11-08-96	Prepare the Way	Isaiah 40:1-11

2 Pet 3:8-15a

Mark 1:1-8

Our Gospel lesson for today from the book of Mark talks about the ministry of John the Baptist. And we're told in very definite terms what the ministry of John the Baptist was for. We told that it was a ministry of preparing the way of the Lord into the lives of Israel's people. It was a ministry of making the crooked paths straight for the coming of Christ into the lives of every man and woman, girl and boy.

And, my, what a tall order that was! For, Jesus was coming right behind John, and John knew it. The Son of God was coming into the world, and John the Baptist felt the urgency of his coming – he felt the urgency to get people's hearts and minds ready for the coming of the Messiah, for the coming of the Savior. And, so John went out into the Wilderness of Judah, along the Jordan River, and invited the people to go out there and meet with him in a seminar or retreat-like setting. And, the Spirit moved thousands of people to go out into the wilderness to hear the teachings of John, to confess their sins, and to be baptized in readiness for the coming of the Lord.

Now, I would like to propose this morning, that it is the calling of each and every Christian, by virtue of our own baptisms, to prepare the way of the Lord into the hearts and minds of humanity. In essence, it is our calling to do the same kind of ministry that John the Baptist did. And I know this may be startling to some of you, for when we think of being a Christian, we often forget that it is more than our calling to believe in God and to contribute to our church and to go to church. But, this is, indeed what God wants us to do in this world, perhaps more than anything else: To prepare the way of the Lord – To make the paths straight for the coming of the Christ into the hearts of our fellow human beings. And, my, how important it is for us not to let anything get in the way of doing this important task for the Lord. No matter what it is that we are doing, no matter what it is that we think may be more important work for Jesus, there is nothing more important than preparing the way of the Lord into the lives of others. There is nothing more important for us to do than to make it more easy for a person to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ as he comes into their lives.

One of the big pitfalls that the church very often falls into is the pitfall of being a maintenance organization, so concerned and so pre-occupied with survival, with paying the bills, that it forgets God's call upon it to prepare the way of the Lord and to make straight the paths as the Lord comes into the lives of our friends, our neighbors, acquaintances, fellow workers, and other persons we may not even know. Too many churches and other religious organizations are so concerned with their survival that they are reluctant to risk what it takes to be in mission, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, to speak evangelically, to the world.

I grew up in a church like that. Back in the 1950's and early '60's, Court Street United Methodist Church in Flint was a congregation of over 2,000 members. Every Sunday morning there were two services, each with at least 500 in attendance. And, back in 1955, when I was in Kindergarten, there were at least forty other kindergartners in my Sunday School class. Our Youth Fellowship Group when I was in high school had 40 youth in it. But, then something started to happen. In the early '60's many of the members of Court Street Church started to move out of their old Flint neighborhoods into the suburbs – Grand Blanc, Swarz Creek, Goodrich, Davison, Mt. Morris, and other communities. For a variety of social, economic, even technological reasons, the people who had been the mainstay of Court Street Church began an exodus from Flint. And as they left, poorer people began to move in. In fact, within just a few short years, the neighborhood around Court Street Church changed from a wealthy neighborhood to a run-down neighborhood with all the problems that went along with it – crime, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, homeless people, and about everything else you can imagine.

Of course, this had a profound effect on Court Street Church. Within just a few years the membership of that wonderful, old downtown church became less than half of what it once had been. And the funny thing about it was that even though the neighborhood around the church had changed, the people going to the church on Sunday morning didn't change. They were the same old people as before, but just fewer of them. And when several pastors came along and suggested that the church begin a ministry to the local neighborhood, start a jail ministry (as the county jail was only a block away), get involved with the N.A.A.C.P. and the Urban League, they were met with a lot of resistance. Many of the members of Court Street Church, remembering things as they had been in the '50's wanted to keep their church for themselves, and couldn't imagine their church suddenly ministering to "strangers" in their very midst. And, as you might expect, the church started to run short of money; and had to have constant money raising campaigns and projects to the point that folks were getting worn out.

But, today Court Street Church has changed in many ways. In fact, I believe the church has actually started to grow, once again, but not until it got down to a little more than 700 members. But one of the things it started to do was reclaim God's call upon it to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ – to prepare the Way of the Lord into the lives of people – to make straight in the wilderness the coming of the Lord. Over the past few years the church has started a basketball program for youth and young adults, so that now its gymnasium is being used at almost all hours of the day. The church is now offering classes for persons who are challenged with the problems of modern society – divorce, the death of a spouse, parenting, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, illiteracy, low self esteem. There is even a group of blind persons who uses the church as a meeting place, once a week. The church has started to reach out to the neighborhood it is in, attempting to prepare the way of the Lord into people's lives, and as a result, the people from the neighborhood have begun to support the church, once again. Over the years the church took some risks to minister in a variety of ways. And, certainly, some of the risks didn't pay off. Some of them even flopped. But, some of the risks that did pay off were very successful and the church continues to have a strong influence on the city of Flint.

Indeed, John the Baptist's ministry was to prepare the way of the Lord into the lives of people. And that is the call of God upon everyone sitting here, today. God wants us to be willing to help people experience the coming of the Lord in their lives. And, so we need to be looking for ways, continually, to be inviting, and to offer programs to the local community that people need so that Christ may enter in. Rather than looking towards constantly being ministered unto, we need to grow up into being ministers, ourselves – willing and able to articulate our faith in words and actions.

The ministry of a church is certainly not something that is limited to things that take place in the building. In fact, the most powerful ministry of all is what you and I take out there into the community. Or, as the song says, "The Church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place. The church is a people. I am the church, you are the church, we are the church, together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church, together!"

How important it is for us to remember this. Ministry does not belong to one person in the church, working as an employee of the congregation. Ministry is the responsibility of us all. And when we all take that responsibility, when we are eager to share our faith with even the strangers in our midst, when we are willing to spend time with even those we thought were outcastes, maybe those who we thought weren't worthy of our time, the church becomes powerful and vital and alive. And we who prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the paths become the disciples of Christ and get to know the blessing of his presence in our midst.

Amen.