This material is adopted from a sermon at Advent Café on Wednesday night and for evensong on Sunday. I spoke about the Rev Bill Blott who was an Honorary Assistant here in the 1990s and dramatically impacted my own faith journey. Bill was truly a saint in so many ways. The most important thing that I learned from Bill was about intentionality. I see intentionality as listening, understanding and acting in a way that puts God at the centre of the decisions that we make in our every day lives. All easy to say but actually hard to do. In the reading from Luke 14, verses 25-35, Jesus is talking to us about what are the costs of being one of his followers, that is being intentional. The reading neatly breaks into four major points:
We must hate our family and ourselves;
We must carry our own cross;
We must give up all our possessions; and,
What are the costs of not following Jesus?
To hear Jesus say that we must hate our families and ourselves doesn’t sound like. His normal message. I believe that Jesus was making the point the point that we must put God first ahead of everything and everyone else. God must be our centre, not a peripheral concern. If God is the centre of our life, then we will be intentional in our daily lives and in our decisions. On the second point, we must carry our own cross as Jesus had to carry his cross. As a Christian, we must acknowledge that there are costs. American Express had a very effective advertising campaign to encourage people to get AMEX cards focused on “Membership has its privileges”. Membership not only has privileges, but also has responsibilities and costs. We must be prepared to act on our beliefs and be aware that there will be consequences.
Jesus said, “So therefore no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all of his possessions”. I believe He is speaking about how we use our gifts and resources. Do we put God first or our material well being? Recently one of Canada’s major banks had a campaign with the tag line, “Pay yourself first”. If we want to follow Jesus, perhaps our tag line could be “Pay God first”
The last point that Jesus makes is the cost of not following him. He speaks of preparing before you start building a tower or going into battle. There are consequences or cost of our decision to be a Christian. Do not make the decision lightly. Be intentional! As a Christian you must use your brain as well as your heart. You must know but must also act. Be intentional if you want to be useful to God. We are each on our own faith journey. As outlined in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, there are many callings to implement God’s plan ranging from being an apostle to various forms of leadership.
We are not called to be all things. In our bible study last fall we looked at the Book of Acts. We learned that many of the characters in the stories were everyday people who were called by God to act, that is be intentional. They were not heroes or government leaders. They were people just like us. At the time, they may not have understood their role in God’s story, but they acted on their beliefs. It is by the combined action of many people that God’s work is done. Jesus’ words are tough and demanding. What we are being asked to do is be intentional about what we believe. Act on your beliefs each day in all the decisions that you make. Develop your relationship with God through prayer and times of reflection. God’s love and salvation is free but to be a Christian, you must acknowledge that God is supreme, and that God is the centre of your life. In the end, it costs us all that we have in this world because we give it all over to God.
The current bible study is called “The Bible, the Sequel.” I invite you to be part of God’s story by being intentional each day. We are each given special talents and gifts, be intentional and use them for God. This is the message that ‘Saint’ Bill shared and acted upon in his own life. It is the message that made a lasting impression on me and significantly impacted my faith journey.
The following quotation from Goethe sums up what is required to be intentional as a Christian: “Knowing is not enough.
We must apply.
Willing is not enough.
We must act.”
“Saint” Bill stressed the importance of communicating with God through prayer as one of the many ways of being intentional. I want to leave you with a prayer entitled “How Shall I Pray” that Rev Bill Blott shared with us near the end of the Journey in Faith Program.
HOW SHALL I PRAY?
Are tears prayers, lord?
Are screams prayers, or groans or sighs or curses?
Can trembling hands be lifted to you or clenched fists or cold sweat that trickles down my back or the cramps that knot my stomach?
Will you accept my real prayers, Lord, my real prayers rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life, and not just the pretty, cut-flower, graceful bouquet of words? Will you accept me, lord, as I really am, a messed-up mixture of glory and grime? Lord, help me! Help me to trust that you do accept me as I am, that I may be done with self-condemnation and self-pity and accept myself. Help me to accept you as you are, lord: mysterious, hidden, strange, unknowable; And yet to trust that your madness is wiser than my timid, self-seeking sanities, and that nothing you’ve ever done has really been possible, so I may dare to be a little mad, too. Amen