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| An important piece of art created by Eileen Slifer |
© 2024 The Rev. Seth Olson
Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
When I was a senior in college, I thought I was hot stuff, and to be fair, I had an impressive résumé. I was a high achiever—head of campus dorm staff, a lead sacristan in the chapel, and most importantly to me, the captain of my cross-country team. I was no Jackson Mize, but for the University of the South—affectionately known as Sewanee—I was pretty good.
In this time of my over-sized ego, I looked for any and every way to motivate myself. One expression of my striving for glory manifested in writing a message to myself on the inside of my cross-country spikes. These shoes were black with a bright neon yellow leopard print pattern on them—mercifully my beloved spouse, Kim, has subsequently tossed them into the trash. However, on the inside of those spikes I wrote the first half of a well-known African proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go fast, go alone. I was such a dork—and still am!
The truth is even when I wrote those words, I knew the second half of the phrase was more important. The whole saying is “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Now I shared this very story on my first Sunday as a parish clergy person back in 2013 at St. John’s Church in Decatur, AL.
A dear parishioner there, Eileen Sifler, created this work in response to that message. It hangs in my office as a constant reminder. My ego may want to go fast and succeed quickly, but the deep desire of my soul is that in the community where I serve we go together. Jesus, the Christ, wanted to go together too.
Christ Jesus was begotten from within the love of the Trinity—meaning he came from the diverse unity of God who is three-in-one and one-in-three. Jesus’ earthly ministry involved calling disciples to be at one with him, just as he and the Father are one, he wanted them to be at one with him. And, Jesus was clearly together with those who were in need, which we see shining through today’s Gospel lesson.
In today’s Good News from Mark’s Gospel account, we discover Jesus’ connection with a man with an unclean spirit. Even though it was the Sabbath, and he would get blowback from the religious authorities, Jesus did not allow this man to continue in pain, for he was at one with those in need—and he still is together with us and any who are lacking.
With that said, if you thumb through the first ten chapters of the Gospel according to Mark you might think that Jesus was more concerned with going fast than going together. The Greek word which we render as immediately appears no less than forty times in Mark. This frenetic pace (and the truth that it is the earliest and shortest of the Four Gospel accounts) means that it is a quick and enthralling read. If you have ninety minutes or a couple of hours on your hands you can take in the whole scope of Jesus’ ministry.
Now even with this rapidly paced tale of his public ministry, we would be wise to remember a larger truth about life in Christ. It is somewhat obvious, but it evaded my grasp until the Rev. Sam Wells spoke at our Diocesan Convention two years ago. If you don’t know Sam Wells, he’s an English priest, theologian, and writer whose work is worth exploring. Anyway, Wells pointed out to our diocese a truth about Jesus’ life that I have not been able to put down since.
For the first thirty plus years of Jesus’ life, he simply was with others. What I mean is that his primary interaction was being with others. In synagogue, at Temple, in the carpentry shop, or at home—he was with us human beings. Then, for one year if you ask Matthew, Mark, or Luke or three years if you ask John, Jesus ministered with others. He was doing with others whether that was healing, teaching, feeding, leading, or praying. Finally, for the last week of his life—that week which we will remember this Holy Week—Jesus did for us. In his betrayal, death, and resurrection, Jesus took the weight of our sins upon him and God’s reply to our woundedness was unconditional, eternal, limitless love.
The doing for us and the doing with us though had to be underpinned by the being with us. Yes, I want to go fast. I want to do. I want to achieve and build up this community. And yet, we must first be with one another.
Now, one more thing before I stop blabbering. I am so excited to begin this shared ministry with you. And, here I believe we are sharing in Christ Jesus’ ministry among us—this part of the branch of the Jesus Movement, as our Presiding Bishop often says. I am so grateful and excited to begin this ministry; however, I was recently reminded by another wise pastor I admire Eugene Peterson in his work The Contemplative Pastor of something worth imparting in this moment.
God has already been at work in this place and in your lives long before today. God has been with you and has been doing in your life and in the shared life of this community, and I cannot wait to hear about the good news of God according to each of you. I believe that God will be at work in your life, my life, and our shared life for as long as I am called to serve here. And, God will be here and working in your life and the life of this community even when I am called by God to serve elsewhere. Now, I pray that is not for a long, long, long time, but still this truth is worth remembering here on my first Sunday at Holy Apostles. God has always been with us, God is with us now, and God will always be with us.
So, let us be together with one another and with God, so that we can do with and do for each other in the ministries to which God calls us. My ego may want to go fast, still I believe that God wants us to go far, so let us be then go together. Amen.
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