Sermon: What Are You Waiting For?

Matthew 7:21-29

Well friends. . . here we are. It seems like a normal blasé day for many reasons. . .It’s cold out there! Am I right? And rainy too. We had those glorious three minutes of snow on Friday, but other than that, the weather’s just been dismal. Blasé. An important football game was won last night. . . but just barely. Bla-sé. In fact, the UT-Nebraska game had to have been the most frustrating, boring, disappointing game until the very end! – literally, the very end – when there was a sudden, collective spike of blood pressure across the city of Austin, while we waited and waited with bated breath for Hunter Lawrence to finally kick that blasted field goal! – the one which held the potential to uphold or utterly obliterate all hopes for a Longhorn National Championship this year. We made it, but-just-barely. Blady-Blady-Blady-Blah-Blah-Sé. . .And in the next few days: More potential for blasé living, right? Routines are no longer holding us up. Instead we’re scrambling around – and perhaps even dreading – some of those finals that are coming whether we like it or not. And there’ll be more cold weather as we walk in coats and scarves to find the rooms for those finals. . .

In so many ways, today seems like a normal blasé day as we prepare to finish the next few weeks. All in all, it would be easy to mentally check out, put our lives on auto-pilot, and simply live on the surface of it all. Who knows? Maybe we’re doing that already.

So. . .here we are on what could be a blasé Sunday evening. But something else could be said, of course, and should be said. As we end this semester – even as we’ve experienced normal blasé days – Sunday after Sunday we’ve sat in this room, in this worship space, and something has happened. We’ve been challenged. Really challenged. Challenged to the core.

Like the disciples who climbed up that mountain with Jesus, we’ve sat right here and listened to some of Jesus’ most powerful words – The Sermon on the Mount. And it’s not just that we’ve been challenged to live differently, though that is true. We’ve been invited to live fully. There’s a life fuller and richer and deeper than any of our blasé designations. And it’s right before us! – break in right in front of us all the time.

All through the sermon, Jesus has been putting options before us. And among those options, he points in the direction he intends for us, which is full of the abundant life he has created us to experience. Far from blasé if we will but follow. Options before us. . .

Live as the salt and light you are in this world!

. . .or forget your identity and experience a half-life without flavor or illumination. . .

Live fully in the Kingdom that is breaking into this world!

. . .or plunge your experience into Gehenna, that reeking, ever-burning, destruction-filled garbage heap on the edge of Jerusalem. . .

Live by loving your enemies – overcoming their hatred with a love that transforms you both!
. . .or boil-over in wrath-filled vengeance and destroy your own peace. . .

Live in witness, pointing to the One who knows you, redeems you, and invites you to fullness!

. . .or wear a mask of religious superiority, pointing to yourself and missing the
opportunity to lean in the direction that this One brings for you and for the world. . .

Live with the knowledge that your Loving-God knows your needs before you ask!

. . .or writhe with fear and gut-wrenched anxiety that you are not even worth your needs. .

Live in self-examination, aware of what clogs your vision and trips up your steps!

. . .or put all your energy into the microscope you build for others, analyzing and judging their every move, their every step. . .

Live as one who finds the gift of the narrow way – the life-filled path that calls for growth!

. . .or walk the wide and broad road, the one that leads to ease, which is no growth at all. .


We have options here. And the invitation is right before us. The Sermon on the Mount is about Life – Real Life. In fact, we could say it’s about life and non-life – Life and Death. Oh, maybe not in the same way that those preachers on the West Mall would say it’s about life and death. . .about some God who is hell-bent on destroying you until you shape up. . .No, not that. . .But it is precisely about life and death because our God is a loving God and wills us to experience the fullness that life brings. When it comes to us, God wants all our ways of death to die. And for that reason, we need to hear what life is and what non-life is. And in the last few weeks, we’ve been honest with ourselves: We often find ourselves caught right in the middle them both.

And so. . .here we are. Though it may feel like it, this day isn’t blasé at all! It’s a grace filled opportunity to see once again that God calls us and this world to Life.

Jesus has some more words for us this evening – some more invitations at the end of the Sermon on the Mount: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall.”

We’ve heard Jesus’ words to us in this Sermon. The question is: Will we act on them? Will we put them into practice? Will we build upon the foundation of love, worth, justice, and peace that Christ calls us to live toward? What will it look like as we build upon God’s dreams for our very lives? We’ve been given words of wisdom. Now we have the opportunity to act upon them. That in itself is an opportunity of grace. I wonder what we can build together as we truly live in this community.

