Words are my life. Yours too, I believe. But mine somewhat obviously. I’m a preacher and a pastor. I’m set apart to share words, and when I do it well, I share the Word. But sometimes – no, often – they are only words that hint at, point toward the Word. Yet, they are what I have. I am a word smith, hammering them into place when they won’t easily fit; a word shepherd when they run and play across God’s green creation like living things bringing hope to many hearts. I live in words.
Sometimes the words are words of finality, words a family can’t bring themselves to say, but needing to hear. Words speaking the truth of life and of death, with the bold but elusive hope of eternity. Words that make the lowering of the box and the throwing of the dirt seem less definitive somehow. Sometimes the words are words of blessing accompanied by water dripping from fingers upon unsuspecting brows and bowed heads. Sometimes they are words of binding The old words used for many years to bind two people together to make them one, and the newer words that talk about hopes and dreams and plans and issues. Lots of words.
Some words need to be explain or analyze, others we knew or think we do anyway. Words. That’s what I do. People ask me. We would like you to say the words, they say. Say the words and help us say the words. The words that would make us one. The words that bring meaning in a meaningless moment. The words that might help us survive in an uncertain world. Say the words that bind us, that soothe our souls, that send us onward. Say the words. The good words that we long to hear and the hard words we need to hear. The words of binding and of sharing, the words of committing and of sacrificing, the words of ending and sending. Say the words.
We start a new series this week. And our series is about words. Some words we will like: Disciple, empowered and confident, vision and hope, for example. And some we won’t like as much: Mission and evangelism, for example. Scary words for some, fighting words. But words woven into the conversation called faith from the very beginning.
We have two texts this week, two sets of words from the Bible to get us started. The first is our governing text for the whole series. A familiar one. Even has a name, words about the words. The Great Commission. You know it.
Matthew 28:16-20 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Words of sending, words of blessing and promise to be sure, but the sending is clear. “Go” he says. This faith thing isn’t a stay, but a go. It isn’t a dwell on this, think on this, consider this, but a go and do this. Well, yeah, but to go and do you need to dwell and think and consider, don’t you? Of course you do. But sometimes we get caught up in the thinking we forget about the doing. At least when it comes to our faith. We are great doers with it comes to everything else. Making a home, growing a family, shaping a career, working in a community - we are doers from way back. And good at it. Driven by it. Sometimes overwhelmed by it but we keep going. One foot in front of another on the long road to who knows where. We are doers of our lives. But are we doers of our faith?
Well, yes, of course. Our faith is such that as we live our life we declare our faith. The values we espouse reflect the vows we made to follow our Savior, the commitments we keep let the words of our beliefs become actions, the generosity of our hands reveals our contemplations of the words of Christ, our lives put the words of our faith to work. Who said “Preach always, use words when necessary”? We like that. Let our lives be our proclamation.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Except sometimes words are necessary. Say the words, they asked me. Say the words of binding, the words of love and marriage. Say the words that challenge and invite. Say the words that bring folks a little closer, the words of welcome and acceptance. Say the words of hope, or promise. Say the words of a tomorrow that is brighter than the today we sometimes face. Say the words that just might begin to heal the brokenness that was caused by other words.
Go into all the world, he says, make disciples, baptize, teach, remember. Go with these words. Challenging words, that’s for sure. Words we would just as soon keep under wraps, as a hidden agenda rather than an up-front reason for being. The words aren’t easy to follow. Even those who first heard them struggled. Our second passage is one of the saddest sections of all the Gospels. Jesus had been teaching, teaching hard stuff, challenging stuff, confusing stuff. And he ends by saying God’s in charge, not you. God brings you to me, you didn’t decide to follow Jesus, forgive me Sadhu Sundar Singh who tradition says first wrote that hymn (I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, that one!). He was one of the first native Indian missionaries on that complex and confusing sub-continent. And he heard a story of a man who believed even though no one else in his family or village or region did. Though none go with me, I have decided to follow Jesus. A powerful message, a powerful truth. Except that Jesus says no one can come to me except by the Father. God chose, you chose, God invited, you decided. Which is it? Both? Neither? Some odd combination? It is confusing. Some of the first disciples heard this and said this is too hard. These words confuse us. And they wandered off.
Jesus stood watching them go, with sadness, I believe, in his heart. Then in that sadness he turns to the twelve, the ones he chose by name to follow closest. Because they were special? Or because they needed remedial work? Maybe both. But he turns to them.
John 6:67-69 So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" 68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
What about you? Are you leaving too? Your heart breaks just reading those words. But Peter responds. With a shrug. Nowhere else to go. You have the words. The words we need to live and breathe. The words that make our lives into something with meaning and purpose. The words that lift our hearts when our heads have fallen in shame and embarrassment. The words that pick us up and dust us off and get us back on track when we stumble and fall. The words that pull us out of ourselves into a wider, more wonderful world; a God-breathed world, vibrating with the presence of the Spirit, alight with possibility and hope. You have the words that give us life. Where else would we go?
He has the words and he has given them to us. And there is a world hungry to hear them. Say the words. Not just be a good person, but say the words. Invite and encourage. Heal and love. Love, that greatest commandment, love. The theologian Paul Tillich said the first duty of love is to listen. You have the words, but first you have to listen so you know which words are needed, which words will connect, which words will feel like a balm and invite someone into a deeper relationship with the One who gave you the words. That’s what we’re about this series. Helping us all know that we have the words. And then finding the courage to speak them. Say the words.
Shalom,
Derek
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