“Tough on the Camel” Mark 10:17-30
Everyone should have received one or two cards as you came in to worship this morning.  It says M or F and then some numbers.  Now is the time to unlock the mystery of what these mean!  This is an “experience of perspective”, as a way of seeing snapshots of information about the world’s population.  (This is to help us see some characteristics of the population of the world.)  If the world’s population was only 100 people here is the situation.  If you have female on your card please raise hand….  OK now males….  (Out of one hundred, 49 will be women and 51 men).   

I know Presbyterians don’t like to raise both hands in worship, but just for today.   

Now I’ll ask you to raise your hand if you have a number 1 on your card…. 

(Out of a world’s population of 100, 58 would be Asians) 

#2 (Out of a world population of 100, 12 would be north and South Americans) 

#3 on your card, please raise your hand.  (19 out of 100 will be African). 

#4 on your card, please raise your hand.  (10 out of 100 will be European). 

#5 on your card, please raise your hand.  (1 out of 100 will be Oceania). 

#6 (26/100 will be less than 15 years old.  Median age of the village is 31 years)

#7 (4/100 will be 75 or older.  And the average life expectance is 75 years.) 

#8 (84/100 will have black hair)

#9 (2/100 will have red hair)

If you have a number 10 please raise your hand.   (69 out of 100 would be NON-Christian.  2/3rds of the world) 

Would number 11’s hand please?  (66 of 100 would have access to internet) 

Now number 12’s please raise your hand.  (10 of 100 would not be able to read.) 

Now number 13.  10 people would own better than 75% of the world wealth (most US citizens.) 

This is a glimpse of our world.  It is a glimpse of the world that God loves so such as to send Jesus to be with us. 

Around the world today, people are gathered around the table.  World Communion Sunday started fifty years ago as a way of acting out the global, universal, radically inclusive grace of God.  Today, as Christians, we celebrate God’s grace embodied in Jesus, but also God’s grace that is even bigger than the distinctiveness of Jesus.   God’s grace existed before Jesus was born. 

World Communion Sunday is the day when we envision a table big enough to host the whole world—a table big enough to hold Christians and Jews and Muslims, Afghanis and Americans, Israelis and Palestinians.   World Communion Sunday is the day when we are bold enough, perhaps foolish enough, to imagine a world where lambs and wolves can lie down together, a world where trust and peace are stronger than violence and suspicion.

“What must I do,” asks the young man, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  It is a heart-felt, faith-filled question, asked in moment that is hard to imagine.  Jesus responds, “You know the commandments,” and yes, this person knows every last one of them and lives them. Here we meet a good person—perhaps a little smug in bragging as he says, “I have kept all these commandments since my youth”— and we believe that he is a good and religious person.  To his question Jesus responds, “You lack one thing,” go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor…and come, follow me.”

Mark says, “When the man heard this, he was shocked.” and who wouldn’t be? Even the disciples were shocked, but Jesus didn’t sooth their dismay – he continued, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were astounded.

Astonishment is not a bad place to begin.  If we were we more susceptible to astonishment we might be more changeable and more teachable.  As it is, because we think we’ve seen it all, heard it all and know it all, wonders and miracles happen all around us, but we overlook them.  They slip away. They cannot penetrate our protected lives.  Mark pictures the disciples as a pretty misbegotten bunch, but they have this much going for them: they are not above being flabbergasted and today they are.

In our reading we see a man who is suddenly asked to make a huge sacrifice, give up everything, on the spot.  He is the one person in the gospels that turns Jesus down when asked specifically to come and follow.  This is a scene that is full of all kinds of emotion.  As it starts we see the excitement of the man who has everything, he is well dressed and well respected, yet something is missing and he seeks out Jesus, a dusty teacher from a nowhere town.  When he sees Jesus his enthusiasm causes him to interrupt Jesus’ journey and he humbly greets him with great praise.  Then he asks the question that is closest to his heart,  “Good Teacher tell me, please what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Here is a guy who has it all, has played by the rules and yet is seeking something more.  This is a guy everybody would like, Jesus likes him and appreciates the man’s goodness and sincerity of heart.

He has kept the commandments, he has lived a good life.  He is a good person.  But Jesus says one thing is lacking.  One can imagine the man saying just tell me what it is, I’ll get it, or I’ll do it.  I can do anything!  I know I can.  He is so close to having the answer he has been seeking for, I bet he is just on his tip toes waiting for Jesus’ response.  Then it comes.  Not words for the world, but words right to him.  What he must do, what he is lacking. 

