Early one Sunday morning a few months ago, our Sexton Troy walked into our dark sanctuary to open the church for worship.
As he reached for the master light switch, he heard what sounded like someone snoring. Now maybe that makes sense IN worship. But not at 6am in the morning!
So Troy flipped on the lights and there on the back pew was a complete stranger sound asleep.
He immediately went into his office to call the police - but by the time he returned, the gentleman was gone.
Fortunately, nothing had been taken or damaged. So we went on with our Sunday worship.
Later that day, Troy sat down to watch the footage from our security cameras to understand what happened.
And what he saw was definitely not what you would expect.
Around midnight the night before, the guy shows up at the front of the church and somehow wrenches open the door.
He then closes the door behind him, walks into the sanctuary, looks around, then goes straight to the altar, gets on his knees and prays.
Yes, you heard me right – he gets on his knees to pray.
But wait – it gets better.
After a few minutes of prayer, the guy gets up, sees Troy’s vacuum cleaner in the corner, plugs it in and starts vacuuming the sanctuary.
Finally, after he finished vacuuming, the guy lay down on a pew and went to sleep.
Friends -You cannot make this stuff up.
Later, when Troy shared this story with me, I looked to the heavens and said, “thank you baby Jesus, for this fabulous sermon idea.”
It’s hard to imagine a better story to anchor our scripture today from 2 Thessalonians.
In his letter, the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica trying to give them encouragement and hope during their time of persecution.
The specific verse I want to focus on today is verse 11 in which Paul writes, “I am asking God to make you worthy of his call.”
“I am asking God to make you worthy of his call.”
I feel for that little church in Thessalonica. I really do.
Like them, we all understand what it feels like to live in a time of persecution and how easy it is to allow the chaos of the world to pull us off track.
But you know, the political environment during which Jesus lived was also chaotic. And yet, Jesus was able to live a life completely aligned with God’s plan.
And guess what? He’s calling us to do the same.
Like with the disciples, every day - Jesus says to us “follow me.”
And yet, we just don’t hear it.
I’m afraid the words “follow me” have lost some of their power in our 21st century world. Especially the word “follow” which has been watered down to the point it really means nothing these days.
We follow the news, we follow fashion, we follow Kim Kardashian on Instagram. But we only follow until we get bored, or frustrated, or just need something new – at which point we “unfollow.”
Words like “call” or “commitment” aren’t ones we honor much today. I’m reminded of the “Word of the Year” contest held by the Oxford University press.
One of my favorites past winners was the word “Slacktivism” – not activism (like working for a cause) but slacktivism. Slacktivism is defined as a person supporting a cause with minimal effort geared only toward the ego of that person.
The example offered was a person who thinks “liking” an organization on Facebook is the same as doing volunteer work.
When Jesus said follow me; it was not a passive invitation. Jesus meant commit to me. Pledge to me. BECOME like me. So how do we do that? How do we make ourselves worthy of his call?
This question brings us right back to our opening story about our friend in the church.
In order to follow Jesus, in order to make ourselves worthy of His call, we must follow a simple three-part formula: pray, work, rest. Then repeat.
That was Jesus’ daily rhythm. That was how Jesus stayed true and aligned to God’s plan. And it must be our rhythm as well.
The first thing we must do each day is pray. To go into your day without prayer, is like – um, well you know what let me give you a New York example. To go into your day without prayer, is like trying to negotiate the Bronx Queens Expressway without a GPS.
Sure, you can jump in the car and just go – but God help where you’ll end up.
It’s the same in life. Prayer is our Rand McNally roadmap. Without it we simply wander through life buffeted here and there by our own brokenness with no alignment or connection to the reason we’ve been put here in the first place.
Speaking of the Bronx Queens Expressway, while driving around NY recently I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a big SUV that said, “Are you following Jesus this close?”
Not a bad question. These days we must follow Jesus very closely. And prayer can help us do that.
The ancient Christian theologians knew this. When greeting each other, they wouldn’t lead with the normal question, how are you? They would lead with the question: “how is your prayer?” How is your prayer? They knew that as your prayer life goes, so goes everything else. Our first step – every morning – must be prayer.
Then we turn to the work of the day. It’s hard sometimes to remember that we all have a call in this life – that we all have a purpose.
But God tells us that in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
Still, we forget – or worse we remember the call but feel too ordinary or flawed or tired to follow. Trust me I get it. But when we start with prayer, anything is possible.
How about trying this simple approach. This week, before you walk into ANY room–pause and ask yourself: “how can I serve in this place?” How can I serve in this place?
Maybe you’re going into a difficult meeting at work,or maybe you’re preparing for a hard conversation with a family member, or maybe you are lying helpless in a hospital bed – it doesn’t matter.
In any situation, we must always ask - “How can I serve?” Because trust me – no matter where we are, there’s always someone near that needs a hopeful word or a kind gesture.
And so we pray, we work, and then – we lay down on our pew to rest. This may be the hardest part.
I’m afraid that the world has convinced us that if we are less productive, then we will be less loved.
Friends, love is not based on a market economy. You don’t have to DO or BE anything to be loved.
God has told us over and over that we are holy and beloved and that not only do we deserve rest, but it is a holy commandment.
Years ago, when I first moved to New York, one of my friend’s grandmothers – a woman we called Nana Gert - kind of adopted me.
Every Friday she invited me to join their family in a Jewish Sabbat dinner. Even though at the time she was in her nineties – every week she would pack the table with lamb chops and noodle koogle and cakes and chocolates.
One time I asked her how in the world she had the energy to cook all this food every week! And she smiled and said, I take a lot of breaks. If I’m tired, I just say to myself, “Shabbat? why not!” and I sit down.
I think we should all take a lesson from Nana Gert. If we’re tired, just say, “Sabbat? Hey - Why not!” and take a rest.
And please understand rest can take many forms. Sure, sleep is important. But so are periodic breaks throughout the day.
Personally, I like to take joy breaks in my day – spending a moment to find something that makes me smile or laugh or lifts me up.
Recently, I read about a woman who has reset all her passwords with phrases that make her laugh, or smile, or bring her joy.
And why is joy an important element of rest?
Because joy brings strength. And strength brings change.
Friends, there has never been a time when living an ethical, committed Christian life was more important.
This is an all-hands-on deck kinda time.
We cannot afford to lose our way.
And while I wouldn’t recommend breaking into a church, I would HIGHLY recommend the three-step approach that that gentleman demonstrated once he got into our church.
We must pray, we must work, and we must rest. Then Repeat. And we must do so, every day, all the while aspiring to be worthy of God’s call.
For as the poet Edgar Lee Masters wrote: Life without meaning is the torture of restlessness and vague desire – It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.