Godfellas

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday September 27, 2009, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22
Psalm 124
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50

While having nothing to do with the episode, the title for this sermon is taken from the Peabody Award winning final season episode of the FOX television series “Futurama.”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist? You know, an evangelist, someone who shares the good news of Jesus Christ with people who don’t know the gospel. That’s all the word evangelist really means, someone who shares the good news. It has nothing to do with having a TV show or a restaurant in Branson. Have you thought of yourself as someone who tells others about Jesus?

I imagine shockwaves just went through your body because speaking out loud, whether in a crowd or one-on-one, frightens us. There is an old Jerry Seinfeld joke that says that in a study of fears, the fear of speaking in public was rated higher than the fear of death. This much is true. So the comic concludes most people would rather be the person in the box than the person giving the eulogy. Again, humor conveys truth in a way plain facts cannot.

Very few of us warm to the word evangelism. It seems to either make us feel guilty because we're not doing it, or turn us off because there's no way we would ever want to do it. Evangelism seems completely foreign to us and that is not only true about our congregation, it is a nationwide dilemma.

A very large study has just been done on evangelism in churches like ours. The conclusive finding was that the vast majority of people would rather go get a root canal than talk about, much less do, evangelism. For the last forty years, most, most churches have been in decline. It seems we’ve developed literally a life-threatening aversion to evangelism.

Right now, at this very minute, you may want to put your fingers in your ears and sing “na, na, na.” Anything to drown out the “E” word! Why do so many of us have such a visceral reaction to evangelism? There are all kinds of reasons why not much evangelism is happening in most congregations. Here is one of my reasons. I don’t want to be anything close to the stereotype that comes to my mind when I think of an “evangelist.”

I don't want to have the cheesy theme park, or the horrible suit, or fake hair, or bilk people out of their money. Nor do I want to offend people by pressuring them with rhetoric about where they'll spend eternity after death.

Besides that, I wonder sometimes how I can tell people what they ought to believe. I have enough trouble in my own life. I'd rather just do the best I can, being the best child of Christ I can, and hope that is a good witness to others. Life in Christ is about life before it’s about death.

After all, St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” I do fine talking faith language with you here at church. You are my people. We speak the same language, but when I’m with people who aren’t churchgoers, words fail even me. When I flounder, I pray words aren’t necessary.

Maybe that’s better anyway; we should act as Jesus would have us act than speak as we think Jesus would have us speak. In our gospel reading today, we have an example of someone who is doing evangelism the old fashioned way, without words, and it isn’t one of the twelve disciples.

Those of you who know my cinematic tastes know that I love mobster movies, and one of my favorites is on AMC tonight, “Goodfellas.” Based on the Nicholas Pileggi book “Wise Guy,” “Goodfellas” is the story of the rise and fall of three gangsters over three decades. Ray Liotta plays the central character, Henry Hill; the man whose life the book and movie are based. In one scene, Liotta explains what it means to be a part of something as a member of a crew, a family.

He talks about how one wise guy introduces someone to one another wise guy in a social setting. He says that when one wise guy introduces somebody to another wise guy, one of the things he can say is “He’s a friend of mine.” That means that he’s just a guy; maybe a neighbor, but nobody special, not someone who is connected. The other way to introduce someone is to say “He’s a friend of ours.” This tells the other wise guy that this is someone who is connected someone who is a part of a crew; someone who has made his bones, taken a pinch. This way he says that this is someone who is connected to the same thing we are.

Jesus said to John and said to the twelve, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus says this to the twelve about the someone who was casting out demons in his name; Jesus says, “He’s a friend of ours.” Jesus tells the twelve that this someone is one of us, a goodfella; or if you will I guess that would make him a Godfella.

“Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.”

Jesus tells the twelve that this someone, this person casting out demons in His name, this one is a friend of ours.

So what does this mean to us? And what does this mean to us doing evangelism?

First, it reminds us of the teaching from John’s gospel, Jesus has “other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” He brings them along and they listen to the sound of his voice too. In a way, by acknowledging that this man is not one of the twelve and that he is a friend of ours; Jesus tells his disciples that this man who they do not know is a sheep from another fold, a brother from another mother. Implicitly, Jesus tells us as his disciples that there are folks who we may not recognize as his disciples that he does.

