Why Do I Need the Church? - Sermon Transcript

Good morning, friends.

Welcome to First-Year Mother's Church of Dallas once again.

We're really glad you're here.

My name is Mitchell, and I really mean that.

I just realized about halfway through that you've already been welcomed probably three times.

So, but...

 If you don't know who I am, it's your first time here.

My name's Mitchell, I'm the senior minister here.

And seriously, if you're a guest this morning, we're really delighted that you're here.

Hope you come back and spend some time with us.

We're really serious about our mission statement and we wanna create space for you to belong.

And so know that that's a real invitation.

 And I wanna start this morning off on this Mother's Day by saying something that might feel a little out of place, but it is true.

You are allowed to be tired.

You're allowed to be tired.

Moms that are in this space, you are allowed to be tired.

 Not just busy, but actually tired, like worn out.

That's okay.

There is a difference, and I think most of us know exactly what that difference feels like, even if we never have said it out loud in a room like this.

Busyness is a calendar problem.

Busyness is a sort of logistics problem, but being tired is a spiritual one.

 Busy has a fix, just do less things.

But tired I think runs deeper than that, being worn out, being exhausted, runs deeper than just what one good night's sleep would solve, although I'd take one of those.

 Tired is what happens when you've been giving and giving and giving and giving and somewhere along the way, the giving sort of stopped being connected to receiving or nourishment.

And of course, on this Mother's Day, we recognize that a day like today, it carries a lot of complexities with it.

 Of course, for some of us this morning, it is a day of genuine celebration, and I hope that you experience that.

I really do.

But for others of us, this day sits heavy with grief or with absence or in the midst of a relationship that does not neatly fit into a $3.99 card.

No.

No.

 For many of you who are mothers yourselves, today is one more Sunday in a long season where you've been holding the world up for everyone around you, and almost no one has stopped to ask whether or not you are okay.

Here's what I've noticed about our culture, and specifically our culture and mothers.

Mothers are rarely allowed to be tired.

 Not really tired.

Mothers can say the word, I'm tired or worn out.

They can joke about it.

They can post about it on social media.

But the moment the exhaustion actually becomes true, the moment the depletion is real and not performed, something soft like a serpent in the garden, I would say, says,

 just keep going, it's okay, or you signed up for this, or other people have it harder, or what about the kids, or what about everyone else?

And I want to say something gently and directly to every person in this room who's been carrying more than their share for longer than they want to admit.

God actually has a question for us this morning that I think will help us reorient ourselves to the

 the tired, worn out nature that many of us are operating in.

And this question isn't, it's not a rebuke.

That's good.

It's not an accusation.

God's not making an accusation this morning.

It's simply an invitation.

And to get us to that invitation,

 Our scripture this morning is, I know y'all all had this on your bingo cards for Mother's Day, will be in 1 Kings, yeah, 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 1 through 13, everyone's favorite Mother's Day text.

So here we go.

1 Kings 19, verses 1 through 13.

1 Kings 19.

 Now King Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

And then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, so may the gods do to me and more also if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.

Then Elijah was afraid and he got up and he fled for his life and he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah.

 And that's where he left his servant.

But he himself, on a day's journey, Elijah went into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree.

 And he asked that he might die, saying, it is enough now, O Lord.

Take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.

And then he lay down under the broom tree, and Elijah fell asleep.

And suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, Elijah, get up and eat.

 So Elijah looked and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones in a jar of water and he ate and he drank and then Elijah lay down again and the angel of the Lord came a second time and touched him and said, get up and eat or the journey will be too much for you.

So Elijah got up and he ate and drank and then he went in the strength of that food for 40 days and

 and 40 nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

And at that place, Elijah came to a cave and Elijah spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, what are you doing here, Elijah?

 He answered, I've been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, throw down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword.

I alone am left and they are seeking my life to take it away.

He said, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.

 Now there was a great wind so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind.

And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, a sound of sheer silence.

And when Elijah heard it,

 He wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And then there came a voice to him that said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

For the word of God in scripture, for the word of God among us, and for the word of God within us.

Thanks be to God.

Will you pray with me?

 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing and acceptable to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer.

For you are the one who meets us in the wilderness and asks the question we most need to hear.

Amen.

 So before we go any further in this sermon and with this text, you need to know something about Elijah, something I think that's really critical.

Elijah is not a failure.

 It's not like he isn't up for the task or he is out running God or trying to circumnavigate what God is asking him to do.

It's not like that.

Elijah is not spiritually weak.

He has not wandered from his faith or made some catastrophic mistake.

 that landed him under the broom tree in the middle of the wilderness.

The chapter right before this one is, chapter 18 is one of the most dramatic chapters in the entire Old Testament.

