Do you like cars?
I’m not talking just any cars, but the exotic ones, the ones few folks
can even afford. Living in South
Florida, I see cars like that a lot, cars that cost as much as a house! It’s crazy. But one day, I saw the most amazing collection
of just such cars, but it didn’t happen in South Florida. It happened in Finland.
I had gone to Finland mainly because it was close to
Russia and Estonia. That way, I could
check three countries off my bucket list in one trip. But that day, I was having the hardest time. I was looking for one of Helsinki’s most
famous sites, one about a million people visit each year. But I couldn’t find it. That’s when he saw me.
He was sitting at an outdoor café drinking a beer. He noticed me staring at my guidebook and
looking befuddled. He asked. What are you looking for? I told him.
He said. I know where that
is. I’ll take you there. I told him not to bother. Just point me in the right direction, and I’m
sure I’ll find it. But he insisted. As
we walked, he talked a bit about his life.
He had had significant success in his life. So, he had retired at an early age. But I gotta admit. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it. He seemed sad, lonely even. That’s when he mentioned that he collected
cars, that his collection was on the way.
Would I like to see it? I
thought. What the heck? I got time.
Let’s see what this guy has.
That’s when he turned into what looked like an
entrance to a parking garage, one built right into this huge mound of
rock. But the garage was closed, at
least it was, until he punched a code into a pad next to the massive door. Suddenly the door slowly moved up, and I
realized. This whole garage belonged to him.
I can’t remember how many classic cars I saw that day. But I do remember there were a whole lot of
them, millions of dollars worth. But
again, even as he showed them to me, he didn’t seem all that excited.
And as we left, he said, just go around the corner,
and you’ll see what you’re looking for.
And what I saw was amazing. I can see why a million folks visit it each
year. But I couldn’t shake my encounter
with that guy. Here was a man, who had
wealth, success, an extraordinary car collection. But none of it seemed to fulfill him. None of it seemed to bring him any sense of
joy and contentment. He remains one of
the saddest people I have ever met. And
his sadness scares me.
How would it feel to get to a point in your life,
where you’ve accomplished everything you’ve wanted, and you still feel
empty? And now you don’t have any idea
of what can fill that emptiness. What
you thought would mean something, you find doesn’t mean much of anything at
all. What if you climb the ladder of
success only to find that it was learning against the wrong wall? How do you make sure that doesn’t happen? How do you live a life that truly fills
you? In these words, Jesus shows you
the way. Let’s listen and hear what
Jesus has to say.
Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers for they will
be called the children of God.
In these few words, Jesus
gives a profound key to a life that is fulfilled, to one that will never be
empty ever. And what is that? It is simply this. Live your life doing what your life was created
for. And what is that. It is bringing fullness into the world.
You see that’s what peace
means here. It means fullness. In the Bible, that’s what peace or shalom
means. It doesn’t mean an absence, like
an absence of conflict. It means the opposite. Shalom means wholeness. Shalom means a world full of all that is good.
It means a world healed and restored. It
means a world that has become everything God intended this world to be. So, Jesus is saying fulfilled are the shalom-makers,
those who join with God in making this broken world whole, in seeing every
person in it, filled with the love and beauty for which God intended everything
and everyone.
And when you join in
that work, in shalom-making, something beautiful happens. You discover just how abundant, how fulfilled
a life can be. And why? You are discovering what God created you for,
what God created everyone for. After all,
the Bible tells us. God created us in
God’s image. And what does God do? God makes the broken whole. God fills every empty, forlorn place with the
love and beauty of God. And God gives us the opportunity to join in
that work.
Doesn’t it feel good
when you share an affirming word with a friend?
Haven’t you ever had that awesome feeling when you see someone move
forward in their life, and you know you helped them take those steps? Have you ever experienced that little burst
of fulfillment that happens when you comfort a child after he’s fallen down? Have you felt that sense of satisfaction when
you help a child or anyone discover her potential? Why does that feel good? It’s because you are living into who God created
you to be. God created you to join with God
to fill this world with love, to make what is broken whole. And as you do that, God takes what is
broken in you, and makes it whole too. God
helps you discover who you are, God’s very child.
Do you know what gets
my son out of the bed excited each Friday morning? It’s taking out the garbage. My son loves to take out the garbage. No, that’s not exactly right. He loves getting invited to work with Dad in
something important. He loves feeling
part of the family team. It fills him
up.
