"Idle"

Rev. Matthew Miller

FROM THE LETTERS 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Click here to watch the sermon " Idle"

Stanley Hauerwas, the Duke Divinity School emeritus professor of divinity and law, wrote a book over 30 years ago titled "Unleashing Scripture.” In it he made what became a controversial statement, saying that there is no task more important for the church than to take the bible out of the hands of individual Christians in North America. Hauerwas identified a problem that a friend bemoaned to me just the other day. “What happened to Christianity,” he asked. “All I hear about is personal salvation and making sure that I’m saved or going to heaven.” We were out watching a football game so it wasn’t really the time to do a deep dive into the unfortunate legacy of revivalist movements and their emphasis on individualized faith and a personal relationship with Jesus. But this is what Hauerwas was getting at with his suggestion about the bible. Growing up, I came into contact with any number of youth parachurch organizations that emphasized the practice individual devotional bible reading. While that is certainly a commendable spiritual discipline, within the atomized individualism of North American culture, this practice came to be lifted up as an acceptable substitute for participation in a worshipping community. Me and my bible, like me and Jesus, were all that mattered. The only problem with that is that the bible wasn’t written in isolation any more than Jesus called individuals to follow him absent any kind of community. There really is no such thing as an “individual Christian,” which is to Hauerwas’s point. Without the mutual discernment and accountability of the community and the scholarship of the saints that have gone before us we are prone to misuse scripture to rationalize our own conclusions. Scripture doesn’t say that money is the root of all evil, but it does have something to say about the love of money. Likewise, the bible in no way suggests that God never gives us more than we can handle, as though God were the author of our misfortune. But we are assured that the trials of life are never greater than the strength God gives us to withstand them. God is the giver of strength, not misery. Without the correction of the community we might even think that the bible says that, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that’s not in the bible all. It was written by Benjamin Franklin for his Poor Richard’s Almanac and expresses a sentiment that in many ways is the opposite of what Jesus teaches.  Along those same lines is the verse from today’s reading that says, “anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” On more than one occasion lawmakers in our congress have invoked these words to advocate the reduction, if not outright elimination of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP. It used to be called food stamps. SNAP is funded through the annual farm bill and provides essential assistance to families and the elderly who regularly experience food insecurity. The misperception about SNAP is that it benefits people who are unwilling to work. USDA statistics show that nearly 60% of recipients are either adults over the age of 60 or children under the age of 17, so that characterization is a little off the mark. 28% of households receiving SNAP benefits report earned income, it’s just not enough. Many SNAP recipients either work at low-wage jobs or are only able to work part-time because they are full-time caregivers for an elderly or chronically ill family member. There are even enlisted members of the armed services who qualify for SNAP. Setting aside the advisability of using scripture to justify government policy, it’s particularly egregious to use this verse in this manner because the situation Paul is addressing has nothing to do with poor people in need of food. Last week we talked about the outsized role the end of the world, or the day of the Lord had come to play in the newly formed church in Thessalonica. There were people in the church who focused on the imminent return of Christ to the exclusion of Christ’s call to discipleship; so heavenly minded that they were of no earthly good. Meanwhile, while they were craning their necks to the sky looking for Jesus to come on the clouds, there was a community to attend to; people to be fed, neighbors to be cared for. The gospel writer Luke tells the story of Jesus coming to visit the home of Lazarus, where Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and Martha attends the guests. Martha gets a little miffed at her sister’s lack of help and brings it to Jesus’ attention. Jesus tells her that Mary has chosen the better part. It’s true that we can get so occupied with running things that we forget to attend to Jesus in our midst. But to attend to Jesus ultimately calls us to attend to one another, because that’s what Jesus commands us to do. Anyone unwilling to join in the work of the beloved community, as we look after one another’s needs and support each other in our faith, should not expect to reap the benefits. Not because they aren’t allowed to, or because they’re to be excluded in some way, but because they’re spectating instead of participating.  My brother is a football coach. He’s also my big brother, so he likes to give me a hard time. Whenever we get around to talking about our hometown football teams, the Denver Broncos, he’ll get on me if I say something like, “we really need to get better on the offensive side of the ball.” “Oh, really,” he’ll say, “I didn’t know you were on the roster,” reminding me that I’m not technically on the team, I just root for them. A lot of people are like that when it comes to church and faith too. They have a lot of ideas about what Christians should, or shouldn’t be doing or saying without ever contributing to the life of a Christian community. There’s a variation on what I think Paul might be getting at with his admonition that those unwilling to work should not eat. It comes from writer and sociologist Brene Brown and her work around the famous Teddy Roosevelt quote about the person in the arena (he uses the word ‘man,’ but it’s not about gender). "It is not the critic who counts;” said Roosevelt, “not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming..." In reflecting on these words, Brown writes, “If you are not in the arena getting your [backside] kicked on occasion, I am not interested in or open to your feedback. There are a million cheap seats in the world today filled with people who will never be brave with their own lives, but will spend every ounce of energy they have hurling advice and judgement at those of us trying to dare greatly. Their only contributions are criticism, cynicism, and fear-mongering. If you're criticizing from a place where you're not also putting yourself on the line, I'm not interested in your feedback.” Now to be certain, ours is a theology of grace, not works. But there is nothing gracious about refusing to participate and expecting to benefit. What Paul is ultimately getting at here is the practice of stewardship. Each and every one of us is the recipient of the immeasurable riches of God’s grace, and that is manifest in a host of ways. But God does not give anything so that we might enrich ourselves to the exclusion of everyone else. The blessings we receive from God, the blessing of the good news in Jesus Christ that calls us into beloved community is for the benefit of all, that we might bless others with what we have to give. That’s how this works. That is how this has always worked. To be idle or a busybody is to be in the stands rather than the arena, spectating instead of contributing. Sometimes what we have to give is the money it takes to maintain and keep up a city block of property that serves the surrounding community by housing a preschool, and a ministry for formerly incarcerated women, and a music school and any number of community groups like the extension office and the DAR and PEO, or choruses and young singers and pipe and drum bands, and student war refugees. The money it takes to fund social service agencies that offer healthcare to the homeless and shelter for domestic violence victims and food for people who have had their SNAP benefits cut off. The money it takes to pay salaries so that we can have beautiful music in worship and staff who take care of building maintenance and the considerable administrative work to keep it all going, and pastors who visit and plan and pray and teach and lead worship and seek to build up the body of Christ that is our church. Sometimes stewardship looks like a pledge of financial support that we can count on to budget for and carry out the parts of our ministry that rely on that money. Sometimes stewardship looks like engagement, showing up for worship and Sunday School and book studies and events that bring us together as the body of Christ in this place. Sometimes stewardship looks like the time we set aside to be intentional in our participation with and commitment to one another. And along with that time comes the expertise we bring to the mix, the experience we’ve acquired, the insight we have and the perspective we can offer as we collectively learn and grow and serve one another and our neighbors throughout this city in the way of Jesus Christ. To be idle in all that is to exclude ourselves from the blessing that we become when we enter into this work together. Brothers and sisters, may we not grow weary in doing what is right. May we not grow weary, because there is far too much at stake for us to be idle.