Guest Preacher Ed Gaylord
The Community Church of Sebastopol
June 21, 2009 Father’s Day
Revelation 3: 15-17
“So because you are lukewarm…I’m going to spit you out of my mouth.”
Pretty extreme words! Very direct; definitely not lukewarm! Why is “lukewarm” worse than “hot” or “cold?” If you think at simplest level, take food, for example. There really isn’t a lot of food we like which is “lukewarm.” Usually we like food hot or cold. Lukewarm food isn’t very flavorful, it’s kind of blah. In the biblical context, there are lots of ways we can interpret these words. But for the purposes of this sermon, let’s think of a cold person as a non-believer. Not a Christian. A person who has made a decision about where he/she stands. That’s better than no decision at all. Then consider that a hot person would be a Christian, who persistently seeks to grow and expand one’s faith; someone who also has taken a stand. But a lukewarm person is wishy washy. Maybe with a vague religiosity. Martin Marty calls this “religion in general.” If lukewarm, one is probably bored or indifferent. This person has not made a commitment to his/her faith nor anything else. You don’t get the sense that this person has much concept of spiritual development or journey. This a.m. I’m not going to consider the cold person. I do intend for us to think about where we stand: are we hot or lukewarm?
LET’S LOOK AT THIS LUKEWARM SIDE OF FAITH
First of all, this sermon is confessional. For a long time I have felt lukewarm. God has been far off, not really experienced. The Bible hasn’t had any attraction. My prayers have been sporadic and lacking in conviction. My wife confronted me several months back when she said: “you seem to- tally unconscious of anything around yourself!” I was not shocked because she was telling the truth. So, this sermon is definitely as much for me as for you, but then, shouldn’t that be true for every sermon? When I began thinking about our church, I started having strong reservations about my choice of topic. Would anyone say that our church is lukewarm?? I would say without equivocation that our church is HOT! A couple of Sundays ago, Gene asked everyone in the congregation to stand up if they had volunteered in some way during this past church year. At least ¾ stood up! I didn’t stand up. I was both amazed and moved. Let’s consider some of our church’s strengths. In Gene we almost always have a fresh, delightful preacher. We have a wonderful music program with our choirs, the bells, and other specialty music groups. We usually sing our hymns with gusto. We laugh easily, and often applaud contributors to the worship service. We’re not uptight at all. We have an extraordinary youth program. Adult and youth work teams. The list could go on and on. So, this all begs the question: Why AM I talking to you about being lukewarm? Because I am asking all of us to consider how vibrant & vital is our own personal faith & spiritual development?
Some years ago I wrote in my journal this entry: “The fertile periods of my spiritual growth were often a real, intense struggle w/God. Now I feel a sense of distance, a rigidity in me, like the hardening of my arteries, a coldness, a nothingness, little real depth of meaning.” I was pretty down then; I had lots of stuff going on in my life then. I’m wondering….have any of you ever had similar feelings? I am pretty confident there are some here this a.m. who feel the same kind of numbness & despair. God doesn’t seem real in their lives, at least for the present. It’s very likely that some members of our church didn’t come to church this morning because they feel a similar emptiness. They probably assume the rest of us never feel that way, and if they came to worship, they might feel out of place or uncomfortable. William Lobdell, in his book Losing My Religion, wrote that when he prayed, “I was talking to myself, and felt stupid doing it. What had seemed like a 2-way conversation had turned into a monologue. Now when I prayed, I started to feel a bit like a mental patient, babbling to myself.” This kind of experience can be very discouraging; it can feel like this isn’t going to change. However, if we don’t try do anything about this state of mind and give in to it & just accept that’s way we feel, we can become “LUKEWARM,” like tepid dishwater. Thomas Moore, in his book The Soul’s Religion wrote: “today people don’t seem to struggle w/ belief as much…The real threat to belief may not be doubt but sheer lack of interest. This is not so much unbelief as non-belief.”One of the points I’m really trying make is that our scriptures, the spiritual greats of the Church, & our personal experiences have shown that God may seem absent if we are CASUAL about our faith. If I talked with my wife as seldom as sometimes do with God, she & I would be strangers! If I prepared myself for my vocation as superficially as I might approach my spiritual growth, I would be a failure in my work. Let’s ask ourselves…are we excited about our faith? Are we regularly reading for spiritual growth and understanding? Are we involved in on-going groups where we can struggle with our questions & doubts? Our Adult Education Commission has a discussion group which meets almost every Sunday before Church. As a % of our membership…it has a very small attendance. For me, it has been easier to stay in bed one more hour instead of coming to the group. But I have already said that I’ve been lukewarm. What about our church library? I could be wrong but I don’t think it’s used very much. Church libraries are famous for having dusty book due to a lack of use. A lot of these books can challenge us & give us new ideas which we can chew on. These books can help expand our understanding of our faith & develop our spiritual life. If we’re not taking advantage of various opportunities to grow spiritually, we may be pretty casual about our faith, maybe we’re a bit lukewarm. I’m not meaning to be judgmental. I am just posing questions for our consideration. There is so much more we can talk about on the subject of being lukewarm, but let’s move on the 2nd part of the sermon.
II. WHAT ARE WE IF WE’RE HOT?
I am going to read an actual account of a worship service in a most unusual church deep in the southern Appalachians. It’s described in Dennis Covington’s book, Salvation on Sand Island.
