Sermon 1/24/16
John 1:35-50
Invitational: Come and See
My mom watches my nephew Sam every day after school. He
gets off the bus at her apartment, and he hangs out there til his parents get
out of work. I’ve sometimes been around when he gets out of school, and I like
to ask him about his day. But the conversation usually goes like this: “Sam,
how was school today?” “Fine.” “What did you do today?” “I don’t know.” “Did
you have gym?” “No.” “Music?” “No.” “Art?” “Yes.” “What did you do in art?”
“Painted pictures.” You get the point. Pretty much, you have to drag
information like this out of Sam. It is certainly possible it was indeed a
typical day at school. But it is also possible that there was a parade or a concert
or he got an award or the President visited, and his description of the day’s
events are likely to be the same. He tolerates school. But despite how easy the
learning is for him, or maybe because of that, he doesn’t love it. And he’s probably not going to talk about it much more
than he has to.
Some years ago at our conference camps, like Casowasco
and Aldersgate and Sky Lake, they began giving out beads, color-coded, to
children at summer camp. Throughout the week, you might get a blue bead if you
go swimming, or a red bead if you help build a campfire. You might get a
special bead if you participate in a cookout, or a counselor’s bead if your
counselor sees you doing something really thoughtful and selfless. You might get
a white bead for Christian leadership if you help design a worship service. The
idea behind the beads is two-fold. First, the beads encourage children to try
new things. It’s amazing what the incentive of a bead does! But it also helps
kids tell the story of camp to their families when they get home. Sometimes,
after a week at camp, a conversation with a parent or church member might sound
like a conversation with Sam about his day at school. How was camp? Fine. Did
you have fun? Yes. The beads can help kids remember and tell the story. I got
this bead because of this cool thing that I did. The beads are a tool to help
kids share their experiences.
That’s kind of the idea behind “Show and Tell.” Do they
still do Show and Tell? For many of us, our very first experiences of public
speaking were in bringing some object to school – a special toy, a souvenir
from a trip, a favorite book – and then telling our classmates about it.
Letting kids bring something they love already helps kids be comfortable
getting up front and sharing. They’re just talking about what they know and
love already. Easy.
I’ve been thinking about this – talking about what we
love, telling our story, show and tell, as I’ve studied our gospel lesson for
today. Over the next few weeks, as we think about what it means to be
invitational, we’ll be looking into a few stories where Jesus invites people
into a life of discipleship. And as we watch Jesus invite people into
relationship with God, invite people to follow him, we’ll think about how we
both respond to Jesus’ invitation and invite others to journey with us. Today,
we turn to the gospel of John. We’re at the beginning of the book, still in
chapter 1. We find that John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples,
two who had been following John and learning from him and his teaching. John
sees Jesus walk by, and says of him, “Look, here is the lamb of God.” Seemingly
just at this word, John’s disciples realize they’re meant to follow after
Jesus. When Jesus sees this, he asks them what they are looking for. They call
him teacher, and ask where he is staying. And Jesus responds, “Come and see.”
They do. And this is how Andrew and one other become disciples of Jesus.
Andrew, then, invites his brother, Simon Peter. He says to him, “We have found the
Messiah,” and he brings Simon Peter to meet Jesus.
The next day, Jesus sees Philip, and says to him, “Follow
me.” And Philip finds his friend Nathanael and tells him, “We've found the one
about whom Moses and the prophets wrote.” Nathanael wonders if anything good
can come from Nazareth, apparently thinking that it is a place that produces
nothing interesting, and Philip responds, “Come and see.” The scene ends with
Jesus revealing that he already knows Nathanael’s heart, and presumably,
Nathanael, along with Philip and Andrew and Simon and at least one more – they’ve
all become followers of Jesus. I notice that Jesus doesn’t give a lot of
information and details in this story of call, this story of invitation. He
doesn’t need to know what the disciples believe and he doesn’t give them a set
of his beliefs. He doesn’t quiz them or test them. He doesn’t give them a lot
of instructions. He just says, when they’re curious about him, “Come and see.”
Check it out! Come take part! It’s such a welcoming invitation. The message
Jesus communicates is that not only will he share with them, but they’ll even
get to take part, to participate, engage with whatever he’s all about right
away. Come and see!