He needs to know what it is to know need.  He has yet to taste what it is to be without, what it is like to be the one asking for help, or uncertain where the next meal is coming from.  For so long he could rest comfortably knowing that his needs were met, he probably could afford to be generous and give good sized gifts when he wanted too.   When Jesus says sell everything you have, give it all away to the poor and come follow me.  He can’t do that, he doesn’t know how he could live without all that stuff.  He is the only one we read of who hears Jesus call to follow, and who does not do so joyfully.  He turns away.  A moment ago he is filled with excitement, now come tears and sorrow.  Give up my possessions and prestige that go with that?  That’s too much, I can’t go that high. 

The disciples don’t get it.  They ask him about it later.  Who, then, can be saved?  They ask. This guy was “A” list, he lived the right kind of life, he did all the right things.  He must be favored by God just look at all the blessings in his life.  If he can’t find salvation, who can?    Jesus’ response is clear.  People can not find salvation on their own.  It is impossible.   With God all things are possible.  Learn to depend on God.

Jesus is not calling everyone to take vows of poverty.  This is not a new economic order being ushered in.  His pronouncement is not an attack on wealth per se; but a particular message to this man’s obstacle.  One thing you lack.  For him it was the attachment to too many things.  We are each called to live responsibly with what God has given us, that is true for all of us.  A complete liquidation of funds by everyone is not the message. 

“How hard it is, how hard it is.”  Discipleship is never a free ride, never cheap grace.  Earlier Jesus has said, if anyone would come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross.  The rich man was to deny the way of life he could have had by holding tightly to his riches. 

We need to be disturbed because we lack a sense of enough ness. Some may think that “Too much of a good thing is wonderful,” but too many of us mistake that quip for a way of life. For the sake of our own health and life, not to mention our spiritual life, we need to learn when enough is enough. You’ve seen t-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan: “You can never be too thin or too rich.” Or he who dies with the most toys wins.  How wrong that is! This story’s warns us and invites us to find a way of saying “enough.”

“One thing you lack” is a haunting, disturbing, phrase, for we all lack at least one thing.  Me, many many more than one.  But even that one thing, or those things, can not be achieved without God’s help.  That is Jesus’ point.  Self-denial is not enough.  Unlimited charity is not enough, attending church regularly and praying daily is not enough.  All are to be commended.  All are worthy, but all fall short of the glory of God.  This is what could have been driving Martin Luther mad until he realized that only by the grace of God are we saved, and only by God’s grace do we find the faith to follow.

As Jesus had been ministering many who had been broken come in to him and left whole.  This morning a man who was whole comes to him and leaves broken.  For him the one thing that was lacking was the richness of giving and depending on God.  He only knew the poverty of possession and he chose to stay there.  (I’m going to stay with my stuff)

“What must I do?” someone asks. Think of all the easy answers that could come: “do whatever you feel like”; “do whatever you want to do”; “do what everyone else is doing.” But no. The good news of this story is that God loves us enough to shake us loose from all the cheap imitations of meaningful life, it comes with the “blessed disturbance” of Jesus’ summons: come and follow me.  One who loves us enough not to evade the honest answer.   Amen.

“Let Us Pray”  (James 5:13-20)
Intro:  James is one of the shortest books in the bible.  He is most direct with his words and his chief concern is not how to become a Christian, it is how to act like a Christian.  Our reading this morning is the concluding part of his letter and he speaks of prayer.  Let us listen for God’s word to us.  (READ) ///

You may well have heard this story before, but it bears repeating, there is a tale told about a pastor and a cab driver who’ve died and both were standing at the Pearly gates.  St. Peter came out and bowed to the cab driver and ushered him right in.  The pastor was told to wait.  “Why am I told to wait?” asked the pastor, obviously disturbed,  “I’ve preached the gospel faithfully to people all my life.  The cabby’s done nothing but drive people around town.”  St. Peter returned and said “you preached and people slept, he drove and people prayed”. 

The funny part of the tale is the sad truth that like the cab driver’s passengers, for some people, we only turn to God when we are vulnerable and feeling helpless.  Those are of course, good moments to turn to God – for comfort and reassurance, but James is calling us to be at prayer in all seasons of our lives.  When we’re suffering or when we’re sick but also when we’re cheerful or when we need forgiveness.  Elsewhere is scripture we’re encouraged to pray and praise God with every breath. 

John Calvin describes prayer as expanding our hearts before God.  I have always loved that definition and often use it when inviting others to pray with me.  There is something different about praying in public, because as we do, we share with others a glimpse of that most personal and intimate relationship we share with God.  We reveal something about ourselves as we pray while others can hear.  As a parent there is nothing to compare with the first time you hear your child praying on their own, when they are just talking with God.  They might pray, “bless mommy and daddy”, or “take care of my friends, thank you for my teacher, or help our dog get better.”  It could be anything, but in that moment we see them in a different way, once we’ve heard them pray and had that glimpse of what they care about.  (Any time that there is prayers of petition)

As a community of faith,  we are a community that prays together.  In fact, our worship service is full of prayers – Prayers of thankgiving, confession, prayers of the people and decication, paryers of invocation and Hymns themselves are sometimes prayers

Some people say prayer is kind of like flossing.  We know it is good for us, that we should do it everyday and it shouldn’t hurt, but still many of us aren’t quite sure how to do it, or how to make it a regular habit. 

