November 26,2023
Sermon 11.26.2023 Guest Speaker- MartinButler
The text today – Whew it is a doozy! And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40
My first response when preparing for this sermon was “But, wait a minute, I like goats!” I grew up with a goat named Daisy and her kid Buttercup on a farm in Lamont Oklahoma and while I was butted a few times –once of the pig chute, I did deserve it, the goats always seemed to serve a purpose – eating all of the weeds, providing milk to a family with a child that could not drink cow or mother’s milk. The goats were way more fun than the sheep who we really had to watch over. In current slang GOAT stands for Greatest of All Time! And, then the text has me wrestling all over again about sheep, goats, and this oh, so strange concept of Christ the King. Yep, I’ve spent far too much time pondering the imagery of separating these two farm animals into the distinct categories bound for eternal life or destined for eternal damnation. It’s a stark contrast of all or nothing–forever.
It finally occurred to me that maybe obsessing about the two farm animals wasn’t really the point of the scripture. Perhaps a more modern analogy would work better – like the differences between the Buckeyes and Michigan who played yesterday! And I will let you decide who are the sheep and who are the goats! the point is this: use any two common images that work for you, but remember the focus is on Jesus. It’s Christ the King Sunday after all.
So, who is this King of Everything? Who is this Jesus hanging out with the least, the lost, the poor, and the imprisoned? How were we supposed to know to look for God in the dark and dirty places of the world? How do we find our faith in this? Every successful society, especially the one we have here in the United States - we look for the winners, not the losers in life. In the text today, both “team goat” and “team sheep” express surprise at where Jesus was hiding in plain sight. He’d been right there with them in the midst of daily life in all its mundane messiness rather than holed up with the holy in the Temple or marooned on some majestic mountaintop.
Jesus is not even interested in the recognition that Jesus is the King; Jesus is focused on our actions. Anyone else uncomfortable?
In his book 4,000 weeks, Time Management for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman observed, the average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief. Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks. Nobody needs telling there isn’t enough time. We’re obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, work-life balance, and the ceaseless battle against distraction; and we’re deluged with advice on becoming more productive and efficient, and “life hacks” to optimize our days. But such techniques often end up making things worse. The sense of anxious hurry grows more intense, and the most meaningful parts of life seem to lie just beyond the horizon. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the challenge of how best to use our four thousand weeks.
Team goat” may have been all about keeping a watch out and being ready, but they totally overlooked the King of Everything around and within them. They were saving their big effort for the king who shows up looking and acting like royalty, like A GOAT and in doing so they failed to see Jesus at all. “Team sheep” may have been looking for the king, but they did not notice Jesus, they were busy taking care of neighbors in need and ministering to folks within and outside of their communities. How do you see Jesus in yourself, in your church, in your community?
Back in 1965 NSI was founded by an ecumenical group of churches in and around OSU “to establish a client centered, social service agency in the university community.” And we continue that today. NSI’s Strategic Plan is to create a holistic community food hub that also offers the appropriate wrap around service for the neighbor in need. Indianola Presbyterian is one of our founding churches!
What does that look like?
In the dead of winter last year, a new neighbor pulled up at NSI in need of food. NSI’s pantry manager was checking her in, and volunteers started loading a five-day supply of shelf-stable meals and fresh produce into her car when he noticed that she and her family appeared to be living in the car. “Is there anything else you might need help with?” She told him about a house fire that destroyed most of her belongings, including the identification she needed to secure new housing. Our pantry manager connected her with our Social Services team member. They explored several different avenues for assistance but kept finding dead ends after realizing required documentation was destroyed in the fire, and with all the government offices closed at that time, it seemed like she might have to keep living out of her car for a while. After speaking with NSI, she was willing to spend what little money she had on a new identification because NSI was able to fill in gaps and provide her with a security deposit and first month’s rent to a new place out of the freezing cold. NSI did this through grants that we received. NSI staff and other neighbors banded together to provide her with some plates, a used microwave, and NSI got her connected with a referral to The Furniture Bank. Our neighbor has since secured herself a job at a local grocer and is paying her own way as a fully established Columbus neighbor. She is so thankful for the collective support she received from her community. She’s doing well, and we still see her from time to time at the pantry – both to pick up food for herself and give back to the community by volunteering and paying forward.