And Jesus is saying. God is
inviting you to join the work of God’s family team. Why? Because God wants you as part of that
family. God wants you because God values
you. God welcomes you because God loves
you. And as you live into the love, you discover
how fulfilling living out that love can be.
It’s why God led us to that
vision of invited, welcomed and loved.
That’s what God is reaching out and doing with everyone, every day
And it gets even
better. You get to come together not
only with Jesus, but with each other. And
when we come together, it’s amazing what God can do. And together at the church I serve, God has given us a vision for shalom making called invited, welcomed, loved, that in everything we do people experience those three things.
I was looking last week
at this stranded family that we helped get back to Brooklyn last month. I was remembering how all that happened. This family just knocked on our doors. They had come down to bury the mom’s brother and
unexpectedly had to spend all they had and more for his funeral. And that left them nothing with which to get
home. It just happened that the elders were meeting
that night, and together they gave over a hundred dollars to help them
out. Then Judy Gensel, one of our elders, suggested letting
them sleep in the chapel. The next
morning, Bianca, our custodian, got them breakfast. Our
partners at Jubilee fed them lunch, got them a suitcase and some clothes and affirmed
that this was a valid need. Then two of our leaders, Daniel
and Yezi Williams got them dinner. And
together the church through my travel fund and the Deacons’ fund got them on a bus
back to Brooklyn that very night. And
together we got to work with God to bring some wholeness into a tragic and broken
situation. We got to invite, welcome and love.
That’s why a bunch of
folks walked and ran in January too on the beach for the kids our church cares for in
Haiti. It’s why Luann Myers worked with
our friends and partners at Temple Beth El to put that race on. And it’s why so many Hollywood businesses
sponsored it. Together we were bringing
a little healing to a deeply wounded nation.
We were working with our partner in Haiti, John Dieubon, and all those
kids we care for, some of whom are in college now, to fill this world with a
bit more love and beauty. And together
we raised $12,000.00 in one morning! And we invited and welcomed our community to hel p us share the love and boy how they showed up!
It’s why folks gather
one Saturday a month to feed the hungry of Hollywood, why our church host our Souper
Bowl Sunday. And it’s why 25 folks gathered last Sunday in our chapel to help invite our neighbors to help us
bring changes that will help some of our community’s most vulnerable, seniors,
young people, those struggling with mental illness. And we get to do that with 20 other churches
from Baptist to Catholic to 7th Day Adventist through an organization called Bold Justice And together we'll invite enough folks
to fill a church that seats 2000! Together, we'll move our local county leaders to take significant steps to make our county a healthier, less broken place then
it was before.
It’s why our church did some inviting, welcoming and loving with our first 3 Sons Sunday, where we invited folks to join us on a Sunday afternoon at 3 Sons Brewing Company and then we bought the first drink. I It’s why we’re hosting a Wine and
Unwind event in March so we could invite, welcome and share the love with women in our church and community. And we get to do all this together!
By the way, do you know
what tourist attraction I was looking for in Helsinki that day. It was this church, one they built right into
a rock. At the time, it seemed a huge
risk. But not only is it beautiful, it
has wondrous acoustics. So, they host
amazing concerts for the city there.
And each year a million folks walk through their doors just to
experience the wonder of the place. Their
risk has created a welcoming space that invites millions from around the world.
Sadly, the man I met
that day on the street wasn’t yet one of them.
But it’s for just such folks that that church, that our church
exists. We exist so that God’s love and
beauty can fill every empty space, especially those in the lives of
others. That why God gave our church this
vision of being a place where everyone feels invited, welcomed and loved.
But God lived into that
vision first. In Jesus, God came to
us. He invited and welcomed us and
loved us. And then he died for us. He emptied himself even of life. Why?
So, he might fill us up. So, he
might make us God’s beloved children. So, we might get to join with God in sharing
that same love, that same joy with everyone we meet. And as we do that, God works. And we find a life more fulfilling, more
abundant, more whole than we could ever have imagined. Or maybe we don’t find it so much as that life
finds us.
Where do you yearn for
something more? Where is God calling
you to invite and welcome and love? If
you answer the call, God will work. God
will work in you, in in, in this world, in ways more wondrous, more beautiful than
you could never imagine.
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