From the sermon this week at University Temple (1415 43rd Street –10:30am) … about the meaning of a University’s unique ministry. Some blurbs below … I spent the last week of my time away at a University Church Network Conference consulting with 35 other University churches and meeting 65 Campus Ministers from around the country. The abiding imprint of those days together is that a University Church has a unique and potentially powerful role in creating disciples of Jesus Christ who launch forward to transform not merely the interior lives of individuals, but also the political lives of entire nations. … ….. Why do we need to put forth so much effort and risk? What’s so important about us … why can’t we just die and go away? ------ For that I want to focus us back into the text: “In Christ the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple”. We do it because there are 45,000 young potential leaders of tomorrow’s world across the street and most of them don’t know their left from right hands, or their head from the hole in the hedonistic ground in which they crawl to party to escape their loneliness, their insecurities and their fears. And yet they are future leaders of business, politics, science, culture --- they are an elite not only for this nation but, as our relationship with Metamai in Kenya demonstrates, an elite for the nations. We do it because there is an intellectual and political body that needs (NEEDS) the moral compass of Jesus Christ and his compassion and care for this world. A Christ-centered worldview transcends party politics, and humanistic secular moral systems of thought. Indeed, I would posit that it is Christianity that has best articulated the sacred worth of the individual, and with Christianity’s demise the individual is subsumed into the mass and loses its sacred significance. We do it because there are too many people in the alley, their lives are a mess, and their future is bleak. Without us the poor will be swept out from our midst to make way for business and the illusion of security through Disney-land like surveillance and security systems. We do it because the institutions of our society are corrupt and dysfunctional needing a new consciousness and value system to help them repent from their greed and gluttony, their sloth and cynicism, repent and return to the function of all institutions (including the Temple) --- organizing people to care for the earth, to evolve life and help it grow. We do it because we belong to Jesus Christ and no other Lord. We do it because we are not afraid … we have been through the Cross and we are moving towards resurrection. We have descended into Hell and we know a way out. We are no little people. We are God’s people. We have been lifted up and chosen to re-present the benevolent presence of God in every sphere of life. And when we do this we are not only happy, we are fulfilled. When we embrace God’s calling we discover the true meaning of our own life --- which is always something beyond our imagination.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 16:49:15 +0000
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