Joyful Urgency

Mark 10:46-52

What would inspire joyful urgency in you to meet Jesus? We get up on Sunday morning, we once again go to church, but are we ever joyfully urgent to get to church? Do we anticipate that this is the place where we will meet Jesus? Are we over joyed to be here? You see this is one place where we should meet Jesus, there are many others as well, but on Sunday we should come to church anticipating where we will meet Jesus. The thing is we haven't thrown off the cloak yet at our churches. Here is what I mean.

We have stayed stuck in a dream which doesn't exist. We still think everyone will flock to our church because look, look at the mega churches. But we aren't them. We aren't to be aiming for this anyway, we should be aiming to throw off our cloaks and ask Jesus for what we need every Sunday. We shouldn't be aiming for the numbers, when was the last time numbers brought you joy? Think about it, numbers are the way we have been doing things for year. In The Episcopal Church we have reported numbers and concentrated on numbers so often we have forgotten it is not about the business, it's about Jesus. We like Bartimaeus have become blind to what is really at the heart of church. 

Every year we run after an old dream, more programs, more Sunday school (when we only have one child), more, more, more and we don't stop to think, where will people meet Jesus? Where will they throw off their own cloaks of church is irrelevant, judgmental, and unfriendly because this is the question we really need to ask. The other one is are we meeting people where they are?

Jesus walked the roads. He didn't have a building, he didn't reside somewhere where everyone met him, Jesus walked the way and spoke to people where they were. Whether it was a meal given in his honor, a place he was traveling to, or the path he was following. Jesus came out to where the people were. Then they could ask for what they needed because instead of expecting them to come us, they went to them. 

What happens when you meet people where they are? You abdicate your power. I know what it is that needs to be fixed and this is how we fix it. This way doesn't take any time, doesn't require us to listen, and doesn't really meet the basic needs of every human being. This world needs to be met where it is. To believe there is someone who will actually listen to them and its small. It requires us to walk our neighborhood. To know the people right around us, not to go far afield and find people. Right here, right now in this block there are people who are just looking for a chance to glimpse the real Jesus.

Lastly, we help build the dream of joyful urgency when we can actually say aloud what is wrong. We're afraid we are dying, we're afraid of things changing, whatever it is which holds us to the side of the road. This is where we have to throw off our cloak which was holding us back and move forward, with the help of all those in this church. We don't do it alone, we don't prescribe something for us to do, we discern where God is calling us together. This is the thing, Bartimaeus doesn't come to Jesus on his own power, the crowd pushes him forward, "take heart, he is calling you." I imagine their hands reached out and helped him find Jesus through this crowd. 

So come and find what holds you back from meeting Jesus. Come and see what might happen if we admit what needs to be healed in today's church. Come and find you have fellow companions who will guide you and lead you to Jesus. This way we can't meet Jesus and find where our healing is and go forward and follow him.