Rogationtide: Holy Work in Ordinary Ministers

TranscriptioN

Well, good morning again, everybody. It is good to see you. I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Father Morgan Reed.

I'm the vicar here at Corpus Christi Anglican Church, and if you're new to Anglicanism, that's like a senior pastor of a mission church because we are very much a church in formation. But I am grateful that you're here this day, this Memorial Day weekend, but also this special day in our calendars, the last Sunday of Easter before we get to the ascension of Jesus. And this is called Rogation Sunday, which means tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday are this little season called Rogationtide.

These Rogation Days, we celebrate before the ascension of Jesus into heaven, and the focus is twofold. First, it's on the goodness of God's gifts to us through his creation, and then second, it points us to the ways that our earthly labors are made holy because Jesus made labor holy. And that doesn't mean paid labor.

That means anything that you put your hands to do is made holy. And so I want to look at this passage today from the book of Acts through the frame of Rogation Sunday as we encounter Paul and Barnabas preaching for the first time to a pagan community that had no Jewish background at all in the book of Acts. And I think in this passage, what we see in Paul and Barnabas is an encouragement for us to see the works of our hands as an invitation for us and for others to discover the works of Jesus.

So our works, the things that God has for us to do, are an invitation to help others and ourselves see the work of Jesus. As we look at this passage, I'm going to pray for us, the collect for Rogation Days. Almighty God, whose Son, Jesus Christ, in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor, be present with your people where they work.

Make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsible to your will, and give us all a right satisfaction in what we do, and a just return for our labor through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. So in our passage today, we encounter St. Paul, St. Barnabas.

Barnabas seems to be a little older, and they're on their first missionary journey together, traveling, bringing the gospel to the nations. They have just been, we didn't read this passage, they were just pushed out of Iconium, which is a place in southern Turkey, to another place in southern Turkey, two cities named Lystra and Derby, which are two cities in this region called Laconia. And while they're there, there's a man that they encounter who couldn't walk from his birth, and he was listening to Paul teach. 

And Paul, as he's teaching, sees this man, notices him, and he notices about him that he has faith to be healed, whatever that means in the context of a pagan Gentile who has no Jewish background. Paul notices this about this man, and he says to him, stand on your feet, get up. And immediately this man stands on his feet.

And so Paul and Barnabas are carrying on their labor that God's called them to do in an insignificant town to a person that we never learned his name. He's a crippled person, sort of a, he's probably a figure in their city, everybody kind of knows who he is. But God does something significant in this nameless person in a small town, in the overarching story of the kingdom of God and where it's moving.

It's a paradigm shift, where now Gentiles aren't first Jews before they hear the message of this Messiah Jesus. These Gentiles with no Jewish background whatsoever are hearing about the good news that has taken place in the Messiah. And the healing of this man is significant as a shift in the story where this is going to take place.

And even though Paul and Barnabas in this story, we would call them missionaries, I want to suggest that the work that God's given us to do in our different seasons of life, whether it's paid or unpaid, is equally important, equally as spiritual, and equally ministry. And I brought something for the kids to see, and for the adults, and to smell. You guys can pass around and smell it.

This is great. What what is this, kids? You can say, shout it out. Yes, good, good observation.

This is coffee, and it smells so good. So I'm going to pass this around because I want you to experience some of the joy and the sense of salvation. So that is coffee, and it's not just coffee, though.

It is a way to discover Jesus. That was the answer I was looking for. But it is indeed a way to discover Jesus.

Each time we're in the office, you know, my son, he'll brew a cup of coffee for me, and I love the coffee that he makes, and I hug him with gratitude, and I express my gratitude. And there is something of love in the action of doing this, and the beans make this possible. Every time I drink a cup of it, my hands are freed up to think because I'm a fidgeter, and I can meditate on the good things around me.

Every time I brew a cup, I can make some for somebody else if I brew a whole pot of it. And in those conversations, we discover the workings of God in ourselves, and I discover it in them, and vice versa. And so, yes, it's coffee, and it's so much more.

It is a sacred window into the mysterious workings of God. Now, it's not just true of coffee. It is true of everything that we put our hands to do.

My life just revolves, I actually literally have to make my schedule around how much caffeine I'm going to take in with people, so I have tea meetings with some people, coffee latte meetings, depending, so I have to chart my caffeine intake during the day. But either way, it is a window to the New Jerusalem, as is your labor. And so, you know, the thing is that we often don't think about, and why I love Rogation Sunday to be in our church calendar, is that life isn't broken up into secular versus sacred.

But as C.S. Lewis says in some place, I can't remember, he says, life is actually split up into religious versus irreligious. And so, even for a clergy person, the church, and working in the context of the church, should never be something that causes the neglect of the family, or even neglecting my literal neighbors in my literal neighborhood, because somehow church work is seen more valuable than another one, right? They're just different stewardships, different priorities, but one is not more spiritual or more sacred than another. Everything created is sacred in the kingdom of God, in this world, and so our task is to cultivate what is good, true, and beautiful in the good things that God's made.

