Joshua 24: 14-15

"What Does Commitment Look Like?"

Sunday May 2, 2010

Rev. Susan Cartmell

The Congregational Church of Needham

                When we asked for suggestions for sermon topics, one of you suggested commitment. So this month our worship services will all be about that theme. Commitment is defined at the act of pledging yourself to a person or a cause. When you are committed you make your marriage, your work, your sports team or your faith a priority. You pledge resources, time, and energy to the causes and people to whom you have made a commitment.  

                For a lot of young people commitment is scary. They are afraid to choose one path because they will have to eliminate all the others. The very process of setting one goal means that you must choose one door and close some other doors. I always had trouble playing gin rummy for this reason. In gin rummy, you must make a commitment to a path. You have to choose to pursue diamonds, or spades, or four of a kind. You must make a commitment because you are forced to discard some cards without knowing what cards you may draw next. You have to commit to one strategy before you know what is in the deck. Sometimes in life we try to hold more and more cards in our hand. Instead of giving us options it is just paralyzing.

                We all know what it feels like to worry about commitment. High School students  look at all the colleges and universities and wonder how they will ever choose one college. College students spend most of senior year worrying about whether to go to graduate school or find a job. What lies behind this decision is the choice of a career- that is a commitment that could determine your life path for decades to come.  People in relationships, worry about whether they are ready to make a commitment. People who plan their weddings often obsess about the details. I think they focus on the ceremony because they are really nervous underneath about the commitment that marriage entails. We all worry about financial commitments. For years we dream about buying our own home. When we finally go out with a real estate agent, we enjoy the process of inspecting houses; that is fun. But once we make an offer and begin the purchase and sale process, we panic. We stay up all night worrying about having a mortgage because 30 years is a big financial commitment.                               

The irony of commitment is that it is deeply liberating. The irony of commitment is that it is deeply liberating. Making a commitment stops the debate in your head. Making a commitment to one thing - one purpose, one cause, one faith frees you from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. {Anne Morris, a Starbucks customer wrote this. It is on cups as Advice # 76 - Commitment. More information is found on www.Starbucks.com }

                I remember when I started the ministry. I was 28 and I was not sure I really wanted to be a pastor. Oh I had a degree from Harvard Divinity School but lots of people were undecided there. The majority of students were uncertain about their futures. I was one of the rare few that thought I might serve in a parish. So for several years I told myself I would be a minister temporarily - until I really figured out what I wanted to do with my life. It was when I became the sole pastor of a small church that I became completely committed. You know that decision was not completely rational. At Harvard where so much emphasis is placed on thinking - I suppose it is no wonder students even in divinity school were commitment phobic. Making a commitment to church leadership was not something you could think through, it was something your heart had to warm to. It was not a puzzle to be solved. It was the ability to feel and then see that church life filled the dryness in the well of my soul.

Like the man in our skit, I stopped fighting my commitment to God. I stopped trying to hedge my bets. I let go of the illusion that I would ever be able to control my destiny completely. I gave my life in a new way to God's care and guidance. To my amazement- it was one of the most freeing things I ever did. I did not always get what I wanted, but my life has been gratifying in ways I never could have predicted. The irony of commitment is that it is deeply liberating.

I realize that May is either the best or the worst time to talk about commitment. This is a season when most of us feel obligated to lots of commitments; some of us are tense considering all of the responsibilities that compete for our attention. Lots of us feel over-committed.  As the weather warms the pace of life picks up in New England. Suddenly we are propelled out of doors, and our calendars are full. There are field trips, spring sports and fund-raisers like the Walk for Hunger. As the school year closes we add lots of year-end commitments - recitals, concerts, projects, graduations, first communions, and Mother's Day. 

                I don't have to tell this congregation about commitments - because many of you are over-booked, and over-wrought about all your commitments. You are town leaders, coaches, homeroom parents, and fund-raisers.  On top of busy work schedules you find a way to arrive home early at this time of year, and often skip dinner to watch your children play ball.  You bake and chaperone. You think ahead. You stock the car with food, and changes of clothing, and sports equipment.  You are kind and patient and wise as you help your families cope with the ramped up pace of May.

                We start with the best of intentions. We want to lead full lives. We want to provide our family - especially our children with opportunities we did not have ourselves. What starts innocently enough soon morphs into a series of obligations that stretch us like thin like rubber bands. We find that many activities balloon. Every sport has a schedule of games and practices. Every instrument you learn has lessons and a recital. While we can squeeze these events in - we also discover that when everything ramps up, we feel stressed logistically getting to all the events. And we feel stressed emotionally finding the energy to be up, alert and patient with so many varied demands.  What began as the hope for a full life for our families, can lead to a tension that permeates everything.  Stressed by our efforts to balance all our obligations, we find it hard to focus on any one thing.  This pace is seductive. Being very busy always makes you feel important. But you have to wonder - Does doing it all really mean having it all?  Or can you do so much that everything is a blur?

                 When Joshua led the Hebrews into the Promised Land everybody assumed that they would finally be deliriously happy. After years in the wilderness they finally had homes. After years eating manna and quail, they finally had vineyards, and crops and cattle. But prosperity brought its own confusion. While they had learned to be committed to God in the wilderness, they grew confused in the Promised Land. There were so many material temptations that rivaled their faith. There were so many distractions that competed for their time so it was hard to pray, and worship. In some ways it was easier to be spiritual in the desert than it was in the Promised Land. 

Joshua gathered all the people one day and talked about how hard it was to make a commitment to God with so many other choices all around every day. But in the end no one can make commitments for you. You have decide. He said, I have decided - As for me and my house- we will serve the Lord.

 When you serve the Lord it is not one more commitment. Faith puts order into our lives.  Putting God first helps you avoid temptations, and sidestep distractions. When you say "yes" to God it helps you say "No" to the other things you never cared about. Faith gives life meaning  that is deeper than that High you get from being busy. Commitment to God brings new peace of mind. Commitment to God brings companionship to the lonely edges of life. Faith brings cool water to the dry cistern in your soul. 

Jesus says, Come to me all you who are weary and who carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Will you pray with me?  Lord I offer my life to you. I ask that you create in my life a deeper sense of peace - the kind that passes understanding. Help me to lay my burdens down, and to find the freedom that comes from making a commitment to you. Amen