Through last week, NSI has had 25,790 family visits (88,204 individuals) and distributed 1,380,660 meals. Last Saturday for Thanksgiving. NSI distributed 428 turkeys and side dishes and NSI currently has 287 kids who need to be adopted for Christmas toys, if you don’t have time to shop you can purchase something off our Amazon Wish list and we will make sure that our kiddos in need have a merry Christmas.
Whether we see ourselves as sheep, goats, die-hard Buckeye fans or supporters of the team up North, the King of Everything is interested in what we’re doing with our days and hours and our 4,000 weeks, and with whom we’re in relationship and how that is expressed. If we’re simply hanging out with others who are just like us, doing as little as possible, wiling away the hours thinking about Christ’s second coming, it seems we likely have another “thing” coming. By contrast, if we’re about living each moment to its fullest — in the business of cultivating relationships, tending to the needs of family, friends, neighbor (and enemy, too!), and wading into life’s most difficult places and situations with the light of Christ shining through us then we’re definitely on the right track.
I’m beginning to think the gospel message today, the gospel itself has this unsettling character. The gospel itself is always asking us to change, to grow. All the way through the gospel we find paradoxes and riddles and parables that melt the solidity of what we think we should be doing and the new creation that is being born in us by Jesus, the King of Everything.
James Baldwin once wrote “Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety. And at such a moment, unable to see and not daring to imagine what the future will now bring forth, one clings to what one knew, or thought one knew: to what one possessed or dreamed that one possessed.”
In the text today, Jesus melts the solidity of the world. He rearranges the world. He calls for new discernment, new perception, and new life in you and in me.
Jesus the King of Everything knows more than a little bit about humankind, about suffering, and about stewardship of all life. He took real life and our brokenness so seriously that he gave up everything in order to save every iota of creation. We do have a really strange King in Jesus the Christ, and that is a very, very good thing indeed.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE
INTROIT “Praise God for This Holy Ground” John L. Bell
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We come to worship the risen Christ.
All: Praise to Christ, Shepherd of our life
One: Alleluia, praise to Christ, the gate!
All: Alleluia, praise to Christ, the lamb!
One: Alleluia, praise to Christ, our savior!
All: Christ is risen still! Alleluia!
*HYMN INSERT “O Shepherd, Hear and Lead Your Flock” Michael Morgan
*PRAYER OF CONFESION Adapted from Bruce Prewer Trip Porch
I need a shepherd.
Because I am sometimes timid and other times overconfident,
because I often don't know the best path yet pretend I do,
because I rush into dead ends or lead others into hazardous places,
because my brightest ideas are seamed with darkness,
because the things I crave may not be what is good for me,
I need a shepherd
Because the world is full of dry brown pastures, and drought parched river beds
And without a shepherd I won’t find the way.
Lord, Shepherd me…
A time of confession held in the silence….
Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDO
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE “Glory to God” vs. 1 MACHU-PICHU
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Pilgrim’s Hymn” Stephen Paulus
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Ezekiel 34:11-16 MSG
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Sharon Renkes
SERMON Martin Butler
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN NO. 473 “Shepherd Me, O God” SHEPHERD ME
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE followed by The Lord’s Prayer using debts and debtors
One: Oh God, hear our prayer,
All: Restore all of who we are to you.
TIME OF OFFERING
OFFERTORY RESPONSE “Giving God, We Pause and Wonder” NETTLETON
God, we know we cannot pay you For your love in Christ your Son.
Gifts and tithes are just a "thank you" — Ways to pass your blessings on.
We have learned that, in our sharing, We receive more than we give.
By your Spirit, make us daring In this joyful way to live.
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Generous God; Over and over your grace sustains us, over and over your love provides for us, over and over your arm steadies us. Modeling our generosity on yours, We give you these gifts, with gratitude and joy, thankful that you will use these gifts to provide. Amen.
*HYMN NO. 274 “You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd” PICARDY
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
CHORAL RSPONSE "Go Forth For God" Kenneth Dake
POSTLUDE
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452