Ordinary People Becoming the Dream

January 22, 2006 Ordinary People Becoming the Dream by Donald Hoffman
Mark 1:14-20; Romans 1:1-8

After last Sunday's worship somebody said to me, "Wow, Don, after your sermon I feel really inspired. I wanta get out there and do something. The only trouble is, what am I supposed to get out there and do?"

One problem with last week's sermon is that it was supposed to be about ordinary people dreaming dreams, but I used Roger Bannister for an example. There is no way he was ordinary; he was one of the top long distance runners in the world. And even Roger Bannister didn't just get a dream: "Tomorrow I'm going to run a four-minute mile," and then go right out and do it. It took years of discipline, training, hard work.

So there is a difference between an impossible dream and a stupid dream. I'm 63, fat, short, and I've never won a race in my life. The dream that I could become Roger Bannister ain't just impossible, it's stupid!

And if you're dreaming that Creston could become a super-church, with more people in worship each Sunday than there are inhabitants of this county, it ain't just impossible, it's stupid!

In fact worse than stupid, because I can't believe that being a super-church is part of God's dream for us, and if our dream isn't at least partly in line with God's dream, it's useless.

Now, I'm going to tell you three quick stories about ordinary people being transformed by impossible dreams. And you may take them, if you wish, for a clue to help you find your own impossible dream. Or you may take them as a clue to some deeper transformation going on. How you use these stories is up to you (and the Holy dreaming Spirit of God).

The first one is Mr. B, a little dried-up fellow in the church where I was a teenager. You know that my dad was the minister of that church, and one Sunday he preached a sermon about spiritual gifts, and used a quick throwaway line: Everybody has at least one spiritual gift. If you've got an arm with a hand on the end of it, you have the gift of hospitality. You can shake hands with people and make them feel welcomed and accepted.

Well, Mr. B took that line and made it his. (I've told some of you about him before.) He became a human dynamo of handshaking. It was a huge building with multiple exits, but you couldn't get out without your hand being shaken by that guy. He didn't stop to talk. He probably didn't know your name. He looked you in the eye, and he smiled, and he pumped your hand till your elbow ached. And he singlehandedly (get it?) he singlehandedly changed the reputation of that church from being one of the coldest in town to one of the warmest.

The second story is a construction worker who fell forty stories and lived. Of course he was paralyzed from the waist down. He said, "I don't want my friends to feel bad when they come visit me. I want them to be happy and think of me with laughter." So he told them to bring him jokes and cartoons and funny pictures and stories they found in newspapers and magazines. He had scissors and paste and the use of his hands. He made scrapbooks of those jokes and cartoons ... and gave them all away. Hundreds of scrapbooks. "Every time they open the scrapbook they'll laugh and be happy." And so they did. [_My Voice Will Go With You_, pp. 176f.]

The African Violet Queen of Milwaukee began as a rich widow, depressed and lonely. The only place she ever went was church, and she never spoke to anyone there.  Her family asked an acquaintance to visit in her home. He noticed that she had two or three little pots with African violets growing in them. He told her to buy a couple hundred pots and start propagating violets. Then send the new starts to people. Every birth gets a violet. Every bereaved family gets a violet. Every high school graduate gets a violet. Every engagement, every wedding, every church bazaar. Pretty soon she didn't have time to be depressed, she didn't have time to be lonely, she was too busy making other people happy. And she had hundreds of friends. [_Phoenix_, pp. 18f]

These stories have three things in common. Each of these people made use of a gift they already had and didn't realize they had: a hand for shaking, two hands for cutting and pasting, a green thumb for violets. Each of these people used their gift to help them give; that is, they each used their gift on behalf of others. And Š each of these people was starting to be transformed, starting to become Š the person God had always meant them to be. None of them was magically turned into Roger Bannister or Brad Pitt or Oprah. They still seemed to be ordinary people, but they were living an extra-ordinary dream. No longer could you describe them as just an introverted, middle-aged man, a paraplegic construction worker, a depressed, lonely widow. They were becoming something more. They were becoming more like their true selves.

It's easy to imagine that the impossible dream is to become somebody you aren't. But the true impossible dream is to become somebody you aren't YET ... and that is yourself. None of us is really, truly, completely ourself. Each one of us has spent our whole lifetime settling for less, or worse, pretending to be somebody we were never supposed to be. Faking it. I've met people who were faking being Christian, trying to act like what they imagined a Christian was supposed to be. It's a major turn-off. Of course I also have to admit that I've faked Christianity also. This is an occupational hazard of ministers.

The point is to find out what my personal gifts are and use them for someone else. The point is to find out who I am really meant to be and let God transform me into that person.

If you read the letters of the Apostle Paul, you notice how often he makes lists. Lists of appropriate behaviors. Lists of sins. Lists of fruits of the Spirit. One of those lists is in Romans chapter 12. It's a list of some of the different gifts we might have.

       For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members
       have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,
       and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ
       according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
       ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in
       exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the
       compassionate, in cheerfulness.

Now what's interesting about these particular gifts is that they mostly don't look like miraculous gifts. They are just the sort of gifts ordinary people could have. The Greek word for "ministry" is the word "deacon." It merely means serving. Teaching isn't miraculous. "Exhortation" is what last week's sermon was, no miracle there. Generosity--well, I don't know, for some people that's impossible, but in Creston Christian Church it's too common to be a miracle. Diligent leadership, cheerful compassion, no miracle there. Even "prophecy" seems to be not so much predicting the future as giving God's message; in other words, preaching. These are the gifts of ordinary people like us, ordinary people going to extra-ordinary lengths. And notice, Paul doesn't think of these as behaviors but as gifts. Paul doesn't think of them as jobs but as character traits. Paul doesn't think of them as what we do,... but as who we are.

Remember I believe God is not interested in environment questions of WHERE and WHEN. God is not interested in behavior questions, WHAT we do. God is not interested in capability questions of HOW we are going to accomplish something. God truly cares about the WHO and the WHO ELSE, our identity and our relationship.

Mr. B had the ordinary gift of a hand on the end of his arm. He used this gift to serve others, and in the process he was becoming more like the person God dreamed he could be. The paraplegic construction worker had the ordinary gift of two hands that weren't paralyzed. He used this gift to serve others, and in the process he was becoming more like the person God dreamed he could be. The African Violet Queen of Milwaukee used her green thumb to serve others, and was beginning to be transformed into the person God always dreamed she could be.

Jesus walks up to Peter and Andrew, James and John, and says, "Follow me, fellows, and I will turn you into fishermen!" "But, Jesus, we're already fishermen!" "Not the kind of fishermen you could be. Not the kind of fishermen God is dreaming for you to be. Follow me and you'll find out who you are really supposed to become." ...

I truly believe you already have your gift, and it's something YOU think is very ordinary. That ordinary gift just needs to be developed. I truly believe you have a calling from Jesus to use your gift to serve others. I truly believe if you use your gift for others, you yourself will be transformed, our church will be transformed, our community will be transformed.

Probably not the gift of being a long distance runner, although who am I to say? Probably not the gift of shaking hands, although who am I to say? Probably not the gift of making scrapbooks, although who am I to say? Maybe it's a gift that involves cheerful compassion, diligent leadership, teaching, serving, preaching, or something that the Apostle Paul or you or I would never think of. Maybe it's fishing! Who are we to say?

We are just ordinary people. It's God's dream.... God is to say.

(Comments to Don at crestnch@televar.com.)

Creston Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Creston, WA, USA