Anyone!

Dear church,

“Anyone” is the theme for this Sunday’s service, and if you listened to the Scripture readings, you know exactly why. Jesus said, “Anyone who welcomes you, welcomes me.” That’s a level of identification with us, with regular people of the church, the complex and flawed individuals that we all are, which astounds me every time I read it. Just sit here for a moment and consider this deeply and contemplatively. Our Lord says, “Anyone who welcomes you (fill in your name), welcomes me.” I am sure that the folks who went on our mission trip to the mountains of North Carolina this past week, have some people in mind who welcomed us warmly and, as Scripture tells us, were welcoming Jesus himself. We are not saying this to boost our ego; Christ is saying it because that’s how he chooses to operate: through us.      

This morning, however, we shall first consider a story that is buried deep in the Old Testament, in a book rarely read. We are going to Oprah, people! Oh no, I misspelled that, we are going to Ophrah in Israel, back in time to an old oak that belonged to a man named “Joash,” who was from the tribe of Manasse and, we hear, from the clan of Abiezer. That’s how small and intimate the Bible often becomes when important stories are being told. It’s the equivalent of the story teller saying, “This is what happened at the Gaffney home, back at the creek, when Owen collected tadpoles…” Only in this story, it was the son of the family of Joash, who was named Gideon. He happened to thresh wheat in a winepress. Those of you who paid attention, just stumbled again: threshing wheat in a wine press? Wait a moment, that doesn’t sound right. Don’t you press grapes in a wine press?

And even if you know next to nothing about crops, which is probably true for most of us, you can imagine that pressing small wheat kernels in a tool designed for much bigger, juicer grapes, might not be so efficient. And it wasn’t. So why did Gideon use this wildly inefficient method? Did he have no better equipment? The answer is: he was trying to hide and conceal the family’s harvest from invaders, for his people were often attacked and raided. It was a difficult time… and during difficult times, you have to be resilient, come up with unusual solutions, make whatever you have to work for you. People who have experienced disasters become resilient and get the most out of limited resources. It’s the way to survive. We learned that from some of the folks we met last week, especially Angela and Christopher, whose house was very nearly beyond saving.

Back to the story… Right at that moment, Gideon pressing wheat kernels in a winepress, an angel of the Lord sat down under the oak where the young man did his secret work and appeared to him, saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” The angel calls him mighty warrior!

Before that, there is no record of Gideon. He could have been anyone and he could have been anyone’s son. This word, this proclamation by the angel, was the beginning of Gideon’s transformation. If you ask me for a contemporary analogy, I will say Wolodymyr Selensky. The current president of Ukraine was like a nobody when he became president of Ukraine at a young age. What were his credentials? He had been a stand-up comedian, traveling through Ukraine and Russia with his troop, making jokes, sometimes serious jokes. I am sure that the dictator in the Kreml believed he could easily defeat and discard this no-name political newcomer, with no military experience, this comedian, this clown. Surely, the Kremlin boss may have calculated, this small fellow in Kyiv did not have the balls to stand up to the mighty Russian army! It looks like history will tell a different story. People in ancient times might have said, an angel visited Wolodymyr Selensky when he was backstage during one of his comic acts and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” With a little bit of imagination, we can see that, right?       

Of course, those of you who know the Bible, recognize a pattern here. God loves to turn a nobody into somebody. God loves to turn anyone into “the one” who brings back hope to people. It’s a familiar theme that Is repeated in the lives of Moses, David, Queen Esther, Jesus’ disciples, Mary and in fact, we sometimes don’t count him, Jesus himself. The list is longer: AJ, Sasha, Karl, Steven, Kelley, Jenn, Bernie, Robin, Owen … Don’t look at a specific biography. Look at people who are wresting hope from life’s challenges. It could be you. It could be Bill Johnson who has had a few challenges and dark and desperate moments in his life… and look at him today! Take a good look… Serving not only, as he has for a long time, as a caretaker of God’s House but also serving God’s people and their innermost needs as a Stephen Minister. An angel might have appeared to him and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty servant Bill!”

For in the kingdom of God, truly everyone and anyone counts and has a place and a purpose and a calling. It can be small things and it can be big things. Have you found your calling? Listen, listen, listen carefully. The Lord God is calling your name, mighty congregation! And anyone who hears, may follow! Anyone!

Amen.