September 26th

Size Does NOT Matter

Mark 9:30-37



Some of you already know that I started substitute teaching this school year. And I have to say, it has been quite the experience! I have “subbed” for all grade levels—elementary through high school—and at various locations throughout the city.

But, while my experience has spanned the various grade levels, about 95% of my assignments to this point have been for middle school—grades 6-8. Oh, yeah! Grades 6-8, ages 11-13, where raging hormones, peer pressure, and attitude all combine to produce some very interesting situations.

One thing I have noticed, however, is that no matter where I sub, almost every middle school classroom I enter asks me three questions. First: “You talk funny, Mr. Spears. Where are you from?” Now, with this question, I have learned I can score some “cool points” if I tell the class I moved here from Atlanta. Why is that? Atlanta is home to a lot of hip hop and rap stars. So, being from the “ATL” gives me some “street cred.” And trust me, folks, in today’s classrooms, you need all the “street cred” you can get.

The second question is, “Mr. Spears, are you related to Brittney Spears?” I actually messed with one class and told them I was Brittney’s grandfather. One very bright young person immediately picked up on the fact that I was far too young to be the pop star’s grandfather—an uncle, perhaps—but not a grandfather. It’s nice to know that brown-nosing the teacher hasn’t gone out of style. Of course I had to confess to them that I was not related to Brittney, and the kids who did not buy my story had a great time teasing those who did.

The third question is, “Dang (or some other four letter word), how tall are you, Mr. Spears?” You see, for these young people, size—defined here as height—matters. For example, there have been a couple of instances where a student has stood up from his seat to challenge an instruction I have given, looked up and saw that I was not amused, and has immediately sat back down. Hey, whatever works!

Of course, middle school students are not the only people who put a premium on size. As we grow into adulthood, we tend to move toward a fascination with size measurements of different kinds—bank accounts, number of vehicles, square footage of homes, number of homes, titles, honors, and the list goes on.

Followers of Jesus Christ are not exempt from these fascinations, either. If you remember the reading from Mark last week, Peter and the rest of the disciples seemed to have their minds set on human ego, glory, and honor. Jesus set both them and the surrounding crowd straight on the meaning of discipleship when he basically said, “Look if you want to be my disciple, it isn’t always going to be easy, You’re going to have to learn how to deny yourself. You are going to have to learn to give your live away in service to others.

Picking up from last week, we know that the disciples now know that Jesus is the promised Messiah, and that Jesus has explained to them what being the Messiah and following the Messiah means. So, to review, their systematic theology of confessing Jesus as the Messiah is on track, and they have received their first lesson in practical theology—in other words, what their confession means in practical terms.

What’s next? Putting their practical theology to work in the community. Just before today’s reading the disciples are unable to cast a demon out of a young boy. Jesus saves the day, and later the disciples ask him in private why they could not cast out the demon. Jesus told them that the kind of demon the boy had could come out only through prayer.

Hmmm. It looks like the disciples forgot to pray. In other words, they were still relying on their own sense of perceived greatness and connections to Jesus rather than praying and relying on God to work through them in order for positive change to occur.

Sound familiar? Sure it does! All of us here have faced challenges in our lives that we thought we could handle on our own. Maybe the challenge was a rough relationship or an addiction. Whatever the challenge, folks, what this lesson means for us is that as much as God loves us, no matter how smart we are, no matter how talented we are, there are going to be certain “demons” that we can deal with only by prayer and reliance on the power of Almighty God.

So, still not quite getting the meaning of Jesus’ message, in today’s passage, Jesus takes the disciples away for a “retreat” of sorts to give them a little more in-depth training. Now, after what just happened, we might think the disciples would be pondering the meaning of Jesus’ last words to them about prayer. Oh, but no! They are having a “Muhammad Ali” moment. They are arguing about whom is the greatest. Can you imagine the conversation?

James and John, otherwise known in the Bible as “the Sons of Thunder” start the argument by making their claim to greatness because they think they deserve to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in heaven. But of course Peter will have none of it. “You might recall, that it was I who got out the boat and walked on the water during the storm. The rest of you were practically wetting your robes!”

Matthew shoots back, “Yeah, you got out of the boat, alright—and sank like a rock!”

