God has made us Spiritual Athletes

Sermon preached at St. Mark’s Honey Brook, PA

by The Rev. Thomas C. Pumphrey, April 29, 2007

The Fourth Sunday of Easter

John 10:22-31, Hebrews 12:1-2

John 10:22-31 (NRSV) At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

This text is slightly revised from the sermon preached from notes.

The central focus of my sermon this morning does not come directly from the scripture readings for today. Hebrews 12:1-2 is a better source for me this morning, with its image of the runner persevering in the race. However, the Gospel reading does help prepare us to hear this message.

Jesus is in Jerusalem, walking in the temple with his followers and other devout Jews who are there for the festival of Dedication. The crowds are eager to hear his message. “How long will you keep us in suspense?” they ask him. “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” But Jesus answers “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice…” Jesus does, however, go on to declare himself, for he says “The Father and I are one.” The next verse then tells how the crowds picked up stones to kill him. They were eager to hear his message, but when they heard his message, they decided they didn’t like what he said and turned against him. Yet what Jesus had to say was good news for them, if they had ears to hear him.

I had an experience recently of wanting to hear good news and not completely comprehending the good news right away. I went to the cardiologist recently, in follow-up to some tests. You know how this works—the doctor says you’re OK, but just in case we’ll run these tests, and when the tests come in, they say just to be sure, we’ll run more tests. Before I knew it, I was on the treadmill for a “nuclear stress test” on my heart. The cardiologist met with me after the test and asked what I did for a living. I told him I am a parish priest and we spoke about ministry for a while. Then he picked up the test results and said “well, it says here that not only are you a parish priest, but you are an athlete!”

The credibility of this physician just dropped several notches when he said this. “I’m no athlete!” I thought. I’m a couch potato. I get winded just walking around the block. Living next to the church, my commute is only 100 feet from my bedroom to my office. I get more exercise walking our dog—and she’s a miniature dachshund, so we’re not talking anything too stressful. An Athlete? Certainly not! But what my health care provider meant by this is that my heart has the capacity to supply my body with all the oxygen and nutrients it needs for strenuous exercise. I may think that I’m out of shape, but my body has the ability to handle far more than I realize.

Now, I didn’t have ears to hear this at first. Then I figured that this was not good news, because now I have no excuse to get the exercise I need to be healthy for the long term. I have the heart to be more healthy—to have more physical discipline and strength. And this is really good news.

Perhaps you see where I’m going with this. As your “spiritual health care provider,” I’m here to tell you something that may surprise you. You are a Spiritual Athlete! Each and every one of you in these pews is a spiritual athlete! You have the capacity for a deeper relationship with God—for spiritual exercise and discipline and training and spiritual health. Each of you has the heart and the access to God to know God more deeply in prayer and in the reading of scripture and in ministry. You are a spiritual athlete!

Now, you might say “Oh, I’m not a spiritual athlete.” You might think that the credibility of this priest just dropped several notches. You might say “I’m not a spiritual athlete, I’m just a contractor or a retiree or a student—I don’t really know how to pray, and if I haven’t prayed for a long time, I feel guilty when I try. I don’t know much about the Bible—I don’t really understand it half the time, and surely there are others who know more about ministry than I do—I’m busy on many Sundays anyway…” Indeed, it may be stressful and awkward to pray if you’ve been away from God for a while—like my feeling out of breathe after a long walk. But that awkward feeling is not the reality, for God has given you the capacity to know his peace and joy when you overcome that reluctance and open yourself to his presence.

Now some of you may hear a message that makes you a little uncomfortable. Perhaps you think that I might be asking you for more time in church or in ministry—or even to sit on the vestry! Well, I guess you might be right—I will be asking some of you to sit on the vestry, and this church is like that team of athletes that trains with you—enjoying the mutual support and discipline as we train together and build a greater spiritual health for us as individuals and as a community.

You might say that you don’t have the strength or faith to truly change your priorities to God’s priorities or truly engage in your relationships with God’s grace. You might feel that you do not have the gifts to build up the church in this place. This may sound exhausting or beyond you. But God has truly given you the capacity for a deeper faith and spiritual power than you may realize. God’s call may have sounded crushing to the disciples after Jesus died. They fled when he was arrested and crucified, and most of them were locked away in fear of those who killed Jesus. But our risen Lord came to them, gave them his peace and told them not to be afraid. He sent God the Holy Spirit to these timid, broken people and empowered them to build up the church throughout the Roman Empire!

God gave them ears to hear this message, and he gave you ears to hear as well! You are Spiritual Athletes! This is Good News! You have the opportunity for a deeper relationship with God! You have the opportunity for a greater knowledge of your meaning to God and your meaning in the world. You can commit more of your life to Jesus Christ! You can build up the church in this place! You can feel the joy of the Holy Spirit moving in your life. You will know the power of God in your life as you claim your identity as a spiritual athlete!

Say this out loud and in your prayers “I am a Spiritual Athlete!” “I am a Spiritual Athlete!”

May God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we ask or imagine, give us the grace and the will to accomplish his mission in the world!