"When Leaders Leave Us"

Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – April 22, 2012

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 67; Luke 24:13-35

    Our scripture lesson for today is interesting because it partially tells the story of what happened to the followers of Jesus immediately after his crucifixion.  They were mourning their loss.  There was fear.  There was soul-searching as they asked themselves, “What do we do now?”

    Our lesson describes two of Jesus’ followers walking away from Jerusalem as they headed toward Emmaus.   Even though they had heard stories from women that Jesus was alive, they continued walking away from the place where these sightings were happening. (Luke 24:23).  Every follower and disciple had their own response to Jesus’ death.

    We may remember from Easter Sunday’s scripture that when Peter and John reached the tomb, they saw that it was empty and went home. (John 20:10).  When the women told other disciples what angels had told them about their risen Lord, the men thought they had taken leave of their senses.  No one believed them.  (Luke 24:11)  Peter had decided to return to his former occupation.  He said, “I am going fishing.”  (John 21:3).  Without Jesus, they had lost their identity.

    Perhaps in our day, the most dramatic example of this response to losing a leader is what happened with the demise of  The Hour of Power, a program that was televised all over the world from Dr. Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California.  At its peak, the church had an average attendance of over 10,000 people on Sunday mornings.

    When Dr. Schuller retired, his son and then later his daughter Sheila took over the ministry.  Both were unsuccessful. The church did not have a succession plan that worked.  No one could replace Dr. Schuller. The church’s cash flow began to dry up as did the congregation when membership continued to dwindle.  They still owed 7.5 million dollars to various venders. The church had no other choice but to file for bankruptcy. 

    In the months that followed, the congregation was unsuccessful in renegotiating its 55 million dollar debt. The bankruptcy court finally sold the Crystal Cathedral to the Roman Catholic Diocese of California.  All leaders come and go but nothing can extinguish the fire that truth produces as it empowers human life. 

    When we were still living in the States, I visited a colleague whose church was well known for its stage productions.  I was interested in borrowing a costume to use during one of my mini-dramas like those I performed here during the last two Holy Thursday services. 

    I was shocked to learn that their theater troupe no longer existed.  The pastor said, “We had a very talented woman that lived to create stage productions.  Two or three times a year she would awaken the frustrated actors and actresses in our congregation and produce brilliant productions. We packed our fellowship hall for several weekends.  However, all the costumes, stage props and spotlights are gone.”

    He told me that the woman responsible for the theater troupe had a severe heart attack and did not survive.  No one stepped up to take her place.  Then he said,

That’s not the end of the story.  We have five octaves of hand-bells that were made in England. When our hand-bell teacher and conductor retired from the public school system, he and his family moved to California.  I begged and pleaded with the congregation, but no one wanted to fill the void.  Now, our hand-bells sit in their velvet-lined cases in a storage closet.  On the bright side, as some ministries fold, others begin.  We now have seven groups engaged in mission.  We are no longer just entertaining people, we are now into serving one another in a different way.   

    What did Jesus know that gave him such confidence that his succession plan would work once his physical leadership was no longer present among his followers? 

    Listen to what Jesus said as translated by Eugene Peterson,

You are Peter, a rock.  This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the strongest temptations from hell will prevent your group from growing and spreading.  And that’s not all.  You will have complete and free access to the Kingdom of God and the keys to open every door.  There will be no more barriers between heaven and earth. (Matthew 16:18f)

    Again, what did Jesus know?  Even though death would ultimately take him away from his disciples, Jesus knew that if anyone had trust and faith the size of a gain of mustard seed that they could perform miracles.

    The disciples had a stronger motivation that went beyond being with Jesus after his death. Jesus knew when he gave them the new commandment to “love one another,” that no other response would work for living a purposeful life.  To perform any miracle a person’s energy flow must be directed toward others.  Absolutely nothing else works.

    Not all miracles have to do with physical healing.  It is a sheer miracle, for example, that people can use a cell phone to talk to anyone on the planet that also has one.  It is a miracle that we can watch a cricket match or football game because they come into our living rooms through a cable.   It is a miracle that through various human networks working together to serve each other, we can go into a grocery store and fill our carts with an abundance of food.

    These things happen when human energy flows away from us and people become honestly and sincerely engaged in wanting to create a better world for other people by serving them.  What Jesus taught works every time and his disciples had learned this.  Such people become the leaven for the loaf.

    During the 40 years when Charles William Eliot was President of Harvard University, a couple came to see him. They wanted to place a monument on the university’s campus in memory of their son, Leland, Jr., who died near his 16th birthday from typhoid fever. 

