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David Orendorff        I John 3:16-24        May 3, 2009

You remember that this letter of John is probably written by the congregation at Ephesus to other congregations in the region around the end of the first century.  The Ephesians’ church, out of its experience of unloving or hateful members and former members, advises us that God is love and we are the children of God.  To not actively love is to miss the mark and our fellowship is damaged and may even be killed.  This is sin. The good news is that when we fail and experience our failure in confession we are forgiven and love continues in us.

I think of the fellowship of the church as a Christian culture.  Those who have lived in other parts of the country or world know that each region has its own culture, its own ways of viewing the world and relating to neighbors and the creation.  We also have family cultures that set the norms and patterns of how we relate.  John divides church culture into two types, those that abide in Christ and those that don’t. A culture that abides in Christ practices servant love.   His primary example of love is Jesus and that Jesus “laid down his life for us.”  He concludes then that “we ought to lay down our lives for each other.”

In our consumer driven culture to think of laying down our lives for each other is a challenge.  From every direction (home, school, marriage and personal finances) we are bombarded by the message of self centeredness.  We are told that we have to take care of ourselves for no one else (and this includes God) will. We don’t want to be losers.  Charity begins well after our basic needs and most of our desires are met.  We even shop for a faith community that meets our needs rather than one that needs us.

Such a culture causes us to live defensively, looking for potential threats and watching to be safe.  We feel a strong urge to control others so that they meet, or at least don’t impede, our desires.  We become suspicious and critical.  For John, this is the culture of sin.

John tells us BearCreekians that if we abide in Christ we lay down our lives for each other and our BearCreekian culture will be one of servant love.

If you have been around church any amount of time (and if you are new to church you need to know this) you know that we don’t always treat each other with love; that we sometimes fail to abide in Christ.  I don’t need to make the list, you have your experiences and you remember the pain of failed love, yours or someone else’s.

But please remember this.  99% of the time we love.  Our failures are the exceptions.  And when we fail I have seen us repeatedly reconcile through confession and forgiveness.  I have seen us lay down our lives for each other.  We could be here all day telling the stories of grace among us. So I had to choose a couple of examples.  I chose from music because that is arguably (along with a spirit of mission) God’s greatest gift to this congregation.

I could talk about the countless hours Sara Lambert, every member of the worship committee and every member of the weekly bands gives that we might worship but you know this well.

Last Sunday the Celebration Choir performed “Then Came the Morning” an Easter Cantata by the Gaithers.  It is the story of Jesus’ passion and Easter in music.  The idea came from Kay Forrester and she took it to the Worship Committee.  The Worship Committee liked the idea but found all kinds of obstacles that had to be overcome.  Obstacles feel like rejection and sin could have gotten a hold of us right then and the Cantata could have died and we with it.  Kay and the Worship Committee chose to abide in Christ and decided it could be done.

Debbie Brown, as the director, knew this was an ambitious piece of work for any choir and for her, yet with a heavy school load, fragile health and through sometimes excruciating arthritis she laid down her life in love for us.

The choir agreed to do it knowing full well the size of the challenge and how they would have to lay down their lives.  Excuses to miss rehearsal were rare.  They also practiced at home with CDs made by Kay.  And they spent several hours at two additional Saturday rehearsals.

An event like this does not happen without incredible amounts of communication.  We can thank Kay for the internal communication with the worship committee and the choir.  She was tireless in getting everyone scheduled and informed.  When a problem arose she contacted and encouraged those who needed to decide and do the work.  She even produced the printed program.

One of the highlights was when Kay and Dewey hosted one of the Saturday rehearsals at their home and fed the choir shrimp, sausage, salad, corn on the cob and cake.  As we ate we abided in Christ.  To make sure none of the family was left out, Isaac was recruited for his violin and Hannah for her voice.

