Grace Series: A is A Beacon

Pastor Burcham's Sermon

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is one of the puzzles historians have wondered about for many years. Thousands of books have been written about this subject, but there's still one point in history they're struggling to understand.

It has to do with the revolutions that happened in countries in the late 1700's and early 1800's. Of course, whenever we think of a revolution, we think of the American Revolution and 1776 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence and GeorgeWashington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and all the rest. But around that time in history, there was more than just the American Revolution that was happening. In fact, in and around Europe , most every major country had to go through some sort of upheaval and instability in their land, a revolution.

The one we probably know about the most is the French Revolution of 1789, but the fact that puzzles historians is why is it Great Britain didn't have to struggle through a time of revolution? How is it that Britain could remain so stable during those uncertain times in history? Oh, certainly, the colonies rebelled and declared their independence, but Britain itself, England itself remained stable during that time.

Well, at least here recently, several historians believe they found one major cause for the stability of England . Around that same time in history, there was a spiritual renewal, a religious revival, if you will, that was happening in England . It was led primarily by John Wesley and his followers but it really permeated all of the country, which meant that, during this religious revival, this spiritual renewal, every faction of the society was affected, whether they were aristocracy or whether they were poor, whether they were rich, whether they were upstanding or not upstanding, young or old, every part of society had at least been affected somewhat by this religious revival. So the historians are saying it was the church and it was God's people who influenced all of history, that saved England , if you will, from a time of instability so that country could stay on an even keel.

I suppose it shouldn't surprise us that much that God's people and God's church could make a difference, in fact, could affect history itself. Jesus Himself said, “You are the salt of the earth.” He said, “You're the light of the world.” The salt of the earth. That means we are the ones that are the change agent in the world. We're to be this beacon of hope, this light of truth that is out there. And, in reality, God's people are called upon to change the world in which they live in.

That's why the third statement in our vision is Gloria Dei will be a beacon to our community. That is, Gloria Dei will be that beacon of hope and truth in our community and for all those that are around us. Gloria Dei will not simply just be in the community, but we will be a part of our community. We will be sensitive to the needs of our community. We'll be active in our community. Gloria Dei will be that beacon of hope and truth to the northwest side and maybe beyond in the Des Moines area.

If that is our vision, then that is the vision of a congregation that is concerned about its community and, not only just concerned about its community, but wants to work with and for the community to enact change. You see, being a beacon to the community is much different than, well, what's tempting to be as a congregation. As a congregation, it's tempting, instead of to be a beacon to the community, it's easier to be a fortress in the community. And it's understandable why a congregation would see themselves more as a fortress in the community. What I mean by that, the congregation is a safe place in which you can come to escape the rest of the world and escape the attacks of the rest of the world, a place where you can sort of hunker down with fellow believers and regain some strength for when you have to go back out there and face them. It's easy to understand that, especially in our society where religion in general is under attack, but specifically Christianity seems to be under attack more often than not. If you look at the media and you see how Christianity is portrayed, how often is it portrayed in a positive light? Not too often. Anything from the ministers in Christianity to the people who call themselves Christian, usually they're just a negative slant to it. At the very best, it's a comical slant to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. If you add to that, if you're a congregation that stands firm on God's Word as we do, when you unashamedly and unapologetically preach God's Word, even if it seems politically incorrect but where God is clear that you are clear, then you open yourselves up to a lot more attacks and the arrows start flying in and, all of a sudden, labels start being put upon you. Labels like conservative in the most negative sense of the word, judgmental, harsh, closed minded, authoritative, extreme, antiquated, and they go on from there. It's easy then for the congregation to become defensive, to say, “The world is going to Hades, but we're not going to join them. They can say what they want, do what they want, but we're going to come in here and be safe at least for awhile. We're going to hunker down.” It's easy to understand why congregations could see almost an invisible wall surrounding the perimeter of the property and, at each entrance, there's a little sign that says “Members Only Please.” It's tempting. It's tempting to be oblivious to the needs of our community and to just be a fortress.

But God has called upon us to be a beacon. He's called upon us to be the salt of the earth. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” Understand that statement. In Jesus' time, obviously, there was no refrigeration so salt had two purposes. Salt, on the one hand, was a preservative. So to keep what was good, you added salt to it so meat would stay fresh longer and the such. Also, salt was an enhancer. It took what was good and it made it better. Jesus said, “In the world in which we live, you are the salt of the earth.” That is, we're to preserve what is good and we're to enhance what is good and make it even better than that. In other words, we are to be a change agent in the world in which we live.

