Sunday Message
November 21, 2004
Richard L Sheffield
Text: Colossians 1:11-20

A few weeks ago a number of us were here in this sanctuary to celebrate the ordination of Katie Rhoads. Lots of things were said that day. But nothing was said that was more important than this: "This is not about us, this is not about Katie, this is about God." ¹ Sure, we were happy for Katie. And, sure, we were happy for the Church of Jesus Christ which Katie now serves. But that day wasn't just about being happy. It was about being faithful. It was about God.

The letter of Paul to the church at Colossae, from which I just read, said the same thing to them. Paul's letters were not just newsy notes to his friends. They tell us indirectly of problems in churches to which he was related, and very directly what he thinks should be done. At First Presbyterian Church in Colossae, the Colossians had apparently gotten the idea in their heads that what was going on there was about them. What they wanted. What they wanted to believe. Scholars suggest the problem in Colossae was "syncretism or mixing of religious traditions" ² – a little bit of this, a little bit of that, whatever makes you feel good. Whatever it takes to keep going when your life is bad.

To their credit, perhaps the folks at Colossae were of a mind like that of the British poet William Earnest Henley. You've never heard of him, but you've heard his most famous poem. Henley's life was hard. he was one of six children raised in poverty, he was afflicted with tubercular arthritis at age 12, his left leg was amputated when he was 16, he spent months in hospitals struggling with illness, and he lost his only child to cerebral meningitis. His first collection of poems is titled In Hospital. ³ Life was hard for Henley. But his poem was heroic. Here's part of it:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Some of you recognize the poem Invictus, which is Latin for "unconquerable." We applaud people like Henley. People who, when the going gets tough, keep going. People who by dint of will and determination declare in word and deed, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul!" I'm in charge of me! But Paul said, "No!" "Not so!" "You are not!"

Not that we do not bear responsibility for our lives. Not that strength of character in times of adversity is to be pooh-pooh-ed. But that in the end, as in the beginning, it is not about me, it is not about you, it is about God. We are not our master – God is!

Martin Luther got it right in his poem; we know it as a hymn:

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving should be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God's own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be? [It isn't you, it isn't me!] Luther didn't say that. I did.

"Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He,
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle."

Not you, not me, but He. And He's on our side! And who is He? Lord Sabaoth. The Lord of Hosts, whom we know as Christ the King.

Whether they were trying to depend on themselves, or on the teachings of other faiths and other Gods, Paul was clear with Colossae. There is only one faith, one God, and that faith and that God are known to us fully and only in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our helper, and is our shepherd, and is our fortress, and is our friend, and is our King.

When the Sheffield's head off to Georgetown in a month or so, we won't be moving to a town named for George Washington, but for George II, the King of England. We Americans had a problem with Kings. Sometimes I think we have a problem with "Christ the King." We want him in control, but only when we feel out of control. Otherwise we like to be left to what the old prayer of confession calls "the devices and desires of our own hearts."

Remember what that prayer says?

"We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done."

We have lived as though Christ is not King. We've done our thing, not God's thing. And we've been doing that a lot longer than the almost 175 years of the Market Street Church, or the 225 years of the Georgetown Church – since ever there was a church – since the Colossian Church had to be reminded that Christ is King. A reminder that is not intended to make us subservient but secure. Secure in the knowledge that we are not "the master of our fate;" we are not "the captain of our soul." Thank God! God is – the God we know in Jesus Christ. So even when we feel uncertain, we are secure.

I thought about that while Dwane Grace was talking with the 39 & Holding group here at church last Thursday night. Dwane talked about the history of the Market Street Presbyterian Church that he is working on as part of the upcoming celebration of the 175th anniversary of this congregation in 2008. We had some laughs about the foibles of past pastors. I wondered yesterday how long it will be before that picture of me in the newspaper, sitting in this sanctuary in my sandals, will become part of church lore. Folks at the front desk at the YMCA have laughed at me for years for wearing my sandals until the first snow each winter. What struck me on Thursday night, though, was how many times Lima Presbyterians got mad at each other, and then made up. When people, pastors included, decided that this congregation was about them things fell apart. When it became clear again that it's really about God, things fell into place.

That's a good thing to remember this morning both in the context of your coming with your pledges for next year; and in the context of my going to Georgetown next year. It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about God. And what God is about is good things for you and for me.

In the context of stewardship, I got a newsletter from a friend's church this past week. It's the same time of year there as here. At the top of the front page the headline reads: "Stewardship – It's Not About the Money!" Well, it really is about the money, but only as a measure of what it's really about. Which is our commitment to the ministry that God calls us to do in the name of Jesus Christ. If it's only about you, your giving will reflect that. You'll pay your "dues." (And complain they're too high.) If it's about God, your giving will reflect that. You'll give your thanks.

The writer of that article, not the pastor, ended this way: "What is the proper amount for your pledge at this point of your [faith] journey? I cannot say. I can only tell you that God should be regarded as a 'big ticket item' and not [as] 'Lord of the leftovers.'" ⁴ Stewardship? It's not about the money. It's about God.

My going to Georgetown is about God too. Kim Kincaid quoted me yesterday in The Lima News. "I look at this move in terms of God's call, not my decision. The process started a year ago last October, and a lot of prayer and thought have gone into it. In the past year, that sense of calling has grown. There've been no loud noises from heaven, but just a growing sense that this is right for both the congregation and me at this time." ⁵

It is about you, and it is about me, but only because it is first about God.

I've had a few of you ask whether it's about something being wrong. "Did someone say something?" "Did someone do something?" Someone came out after service last Sunday, gave me a big hug, and said, "It's because we wouldn't air condition the sanctuary, isn't it!" No. It's about God!

I know enough about you, and about some of the history of the Market Street Presbyterian Church to know why some of you are still wondering. As my grandma used to say, "Quit that!"

I'm not going to claim that there have been no bumps in the road over the past 20 years. There have been. Had there not been, I would not have been doing my job. I'm not naive enough to think everyone has liked me every day. When, as The Lima News reported correctly, you see ministry as a call to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable," you live with the results. They've been mostly good.

It's certainly not the money. I feel a lot better about your financial situation than some of you do. I know I'm not supposed to say that today, but since I don't believe you should give out of guilt but out of gratitude, I just did. Finances could be better, but they are better than they were when I came. I'm proud of that. Mostly, I'm proud of you, and your generous support of all the ministry that happens here.

When I left my previous congregation, the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury, MA, there were a few who were glad to see me go. I have no doubt there are a few here too. I spoke directly to them then. Let me speak directly to that now. No one, by their presence, or their absence, or their words, or their actions, or their giving, or their not, has had anything to do with this decision. And anyone who thinks they did is kidding themselves. As I said when I left Sudbury, the best way to get me to stay, is to try to get me to go. So if you were trying, you just may have added a few years to my tenure!

The barefoot preacher in yesterday's Lima News, grew up barefoot in the south, and is something of a southern mule. (You knew that?) Well, I'm going to keep saying this, until I've got you believing this too. This isn't about you. This isn't about me. This is about God!

And because it is, to quote myself one more time, "I have a feeling there are lots of surprises to come." ⁶ Because the God this is about decided to be about you and me in Jesus Christ, our Lord and King.

1. The Rev. Dr. John Wurster, October 17, 2004.
2. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, 285nt.
3. http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20010622.html
4. Ed Davis, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Update, November, 2004.
5. The Lima News, November 20, 2004.
6. Ibid.