This morning I had the opportunity to preach at Central Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Dallas, Texas. This was a truly one of a kind opportunity since a member of Central Lutheran was the founder and first Executive Director of White Rock Center of Hope, which is the organization I now lead.
The Sermon
My message, “Abundant Life,” was based on the lectionary passages (Psalm 23, Acts 2:42-47, 1 Peter 2:19-25, and John 10:1-10).
A Radical Excerpt
Let’s get the radical stuff out of the way first.
The Acts’ passage comes at the end of the second chapter – a chapter that starts with Pentecost. The early church was on fire. It was laser focused on living out the Good News. The church was behaving in ways that are hard to imagine.
Over the next 2,000 years many would try this radical form of living out their faith, but few would persevere.
The Acts passage begins with followers of the Way of Jesus committing themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to “koinonia,” which is a Greek work often translated as fellowship or joint participation
80 years ago two couples set out on a mission to live out this passage in Georgia. They called their shared living venture Koinonia Farm.
The founders invited others to join them in what they called “a demonstration plot for the kingdom of God.” It became a place for people to come together and to share all of themselves and all of their resources on a working farm. Koinonia broke down barriers, including class and race.
Today, Koinonia’s impact continues through a mail order business from the farm, through founder Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospel, and through ministries that were birthed at Koinonia, including Habitat for Humanity.
So perhaps, for a select few, this communal lifestyle is achievable. But, what about the rest of us?
I’d like to suggest the final verse from today’s Gospel reading offers an interpretive key that unites all four passages: Jesus came so that those who follow in his Way may experience abundant life.
Abundant life . . . Abundant life is an attractive concept.
The abundant life has been packaged and sold to us in more ways than we can count. In the parlance of late-stage capitalism, the abundant life is a life of excess – one filled with lots of money used to purchase exclusive goods and services for one’s own consumption.
Abundant life also gets a bad rap from some Christians. Prosperity theology wrongly suggests that God is focused on financial prosperity and that God will bless God’s faithful with larger and larger bank accounts. The so-called prosperity Gospel is a false Gospel.
Abundant life, as I’ve come to understand it, is something different from these financially limited perspectives.
- Abundant life is comprehensive and overarching.
- Abundant life is about fully embracing all that we are and all that we have in service of God.
- And, to borrow language from the Beatitudes, the abundant life is a blessed life or a life of deep and abiding happiness.
The abundant life God intends for us includes the reassuring promises and difficult truths found in all of this morning’s readings.
. . . The other common thread this morning shows up everywhere – it even made the cover of the bulletin: sheep.
Sheep and shepherds are everywhere! Back in the . . . (for more, check out the full manuscript or watch the sermon below)
So What?
Because of the faith of Central Lutheran – that of Central Member and White Rock Center of Hope Founder Donagene Christian and that of church leadership in the late 1980s – a ministry was founded and has flourished. The White Rock Center of Hope is a ministry that was founded by a dozen East Dallas churches and is now supported by more than forty communities of faith.
Central Lutheran Church celebrate 100 years of ministry last year, and is dreaming about their future.
White Rock Center of Hope will celebrate 35 years of ministry later this year, and has recently adopted a new mission statement, a new vision statement, and core values. And, WRCH is several months into a strategic planning process to help guide the next several years.
All of what has happened and much of what is to come is as a result of people of faith living out their faith by sharing freely of their time, talent and treasure. For this, I give thanks.
Thank You: A special thank you to Rev. Veronika Cztutor for the invitation to spend my morning with Central Lutheran and to those from my wider community of friends and family who attended the service to support me and to affirm the work of these ministries.
Note: I’ve written extensively about my current journey toward ordination in the United Church of Christ. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a denomination in full communion with the United Church of Christ. For my most recent update, please read Seeking Ordination – Update #7 (which includes links to all prior updates).