Stick Around

Psalm 40:1-11

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you.

Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Then I said, "Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Do not, O LORD, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.

  

John 1:29-42

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'

I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel."

And John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.

I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'

And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,

and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!"

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).

He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

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At a series of dinner parties in Perth, Australia, there’s one rule:

you won’t know any of the other guests.

Everyone who wants to attend

sends a Facebook message to the organizers,

who do some background research

to plan a guest list of eight strangers.

The goal is to connect people who might not otherwise have talked –

and to help everyone who attends

feel a little more comfortable meeting strangers in the future.

One of the anonymous organizers of the events,

which are called “Stranger Danger Dinners”,

explained why they decided to try this.

“We were lamenting that as adults,

there aren’t many socially acceptable ways

to make friends with strangers

without people thinking that you’re hitting on them,” they said.

“I mean, if some random person tapped you on the shoulder

and said, ‘Hey. let’s hang out, you look like my kind of people’,

your automatic response is not likely to be

‘Sure, here’s my address, see you at 7.”

Each event is held at a restaurant, not at a private home.

The organizers provide conversation cards

if a group wants some help kicking things off.

But the dinners don’t have hosts.

Stranger Danger sees its role as picking the guest list and location

and making people comfortable enough to try something new.

They say,

“We wanted to create a safe space,

where people can engage in meaningful conversation,

and make new connections,

knowing that they’re with a curated group of good people

who are all in the same (terrifying) boat full of strangers.”

There are many Meetup groups that also host dinners with strangers,

but the Stranger Danger groups have no known shared interests,

and the groups are deliberately diverse

in terms of age and background;

in theory, you will talk with people

you might not have gravitated towards before.

They hope that the process might help participants

begin to rethink how they relate to other people in everyday life.

The organizers say “we believe that making friends ‘in real life’

is a muscle that needs exercise.

We’ve had awesome feedback from attendees

that our dinners have made them more open to meeting strangers.”

Community is being made here,

because people take a chance in stepping out,

getting to know one another,

and sticking around long enough to let a relationship be formed.

Let’s imagine the scene from our gospel reading today.

Where is John the Baptist?

He sees Jesus coming toward him,

so he must be standing around in some public area.

What sorts of places would be like that?

Maybe it’s outside, in a public gathering center of some sort.

Maybe it’s in their equivalent of a shopping mall.

It has to be somewhere where strangers

would encounter each other by chance.

John introduces Jesus to the people around him in a strange way.

“Look! See that guy right there?

That is the lamb of God.

He takes away the sin of the world!

He was here before me,

and he ranks ahead of me,

even though you are encountering him after me.

You won’t believe happened the other day!

I baptized him –

and I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a bird,

and it landed on him,

and remained there.”

“This is the Son of God.”

Now think about what you would have done

if you had been told that.

Is this someone you would seek out,

or someone you would be afraid of?

Well, as far as we know, that was the end of that encounter.

But the next day, we hear about encounter part two.

John is again standing with two of his disciples,

and again Jesus walks by,

and again John starts up with this strange introduction.

“Look, it’s the Lamb of God! That guy right there!”

This time the two disciples overcome

their Stranger Danger feelings,

and they follow Jesus as he walks by.

And it’s a strange first conversation they have.

Jesus asks an opening question,

sort of a conversation starter:

“What are you looking for?”

(not who, mind you, but what)

They answer his question with a different question:

“Rabbi, Teacher, where are you staying?”

He answers this question with “Come and see”.

Now it was four in the afternoon when all this happened,

and it says they remained with him that day.

Scholars believe this was likely to have been a Sabbath day,

and that they went with him

and shared in Sabbath dinner

and probably spent the night, as was the custom at that time.

Somewhere along the way,

one of the two goes and grabs his brother

and brings him along, introducing him to Jesus,

naming Jesus by saying, “We found the Messiah!”

(or, in other words, Come and See!).

And when Simon comes to Jesus,

Jesus names Simon saying,

you will be Cephas, or Peter, or, The Rock!

Community is being made here,

because people take a chance in stepping out,

getting to know one another,

and sticking around long enough to let a relationship be formed.

Community involves getting together and sticking around,

remaining long enough to let a relationship form.

A key word that is used throughout this gospel passage is the Greek word, “meno” – which means to stay, to remain, to abide.

When the disciples say, “where are you staying?” that is an translation of the word “meno”. Where are you remaining?

They see where he is staying on that day,

and they remain with him. Meno.

When John the Baptist says I saw the Spirit descend and remain, again it is the word “meno”. Remain. Stay. Abide. Stick around.

Community involves sticking around.

Later in John’s gospel, Jesus speaks of this community as a vine.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.

Abide in me as I abide in you.

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,

because apart from me you can do nothing.

Again here, the word that is used over and over is meno. Abide. Remain. Stick around.

In order to be the beloved community,

we need to stick around with one another and with Jesus.

We can’t do it through an individual relationship with Christ alone.

There is need for community.

And community happens by coming together and sticking around.

Sticking it out, not only when it is easy,

but also when it is hard or uncomfortable.

Not only when you are with people who are a lot like you,

but also when you are with people who are not “your type” at all.

Peter Block is an author whose work has focused on building community. In his book, Community: The Structure of Belonging, he writes that “community is about the experience of belonging. We are in community each time we find a place where we belong…To belong is to act as an investor, owner, and creator of this place. To be welcome, even if we are strangers. As if we came to the right place and are affirmed for that choice.”

This is what a church is, or is meant to be.

This is what the various groups in a church are,

or are meant to be.

Elders and deacons

such as the ones we are ordaining and installing today,

they do not become elders and deacons

for the purpose of hanging out with their best friends.

They come because they are called by Christ.

“Come and see.”

Christ says, Come see what I see about you.

Stick around and discover what we can accomplish together.

Start something in my name,

something that I have called you to do,

and see how I stick around to help you.

Come run after me when you see what I am doing in the community,

what I am doing to save the lives

of your brothers and sisters out there,

the ones you haven’t even met yet,

and stick around to take part in this kingdom work.

And that is not only for the leaders of the church, the pastor, the ruling elders, the deacons. As Presbyterians, we are all ministers in the name of Christ. To belong here is truly to be an investor, owner, creator of this place, even as we are all servants of Christ through this place, through this body of believers, of belongers.

Coming to church, worshiping each Sunday,

when everything is nice and settled and fine, well, that’s easy.

But sticking around, supporting with your time, your talent,

your resources,

fully participating even when it’s challenging,

that is what builds community.

Sticking with the people you meet here,

the ones you are partnering with on ministries here,

even when they are not the ones you would normally gravitate to,

this is what increases the beloved community.

Going together out into the community,

to serve in Christ wherever you are being sent,

this is what it means to be the church, not just to go to church.

I challenge you in this new year,

in the days and weeks and months to come,

to stick around,

to support the work of this church

through your pledges and your attendance

and your signing up to help as well as starting new things

wherever your personal talents and gifts can make a difference.

Not because it’s fun, but because it’s needed,

and because at the heart of it,

Jesus the Christ is calling, saying,

“Come and see, remain with me, stick around.”

Respond to God’s steadfast love with your own steadfastness.

Stick around with Jesus Christ, in his body the church.

Trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.

What happens will be beyond your imagination.

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians,

“Now to him who by the power at work within us

is able to accomplish abundantly far more

than all we can ask or imagine,

to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”