    The president was not prepared for such a request.  Without any further inquiry about what they intended he said, “We cannot turn our campus into a cemetery. Why, if we started this practice, people would be requesting that we erect monuments everywhere.”  They said, “We were thinking more of giving a building that might bear his name.”  

    President Eliot looked shocked as he listened to the couple who was obviously poorly informed about such costs. He asked, “Do you have any idea how much a building costs?”  They confessed that they did not know.  He excused himself for a moment and returned with a financial statement of how much Harvard paid for the university’s most recent building.  To President Eliot’s chagrin, Jane looked at the number and said, “Is that all that a building costs?” 

    The couple thanked President Eliot for his time and boarded a train for their return trip to Palo Alto, California.  Once they got home, Leland and Jane Stanford donated in 1891, $438 million in today’s dollars to build Stanford University in memory of their son.  After acquiring a large parcel of real estate, Leland said to Jane, “The children of California will now become our children.”

    When loving energy flows away from anyone, a difference is made in our world. Upon her retirement, a woman decided to become a volunteer at a local hospital.  She wanted to use her training to give back to the world.  She decided that since the nursing staff was struggling to cover all the needs of patients, it was time to develop a corps of volunteers. 

    In no time, she organized a group of volunteers, many of whom she personally recruited. She set up training programs.  This was like a second career and she thrived as the Coordinator of Volunteer Services. Not only did her efforts make the stay of patients a more pleasant experience, she also helped countless retirees and stay-at-home moms to find a renewed purpose and meaning for their lives as volunteers.   

    What caused the two followers of Jesus to return to Jerusalem was that they had a story to tell.  Having an experience of the risen Christ, however, would not keep Jesus alive for millions of people through the centuries.  What has kept Jesus alive all over the world has not been more resurrection experiences; it has been the fact that what he taught works.

    Today the world is a very busy place, a place filled with things that cause worries, stress, anxiety, anger, broken promises, unfulfilled dreams and misplaced loyalties.  Instead of turning around from their journey and returning to the church, countless people have turned to other things that sugar coat the consequences of their responses to life.  

    Have you noticed that so many life-issues today are being labeled a syndrome?  Would you believe that 15 years ago there was no such thing as fibromyalgia?  This is just one on a list of syndromes that appear to be complicating people’s lives.  And wouldn’t you know -- the pharmaceutical industry has rushed into our lives to help us with a new gospel called “medication.”

So many television commercials for this industry’s products end with these words, “Ask your doctor if Avadart is right for you.”  Listen to how pleasing these names sound: Toviaz, Spiriva, Abilify, Restatis, Plavix, Omnaris, Chantix, Lunesta, Lyrica and Boniva.  Don’t you just want to run out and buy a boatload of each of these?

    When we listen to the rapidly-spoken verbal fine print, the truth about this new gospel is revealed. Everything from fluid retention to suicidal thoughts can be among the potential side effects. Do not be fooled by the angelic-looking butterfly that Lunesta uses as a lure or by the smiling faces of actors that arise in the morning as though they have experienced the best night’s sleep in decades.   

    Many of these drugs are dangerous because they manipulate our neuro-networks.  We do not find cures by masking symptoms!  Our bodies are telling us something and many of us are not listening.

    What has made Jesus’ message survive is what happens to our spirits, our attitudes and our physiology when we direct our energy toward others.  “Love one another” is not rocket science nor does it have anything to do with a particular religion.   Not doing so complicates everything in our life.  Not doing so has no mercy on the corrosive effect on our bodies.

    When our life-styles, our choices and our responses are all about us, our internal organs are put on red alert telling us that something radically is wrong.  In spite of their symptoms, many people live in denial and remain unaware that a problem exists.  

    The other morning was so beautiful that I took my cup of coffee out on our back deck to watch the sunrise.  As I was doing so, a tall, healthy looking man came walking down along the hedge row of our property.  He began to collect potatoes from the field that we rent to a farmer. He knew he was stealing but at that moment it made no difference.    

    Multiply this self-indulgent energy-flow across the people engaged in like deeds at every level of society and we can understand why we keep the pharmaceutical industry in business. God created us in his image.  This means that humans have been wired in a very unique way.  The cure for a lot of what ails us will not be found by analyzing our symptoms but by focusing on the spirit by which we live.

    There are enormous spiritual consequences that are already in place in everyone whether they are atheists or faithful followers of Jesus. When people begin to follow the gospel of self, frequently such a practice will lead eventually to the gospel of medication.

    As for the two who were walking to Emmaus, they turned around, returned to their faith-community where they were reminded that they needed to let go of their fears and allow the angel inside of them to show up in this world. This is how the church has survived.  It is now our turn to pass on the skills of spirit that we have learned while experiencing our faith journey.