I think “why” we pray and “how” we pray are influenced by what prayer is to us.  For many we pray when life isn’t going well, but we can forget to give thanks and bring God into our celebrations. We pray when we are devastated and wiped out by tragedy but seldom do we sing songs when a dream comes true.  At times we pray because we think we should or ought to or must. That’s OK, but we all can tell when somebody’s heart is in what their saying and so, too, can God. 

When we do pray, I suspect at some level it is because there is a hunger, a longing deep within our lives to be in touch with, or connected with God. If asked can you say, why you pray?  You don’t really have to answer me out loud, but do think about the times you tend to be in prayer and consider are there other occasions you might turn to God in conversation? 

Each one of us prays in our own way, at our own times, for our own reasons.  But I suspect that each one of us shares a desire similar to that of the first followers of Christ. We know that somehow there is something to being connected with God.  We know that prayer is part of that connection and so we want to pray or learn to pray because deep down, no matter what our needs, no matter what our circumstances, what we really want is God.

Prayer is communion with God, it is communication with God.  It is involves sending and receiving messages. As humans we are especially adept at sending but not so good on receiving. Perhaps there is a parable in the way our bodies are made. We have one mouth and two ears. Perhaps we should listen twice as much as we speak in all relationships, especially in the area of communing with God. Often, as Paul suggested, prayer can be moanings and groanings – too deep for words. As on hymn puts it “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed.”

In the Lord’s prayer we bid that thy will be done.  But sometimes we may approach prayer as a way of getting what we want done.  At times our prayers seem to go unanswered, then what do we do?  Country singer Garth Brooks expressed a sentiment in one of his songs, “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” I think what he is getting at is that we often have requested of God our immediate wants rather than our needs. Prayer is about moving closer to each other and closer to God.  That is what God wants.

At times our praying and living are inconsistent. We pray for peace but work for war. We pray for those who are hungry but continue policies that make it impossible to get food to people who are hungry. We pray for people in need but continue to enjoy, support, and benefit from systems that help the rich get richer and the poor become poorer.  And the gap widens.

Prayer is conversation with God about the state of our lives and the state of the world. One description of prayer it that prayer is a trilogue where our best self and our worst self talk to each other and God is an active listener and participant. I like that because as my best self and my worst self converse with each other in the presence of God, God is able and willing to get my two selves together to love God with my heart, mind and soul and to love others as I love myself.   We are changed through prayer.

When I was training as a chaplain, there was a woman in the hospital whose body was filled with cancer.  Each day we prayed for her healing and each day the expression of disappointment at not being healed could be seen in her face. One day she said, “Today let’s not pray that I’ll be healed. God knows that I hate this illness. God knows I want to be healed. Let’s pray that, whether I’m healed or not, I’ll feel close to God because even if I’m not healed, especially if I’m not healed, that’s what I really want–God.”  She was not cured but she was healed. 

That’s what we all want, isn’t it? Isn’t it God that we want when we pray? We want to know that God is there. We want to know that God is with us. We want to know the truth of the promise, I will never leave you or forget about you.”
Is it true with cancer? Is it true for people facing starvation? Is it true in drought? Is it true during war?  Is it true if I’m part of ME TOO? Is it true if my best friend dies? Is it true in every circumstance in life–no matter what happens, no matter what occurs in our lives, that God is there? That’s what we really want. That’s what prayer is all about–knowing, being assured, experiencing God with us, no matter what. When we pray with what is on our hearts, when we pray what matters most, what transpires is amazing, surprising.

We often conclude a prayer with the phrase “in Jesus’ name.” Why do we do that? Is this a magical phrase? Is this a formula we add to a prayer to make it work? This is not a required phrase we tack on to the end of a prayer to make it orthodox. It is not a phrase we add to guarantee God will hear us or grant our requests. To pray in Jesus’ name is to say we want to look at life like Jesus did.  It is to say we are not standing above those in need, those who are poor, those who are sick, those who are lonely. It is to say we are standing beside them. They are our brothers and sisters and if we keep at it, this praying for them in Jesus’ name, Prayer changes things–sometimes even us! As this happens prayer becomes living and living becomes a prayer. 

Every prayer should also include silence, to give that wind – God’s breath – a chance to blow through our open hearts.    Learn to pray, James would urge us, for in our prayer we will find sustenance for our souls and hope for the future, as we commune with God. 

Amen.