Ashley Body is an undergraduate at Texas Lutheran University. Like a lot of schools, Texas Lutheran has a meal plan for students where you pay in at the beginning of the semester and you have an account for meals that you draw from every time you buy food in the school cafeteria. A lot of students get to the end of the semester, though, and they find that they’ve got money left in the account and the problem with that is that if you still have money at the end of the semester, it disappears.
So at the end of one of the semesters she was buying a sandwich and she asked the cashier how much money she had left on her card. “About $60,” she was told.
“And how much is a sandwich?” she asked.
“About $3.50.”
Then Ashley did some quick figuring in her head – she was a business major – and she bought a bunch of sandwiches. She sat down at lunch with some of her friends, who were part of a Christian group on campus. They asked her what she was doing and she said, “Jesus said to feed to hungry so I’m going to feed the hungry.” So then they all started to think about what they could do. They got some friends together and they all went to the cafeteria to use up their accounts on sandwiches. They ended up with 450 sandwiches which they loaded up in cars and took to a park in Austin where they knew a lot of homeless people gathered. They found themselves doing something they would not have done if Ashley hadn’t been struck by the Holy Spirit. They were meeting a need and building relationships with the poorest of the poor.[i]
It was a spontaneous movement. Sure, there were other organizations working on hunger issues in Austin. Sure, there were other ways to address the need, but this group of college students saw something they could do and they did it. And now they have started a community called the Netzer Co-op which is very simply “a diverse community of friends who are seeking to participate in what God is up to in south central Texas.”[ii] That’s how they describe themselves.
On a regular basis now they conduct what they call Likewise Experiments like this one that Ashley initiated. The name comes from the story of the Good Samaritan when Jesus tells the story of the foreigner who helps a man beaten by robbers and then tells his listeners to “Go and do likewise.” So they are trying to live that out. As their mission statement says, “We see this as more than just a call for good deeds, but really a call to recognize that the kingdom of God is here, not somewhere else, if we can learn to embrace it. We learn in that story that the kingdom looks a lot like taking care of those around you despite circumstance, race, economic status, sexual orientation, or any other ‘good reason.’ So our mission statement is then really just as simple as Christ’s easy answer, ‘Go and do likewise.’”[iii]
When I look around at the state of Christian life in the 21st century, I know that there a lot of worries. Christianity is not as large a presence in our national life. Churches are struggling. A whole generation of young people seems to be missing from many congregations. Even Christians themselves don’t seem to be living up to their calling.
But I also see new things emerging. Who would have believed that alternative services like our 8:30 service would have become so prevalent twenty years ago? Christian book stores and Christian music are now mainstream. And then there are groups like these college students at Texas Lutheran who are doing something radical. Radical means going back to the roots, you know, and what these college students did was to go right back to what Jesus said and tried to do it. What a concept! And, sure, we might want to say – why are they trying to rebuild the wheel? Why are they not working through existing churches or existing organizations? And, sure, as even they admit, some of their Likewise Experiments work and some don’t. But they have recognized that following Jesus means submitting yourself to a lifestyle that doesn’t always conform to expectations.
Conforming to expectations. Do you ever do that? Do you do things just because you want to be more popular? More respectable in the community? Do you do things or not do things because you are afraid you might fail? Do you do things because everybody is doing them? Or not do them because nobody is doing them? That’s when we are conforming to expectations.
“Be not conformed to this world,” Paul says in today’s scripture reading from Romans in the King James Version, (which just sounds right to convey this point). “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Don’t be conformed to the world around you. Do you know what is conformed? Jell-O. Jell-O is conformed. It takes the shape of whatever you put it in. You put it in a mold the shape of a circle, it comes out shaped like a circle. You put it in a mold the shape of a possum, it comes out shaped like a possum. But you are not Jell-O. You are not supposed to be conformed to the world around you. You are not supposed to take on the shape of the expectations of others. You are not supposed to be shaped like an adulterer or a liar or a drug dealer or a gossip or a sloth or a polluter or a Grinch. You are not even supposed to be shaped like a consumer or a victim or a loner or a superhero. Don’t be conformed to this world and the things it would shape you to be.
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be transformed. You were meant to be something more. You were meant to look different. You were meant to bear the image of God. You were meant to be growing ever more into the likeness of Christ who is our salvation. If your mind is being renewed, your actions will follow. If you think different you will act different. And if you act different the world around you will change and begin to look more and more like another place. It will begin to look more and more like the kingdom of heaven which Jesus tells us is not only at hand but it is also among us.
