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Dr. Dale Miller, November 3, 2006
 Maximize
the Saints
Fifth in a five-part series on taking our church to
the next level
Mark
12:28-34
The next time you have trouble surfing the Net,
spiritual help could be at hand. In answer to the prayers of many Net
users who have just crashed, the Vatican is considering giving the
Internet its own patron saint. The choice of religious savior is thought
to be St. Isidore of Seville, who died 1,400 years ago. The Spanish
saint is the preferred choice for the Net by many users. He is credited
with creating the world's first database - a 20-volume encyclopedia.
Spokesman for the Catholic Media Office, Tom Hallwood said: "There
are patron saints of many things, so why not let the Internet have one?
It is a good idea and might be able to help us all when we are about to
crash."
This bit of information came through the BBC News back
in 1999. I don't know if Isidore ever became the patron saint of the
Internet. I find it funny that people were actually feeling the need for
a certified cyber-saint. I find it interesting that we find a need for
super humans - part person/part divine - to provide a safety zone, a
cushion of protection over our lives. But then again, why not? If we
could find someone, a super hero, that we could call upon to take care
of our immediate problem I imagine that we would call out that name
often. Fortunately, it doesn't work that way.
So, just who is a saint? Our passage from Mark drops a
few hints. A lawyer of the Pharisees asks Jesus what is the greatest
commandment. He only wanted to know where Jesus stood in the debate over
the relative importance of various rules. But Jesus would not be drawn
into their nitpicking. Jesus responds by citing the Shema - "Hear,
O Israel...you shall love the Lord your God" - and adding,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." When the
questioner affirms Jesus' response, Jesus says, "You are not far
from the kingdom." Even though this curious questioner is not a
bona fide, official, one-of-the-twelve disciples, he is able to grasp
and accept the truth of Jesus' teaching.
No one can please God by outwardly keeping some rules.
Jesus reminded the Pharisees that God looks into their hearts. The
Pharisees were squabbling about pointless details. God wants them to
find love in their hearts. Jesus recognized that at the core of the Old
Testament were the twin ideals of love for God and love for humanity.
Sounds like God is on a saint search, looking for
people headed for the kingdom. Qualifications seem to be acknowledging
that God is the one true God, and then showing love that flows in two
directions, to God and to our neighbor. A saint is not a superstar like
Saint Isidore of Seville. Instead, a saint is simply a person who lives
out an intense devotion to both God and neighbor.
But wait a second. Not everyone is a saint. In fact,
most are far from it. What about those who are a long way from the
kingdom, or at least on a significant detour? How did they lose their
way? And how can they find their way back?
Some get lost because they haven't received good
directions from parents or haven't learned how to listen for guidance
from God. Others stray because their judgment is clouded. They are
driving while drugged, drunk or debilitated. Others race after big
thrills and big money, and risk losing their hearts, souls and minds in
the process.
But there is always hope because God is always saint
searching. Kathleen Norris tells the story of a friend named Willie who
had fallen in with a drug dealer in Wyoming and dreamed up a scheme to
make some truly big bucks. Willie thought that things were working out
just fine - making god contacts, setting up a network - but one day he
and his colleague were cruising down the road when the drug dealer saw a
man traveling the opposite direction. "I need to kill him,"
said the dealer quite matter-of-factly, reaching for a gun that was
stashed under the front seat.
"It was right then I decided to get out,"
said Willie, badly shaken. "This was over my head." And that,
concludes Kathleen Norris, is where salvation begins - in the sudden
awareness that a particular path is leading to death, in the naming of
something as "wrong," and in taking steps to turn away from
it. And it is continued in the unexpected and astounding action of God
to free people from whatever is holding them in bondage.
The way to the kingdom path begins at the point where
God in Christ reaches across miles and missteps and a multitude of messy
mortal mistakes, at the point where Jesus wraps his arms around our
shoulders and gently guides us back. Christ doesn't discard people
because they are moving down an imperfect path. Look at how warmly Jesus
addressed the scribe in today's scripture reading from Mark (v. 34). Nor
does Jesus disqualify people who have made a mess of their lives before
finding the right road.
God is on a saint search, and it is not perfect people
who are going to be found. God is not interested in providing an
external saintly protection bubble around our lives. God is interested
in us, calling forth from our imperfections a person that can love the
Lord with the totality of heart, soul, mind and strength. Being a saint
is not an achieved status, but rather a commitment to pursue life to its
fullest, focused on God and neighbor, and implemented with the use of
heart, soul, mind and strength.
In an interview on the Today Show, Maya Angelou was
asked what was on her "Wish List." With all that she has
accomplished in her life, could there be any more
"objectives," any more "conditions unfulfilled?"
"Oh, my Lord, yes," she exclaimed. "I want to become a
better writer. I'm very serious about it. It's what I am. It's how I
describe myself to myself, and [I want to be] a better human being. I'm
trying to be a Christian, which is no small matter. I mean it. I'm
always amazed when [people] walk up to me and say, 'I'm a Christian.' I
always think, 'Already? You've already got it? My goodness."
My goodness, indeed. My goodness, our goodness,
depends upon our willingness to exercise our heart, soul, mind and
strength in loving God and loving neighbor. The Shema challenges us to
transform the entirety of our lives. So, how do we take this Great
Commandment as our spiritual training guide?
