Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
August 3, 2003
Ephesians 4: 1-16
Vince Lombardi, legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, (oh no, not another Packer story) was known as an absolute fanatic when it came to the fundamentals of playing football. He hated mistakes, and his players knew it. Chuck Swindoll shares this Lombardi story: “Those who played under his leadership often spoke of his intensity, his drive, his endless enthusiasm for the guts of the game. Time and time again he would come back to the basics of blocking and tackling. On one occasion the Packers lost to an inferior squad. It was bad enough to lose, but to lose to that team was absolutely inexcusable. Coach Lombardi called a practice the very next morning. The men that day, sat silently, looking more like whipped puppies than a team of champions. Gritting his teeth and staring holes through one athlete after another, Lombardi begin: “Ok, we go back to basics this morning. Gentlemen, this is a football!”
Here was a group of professionals, indeed champions, who had been slugging it out on the gridiron for years. Yet, along the way they had lost sight of the basics. When Lombardi held up that football, it was like saying, “Librarian, this is a book,” or “Marine, this is a rifle,” or “Preacher, this is a Bible.” Says Swindoll, “Lombardi operated on a very simple philosophy. He believed that excellence could be best achieved by perfecting the basics of the sport. His strategy was simple. Know your position. Learn how to do it right. Then do it with all your might.” His teams won three consecutive world championships.
I wonder if Paul isn’t doing a similar thing with the church at Ephesus, wanting them and us to perfect the basics of the Christian faith and the Christian life – wanting them to be equipped for the task. “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Gifts given…for the building up of the body, for the equipping of the saints. The basics.
But just what does it mean to equip the saints? Too often, I fear, we define that narrowly in the church to mean getting a bunch of jobs done. We’ll equip the saints by putting them on committees and giving them tasks to accomplish. And, oh yes, it would also be nice if you could contribute a few dollars along the way. And certainly there are jobs to get done. Water heaters break, toilets overflow, budgets must be hammered out, money must be raised, youth groups need leaders, classes must be led, apple pies must be baked, nametags ordered, bulletins stuffed and communion served. All important tasks to be sure. And I am eternally grateful to all those who perform those tasks and many, many more. Surely these often mundane but necessary tasks are part of what it means to equip the saints and build up the body of Christ.
But when Paul is talking about the basics of the faith, equipping the saints, I think he is looking just a little deeper than the necessary tasks to maintain an institution and pay the bills.
First of all for Paul, getting back to the basics begins with a healthy dose of humility. Look around. Read popular magazines. Modern culture tends to affirm, first and foremost, that we are at the center – autonomous individuals, belonging to ourselves and fully accountable only to ourselves. Robert Horine, an author and Episcopal priest, shares this story: “As I emerged from the dairy aisle in the neighborhood supermarket and turned toward the bagels, I spotted my old friend Terry Regan over near the soups. He saw me at the same time and we started toward each other. I hadn’t seen Terry for over a year and he looked slimmer. Good for him, I thought. He needed to trim down a little.
“We were grinning and had our hands stuck out to shake when I realized this wasn’t Terry Regan. This wasn’t anybody I knew at all. Still, our hands were out there and so we went on with the handshake and I said, ‘I’m Bob Horine. I thought you were someone else, but you’re not. Who did you think I was?’ Still grinning and shaking his head he said, ‘I don’t know who I thought you were.’”
Says Horine, “I’ve made other mistakes in identity. Once, in high school, I talked to a boy who was trying to move in on my girlfriend. I finished what I had to say and left him standing in the hall, speech-less. No wonder. Wrong boy…Recognizing people can be tricky business.”
I believe Paul would agree. And I think Paul would say that too often we don’t recognize each other or even ourselves. In this text, he wants us to recognize ourselves and each other first and foremost as people called by Christ to walk with Christ, indeed called to “grow up in every way into him, who is the head, into Christ.” It may be painful to hear this and it is terribly counter cultural to say it, but, like it or not, we are not at the center of things; Christ is. It is not all about us. It is about Christ and what God in Christ has done, is doing and will do. So Part I of the basics is recognizing who we truly are – people growing into Christ, Christ who is at the center.
Part II of the basics is this: we are to reach out to each other. Again, it isn’t all about me; it is about using our God-given gifts for the “building up the body of Christ.” A few years ago, in the New Age Journal, of all places, Lynn Willeford wrote an article she titled, Why I Went Back. What she had done was go back to was church. Toward the end of that article she said, “I haven’t missed a Sunday in the six months since I went back. I think of church as an enriching experience, as a connection to the great mysteries of life…I have always believed that we are here on Earth to make life better for others, with whatever talents and skills we have. Although this philosophy made me feel like a Goody Two-Shoes in my secular life – out of step with an increasingly material world – it is supported by my church community. In the safety of that community I can discuss spiritual and ethical issues freely, giving voice to feelings and beliefs kept too long in the shadows.” .
“Gifts given…. to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” I hear this text lived out in the words of Lynn Willeford. In her community of faith, she has found others willing to share in her journey, to support her, to talk about her life in the spirit, to encourage her to live out her faith commitment in the world. That’s getting down to basics, equipping each other for the task. She has been given space, been given permission, to discover her own spiritual gifts and then to put them to use. I’m sure that Jesus wants us to pay our bills and make sure we have communion inserts in our Sunday bulletins. But what really matters is how we are growing into Christian maturity, how we grow into Christ; how we nurture each other, encourage each other as members of the body of Christ, “knit together,” says Paul, by every ligament.” Perhaps, before we do anything, maybe we should ask, “How does this task, this event, this activity contribute not only to ministry, but also – and perhaps most especially – to unity, faith, and Christian maturity?
I know of a church in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood which for years allowed a few homeless people to sleep on the church grounds. One of them, after months of sleeping at the church, announced that he would like to become a member of that church; not only that but he would also like to join the choir. It created quite a stir in the church, where they were not used to a lot of homeless people worshipping with them, but before long, there he was, all cleaned up in a brand new suit (provided by a church member) singing right there in the front row of the choir. And he sang with them for several years – he was a member for several years. Then one night, unannounced, he appeared at a mission board meeting and expressed concern for many of his “brethren” still homeless on the streets. So many of them were hungry. But he had a plan. Well, before long, and almost in spite of themselves, the church was involved in an innovative food program to feed the homeless. Said the volunteer director of the church, “Who would have known that on some Sunday in the nearly forgotten past, a homeless man would walk into our patio and eventually become a visionary leader among us? God knew, and God set us up. God takes people who even we, who should know better, people who we overlook and makes them God’s treasured servants.”
If all we offer people is “church work” we shouldn’t be surprised if they decline our generous invitation. But, if we listen to Paul, which is to say, if we offer each other opportunities to use our unique gifts of the spirit for the building up of the body, for the equipping of the saints, if we offer each other this opportunity, who knows what God might accomplish in our midst.
“Gentleman, this is a football.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a church.” Let’s get back to basics.