Worship & Meditation: What Are You Willing To Live For?

Welcome to First United Methodist Church of Dallas.

We're so glad that you're worshipping with us in this way.

As we come together as people of faith,

We are reminded that it is our common time that we share together that helps to shape God's unfolding future.

And in this common time together,

I hope and pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts might be holy and acceptable to God and also enable us to better engage in the world around us,

In the relationships we keep,

And the relationship of God that we have within.

Today,

We're focusing on Mark chapter 10.

It's this latter part of Mark's gospel where James and John approached Jesus about,

Well,

Their place,

Not only next to Jesus in this life,

But also when Jesus goes to glory.

Hey,

Jesus,

Is it possible that we could sit on your right hand and left hand?

Because you know,

We've been doing a lot of stuff.

And so we're going to explore Jesus' response to that level of privilege and entitlement,

And we'll also maybe,

Just maybe,

Hear a word for you and me about what it means to be a faithful disciple,

What it means to offer our lives in service to the world.

And before we get to all of that,

Let's fully arrive in this place,

In this time that you've set aside for yourself and for God,

A time for us to stay connected,

A time for us to deepen our relationship.

And what we have been doing in our virtual worship service is a guided arriving meditation.

And as always,

I invite you to engage in this in ways that are most accessible to you.

This isn't supposed to be a forced thing or even a challenging thing.

It's an opportunity for you to sit and be.

Maybe this is your only time this week to sit and be,

To listen deeply to your thoughts,

To feel deeply your feelings,

To explore the perceptions that may arise within you.

May it be so as we arrive in this place.

So as you're comfortable and as it's accessible to you,

I invite you to find a position that is a posture of dignity,

A posture that is prayerful and mindful,

A posture of expectation,

Wanting to listen to self and to God all at the same time.

And if it's accessible to you and amenable to you,

I invite you to close your eyes or rest your gaze away from the screen.

We're on these screens all day long anyway.

It's an opportunity to find this present moment,

To be fully here.

I invite you now to sit in silence for just a few moments and follow your breath.

The inhale and the exhale.

Maybe there is something that is arising in you,

A task on your to-do list,

A fleeting thought from a television or radio program,

A feeling that is coming up,

Stress,

Excitement,

Whatever it might be,

Let those thoughts,

Let those feelings come and go as you center yourself in this space,

In the here and now.

That task will return.

That feeling will emerge again.

Be here now.

Allow any expectation or interpretation or perception of self or other or even God,

Fall by the wayside.

Let it come and go.

Sometimes for me,

It's hard for me to let go.

So I invite you into a practice of blessing,

Blessing those thoughts and feelings that seem to be persistent.

I see you anxiety.

I recognize you shame.

Oh,

You're back again anger.

Name it,

Claim it,

Bless it.

Now is not the time fear.

Now is not the time shame.

Now is not the time anger.

I bless you and allow you to go along your way and allow myself to be here now.

Take a few last deep breaths.

Arrive fully into the space that you've created.

This time that you've set aside.

To be with God.

And let us unite our hearts,

Our minds in this prayer.

God with us.

When we privilege our own agendas hurt others in the effort to impose our will or chain ourselves to our fears.

Our shame.

Our anger.

Tumble us off the throne of our pride and release us into finding our worth in your love.

Lord have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus Christ,

You know us,

You love us,

You free us,

Then call us to follow you and we bless you.

Your mercy meets us in our confusion.

May your spirit meet us in our everyday living and in every breath that we take.

And now with the confidence of the children of God,

We pray together the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Before I read our scripture text,

Mark chapter 10 verses 35 through 45.

Let me add just a little bit of context before our reading.

The fullness of this scripture passage rests on what leads up to it.

At the beginning of Mark chapter 10,

Jesus teaches on divorce and why in Jesus' context divorce was leaving women who are viewed as property and not as equals,

Leaving them destitute,

Vulnerable,

And without standing.

Then Jesus teaches about children.

Let the children come to me.

You see,

At this day and time,

Women and children are property.

These groups are not worthy,

And Jesus is turning it on its head.

Then Jesus is approached by a rich man.

Jesus implores him to sell everything he has and then to follow Jesus.

The man runs away.

Jesus summarizing all of these exchanges with the first will be last and the last will be first.

And then you understand that you're living in God's economy.

So yes,

Everything is turned topsy-turvy.

Then while everyone is totally unnerved,

Jesus for the third and final time in the Gospel of Mark foretells his own death.

Jesus speaks to the core of his suffering and the offering of grace.

Astounded,

The disciples cannot fully grasp what Jesus is saying about women,

About children,

About the rich,

And finally about sacrifice.

And to make the entire point,

Mark features James and John asking to sit in glory with Jesus after Jesus' suffering.

And of course,

Jesus has to turn that on its head.

So let's read together.

Mark chapter 10,

Verses 35 through 45.

James and John,

The sons of Zebedee,

Came forward to Jesus and said to him,

Teacher,

We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.

And Jesus said to them,

What is it do you want me to do for you?

And they said to him,

Grant us to sit at your right hand and at your left in your glory.

But Jesus said to them,

You do not know what you're asking for.

Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?

They replied,

We're able.

Then Jesus said to them,

The cup that I drink,

You will drink.

And with the baptism with which I am baptized,

You will be baptized.

But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant,

But it is for those for whom it has been prepared.

When the 10 heard this,

They began to get angry with James and John.

So Jesus called them and said to them,

You know that among the Gentiles,

Those whom they recognize as their rulers lorded over them and their great ones are tyrants over them.

But it is not so among you.

But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.

And whoever wishes to be your first among you must be slave of all.

For the son of man came not to be served,

But to serve and to give life for the ransom for many.

Now let's enter into a passage meditation,

Repeating three times this word and let these words fall afresh on your heart as we enter into this text.

Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.

Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.

Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.

This scripture text is all about your vantage point.

Where are you seated?

And from where you're sitting,

What do you see?

This is about perspective gaining.

I saw this the other day online.

When other people take a long time to do something,

They're slow.

When we take a long time to do something,

We're thorough.

When they don't do something,

They're lazy.

When we don't do something,

We're too busy.

When they succeed,

They're lucky.

And when we do,

We deserve it.

When we interpret our lives,

Oftentimes it's about where we're sitting and maybe what we're sitting in.

In Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste,

She opens her book with the story of August Landmesser,

A German man who refused to give the Nazi salute at a rally held in a shipyard on June 13th,

1936.

It was an act of defiance that stood out among the crowd.

Mr.

Landmesser's resistance was just a few years into the Nazi regime in Germany.

And he could see the writing on the wall already concerning this new group in power.

Five years before this picture was taken in 1931,

Landmesser joined the Nazi party,

Along with so many in a groundswell of support for this nationalistic movement.

And two years later,

Landmesser fell madly in love with Irma Eichler.

After his engagement to a Jewish woman was discovered,

Landmesser was expelled from the Nazi party.

Landmesser and Eichler decided to file a marriage application in Hamburg.

But the marriage was denied in the newly enacted Nuremberg Laws,

The laws that were created to ensure quote unquote racial purity.

The couple welcomed their first daughter,

Ingrid,

In October of 1935.

And then,

June 13th,

1936,

Landmesser gave a cross arms stance during Hitler's christening of a new German Navy vessel.

This act of defiance stands out among the throng of Nazi salutes.

There's a bigger picture here,

I believe.

You see,

Sadly,

Landmesser and Eichler,

Their story doesn't have a happy ending.

Refusing to abandon his wife,

Landmesser ignored Nazi wishes and was arrested in 1938 and sentenced to nearly three years in a concentration camp.

He would never see his beloved partner and daughter again.

It's believed that Irma Eichler was one of the millions who were murdered in a concentration camp.

And after being released from prison,

Landmesser worked a few odd jobs here and there,

And ultimately was recruited into the German Army at the very end of the war.

Finally,

He was declared missing in action in Croatia.

Isabel Wilkerson's book,

Caste,

Invites us to recognize three things about the Landmesser-Eichler story.

This is a dramatic example of perspective gaining.

We don't live in Nazi Germany,

Thank goodness.

And there are ways for us to realize the social strata which still needs servants of goodness and compassion,

Servants who are willing to listen and even self-sacrifice for a common health and common wealth for our community.

That's us.

As I immerse myself into the story of Landmesser and Eichler,

The question that emerged for me was also the question I believe Jesus is attempting to uncover with James and John from Jesus's own perspective.

Jesus is asking,

What are you willing to die for?

Or better yet,

Maybe Jesus is asking the flip side of the question,

What are you willing to live for?

James and John had left their father Zebedee to follow Jesus.

They'd seen miraculous healings,

Feedings and throngs of people experiencing the love of God in a real and palatable way.

These brothers felt like they had already sacrificed what was needed to earn or deserve a privileged place at Jesus Christ's right hand and left hand.

Their perspective was awfully narrow.

And maybe Jesus wanted to repeat himself.

Now,

What is it that you want me to do for you?

Obviously,

Jesus's response to the brothers solicits something in Jesus.

Maybe Jesus is angry or maybe has disappointment at the level of entitlement that these two bring.

Something in the way Jesus heard this from his followers flew all over him.

These two obviously had not been clued in to the root of Jesus's ministry,

Nor the heart of the gospel.

Have these two missed it all together?

I think I would have missed it too if I were James and John.

Rarely do I see the bigger picture.

I feel like I see snapshots and stills of a bigger picture.

But I have to create a narrative to string them all together.

And the snapshots and stills may be vivid enough,

But they don't represent the big picture.

This is the case of James and John.

They can't see the bigger picture here.

So James and John,

I believe,

Represent us in the text.

They can't fathom the cost of discipleship in the heart of the gospel.

James and John are caught up in an end result of their own making,

Seeing only their vantage point,

Only one vantage point.

And they've tied up everything into a nice,

Neat little package.

But life is messy and challenging and often defying our expectations.

So what are you willing to live for?

To live for short-term gains or quick wins?

Sadly,

In this season,

Everything feels urgent and necessary when our community is in need of a larger picture of service to others.

Yes,

I realize that we all have COVID fatigue and that we're all frustrated and tired of all of this and what it represents.

And as people of faith,

We're privileged to have the heart and mind which calls us to recognize that we are not alone.

That there are those who have served for the greater good in difficult times.

And that we have a community to lean into for us to be shaped by our common work together.

So let's take on the greater vision Christ has for us to embrace,

Embrace Christ's vantage point.

Christ is offering a difficult message in this season.

And by affirming that message,

We set our lives to acts of service and witness to God and neighbor.

So the question I have for you is,

What are you willing to live for?

In just a moment,

After I offer the benediction,

I invite you to pause and reflect on two things.

Reflect on experiences,

Experiences of satisfaction and experiences of frustration.

Don't be surprised that experiences of frustration arise first.

Review the list.

And maybe you have three or four of each.

Then see if you can dedicate yourself to shifting your energy to what satisfies instead of what frustrates.

Can you dedicate your week to satisfaction?

Maybe even dedicate your week to the edification and sanctification of goodness for yourself and for others this week.

God is calling each one of us to a different vantage point,

Especially if we get caught in this cycle,

In this carousel of uncaring.

And maybe,

Just maybe,

We discover for ourselves what it means to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ,

Taking on Christ's way of seeing the world.

So that in our acts of service,

We recognize the first will be last and the last will be first.

And that will make all the difference.

Amen.