Those who agreed to solos (Andy, Sara, Johanna, Marty, Christina and Randy) spent more time practicing at home and arranged their lives to have extra rehearsals with Dewey.  Terri Stewart, who has a schedule that would kill most people, agreed to be one of the disciples and add yet another thing to her busy life.

Ted, Dave, and Kay, the sound team, don’t sing and from what I understand that is its own gift to us.  Their primary goal is to make it so we hear well and don’t notice them.  They invisibly lay their lives down for us in weekly rehearsals and worship and they agreed to take on the added and difficult load of the Cantata.  At the Saturday dress rehearsal they were busy for nearly three hours running cables, getting the microphones in the right place, balancing sound, removing feedback and making some pesky and necessary monitors work.

Dewey recruited the marketing committee to get the word out.  He used a photo he took for posters, cards to hand out and inserts.  The marketing folks developed a banner for our corner.  Several choir members, often with family in tow, went to local businesses and put the posters up.  The choir and others invited family and friends.

And then, as we stood in the multipurpose room prior to the event we remembered that the music was a gift from God and the hard work and beauty of the choir was a gift to God and to all God’s children.  Then we prayed together and sang Easter alive in the hearts of the congregation and our guests.  If you missed it you should kick yourself, buy the DVD now on sale and be here next week with a guest for the requested encore.  The Cantata is a life sacrificing gift for you.

My second witness of folks laying down their lives for the congregation in music is the Youth Choir. The E-team, a study group, heard several parents say they had youth who wanted to sing in worship but felt they were too old for a children’s choir and too young for the adult choir.  Terri Stewart proposed to the worship committee that there be a Youth choir.  Again there were many obstacles.  Who will play the piano?  Who will direct?  Do we need to pay a director?  When can a rehearsal time be found?  How can another choir be worked into the worship schedule? How do we fund the music without a budget?  How do we adhere to our Safe Sanctuary policies?  Who will do recruitment and communication?  Again the opportunity to be self serving and wounded offered to appear.  But instead of an angry, wounded and hateful culture, those involved chose the Christian culture of servant love.

Everyone agreed to stay patient (and mostly we did) and make the necessary sacrifices for the children who wanted to sing. Terri organized the youth and sought the assistance of parents who lay down their lives to make the choir possible.  Families that had not been to Bear Creek in awhile were successfully recruited and they too have sacrificed for us to better worship God.  Youth with busy lives arranged their time to be regularly at practice, no excuses, and take a late lunch.  Terri now consults with the youth to select the music, plays the piano and for most rehearsals directs.  Mimi Johnson leads sectional rehearsals.  Debbie Brown picks up directing prior to a performance and at worship.  Debra McKnight does the administration, communication and brings the all important snacks.  Sara Smith has been supporting Debra.  And today you have received their gift of sacrificial love.

In both the examples I am sure I have missed someone and for that I apologize.  So many folks have given so much love that we might have music it is hard to keep track of it all.  This I know, those who give us music do so abiding in Christ and laying down their lives for us.

I invite you to think for yourself of those who have loved you so that they lay down their life for you.  Who planned, organized, and led the Women’s retreat two weekends ago?  What loving sacrifices are made so that we might have cookies, juice and coffee every Sunday?  Who makes the financial sacrifices that we might have a building with a roof, heat and lights?  Who makes the necessary sacrifices to offer Children’s church and Sunday school?  I haven’t touched the whole area of mission at which Bear Creek excels.  And my list cannot possibly include the acts of love done privately among you or the mentors who lived you into faith.

I invite you during the fellowship time following worship to ask each other “Who has laid down their life you?”  It will be a good conversation starter and strengthen our Christian culture.  And maybe this would be a good week to send a note thanking someone who laid down their life for you.

This is our culture; this is what makes us a Christian Church; God is love and we are made in the image of God.  God in Jesus lays down his life for us and in our love we lay down our lives for each other and the world. I feel the love among us growing as we learn to more fully be disciples of Jesus and as God’s love moves us to lay down our lives in servant love.

Shalom and Amen.