Gordon E. Ellis
June 25, 2005
THE CALL TO BE IMAGINEERS
Friends, OUR congregation is like MOST. We gather for worship EACH Sunday. We provide Church School for our children. We offer youth groups, a women’s group, Bible studies, a Prayer Circle, and many MORE programs and ministries. We visit the sick and shut-in. We have lots of baptisms, an occasional wedding, and more funerals than we would LIKE. We give money for hurricane victims, local shelters and soup kitchens, poor children in Latin America, and many OTHER wonderful causes. Yes, there is MUCH going ON here! HOWEVER, if you were a REPORTER, I suspect that it would be a CHALLENGE for you to come up with an EXCITING article about this congregation, because WE are just ORDINARY people doing ORDINARY things. And WHEN we measure OUR work, and OUR ministries, against the NEEDS of the WORLD, our EFFORTS don’t SEEM like very much at ALL, just a TINY, little DROP in a HUGE bucket, because there’s just SO much NEED out there!
Well, the disciples of JESUS must have felt SIMILAR feelings. They could SEE that Jesus had great POTENTIAL, but He didn’t seem to be DOING very much WITH it. He attracted CROWDS of people, but OFTEN taught them in PARABLES they didn’t UNDERSTAND. He healed a BLIND man here and a LEPER there, which created some EXCITEMENT, but they must have wondered WHERE Jesus was GOING with it all, and WHAT He planned to DO with it. His DISCIPLES, of course, hoped that He would ORGANIZE His people: that He would raise an ARMY to DRIVE out the ROMANS, and make Israel GREAT once again. Yes, His disciples wanted SO much MORE.
Jesus, of course, KNEW what was in their hearts. He KNEW they expected SPECTACULAR things and wanted MORE than HE was giving. But He ALSO knew that MORE was HAPPENING than they REALIZED. And so, Jesus said to them: The kingdom of GOD is as if someone would scatter SEED on the ground. Now, THAT must have CONFUSED His disciples. A KINGDOM is where a king builds a PALACE, isn’t it? A KINGDOM is where a king rides a great STALLION and LEADS his soldiers into BATTLE! A KINGDOM is a GRAND and glorious place! And THAT’S what His disciples WANTED and EXPECTED! But JESUS said: The kingdom of GOD is as if someone would scatter SEED on the ground. But, scattering SEED is NOT for KINGS! It’s for PEASANTS! NEWSPAPER reporters DON’T write ARTICLES about people scattering SEED. Nobody cares about people scattering SEED. But Jesus said: The kingdom of GOD is as if someone would scatter SEED on the ground. And let’s FACE it: there’s NOTHING exciting about scattering seed on the ground -- UNLESS you’re the GARDENER -- UNLESS you can ENVISION what the garden is going to LOOK like ONCE the seed has GROWN -- UNLESS you can imagine the beauty of the FLOWERS, or the juicy, ripe TOMATOES.
But that’s PRECISELY my POINT! In ORDER to get EXCITED about scattering SEED, you HAVE to have EYES able to SEE that which is not yet VISIBLE. In ORDER to get EXCITED about scattering SEED, you HAVE to have EYES able to see what CAN BE instead of what IS. In OTHER words, you HAVE to be capable of IMAGINEERING, as Walt Disney used to call. IMAGINEERING is the ability to SEE what is NOT yet visible! It’s being able to look at a FIELD and ENVISION parents and children enjoying Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, or one of the other LANDS at Disneyland. Yes, IMAGINEERING is the ability to look BEYOND what IS and seeing what CAN be -- or what WILL be!
Walt Disney, of course, built DISNEYLAND in California. And because of its SUCCESS, he decided to build a LARGER, grander Disney WORLD in Florida. Well, instead of building it in a CITY, where he’d have limited SPACE, Disney bought a HUGE tract of land in central Florida, out in the middle of NOWHERE. And THERE, he envisioned a THEME park GRANDER than anyone had EVER imagined, and he began to BUILD it! Well, Disney STARTED the process, but sadly he DIED, and his successors COMPLETED it. And it was every BIT as GRAND as Disney had IMAGINED. Someone said: Isn’t it too BAD that Walt Disney never had a chance to SEE this! But someone ELSE replied: Oh, but he DID see it. THAT’S how it came to BE! And it’s TRUE! He SAW it in his mind LONG before the bulldozers began CLEARING the land, LONG before the trucks began pouring the CONCRETE, LONG before the amusement rides began to take shape, and LONG before CHILDREN and parents began FLOCKING to it. Yes, Walt Disney SAW Disney World, and THAT’S how it came to BE.
