“Ambition”

I came across this article by a retired pastor in our state, Rev. Carl Schenck, about the positives and negatives of ambition.  I hope you are as blessed by it as I was.

Blessings, Chris

James 3:13-18; Mark 9:30-37

Ambition fuels human behavior. Many events in people’s lives are motivated by ambition. A shopkeeper strives to find new ways to display goods in the ambitious hope of being more prosperous. A scientist pushes back the frontiers of knowledge because of a love of knowledge. We all know students who burn the midnight oil. All are motivated by ambition.

Ambition is the fuel for many helpful human behaviors, but there is a dark side to ambition. How many people have wrecked their lives because their ambitions were so great that they sacrificed all other values on the altar of their ambitions? We have seen the human wreckage left behind by people who abandoned, manipulated, or abused their families by seeking their own ambitions. Ambition is a healthy motivator of good behavior and good activities, but it also has a more demonic side.

Henri Nouwen was a Catholic priest and academician. His academic pursuits took him to a teaching post at Harvard, a great accomplishment for anyone in the academic arena. Yet Nouwen reached a time in his life when he was not satisfied. He left his comfortable teaching post at Harvard, teaching some of the most brilliant students in the country, and became a worker at Daybreak, a home for adults who were mentally disabled. After Nouwen had been at Daybreak for a time, he wrote:

Most of my past life has been built around the idea that my value depends on what I do. . . . I fought my way up to the lonely top of a little success, a little popularity, and a little power. But now, as I sit beside the slow and heavy-breathing Adam [a resident of Daybreak] I start seeing how violent that journey was, so filled with desires to be better than others, so marked by rivalry and competition, so pervaded with com- 240 pulsion and obsessions, so spotted with moments of suspicion, jealousy, resentment, and revenge. (Quoted in Pulpit Resource, November 12, 1990)

The Bible is skeptical about ambition. The book of James is a primer on practical Christianity. The writer says “selfish ambition” is earthly, unspiritual, and devilish. Hardly a recommendation, is it? James goes on to write that the primary results are disorder and wickedness.

Our gospel lesson speaks to this subject in tones gentle, yet powerful. The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus as the successful teacher and healer. Jesus attracts a large following. People who want to hear what Jesus has to say and want to see what he will do surround him. Then, just as Jesus’ popularity is reaching a peak, Jesus turns his back on all of it. Jesus withdraws from the public arena; he goes into hiding with his disciples and instructs them about the way of the cross. Jesus turns his back on the successes of his early career. He sets his face toward Jerusalem and the cross.

One day Jesus hears his disciples arguing with one another. Jesus asks, “What were you arguing about on the road?” They are embarrassed to admit that they were disputing which of them was the greatest. Jesus says to the disciples, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all” (NIV). The disciples cannot seem to learn. I understand because I can’t learn either. Can we really learn what it means to live this amazing paradox where those who would be first must be the very last and the servant of everyone? I don’t want to learn it. I’d rather be first my way, wouldn’t you?

In a wonderful Chinese folktale, a woman loses her only child in death. She goes to the holy man and asks him to bring her child back to life. He replies, “Search for the home that has never known sorrow, and, in that home, find the magic mustard seed and bring it to me. Then we will have the power to bring your child back.” The woman’s first stop is a great and luxurious palace. Thinking everything will be good and joyful there, she knocks on the door saying she is looking for a place without sorrow. “You have come to the wrong place,” they reply, and recount all the sorrows that have come to that home of power and wealth. The woman says to herself, “Who is better able to help these people than I who have had such misfortune of my own?” She stays to comfort them, and later continues her search, which takes her to the hovels and the palaces of China. In each place she becomes so involved in ministering to other people’s grief that she forgets her own. In her forgetfulness, she finds healing and peace.

Those who would find their life must lose it. Those who would be first must be last. This teaching runs so counter to our ambitious ways; but don’t we have to admit that Jesus was right? Our ambitions are compulsive and suspicious and obsessive and jealous and resentful and full of revenge. The only ambition that truly gives life is the ambition to serve others—no matter what the cost. O Lord, make us ambitious to serve our neighbor. Amen.

