mayfield church of christ

Some Spiritual Housekeeping - Clean Up Australia Day

Posted by Pastor Mark on 1 March 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: Spiritual Formation, Social Conscience, Clean Up Australia Day

Well....this morning we are doing things a bit different.....After communion today.....we are going to finish our service and some of us are going to go out and clean up around Stephenson Park and along the Industrial Highway.....

A few years ago.....the phrase "What would Jesus Do?" was popular.....And I think it was a good concept in that for every situation you found yourself in....that phrase provided a way of injecting a Jesus perspective into that situation.....

Last weekend at camp.....We began to look at the process of Spiritual Formation that every one of us undergoes in some way......Spiritual Formation is about us becoming more like Jesus.....and the process of constantly CHANGING to become more and more like Jesus.....a bit like taking the "What would Jesus Do?" process to the next level

What I was saying last weekend.....is that GOD'S desire for us....is that we would ALLOW ourselves to be shaped and transformed...so that JESUS becomes the centre of our lives....becomes the model for our lives..... becomes the pattern of our lives....BUT that process can't begin....unless WE CHANGE....from being the person who SHAPES our own life....to the person who is BEING SHAPED

I think we take the idea of CHANGE....a bit for granted....as if it just HAPPENS....as if our lives become RICHER...as if the process of spiritual formation will take place in our lives just by being associated with Jesus or by going to church.....but it doesn't....there is a certain amount of spiritual housekeeping that is required.

Change is often a difficult concept to grasp......Change is something pretty unique to us as humans. What is natural to us is not natural to anything else that breathes. Like my cow Mabel is not driven to pursue a better life.....my sheep did not lie around contemplating their personal destiny and how they might improve it.....which is possibly what led to their demise.....and even though my chickens have some inbuilt  instinct to protect their eggs....they don't feel the need or do anything about creating a better world for themselves.....they just exist....and the VALUE of their existence is influenced by so many externals out of their control....like if I remember to feed them......

 But for US....This desire for CHANGE and the possibility of making things better....is part of who we are....and when it comes down to it....most of us....are driven by it....it PUSHES us to do and pursue so many of the things that fill our time and consume our energies....and it is somewhere within this driving force for change...that the whole notion of HOPE sits.

We somehow know that we're supposed to be instruments for good....even apart from our relationship with Jesus.....we somehow KNOW that we're meant to make the world a better place. We don't know why.....we don't have any justification or reason for it...other than this inbuilt sense of morality....but we just feel that we have to care about this world and the people in it.

The Bushfires of the last few weeks....have been a perfect example of this......EVERYONE has been profoundly affected by what has taken place down in Victoria. And people feel compelled to DO something because it is part of how we are wired....part of our design by a God who CARES for each one of us...and wired that care into who we are....A God who wants a DEEP relationship with us....a God who MADE us so that we should care about this world and the people in it.

When we experience the suffering of others....it compels us to DO something...If we ignore it....if we walk away and decide that the problem isn't ours...it's someone else's.....then it eats into our consciences...and we know deep inside us that something is terribly wrong.

In the paper  a couple of weeks ago....I was reading an interview with a volunteer that had gone down to help with the efforts.....and she finished with this sentence....After this experience....I can't NOT think about it. I can no longer pretend that everything is OK because it's NOT. My eyes were opened to this reality and now I have to figure out what to do about it.

And I can echo that exact same sentence.....because it's EXACTLY what I felt when I was confronted by the absolute POVERTY in the slums of Manila.....and you just can't NOT think about it......it CHANGES you...it compels you....it motivates you to DO something....

WHY.....what is it inside the human spirit that tells us something must be done? WHY do we feel compelled to give an offering to help those people down in Victoria.....WHY do we have a conscience about families living in tiny 3m x 3m hovels half way around the world..... WHY do we have a conscience about the state of our planet and the mess that it's in, for which we are ALL ultimately responsible for......WHY should we care about something when there is NO benefit in it for us?

Well....it's pretty simple really.....because we're human....and humans are created in the image of God....because built into all of us is this intrinsic need for PROGRESS FORWARD.....this need to believe that things WILL get better....that WE will get better....our lives will get better....and even our world and our environment will get better.

And unless you've become totally cynical...or your wiring is fried.....then there is something inside you that either DRIVES you to make the world a better place.......or makes you feel guilty that you aren't doing anything about it.

