"Shared Burden, Shared Joy" (Numbers 11)

Building a nation, building a church:  it takes work!  It requires shared sacrifice, and a level of commitment and dedication that is shared by many, to do what needs to be done to make it happen.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much sharing of the workload for Moses.  Moses was doing everything.  It was all up to him.  He was the leader, the guy doing all the work.

Everyone else followed.  And waited.  Maybe it was because they were slaves all those years in Egypt, and were used to doing only what their masters had ordered them to do.  Maybe, because of that, they lacked initiative. 

Maybe Moses, having grown up in Pharaoh’s palace, didn’t know how to share leadership.

Maybe the people had just never been asked.  Maybe they were capable of showing leadership, of sharing the burden, but no one had ever asked them.

Whatever the reason, Moses was doing it all, and it was wearing Moses down.  And it was making the people restless.  With nothing to do, the people got bored; and when they got bored, they started complaining.

“Remember when we had something to eat other than manna?  Remember when we had fish, and cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic?  Remember that, Moses?  Remember when we weren’t wandering aimlessly, day after day?

They pestered poor Moses to no end.

So Moses went to God and said, “I don’t know what to do with these people!  The burden of leading them is too much, and I can’t do it anymore.  Please God:  either do something to lighten this burden that presses down upon me, or kill me, because I can no longer endure it.”

Some of you know the feeling. 

So God told Moses to gather together 70 of the elders of Israel; and God took some of the spirit that was with Moses – some of the gift of leadership – and shared it with those 70 elders, so that Moses wouldn’t have to bear the burden alone. 

When Jesus walked the earth, he gathered to him twelve disciples, to be his closest followers, and to be the leaders of a movement to bring God’s kingdom to earth.  But he also sent out a total of 70, to bring healing and wholeness to the people, and proclaim God’s kingdom.  These 70 shared in his work and his ministry just the same as the 70 who were with Moses.

Today, here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, we celebrate our shared ministry.  We celebrate our common vision, which connects us to one another and to God, connects us to our community, and connects us to an extended family stretching beyond the borders of our homelands.  We celebrate our participation in the ministry of our congregation and the ministry of the one church of God scattered throughout the earth.

It is no small thing that we are a part of.  Through Christ, God calls upon us to bring about nothing less than the transformation of the world, to replace hate with love; to replace fear with peace; to replace anger with compassion. 

Through Christ, God calls upon us to turn the world order upside down, to lift up the poor and bring down the haughty, to give a voice to the voiceless, to bring healing and wholeness to those whose lives have been broken and shattered.

Through Christ, God calls upon us to show hospitality to all, but especially to those who have been shown little hospitality; to invite and welcome strangers, outcasts and foreigners; to bring in those who have been left out.

Accomplishing this mission requires much of us, of each and every one of us.  There is a lot to be done, and it’s not all easy.  The fields are ripe for harvesting, and the laborers are few.  At times, it may even seem that we labor alone. 

However, we are not alone.  Alone, it would be too much.  Even Moses – even Jesus – didn’t dare to do this work alone.  No.  We are joined with one another, our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are a congregation working together.  The task is shared among us.  With each one of us committing our time, our labor, our money, and our very selves to the task, we will not fail.

We will do all that God has called us to do.  We will take care of God’s church.  And as the church, we will care for the least of God’s children.

We will feed the hungry.  We will comfort those who mourn.  We will speak out for those who are oppressed.  We will open the eyes of those who are blind.  We will show the world that LOVE is the most powerful force on earth, more powerful than all the fear and hatred that exists on earth. 

A few weeks ago I was inspired by something I read to create two lists.  One was a list of qualities that an admirer of Jesus would possess; the other was a list of qualities that a follower of Jesus would possess. 

Because some people, I realized, really admire Jesus; they admire Jesus the way they might admire a fine, classical painting:  they stand back, keeping their distance, and look upon it in admiration 

But other people do more than admire.  Other people follow.

An admirer of Jesus, I realized, is someone who will often go to church.

But a follower of Jesus, I realized, doesn’t just go to church.  A follower of Jesus is the church.  Wherever he or she goes, the follower of Jesus is the embodiment of Christ, doing Christ’s work in the world. Not by himself or herself, but sharing the burden with other followers of Jesus.

Being a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world is no small task.  It requires much from us.  By ourselves, it would be an impossible task.  But we have each other.  We have our congregation.  We have partnerships with other congregations and organizations committed to this same goal. 

And we have God.

Together, we have a common vision, and people are attracted to this vision.  People are attracted to what we at Bixby Knolls Christian Church stand for.  We stand for radical welcome and hospitality.  Do you realize how unique that is in this world? 

We see it in many ways.  We see it in the fact that we are many different races working together.  Churches are often segregated; people will wonder about churches unfamiliar to them, “Is it a black church or is it a white church?”  Well, we are black and white and Asian and Hispanic and so much more.

How many other divisions are there in this world?  How many other signs of brokenness?  There are conservative vs. liberal, republican vs. democrat, gay vs. straight, old vs. young, rich vs. poor, male vs. female … and people from one group or another join together in solidarity, to protect their own interests, against the interests of others.

But what do we do?  We say it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from.  Rich or poor, Jew or gentile, black or white, gay or straight, male or female, old or young, republican or democrat, native-born or immigrant … it doesn’t matter.  You are welcome here. 

And together, we are following Jesus, living the vision of the kingdom, and making that vision a reality for the world around us.

It’s incredible when you think about it.

So it is a real joy to share with one another the burdens of making this ministry possible, sharing not only the money that really is our life’s labor and energy, but also our time, our gifts of leadership, and the commitment and dedication that has enabled us to carry out this ministry for over 66 years. 

What a blessing and what a joy it is, for me and, I hope, for you, too, to be able to share in this ministry, to share in this remarkable work to which we have been called.  I work hard to let other people know about what takes place here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church because what takes place here is so remarkable.  We all have put aside our own personal agendas and have taken upon ourselves the agenda set forth by Jesus:  to love all people, even our enemies; to seek justice in our world; to give rather than to take; and to care for our neighbors wherever and whoever they may be.

God has richly blessed us.  God has blessed us to be a blessing to the world.  I just read in a new book by Brian McLaren that a religion is judged by the benefits it brings to its non-members, and that’s very true:  we are judged by what we do for others. 

And yet the truly amazing thing is that the more we live for others, the more we do for others, the more we care for others, the more we give to others, the more benefits we receive ourselves.  If you don’t believe me, then I dare you to try it:  particularly on a day where you might be feeling down and depressed and wanting someone to care for you, instead, turn that around and do something kind for someone else.  I guarantee you will feel better.

I mentioned last week how I sometimes lose sleep over money, but never have I lost sleep because I gave to the church.  So today I celebrate our ministry; I celebrate the commitments – mine and yours – that make it possible.  I celebrate what this church stands for and what God is doing through us.

And as you commit your money, your labor, and your life to the ministry we share, I hope – and expect – that you will feel that same joy and that same peace.  Because the work that we are doing here is holy work.  It is remarkable work.  It is work that blesses every life it touches.