Taking the Next Step Forward
Taking the Next Step Forward
A Sermon Preached on
Let me tell you about Tootie.
Tootie was nearing 70, a developmentally delayed adult with advancing Alzheimers, living in a residential care facility. She came to church nearly every Sunday with her sister, who helped her maneuver through the service, standing and sitting at the right times, marking the right pages in the hymnbook, and even singing some of the right words occasionally (though she didn’t read). Against many people’s sensibilities, Tootie often shouted a loud “Thanks” when the offering plate came around or when she was handed a communion wafer, even though dutifully warned by her sister not to do so. It was obvious that she loved being in the worshipping community; and so after a few months the new minister was appropriately surprised to discover that her name was not actually on the membership rolls. Sometime later, on the Sunday they formally welcomed Tootie as a member of the church, the congregation’s jazz ensemble played as a recessional a joyously upbeat, gospel rendition of “O When the Saints Go Marching In.” On the way out of the sanctuary, as the minister stopped by Tootie’s pew and asked her if she would like to come along and greet the folks after worship, she jumped up and grabbed her minister’s hand and danced them both down the aisle, singing at the top of her lungs,
O, when the saints go marching ON! O when the saints go marching ON!
Oh Lord, I’m gonna be in that number, when the saints go marching ON!
That’s the kind of thing that could happen in almost any congregation I suppose, but in truth, one of my former seminary students was that minister, and she observed that Tootie embraced an ideal of church that many “brighter” folks hardly ever do … that the Christ who welcomes us INTO Church fellowship and Christian community, also invites us ONWARD, to a common, outward looking, and grace-filled mission … saints marching ON, indeed … marching onward, marching outward, marching forward, marching together in the Spirit of the Christ, toward a future that is yet determined, but already imagined by Christ. So, with Tootie’s gentle corrective in mind, that our spiritual focus must be more than INWARD, let’s take a closer look at the beginnings of our Christian story, at least as John’s gospel describes it.
First, John’s way of telling it is remarkably different from the other 3 gospels … did you notice that Jesus’ actual baptism is not explicitly described here? In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus comes to the
As central as baptism is for the Christian church, and as significant as our congregation’s internal understanding of baptism may be, John’s gospel compels us to ponder where it leads us. It’s not just a personal INternal forgiveness of sin, it’s not just a welcoming INTO the Christian family, it’s not just a blessing IN the Name of Jesus … it’s also, from John’s perspective, a Spirit-inspired, life-transforming force that moves us ONWARD to ministry with Christ and each other.
Second, I’m touched by the poignant move of those two followers of the Baptist, and how vulnerable they must have felt as they transferred allegiance to their new Teacher … their vulnerability is so beautifully captured in their first request of Jesus, “where are you staying?” If the baptist was sending them ONward to minister with the Messiah, what they needed first and foremost was security and assurance IN his presence … where are you staying? can we stay with you? will you welcome us INTO your presence? And Jesus replies, “come and see.” But if they thought by his invitation that Jesus was inviting them into a permanent place of safety and stability, were they in for a surprise. By
And third, as if to make his point even stronger, Jesus in fact leads his new followers out from where he was staying in
Last night Lynn and I attended the Canadian Brass concert at the NAC, and when the quintet was introduced, they didn’t come from the wings as expected … they started playing from the back of the auditorium, and like a good, old-fashioned N’Orleans street march, came strolling down the aisle playing, “Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.”
As comforting as this old Gospel-hymn felt to me, it made me think of the morning’s sermon, because it implies that whoever really wants to walk more closely with Christ, like these disciples in John’s story, they’ve got to be willing to … well … to walk, to move, to leave the relative comfort of their current lifestyles and take the next step onward, outward, forward, and together toward a mission though not yet determined, already imagined for us by Christ.
And as a congregation of Christ-followers, we stand at the beginning of 2011 pondering our individual willingness to step out of these comfortable pews and dance down the aisles of this church, and onto ministries that will make a difference for Orleans United and for those Christ calls us to serve … pondering in what practical ways each of us can say “yes” again to Christ’s purpose taking shape in our congregation. Perhaps you might keep this prayerfully in mind as we get closer and closer to our annual congregational meeting later next month … what next step forward are you able to take for the sake of this church’s ministries to the people of
So today might be imagined as a brief INgathering of the faithful, in order to rediscover and reclaim the belief that Jesus wants creative, cooperative, encouraging, collaborative forward-moving followers who will find their own unique ways to share Christ’s love out there … and thereby transform this community in Jesus’ name.
O, when the saints go marching ON indeed.
Glen Stoudt