The Myth of Relevancy

Well, I still don't have a job but I did get the chance to preach this past weekend at The Source which is the church start in Stillwater I've been helping out with this week. This is generally what I preached.

I did something this past week that I haven’t done for ages; as in, it’s probably been at least since September. And it’s something I used to do all the time, in fact, I was quite obsessive about it up until about three years ago. I went and bought a CD! The new Weezer CD came out and since it is officially known as the Red Album, I had to go and buy it because I didn’t want it to be any generic, burned CD. I suppose I could have colored it with a red sharpie but that’s beside the point. Think about it, when was the last time you bought a CD as opposed to simply downloading the song or album online? Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails both released their last albums pretty much exclusively online. We never thought we’d see the day come but CDS are starting to become irrelevant. But then again, we’ve seen this happen in the past. How many of you have ever played around with a record? Or the even more elusive eight track? Cassette tapes? And back in the day, when those came out, they were the next big thing! They would never go out of style! They were here to stay. But their relevancy faded and soon they became simple collectors items that we keep around for nostalgia’s sake.

And this example illustrates the problem with relevancy. The Source, this worshipping community, claims to be relevant because Jesus is relevant. However, somewhere in here, relevant has come to mean what is hip, what is cool, what is trendy. And if we claim to be relevant, does this mean than The Source or even Jesus can fade out just like the cassette tape, VHS, and rotary phones? Can Jesus run out of his proverbial 15 minutes of fame?

And beyond that tricky question the issue of relevancy gets more complicated because relevant means more than simply what’s cool, what’s in, and what’s hip. The word relevant goes much deeper than that. As we look at the meaning of relevancy more specifically we realize that its complicated by the fact that what’s relevant to the culture in general and what’s relevant to me is going to be different than what’s relevant to you. Since we’re running with the music theme take a second to think about what genre of music is most relevant to you. What music speaks the most to you and what’s going on in your life? Any alternative music fans? That’s me. How about country? Pop? Hip hop? Classical? R & B? Metal? Contemporary Christian? And you know, there’s no shame in liking different types of music or having different things that speak to you on a personal level. See, the other thing about relevancy is that it speaks to us where we are in our life; it is relevant because whatever it is whether it’s music, movies, television, books, sermons, or anything else meets us where we are and speaks to whatever it is that we’re going through in life. Relevant means meeting us where we are in life or as the dictionary puts it, it is pertinent to the issues at hand. But the tricky part of relevance is, as we illustrated by our differing tastes in music, is that everyone will not necessarily experience life and relevancy in the same way. What’s relevant to me might not be relevant to you and vise versa. What speaks to me in my life right now might not speak with you.

And where does that put us with Jesus? If we each experience life so differently and different things speak to us more than another person how can Jesus be relevant to all of us? How in the world can Jesus be relevant to every individual here and to the larger world, to people who don’t even share the same culture and language with us, much less the same music tastes?

In order to answer this question we need to figure out what it is that we share as humans, as people who are as diverse as can be in every aspect in life.

This past fall I got the chance to work as chaplain at a nearby hospital. This meant visiting people who were in the hospital for various reasons whether it was because they were recovering after surgery or a major accident or sickness. It was intense to say the least and most days, when I walked into a room and introduced myself I had no idea what to expect. At the same time I was going through a rather difficult spot in my life. I had just made a big move across country from a city I had absolutely fallen in love with and had had to say goodbye to a great many people that I loved and now missed greatly. Plus, it was a tough semester at grad school and I could barely keep up with my class load. I also found myself struggling to try and connect with old friends because we had all changed so much. My life was a mess and I wondered what it is that I could offer these people that I was visiting.

Then came one very memorable day. I was the on-call chaplain for that day which meant if there were any emergencies or traumatic events I was the first to respond. And I came into this day really tired. You ever have those days where no matter how much coffee you drink you still can’t wake up? Yeah, it was one of those days. And of course, this was the day where everything hit the fan. Not even two hours into my shift I was paged to visit with a woman who had been pregnant with twins and had lost one of her babies in utero. For no good reason, the baby’s heart had just stopped beating for no good reason and, as you can imagine, it was heartbreaking for the couple. I visited a person who was suffering from exhaustion and depression and recovering from substance abuse and she broke down into tears in the middle of the visit. I visited people who had had no one come and visit them and were desperately looking for someone to talk to and to listen. I visited people who were in very acute physical, emotional, and mental pain. And I so wanted to be that person that told them that everything was going to alright, that everything was going to work out and that life was going to get better but on that day I just didn’t know. As much as I wanted to I just couldn’t do it. And in those moments on that day as I found myself in over my head in my job and in my life that I saw that common ground that we all share as humans. We all share in pain and uncertainty; we all have doubts and fears. With this realization I wondered how in the world I could be relevant to these people that I was visiting, people who were experiencing very real pain, doubt, and fear. And how could Jesus be relevant to these people and to me who was also experiencing pain, fear, and doubt and who are neck deep in the muck that this life can throw at us? How can Jesus be relevant when we’re brought to our knees by everything we’re facing in our lives?

