Youth Dialogue Sermon on Following Christ

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 Page 693, BCP

Galatians 5:1,13-25

Luke 9:51-62

Youth Sermon

June 30, 2013

Katie: In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Please be seated.

Our biblical readings today provide us with many things to reflect upon.  But if I were looking for a theme, I might look at the various types of personalities of people who express their faith and belief in God.

Connor: Well, what if we were all like Elisha?    

James:   What do you mean, Connor?

Connor:   What if we would only follow God by demanding the spectacular?

Katie: I see what you mean.  What if I would only remain an Episcopalian if I could see Father Phil beamed up to the U.S.S. Heavenly Enterprise before my very eyes?  Beam him up Lord Scotty, or I won’t believe!

James:  Well, I guess if you had Trekky demands then you might have to give up your faith.  I suspect Fr. Phil will leave this world in a more standard way.  There have been no Assumptions since the Virgin Mary.

Katie: I’m glad that Elisha got to see his shock and awe so that he was able to believe that God would bless his ministry just like God blessed Elijah’s ministry.

James:  Does the Bible give us heroes in order to make us feel inferior in our ordinary lives?

Connor: I don’t think so.  I think the point of the Bible is to give us examples of faithful lives in order that we might learn to accept and develop our own original relationship with God.

Katie:  Connor, I grant you that….you are an original….throw away the mold type of guy.  I think that Gospel reading shows us that Jesus is dealing with some different attitudes of some of his followers.

James:  One of the attitudes is “Agree with me or else.”

Connor:  Or else what?

James:  Or else I’ll call down fire from heaven as a way of punishing you for not agreeing with me.

Katie:  We still have many “boom boom” prophets today.  Some people are so certain of their own views that they think that every earthquake and hurricane is God’s punishment on people with whom they disagree.

James:  And you notice that Jesus rebuked them for their very destructive judgments.

Connor: Jesus was also concerned that his followers did not mistake over-confidence for faith.

Katie:  What do you mean?

Connor:  Some were certain that it was a “piece of cake” to follow Jesus.  And Jesus warned them about being too sure of them selves.   Our lives of faith do not exempt us from hardship and difficult situations.  And there are things that could happen that might challenge our faith.

James:  We can have faith in God without being too proud of the way in which we know and understand God.  There are too many people today who are so certain about their way of believing in God. 

Katie:  Sometimes the ones who are overconfident end up losing their faith when they experience some difficult situations.  I think Jesus is telling us to be realistic about what it means to have faith and follow him.

Connor:  We get no exemptions from the general conditions of what can happen to anyone in this life.

James:  There is another type of person who thinks that following Jesus is too much trouble; they think it interferes with their lives.

Connor: I know what they mean….it is difficult to be such a superstar basketball player and still follow Christ.

Katie:  Yeah, right…What Jesus might be saying is if anyone thinks that following Christ is not good for their lives, their careers, their families, then don’t do it. 

James: But this also means that they must not understand Christ if his life and teachings are not good for their lives and their career and their families.  I also think that Jesus exposes the fact that often when we say, “I can’t,” it really means “I won’t.”

Connor:  Well, Jesus does allow us the freedom to be ignorant about him and all sorts of things.

Katie:  I think that St. Paul has some important insights for us.  He is more concerned that everyone works to know the fruits of the Spirit.  They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  These are important virtues that we must learn to practice no matter what we do in our lives.

Connor:  The fruits of the Spirit are compatible with everything that we do in life.  We don’t need to be called to the priesthood in order to be called to the fruits of the Spirit.  We need these virtues to learn excellence in living, no matter what our occupation is.

James:  I think that what we learn from our readings today is that we need to find our original relationship with Christ.

Katie:  I think that Christ invites to follow him in very individual ways…ways that fit the gifts of our personality and the situations of our life.

Connor:  But we also follow Christ in our communities.  We have learned to follow Christ in our Episcopal community at St. John the Divine.

James: Did you ever think that we might be following Christ in the wrong way?

Katie: What do you mean?

James:  Well, the Episcopal Church is very small; St. John’s is very small.  There are lots bigger church than ours.  There are religious people who shout much louder than we do about our faith.  Should we worry about our future relevance as a church and a parish?

Connor:  Will St. John’s always be here?  Will it lose its place and relevance to enough people to keep it going?

Katie:  People who shout the loudest about their faith often get the most attention.  I think as Episcopalian that we have some important things to preserve, even though we don’t shout so loudly about our faith.

James: Yes, the Episcopal Church believes that faith and science go together.  There are so many expressions of the Christian faith which don’t accept more recent understandings about science and about people.

Connor:  I think it is important that we find our faith relevant to the world that we live in.

Katie:  Especially in how we practice justice towards all people.

James:  I think that the Episcopal Church still has a place in this world, even if we are not people who are over-confident about being the only way of understanding things.

Connor:  I think we owe it to keep our church alive.  I think we owe it to keep St. John’s alive and well with our support.

 Katie: The stewardship committee of St. John’s is having a summer appeal to help our parish.

James: I think St. John’s is a good investment; it is a place to develop leadership; public performance, musical talents and skills.

Connor: It is a place where can explore our faith with honest acceptance.

Katie:  It is okay to be a small church too.  In this small parish we have the opportunity to feel like we belong; we don’t have to be lost in the crowd.  And we know that we are needed.

James: Can you recommend the summer campaign for giving to St. John?

Connor: I can.

Katie: Easy for you to say, since you’re not writing the check….but I agree.  We have a calling to be at St. John’s here in Morgan Hill and follow Christ in the way that we can.  And we hope that we do it with an attitude of non-judgmental love and acceptance.  We hope we can know the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

James: So now that we’ve made a shameless plug for the stewardship campaign of St. John’s, what else can we say?

Connor: Love God, Love Christ, Love your neighbor, be local in your faith and support St. John’s as a community of faith that has a mission today, tomorrow and into the future.  Amen.