“During the next song, which was called, ‘Everything’s Gonna Be All Right’, things started getting a little wild. Lydia Hollins was singing in a voice as raw and tortured as Janis Joplin’s when flamboyant Brother Timmy, suddenly seized by the rhythm of the music, started dancing down the aisle toward the front, his tambourine going. A half dozen of the faithful had joined them and had begun lifting snakes from the other boxes in no apparent order and with no apparent plan. They were shouting praise or praying out loud. Some were speaking in tongues. Things were beginning to spiral out of control. To my left, Dewey Chafin, the white-haired ex-coal miner, took up 3 rattle- snakes at the same time. He dropped one onto the floor in the confusion, and stooped to pick it back up. One of his thumbs was still bandaged from a copperhead bite he’d received a few weeks before. Again the hymn shouted out ‘Everything’s Gonna Be All Right.’ At one point, all 6 snakes wound up with Brother Charles, who was standing next to me. ‘Everything’s Gonna Be All Right,’ went the hymn again. For 20 minutes, we continued to dance and sing, while the music ground on like some wacko, amphetamine dirge. Then Brother Carl took the rattlesnakes and put them on top of his head before distributing them back to the other men. The action was so wild and fast, I lost track of where the snakes were or who had them. But right at that moment, when it seemed the frenzy couldn’t restrain itself any longer, the lunatic music stopped, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. The people around me were illuminated. Their faces were filled with light. The handlers started returning the snakes to their boxes. They actually stood in line, waiting their turn to guide the serpents back into the flat cages with ‘Jesus Saves’ carved in the sides.” Now…that’s a hot church! Such utter confusion and noise, yet such passionate devotion!! Do I want us to take up snake handling??? Definitely not!! Before dismissing them as ignorant crazies, think of the raw faith these folk had to have to reach into a box of swarming rattlers! I couldn’t come close to that kind of conviction & trust! Then there’re Mormon young people who come to our doors & the Jehovah Witnesses. While we may be irritated by their interruptions of whatever we’re doing, consider ourselves….Are we so passionate & clear about what we believe in our faith that we could talk to strangers c. our beliefs? It’s not that I’m saying we should be like those people. No, what am saying again is that if we’re HOT about our faith, we CAN’T be casual about it. C.S. Lewis wrote: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” I often forget that my Christian faith demands my decision & commitment over & over again. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” If we’re hot, we can try to answer that question clearly. Who is Jesus Christ to us? What is the Gospel? Why is it called “Good News?” I think a HOT Christian will either have clear answers or is growing in their understanding. A hot faith is one in which we’re eager to grow in our understanding and personal experience of God. In this process we’re going to doubt and struggle with these and many other questions, which means we’re actively engaged. Someone said church is place to question our answers! This process works best when we have strong idea where we’re going. Many of our spiritual gurus would call this our “Spiritual Journey.” For a hot Christian, this kind of journey is on-going all our lives. For sure, we will likely will go down detours, dead ends, or lose interest & eventually we’ll realize we’ve become lukewarm. Then, if we are a hot Christian, we will start our journey again. We’ll be persistent and highly intentional in our pursuit of our spiritual growth. Let me illustrate what can happen when we really focus on our journey. Let me tell you what has happened to my lukewarm self during the preparation for this sermon. I began doing lot of reading of books, reviewing hundreds of notes I’ve accumulated over the years, and I did an awful lot of thinking. You know what happened? I began to feel my energy rising steeply; I was sensing excitement; thoughts were oozing out of me! I could have put together 10 sermons! I was awash with ideas! I was really having an experience of “waking up.”I was paying attention. I began to notice so much more around me & appreciate the love I have for my loved ones. My wife, Joan, was at first suspicious as to why I was almost suddenly so much more loving! Then I began to be aware again of God’s loving presence & care for me. I had forgotten that this was how I’ve gotten out of my spiritual funks before. If we want to strengthen & enrich our inner self, we either rededicate ourselves to the journey, or we continue on the journey we’ve already started.
So….let me tell you what I’m going to do now! I’m GOING TO START AN INTENTIONAL SPIRITUAL JOURNEY. I will first engage in careful planning & preparation. I’ve worked up a sequence of books I’m going to read. If you’re interested, I have made some copies on red paper of a suggested reading list & put them on the table in the narthex. If we run out, let me know & we’ll run off some more. I’m going to combine this with exploring the bible. When we don’t take the bible literally, sometimes we leave it alone and discount its treasures. I want to explore different kinds of prayer. I am going to get involved in church: when a Sunday adult group starts, I’ll be there! This fall I will join the choir! I will seek other kinds of involvement too. I would really be excited if any of you would like to be a part of this too. We could have a small group all intent on developing our own individual journeys. We could brainstorm together for journey ideas and meet occasionally to share & give encouragement. Another thing, I intend to get back into meditation & contemplative prayer. I used to belong to a Marin UCC church about size of our church. It had a 15 week course on the techniques of meditation, and it was called “Pilgrimage Home.”Each week a new technique was introduced and then we’d practice it during week. The next week we’d share how it went and we learned another technique. The truly amazing thing was that probably 2/3 of the congregation went through Pilgrimage Home. It became so popular that they had to have a lottery to decide who would be able to join the next session. This class really opened me up spiritually. I’ve never before nor since been in a church where the members were so uninhibited in sharing their individual spiritual practices. If any of you would be interested in setting up a Pilgrimage Home here, I’m sure it can be done.
I want to finish by reading something from Harvey Cox in his book, The Seduction of the Spirit:
“The church needs to provide places and experiences for its members where they can listen to their inner voices, recall their deepest feelings, and learn how to cultivate an authentically inner life.”
Think if we want to be HOT, it would be good seek out these kinds of opportunities. We of course already have some of them, but I think we can develop more. This could be exciting. Please join me!