Dr. David D. Young
October 21, 2007
Joshua 24: 14-19
John 21: 15-19
"The Name of the Game"
(Service)

A certain man called his friend on the phone and said, "Joe, tomorrow’s my birthday and we’re having a little party at the house. Nothing snazzy, cake and soft drinks. Don’t dress up, just drop by after work and ring the doorbell with your elbow and come on in." The friend said, "Fine! But why ring the doorbell with my elbow?" "Man, it’s my birthday. You’re not coming empty handed, are you?"

Today marks the beginning of our second fall sermon series: "Celebrating Our Family of Faith." And friends, we have a lot to celebrate here at First Congregational Church!

Whenever we gather for a memorial service or a funeral – we gather to celebrate the life of a loved one. We give thanks for the past and all the life that has been lived – and we lift up that life in those moments to the memory and heart of God. But that is not the end of it. We also celebrate by faith the ongoing life of a loved one in the eternal and larger purposes of God.

Celebrating our family of faith is sort of like that. We remember the rich and long heritage of this church. We lift up our common life in community each Sunday when we gather here in joy and praise. And we celebrate all that we are yet to be as a church family within God’s unfolding future. In our faith life, in our family life – as a faith community – we have much to celebrate!

For fundamentally, we believe that all life comes from God. God is at the center of all that is. God takes that which is dead and brings it back to life.

In just such an awareness, I would like to share with you some of the differences between live churches and dead churches.

Live churches always have parking problems – dead churches don’t!
Live churches are constantly changing methodology – dead churches don’t have to.
Live churches have lots of “noisy” youth – dead churches are fairly quiet.
Live churches are constantly deficient on staff – dead churches usually have a surplus.
Live churches’ expenses frequently exceed their income – dead churches always take in more than they ever dream of spending.
Live churches grow so fast you forget people’s names – in dead churches EVERYBODY knows EVERYBODY’S name for years.
Live churches support mission enthusiastically – dead churches keep it all at home.
Live churches focus on people – dead churches focus on problems.
Live churches are filled with tithers – dead churches are filled with tippers.
Live churches move out on faith – dead churches operate totally on sight.
Live churches are filled with people eager to learn and serve – dead churches aren’t.
Live churches EVANGELIZE! – dead churches fossilize.

Celebrating our family of faith – does not mean having life without any problems. It means celebrating our challenges and gifts precisely because it is God’s spirit which gives life to our faith family.

Jesus told us that the ties of faith in him are closer than family ties. Those are strange words in a world where so many feel that apart from family life is very lonely. Isolation inhibits some, separation stalks others. And lack of true intimacy keeps many from ever feeling connected. But thank God for the church – thank God for our church – where we seek to draw people together as a family of faith. And that is worth celebrating in an age when so many feel disconnected.

Perhaps you are familiar with Sander’s Rumination – it goes like this,

"Life is a game, the object of which is to discover the object of the game."

Well, today as we celebrate our family of faith – we are looking to discern "The Name of the Game." A number of you enjoy tennis – and with the U.S. Open being so near by – tennis can be a fun game to watch or play – or both.

A few of you know that I play a little tennis every now and then. It provides a great way to get some exercise and I enjoy it thoroughly. But even more importantly it has given me a great lesson for life – and it is this: Life is like a game of tennis – in that it begins with a score of love – love and has as a first course of action – a service. That may sound a bit simplistic this morning – but our starting point in faith is love and our follow through is service.

Songwriter John Denver sang it this way,

"Love is everywhere, I see it. You are all that you can be, go on and be it. Life is perfect, I believe it. Come and play the game with me."

It’s also followed through in our texts that Dale Greene read for us. Hear it first from the book of Joshua,

"Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord."

What is our game really?
What are the things we serve?
Is it a desire for materialism?
It is worldly success?
Is it a comfortable life-style?
Is it happiness or self-contentment?
Is our game plan to simply enjoy life and satisfy the self?

When we seek self-gratification – we are challenged by the heart question, "Who do you love?" To which the answer comes back "Me." And what a limited and narrow game plan that is. That which we love is that which we serve.

Snoopy is sitting on top of his doghouse, typing away on a novel, he writes,

"Do you love me?" she asked. "Of course," he said. "Do you really love me?" she asked. "Of course," he said. "Do you really, really love me?" she asked. "No," he said. "Do you love me?" she asked. "Of course," he said. So she asked no more.

Now, let’s turn to the topspin of our gospel lesson for this morning. Jesus you will recall has recently been brought back from death to life through God’s powerful resurrection. And he appears to the disciples on the beach – just when they had gone back out fishing. And they were not yet fishing for people. In their despair over his death they had gone back to their old trade. But here was the resurrected Christ on the beach with them after they finished breakfast.

The following conversation went back and forth between Jesus and Peter and before we hear it again I need to tell you about the language being used here. For those of you who have studied other languages, you know that many languages have multiple words for the word love. Whereas in English we just have the word love. But in the original language of the New Testament which is Greek, there are at least three different words for love. There is "agape" which means Godly love and there is "philo" which means brotherly/sisterly love and there is "eros" which means physical/passionate love. And so now in the context of knowing those distinctions hear this dialog between Jesus and Peter.

