Know Your Role

Know Your Role
So, back in the day, I used to watch professional wrestling…Yes, it’s true…It had to be about 10 years ago when the then WWF was in its peak…I knew the top characters and their signature moves and tag lines…Can you smell what the Rock is cookin’? The People’s elbow…Stone Cold Steve Austin…Okay, it was probably a phase that lasted for maybe about 6 months, so I can’t really be labeled as hardcore and please really don’t ask me any questions…But every once and awhile I remember some of those tag lines and that’s what the title for the sermon is this morning… “Know your role.” Now, I can’t tell you who said this and I’m pretty sure that there’s more that goes with it, but that’s not relevant for this morning…The phrase “Know your role” describes what’s happening in our passage from Genesis this morning and it also gives us some insight in our own lives…
We’ve heard the story of Abraham, Sarah, & Isaac…Abraham was chosen by God to be the Father of many nations…the song “Father Abraham” is about this Abraham! God made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars if Abraham would do what God told him to do…Then in old age, Abraham & his wife learned that they would have a son after many years of waiting and giving up on having a child, Sarah gave birth to Isaac and she made sure that he was considered to be the first born son of Abraham. Isaac grew up to be a happy healthy man…As Isaac grew up, Abraham and Sarah continued to age as everyone does and as a young man, as Isaac was at the age to be ready for marriage, his mother Sarah dies…After Abraham has buried his wife—Isaac’s mother, he sends his chief servant Elizar to find a wife for Isaac…Elizar prays for the way to know who Isaac’s wife will be and starts on his journey…
Rebekah is chosen to be Isaac’s wife…And she’s chosen for many reasons—she’s not a daughter from the land of Cana…So, she’s not a Cananite. That will be important later in the life of the Jewish people…the Canaanites would be considered to be unclean people and not chosen by God…So, keeping them out of the lineage early on in the history of the Jewish people is important…Abraham doesn’t know what’s to come, he just knows the type of woman that God has told him that Isaac should marry…And there are some very specific instructions! The woman who comes out to Abraham’s servant and asks for water and then offers water to him and his camels, that’s going to be Isaac’s wife…It seems like a strange way for us to choose a spouse…Presumably Isaac & Rebekah had no interaction before this! This was really an arranged marriage…After the servant recognizes Rebekah as Isaac’s wife, he puts a ring on her nose and bracelets on her arms…That may have been a cultural marking of engagement or readiness to marry…An engagement ring of sorts…I wonder if that will come back in fashion? Anyway…Rebekah was marked for her new role…No longer would she be known as the daughter of Betheul, but now she would be known as the wife of Isaac…She was entering into a new time in her life and taking on a new role…
The servant then goes and makes sure this marriage is okay with Rebekah’s family and Rebekah agrees that she will marry Isaac, so they start on their journey to see Isaac and for the marriage of Rebekah & Isaac…As they approach Isaac and his home…Rebekah notices him coming forward and she is introduced to her husband…Then, Isaac is told that this will be his wife…Now Isaac has a new role as husband…
To further cement Rebekah’s role as Isaac’s wife and thus the new matriarch of the family, Rebekah goes to Sarah’s tent…Now this tent was like Sarah’s grave…Throughout Sarah’s life, she had a specific role as the matriarch of the family, but in that role there was certainly a lot that she did…She had a large role in the small community that was building…as Abraham is the father of many nations, Sarah is certainly the mother of many nations…and she kept things together in the family when they wandered around from place to place as God called them to move to other places…After her death, there wasn’t anyone to fill the void that she had left…That is until Rebekah was brought by Isaac to Sarah’s tent…Rebekah assumed the role of matriarch of the family…
Rebekah had some role shifts during her life as I’m sure we all do…We go from being someone’s child maybe to someone’s spouse, or as someone’s employee, or someone’s grandchild, or someone’s friend…Our roles shift throughout our lives. And then there’s the role that we have as children of God and as the church…
Know your role…What’s your role in the Church? That would first take knowing what the role of the Church is, wouldn’t it? And I know that there is confusion around this issue because I have heard chatter of members of this congregation asking what the mission of the church is…The mission of the Church universal, that is the Church as all branches and denominations—Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist and others…The mission of the Church universal is to make and create disciples for the transformation of the world…That’s the mission of the church. Now Sheridan UMC further identifies this mission as printed in your bulletins every week… To share the Word of God through inspiring worship, Christian education, fellowship and mission outreach to our community and the world at large. Do you know your role in that?
