It’s All about the Cross
a sermon based on Galatians 6:1-16
by Rev. Randy L Quinn

 Last Sunday, we rose early and headed toward the Lake of the Ozarks where Melissa attended camp from Sunday until Friday. When it was “about time for church to start,” we began looking for a United Methodist Church – and joined a congregation between here and there. (I won’t tell you the name of the church or its particular location, but I did send a letter to their pastor related to some of our experiences there.)

I was impressed by their vision and mission statement – which were both printed on the cover of their bulletin:
Name UMC is a light in the darkness for those who are non-churched, once-churched and badly churched. We offer culturally relevant worship services to engage the heart, soul and mind. If you feel that God has given up on you, or you have given up on God, just give us 1 hour of your life on Sunday morning. We will help you reconnect and get back on the right path.

Name UMC makes disciples through
connecting people to God and neighbor.

It probably says more about me than it does about them, but I liked what I read. I also liked the statement of faith they used in worship:
It’s not about me, it’s about God.
It’s not about us, it’s about them.
It’s not about here, it’s about there.
It’s not about my needs, it’s about their needs.
It’s not about now, it’s about eternity.

As I said, it may say more about me than it does about them, but I liked what I read and what I heard. The problem was the apparent disconnect between what I read and what I experienced. As a visitor, it felt like it was about their little circle of people and not about newcomers. Not a soul spoke to us. The pastor shook our hands and said he was glad we came, but no one asked us our names. No one asked us if we were new in the area. No one asked us if we were “non-churched, once-churched, or badly churched.”
They claimed their mission was to connect people to God and neighbor. And while we may have made a connection with God that day, there was very little connecting with neighbors.

Now let me be quick to remind you that I did send a letter to their pastor expressing my concerns. It may be that this was an unusual Sunday in terms of key people who generally greet visitors, I don’t know the details. I do know I want their church to be effective in ministry in their location – in part because I’m United Methodist and I want all United Methodist Churches to be effective and in part because I am a Christian and I want every church to be effective as they respond to their own unique calling and settings. I believe that about the other churches in this community as well as our own. We are not in competition with one another – we are partners in ministry.

Let me also tell you that I have spoken with several visitors here over the past few years and have been glad to hear how many have felt welcomed and included. Unlike the church we visited last week, you know how to welcome visitors.
My point in telling you the story is simply to remind us all that we need to remember our purpose. It’s easy to forget why we are here – especially when we don’t have such a clear mission statement that everyone can recite. It’s easy to forget, for instance, that we gather here to worship God because in gathering together, we meet and greet people we haven’t seen in a week or a month or longer. We forget that we have opportunities to focus on our relationships with one another in other settings. In this hour of worship, our focus is on the God of our salvation, the One who has called us and saved us and sent us.

And when I or anyone else gets in the way of that purpose, we have forgotten whose we are as well as why we are here.
Paul says the same thing to the church in Galatia. He implies that folks had become settled in their faith and forgotten that it isn’t the trappings and ceremonies that make them the church – it’s the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. It isn’t about what we do or can do; it’s about what God has already done on our behalf.

How many of you know who Steve Williams is? (I suspect there may be one or two who have heard of him.) I’ll give you a clue. He is a key figure in the golfing world that easily makes $500,000 a year. He is from New Zealand; in his forties. Steve Williams is the caddie for Tiger Woods – and has been for several years now.

I confess that I didn’t know who he was, either. I didn’t know because I’m not much of a sports fan, but also because he knows his job is to be the servant, to remain in the background and not be noticed. I knew Tiger Woods had a caddie – but I had to search the internet to find out about the man.

How many of you have never gone golfing? I tried it for a while, but I didn’t like it enough to keep at it. But I did learn that if you carry your own clubs you will be tired from the walking – and can easily lose your concentration on the later holes on the golf course. Caddies carry those burdens for players so they can better focus on their game. Sometimes caddies will also suggest which club to use.
Caddies don’t play the game, though. They simply carry the burdens for those who do play. Steve Williams knows that his whole life is about making Tiger Woods successful. He does that by carrying his burdens and paying attention to what he needs and wants. He does that well, and in doing so Steve has become a trusted confidant – and a close personal friend.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of relationship I want to have with God.
And in order for that to happen, I need to remember that it’s all about the cross. It isn’t about me and my sin. Nor is it about me and my righteousness. And it isn’t about my favorite hymns, either. It’s about the cross, the cross where Jesus bore my burdens and invites me to share in the ministry of bearing the burdens of others.

In ancient times – and in some recent places as well – churches were intentionally designed after the shape of the cross so that when ever you entered the room, you were reminded that we are here because of the cross. The cross has taken a central place in many places of worship, including our own, but we have often betrayed our allegiance as we have placed the focus of our lives on other things instead.

The cross has too often become like a piece of jewelry that adorns our lives rather than a reminder of how we are to live our lives. Putting the cross in the center of our lives demands that we take the servant’s role.

For too many of us, our faith has been relegated to right words or right prayers or right positions in the voting booth rather than the behind the scenes activities that let others know they are loved, actions that silently drown out the noise of the heretics, as the needs of those around us take precedence over our own wants and wishes.

Putting the cross of Jesus in the center of the church’s vision is part of Paul’s admonition to the church in Galatia – and it’s just as important to remember today. It’s the cross that draws us here and it’s the cross that leads us out of here.
You see, it’s all about the cross, the cross where Jesus became our caddie and bore our burdens.
Thanks be to God. Amen.