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A Disciple Named __________

            Dan Hurley made his name and fame as a sidewalk performer. He’s not a mime, or a juggler, or a sax player. He’s a “performance writer.” He'll write your story on one page in under a minute and he’s known as “The 60-Second Novelist.”

            Sixty seconds isn’t much time, but good stories don’t have to take long to tell. Take Dorcas, for example. Dorcas was “always doing good and helping the poor,” and we’d never know it except for the 94 words written about her…Dorcas is a disciple, a follower of Jesus, who devotes her life to good works and charity. She does a lot of sewing for people and does it all the time, turning out tunics and comfortable clothing that the needy appreciate and friends admire because Dorcas sews them. Her sewing makes her famous, but her acts of kindness make her beloved. One day, however, Dorcas gets sick and dies, leaving her friends, community, and everyone she helped weeping and wondering: “How are we going to replace Dorcas? Who can do what Dorcas did?”

            “Peter!” they cry, “Dorcas is dead! Come save her! We need her!”

            He comes. He prays. She lives again. Her good works and acts of charity continue. They don’t even have to try to replace her—which might have proved impossible, because who could ever do the good works Dorcas does!? These days, it’s fashionable to say that no one is indispensable. That everyone is replaceable. Technically, that’s wrong. We are each uniquely gifted persons, particular creations of God, with a certain package of abilities, certain personality. If we don’t serve God, our families, our job, our church and our communities in the way only we can uniquely serve, then the job won’t get done the way only we can do it. If Dan Hurley were to write a 60-second novel for each of us, the stories would be different. “The body is not made up of one part, but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:14).

            Dorcas does what others can’t, or won’t, do. Sure, her family and church and friends could’ve survived without Dorcas. But don’t say that her death wouldn’t have made a difference. Don’t say that just anyone could’ve done what she did. Don’t say anyone can serve like you can serve or be a mom to your child like you can be a mom to your child. Listen to the story of a guy named Abe written by Dan Hurley, and judge for yourself if you, too, are uniquely qualified to give and use your God-given gifts:

            Honest Abe—Abe is honest. He’s a man of his word. As a CPA, he had to be honest. People depended on him. He was honest, too, when he promised to Margery 58 years ago that he would always love her and stand by her. They’ve been married that long, and they now have two children and three grandchildren. But he was never more honest than the day, six years ago, when his oldest daughter’s husband, Fred, was in the hospital and Abe went to see him.

            “You need a haircut,” said Fred, joking.

            But Abe replied in utter seriousness: “I won't get a haircut until you walk out of here.” Fred never did walk out of there. He was carried out. He died. And so Abe felt that he owed it to Fred to keep his word. That’s why he has never cut his hair, why he has a long white ponytail—this conservative CPA. It is his white badge of honesty, devotion and love.[i]

            Each of us is “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). And my good works may not be your good works. Jesus doesn’t mass-produce his disciples. He creates us one by one. God designed you to be you. When your life is over, he will not ask you why you weren’t Moses or David or Esther or Dorcas or Mother Theresa or Tim Tebow. If you don’t pursue a life of love that is your life and your love, he will ask why you weren’t you. So let’s stop pretending. I wonder if Dorcas was ever tempted to pretend. If her popularity and people needing her tempted her to project a bigger image, or to build some kind of other reputation for herself or others. And if dying, then coming back to life, changed any of that. “Each one of us has a me that we think we should be, which is at odds with the me that God made us to be. Sometimes letting go of that self may be a relief. Sometimes it will feel like death…On the other side of death is freedom, and no one is more free than a dead man. Jesus had much to say about death to self, and on the journey to the me you want to be, you will have some dying to do. But that kind of death is always death to a lesser self, a false self, so that a better and nobler self can come to life.”[ii]

            Think about it. Who could replace the love and caring of your own dear mother? Any other mother? Who could replace your daughter? Any other girl? Who could preach and write like Paul or pray and fight like David? One mother found this note in a pair of jeans her daughter brought home after finishing a year of college. The note was worn on the creases, a little ripped on the edges, obviously pulled out and folded and tucked back in those jeans often. The mother had written it the previous fall for her daughter. It read: “[I’m so glad that you are you, and nobody else.] Only God knows your full potential, and he is guiding you toward that best version of yourself all the time. He has many tools, and is never in a hurry…He never gets discouraged by how long it takes, and he delights every time you grow. Only God can see ‘the best version of you,’ and he is more concerned with you reaching your full potential than you are…You are not your handiwork; your life is not your project. Your life is God’s project. God thought you up, and he knows what you were intended to be.”[iii]“Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

            This love of a mother reflects the love that Jesus both gives us and commands of us. “To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God.”[iv]God’s love is targeted not on some unmet needs he is hoping you can help him with. God’s love finds its fulfillment outside of himself, and in you. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live” (1 John 4:9). The reason that Son died and rose is not himself, but is you. “I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends…I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit” (John 15:12-14,16). The you Jesus wants you to be is filled with Jesus’ love. A selfless love that instead of needing to take from others needs to give to others, needs to help them become the best version of themselves. In so doing you become the best version of you.

            If you could have Dan Hurley write about you in 94 words or in 60 seconds, what would he say? Would he speak of a life where—had you not lived it—others would have suffered, been loved less, lived a little less blessed? Would he speak of your love and devotion as unique? You bet he would! You and your gifts are changing and can change your family, your friends and community, your church, your workplace, your world. Like Dorcas, each of us is A Disciple Named ________. Each of us makes a difference. Amen.

 Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on May 13, 2012

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Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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