Sermon: Finding Our Story

Ephesians 4:1-16

 “Finding Our Story”

02 August 2015 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

There is so much to this passage, but that is what we’ve all come to expect from Paul. Letters to congregations chock full of theology. Before we dig a little deeper into these words I want to sum everything up right now. I need your help to make this whole church thing work. Together WE, every single one of us here today from the newest baby to the crustiest Master Chief, make up the Body of Christ and are how people come to know Christ in his material absence. Through grace we all have been given gifts with which to radiate Christ’s love to the world.

The church in Ephesus was divided with people doing their own thing so these words ring true to the individualistic culture in which we find ourselves. The world, especially the military, tells us to get ours. Step on others for promotions. Take advantage of people when you can because it’s their fault they are naïve or don’t know the way things work. The cashier gave you too much change, you just got one over on the man. Finder’s keepers.

Paul says, wait just a second. As Christians we all follow the same Lord, have the same faith, received the same baptism, and were all endowed with gifts to make this whole thing work. Because of this we aren’t here to mimic the world, but rather to be in the world as Christ’s ambassadors to a broken and fractured world. Our faith, our baptism comes with a responsibility not just for our selves, but extends to our families, our friends, our neighbors, our communities, our nation, the world. Not only that, we are expected to lovingly speak the truth of Christ to the world. 

Now, when we look at the world it would be easy to throw our hands up in the air and say there is too much to do, too much pain, too much suffering, too much corruption, too much. And if Christ had looked upon only one of us and said, “Hey you, yeah you. You look like a smart woman who will represent me well to the world. I want you to fix everything you see wrong in the world. Go forth and do good things in my name.” We’d have reason to say it’s too much.

However, Paul tells us it isn’t on any single individual. The Spirit resides in all believers of Christ and blesses each of us with a gift or gifts that will glorify God in the presence of the world. We aren’t in this alone. We are in this together.

There is a rich diversity in Christ, one that we tend to overlook to our detriment. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m new here so I don’t know the breadth and beauty of the diversity upon which I see right now. And I’m not talking about the standard Navy definition of diversity. Sorry, I mean military diversity. It’ll take me a while to get used to being at a Navy command that has Soldiers, Airmen, and Coastguardsmen. And I’m not talking about the typical visions of gender and race we see when we hear the word diversity.

I’m talking about a rich diversity of gifts that provide the stunning, Newberry Award winning illustrations that bring the most amazing story ever told to life in such detail that one can’t help but want to enter into the story. Our specific gifts make Christianity a page-turner that every other piece of literature copies in some form or another. When we truly embrace our gifts we show the world what it can be and we see echoes of this in some of the greatest art and literature throughout the centuries.

Some of you are looking at me thinking this new chaplain is totally off his rocker. Over the next few years I will more often than not prove that to be a fairly accurate assessment. However, I’m just telling you what Paul is saying. Each of us has a specific purpose in life that is gifted upon us by the grace of God through the Holy Spirit. Discovering just what that is can take us a lifetime and is part of what makes following Christ, and frankly life, so interesting and frustrating.

So, how do we determine the gift or gifts the Spirit infused into our souls? That may be the question of our lives. There is a fancy theological word for how we go about figuring out our place in the world and what we are called to do on behalf of God: discernment. In other words, finding our individual story within God’s larger story.

Finding our story as individuals and the collective story of St. Andrew’s Chapel can prove harder than it sounds. That is why the Navy has sent Glen and myself to this wonderful community. We are here to sit in community with everyone and help discover those stories by listening to and telling your stories. But, Glen and I aren’t the only ones tasked with that job.

We all need to pay attention and listen to individual stories and look for where those stories fit into God’s story and plan for our individual lives and the collective story of Christianity. If we try to do this alone, we run the risk of making God’s story the story we choose. So, we have to help each other tell and hear God’s story each and everyday.

Now that is a tall task and we have every right to ask, “How do we ever learn how to listen for God’s story amongst the noise of our own making and that of society?” Well, I’m glad you are asking such insightful questions. That is what the church is for. Whenever we gather as a community, be that two or thousands, this is a learning laboratory. And this is where I need your help.

Because this space, this congregation is a laboratory of learning and discovering how our story fits into God’s story, we need to explore. So, if you have a talent, a gift given in grace, we want to hear about it, we want to see it in action. If you want to explore how dance can benefit worship, we’ll make space for you in worship. Are you a technological genius? Well, we can use you in recording and getting sermons on a podcast for our brothers and sisters underway or on travel. Unlike me, do you have an angelic voice and want to offer that gift to God? Then let us know and we’ll allow that offering in this space.

Do you find yourself artistic? Can you see Christ in everyday things and have the ability to capture that on film? These walls are looking pretty bare and could use some worshipful images to help us meet God in this space. Do you have a heart for service? We’ll start doing some congregational community service events and you can lead one. Have you always wanted to teach Sunday School or work with youth? Then you are truly a saint and Glen and I will ensnare you quickly. If you are a thinker and planner and have ideas of other ways we can hear each other’s stories and place them in God’s story, let me know.

Now, don’t think that you have to be an expert in these areas to offer that gift to this community and thus God. Even if you aren’t sure of a certain gift and you want to explore that in a safe place, this community is where you will be able to see where your story fits into God’s story. Because, in here, grace abounds. You have the freedom to fail.

Sometimes it takes a lot of crumpled paper and frustration before we stumble upon the story arc God has crafted for us. That is why God needs each and every person here today (and even those who couldn’t make it today). Together we’ll stumble along and support each other in finding the narrative that was crafted, the path that was cleared for each of us. We’re in this together. We are the Body of Christ, doing his work with our bodies and telling his story through our stories.

The only thing that matters is doing the best with the gift and talents we have been given. I want you to take a few moments and listen to a song written by a guy named Si Kahn that beautifully describes living into the story we received from the Spirit. And feel free to sing along with the chorus, which will be on the screen. (Play Song)

Discernment, just like story telling, is hard, it’s frustrating, it’s scary, it’s unpredictable. But, when you find your calling you’ll know and it will change the world. Maybe not on a grand scale, but will change yourself, your family, your neighbors, your community, this congregation. People will have no choice but to see Christ radiating from you and will want to hear your story and be a part of God’s story.