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First, we engage in Heart Training. In Hebrew
Scriptures the "heart" was not viewed as the location of
our emotions. Heart training focuses on building endurance, not mere
emotionalism. To be able to love God and love neighbor takes a
constant, steady stream of commitment. We train for the long-term
gain, not for immediate gratification. Building up the stamina of
our hearts, depends on steady, incremental gains - not flurries of
heart-warming activities followed by weeks of uncaring neglect.
Spiritual fitness is not going to happen by doing an hour of prayer
push-ups every day, and reading 20 chapters of the Bible a day, or
attending five meetings at church every week. More plausible is the
kind of heart training suggested by James, who counsels us to accept
the irritations and trials of life with joy, "because you know
that the testing of your faith produces endurance." (James 1:3)
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Next, we engage in Mind Training. Attitude is
everything. When we do not see any way we can love a particularly
unlovable neighbor, sometimes we must simply exercise our
mind-muscle, focus on the goal of love, and get through it. Having a
disciplined mind does not mean a narrow, closed or muscle-bound
mind. A mind trained in godliness can control its selfish or hurtful
thoughts and instead choose to focus its thoughts and energies on
what love demands.
In other words, when we follow Jesus we do not have to throw our
minds away; we don't have to check our brains at the door. Two years
ago I was at a gathering at First United Methodist Church in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. The church had an identity statement in
big, bold letters. It read: "Where Head and Heart Walk Hand in
Hand." I really like that thought.
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Next, we practice our Soul Training. There is much
more to our insides than biology and chemistry. There are cravings
and callings of the soul. An untended soul sours. It grows surly.
Its bile seeps out and gradually pollutes the heart, the mind and
the body. Tending our soul means intentionally turning it toward
God, regularly bathing it in love, and exercising it though
deep-knee bends of prayer.
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Finally, we tackle our Strength Training. In
actual physical workouts the point of strength training is not to
get bigger muscles, but to get better muscles. The issue for
athletes is performance, not bulk. When the Shema advocates loving
God with all our strength, it recognizes that a big part of human
existence is sheer physical. We are subject to injury, sickness and
death. It takes a certain amount of strength just to get through
each and every day. To make the most of each day we must claim God's
presence and love even in the physicality of our lives.
Once we are fully practicing our training then we
begin an even deeper application. We apply our heart, mind, soul and
strength to loving God and our neighbor. When Jesus is speaking about
loving our neighbor he is quoting from the book of Leviticus. Love
forhumanity was the second principle of the Jewish law. The last six of
the Ten Commandments, called the "Second Table" of the law,
tell us how we are to love our neighbor, how we should relate to people.
The love for God should lead to love for humanity.
Love for humanity is something we do, not just something we feel. Love
for humanity must not stop with just feeling compassion or sympathy. We
cannot control how we feel toward someone, but we can control how we act
toward someone. Love for humanity is possible because of love for God.
It cannot stand on its own, apart from love for God. We need God's help
before we can love as we ought. As we seek to exercise our heart, mind,
soul and strength to love then the love spills out to include all of our
relationships.
The story is told of a tired father, trying to read
the newspaper after getting home from work, being distracted by his
young son clamoring for attention. The father decided to try to distract
his son for a little while. He took a picture of the earth from the
newspaper, cut it into jigsaw puzzle pieces and challenged the child to
assemble the puzzle. He had hardly settled back with his paper when the
little guy came back and said he had finished the puzzle.
"How did you put it together so quickly?"
his dad asked. "There was a picture of a person on the other
side," the boy replied, "and when I put the person together
the world came together too."
Love of God. Love of neighbor. Two sides of the same
puzzle. When one side begins to come together, the other side comes
together as well.
Today we have honored the people who have entered into
the church triumphant. Their lives, even the life of a three-week-old
baby, challenge us to make a commitment, or renew a commitment, to love
God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your
neighbor as yourself, not "more than" yourself, not "less
than" yourself, but "as" yourself. If we make that
fundamental commitment and work daily at living out of that commitment,
we will discover that God is working in and through our lives completely
and fully.
To people who were feeling stress over many things
which were competing for their attention and energy Jesus said,
"Seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness" - which
means loving God with heart, mind, soul, strength and others as oneself
- "and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matthew
6:23)
The restlessness of our hearts starts to end once we
begin to rest our hearts in God. And what makes that possible is the
boundless love of God toward us in Jesus Christ. Jesus reaches out to us
to comfort us, challenge us and strengthen us at the places of storm and
stress in our lives. God has been there for us in the past. God will be
there for us tomorrow. Is there anything we can really do in response
other than give God our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I heard of a tale about an inner city church. There
was a man who had been recently converted to the Christian faith. During
a worship service he was once again deeply moved by his experience of
God's love and grace. The man didn't have much money, but he wanted to
do something to physically respond to what he was experiencing in his
soul. Well, he thought of something to do, but it was rather strange.
When the time for the offering came and the offering plate was passed,
he took the plate, stepped out into the aisle, laid the plate reverently
at his feet, and stepped into it himself. Now there's a picture! Imagine
the usher who has to pick up that plate.
When we accept God's love we offer ourselves to love
God's humanity with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is the
Great Commandment. We are called to be a great people, saints of the
faith. Contemporary composer and singer Steve Green wrote a song called,
"Find Us Faithful." Listen to his words.
We're pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road,
And those who've gone before us line the way,
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary,
Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace.
Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
Let us run the race not only for the prize,
But as those who've gone before us,
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through Godly lives.
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful.
May the fire of our devotion light their way.
May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe,
And the lives we live inspire them to obey.
Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful.
Amen.
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