September 26, 2004

Micah 6:6-8 , as read by Jay Whitehouse

Mark 10:46-52 , as read by Anne Robertson

"Reaching Out"

Introduction (©2004 Anne Robertson)

While walking along a beach, a man saw in the distance what looked like a boy dancing. He was encouraged by the outward expression of someone dancing to the new day on the beach, and he approached the young man. As he got closer, he realized that the young man was actually running, leaning down, picking something up and then gently throwing it far into the ocean.

As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed the young man picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back.

After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said to the young man, "There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to get to all of them. There are simply too many. You can't possibly save enough to make a difference."

The young man smiled as he continued to pick up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean.

"It made a difference to that one," he replied.

I don't know who first told that story of the starfish thrower, but I tell it today because today I am asking us as a congregation to give life to one of the countless starfish dying on the beach. The need and poverty in our world is staggering and helping to meet that need can seem as impossible as saving all the dying starfish on the beach.

But one of the great gifts of Christian teaching is that Jesus doesn't focus on the masses, but on the one. He passed by thousands of beggars every day, but as our Gospel lesson showed, it was for the one who cried out and asked for help that he stopped. So there are thousands, even millions, both here and across the globe who are suffering and in need. This morning, however, we don't look at the millions. We look at the one who has cried out for help.

It was my sister-in-law, Stephanie Dorosko who heard the cry, and who relayed the cry to me. It was God who moved on my heart to relay the cry to you. So come with us, to Zambia.

Zambia - Stephanie Dorosko (click here for the audio story)

Conclusion (©2004 Anne Robertson)

Some of you might wonder what I'm doing talking about building a church in Zambia when we have our own church building project in front of us and currently are running a $7,000 deficit in our regular budget. Don't we need to take care of things at home first?

Well, no. I am not here to ensure that we are practical. I am here to ensure that we are faithful. I don't lie awake nights worrying how we are going to pay our church bills. I lie awake nights worrying about whether we are truly being the Body of Christ in the world. I truly believe, way down deep in my heart of hearts, that if we allow God's gifts to flow out to the world, then God will see that those gifts keep flowing in. The minute we block that flow, God will dry up the source before you can say Mission Shares.

Every dime that goes into that offering plate belongs to God. It belonged to God before it ever hit the offering plate, before it even went in your checking account. We own absolutely nothing in this world. It's not our money, not our land, not our possessions, not our family, not our church. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof...the world and all those who dwell therein." (Psalm 24) God gives us control over some of it only as trustees...as stewards...that we might use those resources for the work of God's kingdom. If we hoard them, if we take more than we need, if we stop the flow outward, there is no longer any reason for God to put the resources in on the other end. Christians are simply called to be a conduit for God's resources to help a hurting world.

And so you see in your bulletin an insert showing what this little Zambian church needs and how very little in terms of our dollars it would cost to help them. Just $20 would feed that congregation on a Sunday. $162.24 would give everybody there a Bible. For $1200 we could give them a sustainable chicken farm that would provide jobs and an income for the church of $200 per month. For $3,000 we could put them in a wooden building that would give them a church home for the next five years, and for 10K we could build them a permanent structure. They also could use the donation of a laptop computer and children's clothes. We will be accepting donations through the end of our stewardship campaign on November 14. You can make checks payable to St. John's and mark them for Zambia or you can use the envelopes in the pews for cash and also mark them for Zambia.

God doesn't demand that every person or every church throw every starfish back into the sea. But if God leads us to a place where there is one dying at our feet, when blind Bartimaeus calls out from the gate, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus has taught us to stop what we are doing, to delay where we are going, and meet the need.

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