Through Thick and Thin
“Through Thick and Thin” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! As you probably know, today, February 2, is Groundhog Day. In homage to the Bill Murray movie with that title, I thought I might just preach last week’s sermon over again today, but then I worried that 1. Nobody would notice or 2. That may already be what every Sunday feels like. So today I have prepared a brand-new sermon, and in case there was a shadow of doubt, you are in for at least six more weeks of it.
This is week two of the sermon series For the Love of God. Last week I gave a bit of an overview of the general concept and our text of the epistles of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. I hope you had an opportunity to read 1 John 4:7-21 which is the foundation not only for this series, but for life in Christ: because God loved us enough to send Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins, we also ought to love one another. As someone shared with me after last week’s service, “Christians should love other people. Hello . . .?” In other words, this is probably something you’ve heard before.
In the coming weeks we’re going to look into some of the various ways in which we experience and share God’s love. This morning we’re going to be talking about Community. Some of you will recognize my sermon title, “Through Thick and Thin” as a shameless plagiarism of the 2023 Lent devotionals written by Beth Sollenberger. Beth did not invented the phrase — it means “to persevere through good times and bad times,” and it’s pretty good shorthand for community. People who are with you only in good times are different than a community you can count on when things get rough.
Our text from the third letter of John expands the definition of community in a Christian context. In this sense, our community can enlarge to include people we don’t know — strangers — simply because they are fellow followers of Christ who are working for the love of God. Verse 3 says, “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church.” The writer is referring to hospitality shown Christian workers by other Christians.
I mentioned last week The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking, who is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. Lykke is the Danish word for happiness; Denmark and other Scandinavian countries consistently rank toward the top of polls measuring levels of happiness around the world. Of course, measuring happiness can be tricky, because it’s subjective and sometimes fleeting. I might feel pretty happy right now with the prospect of an unscheduled afternoon, and pretty unhappy tomorrow on the way to get my taxes done. But it turns out that even with taking some of the daily variations of happiness into account, there are consistent themes of what contribute to an overall sense of well-being and contentment. Many of these things, I believe, correlate with biblical teaching about how Christians are called to live for the love of God. It begins with God and God’s love for us through Christ, but it turns out that when we live for the love of God, it leads to many of the things which support happiness. Cool, right?
One of those things, which I mentioned in reference to 3 John is community. Your presence here today — both in-person and maybe even more so if you are joining us online — suggests that you value the community of a church family. I said last week that living for the love of God is always more than a private experience. We all know people who claim to love God but want nothing to do with church, which is, as I think Robin noted for us when she preached last October, is a bit like saying how much you love the game of basketball, but you have no interest in playing on a team. I know some of the ways in which community can be difficult — believe me — but loving one another is not a spectator sport; you have to get out on the court and play even if you get fouled sometimes. That is part of the game, and one of the marks of a team player is how you can shake it off and get up — whether you were fouled or you fouled someone else. Can you play on, or will you take your ball and go home? [That is a metaphor of confession, forgiveness, and grace, in case you thought I was talking just about sports.]
Here are some statistics about community, in case numbers are your thing — you know who you are. People from 38 countries were asked if they believed they could rely on their friends in times of need. #1 was New Zealand with 98.8% said they could rely on their friends. #38 was Mexico with only 75.3%. The United States was 22nd with 90.2%. Another question, How often do you meet socially with friends, relatives, or colleagues? Those who said “Never” rated their happiness at 4.9 out of 10 the people who met several times a week or everyday rated their happiness at 7.6 and 7.8. final statistic I’ll share: How many people are there with whom you can discuss intimate and personal matters (note: this a different question than How many friends do you have on FaceBook): People who said they had 0 people whom they could talk to about personal matter rated their happiness at 6.0; those with 7-9 or 10 or more intimate friends were 8.0 or over.
If you have ever needed a place to stay for the night, a ride to a doctor’s appointment, a ride to the airport, or a meal made for you, and you got that help from someone at Creekside, you know what I’m talking about. That is the power of community, and I know that I am preaching to the choir.
I heard from some folks from Creekside this week about their response to last week’s homework assignment. That was to read 1 John 4:7-21, and to take some time to think about what you long for and would like Creekside church to be a part of. The folks I talked to came up with an idea for Creekside which is almost exactly the same as one suggested by Wiking as a way to build community: that is, for a group of people — Wiking suggested a group of neighbors, but it could also work for a congregation — to develop a database for things folks would be willing and able to do to help others in their neighborhood or congregation. Thing like provide transportation to appointments, cook a meal, babysit, pet sit, mow a lawn, home repairs. What are you willing to do for someone at Creekside? I’m going to be working on developing and sharing an Assist List, and figuring out the best way to share that information. Of course I will need your assistance to make this work. My hope is this will increase the give and take of our community. If you are often on the receiving end, maybe you can consider how you can give back by helping someone else. If you are willing to give assistance to someone else, maybe it will be easier for you to ask for help when you need it.
We may think it’s heroic to go alone, but it turns out that showing up for other people is good for them and good for us. Maybe I’m at place right now where I am the one who can help other people — making a meal, or being a listening friend. But being part of a community through thick and thin assumes that there will be time when I will be the one who needs help and support and prayers, no matter how strong and independent and self-sufficient I think I am. Natural disasters, accidents, family crises, health emergencies don’t care how self-sufficient you think you are. If you have not invested in a community while the waters are calm, by giving and receiving, it is really difficult to create that community when you’re in the middle of a storm.
It turns out that community has another value which may be related to happiness, but is something even greater for those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus. 3rd John verse 6 says, “And this is love that we walk according to his [Jesus’] commandments; this is the commandments just as you heard it from the beginning — you must walk in it.” Community is one of the supporting pillars of mission: it is how we are commanded to walk in Jesus’ steps–together. Community is how we are accountable to one another, but it also how we serve the mission of God. The church has a purpose which is bigger than taking care of each other: we exist for God’s purpose and God’s mission. We are not on that mission by ourselves and through our own strength; that mission is commanded by our call and our commitment to follow Jesus Christ. Last week I shared the quote about the way to build a ship is to teach people to long for the immensity of the sea. Community is one of the ways we build the ship, but the immensity of the sea is God’s mission in the world. What do we love so much that we are willing to give time, talent, and treasure to see happen? That is an important question, because how we answer that is what sets our course for ministry at Creekside. Community means sharing our resources — not just our financial resources, but all of our resources, to reach common goals for the sake of God’s mission. There are good and better ways to do this, in my opinion, and we need both leaders and followers, but I said last week no genuine expression of love for God is ever wasted. God finds ways to use whatever we are willing to offer, but this goes further when we are united with others in heart and in purpose.
If you did not have the opportunity to consider this question last week — it isn’t too late. What do you long for? How do you think Creekside Church should be living into God’s mission, and how are you willing to be part of that purpose? These are questions we should be asking ourselves regularly and prayerfully, so we can set our course accordingly. This is how we are united in love and in purpose, for the love of God, as followers of Jesus, and for service to the world. Amen.