While the other disciples laugh, Peter doesn’t miss a beat. “Go ahead, laugh all you want. But speaking of “rock,” I don’t remember Jesus calling any of YOU the rock upon which he would build his church!”

“True’, replies Andrew, ‘but he didn’t call any of us Satan, either!”

Always having to have the last word, Peter says, “Well, he may have called me Satan, but he was looking at all of you when he said it!”

Jesus apparently is walking ahead, and just like on a road trip with the kids, he is acting like he doesn’t hear a thing. But trust me, he knows every word that has been spoken. But Jesus doesn’t say anything—at least until they arrive at Capernaum. Jesus then asks, “OK, guys, what’s all the commotion about?” And in true middle school fashion, the disciples clam up because they know that they are so busted.

But of course Jesus knows what is going on. So, to make his point—again—Jesus tells them, “Look, if you are so hung up on being first, here’s the secret: you have to be last and you have to be everyone’s servant.” Then, to emphasize his point, Jesus takes a child from the family in whose household they are staying and says, “By welcoming a child like this, you are welcoming me, and really you aren’t welcoming me as much as you are welcoming the One who sent me.”

Now we may not think welcoming a child is such a big deal. After all, most people love children and would not think of abandoning them, or otherwise mistreating them. But to understand what Jesus was saying, we have to understand that in Jesus’ time, children were non-persons. Lower than women and just slightly above slaves, children had no rights. Now this does not mean that parents did not love their children. It just means that in the public arena children had no place, and therefore, no honor. But to tell the disciples of a great teacher like Jesus that they had to respect and welcome even non-persons like children was simply unheard of!

But Jesus was saying even more than that. Jesus was telling his disciples they were to welcome all the powerless, unclean, and lowly people of society. All those folks that “polite society” refused to touch! How scandalous! After all, these were the disciples of the promised Messiah! Weren’t they are above all that?

Apparently not. For you see, folks, when it comes to Jesus Christ, size really does not matter.

I am here to tell you today that from the least to the greatest, God loves us all! From the man who begs for money at the intersection of Crosstown and Morgan to the President of the United States, God loves us all! From the prostitute on Leopard to the Pope in Rome, God loves us all! And scripture tells us that if God is for us, who is against us? Sisters and brothers, as disciples of Jesus Christ, believe the good news! We are not powerless! Through Jesus Christ, we have the power to become agents of positive change in our world!

But how do we access that power? We access that power by welcoming Christ into our lives. And how do we welcome Christ into our lives? First, we welcome Christi into our lives by repenting of our sins, and asking Christ to fill us with the presence of the Holy Spirit. But then, we welcome Christ into our lives whenever we volunteer at places like CASA, an organization that advocates for children in the Coastal Bend. We welcome Christ into our lives whenever we help to feed the hungry, house the homeless, speak up for equality, visit the sick, and sometimes even by just being a positive presence in a hurting person’s life.

My prayer for all of us today is that we make the choice to welcome Christ into our lives. Let’s serve the poor, the weak, and the oppressed. Let us serve one another during life’s challenges. Let’s take the love, grace, peace, and power that Almighty God has so graciously given to us, and share it with others so that they, too, may taste and see how great God is! Amen?

God bless you and amen!

September 19th

It's All About Who?

Mark 8:27-38



How many folks here today are “middle children?” In other words, you aren’t the first born or the baby of the family, but somewhere in the middle. I am the youngest child in my family, and my older sister still teases me about being the “Golden Child,” or the “Male Heir.” Or course, we haven’t quite figured out the male heir to WHAT, but at least we know the pecking order, right?

Probably the ultimate middle child was Jan Brady of the Brady Bunch. Remember Jan? She was the middle child of the three girls in the blended Brady family. Cindy was the curly-haired blonde, blue-eyed youngest girl, and the glamorous, popular, cheerleader Marcia was the oldest girl. Stuck in the middle, Jan was sort of plain in her younger years, complete with braces and glasses. Finally, in one episode, Jan finally let out all her pent up frustrations with a line that was plastered all over t-shirts and shouted in gay bars way back in the day. The line? “All I hear ever is Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!”

Poor Jan. She just wanted to feel special. Of course, we are all a lot like Jan, too, aren’t we? We really don’t like that feeling of being lost in the middle—faceless, nameless, and unimportant. Everyone wants to feel special; and do you know what? There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! But there are times when it really is not all about us, and that is a big part of our lesson from Mark this morning.

