritual discipline. Your worship and community life here IS preparation and formation for your future work in God’s ministry. Apply yourselves. Work, study, and pray as if God could return at any minute. Focus your energies on what matters—God’s love, justice, and peace. Don’t give into fear and anxiety “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim 3:7). Remember the words of our LORD: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt 6:33). It’s here. The time is at hand. Are you ready?

Posted by Frank Yamada at September 19, 2005 09:11 PM