Elijah has just faced down 450 prophets of Baal and on Mount Carmel and he called down fire from heaven and he won.

And by any measure of prophetic accomplishment, Elijah is at the absolute top of his game.

 And then one threatening message from Queen Jezebel and Elijah runs.

He runs a full day's journey into the wilderness and he sits under a broom tree and he says, it's enough.

I'm done.

Lord, take my life.

I'm over it.

I'm so overwhelmed.

 Elijah is feeling like we do, like what happens when all this stuff, all the weightiness of a moment rises to the surface when we come face to face with the cost of faithfulness and when the resistance has been real.

Elijah has just won an incredible battle and Elijah has nothing left to give.

I think we know that feeling.

 not super common but i think we all have these moments in our life where we have sort of reached the end of giving everything we have i know there have been times in my own ministry where i've felt like i've been faithful that i've answered the movement of the spirit that i have trying to discern and trust and faithfully lead a congregation and

 Instead of applause or gratitude, it's just a lot of complaining.

And I have felt sort of that resistance and I have felt being misunderstood.

And it's that sort of soul level exhaustion that comes with it.

It's not the work per se, but from doing the right work and feeling completely alone in it.

 And wondering quietly in the places that you don't say out loud whether any of it actually matters or not.

That is Elijah under the broom tree.

Not faithless, just simply depleted.

And God doesn't just fix it.

 God does not rebuke Elijah for feeling this way.

God does not remind Elijah of what he has accomplished or suggest that other prophets have had it harder.

God simply sends an angel, and the angel wakes Elijah up from his slumber and says, hey, just eat something.

 That is the whole first response that God has to Elijah's pity party under the broom tree.

It's not a strategy.

It's not a sermon.

Simply God gives Elijah bread and water and rest.

And then when Elijah lies back down, the angel comes again and says, hey, get up and eat some more because the journey ahead of you is too much for you.

And that's the truth for all of us this morning.

 The journey is too much for you too.

I want every mother in this room to hear those words today because

 Our world never says them.

The world is perfectly content to let you keep going on empty, to keep performing capable, together, being put together and being fine, to keep being the emotional anchor, not only for your children or your spouse or partner, but also for your aging parents and also the emotional anchor at your workplace.

The world will take everything you have and call it love and never once say to you, this is too much for you to do alone.

 Rest.

You cannot keep going like this.

 But God says it to Elijah, and through Elijah, God is saying it to us here this morning.

Because the first thing God does with depletion is not wipe it away.

God simply works to address it.

And Elijah then walks 40 days on the strength of that food and arrives at Horeb, the mountain of God, and goes into a cave and spends the night.

And the word of the Lord comes to him, and God asks a question.

What are you doing here, Elijah?

 four words that I have not been able to sort of walk away from all week long as I've wrestled with this text.

And at first I thought it was sort of a sarcastic approach that God was taking with Elijah, essentially spurring him to leave the cave.

And while I think ultimately that is the goal that God has, I really think that this question lands a lot better when we think about it in terms of a

 the question we ask one another all the time, how are you doing?

That's essentially what God is doing here.

What are you doing here, Elijah?

How are you doing, Elijah?

What are you doing here?

What has brought you to this place?

What are you carrying that has driven you so far back into this cave?

What is the true condition of your life right now?

And will you say it out loud to someone who is actually listening?

 And Elijah answers, I've been zealous.

I've been, I've given everything I have and I'm the only one left and I am completely alone and they want to take my life.

And now this is Elijah's truth and God lets him speak it.

God does not interrupt Elijah.

God does not correct him.

God first makes space for Elijah to say what is true inside him, even if it's not the whole truth.

 Because Elijah thinks that he is the only one left, but that actually is not true.

There are 7,000 others who have not bowed down to Baal.

But God giving Elijah space to speak his truth, that matters.

That is not merely a footnote in the story.

It is the essence of our text because there is something profoundly generous about a God who asks us a question and then waits for us to answer.

 Most of the forces in our lives, most of the people in our lives ask how we are doing as a formality, as a greeting, and have already moved on before we open our mouths.

We live in a world not set up to receive an honest answer to how you are doing.

So we learn not to give an honest answer to how we're doing.

We learn to say, oh, we're fine.

We're busy.

 We're stressed.

We produce a socially acceptable summary of the interior life, and then we keep moving because there's much to do, much to accomplish.

And somewhere along the line, in that long practice of saying fine, we stop knowing how to say anything else.

We even stop knowing how to be honest with God.

 But God asks the question again after the wind and after the earthquake and after the fire, after all the spectacular noise where God was not found, it is in the sheer silence that the voice comes back and asks Elijah again, what are you doing here?

How are you?

 The question for today is, why do I need the church?