Our passage opens with Jesus and the 12 on a road trip to Caesarea Philippi. Along the way, Jesus asks the disciples a question, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples give Jesus a variety of answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, or maybe one of the prophets. But then Jesus asks the 64 Million-Dollar Question: “But who do you say that I am?”

People have been trying to figure out who Jesus was—and is—for at least a couple of thousand years. There are those like Thomas Jefferson who saw Jesus as a great teacher of common sense. Others see Jesus as a revolutionary proclaiming liberation to all who are oppressed. And in all fairness, there is enough evidence in the Bible to support these views, too. But, if we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, we must answer the question, “Who do we say that Jesus is?”

Enter our friend, Simon Peter. Peter is often the disciple who spoke up first in these conversations with Jesus. He is a little bit like that child in school who raises her hand saying, “Ooooo, pick me! Pick me!” Then blurts out the answer before the teacher calls on her.


But this time, Peter gets it right. “You are the Messiah,” he says. But then, Jesus does something weird. Rather than say something like, “Great job!” he orders the disciples not to tell anyone about this wonderful news. What’s up with all the secrecy?

Honestly, we don’t really know. One very good theory, however, is that the disciples were not ready for what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah. So, before they went running out and telling everyone that Jesus was the promised Messiah, Jesus wanted to make sure they had a clear idea of the possible consequences for proclaiming this message. It is as if Jesus was bringing the disciples along in stages. “OK. Your systematic theology is on track. Now, let’s talk about how that theology translates into every day life.”

And apparently that translation isn’t too pretty, as Jesus promptly turns the disciples’ world completely upside down. Rather than all the glory, power, and honor they were expecting, being the Messiah meant rejection, persecution, suffering, and death! And since they were so closely associated with Jesus, they could expect this same kind of treatment!

This news was more than the disciples could handle. So, in true form, Peter is the one who speaks up. It appears he is trying to be at least somewhat respectful of his teacher by pulling Jesus aside, but then Peter lets loose with a rebuke. And the Greek for “rebuke” here is more than a warning or admonition. This wasn’t Peter pulling Jesus aside saying, “Uh, are you sure about all this, Jesus?” You can think of “rebuke” here almost as if Peter is getting up in Jesus’ face.

“What?!? Suffering? Persecution? Death? What is that all about? You mean after all the miracles, all the lessons, all the public admiration, I left my fishing business to walk into an ambush in Jerusalem? Is that what you are saying? Oh, no! I did not sign up for this!”

Then notice what Jesus does. Jesus turns from Peter, looks at all the disciples and basically says, “You best get out of my face, Satan! You’ve got it all wrong. It’s not about human ego and human plans, It’s about God, and God’s plan for humanity!” In other words, it’s not all about us, folks. It’s all about God.

Jesus then expands his teaching by calling together the disciples with the surrounding crowd, and says, “OK, folks. Listen up. Here is the deal. If anyone wants to become my follower, they must deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow me.”

If we think about it, we can’t really blame the disciples for being upset, can we? See, today we often talk about the cross in symbolic terms; but the cross meant one thing—and one thing only--in 1st century biblical times: humiliation, suffering, and death. Now I don’t think Jesus meant that everyone who followed him would have to literally suffer and die on the cross. But I do think Jesus was saying that following him meant that life would be tough sometimes. Confessing that Jesus is the Messiah could result in social and economic hardships, which sometimes made death look good by comparison.

Now, here’s a question for all of us: “How different are we from Peter and the rest of the disciples—really?” We give our lives to Jesus Christ, and we are filled with the healing power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe we are starting to feel hopeful about our lives for the first time in a very long time. But then some crazy guy in a bright green outfit stands up one Sunday morning and tells us something like, “Oh, by the way, Jesus really does love us. In fact, Jesus loves us so much Jesus died for us. But guess what? In the end, it’s not all about us! Oh, and there is something else I should tell you, following Jesus means dying to ourselves and living to serve Christ by serving others.”