As Peter was asked by Jesus, "Do you ‘agape’ me more than these? Do you love me as God loves?" And Peter replied, "Yes Lord, you know I ‘philo’ you. You know I love you with brotherly affection."

And Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." A second time he asked “Do you ‘agape’ me?" And Peter said, "Yes Lord, you know I ‘philo’ you." He said to him, "Tend," or literally in the Greek, "Shepard my sheep."

And then a third time, perhaps like the crony of Snoopy’s novel, Jesus asked not do you ‘agape’ me? But "do you ‘filo’ me?" And Peter was hurt by the repeated question.

Yet he answered, "You know it all don’t you, Lord – I ‘philo’ you." So, "feed my sheep," Jesus said.

Could it be that Jesus was pressing Peter to see if he had really caught the meaning of Godly love – of agape? And sensing Peter’s limited understanding, and ours as well, he pushed his point home.

What is the point of Godly love? What is the name of the game? Service!

And Jesus ended with these words, "Follow me!"

To follow, to feed and to shepherd, is to reach out as Jesus did, not because it looks good or feels good but because in your heart you know it is good!

In the expansive words of Tutti in W.H. Auden’s, For The Time Being:

"Space is the whom our loves are needed by, time is our choice of how to love and why."

There are so many ways to serve as we express our love for God. In our family of faith we celebrate the many different gifts that have been given to each one of us. It is up to us to decide how we will share those gifts with others in service.

This morning, I have invited Betsy Kreuter to share with us some thoughts on service, and it’s importance in her life, for service is so important in the Stewardship of our lives.

Betsy…

Betsy Kreuter

I was blessed to be raised in a family who believed in the importance of service to others. My parents were active here at First Church, teaching Sunday School, serving on the diaconate and the Women’s Fellowship. They were also active in the community in many other areas of volunteerism.

It was only natural for me to begin my life of service to others at age fourteen as a candy striper. I feel touched by God when I visit women who are newly diagnosed with breast cancer, work with teenagers in SPF, visit the people in our projects in Honduras and treat my patients daily as a physical therapist.

Albert Schweitzer was a guiding force behind my entering the field of medicine. He believed that the purpose of the human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others. When I’m helping my patients in their process of healing I am firmly grounded in the belief that God is guiding me on the path. With the small time I spend supporting and guiding my patients and care receivers I feel a sense of gratitude that I am a part of these peoples lives at a very difficult time.

On a lighter note, selling Christmas trees is one of the most fun ways I have found of service to others. It is not only a time for us to raise money for mission but also a time of deepening friendships and fellowship. I find great meaning in life in service to others through many different opportunities but at the heart is the service we do here at First Church and in our wider world in God’s name.

I would like to close with words from Albert Schweitzer,

"You must give some time to others even if it’s a little thing. Do something for others, something from which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it."

David Young

Thank you Betsy. You know without you and everyone else here who serves, the work and ministry of this church would never happen. I didn’t learn until Betsy and I sat down this week to talk about this morning that she had been so richly influenced by Albert Schweitzer.

Schweitzer was born on January 14, 1875 at Kavserberg Haute Alsace. He died in Lambarene, Africa on September 4, 1965 where he had established a hospital on the Ogowe River to help the natives. During the last fifty plus years of his life, Schweitzer fed, housed and treated an average of one thousand natives a day. On his thirtieth birthday, he kept a promise he had made to himself to give up preaching, music and teaching in order to spend the rest of his life in service to others.

"You ask me to give you a motto. Here it is: SERVICE. Let this word accompany each of you throughout your life. Let it be before you as you seek your way and your duty in the world. May it be recalled to your minds if ever you are tempted to forget it or set it aside. It will not always be a comfortable companion but it will always be a faithful one. And it will be able to lead you to happiness, no matter what the experiences of your lives are. Never have this word on your lips, but keep it in your hearts. And may it…teach you not only to do good but to do it simply and humbly."

It was the late Arthur Ashe, for whom center-court is named, where we watch the U.S. Open, who wrote,

"True heroism is…very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."

Friends, we are called to know and use the gifts God has given us. For we are called to follow the one who knew the name of the game. And the name of the game is service or why else the church?

Service – it’s that simple – and yet it takes a lifetime to play the game. It really does seem simple. But for some people they want intellectual stimulus to think their way there, finding answers to intellectual questions, some new insight, some new book.

The name of the game is service. Yet, I know it’s not that easy. It’s amazing some of the excuses people can make for not serving. And it’s amazing what passes for service. We’re not talking about kindnesses done to family and friends – that goes without saying. Service in this context is for the stranger, the needy, the least of these my brothers and sisters.

So, how much do we really do? How much time do we actually spend in service – using our hand as Christ’s hands to a needy world? Regardless of our response, we have a family of faith to celebrate, a Lord to follow in love, and a life to offer afresh in service.

"The Name of the Game."

What will our game be?

In closing we come full circle – back to our passage from Joshua.

"Choose this day whom you will serve."

And may we, like him of old say with all our hearts and lives,

"As for me and my family of faith – we will serve the Lord!"

Amen!