So St. Paul might be a trailblazer in this passage, but his end goal in doing all this missionary work is to establish communities, to build up the church, to make little outposts of the kingdom of God that don't rely on him to be there anymore. And that's why, when we read his letters, he says in Ephesians chapter 4, God had granted that some be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. And anybody know why? Anybody know the last part of that verse? To do what? Building up the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. 

You know the work of the ministry is not my job, it's yours. I'm just here to help you do it, right? And so this is a really helpful thing to think about on this Rogation Sundays. The ways that you shape your calendar, the things that you put your hands to do, these are opportunities to show the justice and mercy of God, to honor the image of God in another person, to hear some of the words of God from another person, to recognize brokenness and offer an alternative kingdom counter-narrative to what they're walking through.

And no matter what God's called you to do, this could be paid or unpaid, could be child rearing, could be grandparenting, could be real estate, could be social advocacy, teaching, military service, gardening, woodworking, making meals, or a combination of vocations. One's never truly retired in the kingdom of God, one just changes vocations. And so kids, this applies to you too, as you play, create, discover things, this is the work that God has for you where you discover the kingdom of God through very earthly means.

The earthly means matter, our bodies matter. So the work of Jesus continues through our work, the work of our hands, the thought life, the hearts, the words, these are the means by which people discover the goodness of Jesus in us and through us. And so our work points others to Jesus, it's the first point. 

And second, as you work, make sure to listen. Listen as you're working. When the crowds heard about this thing that Paul and Barnabas had done, they thought that Barnabas had to have been Zeus, the head of the Pantheon, which probably tells you that he's a little bit older than Paul, and Paul is the main speaker, so they think Paul is the chief god Hermes, the messenger god.

This is a common thing, their government systems, their municipalities are built around the religious system, and so to anger the gods will have bad results on your city, and so they want to, they can't believe that the gods would bless their small town with their presence in this miracle, and so not to offend the gods, who were pretty capricious and fragile, kind of like human beings, they wanted to properly thank the deities for their blessings and their presence just showing up, and so they don't want the gods to be offended. And Paul and Barnabas start to hear what's happening, that there's a temple that's dedicated to Zeus, the priest over there says, let's get everybody in the town to make sacrifices, and Paul and Barnabas tear their garments, which is a Jewish sign that blasphemy has occurred. So note, I think it's really important that for them the means are as important as the ends.

It could have been easy to take advantage of the gullibility of this small town, you know, they just got kicked out of somewhere, and so they're probably hurt and tired, they're wondering how this is going to go, they get a little taste of success all of a sudden, and they might think to themselves or be tempted to think, you know, after being kicked out of the last place, this must be a sign of God's favor, let's just ride this wave for a little bit, stay comfortable, eventually we'll get to the truth, we don't need to rock the boat, right? That's letting ends justify the means. But underneath it all, the means are as important as the ends. The goal is pointing people to Jesus, they are process-oriented, everything they do is done to point people to Jesus, not themselves or their own greatness.

Obviously Paul was talented, they thought he was a god, but that's not the point, he wants to point people to Jesus. Because of that, the means are as important as the end. And our labor, the things that we put our hands to, is a way of helping others see Jesus Christ's character and his work.

It's not a means of establishing wealth or comfort or ease or securing power or influence. Power or influence happen, right? That happens to people, and it's a responsibility to steward, it's not something to seek after. Wealth and comfort and ease, similarly, these are never promised to the Christian.

They might happen, but they might not, and they're only going to happen for a time, and they're being taken away, this is not God's sign of disfavor, it's never promised. But Paul and Barnabas, they hear what's going on, they start to put the pieces together of what the townspeople are thinking about the gods, and they've needed to pay attention before they can connect the dots of how their labor and the work of Christ can be given, and how to package that for these people to take what's true and false in their narratives and shepherd them into what is good and right and holy. And what I think is interesting is there is somewhat of a blessing.

So Paul and Barnabas bless the good desire of these people, and they can name some goodness by God's common grace, and then there is a gentle shepherding away from what is not good for them. So they bless what it's good, they shepherd them towards what needs to be redeemed. So our work points others to Jesus, and we need to listen well before we offer the kingdom to people in a way that they can handle.

And finally, words have to accompany our work as we help people sort through what's true and what's false. Paul and Barnabas challenge the crowds, and they say, why are you doing this? And they tell the crowds, we are people, we're more mortals, just like you. And so they start with where the crowd is at.

They recognize their beliefs, they bless the good thing they desire to do, but they say ultimately there's something flawed here, and they challenge them to turn away from worthless things that won't profit them, and turn towards the living God. Now who is this living God? They don't know yet. This is sort of a foreshadowing of Acts 17 with other pagans in a different group, but they don't know who this is yet.