Do you know why Jell-O shakes when it comes out of the mold? Do you know why it jiggles? It’s afraid. I don’t care what Bill Cosby says. It’s afraid and it’s afraid because it has no moral fiber. It has no backbone. It had no sense of what it is to be apart from the mold. And so it trembles, knowing that without the world and without God is has no defense against whatever might be thrown at it.
So, I say again, you are not Jell-O. You are non-conformists. You are being renewed in your mind so that you can know what God intends for you and for the world. But even as Paul tells us this he gives us three pieces of good news. The first thing he tells us is that if we give up conformation for transformation then we will be realistic about who we are. “You don’t have to think more of yourself than you ought to,” he says to the Romans. If you’ve got an inflated ego, you can be liberated from that and you can give it up without fear of loss, because the gift of getting closer to Jesus is that you also get closer to your own true self. The same could be said for those who think too little of themselves, because you need to be liberated from that, too. And the closer you get to Jesus the more you will realize that you were made for far more than the small vision you have for who you are.
“Get real,” Paul says. You were given gifts. You were given graces. You were made for more and some of you are not living up to that. Some of you were made to be prophets. You have been given visions of what God is doing and wants to do through us and you have been holding back. You are not Jell-O – you are a prophet.
Some of you were made to be teachers and you are hiding you light. Maybe because you think you don’t have what you need to offer. Maybe because you are afraid that your gift will be despised. Maybe because you feel like there are too many obstacles in the way. Maybe because you feel you aren’t seeing any effects from your teaching. But you are not Jell-O. If you have the gift to teach, you should be teaching.
Paul says it. I say it. Some of you are preachers and you need to be preaching. If you have the gift of giving, you should be giving. Why are you holding back? What are you afraid of? If you have the gift of compassion, why are you depriving yourself and the world of the joy of sharing it? Your true self is waiting for you to discover if you will only be transformed. You are not Jell-O, you are Christ’s own.
So the first piece of good news is that you will have a realistic vision of who you are if you give yourself over to transformation. The second piece of good news is that you will not do it alone. Jell-O stands in fear because it stands alone, but you are part of the body of Christ. Each of us is a member of one another and our gifts are not exercised alone. We each have a role to play and we are part of a larger community.
This week was Vacation Bible School here at church and it was a great week. We got to play with goo and sing and do experiments and wear goofy clothes. But the best part of the week for me was getting to do it all together. We got to learn about God together and each of the leaders had a certain role to play. Some of us made snacks. Some were crew leaders. Some were doing crafts or drama or Bible time. But all together we experienced something greater than any small part. And we learned that Jesus gives us the power to be brave. To be ourselves.
The last thing to say, and it is great news, is that the life that we gain when we give ourselves over to be transformed is one that is lived passionately. Paul doesn’t tell his readers to give their interests or their spare time or their hobbies or even their souls over to God – he tells them to hand over their bodies – their whole selves – as a living sacrifice. This is spiritual worship, Paul says, to give our whole lives to an adventure that is bigger than any one of us or any part of us. When I see students like Ashley Body doing something as simple and yet as radical as converting unused cafeteria money into a social justice action I see people living passionately – with their whole lives – to follow Jesus.
Over the last two weeks we’ve had the opportunity to watch the greatest athletes in the world in competition at the Olympics. They have trained to the utmost for a chance to get a gold medal. Sometimes they do it, like Michael Phelps or Usian Bolt, and sometimes they don’t. One athlete who caught my attention this week was Lolo Jones, who had run the fastest time in the world in the 100m hurdles this year. She took off at the beginning of the race and was only two hurdles from a sure gold medal when her toe caught the top of a hurdle and she stumbled. Six others passed her and she was out. You could just tell by her whole demeanor that she was crushed. I pray that she will come to see that day as a day when she lived as fully as she could and when she lived out the obvious gifts she had been given. Lolo Jones may not be on the medal stand, but she was being her true self.
So how are you holding back? What gifts do you have that you’re not even putting out on the track? What is that keeps you from living a life that is full? Will you be transformed and not conformed? Because, you know, you are not Jell-O. Thanks be to God.
Romans 12:1-8
Therefore I call upon you, brothers and sisters, because of the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a real evidence of your service. And do not be formed by this age, but rather be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may test what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and whole.
For I tell everyone who is among you, because of the grace given to me, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but rather think as a straight-thinker, each according to the measure of faith God has measured out.
For just as in one body we have many parts, but all the parts do not have the same function - so we who are many are one body in Christ, and each of us are members one of another. But we each have spiritual graces of various kinds according to the grace which was given us:
prophecy, according to the proportion of faith;
ministry, in ministering;
the teacher, in teaching;
the proclaimer, in proclaiming;
the giver, in generosity;
the pastor, in devotion;
the compassionate in gladness.
