Stewards of God’s Vision: Exodus 24: 12-18; Matthew 17: 1-9
In my early days as the organist here, I used to come at night and practice after my law school classes were finished. I was able to avoid the after-school traffic on Vineville and not disturb the music school which used to be upstairs. One night, I was running a bit late, so I only turned on the light up here in the chancel. The rest of the church was dark. That was my first mistake. As I was playing away furiously at a postlude, I caught a glimpse of something to my side. I thought nothing of it and finished. Right as I finished, George Bishop, a long-time member here, started clapping for me. I had not seen him, had no idea he was there, had only caught a glimpse. My next piece was in B-flat, as in, I be flat on the pedals as I fell of the organ bench in terror.
I had caught a glimpse, but had not paid attention. Many times in life we catch glimpses of things: of danger awaiting, or trouble lurking, but we also catch glimpses of amazing things as well. When I hear young musicians perform, I can catch glimpses of the artists they will become. If you wake up early enough you can catch a glimpse of the day beginning at dawn. The thing about glimpses though, defined as a momentary or partial view, is that if you only see a glimpse of something, you never see the fuller picture. As Christ’s followers, we’re called not just to catch a glimpse of Christ’s glory, vision, mercy, presence, but to see a full vision of what Christ is doing and to follow where Christ leads.
In our Old Testament, we read how Moses went up on the mountain to speak with God. This was after many of the great debacles in journey from Egypt towards the promised land; after Israel had broken the covenant and commandments. Here they were now, receiving God’s instruction and covenant, and they had all affirmed it. Therefore they got to see a glimpse of God’s glory on the summit of the mountain.
In our new testament we see a similar story. Peter, James, and John go with Jesus to a high mountain. There they see Jesus transformed, shining like the sun, and Moses and Elijah standing and talking to Jesus. It was just for a moment, but they caught a glimpse of Jesus’ true glory as the Son of God. Then they hear the confirmation…a voice from heaven saying, “This is my dearly loved son, who brings me great joy.”
Sometimes in life we catch a glimpse of the good things, but we miss the whole vision. We ask the questions what do we do, how do we do it, where do we go from here? We sometimes ask the question why a full 1/3 of millennials claim to be agnostic or to have no religion at all? Sometimes we ask why our churches are shrinking or it seems our faith is tired and dry and stale. The answer is that we miss out on our vision as people of God and a community of faith.
We’ve talked about some simple aspects of stewardship: our authenticity in dealing with our earthly blessings of money, time, and worship; our heavenly blessings where our hearts and treasure are; of God’s creation; of God’s grace to us, and of our growth. Here is the tough one: we must be stewards of God’s vision. I like how an old regional assembly theme put it, too often we talk about the church has a mission. But that’s not correct.
No, in fact the right way to say it is that God’s mission has a church. In those early days, the disciples saw powerful and glorious things. They saw that God had a mission and it was their job, their responsibility to carry out God’s mission. There was a fire, a passion, a push to live out that mission for God whatever the consequences. Our churches today do not have that. They are cold and institutional, more concerned with propriety than people.
The early church stood for Christ’s love, preached grace to all, and opposed injustice and oppression even unto the death in Roman amphitheaters or at the hands of Pharisees. God’s mission has a church, and God’s vision has a people. If we are to be stewards of God’s vision and God’s mission, we have to be willing to take the risks to step out in trust in God to hand down our faith from generation to generation—the kind of faith that moves mountains, saves souls, and gives us the courage to say no to the tyranny of evil and false prophets.
A friend of mine pastored a church where they epically long board meetings. He said they would talk about everything over and over for hours, then, when you thought a decision had been made, it would start all over. Finally, tired, and fed up of the ridiculousness, he lost his cool one night. The meeting had dragged for 45 minutes while the board discussed how a paper towel had been inadvertently left in the corner of the bathroom and the janitor had not cleaned it up, that the facilities committee had not properly advised the janitor, and ultimately, how the pastor had not properly trained the facilities committee.
My friend lost it. He said at a loud volume, “Why did NO ONE pick up the paper towel and throw it away?! How dare you squander your faith debating this for forty-five minutes. Next time, someone have the common sense and general adulthood to just pick it up and throw it away.” The board sat in stunned silence. It was opportunity to be stewards of a new idea—jump in and fix it. Take up their cross, go forth and solve the problem. They were on the cusp of responsibility, growth, seeing the bigger picture, and God’s whole vision. Instead, they fired him.
Stewardship requires us to give a little something of ourselves, to work as Christ’s hands and feet here on earth. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of God’s mission of God’s vision, and we dismiss it. But sometimes, we see God’s power and majesty and it inspires us—do something new, make a lasting mark, trust God and move forward in faith. If you see someone with a broken spirit, be present and pray for them. If you see someone sick and hurting, help and heal them. If you see oppression and suffering, have the conviction to stand up for them. We can’t just sit around and wait for the trials of this world to become our own problem. We must go out, pray, live, and make the change in the world for God’s good. Imagine if Jesus had gone into a small room in Galilee, barricaded himself in, and said, “Alright, I will wait for them to come here to me,” and was done with it then.
But that’s not how faith works. God’s mission has a church, and God’s vision has a people. And we are to be stewards of this mission and this vision. Jesus told the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen on the mountain with him, “until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Then he told the people, “Go out into the world.” If we never take a risk, if we never step out in faith, then it tells me two things: we do not trust in God, and we are comfortable letting the Christian faith die. And maybe we are.
But just maybe, maybe, we can remember that God’s mission has s church, and God’s vision has a people. And maybe there are folks left who will get a whole vision instead of just a glimpse of God, stand up and say, “I’m ready to follow Jesus, to forsake everything, and follow Christ.” You won’t really lose anything, for you’ll have Christ with you the whole way. Maybe, just maybe, we are willing to risk our complacency, and our comfort for God’s mission and vision on earth. The choice is yours. God is calling.