Episodes
Sunday Jan 31, 2016
Plans for a Purposeful Life
Sunday Jan 31, 2016
Sunday Jan 31, 2016
A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, January 31, 2016, the fourth Sunday after Epiphany.
Text: Luke 4:14-21
“Should you live for your résumé…or your eulogy?” That is the question driving a short TED talk given by journalist David Brooks a couple of years ago. Brooks describes “résumé virtues” and “eulogy virtues.” He says, “The résumé virtues are the ones you put on your résumé, which are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones that get mentioned in the eulogy, which are deeper: who are you, in your depth, what is the nature of your relationships, are you bold, loving, dependable?” Brooks further describes the tension that exists between “the worldly, ambitious, external side of our nature” (the side that shows up on our résumé) and “the humble side of our nature…[that] wants not only to do good but to be good, to live in a way internally that honors God, creation and our possibilities.” He says that most people—including himself—would say that the so-called “eulogy virtues” are the more important. But Brooks admits, “are they the ones that I think about the most? …the answer is no.”[i]
Some might want to debate the categories Brooks uses, but it seems to me that as we continue to explore the theme of “Blueprints,” the questions and issues he raises are helpful. Today is January 31st, the last day of January 2016. How did this happen?! We get 11 more of these months before the turn of the next year. Where will our time and energy be spent? What will you think about the most? The way we answer these questions—for ourselves and for Foundry Church—shape the “blueprints” that will be our guide through the rest of the year. These clarifying questions help us zero in on what we value, what we’re trying to create, who we’re trying to be, whether we are living for our résumé or for our eulogy.
The Gospel today provides the answers that Jesus gave as he began his public ministry. We pick up the story at the point just after Jesus returns from the wilderness. On that journey he wrestled with issues of identity and the devilish voice tempted him to focus primarily on the “résumé virtues”—those external values like material possessions, power, and prestige. But Jesus resists temptation and ultimately emerges knowing who he is and what his life is about. “Filled with the Holy Spirit,” he returns to his “home church” for the Sabbath observance. The words Jesus reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah reveal his clarity of identity and of purpose: Jesus is the Lord’s anointed one who is sent to “bring good news to the poor… to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18-19) This is the blueprint for his life, the plans that outline his purpose and the values that define where he will spend time. The blueprints of Jesus’ life didn’t include a “popularity room” or space for domination, exclusion, greed, or revenge. Liberation and healing, patience and kindness, humility and compassion, love and courage, and the strength that comes from the Holy Spirit’s presence took up all the space (Big rooms for that stuff…). Jesus gave himself to the larger Kin-dom vision of God and that vision provided the focus and framework for his whole life. Jesus shows us a life that rejects selfish ambition and accepts God’s call to live for others, particularly those on the margins. He shows us what it looks like to “lose your life in order to find it.” (cf. Mt 10:39, Mk 8:35, Lk 9:24, Jn 12:25) Trusting God’s call and way, Jesus is able to live a deeply integrated life, a life in which his external ambition and activity is driven by and reflective of his internal values.
As we think about our own lives at this relatively early point in a new year, I invite us all to think about whether our external life reflects our internal values. If someone were to draw blueprints to describe the way you spend your time, energy, and money, what would that picture reveal? What gets the most space or assigned the best materials? If all of your life was sketched out on paper would you be satisfied with what you see? What would an objective observer deduce your purpose to be? What values would they see taking shape in the blueprints of your life?
The work of integration and purposeful living is always a work-in-progress. But regular review—at the beginning of a new year, or on a birthday or anniversary, for example (or during the Lenten season)—is a healthy practice. We can think about what needs to be shifted or created or refreshed so that our external and internal lives become increasingly aligned. If we are willing to engage in this honest reflection, we can draw up new plans, new blueprints, to guide us in the quest to create the life that increasingly reflects our most cherished values.
As we move into this new year as a congregation—turning from our Bicentennial celebration to the next century that stretches out before us—it is important to think about our blueprints for the future. Since my arrival a year and half ago, I’ve been engaging in audit work—formally and informally—to discover where our external practices, systems, schedules are aligned with our internal values and where there is dissonance. A great gift to me and to us all is the fact that we know who we are, what our purpose is, and what we value. And who we are is grounded in who Jesus is and what Jesus was about! We are called to Love God. Love each other. Change the World. Our core values appear every single week at the back of our worship guide, a constant reminder of who we are and what we want to drive our decisions and actions.
Because we know who we are and what we value, the work really is to determine the plans—the blueprints if you will—that will support, strengthen, and facilitate the faithful expression of our purpose. Our vision, discerned through house meetings, one on ones, collaboration between the Board and staff, and holy conversation, provides specifications for where we need to invest and build. It is the broad plan for how we will focus our activity so that we live out our mission. Our vision is
To be an intentional covenant community that:
· helps people of all ages connect with God & each other
· calls, equips, sends, and supports spiritual leaders to serve the church and world
· practices radical hospitality & inclusion
· builds partnerships in mission locally & globally to create beloved communities of economic, racial, and social justice
Our 2016 budget, the addition of two full time Directors for Family Ministries and Connecting Ministries, developments in servant leader recruitment, upcoming Scholar-in-Residence program and VIM trips to Baltimore are all aligned with our mission, values, and vision. In fact so much of what we do day in and day out—our wide welcome, our worship life, ID ministry, ESL program, children’s messages and Sunday School—all these and more are an external expression of our internal values. I give thanks to God for the integrity that Foundry Church exhibits. But, as with all of our lives, there are always places that need some work, places where there is need for a new plan, new investment. We need to set some concrete, measurable goals within the framework of our vision. We need to consider how to connect more meaningfully with our growing “online” congregation. We need to offer more opportunities for study and fellowship. We need to teach the meaning and expectations of the covenant we share. We need to improve our website and strengthen ways to connect through communications. And if we really want to help people connect, we need to figure out how to maximize Sundays—the day when the most Foundry folks are able to be together—and may need to reconfigure the Sunday schedule in order to do that. All these things are part of the “blueprints” that create space for us to more faithfully love God, love each other, and change the world.
Taking our cue from Jesus, we are reminded that if we are to truly be integrated and aligned with the things that matter most of all, our focus cannot be only on our personal, self-focused preferences and desires. Our work is to give ourselves to the larger, Kin-dom purposes of God—which will mean necessary sacrifices and compromise. We will be asked to give up things that work for us in order to make space for others to connect with God and each other. We will be asked to participate in the hard and exciting work of discernment and change for the sake of the larger mission—just as we are living through the “dust” and inconvenience of construction for the sake of creating renewed spaces for hospitality and meaningful connection. I hear and sense a lot of energy around opportunities to strengthen our shared life as Foundry Church. So I look forward to seeing the ways that you—and I—will stretch ourselves and give of ourselves and “lose our lives” in order to find the even more integrated, purposeful life that God has in store.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon us, encouraging us to live out “eulogy virtues”—or, better, Kin-dom virtues —as persons and as a congregation. And the good news is that the Spirit not only encourages, but also empowers us to create and implement beautiful, purposeful, life-changing, Kin-dom-inspired plans. Thanks be to God!
[i]https://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_should_you_live_for_your_resume_or_your_eulogy/transcript?language=en
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