IT’S NOT ABOUT ME

John 6:22-35

September 7, 2008 - Rev. Dr. Gavin A. Pitt, Jr.

When I was teaching psychology at Owens Community College in Toledo, a student came to me because he was upset about the grade that I had given him in the course. The student accused me of being “unfair.” He said I had not given him a chance from the start of the semester.

All of this surprised me. I pointed out to the student that he had a poor attendance record in the class, his test scores were average, and that of the three papers he handed in, two of the were handed in late. I told him that I was surprised that he was upset by his final grade, considering his work in the course.

And yet he persisted in his disappointment. He suggested to me that perhaps I had a problem with the fact that he was Korean-American. This too surprised me. I said that all of my dealings with Korean-Americans had been positive, particularly in the classroom. I couldn’t imagine how he could think that his grade had anything to do with prejudice against his being Korean.

Finally I said, “I thought that this was a course about psychology. That was all I intended by your grade. Your final grade is my assessment of how well, or how poorly, you mastered the material in this course…in psychology.

You act as if this grade is personal, as if this is my attempt to give you my assessment of you as a person. This grade is not about that. This grade is about your mastery of psychology. Nothing more. This grade is not about you.

Those words, “It’s not about you,” are the words that occasion this message.

As a pastor, that is a phrase that I find myself using from time to time.

A person tells me she will not come back to church because somebody has “attacked” her during a church meeting. I find out that, during the committee meeting, there was a spirited discussion over some particular course of action. After the discussion, a vote was taken. Her side lost. But it was a discussion about an issue,

not a referendum on her as a person. I said to her, “this was a discussion about the course of ministry of our church. This is not about you.”

I fear that we are trained by our culture to think that everything is about us. We are encouraged to take everything personally. We are urged to think of ourselves as the center of everything we experience. We judge all people, experience, and events, all organizations and relations by what they do for me.

Especially in a Presidential election year.

I want to look at the Bible reading for today. It is in the Gospel of John-- the Sixth chapter. A great crowd clamors after Jesus and he knows why. His fame because of his feeding the multitudes has spread. They are looking for bread-- for food. But Jesus urges the people to seek “the food that endures for eternal life.” (6:27) As usual in the Gospel of John, things have double meaning. Jesus says “bread,” but he means much more than bread to eat.

The crowds ask: “What must we do to receive the works of God?” (6:28) “‘What must we do?’”

They ask for a sign that will make belief easier. “Give us that magical bread like God gave our ancestors in the wilderness.” Then Jesus solemnly declares, “I am the bread of life.” (6:35)

The crowds are firmly focused on their needs. On bread, on proof that makes faith easier. “Jesus, what are you going to give us?”

A while back I heard a sermon, delivered by a bishop at a great worship convocation of another mainline denomination. The bishop talked about the church. He gave examples of people whom he had known throughout him ministry, people whose lives of service were beacons of dedication. His examples were inspiring. He told about people who visited the sick, people who reached out to others in need, people who stood up for justice and what’s right. I thought it was a good sermon.

On the way out, a friend said to me, “Don’t you find it curious that the bishop never mentioned Jesus?” It was true. If you did not know anything about the church, on the basis of that sermon, you might think that the church is basically a volunteer service agency, a collection of busy, earnest individuals, working hard.

Again in the Gospel of John, the people clamor after Jesus. “What are you going to do about our hunger? Jesus attempts to teach the crowds that they ought to hunger after the bread that is eternal. “I am the bread of life,” he tells them and when you come to me you will never be hungry. (v. 35)

That’s what Jesus often does, particularly in the gospel of John. He turns our earthly, everyday needs away from ourselves and towards things eternal, things of God.

Once again, Jesus pulls us out of ourselves and our every-day concerns and lifts us towards himself and God’s eternal concerns. It is not about us and our need for bread. It is about him—Jesus, the bread of life.

Alas, if we are not careful, particularly in our American context and culture, it is easy to get confused into thinking that the church is mostly about us, that worship is little more than an attempt to motivate people to do better in their lives, and that the supreme test of our Sunday is that we “get something out of it.

Rev Bill Willimon, former Chaplain at Duke University, tells the story about attending a service of worship at the magnificent Duke Chapel. He says: “We had just heard one of this nation’s great preachers. The 150 voice choir had sung two magnificent anthems, backed up by a small but exquisite orchestra. The place was packed and 1500 voices joined together singing some of the great hymns of the church. It sent shivers up and down my spine.

On the way out the door, coming down the steps, I was following two students. One student turned to another and said; “Frankly, that didn’t do a thing for me.”

