“Risk-taking Mission and Service” — Feb. 5, 2012 — Luke 4:14-21

We have all probably done some pretty risky things in the past. You may have done something risky just because it was exciting. Or you may have done something risky because someone dared you to do it. “I dare ya! I double dog dare ya!” Once you are double dog dared, you have no choice but to do it—whatever the consequences. Like that scene in the classic movie “A Christmas Story,” where the little boy is double dog dared to stick his tongue on a metal flagpole on a freezing day. We all know what happened. It got stuck and the fire department had to come and get his tongue unstuck from the flagpole. Of course we should not take a risk based on some body’s dare. But our lives are full of risks, and we take these risks only when we have concluded that the possible benefit will outweigh the possible consequence. You go out with someone on a date because a solid relationship may result. You start a new job because the chance for advancement is there. You invest for your retirement based on market performance and statistics. You try a new medical treatment in order to get well. Part of our dilemma is that when we take a chance and do something different, out of the ordinary, even dangerous, then we risk being embarrassed, uncomfortable, or even sometimes risking our safety or our very lives.

It is like this in our faith life too. An essential part of our faith is reaching out and serving others. This is having a faith that is “fruitful.” To be fruitful, we are to live by the “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.” These are: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity. We have looked at the first three practices, and this week we look at the fourth, Risk-taking Mission and Service. What will help make us a fruitful church is how effective we are at taking a risk in our mission and service to others in the name of Jesus Christ. Christ came not to be served, but to serve. As Christians, that is exactly our mission too.

As Christians, everything we do should make a positive difference in the lives of others. Here in this church, we care for each other, share with each other, and serve each other. This kind of internal mission and service is essential for keeping our church together. It is relatively easy to love and serve those you know. But we cannot stop there. We have to love and serve those people out there, those we do not know, those who do not know us. In Luke 6:32, Jesus says if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. As followers of Jesus, we have to willingly and willfully make ourselves love and serve those who are strangers, especially the poor and needy, people who may be very different from us, who may never be able to repay us in any way—this is the kind of risky mission we are to be on. This is Christ’s kind of mission. In faith and obedience, Jesus set out on the riskiest mission ever—to save the world, in service to his father.

Christ’s mission begins just before our Scripture reading this morning. His mission in ministry to save the world begins as he is baptized by John the Baptist and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus spends forty days in the wilderness, strengthened by temptation. Then, in our Scripture, we have Jesus’ first public proclamation of his purpose. He returns to his hometown, Nazareth, where he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom… He unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Luke 4:16-21] Isaiah had prophesied the coming Messiah, and Jesus tells us all that the prophesy has been fulfilled in him, that he is the Messiah, the word made flesh, the human and divine Son of God whose mission is to bring the Good News of salvation to the world. The Good News of hope, peace, joy and love that is offered by God to all people. Christ’s mission is our mission. We are to bring good news to the poor. We are to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. We are to let the oppressed go free and proclaim the hope, peace, joy and love that flows from the Lord’s favor. This is a risky mission. Jesus gave his life for it. We may or may not give our lives for it, but we are to give all of ourselves for it.

We are to love and care for each other in our church family, but we are also to show our love in mission and service to people outside of our church, whether or not they ever become part of our church or any community of faith. Christ’s compassion, mercy and grace are not just for church people but extend to the whole world, especially to the poor and needy, the broken and lost, the marginalized. As the Apostle James wrote, faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. [James 2:17] In other words, our faith is dead unless it is actively doing some good in people’s lives. Again and again, Jesus shows that God’s way includes showing unexpected love to the least likely. And there are so many opportunities to make a positive difference. We offer lots of different activities here at MWUMC for you to get involved in mission and service. Two that recur every month are helping to stock the shelves of the SEM Food Pantry, and on the second Saturday of every month, providing dinner and fellowship for free to our neighbors here in Mt. Washington. That’s happening this coming Saturday, so come and join us. Also this Saturday our children and youth are serving Christ by providing cookies and cards for our local police and firefighters, and the caregivers at Arden Courts, to say thanks and let them know God’s love. It is so important to involve our young people in mission and service. For our children and youth to go outside of these walls and make a positive difference is a faith building experience. This coming June some of our youth will go on a mission trip to Racine, Wisconsin. They will do good work helping those who need help and have fun while doing it too. Watch for upcoming activities where our youth will be doing some fund raising for their expenses for this trip. Please be extravagantly generous with them.

You cannot help but notice the use of the words “Risk-taking” to describe mission and service. When we serve others in ministry and mission in Christ’s name, we are to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. That’s risky. We are to stretch ourselves beyond serving people we already know, and meet strangers in different cultures where we do not know the rules. That’s risky. We are to work to alleviate suffering and injustice in situations that may be totally foreign to us. That’s risky. We take these risks to help in ways where we would not usually help if we were not followers of Christ. We take these risks to improve the conditions of others, as we do Risk-taking Mission and Service with them, not to them.

Some wonderful Risk-taking Mission and Service was provided by one of our church family who is an ER nurse at University Hospital. In January, she went to Haiti as part of a medical mission team. She said the country is still devastated by the earthquake of two years ago, but the people were very spiritual and had great faith. They were always singing, though their poverty is beyond imagining. They are not lazy—they work long hours doing whatever they can to try and make ends meet. They are thankful and generous with whatever little bit they have. She said there are many high crime areas, political unrest and protests. It was risky being there. But she said, “I depended on God to keep me safe and get me through. It was a very rewarding experience.” Their medical team touched many people there. They saved lives and alleviated suffering. They did good work that made a positive difference. They changed lives and in turn, their lives were changed also. That’s the beautiful thing about Risk-taking Mission and Service. It is transforming. It changes the lives of those who receive our help. It changes our lives when we help others. It changes our church. We become more fruitful as we share in Christ’s compassion and grace.

There are so many ways we can participate in Risk-taking Mission and Service. We have many gifts to offer. Paul tells us, for as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function. [Romans 4:12] Not all of us are able to be in the front lines, but we are all able to participate. Those in the front lines need our prayers and encouragement and all the financial support we can muster. We can do all we can to support and sustain existing mission and service projects here at MWUMC and keep our eyes and ears open for new initiatives as well. We can do our best to pay our Apportionments, because a good chunk of that money goes to support mission and service projects all over the world. We can all share in this work, each of us helping to fill the many roles needed to do the work that God calls us to do, giving God our best.

When I came here a little over two years ago, I was struck by the embroidered banner on the wall in our narthex. It says, “Beyond our cozy walls, Christ sends us forth throughout the world, Saying unto us, Feed my Sheep, Tend my Lambs.” Ask yourself, is that banner describing me? Ask yourself, what have I done recently to make a positive difference in the lives of others that I would not have done if it were not for my relationship with Jesus Christ? Ask yourself, what can I do next to practice Risk-taking Mission and Service, to help build God’s kingdom here and now?

Let us pray: Merciful God, you have blessed us to be a blessing to others. We humbly ask you to use us in Risk-taking Mission and Service to make a positive difference in the lives of others, to make the world a better place in the name of Jesus Christ. All of God’s people said, Amen.