It is very human to want well-being and prosperity, but the faith of the town is misplaced, and so Paul and Barnabas are emphatically, but they are tenderly, starting with what this town knows, to work towards what they don't yet know. Blessing and shepherding. And so now that Paul and Barnabas have earned the right to be heard in their deeds, they use that platform to offer words of truth and hope.

 They tell the crowds about the living God. This is the God who made heaven and earth. In other words, the earth is not deified, the moon is not a god, the Sun is not a god.

This is the God who has made the unseen, the invisible, and the visible. And he tells them for a time God had allowed them to go along in their ignorance, but even in their time of ignorance, God still showed them his goodness, because they were harvesting food. So as they were working with their hands, the labor they were doing was showing them the goodness of God.

God provided for them food, and he filled their hearts with joy. So even the joy that they experienced at a very human level is a gift from God, and those graces are truly common grace, and up to this time they had been misattributing where those came from. So Paul blesses the goodness that they know, and he uses what they know to point them to the God who's given them this thing.

Now, the question can be asked, in Paul's labor here, was he successful? Was he successful? It's your question, what do you guys think? Yes or no? I see some nods, yeah, he was. Well, the next couple of verses mention that the Jews come from Pisidi and Antioch, which we talked about a few weeks ago, and the Jews come from Iconium, where they had just been kicked out. And then they turn the crowds against Paul, and then they stone him, and they drag him out of the city, and everyone thinks he's dead.

That's success. And then the disciples, they come and they surround Paul, presumably to grieve the loss of their friend. Like, it's a tragedy.

And then, by God's power, Paul miraculously gets up. And then him and Barnabas go to the next city of Derbe to keep going. We don't see any of the fruit of Paul's labors here in this chapter.

So while none of us here that I know of have been persecuted to the point of bloodshed, it is the case that doing our work now unto the Lord might risk us being misunderstood, might risk us being cast out, not seeing the fruit of our hard work, even when that work has taken decades. And that's really hard. That can still be successful in the kingdom of God.

The success of Paul's labor wasn't measured in the number of conversions, the number of churches planted, the amount of money raised. It's his faithfulness to point people to Jesus as he follows God in the work that God's called him to do, whatever that is. And so the success comes because God is the one who brings the growth, not St. Paul.

Paul's job is to be faithful with the work God's called him to do. And I find it, and maybe I'm alone in this, but if you're like me, it is so hard to be open-handed and internally okay with the idea that others are going to inherit the labor that we've poured into, right? I want the satisfaction of a job well done. I want people to praise me for the goodness of the thing that I accomplished.

But to be open-handed and to be open to the idea and internally okay with someone else is going to build off what I did, and they're probably going to do it way better than I did. And to like rejoice in that is really hard, especially when things feel unfinished. And yet this is the work of pointing people to Jesus.

It's realizing that every sports team you coach, each moment you have with your kids or your friends, each book or article that you work on and you publish, each team you manage at your work, every document that you work on is probably going to be forgotten in the next hundred years. And if the document's not forgotten or if the acts are forgotten, like they're not going to know you in a hundred years or your contribution to that thing. And so even though that work is going to be forgotten, these are the little labors along the way that are building something like an implicit memory for generations to come that Jesus is good and true and safe and kind.

Try to think of how to explain that. So like as you are working, even though the labor and you and your memory and your name might be forgotten, the ways that you're investing in the people now that God's called you to be around are the little things that generations to come will feel and will know the goodness of Jesus whether or not they attribute it to you. And as the world discovers new ways to distort and confuse God's goodness and love, you and I are cultivating the goodness of the gospel that other people have planted.

We don't know who's sown in us. Maybe we do. But there are people that we don't yet know because there were people who sowed in the people who sowed in us, right? And we are sowing seeds through our labors for generations to come to cultivate.

And so I want to invite us this morning to see all the parts of our lives as sacred. You all are professional ministers. All of you.

Find some things this week that symbolize your work and pray over those things. Bless them in God's name during the days of rogation. I already mentioned coffee.

There are many prayers that happen around coffee. I was thinking for me I've got like a Syriac Bible that symbolizes part of my work. My book of common prayer. Cooking utensils. Ways that I might help people through making a meal or something. And a baseball glove that is part of my season of life right now.

And so what is it for you as you think of the things that sort of symbolize the work that God's called you to at this moment, paid or unpaid, what is that thing you can hold in your hand on rogation tide Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and say, Lord bless this. Make this a vehicle of your kingdom. May I see the goodness of new creation in this very simple earthly embodied work.

So take time to notice and delight in the work that God's given you to do. Kids, that includes you too. Our work is an invitation to see the work of Jesus.

Point people to Jesus. Help them reimagine their world as holy. And then listen to others and recognize what's true and what's false and help shepherd them to name what is good and the things that are in need of redemption.

I want to pray for us as we close a very short and simple prayer, but to highlight that this is a prayer we pray every Sunday in the Eucharist. So I'm gonna pray it for us now. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do.

To love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. Amen.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Edited by the Author.