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Following Jesus is like a Conga Line !
The great comedian Woody Allen once posed the
question “If Jesus was a carpenter, I wonder what he charged for bookshelves.” That has nothing at all to do with the rest of my
sermon, but it’s an interesting thought to ponder, don’t you think? The theme for this year’s youth Sunday is, of
course, Following Jesus is like (ellipses). This
was a tough one for me, because I’m not great with metaphors. I much prefer to tell it the way it is, without any
fluff or fancy language. My English teachers
love this about me. However, after minutes of
careful consideration while I was in the shower the other day, I decided that to me,
following Jesus is like a conga line. Oh Lord,
where’s he going with this one, you might ask. I
know that’s what I’d be wondering if I were you.
Actually I’m kind of wondering where this is leading as well, to tell
you the truth, but I’ll try my darnedest to get my point across, I promise.
So. Let’s say that you are at your
sister’s wedding reception. If you
don’t have a sister don’t worry, this is all hypothetical. Everything is going just fine, the party is going
through all the standards, the Macarena and the Chicken Dance have both been run through,
and you’re on your second or third piece of cake, because hey, it’s free. Suddenly you see on the far corner of the dance
floor the line beginning to form. The classic
conga line music begins to play, and the line gets longer and longer, and you silently
curse the DJ, because in this case you are based off of me, and I hate dancing and shy
away from dance floors. But my experience
stems mainly from high school dances, where the most popular “dance” involves
mainly hopping up and down and creating a tighter and more uncomfortable space than Times
Square on New Years Eve. Trust me, I’ve
been there. Anyway, so the line is getting
longer and longer and it’s headed in your direction and soon you realize that your
only choices are to just suck it up and get in line or take your cake and hide under the
table. You’re weighing your options but
alas, you took to long, somebody grabs your hand and you’re pulled into the chaos. I’ll pause here to try and explain the meaning
behind all this. Of course Jesus is the guy
who started the conga line, if you haven’t already guessed that, and you’re the
poor guy who gets sucked in. Most of us here
are already in the line, we’re those crazy people who just love a good conga line and
look like fools to the ones who don’t. They’re
not far off, though, it can seem kind of foolish. “Let’s
get in a line like a train, but we’re gonna shake our butts to the music while we
walk around!” I’d like to know who
thought that one up. Imagine Christianity to
an outsider. So there’s this guy, Jesus,
right? And he’s basically perfect (this
is after years of your teachers and parents telling you about how “nobody’s
perfect, dear”) and he’s the son of this other guy, God, who basically created
everything. Now, Jesus’ mom was Mary, but
she was a virgin, and anybody who’s had an elementary school health class can tell
you right there that something fishy is going on. So
anyway, He’s the savior of mankind, and he gets this huge following of people who
really love him until one day they suddenly decide they don’t like him after all and
so they have the Romans crucify him. But it
doesn’t end there, three days later he comes back to life, hangs out with his
disciples for a while, then heads up to heaven to be king up there for eternity, give or
take a year. So it’s not hard to see why
somebody who has never followed Jesus would be reluctant to join in. Many of us speaking here today have grown up with
the church, I’ve attended Epworth for as long as I can remember, which makes it
difficult for me to imagine what it must be like from the outside looking in, but I think
I have a bit of an understanding of what it must be like.
So despite all this, you let yourself be dragged into the conga line, and lo and
behold, it’s kind of fun. You’re
hesitant to shake your booty at first, but after a little while you’re really getting
into it, and you feel sorry for the other guys who have hidden themselves in the bathroom
to avoid the madness.
It seems that sooner or later in everyone’s life that chances are they will
have the opportunity to follow Christ. Whether
somebody invites them to church one Sunday or a friend brings them to youth group or a
work team, eventually people will make the choice between shakin’ their booty or
hiding in the bathroom. I have had the
opportunity to watch this happen on a great many youth work teams. I have gone to Chicago four times, the Gulf Coast
three, New York City twice, Africa, and soon Mexico, and it never fails that at least one
person on each of those trips will become a regular here at Epworth, or at least a regular
attendee of youth on Sunday nights. It seems
to me that these are the lucky ones, as I have had some of the best times in my life
doubled over laughing while painting a homeless shelter, or sorting through clothes at a
thrift store, or trying to drown out the sound of Bob’s both loved and hated duck
call in the mornings. When it comes down to
it, we know that above everything else, following Jesus is about loving and caring for
your fellow human beings, and as luck would have it, not only is that “good for the
soul,” but it’s a tremendous amount of fun too.
I leave you with this thought, another Woody Allen quote, although a more serious
one. He said “Eighty percent of success
in life is showing up.” I’m not sure
what the other twenty percent is, eating right I imagine, but you all are already here. You already know how great the conga line is, so my
question to you is this. Why not take
someone else’s hand? Whose hand are you
going to take?