Part of that following Jesus means addressing some very unpopular topics at times. And when we do that, there is the possibility that not everyone is going to like what we have to say, either. You know what I mean, right? Like when we tell our families, friends, and elected officials that loving a person of the same gender is not a crime, a sin, nor a sickness. Or when we tell our friends who are caught up in various addictions that there is a better way to live. Or when we talk to church leaders and tell them that Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever will, let them come.” And that is whosoever, not just rich, white, straight folks, either. Or even when we tell our sisters and brothers that being a follower of Jesus Christ means more than sitting in a building for an hour or so on Sunday morning.

Sisters and brothers, just as Jesus Christ loves us every day of our lives, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we give our lives to Jesus Christ not just once in a lifetime, but each and every day of our lives. So, what does that look like?

I think renowned preacher Fred Craddock gives us a beautiful description of what it means to give our lives to Christ when he says, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table—‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’

But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there…Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious, It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time.”

So, given that definition, what does giving our lives to Christ look like? Well, maybe it is a phone call to a homebound person here, and a giving a person a ride to church there. Maybe it is increasing our financial support a little here, and volunteering to help with a Fall Festival there. Maybe it is listening to a friend’s troubles here, and praying with and for them there. For you see, no two people give their lives to Christ in the exact same way.

My prayer for each of us today is that, through prayer, discussion, therapy, trial and error—whatever it takes—my prayer is that we each make the decision to give our lives to Christ. Not just for an hour or so on Sunday morning; but each and every day of our lives, in our own unique and God-gifted way. For as scripture tells us, it is in giving, that we truly begin to live. Amen?

God bless you and amen.

September 13th

Nice Folks Finish Last

Proverbs 22:1,2,8,9,22,23



The title of the sermon may sound familiar to some of you. It comes from a quote of former baseball manager Leo Durocher. Leo’s actual words were, “Nice GUYS finish last.” But, hey! I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy, so I changed it.

Of course these words go against almost everything most of us were taught growing up. Remember hearing the words, “Now behave and play nice!” from parents and other relatives when you were growing up? I seem to remember my Mamaw Carrie saying to us on more than one occasion, “You kids will either play nice, or you won’t play at all!” Normally, Mamaw was holding a house slipper or switch when she said it, too. So you better believe we played nice—at least when she was watching.

The concept of “Nice people finish last” also seems to be in direct contrast of what it means to be a Christian, too, doesn’t it? After all, didn’t our Sunday School teachers tell us how important it was to be nice to others? Don’t I preach on peace and “speaking the truth in love” to one another?

So if nice people finish last-- and Christians are supposed to be nice people-- are we headed in the wrong direction here? Should we just resign ourselves to the fact that we are a bunch of boring losers, move to a mountain and wait for the Second Coming?

Well, that all depends on the definition of “nice,” now doesn’t it?

So, what exactly is the definition of “nice?” Well, Webster defines the word “nice” variously as “agreeable, passive, socially acceptable.” Agreeable in this context may be seen as “willing or ready to consent or conform.”

So that is the definition of “nice” according to Mr. Webster. But here is something that may surprise you: No where in the Bible are people called to be “nice”—at least not in Webster’s definition of the word. But if we aren’t really called to be nice, then what are we called to be?

I think we can look to Proverbs for at least part of our answer. Proverbs is one of my favorite books in the Old Testament. The reason for my love of Proverbs is that most of the passages in the book are so practical. The bulk of Proverbs addresses the issues of what it means to be good, righteous, and wise. Most of us have heard of the books for dummies series, right? Cooking for Dummies, Computers for Dummies, etc? Well, think of Proverbs as “Wise Living for Dummies.” Proverbs reshapes the concept of what it means to be nice—in other words, good or righteous in God’s eyes--and the writer spells out what that means for us.

First of all, Proverbs 1:7 tells is that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” This fear is a healthy respect and reverence for God, not the fear of being zapped if we make a mistake. God desires our authentic and passionate love and worship, and love and worship based on fear is neither authentic nor acceptable to God.

So now that we know that the foundation for being “nice” people of God begins with a healthy respect and reverence for God, let’s look at some of the more practical applications of this somewhat radical concept of “nice.”

According to Proverbs, it is better to choose a good name rather than great riches. In Old Testament times, your name was more than just a name. Your name said something about your reputation. Unlike today, it took more than leaning on the family name to establish a good reputation. You chose a good name through your choice of actions. And while riches were sometimes associated with a good name in the Old Testament, this scripture makes it plain that wealth is secondary to a good name.

