FOLLOW THE LEADER
Rev. Dr. Dennis Winkleblack
Prospect United Methodist Church
Bristol, Connecticut
Novemer 1, 2009
Hebrews 11: 29-12:2
Luke 6: 20-31
Our oldest granddaughter, Lauren, is now 8, actually 8 ½ -- remember half years are very important to children. For the record, our youngest, Katie is now 6, almost 6 ½. Same deal.
Before our granddaughters were born, I had become one of those cranky pastors who was uneasy with children in worship. It really bothered me when in the midst of a great sermon a child would act up and all the grown ups around him or her would turn and smile.
Then Lauren was born, and I fell in love again with babies and small children. Almost immediately my whole approach to babies in worship changed. When a baby would make a noise and all the adults around him or her turn around, I would want to stop my sermon so I could watch the child also.
I’m glad we have so many children in our church. It’s interesting to watch them during church but also before and after church. It’s not at all unusual to see an older child followed by a younger child followed by a 2 year old toddling along. Sort of a follow the leader. Imitation is definitely the name of the game. That’s how children learn. They imitate each other. And, that’s how all of us learn, really.
We can read all we want about how to do something – whether running a company or weaving an afghan or learning to fish – but we’ll learn it best when we can watch a master at work and imitate their best moves.
In fact, one of the questions I ask couples who come for pre-marital counseling is to name a couple whose marriage they’d like to emulate. I think it’s a great question. It gets them to talk about themselves in ways they may not have verbalized to each other before.
This observation business is true also with our lives as Christians. We learn by observing. Think about it: who’s responsible for your being in church? Hold this thought for a few minutes, please.
Today is All Saints’ Sunday in the life of the church. Saints! You say. Well, yes. Of course, the “saints” we remember today aren’t of the stained-glass kind. We’re not talking about the saints of the Catholic church. Our saints performed no miracles. Indeed, the saints we remember today surely had real, clay feet.
Rather, they were the kind of “saints” St. Paul referred to several times in the New Testament: “saints” meaning ordinary, garden variety kinds of believers, followers of Jesus. Like you. Like me. Saints, not because of an unusually stellar life. But, saints because God is going to perfect them in heaven as a reward for their life of sincere faith here on earth.
In any case, such are the saints we honor today with one other qualifier – today we honor the saints in our lives whom we love but see no more. Today we honor those who have died in the faith and who have left their indelible imprint in the world and in our lives. Not perfect people; but saints in progress even to their dying day.
Did you hear the great line-up of faith read earlier from the book of Hebrews? Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, Rahab. These weren’t perfect people. Even the Bible documents their sins, their dark sides. But, to say the least these were good people, each with many strengths that could serve as examples for others.
So, back to us: think for a moment about the saints in your life?
- Who taught you to pray? A parent, a Sunday school teacher, a pastor maybe?
- And who taught you values like championing the underdog?
- Who modeled for you the way to stand up for beliefs even if unpopular?
- And who taught you to be a good neighbor?
- Who taught you to go the second mile for the sake of another?
- And who was it that most influenced you to be more a giver and not just a taker?
- And who taught you to share your money with your church?
My folks were tithers – they gave 10% of their income to the church and charities. I’ve tried over the years to give less, but I don’t feel right if I don’t do the same.
Well, you get the idea. On a day like today we give thanks to God for the Saints in our lives whose examples of faith have made all the difference in the world to us.
However, the saints of our past not only serve as an inspirational reminder to run the race of life with perseverance: they do one thing more for me at least. And that is they remind me that whether I know I am or not; whether even I want to be or not: I’m an example for others.
This is certainly true with children. It’s almost scary to watch your own children grow older, and observe them acting like you; or hear them having opinions or saying words that sound just like your own. This is what Jeanne and I are observing now with our adult children. It’s both funny and frightening!
But it’s not just our own children who’re watching us. In fact, it’s not just children watching us. Especially in a church family. It’s also other adults watching us. Watching us to see if our actions match our Sunday commitment.
Time and again I have heard in other churches and now hear here mention of names of adults in this congregation who are so admired for their faith and faithfulness. I’m convinced, even more than all the Sunday schools and Confirmation classes in the world, that Christians are shaped and formed by interacting with other Christians.
The deal is, very likely, most likely, someone else has been looking at you from time to time to see if you warranted being their church role model. Listening to your speech. Watching your actions. Checking out your lifestyle. Seeing if you showed up for this or that crucial gathering.
You say you don’t want to be a role model. Too late! You already are!
The point I’m trying to make is that you never know when someone is being influenced by you. On the one hand, you can’t obsess on things like this or you’ll go crazy. However, on the other hand, while we shouldn’t compulsively filter our actions through the screen of what others will think, neither ought we believe that our words and actions are nobody’s business but our own. Especially is this true in the church: we are supposed to be living examples for one another!
Clearly, if being our brother’s or sister’s keeper means anything, it means being aware that we each do bear considerable responsibility for modeling healthy, faithful Christianity. It means we must live aware that someone may be and probably is watching, consciously or unconsciously, to help them decide the kind of Christian they’re going to be.
So, if in the past, we haven’t given much thought to this then it’s time to do so. To do, as the poet Robert Burns prompted, try to see ourselves as others see us. To think about the example we’re setting. And not be quick to excuse ourselves, by saying, “Ah, I’m good enough.”
I love cookies. Especially home made. But I’m not picky. Among store brands, Mrs. Fields is my favorite. The founder of the cookie company is Debbi Fields. In the 90’s she sold her company to an investment firm. They did well for awhile but in August of 2008 they filed for bankruptcy. Now they’re back in business, I understand.
However, their bankruptcy suggests that the investors who bought the Mrs. Fields cookie company at least temporarily forgot to practice what Mrs. Fields both preached and practiced.
She writes in her autobiography appropriately titled, “One Smart Cookie,” that one day she walked into one of her stores unannounced, and noticed “a very unhappy-looking batch of cookies laid out for her customers.” They were flat and over-baked. A perfect Mrs. Fields cookie is one-half inch in thickness, and these were one-quarter inch. A perfect Mrs. Fields cookie is three inches in diameter, and these appeared to measure three and one-quarter inches. They were also a little more golden-brown than they should have been.
The cookies were only off by one-quarter inch in each direction – a quarter inch. But what really hammered home the importance of detail, and reinforced the underlying Mrs. Fields philosophy, was the way she handled the situation.
She could have fired the store manager on the spot, which she didn’t do. She could have sent out a corporate memo reemphasizing proper cookie size and color, but she didn’t do that either. Here’s what she did.
She writes, “I turned to the young man standing next to me and said, ‘Tell me, what do you think of these cookies?’” “’Aw,’ he said, ‘they’re good enough, Mrs. Fields’
“I nodded. I had my answer. One tray at a time, I took the cookies – five or six hundred dollars’ worth – and slid them gently into the garbage can.
“You know,” I said to him, “good enough never is.”
On this day when we remember with thanksgiving the Saints of God whose example has made us what we are, we think also of our responsibility to be examples for others. It’s a huge responsibility.
Because in a matter of much greater importance than cookies, namely living faithful lives modeled after Jesus Christ with eternal ramifications. In a matter far wider reaching than mere personal taste and preference, namely being an example for others -- good enough never is.