Home

Contact Us

In Praise of Martyrs                        Mark 8: 34-38                   July 5, 2009

When I meet someone for the first time and they learn that I'm a Moravian pastor, I almost always get the same reaction. After the person uncomfortably apologizes for some minor profanity they might have blurted out before they knew or some off-color story they might have told - which I always brush off with a "don't worry about it, it takes more than that to offend me," they inevitably give me a puzzled look and ask, "Moravian? What's a Moravian?"

"We're not particularly weird," I usually respond.

In fact, telling folks that we're not particularly weird has become my favorite way to put people at ease about our church. I even worked that exact statement into the presentation we developed for our Open House - and I plan to use it again in the flier we hand out at our October Fair.

This weekend, however, it's hard to defend that assertion with a straight face. Here we are on the 4th of July weekend and there's been almost no mention of Independence Day. Maybe that proves we are a little weird after all.

It's not that we Moravians don't like Independence Day. It's just that on the Sunday closest to July 6th - which is often the Sunday of the 4th of July weekend, we remember another important date in history.

On the 6th of July, 1415, you see, a man gave his life for what he believed. This man, a Czech religious thinker and popular preacher, lived and worked during one of the darker periods in the history of the church. Two Popes and a third Antipope all claimed to be the legitimate heir to the papacy. Factions warred with each other. People literally rioted in the streets. Bishops regularly lined their own pockets by selling indulgences - essentially "get out of jail free" cards - that supposedly granted absolution from sins. In a word, the church was a mess.

In the midst of this chaos, a great Reformer stood firm. He challenged the corrupt church leadership and claimed that Christ, not the Pope, was the supreme head of the church. He further claimed that the people should be able to read the scriptures in their own language and that communion in both kinds - the bread and the cup - should be shared by all, not just the clergy. Essentially, this Reformer believed that the Church of Christ is made up of the people of Christ, not by a select group of Cardinals. He believed it, and, like other martyrs through the ages, was prepared to shout it at the top of his lungs, despite the grave danger he faced by doing so. In the end, he was tried, convicted of heresy and burned at the stake.

This reformer, of course, as we good Moravians already know, was John Hus, the preacher whose followers eventually became known as the Unitas Fratrum - the Moravian Church we know today.

The anniversary of the death of John Hus is the reason we Moravians celebrate today with a special service of Holy Communion. It is why we act a little weird on this 4th of July weekend. We remember July 6th each year because Hus believed completely in his cause, stood firm even when it meant facing his own death and, as it turns out, we remember it because by his living and dying he spurred countless others to action in his name. That's why we call him a martyr.

John Hus was an unlikely candidate for such an important role. Born 43 years earlier in the little village of Husinec in southern Bohemia, he came from a peasant family. As was true with so many peasant families, his mother encouraged him to pursue a career as a priest to lift himself out of the poverty they endured together.

Historians tell us that Hus was not a particularly brilliant student and that his academic career was unremarkable, but he undoubtedly had a gift for preaching. And he used that gift to speak the truth to power - a practice that cost him his life.

Hus's death sparked what was eventually to evolve into the great Reformation. He was an ordinary man who was used by God to do extraordinary things. And herein, my friends, lies his importance to us.

Herein lies the reason why we remember him on this first Sunday in July. Ordinary people, passionate about their beliefs, and willing to take risk, can make an enormous difference in the world.

The Gospel text we read this morning is always the text on this John Hus Sunday. We also read it in Lent, sometimes. It's the text that contains that really difficult statement of Jesus: "If any want to become my followers," Jesus says, "let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."

I don't know about you, but I hate it when Jesus says that. Jesus gave up his life, and I'm comfortable knowing that. John Hus gave up his life, and I'm comfortable knowing that as well. When I start thinking about giving up my own life, however, I'm anything but comfortable.

You and I would much rather make choices that lead to our own survival. To our own wellbeing. So when we hear Jesus telling us to choose to give up our life for the sake of our faith, it just doesn't sit very well.

Yet that is exactly what Jesus asks us to do.

I am not trying to suggest that anyone in this Sanctuary today needs to step up and be martyred for a cause. My guess is that none of us will ever be called to do that.

What I am suggesting, though, is that each of us needs to ask ourselves, on this John Hus Sunday, what it means to be passionate about what we believe. Each of us needs to ask ourselves if our faith causes us to take any sort of risk at all. Whether it ever calls upon us to stand up and proclaim, at the top of our lungs, a message that the people around us do not necessarily embrace.

• " Tolerance, for example, in an environment of intolerance,
• " Justice for the poorest in our society, for example, in an environment of greed,
• " Compassion, for example, in an environment where might makes right.

God loves every one of us here today. Of that, there can be no doubt. But the same God who loves us expects us, as ordinary people who make up his forgiven, redeemed Church, to be willing to follow Him with a passion for His gospel that, every once in a while, means that we need to take some risk.

• " Perhaps it is a risk that we might ruffle the feathers of a friend,
• " Or stand out in a crowd by taking an unpopular stand,
• " Or sacrifice some material possession in order to give to those less fortunate.

No one can know exactly what it means for you to be passionate about your faith, to the point of risk. You will need to think that through and decide for yourself.

If you and I are willing to take that risk, however, good things will happen. And who knows, maybe God will use one of us to change the world - ever so slightly.

                                                                             AMEN

Go Back To Sermons