But underneath that question, if we're being honest, is something more like, does any of this even matter?

Is there not an easier, more engaging way to find connection and meaning?

I'm worn out, I'm tired, I have obligations everywhere.

Is Sunday morning one more thing or is it actually something different?

 Now for our graduating seniors, maybe the question feels a little more urgent.

You're leaving soon.

You're about to step into a world that will offer you a thousand substitutes to this.

 New friendships, new communities that feel exciting and immediate and all of that actually that's really good.

It should have new friends and new communities and do fun things and make some mistakes and grow.

 But before you go, I want you to hear this.

You are leaving this place with a memory, a memory of a place that asks you the real question, how are you doing, and waited for an answer.

And I want you to take that with you.

And when the new chapter that you're embarking on gets hard, remember that the church is not just building you a building that you grew up in.

It is a way of being with people that the world will not naturally accept.

 offer you anywhere else the answer the text gives us is this the church at its best is the place where the question gets asked and then someone someone just waits for the real answer how are you doing

 Governments have been labeling loneliness a public health epidemic for a few years now.

It's not a personal failing to be lonely It's an epidemic and every generation is experiencing it the silent generation is lonely because everyone that they know Everyone that they have loved they've buried Boomers are lonely because the digital world moved faster than they could follow and

 Scrolling Facebook is such a boomer thing, isn't it?

Gen X is lonely because the institutions that once held communities together have crumbled.

Millennials, we're lonely because technology promised connection and delivered something entirely different.

 and Gen Z studies show have fewer friendships than any generation to ever be studied.

We are the most connected people in history with the ability to contact anyone at any time when we feel like it, and we, at this moment in time, are starving for real connection.

 It isn't to say that social media can't be that for us, but it is not naturally a place that is going to cultivate real relationships.

It is possible actually to be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone.

It is possible to be the person everyone depends on and have no one who actually knows how you are doing.

The dopamine hit of the scroll

 Scrolling through our newsfeed at midnight, not because it satisfies us, but because it requires nothing from us, is a quintessential picture of the moment in which we're living in.

Because social media and cheap connections, they don't require anything from us.

No vulnerability, no risk, no one to disappoint, and no one asking us how we're doing it.

 Bad theology on social media will tell us that you don't need the church, that you can be spiritual without being religious, that you can find God on a walk or in a podcast.

Certainly God is with you on a walk or a podcast.

And that the church is, though, just overhead or just one more obligation in a life already thick with obligations.

 There is something true, I think, about that critique.

The church has earned some of our skeptics, and I know that.

But here is what a walk alone cannot do.

Here's what a podcast alone cannot do.

It cannot ask you what you are doing here or how you are doing.

 It cannot wait for the real answer.

It cannot be the place where the noise finally stops and someone looks at you and sees the depletion and hands you bread and says, you cannot keep going on like this.

Please rest, eat something, and tell me how you are really doing.

 You're not alone.

God does not answer Elijah's loneliness with a proposition.

God answers it simply with presence.

First the angel, then the food, then the question, then the silence, then the question again.

And if you are sitting here this morning and the honest answer to that question, how are you doing or why are you here, is I do not know, that's okay.

Okay.

 Maybe you're here out of habit, or maybe it's obligation, or maybe because you've not figured out how to stop coming.

That is okay.

The fact that you are here and cannot fully articulate why might be the most honest thing that you can say in church.

Because sometimes we arrive in the presence of God before we know why we came.

 Elijah was in the cave when God asked the question, not on the mountaintop, not in a posture triumphant moment of faith.

He was hiding and God asked the question anyway.

And after all the wind and the earthquakes and the fire and in the sheer silence, right, then the voice came.

The church is supposed to be

 that silence for you in your life, not the performance of certainty, not the spectacle of a rigid posturing faith, the quiet in which a real question can be asked and a real answer can be given by someone and something true, that there can be real connection between human beings who are all, every single one of us, more tired than we let on.

Maybe that is exactly what this place is for.

 not to fix us before we can show up, not to require that we have a better answer than we had last week, but simply to keep asking the question again and again in the silence beneath the noise until we find ourselves moving from the back of the cave to the front of the cave, not completely out of the cave, but at least we are moving closer to the light.

And so, friends, God is asking you this morning, what are you doing here?

 Why are you here?

You do not have to have a polished answer.

You just have to be here engaged and willing to stay engaged long enough to hear the question asked again.

Because the journey that we are all on, it's too much, friends.

 It's too much to go alone.

That was always true.

It will always be true.

And that is why you are here this morning.

That is what matters.

That is why the church, for all of its failures and limitations, is still the place where the question gets asked.

And in the silence, there is something holy.

 and you are never alone in that holiness.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.