Yesterday, there was a large gathering in the sanctuary for the memorial service of Cherrie Carapetyan. Many of you know Ara Carapetyan, the conductor of our church’s Chancel Choir. He and Cherrie were married for 56 years, and last month, Cherrie died after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. What a life-filled woman! Some of you knew her, and you can probably attest to that too. I’ll never forget the moment when I saw Cherrie for the life-filled woman she really was.

Ian and I moved to Austin in 2005. For the first few months of our time singing in the choir, I experienced Cherrie as a quiet, sweet, passive lady. I was correct that she was loving and kind, but boy was I wrong about passive! Cherrie had already been battling Parkinson’s for a while – though I was unaware of this when I first met her. One of the potential symptoms of Parkinson’s is that it can make a person’s voice soft and quiet. In effect, a person with Parkinson’s can lose the ability to project. So I initially experienced Cherrie as extremely quiet and reserved. WRONG. When Ara and Cherrie invited the two of us for dinner, I saw a side of Cherrie that I had not allowed myself to see, and I simply loved it! This woman was outspoken and absolutely hilarious. She had quite a wit about her, and I enjoyed it for hears. She was vivacious and full of life.

And she let others into that life. During the sermon yesterday, San quoted Ara as saying, “Cherrie was the most inclusive person I’ve ever met. In fact, she was RIDICULOUSLY inclusive!” She was known for her hospitality – for the ways she invited others into her home and made them feel like they simply belonged there. And for this reason, perhaps it’s no surprise at all that the sanctuary was filled with people who had been touched by her life – people not only from Austin, but from Houston, and Dallas, and Atlanta – places where the Carapetyans had lived over the years. Cherrie wasn’t perfect, but many people knew her as one who acted upon the words of Jesus – one who included others, who invited others to truly belong. That foundational act of rock-building touched many people. Cherrie’s life touched people.

And for the period of time that was yesterday’s service, a group of people had been gathered together in one place. And we could say that those people had been built together which is quite amazing really. That congregation was built together by God in and through Cherrie’s life. We were there out of love for Cherrie, but we weren’t worshipping Cherrie. We were worshiping Jesus Christ, who is the builder in and through our lives. In that moment – in a service that was stunningly powerful in word and music – we were a monument built together, pointing toward the One who builds us all – the One who claims us, nurtures us, guides us, strengthens us, and sends us out for service. He sends us out to act upon his words – to build on foundational rock.

And thank God that’s true. We’re often caught between Life and Non-Life. One moment, we act on Jesus’ words and build upon a foundation of rock. Moments later, we neglect – and at times purposefully act against – Jesus’ words, building on sand. Thank God that he takes our humble bits of rock and sand and builds us up continuously. And he builds us together with others. And that makes him the true and lasting foundation upon which all our lives are built.

And our Builder – Our Foundation – again invites us to true living tonight. And so I ask us some questions as we close the Sermon on the Mount: What is it these days that is holding you back from living the full life God has intended for you? And what can you do to change your direction yet again, and be led by the loving hand of Christ who wills fullness for you? He invites you to Life Abundant. What are you waiting for! What is each of us waiting for? Roederer, what-are-you-waiting-for! What are you waiting for?

What’s holding you back? Fear? Anger? Anxiety? Un-truth? What is it that keeps you away from fullness? Greed? Broken relationships? Laziness? What is it? How can you let go of those hindrances? How can you let go of them, letting them wash back out with the tide as you begin to build and be built upon rock? What do you need to do? What do you need to act upon?

We’re in the season of Advent when we reflect upon hopes and expectations – when we think about what we’re waiting for – What are you waiting for? How is Christ coming to you these days? How is Christ calling you to plunge into life right now?

As we finish this series on the Sermon on the Mount, I think it’s good to take an opportunity to answer all of these questions. There are pieces of paper under your chairs tonight. I invite each one of us to write a word or phrase on these pieces of paper to remind us of what’s holding us back, and if you’d like, you can place it in the offering basket during communion. Or perhaps we might write a prayer. But basically the questions are these: As you have sat at the feet of Jesus this semester, how is he calling you to live right now? How will you act upon his words? How ill you turn away from mere sand and build on rock?

Let’s take about two minutes of silence and reflect before communion.

-Renée Roederer, Campus Minister