Well, IN our PARABLES today, JESUS is calling US to be like Walt Disney in a sense! Jesus is calling US to be IMAGINEERS! Jesus is calling US to see BEYOND what IS, and to envision what CAN be -- and WILL be. Yes, Jesus is calling US to look BEYOND the ORDINARINESS of our church FAMILY to see something MORE than the ORDINARY things we DO. He’s calling us to LOOK into the FUTURE and see what CANNOT be SEEN yet – to see BEYOND a group of KIDS coming down front to hear a CHILDREN sermon – BEYOND a group of people going on MISSION trips to Mexico and South Dakota -- BEYOND a Sunday school teacher trying to calm the kids down, so that she can TEACH them about Abraham. Yes, Jesus is CALLING us to be IMAGINEERS -- to SEE in our MINDS our CHILDREN growing UP to become CHRISTIAN doctors and teachers, lawyers and businesspeople, ALL of them making a DIFFERENCE wherever they ARE, and raising their OWN kids in CHRISTIAN homes, BECAUSE of the FOUNDATION they have received HERE. Yes, Jesus is CALLING us to see OUR congregation, and others LIKE it, as making a HUGE and vital DIFFERENCE in our world, EVEN though we are just ORDINARY!
AND, Jesus is calling us to REALIZE that the kingdom of God...is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the SMALLEST of ALL the seeds on earth; yet when it is SOWN, it grows UP and becomes the GREATEST of all shrubs, and puts forth LARGE branches, so that the BIRDS of the air can make NESTS in its shade. And JUST as God TAKES a tiny SEED and causes it to germinate and grow -- sometimes so SLOWLY that we can’t even SEE it growing, so SLOWLY that we’d SWEAR it’s NOT growing; LIKEWISE, God takes the FAITHFUL work of the CHURCH, and causes it TOO to germinate and GROW, CHANGING the world and ADVANCING God’s Kingdom!
Yes friends, Jesus is CALLING us to be IMAGINEERS -- to LOOK at what we DO here, or MIGHT do here, and to REALIZE that it’s like a MUSTARD seed. One DEDICATED Sunday School teacher has the POWER to shape the lives of so MANY children, who will go out to TOUCH and shape the lives of SO many MORE! A little bit of MONEY to Every Dollar Feeds Kids enables HUNDREDS of kids, not only to SURVIVE, but also to LEARN and grow, and become WHO knows WHAT? Yes, the ORDINARY people of this ONE ordinary congregation have THAT much POWER, the power to CHANGE the world, even though it happens SO SLOWLY that we HARDLY feel like we’re doing anything at ALL! But we ARE, because the SAME God who puts GROWING power into a tiny seed, ALSO envisions the KINGDOM of God and EMPOWERS the church to ADVANCE it!
Friends, EVERY time we gather in the name of Jesus to read scripture or to SING, to TEACH our children the LESSONS of our faith or to PARTAKE of Holy COMMUNION, God’s kingdom CONTINUES to GROW! EVERY time we CARE for the needs of the hungry and the homeless, or give money to relieve the suffering of hurricane victims or Mexican children, God’s kingdom CONTINUES to GROW! EVERY time we make our marriage and family, our CAREER, or our community service, into a MINISTRY of love and kindness, caring and compassion -- a MINISTRY that adheres to GOD’S values and glorifies GOD’S name -- God’s kingdom CONTINUES to GROW! AND, every time we TELL someone that OUR church is now OPEN and AFFIRMING, and that ALL people are WANTED here, and WELCOME here, because they are CHILDREN of GOD, God’s kingdom CONTINUES to GROW! Yes, friends: WE are making a HUGE difference in this world, because WE are doing what Jesus CALLS us to do! We are scattering the SEEDS of FAITH and hope, love and kindness, generosity, ACCEPTANCE and JOY. And AS these seeds take ROOT and GROW, SO does the Kingdom of GOD. SO, friends: let’s BE IMAGINEERS! Let’s SEE in our MINDS the KINGDOM of God, even BEFORE it is fully REALIZED! And let’s be ASSURED that our HUMBLEST work, ESPECIALLY when done TOGETHER, in COMMUNITY, IS -- by the GRACE of God -- what ADVANCES God’s KINGDOM and GLORIFIES God’s NAME! AMEN.