A Right Turn for a Wrong-Way Disciple: A Sermon in Triptych

John 21.15-17,

First Christian Church of Portland, Texas,

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Collect

            Heavenly Father, Your Son reveals to us that only You can forgive sin, but that not even You can ignore it. Grant us today, an assembly of sinners, the courage to return with Jesus to the place of our sin that we might arrive with Jesus at the place of our redemption made possible by the death and resurrection of Your Son, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Left Panel: The World

            Have you ever felt a desperate need for redemption?

            On January 21, 1915, the Cal State Golden Bears faced the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech in the fifteenth annual Rose Bowl game. Midway through the second quarter Tech's great running back Stumpy Thomason fumbled on the Cal State thirty-yard line. A Cal State lineman, a two-way starter named Roy Riegels, scooped up the loose ball. He caromed off of two potential tacklers, somehow lost his bearings, and began sprinting down field. . .the wrong way! His own quarterback, Benny Lom, finally managed to overtake Riegles at his own three-yard line where Riegels pivoted to face a wave of Tech tacklers who brought him down at the one. The Bears chose to punt the ball to safety rather than risk a play so deep in their own territory but Cal blocked it for a two-point safety, giving them the lead. Cal State went on to lose the game by a score of 8-7, the difference of that safety. The sportswriters jumped on the story and dubbed him "Wrong-Way Riegels." By some estimates, various newspapers through the years have run a total of 4,500 articles and devoted a quarter of a million column inches to Riegels' famous mistake.

Central Panel: Christ in the Text

            Have you ever felt a desperate need for redemption?

            I think that is what Simon Peter feels in the story we have read this morning. In fact, John has brought his Gospel to a full and satisfying conclusion at the close of chapter twenty and scholars debate whether chapter twenty-one might in fact have been written by an equally-inspired disciple after John's death. John tells us at the end of chapter twenty that while he could not tell us everything, he has told us all we need to know to come to a full, saving faith in Jesus, and what more could anyone ask? Why would anyone dare to add an appendix?

            Because the story is never complete until the fallen hero finds redemption.

            And Peter is indeed a fallen hero. The last two times we saw any personal interaction between Peter and Jesus was in chapters thirteen and eighteen. In chapter thirteen, Peter vows to follow Jesus to the death but Jesus instead predicts that Peter will deny his Lord three times before sunup (13.36-38). In chapter eighteen, Peter pulls that exact hat-trick, denying being a follower of Christ as he warms himself around the enemy's charcoal campfire (Jo 18.15-27). Notice those three elements: a charcoal fire, a triple-denial, and a refusal to be known as a follower of Jesus.

            Look how Jesus orchestrates the redemption of his wrong-way disciple.

            Verse four says that Jesus appeared "as the day was breaking," that is, just around the time a cock might crow. And when the waterlogged Peter sloshes ashore, he finds, according to verse nine, "a charcoal fire." The scene deliberately recreates for Peter the dynamics of his earlier denial, but it also invites him to be re-created as a disciple.

            Jesus asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?" That, of course, is the exact trifecta of times Peter told the crowd in the courtyard of the high priest that he had no idea who Jesus was. A triple-affirmation doubtless reminds Peter of his previous failure, but it also invites the disgraced disciple to unsay his triple-denials.

            At the end of the encounter Jesus predicts Peter's death as a martyr and then orders him, "Follow me" (v.18-19). Peter will naturally think of the time he vowed - and failed - to face death as a follower of his Lord. A call to martyrdom might seem to taunt Peter with his previous cowardice, but it also promises him future faithfulness.

            Does it seem cruel that Christ would lead Peter back through all the downward steps and stages he trod into such a shameful denial? Yet Jesus never promises to ignore sin. He promises the much better gift of forgiving sin, and it is in the remembrance of sin that we also experience the presence of redemption.

Right Panel: The Church

            Have you ever felt a desperate need for redemption?

            We're only a couple of weeks into the New Year, which means that statistically thirty percent of us have already trashed our New Year's resolutions, resolutions that only eight percent of us are actually likely to accomplish. But what about our Baptismal Resolutions?

            Like Peter, we have all made them. In many denominations, the minister asks the candidate for baptism, "Do you renounce Satan and all his works?" New Year's resolutions to start new habits are one thing; New Birth resolutions to start life afresh are something else.

            And, like Peter, we all break them. And, like Peter, we all need redemption. Where will we find it?

            First of all: Don't deny; confess. In a society like ours, I must stress that redemption is not the same thing as denial. The great Christian writer G. K. Chesterton scoffs at "those new religions that forgive your sins by saying you never had any." It might seem cruel that Jesus engineered such a detailed reconstruction of Peter's original fall, but he simply brought into the open what secretly gnawed at Peter's heart. To paraphrase C. S. Lewis it may be that the lost are those who dare not follow Jesus to such a public place of acknowledgement of sin.