So at the end of one of the semesters she was buying a sandwich and she asked the cashier how much money she had left on her card. “About $60,” she was told.
“And how much is a sandwich?” she asked.
“About $3.50.”
Then Ashley did some quick figuring in her head – she was a business major – and she bought a bunch of sandwiches. She sat down at lunch with some of her friends, who were part of a Christian group on campus. They asked her what she was doing and she said, “Jesus said to feed to hungry so I’m going to feed the hungry.” So then they all started to think about what they could do. They got some friends together and they all went to the cafeteria to use up their accounts on sandwiches. They ended up with 450 sandwiches which they loaded up in cars and took to a park in Austin where they knew a lot of homeless people gathered. They found themselves doing something they would not have done if Ashley hadn’t been struck by the Holy Spirit. They were meeting a need and building relationships with the poorest of the poor.[i]
It was a spontaneous movement. Sure, there were other organizations working on hunger issues in Austin. Sure, there were other ways to address the need, but this group of college students saw something they could do and they did it. And now they have started a community called the Netzer Co-op which is very simply “a diverse community of friends who are seeking to participate in what God is up to in south central Texas.”[ii] That’s how they describe themselves.
On a regular basis now they conduct what they call Likewise Experiments like this one that Ashley initiated. The name comes from the story of the Good Samaritan when Jesus tells the story of the foreigner who helps a man beaten by robbers and then tells his listeners to “Go and do likewise.” So they are trying to live that out. As their mission statement says, “We see this as more than just a call for good deeds, but really a call to recognize that the kingdom of God is here, not somewhere else, if we can learn to embrace it. We learn in that story that the kingdom looks a lot like taking care of those around you despite circumstance, race, economic status, sexual orientation, or any other ‘good reason.’ So our mission statement is then really just as simple as Christ’s easy answer, ‘Go and do likewise.’”[iii]
When I look around at the state of Christian life in the 21st century, I know that there a lot of worries. Christianity is not as large a presence in our national life. Churches are struggling. A whole generation of young people seems to be missing from many congregations. Even Christians themselves don’t seem to be living up to their calling.
But I also see new things emerging. Who would have believed that alternative services like our 8:30 service would have become so prevalent twenty years ago? Christian book stores and Christian music are now mainstream. And then there are groups like these college students at Texas Lutheran who are doing something radical. Radical means going back to the roots, you know, and what these college students did was to go right back to what Jesus said and tried to do it. What a concept! And, sure, we might want to say – why are they trying to rebuild the wheel? Why are they not working through existing churches or existing organizations? And, sure, as even they admit, some of their Likewise Experiments work and some don’t. But they have recognized that following Jesus means submitting yourself to a lifestyle that doesn’t always conform to expectations.
Conforming to expectations. Do you ever do that? Do you do things just because you want to be more popular? More respectable in the community? Do you do things or not do things because you are afraid you might fail? Do you do things because everybody is doing them? Or not do them because nobody is doing them? That’s when we are conforming to expectations.
“Be not conformed to this world,” Paul says in today’s scripture reading from Romans in the King James Version, (which just sounds right to convey this point). “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Don’t be conformed to the world around you. Do you know what is conformed? Jell-O. Jell-O is conformed. It takes the shape of whatever you put it in. You put it in a mold the shape of a circle, it comes out shaped like a circle. You put it in a mold the shape of a possum, it comes out shaped like a possum. But you are not Jell-O. You are not supposed to be conformed to the world around you. You are not supposed to take on the shape of the expectations of others. You are not supposed to be shaped like an adulterer or a liar or a drug dealer or a gossip or a sloth or a polluter or a Grinch. You are not even supposed to be shaped like a consumer or a victim or a loner or a superhero. Don’t be conformed to this world and the things it would shape you to be.
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be transformed. You were meant to be something more. You were meant to look different. You were meant to bear the image of God. You were meant to be growing ever more into the likeness of Christ who is our salvation. If your mind is being renewed, your actions will follow. If you think different you will act different. And if you act different the world around you will change and begin to look more and more like another place. It will begin to look more and more like the kingdom of heaven which Jesus tells us is not only at hand but it is also among us.
Do you know why Jell-O shakes when it comes out of the mold? Do you know why it jiggles? It’s afraid. I don’t care what Bill Cosby says. It’s afraid and it’s afraid because it has no moral fiber. It has no backbone. It had no sense of what it is to be apart from the mold. And so it trembles, knowing that without the world and without God is has no defense against whatever might be thrown at it.
