“Out of the Nest”

(The Gospel lesson for this sermon is found in the book of John Chapter 14: verses 15-21)

Pastor Stan Larson

Central Presbyterian Church, Russellville, Arkansas

Sunday, April 27, 2008

About a month ago my wife and I put our houseplants outdoors on our back porch.  After we put them out there, they did fine for a few weeks; when we went back out to look at them we found that one of the plants had a bird’s nest in it.  Now, we were being good stewards and we said, “we’ll just leave it alone until the bird is done with the nest.  As we have seen the bird come along, we have noticed there are a couple of eggs in there. We know that eventually, those birds that will be hatched in there will have to leave the nest.  Now, for birds, a lot of times you might assume that the bird will know when it is time to leave; and in the cartoons you always see the mother just kind of kicking them out of the nest.  We don’t like that to happen to us do we?  We like to have our nice nesting places.  One of the things we kid about in my family is that my wife loves to “nest”; she likes to have her things close around her so that she has her little nest, especially in the bed that we bought a couple of years ago for our anniversary present.  We have people over and when they see the bed and how everything is so nice, they say, “How do you ever get out of there?” 

Eventually we do have to get out of our nests; and in our lesson today, Jesus is talking to the disciples and saying, “Well you know it’s coming soon—that time when you’re going to have to leave the nest, because I’m not going to be here.  You have to be ready for the world out there”.  He’s telling them that they’re not going to be alone, that he’s going to come to them again; in the meantime they’re going to have the Holy Spirit there, helping them and guiding them; and a lot of that is going to be internal, things they have already learned, some things that they don’t even know that they’ve learned.  The amazing thing is that sometimes you come upon young people who are leaving home for the first time, or such, going to college, or maybe going to their first job.  Some of them have lots of skills, and some of them don’t know a thing.  I’ve known some people who have gotten away from home and they don’t know how to cook or clean or a lot of other things; oh, they do know how to buy things.  But if you’re going to make ends meet out in the real world, especially these days if you’re trying to buy gas and run your car, you’re going to need to do some things for yourself.  It’s amazing when you see young people coming to college and they have none of those skills, because they were not taught them, because maybe their parents or others never really wanted them to leave home. 

One of the wonderful little books that I have acquired through the years, was written by a Gentleman who worked in youth ministry and youth groups.  He has written a number of books on Confirmation and such.  It is called, One Hundred and One Ways to get your Adult Children to Move Out.  Now when he wrote this book, probably ten or fifteen years ago, I think he was also on Oprah and some other shows, because these ideas were some things that seemed rather obnoxious.  But, they actually worked; and sometimes you know we get reluctant to leave that nice nest that is there.

 I know that in our extended family, we have one or two of our people in the next generation, for whom it will be challenging if they ever really do leave home.  One of them is an artist, but his chosen form of art is tattoo art; and he is one of his own best canvasses.

 He’s basically unemployable where you have to see him, because he also has piercings and has the things in his ear, not just where it’s pierced, but where he has widened the holes—you know, basically unemployable.  You know he really doesn’t want to leave home.

 Now, we as Christians are expected to leave the nest.  It’s not coincidence that we call this place that we gather, a sanctuary.  We think of a sanctuary as a nice safe place to come and to be.  Most of you don’t stay here all week long, do you?  Now some of you may feel like you stay here all week long because you are here doing all kinds of things; and some of us work here, and it is a nice place to be.  But, we are intended to come, and then to go. 

The Gospels are very clear about that as far as the disciples are concerned.  In the beginning they are called disciples, which means learners; when you get to the end of the Gospels, their title changes; they’re called apostles, meaning those who are sent out.  We are gathered together to be sent out.  After the sermon, we say the Apostle’s Creed where we say we are the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which means that we follow in the footsteps of the apostles, but we are also a part of those who are sent out. 

We have to leave the nest; we have to get out of the nest to realize that the rest of what is outside our church and our sanctuary is also part of God’s world, God’s creation, a part of the place God calls us to go.  There are a number of churches I know where they have placed over the door as they go out (and that’s because they have only one or two exit doors instead of multiple doors) and it says, “Entering the Mission Field”.  That’s literally what you do as you leave the church.  You are not leaving God’s kingdom; you are simply entering the mission field where people have not heard, who have not come to know, in a very real sense, the warmth of being a part of God’s family, of having that sense of being in the nest, in the sanctuary, in the care of God.  Jesus, to the disciples and to all of us, says, “You are not alone; you are not without resources, you are not going to be sent out into the world all alone.”