            Secondly: Don't withdraw; engage. We note that each time Peter says, "I love Jesus," Jesus says, "Feed my sheep." I understand the natural, and even admirable urge that says, "I have messed up so badly that I am ashamed to be back among God's people." I can understand it, but it rests on the mistaken assumption that you, or I, or any of us, deserves to be there in the first place. Find a place of service in the sheepfold of the Chief Shepherd - a term, by the way, that Peter invents and only Peter uses (1 Peter 5.4) - and love the Lord you have let down.

            Finally: Serve the sheep, but watch the Shepherd. Peter sees John (the Beloved Disciple is almost certainly John himself) tagging along and wants to know what his assignment will be. Jesus answers, in essence, "Verily, verily I say unto thee  - none of thy doggone business." We sometimes seek to escape the burden of our own bungling by finding someone nearby who seems worse. The Germans even have a word for this: schadenfreude. It literally means "harm-joy," that sinful instinct we all have to be happy when someone else messes up. At times like that, it is a good idea to spend a little time reviewing our own redemption.

Conclusion: World, Church, Christ

            Have you ever felt a desperate need for redemption?

            What many people do not know about the story of Wrong Way Roy Riegels is that he came back out and played an outstanding football game in the second half, including blocking a Tech punt. Not only that, but the next season he captained the Golden Bears, earned All-America honors, and led his team to a 7-1-1 record. I can't help but wonder how that happened. Well, it is a story of redemption.

            As the team entered its locker room at halftime, Riegels slunk to the most isolated corner of the locker room, threw his helmet on the floor and sat with his head in his hands. When the team rose and shuffled their cleats across the concrete to head back onto the field, he did not move. When the room had emptied, head coach Nibs Price walked back to where Riegels sat and told him to get up.

            "Coach, I can't do it," the distraught young man responded. "I've ruined you, I've ruined myself, I've ruined the University of California. I couldn't face that crowd to save my life."

            Coach Price quietly commanded, "Roy, get up and go back out there — the game is only half over."

            Peter thought the cock crow was the sound of the final whistle. In fact, it only signaled the end of the first half. You, like Peter, may feel that it is too late, that your failure is final and your fiasco fatal. But the risen Christ stands before you this morning and declares, "By the bloody sweat of Gesthsemane's garden, by the crown of thorns and the mocking sign hung above my head, by the five wounds in my body an the water and blood that flowed from my pierced side, by the broken bread and spilled wine of my communion table, by the cross of Good Friday and the empty tomb of Easter Sunday: Get up and go back out there - the game is only half over!"

            For Peter, the game was only half over, and he would go on to play an outstanding second half. Your redemption is certain in your Savior. How will you play in your second half?

Benediction

Whatever your hands bring you,

Whatever your eyes show you,

Wherever your feet take you,

Whatever your ears tell you,

Whatever thoughts your heart forms,

Whatever words your lips shape

As you go forth from this place,

May you see the Father in this God-blind world,

And be the Son to this God-starved world,

And breathe the Spirit on this God-choked world.

In the name of the Father

And of the Son

And of the Holy Ghost

One God now and forever,

Amen.

           

           

FIVE WAYS TO DESTROY YOUR EMPLOYEES' MORALE

Is morale too high at your business? Are employees smiling? Do they happily work unpaid overtime? Do they take on tasks outside their prescribed responsibilities, just for the good of the team? What are you thinking? What would the French say?

Well, help is on the way. With just a few simple steps, you can put morale in the toilet. Best of all, it won't save you a dime! It is a little-known secret that many of the things that raise morale cost an employer little to no money and need no organization or oversight.This means that you, as an employer, or "LEADER," can crush these nasty outbreaks of selflessness WITHOUT SAVING ANY TIME OR MONEY! Just follow the suggestions below.

1. IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF DUMPING ON YOUR OWN CULTURE.

Are you allowing your company to develop its own personality? Are there unique, even quirky things about the way your people accomplish tasks? Do you have people working for you who exhibit a level of personal style that virtually amounts to a brand, that gives your business a memorable flavor? ROOKIE MISTAKE! Let that kind of thing continue for very long and you will have workers who not only take joy in what they do but create a buzz among potential customers. Why not take the easy step of idolizing a mindless corporate giant with a boiler-plate culture and demanding that all of your employees conform? Better still, insist that they mimic this expensive, corporate lifestyle WITHOUT GIVING THEM AN EXTRA DIME WITH WHICH TO DO IT! And, of course, do not actually name your Fortune 500 hero. In fact, deny that you are slavishly Xeroxing anyone at all. This works especially well if even a blind pig in a forest fire could see that it is a lie. In no time, your workers will be staring grimly across their coffee cups and muttering to themselves like up-and-coming psychopaths.

