Call to Worship
Come worship God, the God of change.
Come worship God, the God of growth.
Come worship God, the God of progress.
Come worship God, the God of hope.

Unison Prayer: The Serenity Prayer
God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen.

Words of Assurance: Isaiah 58:11, NIV abb.
The Lord will guide you always;
you will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.

Opening Song: Billie Eilish, “What Was I Made For?”

Scripture Reading: Philippians 1:3-6, 9-11, NIV
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Sunday Sermon

Billie Eilish’s song “What Was I Made For?” was written for the movie Barbie. In the movie, Barbie becomes self-aware and begins to question her purpose in life. Everyone else seems to have a plan for her – literally putting her in a box – but she suspects there may be something more. She rejects the shallow life she has, based on other people’s expectations, and pursues a more meaningful existence.

The movie and song struck a universal chord. Many people, from teenagers to middle age to older adults, find themselves in a time of life when they question their entire existence. For a teenager, it may be because there are so many expectations laid upon them, and they’re not even sure who they are yet. For a person in middle age, it may be a mid-life crisis. For an older adult, it may be a reevaluation after retirement or the loss of a spouse. A person may ask, “What was I made for?” “What am I here?” or “Who am I now?”

Paul’s life is filled with purpose. But in order to discover this purpose, he had to go through a time of trial. After persecuting the Christian church, he found himself struck blind by Jesus and realized he had been spiritually blind as well. After realizing this, both types of sight returned. He went from persecuting Christians to spreading the Christian faith. To mark this decisive life change, he even changed his name from Saul to Paul. He was, in an almost literal sense, a new man.

Like many of Paul’s letters, the letter to the Philippians is written from prison. It’s remarkable to think that so much of the New Testament was written in captivity; the encouragement we have comes from a person whose circumstances are worse than ours. There will be a long line of such people, from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela to our own Karim. They have this in common: their faith keeps them going, and they use their captivity to encourage others.

Paul writes, “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” He is writing this to Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, the leader of the Christian community in Philippi and the person with whom he stayed when he was there. He is writing to a jailer who risked his job to invite him into his own home, who first had him flogged and then washed his wounds. He is writing to the hundreds who saw miracles happen in Philippi, and believed. And while the original letter was a scroll, he is writing through the years to us.

What good work has God started in us, as a church and as individuals? As a church, God has made us a church of hospitality, a church of missions, a church of encouragement, a church of joy. And I believe that God will see these things through to completion, while adding other tasks along the way.

What good work has God started in us as individuals? God has given each of us spiritual gifts, but are we using them? And are we on the right path?

When I was in seminary, one of our teachers asked each of us to explain our calling. Most of the answers were as expected, although in retrospect we seemed a little full of ourselves. “I am called to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world.” “I am called to preach the Good News to the poor.” “I am called to support social and economic justice.” And there was one guy we made fun of, because he said, “God wants me to be a cheerleader.” Looking back, my entire image of him has changed, because I think that’s what God intends for me as well. This classmate had a sense of purpose way back in seminary, and I suspect that as a pastor, he has had a life of joy.

The other new thing that has become clear to me is that in our church, God is calling me to be the person who throws things out. As you know, I didn’t arrive here with a lot of stuff, and then I started throwing out your stuff. I think years from now, no one will remember any of my sermons, but they will say, “oh, he’s the guy who threw things out.” And if that’s how I’m remembered, I’ll be okay with that, as long as people remember that it’s also a spiritual discipline.

I think if there’s a name for what I do, it’s “Dumpster Evangelism.” Because other people have caught on as well. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the attic lately, but Rick and Bob have done an incredible job discarding the debris of a lifetime. There’s still a lot more to come down and to go out. This week in the office, Megan and I decided that we didn’t need all the weird-sized paper that’s been there for years. Robin weeded the front garden, and Lynn and Glenn laid down mulch. Then Rick and Bob went back to work on the side yard facing the neighbors, while on the north side another neighbor is clearing trees. Whether we’re decluttering an office or an attic or a garden or a yard, we’re also deciding what to keep – what has value, what has use, what is worth saving. And the same holds true for our lives.

What attitudes and habits have we accumulated that are not working for us, that may even be working against us, that obscure the good things we have? What parts of our lives do we need to get rid of so that our lives may have better value, so that we might enjoy life more, so that we might feel closer to God and each other? And in related fashion, what recurring thoughts do we have that are hurting us? Are we held back by something in the past – some long-ago trauma, some words spoken to us decades ago, some sin that we carry around like overstuffed luggage? We often ask, “Are there better things that I could do doing with my time?” Let’s add, “Are there better things that we could be thinking?” For example, to stop dwelling on how we’ve been hurt and remember how much we’ve been blessed?

The tasks may seem never-ending. One might think, for example, that the attic will be finished when every single thing has been taken down, but instead it’s when we know that everything in the attic has a reason to be there. The same is true of our lives; our task will only be complete when we dispose of every bad habit and every bad thought, but we know that won’t happen on earth, which is why Paul’s phrase “the day of completion” means the day we get to heaven. But Paul also prays that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. I want to focus on the phrase “more and more,” because it’s incredibly encouraging. Paul is writing, in effect, I pray you make progress. I hope you love more and more. In other words, don’t be upset if you haven’t reached your spiritual goal, but know that if you have moved closer and plan to move closer still, you are pleasing the Lord.

There will always be more stuff. There will always be more stuff to worry about. There will always be more plants to weed. There will always be people who see that now there’s some new space in the attic and they will put their stuff there. There will always be people who are starving. There will always be people who need love. There will always be people who haven’t heard of Jesus. But it’s a good thing to know that there will always be more to do, because this means we will always have a purpose. To paraphrase, if you don’t know what your purpose is, try one of these: feed people. Love people. Tell them about Christ. In Christ, every one of our lives has meaning.

And so, let us do our best to keep getting better. Let us strive for perfection even though we know we won’t reach it. May we focus not on how far we have to go, but how far we have already traveled; and may we give thanks to God, who has accompanied us on this path and who will walk it with us until the day of completion, who will complete the good work in us that has already begun. Amen.

For Reflection and Meditation
What is my purpose?
How is God calling me?
What path is God telling me to avoid?
What good work did God start in me that is not yet complete?
What aspect(s) of my spiritual life am I working on?
What habits are hindering me?
What habits are helping me?
What recurring thoughts would I like to discard?
What recurring thoughts would I like to put in their place?
Am I making progress and if so, how am I growing?
What is my realistic expectation of where I will be spiritually by the end of the summer?
Apart from God, with whom might I share these thoughts?

Closing Song: Hillsong Worship, “Who You Say I Am”

Benediction
May the Lord shine a light on the path that is right for you,
darkening every other path so that the road may be clear. Amen.