Thinking some more about being SENT today, what that means, what we are SENT from and what we are SENT to, those are the guiding thoughts for this series.
First of all today I want to mention a kids movie – a kids movie I’ve come to know very well in the past couple of years or so, the original and the sequel too.
This movie is Moana, you may have heard of it or seen it, one of Norah’s most-requested favourites!
It’s the story of a young girl in the Pacific Islands many years ago, and she wants to explore. She goes on a journey of discovery to help her people and to find her role in all this. Her people used to be ‘way-finders,’ but they have since stopped doing that and become very protective of their home, afraid to go beyond the reef because the last people who did never came back. As the story goes Moana changes all that, with the help of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the mythological Maui and her unlikely crew.
In the second movie there’s a whole song about ‘getting lost,’ getting lost in a good way, about taking a risk, about not knowing exactly where you’re going but stepping out anyway, that sort of messaging.
Actually quite profound, as kids movies often can be! Something in there for the adults as much as the kids – especially if you’ve seen it many times!! Can’t help but learn from the things our kids get into.
This is really interesting because ‘getting lost’ is not usually a good thing…
Usually it’s bad to get lost, we don’t want to get lost because that means we don’t know where we are, we don’t know where we’re going, we might also be uncomfortable or even unsafe if we have gotten lost. Not good.
But this other angle, of getting lost as part of the journey, as part of the experience of life, is actually really important for us.
If we’re always comfortable, if we always have it all figured out, then what are we learning?
How are we growing?
What is our purpose, where do we find our meaning, what does our future look like??
Big questions for us there, in the movie these questions apply to Moana’s people, but in real life they actually apply to us, to our church, to the body of Christ, to our bearing of witness to Jesus, the work of the Spirit and God’s saving grace for all people.
This might be hard for us to hear, but being safe and comfortable are NOT actually what church is for.
Of course we do all need safety and security, and we hope our church provides comfort and safety for people who come through our doors, but that is not actually the point.
The point is Jesus, who he is, what he’s done for us and who he says we are > and these things actually take us into uncomfortable territory at times…
Parts of our first reading and our gospel reading today are actually very uncomfortable aren’t they >
First reading from Jeremiah (20:7-13), where he struggles with his calling >
Jeremiah talks about his own friends wanting revenge on him, he talks about wanting other people to be disgraced and dishonoured, even asking God to bring that upon them – this is heavy stuff!
But in the same passage what does he do with this anger, this difficult situation he finds himself in? Step 1 > he lays out how he really feels, and step 2 > he praises God.
In the midst of all this he praises God for ‘rescuing the life of the needy,’ thanking God for being ‘with him like a mighty warrior.’ Good tip for us there.
And in our gospel reading Jesus lays out some VERY uncomfortable requirements to be ‘worthy of him,’ to ‘find their life for his sake.’ Here are just a few of them >
Must love Jesus more than mother and father, more than son and daughter.
Must ‘take up their cross and follow me.’
Must give up their life in order to find it.
Some very difficult things there, what does all that actually mean?
There’s a lot of study we could jump into around this, so today I’m just going to pick out two key words: the key words were focusing on are where Jesus says FIND LIFE.
Not finding life on our own, by ourselves, independent of Jesus, but FINDING LIFE in him and with him, FINDING the LIFE he already has in store for us.
The new life we step into in our baptism, the life we are renewed in by the Spirit day by day, the life that God calls us to, not the life we come up with ourselves.
Notice Jesus doesn’t say it’s a choice between ‘who wins’ when he talks about who we love, it’s not ‘love me instead of your family.’
The fuller picture is actually yes love your family, but through the lens of loving me – which is also ‘as you are loved by me.’ He has fulfilled the requirements, he has made us worthy, he has found life for us! And having done that he calls us to follow him.
How do we know that’s the full picture?
Easy answer there, let’s go to the greatest commandment Jesus gives > love God and love others, love God and love your neighbour/your family/the people in your community. Love people through the lens of loving Jesus, as you are loved by him.
That’s the full picture, the full biblical picture of this that brings it all together.
Jesus says don’t go it alone, don’t try to do this life without me > ‘you’ll be much better off with me’ he says, lean on me as your shepherd he says, I will be with you and I will care for you.
In me you will find true life Jesus says, as we know he is the way, the truth and the life.
To FIND life in Jesus is to discover it, to obtain it.
And the LIFE we find there is our soul, our self, our inner being.
So put that together and in Jesus we can discover our soul, we can obtain our inner being > that means we can find who we really are!
We can find life in Jesus, or – as Jesus warns against here – we can find life without him, apart from him.
What’s the problem with finding life apart from Jesus?
It’s going to be life in human terms, focusing on what you have/don’t have, what you do/don’t do, where the pursuit of finding ourselves is dictated by yourself – this is only ever a limited view, really a limited life.
But WITH Jesus, life with Jesus is different >
Discover yourself IN ME Jesus says > that means who I say you are, what I’ve done for you & what that means for your life – both now and forever. Bigger picture, fuller picture, God’s view is way bigger than ours.
So we can find life apart from Jesus, which leads to life apart from Jesus.
Or we can give up our lives into Jesus’ hands, and that leads to life with Jesus, life in him, new life that can’t be obtained or discovered anywhere else.
One last thing to finish on today, we’ve covered ‘finding life in Jesus’ but there’s also ‘finding life’ out there, out in the world around us.
We’re talking about looking for signs of life, signs of the needs in the community around us.
I don’t know about you but I think this is difficult in our local area > It seems to be a challenge to find out what the needs are, they seem to be a bit hidden from view… For me there is the VERY CLEAR picture of our school and the people in it, but around that it gets a bit unclear…
How do we know the needs of our local community if we can’t see them, if we aren’t looking for them, if we don’t have relationships with the people in our community? Short answer is ‘we can’t!’
We have to know the needs to be able to serve the needs – not only judging what local needs may be from a TV news report or stereotypical accounts of this area, but having a truly informed perspective through personally knowing people in our community and what matters to them.
How do we do that, how do we seek that out, importantly in collaboration with other people who are also searching to serve their community as well!
A big one for us, a challenge to take away today as we think about what it means to be SENT.
How is Jesus SENDING us into our local community, not simply to attend church on Sunday but to live out our faith in everyday life… Living out faith has serious benefits for us and for others as we know, this is the meaning/purpose/future stuff I mentioned last week.
How are we SENT to serve, who are we SENT to serve, what are we SENT to serve them with?? Big questions, questions to take away and think about – let’s do some thinking and talking about this together!
We are SENT people, as Jesus was SENT to us and for us we are SENT into the world around us.
We are SENT to find life, to bring the life Jesus has already given us.
Not alone, not in isolation but in community, in togetherness, with Jesus by our side as we take on the challenges and struggles of what we see around us.
Loving others through the lens of Jesus love for us, what a privilege and what an opportunity to be called to a life like that.
Heavenly Father we thank you for your calling on our lives as your SENT people, people who are SENT out to love others through the lens of your love for us. We ask you would reveal the needs of our community to us, so we can know how we can serve and love and bear witness to your work in the world. Call us out of just being comfortable into putting our faith and our hope in you, the one who makes the way, who works miracles, who keeps your promises and who shines a light in the darkness. All this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Tom Kitson 