Preached by Pastor Grant Lynn Ford at the Sunshine Cathedral mcc, Fort Lauderdale on Palm Sunday, April 8, 2001, as well as Sunday, April 16, 2000

The Foreword

Spell out the word Team... T.E.A.M.: Together Everyone Achieves More. 
Did you notice? There's no I in the word Team. 
Think about that! 

The Written Word

The Light of the Ages
Isaiah 50:4-9a

⁴The Sovereign One has given me words of wisdom so I may speak confidently to the weary. Morning by morning as I awake I am given understanding of the Divine Design. ⁵The Eternal has spoken to me; I have listened, and not resisted or sought my own Way. ⁶I gave my back to the whip, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I did not hide from shame-, though they would spit in my face. ⁷I am confident of help from the Holy One, so I am not discouraged. I am resolute in my determination to fulfill God's plan, without disappointment or shame. ⁸The Fountain of Justice is right here with me. Who will oppose me? Who would dare to stand against me? No way! ^9aSee, the Almighty is for me! 

The Light of the Early Church
Philippians 2:5-11

⁵Think of yourself the same way Jesus did; let him be your example. ⁶He was quite confident of his Divinity -- he was One with God -- but he didn't make demands of 'divine privilege.' ⁷Rather, he put all that aside -- all the 'glory and honor' -- and embraced his Humanity, taking the role of servant. ⁸In his humanity he willingly and humbly lived out his role in the Divine Design, even to the extent of dying the worst kind of death: the death of a common criminal. ⁹That's why God has lifted him high, giving him the highest honor, so that his name is regarded above every other name. ¹⁰At the mention of his name every created being in all of Time and Eternity will reverently fall to their knees ¹¹and acknowledge him as Master of All, to the glorious honor of God, Creator of All. 

The Light of the Master Teacher
Luke 19:28b-40

^28bJesus went on his way to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he neared Bethany at the foot of the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his students into a little town called Bethphage, telling them:³⁰"Go into the village. You'll find a colt there; it's never been ridden by anyone. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone challenges you, just tell them, 'The Master needs it!'"

³²Sure enough, as they entered the village there was the colt. ³³They began to untie it when someone yelled, "Hey! What are you doing with that colt?" 

³⁴They called back: "The Master needs it!" 

³⁵After bringing the colt to Jesus, they threw their coats on its back and helped Jesus get on. ³⁶People everywhere came running, throwing their coats on the road in front on him! ³⁷The crowd grew and grew. When he came to the fork in the road that leads down the other side of the Mount of Olives, they all burst into ecstatic shouting and singing: 

³⁸"Blessed is the One who comes!" 
"The Sovereign One, coming in God's name!" 
"Heaven be praised!"
"Glory to God!" 

³⁹Some religious conservatives said to Jesus, "Teacher! Get a grip on your students! Tell them to shut up!" 

⁴⁰"Shut up?" he shot back. "If they shut up, the stones will start shouting!"

The Confessed Word

Giver of Life and Joy: From the very beginning in the Garden of Eden you have invited us to walk with you. But we often choose our lonely little plot of earth. It took another Garden -- Gethsemene -- and a cross overlooking the Garden of the Tomb so that we might live fully, freely, eternally. 

Yet we are still shy about responding to your intimate invitation. Lord, have mercy. 
We are sometimes prone to wander away. Christ, have mercy. 
And we are often afraid to follow the example of our Lord Christ, who gave his all that we might live. Lord, have mercy.

Today is a new beginning. We can join our Master in his procession of life, waving our palms, as we bless them with our 'Hosannas'. We can accompany him on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross and beyond, from being ministered to to being ministers of joy and grace, caring and sharing and loving, in the example of Jesus, in whose presence and name we pray. Amen.

The Proclaimed Word

Remember that great commercial: "It takes two hands to handle a Whopper"? 

Two hands: have you ever stopped to think what it would be like to go through life with only one hand? Those of you who have broken an arm or a hand know how hard it becomes to suddenly do even the simplest tasks. Try to tie your shoe with one hand. Or open a jar with one hand. Next time you're packing a suitcase, fold your clothes with one hand. Two hands just make life a whole lot easier; one hand makes life quite difficult. 

In today's Gospel reading Jesus sends his disciples to fetch the young colt he will ride into Jerusalem. It starts out saying: "Jesus told two of his disciples, ^'You go on ahead.'" When Jesus assigns a task it is almost always a team he sends to accomplish it. Remember when he send his disciples out to preach the first time. It says: "He called his twelve disciples together and sent them out two by two." Mark 6:7

Two hands, two hearts, two people. He's always doing things in 'two's'. Now he sends these two disciples to fetch a young colt, a valuable asset. This was someone's transportation or means of livelihood. Has he asked them to be 'horse thieves for Jesus?' Is it his intention that they should go in and help themselves to some stranger's property? 

