4.29.12 Laying down our lives

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

I wonder how many of us here today saw the article in the New York Times Magazine on Easter Sunday about the Ugandan businessman named Andrew Rugasira who founded the coffee company Good African Coffee in 2003. It was a really inspiring story about an entrepreneur with a strong sense of call to encourage Ugandan farmers in the Western hill country to grow their own coffee and roast it right there. The story went on to talk about how hard it was for Rugasira to succeed in getting his name out in the world—how hard it was to have his brand recognized and become viable.

But he did succeed--eventually. Today when you go to the GoodAfrican.com website you see a note that says they are restocking their supply--that NYT article helped them sell out of internet-traded coffee till the next harvest.

The website is really interesting and worth a visit next time you’re browsing the Web. They have put a lot of information there about the various farmers who are small growers as well as the area in which the coffee is produced. There is also
something that caught my eye—it’s a statement that they turn 50% of their profits
back to the growers—the farmers struggling to clothe and educate their children
and to expand their businesses. 50% back. That’s impressive.

And the practice is justified by a lovely African proverb on that home page. Listen to this: “the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.” The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.

And just what is the problem of the human heart? I would think the problem with the human heart is that we can be so self-centered so often that human society doesn’t flourish like it could. It’s hard for us to want to share with other people, to give freely of what we have, and to pour ourselves out in loving service to people. It is the problem of putting oneself first, way above everyone else. And that’s why
the practice of giving the 50% back to the Ugandan farmers is so important. The company is trying to overcome the problem of the human heart by sharing more freely than businesses usually do with their employees. They are giving back a
significant chunk of their profit so that others can live better lives.

And this is the general issue that’s addressed in today’s second reading. John, the author of the letter, says that we know God’s love because it’s been demonstrated to us in Jesus’ self-giving action of laying down his life for us. And he goes on to say that this is what we ought to do for each other now—to lay down our lives for each other. That’s how we make God’s love real and incarnate for other people to see.
That’s how we live out the will of God for our lives—by giving so much of ourselves in service that it amounts to laying down our lives for other people, as Jesus did for us.

And now here’s the kernel of his argument—it’s a real zinger. John says, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need, and yet refuses help?”

He is saying that love is more than platitudes and pretty speech. Love is faith in action. Love is expressed in service to other people that puts our own needs in perspective and reaches out to help other people—whose needs may be more urgent than ours. That’s what “laying down your life” for another can mean—not necessarily literally dying, as Jesus did, but putting in their rightful place our own needs and wants so that another can be helped. That’s what it can mean to lay down our lives for one another.

The apostle James expressed the relationship between knowing the love of God and expressing it in loving service -- in a different way. He says in his letter in the New Testament that faith without works is dead. In other words, if we have faith in God, we will naturally be expressing that faith in loving actions that help other people. If we aren’t reaching out, helping, laying down our lives over and over, our faith is worth nothing.

One contemporary poet says that faith without works is as useless as a screen door on a submarine. And he’s right.

So--let’s get practical now. How might we lay down our lives for one another as we’re exhorted to do today? Of course the action of turning money we would have saved or spent into money to help other people live a better life is certainly one way. But there are so many others. I think of the middle school or high school student who sacrifices the opinions of the popular kids to befriend someone who’s been rejected by the majority. That is laying down your life for another.

How about the dad or the mom who works 60-hour weeks, commutes a long distance and still finds time to sit with his or her child when they need help with homework?

How about the parent who sits patiently when they are just so tired and makes time to listen to their child when they want to talk late at night? That is laying down your life for another.

How about the church member who gives countless hours of her time planning a fundraiser in order to benefit the community of the church? That is laying down your life for others.

How about some of our world-renowned heroes, like Aung San Suu Kyi or Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, Jr., each of whom gave up freedom in the short term or the very long term and chose to give their lives in leadership so that others could one day live much better lives? That is laying down one’s life for others. How about the NYC fire-fighters who rescued so many people on 9/11 and may have died themselves? That is most certainly laying down your life for others.

Laying down one’s life can be very commonplace, happening within our homes and schools and churches. It can reach halfway around the world. It can be newsworthy or quietly heroic. It can and should be repeated over and over.

And now, there is one significant issue that arises from living so that we lay down our lives for others. What’s the problem? It’s what we might call ‘compassion fatigue’ or ‘do-gooder’s exhaustion.’ There is a fine line between a self-serving life and an exhausted life of helping and helping and helping and thereby getting really wrung out.

It’s an art to take care of ourselves in the midst of helping others so that we retain our capacity to keep giving. And at some level we all know that if we run too hard and give too much we wear ourselves out and we can become good for nothing.

There’s the art of balance, and that involves wise self-care. As we give and give and lay down our lives and open our wallets for others, we can expect to need to take some time off, some time of rest or vacation. Otherwise there’s not much left for us to give after a while, and that undercuts the teaching we receive today.

We know that Jesus took time away from the constant needs of the people around him. He would walk up into the Judean hills and pray to his Abba, his Daddy. He would be alone near the shores of the Sea of Galilee for a little R & R. He would
go to the weddings of friends to celebrate and party for a night. And just as Jesus, our Good Shepherd, took time away from his life of self-emptying love in order to recharge his batteries, so we, too, would do well to remember to take time out, time off, to do whatever fills us up again. Maybe that is a walk in the woods, dinner out with a spouse or friend, a day at the beach, or just curling up on the sofa with a good book for an afternoon.

That’s just plain prudent self-care. Each of us needs that time away in the middle of a life of self-giving.

We can take heart that just as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, we too are called to lay down our own lives for other people—to reach out and help even when it costs us to do that. And we can also take heart that just as Jesus needed time away from the constant drain of ministry, so we too need to take time away to recharge and renew ourselves under the loving gaze of God.

And surely, God’s goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

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