A few of
us attended a District Day with our Bishop last week, and enjoyed a time of
worship and praise. One of the musicians said, “worship is not a spectator
sport.” Everyone cheered in agreement. Unfortunately, we then proceeded to try
to sing songs where no music and no words had been provided. Most people
mumbled awkwardly. You could tell exactly where in the room the people were who
knew the song already. I know we sing new songs here, but I try to give you a
fighting chance with some words or music or a tune you already know! Indeed, we
became just spectators.
It made me think of a lecture I heard last month from Lutheran
priest Nadia Bolz-Weber. She shared with us how, at her church, when you walk
in the door, you’ll find a number of folders set on a table that contain
instructions for how to help with a different part of the service. You might
see, for example, the gospel lesson in a folder, or the call to worship, or
words to say to collect the offering, or a folder with instructions for helping
to assist with communion. Anyone can participate in the service. So if you are
there for the first time, and you want to help, you can walk in, pick up a
folder, and find yourself reading the gospel lesson that day. That’s something
they really focus on in her congregation. Removing barriers to participation.
Although you can always learn more and attend classes and workshops and
trainings – which are good things for your growth as a leader and for your
spiritual development, the clear message that you’ll get at her church is that
you are invited to take part right way, that you don’t have to be “special” or
holy or ordained or certified to take part in worshiping God, to take part in
serving your neighbor, to be part of the community of faith.
I told you
before that it’s a challenge to get Sam to tell us about his day at school. But
it isn’t that Sam is reluctant to talk about everything. Like many children his
age, he gets pretty enthralled by the latest thing that he loves. For a while, it
was all Pokemon. Sam could spend hours talking to you about Pokemon, and
showing you his cards, and looking at his books about Pokemon. Hours. Lately,
it’s Skylanders. Anybody familiar with Skylanders? It’s a video game with
matching toys and books and things to purchase, of course. And Sam will say to
me sometimes, “Aunt Beth, I want you to ask me any questions you might have
about Skylanders. Anything you want to know.” He’s completely serious. I try to
explain to him that I know so little about Skylanders I can’t even ask good
questions, but he’s so sincere, so eager. He loves this thing, these
Skylanders, and he wants to draw you in to the world that he loves. For
something really important to Sam, he’s totally ready to say, “Come and see.”
Have you ever felt that way about something? What do you
love so much that the best thing you can think to do is share it? Imagine a new
parent or grandparent and the enthusiasm with which they’ll show you pictures
of a new baby. What else do you feel like that
about? Because that’s how Jesus
feels about the invitation he offers. “Come and see!” he says. He hardly says
anything else at all before he’s inviting, inviting, inviting. He can’t wait to
have you become part of the story.
What about you? What brings you such joy, such
excitement, that you can’t help but want to show and tell about it? What brings
you such happiness that you want to tell someone all the details about it? What
makes you want to invite someone else to come and see what you have
experienced? I believe that among us we have experiences of God’s love and
grace and movement among us that are worth sharing. I bet, if we let ourselves
get going, we could spend a lot of time talking about how God has been good to
us, how following Jesus has shaped our lives. I bet many of us could point to some
aspect of our lives and say, “because of Christ,” because of God’s love,
because of following Jesus, because of church, because of Apple Valley, and
then share a story about God at work in us.
When we talk about being invitational, that’s what I’m
interested in. I want to hear about what God is doing in your life. And I am
praying that you are so moved by what God is up to that you just have to say to
those around you, “Come and see.” Next week, I’m going to be asking if there’s
anyone here who wants to do a bit of Show and Tell. I’ll be asking if there is
anyone who might be willing to talk about something God is doing in their life.
I thought about asking you to do it right now, today. But I’m giving you a
heads up. I won’t call on anybody. Please don’t skip church next week because
this sounds scary. I’m just going to extend to you an invitation, an invitation
to share with us a minute or two about what God is doing, or has done in your
life that needs sharing. It’s kind of a practice, to remind us of how good it
is to share with others about what we love. So I want you to think about that
this week. What has God done in your life – what is God doing – that you need
to share like you need to share the newest pictures of the precious children in
your life? God is at work in us, in our world today, and at work here at Apple
Valley. Jesus calls to us: “Come, and See.” Amen.
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