We don't know if this was prearranged, or if the colt belonged to one of the many 'other disciples' Jesus had in Jerusalem. But we do know that Jesus was dependent on the owner of the colt. He needed help to get the job done. But at least he sent in a team. They could encourage one another. They could keep their eyes out in case someone questioned them about the colt. And in fact, someone did! So they said to him the very words Jesus told them to say: "The Master needs it. We'll return it shortly."

Jesus has thought of everything. The answer worked, and they walked on with the colt. Good planning and team work: Together Everyone Achieves More. 

Which reminds me of the Tom Cruise movies: "Mission: Impossible" and "MI2." Cruize plays the role of super spy Peter Hunt, with in-your-face special effects, nail-biting cliffhangers, nonstop action. But for those of us who remember the old 1960s "Mission: Impossible" television series, something was just not quite right. Yes, there was the familiar theme music, but something else was missing. 

What was the difference? Well, in Tom Cruise's version, it was all about Tom Cruise. In the original series every mission was a team effort. The complex schemes they cooked up to fulfill their 'impossible missions' were utterly dependent on the performance of every single team member. Sure, some programs featured one member of the team more than another. But they still all had to be involved, synchronized to the minute. In the last few minutes of the show, there was the whole team, celebrating yet another 'impossible mission' made possible because of cooperation and teamwork. 

There's no I in the word Team. 

Today we are also called to fulfill a 'mission: impossible'. We are called to ministry, every one of us, as Paul says, "created to do the very things the Christ did, those things woven into the Divine Design from the very beginning just for us." Ephesians 2:10

It may involve 'glamour duty' such as preaching, teaching or healing the sick. Or it may involve 'garbage duty', perhaps digging in the dirt or picking up bulletins after a worship service. But it works best with a team effort. 

Friday Night a group of people gathered for dinner at our new church campus. These were people who by-and-large have already given most of the money to buy our new facility. Together -- with Walt Lawrence's urging, prodding, and more matching of gifts -- that group gave more than $100,000 additional to our Capital Campaign. (You'll get a full report next Sunday.) But the important thing to note is this: it was a team effort that made the fantastic meal happen and a team effort that raised the money. 

For the last three years we've been working hard here in the Sunshine Cathedral to build ministry teams, from the Board of Directors and the Board of the Foundation to the Visitation Ministry Team and our Worship Ministry Teams. 

They all require a sense of mission as well as a sense of mutual respect and cooperation. That's why our motto for this year is Every Member a Minister; Every Ministry a Team. Together Everyone Achieves More! 

Teamwork requires a sense of ministry, which is based on servanthood. That's what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he challenged us to think like Jesus. Listen again to his words: "Think of yourself the same way Jesus did; let him be your example. He was quite confident that he was One with God, but he didn't make demands of 'divine privilege.' Rather, he put all that aside-- taking the role of servant." 

When we think of ourselves the same way Jesus did, we become servants to all the others on our team. We serve each other as we learn to love each other. 

The story is told about a new student at Union Seminary in New York who arrived in a taxi. Noticing a white-haired man in shirtsleeves standing by the door of the dormitory, the student asked rather arrogantly, "Hey, mister, do you work here?" 

Hearing that the man did, the new arrival commanded, "Then you may take my bags up to room 309." The older man silently picked up two heavy suitcases and trudged up the three flights of stairs to the door of 309. The student followed, holding only his raincoat and a light briefcase. When the door was opened, the new student casually flipped the person who'd carried the baggage a small coin. The gentleman with the white hair politely thanked the young fellow, but declined the tip. 

The following day, the newly-arrived student joined the rest of the seminary community in the opening communion service. He was horrified to see that the man he had assumed was the porter was wearing vestments and presiding at worship. When he whispered to a neighbor, the young student learned that the white-haired man was the president of the Seminary, the illustrious Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin. Rushing up to President Coffin afterward, the student began to stammer apologies for so brusquely commanding Dr. Coffin to carry his bags. The great scholar-pastor-teacher allowed himself a small smile, and gently answered, "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve. We must do likewise." 

Are we ready to do our part, to serve one another as did Jesus, to accomplish everything God has placed before us? We can do it in the power of the Christ who gave his all for us, willing to be the servant to the very end. 

His death put to death the idea that we could accomplish our ministry as Lone Rangers. He sent his disciples is groups to accomplish what he began at Calvary. Together we can continue the work. Together we can make a difference. 

And that's the Truth! 

The Giving Word

Remember the sermon title: "It takes two hands...."? Billy Graham explains why when he says: "God has given us two hands -- one for receiving and the other for giving." 

The Final Word

Horace Mann put it this way: "Doing nothing for others is the undoing of one's self. We must be purposely kind and generous, or we miss the best part of existence. The heart that goes out of itself, gets large and full of joy. This is the great secret of the inner life. We do ourselves the most good doing something for others."