Bible Text:

“…do good, be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up the treasure… of a good foundation for the future so that [you] may take hold of the life that really is life.”                                                                          (I Timothy 6:18)

Lifespans are growing in some parts of our world. One estimate says that a child born in 2003 could be alive in 2153, 150 years from now. Can you imagine how many people would gather to help you celebrate your 150^th birthday?

You say it’s impossible, but maybe not. At the beginning of the 20^th century the average life expectancy in America was 49 years. If you were in your 40s you were probably in your last decade of life. Some of that is probably related to why some people go through a “midlife crisis” in their early 40s. In 1900, if you were my age, you would be an old crone! (No comments, please!)

If you were that child born in 2003, and if you could expect to live not 75 years but 150 years, what would you do with your life? Would you take more vacations? Spend more time at the office? Plant a bigger garden? Perhaps plant trees instead of a garden? Plan for a longer retirement? Commit yourself to a much lower golf score?  

Scripture reminds us that it is not the quantity of years but the quality of life that counts. It is not how much success you have, but what level of significance you attach to life. It is not how long you live, but how well you live.

 Jesus is our primary model. He lived only 33 years. He had no rapid transportation or instant communication, yet he lived a life filled with love and service to others. His was the ultimate level of significance, of living well. 

The text for today is instructive. (Read it again as printed above.) That is a statement about living well. The prophet Isaiah, who probably most anticipated Jesus in the Old Testament, says at one point, “You will be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.” (Isaiah 62:3) Would that not be a worthy epitaph for any one of us? He (or she) was a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.

 It is not living longer that matters. It is not living successfully that matters. It is living well—loving, serving, and giving. That is what Jesus modeled, and that’s what God longs for in each of us. 

Bob Buford is the editor of “Halftime” magazine. He wrote a book a few years ago by the same title. Buford suggests that life is an issue of moving from success to significance, especially in the second half of life. 

But Buford also recognizes that this movement is often difficult today. We are part of a hard-charging culture. Success is the apparent goal. Yet success is not always easy to recognize. 

Several decades ago Robert Raines wrote a book called Success is a Moving Target. He is exactly right. 

A recent survey asked a question of a number of people, “What is necessary to build a successful life?” A third of the people said success means a healthy and well-raised family. About a fourth of the people said that success means tangible outcomes and accomplishments. Another fourth said they had no idea. Only 1 out of 14 people said anything related to spirituality or faith. This is not so much an indictment of those who responded to the survey as it is an expression of the difficulty we face in these days. It is difficult to break through the images of the successful life. 

I believe the church must set the pace. We must show the way. We in this church must set the pace. We must show the way. I saw a sign outside a church recently that said, “You must either be a good example or a horrible warning.”

We set the pace: love, service, extraordinary hospitality, compassion, absolute trust in a living God.

There is a wonderful story from the life of Andrew Young, who was for a time mayor of Atlanta Georgia and then ambassador for the United States to the United Nations. When his youngest daughter turned 20, she told her father that she was going to Uganda to work for Habitat for Humanity. Young was astounded and frightened. “Don’t you know there’s no real government there?” he asked. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous there? Don’t you know Uganda is ruled by a ruthless dictator?”

 His daughter simply replied, “Yes, but I’m going. It is something that Jesus has laid upon my heart.” 

In early January, not too long ago, Andrew Young watched his daughter’s plane leave for Uganda. As the plane soared off into the distant sky, he said to himself, “I always wanted her to be a respectable Christian, not a real one.”

This year, following the death of one of our Prime Time clients, his daughter wrote a letter to the Prime Time staff. Mary Ann shared it with me this week. This is part of what she said: “You gave my father the opportunity to live an abundant life—which God wants for all of us.” 

What a great resolution for 2003. Live well in the eyes of God. Live well, as modeled by Jesus and foreseen by Isaiah. Live well the abundant life Jesus spoke about. Live well as one who becomes a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord.

 This is Covenant Sunday in the United Methodist Church. The tradition began with John Wesley in the 18^th century. It is always on the first Sunday of each new year. In a few moments we will use an adaptation of John Wesley’s covenant prayer. However, I want to share another covenant with you. This is recorded in a book by Peter Gomes, who is a professor and chaplain at Harvard University. Gomes grew up in an African-American church. He recounts that they had communion in that church once a month. On each Sunday that they had Communion, the elders of the church (all men at that point) gathered around the table and recited a pledge or covenant. Gomes says it was a covenant that had served that little church “since 1809 with neither amendment nor addition, and its elegant, archaic and Biblically profound language gave a dignity, even a solemnity to our small proceedings worthy of the greatest cathedral or Basilica liturgy in the world.”

 This is what the covenant said. Listen to it carefully.

 As we trust we have been brought by divine grace to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the influence of His Spirit to give ourselves up to Him, so we do now solemnly covenant with each other, as God shall enable us, to walk together in brotherly love; that we will exercise a Christian care and watchfulness over each other, and faithfully warn, rebuke and admonish our brethren as the case shall require; that we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor omit the great duty of prayer, both for ourselves and for others; that we will participate in each other’s joys, and endeavor, with tenderness and sympathy, to bear each other’s burdens and sorrows; that we will seek divine aid to enable us to walk circumspectly and watchfully in the world, denying ungodliness and every worldly lust; that we will strive together for the support of a faithful, evangelical ministry among us; and through life, amidst evil report and good report, seek to live to the glory of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.[i]

 That is a covenant for living well. Let the spirit of that prayer dominate your life this year. Let your coming for Communion today be an expression of your desire to live that covenant. Live well, to the glory of God.