SERMON ~ 10/05/2014 ~ “Focus”

10/05/2014 ~ Communion Sunday ~ 17th Sunday after Pentecost ~ 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 22) ~ Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Psalm 19; Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-15; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46 ~ Neighbors in Need ~ World Wide Communion Sunday.

Focus

“I press on toward the goal.  My entire attention is focused on the finish line as I run toward the prize— the high calling of God in Christ, Jesus.” — Philippians 3:14.

It’s been said we are all good at something.  The issue for each of us is finding out what that something is and focusing on it.  (Slight pause.)

Many years ago I read the book Steps in Time.  My guess is I read it in the 1980s, since that book was published in the '80s.  Steps in Time is the autobiography of the famous dancer and movie actor Fred Astaire. [1]

Now to be clear, I think the world of Fred Astaire.  Back when I was writing for theater, I even wrote a show that used the Astaire/Rogers musicals as a touchstone.

Coming back to Astaire’s autobiography, for me one thing jumped out.  I reached one conclusion about Fred based on his own words.  He was really, really, really good at picking his feet up and putting them down.  He was really good at dancing.

Other than that, he liked to place bets on the ponies and eventually owned his own string of thoroughbreds.  And he was really good at dancing.

In many ways, his entire life was focused on and around the dance, what dance looked like, how it could move people— effect their emotions— even help them be in touch with their own feelings in ways they had not imagined possible.  Indeed, most people don’t know this, but after a movie was shot, Astaire would sit with the director and the editor of a film and assist them in the editing process.

Why?  He was so good at dance that when it came to what he was seeing on just the rough cut of a film, he knew what dance needed look like.  So he, himself, worked on editing each of his films.

All of which is to reiterate Astaire did something really, really, really well.  He was good at dancing, all aspects of it.

Was that actually the only thing at which Astaire excelled?  Well, it’s often said Astaire was not a great singer.  However, sometimes you, yourself, don’t know how good you are at something.  To give Mr. Astaire his due, every song writer of that era, from George and Ira Gershwin to Cole Porter to Jerome Kern to Irving Berlin said they never had a better interpreter of their songs.

So, yes there was something else Astaire was good at.  While he may not have been a good singer, Fred was a great interpreter of songs.  Now, given what I know about Astaire, and I probably know more than most people, I think there is a basic reason he was so good at dance.  He was disciplined.  He studied and learned and practiced and was, therefore, focused.  (Slight pause.)

To take this in another direction for a moment, when Bonnie and I got married, Bonnie was working as a professional newspaper photographer.  She was a very, very, very good newspaper photographer.  She worked at it daily, She won New England Press Association awards for her work.

And, as you all know, she still is a very, very, very good photographer.  And while she no longer works at a newspaper she has not stopped taking pictures.

So, when Bonnie and I got married I made my living as a writer.  And when we got married I had absolutely no intention of going to seminary.  I was not a preacher.  I was a writer.

Now, the Rev. Dr. Bill Imes officiated at our wedding ceremony.  In the middle of that service Bill gave a short homily.  Among the things Bill noted was that Bonnie has a special way of seeing things— indeed.  Then Bill, who had known me for only a couple of months at that point, said I had a special way of saying things.

Perhaps Bill was clairvoyant and already knew I would become a preacher.  Or perhaps he simply thought I needed to focus more on something I did well and he zeroed in on an area where he thought I should concentrate.

As I said, we are all good at something.  Bonnie puts it this way: I’m glad Joe became a preacher.  Now at least he gets paid for all that hot air.  (Not too subtle, is she?)  But, as I also said earlier, the larger issue may be finding out whatever it is we are good at and simply doing it, focusing on it, by being disciplined about it— the art of discipline— study, learn, practice— the result of which is... focus.  (Slight pause.)

These words are from the Letter to the Church at Philippi, commonly known as Philippians: “I press on toward the goal.  My entire attention is focused on the finish line as I run toward the prize— the high calling of God in Christ, Jesus.”  (Slight pause.)

It is sometimes facetiously said a Congregational service of worship is a hymn and sermon sandwich.  While I’d be the first to say there is a lot more to it, I’d also want to admit there is at least a little veracity to the claim.

We did celebrate Communion today, so on this day we escaped the full press of the hymn and sermon sandwich trap.  However, I’d like to draw your attention to the hymn and sermon part of the service this morning.  And I’d like you to note as we heard from Mary Williams earlier that the hymns Mary and I chose to use were very, very focused.

The first hymn was Lord, I Wanna Be a Christian.  After one reading you heard the anthem, Guide My Feet.  After another reading we used Hush, Hush, Somebody’s Calling My Name.  At the end of the service we’ll sing I Will Trust in the Lord.

What I want you to notice is each of these are out of the African American tradition.  Now there are some people who, in a very specific way, misunderstand hymns which come out of the African American tradition.

These are the folks who think all hymns found in this tradition are about some kind of after-life, songs about some kind of heavenly reward.  Put another way, there are people who take this genre to be hymns simply about the sweet by and by.  As an aside, the hymn The Sweet By and By, itself, was written in 1868 by a couple of Caucasian fellows who lived in Wisconsin.

But back to the point at hand, I doubt any hymn which comes out of the African-American tradition is about the sweet by and by.  When read carefully, hymns in the African American tradition are about what is needed right now.

These are hymns about the justice needed right now.  These are hymns about the freedom needed right now.  These are hymns about the fact that God walks with us as we strive to seek the will of God in the here and now.  To read these works in any other way is to short change the tradition.

And I think that is akin what Paul is considering in this passage from Philippians.  Paul ponders this question: how can we focus ourselves on the love God offers, the love with which God surrounds us, right now?

How can we train ourselves to be aware of the voice of God, right now?  How can we seek the justice God would have us seek, right now?  How can we learn about the freedom in which God would have live, right now?

What I want to stress is this reading speaks of the ordering of the universe and an ordering for human life— the focus of God.  And Paul is not addressing what he, Paul, has done, insisting it is no of import.

Paul dismisses his part with these words.  (Quote:) “More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Savior, for Whose sake I have forfeited all things.  I regard everything else as rubbish, so that Christ may be my wealth...”

Paul also states the universe is ordered by God.  (Quote:) “The justice I possess is that which comes through the faith of Christ.  It has its origin in God and is based on faith.”

Hence, Paul lays out three precepts.  First: God is the prime mover.  Second: I, Paul, need to be ready to allow the grace God offers to move me.  Last, how is that done?  Discipline: study, learn, practice— the result of which is focus.  (Slight pause.)

Well, you have heard me say this before.  One thing I believe we forget too often is a very simple basic: love is a discipline.  Love can be and needs to be studied.  Love can be and needs to be learned.  Love can be and needs to be practiced.

And that regimen of study and learning and practice is commonly called focus.  Love is a focus of life which brings us closer to God and closer to neighbor.  Amen.

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “One of my Seminary professors once said it will not matter how good you are at preaching.  What will matter is how well those who hear your sermons are at listening.  And it does not even matter how well the Congregations listen to the pastors.  It’s how well a Congregation listens to the Spirit of God that matters.  Which I suppose is to say I need to preach as well as I can and then trust God will provide.”

BENEDICTION: Let us never fear to seek the truth God reveals.  Let us live as a resurrection people.  Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith as the Creator draws us into community.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

[1]   Library of Congress information says a re-publication happened in 1981.  It was first published in 1959 but that was before my time.
 http://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=10901&recCount=25&recPointer=9&bibId=883181