In “Experiencing God,” Henry Blackaby teaches disciples of God everywhere that the place to go to seek Jesus is where he is all ready at work. To become a more effective disciple, find where God is working and work there. We as a congregation have done this, and continue to do it annually. Loaves and Fishes Food Bank of the Ozarks is one of the most effective ministries in the county. No place in Carroll County does more to support the feeding of the poor than Loaves and Fishes.

Daily we join this ministry volunteering time, talent, and treasure. Annually, we join this ministry providing school supplies to hundreds of children who need them. Every dollar we spend on school supplies for the kids is a dollar their parents, or just as likely single parent, can spend on utilities or rent.

Another thing our gospel reading tells us is that we must be wary with whom we associate. Bear with me, this is a sort of a round about thing. The first thing we have to know is that in the time of the scripture, body parts were often used poetically to represent different social groups. So when we read that it is better to cut off your hand or your foot or to tear out your eye; Jesus was not meaning that we should literally maim ourselves. It is more likely that Jesus is telling us that there are people that we need to cut out of our lives. Maimed socially probably; maimed physically no. We are better to be rid of a person who separates us from participating in the life and work of Christ’s body than it is to follow them.

As the apostle Paul reminds us all, “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.” When we combine knowing the body has many members with knowing there are sheep from other folds with knowing that some of the members Jesus described in this passage should be cast away; we can come to this conclusion: There are folks we should associate with and folks we should not. The hallmark of those we should associate with returns us to the fact that whoever is not against us is for us. Whoever works for the kingdom of God are our brothers and sisters, we shouldn’t associate with those who don’t.

Perhaps there was some sort of code, like the hands to be cut off were those who did things that were not godly, not for the good of the body of Christ. Perhaps the feet were leaders who led people to poor choices, choices that move us from the work of God. Perhaps those who were the eyes were who saw were prophets. The eye to be torn out could be a false prophet. This is purely my speculation; it might also have at most a grain of truth; but this saying is more than the heavenly benefits of self-mutilation. This saying of Jesus tells all of his disciples we must be discerning of the company we keep.

Our reading from James puts another spin on this though. James reminds the people of God that if whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save a sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. To me it seems James changes the focus, just a little bit, from what was written in Mark. James’ epistle reminds us that we are called to help bring back the lost sheep to the flock. Jesus tells us that we must not follow them, but we are called to live a life worthy of them following us back to the fold.

So what is a little church in Berryville, Arkansas to do? We are not to live lives of Thoreau’s quiet desperation; we are to live life boldly as the children of God giving water to quench the thirst of the world weary for the Word and work of God. We are to be the salt of the earth; we are salt for God’s all creation.

Salt is used for two things, salt preserves and enhances. We are to do these things, we are to preserve and enhance the life of the world in the name of God. Yes, this sounds like a huge undertaking, one that we cannot possibly achieve on our own, and you are right. And that is why, to coin a phrase, we need to think globally and act locally. Or in words that may seem holier, we are to work toward the kingdom of God in the eternal life granted by our Lord Jesus in this time and place knowing that when the word goes out it does not return unanswered. We never know how the living word returns.

An example of that can be found on that little thing we call the internet. By the grace of God, we have someone in this part of the body of Christ that knows how to take a long string of digital code and translate it to words and pictures streaming across creation. The words being spoken here will be heard by others, and hopefully expand far beyond an LCD monitor and speakers. The word that starts here will go far beyond here, being salt to the world. Praise be to God and thanks be to Kenny for taking what is nothing more than magnetic notches on a card and transforming it to the word of God wherever it is downloaded, seen, and heard.

Blackaby’s advice is well heeded here; let us be salt for the world. Make this part of the body of Christ a place where God is working where people will seek to follow. Seek those who are doing Christ’s work because if they aren’t against God, they are for God. Discern those who lead well and call those who have been led astray. And remember that whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward; together we will be Godfellas.