Note: I attended the Mixed Methods Preaching Conference offered by Christian Theological Seminary's PhD Program for African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric. The method I spent time learning is called expository preaching. This is the sermon I wrote and offered to my small group. I thought it prudent to write it using the lessons for the upcoming Sunday service, so I could also offer this sermon on 9/15/2019.
While I did not get a perfect score, I did well. I learned a lot, and I'm thankful to Bishop Jennifer for giving us this opportunity to grow and develop in new ways.
As Paul often opens his letters, I begin this message with a note
of thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord. Like
Paul wrote in today’s reading from First Timothy, I, too, am thankful because
Jesus has given me the strength for my work, for this work, because he
knew he could trust me. I thank you,
also, for trusting me with this Word.
I don’t know if Paul realized it, but Paul was the poster
child for the lost sheep. You know the
one. We heard about it in today’s Gospel. That one out of 100 sheep who made
the shepherd leave the 99 to search for the one missing sheep.
Paul was the lost coin.
Something so precious to its owner, she got down on her hands and knees
and poked in corners and under rugs until she found the coin.
Paul was lost and he will be the first one to admit
it. “I did not put my faith in Jesus.”
He said.
But he didn’t only lack faith in Jesus, he persecuted,
tortured and sometimes even murdered anyone who followed Jesus.
When he was known as Saul, he was so very lost in the
depths and distractions of daily demands he might have seemed like a lost
cause.
He was a very bad
man. But something miraculous happened:
God chose him, converted him, turned his world view upside down and transformed
this man of the world into a man of God.
Jesus showed Saul grace. Jesus showed Saul mercy. In that flash of light, in those 3 days of
fasting, a new man emerged. Now known as
Paul, he was called to transform, convert and turn the world of others upside
down, too.
By setting these expectations, Jesus called Paul into ministry and
evangelism.
He had once been a very bad man.
And he knew it. He said he was
the worst of all people -- not once, but twice -- in today’s second
lesson. You know, it just might take
transforming the worst of the worst for some people to recognize Jesus as Lord
and Savior.
It might take a real sinner, a real hate-filled, horrible
man’s conversion, his turning his life around, for people to know that if God
can change someone like Paul, Jesus can change anyone!
Now, none of us here is as bad as Paul ever was, but all
of us are broken, all of us have sinned, all of us have hurt another, all of us
have fallen short. All of us have
dismissed or forgotten or at some time in our lives we may have never
known God.
Yet all of us need the redemptive power of God. All of
us need to stop, take stock, and admit our frailties, our fears and our
failures to God. Only then will we know
the power of forgiveness. Only then can
we hear the words of Jesus when he tells us that when the lost sheep or the lost
coin or the lost Paul or the lost you or the lost me is found, there will be
rejoicing in the heavens and on earth, with a pitch-in and a party to celebrate
our return to our rightful owner.
Jesus changed Saul’s miserable, sinful life and look what he did
with him! He changed this man’s heart,
his mind and his behavior and turned his life upside down and sent him out into
the world to talk about Jesus.
If Jesus could do that with a man like Saul, imagine, just
imagine, what God, can do with you!
It’s been about two full years since our consultant Kay first came
to St. Alban’s. We were a mess. We needed help. We could not truly show God’s love to the world in a healthy way when we couldn’t share it to one another in a
healthy way.
So the Bishop sent Kay to us with tools to help us change and grow
and be transformed in ways that would help us see ourselves anew. She taught us how to identify unhealthy
behaviors, how to turn those behaviors upside down so that we might be able to
find the mercy and grace God had set aside for us.
She brought us this poster, which we framed and put up in the
narthex, a constant reminder of what we need to guard against, so that we won’t
fall back into unhealthy and sometimes ugly behaviors.
Kay might have been that blinding light we needed to illuminate
the dark corners where our coin was lost.
What she taught us in those first few months might have been the
medicine to remove the scales from our eyes so that we could see the miraculous
work of God at St. Alban’s more clearly.
We have been vulnerable, and we have allowed someone to care for
us, as Paul did in his blindness and in his recovery. We have experienced God’s mercy and grace as
we have changed and grown. We are continually
recognizing God’s love within our faith community, and as a result, we know
hope.
Paul said that Jesus was patient with him. Well, beloveds, Jesus is patient with us,
too. With God’s grace, with the teaching
of Jesus, with the example of Paul, we are transforming. That seems like something to celebrate.
Let us pray. Holy One, let us be turned upside down,
converted and transformed like Paul, so that we can go out into the world and
upend it with God’s love. Let us be
agents of God’s mercy, and givers of God’s grace. Call us into your service in the world so
that we can be messengers of peace.
Amen.