Sermon: Oh, I Wish That I Could Be...

Luke 6:20-31

Oh, I Wish That I Could Be…

James Sledge                                                               November 3, 2013 – All Saints

There’s an old Simon and Garfunkel song, based on an even older poem, that some of you may know. It’s called “Richard Corey,” and here are some of the lyrics.

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,

With political connections to spread his wealth around.

Born into society, a banker's only child,

He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

But I work in his factory

And I curse the life I'm living

And I curse my poverty

And I wish that I could be,

Oh, I wish that I could be,

Oh, I wish that I could be Richard Cory.

A second verse speaks of the luxurious, even decadent lifestyle Cory leads. And then the song closes with this verse.

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,

And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,

So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:

"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

But I work in his factory

And I curse the life I'm living

And I curse my poverty

And I wish that I could be,

Oh, I wish that I could be,

Oh, I wish that I could be Richard Cory.

Who or what is it you wish you could be? Oh, I wish I could be richer, more beautiful, more accomplished, more athletic, more intelligent. Oh, I wish I could be more like so and so who seems to have it all. Oh I wish I had a better job. Oh, I wish I could get into such and such college. Oh, I wish I lived in such and such a town. Oh, I wish I had a better wardrobe. Oh, I wish I were thinner. I wish I were more popular. Oh, I wish…

What are your “Oh, I wish…” scenarios? What are those things, accomplishments, relationships, abilities, experiences, etc. that you think would make your life grand and wonderful, all you want and hope for it to be?

In our culture there are lots and lots of messages telling people that they don’t quite measure up, that they’d better work harder and smarter and longer or they will be down at the bottom, looking up at others and saying, “Oh, I wish…”

I saw a quote in The Washington Post the other day from a Dr. Richard Leahy, an anxiety specialist. He said, “The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me. The pressure to perform and measure up, to be accomplished in academics and sports and arts, to go to a good college, get a great job, and make lots of money seems to grow with each passing year. And it is only more intense in areas such as our DC metro region.

These sorts of cultural messages find their way into the church as well. I wish I had a deeper prayer life. Oh, I wish that I could find a spirituality that really worked for me. Oh, I wish my faith was more like so and so’s.

A lot of pastors and other church leaders have a hard time going to something at another church without looking at the bulletin boards and lists of activities and then fretting about whether or not our congregation measures up. There’s almost always something to feed our anxieties, some event or mission or accomplishment that looks impressive and makes us say to ourselves, “Oh, how I wish we could…”

Today, on the Sunday closest to November 1, we commemorate All Saints Day. In popular usage, the term “saint” refers to the Richard Corys of the faith, those super Christians some of us wish we could be. But in the Bible, the word is used for all the faithful. The letters in the New Testament often address “all the saints” in such and such a place.

The word itself means holy, sacred, consecrated, or dedicated to God’s use. And when the first Christians used it to describe all believers, this holy, sacred, consecrated meaning was not about how impressive the person was, but rather about being blessed and chosen by God to do God’s work in the world. You became a saint by virtue of being called, not because of anything that made you better than someone else.

In the gospel reading for All Saints, Jesus speaks to his followers. This is a much bigger group than the Twelve.  Luke describes it as a great crowd of his disciples. Jesus speaks to this crowd and says, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.”

In Jesus’ day, there weren’t the same sort of pressures and anxieties to measure up or be good enough as there are now, yet there were still Richard Corys who people wished they could be. But Jesus totally explodes such a value system, insisting that God doesn’t view things at all as we do. If anything, God sees them completely opposite from us. God blesses what we dismiss, and dismisses what we value and long for. None of those things we get all anxious about not having, not being able to do or accomplish, seem to matter very much to God. When it comes to God, we don’t have to make it, measure up, be good enough, or have it all together. God simply loves us and calls us to new life in Christ.

In the anxious time we live in, in the midst of anxieties about church and whether our programs and offerings are good enough in a world where fewer and fewer people feel compelled to join churches, it can be easy to lose sight of this central piece of Jesus’ message. As we parse our theologies and try to do church just so, we can forget this seemingly too easy, too simple promise. God blesses, chooses, and labels “holy” without regard to our credentials or accomplishments or looks or money or intelligence or clothes or any of those other things that we’re impressed with or think we need or wish we had. 

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In just a few moments, you will be invited to the Lord’s Table. The invitation is extended without regard to your place in the in-crowd, your standing in the community, your résumé, your grade point average, your income, your race, your sexual orientation, or any other thing that we use to compare ourselves with one another.  Regardless of all such measures, Jesus says, “Come to me, all who are hungry and thirsty. Come, all who need to experience God’s love. Come, all who want to be nourished and strengthened to live as children of God. Come, whoever you are, wherever you are in your life right now.”

Come, for you are blessed and called by God, chosen to share Christ’s love. You are God’s special, consecrated, holy ones because God’s love and grace make it so. By God’s grace and the power of the Spirit, we are given all that we need, and more, to be Christ to our community, to share the good news of God’s acceptance and love with anxious and hurting people who desperately need to know this.