As members of the church, you have promised to uphold the church with your prayers, presence, gifts, and service…At the last General Conference, which is the legislative body of the United Methodist Church…General Conference happens every 4 years and church law & policy is debated, discussed, and decided on as the ministries of the church are shared…it’s the same thing as Annual Conference (which you’ll hear about next week), except on a global level as 1,000 delegates gather from every annual and central conference around the world…In May at the last General Conference there was a change made in the membership vows…We still promise to uphold the church by our prayers, presence, gifts, and service, but now we also will uphold the church by our witness…By sharing our stories of faith…By sharing the Gospel story of Jesus Christ…By our witness…
By extension, that makes every member of the United Methodist Church and evangelist…Your role is to pray, be present, give, serve and witness…So, how do you do that? Well, we have many different opportunities here to do that! You can cook, clean, teach, organize, sing, read, greet, light candles, advertise, make popcorn, sell water, paint faces, make pies…well, the list goes on…
Now some of you may be thinking about what your role is in the church and maybe you’re thinking of something specific that you do within the church…Is it something that only you can do? Well, I’m the only one that knows this part of the church’s story…I’m the only one that can bake this particular pie…I’m the only one that can organize this event…I’m the only one that teach this class…Well…Your gifts are certainly needed and appreciated…but….You’re not the only one that can do something within the church…There are others that can do that too…Because let me make this very clear…The ministries of the church do not belong to one person…There is not one person who owns any of the ministries of the church…You have ownership of them as much as you have answered God’s call to serve…But, the ministries of the church are not yours and yours alone…If you think that you are the only one that can do something, then you have missed a huge opportunity to share your gifts and allow someone else to share their gifts as well…Because what happens if you’re not here? And I’m not necessarily talking on a permanent level, but what if you’re on vacation? Or what if you’re sick? Now be sure that the church will still function…and it will function okay…but part of the story will be missing…If you think that you are the only one who can do something or knows something, you need to find a group or a few people really quickly to share what you know and what you do…It may mean that it won’t happen the way that you had always done it or it may not be in the same words that you use…but the core part of the story will be carried on…
When we take the membership vows in the United Methodist Church we promise to do a lot…we promise to pray, be present, to give both our time and our money, to serve, and to witness…We promise to belong to the church…Now as much as the ministries do not belong to you…The Church does not belong to you…You belong to the Church…You do not own the Church…the Church owns you…Do you see the difference? Your role is to follow God and uphold the mission of the church—to make and create disciples for the transformation of the world…
Maybe you’ve been feeling a strong calling to something…a ministry that’s happening in the church or for something new within the church…We have many opportunities for service…If you have something that you feel particularly called to or an idea that is just bubbling over…we want to hear it! We have several committees who are charged with upholding the vision statement of the church—To share the Word of God through inspiring worship, Christian education, fellowship and mission outreach to our community and the world at large…Maybe you’re not sure where to take your idea or calling…Talk to me, I’d be happy to direct you to the person that you would need to talk with and the committee that would best help support your calling…
The other role that we have within the church is to support one another…To care for one another…There are times when we, being the human beings that we are…we don’t always like everyone…There may be someone that you just can’t get along with or just don’t like…Well, guess what….God loves them whether you do or not and you better get used to the fact that everyone is welcome here…Our role within the church is to support and love one another…If we can’t love one another, why would someone think that we can love them? Our role is to love one another as we love ourselves…
Our role as members of the Church is huge…it is a huge responsibility and one that isn’t taken lightly…But to follow what it is that God has called you to…to answer that call to a particular ministry…to share your gifts…To belong to the Church…It’s amazing to belong to a community of believers who uphold one another, who celebrate one another’s differences, who grieve one another’s losses…Who are joined together in the Body of Christ…Who celebrate their faith and share it with others—sometimes with loud words and sometimes with loud actions…You belong here…You belong to the Church…You belong to God…It’s pretty amazing to think that you may not fit anywhere else in the world, but you belong here…Know your role as a child of God…