You are designed to accomplish......your soul can't THRIVE without progress...without positive development...without worth and purpose...without HOPE.....and the times when you are feeling jaded and cynical....are the times when you have lost sight of your hope......

But you know the greatest problem......is that the thing that holds us back.....is that we can't begin to make the WORLD a better place....if we ourselves aren't MOVING FORWARD towards a better place.

I think it was Gandhi who had that wonderful line......Become the change you seek.......I totally get that......but the question is......HOW?

Spiritual formation......is about ALLOWING the spirit of God to PROMPT you.....to MOVE you....to CHANGE you....to SOFTEN you.....and it happens.....when we CONNECT with our God through Jesus........because then something happens....as we connect with Jesus....and as we allow him to SHAPE and influence our lives.....we begin to care much more deeply about people....and the world around us....

Today is Clean Up Australia Day......and all round our country....groups of people are taking on the task of being COMMITTED to our environment....and DOING something about it.....Last Wednesday I went to a meeting out at Charlestown....with all of the people who had signed on to look after a clean up site.....And in that room....as I listened to the questions and stories from previous years.....there was a sense of commitment and PASSION in those people....and passion like that is exhilarating....it DRAWS you in....when there is a sense of common purpose....

Jesus is like that...and people who display a passion and commitment for Jesus....are exhilarating...and it draws people in....that's what Jesus meant when He said that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world...and the Jesus that we present to the world should be exhilarating....He should inspire Passion.....He should unite people in common purpose.... And He DOES....but that passion should NOT be limited to what happens in THIS building......we need to be taking that passion....that common purpose OUT THERE.....

In one of the articles I read in amongst the information for Clean up Australia Day.... Al Gore  was writing about climate change....and he said this......

"The climate crisis also offers us the chance to experience what very few generations in history have had the privilege of knowing....a generational mission.....the exhilarations of a compelling moral purpose; a shared and unifying cause......the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict that so often stifle the restless human need for transcendence....the opportunity to rise......And when we rise, we will experience an epiphany as we discover that this crisis is not really about politics at all..... It is a moral and spiritual challenge."

You know I read those words.....and I found them compelling.....but for different reasons.....So much of what we do.....so much of who we are as followers of Jesus.....places us in this MORAL and SPIRITUAL challenge......And the question that kept coming to my mind was....WHERE does my passion lie....what is it that consumes my thinking.....that I am totally committed to....what is it that I am prepared to do WHATEVER it takes to MAKE a difference......

And I can tell you it isn't cleaning up rubbish.....and it isn't becoming involved in political agendas about global warming and our care of the planet.....BUT to be united with all of you....going out there today to pick up rubbish....and to be united with people all across our country from every walk of life and every point  of spiritual formation....and to be able to put aside our agendas and our expectations and our judgements and to be UNIFIED in a common cause which is important.....DOES something for your spiritual formation....it is a moral and a spiritual challenge

If Jesus was here today.....would He be a part of Clean up Australia.....I reckon He would....because he would see the value of people CARING about our world....he would see the value of people being united in their purpose.....and coming alongside each other to DO something about it.....

Jesus was prepared to do WHATEVER it took.....to get the message across....to make us understand....to unify us in a common goal.....and to secure a future for us......When Jesus Christ died  for us......it was very much a case of WHATEVER it takes.....and we come here this morning to say....THANKYOU....and to let him know that it WAS worth it.....that his sacrifice and commitment and passion MEANT something to us.....that He has CHANGED us and offered us something that we couldn't get ANYWHERE else....Forgiveness....Acceptance....and HOPE

And so together.....we want to say thankyou to Him for that.....and to recognise once again....the sacrifice He made to CLEAN UP our relationship with God.....

Clean Up Australia Day.....is very much about SERVING....and Jesus came to serve us...even in His death....and he asked that we continue to serve one another......and so we want to do that this morning...but before we do that.....we want to take time to thank Jesus......

Could I have our helpers come forward now and SERVE you......in the name of Jesus.....

Father......thanks for showing us the way you want us to live life...and for the ongoing forming of each one us by the prompting and guidance of your spirit......Lord you cared about hurting people....you cared about the issues of society.....and father you CARE about US.......and this morning.....we come to give thanks for that.....Lord as we go out this morning and collect rubbish.....I pray that each of us will be mindful that we care....because you cared first....we serve....because you served first....and we love.....because you loved first. Lord I pray that this exercise will be a real time of fun....but that we each will be challenged personally.....to cleanup.....