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Many of you have heard me tell stories about my time in City Year, where I was a tutor and mentor to students in struggling schools in Washington, D.C. It was a lot of hard work. Most of my weeks went for 40-60 hours with no overtime and very minimal pay. In addition to my normal work with my team in my school, I was involved in three other groups with the wider D.C. City Year corps. I was so exhausted after most weeks, that my roommates were initially concerned by how long I stayed in bed on Saturdays until they go used to it.
What I've found with doing hard work like that is that it helps if you get some acknowledgement in return. At the end of our service year, there was time for just that. There was time during our graduation ceremony from the City Year corps that awards were given out.
One of these awards was given to one of my teammates, who had gone above and beyond and designed an after school art program during the spring in conjunction with some local organizations in Southeast D.C. It really was amazing work.
I have to confess that while I was extremely happy for her and proud to be her teammate, I was also jealous. I also wanted recognition.
But then I stopped and thought about it. The truth was that while I had worked hard, and was extremely proud of that work, I had not gone above and beyond. All I really did was the work I was supposed to do. I had not created a wonderful month long program that brought the school, the community, and our team together in a way that went well beyond our City Year goals and duty. Realizing that made it easier to be happy for her and a little less jealous.
When I look back on my time in Americorps with City Year, I didn't do it because I wanted to be rewarded. I did it because I wanted to do something with my life that would help others. I did it so that some kids would have opportunities to learn and grow and be better and smarter, and I am thankful everyday that I can say that was the case. And as a result, I am even more thankful for all the gifts and growth I did receive from my time in City Year.
Whenever we work hard, we want recognition. That's how we are hardwired as humans and particularly as Americans. For us, hard work equals getting something in return.
That mindset can make it a little difficult for us to stomach today's Gospel. If we are here serving God, shouldn't we get something back? Shouldn't we get something in return? Shouldn't we have some kind of recognition?
That can be our attitude sometimes when bad things happen. We might want to ask God why we are having to suffer after we did so much for our Lord. We might ask why aren't we getting more back from God, or dare I say from our church, when we give more and more of our money.
But just as I didn't go into Americorps for my own glory, we don't do the work of God for our own glory either. We don't give in stewardship to this church to reap a reward. We do it because Jesus loves us and we love Him in return.
As 2 Timothy tells us this morning, Jesus died to abolish death and give us the chance to live again. That is a gift of love to us. And out of love, as 2 Timothy tells us, we are called not to be ashamed, but to go out and share the Good News, the Gospel, of Jesus' love to all others in the world.
That doesn't mean there won't be hardships. 2 Timothy makes it very clear there will be suffering. It doesn't mean there won't be a lot of hard work. Jesus doesn't compare this work in the Gospel to the work of a slave to be cute. But we weather that hard work and that suffering because we know that the lives of others will be made better for it. We do it because we want God's work to be accomplished in the world.
We do the work, dare I say out of duty, as our Gospel this morning suggests. We do the work of God because it is the work that we ought to have done.
My hope is that when you give to this church, whether it is your time or your money, or even both, you don't do so because you want to receive an award from God or this congregation. My hope is you will give out of love, specifically for God. God's love for us is reason to do anything, no matter how hard or trying it may be. Knowing what God's love has done for us in recreating our lives and our hearts, I hope that each and everyone of us will want to make that same love known throughout the world.
In doing so, we are merely doing the work that we ought to have done. But I hope, at the same time, that you will always strive to do more to serve God and to share the love of Christ Jesus. I hope you will continually move to go above and beyond the work you ought to have done. In this way our work will reach more and more until hopefully one day all will know the same love of Jesus Christ that we know.