A Scout Is Reverent

This is the message I presented on the 5th Sunday after the Epiphany, 9 February 2003, at Tompkins Corners UMC. The Scriptures were Isaiah 40: 21-31, 1 Corinthians 9: 16 – 23, and Mark 1: 29 – 39.

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A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

This day, or rather this particular Sunday, has always held particular significance for me. For it was on Boy Scout Sunday in 1965 that I became a member of the First Evangelical United Brethren Church in Aurora, Colorado. This was part of the God and Country class that I had begun the previous fall and would complete in the springtime of that year.

Now there are some who would have me pilloried for even discussing the Boy Scouts in any way shape or form. I cannot speak to what the Boy Scouts should be doing in 2003, for it has been some 35 years since I have been associated with the organization. Still, there is some sense, at least in my mind that some of the actions and decisions made by the BSA show more concern for the personal political agenda and private vendettas of individuals than they do for the purposes of the organization.

It still remains that it was through the Boy Scouts that I begin to get a sense of environmentalism, an appreciation for our nation’s natural resources and the need to preserve those resources, long before environmentalism became a political watchword. It was through the Boy Scouts that I begin to develop a sense of self-reliance and independence, characteristics that have both helped and hindered me through the years.

And it was in the Boy Scouts that I found a way to answer the call of the Lord. The God and Country Award is the only award given by the Boy Scouts (and the Girl Scouts as well with their comparable program) that requires a commitment for the individual and which is independent of the rank of the scout when he starts. You cannot make Eagle without progressing through the ranks and it is entirely possible, though highly unlikely, that one could make Eagle Scout without a deep personal commitment. That is not the case with the God and Country award. Somewhere along the path of study that you undertake, a path that takes one year of time, the person seeking this award has to answer a call. The results of that answer may take years to develop but there will be an answer.

To earn the God and Country award also requires service. It is not simply done by studying the Bible and the history of the church but by putting into action what the words of the Gospel require, service to the Lord. In that regard, my class of three individuals quickly became the acolytes for church service at the 1^st EUB.

Being an acolyte then was literally one of those times when it was rougher in the old days. Most acolytes, be they here at Tompkins Corners or down the road at Grace or in Fishkill or across the river at Walker Valley only have two candles to light every Sunday. At First, there were 14 candles to light; 7 candles each on two candelabras. Thus it was necessary to have two acolytes each Sunday morning. And this service project was further compounded by the fact that there were two services every Sunday morning. So with only three boys to do the work of four, one of us had to do both services each Sunday.

Now, as it happens, the scoutmaster of our troop was seeking ways to encourage service and scout-related activities. So when others in the troop found out that Gary and I were getting points for being acolytes (the third member of this intrepid band, Fisher, was a member of another troop), there was a quick clamor to become an acolyte. I will admit that I didn’t like losing the points since my turns as an acolyte were reduced but I guess the thought of not having to ado the 8 am service two out of every three weeks quickly eased my mind..

There is still in my mind that one memorable Sunday when Gary and I were the acolytes. Not only did we each have 7 candles to light but also we had to sit in the front pews, wearing our acolyte robes. When the last verse of the closing hymn began (as T. C., Max, and Amanda know), we would then go up and put out the candles in preparation for taking the light into the world. Well, on this Sunday, Gary fell fast asleep and he was out of it as we began singing the last hymn. I was sitting across from him trying to figure out how I would do all fourteen lights, as it did not appear that Gary was going to come out of his sleep-induced stupor. Fortunately, Gary woke up just at the right time and we were able to complete our tasks for that particular Sunday. The following Tuesday, as we reported our various activities, Gary told Major Smith that he had been one of the acolytes the previous Sunday. Major Smith, who was also Gary’s father, calmly replied, “Oh really?” and told him to forget about points for that Sunday’s service.

There is one other sidelight to my earning this award and it is one that speaks about how each one of us answers the call given to us by the Lord. When our class graduated, the program didn’t stop. Ten Scouts who had watched the three of us and helped as acolytes felt something inside them and they signed up to begin the God and Country classes in the following fall. Nothing was ever said, at least to my knowledge, about continuing the process and I don’t know if it continued beyond that one year. But ten young men saw three of their companions give up time on Saturday mornings for a period of additional study and work and they felt that it was worth their time.

There will be a time in our lives where our own actions will show someone the presence of God. It will not be the same for each of us. Nor will the response of those who see us be the same in all cases. God’s work through us depends on who we are and where we are at the moment.

Paul made that very point in his letter to the Corinthians. More importantly, Paul made it clear that others did not decide his response. Each person must decide how he or she will respond when God calls; it is not up to us to decide how others will respond. If anything, what we must do is show consideration for what that person does. In today’s passage, Paul points out that he was considerate when it came to the beliefs of those to whom he was preaching. When he was with Jewish converts, he obeyed Jewish laws and customs; when he was with the Gentiles in Corinth, he did not observed those laws and customs, nor did he expect either the Jews or Gentiles to change their daily rituals. Paul made it clear that his obedience was not to the earthly laws or customs of those who were a part of the church but rather to God through Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that those who follow Christ are exempt from the laws of daily life. Or that our behavior against others can be what ever we so desire. Rather the example given to us by Christ becomes the way that we should live.

This is the same point that was made in the passage from Isaiah for today. Look around us and what do you see. God, through Isaiah, is exclaiming to the people that He cannot believe that they would be worshipping idols when the evidence so clearly points to everything as the work of God. But against that some Israelites believed that it was the gods of their captors who were better and that their God was failing.

But if we hold to our faith, there is no way that any god can ever surpass the work and wonderment of God. The passage from Isaiah that we read from today expresses the point that our worship and praise should be for God, not for the things around us. And if we choose to do otherwise, there is no way we can expect favor or blessings from God.

The call from the Lord transforms us. The Hebrew word used in the closing verse of the passage from Isaiah implies a change of clothes, to say that the person is renewed. To know that Lord is a part of our life gives us strength, strength to endure in times of need and hardship. As Isaiah points out, to know that God is a part of your life is to know that there is a deliverance from all that is around us and we are given the strength to wait for that endurance. But such waiting is active, not standing by idly waiting for the Lord to do His thing.

Notice that once Jesus’ mission was announced, as was read in the Gospel for last week, they did not wait around but rather went immediately into the fields. And the closing verses of today’s Gospel indicate that Jesus did not settle for a comfortable existence but pushed on, taking the message of the Gospel to the next town.

Each of us receives a call from the Lord, uniquely our own. It is a call to serve the Lord. I know that I first began to hear that call some thirty-eight years ago and I have been answering it every since. The call was first given that night in Jerusalem some two thousand years ago when Jesus gathered in the Upper Room with the twelve disciples and has the Last Supper. It was a supper of acknowledgement, an acknowledgement that Jesus’ own ministry was about to be transferred to the twelve. We come to the table today first to acknowledge that Jesus’ ministry then is still valid today. We come to the table today, not because others do, but because we individually want to. Jesus’ call to serve him and love him is again renewed through His presence at the table this morning. And my challenge to you this day is to search in your heart and find the way, individually and collectively, to answer that call.