The Ministry of Proclaiming – Linda Vedder
March 28 & 29, 2015
Phil. 1:27, 2:5-11
Only , live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I
come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving
side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
Who, though he was in the form of God,
Did not regard equality with God
As something to be exploited,
But emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
Being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
He humbled himself
And became obedient to the point of deathEven death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
And gave him the name
That is above every name,
So that at the name of Jesus
Every knee should bend,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue should confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.
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Earlier this year, Pastor Paul led a five week session of classes on this scripture from
Philippians and Dietrich’s Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together. I will dwell this morning on the last
verse, Phil. 2:11. ‘And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
the Father.’ How do you and I confess that Christ is Lord? How should we be witnessing,
proclaiming Christ or sharing Christ with others?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together, centers on what it means to live with Christ. He
wrote it in 1938 shortly before the Nazis forbade him to write or publish and the Gestapo
closed down his ‘underground seminary’. He was deeply involved in the resistance to what
was happening in Germany and in 1943 he was imprisoned. Some guards secretly allowed him
to visit the cells of other prisoners to minister to them. Moved from prison to prison, his last
weeks were spent with prisoners of many nationalities. An Englishman wrote that he
conducted a service before he was led out to be executed. He continued to minister until the
end. That was seventy years ago, April, 1945, and Victory in Europe was only a month away.
In one section of his book, Bonhoeffer wrote that the ministry of proclaiming is the free
communication of the Word from person to person. (I would like to emphasize the word ‘free’
considering what was happening at the time of his writing.) Again, how do WE do this, how
do we proclaim Christ?
I remember examples of people in my life who proclaimed Christ.
My aunt, my father’s sister-in-law, was always talking about Jesus. Every time we visited
together she would find a way to share her views on Christianity. Her religion was strict and
fundamental, more concerned with judgment and eternal damnation than the compassion of
Christ and God’s grace. I will never forget one weekend when my parents and I were staying
overnight for a visit with her and my uncle. I was probably seven or eight years old. She
began preaching to us about the sin of wearing shorts. It was the early-mid 1950’s and women
were headed to hell for wearing scandalous Bermuda shorts! Well, guess who had a pair of
shorts in her suitcase to wear the next day? Not only shorts, but bright RED shorts! I didn’t
wear those shorts that weekend. Although I was often uneasy when I was around my aunt, I
do respect the fact that she took seriously the command to spread the Word.
Some years later, when I was getting to know my father-in-law, I experienced another manner
of sharing Christ. Wilburn Vedder also was very direct in his witness and was a good-hearted
man. He worked on the board of Lutheran Ministries Association in St. Louis, visited in the St.
Louis jails and nursing homes. He had a beautiful voice and sang in the Lutheran Hour Choir
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whose slogan was that they were ’bringing Christ to the nations’. One day, out of the blue, he
asked me if I believed I was saved. I’m fairly sure my answer was that I hoped so, but I
remember being taken back by the question. He continued that he knew he was saved by the
grace of God. I was about twenty five years old at the time and was not accustomed to having
someone ask me that kind of question. Though it made me uncomfortable, I have never
forgotten it. He made me think about my faith.
It may not be that difficult to talk about Christ to fellow church members. Bonhoeffer states
‘Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person
will have to declare God’s Word and will to another. It is inconceivable that the things that are
of utmost importance to each individual should not be spoken by one to another’.
It is not always easy for me to proclaim Christ. I know there are times I regret, having been too
shy or tongue-tied, feeling vulnerable, afraid of offending, afraid of saying the wrong thing,
afraid of being asked questions for which I didn’t have good answers; thereby, I let perfect
opportunities slip by.
Children can be so spontaneous in sharing the message! Last November, Nancy Robertson, all
the choirs, the musicians, our organist, Sheryl and the pastors presented a meaningful
program of Thanksgiving based on the Psalms. The readings from the Psalms and the music
tied together beautifully. I loved it all! I especially remember the children’s choir singing with
such gusto and joy. Little ones who couldn’t read the words on Nancy’s posters, sang the
words loudly with smiles and pleasure! What outstanding examples of proclaiming!
On the other end of the age spectrum, during the last few months my mother was alive and in
a nursing home, she shared her meals at a table with a lady named Martha. Every time I saw
Martha, she would grab my hand and squeeze with amazing strength for someone her age and
say ‘How are you doing honey?’ . I would answer, ‘I’m fine Martha, how are you today?’ and
she would invariably reply, ‘Oh, I’m hanging in and hanging out!’ This brought giggles from
the other ladies at the table and the aides and Martha too, wearing an impish grin! I was not
sure exactly what she meant, but I did know she was ‘hanging in’ ok for someone one hundred
years old. The only other words I ever heard Martha say puzzled me. Constantly she would
say three words ‘for a crown’. Sometimes it would be four words ‘for a crown, honey’.
Everyone was honey to Martha. Martha knew no strangers at that point in her life. I was
puzzled as to what that meant too, but supposed it could have a religious meaning. One day,
one of the nurses knelt beside the table and sang the hymn, ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ to Martha.
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It was a very special moment. Martha’s face lit up and she sang along where she remembered
the words. She was right with the nurse on the last line of the refrain, ‘and I will cling to the
old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown’. For a Crown! That’s what she had
meant all along. In her way, Martha was proclaiming all the time. Martha’s repetition of ‘for a
crown’ assures me that she knew that her salvation was pinned to Christ’s dying on the cross
for us. I think she wanted us to get our crown too. Martha passed away last fall and I am sure
that Martha is now ‘hanging out’ with the saints and wearing her crown of salvation. She
witnessed in the way she was able.
We need to be intentional in the way we share Christ using our gifts and strengths. To quote
Bonhoeffer: ‘He has put His Word in our mouth. He wants it to be spoken through us.’ No
matter what our situation, no matter how old or young we are, how strong or healthy, or
feeble or disabled, each of us is equipped by the Spirit to serve in our own way. Christ directs
us to witness his love by helping our brothers and sisters in society, by praying with and for
those needing our help, by participating in church activities and in worship with enthusiastic
singing and with shouts of ‘Hosanna in the Highest’ on Palm Sunday, and also happily
confessing Christ to our families, to friends and neighbors and like Martha, to strangers. ‘For
a Crown’!
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