Beyond the Patio

Living the Life that Matters
Matthew 5:1-12

Years ago JB Philips wrote a little book called Your God is Too Small. One of the neat things in this book was his way of presenting the beatitudes. He started off with What Most People Think. And then What Jesus Christ Said It went like this:

Happy are the pushers: for they get on in the world. Happy are those who realize their spiritual poverty: they have already entered the kingdom of Reality.

Happy are the hard-boiled: for they never let life hurt them. Happy are they who bear their share of the worlds pain: in the long run they will know more happiness than those who avoid it.

Happy are they who complain: for they get their own way in the end. Happy are those who accept life and their own limitations: they will find more in life than anybody.

Happy are the blase: for they never worry over their sins. Happy are those who long to be truly “good”: they will fully realize their ambition.

Happy are the slave-drivers: for they get results. Happy are those who are ready to make allowances and to forgive: they will know the love of God.

Happy are the knowledgeable men of the world: for they know their way around. Happy are those who are real in their thoughts and feelings: in the end they will see the ultimate Reality, God.

Happy are the trouble-makers: for people have to take notice of them. Happy are those who help others to live together: they will be known to be doing Gods work.

We could add to Philip’s list:

Happy are those that never stand for anything, they will always play it safe. Happy are those who follow Jesus no matter what the cost, they will know the ultimate triumph of Love.

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In what most people think, Philip’s put forward a lifestyle based on selfishness, egotism, power, control and every person for themselves. I suppose this is the way a lot of people live in the world. Unfortunately it is the way a lot of the people live in the church. I have noticed over the years that most of the problems in the church are power problems. I don’t mean hydro, but I mean problems and abuse of power and control. Philip’s translates Jesus’ words a promoting exactly the opposite, a life style based on giving, caring, and love. This is what life is all about and these are the things that last when everything else is gone down the drain. I remember attending sessions by the Ecumenical Institute of Chicago. The leaders would ask, “How do you stand before the ‘going down the drain-ness of life’?” What lasting values are there to hold on to? You can see why John Wesley referring to the beatitudes, shouted out, “Behold Christianity in it’s native form.

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A very important point here is that this is the way that we as Christians are to live our whole lives and not just our life in the church. Sometimes we make people feel guilty if they are not given everything that they are and all that they have to the church. This has been for me always an oppressive style of stewardship.

Carolyn Hughes tells in a book Threshold of God‘s Future that she wrote with John Westerhoff of an incident at one of her workshops. She was talking about exercising our ministry these three areas of our life and was saying that it was impossible to act completely responsible in all three areas at the same time. At times our personal and family life takes precedent. Sometimes it’s important activity in the community that is important. At other times it is activity in the church. A woman broke into tears during the session . It stopped the group. They remained in silence. Carolyn perceived that this was a woman who was not used to making a public display of emotion, and was thinking of some way of taking her aside to talk. However, the woman finally said for all to hear, “I’m doing it! I’m doing it! You say that I’m already doing ministry in my family, with my children. Here I thought I would come here and hear how much more I should be doing in the church and in the world. And you say I’m doing it.” It was a moving experience for everyone. Carolyn never forgot it. It was almost like someone shouting, “FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK MY GOD, I”M FREE AT LAST!

Sometimes we get so hung up with the church that we actually stand in the way of people really doing ministry in the world. I like that sign in one of the churches. It’s not always true but certainly something to ponder. It was directed to everyone. If you spend more than 10% of your time in this building, you are neglecting your ministry.

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Never underestimate the ministry of individuals in the world. Years ago when I was the rector of a church in Edmonton, we had a Bible study group between the two Sunday morning services. One morning we talked about the Church’s involvement in the world and everyone was feeling that the church was not doing enough. I pointed out that the church was probably doing much more than they realized because the church was made up of people like themselves living out their ministry in the world. There were only 6 people in the study that morning so I asked them to share some of the things that they were doing. It was simply amazing! One volunteered regularly on the Community Crisis Line. One was an A.A. member who did a lot of “twelve stepping” helping others in recovery from their addiction. Another volunteered regularly at a youth detention centre. One worked with Literacy Canada program helping people with English as a second language. Another worked in Hospice and Palliative Care. Still another volunteered a lot of time with the Boyle Street Inner City ministry. They all saw the things that they did as following Jesus and living the kind of caring life that he showed us in the world.

I love to tell stories. You’ve probably heard this one but stories are such that you can get something from them every time they are told because they speak to us deep within. Someone would often ask Jesus a question and he would answer with a story. Herb O Driscoll once told us on a course that I was taking at the VST Summer school that if he had just answered the question with a sentence or two, they probably would have gone home and forgot about it. But stories stay with us. They keep coming back to us. Stories haunt us.

This story is about Teddy Stollard

Miss Thompson was Teddy’s teacher. You know what a lot of teachers say at the beginning of the year: “I love you all. You are all important to me. I have no favourites.” Teachers lie sometimes. Of course they have favourites. Some of their students they just don’t like. Teddy Stollard was one of those students that Miss Thompson did not care for. He was unkempt. His hair was dishevelled. He stared blankly at you, and uttered one syllable answers to the questions that he was asked. Miss Thompson took special delight in marking an X in red pencil beside wrong answers. She wrote the F on the top of a paper with great flare. She should have known better. She had the records. Teachers have records. Grade one, Teddy is an average student but is not working to his potential, a bad home situation. Grade Two, Teddy is distracted and is not working well. His mother has terminal cancer. Grade three, Teddy is getting worse. He is not keeping up with the rest of the class, His mother died this year. His Dad seems disinterested. Grade four, Teddy will fail unless something happens.

At Christmas all the children brought presents for the teacher and piled them on her desk. Teddy brought a present. It was wrapped in brown paper with masking tape. Miss Thompson opened it. A rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing fell out, and there was a bottle of cheap perfume half gone. The other children laughed. Miss Thompson had the sense to put the bracelet on and dabbed the perfume on her wrist. Then she held her arm up for all the children to see. Due to the example of the teacher, all agreed that it was a wonderful gift. Teddy stayed after school that day. He said, “Miss Thompson, when you put that perfume on today you smelled just like my mother…..and her bracelet looked nice on you too.” After Teddy had left, she fell on her knees and prayed for forgiveness. When school resumed, Miss Thompson was a changed person because she was determined not just to impart information but to make a difference in the lives of her students. She started with Teddy. She gave him extra classes, and by the end of the year, he had caught up to the rest of the class and was ahead of many.

Years later she got a letter:

Dear Miss Thompson, I’m doing fine. I am second in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. Signed: Teddy Stollard

Few years later, she got another letter:

Dear Miss Thompson, I have just been informed that I will graduate first in my class. I thought that you would like to know. University has been hard, but I have enjoyed it. Signed: Teddy Stollard

Four years later she got another letter:

Dear Miss Thompson, I have finished my course, and as of April 30th will be Dr. Teddy Stollard, M.D. How about that? I am going to be married on July 27th. I want you to come to the wedding and sit where my mother would have sat. You are all the family I have left. Daddy died last year. I surely hope that you can make it. Signed Teddy Stollard.

Miss Thompson went, and she sat where Teddy’ mother would have sat. She deserved it because she had given herself in such a way that a student was brought alive and it made all the difference in the world?

This is in fact how ordinary individuals change the world.

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What’s really important? I think that it is in giving ourselves in such a way that others could say we made a difference.  When you live to serve in this matter, you not only believe the beatitudes you live out the beatitudes.  That is living a life that matters.

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