The answer is simple, really. Jesus is relevant because he’s been there, he’s walked in our shoes, he’s shared in our pain and our uncertainty. In Philippians chapter 2 it is written that “Christ, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness! And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Jesus is relevant because even though he was God, he was also human. He experienced everything that we do as humans. Through Jesus, God met us in the very messy human world as one of us, he met us in a world that was and is still full of pain, suffering, doubt, and fear.

The night before his death on a cross Jesus had one of those moments that I’m sure we call all relate to. He went up to the Mount of Olives, a hill in Jerusalem in order to pray. And his prayer is one that I know I have prayed before. He prays, “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet, I want your will to be done.” Jesus knew what was ahead of him. He knew his closest friends, those he had called as his followers and those he loved were going to turn him over to his death, were going to betray him, were going to deny that they knew him, and were going to desert him. He knew that he was going to experience pain of the worst kind, not only physical pain of the cross but the pain of seeing those who had followed him and supported him suddenly do an about face, turn on him, and demand his death. Jesus is relevant because he’s been there, he’s experienced the same pain that we face now first hand whether it’s been facing the betrayal of a close friend or significant other, the pain of mortality, the pain of facing a less than ideal or uncertain future, or the pain of living in a less than ideal world where injustice runs rampant and people seem more concerned with getting ahead than loving their neighbors. As the Phillipians passage notes, Jesus has truly walked in our shoes, Jesus is relevant because he came to earth as one of us and experienced life as one of us. He shared in the thing that connects us all as humans, he shared in the pain.

But perhaps what makes Jesus even more relevant is that while he shared in the pain of being human, he came to earth to do something about it. “Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Through that death, through truly sharing in what it means to be human, and then through rising from the dead Jesus was able to assure that our pain would not last forever. Through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection we live assured that this life that is so easily defined by pain and the trials we face will not be the end all. In the end we are told that “God will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

But until that day comes we still live in this world and face the pain. However, we do not walk through this life alone. God promises to walk through this life with us. Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:20, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus promises to be with us, to the very end of the age. Jesus promises to be with us no matter what, in the easy times and the hard times, through the triumphs and tragedies. And that’s also what makes God relevant. Relevant means meeting us where we are and God did that through Jesus then and God continues to meet us today in the midst of everything going on in our lives. God continues to walk with us in this life as we face all the pain that this world inflicts on us.

Truth be told, if I had the choice and the money, I wouldn’t be here today. I got word earlier this week that the dad of one of my good friends from Charlotte, NC had just passed away after a long battle with cancer and the funeral was yesterday in Atlanta. As I talked to my friend on early Monday morning I listened to her recount her father’s turn for the worse; how they had put him on hospice, how she had held his hand while he was in pain, how he couldn’t speak near the end, how she had watched him take his last breath and I wondered how in the world I could say something that was even close to relevant to her situation. Even though she said she had made much of her peace I could still sense the pain over the phone. How could I be relevant in that situation?

Because here’s the deal, as a community the Source will seek to be relevant and current with our messages and music. Like Jesus before us, The Source will try to be relevant by using illustrations and stories and messages and music that speak to the times. But we will seek to be relevant in other ways; we will seek to be relevant like Jesus was relevant, by meeting each other where we are in this life, in the midst of all the pain, suffering, uncertainty, fear, and doubt.

As I continued talking with Anderea I realized the only thing I could do was listen, was to assure her that I would pray for her, and that even though I was 1200 miles away, I would still walk with her in the midst of everything. I was relevant because I was willing to meet her where she was even though I didn’t even have close to the perfect words. I was relevant because I was willing to walk with her in the pain, even though I admittedly couldn’t fully understand what all of this felt like for her. And that’s what we seek to do here. Sure, we won’t know exactly what you’re going through, but we can be there with you, we can walk with you because we have all experienced pain of our own. We may not have the perfect words but we’re willing to listen and try to understand. You see sometimes being relevant is not about being trendy or wearing the hip clothes or listening to the right music; instead being relevant is about meeting each other wherever we are in this messy world that we all live in. Being relevant is being willing to truly listen to whatever it may be that’s going on in each other’s lives. Being relevant is being not afraid to meet each other in whatever pain we’re facing. And being relevant is reminding each other of the love of a God who loved us enough to walk a mile in our shoes.