Hometown Glory
Psalm 19
Psalm 19
Luke 4:14-21
January 31st, 2016
Broad Street United Methodist Church
Holy and gracious God,
As the
Psalmist writes, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our
hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our strong rock, and our redeemer.
Over
Christmas break while I was home from Duke, I got coffee at Starbucks with my
dear friend and fellow child of this church, Ashlee Perry. Both Ashlee and I
have spent the majority of our young lives growing up in this place. We went to
high school together, we’ve seen each other grow and change, and we make an
effort to get together when our schedules permit. One of my favorite memories
is that of the confirmation retreat when we were in the 6th grade.
All those years later we pick up where we left off when we see one another. You
did a good job, Broad Street, fostering life-long friendships and all. But
nonetheless our conversation over coffee turned as it often does to nostalgia.
We wondered about our community that we grew up in. We talked about it for some
time and we came to the conclusion that while we appreciate what Statesville
gave us growing up, we didn’t know if our careers or life-choices would allow
us to come back to this place that we came to love. But we’ll get back to that
in a moment.
Today we
hear words from Jesus, in fact this is Jesus’ first public sermon in Luke’s
Gospel. In Luke’s Gospel this is placed right after Jesus has been tempted in
the Wilderness and right before Jesus calls his first disciples. For whatever
reason, this story is so important that it shows up in three of the four
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But it is only Luke where this story is
placed at the beginning of the narrative. Where does Jesus decide to go at the
beginning of his ministry in Luke’s Gospel? He goes home, not only that, he
like others who come into town from college or life adventures goes to church.
Jesus ends up at First Church in Nazareth, the
downtown church with pretty stained glass and two worship services. Jesus
decides to preach, as was the custom of a rabbi and picks up a scroll from the
prophet Isaiah. He proclaims, “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go
free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus’ ministry begins in
Nazareth. We hear other places in Scripture; can anything good come from
Nazareth? The answer my friends, is yes.
So using my detective skills from
Mrs. McConnell’s Statesville High School English class, I see something
important. Setting, especially in the Biblical text can mean a lot for the text
we’re reading. In Luke’s Gospel it is
apparent that Jesus loved Nazareth and the synagogue there in Nazareth enough
to come back and start his ministry in Luke’s Gospel. Even though it got the
crowds mad he felt it was important to start what he was doing in his hometown.
He was the original hometown glory. And I think that the reality of being at
home can be a holy and grace-filled moment. Let’s examine this for a moment:
I wonder what home looks like for
you? What is the first thing that pops into your mind? Is it your grandmother’s
Christmas tree or Christmas morning with your parents? Is it playing outside in
the twilight hours until your mom calls you to come inside for the evening? Is
home in the very pew you’re sitting in? Now I want you to take that image of
home and put Jesus there. Does Jesus fit in with your home? Does Jesus feel
comfortable in the place where you call home?
You all know that tag line HGTV uses
all too much, “Let’s make a house, a home.” How can we make this place we call
home, Broad Street United Methodist Church, a place where Jesus would fit in?
How can we make this place a temple where we are anointed to bring good news to
the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor? How can
we make Broad Street United Methodist Church a place of hometown glory?
We do so through relationships.
Through a relationship with God and relationships with one another we see the
fruition of God’s beloved kingdom. We do so by opening our doors to persons who
do not fit the mold of Broad Street United Methodist Church. We do so by
creating spaces and places of grace here within these very walls. Ask any
church consultant what they think is most important for a church and many will
say as I’m sure you’ve heard, “You have to get outside your walls.” Well
friends I’m here to tell you today that getting outside your walls will be
ineffective if you don’t first examine what makes this church a home for you.
What is it that makes Broad Street
special to you? What is it about these old walls that have made this place
shine for you? I can remember in high school I’d intern and part of my job was
given to me from the Reverend Jason Harvey, we’d come in here and change light
bulbs and polish brass. One day I asked in frustration why I wasn’t doing real
ministry, and Jason so eloquently replied in that southern accent he has, “You
don’t just invite people over and have paper plates for them, do you? No you
bring out the finest china.”
