Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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Sermons

October 2003 (click here to return to "October 2003 Sermons" page)

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 12, 2003)

“Welcome to the Human Race …” Mark 10:17-31

Dr. Julie Adkins

SERMON

I guess that one of the most difficult things

for us humans truly to believe

is that God really is in control.

That it is God, and only God,

on whom we can and must depend.

Jesus says that things which are impossible with human beings

are possible with God.

Yet we’d much rather be independent.

Self-sufficient, self-supporting.

And that’s not surprising,

considering that our society tells us loud and clear

that what it means to be an adult

is to be independent.

We think of childhood as

the time when, for good enough reasons,

we have to be dependent on other people:

parents particularly, teachers, others grown-ups.

And when we’re children,

the world seems so big, and so full of stuff,

and sometimes so scary,

that it’s very comforting to know

there are big people around that we can depend on.

Children who don’t have that feeling of safety

have a hard time negotiating the passage into adulthood.

Ah, but then we become … teenagers!

And we get a taste of a little independence … and we want more.

We’ve already internalized the lesson that

being grown up means being independent,

and that sounds pretty good to us.

We’re ready for some freedom.

Only problem is,

when it comes to certain things,

we are still dependent on our parents.

Free room and board

is nothing to sneeze at!

And medical care for everything from sniffles to sports injuries,

and clothing, and all or part of the car expenses …

It’s a tough place to be

when you’re old enough to have experienced some independence,

and yet not to be old enough to have the complete freedom you want.

I think that’s probably why

we dislike our parents so much at this age.

It seems sometimes as if

they are the only things

standing between us and independence …

and yet we know that for a time,

we can’t make it without their help,

and we resent them for it!

And so we pass into adulthood …

that first full-time job

and that wonderful first full-time paycheck.

We gain much more control over our life:

our schedule, our living space, our money,

the people we choose to spend time with …

And it feels really good.

Freedom is a wonderful thing.

Calling our own shots, doing things when we feel like it.

It’s a welcome change from

our days of childhood and adolescence,

when others had control over us.

But sooner or later,

we have to move beyond simple “adulthood”

to maturity.

For our purposes today,

I’m going to characterize maturity as

reaching a point in our lives when two things happen:

First, we recognize that no person can be totally independent;

that to some extent we are all in need of one another.

Second, having recognized this,

we learn to accept it and even rejoice in it,

rather than fighting and kicking and straining at it.

Now, I’m well aware that that’s a whole lot easier said than done.

The notion of our own independence and freedom

is a cherished idea,

and we hate to give it up.

I know that for me, as for many of us,

it’s easier in some areas than others.

I don’t have any trouble asking for

someone to help me move a piano,

or someone to feed the dogs when I’m out of town.

Those are easy for me,

so I guess that’s a kind of progress!

What’s tough for me sometimes

is being able to be emotionally dependent on other people.

That’s hard because we Texans

like to be kind of tough and stoic anyway.

But it’s especially hard when you’re the pastor,

and you’re supposed to be there for everyone else to be emotionally dependent on,

not vice versa.

I’ll give you a good example.

I had been in west Texas for about two years

when my grandmother on my father’s side died.

And I pulled the incredibly dumb stunt

of rushing up to the Panhandle

to do my own grandmother’s funeral,

then rushing back to San Angelo

so that I could preach the following morning.

I passed up the chance

to be ministered to by my family,

and all the people who had known and loved my grandmother …

and in fact, by showing up and appearing to be

the Rev. calm-cool-and-collected,

I robbed my friends in San Angelo of the chance to minister to me,

and I missed the opportunity to practice what I preach.

But anyway,

it’s this same kind of unwillingness to be dependent

that keeps couples who are having problems in their relationships

from seeking help,

often, until things have gotten so bad that it’s too late.

We’re embarrassed to admit

that we might need to depend on someone else

for help straightening out our own life.

It’s the same thing that makes it so hard as we grow older

to accept some of the physical limitations we begin to have.

It is painful on that day, for example,

when we have to give up our driver’s license,

and depend on someone else to take us where we need to go.

But perhaps once we get beyond that pain,

instead of continuing to hurt about it and resent it,

maybe we could see this dependence as

an opportunity to develop new relationships

with the people who drive us,

and/or, to find some interesting ministries we can do

from within our own home.

And ultimately,

it’s our same dislike of dependence

that makes it so difficult for us to have

a proper theology of stewardship.

We get kind of offended when Jesus says

that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

Especially when you consider that

compared to most of the rest of the world,

every one of us is fabulously wealthy.

But Jesus didn’t have anything against rich people

simply because they are rich …

It’s just that, when you do have enough money,

you tend to start acting independent.

If we have enough to be secure on our own,

it’s easy to forget about God.

When we start to believe that all we have

has come from our own wisdom, our own skill, or whatever,

it’s hard to see the need for stewardship.

Only when we recognize, and accept, and even rejoice,

that we are dependent on God,

and all that we have comes from God,

will we begin to want to be good stewards.

Now I’m not talking about “stewardship” in the narrow sense

of giving money so that the church can pay its bills.

That’s important,

but it’s part of a bigger picture.

Stewards are managers.

We are managers of God’s creation.

It is not our creation;

it’s not our world;

it’s not our money;

it’s not our time, nor our talent.

It’s all a gift from God.

We are recipients of the gift,

and we are dependent on God for it.

That’s sometimes hard for us to accept …

Because we’ve been taught that being an adult

means being independent,

not needing anyone or anything.

It’s hard to unlearn that.

To learn that Christian maturity

means acknowledging our dependence,

or perhaps, our interdependence.

Our whole life then

is a response to God’s gift,

a life of faithful stewardship.

Our giving,

whether it’s money, or time, or talent,

grows out of our sense of stewardship.

If we claim to be independent,

and everything is ours,

then it is hard to see why we should give some of it to God.

But if we know it is all from God,

somehow giving not only makes sense,

it becomes something we want to do.

We are God’s children …

we depend on God.

That is the joy … and the challenge … of being human.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.