Mission

To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Vision

Nelson Memorial UMC seeks to be a place where all God’s broken, hurting, and imperfect children discover wholeness and community while experiencing the warm and welcoming love of Jesus Christ.  We seek to connect with one another to grow in our knowledge and love of God, to encourage each person to live out their unique calling to serve God, and to make a difference in the Boonville community and throughout the world.

Priorities

Developing and Nurturing Faith in Children and Youth

Fostering Growth and Community in Worship and Small Groups

Provide Opportunities to Serve God in Boonville and Beyond

Worship This Sunday

This Sunday we continue our “What If …?” message series.  This week’s message is titled “What if… we embraced our unique gifts?” Our scripture reading will be from the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 12 through 20:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its parts form one body, so it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews of Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.  Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has placed all the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

We will begin our service with the song I See You by Chris Tomlin and Brandon Lake.  Our hymns for Sunday include: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, In Christ Alone, and We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations. 

Virtual Worship Information

In addition to in-person worship, each Sunday we will live-stream our 10:20 worship service. The service can be viewed on our Facebook Page.  The service will start approximately 10:25 or so, as we begin it after the opening video (for copyright purposes).  We will continue to post a recording of our message each week to our website by early Sunday afternoon.  We are excited to be able to extend our worship services in these ways. 

COVID Updates

At our most recent Administrative Board meeting, the board reviewed COVID numbers in the state and Cooper and Howard counties, and our congregation’s current practices. It was agreed to continue to encourage social distancing in worship by keeping half of the pews closed for the time being.  Masks are still optional for everyone but encouraged for those who are not fully vaccinated.  The Board is committed to continuing to monitor the latest COVID conditions and will discuss any further changes at upcoming meetings.

Announcements

Get those Bikes Ready – Everyone is invited to join us for a family bike ride on Sunday, October 10 at 2:00 pm.  We will meet at the Depot on Spring Street and ride approximately 4 miles total with a refreshment break at the midpoint.  All are welcome!

Your Input Requested – As part of our commitment to offer opportunities for people to connect with one another and grow spiritually, we are looking for your input on our small group ministries.  Would you please take a few minutes and fill out our small groups survey?

Women’s Bible Study – Linda Gordon and Judy Powell are going to lead a fall women’s Bible study on Wednesday mornings in the lounge beginning Oct. 6th, at 9:30 a.m.

We invite interested ladies to bring their Bible and enjoy coffee with us. We are going to begin with a revisit of the book entitled Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown. (We had just started this one at the beginning of Covid.)  If you need a book or study guide, please let Linda, Judy, or Cindy Koch know.  Hope to see you there!

Church Charge Conference – Every year we have a business meeting called our Church Charge Conference.  At this meeting officers for the upcoming year are elected, the pastor’s salary is set, and other official reports are received.  All members of the church are eligible to vote at this meeting and all participants of the church are welcome to attend.  Our Church Charge Conference this year will be held this Sunday, October 3 beginning at 2:00 pm at the Missouri United Methodist Church in downtown Columbia. 

Events this week:

Sunday, October 3: Church Charge Conference, 2:00 pm, Missouri UMC, Columbia

Monday, October 4: TOPS, 9:30 am, Foundations Classroom

Al-Anon, 8:00 pm, Lounge

Tuesday, October 5 Congregation Care Team, 7:00 pm, Lounge

Wednesday, October 6: Al Anon, Noon, Church Lounge

Choir Rehearsal, 6:00 pm, Sanctuary

Friday, October 8: Al Anon, 8:00 pm, Church Lounge

Saturday, October 9: Methodist Men, 8:30 am, Fellowship Hall

Sunday, October 10: Church Bike Ride, 2:00 pm, Boonville Trailhead

Closing Words of Wisdom:

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”― Maya Angelou