"Go Big or Go Home"

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
June 22, 2014

Go Big or Go Home

Three weeks ago, on Procter Camp Sunday at the 10 o'clock service, Camp Director Rob Konkol asked Caldwell, my son, to talk about the way that Procter  has impacted his life now that he is grown, has a job, and lives on his own in upstate New York.  Between being a camper and a counselor, Caldwell spent parts of 13 summers at Procter Camp, the last three as a counselor.  After a comment about his body wash that proved that a son never loses his capacity to embarrass his mother, Caldwell talked about three different things he had learned through his years at Procter.  The first is "Early is on time and on time is late."  That one is fairly self-explanatory and should have come as no great surprise to Caldwell having grown up in my house.  The second is "No egos."  There is no place for egos in gospel work. Like Michael Dohn said last week, the glory all belongs to God, whether we're working at camp, in Springfield, or as medical missionaries in the Dominican Republic.  The last thing Caldwell talked about is the most striking: "Go big or go home."  Think big, push harder, accept challenges, take risks, and do not be afraid.

I did not realize what a profoundly theological statement "Go big or go home" is until I started working with this morning's scripture readings.  The story of the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael is part of the larger story of God's promise to Abraham that Abraham and Sarah will have descendants that number the stars in the sky and be the ancestor of a great nation.  That is going big. When Abraham and Sarah were getting along in years, and still had no heir, God repeats the promise.  God is going really big even if Abraham and Sarah are growing a bit skeptical.  So Sarah takes matters into her own hands and tells Abraham to have a baby with the slave, Hagar.  Yes, that was Sarah's idea.  But then Sarah does conceive a child, Isaac, and the story picks up this morning as Isaac is weaned and Sarah becomes jealous of the relationship Isaac and Ishmael have, Hagar's role in this family drama, and Abraham's affections.  So Abraham, against his will, banishes Hagar and Ishmael, his first born son, to the wilderness with only some bread and water to sustain them pretty much forever.  As distressing as the situation is, and as annoyed as we might be with Sarah for her selfishness, the reality is that God's promise to Abraham can be fulfilled without Hagar and Ishmael.  So the promise itself is not in danger.  But God goes big.  God sees the opportunity in the situation, and tells Hagar not to be afraid.  God will use this opportunity to make a great nation of Ishmael as well.  God took an unfortunate turn of events, saw the opportunity, went big, and Ishmael would become the father of Islam.  Go big or go home.

Likewise in the gospel reading, being a disciple of Jesus is not turning out the way most disciples probably thought it would when they decided to follow Jesus.  The disciples probably thought they were signing on to a life of teaching and healing, exorcizing a demon or two, maybe turning some fish and bread into food for the masses.  Sure, they might not have a place to stay, or people might not appreciate their words or their work, but those are minor inconveniences when compared to the joy of following Jesus.  What the early disciples got instead was slander, persecution, the division of families, and, in some cases death.  In the face of what must have seemed like insurmountable odds, Jesus essentially says "Do not be afraid.  Go big or go home.  Being my disciple demands your all."  Following Jesus means living outside the comfort zone, daring to do and be more than the disciples thought possible, taking risks for the gospel that look foolish to others, and doing so without fear.  Go big or go home.

I believe that God measures our faithfulness, not by our success, but by whether we were able to swallow our fears, trust in God's presence, seize opportunities, and Go Big.  At Christ Church, as I look back at the ministries that have worked, they have been big.  In fact, years ago, I saw in our service bulletin a request for 10 dozen cookies back when one of our parishioners, Noel Tracy, was involved in the Kairos prison ministry.  I assumed that was a typo and we needed 100 dozen, because that is what Noel usually needed for a Kairos weekend.  However, I also knew that we would never come up with 10 dozen cookies because we would all think someone else would bake them.  We are not lazy; we are just all busy.  But we would easily come up with 100 dozen because then we all know we all have to bake cookies to reach that goal.  But we have also taken on projects like Reading Camp, which I was told no one church could do alone.  We have hosted the Dayton Gay Men's Chorus, a bold move.  We set a goal to provide a $25 Christmas gift card for each of the 86 residents at the Shawnee Apartments.   We bake 75 dozen or so cookies to take into the community on Christmas in July and we provide enough socks and underwear for the children at 6 elementary schools.  We serve hundreds of families through our Food Pantry.  We host the entire neighborhood for the Neighborhood Fair.  When we put aside our fears, seize and opportunity, and go big, we generally succeed.  And we are energized.  When we go small, when we need a mere 10 dozen cookies or one meal or a few volunteers, typically we struggle because we think someone else will make it happen.

As we look to the future, to new initiatives and ministries, and grow into the church God is calling us to be, God calls us to go beyond the obvious, take risks, seize opportunities, and not be afraid.  There is a catch to "Go big or go home" for us, however.  Unlike Abraham and Sarah who have set out to find the land God has promised them, or Hagar and Ishmael who are banished to the wilderness, or Jesus' disciples who have no place to lay their heads, we are home.  We are blessed with a place where we belong.  Going home is not an option.  We live here. Our only faithful option, and the option God expects of us, is to "Go big."
Amen.