The Mind of Christ

 

SERMON

Proper 21 – Year A

As many of you know, I am embarking on what has become in recent years my life’s dream – I am now enrolled in a Doctor of Ministry Program at General Theological Seminary. A big step indeed – a three to four-year commitment, with the mandate of a dissertation worthy of publication to graduate. Yikes….

 Years ago, when I was studying for my master’s degree in Social Work there was a heavy emphasis on going beyond the master’s program. Back then a doctoral degree was the way to go. A doctorate gave you status and opened doors that a plain old master’s degree would never pass through. It was the logical next step in life.

 Being me, I did not go the traditional route. Sponsored by a good friend of mine who was also a psychiatrist, I went to work immediately. Working with him I established a private practice and began teaching at New York University School of Social Work. I was busy working, bringing up my daughter, and enjoying New York City to the fullest.

After twelve years of private practice and teaching, I left New York City on the first leg of what was, now as I look back on it, an incredible adventure of working in many places with many people. As I think about these years, I am astounded by how many life adventures I packed in – I would not change a thing.

 I tell you this abbreviated life history to set the background of why the doctoral program at General is so important to me – why it has become my life’s dream.

 So, bear with me.

 Those many years ago when I finished my master’s I was incredibly young. More importantly, I was the product of an extremely privileged and sheltered background. Although I had traveled extensively, I knew nothing about the world and the people who lived in it. Perhaps most significantly I had not yet encountered God. Looking back, I cannot imagine what I would have achieved by getting a doctoral degree at that point in time. Nothing really, I am quite sure. Nothing more than a title that brought with it prestige and money.

 Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians would have fallen on deaf ears.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ.”

 “Let the same mind be in you that is in Jesus Christ.” What powerful words. Words that so concisely inform the way we are meant to live our lives. Keep those words in your mind, we are coming back to them.

 And so, the years passed by quickly as I ventured from place to place; remarkably self-centered and completely unaware of the goings-on in the world around me. During this time, I am sad to say that I paid little attention to God, but I now understand with every fiber of my being that he was paying a great deal of attention to me.

 How do I know that God was paying attention to me…well for one thing in the early 1990s I collided with the Holy Spirit. It was quite a collision. My life zigged off in a completely different direction, and I have not been the same since. In the barren and poverty-stricken Lower Rio Grande Valley the Holy Spirit entered my heart and my mind. In a moment – a split second - I saw, heard, and experienced life from a vastly different point of view.

A uniquely blessed man of small stature but great heart named Deacon Albert took me from zero to 90 in my understanding what I believe Paul meant when he said, “Let the same mind be in you that is in the mind of Christ.”

During my years in Texas, the God planted mustard seed took root. That smallest of seeds, God in me, took root and it began to grow, and grow, and grow. I grew into a new life space, and as I moved into this new space my relationship with Jesus became central to the way in which I encountered and interacted with the world.

I began to see – to understand – the many challenges that face the world and the incredible barriers that exist for the millions throughout the world who are seeking refuge in God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom here on earth. And with this new vision has come a quest. A quest so neatly described by Paul in his Letter to the Philippians:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ.”

And so, we arrive at the “why” of my embarking on a Doctor of Ministry Program at this moment in time. Now, a doctorate has a purpose for me. Not prestige or money, but rather the enhanced skill of thinking critically, the growth of my knowledge base regarding pressing social justice issues, and the tools to develop a strong and informed voice with which to impart this knowledge. A voice that carries with it God at work in me. A voice based in a deep faith in God. A voice that proclaims a Christian mode of action that forms an alternative society. A society based in love.

 A society that is in the same mind as the mind of Christ.

You may ask, why do I offer this brief life review today? And, I will say because its outcome for me has everything to do with who we all urgently must become at this moment in time. We all, every one of us, need to be in the same mind as the mind of Christ. A mind filled with compassion and love. We must listen carefully to the God in us, and work for his good pleasure.

As we move closer to the November 3^rd elections there will be an increase in the bitter dialogue that wants us to believe that our voting systems are faulty or fraudulent; that sinister conspiracies have distorted the political will of the people; that our public discourse has been perverted by the news media and social networks riddled with prejudice, lies and ill will; that judicial institutions, law enforcement and even national security have been twisted, misused and misdirected to create anxiety and conflict, not justice and social peace.

We must vigorously avoid this rhetoric. We must not let it guide our hearts, our minds, and our actions. We must not follow the example of the chief priests and elders of Matthew’s gospel. Leaders of their community too afraid of consequences; too afraid to recognize Jesus as the authority; the voice of God. We must not be too afraid to stand strong and do the work that God has given us to do – to love our neighbor and sow seeds not of hatred but of peace.

We must not be too afraid to dismiss from our hearts and minds negative and destructive forces that are so present in so many discussions and in all media. We must focus on the love with which God created the universe and mankind and the firm faith that carried Christ to the cross. We must be of like mind. We must have firm faith and allow that faith to guide us in understanding how to respond to our national dilemma.

It is up to us as a Christian community to be Christ in the world. Calm, faithful; knowing that if we stay focused on God, he will show us the way – a non-violent way – forward.

It is up to us to be a community that is in the same mind as the mind of Christ.