2. CREATE A FLAT ORGANIZATION - FLATTEN YOUR EMPLOYEES WITH TOP-DOWN DECISION MAKING.

When making decisions that affect the day-to-day functioning of your employees, do you ask ahead of time how they might feel about it or how it might affect them? Worse still, do you actually solicit their input as though the people actually doing the work might be in the best position to decide how it should be done? BIG MISTAKE! Such actions only send the message that your employees are skilled professionals with job-specific knowledge. This will amp up their morale and have them taking pride in their work. The next thing you know, they'll be smiling and humming as they come in early and skip lunch to complete a project. Instead, simply announce major decisions with no advanced warning, let alone input, and stifle any subsequent discussion. Or, if you want to take it to the virtuoso level, hold meetings to let them air grievances, nod, smile, thank them. . .AND THEN IGNORE THEIR INPUT COMPLETELY! Faster than you can say, "Slacker," they will be slipping in late, sneaking out early, and playing Candy Crush in between.

3. THE (PUBLIC) MEDIUM IS THE (PRIVATE) MESSAGE

If you need to have a difficult conversation with an employee, don't make the mistake of sitting down with that person one-on-one, in a private setting, looking him or her in the eye, and stating the problem in a forthright manner. WHERE IS THE PASSIVE AGGRESSION? WHERE IS THE MANIPULATION? WHERE IS THE SHAMING? Have you never read "The Scarlet Letter"? Those old Puritans knew how to get things done: the stocks and the scaffold! Delivering a rebuke in private only encourages the recipient to state the other side of the issue and there's no telling where that can lead! You could end up deciding you are wrong and the employee is right, and actually modifying your own expectations! Even in a best-case scenario, the employee is liable to feel valued, to have increased respect for you, and to modify the undesirable behavior! Instead, call a meeting and make sure that the person to whom you are talking  (or actually - and here's the real fun - about whom you are talking) is the only one present to whom your remarks apply. This way you can deliver a negative message while not only disrespecting the employee yourself, but multiplying the disrespect by the number of people in the room. It will also fuel gossip in the hallways later, which further lowers morale.

4. HEADS I WHACK YOURS, TAILS I KICK YOURS.

This is a very effective and highly amusing bait-and-switch. If your company is small, make sure you stress to your employees that they suffer all the disadvantages of that status while simultaneously placing on them all the disadvantages of working for a corporate giant. This is much easier than it might seem. For instance, when requiring them to perform duties outside of their job description, or to work extra hours, announce that because your business is small, everyone must pitch in. However, when employees complain that communication is mechanical or you yourself are unavailable, explain that if the business is ever to grow, you must begin to adopt the model of Megacorp Unlimited. Explain that wages are low because you are small, but that regimentation is large because you want to grow. Remember, you must simultaneously LENGTHEN THE STICK and SHRINK THE CARROT. Keep this up long enough and your workers will realize that they have the worst of both worlds. Before you know it, they will envy employees of BOTH large AND small companies: ANYWHERE will seem like a better place to work than your business! A fun tweak on this approach is to demand that your workers contribute financially to the mission. Make an emotional speech about how you are a feisty little group, a regular little-engine-that-could, and how every member of the team must show that he or she believes in the dream. For added fun, stress that salary-reduction gifts are entirely voluntary, but publish the names of those who do - and, by default, do not - participate!

5. EXECUTIONS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES. 

Perhaps your company currently has some formal structure for employees to register complaints. This is a good idea but must be handled with skill. If the process is reasonably straight-forward, does not demand incredible amounts of energy and time, and actually has the potential to lead to some action, you are only going to increase morale. Instead, set up a grievance structure that requires the employee to devote a huge amount of effort and emotional capital in a manner that is high profile within the organization (the better to brand the worker as a whiner) and will only result in the same person (you!) who made the original decision ruling on the complaint! Of course, only the stupidest employee will fail to see that this is a ruse. However, it gives you the opportunity to say to a disgruntled member of the team, "Well, of course you know you are welcome to go through the grievance process." This will anger your worker beyond all belief because your hypocrisy is simultaneously blatant and unassailable! Again, if you feel ready for the advanced level of this step, create mandatory employee surveys. Make them anonymous but require demographic information about position and length of employment that form an unassailable trail of breadcrumbs leading back to the person filling out the survey. This way, you can force employees either to tell the truth and hang themselves, or to give you top marks on everything and hate themselves.

So there you have it! It is never necessary to have high employee morale. Making your workers feel like crap is easy and fun. It will, of course, hurt business, but then you have the treat of blaming the workers' bad attitudes for the impending crash.