The Edge Effect

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
On NPR this week I heard an interview with one of Hollywood’s original stunt men. His name is Hal Needham and he literally wrote the book on doing stunts. He gave an interview and talked about how he had to stand on the wing of a bi-plane and grab the bottom of the wing of another and climb up. He talked about how he had to jump off a horse onto a moving stagecoach, and jump from helicopters and land on the ground 250 feet below. He was the originator of using rocket power in Hollywood stunts. But when he was asked how he felt about the special effects that are in movies nowadays, with computer generated graphics and everything else. He became furious.

"I hate it! ... A guy jumps off of a 250-foot dam, and it cuts to the water and he bobs up, like he's a duck. And you go, 'Wait a minute. Give me a break. A guy would kill himself doing that. There's no way he could do it.' And it just — with cars and motorcycles and all kinds of things. To me, it takes all of the reality out of the show. I just can't stand it. Even as a director, I never did that stuff. We did it for real. I can look at it onscreen and go, 'That don't work. You can't do that.' And so I lose all interest in the film."

And, as a result, he has walked out. Because they have given up the real thing, simply for the effect.

He is speaking to something that I think many of us have begun to do, especially in churches in that we have lost touch with the physical. We have numbed ourselves to violence and loss because we see it all the time on TV. We forget how things are real and tangible. We lose our perspective because we have distanced ourselves.

A perfect example of this is in how get power to our homes. It has to come from somewhere, and we need to start paying attention to where it comes from. Two of my favorite authors are camped out in the governors office in Kentucky right now with other protestors to get him to stop Mountain Top Removal mining in their state. Mountain Top Removal destroys nature, communities, and ecosystems, poisoning the land, but as long as the people get their power…and coal companies make money…who cares? Paul is saying in Corinthians…we should because God does.

Now, I am well aware that I don’t have to say this to many of you. You have chicken houses, and posts to mend, and hay to bale, and cows to look after, and everything else. But we are insulated against Christian perspective in other ways. Like our interactions with people who are different than us. Like in our contact with other churches. Like in our decision making about our own church.

Paul speaks to the Corinthians about this very thing in this passage.

Make no mistake, he is angry with the Corinthians. But he says it in such a lovely way that many of us look fondly on passages of scripture not seeing its immediate impact in our lives. But what he is angry with them about is that they have lost perspective on what it means to live Christian lives…and so he continues to have to treat them with kid gloves as a result, when they need to be full grown in their faith.
The first thing that they are doing is that they are following the messenger and not the message. They are putting more value in people who are more talented than they are in their neighbors.

We live in a society that rewards talent. Aaron Rogers was the super bowl MVP, so he was given a car. Yet the person who cares for students every day teaching them how to learn and be a productive citizen is rewarded with longer days and budget cuts. Because it is difficult to reward a large group of people who are doing the right thing. So we reward only those we can individually identify, and it leads to jealousy and bitterness.

This was happening with the Corinthians. A few people had been singled out, Paul and Apollos. People claimed they were better than the other group because of the person they followed. But Paul reminds them, continuously, that they are acting like child.

Almost like he is saying the phrase…if you want to act like a baby I will treat you like one!

They have lost touch with what it means to follow Christ. They have given up the real thing, for the effect. They follow the leader, rather than the author of life. And the result is that they are fighting with each other over who is better, rather than striving to be like the one who is best.

And the second thing that Paul reminds us, is that it is God who blesses, not the leader.

We have a lot of ministries that we do here at Bold Spring. We have a wonderful children’s ministry, we have opportunities for fellowship, we have a growing choir, a growing congregation, and a growing youth group. Our facilities are on track to grow as well, which will afford even more opportunities for ministry.

And it is so easy to think it is because of our work that these things have happened. About two years ago, Georgia was experiencing one of its worst droughts. Famously, Governor Sunny Perdue lined up clergy and laypeople on the steps of the capital to pray for rain. A few folks in my congregation expressed to me that they would like for me to do that in our church…to include it in the prayer of the people. I did, and for the entire next week, it rained and rained and rained.

And it was so easy to take credit for it. People were thanking me. And the temptation was there to think that it rained because I prayed for it.

No, Paul says, that is childish. That is like thinking you tied your shoes when your parents clearly did all the work. Children think that way, not mature Christians. We plant, and we water, but God provides the growth. Never forget that. Our pride and vanity come in to play, and we want to be recognized, but through it all, we should recognize God.

So when we begin thinking through all of the steps WE have to make for something to happen, we leave God out of the conversation. When we begin to think that for a ministry to be successful in our eyes we need money, space, volunteers, and effort; that’s all true, but the one thing we are leaving out is the one thing we most desperately need, and that is God. All of our efforts won’t come close to what God is doing.

This is not license to do nothing, but a call to be in partnership with God. Not insulating ourselves off from the world, but entering into where God is calling us to go. Breathing in the real thing, and not settling for the effect.

Because when God is in a place you just know.

When we heard that I was being appointed to Bold Spring United Methodist Church in Carnesville, GA; I did what a lot of people do, and looked up the address and came up for my own “windshield tour” of the place. I saw the church, saw the parsonage. I worried about how I would be accepted because I’m not from here nor had ever lived in a place quite like this. But there was something here that called to me. God is in this place.

And I now know that part of my job as your minister is to say to you, you do a wonderful job in your ministries, but it is God who receives all of the credit.

You are called to give, and to be present, and to question, and to learn, but all of the credit goes to God. Because we plant, and we water; and we will continue to plant and water because that is who God calls us to be, but it is God who gives growth. I will constantly remind you of that, as I must constantly remind myself of that…as the temptation to think that we did it all on our own will always be there.

But a proper faith. A life lived that is pleasing to God is the one that accepts graciously the opportunity given to it, but always understands who is the primary source of life.

There is a term in ecology called the “edge effect.” It says that when two ecosystems come together, for example a forest and a meadow, that along the edges there is tremendous opportunity for life and for growth.

Our ecosystems of faith are our personal devotion, and God’s action. Where we do what we are called to do, which is to profess our faith in Christ, share our life and our gifts, and to constantly mirror the life of Christ in all of our actions…and we are assured that we come to the edge of God’s control.

The edge effect of our faith always happens in community. And always in love of neighbor. And, it is my hope, that the edge is here.

The edge where life and eternity meet, and we have the praise on our lips whenever we see the faces of the children that are learning, when we care for the poor and the sick, when we see a vision of a new building, and new ministry…To God be the Glory, for great things he hath done.