Dear people of God how can we
combine our livelihoods with this church to make this building a home for
saints and sinners alike? We do so by bringing the finest bread and wine that
we offer at the table. We do so by bringing the cool refreshing waters of
baptism at the font every Sunday. We do so by invitation and by greeting with a
smile on our face. You know it’s been interesting visiting and finding a church
home in the Durham area after leaving my job in West Jefferson. Luckily I’ve
found one at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, but before that I went to
a church where a lady told me I was sitting in her seat and I needed to move.
That wasn’t creating an environment of home, was it? If Jesus really is the
Christ, and if Jesus really means something to you then you must get to work
creating an inviting space to share that life-changing love of Jesus Christ.
For in Jesus the oppressive bonds of this world are loosened, the blind are
given sight, the lame are given movement, and the dead are made to live again.
We are given a home, not of this community, or country, or even world, but we
are called to create that home here while we have the chance.
Deeper than that, if you like me claim the Wesleyan or
Methodist tradition as the way of following Jesus, it is very obvious that personal
piety should be connected to social holiness. In the book Friendship in the
Margins, it says, “In drawing closer to Jesus, we discover that we
cannot love him without loving others... as we love and live among those most
likely to be overlooked—those who are poor, hungry, despised, imprisoned, or
sick—we find ourselves in intimate relationship with Jesus.” Broad Street United Methodist Church, you
have so much going for you and so much to live for.
Frederick Buechner writes, “… I may have glimpsed in the charity and
justice and order and peace of other homes I have known, but that in its
fullness was always missing. I cannot claim that I have found the home I long
for every day of my life, not by a long shot, but I believe that in my heart I
have found, and have maybe always known, the way that leads to it.” You know I
think that I too have found the way that leads to home, and its right here in
this very place.
You all know I was a child of this
church. I was baptized here on All Saint’s Day in 1992, I was confirmed here in
the early years of the 21st century; I felt the first nudging toward
my call to ministry at a renewal service (that’s Methodist speak for revival
service) from this very pulpit 10 years ago. But what you may not know is that
I had to leave this home for a season. For two and a half years I served and
was a member of First Baptist Church, West Jefferson. I thought I could find a
home in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because of a bad experience with the
Methodists at General Conference. But I got to Duke Divinity School and
realized that my home, my place, my livelihood and hope is found in the United
Methodist Church. While I had found a wonderful, supportive and caring home at
First Baptist in West Jefferson, I realized that the church in West Jefferson
is a very unique place in Baptist life, but it wasn’t my original home. And
though I love the people and the place it wasn’t the home I had come to know
here. They ordained me and loved me and sent me on my way in August, many of
them realizing that my heart was with the Methodist Church and the people in
it.
It’s
always an interesting experience to come back and preach at your home church.
I’ve received more encouragement from my colleagues back in the Raleigh-Durham
area than ever before because they know how difficult it can be to go home to
preach. For you all know me as 2-year-old Rob, 12-year-old Rob, and 18-year-old
Rob, and now you see me here in this place. It’s peculiar at best. But in strange situations are
where Jesus does his best work.
You see Jesus knew as I have come to
learn that your home is your home, and whether they are trying to throw you off
a cliff like they did with Jesus, or in my case where you welcomed me into this
pulpit with hugs and smiles today, your home matters. Don’t ever forsake the
beauty of going home. It may not feel the same as it once did, and you may not
be able to stay for long, but don’t ever forsake going home. Don’t ever forsake
the beauty of coffee with a friend like Ashlee Perry, where our home for a
season was this church. For in the beauty of home like Broad Street United
Methodist Church is that we can listen, and wait, and wonder if Scripture is
fulfilled in our hearing. Here, and now, and today. Thanks be to God. Amen. 
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