Judging the crisis
Published by Matt Glover June 4th, 2007 in Hearing the WordAnother of our young people gave the sermon thing a try for the firt time last night. Kylie, one of the busiest people I know, somehow managed to study for and sit three exams as well as do her part time jobs and prepare a sermon. She’s nuts!
Anyway, she had lots of great things to say, but the one thing that stuck in my mind was how much our impression of the ‘outside’ affects how we treat a person’s crisis. That is, would we treat a prositute who walked into our gathering sobbing but dressed for work any differently to one of our youth group leaders who was also crying?
We probably would. Well, I probably would. And that difference would be based soley on what I saw before me and the stereo types I have built up in my head.
Kylie reminded us that God see’s the heart. God sees the beauty of the inside and doesn’t base his love on any external appearance. God loves the prostitute, the nurse, the teacher, the accountant (well, maybe not the accountant…joking!) - anybody because God sees them all as children who he wants to return home.
Home is the body of Christ. The nurturing, healing community of God’s people. Later that night I was talking to one of our other young people about how it seems that God uses our brokeness to minister to others, thus if we are all open about our broken state and our need for restoration, God uses all of us as agents of healing for each other. We travel the journey of life together and it doesn’t really matter who we are or what we’ve done. All that matters is who we’re following and we’re we are headed.
The community around us is in crisis. Everybody has, is or will very soon, face some sort of life rattling event that will leave them dazed and struggling to cope. Relationships will crumble, homes will be taken away, death will visit, health will deteriorate, debt will overwhelm - it could be anything. These are the times when the church can be it’s best. Welcoming and supporting with no questions asked.
Kylie finished her message with a reflection on Matt 25 the passage that speaks of showing acts of kindness to the sick, broken, lost, imprisoned etc and doing the same for God. It was a powerful finish to a powerful message and a good reminder to me at least, that I’m nothing with out God and his church.
I wish i had been able to heat her whole message, it is soo good that God doesn’t see the outside, or many of us would be in real trouble! It is always timely to remember that we are all so different and that which others can see on the outside is so often not what is going on on the inside. Good effort to bring such an important message in a busy week!
I really enjoyed Kylies sermon. like Matt, i too found it very powerful and i found some of the questions she asked very difficult and confronting. how would i react if i saw a prositute walk into church? what if she had been just my ages?? then what would i have done? What if she had turned up during Youth Group dinner? would people have willingly given her food? these are all questions i have been asking myself…Kylies sermon left me with alot of questions.
We live in a very messed up world. Like Matt said, we all have our problems. sometimes, our problems seem so bad to us that we forget to watch out for the people around us. i had never thought i would be able to use my brokenness to minister to others. We do all travel through life together. It really doesnt matter who we are or what we’ve done, Matts right. we are all forgiven and we can all have a new start.
I think we all need to stop judging. especially people like me. i become so obssesded with outside appearance. it becomes so obsessive we may even begin to harm ourselves to have the perfect body. we need to look at the inside of people. not their outside appearances. we all need to stop judging.
i know i have blabbered on about some probably unrelated things here!! lol! but Kylies sermon did leave an impression on me and i have many questions…
Awesome work Kylie!!
Questions are good Gill!
Ask away - you know how to reach me.
And then we get the same message (twice!) at State Youth Games… God telling us something much?
I gave my first sermon at Mitcham Baptist in 1974 when I was a member of Mitcham youth. It is remarkable how many young people from that era became Baptist Ministers. Phil and Harley Kitchen, Cathy Inches, Ken Luscombe and myself.
My first sermon was typically passionate and uninformed but it had a remarkable postscript.
A lady went home from church after hearing my sermon (my very first sermon) and wrote a song called “Song in my heart” which she dedicated to me. I think she returned the next week and sang it, but I am not sure.
I still have the manuscript and the dedication.
So you never can tell what effect a first sermon in the Mitcham Baptist Pulpit might have.
That was all 30 years ago, and I am still preaching (in my local Anglican church), still full of enthusiasm for the good news, and still convinced that the church…even the tiny and boring ones are of the greatest power and importance in the world.