delivered 13 September 2009
by Rev. Dr John Evans
Today we wish to acknowledge and thank the great work our volunteers do here at the Church of All Nations. Without their contribution, Church of All Nations Community Support would not be able to serve this community and seek to transform lives. The tasks done are hugely varied. People volunteer to cook meals, regularly serve within our emergency relief, drop in centre and women’s programs. They may help out with our Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market or be a student who assists within the ican IT Centre. They might offer their professional expertise in computing or be willing to share their experience with a participant in our employment program. Our volunteers also serve on our various committees and boards. They may have been former client, or they may residents of Carlton – or in some instances travel quite a distance to volunteer.
Today we acknowledge and thank all our volunteers.
The theme for 2009 Volunteer Recognition Week, held earlier in the year, was ‘Ordinary People, Extraordinary Contribution.’ Well we know about the extraordinary contribution, but I don’t know whether I would agree with the ‘ordinary people’ bit . . . because you all are champions – and we salute you.
Which all reminds me of the Sydney Olympics – which can you believe it, began 9 years ago this week. At the time, we lived in Sydney and we enjoyed all sorts of Olympic-related events that happened through that year. One was a conference on what makes a champion – not only in sport, but in science, business, cultural areas and community life.
Unlike many conferences with such a title, there was not just a group of boffins sitting around at Sydney University talking about champions. The organizers actually invited real live champions. There were, among others, Ed Hillary, Nelson Mandela and Peter Doherty (Australia’s Nobel-Prize winning scientist). The question they grappled with was what makes ordinary people, perhaps like our volunteers, champions? As Professor Allan Synder, who organised the conference, said, “We believe everyone is a potential champion.”
Ed Hillary suggested it was not just climbing Everests. It was always setting new goals and constantly looking for new challenges. Peter Doherty’s contribution was a simple mnemonic – in which he ascribed a particular quality to each letter of the word ‘champion’. So:
C is for courage.
H is for hutzpah (a variation of the Yiddish chutzpah) which means brazenness – a “no hide no Christmas pudding” sort of attitude.
A is for application – plain hard work
M is for madness – especially spending hours in the lab, or swimming up and down the pool – and just living on the edge of dysfunction.
P is for persistence – being prepared to take the rejections and the knock-backs and still keep at it
I is for integrity – there is a wholeness, a moral worth
O is for originality – you bring a fresh insight or possibility.
N is for nobility or a graciousness; a humility in victory or achievement.
A champion. Some modern, or contemporary wisdom – not unlike what we also hear today from James and what we shared with our children.
So from James we are reminded that in our Christian life, and perhaps in life generally, we must be able to control our tongue. We can recall numerous sporting high achievers who have failed the test of being a true champion, because they could not control their tongue. As volunteers here, controlling one’s tongue is an important aspect of CAN being open and welcoming and providing a service which is not judgmental.
Wisdom is also what is being extolled in our passage from Proverbs, that great collection of wise sayings. Wisdom is not technological knowledge or being just very clever, or perhaps having an abiding selfishness of perspective (a momumental ego) and succeeding – rather wisdom is much deeper. Wisdom is indeed not all about me – there has to be a breadth of understanding that there is a spiritual dimension within our life and the life of our community. Indeed in that Sydney University Conference, Nelson Mandella observed that
“no individual achieves and performs in isolation. This must stand at the heart of our reflections on what makes a champion. No leader, no champion who puts themselves above the people, and above the team, deserves that title or status.”
Wisdom in Proverbs is thus the “fear of the Lord” – which is just another way of saying wisdom is the appreciation of a spiritual in all of life, or an appreciation of all humanity; or understanding everyone as children of God; an appreciation of community; and an appreciation that it is God’s will that we live life to the full .
Wisdom thus could be added to Peter Doherty’s list of qualities – although alphabetically, I don’t quite know how one would add it to the word champion.
But then Jesus asked his disciples “who do people say that I am”? He sought a little bit of self reflection by the disciples on his emerging champion status. People after all had wanted to make him king. And the titles that are offered by the disciples indicate that he is certainly seen as being a champion by his people. They say people call him “John the Baptist”, Elijah, or certainly one of the prophets. People flocked to hear him; he did amazing things . He pushed the boundaries of the believable. He healed people; fed a large crowd with just a few loaves and fishes; he met with all people – the outcasts and prostitutes. He was in a Peter Doherty sort of way – a champion.
And when it is all said and done – Peter’s assertion about whom he, Peter, thought he was, was not all that different from such assertions. Yes Jesus was a champion – but he took that understanding further. Perhaps Peter was just struggling for the word, the title, and so he resorted to hyperbole – an exaggeration. Jesus was a “super champion”; the supreme, the ultimate champion, the very best and most amazing there is. So Peter says he is the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah. He is unnerving, there is as if there is something well – godlike, about him. He is the Christ.
But Jesus would have nothing of Peter’s ideas – because, as yet, Peter and the other disciples did not understand. Their model or understanding of Jesus as a super champion, was the model just drawn from the world. The tabloid press sort of champion – which a couple of years ago wanted to name footballers from Geelong “god”. They misunderstood the path that Jesus would need to take, to be truly the Christ. This champion would not go from success to success. This champion would not go from a provincial backwater, to the capital of the empire, Rome itself – and conqueror the world. This champion would not go on to write a book and set down his own ideas and thoughts. This champion would not triumph over his enemies in politics and religion.
Rather the Christ, to quote Jesus himself “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed”. He spoke plainly – this champion would soon be snuffed out. No wonder Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Peter obviously had a different view of a champion. However, Jesus’ reply cut him down
“Get behind me Satan – you are not setting your mind on divine things, but on the things of men and women.”
Jesus was rewriting what was involved in being a champion – and Peter, as yet, did not understand. That would only become clearer with Jesus’ death on the cross – and his resurrection.
Of course from our vantage point, and 2000 years of Christian reflection, we know that the cross becomes the central focus – the central focus of our faith. But like Peter, we often also fail to fully grasp its implications. Professor Synder at this conference observed that a champion was someone who can show us how to see the world differently – who shatters our pre-conceptions. He cited Copernicus who shattered the view that the earth was the centre of the universe; or Ghandi, who threw off the British with non violence; or a Roger Bannister, or was it really John Landy, who saw that 4 minutes was not the barrier for the mile, it was thought to be.
Jesus shatters the world’s perceptions of how a champion is to live – it is by grace and love. It is through the cross, and selfless love, and then on the third day he would rise again. Jesus however, places a responsibility on all those who would follow him to also be this new sort of champion. Literally they must also take up their own cross – and follow him and also live a life of love and grace.
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves ad take up their cross and follow me.”
Volunteers and volunteering can certainly shatter our contemporary world view of just looking after self, and of being totally disconnected with others: of being a society often at odds with itself. Again we thank all those volunteers within our midst. Following Jesus also shatters the ways of the world, but in return offers life, the fullness of life.
