I expect that most of you will not recognize the name John Henrik Clarke, unless you are connected to Cornell University.  Clarke was 83 years old when he died in 1998, and he spent nearly 60 years as a historian, a teacher, a writer, and an editor.  He produced more than 40 major documents; he edited anthologies, and wrote more than 200 short stories; he taught thousands of students through the years.  But there is not one book in his own name -- no best seller, no notoriety -- he was mostly a classroom teacher who was one of the top authorities on the history of Africans.

 

I also expect that most of you will recognize the name of Malcolm X.  Malcolm was a radical, a black nationalist, and a civil rights and Muslim leader in the 1950s and 60s.  He was controversial, confrontational, and very visible; we knew (and still know) his name even though we might not know anything about him.  Malcolm’s public career lasted only 12 years; he was assassinated in 1965, when he was only 39.

 

The lives of these two men came together in 1958 when they became acquainted, and as Clarke described it, they were friends from the day they met.  Clarke would provide Malcolm X history and background material.  For periods in that short seven years, they would sometimes see each other every day, until Malcolm was killed.

 

Clarke said that for a year after that he struggled with coming to terms with the death of his friend….…he would imagine that they were talking as they had done so often and Clarke would always end up with “What can I do?”  Clarke said he finally got the clear understanding that Malcolm’s answer was “Do Your Best Work.”  John Henrik Clarke said, “I was a good classroom teacher before that.  I was a better teacher, and a better human being after that.”

 

Do Your Best Work.  It is one of the most powerful pieces of advice I’ve ever had.  It helps me remember that it’s good to do something well, and it cautions me that I don’t have to do everything.  I think it’s great advice for every graduate that gets a degree this month -- at every level, to go on to school, or career, or adventure -- Do Your Best Work. 

 

I think “Do Our Best Work” helps us to understand the lectionary readings today.  We understand that God calls us -- from our theology, we understand God’s call -- a call to faith, a call to service, a call to witness, a call to vocation within whatever career or role in our community or family we may have -- always in the middle of our lives, a call to faithfully living out our relationship with God.

 

We understand that God’s call comes to all of us in different ways, with different roles for each of us.  We also understand that when we are called, God expects a response.  I suggest that one of the best responses to God’s call is to try to do “our best work”.  I also think this advice is helpful when we get to the twist at the end of the Matthew passage where Jesus suggests learning what it means that God “desires mercy, not sacrifice”. We know call; we know response; but sometimes we forget the kind of response God has in mind.

 

Abram was called to leave his well established home, business, farming, and herding interests to follow the urging of God to go to a land he had never seen, among a people that he had every reason to believe would be hostile, for a reward that he, personally would not realize, and for a purpose that he did not understand.  What was Abram’s “Best Work?”  Perhaps, simply to be THE most important father/faith figure in our religious tradition………to be larger than life, to bring a blessing to all the nations because he acted; he did something with his belief and trusted in God.

 

Matthew was working in his tax collection booth one day when Jesus walked by and said, “Follow me.”  And Matthew did it -- he got up and followed Jesus into the unknown.  We don’t know whether Matthew’s name really was Levi (as is indicated in Mark’s gospel) or whether he turned out to be the gospel writer; there’s no strong tradition about a Levi in the early church.  Matthew/Levi is almost invisible after the gospel story.  Perhaps Matthew’s Best Work was that he became the best tax collector in the country.

 

So far, so good -- figure out how to be the best you can be.  But Jesus doesn’t leave it simply up to us.

 

There is a dinner, perhaps at Matthew’s house, with other tax collectors (who were despised by almost everyone) and sinners.  The religious leaders ridicule and criticize Jesus and his disciples and those with whom they spend time and have dinner.  This is one of the most important rituals of their religious practices and subject to all manner of rules and obligations. 

 

Jesus’ response is, “Healthy people don’t need a physician, but those who are sick.  I came to call sinners, not the righteous.”  And we understand that one too, don’t we?  But his next statement -- it is almost mocking, certainly full of irony.  He reminds everyone of the prophet Hosea’s teaching, “Go, learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” 

 

Jesus comes very close to saying, “God is interested in faith, not religion.”  He is interested in acts of mercy, not sacrifices in the temple.  Certainly it means that God is more interested in content than in form.  Religious practices are less important than actions motivated by a heart of love and service.  The actions that are important -- our response to God’s call that is crucial -- is to act from commitment and not from some kind of need to look good -- to do works of justice and mercy and not simply to do form and ritual.  It is not a new message.

 

God calls each of us.  It is a core understanding of our faith. The theory is clear.  We know that we are called to all sorts of situations -- some very public, some almost invisible.  What’s difficult for each of us, and for us as a congregation when we get a call, is to discern what response, and when, and how, and then to take it to the street, to get it out of this worship service, and out of this sanctuary, and into our lives all week, in our neighborhoods, and work, and everywhere we find ourselves………getting our faith out of our religious exercise and into the content of our community.

 

Sometimes the call is simple, with an easy response -- for example -- the call to be hospitable prompted this congregation to put on the coffee pot for anyone who stops by.  The coffee pot in the dining room is on 12-16 hours a day, most days; the door is open almost that long and there is almost always one of you at the greeter’s desk welcoming whoever comes in.  I don’t know that we call it a coffee pot ministry, but it is -- it’s a ministry of reaching out in care and trust.  We don’t think twice about it, but it is a unique response to God’s call and it is a “best practices” response.

 

More often the call is complex.  There are any number of examples, but let me take just one example from just the past few weeks -- the latest episode of gun violence in our community.  God’s call is pretty clear.  It comes from scripture.  This passage by itself reminds us where and with whom we should spend our time -- not the righteous, not the healthy.  The call comes from Chief Dolan whose appeal is that people in this community have to get involved in new ways to intervene in the cycle of violence affecting young people through drugs and guns.  The call comes from 150 parents and others who met Thursday evening just a few blocks south of here to commit themselves to greater involvement in the lives of young people AND to call on others from all over the community to be allies, to be involved, even if we don’t have children.

 

What is our response as individuals who live in a hundred different neighborhoods?  What is our response as a congregation whose legacy is that we are committed to the life of the whole community -- that’s why we are here in the center of the whole region from which we all come.  This gathering, this place is the core of our community………not just the street corner in the city where we happen to have our church. 

 

Which of you has a new idea?  What are the gifts and talents that you might have with which we as Westminster can do our best work?  That’s how a response gets started; that’s how many of the efforts of this congregation have resulted in dozens of mission activities and projects and outreach. 

 

There are many other examples that you could give.  But whatever the call……when we are at our best, we are tuned into God’s call and we respond by reaching out.

 

When we are doing our best work, we know that this service of music and worship and friendship is not the destination.  When we are doing our best work, we know that this sacrament we share this morning is not an end in itself.  The real content of our religious ritual is understanding that remembering Christ’s best work sends us out “in peace to love and serve the Lord” AND going out with the power of the spirit to do it really well. 

In the name of God:  Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.  Amen