What this scripture means for us is if we are going to choose the name “Christian,” it is going to take more than being passive, socially acceptable, and accommodating members of a particular community, church, or denomination. The term “passive Christian” is an oxymoron—in other words, it doesn’t make sense.

No, we are not called to be passive; but as Christians we ARE called to be PASSIONATE people of God. Proverbs 22:9 says the generous are blessed for they share their bread with the poor. How do we do that? We have the opportunity to share our bread with the poor in our community by supporting our Food Pantry. Not only is this sharing of bread literal, we can also share the bread of our knowledge, time, talent, and financial resources with other.

Verse 22 of this same chapter also discusses not “robbing the poor because they are poor,” and not “crushing the afflicted at the gate.” What does all that mean? In the times of the Old Testament, the “gate” was the city gate, where public business—including the business of justice—was done. The “poor” and “the afflicted” are also symbolic terms for not only the poor and sick, but ANY disadvantaged people. This passage is not only a judgment against the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor, it is also a judgment against those people who are in power who use that power in abusive ways to keep others in submission to their oppressive agendas.

At the same time, this passage of scripture is also a warning to legitimate authorities who do not plead the cases of those who are disadvantaged. We aren’t just talking about legal authorities here, either. We are all called to use whatever perceived leverage we may have to plead the cases of those who feel they have no voice. Let me give you a personal example.

Some years ago when I was still in the field of accounting, someone told me, “Danny, you are an intelligent person with the potential to make a lot of money. You just have to learn to play the game and not be so vocal about equality—especially when it comes to the whole gay thing.”

What this person was REALLY saying was, “You’re an educated, middle class, white guy. Use your skin color, gender, and education to YOUR advantage. Keep quiet. Play nice.”

I really don’t think so.

See what this passage in Proverbs says to me is that I have the responsibility to use whatever leverage my skin color, gender, education, and position as a clergy person gives me to do just the opposite of what my friend suggested. I am not called to be quiet. I am not called to “play nice.”

And neither are you.

How can I say that? How do I know that? I can say these things because for those of us who call ourselves Christian, Jesus Christ is our example. And guess what? Jesus Christ wasn’t “nice.” At least not according to the world’s standards, and not according to Mr. Webster. Let’s face it, if Jesus Christ was nice—you know, passive, accommodating—why did the religious authorities want him dead? Why did they work so hard to turn popular opinion and governmental authority against him?

Jesus Christ was anything but passive and accommodating. Jesus Christ was constantly in conflict with popular opinion. Jesus cared only about the approval of God—not opinion polls. Jesus was compassionate toward the spiritual and physical needs of people that the religious authorities wouldn’t touch. Jesus Christ was courageous, and didn’t play the victim. And if Jesus Christ is our example, can the Church afford to do anything less? Can the church afford to BE anything less?

Some of you today may be thinking, “What can I do, though? I’m just one person, and there is just so much going on that needs changing.”

The good news is we are not alone. God doesn’t expect any of us to do it all alone. That is one of the reasons why we have this institution we call the Church. We have a community of sisters and brothers around you to worship, fellowship, and yes, WORK with to better become the presence of Christ in the world. Not only do we have our sisters and brothers in Christ, we have God Almighty with us.

Maybe you really want to be a part of a Christian community, but you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If that is the case, we will have a time for you to do just that during Communion, and I encourage to seriously consider making the decision to ask Christ to come into your life. I promise, you won’t regret it.

Maybe you are already a Christian, but you just aren’t feeling that passionate about it right now. I encourage you today to rededicate your life to Christ, rededicate yourself to a life of living passionately for Christ and for others. Again, you won’t regret it.

Maybe you’re already passionate about living for Christ and for others, but you just don’t know what direction that passion should take. You may be thinking, “I want to do something; but WHAT should I do?” I encourage you—actually I encourage all of us—to check out what your church is doing here in this place, in the community, and in the world. I encourage each of us today to become a passionate part of our family of faith through the giving of our time, our talents, and yes, our financial gifts. As Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord God of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.”

Leo Durocher said nice people finish last. Well, he may have something there—if you’re reading Webster.

However, if you’re reading the Bible, passionate people, Proverbs people, committed people, servant people, finish first in God’s eyes. And aren’t those the only eyes that really matter anyway?

God bless you and amen.