 It’s kind of like parents who send the kids off to kindergarten, and you know the child wants to walk on their own; so you stay a little distance away, looking around buildings and things, making sure that they get there safely.  This is God.  God wants us to succeed; God wants us to move out and to know that we will be okay, that we go with other people, we go with God’s care, we go with the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We go with all those wondrous gifts that God gives us, but we have to get out of the nest to realize it is simply another part in our journey of faith, to go out of the door, out of the nest and to continue to carry God’s Good News to the world.  To all of those we meet, to say, “You know I have a wonderful parent; I have a wonderful relationship; I have this wondrous thing that I want to share with you.

We make it so difficult to even begin that process, which is why I always recommend to people that they read the Gospel of John.  That was the Gospel that was very popular during the Reformation.  It has a very simple admonition to everybody.  When you meet someone, and you want to share Christ with them, you say, “Come and see.”  It doesn’t say you have to tell them the whole story, just say, “Come and see.”  You know—come and worship with us; come to our fellowship—come to our gatherings—come into our family—come and see and allow God to work in their lives.  We don’t have to do everything.  We don’t have to go out there and browbeat them into saying, “Okay, I need to come to church; I need to get a better relationship with God”. The Gospel keeps saying to the disciple, to say to their friends, “Come and see; we have found something wonderful, just come and see.”

You know how difficult that is for most Christians if you don’t grow up in it, in a denomination where they are used to inviting people? It comes very hard.  A few years ago, and I’m hoping it’s getting better since I am a Lutheran; this statistic is about Lutherans; it says that once every 28 years, a Lutheran invited someone out to church.  Now, how quickly is the church going to grow if it takes us 28 years to invite someone else into our church?  We have to get beyond some of our hesitancy to invite others to come. 

Yes, we get some rather negative reactions at times.  Just last night, Garrison Keillor was in Hot Springs.  I didn’t get to go see him this time, but he’s one, if you have heard his stories, you know that he grew up in a rather dark part of Christianity and for many years, he was totally away from the Church.  People would ask him, you know you talk about the Church, you talk about this stuff…and he would say gruffly, “No, No, No, No, I have absolutely nothing good to say about the Church. And finally, a few years ago, someone said to him, “Well why don’t you come with me?” and Garrison Keillor didn’t have a reply because he didn’t expect anyone to get past his negativity.  They had said, “Come and see.  Come with me”.  And he did come and see and now he is a member of a church, after many many years of being out of the Church. Many times people have been pushed out of the nest before they were ready or before they wanted to or because they had such bad experiences; and they simply need that invitation, “Come, it’s okay.”  There’s not all those expectations, not all of those other things in the way; they will be welcomed by us and by God.  But first of all we have to get out of the nest.  The people we need to invite are out there.  The people we need to reach with God’s love are not only here, but also out there.

 Jesus was preparing his disciples to be those who were to be sent out.  Jesus calls us together in this sanctuary for a time of nesting; and then tells us, “It’s time to go.  It’s time to be the church of the apostles”.  We are to be the church of those sent out, to carry God’s love, and as Theresa said in the children’s sermon, “ If you love me, keep my commandments”, which as the children told us is basically, to love God and love our neighbor.  Not real difficult, not really hard to remember—simply hard to do.  But Jesus says, “You have been prepared.”  One of my high school teachers taught chemistry and physics to us, very old school.  He had been doing it for decades.  We went through the whole textbook in five, six weeks, and then did the book again the last six weeks.  This is kind of what Jesus is doing now with the disciples in this time between Easter and Pentecost, and his Ascension, saying, “Okay, I gave you Christianity 101, and when it came time, you all flunked”.  Every one of the disciples, when Jesus was taken to be crucified, left; even Peter, who followed at a distance, denied him.  So Christ is saying, “Okay, you get a second chance, and a third and a fourth and so on; here it is again in a nutshell; here’s the short version—I want you to go out”.  What we will find is that then they will go out.  We have to realize that God keeps giving us chances, but God keeps expecting us to get out of the nest and into the world, bearing the Good News, and inviting others to come in to our place, to find that relationship with God so that they too can go out, as those sent by God, as we are, to get out of the nest and go into the world in God’s name. Amen.

It’s wonderful in the nest isn’t it?  It’s wonderful to get out of the rain, to have friends and family and others around us. But God keeps saying, “You know, I want you out there; I want you here only for a time; but you can come back”.  We are called to go out, and we affirm that now as we say the Apostle’s Creed, and hear that part which is the apostle.  It is the creed of those who were sent out.  It talks about the Apostolic Church, those who are following in the footsteps of the disciples, of leaving the nest and going out.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

 and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.

He descended into Hell.  The third day He rose again from the dead

and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty,

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 

Amen