So, I say again, you are not Jell-O. You are non-conformists. You are being renewed in your mind so that you can know what God intends for you and for the world. But even as Paul tells us this he gives us three pieces of good news. The first thing he tells us is that if we give up conformation for transformation then we will be realistic about who we are. “You don’t have to think more of yourself than you ought to,” he says to the Romans. If you’ve got an inflated ego, you can be liberated from that and you can give it up without fear of loss, because the gift of getting closer to Jesus is that you also get closer to your own true self. The same could be said for those who think too little of themselves, because you need to be liberated from that, too. And the closer you get to Jesus the more you will realize that you were made for far more than the small vision you have for who you are.
“Get real,” Paul says. You were given gifts. You were given graces. You were made for more and some of you are not living up to that. Some of you were made to be prophets. You have been given visions of what God is doing and wants to do through us and you have been holding back. You are not Jell-O – you are a prophet.
Some of you were made to be teachers and you are hiding you light. Maybe because you think you don’t have what you need to offer. Maybe because you are afraid that your gift will be despised. Maybe because you feel like there are too many obstacles in the way. Maybe because you feel you aren’t seeing any effects from your teaching. But you are not Jell-O. If you have the gift to teach, you should be teaching.
Paul says it. I say it. Some of you are preachers and you need to be preaching. If you have the gift of giving, you should be giving. Why are you holding back? What are you afraid of? If you have the gift of compassion, why are you depriving yourself and the world of the joy of sharing it? Your true self is waiting for you to discover if you will only be transformed. You are not Jell-O, you are Christ’s own.
So the first piece of good news is that you will have a realistic vision of who you are if you give yourself over to transformation. The second piece of good news is that you will not do it alone. Jell-O stands in fear because it stands alone, but you are part of the body of Christ. Each of us is a member of one another and our gifts are not exercised alone. We each have a role to play and we are part of a larger community.
This week was Vacation Bible School here at church and it was a great week. We got to play with goo and sing and do experiments and wear goofy clothes. But the best part of the week for me was getting to do it all together. We got to learn about God together and each of the leaders had a certain role to play. Some of us made snacks. Some were crew leaders. Some were doing crafts or drama or Bible time. But all together we experienced something greater than any small part. And we learned that Jesus gives us the power to be brave. To be ourselves.
The last thing to say, and it is great news, is that the life that we gain when we give ourselves over to be transformed is one that is lived passionately. Paul doesn’t tell his readers to give their interests or their spare time or their hobbies or even their souls over to God – he tells them to hand over their bodies – their whole selves – as a living sacrifice. This is spiritual worship, Paul says, to give our whole lives to an adventure that is bigger than any one of us or any part of us. When I see students like Ashley Body doing something as simple and yet as radical as converting unused cafeteria money into a social justice action I see people living passionately – with their whole lives – to follow Jesus.
Over the last two weeks we’ve had the opportunity to watch the greatest athletes in the world in competition at the Olympics. They have trained to the utmost for a chance to get a gold medal. Sometimes they do it, like Michael Phelps or Usian Bolt, and sometimes they don’t. One athlete who caught my attention this week was Lolo Jones, who had run the fastest time in the world in the 100m hurdles this year. She took off at the beginning of the race and was only two hurdles from a sure gold medal when her toe caught the top of a hurdle and she stumbled. Six others passed her and she was out. You could just tell by her whole demeanor that she was crushed. I pray that she will come to see that day as a day when she lived as fully as she could and when she lived out the obvious gifts she had been given. Lolo Jones may not be on the medal stand, but she was being her true self.
So how are you holding back? What gifts do you have that you’re not even putting out on the track? What is that keeps you from living a life that is full? Will you be transformed and not conformed? Because, you know, you are not Jell-O. Thanks be to God.
Romans 12:1-8
Therefore I call upon you, brothers and sisters, because of the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, a real evidence of your service. And do not be formed by this age, but rather be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may test what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and whole.
For I tell everyone who is among you, because of the grace given to me, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but rather think as a straight-thinker, each according to the measure of faith God has measured out.
For just as in one body we have many parts, but all the parts do not have the same function - so we who are many are one body in Christ, and each of us are members one of another. But we each have spiritual graces of various kinds according to the grace which was given us:
prophecy, according to the proportion of faith;
ministry, in ministering;
the teacher, in teaching;
the proclaimer, in proclaiming;
the giver, in generosity;
the pastor, in devotion;
the compassionate in gladness.
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