Play “Cast Down Your Cares”

I am going to break with my own little vow today and preach not from the lectionary text, or really any text at all today. In some ways I can’t believe that I am doing this, as I jokingly said to Debra, “Real men preach from the lectionary." She didn’t seem to like my analogy all that much…and I am still baffled as to why!

I almost feel like I should start this with a disclaimer, “The views expressed in this sermon are not necessarily the views of Riverview United Methodist Church, and Riverview is not responsible for its content. Not that this is all that controversial. What I wanted to talk about today with words, and some music, how I struggle with being a Christian in a secular and basically non-religious society.

Play “Live In The World”

I don’t know why I got so annoyed. My wife Erin and I were walking by the Saratoga Bar in Canal Park in Duluth, MN. We spend a lot of time up at the North Shore, and we were out for one of our long walks, and we were  heading up toward the Lake Avenue Café for a decadent gourmet meal. Now, for those of you that are unfamiliar with The Saratoga, let’s just say that it is a jazz club that offers some alternative entertainment of a rather, shall we say, unsavory nature. Anyway, Erin and I were walking by the Saratoga (and I really want to emphasize we were just walking BY, not INTO the Saratoga) when an earnest young man approached us and asked, “Have you found the Lord Jesus Christ?”

I glanced toward him and saw that he was with several other young evangelists working the Canal Park Parkway, and in particular, the front of the Saratoga. Obviously, they felt that where their services were most needed was in front of one of Duluth’s most notorious houses of ill repute, as only those in most need of saving would dare to venture there. Anyway, the question jarred me, and I remember feeling offended.

I rather fought the urge to answer the question, “Have you found the Lord Jesus Christ?” with the response, “I didn’t know he was missing.” Of course I had “found” Christ! Didn’t it show? I mean, here I was, minding my own business walking to dinner and just because I am near a “naughty” business I get singled out with a silly question.

Well, I bit my tongue and I indicated that I was familiar with Jesus. The young man then tried to engage me in further conversation wanting to know the specifics of my relationship with God. We managed to disengage him and move on.

Still, I remained troubled by the encounter, and have had some time to reflect on what it was that bothered me. It seemed like the whole encounter was so artificial to me. It was almost as if the young man was going though motions, and did not seem troubled at all that he was rejected by me. The approach was so out of touch with the world that it seemed to me to be rather ineffective. In fact, it seemed so clichéd that I wondered that if as a Christian I was put off by it, what must it be like for the non-Christian. It was through this encounter that I began to believe that for me to operate most effectively in the world, I had to be engaged in the world. Like the song I sang said, To live in the world, you have to be in the world.

This sounds simple, but there is a growing movement among some Christians to exclude themselves from the workings of the secular world. I recently read an article in the Faith and Values section of the Star Tribune that spotlighted families that had chosen to shelter and hide themselves from the world and as many secular influences as they could. They listen to only Christian Music. They listen to only Christian Radio shows and watch only Christian Television shows. They send their children to Christian Charter Schools or home school them. Their children play computer games, but Christian games (one described as a good “bible verse creature” who, quoting various pieces of scripture, is able to devour and destroy computerized elements of the Prince of Darkness. They interact with only friends of their church, and allow their children to play only with churched youngsters. In thus sheltering their kids, they hope that they can spare them from any ungodly influences.

This approach is troubling to me. Jesus commanded us to minister to all. If one regularly rejects anyone who is not like them, they tend to be ministering to the converted, and those that need it least.

I am reminded of a local church near me that never seems to participate in the community in which it stands. The majority of the congregation is from Minneapolis and the southern suburbs. They were able to purchase the building, and they come in, they worship, and leave. In speaking to them, I am told they have the “Word” but they fear outside influences. What I fear is that they have become insular and self-absorbed.

But, getting back to the young evangelist, I hear you say, “Look, he was in the world and he was out there.” To answer this I would say that in a sense this is correct, but there is one thing wrong with it. I saw the young man being rejected repeatedly and often. And as I said earlier, it did not seem to bother him. I think this was because he wasn’t interacting, he was espoused what he believed, the went back to the familiar without making a difference.

So the question becomes – how DO we engage the secular world. How do we share the “Good News,” Good works, and truly minister to those in  need without compromising ourselves? You do this mostly by  how  you live, and letting others see how you live. Secondly, you must not be afraid to interact and engage outside of your element. Now, being a Norweigen/Swede raised Lutheran, change is one of the things that I don’t deal with all that well. It is hard to be around people that are not like me.

I am reminded of a pastor I knew in Aitkin, MN who was forced to resign because he was continually seen in bars talking to the “unsavory” and the “sinners.” The congregation thought that it was unseemly for their pastor to lower himself to go into such dives. Yet, I believe this pastor was doing exactly as Jesus commanded us to do. He didn’t say that we should hang around with people just like us. He told us to seek out and engage those most in need of being engaged. Remember, he went to Matthew’s house, and Matthew was a tax collector, a person who was reviled and hated in his time. And we saw the result on Matthew – he became one of Jesus’ disciples.

I guess the point that I am trying to make is that you should not be afraid of the secular world. I have spent a lot of time over the years playing in rock bands over the years, although now that I am forty and old (soon to be 41, or halfway to 82) I am sort of semi-retired, and I have played with and worked with a lot of people with real problems maintaining relationships, real problems with substance abuse, and I’ve been exposed to people that did a lot of things that we wouldn’t consider good. Yet, being secure in my faith and myself, I was able to operate as a musician without drinking or doing drugs, yet still hold the respect of those I played with because I didn’t judge them. Throughout the course of this, I had lots of opportunities to share faith and my views should they come up.

I firmly believe that we need to try to get outside the comfortable to do God’s work. I believe this church is very good at that. What amazes me is the things that you all do that I never knew some of you did, because you don’t brag about it, you just do it. You have made service a part of what you do. It is then that people see the face of Christianity. They see people that are showing the love of God by who they are, and by loving those around them without trying to judge. I think that that is the best way to engage the world and do what God wants us to do.

This last song I’m going to play by John Michael Talbot is one of my favorites of him, even if it has the word “Harlot” which doesn’t really roll trippingly off my tongue. It reminds me that we are here for others, not for ourselves. It’s called, “Would We Crucify Him.”

Thank you for listening.