SERMON: MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE – September 13, 2009

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 1:20-23; Mark 8:27-38

My pastor friend put sanitary hot air hand dryers in the rest rooms at his church and after two weeks, took them out.  I asked him why and he confessed that they worked fine, but when he went in there he saw a sign that read, “For a sample of this week’s sermon, push the button.”

Have you ever played the “what if” game?  What if I had said yes to that promotion?  What if I had not moved to Rapid City?  What if I had swallowed my pride and asked for directions?  What if I had stuck with my piano lessons?  What if I had listened better?  It’s kind of like the “if only” game but with far less regret.  The difference between the two becomes even more evident when we turn them to the future.  There’s a sense of defeat and regret when we say such things as “if only I could afford to go to college” or “if only I was more disciplined.”  When the “what if” game is played properly it contains much more promise – “What if I go to college – what difference would that make?”

“What if I had practiced harder?” becomes “what if I practice harder?” “What if I had listened better?” becomes “what if I listen better?”

I am an on again, off again woodworker.  Several years back, when I had more time and energy, I built several articles of furniture – some of them quite nice.  Even though my paternal grandfather and my dad did some carpentry I never did much with wood until we were leaving seminary and I decided it would be cheaper to build furniture than buy furniture.  Although my dad taught me a few tricks I had to learn most of the skills the hard way – through trial and error.  I’ve got all kinds of funny and not so funny stories about all of that.

One of the lessons learned has been immortalized in a well know saying “measure twice – cut once.”  Did you know it is much easier to cut a board shorter than it is to make a board longer?  I cut many boards which ended up in the fireplace or in smaller projects because I didn’t heed this wisdom.  I don’t know how many times I asked myself, “What if I had just taken a moment to measure one more time?”  Although I don’t get to do much woodworking anymore I have made progress in this area.  Instead of murmuring “what if I had taken the time?” – after the fact … now I ask beforehand, “what if I take that measurement one more time – just to make sure?”  It has made a lot of difference.

This proverb can be applied many situations besides those involving saws, scissors and measuring cups.  It can also be applied to the way we approach life.

There is a two letter prefix that is part of or assists in the “what if” game. That prefix is “re-.”  We use it a lot – redo, return, repent, reevaluate, reunion, reuse.  The prefix basically means “again.” To redo is to do again – to return is to turn again. The “re” word for today will be our focus in this coming church year.  The word is “rethink.”  To rethink is to think again.

In early May the United Methodist Church introduced a media campaign entitled “Rethink Church.”  As the promotional material explains, the goal of the campaign is to “invite the United Methodist Church, and those unchurched who are seeking spiritual fulfillment, to become more outwardly focused and engaged in the world.  The campaign seeks to offer the church not as a place to come to and stay within, but as a base of operation for expressing faith by moving out into communities and around the globe to become part of God’s plan for world transformation.”

“Rethink Church” falls on the heels of another United Methodist media campaign – “Open hearts, Open minds, Open doors.”  I happened to be at the national meeting when that campaign was first proposed to the denomination.  To me it represented one of the most exciting, progressive, innovative steps our denomination had taken in many, many years. The “rethink” campaign continues to expand this creative presence in our society.  The target audience is primarily 18 to 34 year olds who are known to have a predisposition against mainline denominations – often to the church in general.  In order to do that the campaign is making use of the latest in electronic technology. Over the course of the next four years 95 million media impressions will be delivered in various formats including television, radio, the internet and text messages.

The techniques and technology involved might be different but actually to “rethink church” is nothing new.  Our Methodist forefathers, John and Charles Wesley, challenged the established church of their time to rethink who they were.  The church had become an exclusive institution cut off from most of society and its problems which lay outside its walls.  This included not only ignoring the unchurched people but also keeping them out.  The commitment of the church members had become one of social standing rather than something personal and vital.  The Wesley’s and their cohorts challenged the people to rethink church – to make their faith a matter of heart and life and to go out into the world and invite people to become a part of the Church – not only to receive what the Church had to offer but to become part of the outreach of the Church to others beyond themselves.

Our staff has adopted this “rethink church” challenge as our theme for these coming months, not just to fall in line with the denomination, but because it seems that is how God has been leading us in these past few years.  We have been and we are being called to “rethink” what church is all about – to “rethink” what Rapid City First is all about.

You might have noticed the “rethink church” banner hanging on the outside of our building.  Soon after we put it up we talked about whether or not we should have put a border around the banner – it would have looked more finished.  On further conversation we agreed, whether intentional or not, it was better not to have a border.  Removing borders is what this is all about.  In rethinking church we are trying to remove the boundaries and the borders that we have designed and built to define the church – often times having nothing to do with God’s plan for His church.

For quite some time I have been challenging us to rethink our ministry.  I have asked us to rethink what it means to be a body of believers that gathers on the corner of 7^th and Kansas City Street.  I’ve asked us to consider that – much more than being a group of Christians that meet downtown we are a group of Christians who are downtown.  I’ve asked us to rethink our personal place in all of this – to consider that First United Methodist Church is not just a place that we members come to in order to have our needs met but much, much more.  While our needs are and will be met by this institution, First United Methodist Church is not defined by our building.  It is defined by us as individual members together, called by God to meet the needs our neighbors – no walls, no boundaries, no borders.

The United Methodist campaign is challenging us to “rethink church” by asking ourselves some “what if” questions such as: “What if the church were more than a building?” “What if church could bring sides together?” “What if church were a verb, not a noun?” “What if church wasn’t just a place to go on Sunday, but helped you have a place to go on Monday?”

We are going to look at some of those questions in the weeks ahead but for now I want us to start with this particular “what if” question.  What if we really came to know and pay attention to the head of the church? I’m not talking about the staff, or the bishop, or the pope.  I’m talking about Jesus.  Just as the disciples were asked long ago, Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?”  An answer to that question is the first step in rethinking church.

We also need to pay attention to the answer he gave to his disciples.  It was not what they were expecting.  Jesus defined himself and his ministry with words such as serving and suffering and dying.

Such a question and such an answer should make us think – rethink.

One individual who rethought what it meant to be a follower of Jesus was mother Teresa.  The story is told of a plump, rich businessman, who came to visit her.  He fell at her feet, and proclaimed, “… you are the holiest of the Holy! You are the super-holy one! You have given up everything! I cannot even give up one samosa for breakfast! Not one single chapati for lunch can I give up!” Mother Teresa started to laugh so hard her attendant nuns were concerned. She was in her mid-80s and frail from two recent heart attacks.  When she stopped she leaned forward to help the man to his feet. “So you say I have given up everything? … My dear man, you are so wrong. It isn’t I who has given up everything; it is you. You have given up the supreme sacred joy of life, the source of all lasting happiness, the joy of giving your life away to other beings, to serve the Divine in them with compassion.” To the businessman’s total bewilderment, Mother Teresa got down on her knees and bowed to him. Flinging up his hands, he ran out of the room.

Measuring twice, cutting once is a lot more efficient and a lot less wasteful.

To think about the purpose of the church and then to think about it again before moving on to do what we have always done, will not bring us to any easy path but it will return to us an amazing reward.

What if we said, “yes.”