How many of you here this morning have seen the movie "Shrek"? A few of you. It’s really a good movie as far as things are concerned. It’s full of good life lessons about friendship and being true to one’s self. But, those aren’t the lessons I want to visit about in my sermon this morning. There’s something else I’d like to begin addressing with a scene from this movie.
Let’s set the scene for a moment. The movie centers on Shrek who is an ogre. Shrek likes being alone in his swamp. He doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone or anything. Unfortunately, Shrek’s peaceful existence is threatened by Lord Farquad who has decreed that all fairy tale creatures be kicked out of his kingdom. All the fairy tale creatures go into exile, and guess where they end up? Yep, in Shrek’s swamp. Shrek isn’t happy about this. He wants his swamp back. He doesn’t like all these creatures wandering around, so he decides to go see Lord Farquad and get his swamp back. This is where the scene of the movie comes into play.
Shrek stands in front of all the fairy tale creatures and asks what they are doing in his swamp. They reply that Lord Farqad kicked them out of their homes. Then, Shrek asks if anyone knows where this Lord Farquad is. One of the other main characters of the movie is then shown jumping up and down up and down saying, "Oh, I do. I know where he is." This character is Donkey. Shrek had already met Donkey earlier in the film, and, well, Shrek didn’t really care for Donkey too much.
Shrek then asks, "Does anyone else know where to find him?"
A bear raises his hand, and his dad pushes it down.
Two others point at each other.
Donkey starts jumping up and down, "Me! Me! Pick me! I know, pick me! Me! Me!"
Shrek sees that he has no choice, so he announces that he will go see Lord Farquad and get these creatures off his land. They all cheer. Shrek points at Donkey and says, "You. You’re coming with me."
Donkey replies, "Oh yeah, that’s what I like to hear."
Question: Where is Donkey today in our churches and congregations? Where is the person or persons who when you ask for help jump up and down with excitement saying, "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"
When is the last time an announcement has been made that we need Sunday School teachers, and 30 people jumped up and said, "Me! Me! I’ll do it!"
When is the last time an announcement has been made that council positions were open and 20 people came forward and said, "Me! Me! I’m ready to dedicate some of my time to serving the Lord in His church!"
When is the last time an annual meeting was announced and people were anxious and excited to stay and help conduct the business of a congregation so that its mission and ministry could continue?
When is the last time you saw an invitation for someone other than a pastor to lead a prayer in any particular setting, and you saw a whole bunch of hands raised in the air to volunteer? "I’ll do it! I’ll pray! Pick me! Pick me!"
Where is Donkey in the midst of our congregations and our churches?
Have you seen him lately? Have you seen many people like him?
Oh, and I really shouldn’t limit this to just church. I should probably ask about if you’ve seen him at the Ag Hall, at the Legion, at the PTA, in the classroom or at any other organization that is clamoring for volunteers. When the call goes out for help from all these places, how often do we see Donkey jumping up and down saying, "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"? And how often do we see folks sliding down in their pews and chairs? How often do we see people pointing at everyone else? How often do we see people shaking their heads, and we know what they’re thinking? They’re thinking, "One more thing that I don’t really have time for."
And yet, we know how important these things are. We know how important it is that the Ag Hall has volunteers. That the church has volunteers. That the Legion has volunteers. That the PTO has volunteers. That the classroom has parents willing to give of their time to support the kids. We know this stuff is so vitally important; yet, when the rubber hits the road: how many of us have the excitement and energy to jump up and down to get involved?
Interestingly enough the reluctance to volunteer–the reluctance to jump in and do such work seems to be bred deeply within each and every one of us. If one reads the Bible, one sees time and again the reluctance on the part of the people God calls to do God’s work. Moses argued with God at the burning bush begging God to find someone else to go to Egypt. Gideon put the Lord through several tests before shouldering the mantle of leading God’s people into battle against the Midianites. Jeremiah tried to excuse himself from being a prophet because he was too young. And Isaiah believed he was too full of sin.
As Isaiah stands before God in our First Lesson this morning he says, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" 6Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"
It wasn’t until Isaiah had been touched by God–had been touched by the burning coal–had been cleansed of his sin and restored that he was able to answer God’s call. It wasn’t until God had acted upon him that Isaiah was able to find the strength to say, "Here am I; send me!"
So, what does this say to you and me today? What does this lesson tell us amidst the myriads of stuff we are invited to be a part of in our daily lives today? Does it help us at all?
There would have been a time where I would have suggested that God will give us the strength to do any and every volunteer opportunity that came along so that we could spread His Word in all of these places. Now, I’m not sure about that. There are so many things vying for our time and money that if we tried to do such a thing we would be burned out, used up and out of money quicker than you could spit. That’s not what I believe we are called to do and be.
I could also stand up here and say, prioritize. You’ve got to choose the stuff that is most important to you. But the only problem with that line of reasoning is that in today’s society, I know what usually wins. Unfortunately, the church usually gets the short end of the stick. Everything else tends to take precedence. I’m not sure that’s the solution either.
Are there other ways and alternatives to looking at this issue? Are there other solutions that help us deal with the Donkey problem? Are there other ideas floating around that would help us be filled with energy and vigor and excitement so that if someone in the church said, "We need a volunteer for this...", we would have a host of people standing up and saying, "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"?
What if it starts with being in the presence of God? What if it starts by being touched by God? What if it starts with having His Spirit invade you and fill you and cleanse you and give you wisdom and discernment? What if you were filled to the point that you saw with clarity just how you were called, what gifts you brought to the table, and how best you could use them? What if you were filled to the point where you knew and understood those priorities very well and you knew that being a part of church was not energy zapping but a constant source of energy and power in your life? What if being in the presence of God gave you such vision and power?
How often do you seek to be in God’s presence so that you can know these things? How often do you consciously remind yourself God is present in your life? How often do you stand before Him and wait for Him to touch your heart and soul? And how would you respond if He did? How would you respond if He said to you, "Whom shall I send? Amen.
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