Maybe I can explain it better by example. Down in Jacksonville , Florida , there is a congregation called Potter's House. It started in the 1980's. It started with just 50 believers coming together. Part of their vision was they wanted to minister to the whole person. And the area which they were ministering in certainly wasn't the best of neighborhoods. In fact, in 1991, the congregation moved into a vacant Volkswagen dealership. That dealership had been vacant for 13 years. Not only was the dealership vacant, but every building around the dealership had been vacant for years. All of the store fronts had been boarded up. They blamed it to White Flight. Years had built up and finally all the people in that neighborhood had left and gone someplace else. It was spiraling downward. Crime was up. Unemployment was up. Illiteracy was up. It's in this neighborhood they planted their church, and they had a vision to be a beacon to their community around them. They believed they could be a positive influence, they could be the salt of the earth to the people on the western side of Jacksonville . If you were to travel to the west side of Jacksonville today, you wouldn't recognize it from what it looked like back in 1991. Now, all of a sudden, none of the stores are boarded up anymore. All of them are occupied. In fact, new stores have come in because of the revival of that neighborhood, the renewal of that neighborhood, big stores like Walmart and Target and Home Depot and Walgreen's. If you were to look at that neighborhood now, it looks like a healthy and thriving neighborhood. Many of the leaders of that city and even of the nation credit a lot of that to Potter's House Ministry. They said, through spiritual development and economic empowerment, this congregation made a difference to their community. Just recently, they brought a strip mall across the street and they're giving small business owners education on how to start up their business. They're giving them a place to put their business so they can start. They're still a beacon in their community. They saw a need, and they met that need. They worked with their community. They weren't just in the community. They were part of the community.

If Gloria Dei is going to be a beacon to our community, then we need to be the salt of the earth in our community. No, we don't have White Flight going on. We don't have vacant Volkswagen dealerships or anything else vacant around here. In fact, we have the opposite end of the spectrum in where we live. But that doesn't mean our community doesn't have needs. It doesn't mean there isn't a need for a beacon to be out there in the western side of Des Moines . The needs are there, and it is our vision we will discover those needs. And then when those needs are discovered, we'll meet those needs. Maybe it's the need of young families to have a place to come together and find out how can they have a solid home. Maybe it's the need for the young people in our community to have a safe environment in which they can hang out where they're not tempted to get into trouble. I don't know what the needs are, but the vision is God has called upon us to be the salt of the earth. And we're going to be the salt of the earth here on the northwest side of Des Moines . We're going to discover the needs, and we're going to work with the community to meet those needs. That's what it is to be a beacon to our community.

To be a beacon to our community means the vision of a congregation that symbolizes hope. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” He says, “You don't take a lamp and light it and put it underneath a bowl.” Two things will happen if you light a candle and put it underneath a bowl. The first thing is no one else is going to see the light. The second thing is itself will eventually go out. We are to be the light of the world. That is, we're to be a shining example to all that see us, to all that come into contact with us, a shining example of the hope and the love and the strength we have in Christ. We are to be the light of the world. That means we're to be the beacon of light in which people can be drawn to.

We live in a world that struggles with everything changing around them. Think for a moment of all the parts of society and all the parts of our world that are constantly in flux. Technology changes almost on a daily basis. Nobody can keep up with that. They say a person entering into the job force today more than likely will change jobs 7 to 10 to 12 times during their career. There's no stability with jobs anymore. Nobody ever has a guarantee that once they start with a company, they're going to be there until they retire. It's always in flux. It's always changing.

Think about the medical front. It's always changing, always new medical technology that's coming up. But along with that, comes new moral and ethical decisions that have to be made. The world is in flux, and it's always changing. They need something solid, something that doesn't change. We have something that doesn't change. We have an unchanging God who gave us His unchanging word. We have a God whose love never changes for us. We can be that beacon of hope and strength that says, “No matter what you have done in your past, God will still love you. No matter what you do in the future, God's love will remain the same.” It is a constant. How God's love is transmitted, how it's communicated, that may change but the message God has for His people remains the same. It's the vision of a congregation that demonstrates that solidness, that unchangeable fact of God. It's the vision that every member is a beacon to their community, every member has a presence about them, an inner strength in them, a confidence that flows from their relationship with Christ that says, no matter how many changes the world may throw at them, they have something to fall back on. That's being a beacon to our community.

It's the vision of a congregation that has an incredible reputation, an incredible reputation in the community. If you look at the early church, the early church had an incredible reputation. We read a few moments ago from Acts 2, the early believers came together and it says here, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.” A little bit further, it says, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together,” and then, “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily.” If you skip ahead just a couple of chapters, it talks about the church again and it says the apostles perform many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. No one else dare joined them even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. You have a congregation that has an incredible reputation. Some people agree with them. Some people don't agree with them. Some people join their numbers. Others don't join their numbers, but all of them hold them in high regard. Later on, we're told the people look at them and see how they love one another, see how they interact with one another. The church of Jerusalem had an incredible reputation that allowed them to be that beacon of hope, that allowed the people to have a good impression of what Christianity is all about.

It's the vision we would have an incredible reputation throughout the Des Moines area, Gloria Dei would have an impeccable reputation with our community. When people think of our congregation, they think more than that large church at the corner of 86 th and Aurora but they think about the people of the church and they think about the people they know in the church and what wonderful people they are and how they love one another and what good neighbors they are and how they treat other people with respect and love and kindness. When they think about Gloria Dei, they think about, “Oh, yeah, that's the place where I gave blood last month.” Or, “That's the place where I go to vote.” Or maybe more importantly, “That's the place where my children had to be evacuated from their school that they flung open their doors and they opened them wide and gave them a nice, safe environment in which they could wait until the school was made secure.” It's the vision of a congregation that enjoys the favor of all the people that allows us to be that beacon of hope and strength.

In short, our vision is we're not just in our community. We are a part of our community. Gloria Dei is a beacon to our community. Amen.

Copyright 2006 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church