New Love, New Mercy: Is This the City?

We have divided our Narrative Budget into five parts.  It began last week with part one, “Enthusiastic Mission”, and we looked at all of the ways that our ministry is unleashed in the community and world because of a little budget line that simply says “Local Mission $250”.  This week we continue by taking a look at part two, “Inspiring and Equipping the People of Christ to Serve”.  You may be guessing that we have found essentially the same thing;  that a modest budget allocation for worship and education leads to many signs and wonders.

Our Stewardship and Finance Committees had a lot of fun assembling this Narrative Budget.  It makes more sense to focus on what our congregation is actually doing, than cause you a brain cramp as we study a long list of budget numbers.    

But I have to admit there’s a big mistake in this Narrative Budget.  Who here spotted it?  Did we misspell a key word?  Did we make an math error when we added up certain numbers?  Did we leave out one of our mission projects? 

No, the error is that page two really should be page one.  And page two should be page one.  I’m admitting this as an error, but I’ll also admit that there’s lots of room for you to disagree with me. 

The reason we had mission emphasized in part one is because the best way for the world to measure our faith as Christians is to observe what we do by our actions.  The faith in our hearts doesn’t make much difference if we don’t do the deeds that reflect that faith.  Let’s test this point of view:  which is more important, believing that the hungry should be fed, or actually feeding the hungry?  So the actual deeds make a huge difference.  And if we didn’t feed the hungry than all of our words don’t amount to much.  And people outside of our church would have no idea what we believe here. 

If that’s true, why would it be an error to put mission first in our Narrative Budget?  Our friend Art Weldon who died some years ago was once the treasurer of our church.  If anybody focuses on budget numbers it’s the treasurer.  When I first met Art he wasn’t able to come to church because of his wife’s health.  So the very first time I met him was right in his own kitchen.  And one of the first questions Art asked me on that day was this, “Is Mission still at the top of our budget sheet?”  “Yes it is”, I told him.  And he was very proud that mission was still listed first.  In Art’s opinion, we should always put money for mission ahead of everything else, including the heating bill, the cost of Sunday School  and even the pastor’s salary!  For Art it was as simple as simple can be:  “Mission always come first”. 

I’m going to get around to why I think this is an error, but let me keep building up the argument against my own conclusion.  The Scripture reading from Lamentations 2:10-15 is just one example among hundreds in the Bible, that people who avoid doing the deeds of faith will pay a very steep price.  This reading describes in detail what happens to people who chose to sit on their hands, instead of demonstrating their faith through deeds:  because in terrible frustration God has turned away from their empty faith, the people are ashamed, and you can see how ashamed they are as they pour dust on their heads and wear sackcloth (cheap burlap) as a sign of their shame, bowing their heads to the ground because they cannot bear to see the judgment of God against them.    Their eyes are filled with tears, their stomachs ache, and they know that they have done wrong, they looked out for themselves and ignored the needs of others, and now we see them sitting in piles of dust, and those who pass by laugh at them. Jerusalem was supposed to be the holy city, the place that would serve as a shining example to the world.  But now those who walk by shake their heads and laugh, “is this the city praised in Scripture?  Maybe there is such a city somewhere, but not here in Jerusalem, not where these selfish people are weeping while sitting on piles of dust!”  The point of Lamentations is clear:  to ignore God’s mission to the world, and to only look out for ourselves, is strongly condemned.   It’s an old story, but it has a powerful impact upon on in the present:  we don’t want to live in shame for what we have become, we want to demonstrate “new love and new mercy” in all that we do. 

So why am I saying it is an error to list mission first in our Narrative Budget?  Mission is obviously very important, and we would neglect it at our peril. 

Here’s the error I am admitting. Everything about our faith and actions begins and ends with worship.  And if that is so, Part Two should be Part One in our Narrative Budget.  Mission flows out from our worship, as surely as we go out the door at the end of the service into the world, and the mission that we do then flows back into worship as we celebrate what God is doing in the world with our full participation.            Worship is the starting point and ending point of all that we do.   Yes, mission is how we measure the character of our faith, but let us acknowledge that our faith is forged right here worship places like this.  The Presbyterian Book of Order, the Constitution of our Presbyterian Church,  emphasizes this point very clearly in section W-5.1001:  “The life of the Christian flows from the worship of the church, where identity as a believer is confirmed and where one is commissioned to a life of discipleship and of personal response to God.  And the believer‘s life of response and discipleship flows into the church’s life of worship and service.”  Worship is central.  Worship is where all that we do begins, and worship is to where we return to share the stories of our engagement with the world, to be renewed in strength, and to find new companions for cause of Christ. 

Whether I have convinced you of my error or not, I hope you will share my delight with what we experience as we worship here at the Byron Presbyterian Church.  It’s all shown here in our Narrative Budget.  It’s not just worship, it’s all the ways we inspire and equip the people of Christ to serve:  in prayers, in preaching, in music and singing, in testimony about kindness and compassion and many other things, in learning, in Sunday School, in Bible Study, in Faith Journaling, in training people to serve important positions in the life of our church.  

Now, before I close, let me get back to those poor people sitting in piles of dust, weeping their hearts out, and enduring the ridicule of everyone who walks by.  This is not the final word in the matter.  You have to look ahead in chapter three, verse twenty two, where even to people who have made some big mistakes Jeremiah says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”  How wonderful to be with you this morning, to welcome new love and new mercy into our lives!  Shake off the dust and let’s get moving!  Amen.