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“It’s Not About You,” Seminarian Brent Wiescamp, 6/5/16

Our scripture this morning is from Exodus chapter 4 verses 10 through 17. It’s a tiny portion of the life of Moses. I identify with Moses in a few ways but most closely with that not being good enough thing. If only there had been a burning bush or some other sign to let me know that this calling was real. Moses got that and more and yet he still doubted. For me the real lesson here is that God will send help as he does in this morning’s scripture. I invite you to read along with me.

Loving God, I ask that you bless this community gathered here today. I ask that the inspired words are pleasing. I ask that out of all the stories, words and phrases that I could have chosen, the ones that I did choose do not get in your way.

One of the real blessings from having a month or two to write a sermon is that I had plenty of time to think about it. The real curse from having a month or two to write a sermon is that I had way too much time to think about it. I consulted the lectionary and none of the suggested scriptures for today really spoke to me nor did they spark any ideas. From there I considered many topics, wondered about many more, and finally settled on some sort of farewell. I began thinking of things that I might include: an inspiring story from a mission trip, maybe a funny anecdote about a youngster at camp or on a retreat, or, possibly, a horror story from when I used to do coffee and donuts on Sunday mornings. I have many stories from each of those categories and many others soI began to take note of some of the best of them off and on over the next week.

On one evening during that week I was doing some reading for one of my classes. The book I was reading was This Odd and Wondrous Calling by Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver. It is a collection of essays and writings from two ministers that is meant to help seminary students gain some insight about some things to expect in the real world of doing church for a living. A Copenhaver essay began with some witty rejoinders in response to reasons given to him by some people that no longer attend church. Here’s a few examples from that essay:
Every time I come to church they talk about the same things
Maybe that’s because you only come on Christmas and Easter.

I’m into Native American spirituality.
Really? Which tribe?

I thought it was important to go to church when my children were young to give them a spiritual foundation but now they are grown so I don’t go to church anymore.
So you wanted to give your children a foundation in something you really don’t care much about yourself?
Ouch!

I think of myself as spiritual but not religious.
So you like to pick and choose your beliefs wherever they may be found which really means that it is all about you.

I don’t come to worship anymore because I don’t get that much out of it.
Well maybe that’s because it’s not about you.

Wow! It’s not about you. How many of us have been on the receiving end of that statement? How did it feel? Did you take stock and wonder a bit if you were being particularly selfish or self-important? How many of us have uttered that statement before? What was it in response to? After I finished reading for the evening I had a few more ideas for some stories for this sermon and as I began to jot them down there was a voice that said, “It’s not about you!” I’m sure you’ve heard of that “still, small voice” stuff, right? That doesn’t work too well with me. I’m more of a 2X4 upside the head type. God knows that about me. That whole omnipotent thingy comes in handy when you’re trying to make a point. Evidently I was in need of further instruction though because the voice continued.

You are one person in one congregation that is part of the Central Rocky Mountain Region of the Disciples of Christ which is one region of several and the Disciples is one denomination of, what, hundreds, thousands, of denominations around the world that comprise the Body of Christ and you have the audacity to think for even a second that it should be about you? Well, since you put it like that, uhhhh, no, I guess not.

So was all of that God talking to me? Not really. If it had been God then there would have been exact figures for the number of regions and denominations and so forth. Yup, omnipotence. But in a sense it was God talking. Call it what you want – conscience, the way I was raised, my moral compass. It’s that thing that’s been formed and transformed over the course of my life to this point. From the time I was baptized as an infant and the congregation entered into a covenant with my parents and God to raise me up knowing whose I am to the many mission trips, retreats, sermons and small groups here at Heart of the Rockies to professors and classmates at Phillips that moral compass has been formed and transformed. It has always involved God using others to nudge, cajole, and, sometimes, drag me kicking and screaming back into the light. Quite honestly there are far too many to count. Even if I limited it to just those here at Heart of the Rockies it would be a challenge.