Willimon says, “And suddenly it was as if that great building began to tremble. All of that beauty and glory of God wavered in the evening light for me. After all, if what we had done there “didn’t do a thing for me” why bother?

I wanted to say to that young man, “This is about God. That’s what it is about. Our business here is theological not anthropological. Look kid, this is not about you!”

I also need to be clear about something else here-- It is not about the clergy either. Sometimes people get confused thinking the church centers around the clergy. That’s a mistake. Clergy might be at the front of the church, very visible and easy to identify, but we are not the star of the show, God is the star of the show.

Again, I realize that I am swimming upstream here. Church people are accustomed to thinking if it’s not about them or the clergy then what could it possibly be about?

This Sunday, as on all Sundays, our Gospel is not about you or me or us. It is about God and what He did for humanity in Jesus Christ. You see, the scope of Sunday is very large—God’s story among humanity that has an eternal perspective.

I believe that it is my duty to tell you, and to encourage you to remind each other that “this is not about you, it is not about me, the preacher, rather it is about God and him alone.”

The primary thing we learn about the church from the history of more than 2000 years is that it is primarily about God in flesh appearing right up close and personal in Jesus Christ, crucified, risen and reigning eternally at the right hand of the Father.

We need to learn that we have to suppress some of our self-concern and cultivate more God-concern.

Let me repeat that: We need to learn that we have to suppress some of our self-concern and cultivate more God-concern.

There is a word for worship that we don’t use much.

The word is “ecstasy.” We probably think of it as a name for an illicit drug or people in a frenzy.

That’s unfortunate. The word “ecstasy” comes from the Greek word exstasis which means literally to “stand outside one’s self.

When we are in ecstasy, we stand outside ourselves. This is a very hard thing for modern people to do. Our culture encourages us to always delve deeper into ourselves, to constantly monitor our personal feelings and to continually worry about questions such as, “What am I feeling? What are others thinking of me? What am I supposed to be doing?”

However, Sunday worship is a blessed opportunity to look beyond ourselves, to get outside ourselves. To stand outside ourselves. That I believe is when, and only when, we can worship God!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the funeral service of the father of one of my parishioners. He was an active member of a denomination that is very strong in Napoleon, Ohio, right in the center of NW Ohio. The pastor who preached at the service went on to extol her Dad’s virtues which was appropriate, and a long list of activities that he had done through that church. The clear implication was that her Dad should be honored for what he had done through that church.

But, I sat there thinking about that. I remembered her Dad helping out with the Downtown Napoleon Vacation Bible School among 4 churches, the community CROP walk and other ecumenical activities. I believe it is a shame to think that only when we serve in or in the name of a particular church that we should be honored and praised.

I read an article recently about the great General George Marshall, the leader of the American Army from 1939 to 1945, whose name, President Truman insisted, be given to the Plan for European Recovery of 1947—the Marshall Plan.

Early in Marshall’s final retirement, he was offered very large sums of money to write his memoirs. He declined, saying that it (quote): “would not do to call attention to myself.”

It seems he believed that he had already been compensated for his service. Here was a man who realized that his role as the leader of the victorious American Army was not for his personal gain! What a concept!

Did you notice recently at the Beijing Olympics that some of the contestants wore wrist bands? Like this one. It is very common. I am sure some of you wear a wrist band. Well, I do. It is one that our church had made a couple of years ago as a reminder-----“Not me, not us, just God.” I wear that as a reminder. Regardless of what I have done or think I have done, I need the reminder.

I encourage you to keep encouraging each other to lift that up---it is not about me, it is not about you, it is not about us, it’s about God!

You and I are good people. Oh, we have our issues, but our achievements while not ready for gold metals are worthy, and we have many good attributes.

But the great thing about you and me, and the greatest thing about us as a church is that we all worship and honor the God who appeared in Jesus Christ—that is, the one who is the nourishment of our life…..just like food, just like bread and grape juice, just like we are feed in the Lord’s Supper.

• Worship is not the time when we reflect on our feelings about God. Sunday is a time when we are confronted with God’s feelings about us. We hear His-story and mesh our-story with that.

• Worship is not a pep rally to get you busy doing for God. It is primarily an occasion when we celebrate what God has done in Jesus Christ. It is the time when we spend more time basking in God’s presence than begging for God’s presents—that’s p-r-e-s-e-n-t-s.

I have anchored my ministry of over 40 years on the fact that:

Sundays…right here, right now—all that needs to be said or done is about God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yesterday, today and tomorrow….. and forever!