The Kindergarten children-some twenty of them-were sitting on the carpeted floor patiently awaiting instructions from their music teacher.  “Be my echo”, the teacher said to them.  “Whatever I sing, you sing.”  “Whatever I do, you do.”  She began singing, first high and then low.  The children perfectly echoed every note she sang.

          That week, the teacher had been battling a terrible cold.  “Be my echo”.  As the teacher began to sing the next note, she suddenly sneezed.  Without hesitation, completely in unison, this great chorus of children tilted back their heads, closed their eyes and let out a great big sneeze, offering a perfect echo of all that their teacher sang and did.[1] 

          “Be my echo.” 

          In today’s epistle text, as in other Pauline passages, Paul urges the church to be his echo, to imitate him.   Paul’s injunction, which, at first, seems to smack of arrogance, is consistent with the first century model of education.  Students learned from their teachers by following their examples. 

“I have given you an example,” Jesus said to his disciples after washing their feet, “that you should do to one another as I have done to you.”  We learn how to be servants by watching Jesus whose life is depicted on the pages of the gospels.  We also learn about faithful living by witnessing the examples of kindness, love and service we see from other Christians.  We learn how to journey towards the cross and to serve Christ in its shadow by emulating those who have traveled that road of discipleship and who travel it still.  We learn how to love unconditionally by echoing in our own lives the traits of people who exude Christ-like love. 

Flora Campbell was one of those people filled with Christ-like love. By the time I became her pastor, she was advanced in years and in wisdom, mostly homebound and always hospitable.   Her husband died ten or more years before I met her. She lived by herself in a non-pretentious, very modest home.   I sometimes wondered if perhaps Mrs. Campbell spent all of her waking hours planning nice deeds, ways she could embody Christian love. 

          She enjoyed flowers.  As a response of thanksgiving for God’s goodness and grace, she took flowers, pressed them and made bookmarks from them.  She gave them away to children when they were baptized or confirmed, to people sick, to people distraught, to the lonely and the forsaken.  She gave them away.  Like the widow who dropped her copper coin into the temple treasury, Mrs. Campbell gave from her heart.[2] 

An entire community learned about Christian service from that older adult, one who was poor in money yet rich in kindness and generosity. 

When candidates for the ministry stand before the presbytery and give their statements of faith journey, almost always they tell how a Christian in their lives-a parent, a teacher, a friend-shaped their identity as Christians.     

          If given the opportunity to offer your own statement of faith journey, who would you name as someone who has modeled the life of Christ for you?   What Christian has been the object of your admiration?  

          Perhaps an even more central question: Would someone else be able to name you as one who has modeled the love and the kindness of our Lord?  I think of our children-the church’s children and children of the world-and I wonder what kind of example I am to them.  They see whether or not we are true to our words.  They see the examples we offer. 

One writer tells about a three-year-old boy who had been learning the game of golf by watching his grandfather play. "The boy was so enthused,' said his Grandpa, "I bought him his own set of clubs." The following week the entire family had a cookout and the little boy who had learned to golf by watching Grandpa announced, "Watch me play golf!"

          And then he said a bad word and threw his golf club into the pear tree! That little fellow had learned about more than golf. And he did it by simply observing his granddad.[3]

 

          There are little eyes upon you and they’re watching night and day.

          There are little ears that quickly take in every word you say.

          There are little hands all eager to do anything you do;

          And a little one who’s dreaming he’ll be like you….

 

          There’s a wide-eyed little one who believes you’re always right;

          And her eyes are always opened, and she watches day and night.

          You are setting an example every day in all you do;

          For the little one who’s waiting to grow up to be like you.[4]

 

Once there was a woman by the name of Rose.  She was a poor woman who lived many years ago in Albania. Rose and her husband opened their home to the poor and hungry in their town. Whenever one of Rose's daughters would ask who the new visitor at their dinner table was, Rose would answer that it was a relative. Rose's daughters grew up believing that they came from an enormous extended family.

Even after Rose's husband died, and the family was plunged into poverty, Rose found a way to give food to the hungry and help to the destitute. One of Rose's daughters was greatly influenced by her mother's example of sacrificial love. This daughter, Agnes, grew up to become an advocate for the poor all over the world. She devoted her whole life to caring for those in need. Agnes grew up to become Mother Teresa, the twentieth century's living example of Christ in the world.[5]

Who we are and what we do has an affect on people around us.  As much as I would like to think that people are profoundly influenced by the sermons I preach, the truth of the matter is that people are more influenced by the sermons you and I live. It was Edgar Guest who once wrote:

I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day:
I'd rather one would walk with me than merely tell the way.

The eye's a better pupil, and more willing than the ear,
Fine council is confusing, but example's always clear.

The best of all the preachers are men who live their creed,
For to see good put into action, is what everyone needs.[6]

          Last Sunday morning our youth offered a clear example of Christian commitment as they brought pledge cards forward.  Now the rest of us have an opportunity to echo what they did.  It works both ways.   We are called to be an example of Christian service for our children; and they, so very often, offer examples for us to follow.

          May God grant us his grace as we offer examples that are worthy of being echoed by the people around us.  Amen.   

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901 North Park Avenue

Dunn, North Carolina  28334-3241

Phone:  (910) 892-4121   FAX:  (910) 892-8312