The first time I walked in here I had been away from any active participation in a church for a number of years. I was going through a divorce and just trying to find my way in the world again. Quite simply, I was broken. As you might have read in my biography, there’s no way I should have ended up here since Heart of the Rockies was mistakenly listed as a Christian Reformed Church. It is the faith tradition of my youth and I wanted one of my early church visits to include familiar practices. The fancy word I learned for what that is called is habitus. It’s the basic portions of worship that happen nearly every Sunday. When to stand, to sit, where the congregational prayer sits in the order of worship are all parts of the habitus. I was hopeful that it would help steel my resolve to find a church home through the comfort of familiarity.

There was nothing familiar about my first service here. It was a contemporary service, I soon found out that communion was served every Sunday and you all are a little more liberal than my Calvinist friends. But the comfort was there. Mark Turner greeted me, invited me to sit with his family, and wished me well in my search for a church home as I departed. It was an honest wish that another Child of God would find the light and find his place in the Body of Christ. Nothing more, nothing less. That was the beginning of my time here. Those words, in lieu of the typical sales pitch of so many other churches, were the lynch pin that brought me back the following week.

Mitch Johnson was the first to get me up here at this pulpit. It was just to say a few words about a new budget campaign but it introduced me to all of you in a different way.
Someone talked me into doing coffee and donuts. It meant that I got to meet so many more of you on a regular basis.

If I ever had a question about a plant or animal I could always ask David Hartley.

If you want to know what love is just spend a little time with Tom and Patsy Nix. I doubt that you will find a better example.

Tom Norman always checks in with me to see how classes are going and he agreed to let me interview him for one of my classes this last semester. What a joy that was.

John and Nancy Shaw are always checking in with me to see how things are going with school. The Phillips alumni are so good at caring for those of us that are just beginning this journey.

Bev and Denny have been my church parents for a number of years now. I’ve lost track of how many now. Bev continually checks in with me to see how I’m doing and Denny got me connected to the train in North Lake Park in Loveland. The fact that I get to drive a train has made me the envy of many of my friends.

Stacy has continually been supportive and encouraging. Stacy I don’t know if you remember sending me a text while I was on a mission trip one time. You asked how everything was going and I knew that it was safe to be honest and let you know that it was not going well for me at that particular time. I don’t remember the conversation or why I was feeling sorry for myself. I just remember that afterwards I was ok and everything turned out just fine.

Matt and Corrie I cannot thank you enough. You became youth group leaders right after Scott left. I don’t know what I would have done without you helping to bridge that gap alongside me.

Erin and Donna, mi compadres. Yee haw. I will never forget our time together in Canada. We probably drank too much for a church trip but man oh man they had some good beers up there.
Donna you have noticed things about me that I didn’t notice for myself. I can never thank you enough for that. I look forward to our continued journey together at Phillips.
Erin you are my inspiration in so many different ways. You persevere with this calling as you continue to be a full time mom and wife and with a body that doesn’t quite work right all the time. I have exactly jack squat to complain about when a class is a little difficult or things don’t quite go my way.

The youth. Collectively and individually. Had it not been for the youth I would not be where I am today. I got to wonder again about God as a child wonders. I got to learn about the church’s place in helping to heal a broken world in Costa Rica, on Pine Ridge Reservation, on the streets of Albuquerque and in my home town of Alamosa. I can tell you with certainty that I have gotten far more out of working with the youth than I have put in. It has been an amazing experience and there are so many adventures that I will never forget.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention those from Heart of the Rockies that have gone before me on this journey and shown me that second careers are possible and, in fact, quite successful. Linda Harding really took me under her wing when I first became a youth group sponsor. We have shared many, many mission trips, camps and retreats. Alan and Julie Cory have shown me that second careers in ministry are possible even for engineers.

The Heart of the Rockies community as a whole has been instrumental in forming and transforming me. I have yet to mention the four pastors: Jeff, Scott, Melissa, and J P. To be sure, each of them has played a role. To be sure they have been and will continue to be mentors, confidantes, friends, and, hopefully, colleagues. But you see, I think of them in much the same way I think of all of you in this community. In our responsive reading this morning Jesus tells the Disciples that he is no longer their master but their friend. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once stated that no single member of a community should hear all of the community’s confessions. I would take that a step further and add that no single member of a community should be responsible for the health and happiness of the community. No single member and that, to me, means the pastors as well. I have spent a great portion of this sermon mentioning what all of you have meant to me in this community. So you see, it is all about you. It always has been and it always will be about you.