“Futurama”
The following is the text of a sermon by Associate Pastor Dennis Sanders preached on June 27, 2010- Pentecost Sunday. It is based on I Kings 19:15-21 and Luke 9:51-62.
I’ve always been fascinated by the future.
I remember when I was about 8 or 9, I would sit down and think about the year 2000. I was able to figure out that I would be 31 years old by the year 2000, which I thought was very old.
I wondered what life was going to be like in the 21st century. Would we have flying cars and the like?
As I got older, people started worrying about nuclear weapons. At that point, there were times I feared if I would see the year 2000 at all.
Of course in 2010 we still don’t have flying cars. But we do have things that I couldn’t even dream about back in 1978: the internet, cell phones, the iPad and the like. And thankfully, we didn’t end in a nuclear fire.
The future is something that is both exciting and terrifying. We don’t know exactly what the future holds, so we tend to imagine what things will be like. That can lead to two things: either we get scared and or we are empowered.
A drawing by a seven year old that was drawn during the sermon. It's titled "In the Future."
The two passages that were read just now have to do about the future of two men: Elisha and Jesus. Both were being led by God to a difficult, but nonetheless exciting future. But along the way, both me encountered roadblocks that could have sent them off the path God would have them to go.
In First Kings, the prophet Elijah is sent to anoint several people, including a man named Elisha. Now Elisha was excited about this new job opportunity…..but he needed to say goodbye to his parents. In the book of Luke, we hear that Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem and along the way he meets several men that want to follow him. To one he says, that the Son of Man has no where to lay his head. To another who says that he has to bury his father first, Jesus tells him that the dead should bury the dead. A third person says to Jesus to let him say goodbye to his loved ones and Jesus says that no one that looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.
When you look at these texts, you have to wonder why Jesus and Elijah were being so mean. After all, what is so bad about burying your father or saying goodbye to friends?
I have no idea if Jesus actually said these things, but what I do know is that the call to follow Jesus means that we called to put God’s kingdom first, first above our daily priorities.
In Luke, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem. That means he was preparing himself for what was going to happen down the road: his arrest and betrayal; his death and ressurection. Jesus had an inkling that the future was not bright for him and yet he continued preaching and teaching even in the face of death. All of the people who want to follow him want to follow him, but they all have good reasons to delay their journey. But Jesus will have none of it. Now is the time we are called to follow Jesus, not later.
In our lives, we all have a desire to follow Jesus and be a disciple, but at times we let the mundane parts of life get in the way. We let our jobs and family get in the way. We will be interested in mission and ministry once the kids graduate from high school or once we retire from our jobs.
But Jesus is asking us to follow him NOW and to set our faces towards Jerusalem. We are called to be his disciples now and to work towards bringing forth God’s kingdom here and now.
About a month ago, Chris Wogaman, our Office Manager, decided to show a book to myself and Deb Murphy. It was actually a photo album containing bulletins from anniversary dinners dating at the very least back to the 1940s. We spent about an hour looking at these snapshots of First Christian’s history.
There was one particular program that fascinated me and that was the program from the 1957 anniversary dinner. The theme of that dinner was “Futurama.” It turns out that a play was put on during the dinner. I haven’t seen the actual play, but the program states it was set 80 years in the future at the board meeting of First Christian Church in 2037. By that time the church had supposedly moved to Saturn and was getting ready to celebrate its 160th birthday.
Now, I’m pretty sure we aren’t moving to Saturn anytime soon. And yes, this play was probably a little farsical, but I have to marvel at the audacity of those folks back in 1957, in that they were able to see what the church would be like long after they would be dead. First Christian would still be around doing God’s work- albeit on a planet with an inhospitable atmosphere, but doing God’ work nevertheless.
God is asking us to move forward into the future. But God is asking us to let go of what can hold us back, our fears and our obligations. We are to set our own faces towards the Jerusalems of our lives: a place where there will be trials and temptations to be sure, but also a place where God’s spirit is present- guiding and sustaining us as we do God’s work in God’s world.
So, I leave you this morning with a question: where will First Christian be in five years or ten years? Can we see or imagine where God will take us? Are we willing to let go of whatever excuses that might be holding us back from following Jesus?
I am excited to see where God is leading us as a congregation. I love seeing how the children’s Sunday School is growing. I love seeing how the adult classes are going. I love seeing the seeds of new ministries taking root. I am happy to see faces being set towards Jerusalem.
There is an old saying that goes, “I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” So, my sisters and brothers, let’s set our faces towards Jerusalem and go boldly into our future. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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