March 2, 2025 ~ 8th Sunday after Epiphany ~ COURAGEOUS
Rev. Beckie Sweet
Have you ever been first at anything? Sure, I remember being first at a couple of things: first to be picked for a team in the neighborhood football game (as I mentioned last week). Perhaps you were first choice for the lead role in your high school play or musical. Were you the first member of your family to earn a graduate degree? Or maybe you were the first in your family to own a home, the first of your siblings and cousins to have a child. How does it feel to be first?
…Wonderful…something you worked hard for…you beat the odds….perhaps you were nervous about being first….Were you proud? ‘Impressed with yourself? ‘Feeling pretty good?
I had one situation when I was “the first,” but didn’t even know about it until later.
Some of you know I really love basketball! As a player I’m not so good. So, in high school I kept score for the girls basketball team and subbed for the scorekeeper for the men’s team. When I went to Lycoming College, my roommate was on the women’s team, and I made sure to get the schedule for the men’s team, too. The day before the first men’s game, I went into the athletic department offices and introduced myself to Coach Dutch Burch. I told him I had experience keeping score for basketball games and asked if there was anything I could do to help with his team. He told me that they had a scorekeeper who faithfully came over from Danville. But, he didn’t have anyone to keep statistics. His secretary gave me some blank stat sheets and I was to report to the gym 20 minutes prior to game time.
Great! The next night, the scorekeeper from Danville didn’t show up. So, with about two minutes notice, I became the scorekeeper, and I kept the stats, too. Okay, that was fun. The next week, there was an away game. With some hesitation, Coach Burch told me what time to be in the parking lot to meet the bus. On the bus, I had an assigned seat ~ next to Coach Burch, with the assistant coaches sitting across the aisle. For the first five away games, that is where I was to sit. You see, I was not yet aware that I was the first woman to ever travel with the men’s basketball team. The coaches didn’t know what to expect from the players, so they put me in a place where they could protect me if needed. It was NOT needed, but that’s a story for another day. I didn’t know what a monumental development this was until at the annual awards ceremony during my sophomore year, Dr. Blumer, the college president, made a really big deal about this being the first time he had ever presented a woman with a “letter” for Men’s Basketball.
Being first! Most of the firsts we hear about are much more notorious than receiving a letter for Men’s basketball. Here are a few of those that are dear to me:
- Marjorie Matthews was the 1st woman bishop in the UMC;
- Maya Angelou was the 1st black woman to recite one of her poems at a US Presidential Inauguration;
- Sandra Day O’Connor was the first woman Supreme Court Justice;
- Leontine T.C. Kelley was the first black woman bishop in the UMC;
- Minerva Carcano was the first Hispanic woman bishop in the UMC; and,
- Karen Oliveto was the first gay bishop in the UMC.
Can you tell I am most familiar with women’s history???
The good news is that sometimes “firsts” from decades ago seem commonplace today. What was so extraordinary in the past, is now an accepted norm.
We all have goals we desire to reach in our lives. There are things we want to accomplish, glass ceilings to be broken, learning to turn into integrated knowledge and wisdom, and bucket lists to be checked off. There may be walls or barriers that need to be torn down, or trying to do what others told us would be impossible. It takes courage to press forward in the face of doubt and adversity. It takes determination and even hope to stand out, to attempt the new and/or impossible. But with Christ, we can do all things!
What inspires someone to be first? ‘To pave the way for change? Some are courageous enough to step up to be noticed because of the things that make them different from those that came before them! Courage. Yes, it takes Courage! It takes courage to put yourself out there to be noticed by people in authority!
This is the fourth Sunday that we have talked about Courage. First, we heard about the Courage to be Vulnerable. Then, the Courage to be Gracious. Last week, we heard about the Courage to be LAST. But this week, as we continue to follow the apostle Paul through his letter to the church at Philippi, we must address the Courage to be FIRST. So, Paul begins today’s text by sharing with us his goal: “to know Christ and the power that raised him to life.” Paul needs to leave the past behind ~ that time when he was in charge of persecuting the Christian believers on behalf of Rome. But, since he met Jesus, when Saul was transformed by faith to Paul, he was infused with the spiritual power to be first. While his past informed much of who he was, Paul then put every effort into sharing in Christ’s suffering and attaining resurrection from the dead.
We are called to be a first in the faith, too! To do so we need to leave behind everything which draws us away from Christ, and have the courage to attempt what is new, even if only new to us. We know that being first may make us unpopular. It will likely cause others to talk, and not always in a positive way.
Do you remember the woman that Jesus met at the well? She was obviously a sinner! She was at the well at mid-day, in order to avoid the crowd of women who went in the early morning, and would certainly have had much to say about all of the husbands and boyfriends she had engaged with in her past. Jesus, however, blessed her with living water and with a mission to tell the good news of Jesus and his love. And she embarked on that mission with gusto.
Listen carefully to what I am about to say: It is not selfish to use your gifts in the service of others and to glorify God! (repeat) The firsts, those I previously named and so many others, could have remained silent, not making others uncomfortable and not using their gifts in such a public way. But they dared to face opposition of many kinds, and so they paved the way for others to come after them.
When you have the courage to be first, to use the gifts God has given you, you are proclaiming the change that Christ has made in you. And you begin to affect the lives of those around you. Only God knows how far your influence may reach in working toward a goal.
Christ calls us to be first in kindness to those deemed unpopular or undesirable. Christ calls us to be true to ourselves in the face of our own unpopularity. Christ calls us to be generous: not as one grand gesture, but as an ongoing lifestyle. Christ calls us to be honest: to acknowledge who you have been in the past; to know it is part of what makes you who you are today; and to see ahead of you the prize toward which you make this journey of life and faith.
So, what is that prize for you? What is God calling you to do? For whom is God calling you to speak up? What is the goal God challenges you to reach? And add these questions, too: What is God calling St. Paul’s Church to do? How do we reach our goals with resurrection power and the mindset of a high calling in Christ?
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these saints cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Lay aside every weight and sin to which you cling, and start running—run with perseverance the race that is set before us, Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. For the sake of the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now, he has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.